Welcome to the Melbourne Community Daily Discussion Thread.

  • melbaboutown@aussie.zone
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    1 year ago

    Hey guys, sorry it took so long to get over here. I’ve been very tired and was a bit intimidated by the learning curve of the site.

    Melbcat is here with me, happy and spoilt.

    Edit: I’ve been resting a lot, learning to draw in an app on my phone and debating whether I’ll maintain a vegie window box

  • StudSpud The Starchy@aussie.zone
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    1 year ago

    Should hear back by tomorrow about this job I interviewed for yesterday. And I have a Teams interview next week. I suppose this may be why I am feeling so damn social, having to put myself out there for corporations and present myself as a capable, intelligent person… I just want to hang out with people and be my dense, silly, starchy self.

    What do tonight though? 🙄

    edit: have just had a small realisation: I like being social, but am afraid to be social because I hate taking up space - be it in a conversation, or physically. Wow. calls therapist

  • bananafungus@aussie.zone
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    1 year ago

    For those who saw my previous posts, kitty is home and on a lot of medication that will mostly keep him comfortable as things slowly come to end. There’s a clot on his heart they couldn’t get to pass so he may lose his back legs but hopefully he’s at peace before that happens.

  • Unidann@aussie.zone
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    1 year ago

    Hi DTers! I’m here from Reddit (same username). Good to see people from the OG DT here.

    Kicking things off with a super random question, as I always do on the DT: I’d like to make oven baked tandoori chicken with basmati rice, but I’m not sure what to do for veggies. Chutney isn’t really a replacement for veggies, but more of a dipping sauce, right? Can I put chutney over veggies like broccoli, cauli, carrots, etc? That probably doesn’t sound right, but can anyone please recommend an easy Indian-style veggie side dish?

    Hopefully it’s something easy and basic, because I’m a lazy and terrible cook :-(

    • just_kitten@aussie.zone
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      1 year ago

      Hello!!! Welcome!

      Normally I might suggest a light dal with tomatoes, carrot, and cauliflower - the moisture would nicely round out the dryness of the chicken and rice while still being hearty and filling for a winters night. But that is perhaps a bit overkill.

      Stir fried green beans and onions with a pinch of turmeric would go nicely. If you have any whole spices, a small amount of black mustard seed and cumin or fennel seed quickly tempered in the oil at the start really adds that Indian flavour without being overpowering. I add chilli flakes to the oil as well when I add the onions. Here is an example using powdered spices and no onion but it’s a very versatile and simple dish - as the link suggests, use frozen sliced green beans to make it much faster.

      Or, quite honestly, a plain raw salad - tomatoes, shredded carrot, lettuce - with a very light dressing lemon or vinaigrette would do the trick, lots of south Asians will have it that way at home - again for the freshness and moisture, and acidity from the tomatoes, but without the intense flavour of a chutney.

      • Unidann@aussie.zone
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        1 year ago

        Thanks for the warm welcome!! All great suggestions too! I’ll experiment with the beans but will mix the tumeric and cumin powder with a bit of oil and drizzle it over the onions and beans. Curry powder wouldn’t really fit in here would it?

    • CEOofmyhouse56@aussie.zone
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      1 year ago

      I’d go with some green beans or sauteed spinach. Chutney is a condiment so a generous dollop on the side of a plate is all you need.

    • cuavas@aussie.zone
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      1 year ago

      Spinach and pumpkin curry is a simple Indian vegetable dish. Or maybe an eggplant curry?

      • Unidann@aussie.zone
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        1 year ago

        This is super simple and sounds delicious. I might leave the rice out and just use this. Thanks!!

    • StudSpud The Starchy@aussie.zone
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      1 year ago

      vegetable medley!! broccolini chopped into half or thirds, spinach, cherry tomatoes, sesame seeds, and any sauces/oils. Put the broccolini into a pan first, then tomates, then spinach last. Add/remove other veggies as wanted (i like adding sliced capsicum) and it goes with most dishes. Sauces/oils can be changed up depending on the main dish it is being served with.

      • Force_majeure122@aussie.zone
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        1 year ago

        Zucchini with this 👍👍👍 I like to add a little water in the frying pan to start it, pop the lid on, cook like that for maybe 5 mins until it cooks some of the veg a bit without burning the oil and stuff. Once water evaporates, add oil (or in my case, butter, which is way better), some garlic paste and chilli. Finish the cooking for another 5m. Beautiful

  • useless_modern_god@aussie.zone
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    1 year ago

    I’ve handed out another Lemmy pamphlet at Reddit. I’ve been DMing individuals on a case by case according to their online activity. Probably think I’m a spam. 🫠

    which, technically I am, I guess…

    • goodviking@aussie.zone
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      1 year ago

      I downloaded Mlem for iOS today and it just made Lemmy even better. Very similar to Apollo and I loved that app

      • just_kitten@aussie.zone
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        1 year ago

        quite a few, lots of the old timers from ~ more than 5 years ago (nufan, lemondrop, quarterwit85, whacka, melbaboutown, epic, etc) and some more recent regulars (creswickoctober, slayers, hurstbridgeline, hedonistic), some like waddlekins and upyourmerricreek, apparently moved over to discord. And some others are still there, but I already feel bad that I’ve spent way too much time there over the last few years to recognise all these usernames lol.

