Digital inventory in wills provides access to social media pages after death | smh.com.au

Creating inventories is wise but can be very risky if not done carefully.

Currently, most online service providers have their own terms of agreement that users accept upon “signing up”. By doing so, they often relinquish any rights over the online content after death.

Often the rights they have to begin with are very limited. You think you own your songs and data on your iTunes account? Think again.  You own a lease. A lease to use the songs and data for a limited period of time and in limited ways. You don’t own the songs. You can’t give the songs to others.

Australia has no legislation that overrides these agreements either. There isn’t legislation that says your legal representative or executor can access these digital assets if you’re incapacitated or deceased.

Navigating online assets, user agreements and succession law isn’t easy. You should seek legal advice from a wills and estates lawyer that is up to date with this new and growing form of asset.

For people in Adelaide,  I can assist you – contact me at beth.castell@turnerfreeman.com.au .

http://m.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/digital–inventory-in-wills-provides-access-to-social-media-pages-after-death-20150301-13rwta.html

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Do not ignore digital legacy! Five minute-guide to: leaving details of your online world | Personal Finance | Finance | Daily Express

Have you planned your digital legacy?
Digital assets are complicated and often cannot be given away through your Will. You should prepare now as to what you want to occur upon your death or incapacity.

http://www.express.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/561171/Do-not-ignore-digital-legacy-Five-minute-guide-to-leaving-details-of-your-online-world

Sweet & smokey vegetarian hash

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I am hesistant to name this a “hash” until I learnt the word was derived from the French verb “to chop”.

Hash to me sounds American, but chop I did, and therefore, I suppose, hash I ate.

Ingredients

-4 medium potatoes
-1 red capsicum
-1 eggplant
-2 medium zucchinis
-2 spring onion
-Small handful basil
-1 tbsp sugar
-1 tbsp smoked paprika
-1/2tsp cayenne
-1 tbsp bbq sauce
-1 tbsp Vegetable oil
-salt & pepper
-2 eggs (optional)

Method

1. Chop up first four ingredients into roughly 1-1.5 cm cubes.
2. Chop up spring onions into about 1cm lengths. Finely chop some of the green end to garnish and set aside.
3. Finely chop basil.
4. Heat up vegetable oil in pan over medium-high heat.  Add in potatoes, spring onions and sugar, and cook for 4 minutes. Tip- Try not to stir too often – let them sit still for a couple of minutes to get some colour before stirring.
5. Add in zucchini, capsicum and eggplant and heat.
6. Stir in smoked paprika, cayenne and bbq sauce and cook until zucchini and eggplant have cooked and slightly softened.
7. Toss in basil and season generously.
8. (Optional). Crack some eggs in a hot pan until just cooked – sunny side up works well. Season and plonk on top of veg. Sprinkle over a little basil for style.

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Castell Macarons

Before I start baking I thoroughly clean my entire kitchen – put all dishes and other items away, then clean all surfaces.

I first use hot water and dishwashing detergent, followed by antibacterial spray and then on my macaron baking bench I wipe over with vinegar.

I also make sure that I am clean. Hair pulled back, headband to catch stray hairs, soap and warm water over my face and arms.

I then get out all my utensils and bowls, as well as my stand mixer and fittings and wipe everything again with vinegar and paper towel.

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Vinegar is a safe cleaning agent and removes traces of oils and fats. Oils and fats kill macaron shells – stops the egg whites from whisking properly and prevents it from holding shape.

Next I measure out all my ingredients by weight. I sift the almond meal and icing sugar and make sure all my ingredients are ready to go – for the shells; I worry about the fillings later.

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Apparently the egg whites should be ‘aged’ – approximately three days old after out of the shells. This can be achieved either by cracking them and leaving in a cling-wrap covered container in your fridge for three days or zapping them on the day at a low wattage in your microwave for 15 to 20 seconds, stirring in between.

I whisk the egg whites slowly first to allow the protein strands to gently begin unravelling. Once a little frothy, I add a teaspoon of vinegar to stabilize the whites. Alternatively, you could add a decent pinch of cream of tartar.

I turn up the stand mixer and add my caster sugar in three lots. I stop it every so often to check the consistency of the whites.

