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Nairs in Oz : In the short month of February, school began, Vinod started his new job, and Renu changed work times to suit everything else.

Fantastic Food!
Cupcakes:
Makes
12
Ingredients
• 2 cups self-raising flour, sifted
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup milk
• 125g butter, melted, cooled
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence
• Icing
• 1 1/2 cups pure icing sugar
• food colouring, optional
• 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons water

Method
1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease a muffin pan or cupcake holders. Alternatively, line holes with paper cases.
2. Combine flour and caster sugar in a bowl. Make a well in the centre.
3. Add milk, butter, eggs and vanilla to flour mixture. Using a large metal spoon, stir gently to combine.
4. Spoon mixture into prepared muffin pan. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Stand in pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
5. Make icing: Sift icing sugar into a bowl. Add food colouring and water. Stir until smooth and well combined. Spoon icing over cupcakes.
6. You could also try buying a pack of gel tubes and you can decorate your cupcakes. Other options include whipped cream, chocolate ganache, nothing- if the cupcakes are sweet enough to you.

Spumoni
Ingredients:
Chocolate ice cream
Pistachio ice cream
Strawberry ice cream
Shelled pistachios, coarsely chopped
Whipped cream
Directions:
Allow chocolate ice cream to soften at room temperature for 20 minutes. Pack it into the bottom of a casserole in an even layer. Freeze until solid (about 45 minutes).
Repeat process with pistachio ice cream (layering it on top of the chocolate ice cream), then again with strawberry ice cream (layering it on top of the pistachio ice cream).
Slice and serve with whipped cream, sprinkling the chopped pistachios on top


Laugh out Loud!
You have all heard Why did the chicken cross the road? So here’s some different answers for you:

DR. SEUSS:
Did the chicken cross the road?
Did he cross it with a toad?
Yes!
The chicken crossed the road,
But why it crossed,
I've not been told!

ERNEST HEMINGWAY:
To die. In the rain.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.:
I envision a world where all chickens will be free to cross roads without having their motives called into question.

GRANDPA:
In my day, we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Someone told us that the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough for us.

ARISTOTLE:
It is in the nature of chickens to cross the road.

BILL GATES:
I have just released eChicken 98, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook-and Internet Explorer is an inextricable part of eChicken.

EINSTEIN:
Did the chicken really cross the road or did the road move beneath the chicken?

THE BIBLE:
And God came down from the heavens, and He said unto the chicken, "Thou shalt cross the road." And the chicken crossed the road, and there was much rejoicing.

Art and Craft:
If you saw last month’s Art and Craft section, you’d know NN is going to aid people in drawing. This month here’s a selection of drawing resources you could be interested in looking at.

Books: It’s so EASY to find a how to draw book. It’s at your local bookstore. It’s on the internet.
Just go to http://www.amazon.com and search for How to Draw books. No, slash that. LEARN to draw books. Search for How to Draw, and you’ll find books with three steps for drawing some various creatures- rough shapes, a perfect line drawing, and a nice sketch. If you had learnt to draw, you’d be able to figure that out on your own (drawing shapes then adding detail) but if you haven’t, you probably can’t copy that perfect sketch out.

How to Draw Anything: Mark Linley
Why am I reviewing this? Because I’ve got it! This book takes you through drawing landscape, animals, still life, cartoons, people. It’s simple, clear and not detailed. It gives you a rough idea of how to draw.
The book is structured such that the author narrates to you what you need to learn and do, and says “Draw Figure 50” and you look at Figure 50, and copy it. He states somewhere that though you are just copying, it is a good skill as when you draw from life you copy. Plus he does recommend if you are drawing cats, look at a real cat or a photo and try that, not just keep copying his drawings.

http://www.drawspace.com/lessons/
This site has PDF form lessons for Beginners up to Advanced, so it’s pretty good. It’s free, and if you can read this blog you can do the lessons; on the internet as they are. Teaching you various skills, if you want you may join and post your drawings for others to critique, or critique theirs. However you do not need to join to access lessons which I say is GREAT!

http://drawingsecrets.com/lpages/ARTMISC/
This is a sign up sort of thing, so if you won’t do that don’t bother. Just enter name and email to get 2 cool drawing ebooks and weekly drawing exercises to help you improve. I’m trying it and if I find flaws/advantages I’ll let you know in Art and Craft sections monthly.
The EBooks are 7 Tips to Get Better at Drawing (or some other name) and each tip is explained thoroughly with exercises on some.
The other is a book on Leonardo Da Vinci. It’s about his history and I assume it’s for inspiration. I haven’t read it yet.

http://drawright.com/vaceface.htm
This is just one single exercise. I don’t actually know why I have put it on here but I have. Why not draw it in one of your drawing practices. If you find it so good you want to purchase the quite expensive lessons (Drawing on the Right hand side of the brain) then go ahead.

http://www.learn-to-draw.com/
A drawing website. It’s got lessons, how to draw, exercise. It’s just as good as any other. But a neat advantage is no sign up stuff!

http://www.how-to-draw-and-paint.com/learntodraw.html
This is a great simple lesson. Check it out and then you can get to any other page on the site you like. You could get a Watercolour Ebook but I tried and when I tried to open the file it didn’t work. It may work for you though.






















