Experimental Cookery 2013: Three For One

In honour of "Jamie's Money Saving Meals", I thought I'd do a triple post with the results of my cookery exploits last week. It's nothing to do with my not being bothered to write three individual posts, no, not at all...

Naan Bread

I've previously tackled naan breads twice before, both times from "Gordon Ramsey's Great Escape". But while they were okay, they were never better than that, and a lot of work as well. So, at the recommendation of Captain Ric, I tried the version from the Hairy Bikers' "Great Curries".

Well, it's fair to say that these were much more successful - a whole lot less work, a whole lot less time, and better results. Next time, I need to make sure I use finer salt, and I also need to make sure they're rolled thinner, but otherwise they were a resounding success. And they were also considerably bigger than the other version, which is a plus.

Seeded White Loaf

This one came from the "Women's Institute Big Book of Baking", which LC was given for Christmas but which I have shamelessly baked from. Shocking, isn't it?

Other than the baguettes I cooked a few weeks ago, I've never really tackled bread. And the truth is that I see little point in cooking 'basic' breads, by which I mean the standard white or brown loaves one could buy from the supermarket. After all, you can't beat them on cost or on time, and unless you're pretty good you're unlikely to beat them on taste. And they go stale far more quickly. The one advantage is that you get to control what goes into the bread, which means you get to skip all those nasty additives... but, for me, that's just not enough to justify the effort.

(Perhaps if we had a bread maker, that would be different. But we don't use enough bread to justify that expense, and the unit could never come close to paying for itself. Besides, the fun of making these things by hand lies largely in, well, making them by hand, which the bread maker removes.)

But that's okay. There's way more to bread than just the basic white or brown loaves, and so I found myself tackling this seeded white. And it was easy to do - mix, knead, prove, knock back, shape, prove, bake. And the result was great - a nice, tasty loaf ideal for dipping in soup. It lasted two days, but probably wouldn't have gone beyond that... but that was okay, because it only lasted two days anyway.

The lack of pictures in the WI book was slightly unfortunate - it would be nice to know what I'm making. Other than that, the book is very good, and certainly much better than Paul Hollywood's "Bread", which I'm afraid I would have to recommend against.

Roast Chicken with Lemon & Rosemary Roast Potatoes

This one was a real experiment, not because I've not tackled roast chicken before, but rather because I was cooking in Lord Chocolat's kitchen (we were staying there at the weekend). The recipe itself came from "Jamie's Dinners", which I was using as it was the most familiar of the options available in said kitchen.

The process of this one was pretty simple, albeit time-consuming. Unfortunately, I misjudged the time involved, such that the meal was 'ready' far too early, but that's not a huge problem. I also have to question Jamie's quantity of potatoes, which was way too many for four people. (Should have stuck with the "four people... four potatoes" formula, or close to it.)

However, the worst problem was that when the food was 'ready' and we came to cut the chicken, we found that it was undercooked. I fear I must have misread the oven setting, or something like that. So the chicken, which was now open, had to go back in. When it came out again, it was now cooked, but it was also browned in places it should not have been. A shame, really.

Taste wise, the meal was pretty good. The potatoes, in particular, went extremely well. The chicken tasted good, too, though it was rather dry due to the mistake in the cooking. I served with some simply-done peas and carrots, though these were nothing to write home about, and some gravy that was more... gloopy than I would have preferred.

None of which was Jamie's fault of course - just a problem inherent in cooking in someone else's kitchen. Still, I'd defintely be willing to try this recipe again.

(In fact, for the past while I've been considering doing a BIG roast every weekend, in order to harvest lots of leftovers for lunches and the like. But I'm not quite there yet...)

The Dawn of the Third Age of Mankind

Amongst other things, last night I watched "Sleeping in Light", the last episode of the main "Babylon 5" show. I still have a couple of TV-movies to watch, and then "Crusade", and then a couple more TV-movies, but for the most part, basically, I'm done.

