Remembering PRESTAGS

Mooncake Festival Feasting

Last night was part of the mooncake festival and I was allowed to have duck.

Duck is one of the special foods for the festival:

The mooncake festival marks the end of the autumn harvest, and is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar with a full moon at night, corresponding to mid September to early October of the Gregorian calendar. The official festival day was Friday 13 September.

Last night the moon was certainly very full and bright. I'm surprised Thygo did not post a moon photograph.

We were also still celebrating #3 daughter's important birthday, and she had a second birthday cake of her favourite kind, ie a family meat pie.

Apparently Duck Rather than Chicken is the go-to fowl for this festival. Not only are ducks fattest at this time of the year, their natural game-meat flavour is the richest too, making it the peak season to enjoy duck meat. It is also believed that eating duck in Autumn helped to expel pathogenic heat to restore the balance of yin and yang in the body, hence enhancing one’s health. I'm only allowed duck once a year. Python gets it all the time so he must have a perfect yin and yang balance.

We got a whole Peking Duck, chopped up to go:

Adding to the festivities, Satay Chicken :

Desert, the birthday meat pie:

Where is the moon?

Since Thygo hasn't done a photograph, I have done one. B700:

The Great Escape

Patrick was home sick yesterday but had done some training with Lexi. Chooks and ducks in their extended enclosure.

When I got home from work, I didn't go outside but started up my laptop.

Then I heard a 'sqwarky' noise from one of the chooks - didn't sound right, so I stood up to have a look out the window.

Lo and behold, Lexi is in the chookyard, standing watching the fowls. 

But the gate is still shut.

On closer inspection, she has dug her way under the outer fence ... No idea how long she was in there. No dead fowls (thankfully).

She got in again a little while later and I think she wants to play with them.

here is her tunnel INTO Stalag Chook

Afternoon animal encounters

Crested pigeons on my back power lines - all puffed up - it was cold. Walked to the pharmacy and unexpectedly saw kangaroos on the oval and even closer to Drakeford Drive on my way back. Indication of how little feed there must be and how dry it is. Also saw some wood ducks, quite some way from the lake.

Then at soccer practice, cockatoos and quite a lot of grass parrots, all in pairs. They are hard to capture though - they were almost always in the shade.

cropped image of pigeon, and something weird has gone on with the colour of the sky

on the way back - you can seen the road at the top right.

parrots at soccer

cropped

Sunset, Prestags quiz - crop circles?, filing cave

Gorgeous sunset this evening, had a quick attempt to capture it. Not that satisfied. Vantage and angle didn't do it justice. So many blasted power lines as well.

What has the chicken discovered?   PRESTAGS QUIZ - can you tell me what it was that caused this?

 

Filing cave

Exposure and high contrast scenes

From a discussion I was having with Paul, I played around a little with high contrast scenes. He has some images where the straight out of camera jpeg has not brought up the detail in a dark area (eg a dark statue) against a strong back lit background.

On Nikon dSLRs, a setting called 'active D lighting' became available for application in shooting (as opposed to post processing, whether in camera or on downloaded files).

So, I was taking some shots of the fowls with the D40x - it doesn't have ADL option for shooting but it can be applied in camera after the shot. A couple are below, and it shows how powerful this (software) application is, and also illustrates the problems that any photographic medium has in capturing a whole scene the way our eyes see it, or more accurately as our brains post-process the incoming light to 'pull up' shadow detail.

So, below  a couple of comparison shots - / + ADL. I suspect that in Paul's Lumix FZ1000 there is a setting analagous to ADL, probably with different levels of application. [He might have to resort to reading the manual >:-o).

OK, the examples

but

The photo medium can only capture the light that is there. If you take the film medium, the sensitivity to light is uniform across the film negative - and adjusting exposure will affect the whole area uniformly. That is, a whole exposure adjustment can only be applied uniformly to the whole exposure - if the qualitative and quantitative difference in amount of light between to parts of a scene is too great, the physics per se doesn't allow for getting both parts perfectly exposed for detail.