The World of Imagination:
Shelby’s Story Chapter 4:

Chapter 4: Discovery

“Jenny, I think we should go to Mr Cruz.”
“Shelby, my father and him hate each other. He won’t like us.”
“What about Adam? We could just stay with him for the day or until your dad is let out.”
“I guess we have no other option, Shelby. Let’s head out.”
She tapped start and shut down. Then she tapped - let out people, which enables people to get out of the computer. We went through the whole process again and regained human shape.

“The policeman made it out much quicker than us.”
“He used emergency mode, Shelby. All he had to do was jump on it and he’d be out. The problem is if you are caught using it and you are not a policeman, you must have a reason or pay a fine.”
“Makes sense to me,” I said.
We took a taxi, except Taxis weren’t normal cars. They were solar cars, cute, round, and stylishly furnished. Jenny handed the driver a few coins bearing the dolphin-star emblem.
We had some fun together, splashing in the fountain and grabbing two burgers and fries from the shopping centre with Jenny’s money. We met Adam at the beach near where we were, lying in the sand. He didn’t mind us joining him.
He took us surfing, canoeing, and then we had a ‘sand fight’; throwing wet sand at each other.
Then, as we sat near the waves, sipping the drinks we had just bought, he looked kind of sadly at me.
“Why not tell her the truth, Jenny. How is it going to spoil your life? You’ve got nothing to lose…”
Jenny’s smile disappeared but she seemed to agree. “Your dad… The truth is…Albert knows where he is. And… that’s because… Albert has kidnapped him.”

“What?!” I said feeling scared.

“Albert is a gambler. He cheats too, and wins himself thousands. Your dad used to gamble too, with Albert. That’s why he left your mum; she didn’t want him wasting her savings. Then when he found out Albert was a cheater, he started a new life. Abandoning Albert, he founded Stars Island. Getting in builders, architects, and many other people was done by him, and slowly Stars Island formed. Over 12 years, it has blossomed and is running brilliantly, as you’ve seen. Nowhere else is as advanced as us, with our bubble cars, Digiworld, Underwater leaves, and more. Your dad hadn’t created those things, but he had picked the people that did. He was soon a millionaire as the islands business flourished and people moved here. Albert, after being caught by police for Match Fixing a test cricket game, was sent to prison and grew crazy- I lived with my mum back then. He found out about Philip, and came to Stars Island. Tracked him down, kidnapped him, but he never told me where yet. His plan is that he wants all Philip’s money- sort of a ransom except, Philip himself will be paying out his own ransom. Albert is a dirty, crazy, idiot, I am just so glad to be away from him today, even though it was only for a few hours! My mum got cancer and died- so I was forced to live with this criminal while he kidnapped your dad.”

I stared at her as she explained one of the biggest mysteries I had ever encountered. Slowly I grasped what she was saying, and pulled my sense together to reply.

“Mrs Wilson showed me the letters. I was too stupid to understand… I’m no detective. Where is the founder, you shouldn’t even be here, it all fits now. I’m so sorry Jenny. You’ve been wound into this mess that your dad made. And… you know, my mum passed away from cancer too.” I never said died, or dead. They were too strong. Instead, she passed away, and moved to live with God. In my mind I liked to soften things a bit but keep them real.
“Adam did you know all of this?” I asked.
“Some little… just basically the kidnapping, and the dirty lunatic bit. Not really the whole story. Now I do.”

I smiled at Jenny. “Now that that’s out of the way, we can have the swim we were talking about!”
As a small smile appeared on her face, I remembered a certain time that day I had thought it was ‘snobbish’.

Your Space:
Ask for your own copy of the Shelby’s Story Complete version with pictures!
Meanwhile, send us any news and what you like in here, what you don’t.
We’d love from you:
Recipes
Stories/Poems/Drawings
News of your life
Jokes
Opinions

Website of the month:
http://www.gocomics.com/: I love reading the Calvin and Hobbes. What’s your fave?

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