Watching that last series of "Babylon 5" is always an odd experience, because the main arc of the show was finished at the end of the previous series, and what follows is both less interesting and rather stretched. In particular, the three episodes prior to SiL always feel particularly weak, being little more than "this character leaves, then this character leaves, then..." That said, the last two episodes do always have a couple of moments that creep up on me every time - in "Objects at Rest", when Sheridan brings the White Star around for "one last look at the place", and we see the new generation standing in the place of the old; and in "Sleeping in Light", when he raises the toast to "absent friends, in memory still bright".

What was odd, though, was that this time the bit that really got me was the final parting between Sheridan and Delenn. I guess time changes, and people change.

I found myself wondering, though... will I ever watch this show again? The thing is, "Babylon 5" genuinely is one of my top-three sci-fi series of all time, but the truth is that both the first and the last series are a bit of a slog, and it's also true that the DVDs are really not of good quality (and there will probably never be a blu-ray or digital release, sadly - the digital models required to upgrade the CGI to HD have been lost). Plus, I know the story, and I'm constantly finding myself with more to do and less time to do it in - will I have the time to dedicate to watching it again? And if and when I do, will I still have the means to do so?

I also found myself pondering just where B5 sits within that "top three"? The other two series are "Star Trek" and "Doctor Who", of course, but which is best? Both those series probably have more really good stuff than B5, but equally, the both have huge amounts of dross, and a lot that's better in concept than execution - "Voyager", "Enterprise", and a big chunk of old-Who. And "Deep Space Nine" owes a fairly significant debt to B5 for changing the nature of series TV, as does much of new-Who.

And then... "Babylon 5" is the only one I have on DVD, and the only one I'd really make time to watch. But, I wouldn't sit down to watch B5 if it were on TV, where I might for either of the other two (since with B5, it's the whole series, or nothing; DW and ST (apart from DS9) don't have that weakness).

I guess there's only one way to find out... Fight!

Two Things About the Bake-off

Firstly, and briefly, I was rather amused by a certain irony last night.

For several weeks, one of the finalists has been consistently criticised for style over substance. It has been a constant refrain: style and substance. Substance. Substance.

Last night, the final bake, the one that the competition inevitably comes down to, the show-stopper challenge, was a wedding cake. That is, one of those creations where style is of critical importance. In fact, one of those creations where the style of the thing is vastly more important than the substance - the function of the cake is to be the centre-piece for the room, to look good in the resulting photos... and then, as an afterthought, to taste good in that tiny slice that each guest gets to taste.

So... amusing.

But the second thing is this: for some time, indeed since the end of the last series, that has been the feeling that the show will inevitably be being moved to BBC1 next year, presumably so it can attract a larger audience.

Which is, frankly, bizarre. Are we supposed to believe that there are large numbers out there who have TVs that only get BBC1 and ITV? Or is it that their remote controls don't have a number '2' on them?

Honestly, it's ridiculous. People who want to see the show can get it. People who don't want to see the show can watch something else. But that's true whether the show is on BBC2 and the "something else" on BBC1, or the reverse. They're just numbers... and it's not even as if they're channels that are in competition with one another. (Of course, equally, there's no reason not to move the show. For exactly the same reason - they're just numbers.)

(In fact, franky, the concept of different 'channels' is fast becoming obselete. As recording becomes ever more popular and convenient, and as TV streaming services like iPlayer and 4oD become ever more prevalent, it becomes increasingly irrelevant whether a show is on BBC1, 2, 3, 4, BBC Hats, or whatever other channel there is. The provider matters, since one might have access to BBC but not Sky, and of course it matters whether you have to suffer adverts or not. But the distinction between BBC channels, and especially between the channels that everyone gets? Not a jot.)

#48: "Pathfinder: Sword of Valor", by Neil Spicer
#49: "The Nutmeg of Consolation", by Patrick O'Brian
#50: "The Blood of Gods", by Conn Iggulden

Wait... Why Is That Legal?

When preparing for my driving test, one of the things I was told was that if you drove at 30mph in a 40 zone, you would be marked down. Do that consistently, and you would be failed for it. Because one of the requirements of being a competent driver was that you had to keep the traffic moving, which meant moving at a speed suitable to the road conditions.

