Ich Kann Auf Deutsch Bloggen

Blogger has been showing some weirdness recently. German language instructions turning up all over the place. Right now it's telling me that I can "Tastaturkürzel: drücken Sie Strg zusammen mit: B = Bold, I = Italic, P = Publish, S = Save, D = Draft" As for commenting on other blogs I've seen this recently


It seems to be caused by setting the language choice to English-UK see thread here, apparently if you revert to the American spellings choice then the problem goes away. But I don't want to have blogger telling me to center things, I would rather they fixed the dodgy code.

The dresses have arrived from the States, so Anne and I went for the first fitting today (well only fitting for Anne because she is learning the finer arts of oasis manipulation down Hampshire way at the moment and won't be able to get away again until the wedding) We managed to get matching pashminas, make up tips for the wedding, make up for the wedding, other stuff but no shoes for Anne.

I is knackered.

We were up til past two, just putting the world to rights over a glass of wine and catching each other up with the gossip followed by a full day walking around Cambridge has left me as tired as a day splashing about by the seaside. Cambridge would be a great city if it wasn't for the tourists, they stand around like gormless massive pigeons, blocking the pavement and generally not adding much to the ambiance. February is the best time to visit Cambridge, it's generally wet, cold, grey, windy and miserable, but the number of tourists is about its lowest. You can get to the shops, the arts cinema, the market and where you want to be without gaggles of gormless tourists mis-identifying buildings. York is also best in the miserable months for the same reasons.

Simon joined us in Cambridge as there was an Apple shop event going on today and he wanted to be part of the zeitgeist. Which was nice.

Pippi Longstocking

I changed jobs recently at work, new contractors, new kit, new contracts but same old office, pay and long commute but new perks. I'm going to Sweden next month for a meeting and I'm inordinately excited which is daft but in the last 6 years I hardly went anywhere, once to Scotland and once to Germany. Aha, you might cry "but lots of jobs are like that" I agree, that's true but it's a bit galling when normally you never get to go any further than the next county when half your colleagues are jet setting around the world and are doing the faux world weariness about being upgraded to first class when they got to LAX, again.

I've checked out the sites - on google earth at least and will be investing in the krona shortly... now does M.A.C have a concession at Heathrow?

Salt And Pepper Pot

Salt And Pepper Pot, originally uploaded by Jane Goth.

No one will even consider nicking my salt and pepper now! Moo stickers rock

We've Been Busy Today

Over the last couple of weeks it has become impossible to find any clothes in our measly closet, it's not big enough for one person's clothes let alone 3 different sets of clothes. So we decided that today would be the day that we would sort through what we've got in there. We now have one bag ready for charidy and more space for the clothes we've been having to store in some alternative, nay some would say innovative places.

Therefore I've not had much of a chance to think deeply about anything for the blog so instead let me share this recipe I put together the other night.

Ingredients

for about 2 people

for the marinade

1 stalk lemongrass
1 clove of garlic
1 whole chilli red or green
juice of one lime
one tomato
soy sauce
some rum
rice wine vinegar
a pinch of sugar
some water

some meat finely cut ie, pork or chicken or beef
a bag of stir fry vegetables or whatever suitable veggies you have, spring onion, greens, shredded peppers and the like.

noodles cooked then blanched in cold water

oil for stir frying

salt and pepper to taste

top and tail the chilli, skin the clove of garlic and clean and chop the lemongrass put all the ingredients into the blender zizz together well then poor over the meat. Let the meat marinade for at least one hour but overnight would be even better.

In a wok stir fry the meat in batches, once each batch is cooked drain it using a sieve, once all the meat is cooked stir fry the vegetables for about 2 minutes then add the cooked meat and the marinade stir fry for another minute then add the noodles. stir fry a bit more until everything is warmed through. serve with a wedge of lime.

We thought that it tasted fresh, hot and zingy, if you want to reduce the heat then remove the seed from the chilli before adding it into the blender. If we had had some I would have thrown in some fresh coriander to the mix at the end of the cooking and you could always do without the rum or substitute sake or sherry for it. But the lime and lemongrass really make it so keep those.

Enjoy

Bullying Bloggers

I hope Merk won't mind but I'm just gonna lift this straight from Mailwatch

"It appears that simply removing ‘offending material’ from ones blog isn’t enough for some web hosts - friend of the Mailwatch (he did our logo) Tim Ireland'

s Bloggerheads, ex-Uzbekistan British Ambassador Craig Murray, Labour Councillor Bob Piper and Boris Johnson MP’s blogs have all disappeared off the interweb today because a high flying (no doubt high charging) law company has used it’s legal status to bully the ISP into shutting down the sever all these blogs reside on.

