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This year I got myself a cider advent calendar, because… Treat Yo Self. I figured it would be a great way for me to try out a bunch of Aussie ciders and hopefully find some new favourites! It was mostly great, there was only one that I couldn’t finish (why would someone make a cider with hops in it?? blech). And it really was a fun way to count down until Christmas.

Here are my thoughts, mostly for my records. Note: I prefer very very dry ciders.

  • 1. The Hills Cider Company Apple & Ginger – quite gingery, not too sweet 7/10
  • 2. Bilpin Blush Pink Lady Cider – really tasted like pink lady, a little sweet 6/10
  • 3. The Apple Thief William Pear Cider – fine 6/10
  • 4. Pipsqueak Apple Cider – not too sweet, yum 8/10
  • 5. Woolshed Utopia Hard Lemonade – not too sweet, but not a cider! 6/10

  • 6. Napoleone Apple Cider – standard, not too sweet 8/10
  • 7. James Squire Orchard Crush Pear Cider – tasty 7/10
  • 8. Batlow Premium Cider – pretty dry 8/10
  • 9. Pagan Cider Apple –  nice 8/10
  • 10. Crushed Pear Aussie Cider –  generic, bleh 5/10

  • 11. Treehouse Cider – nice 9/10
  • 12. Tuckerbox Premium Apple Cider – also nice 8/10
  • 13. The Apple Thief Pink Lady Cider – meh 7/10
  • 14. Willie Smiths Farmhouse Perry – different 6/10
  • 15. Batlow Cloudy Cider – good 7/10

  • 16. Golden Axe Apple Cider – Jemma drank this one ?/10
  • 17. James Squire Orchard Crush Apple Cider – one of my pub favourites 9/10
  • 18. Australian Brewery The Fresh Press Cider – kinda gross 5/10
  • 19. Crisp Draught Aussie Cider – fine I guess 7/10
  • 20. Pagan Cider Cherry – I don’t like cherries 4/10

  • 21. Woolshed Brewery Utopia Apple & Pear Cider – literally tastes like juice 7/10
  • 22. The Hills Cider Company Hop Edition – why would I want a cider that tastes like beer 0/10
  • 23. Napoleone Cloudy Cider – not too sweet, nice 8/10
  • 24. Willie Smith Bone Dry Apple Cider – very dry! 8/10
  • 25. Forbidden Fruit Cider Original (unpictured) – smelled like body odour 4/10

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Alright, where did I leave off last?

After I was finally certified by AHPRA I was allowed to apply for my Radiation Use Licence, which took another couple weeks, and then FINALLY FINALLY I could start applying for jobs. Luckily there were quite a few job postings over the last couple weeks. I got rejected straight away from a few, but then got an interview for a part-time job, which I ended up getting… and accepting! WOOHOO! So now I am 40% employed.

Two days a week is a little low, but at least I’ve got my foot in the door now. I start at the end of January.

The hospital is a bit far from here (50ish minute drive), but our lease ends mid-February so I think we might move. If we pick a different inner suburb that is just a bit closer to the highway my commute will go down to 30 minutes, and we would still be quite close to the city.

What else have I been up to?

I made all five of our nieces and nephews some pretty epic Christmas presents, which I will post after Christmas. I’ve started a crossstitch sea otter in a sweater to match my crossstitch koala in a funny shirt. My 2016 1 Second Every Day video is nearly finished. Still going to the gym. Still hanging out with my trivia friends. Still watching too much TV.

I spent 4 hours on a very hot day making Scott a 4-layered chocolate, hazelnut, and ricotta birthday cake, and then found out after about 2 bites that I am allergic to (raw) hazelnuts. Not like deathly allergic but it definitely made my mouth go really crazy even after a very tiny amount. :(

Rae and Thomas came to visit last weekend. We did a mega tourist day up in the hills. We went on Puffing Billy steam train, which was way more fun that I thought it would be! You get to sit on the windowsills and stick your legs out of the train like you’re in India or something! It was surprisingly exhilarating.

We also went to the Piggery for lunch, and Old Kingdom for peking duck dinner, PLUS Gelato Messina for dessert so it was also an epic food day.

