Author: Fee Writes

I Have A New Toy.

I Have A New Toy.

Oooooo – doing the “happy dance” … because my new toy arrived this morning!!!!

cd_56dfbef82d07eActually, the courier arrived at 7.30 a.m. – I mean to say, my day off and the bloody doorbell rings – who does that??? Oh yes, couriers!!!

But, even though I fell (literally) out of my bed, grabbed my dressing gown, nearly tripping on the belt as I staggeredly rushed to get to the door before the courier thought no-one was home.  Alright, so, “staggeredly” isn’t a word – but it’s the best way I can describe it.

“Sign here” he said as he thrust the machine that was upside down at me. “Where?” I blindly asked as I hadn’t put on my glasses in the rush to get to the door. I mean a girl has to be decent and the dressing gown was all I could think to throw on. But sign I did ‘cause there in all it’s glory was ……. the parcel I’d been waiting for!!!! Well, more like a big box which I had to slide over the floor.
No time for celebration just yet, or opening it up – I had to get back to bed to see if I could finish off the damn good dream I was in the middle of.

When I finally got round to opening it up – it was heaven.
01
Let me back the truck up here a bit. You see, dear reader, I have wanted to get a food processor that would, not only make my chickpea patties, but also blend my cashew nut cream to a smooth, creamy consistency.

Those who know me well, know that I have been asking everyone “what type of food processor have you got?” and, I must admit, there was a short-list happening.  Yeah-nah – (kiwi slang for those foreign readers – you know who you are), I was still hesitating.

Then – I was at the food fest the other day (Read about it here), and the wonderful lady who made my smoothie told me to come and look at the machine after I kindly asked what it was really like.
Wow … commercial grade – complete system … brand, etc later ….. and as they were using it constantly day in, day out, she said it was awesome.
Full on technology with smart stuff buttons, like it does the work for you, and yes, it could crush the bejesus out of ice with one blade and yet still kneed by pasta dough with another.
More due diligence was called for.

A day on the internet showed me the cheapest price, then off to the store to really check it all out.  Decision made – online purchase on Sunday afternoon brought the courier knocking at my door on Tuesday morning.

02

Check out the blades on this thing!!!!!  Now that’s what I call heavy duty. You may not be able to see them, but there are three sections of blades going up the shaft.

Now I have everything in the one machine – Nutri-Ninja bullet (like Bobbi’s and Jo’s), Smoothie/Juice blitzer (like Caitlin and Amy) and Food processor (like …. mmmm – ME).

But wait, I can hear you whispering there – “soooooo, what has she made?”

I’ve used all three –

1.  My famous hummus with added caramelised onions in the processor

2.  Cashew nut and coconut curry sauce in the bullet

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and #3. Using the smoothie thingy this was the very first thing I made. Well, one has to get one’s priorities right Pina Colada! I was so anxious to sit and savour, forgot to take a photo until the end!!!  (Also see the feature image at the top)
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Here’s the plug for the department store Farmers where I bought my awesome Ninja System and I see that the price has gone up – well done, me!

Before I go – as a little aside. Was having coffee the other day and saw this stopped at the lights. Look carefully in the box – do I hear an “awwww” ???

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Awesome Afternoon

Awesome Afternoon

What an awesome afternoon spent at the food fest put on by Envirohub at the Historic Village (Tauranga).

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The weather could not have been more perfect.

My sweet friend, Marielle, who runs the Envirohub ship, asked if I’d lend a hand.  Not that I was that much help because I spent a great deal of time talking to lots of different peeps that I met. But I did sell a few raffle tickets, got some donations and even managed to encourage those fit enough to have a crack at the biking smoothie machine.

The day was about sustainable backyards with talks on growing, eating and composting food e.g. worm farming, edible weeds and clean eating (right up my alley). There was music too and the day ended with a great percussion group, (sorry, can’t remember the name of them but they were great fun).

I’ll let the rest of the photos do the talking for me ….

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A great family day out
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What have you got there?
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Yup, they’d nicked the sign … such fun!!!
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Making a Smoothie ….
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Via Pedal Power!!!
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There’s that sign again
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A great colour filled day!!!!

This is a great organization and one to support – check out their website:  Envirohub

 

 

 

 

 




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Moved Out …. For Now

Moved Out …. For Now

My time with Ginge has come to and end.  Well, for the moment.

I’m now home and back with my view. Loved being on my own, but also enjoy the company of my friend. Nice to have someone to have a wine with.

It was a great sit and Ginge was real easy to look after. We became good friends, even to the point that he’d come into my room in the morning and make himself at home …. on my clothes!

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Bless Him!!!

He’s not a cat that jumps on your knee, but he’s loving just the same.

cd_56d397404e717The drive to work was a tad longer, but not too bad. Although coming down a hill to be faced with a queue … not exactly fun. But I always got to work on time.

At least the weather stayed fine, and I was able to hula hoop every day – up to 10 minutes without pause (pats self on back).

Home now for about three weeks before I sit again and the good news is that I’m booked up until mid September and this three weeks is the longest I’ll be here at my digs.