But our brains do this all the time - segements of our field of view get post-processed to enable us to see both the full lit and the shadow with acuity. Computers can, thanks to clever programmers like Python, detect the contrast areas and locally adjust the exposure. In the old film days, you could do this in the dark room with simple physical tricks such as waving a piece of paper over an overexposed area as the negative was being processed ie between the light coming through the negative and the photographic paper being exposed to get the print.

 

 

Another way of getting at this is where you 'tell' the camera to 'meter' the light to inform the exposure it will apply - shutter speed, aperture (and with digital, ISO). The standard default is 'matrix' or 'averaged' metering - the light meter / software tries to balance all of the incoming light. Then there is 'centre weighted' - the light meter / software takes more account of the area where the light level is read (typically the focus point - I guess face recognition will have some priority - my dSLRs don't have it or I don't turn it on). Then there is 'spot' metering - the light meter / software meters just on the small focus area. Spot allows a small subject to be exposed 'correctly' even if the surrounding scene is very dark or very bright. But, as above, the metering is a physical adjustment affecting the amount of light hitting the sensor or film, not a software interpretation of the incoming light.

Yet another way is 'exposure compensation' - often has a dedicated button with a +/- decal on it - you can dial in how many 'stops' (more precisely electron volts, EV) more or less than the camera's meter thinks the 'correct' exposure is - how much light gets let in. Generally goes in 1/3 EV steps - eg +0.3, +0.7 etc.

On my cameras, choosing metering area and exposure compensation are NOT available in the AUTO modes - needs to be in Manual (I rarely use, except for moon shots), Aperture priority (I use most - set the 'f stop' - how wide open is the lens, how much light gets let in, also affects depth of field), Shutter priority (how long the shutter is open, I use when I want to ensure a fast shutter to freeze motion and/or avoid effects of camera shake), Program mode (I don't use this much but its a bit like A and S).

And having mentioned moon shots, this is a classic example of needing to balance a really bright object in a really dark background - if you don't meter on the moon you generally just get a 'white out'.

So, the moral of this story is:

Penang, Malaysia: Photographic Challenge #3

The Chinese roast and BBQ meat sellers have the most amazing roast ducks, which glisten with the wonderful sauces they baste the ducks in. My challenge was to capture the 'glisten' on the roast ducks.

It was not possible to capture the correct look through glass, but I found a roast duck seller with an open side window, and using a little bit of zoom and the right angle I was able to capture a glistening and dripping roast duck. This is a view from inside the store looking out. I can testify that the roast duck here surpasses any duck I have eaten in Australia.

Father's Day Feast

A Father's Day Feast:

Time to get stuck into some wildlife.

Duck, Prawns and Crocodile!

Lucky Paul was treated to a wonderful Father's Day take away feast from the Liu Rose restaurant. My favourite Sunday lunches are noodles, and there is nothing better than Peking Duck two ways. First, Peking Duck in pancakes. Second - and my absolute favourite - Peking Duck in noodles.

Other delights included prawn chow mein - yes, more noodles - king sized prawns with snow peas and broccoli.

And for the slightly exotic, spicy crocodile fillet. Marinated farmed crocodile fillet, deep fried in batter, then tossed with ginger, garlic, shallot, chilli and spicy salt. Served with fried rice. Tasted a bit like chicken, but with a buttery undertone. Quite nice but I think crocodile with a sauce would be better.

More noodles (and the favourite of #3 daughter), fried Singapore noodles. A mild curry flavour with onions, BBQ pork, omelette and tiny prawns.

All washed down with a nice Charddy. Father's day present was a set of 'Wine Trails' dvds. I was very spoilt and I'm most grateful to the boss and the three girls.

Happy Father's Day to Python and Thygocanberra.

Ducklings and shelters

Ashleigh's 2 new ducklings hatched about a week ago now. Waiting on Bluebell's 9.

