Not seen in Berlin!

Amazing stunts with rubber bands....

.....and plenty of time to practice before christmas! Click on the image for a readable version.

Link update

I had an email from Lizzie Lines (nee Oates) a couple of days ago with the new address for her blog.....their house has come on by leaps and bounds since that picture of her in her foundations! Aren't they doing well?? Check up on progress at http://ourvastu.blogspot.com

The spy who came in from the cold.....

Except this one decided to bring the cold back with her.....there's dedication! This is just a quick plug for the hotel in Berlin I stayed at last week.....a John and Anne request.

The MarkApart Hotel
Website
Reviews on TripAdvisor


The picture makes it look a bit better than the reality, but externals don't really matter in the long run. Internally, scrupulously clean, spacious bedrooms, bath as well as a shower, oodles of hot water, friendly, helpful staff, superb breakfasts....from full english to mind-blowing/stomach bursting continental served buffet style from 6.00am to noon (that's right, till noon!), quiet but centrally placed just off the Ku'dam for any of that designer label shopping you feel obliged to do, handy for U and S-Bahn.....and only 2 short stops or a 10 minute walk from the best department store in the world, Ka De We (check out their food hall on the 6th floor!). Only downsides, no tea-making facilities in rooms, so pack a portable kettle if you just can't live without.....there's a supermarket just round the corner for 'supplies'. And the water from the taps is never colder than lukewarm.....so buy bottled water. Possible downsides for the supremely picky.....no bar (though personally I think that should be counted as a plus!) and no restaurant (but as the surrounding streets are jam-packed with them, who cares?)

Post early for Halloween!!

Pdf so you can print and make your own in the boxfiles!

Wake up cat

The Illustrated London News

I found a great new source of vintage pictures today, here's a sample....

"The English ladies' swimming team at the Stockholm Olympics in 1912, winners of the 4 x 100m race, wearing surprisingly revealing swimming costumes. Women swimmers and divers were seen for the first time at the Games, though modesty was the order of the day. Knickers had to be worn beneath silk swimming suits and robes "or overcoacts" had to be worn right up until the moment the starter was ready to state "on your marks" which makes this picture all the more surprising. From left to right: Miss Bella Moore, Miss Jennie Fletcher, Madame Jarvis (trainer), Miss Annie Spiers and Miss Irene Steer."

Weekend timewaster

Remember those 'spot the differences" puzzles that used to be in every comic you ever got as a kid? Here's a rather elegant electronic version that's harder than you might think!

Boys will be boys

But hey, I'm sure they live valuable and fulfilling lives and have lots of other hobbies too.....air guitar, star trek conventions maybe?

Clockwise or anticlockwise?

Click on the image to view the animation.
If you think she's going clockwise, you're apparently right-brain dominant (imaginative, philosophical, touchy-feely, impetuous); if you see her going counter-clockwise, you're left-brain dominant (logical, practical, detail-oriented, safe).

HALTWHISTLE

News reaches us from our intrepid reporters of wild times in Haltwhistle where the Burn is closed due to vandalism. The photo below shows the damage and appeals for anyone with news of the culprits. A past Haltwhistle resident is quoted as saying "It did not used to happen in my day".

LOOK AROUND YOU......

OK, so it's a spoof of those dodgy schools broadcasts we all were subjected to....and an old one at that. Still funny though! I'm posting the 2 parts of the pilot below and links to the other 8 episodes. (Maybe Chris will find useful content for this terms science classes!)





Episode 1 Maths
Episode 2 Water
Episode 3 Germs
Episode 4 Ghosts
Episode 5 Sulphur
Episode 6 Music
Episode 7 Iron
Episode 8 Brain

Finnish Disco Dance class........

Dig out your flares and learn to dance like the Finns (reminds me of every wedding party I've ever been to!)

An alternative for Chris and Nick

Especially for those long winter nights when even the most stalwart members of the Caravan Club do nothing more energetic than rifle through their photograph albums!
PDF of the complete model added to the box files on the right.