Of course, the highlight was not Ginge, but having my daughter, Amy, home from Sydney for about five days. The joyous news was that she and her partner climbed the Mount to welcome in the dawn and there he proposed to her …. ring and all! How romantic.

Had a wonderful day out with her on Monday and checked out the op-shops at Greerton.  Did you know there’s a piano in the street? Super fun and loved the fact that Amy sat down to play a little – that’s my girl!!!!

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I will leave you with something I saw the other day on the side of a van …. love it.

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Will They Ever Get It Right?

Will They Ever Get It Right?

Oh Pill-ease, you have got to be kidding me!

McD’s are at it again with their attempt to disguise the fact that their food is just plain and simply unhealthy. Hell, even when they try to be healthy, they mess it up.

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They are now jumping on the food fad of kale. Don’t they know, kale is so last year as 2016 heralds foods from turmeric to seriously upgraded oatmeal and the real “new” is Koji (koh-jee) which is just rice that’s been inoculated with the koji mold, (this is what’s used to make miso and soy sauce).

But before you dash out to your nearest golden arches, be warned because it transpires that the new salad, with all its trimmings, has more fat, more calories, and less protein than a Big Mac.

How can they get it so wrong?

 

 

 

 

 




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Environmental Madness?

Environmental Madness?

A wee while ago there was quite some hoohar that went down when Donald Trump decided he wanted to build a golf course and resort thingy in Scotland. He promised loads of jobs and huge increase in the income of the area – the Government of the day fell for it.

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The Great Dunes of Scotland

In a nut shell, he talked his way into obtaining land that was set among the Great Dunes along the Aberdeenshire coastline, like, 4000 year old dunes designated as a special environment site!

Now we know how delicate the ecosystem is when it comes to dunes, so, as you can imagine there was a lot of people who didn’t want the Trump Meister building.

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The wind farms were not a good sight for Trumpy

But build he did. One poor farmer got a whole heap of dirt piled up so his view was blocked just because he wouldn’t sell out (dirt later removed through court action).  Trumpy even wanted to get the Government to seize the surrounding farms, but under Scottish law, couldn’t be done.
The real trouble came when the Scots decided they would build a wind farm out at sea right opposite the golf course. This was just too much for Trump and he tried to sue the government which didn’t get him anywhere.

The upshot was that he threw his toys out of the cot and basically up and walked off the project. There’s now just a club-house and a golf course there, very few people use it but the sad part is that the ecosystem is stuffed.

So where’s this leading to I hear you ask. Back here to N.Z.

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The beauty of the McKenzie Country

If you’re a New Zealander reading this you will know, or at least have heard, about the McKenzie Country. That gorgeous ecosystem in central South Island, most of which is owned by us, the public, and leased out as pastoral land. Some of this area provides habitat for several rare birds and fish including the black stilt, NZ Falcon, Canterbury galaxid (fish) and long-finned eel.

It is one of the most pristine areas of New Zealand (God knows we need to hang onto them) because it abounds with lakes, tussocks and environmental beauty.

Not only are there moves to sell off some of it to the private sector but now pastures of green turf have begun to appear to support a growing dairy industry in the area.

 

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“Crop circles” of irrigated pasture for dairy cows
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N.Z. the land of milk and … milk

The, forever money hungry, dairy industry is not content with the existing farms, but is hell bent, it seems, on destroying all the ecological and environmental delicacies that N.Z. has.

Sort of Trump style – no consideration at all even though there has been opposition from high country farmers, community boards, environmentalists, fisheries, forest & bird, tourist operators even hunters to no avail – the dairy farms came and continue to come.

And the impact they have made already is so sad. The problem is that these farms need water and so they are drawing from local lakes and already the impact has been felt.

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The water is being sucked out.

Where once there were water filled ponds and small lakes – the reservoirs are drying up. The large lakes are still o.k. …. but if the dairy continues to grow – well, I’ll leave you to ask the questions.

What will become of the MacKenzie Agreement? This is a landmark document developed over the past couple of years by farmers, environmentalists, tourist operators, businesses and the community which is designed to protect the special values of this area.

It seems that nothing stands in the way of the dairy industry. The irony is that dairy payouts to farmers has fallen dramatically and if this keeps up there’s every likelihood that we’ll see a repeat of the 80’s when greed overtook sensibility and the kiwifruit crashed causing many to just walk off their orchards.

Today many dairy farmers are facing similar outcomes. Suicide rates have increased and perhaps we’ll see abandoned farms which, unfortunately, have already left their destructive footprint on our environment

Source for this post:  Newshub
Source for Featured image:  Mackenzie Country Communication

 

 

 

 

 




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About Me

fee o'shea

Thanks for dropping by. My name is Fee O’Shea. I’m a mother and grandma, an author, and a Comedy Improver.
This blog is for my thoughts, my rants, raves, reviews and things that have grabbed my attention. From politics to social media to beauty, health and the environment. Fee’s World Over Coffee is written to bring you a smile or get you thinking. Enjoy.

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