Christmas dinner was pheasant poached in cider, wasn't very impressed with this - pheasant seems kinda flavourless, so won't be eating that again in a hurry.
The Waldoff salad was lovely, but then I've always liked it. It also gives me a use for my hammer, owning a hammer makes me manly, the fact I mainly use it for cracking nuts in no way detracts from my manliness.
Roasting the spuds in goose fat resulted in some feckin' stunning tasting spuds, apparently goose fat is also quite healthy - awesome.
the star of the show was my Christmas pudding, damn I do a good one. Cream and custard set off the pudding nicely. Yup, even I can be traditional.
I've done most of the cooking for tonight, roast vege pasta bake (I made the sauce yesterday before I finished the red wine, see planning...), tiramisu (made this before I drank all the coffee, but no coffee liquer so brandy was involved), and that'll do me thinks. Possibly some salad, but we'll see...
Now watching King of the Zombies from 1941, which is superb. Including a black servant as comic relief, who has soooo stolen this movie. He's hilarious, it's public domain now so should be reasonably easy to find.
Love, B
31 December 2009
30 December 2009
Regional News - why bother?
The BBC have, for some reason, a 30 minute news bulletin followed by regional news for 20 minutes (ish) then back to central for weather. Or something like that. I find it hard to follow.
I've never been a huge fan of regional news, it's always struck me as shallow, narrow-minded and a waste of time. I'd much rather have more indepth reporting, or critiquing of international affairs.
This evening I felt things hit a nadir, admittedly it's the dead news period, but still, this isn't too different from normal.
An east midlands motorway is being extended and some people trying to restore a canal are up in arms because the motorway will require changes to bridges, which if not done, will mean the canal cannot be restored. All I got from this article was a bunch of old buggers (it's always old buggers) wanting to restore a canal, and grumbling about bridges. No-where in the story was there an explanation as to a) why anyone wants the canal the restored or b) why the motorway needed extending (becoming a dual-carriage way).
This was an excellent example of crap reporting with no context, and no hook to engage view interest. Why TF bother?
I went back to my book, Charlie Brooker's "The Hell of it All", which seemed somehow apt.
B
I've never been a huge fan of regional news, it's always struck me as shallow, narrow-minded and a waste of time. I'd much rather have more indepth reporting, or critiquing of international affairs.
This evening I felt things hit a nadir, admittedly it's the dead news period, but still, this isn't too different from normal.
An east midlands motorway is being extended and some people trying to restore a canal are up in arms because the motorway will require changes to bridges, which if not done, will mean the canal cannot be restored. All I got from this article was a bunch of old buggers (it's always old buggers) wanting to restore a canal, and grumbling about bridges. No-where in the story was there an explanation as to a) why anyone wants the canal the restored or b) why the motorway needed extending (becoming a dual-carriage way).
This was an excellent example of crap reporting with no context, and no hook to engage view interest. Why TF bother?
I went back to my book, Charlie Brooker's "The Hell of it All", which seemed somehow apt.
B
26 December 2009
Boxing Day
Didn't have as much booze as I thought I would. Had a nice relaxing day tho, watching movies, drinking booze, eating food. Ended up watching the mini-series Alice - kinda derivative, if you've seen Kubrick, Gilliam, even the Matrix, you won't be very surprised - but it was mindless, which is all we wanted.
This morning, woke up and read for a bit. A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz was shortlisted for the 2008 Man Booker prize, which I'd generally avoid. But I'd been in a literature search the other week and picked up this, Cormac McCarthy's The Road (brilliant, if disturbing reading on a train through the blank snow covered wilderness of the Scottish Borders...) and something else. Anyway, this one is very very funny, and is rocking along at high speed.
Made brekkie (toast and coffee), did the remaining dishes, cleaned the kitchen and organised recycling, now my feet are up watching the John Carradine classic, Silent Night, Bloody Night. A soft romantic comedy concerning a haunted house and the nutjobs involved with it. Seems a good example of the slasher flick genre so far, scripting has been, at best, clumsy. Non-sequitors abound which is superb listening. I'm also liking the lack of emotional investment in any of the characters, nice touch !!