  • RestingAnaemiaFace@aussie.zone
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    1 year ago

    Wow… I randomly looked at the staff page of my old high school in the 80s. The biggest bully of a teacher is still there but is now the student well being coordinator.

    • Duenan@aussie.zone
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      1 year ago

      Makes you wonder how much has changed over the years or if nothing has changed at all doesn’t it?

    • Baku@aussie.zone
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      1 year ago

      I’ve never had good experiences with teachers that have been teaching for a long time. I mean kids tend to be little shits and I absolutely get they can’t always hold it together dealing with everything day in and day out, but the only teachers I’ve had that I’d consider bullies had all been teaching for 2+ decades

    • Nath@aussie.zone
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      1 year ago

      I sometimes wonder about this sort of thing. As a computer nerd in the 80’s I did not have a good time in High School. On the other hand, I was an annoying, arrogant little snot. I would not want to be judged today on my 16-19 year-old self.

      But though I was a pain, I was never (intentionally) abusive or hurtful to people. So, to what extent do we judge people 20 years later on their teenage personalities? Frankly, there are maybe half a dozen people in my whole year group I’d be interested in seeing again. But that doesn’t on its own mean I expect all the rest to have ended up as horrible people.

  • SpinMeAround@aussie.zone
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    1 year ago

    Saw the Barbie movie last night, mostly because I had no idea wtf it was about and wanted to see it before it got spoiled for me.

    It was fun going out to the movies on a Wednesday night and I really enjoyed seeing groups of people getting into the spirit, wearing pink, having dinner with friends beforehand and whatnot. The atmosphere felt fun in the centre.

  • vanishing_spies@aussie.zone
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    1 year ago

    Found my way to ol’ r/melbourne for the first time in 5ever while I was chilling before my class began, and I came across a thread with the title about being afraid of the future and the apocalyptic feeling or whatever. And despite knowing what the comments were gonna be like, I still went and read them smh. I used to have genuine panic attacks when I was a teen about climate change, and while I don’t try to avoid climate-relating talk or news because it’s still important, I do try to avoid it when I have stuff I need to get done (for example class tonight) because I tend to get in a sort of…idk, stress mode haha.

    Anyway, shouldn’t have gone to reddit to start with, and shouldn’t have read those thread comments lol hopefully venting this to the world’s friendliest DT will help

    • PeelerSheila @aussie.zone
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      1 year ago

      Ikwym I’ve had the odd glance over there and it just made me a little sad at what happened to fracture what was imo a great sub. Now that we are a fractured social media population, I think the kindness and support has mostly migrated here.

      • turboturtle@aussie.zone
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        1 year ago

        I’ve been off touching grass for a bit and things are weird and gross over there now? I got the ick scrolling thru the sub

  • just_kitten@aussie.zone
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    1 year ago

    It’s so warm today I’ve switched off the heating and am flouncing around in a skirt and t shirt. Unbelievable. (But also hooray for an insulated house)

    Tried to do a load of woollens and finally gave in at how gross the washing machine is. These guys are normally so uptight about cleanliness with their baby around and the wife having all kinds of chronic illnesses, but there’s literal black mould impregnated all over the seal. The machine also used to deposit random bits of lint/mystery pieces onto the clothes, which has thankfully improved a bit after cleaning the filter and running it through a hot wash cycle with regular detergent a week ago.

    Did a through spray + 5 min soak with mould remover and a very vigorous scrub, which has taken off the scum and the most superficial mould, but the bottom bit where all the water wells up is particularly difficult. I’ve just put it through a hot wash with special washing machine cleaner and after that’s done I’ll dry it out - if it’s still gross I’m thinking tomorrow I’ll try 1:4 dilution of white vinegar on paper towels to soak onto the seal for a couple hours, then another scrub and wash.

    Open to any other tips from your personal experience of cleaning a front loader, and yes I realise it is probably too late to truly rid it of mould but something’s better than nothing.

    Also sorry for the long posts today. One gets a bit loopy in suburbia …sometimes.

    • Thornburywitch@aussie.zone
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      1 year ago

      You’re doing all the right things. If these fail, then try doing the hottest possible cycle with a couple of dishwasher tablets thrown into the machine. This can damage the seal, but then so can mould. I would also check the filter again after and remove anything that cleaning the drum has shaken loose and flushed.
      It might be time to broach the subject of getting the seal replaced with the owners. If the washer is under warranty that won’t cost a cent but if not, then will need a repairman to call plus cost of parts.

