The Adventures of Steph/ven: #1: Sardinia

It seems hard to believe, but a mere five weeks ago I was on the first full day of my holiday in Sardinia. We were on holiday with LC's family (hereafter known as Les Chocolates!), having flown out with Jet2 on a non-stop flight from Edinburgh, via Leeds (not sure how that works - don't ask), to Olbia.

Sardinia is a lovely island, with fabulous beaches, lots of sun, and good food. It's also very expensive, being the only place I've yet seen where fuel is more expensive than in the UK, but not absurdly so, I guess. The week was marked with a whole lot of resting, a lot of reading (hence the list of books read in my previous post), some sight-seeing, and a total lack of stress. Well, for me at least.

We had rented a villa near the sea. Here's a picture of the view from our balcony:

Good, isn't it?

The villa was very nice, although it was a struggle to keep cool - the power was a little ropey, such that if we ran the Air Con in all the rooms at once, the breakers would trip. So, we had to be careful not to overload the system. Other than that, though, it had everything we needed and, crucially, didn't have some things that we were better without - specifically, an internet connection.

The view at night was rather spectacular. Because we were so far south, and also because of the sea on the horizon, when the moon rose at night it was a distinctive blood red. Naturally, that was difficult to photograph well, but it was spectacular to behold.

The food was also rather agreeable - lots of fresh fruit and veg, fresh bread, and pizza. Lots of pizza. (Of course, Sardinia is known for its fish, being an island, but that was mostly not for me.) Of course, many of the menus were in Italian only, which proved a touch tricky since I don't speak any Italian (though I did manage to order some ice creams on a couple of occasions - and no, I didn't just speak English loudly and slowly). Still, my habit of just ordering at random served me well... apart from that one time my pizza came with anchovies.

My one major culinary adventure came at a restaurant where the menu was in English. However, under my "try something new" policy, I felt obliged to try something I hadn't seen on a menu before:

In case you're not sure what you're looking at, that's octopus, with a tomato and lettuce salad. It's fair to say that it's not what I expected - I had expected it to be similar to squid (which I like), but it proved to be much more like tuna (which I don't so much). Still, I ate it... and then was glad to move onto my main course!

The other amusing anecdote from that same restaurant comes from our last night there. As is our wont, LC and I decided to dress up and go out for a meal alone together on the last night. Lord Chocolat gave us a lift down to the restaurant, and no sooner had he departed than we were greeted by the news that they'd had a power cut, that their oven had just stopped working, and that as such they could offer us anything except pizza. Which, given most of the alternatives were seafood, was a bit of a weakness.

So, anyway, we dined in their garden as the sun went down. LC had mussels again, while I tried the ravioli (which was okay, but not stellar). In time, they lit the candles. It was all rather nice.

And then they kicked us out. This wasn't surprising, really - by that point they'd had to turn people away (it was too dark), and we were by then the last customers. So, we paid, we left, and then we walked home. My only regret was that we couldn't have the long-awaited ice creams as we went - the same power cut had affected the whole street, including the ice cream parlour. Such a shame.

Still, there were soon to be other adventures featuring ice cream in all its glories...

Getting back into it...

Sorry I've been away. For the past several months I've been oppressed by two factors: Firstly, I've just been too busy to blog regularly. I would frequently get a post together, not have time to edit it properly, and abandon it half-finished. Secondly, for most of that time the most interesting thing in my life has been work, which has been in very high gear. However, with my "no work talk" rule in place, that didn't leave me much to blog about.

Still, I'm hoping now to do a better job, and will indeed try to commit to posting something at least once a week. We'll see how that goes!

#27: "Pathfinder: Rasputin Must Die!", by Brandon Hodge
#28: "The Reverse of the Medal", by Patrick O'Brian
#29: "The Folklore of Discworld", by Terry Pratchett and Jacqueline Simpson
#30: "Queen of Thorns", by Dave Gross
#31: "Persuasion", by Jane Austen (A Book from The List)
#32: "The Hunger Games", by Suzanne Collins
#33: "The Letter of Marque", by Patrick O'Brian
#34: "The White Company", by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
#35: "Pathfinder: The Witch Queen's Revenge", by Greg A. Vaughan
#36: "Called to Darkness", by Richard Lee Byers

Experimental Cookery 2013: Hungarian Goulash

My not-quite-newest toy is a slow cooker. Today was the first time I got a chance to actually use it, using the recipe for Hungarian Goulash that was found in the leaflet that came with the cooker.

