Competition Season Starts: Kinross Highland Games 2015

Yesterday was the start of our competition season. It was an event I'd been looking forward to a little, and dreading in equal measure - last year's season was really quite brutal, but the progress we've made over the winter has been good, so...

Anyway, Kinross is a good warm-up event. For many bands, the 'real' start of the season is Dunbar (next week), so this was almost a pre-season friendly, a chance to go and play when things were a bit less busy. Plus, it's a good location and not too early a start.

The weather has been miserable for much of this past week, but yesterday was definitely an exception. There were a couple of showers, but at all the important times it was hot and sunny. That definitely helps.

We were entered in two competitions: the Grade 4A contest and then "playing up" in the Grade 3 contest. The organisers this year had chosen to make the normal Grade 4 contest a strict Grade 4B one, which meant we weren't eligible. (This was probably a wise decision - if the grades are set correctly, the other approach means that a Grade 4B band shouldn't have much of a chance in their own contest, which doesn't seem right.)

So we went, we played, and it actually went well! This was of course rather disturbing, but there it was. Then we had a short break, then went and played again. And that went well too, although we didn't actually have a chance in that one.

Then there were a couple of hours of not much happening, during which I had a rather nice burger, I finished my book, and I finally got back to reading some (a little) of "Vanity Fair". And then it was time for the March Past.

We came fourth out of seven in Grade 4A - third in piping and fifth in drumming - which meant that we very narrowly missed out on one of the three prizes. And we came eighth out of nine (eighth and eighth) in Grade 3. But since we never had a chance in that one, we didn't really mind.

So, all in all a good day. Hopefully, the rest of the season will progress in much the same vein!

#21: "Firesoul", by Gary Kloster
#22: "D&D: Monster Manual", by Wizards of the Coast

Done and Done

As is my wont, I went and cast my vote just before leaving for work. Ever since moving to Falkirk, in either my previous flat or the current one, I've never been more than a street away from the polling place, so it has always been easy. So for me it's all over now until the results come in.

My plan for tonight is to get a fairly early night and then to get up a little early. There's no point in watching the election night coverage until the results start coming in in numbers, as until then the talking heads actually have very little to talk about. And while I have some interest in potential "Portillo moments", not enough to warrant staying up. There will no doubt be a compilation video on YouTube at some point. (And if I didn't stay up for Avengers, I'm certainly not going to for Mr D. Alexander...)

If things are indeed as close as the media and the polls think, even those last few seats may be key in seeing the shape of things. So, I'll get up for those, rather than staying up for the early ones.

My one big hope, as with the referendum, is that the process is completely fair and is seen to be completely fair. The second last thing we need is serious allegations of fraud... the last being actual fraud. But as long as it is indeed fair, I suspect we'll be able to muddle along somehow, whatever the result may be.

Do please vote today, regardless of which way you lean. The higher the turnout, the better the result reflects the actual will of the people, which can only be a good thing.

Experimental Cookery 2015 #17: Crispy Duck

This week's meal comes, once again, from "Chinese Food Made Easy", by Ching He-Huang. It was a meal that I was somewhat looking forward to, but also somewhat apprehensive about - Duck has proved to be one of the meats I just don't seem to be able to get right.

The meal seemed easy enough - the meat needed scored and then marinaded, then fried on one side and then baked for a few minutes while the sauce was made. What could go wrong?

Alas, it turned out the answer was, "plenty". Instead of being nicely browned, the skin turned out to be burned to a cinder by the time it went into the over. The sauce refused to thicken properly. And then when she tried it, LC's immediate reaction was, "are you sure this is cooked?"

Well, it was cooked. But that's about the best that can be said of it. Neither LC nor I really enjoyed the meal, and so once again duck turned out to be a crushing disappointment. A shame, really.

(I think I'm going to have to make sure to try duck next time I get a chance in a restaurant, to see how it comes out. That way, at least I know what I'm aiming for!)

This Week's Mug: I'm currently using a mug marked "Holland". I have in fact been to Holland, on a BB trip many years ago, but this mug was actually purchased in Schiphol airport on my way back from Germany (and yet I don't have a mug from Germany itself - didn't really think that through). Anyway, it's a rather nice mug, but deceptively small, which means my coffee inevitably has too much milk relative to the hot water. Which is certainly interesting.

Tell Me The Odds!

I wonder what odds you would get for a bet that neither Ed nor Dave will end up as Prime Minister as a result of this election?

Scenario: On Friday we have the result the polls have predicted: a hung parliament, Tories as the largest party (just), Labour second, SNP third, others much smaller. A Labour/SNP deal could form a minority government, but no other sensible arrangement will give anything stable.

At this point, Ed Miliband comes out and makes a statement: He concedes that the Tories are the largest party, he notes that only a deal with the SNP can stop them, but he's sworn not to make such a deal. Therefore, he's going to phone David Cameron to discuss with him how they can make a Tory minority government work, for the good of the country. It's a shame, but he sees no alternative.

At which point someone steps forward, apologises to Ed, but says that the country just can't survive another Tory government. Therefore, for a good of the country, Ed will have to go. And so Ed is removed, someone else becomes Labour leader, that person makes the deal with the SNP (since it wasn't them who ruled it out), and we go forward.

(I won't speculate on who that 'someone' might be. It really wouldn't be fair.)

If not, my money's still on a Tory minority government or even, just perhaps, a Tory/Lib Dem minority coalition (but that's unlikely - if they're already in a minority, why not go it alone?).

#20: "William Shakespeare's Star Wars: The Phantom of Menace", by Ian Doescher (better than the film, though that's not saying a lot...)

The End?

As I've mentioned a few times, we've had an issue with our roof, which sprung a leak on the 8th of August. Since then, I've been fighting against the council bureaucracy to try to get it fixed.

The major issue is that while almost everyone I've spoken to has tried to be helpful, I've never actually been speaking to the person who is actually responsible, but always through gatekeepers who have had to pass on messages. That, and the fact that I've seldom spoken to the same person twice has made it an exercise in frustration. (Ideally, in a case like this you'd be given a single point of contact who would follow the issue through from start to finish. That way, they would know the state of play, and you wouldn't need to recap the whole damn story every time you called!)

Anyway, over the past few days I've been speaking to someone new, and usefully the same "someone new" each time. A period that has been marked with two changes: not only did she actually call back when she said she'd call back, and indeed make sure that was done (which, sadly, has not been the norm), but she also seemed to take responsibility for pushing this issue forward. (And, indeed, in our penultimate call she listened to the concern I raised that perhaps what I was being told wasn't entirely correct, and agreed to recheck it with next guy along the chain.)

The net result of all of this is that as of today, the 30th of April, a mere eight months and twenty-two days after the roof sprang a leak, I am assured that the work to replace it has indeed been completed. Including, in particular, not just the work above our neighbour's appartment, but also over our own.

Huzzah!

Although when I said to LC that this was the case, she did say she was going to remain pessimistic. That may well be wise. (Then again, it only ever came through when the rain was really bad, the sheeting is still up there to prevent it happening again anyway, and they say they've fixed it properly. So, how many sets of belt'n'braces do you really need?)

All in all, I think I'll count that as a win.

Avengers: Age of Ultron (no spoilers, surprisingly!)

LC and I went to see the new Avengers film on Saturday, and it's great. In my opinion, it's better than both Thor 2 and Captain America 2, but not quite as good as the first Avengers film. In particular, it's much darker and more serious in tone and much less amusing. That's a deliberate choice, and one it carries off well, but it does mean I find the former film more enjoyable.

One thing I did find very interesting about the film, and actually one of the film's strengths, is that despite this being a big action film there's a surprising amount of character development stuff in there. And, actually, it seemed to be those characters who don't have their own films (yet) who get the most spotlight time here - Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Bruce Banner.

Overall, I was extremely satisifed with the film. I doubt I'll go see it again in the cinema, but I will be picking up the blu-ray when it comes out. Also, now I really want to see a Hulk/Black Widow film (either one, the other, or both together, with that last being my preference). Which is somewhat surprising - I really didn't expect to want another Hulk film after the failures of the first two.

Experimental Cookery 2015 #16: Crispy Chicken

I'm still, just barely, one entry behind on the "Experimental Cookery" series - yesterday was the last day in the 17th full week of 2015. Anyway, this week's entry comes from "Chinese Food Made Easy", by Ching He-Huang.

This was a nice, easy meal to cook, and actually not as time-consuming as I'd thought. However, it's also fair to say that it's not even remotely healthy. Basically, the chicken was marinaded overnight, then battered in cornflour, and then deep fried. Yeah, it was lovely. Yeah, it wasn't one to have very often!

Would I have this again? Well, maybe. I think in future I'd go for chicken breast instead of thigh, I'd probably cook it for less time, and I think I'd use our deep fryer rather than the wok (as this gives better control of the temperature). But since using the fryer means the cleaning process is vastly more annoying, that further limits my willingness to bother.

Still, I'm calling it a success, even if it was a one-off.

This Week's Mug: I'm using the TARDIS mug that I used most of last year. This is a white mug with a wraparound design - one side shows the TARDIS doors while the other spells out the acronym. LC and I received two of these mugs for Christmas in 2013 from LC's parents. I picked this mug for this week because I've started to lose track of which ones I've now used and which I haven't, but I knew this wasn't one of the ones I've used this year. Next week, things should get back to normal. Or 'normal', I guess.

#19: "Pathfinder: The Hill Giant's Pledge", by Larry Wilhelm

Torture

The new Avengers movie comes out tomorrow. The cinema near us has a showing at five past midnight tonight, and I really want to see it. Especially since my next earliest opportunity isn't until Saturday, which might as well be an eternity.

On the other hand, not getting to bed until 3am and then getting up for work at 6:45 would probably kill me. Some might say that's a small price to pay.

Gah!

Against England's Wishes

A quick thing about the election: there are 650 MPs elected in the UK. Of these, 533 are elected by England, 18 by Northern Ireland, 59 by Scotland, and 40 by Wales. What that means is that in a General Election, it is generally England that decides what government we have: in fact, if the people of England give 325 seats to a single party, that party will have a majority regardless of the vote in NI, S, or W.

