Sloshed
February 25, 2006
Nadia has been out all day. When she left at 10 I hitched a ride to the Oxfam shop handing in another bag of crap and also looking for my pair of tracksuit bottoms that went missing some weeks ago. I suspect they were mistakenly put in either a charity bag or a thrown away as rubbish. I didn’t find them, unfortunately. I did, however, find some good and cheap slippers at Lidl, and, at Sainsbury’s, some very nice Belgian beers.
Today I’ve mostly been drinking, releasing software, and doing chores. The tumble dryer just stopped for the fifth time; that’s right, I’ve done five loads of washing today. I also listed the two Mac games I’ve written (Desdemona and Puck) on freshmeat. At some point I was wondering why I was feeling so tipsy. This was before I rememberred I was drinking Belgian beer and had a look at the label; 8.2% hits home hard.
Ham gratin
February 25, 2006
This was one of my favourite dishes growing up. Still is. Thanks mom. Feeds 4-5 people according to memory (I just found the recipe written down on a piece of paper).
- 4-5 diningspoons margarine
- 4-5 diningspoons wheat flour
- 1 litre milk
- 4 portions of cooked macaroni
- 1-2 tin ham, chopped
- 4 eggs
- breadcrumbs
Make a thick sauce using the margarine, wheat flour and milk. Mix in the cooked macaroni and chopped ham. Add the egg yolks. Whisk the eggwhites until stiff, then carefully fold them into the mix. Butter a large fireproof dish and pour everything in. Finish off with a layer of breadcrumbs. Cook at the bottom of the oven at 200 degrees C for about 45 minutes. Enjoy.
Maryland cookies
February 25, 2006
I just found this recipe in a letter from my mom and put it online so I can find it again. Mom makes these for Christmas. The recipe makes 100-110 cookies.
- 200g margarine/butter
- 150g sugar
- 150g brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 275g wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 50g chopped almonds
- 100g chopped cooking chocolate
Stir butter and sugar well. Add eggs, sift in flour and baking powder, then stir in the almonds and chocolate. Use a teaspoon to portion onto baking paper. Oven cook until light brown (10-12 minutes) at 200 degrees C.
Halibut dish
February 21, 2006
I had some Halibut that I needed to use, so I thought I’d try mom’s fish dish again, but trade the cod for halibut. Unfortunately I had none of the other ingredients, so I had to improvise again. This time I used:
- 1 medium-sized onion
- 2 small courgettes
- 1/2 red pepper
- 6 pieces of frozen spinnach
- 220g halibut fillets
- 3 dollops of extra thick double cream
I put a little olive oil at the bottom of a clay pot, added the chopped onion, then added a layer of diced halibut fillet. A layer of sliced courgettes and pepper followed before another layer of fish. Then came yet a layer of courgettes and the frozen spinnach, followed lastly by a generous helping of cream.
Put the lid on, then cook on low heat for about 40 minutes. Done. This one was even better than the last; I think the onion and the courgettes really lifted it.
A Short History of Nearly Everything
February 18, 2006
Bill Bryson takes us on a whirlwind tour through the history of science; in less than six hundred pages he covers the origin of the universe, the vastness of space, the truly miniscule sizes of things at an atomic level, the elements, scientists bikkering over the age of Earth (and pretty much anything else), life at the very extremes, the discovery of DNA, the rise of Man and the extinction of the Dodo. It is a succinct and truly fascinating read.
Everyone should read this book.
Mom’s fish dish
February 10, 2006
I just cooked this dish that my mom taught me. I did it from memory, so I had to improvise a bit. I forgot to put onions in, but it was nice just the same. This recipe serves 2 people.
- 100g cauliflower
- 100g broccoli
- 1 medium carrot, chopped
- 100g créme fraîche
- 300g white fish, cut into pieces
Pour a little bit of oil at the bottom of a cooking pot (I use a clay pot, but any pot should do). Put alternating layers of vegetables and fish in the pot and finish off with dollops of créme fraîche on top.
Season to taste & serve with boiled rice.
Munich
February 6, 2006
Come Sunday nigth all the festivities of the weekend’s stag do were over and a few of us went to see Munich at Colosseum in Oslo (possibly still the largest THX cinema in the world with room for 978).
I liked the film. It managed to portray both sides as people, not just machines that do good or evil. It’s a testament to how interesting the film was that I not once noticed how tired I really was until afterwards (we had been to a stag weekend after all).
As usual when I go to the cinema I developed a strong urge to brush my teeth. Damn popcorn skins.
Stag do
February 6, 2006
Spent the weekend in Norway attending a friend’s stag do. The celebrations took place about half-way between Oslo and Ørsta. The best man had arranged for the groom to be “kidnapped” from work, chained to a bowling ball, handcuffed, blindfolded and wearing ear protectors part of the way there. Then, upon arrival, he was soaked in the outdoor pool.
After a quite serious party on Friday evening we got up bright and early and prepared for driving rally-cars on a laid-down airfield. It was full of snow, but that was probably half the fun. The groom was whisked away co-driving a more powerful car with rally-studded tyres and got the ride of his life in the nearby area, before returning and beating all the rest of us around the smaller track.
