Guess where we've been this weekend?

We went to a Christening in Ealing this weekend. Drove down to London on Saturday morning, checked into our hotel and went to the Christening in the afternoon, and the party afterwards.

On the way home today we went for a driving tour across London, along the Embankment, and back and forward across a few bridges (went over Tower Bridge twice) to show the boys some of the sights that they've only seen in Dr Who and other TV programs - Big Ben, The Millenium Wheel and Tower Bridge.

We also saw a few interesting things on the motorway on the way down and back - a Micro Lite/Gyrocopter aircraft, a Chieftan Tank (Tank! we all cried, when we went past it in the dark) and a "Vampires Rock" "Lose Your Soul to Rock" Tour Truck, which looked like this.
(I was excitedly pointing this out to the boys, when the driver saw me and saluted).

Too tired to blog any more about this now. I'll post a few more pictures soon.

Novelist Supermum has posted a few more snaps that we took from our moving car.

Crack the Clues

I've just entered the Intel Crack the Clues Competition.

I started doing this a couple of days ago - I can't remember how I came across the website, but the competition is relatively new. It opened on 17 September, and will close on 15 October.

The first teaser clue to entice you into the competition was easy, but things then got a lot harder.

It didn't help that there were some bugs on the competition website, (A stage of the clue to number II flashed up when you incorrectly answered number I). This was rectified after about half a day or so.

The clues are tough to crack, and a bit of IT knowledge helps. I managed to crack two of them myself - although I completely disagree with the competition answer for one of them (so I only got one right). All of the answers have now been posted on the web - it still takes a bit of work to find them, and helps if you've got some of the previous clue stages.

Beats me why people who've gone to all of the effort to figure out the answers, then go and post them on t'internet?

Very generous, but it greatly reduces their chances of winning a prize. I suppose it's because most of them got stuck part way through, and were willing to reveal what they already knew for a further hint.

If I'd worked out the last answer for myself then personally I would keep it to myself. Oh well, it's going to be a lottery. Looking forward to my holiday in San Francisco, a new laptop or a new i-pod :-)

QE2

The QE2 arrived in Liverpool around 07:00 this morning today.

It's only here for 16 hours, in fact it should be leaving about now, with a mid-river firework display. Too late for us to see that one I'm afraid.

Not to worry though, the cruise liner moored right outside the office, because of the new Princes Dock Landing stage, which is (just about) finished - bar some footway safety tests (those accesses are closed) and a snagging list.

So I've had a pretty good view of the ship all day. I got thoroughly soaked taking some photo's this morning between 08:30 and 09:00 am in heavy, drizzly rain. One of the guys on the early shift got in at 06:30 am to watch it arrive (he used to work as a cook on board a few years ago) when there was only a few boat spotters and the Dock Security about.

There was about 20 or so people on the Dock side when I arrived - mostly taking photo's like myself. A couple of "40th Anniversary" and "Last Voyage" programme sellers were also there. The liner is will be sailing to Dubai soon, where it will be turned into a stationary hotel.

The Duke of Kent officially opened the landing stage around 11:30 am today. Didn't see much of him - I think he was avoiding the rain.

I nipped out at lunch time and took a few more snaps. By this time Princes Dock was getting fairly crowded. After lunch the rain eased off a bit, and more passengers began to leave the liner to see the city (only a few brave souls had ventured out into the rain earlier).

I left for home around 16:30 and drove the family back to Princes Dock so that we could all have a look. A few cars were being turned away, but since I have access to our office, and the nearby multi-storey car park, all I had to do was flash my work and car-park pass to get in.

Half an hour of looking at "the big ship" was enough for the boys, who enjoyed the experience (crowds of people, big ship, small boats buzzing around, helicopters flying overhead, waving to a colleague in the office etc).

Headed home via the Fish n' Chip shop.

Arrrrr! It Be Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Shiver me Timbers!

Avast there ye lubbers! Cap'n Cha0tic has given this ole sea dog a shot across the bows by way of reminding him that once again it be International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

I'll leave ye with a shanty from a favourite book of those scurvy powder monkeys, Frodo and Samwise.

Yo Ho Ho!
Yo Ho Ho!
Pirate Dinosaurs Go Go Go!

Homework

Frodo got his first ever set of homework to do this weekend.

3 tasks to do. Ten spellings to copy and practice for a test next week, a food diary for one day over the weekend and a self addressed envelope to write (and provide a stamp for).

He's only six for goodness sake! What is the world coming to? The first time I did homework was when I was 11 or 12. I think that there's too much emphasis on exams and results and not enough on just learning at your own pace.

Plus with his learning difficulty he can barely write his own name. What has happened to the so-called individual learning plan that they were supposed to be doing for him?

We'll just have to give it a go, and let the teacher know how he gets on.

Stottie Cake Recipe

A pal of mine sent me this recipe. This has to be worth spreading the word to the uninitiated.
The recipe suggest a traditional filling. My favourite was always chips!

What the heck is a Stottie? I hear you non-Geordies asking.

A Stottie is basically a flat round large bap from the North East of England. The Geordie stottie has a fluffy texture and was often traditionally eaten filled with bacon and peaspudding. Elsewhere in the world, bread similar to the Stottie is known as Oven Bottom Bread. However the recipe and tradition of the Stottie is unique to the North East of England.

Originally made from leftover dough in the days when everyone baked at home, the round, flat bread-cake was introduced to the High Street by Greggs bakery in the 1960s. Although there is some dispute about exactly how the bread got its name, the most likely explanation is that it has something to do with the way the dough is bounced on the table as it is kneaded ("stot" is Geordie for "bounce").
The stotty is also known as an "Oven Bottom Cake", since it was traditionally baked on the oven floor - not something to be recommended with today's cookers!