This weekend's project......

New restaurant alert

I haven't been yet but I've heard good reports....and the menu looks great (and VERY reasonably priced, main courses range from £4.50 to £7 ish) For those of you who knew it, it's where almonds and Raisins used to be (near the now demolished Central Library/Princes Square area) Open from 11am to 9pm seven days a week.

They say......

" Gospoda is the first Polish restaurant in Newcastle Upon Tyne and in the whole North-East region.Gospoda, which is located in the very centre of the city, is a place with warm atmosphere, delicious, home made food and Polish alcohol. The chef intends to meet the demands of people with even the most sophisticated taste. Everyone will be satisfied with the menu composed by the our chef. With more than ten different sets of dinner courses on the menu (the number will be increasing), it is possible to order meals for breakfast and home made cakes in GOSPODA. For those clients who are not familiar with Polish cuisine, short descriptions and pictures of our dishes have been prepared. A very nice service, good Polish music and reasonable prices of meals and alcohol, are also an unquestionable advantage of Gospoda."

And speaking of honing language skills....

There's a new FREE online 'learn another language' website just launched called Mango that looks worthy of a try. All the usual suspects (French, German, Spanish etc) and a few less obvious (Greek, Mandarin, Japanese) Each course has 100 lessons comprising maybe 70 or so pages each. You'll need your speakers turned on!

New cookery video website

Not many videos yet, but it's new. Also a lot of them are in French, so useful for honing your language skills too. Link to Cookshow



Chocolate cake
(by Chloé France)
Difficulty : Easy Recipe for : 10 persons
Preparation : 15 to 30 min
Ingredients :
* 200g of dark chocolate
* 180g of butter
* 200g of sugar (you can put less)
* 6 eggs
* 60g of breadcrumbs
Execution :
Melt chocolate and butter together at low fire. Add the 6 egg yolk and mix it togeteherAdd the 60g of breadcrumbs Then add the sugar Whip up the egg white and add it to the rest of the melangeMix it all and pour it in a baking mould. Now, put it in the oven at 200° for 20 minutes. I put some icing sugar on top of it. It's perfect as a birthday cake.Bon appetit !

Cat casserole

Here's one Ma found.........

No really!!....She read about this in the "Chronic" tonight and rang me to tell me about it. Apparently it's a home-grown affair, an ex Wallsend fireman has done the deed. Check it out here
PS....I'm not sure where they've sourced their graphics, but that's sure as hell not a sight you see on the Metro on a regular basis!!

Amazing artwork.....

Watch the video here
"Dutch artist Theo Jansen has been working for 16 years to create sculptures that move on their own in eerily lifelike ways. Each generation of his "Strandbeests" is subject to the forces of evolution, with successful forms moving forward into new designs. Jansen's vision and long-term commitment to his wooden menagerie is as fascinating to observe as the beasts themselves.
His newest creatures walk without assistance on the beaches of Holland, powered by wind, captured by gossamer wings that flap and pump air into old lemonade bottles that in turn power the creatures' many plastic spindly legs. The walking sculptures look alive as they move, each leg articulating in such a way that the body is steady and level. They even incorporate primitive logic gates that are used to reverse the machine’s direction if it senses dangerous water or loose sand where it might get stuck."

There's a BIT more room at Tynemouth Market.

http://view.break.com/368159 - Watch more free videos

Re last post.....this one's definitely for Richard and Janet!

Can't you just see it in their front room? All it needs is some orange shag pile, a bit of wood panelling and a couple of op-art upholstered bunk beds and they're fixed....not forgetting the hole in the ceiling of course!

Makeover time?

There's the whiff of wet paint at work......got me thinking it was time to break out the paintbrushes at home.......and maybe the sunglasses!

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

The War of the Worlds

Think I may have already touched on my favourite ever radio drama - "The War of the Worlds" - Orson Welles - early example of the great american public buying into the theory of weapons of mass destruction etc etc.
Repost of the audio feed below....
(hey, I'm going to listen to it again even if you don't!)

powered by ODEO
and today I found a comic book version.....with nice pictures!
Check it out here

Happy Birthday Richard!!