Which, really, is as it should be.

As I was driving to work, I noted a number of vehicles with various stickers on the back, indicating that the vehicle was somehow limited in speed. You've no doubt seen them - they are becoming more and more prevalent on our roads.

Now, in many cases, these stickers merely note the (theoretical) limits applied to the vehicle by law - on particular roads, large vehicles have a lower speed limit that they must follow, and that's that. (I say theoretical, because it's a rule, not a true limitation - if the driver chose to break the law, the vehicle would indeed go faster. Not that I'm at all suggesting that they do, or would...)

However, I also noticed a few vehicles that weren't bound by law to follow any special speed limit, and yet had such a sticker. And, indeed, at least one of these was marked by a sticker indicating that the vehicle was limited to 68mph. This was on the M9, a road that has a 70mph limit along most of its length (although we were in a lower, variable, limit zone when I saw the van in question).

Now, I know that there's no legal requirement that you must drive at the speed limit, nor indeed is there a (relevant) minimum speed limit on the motorways. However, it is a condition of the driving test that you drive at an appropriate speed, and that you don't unduly slow the flow of traffic.

On a motorway with a speed limit of 70mph, very often the appropriate speed to drive is indeed 70mph. And a vehicle driving at less than that speed, especially one driving just under that speed, does indeed impede the flow of traffic - due to their presence, anyone who wants to go faster (most road-users) now have to move across into the single, faster, lane, slowly pass this one vehicle, and then proceed. The effect of this, especially a peak times, can be very significant.

In which case, I have to ask: why is it legal for vehicles to be limited in this way, when it is known that such limits will have a deleterious effect on the flow of traffic for everyone else?

#47: "Mockingjay", by Suzanne Collins (Not a comfortable read, even after the grimness of the first two. Still, an outstanding trilogy.)

Atlantis

For the past week or so, I kept seeing adverts for this show, and kept meaning to set the digibox to record it. I think promptly forgot to do so on Saturday. Still, thanks to the magic of iPlayer, that wasn't really an issue.

To a certain extent, I pity any new fantasy TV series. They inevitably get compared to "Game of Thrones", and the comparison is inevitably "not as good as". This despite the fact that they're very different shows doing very different things... and also that "Game of Thrones" really isn't quite the work of genius that it's made out to be.

As for "Atlantis", I enjoyed it... mostly. It's certainly better than "Robin Hood", though not yet as good as "Merlin" was at its best. (In particular, "Merlin" really benefitted from Anthony Head and Richard Wilson giving it some much-needed gravitas, in the same way that Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan elevated the "X-Men" movies above standard comic-book fare.)

It is true that they've really mangled Greek myth, to the extent that the show is less authentic than "Hercules: the Legendary Journeys". It's also true that, some few trappings aside, the characters have a far too modern sensibility. And there's too much of the "manly men save the day" about it - though it's just possible that that might change a bit down the way.

But I liked their take on Hercules (despite mis-spelling his name again). It actually makes sense that, if his strength comes from being the son of a god, he doesn't need to be the ripped titan we usually see. And I liked most of the chemisty between the cast - the three leads in particular go well together.

All that said, there's one thing that really bothers me about the show. In fact, one single word... Pythagoras.

There are three reasons I object to his inclusion, two of which would have been trivially fixed. In most respects, the answer to "what's in a name?" really is "the difference between an enjoyable show and a hugely annoying one."

My first objection to them using this character is that, unlike Minos, Hercules, and the rest, Pythagoras actually was a real person. And so, where you can basically do whatever you want with the other characters, settings, and events (such as giving Jason Theseus' job of killing the Minotaur, moving the whole thing to Atlantis, or mis-spelling Heracles). But, with Pythagoras, you don't get to do that. If you're going to use real people, you've got to get them right. (And, incidentally, the reason it's different when Doctor Who uses Churchill or other figures is this: such characters are always guest stars appearing in the occasional episode; here, it's a major character due to appear in every episode.)