Me.
A Fraction of the Whole; Silent Night Bloody Night
This morning, woke up and read for a bit. A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz was shortlisted for the 2008 Man Booker prize, which I'd generally avoid. But I'd been in a literature search the other week and picked up this, Cormac McCarthy's The Road (brilliant, if disturbing reading on a train through the blank snow covered wilderness of the Scottish Borders...) and something else. Anyway, this one is very very funny, and is rocking along at high speed.
Made brekkie (toast and coffee), did the remaining dishes, cleaned the kitchen and organised recycling, now my feet are up watching the John Carradine classic, Silent Night, Bloody Night. A soft romantic comedy concerning a haunted house and the nutjobs involved with it. Seems a good example of the slasher flick genre so far, scripting has been, at best, clumsy. Non-sequitors abound which is superb listening. I'm also liking the lack of emotional investment in any of the characters, nice touch !!
Me.
A Fraction of the Whole; Silent Night Bloody Night
25 December 2009
Xmas Pt4
been awhile since the last blog, have drunk more beer (quite a bit) had dinner (very nice, particuarly the spuds and the waldorf salad), watched some Brideshead Revisted, half a movie (Underground). Sipped some whisky and had a bit of a cigar, too cold to stay outside toolong so came back in.
pudding is cooking its way to lovely hotness as we speak. new james may on soon, probably skipping dr who as i kept missing all the others. i thought i saw there was a new top gear on too, but can't seem to see ot, only a repeat from the other night.
might be time to throw on another movie - thinking about silent night, deadly night or Cyborg.
i think a beer aged in whisky casks will be next, ooohhh or maybe the st peters stout, that'd go well with the pudding. hmmm, decisions.
me x
pudding is cooking its way to lovely hotness as we speak. new james may on soon, probably skipping dr who as i kept missing all the others. i thought i saw there was a new top gear on too, but can't seem to see ot, only a repeat from the other night.
might be time to throw on another movie - thinking about silent night, deadly night or Cyborg.
i think a beer aged in whisky casks will be next, ooohhh or maybe the st peters stout, that'd go well with the pudding. hmmm, decisions.
me x
Xmas Pt3
Things are now happening in the kitchen, pheasants are in the oven for their initial cook, the spuds are being boiled before roasting, I've located ingredients for the salad. Pudding is in the fridge - ready for the final steam. Beer in glass (timmermans Strawberry lambic), cheese on cracker.
Halfwit prince still on in background.
B
Halfwit prince still on in background.
B
Xmas Pt2
The zombie movie was absolutely superb. Excellent stuff. Sadly we've moved onto pothead and the halfwit prince. So I've moved onto St Peter's Grapefruit beer.
My Xmas pressie to me, with love, cos I've been a very good boy, or at least good to myself, was a decent coffee grinder. This worked in well with beans T posted over in exchange for a DVD - so freshly ground Havana beans. Feckin' A.
Here's a picture of my new baby, and the view out our window.
My Xmas pressie to me, with love, cos I've been a very good boy, or at least good to myself, was a decent coffee grinder. This worked in well with beans T posted over in exchange for a DVD - so freshly ground Havana beans. Feckin' A.
Here's a picture of my new baby, and the view out our window.
Love and im liking this beer.
B
Xmas drinking pt1 - not very pisht post
The beginning of the day, one champers down and currently watching Flight of the Living Dead aka Zombies on a Plane. The plot, such as it is, is quite easy to follow and should appeal to all drunken bgrade fans. Scripting writing makes pr0n dialogue look like Bennett, and the less said about the acting, the better. For all that, it's fun - and more importantly has zombies, hot babes, guns, and a plane. Not enough nudity to be excellent, so it'll get a very good rating from me. Sadly my booze is now empty and I must away for a refill. Damn scientists killing everyone. But there's a nun, she still got clothes on too, but maybe hot. And a prisoner, and a US air marshall. They have guns. and now metal - oh yeah baby. I liked that fact the hot babes got bitten first.