Whilst info is sketchy at the moment but it appears that it all relates to some posts and linkage about Russian Billionaire Alisher Usmanov. My understanding is that the comments his law team objected to were removed when requested days ago. This is a disgrace.

I don’t normally post non Mail/Express stuff on here but I felt the need to let people know what is happening with those blogs in case you’re wondering and just to point out that what we’re doing here, or if you blog yourself is fast becoming a risky business if those with unlimited cash can effectively bully those without into the submission of their supposed free speech - even after the comments are removed as requested!

Please feel free to comment but do bear in mind that I’ll be liable in court and I really need to keep hold of the 16pence credit in my bank and my 7 year old Vauxhall Astra!

Heads up to Iain Dale , Tom Watson , Chicken Yoghurt , Obsolete"

Fasthosts is the ISP just in case you were thinking about choosing a host in the near future.

Went Out Last Night

A works do, the same one I blogged about 2 years ago. This is what I looked like then,


and this is how I looked last night,



There is no morning after picture as truth be told it was more the afternoon after that I felt anything less than extremely jaded, I did meet up with my mum for a coffee this morning but she did say it was like having a conversation with a corpse.

Night Out

We had a lovely night out on Saturday with Siobhan, Isobel and Jo at Pink Punters, as Siobhan said it was not very busy, normally when we go it is bursting at the seams but we had no problems find a seat getting served and there was no queue for the loos which is almost unheard of in most night clubs. It was also the first time we had been out strutting our funky stuff since the smoking ban came into effect. It was bliss not to pick up clothes the next day that stuck of old smoke, but it did cause a fragmentation to the conversations in the evening as Siobhan popped in and out for a ciggie. I took my camera and took mostly rubbish photos, my ambitions out way my technical knowledge and my equipment, the best photo of the night was this one of Siobhan, who is always willing to strike a pose for the camera.



Today, we made our way home slowly via IKEA for lunch and a nosy about(we didn't buy anything not even a bag of tealights and a ludicrous soft toy). We were most taken by the soft closing action of one the kitchens, and we managed to get our hands on the catalogue too.

I [heart] The Daily Show

On average, we don't really care that much about American politics in the UK, heck most of us don't really care about British politics as Hannah reflected on recently. Of course there are some Brits who do care about what happens within the Beltway, (hey I lived there, I know these things), with a deep and abiding passion, so much so we wonder if they are a bit confused.

Now most Brits know who Bush is and that he's an idiot but the recognition rate of the rest of them; Cheney, Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney drops away sharper than the inverse square law. However before our American cousins get too upset at our mostly pitiful knowledge of their politicians I have to point out that we are probably more aware of who Larry Craig is than who is in the Tory Shadow Cabinet. But then again we are more likely to pick out a member of Lordie out of make up than the shadow minister for Education.

There are two groups who valiantly strive against this wave of British indifference in US politics. The first lot are those whose eduction/job depends on the knowledge the rest of us who gain our intimate knowledge of US pols and what they get up to from The Daily Show on More 4. We are a select and small band but we are dedicated and fond. The Daily Show is great, the satire sharp, funny and they even do irony from time to time, something we Brits tend to believe is physically impossible for Americans. It's far more incisive than any thing that we have here except perhaps The Now Show - Bring back the podcast. Thanks to Jon I am even beginning to care about whether it's Barack or Hillary in 08. I now know all about Mitt Romney's brave sons, the sordid and very funny details of Larry Craig, but sadly I still don't know who the Shadow Education Minister is.

Not A Reference Book

Not A Reference Book, originally uploaded by Jane Goth.

I used to think that Waterstones was a relatively decent book shop but that opinion has been evaporating recently. The popular science section has books about the human soul and the afterlife slotted in, the academic science section had books about "The Law of Attraction" aka "The Secret" stocked there. The Secret is not science ffs it's woo of the highest order. Now you can just about understand that book shops are pretty poor on what is science after all their employees are not trained librarians and they tend to work there because they love reading (classics, literature) not because they love the science, but surely they should be able to recognise a reference book from entertainment.

Too Many Courses

I think Simon and I may have been on too many courses in our careers because brainstorming* what needs to be done for our wedding onto post it notes, then organising them into some sort of order, came far too easily to the both of us.



What really worried me though was that as I was arranging the post it notes, it stuck me that what we really needed was a Gantt Chart and a copy of MS project.

*And yes you can say brainstorming it's an urban myth that the phrase has been banned