Recently in Blog Happy Category

This whole new Movable Type 4 kinckers drawer (ahem... back end) that I'm using to manage this site these days has introduced a whole new business end as far as comments are concerned...  Here's a little tutorial in case you've been a bit stuck on how to do it!!

You can use the 'sign in' option.   For the first time you'll have to select the 'sign up' option and put in all your details and basically sign in to be a member on this site.  I'll approve you as a commenter and next time you come back it should remember you and you won't need to put details in in future!

If you don't wish to sign up to this site then you can sign in anonymously, by which you do your usual name, email, and site info, click remember me and comment as you've always done...

The other business of OpenID and so on is a bit of a mystery to me... I'll figure that out in due course and let you know how it works...

Oh, and if when you've signed in to comments and you're good to go and you want your own little photo/avatar to show up next to your comments you need to go to http://en.gravatar.com/ with your pic in your hand and sign up for your globally recognized avatar... THEN... whenever you sign in with the email address you used to sign up to gravatar it will appear in the comments here (or any other gravatar enabled site)... (oh, and if you have a gravatar that isn't showing up you might want to check which email address you're using to sign in here...).

So, there you go... Singular Scene Commenting 101! Now that you know how... why not show me some comment love!!!

Well, this flying visit to NZ has been everything I could have hoped for.  Great friends, the odd spot of decent wine, all my favourite nieces and nephews and sibs and all and a whole bunch of friends.  Oh and fabulous presents!!!  I'll blog with photos when I get home tomorrow evening, in the mean time I'm savouring every last second with my family ...  Thanks for all the fabulous birthday wishes on facebook and phone... I'm feeling the love. Thanks!

I'm tip toeing round a big 'Wheeeeeeee!' because the changes you're seeing right about now in this here humble blog are due to my step up to MT4(Movable Type).  And my tiptoeing is because my pain free install has not been shared by 'our Fi' over at Kiwifruit.... waaaaaaah.  I know when hers is good and going we'll both be extolling its virtues... so send lots of positive vibes Fi's way so that she's back in top form in very short order!!

Do you like the new me?  In truth the latest incarnation of me probably ought to be more sophisitcated given my maturing years ,but this little lady was just too 'me' to leave langushing in my files... the Mac, the sofa, the brunette... sadly the diminutive stature isn't quite 'true to form', ah well, you can't have it all... I wish I could say I drew her but I suck at drawing and I'd bought her at istock to use in my birthday party invitations... I found something else that suited those better but I couldn't bear not to use this illo somewhere else... here seemed a fitting place...

There are a few changes that will creep in in the next few days... I've got to get my flickr button back in, among other things... but for now relax, enjoy the new atmosphere at SS.  And let me know if having the comments links at the top of the entry is a pain in the proverbial... I'll move those entry details if they're inconveniently placed to the general consensus...

I'm chuckling.

It has been since long before my trip away that I had seen any comments from my usual contributors so I was thinking this travel blogging was letting the side down and causing a revolt... seemed like the usual contingent was staying away in droves!!!

Now it's no secret that I'm pretty useless at interpreting Movable Type's comment/spam mechanism. I can never find the happy medium between moderating everything or allowing everything... So all the commenty goodness that showed up today was because all you lovely commenters have been hiding in my junk folder.

It's fortuitous that Antipo has such a distinctive signature else I may well have absently deleted the lot... which would have been a scandal...

Needless to say I'm delighted you are all still reading... and commenting...

And tomorrow we shall return to our regularly scheduled travelogue... though I should point out that I'm off to pastures green on Friday with a visit to the bosom of my family (that was for you Antipo) and as such normal transmission may be a little interrupted...

I could be writing a long blog post about how gorgeous it is down here in Victoria, Apollo Bay to be precise. It is, and I'll post photos when I've got more battery reserve... I'm running a little low and am in a dodgy internet cafe getting a fix clearing email.

Holidaying is lovely. Hope you're getting a chance to do it...

Oh, and as it's New Years Eve may I wish my Grandma Mabel a Happy 99th birthday and to the rest of you?

