Orange Candle

I'm not sure what it was that made me discover making candles from oranges on the internet, but it happened and I'm writing about it now...what interests me often interests you :)

Basically you have to carefully peel an orange so that you have two halves, intact, and without the orange 'meat' inside.. The 'stem' of the 'pith' (is that correct terminology?) acts as the wick of the candle which is burned anyhow refer to the pics below, they are pretty self explanatory but I'll provide some comments for each in any case. Enjoy :) Feel free to point people to this entry if you think they might like it. Perhaps something for Earth Hour 2012

Halved Oranges (if you don't know how - Google some techniques) with air vent cut in top half

Some oil is poured into the bottom half with the natural pith 'wick' make sure it gets saturated but not drowning in the oil

The natural wick after being lit

With the top half 'lid' on top

Some oranges have some pretty natural patterns, I think they resemble Halloween Jack-O lanterns

And you can always get creative with the top 'lid' half - Just be careful. I made mine look like the Sun :)

Extracting Juice from Oranges

I finally have my juice extractor at my place. I always figured it took up too much room and it was a pain to prepare product for and cleaning up afterwards.

Well as I have been drinking a lot of orange juice lately, I figure the long life stuff on the shelf is sort of weird when fresh is available, and that the fresh stuff is a bit steep for what you get. I'm talking about $5-6 for 1.5L-2L of so-called fresh Orange Juice in the chilled section of major grocery stores/supermarkets.

A 3kg bag of Valencia Oranges was like $3.50 or something, so I decided I could perhaps do better myself.

What do you think? I'll let the pictures I took (below) do the talking :) Make sure you keep an eye on my blog (I know you all do anyway right? ;P ) as I have some other pictures associated with this entry.

I cleaned these up a bit, removing the pith...though the machine would have taken care of it :)

Ready for Juice Extraction

The end result 

Aquarius Tea Mug Musings

I've had this mug that I drink tea from since I was like 8 or 9 (That's over 15 years). I remember I used to drink from it as I actually read my horoscope (I have a university degree in Science...) and Garfield comic strips. I used to cut them out and paste them into a scrapbook (before I had a PC - yes actually physically cutting out and pasting :P).

Anyhow the thing about reading the comic strips is that the interest grew I started getting book compilations to read and I started reading other strips that interested me - Calvin and Hobbes, Dilbert, The Far Side...I also used to be pretty into comic books as I have had an entry about in the past (check the tags/labels).

As some readers might also be aware I am a collector and I was actually given a copy of the complete The Far Side works for my 18th birthday from my parents.

Recently as I'm trying to "de-stress" from work I've found myself enjoying re-watching the complete Dilbert TV Series I have on DVD which have had me literally loling :) I really need to get my copy of Office Space back from my supervisor :/

It's funny taking time out to enjoy a cup of tea like when I was young can make so much difference too mood and mindset...and that some things never change :)

I guess you can tell now I am an Aquarius - I just noticed that it's the last day for 2012

Modern Duet Hits

I can't remember how I stumbled across a comment about Professor Green, but anyhow it stated that his new song (I'm not sure...perhaps 'Read All About It' (ft Emeli Sandé)??) was a rip-off of Eminem and Rihanna's song 'Love the way you lie' - A song I would argue was a solid offering from Eminem and great vocals from Rihanna.

So I got thinking there have been plenty of modern duets including the Triple J Hottest 100 winning song by Gotye 'featuring' Kimbra 'Somebody I used to know'.

Geez even Katy Perry and Kayne West produced 'E.T'...

Dizzee Rascal and Lily Allen (Cooper), Jack White and Alicia Keys, Eminem and Dido/Elton John, Lionel Richie and Diana Ross...There was even that called Duets, that I'm happy to say I have never watched :P

I believe duets are successful because they simply sound great. I dunno, perhaps it's in knowing two individual solo artists have collaborated on an agreed upon project means the chances of something awful being created is fairly low. Of course I'm biased I enjoy most duets I've heard, and tastes vary.

In other music talk :P I got thinking how awesome it would be to be at a live Dropkick Murphy's gig on St Patrick's Day - So I looked up their tour and they most certainly are! WOW the thought of Boston on St Patrick's day is enough to get me excited, but a live performance by those guys? Mind = Blown.

Seem's I'll be finally seriously inquiring about a passport ;D