Exciting Times

It has been a good couple of weeks. After too much deliberation, I finally took my car to first get its rear parking sensors sorted out and then to get the alloy wheels refurbished. Expensive, but this should clear up the two big issues with the car. It then went for its MOT, and then had its insurance renewed. All of which was horrific, but it's done now.

At work there was some big news (which I can't talk about) which led to some more big news (which I can't talk about), which clears up an awful lot of stuff (which I can't talk about). Meanwhile, I made a huge breakthrough on the project (which I can't talk about), and so suddenly that's all clear skies. There's still some tricky work ahead, but that's rather less disastrous.

Finally, at home we got our windows replaced. Another big expense, and an awful lot of hassle for a couple of days, but again it's done now. And the new windows are so much nicer than the old, and have the advantage of not letting in so many drafts. With luck, Funsize in particular will have a more enjoyable winter.

On that one, there is of course a significant amount of clean up still needed - we have to put the house back to rights. And, unfortunately, that does leave us one particular challenge: about a year ago we got some very nice (and expensive) blinds in our living room, which need to be remounted. At the time, we made sure to ask what would happen if we had the windows redone, and were assured that it wouldn't be a problem - they could be taken down and remounted without issue. When time came to get the windows done, we again made sure to ask what would happen, and were assured it wouldn't be a problem - just leave the mounting points up and they'd work around them.

Yesterday I can to remount the blinds, only to find they'd taken down the mounting points and now they don't quite fit. In other words, there's a problem.

Now I should note at this point that I only had a very small amount of time to actually look at these, while I was tired and hungry and indeed while I was in the process of cooking dinner. So beyond ascertaining that it was a non-trivial task, I'm not sure just how big an issue this is. But at first glance it looked to me like there was an issue with the geometry. Maybe.

Oh, yes. And as of lunchtime today I'm on holiday for two weeks. Which is really good news - the first half of this year has just been brutal.

Nostalgia for Things I Didn't Like

Here's a weird thing: for me, the best bit of the recent Doctor Who finale, "The Reality War" was the appearance, very briefly, of Jodie Whittaker's Thirteenth Doctor. And yet, as I've mentioned before, I really didn't care for that era of DW - while JW is very definitely a talented actor and has done good work in other things, I felt she was sorely let down by the material she had to work with and was asked to play the role in a manner I found fairly grating.

But that's not the only time that's happened.

One of the best parts of the (very excellent) "Star Trek: Prodigy" was seeing Janeway back in action (and, for that matter, Wesley Crusher, Chakotay, and others). But back in the day, when watching "Star Trek: Voyager" I really didn't like Janeway, or indeed most of the rest of her crew. And, as I am gradually rewatching ST:V, I'm finding that this wasn't just a bad first impression - much of that series just isn't great.

Then there's "Ahsoka", in which the reappearance of Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker made for the very best part of the very best episode (which itself is probably the single best thing Disney have done with Star Wars... including "Andor" and "Rogue One"). And yet, while HC received a lot of very unfair flak for his portrayal, the prequels were really not great (and, for my money, the best of them is "The Phantom Menace", in which he does not appear).

It's very odd.

Part of it, I think, may be just the passage of time. And with so much of the newer material really not being great in general, perhaps time is kind to those things.

But perhaps part of it is that these things fit better in the hands of other writers - that RTD was able to draw something out of Thirteen than Chibnall was, because it wasn't his beloved character.

Or maybe it's just that these things are good to see but strictly in small doses. Who knows?

How to Train Your Dragon

For my birthday, we took the kids to see the "How to Train Your Dragon" remake. Though as it happened Surprise! fell asleep halfway through, while Funsize was really toiling by the end, so it was mostly LC and I who watched the film.

The original "How to Train Your Dragon" trilogy is almost unique because, at least in my opinion, the first film is actually the weakest. 'Weakest' is still very much a relative term, of course, as the first film is still very, very good (and, of course, it builds the foundation for the other two to stand upon), but both the other two are outstanding - and, for my money, better.

This remake, then, takes that first film and turns it into live action, in their vein of "Aladdin" or "Beauty and the Beast".