Click on the image to view the book at Google books

An Impartial History of the Town and County of Newcastle Upon Tyne and Its ... By John Baillie: ""

Big Builder 2007

Some of the bairns from Northumbria.......

Never feel bad when you flick through a fashion mag again...

Just blame it on a spotty geek in a back office with the latest version of Photoshop!

Last.fm

Personalise your own music station. Visit Last.fm and tell it what sort of music you want to listen to (either by genre or using the starting point of your chosen singer/band)....it's easy peasy!

Food, glorious food

Here

....but we can't miss out our loyal gentlemen readers!

Beauty hints for the ladies....

The sounds of the great outdoors

Listen to, and learn about creepy crawlies at "Songs of Insects"

Irritating video

Look, I'm sorry OK? But I predict you'll be sitting next to someone on the Meto with it installed as a ringtone sometime soon!

Image resizing

OK, you're probably not interested, but I was SO impressed with this when I saw it that I had to put a link to it somewhere so I could watch it again.....and it might as well be here as anywhere!

All the worlds a (Northern) stage.........

Northern Stage presents

Our Friends In The North by Peter Flannery

Directed by Erica Whyman

Designed by Soutra Gilmour

Northern Stage presents the first ever revival of Peter Flannery’s Our Friends in the North, the play that inspired the hit television series. A magnificent chronicle of the 1960s and 70s in the North East of England, London and what was to become Zimbabwe, Our Friends in the North charts a devastating defeat of left wing aspirations. As the thirst for power fights it out with idealism, corruption takes root and a trail of victims is left in its wake.

Spanning two decades, the play sees this changing world through the hopes and temptations of Tosker, Mary, Geordie and Nicky, four young people from Newcastle whose lives take very different paths. Starring 14 performers playing 43 characters across 17 years, Our Friends in the North is a spectacular epic. It is also hugely pertinent this year as another era of left-wing power sets out to earn our trust.

The revival celebrates the play’s 25th anniversary and is the first ever production since it was originally produced by the RSC in 1982.

Sat 29 September - Sat 20 October at 7pm (except Sun) Sat 13 & Sat 20 October at 1.30pm

Northern Stage, Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RH Telephone +44(0)191 230 5151 Email mailto:info@northernstage.co.uk?subject=Enquiry

A face from the past

Some of you might remember Lyz Oates....though she's Lizzie Lines these days. I was clearing out one of my seldom-used email accounts this morning and found a months-old email from her (nestling amongst the spam) with a link to her blog....everybody's at it these days! She and her partner Russell are building their own house in Diss, Norfolk.....so if you fancy reading something more substantial than the fare dished up here go to Vastu or Bust and read of their exploits and the progress of their eco-house. Above, Lizzie in her foundations!

Fashions 2000

Must have blinked and missed this lot!

Feline funny

I can relate to that! The artist just missed out one thing.....the human trampoline area. Imagine, if you will, a constantly shifting chalk outline on that bed (you know....the sort you see in TV crime scenes), locate the dead centre of the digestive tract of that chalky representaion (as in the PRECISE point that results in an involuntary OOOOF and jack-knifeing of the upper and lower body when impacted upon) and, lo and behold, that's where any cat worth it's salt will choose to tread/jump onto/bounce on it's inevitable progress to any other area mapped.

Oh, and something else worth remembering before you visit the local cat rescue shelter.....cats prefer to sleep 'nose to tail'.....that's YOUR nose, THEIR tail!!

Hot off the scientific press

Word from the scientists is that redheads may become extinct as early as 2060!
The current National Geographic magazine reports that less than two per cent of the world’s population has natural red hair, created by a mutation in northern Europe thousands of years ago.
Global intermingling, which broadens the availability of possible partners, has reduced the chances of redheads meeting and producing little redheads of their own.
If the gingers really want to save themselves they should move to Scotland. An estimated 40 per cent of Scots carry the red gene and 13 per cent actually have red hair.

