Author: Nathan Campbell

Nathan runs St Eutychus. He loves Jesus. His wife. His daughter. His son. His other daughter. His dog. Coffee. And the Internet. He is the pastor of City South Presbyterian Church, a church in Brisbane, a graduate of Queensland Theological College (M. Div) and the Queensland University of Technology (B. Journ). He spent a significant portion of his pre-ministry-as-a-full-time-job life working in Public Relations, and now loves promoting Jesus in Brisbane and online. He can't believe how great it is that people pay him to talk and think about Jesus. If you'd like to support his writing financially you can do that by giving to his church.

How to make Sizzler’s Cheese Toast

It’s winter. Winter in our house means soup. Soup needs bread. The best bread for soup is Sizzler’s Cheese Toast. The best cheese toast is the stuff you make at home. Here’s a handy guide to making Sizzler’s Cheese Toast at home.

I was a Sizzler employee for some 16 months and gleaned some little bits and pieces of information that will make emulating the trademark toast possible (though it’s never quite as good).

I took these photos with my iPhone so they’re a bit grainy.

Ingredients

  • Frozen thick cut bread – and I mean really thick cut… doorstop style
  • Enough butter – softened but not melted to put a 2mm thick spread on each piece of bread you intend to cook (Sizzler’s website says they use margarine).
  • Parmesan Cheese (quantity depends on how cheesy you like things). I used 200g of powdered Parmesan with 500g of butter. You can also make acceptable “pan bread” by skipping the cheese, if you don’t like Parmesan.
  • A frypan heated to around 160 degrees

Directions

  1. Keep the bread frozen at all times prior to cooking – this is seriously important.
  2. Mix/beat/stir the Parmesan cheese into the butter until you have a smooth paste with an even texture.
  3. Spread the butter/cheese mix on the bread – and when done put it back in the freezer, you might think it’s a good idea to store them butter sides together in the freezer. It’s not. Your best bet is to separate them with greaseproof paper.
  4. Heat the fry pan – use either a non stick pan or a pan treated with some sort of cooking spray – oil and butter are out, they’ll throw out the balance. You want a moderate heat, the bread is thawing on the pan and you want the cheese to be a golden colour. I’ve settled on about 160 degrees on the electric frypan and three quarter power on the stove.
  5. Put the frozen bread spread side down on the pan.
  6. Cook the bread on one side until the uncooked side is thawed, squishy to touch, and slightly warm.
  7. Your cheesy toast should now be ready.
  8. Repeat.

Morality play

If you haven’t been keeping up with the interesting and constantly evolving debate on morality occuring on this post… then perhaps you should be.

After our Westminster Confession session finished last night conversation turned to this same topic – a discussion of morality, with particular reference to gay marriage.

I suggested that, consistent with my stance in that other thread, Christians shouldn’t be imposing our moral standards on others – and that in fact this is a strategically bad idea because the greater the gap between Christian behaviour and social standards the more powerful the witness of our difference becomes – which I see as one of the essential roles the Old Testament Law played (it marked Israel as different).

One of the counterpoints to that argument was that God’s judgment against nations follows immorality (eg Sodom and Gomorrah). While this can, taken to extremes, lead to church groups picketing soldier’s funerals – there may be a point.

Though I wonder if the lack of general morality is in fact part of the judgment – rather than there being cataclysmic consequences there are societal consequences where we pay the price for our actions.

I also wonder why those Christians who believe that the “judgment against the nations” means hastening the rapture, tribulation and judgment day aren’t arguing for the sort of behaviour that would bring things to a hasty end. It seems inconsistent.

However, this is essentially an incredibly long preamble to today’s slightly crass XKCD comic – which perhaps makes the point… morality is a slippery slope.

Feeling blue

Well, State of Origin is tonight and I’m decidedly in “under the radar” mode. Though I have been popping people’s cane toad balloons at work.

I think New South Wales will lose the series, but I like the balance of their squad. Inexperience balanced out by inexperience… at least they’ll all get good together.

