PerthZine

Author: Paul B

  • Foody Feed – Wok is Boss

    Foody Feed – Wok is Boss

    What’s your favorite thing to cook?

    Given I’ve been getting heavily into cooking these days it’s tricky picking a favourite, but right now stir fry has to be top of the list. Disclaimer – I just wrote about this in a separate post talking about breakfast stir fry!

    I realise that stir fry encompasses a very broad spectrum of recipes but lately I’ve been getting closer to mastering the art of simple veg, egg, noodles/rice and protein. It is deceptively easy, just a few steps done right needed to really nail it.

    I spent a lot of my life being scared of the stir fry and I’ve heard or read others giving reasons why they can’t use a wok properly. One excuse is having an electric cooktop and the wok not getting hot enough, but I have electric and have no issues – the secret is to be patient, it might take five minutes or more to heat up properly, and then you are cooking with gas (oops).

    I also found some key ingredients and got the confidence to splash a bit of this, dash in a bit of that. Timing what goes in when also helps massively. Thicker stemmed vegies first, leafy greens later, sauces at the end (with sauces like soy, pouring onto the side of the wok rather than into the ingredients), meat and aromatics like garlic and ginger first, but I also like to remove and add the meat back in the end.

    I’m ranting now but I used to hate the idea of cooking meat, removing, putting back in later, thinking it would mean losing those nice juices and flavours. I’ve come to my senses and realised you don’t lose the juices (either remove with the meat and pour back in later, or leave in to reduce) and it gives you so much control! This also allows for browning of the meat, which I had a recent revelation about.

    Within the space of about two days I saw two presenters do the same thing when browning meat (yes I watch a lot of cooking shows). Instead of chucking the meat in and tossing until it’s a bit brown, you actually leave it to really brown up on one side, then give it a quick stir. This lets it stick to the pan and really brown, and those sticky bits get scraped up during the rest of the cooking process, adding much more flavour. Don’t be afraid to leave it longer than feels natural.

    It’s a really great way to cook and also perfect for adding leftovers at the end. Currently my number one go-to dish!

    Anyone have any tips on buying a really good wok and ladel?

    Veggie version with capsicum, pak choi and some basil on top. Perfect breakfast
  • 386 – Tiny Doom

    386 – Tiny Doom

    Write about your first computer.

    It was a 386, can’t remember any other spec other than running early windows. Must have had 16 or 32MB ram, and I used DOS a lot.

    The main painful memory was trying to play doom and having to go smallest screen size and resolution. Playable, barely, and cheat codes were required. I’ll never forget IDDQD (if you know you know, otherwise look it up).

    Pretty sure the game was acquired by calling a number on the modem, an early iteration of file sharing. Took forever to download and likely interrupted a few times by another family member picking up the phone and cutting the connection; at least they got the modem yelling at them in return. Then installing via multiple floppy disks which would also fail regularly.

    Not to mention I only got to do this on weekends as my dad had a computer; I didn’t have one with mum during the week.

    It must have played Wolfenstein better but I can’t remember playing it as much. By this time Doom was just too far a jump ahead and so much better.

    Eventually I would get a 486 and enter warp speed, and I think I inherited the 386 but by that time the Playstation and Nintendo 64 were around so it was less useful.

    Special shout out to Nintendo for porting Doom to the SNES with about the same level of playability as my 386.

  • Album Review – Beck: Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime (2026)

    Album Review – Beck: Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime (2026)

    Odds and Ends

    Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

    Beck has released a short album mostly comprised of covers, plus a few rarities thrown in for good measure. As always, he mostly hits the mark, and who can resist an album that has Elvis, Hank Williams and Daniel Johnston songs together in one package.

    The title track has been a staple song for Beck since covering it in the early noughties and suits his timbre beautifully. Following it up with Can’t Help Falling in Love (played fairly straight) compliments the crooner as you’d expect, and he rounds out the first half with The Flamingos I Only Have Eyes for You, played with plenty of reverb and vintage feel.

    The album is separated by the only original, Ramona, a track he recorded for Scott Pilgrim vs The World. It’s a great tune that sits nicely in his noughties era sound.