In the upcoming election, it looks very much like the people of England won't do this - that the seats in England will be divided such that neither big party (nor indeed a combination of either Tories or Labour plus the Lib Dems) will get to that 'magic' number. Indeed, it looks like the Tories will get slightly more than Labour, but will be short of the needed 325. At which point, so the theory goes, the 50 SNP MPs that Scotland might elect (emphasis on the 'might') could then push the Labour 'block' over the line.

This is, of course, being widely reported in the media as being a matter of Scotland's votes imposing a Labour government "against the wishes of the English electorate".

This is abject nonsense, of course, for two reasons. Firstly, it's worth noting that if those 50 MPs were instead from the Labour party, the issue would magically not exist - somehow, it's acceptable for Scotland to affect the result if we happen to vote for one of the approved options, but not if we instead choose 'wrong'.

But, secondly, the entire premise is flawed. As I noted above, the English electorate have the power to determine the government for the UK as a whole by themselves, by voting for 325 members from a single party. If they don't do so, or, more specifically, if they don't give the Tories those 325 members, then it is not "against their wishes" to see the Tories defeated - after all, they've just shown that they didn't wish to give them enough votes to win!

And all of that is simply a feature of living in the Union - five years ago, Scotland (and Wales) voted strongly for a Labour government and got a Tory-led one instead because of English votes; this time, it looks like England will be split pretty evenly and so Scotland will cast the deciding vote. Both times, that's the way the system works.

Unless, of course, we want the system to be changed. But we had a chance to do that in September, and that same media that is now up in arms then fought tooth-and-nail to keep things as-is.

(For the rest of it: yeah, I'm still pretty bored by this election. My vote was determined ages ago, so there's little interest there; the media coverage of it remains incredibly awful, as the UK media seem to have no ability to understand what's going on in Scotland; and it's really hard to see how things will fall out, and limited value in speculation. I still find it hard to believe that the SNP might really win 50+ seats, despite the polls suggesting that, and yet with the Lib Dem vote collapsing, with Scottish Labour being a disaster area, and with "the 45" still being a thing, it might yet happen. Or not. Guess we'll see in 17 days.)

How To Get Things Done

Last week (actually, Tuesday), I started with a list of some 18 things that I wanted to get done. I then proceeded to gradually complete these things, and thus to cross them off the list, until yesterday I crossed off the last two. Which was rather efficient, really. (It's worth noting that four of those 'things' were episodes of "24: Live Another Day" that I wanted to watch, so they weren't exactly ordeals!)

Given that I follow a distinct pattern in allocating my time, I figured it would be worth laying out just how I go about getting things done. It's worth noting, of course, that this is what works for me, and may well not work for anyone else.

Step One: Compose the List

I started the week by assembling the list of things I wanted to get done:

• The aforementioned 4 episodes of "24: Live Another Day"
• 2 books to finish off
• 5 rooms to dust and hoover
• 4 bits of cooking (2 freezer meals to restock and 2 experimental cookeries)
• Season my bagpipes ready for competition
• Re-hang the living room door
• One other thing that I've now forgotten

There are three important considerations here:

Firstly, although it may seem odd to include 'reading' and 'watching 24' on the list given that these are leisure activities and therefore enjoyable, the reality is that by setting the list I'm blocking off time, and if I don't block off time for something it therefore means it won't get done. I wanted to get those done, so I made sure to include them.

Next up, it's important to keep the list fairly varied. If it's a never-ending stream of awful things, or even worse the same awful things, it will quickly fall by the wayside.

Finally, it's important to be realistic about how much can be achieved in the available time, and also how much effort you're actually willing to put into in a block. If you schedule too much in too little time, you'll just get overwhelmed and not achieve anything. And if you have a week and are willing to invest 20 minutes a day in studying, there's no point in blocking off 3 hours of study-time - you'll just waste much of it in goofing around. (This was important with the 'reading' entries actually, since most of the reading in one of the books was pretty tedious, such that I could only face 20 pages per day. Since I had 110 pages in that book to read, it was doable, but only just.)

Step Two: Divide Up the Tasks

Having established a list of 18 items for 6 days, I then divided up the tasks so that I was set to complete 3 a day.

Again, there are some rules to apply:

If there's a big task that must be completed in stages (such as fixing the door or reading those books), it is the completion that should be scheduled. Be sure to set that far enough away that all the sub-steps can be done in the interim!

The tasks for each day need to themselves be varied. It would have been really easy to watch three episodes of "24" on the first day, tick that off the list, and just mess around for the rest of that day, but it would have made the other days that much harder. Better to allocate these to one a day.

Perhaps most difficult of all, though: assign the "big rocks" first. This can either mean allocating the most difficult or time-consuming tasks to their days before anything else, or it could mean allocating those things that must be done before anything else. (That doesn't mean that they need to be done before anything else, just that they need to be placed before anything else.)

Step Three: Assign Sub-tasks

Three of my entries had distinct sub-tasks that needed to be done before the task as a whole could be completed. Specifically, one of the books was divided into 20-page segments for reading, the other was divided into 106-page segments; and the door hanging task required first that the door be removed, then the wood around the hinge repaired and holes re-drilled, and then the door needed to be put back.

(You could argue that "clean 5 rooms" is a single task with 5 sub-tasks, rather than 5 individual tasks. It doesn't actually matter all that much.)

Once any big tasks are sub-divided, the sub-tasks should also be allocated to the days as required. Obviously, sub-tasks need to be completed before the overall tasks can be considered 'done', and there may of course be some constraints on when things can be tackled.

Step Four: Actually Do It

Once the plan is assembled (or even when it's partially assembled), the key step is to actually carry it through. What I did here was to ensure that I did all the required sub-tasks on the days allocated, and then ensured that I completed at least the three tasks allocated for that day. As it happened, on both Thursday and Friday I completed four tasks, thus significantly freeing up time for the weekend.

If You Fall Behind

There are two important things to do if and when you should fall behind on the schedule you've set yourself:

Firstly, don't beat yourself up about it. There's no value in that. Besides, falling behind probably means that you were either over-ambitious in setting a schedule or you hit on something that was more important or more enjoyable. Either way, it happens - the key is to adapt accordingly.

That said, as soon as you fall behind, it's important to accept that you're unlikely to catch up again. After all, there's a reason you're behind, and that reason probably hasn't changed.

So, at this point you should immediately drop some things from the goal list. In particular, anything that doesn't have to be done should be dropped in favour of those tasks, and especially sub-tasks, that must be done. (Of course, if any tasks have now become outright impossible then those should be easy sacrifices. If you have one day and need to wait two days before applying a second coat of paint, then you can't apply that second coat in time.)

So, What the Week Looked Like

By way of an example, here's how I split up the eighteen tasks for last week. The asterisks indicate the completion of one of the tasks rather than a sub-task.

• Tuesday: "24" episode 1*, Cook lamb rogan josh*, the "forgotten" task*, Read 106 pages of book 1, Read 20 pages of book 2, Remove living room door
• Wednesday: "24" episode 2*, Cook bolognese sauce*, Season bagpipes*, Dust first room*, Read 106 pages of book 1, Read 20 pages of book 2
• Thursday: "24" episode 3*, Cook duck with pancakes*, Dust second* and third* rooms, Read 106 pages of book 1, Read 20 pages of book 2
• Friday: "24" episode 4*, Re-hang living room door*, Dust fourth* and fifth* rooms, Read 106 pages of book 1, Read 20 pages of book 2
• Saturday:Cook mojito genoese*, Read 106 pages of book 1, Read 20 pages of book 2
• Sunday: Finish books 1* and 2*

So, a rather long and tedious post, but hopefully it might prove useful!

This Week's Mug: This week's mug is a simply white one, marked with a quote from Shakespeare: "Better a witty fool than a foolish wit" (Twelth Night). It's a rather nice mug that LC got for me on one of her trips Down South. I like it!

#17: "D&D: Player's Handbook", by Wizards of the Coast
#18: "Magician's End", by Raymond E. Feist

Experimental Cookery 2015 #15: Mojito Genoise

It's Lady Chocolat's birthday tomorrow, and as a consequence I have baked her a cake!

The recipe for this one comes from Lorraine Pascale's "Baking Made Easy". It turns out, in the case of this cake anyway, the name is a bit of a lie!

The cake started well enough - I made up the Mojito syrup quickly and easily, and then started on the cake sponge. This required lots of whisking, first over a pan of hot water and then not, and went fine.

Then I had to fold in the melted butter and flour, and this was where it all went wrong. The problem I had was that the egg mixture filled my mixing bowl to the very brim, so folding anything in was very difficult - the whole thing went over the sides. Still, I did my best... sadly, this turned out not to be terribly good.

The cake then went into the tin, and at this point I discovered the poor mixing. I did my best to recombine it, but that knocked some air out of the mix, which wasn't ideal. Still, into the oven...

When it came out, I strongly considered binning it. It really didn't look good, and the thought of spending another hour on it was not appealing. It was a dark time.

But it turned out that although it didn't look too appealing, it actually did taste rather nice. So I did a bit of a trim, cooled it off, and decorated it. It wouldn't get anywhere on the Bake-off (other than a laugh or two), but it's a cake. And it's the thought that counts, right?

Anyway, here's the cake:

We'll try it tomorrow, but I'm hopeful that it tastes better than it looks. At least, I hope it does!

And, no, I'm not planning on doing this one again!

Experimental Cookery 2015 #14: Shredded Duck Wraps with Hoisin Sauce and Chinese Pancakes

Today's entry is a two-for-one: the Shredded Duck comes from "The Hairy Dieters: Eat For Life", while the Chinese Pancakes came from this recipe (largely because I wasn't able to buy the pancakes and so had to make them). Lady Chocolat didn't let me count those as a separate "Experimental Cookery", so I'm still one behind.

The process for the shredded duck could have been easier, but not by much. It was mostly just a matter of poaching the duck for a full hour in a broth made with soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and a new ingredient - star anise! Obviously, the use of the new ingredient was very exciting, especially since I've had it sitting in the cupboard forever, just waiting for this day.

Beyond that, it was a matter of slicing some spring onions and some cucumber, and spooning some hoisin sauce into a serving bowl. Nothing to it, really.