Phonetics

I’ve now had my iPhone for two months. More than enough time to get used to it and post some useful reflections…

The iPhone is the most beautiful piece of gadgetry I’ve ever owned. In fact, I’d go further and say it’s the most beautiful piece of gadgetry my family has ever owned (and there have been lots of bits of gadgetry, and now my mum and little sister number 3 have them too)…

It’s interface is typical of Mac stuff – user friendly though slightly idiosyncratic. I like it. The form factor is elegant, my desire not to scratch it is greater than the desire I’ve felt with anything else – so much so that I forked out $17.95 for what’s essentially a rubber sleeve.

The best bit about the iPhone (other than the nice touch interface which plays a significant role in making every thing good) is the applications. And there are bucket loads… actually, having said that I’m reconsidering – wifi is also sensationally useful…

The worst bit is that I don’t get to play with it much at home – because my wife monopolises it.

I think, given that I’m in need of blog fodder for this blog off, that I might reflect on individual categories of applications – utilities, education, games, and miscellaneous – in separate upcoming posts.

Almost Shirt of the Day: Pong

A pongy shirt generally is in need of a good wash (or in some sad cases ala my black t-shirt a throw out). This one on the other hand is full of table tennisy/pong goodness. It’s also from glennz.com.

Shirt of the day: Perpetual motion

This Perpetual Motion Device from Glennz.com is pretty awesome though not technically possible. Glennz calls it “Eternal Exercise”…

Happy Birthday: Tetris


Tetris turned 25 yesterday (or today, depending on where you sit on the international date line). 25 years ago Russian progammer Aleksei Pazhitnov sat down and wrote the most addictive game ever.

It is arguably the greatest Russian invention ever. Greater even than the Great Moscow Circus.

The Guardian has a great feature on the game to celebrate the milestone.

Twenty-five years ago, inside the bowels of the Soviet Academy of Sciences in Moscow, a young artificial intelligence researcher received his first desktop computer – the Soviet-built Elektronika 60, a copy of an American minicomputer called a PDP-11 – and began writing programs for it.

But not numerical ones. He ended up creating one that would infest the dreams of those who played it, spurring addictions and even the suspicion that it was a Russian plot to divert the youth of America in a pointless exercise.

Here’s what it originally looked like…

And here’s what the creator looked like in 1989…

And here’s what he looks like now (on the right)…

And here are all my previous Tetris posts to mark the occasion.

Pac-ing on the calories

So you’ve always wanted your own Pacman action figure – only to realise that an action figure based on three quarters of a 2D circle isn’t really all the much fun. But lollies are always fun especially Pacman lollies. Especially these Pacman lollies.

Wiggedy Whack

The picture I made this post about is now unavailable…

I’m not sure you can actually buy this anywhere – but there is a modern alternative…

With reference to the title – I actually know Wickety Wak’s manager. I’m not sure if that really means anything to anybody. But hey. If you’re a big fan let me know, and I’ll hook you up.

Bangers and mash

We all know a good mashed potato needs just the right amount of seasoning. Which becomes easier if you can manage your dosage in caliber form… with these awesome salt’n’pepper pistols.

So Peter Piper now packs his pick of “pinch” or pepper… that was poor.

Found here.

Self filtering

You’ll be happy to know (particularly those following the whole blog off thing) that I generally only post about 40% of my ideas. Which means a 60% increase in posts shouldn’t be a problem.

A bunch of links – June 2, 2009

Geek Tattoo

This is the geekiest tattoo I’ve ever seen…

I hope for his sake that the tags aren’t closed.

YouTube Toosday: Con job?

Young Cons – the Young Conservatives (unless it’s a parody) have some issues separating America from the “Kingdom of God”… but this is pretty funny.

“The more money we spend the more mine is worth jack, the Bible says we’re a nation under God…”

Umm, that’s probably the Pledge of Allegiance you’re confused with…

YouTube Tuesday: Entertainering

Giant Pianos are the new black (and white), or at the very least the new Dance, Dance, Revolution.

Sadly, there are heaps more where that came from.