    The second half consists of another eclectic mix starting with Caetano Veloso’s Michelangelo Antonioni, played with haunting beauty, followed by Your Cheatin’ Heart, the Hank Williams classic. A fine song Beck plays with straight guitar but gives it less twang, more space.

    To round out the album we get John Lennon’s Love, which he plays like it was one of his own, and the brilliant True Love Will Find You in the End. It’s a short track, and could be Daniel Johnston’s best, Beck playing it with the sweetness and delicacy it deserves.

    It’s a nice little picture of Beck’s brain and inspiration without offering much new material. Definitely worth a listen, a definite for Beck fans.

  • Foody Feed – Breakfast and Stir Fry

    Foody Feed – Breakfast and Stir Fry

    I want to talk about breakfast. In particular the western culture of breakfast. We are deeply embedded in the milk + cereal or fatty foods first thing in the morning, and I feel we need to break free. Go to any cafe in Perth (which I’m sure applies to the rest of the western world), and you are faced with a choice of bacon and egg varieties mixed with wheat products like bread, pancakes or waffles, and a few healthy options (yogurt and grains anyone?).

    On the other hand, if you need breakfast in many Asian countries, you are faced with pretty much the same options you have for the rest of the day – stir fry, rice & noodle dishes, and so on. I believe they’ve got it right and we need to jump onboard. Friends, please stop commenting on why I’m eating noodles first thing in the morning, it’s perfectly normal across most of the world’s population!

    This also leads to the dish I believe many Aussies are afraid to make – the humble stir fry. I was in a similar position, making a mess of any attempt, but after seeing and reading a lot about the stir fry recently (thank you Adam Liaw) I’ve conquered my fears, and in the process figured out a quick and easy, not to mention delicious and healthy breakfast. I have put together a quick recipe for one or two people below. Noting don’t overfill the wok, the more that’s in there the less heat, which is key to a good stir fry.

    Here’s how I do it. First rule, wok needs to be hot. This is seemingly obvious, but I never realised how hot and used to chuck ingredients in way to early. The wok should be starting to smoke and if you want to test another way, splash a little water in there and watch it evaporate. If it flash-boils and disappears quickly you are good to go.

    * Edit: I wanted to add that I have noticed people saying they cannot use their wok because they only have an electric stove top. This is not true, electric works fine and requires the same principle of making sure the wok is hot enough, just be patient and give it time to heat up.

    Now we throw in some veg, I’ve done pak choi stems and capsicum below.

    Then any leafy greens, these are the pak choi leaves with some chopped ginger.

    Now push the veg to the side and time for the egg, lightly scrambled.

    Mix the egg around when you are happy with its consistency and chuck in some noodles or rice. I’ve used my son’s left over spicy noodles (mi goreng, his favourite breakfast, he’s eight and way ahead of the rest of us).

    Now it’s basically done and optional what to do next. Keep it simple, add nothing and you have a healthy meat free brekkie. Add soy sauce, oyster or other sauce, maybe some sesame oil and black pepper for a more Asian flavour. Add any leftovers you might have lying around – I’ve done sausages and broccoli from last night’s dinner below.

    That’s it, so simple once you get the knack. I eat this for brekkie and other meals whenever I can, and the variations are endless. Rice works just as well, and garnish with any green herbs if you feel like it.

  • Classic Movie Review – Near Dark (1987)

    Classic Movie Review – Near Dark (1987)

    Katheryn Bigelow’s Debut Has Bite

    Rating: 3 out of 5.

    In her directorial debut, Katherine Bigelow (who has gone on to make many great movies, from Point Break to The Hurt Locker) takes on the ever-popular vampire movie genre. I read that she actually wanted to do a western but couldn’t get backing from studios, so we end up here with a part vampire horror, part western that doesn’t quite know what it is.

    As we know the mid to late 80’s was boom time for vampires with The Lost Boys leading the charge (released within months of this movie). Near Dark stars Adrian Pasdar as Caleb Colton, who meets Mae (Jenny Wright) in the wee hours of the morning and gets a bite that leads him to join a crew of vamps roaming the countryside looking for blood and mayhem.

