Howard Street by night 

a big fire on the moors, taken from the A57 (AKA Snake Pass) 

More space-age design.I think tbis building used to be the museum of pop music 

Sheffield Hallam University. I was getting carried away by textures at this point. & shiny things 
I refer you to my previous caption 

The view from our hotel room. Not so much scenery, but a beautiful texture 

Palm trees growing in the Millennium Gardens (in Sheffield) 

A very space age en-suite bathroom 

low-impact weekend

I hate to disappoint you, beloved readers, but I've had a fairly dull weekend. little of note has happened to me, and I haven't had any exciting thoughts to relate either. friday night was spent in the delightful little village of Charnock Richard courtesy of a work event focussed on evaluation and improvement. at the drinking/quiz machine session afterwards my knowledge of early 1900s clowns stood me in good stead but doesn't merit a blog entry.

a curry with family on saturday gave me the sustenance to work for far too long on a new blog for work. most of the time was spent modifying the template which looks quite pleasing. though now I want to tweak my personal blog to bring it up to my new high standard

and today I've vacuumed and washed my car, but I haven't got a photo. so as i said, nothing to write about

Fruit & veg today? - olives and a banana
Exercise today? - 70 sit ups, 60 press ups and some chin ups
Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - 7 and a half

Japanese

occasionally i come across a word or phrase in Japanese, and I try to remember these so that one day I can

1. impress someone from Japan, or
2. impress someone who isn't from Japan but is easily impressed

but I have a bad memory so I'm going to type them in here. (disclaimer - I may have got these wrong, or someone may have told me incorrect information, or I may put something in wrong out of mischief. you never know do you?) Karoshi - death by overwork Kawaai - cute Dakara nani? - so what?

Ecover

It's good to use ecover clothes washing liquid.It helps the environment.And ecover toilet cleaner too.They both have the same scent tho.But that shouldn't matter.I mean,if yr clothes smell like clean toilets they're still clean.

Fruit & veg today? - tomatoes,broccoli and a banana. Exercise today? - 3x 20 press-ups.3x 6 chin-ups. Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - 7 hours,unless i get woken up by the boiler

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Herman Düne play Manchester

Herman Düne are a band I first heard described as "miniature lo-fi swedish sergé gainsbourgs" or something like that. The concert is at Manchester Road House on wednesday 11th Jan 2006 at 20:00, price tbc. They are one of the best bands I've ever seen live. these MP3s are on their website

You Could Be A Model, Goodbye
Various Medicines
Suburbs With You
Orange Hat
A Wiser Man

(Also, they don't eat meat)

5 fruit & veg today? - too early for food
Exercise today? - too early for exercise
Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - loads

Recipe - Vegan Miso Soup

one of my favourite meals at wagamama is the big bowl of soup with noodles in. soup is so filling it really is good food. anyway, i saw some shiitake mushrooms reduced at el supermercado and i figured i could put them in some broth made with one of those miso packet soups (like the one I enjoyed so much last wknd) but then I couldn't find any soup packets. To cut a long story short I bought a jar of miso paste and this site was very helpful in working out what to do with it. This site reassured me that by consuming miso i'll never grow old and I'll never die. My recipe deviated quite a bit from the instructions though, so apologies if I offend anyone. what do you expect from a gaijin?

1. First get a packet of tofu, cut into 36 pieces and marinade for 30 mins or more in soy sauce, lemon juice, black pepper and chili powder
2. drain the tofu, then fry in a few tbsp of sunflower oil. when it goes a bit crispy remove it from the pan.
3. chop up about 10 shiitake mushrooms, a medium sized aubergine and most of an onion. fry them - aubergine first so it loses the plastic texture. leave about 10% of the onion raw and dice it finely for use as a garnish or "suikuchi"
4. make up a broth (aka "dashi") I used 1.2 litres of boiling water, two oxo cubes and the flavouring sachet from a packet of instant mushroom noodles. I expect 3 oxo cubes would be just as good. put the fried tofu and most of the broth into the wok. Keep a cup of the broth back and dissolve 1-3 tsp of miso into it
5. bring the stock and the vegetables to the boil, and simmer until you think it might be nearly edible, lower the heat and put some noodles on.
6. you shouldn't boil the miso, so when the soup has cooled a little add the miso/dashi mixture and keep on a very low heat. when the noodles are ready put them in a bowl and ladle some soup over them. add the suikuchi, then eat...