I have been working bit by bit on a moveable shelter for them to be out on the grass but safe. It has finally been completed and I am quite happy with my handywork - a fair amount of recycling but some new elements.

Ducklings

Duckling shelter

Bluebell

Ducks and gardening

Let the Easter Feasting Begin!

What lies behind the Red Door? The best Duck in Sydney, an Easter take away treat from Chatswood.

BBQ Pork in Steamed Rice Noodle Rolls, Peking Duck, Steamed Pancakes.

Shaw + Smith Adelaide Hills Chardonnay, Chilli & Soy Sauce, Pork & Prawn Dumplings, Duck in Hand Made Noodles, Hoi Sin Sauce, Steamed Rice.

Pork in Peking Sauce, Stir Fried Chilli Prawns in Noodles.

 

A friend for Lucky - Pikachu

We got Lucky a friend - a Pekin duckling about 3-4 days older - they snuggle up together under the lamp.

PRESTAGS Art

MI22 wants to see more PRESTAGS art.

MI22 has a prize of a $100 gift voucher for Noble Knight Games for whoever produces the best PRESTAGS art in the next 6 months. Children's entries get bonus points.

MI22 explores the creative side of his militia personality with two entries of his own:

"Vikings in a Spruce Tree"

 

Art Critic Says: "A deep work that captures the sense of a viking camouflage after a secret landing. The quiet before the storm. A profound three dimensional snapshot of Scandinavia".

 

 

"Legion on the Move"

 

Art Critic Says: "A masterpiece of movement and determination. The Ford candlewagon recalls the Roman legions' long marches across the roads of the empire".

King of the Crop

The king of my crop this summer is this Caysan Chilli, measuring 11.5cm.

We made a very simple chilli sauce, the famous fresh chilli plus soya sauce, and it added a brilliant zip to duck noodles.

Ineffable cuteness!

Guest post by Uxor Petri

Clare has been sitting on her nest of 14 eggs for the last 5 weeks. I candled them on day 18, but not being an expert egg candler, I wasn't sure if 2 were fertile and 12 infertile, or vice versa. Last week, Clare got rid of one rotten egg from the nest, and we took another out which was also rotten (Pew!!!) On Thursday, ThygoCanberra removed what he thought was another rotten egg. Unfortunately, after he broke it he found a perfectly formed duckling.

We have been on tenterhooks the last few days, waiting for Clare's ducklings to hatch. This is the first clutch to be fathered by Frank (our incredibly handsome Muscovy drake). I thought they were due to hatch on Friday, and was worried that the 40C heat last week might be too much for them. Finally, over the last 36 hours, 11 ducklings have hatched - an excellent result. Trying to keep Thygo major and Thygo minor from pestering Clare and drowning the ducklings in affection has been difficult. To tell the truth, I can't get enough of them either.

 

The Proud Father

 

Can you see them?

 

Lots of pics to follow...

The rest of the photos were taken by Thygo major.

 

This one has been named Angry Bird, for obvious reasons.

 

And this was the last to hatch. It is not quite dry.

Can you spot all 11 ducklings?

 

And in case you are wondering what has happened to Ashley and the older ducklings, they are now 3 weeks old and are starting to lose their baby feathers. Big Duckling is almost twice the size of Little Duckling. Yesterday, Thygo major found Little Duckling soaking wet and exhausted. I thought she was a gonner. She must have jumped into the big bucket of water and almost drowned. I dried her off with the hair dryer, wrapped her in a towel with a heat pack and fed her sugar water with an eye dropper. She came good after a couple of hours, thank goodness, and was running around happily today.

 

I'm Sorry Frank ...

... that I called you ugly. You are the most handsome bird.

Ducklings - update

actually 3 out now and a 4th is poking out - pics later - the 4th was a misdiagnosis - only 3 viable eggs

'Peek a boo' a little while ago:

The ducklings are starting to hatch !