Via Neatorama

The joys of parenthood.....

Two videos......

Thespian Thrills....

The Lady in the Van by Alan Bennett

Sept 18th to 22nd Sepember, Peoples Theatre

"It’s 1974 and there are strange goings-on in a quiet, tree-lined street in Camden, London. An old homeless lady has parked up in her dilapidated camper van and is living in happy self-sufficiency. When the council instruct her to move on, a nearby resident invites her to roll the van into his garden. Little does he realise that she will stay there for the next fifteen years. Bizarre but true, this comedy-drama is based on the diary of Alan Bennett and his relationship with his very own bag-lady Miss Mary Shepherd, a well-educated, piano-playing ex-nun and would-be politician. In typical Bennett style this unlikely duo are both hilarious and moving as Mary takes up a unique place in the beleaguered writer's life for well over a decade."

Google has just made it much easier to embed an interactive map in a blog

So here's a first try.....

View Larger Map

So you thought American kids TV was bad....

....but things could be a whole lot worse! So you just take heed Sarah and Hails, Richard and Janet....and any of you younger folks that have a hankering for procreation for that matter....just ask yourselves, is it really worth it?
This is "Kure Kure Takora", loosely translated as "Gimme Gimme Octopus", who....
"can turn into anything from a dopey iguana to a vacuum cleaner to a guitar. His best-friend is the weak-willed squash Chonbo. While friends he has no problems leaving him for dead if he has to make a fast getaway. Like everyone else in the world, Kure Kure is in love with the fickle pink walrus Monro. His greatest fear is being doused with vinegar and being served as Sudako (pickled octopus)."
......and all of a sudden, the Teletubbies makes perfect sense!
Kure Kure Takora has it's very own Wikipedia entry. Read it.....you know you want to.
So ladies and gentlemen, take your seats and we'll dim the house lights........roll that camera Mr Projector man, it looks like it's going to be a long cold winter.......

via Neatorama

The Trouble with Women

Pretty pictures

Duck and Cover

On the same theme as the last post....I remembered I'd downloaded the above LP from the 365 Days Project a while ago, you might be interested in listening (if nothing else the 2nd track gives you a good idea of what the americans were eating in the 60's, and gives you a useful shopping list for 'food for 4 for 2 weeks!)

And then there's this.....Duck and Cover from YouTube

Wonder how many people built these in the States?

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Make your own Paper Critter

Go to Paper Critters to design your own

Gift wrapping with textiles

Click on the image for a readable version

Contact juggling....

...no, I'd never heard of it either!

Another book

Being on holiday this week I've OD'd on radio as usual. On Monday there was a 'piece' on the Cooperative Correspondence Club on Woman's Hour
From the WH website.....
"The writing club that spanned 55 years.
In 1935 a young mother living in Ireland wrote to Nursery World magazine begging for advice on what to do with her free time. She said she was lonely and isolated and needed an occupation that cost nothing. In return, she received dozens of letters from woman all over the United Kingdom who were in similar situations. Together they decided to start a private magazine called the Cooperative Correspondence Club where they could write under pseudynoms about their daily lives. Little did they know they would be writing to each other for more than fifty years.
Now a book has been written about the CCC charting its history from 1935 to its closure in 1990. Jennifer Chevalier has been speaking to its author and to two of the surviving members of the CCC."
“Can Any Mother Help Me?: Fifty Years of Friendship through a Secret Magazine” by Jenna Bailey Published by Faber and Faber ISBN: 0-571-23313-9

Listen to the segment below. You may need to click on the 'Play' button twice, I always have to!

Pitmatic

I get a weekly email newsletter called "World wide words" that's always an entertaining read (it's all about the origins of the words we use in everyday speach, it arrives on a Saturday morning just in time for that first cup of coffee....if you like the sound of it you can register for it here) Anyway, in this weeks issue there was a bit about Pitmatic (see below) and a plug for a book published by Northumbria Uni....thought some of you might be interested....