And the result?

This new film is basically a shot-for-shot remake of the first film. There's almost nothing new here. And that's no bad thing - so often we've had remakes that have felt the need to put their own stamp on things, only to mess up the source material. And with a strong cast, truly great music (again, basically the same music), and some great visuals, it made for a good experience. At least, I enjoyed it.

One thing: this is a film to see in the cinema - the small screen won't do it justice in the same way, such that you're basically just as well watching the original.

And now... bring on the sequel!

Fantastic Jousting

As you know, I have had a long-term quest to have mop jousting introduced as an official Olympic sport. Everything was looking pretty good, right up until the breakdancing fiasco, which seems to have put paid to those plans – apparently the Olympic committee are now going to be much less permissive in the sports they allow to be introduced. Boo!

Anyway, in order to ameliorate some of the pain caused by this setback, we took Funsize and Surprise! to see the older, less mop-based form of jousting.

It was fun!

The event took place in the fields behind Linlithgow Palace, where there were about a dozen tents set up with various Ren Faire type events – the archer and the armoury, scribes and calligraphy, a musicians’ tent, a falconer, and so on and so forth. There were two arenas, one in which the falconer held a display (that we saw), there were jugglers and acrobats (that we didn’t), and a re-enactment of the Battle of Stirling Bridge (though the Wallace wasn’t Australian enough).

And there was the main arena where they held the jousting.

This was not, of course, authentic jousting – that would be far too dangerous. Instead, there was a lot of riding towards one another and carefully aiming lances at shields, which were then dropped with a loud clattering. Even then, there were instances of people falling from the horses, followed by a melee on foot. It was exciting stuff.

It was also hot and sunny, which made for a lethargic, tired type of day. The hours didn’t so much pass as evaporate in the heat.

All in all, it’s something I’d recommend going to see as and when there is an opportunity.

Experimental Cookery 2025: Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

The second of our vegetarian options, and also the last of this little sequence of “Experimental Cookery” posts, this was basically baked potatoes on the BBQ. The method comes from Tom Kerridge’s “Outdoor Cooking”. (I’ve been getting a lot of use out of his books recently.)

Needless to say, the method for this was simple enough: bake the potatoes on the BBQ, then open and sprinkle with paprika and cheese, and then bake for five more minutes to melt the cheese.

Unfortunately, this was not entirely successful – the potatoes took much much longer than expected to cook, which messed up all the rest of the timings. In hindsight, I think maybe I should have done them in the oven, or even put them directly in the coals.

The end result tasted very nice, but they weren’t as cooked as they really should have been. But the other thing that surprised me was that in addition to my sister and I having one each, my mother took one of the potatoes – indeed, she started off by saying she was very full but could maybe be tempted and then fairly quickly switched to asking frequently whether they were done yet. I count that as a good sign.

The upshot of that is that this is another thing I think we’ll have again, but I’d need to give some thought to how I’m going to do them. For best results, these want to be ready much earlier in the day, so that will need some consideration.

Experimental Cookery 2025: Cheesy Portobello Mushrooms

Vegetarians tend to have a hard time with BBQs, though they do seem to fall into two camps – some are quite happy to have meat-substitute burgers and sausages (and there are now some good ones available on the market. I’m told the “Beyond Burger” ones are especially good), while others don’t like the taste or texture of meat, and so require some sort of an alternative.

In years past, I’ve addressed this latter case at my birthday BBQ by purchasing a pack of veggie burgers from Tesco, but these have had mixed success – while being very definitely “not meat”, they’ve tended to be met with a lack of enthusiasm at best. And this year I was asked not to supply a burger.

All of which is preamble to me saying that this year I tried a couple of different vegetarian options for the BBQ, of which this is the first. This one comes from my “Licence to Grill” book.

In terms of preparation it was all pretty simple: finely chop some onion and garlic and then cook very gently for a while, grate some cheese and chop some parsley. Then wash and oil the mushrooms, and then cook on the grill. Then top them, cook again, and finally garnish.