The pancakes were a little more fiddly, especially as they kept sticking to the board when I tried to roll them out. Plus, we don't have a proper steamer, so I had to make do with a collander and a tea-towel. Which was mostly fine.

The end result was very good - much like the store-bought kits we've had in the past, but rather better by virtue of being home cooked rather than reheated (the latter draining moisture from it). So, a success.

In future, though, I think I'm going to try (again) to source some Asian pancakes from somewhere, as making these was a bit more hassle than it was really worth.

This Week's Mug: Still on holiday, so once again no mug anecdote. Normal service will resume on Monday.

#16: "A Prayer for Owen Meany", by John Irving (a book from The List)

Update on Goals

Today is the 100th day of the year, and so time for another almost-accurate update on goals. I say "almost accurate" because I'm actually writing this in advance to be posted on the 10th as Friday is a busy day for me and so I won't have opportunity to do it live. And so there may be a few small inaccuracies.

Anyway, the update:

• Weight: Surprisingly minimal progress here in the last 50 days, which is disapponting, not least since I've again made it to the gym on every Friday bar two (now three) since the last update: the Friday when we were travelling down to the wedding was missed, I went last Thursday instead of last Friday, and I'll be missing this week.
• Books: Apparently, I should be 16.5 books into my target by this point in the year. I have, in fact, completed 15 books, and am halfway through two others. So, I'm a little behind but not much. I expect to get caught up on "The List" sometime this month, but at the same time I'll probably fall behind in both the Pathfinder and Pathfinder Tales sub-goals. The reason for this is simple, and not really my fault: the shipment for March was delayed due to a shutdown in the ports in the US, which means the books for this month will probably not arrive until May.
• Games: I'm still right on target here: three sessions done, with the next scheduled for later this month.
• Work: This has been good for the last couple of months, with me more or less finishing one piece of work, doing some work on another, and getting a good annual review. All in all, so far so good.
• Band: Our plans for the year are firming up, and it now looks like we will be competing, though not terribly often. So this one is still on track.
• Super Secret Goal #4: Some more work done, but yet more hassle on getting the roof fixed. You'd think it would be easy enough, but apparently not.

I remain reasonably happy with the progress on most fronts. Clearly, there's a need to do some more towards the weight goal, and I'll be looking to get caught up on books in the next little while. But otherwise, it's looking good, and it remains possible that I might manage a clean sweep, which is nice.

The Nominated Nine

So a couple of weeks ago I learned that, apparently, most people, and even most people who cook and who like to cook, have a repertoire of nine meals that they then do on rotation. (I think that's actually seven 'mains' plus a further two 'lunches' for the weekend.) Which came as something of a shock, actually - while I'm aware of the notion of Sunday being roast beef, Monday roast chicken, Tuesday pizza or salad, and so on, I hadn't grasped that it was the usual state of affairs.

Anyway, as a result of this, I found myself wondering: if I had to choose nine meals, and only nine meals, to be the only foods for the rest of time, what would those nine be? It's certainly a toughie!

(Technically, I suppose you can have other foods when eating out/getting takeaway. Equally, technically, it should probably be the seven/two split I mentioned above. But I'm ignoring that!)

Anyway, in no particular order, here's my nine. For this afternoon, at least!

Lasagne

Okay, I said "in no particular order", but the truth is that this is #1 on the list. This was actually one of the first things I learned to cook, and is actually also one of the few things I couldn't put together while living in Yeovil, which merely added to the allure.

My original recipe was based around Dolmio's red and white lasagne sauces, and added onion, tomato and mushroom to the filling. I rather enjoyed it, but due to Lady Chocolat's anti-mushroom agenda it was first modified and then abandoned. I've since tried Jamie's version from his "Ministry of Food", which was good but wasn't better enough to justify the effort. My current version is Lorraine Pascale's from her "Home Cooking Made Easy". And, coincidentally, that's tonight's dinner.

Pizza

To be honest, I could probably eat pizza every day, as it's almost a genre to itself rather than just a single meal. However, the version I cook has the dough courtesy of Paul Hollywood's "Bread", the sauce from the "Great British Bake-off Winter Collection", and a topping of pepperoni (the knig of pizza toppings), onion, green pepper, goat's cheese, and mozzerella. Which is probably slightly excessive, but I like it.

Chorizo Carbonara

Scots are, of course, well known for our fusion food (chips and curry sauce being one of the earliest examples of the field), and so this combination of an Italian pasta dish with a Spanish spicy sausage is perfect for us.

Or something. It actually comes from "River Cottage Every Day", and has the two great advantages of being both dead quick and easy, and also very tasty. Which is a good combination to have!

Lamb Rogan Josh

Moving away from Italy entirely, we have my favourite curry. At present, I'm still using the curry paste from Pataks, though this may change at some point. Anyway, it's an easy meal to make, if not a quick one, and doesn't seem ever to go wrong, though it would, of course, depend on the quality of the meat.

One of the advantages of being on holiday is that I get to restock the freezer, and yesterday I started by cooking this for dinner. Yum!

Roast Chicken

No list of favourites would be complete without a roast, and if I've only got room for one then this is the one I choose. I typically roast the chicken with thyme and a lemon inserted into the cavity, and serve it with roast potatoes and roast carrots (though sometimes I do the carrots with orange juice, baked in a bag). It always makes those Sundays when I make it feel that bit better, though I then feel sorry for the rest of the days which don't get to have food of the same calibre.

Beef Burgers

Likewise, I couldn't not have a burger on the list, and while I've had some very nice lamb burgers and even some venison burgers, my favourite is the classic beef burger. I make these with ground Jacob's Cream Crackers (odd, I know, but it works), onion, parsley, garlic, and Worcestershire Sauce, bound together with egg. That said, I think I'm about to experiment with these, probably dropping the egg and crackers and trying a more classic "all beef" burger - apparently, burger technology has advanced in the past few years, and so one must keep up with the times!

Steak and Chips

Another classic, I usually do a sirloin (though ribeyes are also nice) seasoned with salt, pepper, and paprika, cooked to a medium level, and then serve with red pepper, red chilli, and creme fraiche. Oh, and a slice of lemon for squeezing - Jamie does like his lemon!

The chips are done in my deep fryer, cooked skins-on, and parboiled first. After a dozen attempts, I'm finally more or less happy I've cracked it!

Chicken Fajitas

Another quick and easy meal, but one that never fails to satisfy, the recipe for these was originally from Lorraine Pascale's "Fast, Fresh, and Easy Food", but has gradually migrated. I actually still use her condiments unchanged: soured cream with chives, cherry tomato salsa, and guacamole. But the spice mix varies each time, based on what I think of adding at the time.

And Finally... Chilli Con Carne

Shockingly, this almost didn't make it into the list: my first draft of this post had a different last entry. It wasn't until I realised I didn't have anything from the Hairy Bikers that I remembered that this should definitely be here. (I guess that's the problem with a list of just nine entries: there's always that horrible risk of forgetting something vital - you lose the path not taken.)

The recipe I use for this these days comes from the "Hairy Dieters: How to Love Food and Lose Weight", though I replace the kidney beans with cannellini beans. This means that, in addition to being the best recipe I've found for chilli, it's also the healthiest. Another win-win!

And that's the list.

Well, for this afternoon, at least. Though it does mean missing out on prawns with spaghetti, on chicken fried rice, on meatballs, meatloaf, on Christmas dinner, haggis, all the wonders of Belgian cuisine...

No, it's too painful. I'll need to start over.

Anyway, that's my list. Anyone care to offer yours?

Since TARDIS Tuesday is apparently a thing...

Here's my contribution:

This is, indeed, one of the TARDIS socks I was lamenting just last week - it seems that the Sock Conspiracy has relented and returned their hostages. Huzzah!

Anyway, I hope you like it.

Experimental Coolery 2015 #13 (ish): Chocolate Velvet Ice Cream

On Sunday, I had a marvellous idea. And so I said, "I've had a marvellous idea!" This prompted a great deal of excitement, which was in no way diminished when I explained my idea: to make ice cream. Indeed, there was then some discussion of which type of ice cream I should make. My eldest neice asked if I was going to make mint ice cream. Alas, while I did not know exactly what type of ice cream I was going to make, I knew it would not be mint, despite this being LC's favourite.

When I got home that night, I looked out the recipes that came with the ice cream maker, only to discover I've already done the three good ones (the remaining ones are low-calorie (please), frozen yoghurt (yeah, right), and lemon sorbet (which is fine, but isn't really ice cream)).

Still, undaunted I checked the internet and discovered that it does indeed have one or two recipes there, including some for ice cream. Huzzah! And so, this week's experimental cookery, or rather coolery, comes from here.

It was very simple to make, as is generally the case with ice cream - mix some ingredients, then churn in the ice cream maker for longer than you really think is needed, then transfer to a likely tub, and place in the freezer to set. Which it is doing now.

But I did take a sneaky preview of the ice cream before it went in, and it's excellent. So, huzzah!

(And, as an added bonus, this recipe has left me with some unused egg whites, so for my next trick I'll be doing meringues. It's a sacrifice, but one I suppose will have to be made.)

This Week's Mug: I'm on holiday this week (and indeed next week), so there is no mug anecdote. Sorry - I know you're alway eager for the weekly tales of high adventure!

#15: "The Pagan Lord", by Bernard Cornwell (the new candidate for book of the year)

Experimental Cookery 2015 #12: Glam Mac & Cheese

As you may have noticed, I'm once again behind on the Experimental Cookeries for 2015. Oh well - hopefully I'll find time to catch up sometime over the Easter break.

This one comes from Lorraine Pascale's first book, "Baking Made Easy". It was a nice easy meal that took about an hour from start to finish, largely due to my unfamiliarity with the method. But there wasn't anything difficult about it at any stage - just time.

The result was very impressive, actually - between the addition of pancetta and spring onions to the macaroni, and also the breadcrumbs on the top, it was extremely tasty and satisfying. It was therefore the best mac & cheese I've ever had (sorry LC, but it's true!).

All in all, a triumph!

Cinderella

LC and I went to see this on Friday.