    Jesse Hooker is the leader of the pack (played by Lance Henriksen, best known as Bishop from Aliens but also pops up in countless classics from the 70’s, 80’s and beyond), with Bill Paxton (Also in Aliens and another link to James Cameron, Bigelow’s significant other around this time) playing the wildest of the bunch, Jenette Goldstein (Aliens again) as Jesse’s gal, and rounded out with Joshua John Miller playing Homer, a middle-school aged vampire who is grown up mentally but stuck in a child’s body for eternity.

    This is actually a pretty decent horror/western, and I guess that’s a sign Bigelow had plenty of talent and was destined for greater things. As a first effort it is shot really well, feeling closer to 90’s cinema than the generally cheesier horror movies of the 80’s. Having said that the soundtrack is very 80’s synth heavy. Special effects are good apart from a couple of interesting fire effects as the action heats up (sorry).

    Ultimately, it is a love story, but I’d say it’s not quite sure of itself. For a while there I actually thought Caleb was going to go along for the ride with the vampires, but it shifts suddenly with an unusual encounter at a hotel. Pasdar and Wright have good enough chemistry, and the romantic backbone works well enough. The rest of the vampire group are fun, rampaging through the desert making me wonder how they survived as long as they did, being extremely reckless and barely covering their tracks.

    The Lost Boys it is not, but it isn’t really trying to be, despite the teen vampire plotline. It’s more violent and action packed so if that’s your thing, it is worth a visit. It’s also interesting to see the beginnings of the 90’s action movie aesthetic, not just following through to Bigelow’s later work but James Cameron and others as well.

  • Foody Feed – Home Made Ice Cream

    Foody Feed – Home Made Ice Cream

    Is it worth it?

    I feel the need to start this with a mention of cost. To make tub of simple homemade ice cream we have ingredients to buy, so how does the cost compare to buying a tub from the supermarket? This is not a dissuasion from making it at home, quite the opposite in fact, but it is interesting that it is cheaper just to buy it than make it ourselves. Isn’t this a good indication of how corporate mass production has us hook, line and sinker.

    The ingredients:

    • 500ml of cream = $5
    • 250ml of milk = 50c
    • Sugar = 30c
    • Vanilla = 30c (much more if using actual beans)
    • Vodka (we will talk about this below) = $1
    • Extra ingredients = a buck or two depending on if using.

    So all up we are looking at about $7 for plain vanilla ice cream, $8+ if we are adding extra ingredients (I swirled blueberries in my last batch, delicious). You can buy a tub of vanilla ice cream for about $5-6 from the supermarket, so oddly, it is cheaper to buy pre-made.

    This is a bit of a shame because it encourages us to take the easy option. I feel a bit sad about this, and the only thing I can say is with homemade you get pure ice cream and no extra additives or preservatives (some store-bought can barely pass as ice cream these days), plus it’s just good to know how to do and actively work your brain to create things yourself.

    All you have to do is combine ingredients and freeze, making sure you whip the mix properly until it you get peaks, and churn in an ice cream maker for the most ice cream-like result. You can get away with not churning and get a nice fluffy, creamy ice cream as a result, but the maker is best.

    Wondering why there is vodka in there? This is optional but definitely adds to the airiness. Given vodka doesn’t freeze in our freezers, it actually lowers the freezing point of the whole mix, resulting in less chance of the final product turning into a brick of ice. Trust me it works. If kids are involved it isn’t a lot of alcohol per serve but perhaps leave out or find an alternate like gelatine or more sugar (more sugar, yikes!).

    Back to why we would make our own ice cream when we can buy it cheaper. My main argument would be so you know exactly what is going in the mix, and can control the portions (amount of sugar, extra ingredients), not to mention it tastes amazing. It also gives you the chance to be more creative and go for some crazier flavours you can’t buy at the shops (ever try turmeric ice cream? Maybe coconut cream/milk in place of dairy milk?). I guess you could buy in bulk as well and potentially bring the price down, depending on how much you want to make.