"PITMATIC

A vernacular used by miners in the north-east of England.

Its name is hardly known even in the area in which it was once best known, though it has received attention from dialectologists and was featured in Melvyn Bragg's The Routes of English BBC Radio 4 series back in 2000. It has been in the news recently as a result of the publication of a book on it by Bill Griffiths.

It was the language of colliers and pitmen, miners in the coal seams of Durham and Northumberland, once the capital of coal (not for nothing was the saying "carrying coals to Newcastle" coined to refer to a useless undertaking). It has gradually died out as the deep pits of the area have progressively closed. Pitmatic is full of mining terms: "at bank", on the surface; "cavil", to choose your underground coal hewing station by lot; "hoggers", footless socks that made it easy to clean coal from between the toes, later a type of flannel drawers; "cracket", a stool on which a pitman sat while hewing coal; "kenner", the end of the shift; and "arse-flap", a loop attached to the winding rope in a shaft on which a man sat while carrying out repairs. Many of the terms can be traced back to Scots, Old Norse and Low German.

Trying to classify it isn't so easy. It isn't a dialect, because it is mainly vocabulary, lacking grammatical features that separate it from other types of speech (the main dialect of the area is the one commonly called Geordie). It isn't just a workplace jargon, though that's where it comes from, because some of the terms have escaped into the wider community, such as "greaser", a device to lubricate the wheels of the coal tubs, which led to the expression "gan canny ower (go carefully over) the greaser", meaning "mind how you go"; It can't be called an argot, which is a semi-secret vocabulary with criminal associations, or a patois, which is a low-status dialect, which Pitmatic certainly wasn't. Call it a vernacular.

The term is first recorded in print, in a slightly different form, in an article in The Newcastle Weekly Chronicle back in 1873:

A great many of the lads, especially from the Durham district, had evidently never been in Newcastle previously, and the air of wonder with which they gazed at the crowds, at the buildings, and especially at the fine folks who occupied the windows, was very amusing. If the quality criticized and quizzed them, the lads returned the compliment, and it was entertaining enough to catch snatches of criticism on the manners and customs of the upper ten thousand of Newcastle, reduced to the purest "pitmatical", shouted across the streets, as the men and lads belonging to collieries swept by where I stood in the crowd...

That fuller form, "Pitmatical", soon abbreviated, gives the clue to its origin. It's a compound of "pit" and "mathematical", which may have been intended to stress the skill, precision and craft of the colliers' work."

[Pitmatic: The Talk of the North East Coalfield, is published by Northumbria University Press, £9.99. ISBN 1-904794-25-4. The book goes well beyond vocabulary to include many examples of songs and stories written in Pitmatic by colliers about pit life and shows how the speech fitted into the wider language-world of the region.]

