Christmas Cracker Jokes

Merry Christmas ETD Readers!


Just a quick post to give you a couple of light hearted cracker jokes...
Cracker Jokes make Christmas for me.  They are silly, they're usually terrible but after a couple of yule time beverages it will make even the coldest of bah humbuggers melt into laughter...
So here's a couple of ours:

".. What do spacemen do in their spare time? ... Astronauts & Crosses!! .."

".. How do you stop a skunk smelling? ... Hold its nose!! .."

".. What did the grape say when the elephant stepped on it? ... Nothing. It just let out a little wine!! .." 

".. What did the fish say when it swam into a wall? ... 'Dam'!! .."

Now, I said they were bad, but I'd be happy to hear all about your Cracker Jokes...

Ho! Ho! Ho! 

(Now, get back to your loved ones and have good time!) 

Simple Scones

Ho Ho Ho!! Merry Christmas! (Almost)

Hope everyone has finished work and are enjoying the start of their well deserved holiday break!

I thought I'd show you a simple scone recipe that I learnt from Jamie's Ministry of Food - since his philosophy is to teach people to cook and pass it on - I'm passing this onto you all! And on the plus side, the ingredients are cheap to buy, it's easy to make and great for that afternoon snack with a nice cup of tea. Whether you pronounce it scone, rhyming with 'on', or the posh English way, rhyming with 'bone'; get your hands dirty and give this recipe a go!

Versatile Cooking - Sensational Stew

Welcome, Eat Travel Dive Readers!
I hope you had fun trying my Pumpkin Soup Recipe, and today I have a treat in store!  Today, I will be using our core ingredients (Onion, Garlic, Celery and Carrot) to make a super-easy heart healthy stew.  In my opinion, this stew should be within the arsenal of anyone who hates spending time preparing meals at the end of a hectic day at work etc.  Having my sensational stew up your sleeve will impress dinner guests, fill up your family at low expense to you, and more importantly, will be a tasty way to load you up with vitamins and minerals....which can only be a good thing.

So, thanks for coming back today to pick up where we left off.  After a short trip around our local supermarket, scouring the shelves for special offers and low budget ingredients I am happy to say I kept today's exciting meal under 15 Quid (15GBP) - which is a result considering the ingredients.

Same Ingredients, Different Dish...

Versatile Cooking - Pumpkin Soup

BURRRR! ETD-ers..  


It's been a cold couple of weeks here in the northern hemisphere, and I'm using this chill-out as a perfect inspiration to make some classic winter warmers for my Versatile Cooking Series.  In brief, I'm attempting to use the same ingredients to make multiple dishes.  During this time of festive austerity, I want to show the non-believers that good home cooking can be simple and easy on the bank balance.  Simply stock your cupboards with some core ingredients and get stuck into my recipes!   


Having selected garlic, onions, carrots and celery to be the heart and soul of this blog, I've decided to kick it all off with a classic - Pumpkin Soup.  The way I make this uses very simple ingredients, and is a great way to get those all important vitamins and minerals into a healthy meal that's effortless to prepare and has heaps of options for garnishing...Let's get started!

Pumpkin Soup =)

Versatile Cooking

THREE MORE SLEEPS...
....until Christmas, ETD Readers!

Winnie and I have had such a busy 2011; all of our travelling, the numerous trains, buses, planes (and camels), the amazing people we've met along the way... delicious, interesting and honestly terrible food we've eaten on our way... It all humbles me to my core.  

Cooking on the roadside!

Living as we have done, on a lean budget is a slight overstatement... on a shoestring still doesn't cut it.  This has been a year of WinGaz living on a tiny thread!  We've pruned away our overindulgences and we've learnt what really matters to us is friendship, family and community.

As this year's Christmas period draws ever closer I have started to see the over commercialism of what the "festive season" has started to become for so many: Overeating, Greed, Overspending and money, money, money.

Last night I was watching a television show, "2011, The Year the Earth went Wild", a documentary that was highlighting the various natural disasters that have afflicted the world this year...so far.  There's been the terrible floods and cyclones in Australia, the snows, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, volcano eruptions, lightening storms and how can we ever forget the tsunamis, and earthquakes in New Zealand, Japan and Turkey.  Through it all what has constantly surprised me has been the spirit of humans, pulling together to find light at the end of the tunnel.  All this disaster and destruction has left me thinking.  Being back in the UK for Christmas, returning from Egypt early due to the civil unrest and lack of tourism -  not to mention a family funeral, has allowed me to direct my energies to the things that are important to me.