    Ultimately, I recommend giving it a go, the above recipe gets you smooth delicious ice cream with minimal effort.

  • Movie Review – Frankenstein (2025)

    Movie Review – Frankenstein (2025)

    Del Toro Brings the Gore and Sex Appeal

    Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

    Guillermo Del Toro seems to be in the doing-dream-projects phase of his filmography. After a varied career with some incredible fairytale-like stories alongside sci fi and fantasy films, he’s taking on the classics with Netflix. First came Pinocchio, now he’s had a go at Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (perhaps Moby Dick next?).

    Oscar Isaac plays Victor Frankenstein, the scientist raised by a strict father to know everything about the human anatomy and now obsessed with re-animating dead human bodies. Isaac is solid and suits the mad scientist role nicely. He meets a man who is willing to back his cause and fund the experiments (Christoph Waltz, always a pleasure to watch), and falls for his brother’s fiancé (Mia Goth, absorbing but a little underused).

    Most will know what happens next from either the book or the other film adaptations – Victor successfully sews a bunch of body parts together and brings his creation to life. Jacob Elordi plays the monster and plays him very well, especially the earlier scenes where he’s mostly mute. Though still somewhat grotesque, this must be the hottest version of the monster we have seen. Despite the stitches he’s still tall, dark and handsome with a ripped body; it’s an interesting take on it, and very much aligned with the tall, slender monsters we see in modern horror.

    I appreciate the true-to-the-novel approach, including the monster’s perspective. It is a nice touch that captures Shelley’s masterful shift to give the monster emotional grounding and evoke sympathy for him. Otherwise, we have some interesting diversions from the novel, namely the monster being invincible (even explosives seem to have no effect). It’s been a while since I read the novel, but I don’t think he was a superhero/villain. There is also quite a bit of gore, with body parts and animals being torn to shreds – not for the faint hearted. The novel themes, such as God/creation and alienation are all dealt with and add some depth to the shimmering surface of the movie.

    As far as the visuals and styling go, it is what we come to expect from Del Toro, with heavy CGI that at times looks colourful and vibrant, if video game-like, and some questionable bits (come on, haven’t we got the budget to do better sheep and wolves?). The pacing is good and mostly keeps the viewer entertained; plenty of action. I can’t say I felt bored during the 2-hour 20-minute runtime.

    Overall, this is a better adaptation than the last true novel adaptation starring De Niro as the monster (1994, directed by Kenneth Branagh, who also played Victor), if a little more Netflix, home-popcorn entertainment style.

  • Single Review – Arctic Monkeys: Opening Night

    Single Review – Arctic Monkeys: Opening Night

    We haven’t seen much from the Sheffield lads lately, so I’m sure plenty of others are just as interested in where they are taking their music. Coming to us via the War Child Records Help (2) charity album, Opening Night offers more of the late era Monkeys sound we’ve had from the last two albums, with a hint of heaviness from AM and earlier records (as Turner sings – “tonight is heavy on one side”).

    I always thought the latest Monkeys iterations lean towards a sound that perhaps should have been Alex Turner’s solo work, but the band must have been happy to go along for the ride. This is just speculation but the sound definitely took a turn away from the catchy riff-based rock to more lyrical and less verse-chorus-verse.

    Having said that we have hints of guitar licks with some excellent flourishes, making it a pretty dynamic track with plenty of interesting bits. This is a solid track that offers the usual Monkeys quality, without going into new territory. I wonder where they are heading next.

  • Classic Movie Review – Innocent Bystanders (1972)

    Classic Movie Review – Innocent Bystanders (1972)

    The Name’s Craig, John Craig

    Rating: 2 out of 5.

    I can’t remember what led me to watch this movie but it may have been a conversation between Leonard Cohen and Paul Nelson in the book I Like People That Can’t Sing. Anyway, something made me do it, and despite not quite finding a consistent tone, it’s not a bad spy movie.

