Frogs on Ice

It's like Disney on Ice

(but with a much smaller budget).

Frogs have taken up ice-skating.

Behold the grace with which they glide around the rink.

Some humans challenge them...

...to a friendly game of ice-hockey.

The frogs happily accept

before realising that it could all go...

...horribly wrong.

(Thanks to the Irvines for risking their lives on the glacier to capture this footage)

Hi-jinks on a toilet roll (2)

After hitting the mini-bar fairly heavily, a couple of frogs-on-tour decide it is time to try indoor ski-ing.

What else would you do in the tropics?

They take the toilet roll...

And set up the course.

It does not...

...end well.

What happens on tour (3)

"Look at moiye, look at moiye..."

What happens on tour (2)

Hi-jinks on a toilet roll, part 1...

What happens on tour stays on tour

Some frogs are on tour in Papua New Guinea.

And whilst the old adage about what happens on tour is generally true,  a few photos appear to be leaking out....

One bed. Eight frogs.

It started with a kiss

When a princess....

...kisses a frog...

....sometimes she meets a prince.

With thanks to Princess Rosemary and a slightly reluctant Prince Stephanie - who, it should be noted, also made a fabulous Princess.

Frog in the House

Frog has a dream in which she sees herself hovering...

.... above the Parliament.

It is a sign!

Pausing only to placate the waiting journalists with a quick doorstop interview,

she enters the House.

Getting herself a front bench seat in the Senate

representing The Greens, of course.

And makes her maiden speech.

The Hansard records commemorate this great day: Croak, Ribbit, Croak

Reinventing a toad

Having deconstructed your toad, what next?

Will it be content to stay flat? A non-entity bearing only faint traces of its past life?

The life force stirs and the ex-toad begins to fold in upon its former self

 A change is taking place.

A new identity appears to be emerging.

A toad reborn as a frog?

Iron frog #1 - the PNG Challenger

Thus far there is no Iron Frog - only naked ambition

(and in the PNG kitchen, naked electric hotplates in lieu of naked flames).

The challenger prepares her offering of Toad in the Hole selecting the micro-toad approach of her childhood.

Ingredients:

1 cup plain flour

2 eggs

1 cup milk

pinch salt

sausages

Method:

Bake sausages in a hot oven.

Meanwhile whisk eggs, milk and salt in a bowl and gradually whisk in the flour. Allow to sit. Melt a small amount if butter in muffin tins. Chop the sausage into toad-size portions (curse a little bit when you burn yourself trying to get the sausages out of the oven) and drop into the tins. Pour batter over toads ...

...and bake in a hot oven til puffed and golden.

Score:

Flavour - 3/5. Would have been better with better quality sausages. Batter was a little on the stodgy side.

Presentation - 3/5. The little toads looked the part - golden on top (maybe a couple more minutes would have been good?) and nicely puffed with toads peeking out of pudding. I had a bit of a problem getting them out of the trays so it's good you can't see their bottoms in the photo. I liked the way I matched the three puddings with two other things to make a trinity of stuff on the plate.

Innovation - 2.5/5. As a child this was a bit of a favourite and I don't recall eating it with anything other than tomato sauce. However, as I did not have any 'dead horse' to hand, I tried to snazz it up by making some onion and capsicum 'jam' (slightly burnt) and serving it with garlicky green beans. The flavours worked pretty well together and if I can work out how to make unburnt jam I reckon it'd be a winner.

Mess - 3/5. I've done worse.  And this cleaned up pretty quickly despite me using more dishes than was strictly necessary.  Not sure if I lose enviro-points for using a disposable tray - but it did save on the washing up.

11.5/20. 

Hmmm. Room for improvement there I think.

A day at the races

As the Summer Racing Carnival draws to a close, there's one day that is a must for frog-loving race enthusiasts. Or is that race-loving frog enthusiasts?

Either way you can be sure to see plenty of hot hat action at the Golden Frog Stakes Race Day.

Anna studies the form whilst wearing a  jaunty little number...

 

Claire models the new look: centre-part, side-frog

Clear winners: Fashions on the field.

You can never have too much of a good frog!

How to deconstruct a Toad

It may seem cruel, but as far as I am aware, there's no mention in the Geneva Convention about the rights and wrongs of deconstructing toads.  It's just something that happens.

They start out like this.

 ...and then...

 ...little by little...

...things unfold...

 ... until...

 .. you are left...

 ... with...

.. this.

Well, that's one way to do it.

Appparently  'Toad, Deconstructed' also looks like this.

Or this:

Deconstructed Toad in the Hole

A grilled gourmet sausage served with onion jam in a savoury crepe.

Wine suggestion: Toad Hollow Pinot Noir

Iron Frog

The challenge has been extended... the gauntlet thrown down.

Who will pick it up?

But what challenge, I hear you cry?

Why to be crowned Iron Frog - culinary amphibi-king (or queen) of the pond, of course.

Each week contestants will front up in their own kitchens to take on the culinary challenge and produce an edible version of that week's challenge dish. 

Kitchens can be in homes, hotels, hostels or hospitals

(but those with a fully equipped domestic kitchen may get points removed for being smug and comfortable).

 

Rules:

1. Any recipe can be used. Competitors don't have to use the same recipe.
2. Parental assistance is permitted  - but the bulk of the preparation and cooking must be done by the nominated competitor.
3. The contestant must present a photo of the finished product on the frogblog. That photo should include a frog.
4. Each contestant will then award themselves points out of five for:

• Flavour
• Presentation
• Innovation
• Amount of mess made (where "easy to clean up" equals 5 points and "kitchen is a disaster area" =1.) This should also be photographed.

 

The winner each week gets to set the next recipe challenge. In the event of a self-assessed tie, an almost independent judge (Hugh) will be asked to choose a winner based on photos.

Recipe challenge 1: Toad in the hole

Victory

 Once the potatoes entered the war, the toads were soon vanquished...

on the run...

consigned to the recycling..

...and the rubbish.

Hurrah for Frogs and Tattties.

The question remains though... is it possible to rehabilitate a Toad?

Frog goes slalom kayaking

Frogs are amphibious. Which means they like water

(OK - so it actually means able to USE either land or water. Whatever).

But what about white water?

Let's find out as Frog goes slalom kayaking.

My adventure begins at the Penrith Whitewater Stadium.

(Hmm - a stadium made of water. Who knew?)

I sort out my equipment...

And cleverly blend in with my environment.

(Can you see me? Can you? Can you?)

I check out the white water

(it really is white)

And watch how it is done

(eyes in the back of my head)

And then I test the water.

This is fine! I don't know what the fuss is about.

Come on in... the water is lovely.

(Hey - Amphibious also means "able to swim", right?)

With thanks to Beth Ross and Sam Lyons.

You can find out more about white water and the people who slalom on it in canoes at http://samlyons.id.au