Apparently, a lot of people consider the best feature of a slow cooker that many of the recipes consist of "put everything in the pot; switch on; leave for 5 hours; eat". That is not the case here. Instead, there was a certain amount of chopping of veg, then softening these in the pot, searing the meat, and only then adding the liquid and leaving it for 6 hours.

Still, I managed to perform all of the preparation tasks while my soup was roasting, so it wasn't exactly tough!

When the cooking was done, I must confess to being somewhat dubious at first. It definitely looked like there was a bit of a skin on the meal, and it didn't look too appetising. However, this proved to be a false impression - what had appeared to be a skin was in fact just a consequence of the condensation on the underside of the glass lid. A quick stir showed that this was actually a very well-cooked meal.

And it tasted good too - the beef was cooked perfectly, the veg were soft without being slimy, and the sauce was tasty without being overpowering. Success!

The one change I would probably make for next time is to switch the wine for something a bit less fruity. I had selected a Garnacha from Tesco's "Simply" range, and the flavour came through really quite strongly in the end meal. (On the other hand, I now suspect that this wine may be rather better to drink than previous "Simply" wines, so I might just have hit on something. Or perhaps not... (Edit: Nope.))

I don't doubt that I'll be making this again. And I'll no doubt be making some use of this toy again, too. Though I'll need to get some good recipes to use with it too.

Experimental Cookery 2013: Slow Roasted Tomato & Basil Soup

This recipe came from "A Soup For Every Day", by the New Covent Garden Food Company. It's the soup for the 7th of July, so I was at least somewhat close this time.

This soup required a bit of cooking time, what with the whole slow-roast part of the task, but required only a small amount of hands-on time: the tomatoes and other veg need sliced and arranged, and then roasted, and then the whole thing needs put in a blender for a little while. Then there's a reheat step, and that's it. So, it was pretty easy.

In hindsight, two things are clear to me. Firstly, it was a really good idea to make sure I used a variety of tomatoes in the cooking - this led to a more varied flavour which helped the resulting soup. However, and secondly, it was not such a good idea to include cherry tomatoes amoungst the selection - they just don't roast very well!

Still, the soup was easy to prepare, it was flavourful, and I'd certainly have it again. It's also the first soup I've made from this book that I've felt 100% happy with, so that's good.

And that was lunch...

#25: "The Far Side of the World", by Patrick O'Brian
#26: "1356", by Bernard Cornwell (For 200 pages or so, this looked like a new candidate for "book of the year". Alas, it's a bit rushed towards the end. Still excellent, as always from BC, but not quite good enough to topple the current leader.)

The End of the Line

Well, that's it. As of this morning, mobile phone #2 is done.

(For anyone who needs to get in touch - it still works for text messages either way, but the microphone is busted so it won't work for calls. My desk phone here is the office is also not working, so if it's really important then send me a text asking me to call you back.)

Unfortunately, this raises something of a quandary: should I buy another very basic mobile phone, on the grounds that I only ever use it for texts and a very occasional call; or has the time come to investigate and then invest in a smartphone, on the grounds that I'd almost certainly use more if it was available?

I'll update once I have a new phone, which should be soon.

#23: "Blood of the City", by Robin D. Laws
#24: "The Long Earth", by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

An Interesting Find

Last week, LC and I went to the wrong Tesco. This shocking lapse was responsible for many woes, not least that I forgot to reclaim my pound from the trolley, but it also led to an interesting discovery: a novel called "The City" by Stella Gemmell.

My immediate response to this was "excellent!" See, for many years my favourite author was David Gemmell. Sadly, he died, leaving his latest trilogy unfinished. However, his wife Stella picked up the baton, and brought the final novel, and thus the trilogy, to a very fitting end.

And that was the end of that, I thought. Since then, I have identified a couple of other favourite authors (being Bernard Cornwell and Conn Iggulden. Oh, and Terry Pratchett, of course).

So, when I saw that Stella Gemmell had written her own first novel, and seen also that it seems to fit into a similar niche as her husband's writings, I found myself looking foward to it.

But...

Having given the matter just a little thought, it became pretty obvious that this was a somewhat foolish reaction. Because, of course, just because her husband was a favourite of mine, it by no means indicate that she can do an equivalently good job. She might; she might even be better, but there is no guarantee that this will be the case.

Anyway, the book is only available in hardcover, so I've got a year to wait for the paperback, and will have a chance to read the reviews. Still, I thought it was blog-worthy.

#22: "Pathfinder: The Frozen Stars", by Matthew Goodall

Why I Should Be the Next Doctor...