Duclings were supposed to be due on 1 January.

Yesterday I thought there was peeping under Ashleigh but there was no action under her, so I put it down to her.

This morning I lifted her and behold, 2 eggs are hatching. Sadly another one had gone off (top left) so max from this clutch will be 5.

One in the middle is getting there, one at bottom left has just started.

Meanwhile Clare is sitting on a clutch of 11 under the back steps but is some weeks behind:

More ducks

This week Louise acquired some fertilised Muscoy eggs and a drake.

 

Ashleigh is sitting on 9

Frank, Clare & Snowy

Frank

 
Snowy & Clare

Carl & Clare

Duck Eggs Postscript

My wife has an Italian friend who heard about our prize cache of duck eggs from Thygocanberra, and she wanted to make pasta with them so we happily gave her two duck eggs.

The pasta was a success, and the Italian family thought the pasta made from duck eggs was richer and nicer. We were treated to some of this home made 'duck' pasta, and we found it silkier than egg pasta and very scrummy indeed.

Two Stories of Ducks

Earlier in the week daughter #2 finished her HSC exams after much preparation and stress (for her mother). To celebrate the end of exams she was treated to a Chinese takeaway lunch of her favourite meal: Peking Duck in pancakes and noodles. It survived the takeaway treatment very well.

Last night we had a wonderful visit from Thygocanberra and family. He kindly brought us six duck eggs. Two of these eggs have already been used to make chocolate cupcakes. The only difference that we noticed to using chicken eggs was that the cakes appeared to rise more than usual, although this may have been caused by something else. The end result was delicious.

Of Ducks

The other night I unwrapped a chocolate and there was a message in the wrapper. Is it significant? Does it apply to Thygocanberra?

The message was: "You can't soar with eagles when you are running with ducks".

The cities are generally better in this game

This city reminds me of last game!

Come to Yoda's PRESTAGS Party

Yoda's PRESTAGS party, welcome are Messrs PRESTAGS.

Not of Ducks ... of Emus

Health and fitness wise, PRESTAGS knows that it is definitely downhill after 50.

This last week I have had sore joints, especially knees and knuckles. The usual 1000 mg of Krill Oil has not been doing the trick.

Today my ever considerate wife has purchased some indigenous medicine: Emu Oil.

The Emu Oil is described as "a traditional Australian Aboriginal relief for the pain of arthritis, muscular aches, insect bites and for the symptomatic relief of dry skin and minor burns". I don't know what the biochemistry is behind Emu Oil, but there do appear to be patents and scientific papers on this subject.

I can personally attest to the efficacy of  Tea Tree Oil (Melaleuca Oil), and of Papaw Ointment (Carica Papaya) so I am prepared to give Emu Oil a go.

Speaking of emus, I would love to try emu eggs, fried or in an omlette.

Strange egg

Today we got 4 eggs. But one of them was a teeny weeny one.

Strange things happen in nature.

 

The western front hots up as I approach a NS join

Paul has taken a city on the Eastern front, while my 3rd Guards Tank Legion has executed a sweet flanking move, so it is tied there. On the west, I have locate a massive airforce build up, so I think I am going to get hurt there very soon.

My explorers are bring me much pleasure and are still finding neutrals. They are fast approaching a Magellan hand shake. Remember, this game is only ever won in the factories.

I think, ThygoCanberra, this is a blog like crazy moment. May I suggest hourly tweets about the ducks may be in order (or should they be called quacks.)

And to think I used to work for a living...

At the off leash park in Leichhardt enjoy sunshine and a cap. The user management service of Moderni Agone is quite good. I am now about to play against myself. Perhaps the last game I shall win!

 Paul will be pleased to see that I am wearing his Boys Weekend tee shirt. Peter will be conforted that light surrounds my head when unemployed. The dog is just pleased.

