RustyRaven

One advantage to a toothless cat, bites are not something I need to be concerned about! You might like to pass on to Ted how lucky he is to have a heater to sit on, Miss Meow is not provided with such luxuries.

Miss Meow will volunteer to eat them for him. Miss Meow is currently very unhappy with the portion sizes of her meals at the moment, and is rather disgruntled that I keep picking up Mr Woof's excess dry food and not letting her eat that either.

It's a bit like when your employer pays part of your pay to the ATO in anticipation of future tax. If the company distributes money they have already paid tax on you will have a dividend that is paid directly to you, plus an amount that has been paid in tax. Fully franked means the company has paid tax on the whole lot, partially franked means they only paid tax on a part of it. When you come to do your tax return the ATO will work out how much you actually owe (based on the tax rate for your income) and either ask for a bit more tax or refund the extra.

I think last time I made waffles I must have done a half batch. This time I did a full batch and I now have 16 waffles in the freezer for future consumption, along with a couple in my tummy.

I also stewed up my remaining apples and pears with some spice & brown sugar, a couple of serves are in the freezer, one was eaten on the waffles and one is waiting to be topped with yoghurt for a future snack. I'm starting to run out of room in the freezer!

I made the camembert and cherry muffins. The texture is great, but the flavour is a bit incipid. I tasted a bit of the dip first and was underwhelmed by that too, so it is not very surprising. It should be fine for a snack warmed with a bit of butter, or could accompany a soup or stew. 6/10, I'll eat them, but wouldn't make them again.

I try to harness my more enthusiastic moments to make extra to freeze or preserve for the future so I can pull out easy meals when I don't have the energy. Things like extra cheese sauce are especially good, because it doesn't take much more effort to make a big batch than a small one.

I think I have my menu plan sorted for the next few days, which should clear out everything perishable from the fridge before I am away for a few days next week. I've also fully cleared out the vegetable drawer, which was nowhere near as bad as I feared - I did find some very gooey celery and some tomatoes that were more liquid than solid. I'm going to freeze a few things I have excess of (cauliflower & leek bake, some mushrooms and some stewed apple & pear) and have put some excess bananas in the freezer for future cooking. Plus I'll be freezing the planned camembert and cherry muffins. This whole "cook everything from scratch and focus on reducing food waste" hobby is very labour intensive some days!

I'll have a fancy fruit juice concoction with a twirly straw please.

Buying lollies that way would also have been great for developing kid's basic math skills.

I think it is savoury with a touch of sweetness. Crackers and wine would work, but is probably not the best option to scoff the lot like that myself...

It's the sweet bit that limits what it goes with. If it was onion or something instead of cherry it could be used for things like a baked potato, with eggs or a much wider range of sandwich fillings. Plus the use by date is today, so I can't really spread out using it up much.

I almost took the lazy route and skipped the free food market this morning, but it turned out to be a good day and I got lots of good vegies. I also got some camembert and cherry dip I'm not sure what to do with. I'm thinking either using as a filling in some pastry, or muffins. I'm leaning towards muffins as pastry is more hassle.

Nice looking day today, I really need to try and get outside for a bit. I should probably pull some weeds while I'm out there too. Or clean the back paving, it's gotten quite gunky and slippery.

I received my first ever order from Ali Express yesterday. Their website is quite dreadful to deal with, but I managed to get some thread I've been struggling to get from any Australian suppliers. Some sewing needles I bought were not all the right type, and I got a refund without having to return - which is nice, because 4 out of 5 were right, and the others I can use eventually, just not what I wanted.

It is frustrating how expensive sewing notions are in Australia, it is generally much cheaper to buy ready made items than the materials to make it yourself.