Oh. My. God. This offends my sensibilities. It's quite horrible. The shonky awards expose dodgy workmanship, questionable ethics and sneaky fine print.

The award itself: a mounted lemon. It says it all, really.








Here are the winners of the Choice 2007 Shonky Awards (which was presented very amusingly by Jean Kittson):











Nutella. The unhealthiest health food.
Strangely Nutella has taken to marketing itself as a low GI food suitable for children.

"Less fat than most peanut butters, less sugar than most jams', said one Nutella ad. This may be the case, but out of all these spreads it has the highest combination of both: it’s almost 85% fat and sugar, packing a whopping 2175kJ of energy into every 100g." (source: Choice Website)

I remember as a child, my mum used to equate Nutella with Satan. I don't think you could even mention the word in the house. So phew! Missed out on all that fat and sugar as my cells were growing. Dang.













Another bizarro product is a washer/dryer from LG that claims to save water. And it does. On the wash cycle.

However, what they don't tell you is on the DRY cycle it uses 74LITRES (!!?!?!?) of water to dry 5kg of washing. As Jean Kittson put it so wonderfully "Who would use water to dry clothes? It's a dryer, not a wetter...I haven't even got a degree and I know that's weird."

Check out this video from the awards ceremony:

technorati tags: Shonky Awards Choice Magazine

Phew!! I'm wearing myself out at the moment. Online shopping has left burn marks on my fingers and skid marks in my wallet.

I'll probably find out in a year or so that I had some sort of compulsive shopping disorder that I tried to sublimate by creating a shopping blog.

But it's just so easy....just one more...*click* $$$ *click*

Nevertheless I did actually find some snazzy bargains on Ebay (no...really? Go on!!!)

My second lot of exhibits for December are a Deborah Hutton Queen Flat Sheet valued around $40.00-$45.00



Cost: $17.00
Postage: $9.30
Total: $26.30

Score!! It's very soft and seems quite sturdy as well. It appears it will go the distance.

Not like that f@$^%#$ing Egyptian cotton sheet that I bought some months ago. The dang thing breaks up at the sight of a long toenail, 400 thread count or not! Ended up sleeping in a massive gap created by two toenail rips that met in the middle and created a kind of rip canyon. Ah, the feel of a scratchy mattress - nothing like it.

And the other bargain:

Himalayan Crystal Salt chunks for baths (and in my case, foot spas!)



Cost: $1.95
Postage: $8.19
Total: $12.75

Not bad for a purchase from a UK seller, considering the exchange rate!!
Himalayan crystal salt contains 84 trace elements and is good for detox baths. I could do with one of those at the moment considering the amount of tox I have been ingesting.

technorati tags: ebay shopping flat sheet himalayan crystal salt

I'm pretty sure everyone remembers the Seinfeld episode where Elaine has the brilliant idea to send personalised Christmas cards instead of the usual boring generic card. Just make sure there are no untoward parts of your body showing when you get the photo taken and you won't suffer the same fate as Elaine. Personalised Christmas cards can be a special gift for family members and friends and this particular approach is popular with politicians as well. So it seems to work as a networking tool as well. You can create custom holiday cards using a photo of your choice - just upload the photo or collage, customise from a template or your own design and create your own personal touch to your cards this season.

Yes, that's right. I have "taken leave of my senses" as they say in the classics. Not really, but I have bought yet another Baccarat stainless steel cookware item. I was very excited to receive the package today:
















A 20cm stainless steel frypan with impact moulded copper base.
Price: $13.40
Postage: $6.95
Total: $20.35

Equivalent RRP - around $60

Tee hee!!

The frypan has never been used so I'll give it a good dishwash and off we go!!

I am in the process of perfecting my vegetarian farmer's omelette recipe (if that isn't the biggest oxymoron of them all!!)

Of course it contains Sanitarium Not Bacon which is now called something silly like "Vege delights bacon style rashers" I mean "not bacon" is a lot catchier!

I mean why don't they just call it vege soy style dead pig substitute delight choices?

Not Bacon. The original name was the best.

~end rant.


Aaaanyway, the farmer's omelette (or is it the farmer's wife omelette? I never know) will be made with fried onions, peas, fresh parsley, cheese and NOT BACON. If there is one thing I am supremely confident about, it is my ability to cook an omelette, omelettes being my signature dish.

technorati tags: baccarat cookware frypan

If you are frantically creating and destroying Christmas shopping lists (I may be speaking from experience here!) then here are some new ideas for gifts for those adventurous souls who enjoy high powered torches, night vision goggles and rifle sights.
Hmm, just make sure they are not nutty first before checking out the Gift Guide. You can find discounts and bargains on flashlights, microscopes, binoculars and astronomy gadgets. There is even a personal planetarium / GPS sky guide for identifying celestial objects.












Myself, I can identify celestial objects just by drinking too many beers and looking up. My accuracy may be a bit off, though. Perhaps one of these gadgets could help. And a sky map. I don't think "that big squiggly bit there" really counts as identifying celestial objects.

I'm going to stop talking now.

This post brought to you by OpticsPlanet.com