Review: Smiths Vegemite Chips

On the 7th of October 2011, I was perusing Coles in Carlingford with my mum when I noticed these smiths chips: Vegemite flavoured! At first I just walked past them thinking them to be a cruel joke of some sort but as I walked through every aisle of the store I couldn't stop thinking about them.

Could it be? Two of my favourite types of food (chips and Vegemite in case you were confused) put together to make one superior flavour experience? On the way out of the checkout, I did the classic impulse buy and threw a packet of Vegemite chips on the conveyor belt.

When I got home, I opened the bag. Aroma: a regular plain chip with a hint of Vegemite saltiness.

Eating experience: Very pleasant. Knowing that Vegemite is quite a strong flavour (this coming from someone who likes Vegemite on their toast thick) I feared that the flavour would be too overpowering and I was unsure if I could get through the 90g NET bag by myself (because Rob was certainly not going to have a try for himself). Though I was pleasantly surprised that as I got to the end of the bag, my tastebuds were still working and longing for more. The flavour is subtle enough that you don't feel like you are eating spoonfuls of Vegemite but by some act of ingenious they have been able to recreate that Vegemite tingly aftertaste.

If you like chips and you like Vegemite - you'll love Vegemite chips. As the packaging says "The ultimate Aussie flavour combo."

Cost: Personally too expensive for me at around $1.50 for the 90g (can't remember the exact cost)

For a limited time only (the grapevine tells me 12 weeks) and exclusive to Coles and Bi-Lo.

Highly recommended to Vegemite lovers - it will be an eating experience to remember.

WKC 11 Review

Check out my review of the Women's Katoomba Convention here!

1 Cup Tea Cosy

I just quickly whipped this up!

I was trying to knit a lining for another tea cosy but it didn't fit - though I realised that it fit my 1 cup tea pot perfectly! I've added the pattern here for you all so that you too can have a cosy for your cute little 1 cup tea pot.

Why not have a play around with different colours or stripes? You could also add a pom pom or flower on the top.

You could also take this plain pattern and adjust it to fit a tea pot of your own size.

Enjoy knitting!

Here is the pattern:

1 Cup Tea Cosy

Yarn: 8ply Easy Care (Heirloom) – uses less than one 50g ball

Using 2 sets of 4mm circular needles, cast on 73 stitches (72 plus 1 st, for joining in the round), placing 36 on one circular needle and 37 stitches on the other circular needle.

Rounds 1-8: *K2, P2, repeat from * to end of round.

Divide for the sides as follows:

Side One

Row 1 (wrong side): K3, purl to last 3 stitches, K3.

Row 2: Knit to end of row.

Repeat this 2-row pattern until you have completed 18 rows in total. Leave stitches on needle. Break off yarn to darn in later.

Side Two

With wrong side facing, join in the yarn to the stitches on the other needle and work Side Two to correspond with Side One.

Upper Body

Begin working in rounds again.

Round 1: *K7, K2tog, repeat from * to end of round

Round 2: Knit to end of round

Round 3: *K6, K2tog, repeat from * to end of round

Round 4: Knit to end of round

Round 5: *K5, K2tog, repeat from * to end of round

Continue in this decreasing pattern until 8 stitches remain (4 on each circular needle).

Knit one round.

Break off yarn and thread through remaining stitches. Draw up tightly and weave in all ends.

p.s: this is the first pattern I've done so if you have any comments or pick up on any mistakes just let me know.

p.p.s: This cosy is knitted on two pairs of circular needles - for more information on how to do this just search on youtube! There are plenty of videos there.

I'm in hufflepuff

Which Hogwarts house will you be sorted into?

Fishy Tales

At the end of last year I had:
-3 sunset platys
-2 red wag tail platys
-1 zebra dannio
-4 male guppies

Just before Christmas, Rob and I went away for a week. When we returned... the mystery begun.

You see, when we returned from our holiday we had:
-3 sunset platys
-2 red wag tail platys
-1 zebra dannio
-3 male guppies

I searched high and low for my lost male guppy but it was too late. It was nowhere to be seen and I could only assume that it had died and then been eaten by it's fishy "friends."

A few days after, I had:

-3 sunset platys

-2 red wag tail platys

-1 zebra dannio

-2 male guppies

Though this time I found the poor guppy dead at the bottom of the tank. Very sad - it was a very pretty guppy. Not only was this guppy dead but one of my other guppies had shredded fins. I had now worked out the culprit. The pretty blue fish was the one to blame. I saw it with my own eyes - he was attacking my poor little red and black guppy.

I decided to remove the little red and black guppy in order to let it's fins heal... but to my horror, the pretty blue guppy started chasing my platys and my dannio! So I put the little red and black platy back with his friends and isolated the blue guppy.

Unfortunately, the little red and black guppy did not survive the attack. It was in too much shock from his fin damage and could not swim properly so I let him rest in the freezer. RIP.

Did I also mention that one of my red wag tail platys was found dead in the morning as well? I can only assume it was a result of stress due to the bullying (or old age) as it had no fin damage or other signs of illness.

At this point I decided to let my bully blue guppy have one last chance... being the only guppy left, maybe it wouldn't be as aggressive. However this blue guppy would not give in and attacked my dannio, leaving a big painful looking bite in his back. So I took the meany blue guppy back to the fish shop and swapped him for a peaceful red and black guppy (in memory of it's predecessor).

I was going to get some medication for my dannio this morning to help his tail heal quicker... however alas by morning almost his whole back half had disintegrated so I let him rest in the freezer. RIP.

I still went to the fish shop this morning as planned and decided to get 4 female guppies for my remaining male guppy. Guppies are supposed to breed really easily and hopefully this will mean that I wont have to keep on buying fish to replace those that don't survive. They are so far swimming happily.

But will this fish tale have a happy ending? After putting the new guppies in the tank I noticed some white spots on one of the new guppies - oh no! White spot disease! I promptly put in the required medication. Hopefully there won't be any more fatalities. I've had fish with white spot disease before and they have survived... so let's hope so.

Now I have:

-3 sunset platys

-1 red wag tail platy

-1 male guppy

-4 female guppies

From Car-O-Line

Video of my fish before they all went