Notices by Tim Richards (timrichards@aus.social)

Three chefs are reinventing the dim sim for a food festival. Fun read, including a history of the dimmie...

"Few snacks provoke as many conflicting feelings as the dim sim. Devotees will express both disgust and admiration, sometimes in the same breath. A dimmie equals cultural cringe in some circles; for other people, it’s a point of pride.

"Unlike meat pies or pavlova, it’s one of the few snacks that’s unquestionably Australian. And Victorians have a unique claim: Melbourne is the birthplace of the dim sim as we know it today.

"It was here that William Chen Wing Young manufactured the first dimmies through his food business, Wing Lee. They were frozen and then sold (steamed, not fried) from caravans at sporting events. Many reports claim this happened in 1945, but his daughter, leading Chinese chef and author Elizabeth Chong, disputes that. It was in 1942 that she says her father took the steamed Cantonese dumpling, siu mai, mainstream."

#Melbourne #food #Chinese https://www.theage.com.au/goodfood/melbourne-eating-out/is-the-melbourne-invented-dim-sim-australia-s-greatest-snack-20250213-p5lbx9.html

"Human-replacing". What, and we're supposed to just sit back and let it get on with that? In recompense I'd like a guaranteed UBI I can live on, for a start.
---
DeepSeek's emergence signals the beginning of the human-replacing phase of AI https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-03/deepseek-accelerates-ai-robot-jobs-takeover/104886722

#AI

@skinnylatte I'm a bit like that every time I enjoy a stay in a country town, then get back to Melbourne.

This site is intriguing, rates your attitude to what is green or blue. I lean more toward blue, it seems.

https://ismy.blue

#colour #color

@SarraceniaWilds @skinnylatte rural Australians would be slightly amazed by that as well

This looks interesting - 'soupless ramen':

'A Japanese noodle chain with more than 100 locations worldwide has finally touched down in Melbourne with a style of ramen rarely seen here – and it just happens to be perfect for a sweltering summer.

'Kajiken, a noodle chain that began south of Tokyo in Nagoya, makes aburasoba, which translates to “oil noodles” but is often referred to as soupless ramen.

'You might think soupless ramen sounds like a scam. Isn’t the broth half the point? But aburasoba is no gimmick. It’s your new best friend when you want deliciously dressed noodles that won’t weigh you down.'

#Melbourne #food https://www.theage.com.au/goodfood/melbourne-eating-out/a-cult-japanese-noodle-shop-arrives-in-melbourne-with-summer-ready-bowls-20250109-p5l384.html

@erinbee I don't understand the point of goals involving numbers; reading should be about quality, not quantity. My reading goal is never to waste time on a boring book, and to savour the good ones.

Just because I happened to have this image up in the Photos app - here's one of the beautifully restored dining cars in the Pride of Africa, the luxury train operated by Rovos Rail in South Africa. The company sources old carriages from across southern Africa, and renovates them in its Pretoria workshop. Lovely job here - check out the timber pillars.

#train #trains #SouthAfrica cc @diningcar

@skinnylatte I get that with inner Melbourne, still has a lot of its 19th century landmarks so you can read a novel from then (eg The Mystery of a Hansom Cab) and recognise the locations.

Now free for all to read... Meet Mr James. I've known him for 30 years, and we've met up on 4 continents. In November I took him and his husband on a walking tour of Melbourne:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/mr-james-comes-116729030

#Melbourne

Ugh no, only cotton for me. Polyester makes me sweat.
https://social.chinwag.org/@abc_bot/113743563540723288

Not surprised people are drinking less alcohol nowadays. What are cocktails nowadays, $26 each? That's ridiculously expensive. https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/liquor-industry-faces-hangover-as-young-toast-new-year-alcohol-free-20241226-p5l0os.html

@skinnylatte Have you looked into pet health insurance? I wonder if it's worth the money.

@skinnylatte I've been wondering if that explains the profusion of dessert cafes catering to the international students here. Maybe seem as a treat outside the usual at-home foods?

@skinnylatte Asian cuisines tend not to do sweet flavours much, is that right? Or am I just unfamiliar with sweet Asian food?

@skinnylatte are they sweet or savoury?

Is anyone here still using Threads? No one talks about it anymore, though I hear a lot about Bluesky. I always got the impression that Threads was "Twitter designed by people who don’t like Twitter", ie all-algorithm, little customisation, no politics etc. Sounds awful.

#Threads

@skinnylatte You know, on glancing at Google Earth it looks like Darwin *is* closer to Borneo than to Sydney or Melbourne. :)

@skinnylatte I really like it too, but in the dry season. ;) Last time I was there I had a great laksa for breakfast at the Parap Village Market.

@skinnylatte Oh god I am so not adapted to humid weather. I grew up in country Western Australia where it's very hot and dry. Can cope with heat well, but not when it's humid - was in Darwin in the wet season a couple of years ago and struggled.