5 fruit & veg today? - a clementine and some cherry tomatoes so far, plus the aubergine and mushrooms described above Exercise today? - maybe later Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - i'm hoping for a lie-in

two bowls - who was the other one for? well, actually they were both for me. I ate the one on the right first

a night in

went to martial arts today, but the gym was locked up so had a chat with Steve, took a few photos (all too dark, picasa rescued one of them) for the freshly minted blog and came home. had a bit of a home work-out then bed
5 fruit & veg today? - two bananas, clementine, some cherry tomatoes
Exercise today? - 60 press-ups, situps and 5 + 5 + 5 chin ups and some weights
Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - 7, could be worse

Vegan Recipes

Mmmm, I'm motivated to cook because I love to eat. Here are the recipes I've put on my blog or click here to Search this blog for recipes!

film review - King Kong

It's nearly time for me to go back to work.Part of me is filled with dread,the other part is just really opposed to the idea.Where is the leisure-based society which science was supposed to bring us?

Went to see King Kong last night with my lovely gf.Slightly too many dinosaurs but still a good film.Great acting,esp from KK and his love interest.Sad ending though

I think i had a new years resolution but forgotten it now.May edit it in later.Perhaps stop blogging from bed? EDIT: I've remembered - it was read Heart of Darkness which Jimmy in the film is reading. although since the amazon reviews sound quite familiar I think maybe I should be re-reading it.

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the end of the year is nigh

i don't see it as a big thing myself, but the calendar is rolling over to 2006 in a few hours time. apparently there is a spanish custom to eat a grape, and make a wish for every month of the coming year every time the clock strikes at midnight on the 31st of diciembre, so...
5 fruit & veg today? - 12 grapes, later
Exercise today? - nil
Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - a lie in tomorrow, probably

Create hilarious pictures online

this stuff just really amuses me. you can enter your own text and the picture appears before your very eyes. I can't decide if i spelled "humourous" correctly

Went to Preston tonight

...for a few drinks with Miles and Phil. Including a pint in the Black Horse where a bloke took this photo of us. 

Recipe - Vegan Borscht

To start with you will need

• 4 beetroot (now, you could get fresh beetroot from an old-fashioned greengrocers shop, plucked from the fertile loam that very morn, with a couple of leaves and some bits of soil still clinging to the roots, or you might find the ones you get in supermarkets, already cooked and vacuum sealed, which keep for months. it's your choice)
• half a small cabbage
• 2 stalks of celery
• 1 very small carrot
• 1 large onion
• 1 red pepper

these are supposed to be grated but life's short enough so maybe you'd prefer to just chop up really small? fry the above briefly with

• a little olive oil
• 2 bay leaves
• some ground black pepper

then add

• stock, made from 2 vegetable oxo cubes and about 500ml of water
• a small amount of salt - remember: it's a killer
• 2 tsp of fair-trade, unrefined sugar
• some fresh dill, or more likely most of a 5g sachet of dried dill. don't chuck the whole lot in - save some to sprinkle on top of the finished product "so sophisticated"

while thats simmering, wash and chop up a few potatoes and boil them to make mash. when the mash is ready teast the soup - does it look okay? put in

• 2 tbsp lemon juice

and stir it round. I blended it with my new Braun Multiquick advantage 4050 HC (thanks Mum). serve in large bowls with a dollop of mashed potatoes in the middle. the eaters can stir in the mash to make the soup look creamy.

del.icio.us

I've seen this mentioned everywhere (like, literally) and i decided that since i've started to embrace Web2.0 i should sign up for it. it's basically a web page where i can leave my bookmarks on view for anyone who is interested to peruse. there aren't many there yet but check in a month - i'll bet it's packed with exciting and useful stuff that will wow the pants off you.
incidentally, i'm blogging this with the "blog this" shortcut. i don't fully grok it but if you have a blog with blogger and you click on the link then you get to a page where you can blog about the thing you just found out or thought of. if you blog then add this to your favourites for simplified blogging
and in closing, not that i need to justify myself, i'm going to turn off my computer after posting this and do something more useful

My pottery completed december 2005

all these were made at the Chorlton Park Adult Education Centre with the help and guidance of Alan.

a two-colour pot on a shiny disc

two pots 

A brown pot on a shiny disc 

work life balance

it's the night of the work xmas bash, a peculiar mash-up of letting ones's hair down and staying professional. I hope that booze helps me steer a course through the evening, or at least provide me with an excuse. maybe the booze will cure my cold too

UPDATE:- I did have a good time and I didn't embarrass myself too badly. at least, no-one has said anything yet
5 fruit & veg today? - does multi-coloured pasta count? a satsuma and a clementine, and an avocado
Exercise today? - zero
Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - hardly any

Cutlery

thinking about the spork at the end of my last post led to a mental review of the state of eating utensils today and the lack of progress over the last hundred or so years. for a society that prides itself on creativity, innovation and new ideas we don't seem to have advanced much in this field. my (brief) research summarises the key inventions thus

• stone age - knives
• shong dynasty - chopsticks
• 1st century CE - spoons
• 7th century CE - forks
• c1900 - spork

is that it? thousands of years, billions of people, a LOT of meals and we've got basically three choices for shovelling food into our mouths? well, here's a couple more

for soup with lumps, or noodles how about a fork with a hollow stem - spear the lumps then suck up the liquid. I call it the "strawk"

for food which is basically dry with a coating of sauce or dressing e.g. pasta, salad or fry-up a one-handed device will let you eat with one hand and gesticulate with the other (or turn pages if you read at the table - how rude) such a tool could be modelled on tongs (but smaller to fit throguh the mouth and should have scissor-type cutting blades to reduce large items into bite-size pieces. i haven't got a catchy name for these things yet.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.