My second objection is that it's evident that the writers know roughly one thing about Pythagoras: he's "the triangle guy". After all, that's literally the first thing Jason says on learning his name, and it's something that they gets repeated several times in the episode.

But Pythagoras was no more "the triangle guy" than Archimedes was "that bath guy" or Newton was "that apple guy". In each case, that's the thing they're most famous for... but in each case it was a comparitively tiny aspect of a lifetime's work. Constantly repeating it as some sort of joke was really irritating.

(And it was all so unnecessary. Just change the name, drop the triangle 'jokes' and you've got a much better show, and actually lose nothing in the process.)

My third objection, though, was something that couldn't be fixed just by changing the name. As noted, that "triangle guy" thing was repeated several times. At least one of these took the form of Hercules suggesting that Pythagoras bore the minotaur to death by telling it about triangles. And similarly, when Jason takes Pythagoras' place in the labyrinth, his justification is that Pythagoras great legacy is that millions of school-children will be bored learning his theory. It's a joke, see?

Well, ha. Bloody. Ha.

Yes, I get it. Maths is hard. Chuckle. Maths is boring. LOL. Oh, it's so funny. Indeed, I fear my sides have split.

So, what we have here is a show where manly men go off and have adventures, where women exist (it would seem) to look good, to be rescued, and if they're very lucky, to give the hero some magic token that preserves his life. Sort of. A bit. Oh, and where we once again get to play "let's laugh at the geek!"

Dear BBC, thank you so very much for that new and interesting bit of banter. I've never seen that done before! (And never mind that "Pythagoras' legacy" includes the computer on which this script was written, the building in which it was written, and any and all food that the writer consumed when doing so. See, that's the thing about foundations of mathematics - they affect everything that comes after. And even that's ignoring the significant impact that Pythagorean philosophy had on Plato, and consequently on Western thought as a whole.)

As I said, it's mostly a reasonably entertaining bit of fluff entertainment, the very thing to hold down the "Doctor Who" slot until DW is back. Except for that one blemish that just ruins it. It's such a shame.

#45: "Johnny and the Dead", by Terry Pratchett
#46: "Johnny and the Bomb", by Terry Pratchett

Experimental Cookery 2013: Quick Chicken Pilau

This was the first meal I cooked from the Hairy Bikers' "Great Curries", a book I got some time ago but never quite got around to using. As the name implies, it was a quick dish made with chicken and rice.

There wasn't really anything to making the dish, with the most difficult bit being sourcing the required curry paste (where most of the local supermarkets had every other paste in the range except for the one that was needed). Beyond that, there was a small amount of chopping, and then a series of steps consisting pretty much of "add this to the pan now". Half an hour later, and it was done.

And very nice it was, too. In hindsight, I think the quantities are over-generous - the recipe says it will serve four, but I'm inclined to think that the meal I did would have served five easily. Indeed, had I used the full amount of chicken listed, six would not have been a difficult stretch. But the meal was easy to make, it was full of flavour... basically, it was a winner all around.

We'll definitely be having this again, and not just to use up the remaining two servings. A success!

Incidentally, I've decided not to bother doing "Experimental Cookery..." posts about any more soups, unless there happens to be something of particular note. They'd reached a point where they came to "we made this; it was easy; it was okay", and that's pretty dull. The cookbook I've been using is a good one, although I doubt I'd ever use more than 10% of the recipes, but it's not worth posting, or reading, about every little thing.

#42: "Liar's Blade" by Tim Pratt
#43: "The Thirteen-Gun Salute", by Patrick O'Brian

And Two Other Updates

1. I didn't get to be Doctor Who. Obviously, I'm gutted at this - I was sure I'd argued my case to perfection.
   
2. As you know, my mobile phone died on me. At the time, I was undecided whether to go for a cheap-and-nasty phone as a stop-gap, or to take the plunge and buy a smartphone. In the end, I concluded that I really needed a phone now, so went for the cheap option. Mobile phone #3 then lasted for all of 4 weeks, before it was discovered that it wouldn't work in the US, and I really needed a phone to take. And so, mobile phone #4 was bought - also a cheaper option, although this one actually has a camera and other functions. Actually, it's much like mobile phone #2, so I expect to be using this one for some time.

