Here is my take on the same recipe with a little twist where I cook it in a microwave, which takes about 5 minutes for preparation and 5-8 minutes of cooking time. This is a quick and easy recipe for a delicious dessert, even for a guy like me.

Ingredients:

• 5 Eggs
• 250 ml Coconut milk, thick
• 250 g “Jaggery“
• 1 Cinnamon quill, broken
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1/4 tsp Ground cloves (Optional)
• 1/4 tsp Grated nutmeg (Optional)
• 1/4 tsp Ground cardamom seeds (Optional)
• 1/4 tsp Vanilla extract (Optional)
• Butter, to grease
• Raisins and roasted cashew nuts, to serve

Directions:

• Add the eggs to a bowl and whisk them well
• Add “jaggery” and all the spices and mix them well
• Add the mixture into a greased microwave-safe bowl
• Cook it in microwave covered for 5-8 minutes
• Sprinkle some raisins and roasted cashew nuts
• Let it cool before serving

Notes:

• “Jaggery” is an unrefined sugar typically made from sugar cane or date palm sap and often used in Indian and Sri Lankan recipes. You can substitute it with grated dark palm sugar
• Cooking time can vary on depending on the microwave power or amount of the mixture. I would suggest start at 5 minutes and increase by a minute each time while checking if it is cooked.

How to make watalappan in a microwave? is a post from: Nimal's Weblog

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Photo taken by Barbara Mürdter

Time is the enemy for any thoughts, especially mine, and 50cc was not enough for me anymore for no apparent reason. Now I wanted a bigger scooter, may be a 100cc. The problem was I didn’t have a motorcycle licence, and you need to one to ride anything above 50cc in Queensland.

So I decided I should get a motorcycle licence, and then came the new problem. The car licence I had was from Sri Lanka, and can get a motorcycle licence only if I convert that to a Queensland licence. This would have been straight forward, if the original licence is from the US or Singapore or few other countries. For a Sri Lankan licence, the only option is to do written and practical driving tests.

Somewhere towards the end of 2011, I did the written test and passed on the second attempt (the first blind attempt didn’t go well). Then I had to go for the practical test. By that time, I might have driven on road for about 18 months and 4,000kms, but I have never driven regularly. So I thought doing some lessons with a driving instructor might help, and it did. After few hours of training I had my Queensland car licence in the post box.

Now I could get a motorcycle licence in Queensland. There were two options. You could go straight for a practical test if you can ride a motorcycle as for cars. But it was not an option for me. So I decided to go the Q-Ride way. It is a specially designed program to learn to ride and get the licence at the same time. It took me another couple of weekends of training and one epic fall before I had my Queensland motorcycle licence in the post box.

What started as a simple desire for a 50cc scooter was now a motorcycle licence after nine months in early 2012. Then I went and bought a Yamaha Virago XV250 cruiser, a 250cc motorcycle, not a 50cc scooter. Now I’ve been riding it to work/uni almost every day and I think I’m enjoying it. I hope to keep on writing on this blog my experiences of riding as ‘My Riding Log’. I won’t be regular or informative, just another random log.

Everything changes around us every day, our thoughts, our perceptions, and our likes and dislikes. I always want to think ‘I’m living in the moment’ and I try to do so.

My Riding Log: The Pretext is a post from: Nimal's Weblog

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Undergraduate Student E-mails

For all QUT undergraduate and non-research degree students who have @connect.qut.edu.au email addresses,

• Username: \firstname.lastname@connect.qut.edu.au
• Server: pod51000.outlook.com

Staff E-mails

For QUT staff email accounts that end with @qut.edu.au,

• Domain\Username: qutad\USERNAME
• Server: outlook.qut.edu.au

Research Student E-mails

I’m doing my PhD at QUT, and all HRD (ie PhD and Masters Research) students have a different type of email accout (similar to staff emails) which end with @student.qut.edu.au,

• Domain\Username: qutad\USERNAME
• Server: outlook.qut.edu.au

How to connect to a QUT Wireless network from Android?

QUT wireless networks offers two different Wi-Fi access points to connect across all campuses. The ‘QUT’ access point is usable for all students and staff, while the ‘eduroam’ access point can additionally be used by visitors from participating institutions. Setting up the ‘eduroam’ network can enable us use our devices when travelling to other participating institutions.

• Menu -> Settings -> Wireless -> Wi-Fi
• Choose a network: QUT (or eduroam)
• EAP Method: PEAP
• Phase 2 authentication: MSCHAPv2
• CA Certificate: [Leave Unspecified]
• User Certificate: [Leave Unspecified]
• Identity: USERNAME (or USERNAME@qut.edu.au for eduroam)
• Anonymous Identity: [Leave Blank]
• Password: PASSWORD
• Connect!

Notes:

The settings pages and options may sightly vary depending on the device, OS version, and applications. The USERNAME is what you would normally use to login to a QUT computer. We should use USERNAME@qut.edu.au only to connect to the ’eduroam’ network. The following pages on the IT Services webpage can give latest and more details.