Nigerian pick of the crop for the day

Very Urgent Attention,Please permit me to introduce my humble self to you, my name is Mr. StevenJames, I am the Manager of International Relation with Citizens Bank of NigeriaLimited, I 'm 38yrs old, and I got your email address from a friend of mine,and my confidence reposed on you. I hope you read this message carefully andreply me immediately. Although we have not met before, but I suggest that thistransaction will bring us together.My dear, we had a customer, a foreigner but base here in Nigeria, his Name wasMr. Hamilton Creek. He is from Atlanta Georgia United State of America, butbased here with his wife and his two children, Mr. Hamilton has being bankingwith us for the past 4yrs and some time in August 2002, Mr. Hamilton was on hisway to his house, and unfortunately ran into a Trailer load of Groundnut Oil,and died immediately, Their car got burnt, no single soul was saved, Mr.Hamilton Creek and His entire family was confirmed dead.My Board of Directors and the Management of Citizens Bank has mandated andinstructed me to look for Mr. Hamilton Creek?s relation(s) and his Next of Kinto come and claim his fund, Since August 2003 Till date, I have been lookingfor his relation's or his next of Kin to come and claim his fund which heDeposited with our bank, I have contacted his Embassy and after 3days, hisAmbassador told me that Mr. Hamilton Creek has no relation and no next of Kin,their Ambassador told me that he used his first son as His next of kin, but itis quite unfortunate that Mr. Hamilton Creek Died with all his family members.The reason why I contacted you is thus, Mr. Hamilton is dead, and his only sonwho supposed to inherit his properties and money also died With him. As at thismoment, nobody or person[s] is coming to claim this Money from our bank. TheBoard of Directors and management of our bank told me that if nobody or person[s] apply for the claim of Mr. Hamilton Fund, the bank will return the entireFund into our Federal reserve. In the Light of the above, I want you to standas the next of kin to Late Mr. Hamilton Creek, it might interest you to knowthat he had a Domiciliary Bank Account with our Bankand he has a total sum of US$9.2M Nine Million Two Hundred Dollars, this is theexact amount which he had in his domiciliary account before the ugly incidentoccurred, and this money is still in his account as unclaimed money.This transaction is very easy and simple, and it is 100% risk free, I'm theManager for International Relations with Citizens Bank of Nigeria Limited, andthe Management and Board of Directors of the Bank are waiting for me to provideto them the Relation or next of Kin to late Mr. Hamilton Creek, of which I toldthem that I am still searching the next of kin to the deceased. Finally, if youare interested with this transaction, I will front you to the bank as the onlynext of kin to late Mr. Hamilton Creek, and I will let the bank know that youare the only right person to inherit Late Mr. Hamilton Funds and properties. Ifyou are interested, just email me or call me on my direct and private line#:+234-80-53636226. and late Mr. Hamilton?s Funds will be credited into youraccount and all his Properties will be released to you either through CourierServices or the Bank will Cargo all his properties to you in any were you wantit.So reply me immediately and feel free to ask any question with regards to thistransaction. You will take 50% of the US$9.2M. Which is? US$4.600, 000.00 FourMillion Six Hundred Thousand Dollars, while the Balance of the same amount willbe mine.Your swift response will be highly appreciated.Thanks and have a nice day.Friendly RegardsMr. Steven James

So Mr Steven James wants questions?.....email me with suggestions!

It's Heritage Recipe time!

Ma, Anne and I took a sentimental journey to Carlisle on Friday....while we were there Ma was persuaded to buy a recipe book called "Victory Cookbook" by Marguerite Patten (entertaining reading, done in the style of a scrapbook....recommend you check it out next time you're round at her place, especially if you're planning on rustling up a quick "Woolton Pie" for Sunday lunch!)

Anyway, on the way back on the train we got to reminiscing about "memorable family meals"(er....the way you do!) and the unanimous top of the list was "Tyne Brand Irish Stew Curry". We put our minds to it and came up with a possible/probable recipe. THE RACE IS ON TO VERIFY OUR COLLECTIVE MEMORY!!

TYNE BRAND IRISH STEW CURRY a la Armstrong

2 tins TYNE BRAND Irish Stew (surprisingly still available at all the best corner shops!)*
1 diced cooking apple
1 teaspoon (generic!) Coop curry powder
a handful of sultanas
maybe 2T dessicated coconut
2 oxo cubes and enough water to make it 'not sloppy'
salt and pepper

Throw everything in a pan and simmer till the apple is tender but not mush. Serve with boiled rice (and for the true retro taste/texture experience this should be 'pudding' rice boiled to within an inch of it's life!)

*Current ingredients : Tyne Irish Stew (400g) Ingredient declaration Vegetables (40%) (Potato, Carrot, Onion, Peas), Water, Mutton (17%), Modified Maize Starch, Wheat Flour, Salt, Tomato Puree, Lamb Stock Concentrate (contains Flavouring), Flavouring, Black Pepper.

I did a bit of background research (the internet is all-powerful!) and here's a bit of history...

