h2ct

Vegemite Collectables

When Dave and I went to the 100th year birthday for vegemite we got these collectables.   Write a poem below about why you love vegemite by March 8, and we'll pick one person to send this pack to.  

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In this episode we're investigating who invented gingerbread houses and making a house inspired by a picture in a 150 year old cookbook.  Let me know if you can find any other historical documents the mention gingerbread houses, of the edible kind.

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This week I purchased a packet of freeze dried strawberries that said 'made from 100% real fruit' on the label.  They were really quite sweet and after checking the ingredients I realized they had added sugar.  Then by doing some calculations from the nutrition panel I realized - they had a LOT of added sugar.  If you see a product that you feel is deceptive take photos of the packet, including manufacturer information, and email it to your local food authority.  They real...

H2CT anniversary

It's 12 years ago today since I uploaded my very first video on YouTube. I was 39 weeks pregnant at the time, filming on an iPhone 4 with no lighting, no sound equip & absolutely no idea if anyone would see it :) 

World Record confirmed 🎉

It took a long time & required several witnesses, sworn testimonies & all sorts of video evidence (close ups, slow-mo etc) ... but we finally satisfied the very serious Guiness Book folks ... and Dave is now officially a world record holder!

Chocolate shot (BTS)

I loved how this delicious, creamy chocolate shot turned out ... and here it is in the final vid:  https://youtu.be/ndEnTvis78Q?t=921

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What gadgets in your kitchen could you not live without?  And what have you not used in years that it is cluttering up your draw?

In my spare time...

I'm restoring an old chest that I found. From the name on the front, I managed to find the passenger manifest of a 1924 ship which travelled from London to Melbourne, via the Suez Canal.  It was owned by a young man starting a new life in Australia.

The exterior was so dry that I assumed it was just wood but it's actually covered in leather. The chest was solid but needed some repairs underneath and inside as well.

Interestingly, the words "Not Wanted" were printed on the out...

Meanwhile, just off camera ...

Filming with a faithful friend 🐶❤️

Subtitle Shennanigans

And here's why we edit the automatic subtitles on YouTube each week ... some of the stuff it comes up with is weird, rude and sometimes just plain wrong 😂

Dave breaks his own World Record 😂

BEHIND THE SCENES:  We took 2 stop-watches, 5 witnesses, a tape measure, bin & many bags of M&Ms down to the local park to re-record Dave's World Record thumb-catapult to officially submit it to the Guinness people.  (And yes, we checked, the swinging arm thumb-catapult is legit 😃)

The old WR was 4 before Dave hit 7 on YouTube ... then this happened…

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Here's some fun chocolate world records for you to attempt.  See if you can break the world record or at least break a reardon record.  Watch the video to discover Daves unique skill.

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The news dropped this week that youtube is now starting to monetise shorts and is opening the partner program to the largest number of new channels it has added in a long time.  What does that means for long form content on the platform?  Will the desperation to be like tiktok end youtube as we know it?  Or will the two types of content co-exist happily together?  Only time will tell.

In this episode debunking fake hacks and the endless rise of clickbait.<...

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The easiest option is to buy blueberry muffins from the store.  They look good, but tend to lack flavour.  Bake the expert level blueberry muffin with crunchy topping and your tastebuds will thank you.  Or if you're up for a real challenge make the insane deconstructed plated blueberry muffin with blueberry lace.

Make it a great week.

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This pie is very yummy.  It is much easier to make full size than mini, but more fun to watch on this scale.

Here is the recipe:

Pastry

140g (4.94 ounces) or 2/3 cup butter or margarine
225g (7.94 ounces) or 1 1/4 cups plain flour
50g (1.76 ounces) or 1/4 cup sugar
45g (1.59 ounces) or 3 tablespoons icing sugar
1 teaspoon lemon zest
Combine all the ingredient in a bowl. Rub the butter into he flour using your thumbs and infers. Pour the crumbly mixture ...

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We can see our mistakes as failures.  Or we can see them as a learning opportunity.  But even better than growing from our own mistakes is to learn from someone else's.  In this episode you'll see the frustration of failed ice-cream cakes, pineapple upside down cakes, sinking cakes and cakes that break when you tip them out of the tin.  And of course - how to rescue them.

