I was interested in making some saffron rice recently. I went to the shop to buy some saffron and guess how much it costs!? No, not a million, but about $13-15 per 1g container. The container weighs more than the saffron inside it! I didn’t buy any.

Anyways, I found an indian food supply shop in fortitude valley, its in the arcade between the mall and chinatown.. I can’t remember the name sorry.

Anyways, it was $5 a container there, a much better price. So I bought some.

I had a quick look on wikipedia to see why it’s so expensive and here are some yielding facts:
Wikipedia:
“Only in October (in the Northern Hemisphere) do the plants begin to flower. Harvesting of flowers is by necessity a speedy affair: after their flowering at dawn, flowers quickly wilt as the day passes.^[14] Furthermore, saffron crocuses bloom within a narrow window spanning one or two weeks.^[15] Approximately 150 flowers yield 1 g of dry saffron threads; to produce 12 g of dried saffron (72 g freshly harvested), 1 kg of flowers are needed. On average, one freshly-picked flower yields 0.03 g of fresh saffron, or 0.007 g of dried saffron.^[13]“

Oh, I ditched my rice cooker, I literally got sick from eating the flaking teflon from the worn dish inside. I will get a new one soon, till then its pan cooked.

Dear christianbowman.com

I have had frequent problems in the past of washing my bed sheets only to have them come out of the wash dirtier than when i put them in. When I go to put them on the line, there are lines and marks of dirt and smut that weren’t there when I put them in the wash.

What are they and could you please give me some advice as to how I can get rid of them?

From christian bowman.

Dear Christian

So you’re the one! I’ve always wondered who that person was that read my site. Thank you for writing a letter to yourself, can I also say, thanks for washing your sheets, they’ve been sitting in the garage for days waiting to be washed!

Those marks are a collection of lint and dirt that cannot escape the creases and of your sheets during the rinse cycle, typically because it is spinning too fast and forces them to push into the creases.

The best way to get rid of that problem of the sheets collecting the dirt is to wash the sheets in your machine in “delicates” mode. this will slow down the spin thus allowing the dirt to be washed away and not forced under pressure into creases.

Best wishes and happy washing!

From christianbowman.com

Last week we saw the deaths of two Australian icons in Steve Irwin and Peter Brock. I have set up a couple of tribute pages on myspace for anyone wanting to leave a comment to show their appreciation for them

Steve Irwin

http://myspace.com/crikeysteveirwin

Peter Brock

http://myspace.com/peterbrock

Last week was also the week of full moon and a partial lunar eclipse which was visible from Australia.

Here is the brief on this

Last week’s poll ” If a guy asks a woman out on a first date, who should pay?” resulted in a win to “The guys should pay for everything” with 9 of the 15 votes.

Dear Steven,

I hope you have broadband in heaven, otherwise this page may take too long to load. You deserve to have all the luxuries for your hard efforts on and off screen. To your family, I hope they get all the best wishes that all aussies will be throwing their way, you will be dearly missed.

I was just wondering about the cheetahs… can i have them? I mean, thats if your wife and kids don’t want them… but I do like cheetahs and I have a cat they can teach their running skills to.

Thanks for the great memories and the wonderful efforts in promoting Australian tourism and the Australian culture to the world!

christianbowman.com and neo.

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Steve Irwin died today after being stung by a sting ray barb which pierced him in the heart. The Crocodile Hunter, 44, may have died instantly while filming a sequence for his eight-year-old daughter Bindi’s new TV series.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=127458