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Showing posts from September, 2010

A Meat Free Monday recipe

Gnocchi Neapolitan with Aubergines Ingredients (for 4) Method For Sauce 3 tbsp olive oil 1 onion chopped 1 garlic clove Marinade of : ½ tsp each cumin, ground coriander, paprika and salt 1 x large aubergine 2 x tins chopped or whole tomato Hand full of fresh herbs (origanum, basil or parsley whatever you can get) Optional: ½ glass red wine. G nocchi is store bought, if you can make it yourself then do   P eal aubergine, and chop into small dice sized pieces. Place aubergine, 1 tbsp olive oil and marinade into freezer bag, and toss. Heat the one pot, add 1 tbsp oil, when warm add onion into pot for 1 minute, reduce the heat and add garlic, stir then add contents of freezer bag. Cook for about 10 minutes, stir occasionally, and make sure heat is low.   R emove the aubergine from the pot, add to bowl, do not wipe the pot. Add the tins of tomato, removing the very runny liquid and reduce. If you like a bit more body in the sauce add the wine. Should take about 25-30 mins medium to low, to

Micro Breweries

Before I start let me tell you that I cannot stand pretentious rubbish. Using synonyms and marketing talk to beef up a product line is hogwash. That is why I hate places like Porters Market and the biscuit mill. These places are fashion accessories and not the real macaw. Earth nature and craft market and farmers markets that are true to their vision rather than being bling are what I prefer. That said I was told by a local microbrewery (Darling Brew) that there was a microbrew market at the biscuit mill. Fighting the urge to vomit I decided that my fascination with micro things like micro roasters , and micro mills, and micro bakers and recently micro brewers was a big enough motivation to see past the marketing rubbish. So off I went, suffered a 1 hr queue, which I still cannot understand why they just did not move the crappy sitting tables out to the parking lot and make some space for clients. Here is a list of brewer I found (some I have tasted before): Camelthorn – a local rep of

CSS Contact Forms, some links

I have been looking for some contact us form templates that use CSS rather than HTML tables Here are a few links for the ones I have found. I prefer to use CSS links that do not use "ID" but these are just templates Fancy form - Stu Nicholls | CSSplay | CSS styling of forms Form with help - http://jeffhowden.com/code/css/forms/ Gradient form - http://www.alistapart.com/d/prettyaccessibleforms/example_3/ Form with a small tutorial - http://www.websiteoptimization.com/speed/tweak/forms/ While looking for these I found this cool reference from MS on custom error pages, and the variables that are available to them. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306355 If I find a few more will post the link. Of course I would never use the mailto command, I have a Email C# class that I have written to do that. Perhaps I will post that on request, as it has a little error handling too. Just have to add configurable password, smtp and email addresses to t

Wine Magazine & Amorim Cap Classique Winners

Best of what was offered? So the South African Wine Amorim Cap Classique Winners Announced : Best MCC went to "Bon Courage Jacques Bruére Blanc" And Best Vintage went to Kumkani Infiniti Brut 2004. I have ordered both to check them out. I love the way South African MCC's, are getting better, the real surprise for me was that the best Non-Vintage award went to Pongrácz Brut, Best Rosé went Pongrácz Rosé. I would have choosen Ross Gouwer, not sure if it was submitted. Also wonder if Tanzanite's Rose and Brut where in the running. The problem with best, is best of what selection, and they do not list that :( Update After doing a comprehensive tasting test I can now say that I was a little disappointed with the Bon Courage, I reckon the Tanzanite is better, it probably was not part of the selection. That said I was impressed with the Kumkani 2004. It is of a very high quality and the price is very reasonable. Will definitely be ordering more of that.

A photography blog worth a read

While looking for information on photographic equipment, workshops, I stumbled upon this site: Blog.Photo.Net Interesting read. Will use some of it while setting up the wildlife photographic and artist retreat , in the Klein Karoo, as I am looking for base equipment to have available. Anyone want to offer additional suggestions, I am keen to hear them, as it is a blank slate we are starting with.

Interesting product

Found this online via a newsletter, have not tried it out but looks interesting for later play. Will report back then to see if it helps with anything: Download My-Config License Freeware Size 3.4 MB Added 2010-09-16 Price $0.00 OS WinXP, Vista, Win7 Author Cybelsoft Support My-Config Support Description My-Config is a small application that allows you to identify and publish hardware from 1 to 10 network PCs under Windows. Once the hardware is detected you will be able to obtain the latest drivers corresponding to the identified material in a few clicks.

Have string will play

It is funny how you can be motivated to remove the cob webs of your mind by the silliest things. Today I had a brainwave on how to clean frothing pipe for a the Jura Impressa . I pasted so string through the pipe and then soaked the one end in soapy water, and passed the string back and forth through the pipe. Afterwards I was left with a shoddy piece of string. I tied it so that it mad a loop and then remembers that thing you do with you fingers and thumbs to pack string patterns. (see left). I can do the teacup and eifel tower easily so started looking around for others. this is what I found A few more here -> http://www.alysion.org/figures/introkids.htm Text based one -> http://www.astro.cornell.edu/~brs/strfigs/more.htm Will post more if I find them

Boredom a Human Thing?

I was reading Newsweek (new week) magazine this week, and also found the article on-line -> http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/14/will-boredom-and-the-costs-of-constant-connection.html Is it not interesting that as humans we are the only animals that probably get bored, is this the ultimate evolution trait? I found this fascinating that this may be the case. I suppose it may be because we no longer have to be alert 24x7 that we may become someone's dinner that gives us this ability. Or perhaps this is why we are so inventive, is it not through boredom that we have evolved to have all sort of goodies, that we never would normally. In the article thy speak about how boredom is now a trait that can be identified in 30 minutes, i.e. it only takes a newer generation 30 minutes to become bored. An alternative though is perhaps boredom is something that means that we are not active, perhaps we have got to the point where if we are not doing then we are bored. Are we losing the ability to

Finding hidden device drivers

I believe that Windows is a great interface; it has help spawn some awesome apps, and help many a company grow. However, that said, why do the developers at Microsoft always have hidden features. Even as far back as DOS there where routines that you could call that were called undocumented. I would hate to see a list of these now. Some times real detective work is required to solve a problem So how does this apply to me at this point? Well I have a Nokia N82 and have had some problems with the camera and decided to do a reset of the phone (as recommended by one of their forums). After 3 hours of wasted time I have my phone back up and running, thanks to the awesomeness of Active Sync and Exchange I never have to worry about backing up contacts and the like. Anyway I also use my phone to connect the internet when on the road using the blue tooth modem. And the laptop could not detect the modem. After fiddling and fiddling I started thinking about the reset and that some how Wind