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See 18 different sweet and savoury dishes and that's just the second course!  What would you choose to eat, or avoid, from this fancy spread of food?

Personally my favourites were the raspberry puffs.  All the recipe details for the original recipes can be found on the blog post here tomorrow ... https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/?p=135886

Early Access - This is Insane

My debunking video warning about the dangers of fractal wood burning was removed by YouTube for:

Violating YouTube's Community Guidelines by encouraging dangerous or illegal activities that risk serious physical harm or death.

I have filled out the form to appeal that strike.  It is still in review.  

UPDATE:  Thankfully a couple of very helpful google employees saw the video and escalated the review.  The video has now been reinstated af...

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A seriously dangerous craft hack.  Warn your crafty friends not to even try this one.  It is crazy that how-to videos for this hack are allowed on youtube or any other platform.

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I haven't done a best easy recipes video for a long time now.   I hold my breath as I post it knowing that the algorithm probably will not promote such a video.    So why did I film it?  Because people keep asking for more baking videos, so let's see how it goes.  

Imagine working for a boss that if they didn't love your work that week they would not pay you and on top of that, they change what they like everyday.  That is what it is like working ...

Thermomix TM6 v Tokit Omni Cook

The Tokit is $1000 cheaper but is it as good as a thermomix?  Watch the tests and let me know what you think.

Thanks for all your kind messages - I am feeling much better now.  I was still struggling with my voice a little in this video but hopefully it is not too obvious.

I have sent the thermomix in to their service centre for testing to see if it is faulty or normal.  It does seem strange posting a brand new machine in to be serviced.  They have sent confirm...

Covid Causes Crazy Creations Chaos

Hi everyone, 

just a quick note to let you know that unfortunately there won't be a new upload today due to another bout of Covid-19 in the Reardon house.

It hit Ann pretty hard for over a week and that put our (very Ann-centric channel) a bit too far behind to create, film and edit a new episode in time for this Friday.

Thankfully, Ann is now fully recovered and is back working in our little home studio ... blending & whirring, testing crazy creations & coming ...

Early Access

I had lots of fun playing with AI GPT-3 text generator for this episode.  One thing I noticed about the AI is it  appears to be trained on mainly US data.  Whenever I asked it to introduce a person (with a name I made up) it always said they were from a state in the US, unless I specified which country they were from.  When I specified another country the introduction was cliched - like surfing and sharks for Australia.    

AI will be biased according ...

The millennium falcon from this weeks episode

Well done Michelle McCullum.  The pewter millenium falcon is making its way to you.  Hyperdrive appears to be malfunctioning so flying time will be longer than expected for such a fast freighter.  

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How bad are these hacks going to get?

I'll make a seperate post for the giveaway so make sure you enter 😀.

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Sometimes the world gets super complicated and it’s nice to go into the mini kitchen and forget about reality for a while. Today we are making a super cute miniature box of chocolates and a chocolate cake.

If you want to put your mini folding skills to the test here’s the mini chocolate box design pdf. Mini chocolate box template.

Once you've watched...

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Over the past 15 years there has been a steady decline in cows milk consumption and an increase in plant based alternatives in the US.  This may, in part, be driven by the barrage of negativity surrounding cows milk on social media amongst "health" and fitness influencers.  There are also plenty of articles in main stream media about cows and their influence on the environment.  Let's take a look at the facts so you can decide if you should jump on the trend.

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The search for the best hot chocolate recipe has taken me years. I’ve tried every powdered version available at the shops. I have made many of the recipes that can be found online, and none of them were worth mentioning. But then I came across this 100 year old recipe which, in my sons words, “is the best hot chocolate that I have ever tasted”.

It was so good that I made a video just to share it with you.

Here is the recipe as featured in the 100 year old cookbook:
2022-02-24 08:30:00 +0000 UTC View Post

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There are so many sped up cake decorating videos circulating on social media that make it look easy and fast.  Decorating a cake is not fast and depending on your skill level it may not be easy.

Don't be too harsh on yourself if it doesn't turn out right first time, just learn from your mistakes. 

Here are four cake rescues explaining what went wrong and how you can prevent it or in this case - rescue it.