Arnott’s Shapes Savoury
October 11, 2023 at 14:08 | Posted in biscuits | 1 CommentTags: Arnott's, biscuit, savoury, shapes
I would have assumed I have reviewed these before, but apparently not. Or maybe I have, and can’t find the review. But it’s time to look at Savoury Shapes – one of the quartet of original flavours alongside Pizza, Barbeque and Chicken Crimpy. (and looking for the links, I see I’ve never done Pizza either! Oh noes!)
The premise here is sort of odd. It’s a snack that has no flavour as such, no real distinguishing feature except to say that it is not-sweet. The biscuits are a range of geometric shapes, and not really like the other Shapes – they are thinner, harder and more crunchy. They also do not really have much ‘flavour you can see’ on them. Maybe ‘savoury’ doesn’t really need much flavour.
But what do they taste like? I hear you cry. Well, erm, sort of, erm, savoury. Not lip-smackingly, umami-hitting, tenderise-the-inside-of-your-mouth savoury. More just sort of, erm, not sweet. You know, a bit salty, a bit seasoned. On a biscuit. They really are very unremarkable. Remarkably unremarkable in fact.
I actually don’t think they are that good. I’m going to give them a three out of ten. They are just very very boring.
A jaunt to Watson’s Bay
October 3, 2023 at 20:15 | Posted in bicycles | Leave a commentTags: bicycke, bike, cycling, domane, trek
I rode the new bike to Watson’s bay. This is a ride I quite like, although it has become something of a barometer of my fitness. I also realised, reading my older blog entries, that I go on and one about this endlessly. In reality, I’m not as obsessed with either fitness of my age as this blog would seem to indicate. Or maybe I am, and am in denial.
Anyway, it was lovely. The hills rolled by underneath my wheels very satisfactorily, the sun was shining, and everything was good. After I rode back up the hill out of the bay, I wanted to go further, to went along to Bondi, and then did some laps of Centennial Park. I then turned home, and could have happily continued riding further, but I had to do family things.
It is this kind of riding this fancy bike is so good for. You really can just ride all day; it’s very comfortable and easy. For commuting, it’s slightly less than ideal. I mean, it’s good, but actually the fixie is sort of better (gearing aside). The Trek is just a bit twitchy when fiddling around in traffic. But on a longer rider with less slaloming through the urban fabric, it’s marvellous.
Now I need to plan some longer adventures!
Yet another new bike!
September 26, 2023 at 13:41 | Posted in bicycles | Leave a commentTags: bicycle, cycling, family, trek
There has been another new bicycle in the Chillikebab household! Chillikebab Jnr the 2nd outgrew their 24 inch wheeler, and as it was birthday time, wanted to upgrade to some fancier new wheels.
Of course, Dad was not going to stand in the way – even if they did like the most expensive bike in the shop. Ah well. It’s a rather grand Trek mountain bike. I did have the conversation about more practical urban tyres, the advisability of complex suspension forks and the like but they were adamant that this bike was the one they liked best, that rode the best, and that they would have it.
We’ve been out on a couple of rides together, and it is fun – the new bike is faster, and we can ride together much better. Chillikebab Jnr #1 is rather jealous, I feel…
Pemulwuy, The Rainbow Warrior – Eric Willmot
September 20, 2023 at 20:12 | Posted in books | Leave a commentTags: eric willmot, pemulwuy, willmot
The company I work for recently opened a new logistics centre in Pemulwuy, a suburb west of Sydney. Hence ‘I’m just heading over to Pemulwuy’ is an often heard refrain around the office, as well as people asking how to spell it. There was some discussion about the name, and we learned that Pemulwuy was the name of an Aboriginal leader and warrior who fought against the British colonisers who arrived on the First Fleet. Intrigued to know more, I bought this book by scholar and academic Eric Willmot. It is a novelisation of Pemulwuy’s life; based on a well researched history but retold as a narrative.
It is truly an extraordinary story about an extraordinary man. Pemulwuy was a leader of the Eora nation, from the Sydney region, but over his life he united many neighbouring Aboriginal groups in the fight against the British.