Make yer own Stottie!


Ingredients

1590g Plain flour
30g Salt
70g White Fat
14g Sugar
90g Yeast
850g Water
30g Milk Powder

Method
Sieve all dry ingredients together and rub in the fat
Dissolve yeast in warm water, then add to ingredients and mix thoroughly
Knead for 10-15 minutes
Cover dough with a cloth and allow to stand for 30 minutes in a warm place
Knead dough again and allow to stand for a further 30 minutes
Weigh dough into 285g pieces, shape pieces into a round ball and allow to stand for a further 10 minutes
Roll dough pieces out to a diameter of about 22cm, cover and leave in a warm place for 20 minutes
Place on hot tray and press a shallow hole in the middle with a finger
Cook in hot oven (gas mark 8/230C/450F), turning after 8 minutes and baking until golden brown
Allow to cool, but remember that the best way to eat a stotty is when it's still warm and fresh from the oven.

Lady Boys

Went for a works night out on Friday.

This was a management instigated / team building / social event, rather than just a spontaneous night out.

As ever with these events there was a theme. This time it was a Treasure Hunt/Pub Quiz.

Starting in the first pub, each team received a packet of envelopes. Each envelope had the name of the next pub on it in anagram form, followed by a set of questions on things that could be observed inside the pub, and some general knowledge questions too.

Although it wasn't a race (wasn't it?), my team managed to get round the pubs pretty quickly, which were:

The Exchange Bar (Old Hall Street).
Thomas Rigby's.
The Beaconsfield Bar.
T.P. Molloys.
Revolution.
Temples Bar (Temple St).

We did OK on the observation questions, but not so well on the General knowledge. I think that we came last, but after a drink in each pub, a good buffet, a melon cooler, more beer and then two shots (zambuka and green after shock) - who cared?

Just before we left the last place a couple of Lady Boys / Drag Artists appeared in the bar. (I think that they were doing a promotion for the place - it's not far from Garlands), and started doing a show by crawling along the bar, and generally mincing about.

One of the chaps we were with decided that it would be a good laugh to pose for his picture with them. I'll see if I can get hold of a copy sometime.

We nipped back to T.P. Molloys for another beer, and a last shot of some sort of liquer in a tube then it was time for a taxi home. Since most of the drinks had been free, courtesy of our bosses, I hadn't spent much at all.

Not a bad night out at all.

Tuna Fish Pitta Bread Pizzas

A favourite quick and easy recipe from my Student Days:
(I believe that cha0tic introduced me to this one)

Tuna Fish Pitta Bread Pizzas

Weights, Measures and Cooking Terminology are according to darkwarf standards i.e. "about that much (according to taste and previous experimentation)"

Ingredients
Pitta Breads - usually comes in packs of 6, so make 6!
Tomato Puree - 1 tube, or a small can.
Cheese - 1 chunk of - Cheddar usually works OK, but have been known to use Red Leicester)
Spring Onions - small bunch
1 or 2 cans of Tuna - 1 can gives a measly topping unless you bulk it up with cheese, 2 cans will give a fairly loaded topping.

Prepare the topping
Chop up a few spring onions
Open up 1 or 2 cans of Tuna
Grate some cheese - quantity roughly equal, or slightly more than the amount of Tuna you have used.

Drop all of the above into a bowl and mix together.

Prepare the Pizza bases
Spread Tomato Puree on each Pitta Bread. Thickly or Thinly according to taste.

Prepare the Pizzas
Dollop and spread the mixture onto each Pitta Bread.
Grill for about 5 minutes or so until the Cheese has melted and the Pitta breads have just begun to toast, but without burning.

Yummy Tuna Fish Pizzas! - Enjoy.

I seem to recall that the original recipe involved making a small dent in the mixture on each Pizza and a raw egg was cracked open and dropped into the dent before grilling. I always found this a little excessive and too tricky anyway to get the egg to cook properly without burning the pizza.

I made this last Thursday for tea, and got the boys to help me prepare the mixture.

Frodo enjoyed the stirring, although much of it left the bowl during the process.

I gave Samwise the task of grating the cheese. He really enjoyed doing this, and proved to be "a chip off the old block" when I caught him "just tasting" the cheese in his hand part way through.

Frodo needless to say licked the spoon that he was stirring with - managed to get it off him before he put it back in the bowl.

Double Dutch

Not much posting going on at the minute. Mainly because every time I access Blogger, or Google at work the display language defaults to Dutch.

An oppourtunity to learn a new language I suppose?

The workaround is to Login to Blogger (Aanmelden), access the Dashboard and look under my profile picture for

Edit Profile (or View)
My Account
Language

Or in Dutch -
Profiel bewerken (of Weergeven)
Mijn Account
Taal

Select Engels (Verenikgd Koninkrijk)- English (UK) from the Language List

Then carry on as normal.

This appears to work most of the time, although sometimes I switch to Dutch again by accident.

Apparently it's related to an automated language selection based on your ISP.

From what I've read on the Internet this isn't a foolproof method, particularly in countries that have dual based languages, or for people who are foreign to the country they are in.


The network at work is provided by Cable and Wireless. Perhaps there's a Dutch connection that I don't know about.

OK Post done. Time to Bericht Publiceren (Publish Post). Bericht means Post, Publiceren is obviously Publish. New Post is Nieuw Bericht. See I am learning :-)