Up until now, anyone can spew out pollution into the air we breathe at zero cost to them. Whether or not you believe climate change is real*, polluting the air is no good. Economists call this an “Externality”. This is a fancy word for a cost that a business doesn’t pay. Cost to mining company of polluting waterways and land in third-world country? Zero. Externality. Cost to cigarette companies of smoking-related disease or litter? Zero. Externality. Cost to coal-burning power station of the CO2 and other gases belched into the air? Zero. Externality. Of course all of these things will have to be paid for later, by society as a whole (and maybe our species in the end). So it’s not that these things have no cost, it’s just that the cost is pushed onto someone else.

Let’s say we have two electricity retailers: Green Energy and Dirty Power. Green Energy uses Hydro, Wind and Solar and has almost no emissions. Electricity from them costs $105. Dirty Power has a coal-fired power station and plenty of emissions. Electricity from them costs $100. So most people buy electricity from Dirty Power.

The Carbon tax comes in at $10 and now electricty from Dirty Power costs $110. Electricity from Green Energy still costs $105. With the $10 the government has collected, $5 is given back to consumers so they can now buy electricity from Green Energy, leaving the consumer no worse off. The other $5 goes to creating and improving clean energy production. So now more people will buy their energy from Green Energy because it’s cheaper, and less from Dirty Power because they’re more expensive (and polluting).

And the managers of Dirty Power will start investing in clean energy because if they want to stay in business and remain competitive, they need to lower their emissions so their product is cheaper.

* If you don’t believe climate change is real, please stop being an idiot and do some research.

In keeping with this philosophy, over the past few years I’ve experimented with various techniques and ingredients, with varying degrees of success. I won’t mention the worst failures, but the Aussie sushi (ham, cheese and tomato) was certainly memorable. On the more successful end of the scale, I like to use the savoury tuna or salmon that comes in flavours like Penang Curry or Thai Chilli (for the non-vegetarians), and sushi omelette also proves very popular. It helps a lot to have a (square) sushi omelette pan.

Recently I made gourmet pizzas and had some left-over ingredients – grilled eggplant, capsicum and artichoke hearts – and thought these might be interesting in sushi. They proved to be a major hit. I made a couple of maki-zushi (large hand rolls) with these ingredients, and they disappeared very quickly.

So I present: Antipasto Sushi.

(Click to enlarge)

I discovered that I had three exposures left on a roll of film in the camera. One of those lovely mysterious discoveries you can only have with a film camera – the what/when/where of photos that were taken but not developed. In this case, they were an absolutely beautiful set of photos of Deb and the kids (and a couple of me!) from the summer of 2008. I may post some of those later.

So I took three photos with the remaining film. I hope you like them.

(Click to enlarge)

Heat oil in large work or frying pan. Add the onion and curry paste to the wok and stir for 3 minutes over medium heat. Add the coconut milk and water. Bring to the boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for 5 min. Add the sweet potato and cook for a further 6-7 minutes.

Add the eggplant and kaffir lime leaves to the wok and cook for a further 10 minutes, or until the vegetables are very tender, stirring occasionally.

Add the lime juice and rind, brown sugar and fish sauce (optional), toss until well combined. Sprinkle with fresh coriander and serve with steamed rice. Garnish with extra kaffir lime leaves if desired.

Thanks to Fiona for the recipe!

50g butter
1tbsp olive oil
2 medium leeks, chopped into in 1-2mm slices
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
8 medium carrots, grated (about 1kg)
1/2 cup shredded fresh basil
2 eggs, slightly beaten
300ml cream
1tsp seasoned pepper
6 sheets instant lasagne
400g feta cheese, crumbled

Grease ~ 17x25cm ovenproof dish (2L capacity). Heat butter and olive oil in pan, add leeks and garlic and cook, stirring regularly until leeks are soft. Add carrots and cook, covered, stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes or until carrots are soft. Cool slightly (about 5 min) and stir in basil.

Combine eggs, cream and pepper in bowl, mix well.

Cover base of prepared dish with 3 lasagne sheets, top with half of the leek and carrot mixture, then half of the cheese, then half of the egg mixture. Repeat layering with the remaining half of the ingredients.

Bake, uncovered, in a moderate oven (180C/350F, lower for fan-forced, or turn off the fan if possible) for 45-50 min or until firm and browned.

Bon appétit!

A cool meme. I’m not even going to try it twice because the first attempt was so perfect.

1 – Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random.
The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 – Go to Random quotations:
http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3.
The last four words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 – Go to flickr’s “explore the last seven days”
http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/. Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

Put it all together, that’s your first album.

Now to put together some music…

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/13715436@N00/3379917660/
Quote: http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/3276.html

But I have a personal goal of doing an Olympic-distance triathlon (and maybe even an Ironman) by the time I’m 50, and I’ve been inspired by all the Olympic activity of the past two weeks and have decided to get back to peak fitness again.

After packing my running gear into a bag this morning and looking forward to a lunchtime run today – really looking forward to it after looking out the window late in the morning and seeing an absolutely beautiful August day, I went to get changed and realised I had left the bag at home.

D’oh!

But every cloud has a silver lining and I remembered that (about six months ago!) I had brought a towel, goggles and boardshorts to work and left them in a drawer, as a contingency for when it was raining and I couldn’t go for a run. Swimming is pretty important for a triathlon – you’re not going to get far without completing the first leg!

So off I went to Richmond pool for my first swimming session for about three years. I managed 10 laps of the 50m pool (with a short rest at the end of each lap). It might not seem like much, but to put it in perspective, when I started getting back into lap swimming a year or so before my marathon, I was hopeless and could barely manage 50m in one go. I was trying to swim too fast, getting out of breath, and basically had no idea. But with a bit of coaching from my friend John Bethell, I got some technique and worked out how to pace myself.

But boy, do I have a lot of work to do. My arms are really tired, and I suspect I will have a bit of difficulty lifting them tomorrow! But it feels really good to have made a start on the track to another big life goal.

Oh, and I’m back on the bike too…

The family just spent two weeks on the Bellarine Peninsula, based at Portarlington. While I was too busy with work to spend the whole time there, I was able to get away for the weekends and found some great sand on Saturday at the Point Lonsdale front beach. We visited the lighthouse a few years previously, and I was also thinking of Nick heading from Portugal to the Canaries, so I made this: