Day 150: Update on Goals

 Time for the third update on goals for the year:

• Books: By day 150 I should have completed 12.33 books. I've completed 13, with two others in progress, so am currently quite a bit ahead of that target. That's promising, but obviously there's a good way to go yet. My plan is to work through the books in my backlog mostly in order of purchase, but alternating between 'big' books and 'small' books to try to maintain a sensible rate. We'll see how that goes for the next few weeks.
• Weight: Sadly, this has regressed somewhat since the previous update. Once again, this is proving to be a goal I just can't seem to gain any lasting traction on.
• Career: No further progress.
• Church Website: The merest hint of progress on this one - I finally sent out the request for information with which to refresh the website. We'll see what, if anything, I get back.
• Redecoration: Since the previous update we have arranged with a glazier to have the windows replaced. This should be done in the first week of July, and so should be complete for the next update.
• Blogging: I think it may be time to admit defeat on the blog - I just don't have many interesting topics to write about, nor time to actually write them anyway. If I had set my usual goal for this year, I would expect to have posted 49 times by now. Given that I'm already well behind that, this seems to be unrecoverable for the year.
• Home Automation: At the time of the previous update I said I was waiting for a particular device to be reduced to the 'right' price before buying. I'm still waiting - since I'm in no great hurry, I'd prefer to wait longer than pay more.

This has been a somewhat mixed update - some really good progress in one area, some disappointment in another, and a recognition that the blogging non-goal is unachievable. I must confess that I am more disappointed by the shortfalls than satisfied by the successes, which is something to work on for next time.

A Somewhat Distressing Milestone

This is the fortieth post on this blog this year, which may not seem like much (and indeed is not), but it does represent the point at which I have posted more often this year than in the whole of last year. Given that we're at the end of May, that's both slightly reassuring but also somewhat damning of the level of output last year. Further, since I'm actually also way behind my normal annual target, I'm not really sure it counts as cause for celebration.

Season's End

For a football season where the main question was a foregone conclusion even in November, it somehow managed to end with a significant amount of interest - Celtic won the league of course, but failed to win the treble that seemed all-but assured; Hibs went from a disastrous start to finishing third; Aberdeen won the Scottish Cup, and therefore gazumped Hibs' guarantee of group-stage European football; both Falkirk and Livingston were promoted.

So, all in all it was actually a surprisingly good season. The big hope for next year, of course, is for things to be rather more competitive at the top end - in particular, it would be good if some of our other teams could improve to get a bit closer to Celtic (more likely, any closing of the gap would probably come about by a reduction in Celtic's quality, which would not be ideal). But I must admit that I'm not terribly hopeful of that; Celtic's dominance is not just on the pitch but in every arena, so by rights they should move further ahead if anything.

Of course, this summer is one of the ones where there is no international football to look forward to. Though with Scotland's recent travails, that may not be the worst thing ever.

Experimental Cookery 2025: Burmese Prawn Curry over Rice Noodles

This one came from a cookery course I did with work a couple of years ago - it was actually the demonstration dish rather than something we cooked ourselves.

I made up the paste for this one last weekend (which wasn't hard - chop a load of things, put in a blender, and whiz to a paste), after which making up the curry was pretty straightforward, though it did require a 30-minute simmer stage.

The end result was nice. There's not much more to say about it than that - we'll no doubt have this again at some point, but it's not going to become one of our most common "go to" meals.

And that's that, really. A short one this time.

#13: "La Belle Sauvage", by Philip Pullman

Experimental Cookery 2025: Chicken Burgers

This one comes from Tom Kerridge's "Real Life Recipes", and is pretty much as the title suggests: chicken burgers, with a mustard/Sriracha sauce.

The preparation for this one is dead easy - put the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl and mix thoroughly, marinade the chicken and then coat in flour. Then fry. The only downside was that it was fairly time-consuming, largely because I had to fry the burgers one at a time (and perhaps should have gone for 6 rather than 7 minutes).

But the result was really great. Indeed, LC commented that that was two really good burgers in a week. So that's a winner - the only downside being that it raises expectations. (I was also slightly disappointed that Funsize and Surprise! completely refused to even try them. A shame, as I think they would have liked the burgers, though not the sauce.)

Will we have this again? We'll certainly have that sauce again, but the burgers are a little more doubtful because of the time involved. Perhaps when FS and S! are a little older and more apt to try them...

Hera

I mentioned a few posts ago that I had finished reading “Hera”, the fourth novel by Jennifer Saint. I’ve read all four of her novels, and mostly enjoyed all four, but this is probably the best (closely followed by “Elektra”, with “Atalanta” and “Ariadne” following some way behind, in that order). It’s also perhaps the best novel I have read so far this year, though “The Labyrinth of the Spirits” runs it close. So, good stuff.

However, I’m distinctly troubled by the recasting of Hera as some sort of feminist hero, or indeed as any kind of a hero at all. The thing is, you don’t need to read far in Greek mythology to conclude that Zeus is a real baddie – a capricious tyrant interested only in his own glory and pleasure, and a menace to women and females of all species. And it’s even more clear, and especially here, that Hera is very much wronged by Zeus – partly by his siring so many children by so many others, and also in some other ways.

But it’s also true, both in the mythological sources and here, that Hera spends vast amounts of her time wreaking her vengeance not on Zeus, but rather on those aforementioned children and the women who bore them – women who were, by and large, themselves victims of Zeus’s actions. A great many of those women were unwilling in one way or another – be that through sex by deception, a supernatural impregnation while in some other form, or indeed outright rape through simple brute force.

So what we have, therefore, is the queen of the gods, the patroness of wronged women, spending her time inflicting punishments on women who were themselves wronged.

(This is, of course, not the only example of this in Greek myth – one of the origins given for Medusa casts her as a priestess of Athena who was raped by Poseidon. Athena then responds to this attack on her priestess by cursing Medusa. I’m not entirely sure that that was a fair assignment of the blame in that case.)

Anyway, it’s just a small burr of annoyance in an otherwise very enjoyable book. Like all her others, this one proceeds along at a pleasant pace, covering a great deal of story efficiently. Good stuff – recommended.

Passing the Torch

One thing that struck me somewhat forcefully is that I can no longer in good conscience claim to be Knig of the Ceilidh. This was a shock, but there’s no hiding from the truth.

I must therefore, reluctantly, abdicate my position to a worthy successor. Henceforth, Funsize shall be known as the Qeeun of the Ceilidh.

Unless, of course, I feel compelled to stage a comeback and reclaim my crown...

A Post That Has Been a Long Time Coming

A few weeks ago my youngest brother (who I shall hereafter refer to as G) was married to his wife (who I shall hereafter refer to as E). Since then, LC has been eagerly awaiting this post, so that she knows what happened. This is therefore a post that has been a long time coming, about an event that was even more overdue.

The weekend started on the Friday, with the usual flurry of chaos that marks all our adventures – I finished work to find LC frantically packing for our weekend away. She’d left this to the last minute, having only started packing the week before. Anyway, we gathered everything that was needed, and about a million other things beside, put Funsize in the car, went to collect Surprise!, and we were off!

For the weekend of the weeding we were staying in the Premier Inn in Leith – not too far from home, but a suitable base for the weekend. (Our plan was to stay there, rather than at home, to allow F and S to stay up as late as they can manage, to gain maximum enjoyment from the day. A plan which worked very well.) En route we went into Edinburgh to pick up our kilts for the event.

This, of course, caused all sorts of a commotion, because in the kilt hire shop they had a great many outfits for the weeding party. And with most of them staying in the same Premier Inn, there was a question about whether we should pick them up or not. In the event, we collected some of them – a very confusing arrangement.

Anyway, we then battled through Edinburgh to the Premier Inn, unpacked a million things from the car, and then collapsed. Except that we didn’t – I was due at a weeding rehearsal a scant five minutes later. So a quick message was sent saying that I was running late but on my way, and off I went again.

Crossing back through Edinburgh was a hugely horrible experience. I really don’t like driving there if I can at all avoid it, and this journey took me through the worst possible part of the city at the worst possible time. Still, I got there in time to miss only most of the rehearsal, but to learn what I needed to learn. And then we were off back to the hotel.

We then had a meal with all my brothers and their families (missing only one wing of the family… but that was still a miss). Then we put the kids to bed, and the day was done.

Saturday saw us rising early and going for our Premier Inn breakfast, which was obviously the highlight of our stay. Then back to the rooms to get changed, to help the kids get changed, to help G get changed (in a different room), and then to change location while waiting for our Uber. And then we were off!

The weeding took place at Chalmers Church in Morningside in Edinburgh. My primary role for the day was to play the bagpipes, so once our Uber arrived (only a little late), I tuned up and played. It was fine – by this point playing at a weeding is fairly well-trod ground for me. So the performance was good enough without being exceptional.

It is, of course, the bride’s prerogative to be late, and despite E’s insistence that she would be on time there was indeed a short delay. But only a short one – the weeding car arrived about 5 minutes after the official start time, I played my last tune, and then went inside. I proceeded to bash my head on a staircase – my bagpipes were being stored underneath, a plan that seemed good until I stepped from bright sunlight into a darkened stairwell with light-sensitive transitions lenses on.

The service itself was lovely. Our brother A performed the actual marriage, I signed the register (as a witness, obviously!), G cried a great deal, there were hymns, a very touching poem, and generally a good time.

Also, the dress was white. I remember that distinctly.

We then proceeded back outside into the sunlight for photos, and also there was tea and coffee and cake. Huzzah!

After a short while we all lined up for G&E to run a gauntlet of confetti throwers, before they jumped in a car to go get their official photographs taken. And shortly after that we called another Uber and went on to the reception.

The reception took place in the Biscuit Factory, a former biscuit factory turned event venue. As we gathered there we were offered some very tasty canapes, before being ushered upstairs for the meal. Here, I was once again called on the play – piping in first the top table and then G&E. Then I joined them at the top table.

We then proceeded to the speeches, of which there were four: E’s dad, followed by my dad spilling his drink all over my tablecloth, followed by G as I frantically tried to clean up the mess, followed by the chief bridesmaid, followed by one of the co-best men, R.

I don’t have much to say about the speeches. They were all great, striking different tones, but they were warm, and touching, and funny by turns. Good stuff. I did, of course, note when the microphone’s batteries ran out – internal rechargeable ones are the way to go there… #justsaying.

Then the meal. I had chicken followed by a chocolate brownie, along with copious quantities of wine. It was good.

And then back downstairs for the dance. This kicked off with the traditional first dance, at which I was tasked to partner one of the bridesmaids, and then the ceilidh. For the first ceilidh dance LC rushed off to change her shoes, only to find herself usurped as Funsize demanded a dance. Tee hee.

Funsize proceeded to spend the next several hours on the dancefloor generally having a whale of a time. Surprise!, meanwhile, quickly fell asleep, exhausted by events. I danced a few more dances, though only a few, then enjoyed a bacon roll.

And then the ceilidh ended and the disco began. At this point, children were barred from the dancefloor (apparently to avoid the risk of a crush), and Funsize really started to wind down. So we called an Uber and went back to the hotel. Surprise! woke up en route and was much less than happy, but we managed to get back, get them changed, and get them back to sleep.

Sunday saw us again partaking of a Premier Inn breakfast before driving home, cursing the car as it developed a nasty fault, and then hosting a family BBQ in the afternoon. All in all, a success, but not the focus of the weekend.

And with that, we completed the set – the last of five siblings to be married. Huzzah!

Enjoyably Stupid

A few weeks ago Netflix got “Fast X”, the tenth film in the increasingly daft “Fast & Furious” series. Then, last week, Netflix also got “Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning”, the seventh film in the increasingly daft “Mission: Impossible” series. In both cases, these were billed as the first part of the final part of the series. (As I said, increasingly daft.)

Being a sucker for a suitably daft action film, as well as having seen all the previous films in both their series, I proceeded to watch them. And they are, as might be expected, both enjoyably stupid.

In fairness, I must note that “Fast X” is not the stupidest film in the series. The previous film, “F9” featured a scene where our heroes decided to take a car into space (no, really), and that just can’t be topped for stupidity. Not that they didn’t try – between having an omniscient villain, another nuclear submarine (because one can never be enough), and the return of a character who very definitively died earlier in the series, there’s a lot here to mock.

But I was particularly amused by the scenes in Rome. It’s always more fun watching a place get blown to hell when it’s somewhere you’ve actually been, and so that was great fun. And with the characters playing automotive football with a giant bomb on the streets of Rome (no, really), what could be better?

Seriously, if you like these films, you’ll probably find this one a worthy entry. And if you don’t, the tenth instalment in the series is probably not the place to start.