Of the two vegetarian options these were by far the better – our resident vegetarian went back for seconds, and I had one, and they were very nice. Frankly, I’d have these again for myself (though I can’t imagine LC would be tempted, and Funsize is going through a slightly fussy stage. Maybe Surprise!?).

Experimental Coolery 2025: Mint Choc Chip Ice Cream

In preparation for my birthday BBQ, Funsize wanted to make ice cream, so we did. Initially, she had wanted to make four different types, but we eventually compromised on just this one, which is a second entry from my "I Love My Ice Cream Maker" book.

As is to be expected from ice cream, this one is easy to make: it’s a custard base, then let it cool, add the mint flavouring and choc chips, and then churn in the ice cream maker.

Slightly disconcertingly, my ice cream maker overheated part way, so we had to complete the freezing in the freezer. But it was close enough to being done that that was fine.

Taste wise, this was exactly as you’d expect: minty, with chocolate chips. In terms of colour, though, it’s a light brown, not at all green. Mostly because we added a colourless mint flavouring and didn’t add the nugget of purest green that would have given it the expected colour.

But it’s lovely, and we made it, and that’s that. I certainly plan to have this again.

Experimental Cookery 2025: Prawn Tacos with Chilli Salsa

This one comes from Tom Kerridge’s “Real Life Recipes”, and they were wonderful – possibly the very best thing we’ve eaten all year, and that’s up against some tough competition. And we’ll certainly have them again. However, these were also absolutely a mistake at this particular time, as we were hosting my birthday BBQ this weekend, and in hindsight I should have chosen something a bit easier for the night before. (That said, this was a compromise option – tacos are one of Funsize’s absolute favourites, but LC has become rather bored with them. So mixing things up for her, while still cooking tacos for FS and Surprise! made some sense.)

Anyway, this was a three-part exercise. The chilli salsa was quick and easy to make, with the food processor doing the hardest part of the work. The coleslaw was also quick and easy, with my biggest takeaway from that being that I should stop buying coleslaw – we don’t have it very often, and then most of it doesn’t get eaten, but given how easy coleslaw is to make and given how much nicer the homemade stuff is, that’s an easy sell.

The prawns were where the effort lay, with an easily-assembled batter and then frying. This meant bringing the fryer into use, which in turn meant a fairly unpleasant clean-up job.

But, oh, they’re great once they’re done!

So, yeah, these come highly recommended.

Also, I should note at this time that this will be the first in a flurry of “Experimental Cookery” posts – there was a lot over the weekend that needs captured…

Department Q

This is an odd little show that we watched on Netflix – a Skandi noir detective show that had somehow been transplanted to Edinburgh. And it’s great stuff, although rendered somewhat weird by seeing loads of actors from other things appearing in unexpected new roles. Odd, not least, because the villain of the piece was best known to us from a TV show that Funsize used to watch.

I don’t really have much more to say about the show than that. The problem is that almost anything I could say would very quickly get into the realm of spoilers, and the show is very definitely best enjoyed without. So I’ll leave it at that. Mostly, though: if you have Netflix, this is definitely worth a watch.

A Million to One

 I chanced to be in London last week with a few hours on my hands. And so, a friend and I went to the "Jeff Wayne's The War of The Worlds: The Immersive Experience", as you do. This is, roughly speaking, a retelling of the story along with Jeff Wayne's music (of course), with a number of actors playing various characters in the story along the way. And there were also some sections where we wore VR headsets and watched cutscenes of some parts.

And it was fine. Truth be told, a lot of the experience is somewhat dated now, most especially the VR components (which are early 2000s level of animation, if that). But it was all good fun, and anyway it was more about the experience than anything else.

Anyway, the upshot is that I don’t regret going… but I wouldn’t go again. Once was enough. Which, in fairness, is a universal reaction to alien invasions, I think.

Experimental Cookery 2025: Marshmallow and Strawberry Kebabs

A little while ago I was gifted a small book, "Licensed to Grill", which was the source of this one. It's perhaps excessive to describe this as "cookery" - it involved threading three marshmallows and two strawberries onto a skewer, and then lightly heating the marshmallows to become soft. Then add some chocolate sauce, and eat messily.

