A couple of weeks back, out on the bike in the cold and realising I’ll need to find my way out of this place before the light goes. Still, time for another run down the mountain bike tracks first!
Swinley (aka Bracknell) Forest.
Category: General
Rice
Messing about in the kitchen. My attempts at Pilau Rice and Sushi.
Pilau Rice, based on Delia’s excellent recipe. Not quite the same (or as perfect as Delia’s!), but then I’m quite impressed by the flavour. Great way of doing rice and so much better than the microwave supermarket stuff (microwave curry can sometimes work out okay if it’s a good one, but not the rice). Not soggy, kind of steamed and part fried. Great with the onion and spices mixed in. Delia’s is more fluffy, but I’ll work on that :-).
Sushi!
Surprisingly not as hard to make once you have the bits to make it, although the art is in the rolling. This is a basic attempt and managed to get the stuff to stay in the roll. Important to use the right rice though and stuff like the Mirin, Rice Wine Vinegar, and of course Nori for rolling (and a rolling mat). Most of this now easily available in the supermarket. As for the fish, nothing too adventurous here, just smoked salmon and prawns.
London Jubilee Walkway
Just plugging a Flickr group I created, which specifically covers the London Jubilee Walkway
http://www.flickr.com/groups/jubileewalkway/
“The Jubilee Walkway is the capital’s premier walking trail and one of London’s six designated Strategic Routes. Designed to connect the majority of London’s key attractions, it is well managed, easy to follow and provides an ideal way of getting to know London.” (from jubileewalkway.org.uk)
Developed for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977 and refurbished for the Golden Jubilee. The walk features silver and golden discs and panoramic panels with information along the route, highlighting much of the best that central London has to offer.
A great way to explore London is to walk the route and make a photo diary of it. Just follow the discs on the ground and look out for the panels and other markers too (take some shots of them also!).
Official site and map of the route: www.jubileewalkway.org.uk
Nokia Sports Tracker Widget
For those with Nokia Nseries phones, you may have come across Nokia’s fantastic Sports Tracker application, which turns your phone into a tracking device for walking, running, cycling, skiing and whatever (with the aid of a GPS unit, either built in like on the N95 or an external Blue-tooth GPS). Essentially like those expensive GPS units you get for cycling but making using of your phone and GPS. Perhaps not as complex as the “real” ones, but does a good job anyway of tracking where you are, a reasonable speed estimate and also even altitude! (all just via GPS). I’ve used it a fair bit now for skiing and cycling, and it’s one of the killer apps for my N80, along with Nokia Maps with GPS navigation. iPhone may have some nice polo neck wearers eye candy, but with features like these and mostly for free (well Maps guided navigation costs a small amount, but otherwise free as is sports tracker)… why do I need an iPhone again?
Anyway, Sports Tracker goes a step further by allowing you to upload and share in true “social” networking fashion your tracks, and attach photos and video taken on your route! Very neat.
To aid the sharing, Nokia now have a widget for use on blogs and social networking sites…
Theme change
Just messing about with some different themes. Trying to find something a bit cleaner and wider than standard WordPress themes. Came across Hemingway and then HemingwayEx which is an extension of the former with widget support, a navigation bar, amongst other things. Looks nice so far.
Would be nice if I can get my Exhibit Engine gallery to be themed the same way with the navigation bar especially. That said, I’m using Flickr far more these days. Maybe an embedded Flickr gallery here as a page would work. The darker background suits photos better than just directing people to plain themed Flickr.