Above is a picture of the Tyne Brand factory a while back....not sure what has happened to it since, it's probably 'exclusive, river-view' flats that none of us can afford now! The company has had numerous owners over the years, here's a paragraph or so from the Westlers website (current company)

"The Tyne brand is a well-established brand, and it started its heritage over 100 years ago in Tyneside at North Shields. The Tyne Brand Company started off with a range of canned fish products. Tyne Brand herrings were famous and were sold all over the world. Then during World War I and World War II the company expanded its range of products to include canned meats.
A number of different companies have owned the Tyne Brand over recent years, including Yeoman, Spillers and Masterfoods, and who can forget the strapline 'No lumps of fat or gristle guaranteed!'
In 2003 Westlers bought the brand from Masterfoods. They relaunched it with a range of canned meat products that built upon the tradition of the brand while updating its image to reflect the demands of consumers. Since taking over the Tyne Brand Westlers has continued to develop the products and stimulate the market with new and exiting products in the range always with Westlers key to success - Quality and Convenience in mind."

Hey, don't forget folks.....that's no lumps of fat or gristle guaranteed!!!

I must try this!!

even if it's probably a fix!

It's retro toytime again

This doesn't quite fit into the 'hours of fun' category!

Still on the subject of food...

....there's this new website that's worth checking out called "I'm Cooked" Their unique selling point is that all the recipes are in video format mostly recorded by ordinary folks who just love cooking. Embedding video in the blog doesn't seem to be working at the moment but you can check out the recipe for Chilli jam here) You don't need to register to view the videos, only if you want to upload videos of your own or have the recipe emailed to you (just in case you feel inspired John!)

Recipe

Haven't tried this yet (I was just inspired to look for a recipe when I found the wonderful cover above of the dinner fighting back!) But if nothing else the dipping sauce sounds worth a shot (though I might be inclined to leave out the mayo and add some chilli flakes)

FIVE-SPICE CALAMARI WITH DIPPING SAUCE

Dipping sauce

2 tablespoons oriental sesame oil

2 tablespoons minced shallot

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

2 teaspoons soy sauce

2 teaspoons fish sauce (nam pla)

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 garlic clove, minced

1/4 cup mayonnaise

Calamari

Vegetable oil (for frying)

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tablespoon Chinese five-spice powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 cup buttermilk

15 ounces cleaned calamari, tentacles left whole, bodies cut into 1/2-inch rings

For dipping sauce: Combine all ingredients except mayonnaise in processor. Blend well. Transfer to bowl. Stir in mayonnaise. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Whisk before serving.)

For calamari: Pour oil to depth of 3 inches in heavy large pot. Heat to 350°F. Whisk next 4 ingredients in large bowl to blend. Pour buttermilk into another large bowl. Add calamari to buttermilk. Working in batches, remove calamari; dredge in flour mixture. Fry until just crisp, about 2 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer to paper-towel-lined plate to drain. Serve warm with sauce.

A right royal fart.....

....and it looks like Harry caught the worst of the blast!

Dutch housewives show us how to have fun!!

A video from the 60's

Mornington Crescent for the digital age

I know there's some fans of 'Im sorry I haven't a clue' out there so here's the shape of the future, an online version of Mornington Crescent that actually has rules! Based at Wikipedia

To start a game of Wikington Crescent, first click on the Random article link. From the article given, you then click on one of the article links to the next article. The object of the game is to reach the article on Mornington Crescent tube station, whilst clicking on as few articles as possible. The fewer the links used, the better the game. An example is that the article for Matterhorn can lead you to Mornington Crescent tube station within four links.

An old dictionary of vulgar slang....

I printed out a Geordie version for Ma for her birthday, but this one looks quite entertaining too!

Yay....it's a boil-in-the-bag suit for fatties!!

Testing another music player

This one looks quite neat!

On Thursday it's.....

Funny animation

Subtle Differences Between Women and Men Different ways males and females deal with the same situations.

Some more point and clickery

Play it here

I need a new bag...

I just can't decide which one!

Much more Engrish here

Oh, I want one!

Lots of nice games....

....at this site

One for the gents....

Male Restroom Etiquette....and guard against the end of civilisation

Comic interlude

For more of Dan Piraro’s comic, check out: Bizarro