Dear Mr Moffat...

I know you're busily searching for the next Doctor, and that you must therefore be very busy. Fortunately, I can help you solve that problem for you. Clearly, and for reasons that shall soon become obvious, I am precisely the right person to be the next Doctor.

"But why?", I hear you ask. Well, allow me to present my case. I'm sure you'll find the logic is irrefutable...

Really, it's a simply matter of elimination. See, until recently, every single Doctor has been older than I am. But that ended with Matt Smith, where for the first time the actor to portray our hero was younger than I am. There is now only one option that has not been explored: the next Doctor must be exactly the same age as I am! It's the only possibility.

Now, of course, you could try seeking out an actor who happens to be exactly the same age as I am. I suppose that would make sense. But why bother? Why not just go straight to the source, and pick the person who most undeniably fills that criterion?

Plus, of course, my sense of whimsy is almost legendary amongst all three readers of my blog (although, granted, one of these is my wife, who is practically required to read it and say "yes dear" at appropriate intervals and with rising levels of long-sufferingness, so she might not count). And I can easily carry on some of the trends started by Mr Smith, as every new Doctor has incorporated mannerisms of the last - I can supply my own bow tie; indeed, I can supply either a clip-on as sported by Mr Smith or a tied one... though my ability to actually tie the latter is best described as comical. Likewise, Mr Smith had a fez; I've always wanted a fez, because fezzes (fezes? fezi?) are cool.

See? My logic is quite simply unassailable. So, when can I start?

Geronimo!

#20: "The Ionian Mission", by Patrick O'Brian
#21: "Treason's Harbour", by Patrick O'Brian

Update on Goals

It's hard to believe that we're already so far through the year. It barely seems a few short weeks ago that snow was falling and winter was in full swing.

Oh, wait...

Anyway, it's time for an update on the goals I set at the start of the year. So, here we go...

• Health: Well, there's good news and bad news. The good news is that the underlying cause of most of my health issues has been explained. The other good news is that I have an appointment to see a physio on Thursday, so there should be some movement on my neck. The bad news, sadly, is that the underlying issue isn't going away; I'll just have to manage it. Which is less than ideal, but it could be worse.
• Weight: No movement.
• Work: This has been another case of good news and bad news. Three weeks ago, things were pretty much awful, but this week has been much better. I'm monitoring the situation.
• Books: I've read 19 books so far, putting me quite some way behind target. That said, I'm on track with most of the 'series' I set, and am gradually catching up, so it may not be impossible to reach the goal. Maybe.
• Debt: So far, so good. The last payment for the bathroom should be made a month from now. It will be good to be free of that.
• Games: This has been going well. "The Eberron Code" campaign is now two sessions from completion. In addition, I have run two of the five one-shots I hope to get through. "Firefly: Furiously Fast" was well received, while "Star Wars: Imperial Fist" was the second-best game I have run in about a decade. So that's good.

Experimental Cookery 2013: Carrot & Coriander Soup

Last one of these for a while, I promise!

This was the second soup taken from "A Soup for Every Day". It was a quick and easy soup to put together, and was nice and tasty. One thing I found surprising was the way that the nutmeg in the recipe came through in the end result. All in all, it was very much a success, and I expect to be doing this again.

Experimental Cookery 2013: Perfect New Potatoes

Purely for completeness...

These were taken from "Jamie's Ministry of Food", we had them with some piri piri chicken and a nice salad. They were fine.

And that's about all there is to say about that!

Experimental Cookery 2013: Butternut Squash, Orange & Ginger Soup

For our anniversary, LC got me a new cookbook: "A Soup for Every Day" from the New Covent Garden Food Co. (I got her two tickets to go see "Sleeping Beauty on Ice", and a bundle of all the newspapers from our wedding day (as I alluded to in my post about the wedding)) This was the first soup taken from the book.

It did not go well.

I gathered the ingredients, chopped them up, started the cooking, and got to the simmer stage. So far, so good. I then made the mistake of leaving it alone to simmer. And when I returned after the appropriate time, it had boiled dry and burnt on to the pan. Oops.

At this point, LC noted that she married me for my cooking, and declared she was leaving. Oh no!

Needless to say, I begged for another chance. I was sure I could do better.

Fortunately, the second attempt was much more successful. I cut the simmer stage down, and watched it like a hawk... and it all came out very well.

The resulting soup was really quite nice, with the stronger flavours of the ginger and the orange giving a nice complement to the otherwise rather bland squash. So that was good.

So, that was good.

