Tuesday, 12 August 2008
I just ate a squirrel
No, really. Fucking tasty it was too. Does this trump alligator as the strangest animal I've eaten? I can't decide.
Linguine with Prawns
This was originally going to be a comment here but it was going on way too long for a single comment and since everyone* seems to be doing cookery based posts all of a sudden it seemed more appropriate to make a real post out of it
*well, these two anyway. Apologies for not linking to the specific post on Twonilblankblank but its either down right now or (more likely) our office network is playing silly buggers again. [EDIT: ha, got it]
So, Dana has asked for people's favourite food. I could go on for pages and pages about a perfect beef ragu but for everyday eating (i.e. things which take less than 3 hours to cook) my current favourite has got to be linguine with prawns.
Ingredients:
(measurements are mostly guesswork)
1/2 a medium onion, finely chopped
1-3 cloves of garlic, according to taste, finely chopped
~300ml tomato passata
~100ml vegetable stock
220g fresh shelled prawns (because thats the size of the packs of taste the difference prawns from Sainsburys. A few more would be preferable. )
However much linguine 2 of you will eat (as I live with a pasta addict this is often as much as 400g dry weight in our house)
Instructions:
Put water on for pasta. SLOWLY cook onion and garlic in 2-3 tablespoons olive oil. Strangely, I find a wok is the the perfect pan for this - the base is small enough that the onion and garlic sit in enough oil not to burn but because it flares out its big enough to use to mix everything together at the end. Once the water is boiling and the pasta is in, add the passata and stock to the onions and garlic and bring to a simmer. If you happen to have any white wine lying around, you could do a lot worse than add a splash of it before this step (sadly I'm a cider drinking heathen and my housemate only drinks red so we rarely do) 3-4 minutes before the pasta is cooked, add the prawns to the sauce along with a tablespoon or two of the pasta water and check for seasoning. Top tip: add a touch of sugar as well as salt and pepper, supermarket passata in the UK is always too acidic and this helps balance it out. Drain the pasta when it is still slightly underdone, add it to the sauce, keep the heat on low and stir together for the final minute of cooking to ensure the sauce properly coats the pasta.
Dead simple, done in 20 minutes and bloody fantastic, if I do say so myself.
Recipe inspired by Linguine with Lobster from Giorgio Locatelli's Made In Italy, but simplified (and budgeted) down to where I can face cooking it after work. A slightly more faithful, but still affordable, version of the original recipe could be made by buying unpeeled prawns and using the shells and a pinch of saffron to make the stock but this is more effort than I'm usually willing to put in.
*well, these two anyway. Apologies for not linking to the specific post on Twonilblankblank but its either down right now or (more likely) our office network is playing silly buggers again. [EDIT: ha, got it]
So, Dana has asked for people's favourite food. I could go on for pages and pages about a perfect beef ragu but for everyday eating (i.e. things which take less than 3 hours to cook) my current favourite has got to be linguine with prawns.
Ingredients:
(measurements are mostly guesswork)
1/2 a medium onion, finely chopped
1-3 cloves of garlic, according to taste, finely chopped
~300ml tomato passata
~100ml vegetable stock
220g fresh shelled prawns (because thats the size of the packs of taste the difference prawns from Sainsburys. A few more would be preferable. )
However much linguine 2 of you will eat (as I live with a pasta addict this is often as much as 400g dry weight in our house)
Instructions:
Put water on for pasta. SLOWLY cook onion and garlic in 2-3 tablespoons olive oil. Strangely, I find a wok is the the perfect pan for this - the base is small enough that the onion and garlic sit in enough oil not to burn but because it flares out its big enough to use to mix everything together at the end. Once the water is boiling and the pasta is in, add the passata and stock to the onions and garlic and bring to a simmer. If you happen to have any white wine lying around, you could do a lot worse than add a splash of it before this step (sadly I'm a cider drinking heathen and my housemate only drinks red so we rarely do) 3-4 minutes before the pasta is cooked, add the prawns to the sauce along with a tablespoon or two of the pasta water and check for seasoning. Top tip: add a touch of sugar as well as salt and pepper, supermarket passata in the UK is always too acidic and this helps balance it out. Drain the pasta when it is still slightly underdone, add it to the sauce, keep the heat on low and stir together for the final minute of cooking to ensure the sauce properly coats the pasta.
Dead simple, done in 20 minutes and bloody fantastic, if I do say so myself.
Recipe inspired by Linguine with Lobster from Giorgio Locatelli's Made In Italy, but simplified (and budgeted) down to where I can face cooking it after work. A slightly more faithful, but still affordable, version of the original recipe could be made by buying unpeeled prawns and using the shells and a pinch of saffron to make the stock but this is more effort than I'm usually willing to put in.
Sunday, 10 August 2008
New release: Conor Oberst by Conor Oberst
Right then, time for my first album review in about seven years*, in what will hopefully become a semi-regular feature assuming I actually manage to continue listening to new music and notice when things get released.
Ok, I give up. Wrote the introduction to this post about 5 days ago and keep coming back to it but I just do not know what to say about this album. Its Conor Oberst, if you've got the last Bright Eyes album you know exactly what to expect. The production is a bit more stripped back but that's no surprise - the whole reason it wasn't released as Bright Eyes in the first place is that Mike Mogis, one of the other two permanent members and responsible for recording every previous album back to Fevers & Mirrors, wasn't able to take part in the recording. Its a great album and if you're already a Bright Eyes fan you're bound to love it, if you're not then I'm sure you've got your reasons and you should probably leave well alone.