It's a good enough film, I suppose, though it's very much a "girl's film", so not surprising that I wasn't the biggest fan. Though I was amused that the royal palace in the film was also the palace on Naboo - I guess "a long time ago..." does indeed mean "once upon a time..." Anyway, if you take the previous animated version, remove the songs, and instead film the thing in live-action, this film is pretty much what you get. Which is, as I said, good enough - though the cartoon version did at least have the benefit of cutting egde (for the time) animation to marvel at.

That said, I'm not entirely happy with a film where the protagonist basically does nothing to help her circumstances, but rather endures all the awfulness that people foist on her, until such time as first a fairy godmother appears to whisk her off to the ball and then a handsome prince arrives to rescue her. Never mind arguments about blue dresses and unattainable waistlines (that, apparently, the lead actress did actually attain, but I digress)... what kind of a message is that for a film to send?

Still, the "Frozen Fever" short was amusing.

The Latest Atrocity

As you know, my life is a constant battle against the forces of evil. My main enemy is the Sock Conspiracy. And the Greeting Card Industry. Okay, my two main enemies are the Sock Conspiracy and the Greeting Card Industry. And pasnips. Three! My three main enemies are the Sock Conspiracy, the Greeting Card Industry, and parsnips. And spider-thieves.

Plus, there's the ever-present threat of falling into a Monty Python sketch, and nobody wants that, especially unexpectedly...

Anyway, this morning the Sock Conspiracy struck again!

For Christmas, I received seven pairs of Doctor Who socks. Naturally, these were not all identical socks, but instead had a variety of designs - some featured the Doctor Who logo, some K-9, some the Fourth Doctor, and so on. This means that most days this year I have been wearing some sort of Doctor Who socks. And this morning was no different.

So, I took today's pair from the sock drawer and placed the first sock on my right foot, as is my wont. (I've experimented with wearing socks on my elbows, but it didn't end well. In the end, I concluded the feet were probably best.)

I then reached for the second sock, intent on putting it on my left foot, only to discover, to my horror, that it didn't match - although my right foot bore the be-scarfed visage of Tom Baker, the second sock was clearly marked with the TARDIS!

The horror of this revelation is hard to put into words. So shocked was I that I was forced to return to the sock drawer in a futile bid to find the other mis-paired socks. But, alas, they are gone.

And that's the story of how I came to be wearing Davros socks this morning.

A Worrying Few Minutes

It's fair to say I had some concerns about the match against Gibraltar that took place yesterday. It should always have been an easy win, but... Scotland have such a nasty habit of doing poorly against the supposed smaller teams. And with all the commentators casually wondering not about whether we would win but rather by how much, there was a little peice of me that was just desperately hoping we wouldn't come unstuck.

And then Gibraltar went and scored their first ever competitive goal, a scant minute after we had ourselves scored. It was a horrible time.

In the event, we then proceeded to score a further five goals without reply, thus recording a final score of 6-1, so I needn't have worried. But, still, the thought of another disaster was strong for some time.

We're now halfway through the qualification sequence, and also halfway through the "six wins" I figured we'd probably need to qualify - indeed, we're actually one point ahead of where I thought we'd need to be.

Still, it's a horribly tight group, especially with Germany dropping some points. So there's a lot still to be done. But, for the moment, so far so good.

Musings on the Cross of St George

One of the things I noticed when we were down South at cousin Rob's wedding was the English flag flying. Now, this may not be entirely surprising, especially to readers in America (if there are any!) - the English flag flying in England? Who would have thought!

But, actually, my experience has been that it's actually not all that common - it's not terribly common to see any flags flying in most of England, and when you do see one it tends to be the Union Flag. In my experience, the Cross of St George seldom makes much of an appearance.

Of course, there's a very easy explanation for the likely cause: it was the last weekend of the Six Nations tournament, and England were in with a good chance of winning. So, not terribly surprising that the pubs would be flying the flag.

Anyway, I was a little surprised to see the flag so prominently. But my reaction to it: good.

The unfortunate thing is, the English flag seems to have been appropriated by some rather unpleasant sorts: the BNP, the EDL, and the like. To the extent, in fact, that the Labour party managed to get themselves in a mess recently by tweeting about "white van man" in Rochester.

And there does often seem to be a reluctance amongst many English folk to engage in any public display of patriotism. Perhaps it is that association with the less-savoury sorts. Or perhaps Oscar Wilde's, "patriotism is the virtue of the vicious", or Samuel Johnson's "patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel" have sunk in. Or perhaps it's just my impression as an outsider, which is of course limited. But where most Scots are quite comfortable with the Saltire, and the USA is positively festooned with the Stars and Stripes, it does seem that poor St George gets an airing only on sporting occasions.

But, during the Independence debate, Alistair Darling rightly pointed out that the Saltire didn't belong just to the "Yes" camp but to all Scots. And, similarly, the English flag doesn't belong to the BNP and the EDL, and those who would use it for their agendas. It belongs to all Englishmen (and women, of course).

So, frankly, the more reasonable, patriotic English folk fly the flag, the better. Don't let them have it.

(Or do. It's not really my business, either way.)

This Week's Mug: This week, I am using another of the mugs I picked up in France, this time bearing the pictures of those valiant Gauls, Asterix and Obelix. Oh, and their pet Dogmatix. It's a yellow-ish mug that also bears an image of a pyramid and some heiroglyphics, that probably spell out something hugely witty, like "I can't believe you Googled the meaning of this", or something. I picked up this mug while on a trip to the Asterix Park which is... okay, I guess. My strong advice with this park is to make sure you visit it before going to Disneyland - it's good enough in itself, but it pales somewhat by comparison, so if you do this one second it will seem a let-down. Anyway, a nice fun mug for the last week before my holiday.

#14: "Gone With the Wind", by Margaret Mitchell (a Book from The List, and the first candidate for book of the year for 2015)

Breakthrough!

It has been a tough week. I was going to do a write-up of the wedding from last week and also some other stuff, but never quite found time, largely because I've spent the week battering my head against a rather knotty problem. Fortunately, I have had a breakthrough which means that I should be able to have a rather more relaxed weekend than I was expecting. Huzzah!

Hopefully, normal service on the blog will resume next week.

This Week's Mug: The mug for this week has been a "Boys' Brigade" mug. This is actually the replacement for a mug I received as a gift for helping run a BB camp in France, way back in 1998, which was itself a replacement for a BB mug I had had for many years previously. The mug is cream-coloured, banded with "The Boys' Brigade" written in blue and red.

Public Transport and the Daily Commute

For the past week, LC's car has been off the road, and as a consequence I've had to make other arrangements for getting to work. This has involved borrowing a car for a few days, getting a lift one day, and finally getting the train and bus to work today.

To give a picture of how this works out: we live 0.7 miles from a train station, and I work 2.1 miles from another on the same line. So you'd think it should be easy enough, right - a quick walk, a train, a shuttle bus, done.

Alas, it's not quite so simple, because that shuttle bus doesn't exist. Instead, there are two options: I can walk the 2.1 miles at the far end, or I can continue along one more stop and then get the bus back. Either way the time works out about the same - it's about 85 minutes for the journey end-to-end. (The bus is therefore preferable. Rather than walking, and having to cross some extremely busy roads, better just to let someone else take the strain and spend the time reading!)

There are two other factors to consider, however. The first of these is cost: today's journey cost me £12 for a return train ticket, plus £1.50 for the bus ticket one-way. That gives a total cost for the day at £15 (if I were to get the bus back, but I'm hoping someone will be kind enough to run me down to the station instead - something I can ask once but couldn't rely on every day). And that therefore puts the cost at £75 for the week, which is more than 1.5 times what I spend on petrol for the car. (That cost could, of course, be reduced somewhat by season tickets and the like, but I doubt it would ever get close to equal.)

And the second issue is of timing. The bus that I need is pretty regular and also appears to be pretty reliable, but the trains are only once per hour at 'off' times and once every half-hour at peak times. That meant that in order to get here before 8:30, I had to get the 6:55 train, and so had to get up at 5:45, which is an absurd hour. On the flip side, leaving work at 16:36 (which is what the inbound journey allows), the first train I can catch is the 17:38, which gets me home about 18:20. That was the time I got home last night, and while I did manage to get to band, it was only after a fairly stressful 45 minutes, and I was a few minutes late.

Sadly, it all just doesn't quite work. The journey is doable, and it's bearable for a few days, but it's not something that could be considered as a permanent arrangement. A shame.

Experimental Cookery 2015 #11: Kung Po Prawns

LC and I appear to have exhausted "Jamie's Italy" - unless we happen to get access to either calamari or lots of game (for a hunter's lasagne) I doubt we'll be doing anything more from that one. So, this week's Experimental Cookery came from Ching-He Huang's "Chinese Food Made Easy".

As with everything I've done from that book, this one required some prep ahead of time and then was very quick and easy to make. And it was very nice, too, although it didn't exactly go according to plan - the "crispy coating" on the prawns turned out to be a desultory covering, and mostly ended up stuck in the wok, and that meant that the sauce over thickened.

It was still a nice meal, just not quite what was intended. I therefore definitely plan to have this again, but am determined to do better next time!

This Week's Mug: This week's mug is a blue "Riviera Maya" mug with a scene showing tropical fish. I got this while on honeymoon in Mexico, and I don't think I've ever actually used it since. Anyway, it's lovely.

#13: "The Secret History", by Donna Tartt (the first book from The List of 2015)

Ook!

When LC sent me the news, I was just stunned. First Leonard Nimoy; now Terry Pratchett. It has been a bad few weeks. And, yes, one was rather old and the other visibly ailing, but still...

It's hard to think of an author who has had a greater impact on me. Certainly, I've read more of Terry Pratchett's books than any other author, largely due to the sheer volume - only Bernard Cornwell even comes close. And I don't think there's a bad one amongst the bunch - even the very early sci-fi books are merely unpolished. So the thought that, probably some time next year, I'll be picking up and reading the last Discworld novel is... difficult.

This is probably the most stunned I've been by any famous death since Gary Gygax, and for much the same reason. A legend has passed.

Rest in peace, Sir Terry. And thankyou.

Too Big an Ask?

So, four months after I said it should happen, Stuart McCall has been given the job of Rangers manager. Good. Unfortunately, he's been given it until the end of the season, and the feeling seems to be that if he wins them promotion then the job is his, but if not they'll find someone else.