#17: "The Surgeon's Mate", by Patrick O'Brien
#18: "Pathfinder: Maiden, Mother, and Crone", by Tim Hitchcock
#19: "Nightglass", by Liane Merciel

We Found Them! They're Here!

Rather shockingly, the week before last saw LC and I reaching the epic milestone of one year married. Truly, such a feat is deserving of being immortalised in song.

Anyway, we decided to spend a few days away. And LC selected Alnwick as our destination, although I'm sure that had absolutely nothing to do with the poison garden... So, we found a suitable B&B, made a reservation, and off we went.

We drove down on the Thursday, a journey that was largely uneventful, although I did note the existence of a disputed zone at the border, with both England and Scotland laying claim to a thin strip of ground. Which I'm sure the "Better Together" campaign will promptly declare to be one of the unresolved issues that the SNP absolutely, positively must answer. But I digress.

We stayed in "Aln House", a rather nice B&B with some six rooms. We didn't see any of the other rooms, but ours was very nice, with everything you might expect - a bed, a TV, several chairs, more cushions than any self-respecting gent can bear, and an en suite bathroom. Very nice. One nice touch was that there was also a common sitting room where people could, in theory, socialise while staying there. And the proprietors were very nice also.

For dinner we ate in a sit-down fish and chip (not fish supper) restaurant, which was rather nice. I had chicken. And then bed.

Friday was the day of the anniversary, and so we spent some time opening the various cards and presents that we had either arranged for one another, or brought down with us. LC got me a rather nice book of soup recipes, while I gave her a package containing all the newspapers from our wedding day (which I referred to in the blog post about the wedding, lo those many months ago). Oh, and tickets to go see "Sleeping Beauty on Ice" (which was very good also).

We then spent the day seeing Alnwick Gardens and Castle, including the poison garden (which I survived), the haunted cellars (which I survived), and the Quiddich demonstration (which was wierd). We had a rather indifferent lunch in the gardens (which I survived - no oranges anywhere!). And, at some length, we returned to the B&B to change for dinner.

Dinner was at "The Treehouse", which is exactly what the name implies. Alas, my hopes that we might be served by Ewoks came to naught, although since Ewoks are cannibalistic that's probably a good thing. The meal was absolutely fantastic, which was fortunate as it was priced to match.

On Saturday, we went to Barter Books, a huge second-hand bookstore. And, incidentally, the place where that "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster was found, thus causing that dratted meme. LC bought some books; I decided against.

In the afternoon, we went to Banburgh Castle. Which I didn't realise until we got there was once 'Bebbanburg', one of the key locations in Bernard Cornwell's Saxon series. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Before going to the castle, we went for a walk along the beach. And in the course of getting to said beach we encountered these little guys...

Yes, it's true. We now know the answer to the question "Where are the frogs?"!!

We then went to the castle, which was absolutely fascinating, because I kept seeing just what Cornwell meant when he kept commenting that that place couldn't be taken. It's going to be fascinating to see how (or if) he resolves that particular issue. And then we walked around the town for a bit, and then we went home.

That evening, we watched "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel", which was interesting enough, although I found Maggie Smith's character somewhat hard to bear - it was a good performance of someone rather unlikeable.

And on Sunday we came home, stopping along the way at Lindisfarne to see another castle. Which was interesting, although it seems that the castle would have been absolutely ideal some centuries before it was built, but rather redundant by the time it was actually built. Still, interesting enough. (The players in my various games may have noticed a sudden increase in frog- and poison-related matters in games recently. They may well find that there's an increase in castles and monasteries shortly, too.)

And that was our holiday. I actually really enjoyed it, being a good opportunity to just leave things behind and have a few days of stress-free relaxation. Given that the start of that week had been a rerun of the disaster that was Christmas (LC was busy with an essay; I was ill), this was a really good thing. Of course, we came back and were immediately caught up in a week of madness. But never mind...

Dear Tesco...

I appreciate what you're trying to do with your "Price Promise". I quite like the fact that you care enough to check whether my shopping would be cheaper elsewhere, and give me a voucher back for the difference.

However, there's a small problem.

See, what you're actually doing is reminding me, week after week, that I would be better off shopping elsewhere. It hasn't escaped my attention that I have received several vouchers for money back and very few indicating that I actually saved. And while it doesn't matter so much as long as the Price Promise holds (since we get the vouchers), there will no doubt come a day when you'll stop this promotion. Knowing that, and putting those two facts together, what do you think I'll do?