Still soft or can slide around bowl? Put it back on. Whisk until stiff peaks. This means you pull the whisk out and the egg white stands bolt up right. A teeny bend in the white peak is fine.

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Next the sifted and weighed almond meal and pure icing sugar or ‘tant pour tant’ (French for half and half) need to be folded into the egg whites.

This is also a good time to add the food colour. I like Wilson’s gel paste. $5-6 for a teeny tub, but a little goes a long way.

Do not use standard food dye – those bottles of liquid that can be bought at most supermarkets. They are too wet and will ruin your mixture.

Be careful with powders too. Some contain salt, which can also destroy the structure of the egg whites and cause cracked shells. Some powders are also oil-based. Oil and salt are bad news! Plus just a little bit of water causes the colour to run or stain, even once baked.

A good fold scoops down to the bottom of the bowl (usually towards yourself) and then tips the scoop of mixture back onto itself. You then rotate 90 degrees and repeat.

Until…

…the magic number of folds!

This magic number is usually around the 40 mark, but it depends on many factors and so counting alone will not work.

Here is the mixture after twenty folds…

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Here it is after forty-three folds. Perfect!

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You want the mix to drip in a relatively consistent stream of your spoon or spatula. People descrive it like ‘lava’ – because we’ve all seen real lava…

But think of it as kind of gluggy; it flows a bit then plops… You should see a ribbon of mixture from where you last folded it, but this should slowly fade away after 30 to 60 seconds.

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Macarons and Magic at Coffee Amigo Salisbury South Australia!!

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I am so grateful and excited for the opportunity to provide macarons for such a great coffee shop – Coffee Amigo.

Located north of Adelaide on John Street in the vibrant and festive suburb of Salisbury, Coffee Amigo is the perfect place for a pre-work coffee, a lazy breakfast or a flavoursome feast.

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My macarons come in various flavours – Amigo Lemon Lime, El Salvador Blue (Bluberry & White Belgium Choc), Strawberries & Cream, Salted Caramel and more.

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Coffee Amigo sells a variety of Salvadoran and Central American foods and coffees, as well as cakes and macarons (of course!).

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Banana empanadas and other delicacies are available on selected days – but there’s always something to delight and tempt you.

They also do an amazing breakfast, especially on Saturdays where included on the menu is Salvadoran specialty ‘Pupusas’. And boy are they good!!!

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Pupusas are like a pancake made with rice flour and filled with awesomeness – beans and cheese, zucchini or Salvadoran flower ‘Loroco’ and cheese, or shredded meat (for the carnivorous folk!). Served with a salsa-style sauce and crunchy side salad, pupusas are now a favourite meal of mine.

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And I love watching them being made by the mothers and family members of Coffee Amigo’s owners. Great to see a local family working together; sharing traditions and flavours of their home.

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And the coffee truly is grand. I’m serious about my brew. I don’t waste time drinking bad coffee – that’s why I only ever get my morning cuppa (and after lunch pick-me-up!) at Coffee Amigo when in Salisbury.

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Julio, Coffee Amigo’s owner, is a brilliant coffee artist too. Sometimes looking into the milky goodness is like looking into a mirror; other times, such as during halloween, it may be a vampire bat that smiles back at you!

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But Coffee Amigo is not only a place I go to deliver my macarons – to an excited Julio who is eager to discover my new flavours – it is a place I go to relax and revitalise.

The coffee and food alone make this place truly worthwhile. But it is the easy-going light-hearted atmosphere, and Julio’s cheeky grin and chatter that help set it apart.

I doubt you’ll see a grumpy person at Coffee Amigo. It is simply an impossibility. You can’t help but smile, and return – again and again.

A true gem that I’m incredibly grateful to have discovered.