Personally, I think they should give him until at least the end of next season. With ten games to go, it's too late for Rangers to have any realistic chance of winning the Championship (barring a complete meltdown at Hearts, and there's no evidence of that happening). Which means they'll have to win through the playoffs, which in turn means playing Hibs home and away (and then, quite possibly, Motherwell home and away). I still don't think Rangers have it in them.

And yet... I do think McCall is the right man for the job, or at least is as good a candidate as any. So give him time, give him the resources he needs, and let him do the job.

(Incidentally, I'm still hopeful that Falkirk might yet get into the playoffs, almost certainly in fourth place. That's also going to be tough, as Queen of the South are doing very well too. My suspicion is that that one will be largely decided when the two teams have their remaining match this year - if Falkirk win then they'll get through; if QoS win or it's a draw then QoS will get that fourth place.)

Experimental Cookery 2015 #10: Linguine alla Carbonara di Salsiccia

Another meal from "Jamie's Italy", this was one I was looking forward to and yet somewhat hesitant about - Hugh's Chorizo Carbonara is one of our favourites, so how would this match up?

This dish was nice and easy to make. It's slightly more involved than the other version, in that I had to spend a little time making sausage meatballs, grating cheese, and chopping parsley, but once the cooking started it was much the same - cook the pasta while frying the meat, whisk together the ingredients for the sauce, and then toss everything together in the right order.

This was a very nice meal... but we prefer the chorizo version - mostly because we prefer the chorizo to the sausage meatballs. Which is absolutely fine, but it does mean I'm highly unlikely to make this again. After all, why bother putting in the extra work for a result that's just not quite as good?

So, a satisfying meal, and yet a failure all the same. Sorry Jamie.

Shaken to the Core

I've been reading "Gone With the Wind", which turns out to be much more enjoyable than I'd expected. However, for the past few chapters I've been suffering a disturbing feeling of familiarity - there was something about Rhett Butler that I was sure I'd seen before, but just couldn't quite put my finger on.

Last night I came to Chapter 19, and the following exchange:

Rhett: “Scarlett, you do like me, don’t you?”
Scarlett: “Well, sometimes. When you aren’t acting like a varmint.”
Rhett: “I think you like me because I am a varmint. You’ve known so few dyed-inthe-wool varmints in your sheltered life that my very difference holds a quaint charm for you.”
Scarlett: “That’s not true! I like nice men.”

And now I'm expecting him to go and shoot poor Greedo under the table.

(Though this does neatly explain why the dialogue in the original trilogy is better than in the prequels - after all, if the good dialogue in the originals is nicked...)

This Week's Mug: On a less traumatic note, this week's mug comes from La Tranche Sur Mer, a small town in France where my parents spend several weeks on holiday each year. I forget exactly how I came by this mug, though my suspicion is that I probably bought it the year LC and I went with them for a week. It's a plain white mug with a design split into three parts, each showing a scene associated with the town.

Experimental Cookery 2015 #9: Wheatgerm Bread

It has been too long since I made bread. But this entry, from the "Women's Institute Big Book of Baking" represents a good chance to correct that oversight, and also to get caught up in my "Experimental Cookery" series for the year.

As with all my bread efforts thus far, this proved to be very simple but a little work - mix, knead, prove, bake... none of it difficult, but the kneading is always more tiring than one might expect.

And it's good. It's perhaps the best bread I've made to date, although the seeded loaf was good too. I'm going to enjoy some sandwiches made with this.

#12: "Pathfinder: Battle of Bloodmarch Hill", by Patrick Renie

Okay, that was weird...

I've just sat back down at my desk, and had a moment's panic that I might suddenly have gone deaf. Then I realised that I hadn't - the room's just really, really quiet.

Experimental Cookery 2015 #8: Pasta al Forno con Pomodori e Mozzarella

This week's experiment came from "Jamie's Italy", which is a book I've not really dug into until now but one which is growing on me. Though I'm not sure how well I'll be able to source some of the more unusual ingredients, nor indeed whether I can really be bothered spending hours making some of the more involved meals. But that's an issue for another day.

This was a simple pasta bake, but with a homemade sauce instead of something from a jar. And it certainly benefitted from this! The one concern I had was that the whole thing was very messy to transfer from the baking dish to the eating dishes, due to the cheese going all stringy - I had expected it to be much more, well, baked by the time it came out. Still, once that job was complete it tasted very nice.

Would I have this again? Yes indeed. But... I think I'd be inclined to cut down on both the amount of pasta and also of the sauce. The book suggested I should end up with enough for four people if I followed the measures there, and so I halved the quantities... only to end up with four portions. That's fine, except that I doubt it will freeze (or rather thaw) very well, which isn't ideal. Also, I might think of adding some breadcrumbs next time, to give it a nice crunchy topping.

All in all, though, not bad.

#10: "Firefly: Things Don't Go Smooth", by Margaret Weis Productions
#11: "William Shakespeare's Star Wars: The Jedi Doth Return", by Ian Doescher

State of the Band

For the moment, I'm actually reasonably happy with the way things are at band. I suspect that will change as the competition season gets going and things get a bit more fraught, but we'll see.

Of course, that's assuming that we actually will be competing this year at all, which is looking increasingly doubtful. The issue is that we may not have a drum corps with which to compete; or, rather, that while we will have a drum corps, we may not have a lead drummer for the band. The problem being that we have two people who can do the job, but one has work commitments and so cannot get to many of the competitions, while the other may or may not be about the leave the band. Realistically, if he goes then so too goes our season.

But then, given that I don't actually enjoy competing particularly, I can't say I'm too gutted about that prospect. Really, it's the uncertainty that's the worst of it.

On other fronts, the band is actually progressing extremely well. We've had an influx of learners both for the pipes and the drums, to the extent that all of our tutors are now maxed out and we'll have to turn away any further learners. That's a shame, but it's a nice problem to have.

We're also starting to see the benefits of all that hard work with our learners. Last night we had 18 pipers playing at one point... and that wasn't even all the pipers on our books! We also had a decent-sized drum corps, although there were more absences from there. If we ever have a practice attended by everyone, we're going to need a bigger hall!

Finally, I'm coming to the end of teaching one of my students. He now knows everything that the band plays, plus some tunes that the band doesn't play (yet?), and so to get the most benefit going forward he should really 'graduate' to the main practice hall to polish what he already knows. That said, he's entered into a solo piping competition in mid-May, so I'll work with him until then to make sure he's ready for that.

And that, as they say, is that.

This Week's Mug: This week's mug has a Gaudi-inspired design. I picked this one up on my first trip to Barcelona, and have barely used it since. It's very nice.

Experimental Cookery 2015 #7: Beef in Oyster Sauce

I'm still playing catch-up with the experimental cookery for this year. I'm hoping I may catch up this weekend, but it may run on as far as the Easter holidays.

Anyway, this week's effort came from "Chinese Food Made Easy" by Ching-He Huang. It was a somewhat expensive meal to make, due entirely to the need for a piece of fillet steak, but was otherwise quick and simple - some chopping, a short period of marinading the beef, and then into the wok.

I was quite impressed with the results, which were tasty for a minimum of fuss. I was somewhat dismayed that LC didn't even try the pak choi, but I guess that's her choice - I'll restrict myself to complaining about it on my blog (when she least expects it). And I suspect we'll definitely have this again at some point.

And that's pretty much that.

My Hidden Agenda

When I ask a question, my hidden agenda is this: I don't know the answer, and I would like to know the answer.

That's it. I'm neither a politician nor a lawyer - I'm not trying to score points or lay a clever trap for you, nor am I implying some criticism or demanding that you drop everything and get something done. And neither is the real question something I've not asked but am keeping in reserve.

I don't know the answer, and I would like to know the answer.

You know, just in case you were wondering but didn't want to ask lest I take it the wrong way.

Festivities

This weekend was rather a busy one.

It actually all began on Thursday, which saw the birthday gathering for The Twins. This was an ejoyable enough evening, but largely unremarkable. Sadly, due to the Chinese New Year I wasn't able to get my usual takeaway and so had an uninspiring pizza instead. Oh, and I missed band.

On Friday we had a works' night out. For the first time in my career, one of my colleagues was retiring, and Friday was his last day, and so we went for a meal out. I therefore finished work, rushed to the gym for a short 20 minutes, rushed home, and then rushed to the train. I then walked to the restaurant, which was pleasant enough if somewhat... rustic.

I had calamari to start, then penne with spicy sausage, and then ice cream. And a couple of beers. It was an enjoyable meal. Of particular note was that at one point Brian Taylor, BBC Scotland's top political journalist, came in for his dinner. I didn't go get a selfie with him.

After the meal, several of us decided to go for a drink. However, our first pub selection failed - a few of us had already gone in, and as the second group of four arrived the doorman decided he couldn't let big groups in. I'm not entirely convinced there wasn't some other agenda at work there.

Anyway, no matter - we went to a different pub instead, which proved to be much more welcoming. Then, two beers later, I caught the train home, getting in just after midnight.

Saturday saw me eating out again, this time with Lady Chocolat at Cafe India in Glasgow. This was also a fine meal - haggis pakora, followed by a chicken curry, followed by ice cream (again). And Coke this time, as I was driving.

After the meal we went to another pub, this time to meet up with LC's friends as one of them had decided "we should go to a ceilidh". Oh, yes - the pub in question have ceilidh dancing every Saturday. I should probably have mentioned that.

Anyway, the rest of the evening was quite good fun, although the dance floor very quickly became very busy. Plus, there was an incident where I was called on to rescue a friend from being chatted up, which was solved by the expedient of asking, nay demanding, that she must dance with me at once. Job done.

We got home just before midnight on Saturday, thus avoiding the dreaded moment when the car turned into a strange silver pumpkin (or something).

On Sunday we had pizza from the Hut. It was okay, but less festive than the other meals.

And that was my weekend. I'm a bit tired now.

This Week's Mug: This week I'm drinking from a white mug marked "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey". This was a Christmas present from LC's parents, I think the Christmas before last (or perhaps the one before that, given the film referenced). It's a perfectly good mug, albeit one that sees little use.