So I'm sorry, but this particular move was not your best. You've gone and shone a great big spotlight on one of your key weaknesses, and in doing so have created discontent where before there was none.

Of course, there is a way out. And it's probably your only way out at this point. Basically, you need to lower your prices, right across the board of your "comparable items". That way, where just now I get a voucher back almost every week, instead I'll get more and more notifications that I've saved.

But good luck with that - Asda are rightly proud of their "lowest priced supermarket" tag, and I'd wager they will fight to keep them.

Experimental Cookery 2013: "I Can't Believe You Made That" Cake

Well, yes I did. I even have a picture to prove it.

It was LC's birthday on Friday, and the plan was that various family members would come around to celebrate it. In preparation for this event, then, I asked LC what sort of birthday cake she would prefer. At which point she declared that she would like the "home-made sort", and then specified that it was this cake that she would like. Alright-y then.

So, I dug out Lorraine Pascale's "Baking Made Easy", read through the recipe, gathered the ingredients and then, on Thursday, proceeded to start on the cake.

I actually did this in two parts. On Thursday evening I made up the chocolate sponge that was the core of the cake, and then on Friday I decorated the thing, starting as soon as I got home, and then completing it once we'd been to Tesco and picked up the requisite strawberries. (Incidentally, I used Matchmakers for the outer ring; the mint ones, though if I were doing this again I would probably use the orange ones instead.)

I think this is the first time I have ever tackled an actual birthday cake; I am similarly reasonably sure that I haven't actually made anything with "cake" in the title since high school, though it's possible I've forgotten something. So I made sure to buy a backup cake, just in case.

Anyway, it came out like this:

And, yes, it tasted as good as it looked. Although the last two slices weren't quite so good when we ate them on Sunday.

Would I make this again? Perhaps, but it would need to be a special occasion. In truth, I felt that the cake was actually a bit sickly-sweet to me - if it were a cake for my own use, I suspect I would have gone for a vanilla sponge or similar instead. But it wasn't for me, so that's fine.

#14: "A Crown Imperiled", by Raymond E. Feist
#15: "City of the Fallen Sky", by Tim Pratt
#16: "Last of the Gadarene", by Mark Gatiss

Experimental Coolery 2013: Custard-based Vanilla Ice Cream

I'm adding this post for completeness; the truth is that these posts about ice cream are largely redundant because there's not much to say - mix the ingredients, use the ice cream maker, and the results are very nice. So, feel free to insert all the appropriate text here if you wish. I'll even leave a gap for you...

Anyway, there is perhaps one thing of note about this particular ice cream: when I first mentioned it to Lady Chocolat, her immediate response was that I shouldn't bother, but should do some other type instead. Basically, she objected to the "custard-based" part of the description. I chose to go ahead anyway... and it turns out that I was right to do so. This is the best of the ice creams that I have done to date, and by quite a long way.

Did He Miss By A Day?

Ages ago, I suggested that the best thing for Scottish Football would, in fact, be to simply wrap the whole thing up and to lobby for an amalgamation of the Scottish, Welsh, and English leagues (and national sides) into a single British setup. I still fear that that represents almost our only chance of seeing a major tournament in the next decade.

(Incidentally, if I get around to it, there may be a post forthcoming about league reconstruction. But that's for another day.)

In addition, a few weeks back it occurred to me that the UK government have a couple of cards to play in the fight against Scottish independence (not that I think they actually need them): specifically, I expected their first gambit would be to offer Devo-plus, then perhaps Devo-max. And if things got really desperate they would persuade the FA to offer Celtic and Rangers entry to the English leagues. But I didn't bother mentioning that as I felt it was rather too absurd.

And then, yesterday, David Cameron came out with a statement almost exactly to that effect. It must really suck to be a political satirist these days - the reality is so absurd that it's hard to tell the difference.

Experimental Coolery 2013: Strawberry Ice Cream

Yes, I'm back. I know things have been a bit quiet on the blog front, with rumours of a fruit-related demise being circulated in some quarters. Fortunately, though, I've learned to communicate from the other side, and have finally managed to train our hamster to type. So, we're back in business!

Having finally managed to source some decent strawberries from Tesco, I was able to attempt a second recipe from those that came with our ice cream maker. And, as with the previous effort it was almost ridiculously simple - simply puree the strawberries, mix with the other ingredients, and then pour into the ice cream maker.

The resulting ice cream was excellent. However, my previous caveats apply - the ingredients are more expensive than even the 'good' ice creams on sale from the supermarket, and the quality is comparable. So, this is another thing we probably won't make again unless we happen to come by some strawberries and/or cream that we need to use up. Which isn't terribly likely.