If you are ever tempted into that sanitised, revisionist version of Australian history that pretends there was never a war between the British and the First Nation people, this book will remind you of just how bloody and brutal that period of our history was. As the colonists remorselessly spread out from Sydney, killing Indigenous people and appropriating and clearing their land for livestock or crops, Pemulwuy led a fierce resistance, fighting back by burning crops, killing livestock and evading the many search parties and soldiers who were sent to capture or kill him. He was thought to have almost supernatural abilities, and on many occasions evaded capture or survived injuries that should surely have been the end of him.
His luck finally ran out in 1802 when he was shot by a British fighter, Henry Hacking.
I found the first quarter of this book a little hard going, to be honest – the writing style is a bit pedestrian and it took a while to get into. But as the story unfolds it becomes quite gripping. It certainly offers a very personal and different perspective on those early years of the colony.
One thing I also did was look up Eric Willmot. He died quite recently in 2019, and was a truly remarkable man. As an inventor he held a string of patents; he was a great education leader, a broadcaster and writer as well as an Aboriginal leader. I could find very little to read about his life – surely someone can see fit to write his biography?
Awaba Street again
September 7, 2023 at 12:03 | Posted in bicycles | Leave a commentTags: bicycle, cycling
I went for a ride the other day, and found myself tootling around the Mid-North Shore, ending up at Balmoral Beach. Lovely. My ride there, though, took me down Awaba Street. I did not plan this; I just suddenly found myself going down an ever steeper hill towards the ocean.
So after looking at the beach for a few minutes, I wondered what to do next. Well, there was really only one thing I could do next. And that was do back up Awaba Street.
Awaba Street is one of the steepest streets in Sydney, and has a gradient of nearly 30%. Some years ago, when I was a younger man, I rode up it on my fixie. Given that I bought a new fancy bike specifically because the fixie was becoming a bit too much hard work on the hills, I had to find out if I could get up it on the new machine.
Well dear reader, I did get up it. But it did not seem any easier than last time, despite the advantage of carbon-fibre racing gear technology. I still had to duck into that side turning for a quick breather. I’m not sure how I feel about this, to be honest.
As I was going up, gasping for breath, a cyclist came down on the other side of the road. As he passed, he gave me a knowing smile. A smile that said ‘You’re trying to prove something, old man’.
I guess I’ll be back in another 12 years, to prove something else.
Arnott’s Shapes Epic Garlic Bread
September 1, 2023 at 16:36 | Posted in biscuits | Leave a commentTags: Arnott's, garlic bread, shapes, snack
Until today, I did not know that garlic bread could be epic. But apparently it can. And if you google it, you will find many recipes for ‘epic garlic bread’. They vary somewhat, but from what I can gather the difference between regular garlic bread and the epic variety is the addition of cheese. Adding cheese makes it epic, apparently.
Arnott’s, however, do not seem to understand this, as the new ‘Fully Loaded’ Epic Garlic Bread shapes are not cheesy. So there will be some disappointment in the snack aisle. But they do have a saving grace.
Do you remember Shapes Extreme? They were a short-lived but rather brilliant variety of Shapes that I have been hoping will make a come-back. They were different in texture from regular shapes, being lighter and thinner. Well, they are back! Epic Garlic Bread Shapes are the same thinner, crunchier texture as that earlier line. But will the taste live up to the originals?
Well, it’s not bad. It is garlicky, and bready, and herby. When you are eating them, it’s all just a bit of a salty herb confusion, but the aftertaste is very reminiscent of how you feel after eating too much garlic bread. So probably not one to eat just before a date or an important meeting. So pretty good, but not great. I’m going to give them a six out of ten.
Arnott’s Flame Grilled Chicken Shapes
August 25, 2023 at 11:24 | Posted in biscuits | Leave a commentTags: Arnott's, chicken, extreme, shapes
Another day, another Fully Loaded packet of Shapes to try! I must admit, I was trepidatious after the last ‘Fully Loaded‘ experience. But I put aside my reservations and pressed on, dear reader, as part of my mission to bring you the latest in biscuit-related tomfoolery.
Once again, it’s all superlatives on the box, with lurid graphics, and flavour-o-meters pumped to the max. So I was expecting a huge hit of savoury flavour that might bring to mind a seasoned BBQ chicken. Well, spoiler alert – that’s not exactly what you get.