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Steamed veggie wontons with broth and rice noodle

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Ingredients

Wontons
-2 tsp sesame oil
-1-2 tsp ginger, minced
-1 tsp garlic, minced
-1 green chilli, finely sliced
-150g tofu
-1 bunch bok choy,stems finely sliced (reserve leaves for broth)
-1 handful bean spouts
-1 carrot, shredded
-3 spring onions, finely sliced (reserve green tops gor broth)
-1 generous handful shiitake, rehydrated, then finely sliced
-1 generous handful back fungus, rehydrated
-1 tsp each salt & pepper
-1 tsp oyster sauce

Soup
-2 cups veggie stock
-handful spring onion greens (leftover from wontons)
-2 tsp soy sauce (I ran out so used 1/2 tsp promite!)
-1/2tsp garlic, minced
-1/2 tsp chilli flakes
-1 tsp rice wine vinegar
-shiitake and fungus soaking water (leftover from wontons)
-bok choy leaves (leftover from wontons)
-small handful bean spouts
-pinch of salt and pepper
-fried shallots to decorate
-handful of coriander/basil
-rice noodle

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Method

Wontons
1. Prep all the veg and put fungus and shiitake in a small bowl of boiling water and allow to soak.
2. Heat sesame oil, ginger, garlic and chilli in pan until soft and fragrant.
3. Crumble tofu onto pan and cook until colour begins to lightly brown.
4. Give the bok choy, bean spouts, carrot and spring onions a good squeeze to remove excess water then add veg to pan.
5. Carefully spoon off about 2/3 cup of the shiitake and fungus soaking water from the top of the bowl. (Try not to disturb any sediment at the bottom of the bowl.) Drain the rest of the shiitake and fungus, give them a quick rinse and squeeze. Add most to pan (leave a little for broth).
6. Add salt, pepper and oyster sauce. Give a quick stir and transfer filling into a bowl. Allow to cool.
7. Spoon a tsp (give or take) of filling into wonton wrappers. Pinch the top to close.
8. Steam wontons for approx 6 minutes. Set aside and keep warm until all wontons are cooked.

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Soup
1. Rinse nooodles and cook as per instructions on pack. (Usually a soak in boiling water for a few minutes is suitable.)
2. Add all ingredients except fried shallots and coriander/basil to pot or microwave-safe bowl and cook for a few minutes to release flavours.
3. Test the broth and add extra salt, pepper or chill if desired.

To serve:
1. Fill bowls with rice noodle,  top with wontons (however many you want!), and spoon over broth with veg.
2. Top with coriander/basil and fried shallots.
3. Enjoy while steaming hot!!

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Vanilla macarons with salted caramel buttercream

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Vanilla macarons with salted caramel buttercream.

I didn’t:
-age my egg whites
-use cream of tartar or other stabilizer
-add caster sugar slowly or separately to egg whites
-use a silicon mat

I did:
-bang trays with piped macarons on cupboard
-let them sit and dry out for about half an hour
-bake each tray separately
-sift the almond meal and icing sugar

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For the filling, I made a caramel sauce from white sugar by melting it, alone, in a saucepan. I then added warm cream and melted in some butter and salt.

Once it had cooled, I gently whisked it into some buttercream until I reached the desired consistency and flavour.

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Chinese Steam Buns – Baozi

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When I was maybe 12 years old I told my mum about a dream that I’d had a few times.

I would be in a restaurant and be served these little white balls of sweet dough with yummy filling. I dreampt of coloured patty pans or little squares of paper upon which sat delicious and surreal savoury morsels and luscious sweets.

“Like a yum cha restaurant?” my mum asked.

You mean such a place is REAL??

I soon learnt (or re-learnt) about the magic of yum cha and dim sum. I found out that I had been to yum cha restaurants quite a few times as a young child.

This dream wasn’t just my imagination; it was a memory!

And so Chinese steam buns or xiaolongbao or baozi aren’t simply a bun to me, they are special; they have that childish wonder to them, where dreams can come true.

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I followed this recipe.

I let my dough rest longer than I would have liked – got a little sidetracked making macaron filling. Consequently my dough was oozing out of the bowl…

I used half of the dough to fill with egg custard, and the othed half for something savoury.

For the savoury filling, I used this recipe as inspiration.

I used commom cabbage (not Chinese cabbage), sliced it finely and cooked it in the microwave with a dash of water for about 4 minutes.

I also added in a small handful each of dried shiitake (finely sliced) and black fungus, which I rehydrated by soaking in a bowl of boiling water for 5 minutes. Drained the fungi and finely sliced the shiitake.

Also finely sliced some bok choy and added that to the mix.

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I forgot to let the filled buns rest before steaming,  but they still turned out fine.

The savoury buns were great with a bit of soy dipping sauce.

And the egg custard buns were just like my dreams!  Soft and fluffy dough, and tender custard filling.

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To be savoured and shared 🙂