Anyway, must dash - I have a kitchen to haunt.

#11: "Song of the Serpent", by Hugh Matthews (sadly, the weakest book of the year to date)
#12: "The Bromeliad", by Terry Pratchett
#13: "Pathfinder: the Shackled Hut", by Jim Groves

(Regarding my 'books' goal: it's already looking unlikely that I'll get through 60 books this year. Additionally, the '5 series' part of the goal has pretty much fallen by the wayside. But we'll see.)

The Orange Peel Incident

In a bid to hasten the return of The Doctor, and also due to general boredom, I elected to avoid my traditional and daily apple for this week. Instead, since Tesco had some nice-looking oranges, I elected to buy some of those instead. Today was the second day in which an orange made its presence felt in my lunch.

Now, for anyone whose only exposure to oranges has been in chocolate form, one of the key features of the fruit is the presence of a peel, which has a distinctive orange colour and which must be removed before consumption of the delicious fruit within can be contemplated.

It was this that highlighted the ultimate folly of my choice, for it transpired that my usual technique for removing the peel was just rubbish, both yesterday and today. It seems that some wag, probably part of a conspiracy by apple-growers, had taken to supergluing the peel to the oranges in Tesco. And so, the pierce-and-rip technique turned into an ordeal of picking, and stretching, and getting covered in orange juice. (And yes, I used the same technique twice. I assumed that yesterday was just a glitch in the Matrix, but it turned out not to be the case.)

Anyway, luckily, Google is your friend, and so a quick search for "how to peel an orange" later, and I am now armed with a new technique, one that I shall try tomorrow.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Wolves Forecast

It's been a strange winter, weather-wise. See, it hasn't actually been at all bad, and yet we've been constantly bombarded with warnings. Particularly annoying are those roadside signs, declaring "Snow Forecast" - if they have a genuine concern for the environment then unless they have something worthwhile to communicate now they should be switching those off.

But it's not just those signs. We've been bombarded with weather warnings at the first hint of a breeze, and the forecasts have been positively apocalyptic. And all for... pretty much nothing.

Until last weekend, that is, when it actually snowed, and the snow actually lay where it fell. And, somehow, amazingly, the powers-that-be were somehow taken entirely by surprise, and so weren't ready to clear and then grit the roads. And so, despite the snow falling on and off on Sunday, traffic chaos ensued on Monday.

I was rather glad I had the day off. I picked that one well.

Anyway, the motorway signs are back to it - "Snow Forecast" once again wasted energy across the land. Huzzah!

I can't think why, but when I put together the near-apocalyptic forecasts, the general lack of bad weather, and the failed response when we actually had snow, somehow I'm reminded of the tale of the boy who cried "Wolf!" Maybe, just maybe, our councils recognised that the forecasters were routinely exaggerating, so that when there actually was a chance of snow, they just didn't believe them.

Maybe our weather forecasters could tone down their fervour for the end of the world just a tad, and just give us their best appraisal of what they expect to actually happen? And while they're at it, it would be quite good if our TV stations could perhaps stop treating the News and the Weather as entertainment, and instead go back to actually informing us? Or is that just a crazy thought?

Experimental Cookery 2013: Singapore-style Noodles

It's been a while since I did one of these on a Tuesday. However, I've been feeling rather uninspired of late, and so felt that it would be good to make the effort to cook something new, and so here is the result.

This one came from Ching-he Huang's "Chinese Food Made Easy", which is a book I rather enjoy, but one that I make relatively little use of. I find it quite hard to work from, as the food cooks so very fast that it's necessary to have everything ready before the first ingredient hits the wok. This also means that these meals have quite a long prep time that I never seem to account for properly.

The Singapore-style noodles are something that has been enticing me to try them for some time, but because of the prawns I have held off thus far. Still, the time had come, and so...

As with other receipes in this book, this one does indeed require quite a lot of preparation, and that must be done before starting on the cooking - once you start it's basically a race to the end. In particular, it is crucial that the chicken be cooked before you start, because there is no chance of doing so in the midst of the rest of it.

However, that warning aside, this was all quite easy to get through. Basically, once all the (easy) prep stages are done, it was just a matter of queuing up all the ingredients and then throwing them in, leaving about a minute between each stage. A few minutes later, and it's done.

And it was very nice indeed. Pretty much thermonuclear in taste, but very nice. I'm sure we'll be having that again.

#10: "The Snows of Summer", by Neil Spicer