melvania

A few weeks ago I decided, what the heck, I'll allow comments on my site just like everyone else does. But nobody made comments and I wondered why. Does nobody read what I have to say?

However, today I have sorted out the problem (not that it was a problem at all, really). And here is how you can post comments:

1. You must be a registered user of beldin.org. Yes, this means your normal login/password into beldin.org servers, footy tipping site, and admin site will work on this site as well. The ONLY exception to this is bannerland.org passwords, which are on a separate system to the rest of our network. If you have only a bannerland login, you WILL need a new login to post on this site.

2. If you do not have a beldin.org username & password, you can sign up here. However, if you sign up using this method, I cannot guarantee that you'll be able to sign into other beldin.org websites.

3. To actually post a comment, you'll have to click on the title of the article or the little "comments?" at the bottom right of the article, then once you get there, click the "Post comment" button at the bottom of the article.

Now we get down to the really important stuff.

4. All spam comments WILL BE DELETED.

5. Any comment perceived to be offensive or hurtful in any way WILL BE DELETED. The user will be given a warning, and the second offense will result in account deletion.

6. If I want the whole world to know I fed the dog raw pizza dough when I was eleven*, I'll tell them myself. You don't need to do it for me.

7. If I find excessive abuse of this commenting system happening, I'll turn it off because it won't be worth the time and stress.

Note: * Yes, I really did.

I never knew there were so many kinds of rice. Thanks to immigrants from Asia and Italy, in an Australian supermarket, you have long grain white rice, medium grain white rice, jasmine rice, basmati rice, arborio rice, brown rice, and possibly others that I haven't seen yet. I have yet to see a package of rice that simply says "rice."

In American supermarkets, you see three main types of rice: white rice, brown or wild rice (which are rare enough to group them together) and Minute Rice.

Minute Rice? Yes. Minute Rice. Which bears little resemblance to actual rice, because it's processed in such a way that you only need to boil it for five minutes and it's ready to eat. Terribly convenient, easy, quick, and unhealthy. When I lived alone, I loved Minute Rice. I had it once or twice a week. I wouldn't touch the stuff now even if I was eating rice.

A few months ago friends introduced us to this show about a deranged bookshop owner. We liked it. It is now back on the ABC in Australia. I don't know if it's been on PBS yet in the US, but if you know where to look you can find episodes online. Or you can buy the full set from Amazon UK, if you own a regionless DVD player.

1. Roasts. Put big chunk of meat into pan. Season if desired. Cover pan with a lid or aluminum foil. Leave it in a 300 F/150 C oven for about an hour per pound/500 grams.

2. Soup. Throw meat, veggies, spices, whatever into a big pot. Fill with water. Cook till done.

3. Chicken pieces. Put chicken pieces on a baking sheet (parchment paper is a good idea if it isn't or used to be a non-stick sheet). Sprinkle with chicken salt. Cook about an hour at 400 F/200 C.

4. Lamb or pork chops. Fry. Eat.

5. Water. Pour into glass and drink.

6. My favourite at the moment: hot chocolate. Put about 1 teaspoon of regular cocoa in a normal sized cup/mug. Fill halfway with boiling water. Stir. Fill the rest of the way with cream or milk. Add about 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla and sweetening to taste.