Braised Korriban Duck

Recipe, Yoda contributes. Accentuates the delicious flavours of duck and bantha, this recipe does. Braised in aged Korriban wine, the name of recipe it gives.

INGREDIENTS

2 x Duck leg and thigh. Recommend Naboo large ducks.

500 grams of fresh Bantha. Recommend Tatooine shoulder cut.

250 mL of aged Korriban wine. At least 40 years old.

200 mL of thickened Dianoga cream.

3 x medium carrots.

4 x onions. Recommend Ojomian onions.

200 gram can of diced tomatoes.

bayleaf, Bellassan black pepper, salt, oregano and thyme.

METHOD

1. Debone and mince duck to a thick mince. Season generously with black pepper.
2. Debone and mince bantha to a thick mince. Season generously with black pepper.
3. Cut carrots into slices, approximately 60mm thick.
4. Slice onions into rings, approximately 40mm thick.
5. Boil carrot slices gently until soft. Drain and set aside.
6. Heat any olive or nut based oil in a wide flameproof casserole dish.
7. Add onions. Add duck and bantha mince and fry on high heat very briefly, to brown meat and onions.
8. Turn down heat, and add wine and diced tomatoes. Stir vigorously.
9. Place lid on casserole dish and braise on medium heat for 10 minutes.
10. Add carrots. Add bayleaf, and liberal sprinklings of oregano and thyme. Add additional black pepper and salt to taste.
11. Replace lid on casserole dish and braise on medium heat for a further 20 minutes, stirring regularly.
12. Add cream about 2-5 minutes before serving. Stir and simmer. Let dish reduce until dish thickens and is of consistency of a goulash.

 

Serve with pasta (recommend Tortiglioni) or rice.

In field conditions, may also be served on bread or biscuits.

Accompany with the rest of the bottle of Korriban wine.

Nourishing for warriors, it most certainly is.

Green lightsaber, but vegetarian not.

Thygo's Best Photographs

Thygocanberra is a brilliant photographer and I am very jealous.

I have gone through some of his photographs to choose my favourites.

No, definitely not this one:

And no, not these ones although they are very good photographs:

It is these ones.

The BRONZE medal goes to:

 

The SILVER Medal goes to:

And, the GOLD medal goes to my favourite:

New Categories for Thygocanberra

I have created twelve (yes 12!) new formal categories especially for Thygocanberra:

1. The Moon
2. Ducks
3. Hockey Sticks
4. Heresy
5. Apostasy
6. Schismatics
7. ACT (Grand Duchy)
8. Crime & Punishment
9. Elephants
10. Liturgical Music
11. Men in White Coats
12. Little House on the Prairie

Steak Knives? Yes, THERE IS MORE. I will undertake to write a post in each of these twelve categories within three months if PythonMagus does the same!

Just a quick post to say I'm still here.

Maurice predicitons are false, false, false.

I have trouble sitting at the computer without #2 son insisting on seeing "more baby elephants!" And there are some great shots and videos out there.

We have a duck sitting on eggs but now pretty sure we have no drake :-(

For the Drakes in the Freezer

I think Thygocanberra should warm up the drakes in the freezer with this simple (LOL) suggestion:

DEEP-FRIED AND SIMMERED DUCK STUFFED WITH EIGHT PRECIOUS INGREDIENTS

Yum.

first post

So this is the first post. Won't be too cerebral.

But can foreshadow wanting to blog on: Catholic school system, chant, photography, and oh yes, wargames.

But this one is about sexing ducks. We currently have 6 ducks: 3 runner-Campbell crosses and 3 muscovies (there were 10 but 4 muscovy drakes went in freezer)
. We thought the runners and one of the muscovies were laying the eggs (2 a day) but recently discovered (by separating them) that it is the muscovies are the current layers. Well that was a surprise as we thought 2 of them were young drakes and we might get some ducklings if we let one lay a clutch. But now we are wondering if all 3 are hens.

Some pics attached - the muscovies are white the runners brown (different species).