5 fruit & veg today? - tomato & a banana
Exercise today? - 4 + 4 + 4 chin ups
Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - optimistically 7

Weekend

Had a great wknd with my lovely girlfriend.Went to Something Blu for cocktails on Saturday-the manhattan perfect lived up to It's name.When i drink these I always think of the Simpsons episode where Bart mixes drinks for Fat Tony.Sunday lived up to its name too (i.e. it was sunny) and we went for a walk round Quarry Bank Mill.A slightly disappointing event was being stung by the people who installed a CD changer in my car-when quoting for a business customer it might be acceptable to give the price without VAT but as a domestic consumer i tend to assume it is included.

Recipe - Vegan Goulash

the hardest part of this is using wine in the sauce. I recommend eastern european wine, cheap stuff so you can get plenty extra for drinking

1. put a cup or two of tvp chunks into 600ml of stock (e.g. boiling water with 3 green oxo cubes) to soak. add a generous glass of red wine. after 5 mins or so drain them (and retain the liquid) and fry them gently in olive oil. season with ground black pepper and a bay leaf or two
2. chop up two medium onions, two medium peppers and about a dozen mushrooms - put these in the frying pan too
3. when the chunks and veggies are slightly roughed up pour in the stock/wine mix you saved from #1. simmer very gently
4. start boiling some potatoes for mash. when the potatoes get soft add a couple of tsp of paprika to the goulash
5. drain and mash the spuds. by the time the mash is ready the goulash should be ready too.

I'm not sure if a fork or spoon is the best tool to apporach this dish with. you'll probably need one of each - or perhaps a spork?
5 fruit & veg today? - banana, tomatoe, veg in goulash
Exercise today? - nada
Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - i'll take whatever i get

The National

Their name is barely so-so but some of the songs sound good. Serious & kind of wistful - but with definate guitars espescially on the bottom track (m.m.r.)

The National - 'Wasp Nest'

The National - 'Slipping Husband'

The National - 'Murder Me Rachael'

Click on their name (above) to see lyrics and other vital information. Theres another MP3 file (Cold Girl Fever) too

5 fruit & veg today? - tomato, lettuce, apple, banana
6 mince pies today? - oh yes
Exercise today? - I can barely move after yesterday
Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - aiming for seven

winter holiday hazards

Some useful advice in The Register about dangers which can befall people at this time of year. Having a fir tree (or a plastic replica) in one's house is obviously asking for trouble. Trees are supposed to go outside, until they've been made into furniture.
5 fruit & veg today? - lettuce, an apple and a banana
Exercise today? - 2 hours of proper martial arts lesson today for the first time in ages
Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - 7 would be good

Mobile Blogging, let's go...

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I've been to a (1hr) kung fu lesson today and i Feel more energised than i have in a while.I fall into lethurgy every winter,i have to keep moving or I'll go into hibernation.I've eaten an avocado and some raspberrys.The sleep was a washout last night but i might still get 8 hours tonight if i make this sandwich quick

Recipe - Chili #1

1. Boil 150g of green lentils rapidly, while you...
2. chop up 2 medium onions and a pepper, and fry in sunflower oil
3. add ground black pepper, a tsp of cumin and either fine chopped fresh chili or dried/crushed/whatever to taste
4. add a carton of passata and ½ tsp marmite to taste*
5. strain, rinse and add the green lentils. drain and rinse a tin of red kidney beans and a tin of baked beans
6. add 50g of soya mince
7. start cooking some rice, when the rice is done check that the lentils and the mince are tender and serve if they are

* it's ridiculous putting "to taste" - if you don't like chili, or marmite, then just put a bit in, or leave it out completely. would you put loads in just because i told you to? would you jump off a bridge?

5 fruit & veg today? - 2 (salad in sandwich, veg in chili)
Exercise today? - 4 + 3 + 3 chin-ups
Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - 8 i hope

Bridget Thingy's diary

I'd like to change my template for postings, so that each day I can put scores at the bottom for the targets i keep failing to meet. Then I could

1. be even more annoyed with myself for living my life incorrectly
2. know why i feel such a wreck all the time

Maybe I should leave things as they are
5 fruit & veg today? - no, an apple and a tomato
Exercise today? - none
Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - 6

Luxury item

The greatest achievement of my weekend so far is the successful installation of a heater in the bathroom. Now for a lovely warm bath...