• QUT Wireless
• eduroam

Setup QUT Student, Staff Email on Android Devices is a post from: Nimal's Weblog

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Jack Charles is one of Australia’s highly regarded performers. An Aboriginal elder who pioneered Koorie Theatre in the early 1970s, he founded the first Aboriginal theatre company in Australia, Nindethana. Jack is an actor, musician, potter and gifted performer, but in his nearly 70 years, he has also been homeless, a heroin addict, a thief and a regular in Victoria’s prisons. A member of the Stolen Generation, Jack has spent his life in between acting gigs, caught in the addiction/crime/doing time cycle. In Jack Charles v The Crown, Jack returns to the stage to tell the story of his life with humour, warmth, song, truth and forgiveness.

I was thinking this show could be about Aboriginal culture, but rather it’s about the contemporary lifestyle of Aboriginal society. Jack Charles puts forward some strong points towards the Australian society, and I could see similarities within the Sri Lanka society and problem of total denial of any social issues.

Jack Charles v The Crown will be performed at Powerhouse Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse daily till September 10. Go to the event page for tickets and more details.

Brisbane Festival 2011 – Jack Charles v The Crown is a post from: Nimal's Weblog

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Mortal Engine is not just another dance performance. It is a dance, video, music and laser spectacular. More than the intriguing performance, I was amazed by the perfect marriage between art and technology.

Mortal Engine uses cutting-edge technology for movement detection and sound responsive projections. This triggers light and sound patterns based on dancers’ movements, and creates kaleidoscopic patterns and optical illusions. In this interview on InFrame.tv Mortal Engine’s Artistic Director Gideon Obarzanek explains the inner mechanics of the show.

Mortal Engine will be performed at Playhouse, QPAC daily till September 10. Go to the event page for tickets and more details.

Brisbane Festival 2011 – Mortal Engine is a post from: Nimal's Weblog

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Beautiful Noise is a stylised aerodynamic performance by Brisbane’s Raw Dance Company and Sydney’s Legs On The Wall. It is a truly spectacular production where performers scale the walls and flying acrobatic dancers draw all eyes up to the night sky, rhythm masters of tap set the beat, while hip-hop artists smash the stage.

I was so into the performance, I wouldn’t have bothered to take photos or video if I had a camera, (and no photography at the venue). Checkout this video to get the feel for it.

Beautiful Noise will be performed at QUT Festival Theatre, Plaza, Brisbane Powerhouse daily till September 10. Go to the event page for tickets and more details.

Brisbane Festival 2011 – Beautiful Noise is a post from: Nimal's Weblog

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Here is the unedited long version of Riverfire 2011 videos.

There is lot more events and activities during Brisbane Festival 2011. For more details on other exciting events throughout the Brisbane Festival 2011, check out the official website. You can also follow Brisbane Festival more closely with frequents updates on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr.

Brisbane Festival 2011 – Riverfire is a post from: Nimal's Weblog

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Brisbane Festival 2011 will take place from September 3rd to 24th. The event packed three weeks of Brisbane Festival 2011 will kick-start tomorrow, Saturday September 3rd with the Sunsuper Riverfire. On September 3rd, more than half a million people will converge on Brisbane’s riverbanks to watch the city sky ignite in a continuous burst of spectacular colour, music, and special effects.

South Bank, Kangaroo Point Cliffs, and Victoria Bridge are popular places to watch Sunsuper Riverfire. I was on Victoria Bridge last year and it was hard to find a place to put my tripod, even at 3pm in the afternoon. I guess, I would go even earlier this time, either to Kangaroo Point Cliffs or to South Bank.

Photo: Copyright Brisbane Festival. All Rights Reserved.

There are so many activities during Brisbane Festival, including many free events around the city. I would probably miss out on most events as I’m travelling back home this month, but I’m still planning to catch up few events before leaving to Sri Lanka. I’m looking forward to the Beautiful Noise show, a stylised aerodynamic performance that is premiering during the Brisbane Festival 2011. I’m also interested in the Jack Charles vs The Crown show, that could shed some light into the Aboriginal culture and history.

For more details on other exciting events throughout the Brisbane Festival 2011, check out the official website. You can also follow Brisbane Festival more closely with frequents updates on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr.

Here comes Brisbane Festival is a post from: Nimal's Weblog

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Nimal with the Lord Mayor of Brisbane Councillor Graham Quirk

Photographs from: Leong Ming En

A Dinner with the Brisbane Lord Mayor Councillor Graham Quirk is a post from: Nimal's Weblog

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We got on a Caboolture train from Central station and there were connecting shuttle buses from Caboolture station. We reached Farm Fantastic by noon. What’s a better way to start than with a lunch. We had some delicious burgers at the Outback Eatery with a flavor of Aussie country music. Some of us choose to top it up with some ice cream for dessert and my choice of passion fruit was ‘different’.

For the next couple of hours we had to roam around Farm Fantastic, looking through a great range of exhibitors and entertainment and stopping by at few.

We had a great time at, I think this is a great way to link the country life to the outer world.

Brisbane International Student Ambassadors at Farm Fantastic 2011

Find more details on the Farm Fantastic website.

Photographs by: Leong Ming En

Another day out with friends: Farm Fantastic 2011 is a post from: Nimal's Weblog

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