Meanwhile, “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning” is likewise enjoyably daft. By this point there’s a very clear formula to the films, and this one follows it to the letter, with perhaps the fun wrinkle that Ethan goes rogue before he even properly starts his impossible mission. But there’s the usual fakeouts, hijinks, action scenes, and loads of intense looks at the camera. Oh, and of course lots of running. Good stuff.

I had two favourite scenes in this one. Top of the list, in terms of daftness, was when they found themselves once again on a runaway train – our villain set things up by killing the crew, opening the throttle fully, and then destroying the brakes.

On a steam train.

Now, I’m no expert on this, but I’m reasonably sure that the reason steam locomotives have a huge tender of coal, and someone whose job is to shovel that coal into the engine isn’t entirely decorative. That is, if you stop feeding the engine with the fuel that it needs to keep going it is quite likely to, well, stop going. So in short order that runaway train would… not be running away.

But I was particularly amused by the scenes in Rome. It’s always more fun watching a place get blown to hell when it’s somewhere you’ve actually been, and so that was great fun. And with Ethan finding himself handcuffed to another character, and forced to keep moving to ever-smaller cars, what’s not to like.

Seriously, it was highly amusing watching these two films in close proximity, partly because they mostly chased down exactly the same streets and destroyed all the same landmarks in most of the same ways, but also because the films were made at more or less the same time – the people of Rome must have really loved having their city shut down for weeks for one and then the other.

As with “Fast X”, “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning” is a case where if you enjoyed the previous films you’ll probably like this one. If not, the seventh film in the series is not the place to start. But I enjoyed it, and I look forward to the “final” part of the series.

Experimental Cookery 2025: Peanut Butter Burger with Bacon & Tomato Chilli Jam

I have officially upped my burger game.

When cooking burgers, the target is pretty clear: you want them cooked through, but not overdone - they want to remain suitably juicy for a good mouthfeel. But once you've cracked that, there's not all that much to be done with the burger itself - fundamentally, it's a bit of meat in a roll, and there's only so much to be done there.

This post's recipe comes from "The Handcrafted Burger", a book I've had for a couple of years and have wanted to use for a couple of years... but I've just never quite found the time to do anything with for a couple of years. This is, as it happens, both the first recipe I've taken from the book, and also the first recipe in the book.

Anyway, this one called for the preparation of two components: a peanut butter sauce (dead easy) and a tomato chilli jam (slightly more involved, but also easy). Then it was a case of cooking the appropriate meats on the BBQ, toasting the buns, and assembling: spread the peanut butter sauce on the buns, then layer the bun with the burger, the bacon, gherkins, the jam, and the top.

And the result was a great burger. Surprisingly, the peanut butter sauce didn't make any great difference - it was there, but it was a fairly minor component of the whole. The chilli jam was much more noticeable, and was very nice.

But, oddly, it was the brioche-style bun that made the most difference - suddenly this was something that I could almost see them serving up in a restaurant (except that restaurants tend to avoid nuts except where there's a specific need for them), and indeed could almost see paying £18 for such a burger.

So, yeah, all in all this was a crazy-good burger. A triumph, and we'll definitely be revisiting that book again in the near future.

As for having this burger again... we'll certainly be making use of the chilli jam again, both to use up the leftovers from yesterday, but also simply to use it again. And the other components will appear at various times and places. But the key component, the peanut butter sauce, may be something we use again only rarely, if at all - it's probably not going to become one of our go-to items, and while it's something interesting to lay out for others to try, the presence of nuts means that it's something we'll want to avoid in almost all cases where we might do that. Which is a shame.

#12: "Hera", by Jennifer Saint (probably the current "book of the year")

Experimental Cookery 2025: Prawn and Lemon Risotto

File this one under "it's fine, but..."

This is another risotto recipe from the Hairy Bikers, another one from their "One Pot Wonders" book. And it's perfectly fine - an easy cook that gives good, consistent results. And the meal was very nice. All in all, a winner.

But...

With the previous two risottos, we've ended up with significant leftovers which have been ideal for reheating for lunch the next day. With this one, we ended up with significant leftovers that weren't suitable for reheating, which was something of a waste.

So, we'd have this one again, but probably not for just the two of us - this is a meal where you need to cook the right amount for the number of people you have. Otherwise, though, it's good.

#10: "The Phoenix Project", by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford
#11: "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", by J.K. Rowling (a book for Funsize)