You see, these biscuits taste a lot of lemon. Imagine a BBQ chicken, not especially well seasoned, that someone had then squeezed about four lemons over. This is what it tastes like. I have no idea why Arnott’s believe that chicken should be served with this much lemon – maybe make a note to not go round for a BBQ at Mr Arnott’s house.
That doesn’t mean the biscuits are unpleasant. They are OK, in a lemony sort of way. And certainly better than the revolting cheese ones. But just a bit unexpected. I’m going to give them a five out of ten.
I fell off my bike
August 20, 2023 at 11:57 | Posted in bicycles | Leave a commentTags: bicycle, bike, commuting, cycling, ouch
It happened in an instant, with no warning. BANG. Ouchy. It did not involve any other vehicle, and it wasn’t (really) caused by a driver – I just hit the brakes a bit too hard on a slippery road. And, gallingly, also scratched my fancy new bike.
I was riding past North Strathfield station at the time. They are currently excavating there to build a stop for the new underground metro line, so there is a lot of trucks going in and out filled with dirt. This obviously gets all over the road, and there had been some rain overnight that had turned the dirt into a thin layer of slippery mud.
Because of the construction, the left hand edge of the road is blocked off with a concrete barrier. This can make for an uncomfortable situation if a driver decides to overtake – there’s not much room, things come the other way unexpectedly, and of course there is absolutely nowhere to go if you get squeezed into the curb by an impatient motorist. On the morning in question, there was a car behind me who seemed to be a bit revvy. If you ride a bike you will know what I mean – that sixth sense that says a driver is impatient and might do something silly. Or maybe not – perhaps they were just having problems with their gears. Anyway, I was riding a bit more out in the middle of the road and a bit quicker then usual on that stretch, to discourage a potential unsafe overtake.
As that stretch ends, there is a roundabout. It’s a very elongated one, and it’s extremely rare for drivers to go all the way around it – as it’s virtually a U turn. So as I approached, I assumed that the traffic would peel off to the left, rather than circling all the way around.
Of course, as I approached, a bit quicker than usual, a car did go all the way around. So I had to brake a little more sharply than usual. Possibly I snatched a little and the oh-so-effective disc brakes on the new bike did their thing.
The front wheel locked up and flicked out from under me. The whole thing took maybe a millisecond. I smacked down onto the road with what I like to think would have been a sickening bang. To the credit of both the drivers who play a role in this story, they stopped to check I was OK.
I limped to the side of the road, took a few minutes to gather my composure and check myself over, decided I was fine (albeit very muddy and with some scrapes on my face), so continued to work.
Arriving at work, I realised I had to go up into the office to get my clean clothes. I tried to slip in without being noticed, but of course a mud-covered bleeding person is hard to miss. There was quite some consternation as my colleagues gathered round. Initially to check I was OK, and then subsequently to take photos of me. I sense I was posted to a few social media accounts with captions like ‘check out how my boss arrived at work!‘ and ‘cycling to work is dangerous – shocking pics!‘.
Anyway, I did have some pretty spectacular bruises that took several weeks to fade.
Tubeless tyres don’t work. Period.
August 13, 2023 at 10:22 | Posted in bicycles | 1 CommentTags: bicycle, bike, puncture, tubeless
I have now been riding my fancy new bike for about six months. It’s been a lot of fun; I’ve done more longer rides, gone much faster down the hills and cleaned my bicycle much more often than in the last five years or so. So all in all, this has been a success. Except for one thing.
I have had a lot of punctures. Six, to be precise. That’s a puncture every 4 weeks. Actually a bit worse than that, as we were away on holiday for one of those months. Mrs Chillikebab had to come and rescue me in the car on at least two occasions. On my other bike, that’s only happened once in 15 years.
This is because I don’t get punctures. I used to, years and years ago. But then I discovered 32mm tyres with puncture protection, and now hardly ever get a flat. If I do get one, it’s because of something pretty catastrophic, and it happens very rarely. Like every three years or something.
However, my new fancy bicycle was equipped with the latest puncture-proof technology. No longer must we use (apparently) uncomfortable, heavy puncture-resistant tyres*. Instead we can ride around on lightweight racing tyres which are sealed onto the wheel and do not have an inner tube! That’s right, we can also save a precious few grammes on tubes as well!