Food intake update:
2 cups coffee (freshly ground havana beans)
1 glass champagne
2 english muffins with egg, salmon and horseradish
oohhh woohoo the captain got bitten!
B
ps: in keeping with the 'rules' no editing allowed on these posts so if they dont make sense, blame someone else.
Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane
Food intake update:
2 cups coffee (freshly ground havana beans)
1 glass champagne
2 english muffins with egg, salmon and horseradish
oohhh woohoo the captain got bitten!
B
ps: in keeping with the 'rules' no editing allowed on these posts so if they dont make sense, blame someone else.
Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane
23 December 2009
\m/ Metal \m/
Nothing to do at work today, no surprise there, mainly filling in time before pub. Mmm beer.
Anyhoo, I'm catching up metal vids I haven't had a chance to watch, the only two that have stood out have been Kataklysm, Behemoth (oohh now that was brutal) and Vader.
Here's Vader, with their snappily titled video:
RAWWWKKK
Anyhoo, I'm catching up metal vids I haven't had a chance to watch, the only two that have stood out have been Kataklysm, Behemoth (oohh now that was brutal) and Vader.
Here's Vader, with their snappily titled video:
RAWWWKKK
Meals you're unlikely to have
From todays news : the man who killed and ate the last wild Indochinese tiger has been jailed for 12 years. Pleading self-defence while gathering clams in a wild-life reserve, the prosecutors argued 'you don't need a gun to gather clams'. The only known tiger in the reserve has not been seen since his dinner in 2007.
More info on the tiger itself here.
Genetics of tigers splits them into 6 distinct groups, well according to this paper anyway. Admittedly these are all subspecies, and whether we even care about that is a whole other question.
Another paper, which lists 5 subspecies, assigned captive tigers to the subspecies, finding a large proportion (52 of 105 examined) were of mixed origin (what would the BNP say). If you've got access to Science Direct it's available here.
This means that it is technically possible to continue 'pure-breeding' the subspecies, but whether it's worth it or not - who knows. Obviously they interbred quite happily, so the question becomes, do we want to enforce speciation on them, along with the corollary of (probably) reduced genetic diversity?
Me.
More info on the tiger itself here.
Genetics of tigers splits them into 6 distinct groups, well according to this paper anyway. Admittedly these are all subspecies, and whether we even care about that is a whole other question.
Another paper, which lists 5 subspecies, assigned captive tigers to the subspecies, finding a large proportion (52 of 105 examined) were of mixed origin (what would the BNP say). If you've got access to Science Direct it's available here.
This means that it is technically possible to continue 'pure-breeding' the subspecies, but whether it's worth it or not - who knows. Obviously they interbred quite happily, so the question becomes, do we want to enforce speciation on them, along with the corollary of (probably) reduced genetic diversity?
Me.
22 December 2009
HE sucked for money
Continuing the occasional series on Higher Education, quote of the day comes from an article discussing the rise of vampire courses in the US HE sector:
“They know more about vampires than they do about religion,” said Richard Androne, professor of English at Albright College in Pennsylvania, who teaches a course called “The Vampyre”.
And this is where Richard Dawkins went wrong, rather than pointing out the perfection of Evolution he should have gone "oohhh look, vampires are cool"...and thus killed religion in one sucking swoop.
It's also an encouraging fact about the US. I think it's evidence of the Obama effect.
B
“They know more about vampires than they do about religion,” said Richard Androne, professor of English at Albright College in Pennsylvania, who teaches a course called “The Vampyre”.
And this is where Richard Dawkins went wrong, rather than pointing out the perfection of Evolution he should have gone "oohhh look, vampires are cool"...and thus killed religion in one sucking swoop.
It's also an encouraging fact about the US. I think it's evidence of the Obama effect.
B
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