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Tim got a new coffee machine in the past couple of days. He loves it.

 Café Crema™ EM4800C by Sunbeam.

Constructed entirely of metal components, the robust design of the Sunbeam Café Crema™ ensures you will enjoy countless delicious coffees at home - See the full technical details of the Sunbeam Cafe Crema

He got it from Big W for only $179….. against the recommended retail price!   It came with two free stainless steel cups and saucers, a milk jug and coffee spoon with tamper, a DVD and a free offer to go to a coffee appreciation course.

Features:

• 15 BAR pump – Italian made
• Thermoblock heating system
• Crema system – Italian designed
• Full metal body and components
• Brass and phenolic group handle
• 2.1 litre removable water reservoir
• Large cup warming tray
• Large cup height clearance – fits mugs
• 1 + 2 cup spring-loaded filters
• Accessories: 2 stainless espresso cups and saucers, 500ml stainless milk jug and coffee spoon with tamper

Recommended by Tim Miller!

Its been a while since I reviewed some cheeses here. I have had a few different cheeses including a very nice creamy blue while in New Zealand.

The first shown here, the Pecorino is actually a cheese I bought to cook with. It is a hard flaky cheese somewhat similar to Parmesan. It grated into nice flaky strips and melted beautifully into the white wine and garlic sauce I cooked the prawns in. I wouldn’t recommend eating it on crackers though it certainly is flavoursome.

There wasn’t much difference between the Cracker Barrel Extra Sharp and the Mainland Cheddar Masters series Extra Tasty cheese. Both were very classic tasty cheeses with a nice bite to them.

After a massive 72 hour week I decided to take Saturday off. The only exercise I had had all week was a 1 hour football training run on Wednesday night. So Friday night after Kitty (who works for me) and I had finished work Peter her fiancé came over. Jude went to bed early so we stayed up and played a board game called Power Grid. After Peter and Kitty went to bed I then stayed up even later playing Lara Croft Tomb Raider underworld. In the  morning, Jude went off to an all day reptile course. Grace came to baby sit the kids while Peter, Kitty and I headed off to the hills. We met Peter’s brother Greg on the way. We spent a glorious hour and a half riding in the rain forest. A massive slippery down hill – very steep, lots of technical stuff and thick with very slippery dust was a lot of fun. Kitty had a big off. This was the steepest she had ever ridden before. I actually saw her perform an over the handlebars somersault landing on her back and sliding. Surprisingly little damage to skin and only a few  tears. She is a tough brave lass! However she will be sore for a few days. Then we had a long slog up hill to get back to where we left the cars.

After Peter and Kitty left and I had a shower, I sat the kids down and we decided what to do in the afternoon. Swimming and the zoo were both requested. So I made them put their togs on under their clothes and we headed to the zoo. We spent 2 and a half hours wandering around and checking out the animals. Lots of fun and we missed lots, but we can go back – we have annual passes!

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From there we headed to the beach, and even though it was blustery, the wind and water was warm and the kids enjoyed swimming, exploring and playing. Jude came straight to the beach from her course, and we had fish and chips and ice cream at the local beach side store.

Oh the things I do for you my gentle readers!

Some more nice cheeses were reviewed recently – and at the request of a reader the King Island Dairy Roaring 40’s blue cheese was selected.

I was expecting the cheese to be a raging stinky blue cheese – from the name I guess. However I was pleasantly surprised. The smell wasn't bad at all and the taste was awesome – very nice – I had it in sandwiches with hot chips and chicken – very nice!

The Mersey Valley Sharp and Crumbly series have been favourites in this house and the sweet chilli did not disappoint with kids who don’t even like sweet chilli eating it and declaring it their favourite cheese ever.

A very pleasant cheese.