#9: "The Long War", by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

The Independence Lens

After the referendum in September, I was pretty happy to leave the debate in the past. Indeed, I said, "Alex Salmond said that this should settle the issue for a generation; David Cameron said it should settle it "maybe for a lifetime". I'd actually go further than that: unless something dramatically changes - ... - this should basically settle the issue forever."

No such luck. It appears that, for the foreseeable future, everything in Scottish politics will have to be viewed through an Independence Lens, and since Scotland is one of the keys to the General Election (the others being the questions of how well UKIP will do and how badly the Lib Dems will collapse), that means that by extension much of UK politics falls into the same area.

Part of that is inevitable. In UK General Elections, only one of the three "Yes" parties has any real footprint - the SNP. That, coupled with the fact that the SNP government has been mostly providing mostly competent governance for eight years, makes it pretty easy for "Yes" voters to decide how to vote.

But for the "No" voters it's rather more tricky. Because the Tories are a non-event in Scotland, and the Lib Dems are about to join them, which leaves Labour as the only alternative to the SNP. But can Tory voters really bring themselves to vote tactically for Labour? And, indeed, can they do that in the knowledge that that most certainly does make a Labour government more likely?

And it also doesn't help that Scottish Labour is, sadly, utterly woeful. Their campaign has largely been built on comments about the oil price (which would indeed be a concern had the vote gone the other way, but as things are it comes across as unseemly glee at lots of people losing their jobs), the "Vote SNP, get Tory" line (while the Tories are simultaneously saying "Vote SNP, get Labour"!), and a catastrophic attack on the Scottish NHS based on "mis-read" numbers.

And so in many areas, "No" voters have a tough choice: vote for a pro-independence SNP, waste your vote, or vote Labour with all its warts. Not pleasant.

But what worries me is what happens after the result comes in? And, in particular, I'm concerned about the case where Labour are short of a majority, could form the government, but only with SNP support in some form.

The thing is, I am actually genuinely uneasy about the SNP being part of a UK government. I genuinely believe that it is the job of government to run the country in the interests of all the people - not some favoured clique, not some pressure group, not a particular region, not just for their voters, and not even for the majority. As such, it's actually inappropriate for a pro-Scotland party to have disproportionate influence if that means the rest of the country suffers as a result. (That said, a Labour or Tory majority government is liable to operate disproportionately in the interests of big business in London. So if the reality is that my choice is between us or them being favoured, I'll choose "us", thanks.)

But, as uneasy as I am with the prospect of the SNP being involved in a government (be it a coalition or some other arrangement), I'm much more worried about the possibility of Labour not doing that deal. Because if Labour refuse and thus force another election, or they enter a Grand Coalition with the Tories, or they cooperate with the Tories to allow the largest party to form a minority government, then they're saying that the democratic voices of the people of Scotland don't count for anything - it we won't vote for one of their approved choices, they'll simply marginalise the choice we do make.

(And there's another scenario that concerns me as well. It's very likely that the Tories will get 0 or 1 of the Scottish seats, the Lib Dems 1 or 2, and Labour and the SNP will divide the remaining 56-58 between them (in any configuration). But what, then, if we end up with a government that doesn't include either Labour or the SNP, be it a Tory minority, a Tory majority, or a Tory/Lib Dem, Tory/UKIP, or Tory/LD/UKIP coalition (or whatever else I've forgotten? The current coalition is able to face down criticisms about its mandate to govern Scotland because it has 11 Lib Dems as well as 1 Tory, but if that drops to 2 Lib Dems then that's a much harder sell.)

So, the only arrangement that doesn't fill me with constitutional angst is if there's a Labour majority and Labour somehow hold on to a majority of the seats in Scotland. Which I really can't see happening. And, given my opinion of the current Labour party (both in Scotland and in the UK as a whole), I really hope doesn't happen.

It's a huge mess. And I fear it's going to get worse before it gets better.

Update on Goals

We're now 50 days into the new year (already!), and so it's time for the first update on my goals:

• Weight: Some progress here, but an awful lot still to go. One thing that is of particular note is that since returning to work I've made it to the gym on all but one of the Fridays. The missing week was due to ill health, which I think is an acceptable reason.
• Books: 8 books done, which puts me exactly on target. The only thing that is of some little concern is that I haven't yet read any books from The List this year, though I have read the first quarter of "Gone With the Wind" with a view to catching up in some future month (hopefully March, but perhaps April).
• Games: Likewise, I'm right on target here, having had one session in January and with a second planned for the end of this month.
• Work: Work has been difficult, but good. Nothing much to report here.
• Band: This goal looks almost certain to be completed, except for one possible wrinkle: it looks like we might not compete at all this year! I'll update on that at a later time, once I know something solid.
• Super Secret Goal #4: We've (well, mostly LC) started work on the minor repairs and redecorations of the flat, which is positive, but there's still a lot to do. It's also proving stressful trying to chase the council to do the roof repair...

And that's where we are. At present, it looks like a clean sweep of goals might actually be possible.

Experimental Cookery 2015 #6: Spaghetti con Gamberetti e Rucola

Oddly, I've just spotted that my Experimental Cookery series for 2015 has a numbering issue - it jumped from #3 to #6. I've no idea how that happened, but have now corrected the mistake. The downside of that is that it means I'm still behind - I had hoped to do one a week through this year, which means #7 should really be being posted today. Oh well.

Anyway, last night's dinner came from "Jamie's Italy", and featured lots of spahgetti, prawns cooked in a quick sauce, and rocket (one of my least favourite leaves, but there you go).

The meal was pretty easy to prepare, although there was a moment of some concern when the pan went en flambe (which wasn't in the recipe!). I also misjudged the timing somewhat - I should have had the spahgetti mostly cooked before I even started on the sauce. As it was, I had to keep the sauce waiting while the spahgetti finished off.

I also made a slight mistake with the dried chilli, in that I included the amount indicated by the recipe, which was too much. So the resulting meal was intensely hot, to the point where I promptly had to rush out and get some ice cream.

It was nice, though. A couple of tweaks for next time, and it will probably become one of our favourites, probably on a par with the chorizo carbonara.

(Just as well, really. Monday's dinner was pretty rank, being fish from the "Inspirations" range, served with badly overcooked oven chips. Not exactly my best moment.)

The Game Masters Exhibition

On Saturday LC and I went to see the "Game Masters" exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland. It's a celebration of the history of video games, with playable games from over the last forty years. Sounded like fun.

The exhibition was split into three sections. The first of these, Arcade Heroes, was probably the most enjoyable of the three, covering some of the really early games such as Pac Man and Asteroids. This was great fun, as they had sourced several old arcade machines that people could jump on and play. Good to get re-acquainted with some old friends.

The second section was Game Changers, which talked about some of the shifts in gaming: the move to home consoles, the introduction of open-world gaming, MMOs, and the like. It also dealt with the rise of new social games, such as SingStar, and also with TT Games Lego games which saw something of a renaissance in both children's games and licensed games.

I was surprised by this section, in that I enjoyed it much more for things other than the games. This section had lots of pieces of concept art and design work littered around the place, and also had video interviews with many of the people involved. This was all rather interesting.

The games themselves were a little underwhelming here. In the first instance this was because it was very busy, which meant getting onto any gaming machine was something of an ordeal. However, having gotten on to a game I quickly found two problems: firstly, you were playing a tiny snippet out of an hundred-hour game, which was never going to satisfy properly; and secondly, you were doing so with fairly complex, and totally unfamiliar, controls. That was never a recipe for good times.

(Fortunately, they didn't have Civilisation II amongst the games, or I might still be there. Heck, if they ever port that to an Android platform, I'm doomed! (But, luckly, it does have to be Civilisation II - none of the other versions hold the same danger.))

The third section was about Indie games, which was... okay. Here I just wasn't familiar with most of the games, nor terribly interested. I'm sure they were great and all, but... I was just underwhelmed I guess.

All said, I rather enjoyed the exhibition.

Experimental Cookery 2015 #5: Crostini

Possibly a bit of a stretch this one, but I'm going to count it anyway.

As is my wont, I cooked a three-course meal for Valentine's Day. The main was steak and chips (mmm, chips) and the dessert was meringues with cream and fruit, both of which I've done previously. The starter, however, was new, being crostini. The recipe was taken from "Jamie's Italy", a book I enjoy more in theory than in practice, as I've made virtually no use of it.

The starter was near-trivial. As I said, it's a bit of a stretch. Basically, I had to toast some ciabatta bread (store bought, so I can't even claim credit there!), and then add some garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, mozerella, chilli, and basil. So, essentially, it was little more than cheese on toast.

Still, it was only one part of a three-course meal, so there!

This Week's Mug: This week's mug is black, with a wraparound design showing the London Underground (probably out of date). As a mug, it's actually quite good, but I don't think I've ever actually used it before (though I think my Dad did, once). This mug was purchased for me by LC on one of her trips down there.

#8: "Pathfinder: The Divinity Drive", by Crystal Frasier

The Dawn Threshold

Today was the first time this year that I left for work during the day. For the past couple of weeks there have been hints that this was coming, but today that threshold was reached. It's funny how much of a difference such a seemingly-minor thing can make.

The next threshold is coming in a few more weeks yet, which is when I get home from work during the day. (Excluding Fridays, of course, when I leave early.)

This Week's Mug: This week'smug is a standard white mug with a wraparound design showing the Colliseum in Rome. I purchased this on my second visit to Rome, some four years ago. It's a nice mug, but it rather pales compared to the souvenir Lady Chocolat has from that trip...

#7: "William Shakespeare's Star Wars: The Empire Striketh Back", by Ian Doescher

Experimental Cookery 2015 #4: Thai Green Chicken Curry

This one comes from Lorraine Pascale's "Home Cooking Made Easy". It turned out to be pretty easy to make, largely because of a 'cheat' - rather than making a green curry paste (as I did for Jamie's version), this one calls for using a jar. That made the process easy, and indeed quick, but the results weren't as good.

Nonetheless, I was happy with the results of this effort. It tasted good and was worth the limited effort. So, a success. I'm pretty sure I will make this again, although I think I'll probably merge this with Jamie's home-made paste to get better results (hopefully). But that's one for another week...

#6: "D&D: Rise of Tiamat", by Steve Winter and Alexander Winter

Kingsman: The Secret Service

LC and I went to see this on Tuesday in glorious two-dee. It was a lot of fun.