    Directed by Peter Collinson, (most known for The Italian Job) the plot is the usual spy fare. Stanley Baker plays ageing British secret agent John Craig, programmed to do that and only that (no hanky panky, they zapped this out of him years ago), tasked with finding a Russian defector and returning him (take your pick, several countries want him). Double crossing and bargaining is guaranteed.

    Along the way he kidnaps Miss Loman, Miriam Loman (Geraldine Chaplin, Charlie’s daughter), who makes up one of the more interesting characters in the film. She accompanies him on his hunt and naturally tries to seduce him, but there is a lot more emotional connection here than what you’d get with Bond. He’s also chased by a couple of agents who ham things up, and it gets even hammier with a Turkish hotel keeper talking in a ridiculous Aussie accent (he helped the diggers in the war, and picked up all the lingo), who starts out on the wrong side but ends up a faithful sidekick.

    Aside from Baker’s mullet, Chaplin is a standout, playing the delicate but not-completely-useless female lead, offering help peeling away layers of our battle hardened but broken secret agent. I’m also a fan of Donald Pleasence as Loomis, the posh but ruthless British spy boss. He plays it with a nice nose-up arrogance.

    It isn’t the worst spy movie, especially looked at as part of the shift in movies becoming more ‘modern’ in the late sixties and early seventies (it comes closer to the sixties). The pace is good with a bond-ish soundtrack rolling things along, and plenty of action from judo chops to gunfights, plus some exploding cars for good measure. Worth a look if you are into the genre and wanting something a little more obscure.

  • Gig Review – Crowded House, Angus & Julia Stone, The Church, Mark Seymour with Vika and Linda, The Waifs

    Gig Review – Crowded House, Angus & Julia Stone, The Church, Mark Seymour with Vika and Linda, The Waifs

    Sandalford Winery, Saturday December 6th, 2025 –

    Presented as the Red Hot Summer Tour, Crowded House blessed the winery setting with great songs and enthusiasm for a show to remember.

    Arriving as The Waifs played, their sound suiting the winery setting perfectly, and songs like Lighthouse and Bridal Train will remain classics.

    Settled in and ready for Mark Seymour, it was great to see Vika and Linda still going strong and their harmonies and stage present are still as strong as ever. Seymour played the classics with a few from V & L really helping to drive the set along. The ladies were a joy to watch and had some fun stage banter to go with the perfect harmonies; ever so cool even when the band started a song in the wrong key, recovering nicely and letting the band know about it.

    The Church are an interesting one; this reviewer not being overly familiar with their catalog, apart from Under the Milky Way which must be up there with greatest Aussie-written songs ever. Full of jokes between songs (not my thing, unless done well, which is rare), they displayed a nice range of eighties new wave/post rock tunes. A band whose albums I’d like to go back through and have a deeper listen.

    Angus & Julia Stone. Admittedly they were the main draw for getting tickets to this one. Having never seen them live (Angus was here with Dope Lemon earlier in the year and great), it was about time, and they are a force. Playing an interesting mix starting with a cover of The Go Betweens Streets of Your Town, and including a well timed airplane flying over during Big Jet Plane (magic 😊), the band have matured nicely and have developed a real swagger. If anyone suits the winery/festival setting it is them (Chateau anyone). I’d really love to see them doing a longer set so hoping they are back with their own headline tour soon, not just for me but plenty of others in the crowd. They could have played for twice as long and still satisfied.

    Julia rocking the guitar, trumpet and leopard skin mini skirt

    And with that, Crowded House, who must be up there with having the best song back catalog of any band in the world, took the stage clearly in the mood for a good time. Neil Finn is a ball of energy, like a toddler in a playroom. At one point having issues with his guitar – he just said all good I’ll do it on the electric piano. They mixed it up, playing the classics (Distant Sun, Fall at Your Feet, Weather With You, Four Seasons in One Day) alongside songs from their new album (Teenage Summer, The Howl) and even some Split Enz songs (Message to My Girl, I Got You). Overall it was a great atmosphere, with plenty of singalong moments for the crowd, while also keeping it fun and energetic. For the finale Liam Finn was challenged to crowd surf to the front of house control position and back again, and succeeded, then they topped it off with fireworks. A magic summer night.