Update on Goals

It's not been too long since the last update, but since we're now two-thirds of the way through the year, I figured it that now would be as good a time as any.

• Health: This is a very mixed one. There's some good news, some not so good news, and the likelihood of a way forward. I'm not so keen on sharing all the details here. Sorry.
  
• Weight: No movement. Actually, that's not true. When I was in the US, I put on somewhere between 4 and 6 pounds. Those have since come off, leaving me back where I started the year. This is going to need some work.
  
• Work: The last couple of months have been some of the best ever. So, that's good. Actually, part of the reason I'm posting now is that things have reached something of a lull (in a good way). But that won't last long... and that's good too.
  
• Books: I've read 41 books, and hopeful of getting to 45 by the end of this month, putting me back on track. I'm also up to date on three of the five series, and only one behind on a fourth. There's now no chance that I'll read twelve books from The List in the remainder of this year, but I'm not too dismayed about that.
  
• Debt: Paying off the bathroom took slightly longer than anticipated, due solely to that great evil: compound interest. But it's done now, and that was an amazingly great weight from my shoulders. Next!
  
• Games: "The Ebrrron Code" came to its planned end, and that end went as well as I could have hoped. That campaign really justifies its place in my "Big Four" great campaigns. The next campaign, "Imperial Fist", is due to start on the 1st of next month. I'm looking forward to it, although I really need to get some prep-work done. Since the last update, I haven't managed to fit in another one-shot, so remain at 2 out of the hoped-for 5. It seems likely that that count will end the year at 4. That said, I'm hopefully going to be playing in a one-shot in a couple of weeks, so think I might count that. All in all, that's pretty good. However, there are two small flies in the ointment. The first is that I've basically let the Imaginarium slide into inactivity, much as happened to this blog; I'm hoping to restart that one fairly soon. The second is that I concluded I have basically no interest whatsoever in 5th Edition of D&D - and indeed won't be too unhappy if I don't run or play any version of D&D for quite some time.

And that's that.

Experimental Cookery 2013: My Dad’s Really Very Good Lasagne

Well, not my Dad's, of course... This one comes from Lorraine Pascale's "Home Cooking Made Easy", so it's presumably her Dad's lasagne.

Anyway, I do like lasagne. But thus far, making lasagne has meant getting two jars of Dolmio sauces from Tesco, and then browning some mince and vegetables. Which is fine, of course, though it does now mean working from memory - so extreme is LC's rage against the mushroom that she threw out my lasagne recipe! I did try Jamie's lasagne recipe, from his "Ministry of Food", and while it was okay, it wasn't better enough than the Dolmio jars to justify the much greater effort involved. So, could Lorraine do any better?

Well, the short answer is "yes". The slightly longer answer is, "yes, but not enough to completely supplant the Dolmio version."

The lasagne that resulted from following Lorraine's Dad's recipe was very nice, no question about that. And, like Jamie's before it, it was indeed better than the Dolmio version. However, it also takes more than twice as long, and so while it's the best to date, it probably isn't the version I'm going to use regularly. I'll probably keep it for special occasions.

(It's much like pizza in this regard - the homemade ones are better than Tesco's alternative, but they're not better enough to justify the much greater effort involved in making them. So, that's three things: pizza, lasagne, and fajitas.)

One last thing. Lorraine's recipe was time-consuming, but it wasn't particularly difficult to follow. However, there was one thing worth noting: the book doesn't include the over temperature to use, which is a fairly crucial omission. Fortunately, I was able to track this down using the wonders of Google, finding a blog by someone who noted that she'd asked LP herself and received a response... and then didn't include said response on her site! (The answer is 180 degrees.) It's been a long time since I wrote in a book. It still feels wrong somehow.

Anyway, that's that.

#40: "Pathfinder: The Worldwound Incursion", by Amber E. Scott
#41: "The Wasp Factory", by Iain Banks (a book from The List)

Experimental Cookery Disaster!