      • just_kitten@aussie.zone
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        1 year ago

        I was waiting for Your Witchiness to chime in! Good point re checking the filter again, I shall do that as well as a wipe of the seal.

        I’m not so fussed about my own clothes but the owners probably need to be gently told that they seriously need to consider seal replacement and that using hot water for washing doesn’t mitigate the impacts of mould without a good dry. Knowing the husband he’ll probably just buy an entire new washing machine, man has this obsession with buying new things rather than repairing

    • landsharkkidd@aussie.zone
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      1 year ago

      I didn’t realise I had no short sleeve shirts that don’t have graphic tees so I asked my boss if I could wear the graphic shirts and he said it’s fine.

      Whoo!

      • just_kitten@aussie.zone
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        1 year ago

        Noice. I’m the same, no plain t shirts left. If I had a teams meeting I’d probably chuck on a pullover but otherwise I just rock the graphic tees.

        • landsharkkidd@aussie.zone
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          1 year ago

          Today was warm and I didn’t realise until today that yeah I don’t actually have any “nice” short sleeves so tomorrow if the weather permits it I might wear a graphic t-shirt.

    • Rusty Raven @aussie.zoneM
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      1 year ago

      I have switched off my heating, but am sitting in my heavist woolen jumper with a blanket on my lap. I was just thinking of taking Mr Woof for an afternoon walk in the sunshine in the hopes of warming up a bit (whatever the opposite of hooray is for an uninsulated house!)

      I think I’m doing better than you on the washing machine front, I have just run a load and there is definitely no mould in there.

      • just_kitten@aussie.zone
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        1 year ago

        Boourns?! This is by far the best insulated house I’ve been in for a while. I’m positively toasty! But it’s still great for a warm up walk outside, although the wind was a bit bitey.

        The upshot of this sitcho is it’s encouraged me to go thoroughly clean my own front loader when I drop in this weekend - I’ve spent nearly my entire life with top loaders only so I keep forgetting that front loaders need more maintenance.

    • CEOofmyhouse56@aussie.zone
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      1 year ago

      That’s about all you can do. See if you can put another lot of washing cleaner in, put it on the hottest, longest setting possible and then open it and the drawer to air dry.

      • just_kitten@aussie.zone
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        1 year ago

        It’s currently into the second hour of the post-mould-cleaner cleaning at 60C (that’s what the washing cleaner packet recommended). I’ll leave it open tonight and if it’s still gross tomorrow I’ll do the vinegar with more elbow grease, then a second round with the washing cleaner.

        • CEOofmyhouse56@aussie.zone
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          1 year ago

          Nah I’d bump that temperature as high as it goes. My machine can reach 90°c that’s because it has an internal heater so it’s only connected to the cold water. If your friend’s washing machine is connected to both hot and cold and doesn’t have an internal heater then it’ll only reach around 45°c ish or whatever the hot water is set to. Bump it up to Max on the machine. This machine sounds like it’s neglected and they don’t do monthly hygiene washes.

          • just_kitten@aussie.zone
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            1 year ago

            Hm okay it goes up to 90C so I might try that for the next round.

            Tbh I haven’t given my own machine a hygiene wash for several months now despite it being a monthly reminder on my phone, but I’m inspired to go do a scrub and clean when I head back to mine on Saturday. Theirs is a lot dirtier because they do multiple loads a day with a reflux prone baby and very little time to look into such things (though the rest of the house is sparkling).

            • CEOofmyhouse56@aussie.zone
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              1 year ago

              Yeah I get it. Things do get away from you. Hygiene wash is not optional. It’s a must if you want to keep your expensive equipment in tip top shape.

              Also when it’s finished go around the whole inside with a cloth and you’ll find you can get a lot more shit off when it’s still warm and steamy.

              • just_kitten@aussie.zone
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                1 year ago

                For real, it wasn’t as big a deal with top loaders but I realise it’s so much more important with front loaders. Good idea with wiping round using a cloth, I’ll do that pronto with this round.

  • Taleya@aussie.zone
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    1 year ago

    long overdue haircut today. My hairdresser is a god amongst men, he’s managed to cram me into his massively overbooked schedule so that I look decent for an upcoming funeral.

  • bull⚡@aussie.zone
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    1 year ago

    Getting lunch delivered today because I’m rocking a banger of a headache and feeling fragile. Haven’t had any delivery in 10 days, which is a long time for me. Ride like the wind, Bernabe!

  • landsharkkidd@aussie.zone
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    1 year ago

    So two teachers in East-Germany are basically leaving town because they called out so many students playing music with racist lyrics, drawing swastika’s and using the Nazi salute with other students. And parents in this town wanted them to leave essentially and this is just wild. Especially since Germany did a lot of stuff to try and stamp out Nazi-ism after WWII.

  • Llabyrinthine@aussie.zone
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    1 year ago

    Sitting and soaking up the rays has to be one of life’s most simplest and loveliest pleasures… (Even though I’ll always be a night owl.)