Two days off

After five days of work I'm very keen to get a bit of rest. catch up on my sleep, chill out and regain my inner calm. On the other hand, if I don't do something significant I'll feel like I've wasted my weekend. It's a moot point anyway: tonight I've had a couple of beers with my team mates, eaten some pasta and watched Peep Show - I haven't got any energy left to do significant things. Over the weekend I have a variety of mundane tasks to perform - and my life's ambitions of climbing the Matterhorn or writing the great American novel will have to wait. Maybe over the winter holidays if I get a couple of days to myself.

Traffic lights - are they any good?

On my way to work I have to turn right onto a busy dual carriageway. When I got there this a.m. and saw that the traffic lights were not working I steeled myself for a long wait. But actually I got through much quicker, and I couldn't see any large build up of traffic either. I've seen this happen before at Brian Bevan island in warrington - much quicker when the lights are out of order. Perhaps some kind of a crusade is in order? There are probably situations where lights are useful (blind corners? humpback bridges?) but I'm certainly going to write to my MP about this blight on our city streets.

Recipe - Polenta

For tea today I had polenta, chopped up into small chunks (approx 8cm³) and fried in olive oil with

• finely chopped red onions and sun-dried tomatoes
• coarsely chopped mushrooms and cherry tomatoes

Not very exciting but I wanted to make the blog more visually appealing and putting a picture in should help

Recipe - Vegan Yellow Coconut Soup

I had something like this in Cachumbas on Burton Road, Manchester and have tried to reverse-engineer a recipe. Other people seem to like it

1. Boil up 250g of mung bean dahl for 10 minutes or so, then rinse it.
2. Chop up 1 onion, 1 red pepper, 4 stalks of celery and fry with 1 tsp crushed chili, 1 tsp coriander seed, some lemongrass to taste and 1 tsp cinnamon. Don't let them get too soft
3. Add a tin of chick peas and a tin of coconut milk, 1 tsp turmeric and a pinch of saffron
4. Finally add a squeeze of tomato puree and some stock (I use a vegetable Oxo cube made up with about 200ml of boiling water) and leave to simmer

I think it's better if you blend it before serving, but it works as it is. It will probably serve 4 people if you put some boiled rice with it.

Laura Cantrell songs

I found a couple of MP3 files on the website of Laura Cantrell's record company. At some point (or in response to reader requests) I may put something up about the fantastic concert I saw her play in Manchester on the 7th December 2002.

Laura Cantrell - '14th Street'

Laura Cantrell - 'Hammer & Nails'

Making this playable has been quite a learning experience, but I think it works now. I should say by way of disclaimer that the MP3 files are stored on Matador Records' website and are perfectly legit. You should visit their site straight away to see info about Laura and many other fine bands/artists

the winter celebrations

people have been asking me about a gift that i might like. gift giving is traditional this time of year though personally i see no reason for it. I'm not religious - i'm practical. It would be better if people bought gifts for others when they saw something good. this would stagger the gift-buying over the year and avoid the

• over crowded shops
• expense of buying a year's gifts out of one pay packet
• panic buying of horrible tat

which is the main feature of december in these parts. anyway, there isn't anything i really need & most of the things i want are too obscure for anyone to guess e.g. a universal sink plug would be handy but more helpfully

1. oxfam have things to spend money on
2. any vegan food which got here would be unlikely to go to waste
3. as a last resort, i have a wishlist on amazon

Outdoors

It's invigorating to be outside. especially when you can see a fine example of limestone pavement

ManLUG beer and curry session

I went out tonight with some people from ManLUG. the format of beers at the Clarence, followed by a vegetable curry at one of the nearby eateries, has been tried before, and didn't fail tonight. Many computer topics were discussed, and one I'm keen to investigate further is honeypots

Hello world

I wouldn't feel like a proper techie if I didn't have a website. but a free blog and a free gmail address will save me about 60 quid a year. With the adverts it may even make me money. And the publishing is a lot easier. okay world -brace yourself for my opinions...

a day in the countryside

party at Andy's house

Laura Cantrell played at The Southern

It was an icy, cold night in Manchester. Dan and I had never been to the Suthern before and it had never looked especially inviting. It turned out to be quite velvety inside, with a large function room upstairs, lots of small tables around the side of a low stage/dancefloor. Only three times in my life have I watched a concert sitting down, but I much prefer it. The music was great - Laura's voice/music makes me feel calm and sometimes a bit sad, but really relaxed. We met some people and I found one a bit annoying, looking down on the people asking LC for autographs at the end when she came out for a drink. Being contrary I headed over with a beermat for a memento of the evening. She was very friendly and signed this...