Lady Chocolat and I are having some friends over for dinner tonight, so in honour of the occasion I thought it would be a good idea to bake some bread... and also a good opportunity to get some use from my latest cookbook, "Bread" by Paul Hollywood (sadly, not a great book).

So, the plan was to cook up some garlic bread, and the method started off easily enough - stick the ingredients in the mixer, start mixing slowly, add the liquids, and then mix at a higher speed for 10 minutes. Easy!

At this point, I set an alarm and went away to let the mixer do its thing.

A few short minutes later, there was a loud crash from the kitchen, and then the noise of the mixer trying, but struggling, to run its motor.

I rushed back into the kitchen, only to discover that the mixer had, lemming-like, hurled itself off of the counter, and smashed itself into pieces on the floor. The dough was splattered across said floor, and whole thing was a mess.

Gah!

So, no garlic bread for tonight, although we may buy some from Tesco. I spent the next twenty minutes cleaning up the mess, getting the kitchen back into some semblance of order. Fortunately, it looks like the mixer actually wasn't damaged - the various bits are designed to come apart, and although quite a lot of dough got into the motors I was able to brush it out.

Still, a definite disaster to add to my tally. At least I didn't end up wounded this time!

#37: "Pathfinder: The Dragon's Demand", by Mike Shel
#38: "Heart of Darkness and Other Stories", by Joseph Conrad
#39: "Catching Fire", by Suzanne Collins

Dear American TV...

Just some thoughts:

1. It's quite annoying when our channels break films up with adverts. Still, at least we have a good half-hour of film for 5 minutes of adverts. Showing ten minutes of film and then ten minutes of adverts is annoying in the extreme. Please stop it.
2. At 11pm at night, it is probably okay to show the occasional bared breast, and/or not to censor expletives. If it really, truly, is not, perhaps you should consider not showing "Deuce Bigelo: European Gigolo"?
3. Speaking of censorship, you should perhaps be consistent. In "The Ugly Truth", there's a scene where KH complains that men "prefer women in slutty clothes who suck lots of ****". This is then followed by a five minute exchange in which KH and GB repeatedly declare "cock". "Cock, cock, cock." Can you perhaps see the absurdity of censoring the first of these, but not the rest? And yet, that's exactly what happened. (And yes, I watched a bunch of crap when I was in the US. Unfortunately, the choice of channels was extremely limited, and I had no DVDs with me. Plus, with the amount of work I was doing, by the time the TV went on, I wanted something suitably mind-numbing.)
4. Anything on the Fox Network that isn't explicitly marked as fiction really should be removed from TV. Seriously, I get annoyed enough at Question Time, but this was a whole new level of nonsense. I particularly enjoyed the comments by the rich white guy who declared that fast food employees shouldn't assume that their work gave them the right to expect to have somewhere to live. No, he really said that. (It was particularly annoying because they often had discussion topics that actually sounded like interesting subjects. But then they actually got started.)

The Adventures of Steph/ven: #3: The Wedding of Katie and Bex

Okay, right at the outset I'm going to say this: I'm aware that there are potentially discussions to have about the question of gay marriage. One day, I might actually post on that topic. But the time for that was not last weekend, and it's not really now either. This was, and is, about my cousin's day, so I'm going to respect it as such. To that end, while I'm not realy a fan of censorship, I've disabled comments on this post. Sorry.

So, I got back to the UK on Friday morning, at about 10:30. On Sunday, at about 2:30, I was parted from LC once again, got into a car with my parents, and travelled down to the wedding. We were the only three members of the Scottish branch of the family to attend; unfortunately, the schools up here go back earlier than down South, which impacted on most other people. (Indeed, I missed LC's first day of work as a result, which wasn't ideal, but there it is.)

The journey down was... interesting. According to Google Maps, it was a journey of 4 hours and 38 minutes. We got there about 8:30. Still, it was okay, I suppose. We did stop to eat along the way, then abandoned our first choice of services, stopped again later, regretted that we hadn't stayed at the first place, and reluctantly dined at Burger King. It wasn't the best - especially when we reached the hotel, Dad saw the menu, and commented that he felt the hotel restaurant would have been a good choice, looking both good quality and not bad price. (Yes, I know. I was shocked too.)