So how do they work? Well, they are sort of coated inside with this gloopy latex stuff. I think you actually spray it in via the valve. And if you do get a puncture – some pesky shard of glass pierces the tyre, for example – well, the gloopy stuff sort of oozes out of the hole, hardens, and voila! The puncture is sealed.
This, according to bicycle internet gurus, is fantastic. It offers peace of mind, is maintenance-free, and much easier than faffing around with hard-case tyres and inner tubes.
Well, I can report, dear readers, that this is bollocks. My experiences of tubeless tyres has been one of endless slow punctures, flats that will not reinflate, and having to remove a tyre by the side of the road in order to fit an inner-tube into it. This whole thing simply DOES NOT WORK. I can only assume that people who think it does work have never actually tried proper tyres – you know, the ones that don’t get punctures.
Anyway, today I had finally had enough. I took the bike (replete with yet another flat tyre) to the bike shop, and had them replace the tyres with proper ones. With puncture resistance. And inner tubes.
So at least I can ride again without the fear of being stranded.
*I do not know what an ‘uncomfortable’ tyre is. And I cannot tell the difference between heavy and light tyres. It’s just a tyre. It goes round. Just put more or less air in until it feels right.
More riding on my new bike
March 5, 2023 at 19:37 | Posted in bicycles | Leave a commentTags: bicycle, bike, domane, trek
I went for another ride on my fancy new bike today. I rode out to Manly, which is a bit more hilly than the routes I took last weekend. And, rather marvellously, the Harbour Bridge was closed to traffic (thankfully the cycle lane was open) because of a Pride march that was occurring that morning. It was lovely to see for a number of reasons. Thousands of people celebrating the LGBTQI+ community, all walking together in the sunshine is definitely something to celebrate. The Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, was walking with the crowd, which is also something to celebrate given the anti-trans hate-filled rhetoric coming from other politicians both here and around the world.
The other thing to celebrate was how peaceful the scene was. I don’t mean in the sense of the people being peaceful (although they were, many dressed in extravagant and eye-catching costumes). I mean in terms of the traffic. The historic Sydney Harbour Bridge, beautiful though it is, is an urban traffic sewer. An 8-lane traffic monstrosity that carves though the city, ruining it with the roar of traffic and the small of fumes. But not today. The calmness and peace was very marked. Of course, it is entirely possible that it could be closed to traffic every Sunday. Clearly people were managing. But the car-centric planners of our state are unlikely to be interested, intent as they are on building ever more motorways in the city,
Having got across the bridge, I continued up to Manly. This involves going across the Spit Bridge, which has a steep descent to get there, followed by a steep ascent the other side. My goodness, this new bike of mine is very fast indeed! On the fixie, I basically max out in terms of cadence at about 50kph – I just can’t turn the pedals any faster than that. On this new bike, though, there are gears a-plenty! You can just keep clicking up, until I was hurtling down the hill. The speed limit is 60kph, and I was going faster than the cars. And there was still plenty of room to push the pedals faster. And I must say, the bike handles the speed with aplomb. Very stable, very comfortable. Well, not completely comfortable, to be honest – I got to a point where caution kicked in, and I slowed down. There’s not much room for error at those speeds.
The climb up the other side, of course, is then a slog. Being able to click down through the gears is good, I suppose, but I actually don’t think I’ve got the muscles yet for spinning up hills in a low gear. I’m used to standing up and mashing the pedals. But this is sort of hard on this bike, it just doesn’t feel quite right. I think it is being used to the momentum of a fixed drivetrain – when out of the saddle on a regular bike I am aware of the ‘dead spot’ at the top of the pedal stroke; something that simply doesn’t happen on a fixie. I got up the hill fine, and it was easy enough, but I think this new technique of going up hill in the saddle whilst spinning will take some getting used to. Although it was in my head that possibly I would not have got up the hill on my fixie at all these days…!
Anyway, Manly was looking very fine in the sun, with surfers enjoying the waves and everyone else enjoying the beach. And it’s nice to be riding again; these are rides that I have rarely done since the kids were born. Where to next weekend, I wonder?
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