You may have head of Men’s Shed but do you really know what they are about and what they do? Here is a brief overview as well as details of Government Grants that may be of interest to anyone thinking of seeking additional funding to support a Men’s Shed.

Men’s Sheds provide a place for men who may be elderly or retired to interact with each other while doing blokey things. This may be building and constructing things, working on community projects, getting assistance and support with health issues or just having a coffee and a chat about all things blokey.

Another great aspect of Men’s Sheds is that they often bring in other skilled workers to teach and help out so even if you are not a great handyman that is not a problem. More importantly, you may have a skill that is unique that you can share with everyone so they can benefit from your experience.

A great opportunity exists at the moment as the Australian Government has announced the availability of Shed Development Grants. There are three categories of funding.

• Category One: Tools & Equipment to a maximum of $4,000
• Category Two: Building Maintenance & Development to a maximum of $6,000
• Category Three: Shed Activities & Programs to a maximum of $5,000

This current funding round closes on Friday 25 May. For more information and details, click on the Men’s Shed Development Grants link. The link will also show you how to apply for the grant.

It is great to see the government acknowledging the importance and benefit of Men’s Shed by creating these grants.

• The Stig Soap on a Rope: Soap on a rope is a great gift but having the Stig on the rope is even greater. Priced at $5.99 this is great value and sure to last for many showers.

• The Stig Keyring Torch: This keyring in the shape of the Stig has the light coming out of the top of his head. Easily fits onto any keychain and is ideal for finding keyholes at night. Priced at $9.99 this is sure to be popular.

• The Stig Floating Pen: This pen includes the Top Gear logo as well as a 3D sculptured Stig floating inside. Priced at $8.99 this will add some fun when in use and all the other blokes will want one.

There’s nobody like the Stig, is there? If your bloke can’t BE him, at least he can have a little Stig to carry around.

If you followed our last post we gave you some ideas about cooking a meal for mum on Mother’s Day. Now let’s look at wine to make the meal complete.

Every one of these tips can be broken if you have more confidence and understanding but these are for the novice and intended to help you make a good impression.

• Have an idea what you may be eating so you can match the wine to the meal. Basically, white wines are ideal for white meat such as fish, chicken and some pork whereas red wine is more suited to steak, beef and other game type meats.

• If you are having pasta with a lot of meat consider a red wine but if the pasta is mainly with a light sauce a white wine is more suitable.

• If you are having spicy food, go for a sweeter type of wine such as a Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling or Pinot Grigio.

• When selecting a wine look for Australian wines from Margaret River in Western Australia as well as wines from countries such as Italy, Germany, France or United States of America from the California area as they are all likely to be good as they have extensive experience getting it right.

• You can spend a small fortune on wine if you want but you can get most bottles of wine for less than $20 that taste great.

Using the right glass can also be important for enjoying your wine. For a white wine use smaller glasses that are not too wide; for a red wine use a larger glass that is wider as this allows the wine to breathe better. For champagne use long fluted style glasses as these keep the bubbles intact for longer.

These tips are intended to cover the basics and help the novice but there’s nothing wrong with a little experimentation although not perhaps for a really special dinner. On important occasions, stick to what you know is right.

Chicken Parmigiana

Ingredients
• 6 chicken breasts, rinsed – thin pieces preferable to thick pieces
• 2 cups flour
• Salt and pepper
• 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme
• 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 jars of your favourite tomato based pasta sauce, store bought
• 6 slices mozzarella (1 slice per chicken breast)
• Grated Parmesan cheese
• Italian parsley

Preparation
• Wash chicken breasts and pat dry. Set aside.
• Combine in a bowl the flour, salt and pepper to taste, rosemary and thyme. Set aside.
• Add olive oil to large pan. Warm over medium heat.
• Dust the chicken breasts in flour mixture.
• When oil is hot but not burning, add chicken breasts to pan.
• Brown chicken breasts on both sides until coating is light brown and breasts are just barely cooked through.
• Add pasta sauce to pan. Heat sauce until slightly bubbling.
• Cover each piece of chicken with one slice of mozzarella. Mozzarella will gently melt from heat of the chicken and surrounding sauce. Remove from heat.
• After adding each chicken breast to a plate, top with a light sprinkle of grated Parmesan cheese, and garnish with finely chopped Italian parsley.

Serve with vegetables of your choice.

For Dessert: DIY Banana Splits

Ingredients
• 1 banana for each split
• Vanilla, strawberry and chocolate ice cream
• Chocolate, strawberry and caramel ice cream topping
• Nuts of your choosing
• 100’s and 1000’s

Preparation
• Peel and split a banana lengthwise.
• Place the split banana halves on opposite sides of a dish similar in length to the banana.
• Add three scoops of any flavour ice cream between the bananas.
• Add one, two or all three toppings – whatever you like!
• Add nuts if you like (make sure nobody has nut allergies!).
• Add sprinkles.
• Dig in!

These recipes came from this fabulous website, so check it out if you are looking for other delicious suggestions.

Have a great Mother’s Day and make this a special day for the mother in your life.

It doesn’t have to be intimidating so to assist here are a couple of tips to make it real easy.

• The dinner plate is placed directly in front of the chair about 5 cms from the edge of the table.
• The knives and forks are laid “outside in” which means the utensils you use first are farthest from the plate.
• Forks go on the left of the plate and knives on the right. Place the cutting edge of the knives facing the plate.
• If you are serving soup place the bowl directly on top of the dinner plate. Put the soup spoon on the right and on the outside of the knives.
• If there are several courses to be served replace each dinner plate after each course.
• If you are serving dessert then place the spoon and or fork about 2 cms above the plate.
• If you have a bread plate then place that above the forks on the left and place the bread knife on the plate.
• Place glasses above the knives on the right and place wine glasses to the right of the water glass.