The film is one part an affectionate parody of a Roger Moore-era James Bond film, and one part a standalone spy film. It features Colin Firth as the gentleman spy "Galahad" (or Harry) versus Samuel L. Jackson as the criminal genius Valentine Richmond. Plus Mark Hamill making a rare screen appearance, Michael Caine as "Arthur", and a bunch of other people (obviously).

It was an awful lot of fun, provided you don't try and take it too seriously. Anyway, I very much enjoyed it.

Game On

I got a bit of a shock this morning. For the past couple of weeks, there has been talk of some constituency-by-constituency polls conducted by Lord Ashcroft in Scotland, that were expected to shed some light on what's happening in Scotland in some more detail. The first batch of results are now available, and as expected they're not pretty reading for Labour.

But what shocked me especially is that my old constituency of Coatbridge, Chryston, and Bellshill gave a result suggesting it might switch from Labour to the SNP.

The reason that this was shocking is that this is considered one of, if not the, safest Labour seats in Scotland. Tom Clarke has been MP there, effectively, forever, and the scale of his majority was such that I would have expected him to be there until the day he retires.

If the SNP are in a position where they even have a chance there, then they're in a position where they have a chance to take any seat in Scotland. The only really comparable stronghold would be Alistair Carmichael's hold on Orkney & Shetland.

And it means that, probably for the first time ever, it's actually relevant how people there vote.

Not that I expect it to make any real difference. Whether the SNP take 20, 40, or 59 seats in Scotland, I expect them to do well enough to prevent Labour from being the largest party. And while a Labour/SNP arrangement of some sort could theoretically give a stable government, I don't expect that to happen - I suspect Labour would actually rather deal with the Tories, or even accept another five years in opposition. So my prediction is still a Tory minority administration after May.

Their Last Bow?

So, the return of the Celtic/Rangers game has come and gone. It turned out to be an awful lot of hype and very little substance: rather than the old contest of near-equals, this one was very much a case of one fairly ordinary team nonetheless comprehensively outplaying another, far inferior team. They did enough to win the match, and then enough to stay in control of the match, without ever really showing what they could do. It really wasn't any sort of advert for Scottish football.

(It's also worth noting that the BBC's pre-match coverage was just dire. But that's another rant, and a fairly well-worn one by now.)

I do find myself wondering, though: this was the first Celtic/Rangers match for nearly three years; will it also be the last ever?

Experimental Cookery 2015 #3: Beachside Paella (modified)

This one was taken from the first Hairy Dieter's book, though it was modified by being made for two people instead of six; and by the removal of the mussels, squid, and beans.

To be honest, this was all a bit of a faff, involving lots of cutting things up, then messing around with adding things to the pan at various points, and generally more steps than were ideal. Plus, it took a bit longer than was expected, largely as a result of the same.

In fairness, though, the result was rather enjoyable, although perhaps might have been better with chicken breast instead of thigh meat. I think I'll be investigating other paella recipes before returning to this one, and indeed may well end up building my own hybrid.

(Besides, allegedly it's not really a paella at all - purists would seem to claim that the addition of chorizo bars it from that. I'm not particularly fussed about being a purist, at least about this.)

This Week's Mug: This week's mug is very much of the old order, being a Space Mountain mug I purchased on my first visit to Disneyland Paris, some seventeen years ago. It's a simple white mug, stamped with a mostly-blue depiction of the titular ride. The truth is that this is a mug that doesn't get used at all often, and for good reason: the glaze on the mug was never terribly good, which means the coffee tends to be 'enhanced' with the taste of the mug itself. It's not an enticing prospect, such that I suspect this week may see the last ever use of this mug. Still, it's had a good run.

Speaking of Bad News Coverage...

I have become increasingly disgusted by the election coverage by, well, pretty much everyone really. It seems that they're all doing a spectacularly poor job, especially the supposedly 'quality' reporters.

There are two sides to the problem, one on a UK-wide level and a second on a Scotland-wide one.

The big problem when using the UK-wide lens is that the media seem to have failed utterly to adapt to the changed situation in the country - they still act as if it's a binary choice between Labour or the Tories, and they still seem to think of the Lib Dems as a major party (as opposed to a zombie about to receive a headshot). And, when they consider other parties at all, the story is all about UKIP and the surge they're trying to make happen. (You can decide for yourself who I mean by 'they're' in that last sentence.)

The crucial problem with that approach is that politics has changed, and changed dramatically. It's very likely that neither Labour nor the Tories will gain a majority, which means the really important bit are those 'minor' parties who will make the difference - it really matters whether it's the Lib Dems, or UKIP, or the SNP who hold the balance of power. And, indeed, with things as finely judged as they are, it may well even be crucial whether the Greens end up with 0, 1, 2, or more seats. (Indeed, it could turn out to be the Northern Irish parties, who have thus far been almost totally ignored, who end up making the key difference.)

The problem when using the narrower Scotland-wide lens is that the media still seem to be in referendum mode, where "Yes" means the SNP and "No" means Labour. Which is a nonsense on both counts - it's likely that much of "Labour for Independence" won't be voting SNP, for instance, while the "No" vote will be split, at least to some extent, between the Lab/Con/Lib parties. (Well, okay, between Labour and the Tories.)

And it really doesn't help that I don't trust them.

Snowpocalypse? Naw!

Once again, there was a hint of snow about the weather, and so once again the weather forecasters and the news channels were predicting massive disruption, travel chaos, and all the attendant woes.

In the event, two inches of snow fell, the gritters were out in force, the roads got cleared, and it was all okay. That's not to say there was no disruption - of course there was some - but it most certainly was not the disaster that had been threatened.

I find myself wondering: is this all still a reaction to them getting thoroughly caught out by the freak snowfall of five years ago? Or is it instead a desperate attempt to turn "Snow! In January!" into news fit for a 24-hour news cycle? Because on the face of it, it's utterly mad - what people need is accurate information so that they can make wise decisions. False predictions of doom are every bit as problematic, and much more common, than us being caught out by freak weather events.

This Week's Mug: A somewhat delayed anecdote this week, but this week's mug is a simple white mug with a wraparound design showing Ashness Bridge and Keswick, as painted by Colin Williamson. As the design suggests, this was purchased while in Keswick some five years ago, on the event of LC and my first trip away together. A weekend away marked by some nice walks, an issue with some smelly cheese in the car, and, yes, snow.

Experimental Cookery 2015 #2: Piri Piri Prawns

This week's recipe comes from the third Hairy Dieters book, "Good Eating". To be honest, I've not been hugely impressed with this book, partly because I had unfairly high expectations after the last one, but partly because it just feels like one book too far. However, I did think I should at least give it a go.

The method here was really easy - blitz up a marinade in a food processor, leave the prawns in it overnight, and then 6 minutes in a blazing hot griddle.

The result was very tasty, though I suspect I did slightly over-cook the prawns. However, I did feel that the meal as a whole was a bit lacking - we paired it with a crunchy salad, and it was filling enough, but... I dunno, I just didn't feel completely satisfied.

Still, I do expect we'll do these again, possibly when entertaining guests or as part of a barbeque. I didn't have any complaints about the dish itself, I just feel it would be better paired with something else.

#3: "Wars of the Roses: Stormbird", by Conn Iggulden
#4: "Pirate's Promise", by Chris A. Jackson
#5: "William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope", by Ian Doescher

This Week's Mug: At great risk, I have selected my "Icelandic Vikings" mug for this week. The reason I consider this a risk is that I bought this mug in my one and only stopover in Iceland, when I was travelling en route to Minnesota. I suspect I'm unlikely to go that way again, certainly not any time soon, so am not in a position to replace it. I have no real idea who the "Icelandic Vikings" are; I just thought having a mug with vikings on would be cool.

The Firefly/Serenity Expanded Universe

Late last week I ordered the four volumes of Serenity graphic novels, which constitute the entirety of that setting's "expanded universe". Over the weekend I read through these, and my opinion was... mixed.

A couple of the stories ("Better Days" and "A Shepherd's Tale") either feel very much like an episode of the show or they serve to fill in some of the gaps in the show, while also adding something new to the setting. Those were definitely the more worthwhile of the stories.

Some of the stories ("Downtime", "The Other Half") were fine, but they were too short to really be of too much interest - just stuff that happened. Similarly, one of the bigger stories ("Float Out") was largely inconsequential.

But some of the stories ("Those Left Behind", "Leaves on the Wind") just didn't quite sit right. There are two reasons for this, both of which have been issues with either the Star Wars prequels or its expanded universe.

The first issue is the repeated use of recurring characters: Dobson, Jubal Early, the Operative. Badger is also reused, but he's a somewhat different case as he wasn't a one-off in the first place.

The problem here is that continued reuse of the same characters actually shrinks the universe rather than expanding it. If the same half dozen heroes keep bouncing around the same half dozen villains, that suggests that the 'Verse, rather than being populated by billions, actually only houses a dozen or so people of any interest. It's actually better only to reuse characters very sparingly, and even then only when that most definitely is the right character to use - no other will do.

The second issue is that Serenity and Mal Reynolds seem to be undergoing the same sort of legendary ascension as the Millennium Falcon and Han Solo have undergone in Star Wars. Where the Falcon was once just a stock light freighter that Han had made some "special modifications" to, it became the result of a freakishly good build in the plant, then passed through the hands of several legendary owners, before coming to Han as the most wonderfully unique ship in the galaxy... not the "piece of junk" it started out. And where Han started out as a somewhat amoral smuggler who happens to get caught up in great events despite himself, he instead becomes the outstanding Imperial pilot of his generation who dropped out in a grand statement of moral outrage, before proceeding to become the greatest of military geniuses, and...

Serenity and Mal Reynolds are very much the image of the Falcon and its owner before Star Wars started out, only perhaps moreso - Mal was a soldier in the war who had a certain competence but a general lack of respect for his officers, who lost his faith as a result of that war, and was thus generally pretty embittered. Nowhere in there is he a legend. And Serenity is pretty much a Ford Transit. No, seriously.

So when the comics show Serenity blowing up a reaver ship simply by flying near it, and when Mal is described somehow as being the foremost military genius of his age, it really doesn't sit right.