*Rings Around The World by Super Furry Animals was the last one** if I remember rightly, for a dodgy magazine someone was putting together in 6th form. With any luck, there are no copies still in existence...
**Looks like its still the last one. Oh well, probably for the best.
Ok, I give up. Wrote the introduction to this post about 5 days ago and keep coming back to it but I just do not know what to say about this album. Its Conor Oberst, if you've got the last Bright Eyes album you know exactly what to expect. The production is a bit more stripped back but that's no surprise - the whole reason it wasn't released as Bright Eyes in the first place is that Mike Mogis, one of the other two permanent members and responsible for recording every previous album back to Fevers & Mirrors, wasn't able to take part in the recording. Its a great album and if you're already a Bright Eyes fan you're bound to love it, if you're not then I'm sure you've got your reasons and you should probably leave well alone.
*Rings Around The World by Super Furry Animals was the last one** if I remember rightly, for a dodgy magazine someone was putting together in 6th form. With any luck, there are no copies still in existence...
**Looks like its still the last one. Oh well, probably for the best.
Friday, 8 August 2008
The enemies of reason: Mail shows sympathy for migrants
The enemies of reason: Mail shows sympathy for migrants
I don't know how Anton does it. How can he possibly spend so much time reading the Daily Mail (or as I think he has conclusively proved it should be known, the Daily Fail) without his brain melting and dribbling out his ears? Today's effort can't have helped with his state of mind, I still can't quite believe the Fail has produced a pro-immigration story even after reading the damn thing.
I don't know how Anton does it. How can he possibly spend so much time reading the Daily Mail (or as I think he has conclusively proved it should be known, the Daily Fail) without his brain melting and dribbling out his ears? Today's effort can't have helped with his state of mind, I still can't quite believe the Fail has produced a pro-immigration story even after reading the damn thing.
Wednesday, 6 August 2008
Bohemian Jukebox - 05/08/08
Sadly there was no sign of The Baron at last night's gig so it looks like I actually need to do some sort of review for this one:
Headlining was some cunt with a guitar (or some cunts with instruments, I think it was listed as one guy on the Bohemian Jukebox website but there were several of 'em on stage) Another guy who doesn't deserve a mention by name, or rather isn't worth the effort of checking what his name actually was. I can only assume he was given the headline slot purely on the amount of people he brings along to gigs since his music made Snow Patrol sound exciting. Sadly the people he brought along were just as bad as the arseholes at the Toby Goodshank gig, talking through all the other bands, not giving a shit until their mates were on and then suddenly discovering they could not only clap but cheer, whoop and generally ensure the talentless gimps on stage got the impression they shouldn't just go home and kill themselves.
Mr Plow, probably the world's only country singer named after one of Homer Simpson's business ventures, was the real star of the night. Great voice and fantastic downbeat country music, he mentioned that he was recording a session for Mark Lamarr's radio show on 23rd August which should be worth a listen. I think my housemate managed to collar him for one of the free 7" singles he was giving away after the set, I'll see if I can 'borrow' it and report back (I was too busy getting a quick dose of nicotine after his set, by the time I got back uptstairs they'd already packed up and buggered off - I think they must have caught the headliners soundchecking and realised it was probably a good idea not to be around when they came on)
Sadly the chattering hordes were out in force for Theatre of the Absurd so please bear in mind that this is my impression of a gig I was struggling to hear properly. I'd previously seen him joining in with both Dizzy Spells Martian and Toby Goodshank at the rainbow a couple of weeks ago (a fact I completely forgot to mention at the time) which gave him a lot to live up to. If he'd actually managed to remember the songs he might have managed it too, there was definitely a really interesting singer-songwriter hiding somewhere under the lack of preparation. He also gets bonus points for ambition by attempting to cover The Postal Service's Nothing Better, most noticable for being a boy/girl duet with a distinctive keyboard part, on his own with an acoustic guitar. It didn't work for one second, but it was nice to see him try.
Sadly the chattering hordes were out in force for Theatre of the Absurd so please bear in mind that this is my impression of a gig I was struggling to hear properly. I'd previously seen him joining in with both Dizzy Spells Martian and Toby Goodshank at the rainbow a couple of weeks ago (a fact I completely forgot to mention at the time) which gave him a lot to live up to. If he'd actually managed to remember the songs he might have managed it too, there was definitely a really interesting singer-songwriter hiding somewhere under the lack of preparation. He also gets bonus points for ambition by attempting to cover The Postal Service's Nothing Better, most noticable for being a boy/girl duet with a distinctive keyboard part, on his own with an acoustic guitar. It didn't work for one second, but it was nice to see him try.
Overall it was a good night in terms of music but despite this being a seemingly well-established night at a really busy pub there were barely any people there who didn't seem to know at least one of the bands. Why are Brummies so hard to get to gigs?
Friday, 1 August 2008
Google Reader
What the fuck is wrong with this piece of shit website and where can I find an alternative web-based RSS reader? It is completely refusing to show up the blogs I have listed on my blogroll (you know, the ones I actually want to read regularly...) unless I change it to show everything in one giant list, and I can't even get to the settings page to try and change this. Ok so I am on IE6 (and windows 2000, our office is THAT modern) but it shouldn't be this fucked even so.
Third Hand Hilarity
I have no idea what the etiquette regarding 'borrowing' amusing stories from other blogs who have already taken them from somewhere else is but there is no way I could fail to mention this story. Again, its a british article brought to my attention by an american blogger, cheers Dana. Maybe its time I started checking some proper websites as well as blogs, what difference can another half hour make when I already spend less than half my day actually working.
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