If you are still not too sure click on this link for a great diagram that is sure to help.

As can be seen it is not that hard to do, but a careful table setting can leave a lasting impression.

• Prepare a spectacular breakfast in bed.  Get out the nice cutlery and prepare her favourite morning meal.  Ensure you include a flower and give her a hug and kiss.
• Help with the housework.  The daily chores of cleaning, washing, cooking and ironing can be never ending so you can do these.  If you are not sure how to do ironing, turn on the washing machine or dishwasher then at least try to assist her.
• Give her a surprise.  This may be taking her out for lunch or dinner or going out on a trip.  Make sure this is what she will want to do and not what you want to do!
• Buy her a great gift.  Is there something that she has wanted that she hasn’t had the time to buy?   You should have an idea about the type of jewellery she likes or even the brand of perfume she uses. 
• Get your children to make something – maybe a painted picture, a collage of photographs, a video of the family or even a handmade card.     
• Handover the remote control for the day and let her chose the television shows and try and watch them with her. 

These are some simple but very effective suggestions but don’t forget that while Mother’s Day only occurs once a year, it doesn’t mean you only do this that one time.  The mother in your life is unique and is often the best friend, teacher, doctor, psychologist to her children, no matter what age, so treat every day of the year as Mother’s Day; take care of her, provide love and support and make her feel special at all times.

The AppCopter comes with a small peripheral that plugs into your iPhone or iPod Touch so you can manoeuvre the helicopter through the tilt function or you can change the settings and get the traditional fully featured remote control functions on the screen for more precise and accurate control.  To add even more fun the AppCopter comes with a speaker and amplifier for great sound effects including shooting sounds.  

In addition, the AppCopter comes with state of the art gyro stabilisation which makes it very easy to control and keep stable in the air.  The actual helicopter is easily charged through a USB cable (which is included) and with an 8 metre flying range is great fun for flying outdoors or indoors.

If you are looking for the more traditional remote control helicopter then have a look at this remote control helicopter that comes with its own 3 channel remote control unit.  This allows great control and responsiveness.  This helicopter comes with a 3.7V rechargeable battery and the remote control unit requires 6 x AA batteries.  This is great fun and suitable for ages 14 +.

The Men’s Wellbeing website provides a great resource for men to help them develop and foster healthy relationships with their families, friends and the community with a focus on their emotional, physical and spiritual wellbeing.

They offer a range of programs:

• Common Ground Men’s Groups:  This is a 9 week program that includes topics on Journey to Manhood, Fathering, Relationships, Aspects of Masculinity and Sex, Love, Intimacy and Spirit.
• Open Ground Men’s Gatherings:  This is an annual event held over a weekend and is open to all men from any religious, political or sexual background.
• Rite of Passage:  The program is for men wanting to make change, gain a better understanding of themselves and their role in the community.
• Elders Circle:  The purpose of this weekend gathering is to examine the role of Eldership in the community and how men can step up into this role.
• The Rock:  This is the location where some of the programs are held such as the Common Ground.  This site is located near Esk, that is the hills west of Brisbane.  It includes a house that is perched on the edge of a rock cliff overlooking the rugged bushland.  The house can be used by members or you can camp in the grounds.

There are many other resources available on the Men’s Wellbeing website so take the time to have a look.

Things are not looking good.

You need to find something to talk about or the date is over before the entree is served, and you don’t want to scare, repel or offend your date.

Women generally love things like romance, gossip, celebrities, pretty things and relationships. Cast your mind to what you might find in a typical women’s magazine and you have pretty much everything covered.

Here are a few ideas, covering all of the above, that might come in handy:

1. The latest trashy celeb and what trashy thing she’s up to…psychoanalyse her together.
2. Her favourite male actor and why?
3. Discuss his relationship – agree with her that she is just ‘not right’ for him.
4. Which celeb is currently in a breaking down relationship and with whom.
5. Current or latest movies – but don’t be cliché, analyse the relationships between the two main characters
6. Cooking shows and what she thinks of them.
7. Ditto re renovation shows.
8. Is Julie Goodwin a role model for women, or should she have kept her clothes on?
9. Shoes.
10. Which celebrity has the shoes she wants and why does she deserve them more?
11. Flowers.
12. What certain flowers and their colours represent in a relationship.
13. Has Paris Hilton been airbrushed?
14. Does Paris Hilton need to be airbrushed out of existence?
15. What might the table next to you be talking about?
16. The latest big news item (except if its politics or religion – tragedies are much better discussion topics).
17. If you were Curtis Stone, what would you have done differently to the entree?
18. If you were Russel Brand, what would you have done differently to the entree?
19. If you need to talk cars, start with what the Kardashians drive, and why they don’t deserve it.
20. If you need to talk sport, start with Tiger Woods and his ailing relationships…

Women also love a sense of humour, so don’t be scared to show yours.

Mostly, relax and enjoy your date.

The solar power torch is ideal when you may be away from a mains power supply for a long time as once it is fully charged it can operate for up to 2.5 hours. Because it is water resistant it is also suited to extreme wet weather conditions.

The 3W Nichia LED torch comes with a solar compartment that is small enough to fit on the dashboard of a car and is also used to store the torch and charge the battery when it is not being used. LED indicators on the compartment let you know how the charging is going and the torch is rated at 150 lumens which means it is bright.

The Solar Torch is great value at $69.95 and includes the rugged torch, solar compartment for charging as well as the rechargeable battery.

In addition to the torch we also have a range of other outdoor living and lifestyle products that are suited to the outdoors. Your outdoor man will have everything he needs to enjoy his outdoor life.