We stayed in the Premier Inn at Harmer Hill, which I think was once a family hotel that has since been bought over/converted to become a PI. Which was fine - it was pretty much as expected from the chain, complete with the Good Night's Sleep guarantee. I had no complaints, and even my parents were duly impressed. (Yes, I know. I was shocked too.)

During the journey down, it occurred to me that I didn't recall putting my cufflinks in my bag. I knew I'd put them beside the bag to go in, but didn't recall them actually being packed. LC then confirmed that they had been left behind, and so alternate arrangements had to be made (which reminds me - must send the borrowed ones back to M). However, this proved to be the less embarrassing wardrobe issue, as a certain person had to rush off to buy a new suit due to a trouser shortfall...

So, Dad returned to the hotel, dressed in about five minutes, and then we piled into the car. He then set off at high speed - so fast, in fact, that I didn't have the time to get the directions aligned and we missed the vital turn. Oops. Fortunately, I had somehow remembered my book of maps, and was thus able to navigate us to the appropriate place. Which was lucky, really.

The weeding took place at Rowton Castle:

It was a lovely, sunny day, so there was a gathering of the family in the grounds outside, and then again just within the castle. And then came the time for the ceremony.

At this point I wasn't sure what to expect. This was, after all, the first civil partnership I had attended, so what was it to be? What would they wear? What was the terminology? I mean, I didn't want to ask, but I was understandably curious.

Well, it turned out that, regardless of the technicalities, it was basically a wedding. So, there were several bridesmaids, each of the couple had two "best persons" (Katie had two best women, while Bex had a best woman and best man), and so forth. Also, the couple were referred to, almost exclusively, as "Katie and Bex" (or "Katie and Rebecca" where appropriate), which was a good choice.

For their part, Bex wore a fairly traditional dress, being a bluish silver and strapless, while Katie wore a pantsuit with a huge velvet jacket festooned with buttons in a nautical style. It suited her entirely, conveying exactly the whimsy that we've come to expect from Katie:

(Sorry, not the best photo, just the best that I took. I was using my phone, and hadn't quite got to grips with how best to use it.)

The ceremony was short and sweet, and then it was outside for mingling, for photos, and for the single greatest idea in the history if ice creams:

Yes, it's true - the ice creams were both larger than the entire wedding party, and they had the ability to turn you into a giant so that they were smaller than your thumb! Isn't that amazing?

The rest of the day was more or less as would be expected - there was some mingling, then the meal (chicken, or maybe turkey, and potato salad to start, roast beef for main, and then a brownie and cream for dessert), and then the first dance and disco.

During the afternoon, I was asked if I would pipe the couple in to the top table. I was, of course, delighted to do so, although I was initially a little concerned - I didn't want to force myself into their day, but my Dad had mentioned to Katie's Dad, and then Katie asked me. But I checked, and they were absolutely delighted that I play, so... huzzah!

Amusingly, while I was tuning up, it was noted that the cows in the field stopped what they were doing and appeared intrigued. Actully, while I was in the car park, I noticed this was the case, and had been a bit concerned lest they suddenly stampede. But all was well. In fact, I'm sure I noticed a few cows with cameras, so I can only conclude that I've now been tagged on photos on the cow social network, Facemoo. (Actually, that would be my second appearance on Facemoo, as I'm also the genius behind that famed mini-game "Is the Grass Always Greener?")

(For the record, LC laughed at both those jokes, so I'm taking that as authorisation to use them.)

And that was more or less it. We left the hotel about 11:30, after Grandma turned in for the night. And we travelled home the next day, just in time to attend young nephew P's birthday party. Because, of course, the adventure never really ends.

The Adventures of Steph/ven: #2: Minneapolis

The day before I departed on my holiday to Sardinia, there was raised the question of a team going out to see our customer, to help them with the next phase of our project. (I can say no more than that - see my "no work talk" rule.) I was adjudged to be the most likely candidate, probably to go out with one other person. So, I left my details behind, and went off on holiday.