But it does just about count, so...

Anyway, these were really nice. We'll definitely have these again.

#15: "Assassin's Apprentice", by Robin Hobb

Experimental Cookery 2025: Lamb Burgers with Tzatziki & Feta

A second burger from "Handcrafted Burgers", this was very straightforward in preparation: the tzatziki involved a little chopping and then some mixing, the red onion pickle was much the same (just with very different ingredients), and the cooking of the burgers was near-trivial.

The only thing I'd change about this one is the buns: I made the mistake of going for St Pierre's "Burger Buns" (where I used their brioche buns for the Peanut Butter Burgers a few weeks ago), but these just didn't quite work out - they were too close to the brioche buns in flavour. In this case, a simpler bun would have been a better choice.

Ultimately, though, these were really good, and we'll have them again - both as a whole, and as individual components.

Captain America: Brave New World

Once upon a time, we went out to see all the MCU films in the cinema. These days, we've dropped to seeing only a few of them. Which is a shame - I would have liked to see this in the cinema at the time. But, between the need to arrange childcare, and the cost of cinema tickets, and the fact that the MCU just hasn't been the same since "Endgame" and, more than anything else, the fact that films go from the cinema to streaming in a few short months, we just can't justify going all that often.

And so, we came to watch "Captain America: Brave New World" on Disney+ this week.

And it's fine, a perfectly serviceable action film with a coherent plot, good performances, and (mostly) good special effects. (Although, like most modern action films, it does have some truly awful CGI as well. I'm not sure how, but they seem to have gone backwards in recent years.)

They've gone for something of a "Winter Soldier" vibe for this one, which is probably wise as that was probably the best of the MCU films prior to "Endgame". On the other hand, it does invite a comparison that "Brave New World" doesn't necessarily benefit from. Plus, as I've seen noted elsewhere, it kinda feels like it would be better as a Hulk film - so many of the characters and plot points tie back to the "Incredible Hulk" film that it does feel that it wants Banner, not Wilson, at the helm.

But one thing this is definitely not, however, is the bin fire that some parts of the internet have claimed. Unfortunately, there's a noisy minority that will decry any film that doesn't have a straight white man at the helm. And this one in particular, with the passing of the torch from Steve Rodgers to Sam Wilson, was always going to come under attack.

Needless to say, I have no time for such lazy critiques. As a practical matter, if nothing else, we can't have a situation where every story has to center around a straight white man - in addition to the monstrous unfairness that would represent, it would also be deadly boring.

(I do find it rather unfortunate that, too often, Hollywood has taken their efforts at increased representation to mean license to just cast a person of colour or a woman in the lead role, and then just make the same films they've been making for decades, showing nothing at all new. But that doesn't work - neither women nor people of colour are obscure and exotic beings whose mere presence makes for a new and exciting experience. Diversity and representation are good things, and indeed deserved and necessary things, but they're not sufficient by themselves. Basically, if the film wouldn't work with a bog-standard straight white male in the lead, it probably won't work if you simply switch out the lead.

But none of that applies to this film, where one of the key themes of the story is precisely that Sam Wilson is not Steve Rodgers. Not just because one is a person of colour, but in the differences in their characters, the differences in the approaches they bring to the situation, and even in the level of certainty they present in their chosen course of action. There was a part of me that was a little disappointed that Sam never used Steve's comment that "I could do this all day"... but it's actually a good thing that he didn't.)

Anyway...

I thought Anthony Mackie was really great in the lead role, giving a quiet, sensitive, and nuanced portrayal. I thought Harrison Ford did extremely well stepping into the role of Thunderbolt Ross, and I thought the whole thing fit together pretty neatly.

That said, it's not as good as "Winter Soldier". And, sadly, it adds another to the list of post-Endgame MCU films that are fine, but just not hitting the same heights. The whole thing is just starting to feel a bit tired at this point.

My recommendation for this one is pretty straightforward: if you have Disney+, it's worth investing the couple of hours in a watch. I wouldn't recommend subscribing to Disney+ just for this. But, then, I generally do recommend Disney+ - there's just so much good stuff on these.