(Incidentally, my latest Star Wars thought: you know that saying the some people are born great, others achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them? Anakin is the first, Luke is the second, and Han is the third.)

Still, there's some interesting material in here, and the stories that are good are pretty good. So, I'll keep tabs on whatever comes next and give it a read. Though for my RPG exploits, my intention is to ignore it almost completely.

Leaders' Debates

It's fair to say I'm not a fan of the debates - my view is that in the UK we don't elect a government or a Prime Minister but rather elect a representative, so unless my local candidates are going to have a debate then I'm not sure of the relevance. However, the debates are a fact, and probably do have at least some impact on the outcome of the election. And so they must be done right.

The way I see it, there are two possible ways of looking at these debates:

They might be "Prime Ministerial" debates, in which case they really should be a head-to-head between David Cameron and Ed Miliband, because whatever happens in May it's 99% likely that one of those two will become Prime Minister thereafter. (There's always the possibility of injury or illness, or the possibility that coalition agreement requires a new leader - c.f. Gordon Brown. But any thought that the PM won't be from either Labour or the Conservatives is the stuff of fantasy, more's the pity.)

The other possibility is that they're about who might form the next government, which is especially pertinent this time out when a hung parliament looks very likely. In that case, the debates really need to have representatives from Labour and the Tories, plus the Lib Dems, UKIP, and the SNP.

(Alternately, you could argue that the SNP spot should go instead to a representative of the new SNP/Plaid Cymru/Green voting block. Fair enough... but in practice that means the SNP anyway, they being the largest partner.)

Because while the polls don't (and can't) give a definitive indication, what they do seem to say is that any one of those three parties (and, indeed, only those three parties) may hold the balance of power after the election, and so be critical in the formation of the next government. They should all be heard, and in a UK-wide context they should all be heard equally.

Additionally, the fact that the SNP only stand in Scotland is an irrelevancy, for two reasons. The first is simple mathematics: despite standing in only 59 constitutencies, if they take enough of those 59 then they can hold the balance of power. And, frankly, they're more likely to do that than UKIP are to jump from 2 MPs to 30+.

The second reason is this: the people of England (and Wales and NI) may well find their government decided by the SNP, and they therefore need to know what the SNP have to say. Voters in England will most likely have heard the Lib Dem message, and will have heard the UKIP message (thanks to the BBC publicising their every move). And, of course, we all know that the Tories stand for the rich getting richer and that Labour don't stand for anything.

But it's unlikely that more than a tiny fraction of English voters will know anything about the SNP beyond the caricature shown in the Daily Mail and Guardian. Yes, it's true that their main focus is independence for Scotland, but given that five years of government would be about much more than that (and, indeed, in the event of a Labour/SNP government wouldn't be about that), it's kind of important to know more - where do they stand on schools, on health, on defence...?

(If nothing else, if voters in England heard what the SNP had to say and found that they hated it, then they have the power to ensure the SNP get nowhere near controlling the balance of power - just vote for a majority Labour or Tory administration.)

So, that's my take: either the debates should be a Cameron/Miliband head-to-head, or they should involve the five parties who might be involved in making up the next government (Labour, Tory, Lib Dem, UKIP, and SNP).

So... Cold...

The heating in the office isn't working, and as it is usually switched off over the weekend to conserve energy this means that the office is freezing. Thus far, nobody has suggested we huddle together to conserve body heat. The moment someone does, I'm heading home.

This Week's Mug: This week's mug is the Superman mug I've mentioned before. It is a deep blue all over, with the Superman crest on front and back. And it bears a marking indicating that it is neither microwave nor dishwasher safe on the bottom. I received this mug as a Christmas gift in 2013.

Experimental Cookery 2015 #1: Beef Goulash

One of the things I'm hoping to do in 2015 is to resume my too-sporadic "Experimental Cookery" series. That being the case, here's the first entry of the new year.

This one comes from the Hairy Dieters book "Eat For Life" (the yellow one). This is a book I've used several times and that has never let me down.

And tonight's dinner was no exception. Truth is, it was never going to be very demanding - a handful of veg to chop, a few minutes browing the meat, and then a little time on the hop and a lot of time in the oven, and it's done.

The only thing to note is that the recipe really needs more water - I added the 600ml at the start, and then a further 400ml (ish) when I added the peppers after an hour and a half, and it was still awfully dry by the end. I think perhaps more regular additions of 200ml here and there would have done better. (That said, I'm somewhat inclined to adapt this recipe for the slow cooker, in which case the liquid needs should be re-adjusted anyway.)

The result was once again quite pleasing - nice tender meat, a hearty taste, and a very filling meal all around. This one will definitely be being added to my rotation.

It's also worth noting that that second Hairy Dieters book is definitely my recommended volume of the three. The first is good two, with the third being a comparitive let-down, but the second is definitely the star. It's also one of my big three recommends, along with "Jamie's Ministry of Food" and Hugh's "River Cottage Every Day". I have several other cookbooks that are decent, but those are the three that I come back to again and again.

#2: "D&D: Hoard of the Dragon Queen", by Wolfgang Baur and Steve Winter

It Has Gone To a Better Place

While I'm on the topic of Christmas presents, I shall tell you about socks. For Christmas I received seven pairs of socks. One person bought me a pack of five pairs of Doctor Who socks, while another person bought me two individual pairs of Doctor Who socks. This suggests that I might be becoming typecast as a person who likes Doctor Who.

Or wearing socks. It's definitely one of the two. But that's not really important right not.

Anyway, for some time LC has been talking about throwing away some of my socks, despite them still being perfectly good. Apparently, she is unaware of the manly convention that any sock with fewer than three holes in it is barely worn.

And so it was that a few days ago I opened the bin to find a single discarded sock staring accusingly up at me. "How could you fail us so," it seemed to ask. "We trusted you to protect us!"

Grief-stricken, I therefore threw a bunch of other rubbish on top (that being why I opened the bin) and then mourned my loss. For a sock to have passed so young was a real tragedy - it was only two!

Still, I have since come to terms with my loss, and accepted that it has indeed gone to a better place. Well, landfill.

Of course, I couldn't help but notice that there was only one sock in the bin. But I've been instructed not to mention the Sock Conspiracy any more...

This Week's Mug: This week's mug is a Star Wars mug with a black experior on which the legends "Stormtrooper", "Legion", and "TK-421" are marked. I received this mug as a Christmas present from CJ, prompting my recent mug contemplations.

Mug Rotation

One of the presents I received for Christmas was a rather spiffing coffee mug. This was especially appreciated as I've been having some mug-related issues at work ever since my official work mug got broken in a freak "why did I do that?" accident - for a short while I was using an Icelandic Vikings mug until I realised the great risk that this involved, then I briefly switched to a Superman mug, before settling on a TARDIS mug for the bulk of last year (which could contain more coffee than most of my other mugs. Feel free to insert the obvious joke here).

Plus, LC was particularly glad I got a new mug, as she is frequently heard encouraging me to buy some new ones to reduce our crippling shortage.

I was quite excited to try out my new mug at work, until I noticed a fatal weakness, in fact the same weakness that caused me to stop using the Superman mug. Printed on the bottom of the mug is the dire warning, "Not suitable for use in a dishwasher or microwave" (or in the presence of Kryptonite in the case of the Superman mug, obviously). Deflated, I sadly placed the mug on a shelf, never again to see the light of day.

Until I had my wonderful idea!

One of the mug-related issues that I constantly face is that I have many mugs from my travels, but only ever actually use one at home: my favouritest-ever special mug that I especially bought while in Brittany (at the Festival de Saint Loup with the band). Which means that those many other mugs spend most of their time sitting in their trees, jealously waiting the day when we have people round to drink coffee (or, more likely, I need to crack an egg).

My wonderful idea, therefore, is that 2015 will be The Year of Mug Rotation! Each week I shall take a different mug to work for coffee-drinking purposes, until such time that I have used them all.

This will have three benefits. Firstly, it will allow all of my mugs to have their week in the sun, thus preventing ill-feeling amongst those that seldom get used. Secondly, it will make work just that little bit more interesting, which is obviously key. And, thirdly, there's always the possibility that one or more of my colleagues might remark on the weekly mug change, allowing me to regale them with my aptly-named Mug Anecdotes.

And as we know, everyone loves a mug anecdote...

#1: "Pathfinder: Palace of Fallen Stars", by Tim Hitchcock

Goals for 2015

Okay, it's a day late, but here's the promised post with my goals for 2015.

Setting goals is actually a bit tricky this year, because I'm a great believer in SMART goals - a 'good' goal should be Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic, and Time-bound. The AT of this is easily achieved, but I've had some difficulties with SMR for the rest of them, as for most things I'm in quite a good position and the goal is really, "more of the same, please".

Because of the nature of this year, I don't have any monthly or quarterly goals. All my goals are set to run for the whole of the year. Still, there should be some ability to measure them as we go:

• Weight: The big carry-over from last year, this goal is unchanged: I would like to lose a stone and a half this year. More would be nice, but given the failure of the last two years I'm going to focus on the stated goal and not worry about anything beyond that.
• Books: The other repeat goal is also the same: I would like to read 60 books this year, including 12 from The List. I do have a couple of other sub-lists for the year, but am largely ignoring this.
• Games: I would like to take part in twelve game sessions this year, giving an average of one a month. Ideally, I would like four sessions as a player amongst these, but that's an aspiration and not a formal goal.
• Work: This one really is "more of the same". Work has been going pretty well, and I would like to continue in this same vein.
• Band: I'm not setting a goal for our competition season, as that is largely outwith my control. However, I would like to see my current students start breaking into the main band. So that's the target: to see one of my students play in one of our competitions this year. (Unless the Development Band does indeed restart, in which case this goal will need to be reformulated.)
• Super Secret Goal #4: Actually, this isn't exactly secret: ideally, we're hoping to move house late this year. This will involve several steps, as we'll need to get the roof fixed, redecorate the whole flat, and sell up, all while also looking for a suitable new place to live. All of which is slightly complicated by LC's work situation - because she's on long-term supply rather than in a permanent position, it's difficult to pick a place that's going to suit both our commutes. Oh well...

So that's it: six goals for the year, including one that has carried-over, two repeats, and three that are nicely measurable. That'll do.