HAPPY NEW YEAR... see you sometime in '08.

I can relax...

**

1. My job list at 'real job' is ticked off with two teeny 'can fix from home' exceptions.
2. The staff Christmas Lunch (which felt a LOT like a wedding, given the speeches we sat through) is done and dusted and was gorgeous.
3. There's enough money in the bank not to stress on holiday... if we eat lots of salad (and make it ourselves).
4. The flat is being well looked after (and eagerly anticipated) by Ooh La La who'll be great company for the cat... They were introduced today and will have lots of lovely fun together... (she says hopefully).
5. The Christmas fudge is made (I have photos for you but haven't had time to tweak and upload... will do on the w/e) and mostly delivered.
6. The weather is warm.
7. The library is open tomorrow.

I still have a bunch of things to do
1. Make Cheesecake for Christmas Dinner, will have to do that on Christmas Eve... which reminds me...
12. ... buy ingredients for cheesecake, and other holiday requirements.
13. Buy Christmas gifts for those I'll be seeing before Christmas. (saving others for sneaky post Christmas Sale shopping).
14. Go to the Library and get lots of lovely holiday reading.
15. Buy film for the Ultra-Wide and Slim...

... but these are all low stress items. I'm shooting two events this weekend so am looking forward to having that over but by and large I'm feeling the relaxation creeping up on me... to the point I'm sitting here yawning my head off... pity I'm on my way out for the evening... I could conk out right now!!!

Won't be a late one then.

** Image captured at the Christmas Lunch - beautiful restaurant called Orso. On Middle Harbour.

I got productive today, eventually.

I ended up staying late the office because I wasn't going to get anything done unless I knuckled down and committed to it. Too bad it took until 4pm to get it going on.

I'm getting a bit excited, I've got a guy coming in on Sunday to give us the keys to a new CMS for our website and I am ecstatic that I'm finally going to get a chance to clean up and to play with some proper code... at the moment the back end is really embarrassing (if you're a code head, of course...).

So, in spite of the fact there's a major exodus going on at work, things are not ideal right now and I'm not sure what the future looks like there.

It was a good day.

I've been after a bit of baking lately, the cupboards are a bit bare as I'm not partial to shopping and come dinner time, after I've done away with my main I'm often after a bit of something sweet to finish.

I know, hardly good for the upholstery but good for the soul, I'm sure you'll agree.

So this week I've been hit by the bakery bug twice and to salve my conscience just a little I've eaten my fill of my chosen treat and taken the rest to work to share, because I might as make my workmates souls a bit lighter, even if their butts won't be...

So this week's offerings were Hokey Pokey biscuits and Coconut Chocolate Brownies, recipes courtesy of that bastion of good NZ home cooking, the Edmonds Cookbook...

The Hokey Pokey biscuits were rather lovely but the Brownies? Sublime. So, because I love you, I'm going to share the recipe here...

125g butter
1/4 c cocoa
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla essence (5ml)
1/2 c coconut
1/2 c plain baking flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder.

Now, the Edmonds book says use Edmonds flour and Edmonds Baking Powder... that's bogus, but allowed because it is the Edmonds book after all... you can use whatever the heck brand you like. I sure did. Because I don't live in NZ and can't get hold of the 'proper' brand...

Anyway...

Melt the butter in a medium (sized) saucepan. Add cocoa and stir over LOW heat for 1-2 minutes. (I used a balloon whisk to stir it to make sure there are no lumps).
Remove from heat. Stir in sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition (the balloon whisk works well at this point too!!). Beat in vanilla and coconut (I used coarse shredded coconut rather than the common or garden variety dessicated coconut, it added great texture). Sift flour and BP. Stir into mixture. Pour into greased and lined shallow 20cm square cake tin. Bake at 180deg C for 30-35 minutes. Leave in tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. Cut into bars when cold and dust with Icing (confectioners) sugar.

Makes 16 (which of course, depends on how big you cut it... I used a round tin as I'd nothing else and cut it up v small, they were so awesome, I'm all set for round 2).

So there you go, NaBlo day 10 and a free recipe for all... aren't you lucky??!!