Cooking for family is important to me

As I mentioned earlier, Winnie and I are living on the tightest budget, watching everyone overspend has probably been more obvious to us - when you have nothing you cannot spend it, but you know how to make what you've got go a lot further.  It's this, plus my recent re-inspiration to get back in the kitchen that has inspired me to put together a festive series of posts that are aimed at wasting less and making what we've got go further - my version of "Versatile Cooking".

What is Versatile Cooking?

To me, versatile cooking is being able to use a set of core ingredients to make multiple dishes, its using leftovers to create exciting new dishes and of course it is about saving money and stretching every pound (or dollar).

So I have decided to talk about a set of core ingredients, then put together a series of recipes that I have come up with, thanks to my two favourite chefs (Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson).... 

Inspired by Jamie & Nigella, Perfected by Gaffa!

So, here's what I'll be using as my "Core Ingredients":

1. Onions
2. Carrots
3. Celery
4. Garlic

Simple, Core Ingredients

Garlic, Onion, Celery & Carrot

Next I'll rummage the aisles of my local supermarket, and take the usual ingredients we normally stack our cupboard shelves with (tinned tomatoes, stock cubes, veggies that are in season, some fresh herbs, some jars of spices and booze), then, I'll try to create multiple meals using my versatile cooking ideas.

So, Stay Tuned...

Christmas Cooking Fun!

Inspiration: the Pursuit of Happiness

G’Day ETDers!

It’s been a very hectic couple of weeks for Team WinGaz and today we’re taking a well-earned rest to recover our aching bodies from long-distance hiking in the Scottish Highlands, Snowboarding lessons, and the various other activities we’ve been blogging about (this was written while we were in Glasgow). I have decided to take the ETD baton and let Winnie (who is currently sleeping) recuperate in peace.

So today, whilst we are at peace and relaxing, I hope that you can all find some time to take a few minutes to sit back and find peace in your own way. On that note, I would like to share some of my thoughts on another Lululemon derived inspirational quote:

“The pursuit of happiness is the source of all unhappiness”

Snowboarding at Sno!Zone

WHAAAAAAAAAA!

That my Eat Travel Diver’s is the sound a scuba diver makes when hurtling down the slopes on a snowboard. You might even hear the “OHHH CRAP… BOOM SHHHHHH! Burrrr…ha ha ha!!!” as the same scuba diver crash lands on his butt, slides down the slope and sprays freezing cold icy snow in his face, for the millionth time. Well imagine two of said scuba divers spending an entire day doing the same…

On our bums...a regular position!

Well, It is a lot like taking a fish out of water and pushing it down a hill. The poor fish slaps about whilst twisting and turning all over the hillside…total carnage. Put two fishes into the mix and it gets messier.

In our infinite wisdom, and in an attempt to get “cooler than we already are”, Winnie and I decided to book up a series of lessons in snowboarding. The first lesson was a 3hr fast track for beginners. The second session was a 3hr fast track taking beginners to intermediate/recreational (and therefore safe) level. Having this signed off means getting slope time in various SNO!Zone locations, and the possibility of having a winter pursuit that we can develop together as we travel, and when we return to Australia…bring on the snow!

Happy Birthday GAFFA!

To my dearest sugar plum,
Happy Twenty Eleven Birthday!
Hope it is all you want it to be and more!
Love from your darling sweet pea.
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Edinburgh, Scotland

Further north we go! Across the English border and into Scotland - first stop, Edinburgh. We were here for 4 days. Edinburgh is a very cool city - I think Gaffa found Edinburgh to be much better than he had accounted for!!!  Edinburgh has heaps of history, and is proud of that.  The Scottish people were really helpful, and very welcoming to us.  Edinburgh is part of the Lowlands region of Scotland, basically there's 4 main areas: Lowlands, Highlands, Speyside and Isla - all based around the Whisky Distilleries!!

On day 1 we walked up what we thought was Arthur's Seat, basically a very large mountain in the city. But later we found out it was actually the cragg infront of Arthur's Seat. It had great views over Edinburgh.

The mountain that we climbed

Hadrian's Wall and Newcastle, England

We arrived fairly late to our accomodation, and thankfully the Greenhead Hotel was still serving up dinner. After a nice hot meal, we rested in our camping barn accommodation.