Rum & Dal

As a birthday gift from Parm and Sian this year, Rum and I received a popcorn maker for the new house.  The idea was we wait until December, have a movie night and enjoy some freshly made popcorn.  Well we couldn’t wait.  It was a nice idea but we simply couldn’t hold out till the house was ready, we had to use it!  It took Rum about a minute to get it out of the box and to plug it in.  Lights on, camera running and action in about 5 minutes.

We let it run for about 3 minutes for the kettle to warm up, added 2 teaspoons of oil, 1 scoop of popcorn and that was it. Popcorn was popping out of the kettle and the room was smelling like a cinema foyer. Two scoops later we had half a bucket of popcorn and a very smiley Rum!

Cleaning it was no big deal, one wet wipe and one dry wipe.  Job done and ready for next time :)  All we need now is to get some popcorn oil and popcorn flavours… this time it was salted… my favourite. Right, I am off to find a toothpick!!!  View video below.

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Happy Birthday Dal

Not quite the same when you not at home in the UK, having a few drinks and home made somosa.

However Dal celebrated her birthday at work.  As you can see from the grin I think she ate most of the cake.  Thanks Mae for making a lovely cake.

All the best for the future

As you all know we are in the process of building a house out here in Oz.  One of the rooms will be a dedicated home cinema room, something we aren’t quite used to back home yet.  The audio and Visual kit is not quite finalised but one thing is for sure the cinema room will boast a 105″ screen

We have been thinking about the first few films that will “showing”.  First films for sure will be the Alien Trilogy and Terminator 2 somthing that will test the 12″ sub woofer.

The Xbox360 will be talking up most of the airtime.  Dal will be jamming on Guitar Hero whilst i’ll be at my witts end playing Bioshock and Forza.

Bollywood movies? yeah we’ll have to put a few of these on.  Sholay a must and Devdas just to see the beautiful sets that were so colourful and detailed.

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Raksha Bandhan is the celebration of brother sister relationship. The sibling relationship is nowhere so celebrated as in India. The day when the siblings pray for each others’ well being and wish for each others’ happiness and goodwill. As the name ‘Raksha Bandhan’ suggests, ‘a bond of protection’, Raksha Bandhan is a pledge from brothers to protect the sister from all harms and troubles and a prayer from the sister to protect the brother from all evil. The festival falls on the Shravan Purnima (full moon day of shravan month) which comes generally in the month of August. The sisters tie the silk thread called rakhi on their brother’s wrist and pray for their well being and brothers promise to take care of their sisters. The festival is unique to India creates a feeling of belongingness and oneness amongst the family. Though now it is considered as a brother and sister festival, it was not always so. There have been examples in history where in rakhi has just been a raksha or protection. It could be tied by wife, a daughter or mother. The Rishis tied rakhi to the people who came seeking their blessings. The sages tied the sacred thread to themselves to safe guard them from the evil. It is by all means the ‘Papa Todak, Punya Pradayak Parva’ or the day that bestows boons and end all sins as it is mentioned in the scriptures. Rakhi for many centuries encompassed the warmth shared between the siblings but now it goes way beyond it.

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8 years today and still going strong.  Having fun in Australia, we went out for a meal after soccer with our mate Luke.  Had a few drinks as usual and got home at a reasonable hour! We’ll celebrate more on the weekend and will let you know how it goes, but I am sure you all know the drill by now

We did it, one whole year and what a fantastic year it has been.  Managed to get good jobs within weeks of landing made some good friends and our house is well under construction.

Yes that’s right; we have been here for one year today. The year has sailed past with no major glitches.  There have been high points and low point, but not so many of the low.  Many of you thought we would be back in six months and I bet you thought we were back for good when we turned up last Christmas, but that only encouraged us and made us stronger, we truly believe we made the right decision.  Though we miss everyone back in the UK the webcam is only a switch away.  Will we ever come back home, who knows; the adventure has only just begun.

We have been lucky enough to make some great friends, friends from Japan, Malaysia, Russia, Germany, Philippines, China, and many more; sharing their stories, culture and food.

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