I was therefore back in the country for less than four and a half days before I was jetting off once more, this time to Iceland and then to Minneapolis.

The journey out was not terribly pleasant. The flights both ways were absolutely packed, so there really wasn't enough room. Plus, there was only a single drinks service, and absolutely nothing complimentary. I guess that's the price of travelling economy class. Still, that's also worse than I've enjoyed on any previous trans-Atlantic flights.

Incidentally, I saw neither my Mum nor LC's while in Iceland. Nor Kerry Katona for that matter.

While over there, I was staying in the Hilton. But I should probably clarify that - this wasn't one of their top-end signature hotels, but rather one of their more modest budget locations. Really, it was more like a Premier Inn. Still I had a comparitively huge room (they were packed when I arrived, so I ended up with a handicap-access room, hence the larger proportions; I didn't complain), and it was everything it really needed to be.

Most of the rest of the trip consisted of work. I was there for fifteen days, and I worked fourteen of those. I did take the second Saturday off, mostly because there's a limit to how much you can do. But that was fine - as I see it, I was there for a particular purpose, and if I can better achieve that purpose by working very long hours for a short period, then so be it. It wasn't like I was over-endowed with options - if the choice is 'work' or 'sit round the hotel room', it's not a difficult choice.

(I actually did quite a lot of my work while sitting around my hotel room, and actually that was often more convenient than working from the office, but that was purely incidental.)

On my day off, I raced around various place. In the morning, I went to see the cathedral in St Paul (named for a different St Paul). Here's a couple of pictures:

I also went to see Fort Snelling, which was constructed at the joining of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers in 1820, and which was at that time the furthest outpost of 'civilisation' in the US. While there, I saw demonstrations of musket- and cannon-fire, which were extremely interesting. I actually had never seen a 'real' gun fired before.

Actually, that was probably the high point of my day. I'm just a little annoyed at myself that I never took any pictures. Oh well.

After that, my host and I had lunch, and then I made sure to go and purchase LC a nice present, to make up for being absent for so long.

Speaking of LC, we were quite fortunate that we were able to communicate using Skype while I was out there. I made sure to set this up before I left, and it made a huge difference - especially on those days when I was working out of the hotel, when we could use the video function.

And that's mostly that. One evening I went to see "The Wolverine", which was okay, though I missed the first five minutes due to going to the wrong cinema. And it was hot and humid out there, though I'm told it was unseasonably cool, and that things are about to head into winter quite fast.

Oh yes, and there's the ice cream. On my day off, my host took me to an ice cream parlour, where I had a huge chocolate-dipped cone filled with two nice flavours (one of which was banana and chocolate; I think the other was strawberry, but I forget). Anyway, that was nice, right up until I tried to bite into the cone itself. At this point, the non-chocolate-y bit twisted and collapsed in my hand. Thereafter, the whole adventure was something of a scramble - could I finish the ice cream before it melted all over my hand? (The answer, unsurprisingly, was "no".)

Actually, my diet there was pretty terrible. Meat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, lots of soda, coffee, and huge amounts of beer. Very little fruit or veg... and yet, somehow, it seemed to do me a huge amount of good. I really don't understand these things sometimes. Oh well. (Plus, no Irn Bru! The sacrifices I make sometimes...)

The flight back was much better than going out. Because I'd needed a flexible return date, I'd been booked into Economy Comfort class, which had the same seats as Saga (First) Class, albeit without the fancy meal and the champagne before takeoff (seriously). So, I had loads of room, loads of comfort... and was too tired to really appreciate it. I spent my time watching crap sitcoms, while lamenting that the light wasn't good enough to read by. Of course, I was too tired to read anyway, but it's the principle of the thing.

(I still didn't see any relevant Mums in Iceland on the way back, but I was only there for about 45 minutes - just long enough to buy a wonderful mug with Vikings on, and to visit the toilet. Still, I fear the adverts may have been lying.)

And that was my second adventure.

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