Oh yeah and we got a new car! I don’t know if you’ve heard of this model, but it’s a Toyota Corolla. ;) Pretty neat to have a fancy new car. We expect to keep it forever 5ever.

OK I have to get ready to head to Boronia to start off the Christmas festivities (my first Jorna Christmas ever! I’m kinda scared tbh). Happy holidays!

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Since I am funemployed I have quite a bit of time to do crafts. (Which is amazing, by the way!)

I crossstitched a sprite on to one of Scott’s hoodies using waste canvas.

The trickiest bit is pinning the waste canvas in the right spot, with interfacing on the back, and then setting it in a frame without everything getting all out of place. But once it’s all set up you just cross stitch like normal, although you have to use a pointy needle and it’s way harder on your fingers to get it through all the layers.

Finished. They are apparently characters from Final Fantasy VI. Iunno, he picked them. :P

Then you get to do the best part, pulling the white strings out. I dunked the whole thing in water to soften the fibres, and then pulled out each strand out the side with tweezers. It takes a little while, but it’s satisfying.

All done.

What the back looks like. I also cut out another rectangle of ironable interfacing and ironed it on top, in an attempt to seal up all the loose ends. I don’t know how well that will hold up, but so far it’s working.

I used DMC threads, so we can launder it like normal, the only thing is that I told Scott to make sure the zipper is done up when he puts it in the washing machine so less chance of something like a tooth catching and pulling something out. It feels pretty secure in general though.

Pretty happy with how it turned out. Now I want to monogram everything!

I got this metal tuk tuk kit in Thailand. All the pieces came in two small flat sheets. You just punch the pieces out and follow the instructions, bending pieces and twisting tiny tabs with needlenose pliers that lock everything into place. It took me a good few hours to finish and I stabbed my fingertips many many times. I definitely made some mistakes, as the instructions weren’t super great, but I think it turned out pretty neat. It’s about 7 cm tall, by the way. I would totally like to try another kit!

I finished my koala in a funny shirt crossstitch… I will post a picture soon. Next project, a matching sea otter in a woolly sweater.

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I’d always wanted to try cooking an artichoke, but found it all very confusing. What part do you eat?? Scott’s dad gave me one of his homegrown artichokes to experiment with, and well, I’ve finally figured it out.

This be yer artichoke.

Pull off all the tiny leaves at the base, and discard. Also use a vegetable peeler and peel off a few layers of the stem. Cut the stem shorter too.

Use scissors and cut all the tips off of the petals. I guess sometimes they are pointy? They weren’t sharp on this babby artichoke but I still did it, I dunno.

All trimmed up.

Use a knife and cut off the whole top of the artichoke so it’s flat. Then steam it flat side down. Mine was pretty small so I only steamed it for 15 minutes, but more normal sized ones would take 20-30 minutes. You can tell when it’s done when you can easily pull out a petal.

It’s ready! To eat, you just pull off the petals, dip them in butter or aioli or whatevs (seriously, artichokes are pretty much just dip vessels) and scrape the white soft stuff with your teeth. Don’t expect to get much from the leaves.

As you get closer to the center the petals turn into these weird thin white flaps. We didn’t eat those. Just keep pulling them off.

And eventually you’ll get to the crazy looking choke part.

Thankfully you aren’t supposed to eat the hairy bit. Just scrape it off with a spoon. The part that is left is what you can buy in jars from the supermarket. This was a bit of a revelation to me.

Slice it up and you can eat that part too.

Done.

“These things are just plain annoying. After all the trouble you go to, you get about as much actual “food” out of eating an artichoke as you would from licking 30 or 40 postage stamps. Have the shrimp cocktail instead.” – Miss Piggy

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I had a serious fish and chips on the beach craving last weekend. We were going to drive down towards Brighton, but there was a race going on and the traffic was nutso. Thankfully we live a 10 minute walk from St Kilda beach, where you can find Paper Fish, a trendy fish and chippery.

We got battered gummy and grilled blue grenadier, with chips and tartare sauce. It cost a bit more than I would have liked for the size, but it was nice quality. We especially liked the blue grenadier, and the cajun-ish seasoning on the fries.

Paper Fish Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato