howweknow

Panzanella

2007-01-01T21:48:00.000Z

Ingredients:

1kg plum tomatoes
2 red peppers
2 yellow peppers
1 small red pepper, deseeded and chopped
100g capers
12 olives (your choice of colour)
1 ciabatta, preferably stale
4tbsp red wine vinegar
5 garlic cloves, crushed
about 250ml good extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
handful of fresh basil leaves, roughly torn

Skin the tomatoes by putting a cross on the bottom, plunging them into boiling water for about 30 secods, then into iced water. The skins should peel off easily. Cut the them into quarters, scoop out the seeds into a sieve and press to release the juice into a bowl. Put the quarters into a separate bowl.

Skin all the peppers by either grilling them, or roasting them until black (grilling is probably easier). Put them in a plastic bag until cool -- the skins will fall off. Then deseed them and cut each into about eight pieces. Put in the bowl with the tomato quarters, then add the chilli, capers and olives.

Tear the bread into big chunks and put in a separate bowl.

Add the vinegar, garlic and oil to the tomato juice, season and whisk well, then pour over the bread and leave for about 1 hour.

Finally, gently combine the tomatoes and peppers mixture with the bread and dressing, and garnish with basil leaves.

Enjoy!

Gaming stuff for sale

2005-07-19T09:34:00.000Z

OK folks, here is my for sale list. All prices are based on average prices fetched on the mighty ebay. P&P will be £1.20 for most game-shaped things (for other things I will charge at cost). N64 games are cartridge only, although I may have instruction books for a few of them. Everything else is probably complete (although I will double check for you). Things priced at £0 are things I'm not sure whether I want to sell (make me an offer and see I guess).

Red stuff is sold.
Green are new additions.

Sorry for wasting your bandwidth

Gamecube... all USA/NTSC
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3: £3.00
Super Monkey Ball: £5.00
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4: £4.00
Viewtiful Joe: £5.00
Animal Crossing: £8.00
Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life: £10.00
Super Smash Bros, Melee: £8.00
The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker: £10.00
Metroid Prime: £8.00
Star Wars: Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron II: £3.00
All-Star Baseball 2002: £3.00
Super Mario Sunshine: £8.00
Controller: £8.00
Controller: £8.00

Xbox... all UK/PAL
Knights of The Old Repubic: £8.00
Xbox Live Headset & Puck: £10.00
Controller S: £10.00
Timesplitters 2: £3.00
NBA Street: Vol. 2: £3.00
Tony Hawk's Underground: £3.00
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4: £3.00
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance: £5.00
Buffy The Vampire Slayer: £3.00
Panzer Dragoon Orta: £5.00
Ninja Gaiden: £8.00
World Championship Rugby: £5.00
Halo: £5.00
Halo 2: £10.00
X-Men Legends: £5.00
Console + Controller + Cable: £50.00
Official Advanced Scart Cable: £10.00
Controller S: £10.00
Controller S: £10.00
DVD Kt : £5.00

PC
Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast: £4.00
Star Lancer: £3.00
Icewind Dale: £4.00
Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace: £3.00

Gamboy Advance
GBA Arctic: £25.00
Kuru Kuru Kururin: £3.00
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2: £3.00

Dreamcast... all UK/PAL except where noted
Bangai-o: £10.00
Shenmue: £8.00
Sega Bass Fishing + Fission Rod: £8.00
Rez: £0.00
DC-X: £2.00
NTSC/US Samba de Amigo + Amigo Cha Cha Controllers: £0.00
Soul Calibur: £4.00
Jet Set Radio: £4.00
Skies Of Arcadia: £18.00
Bust-A-Move 4: £4.00
Space Channel 5: £4.00
Sonic Adventure: £3.00
ChuChu Rocket!: £2.00
Phantasy Star Online NTSC/US: £3.00
Virtua Tennis NTSC/US: £4.00

PlayStation... all UK/PAL
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2: £2.00
Tekken 3: £3.00
Ape Escape: £3.00
Brian Lara Cricket: £2.00
Pro Evolution Soccer 2: £3.00
This Is Football 2: £2.00
Console without controller: £5.00

N64... all UK/PAL
Rakuga Kids: £10.00
International Superstar Soccer 64: £1.00
Goldeneye 007: £3.00
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron: £3.00
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask: £12.00
Mario Kart 64: £0.00
Donkey Kong 64: £8.00
Perfect Dark: £5.00
Jet Force Gemin : £4.00
Diddy Kong Racing: £4.00
Lylat Wars: £0.00
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time: £0.00
Super Mario 64: £0.00
Super Smash Bros: £5.00
1080 Snowboarding: £2.00
Console + 4 controllers: £0.00

Misc
Stepdown converter suitable for US GC/PS2: £6.00
MJ-D707 Minidisc Player : £60.00
Edge Magazines from 1999 to present: £0.00

Avoca Pizza Base

2005-05-06T13:22:00.000Z

I promised my brother that I'd post this, so here is the pizza base recipe from the pretty damn awesome Avoca Cafe Cookbook. The original recipe is in plain text, my annotations are in italics.

Ingredients:

15g/0.5oz fresh yeast (although you can use a single sachet of the instant stuff)
1 dessertspoon honey
250-350ml/8-12fl oz tepid water (definitely not boiling as this kills the yeast... probably cooler than it comes out of a hot tap)
450g/1lb strong flour (I've made it with both white and wholemeal strong flour... white tastes nicer, wholemeal is better for you)
A good pinch of salt
2 tablespoons olive oil

To make the dough, cream the yeast and honey together in a bowl and then add 250ml/8fl oz of the warm water. Stir until dissolved abd leave for 10 minutes in a warm place. It will bubble up slightly which tells you the yeast is alive and well. Place the flour amd salt in a large bow - it must be large enough to allow the dough to rise to twice its original size. Make a well in the centre and add the olive oil, then the yeast mixture, stirring with your fingers (messy!) to combine it with the flour. Add the remaining water if necessary to make a smooth dough that comes away from the sides of the bowl. Knead either by hand or with a dough hook until the dough is elastic and bounces back when you prod it with your finger. Return it to the bowl and coat with a thin film of olive oil. Cover the bowl with cling-film and set aside in a warm place for 30 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Knock back the risen dough, divide it in two and roll out each half as thinly as possible, into a circle roughly 30 cm in diameter. At this point you can freeze the dough, rather than roll it out. I normally make double the amount specified so that I can have a couple of bases ready in the freezer for days when I'm hung-over and craving naughty food.

Spread the sauce and topping over the bases and bake for 20 minutes in an over preheated to 220C/425F/gas mark 7. It's best to have a hot baking sheet or pizza tray in the oven, then if you have a pizza paddle (or are very dextrous), you can slip the the pizza on to it to cook - the blast of heat from the baking sheet ensures a crisp base if you want that sort of thing. Alternatively, just put the rolled-out pizza dough on a baking sheet and put it into the hot oven. I usually cover the baking sheet with olive oil to make sure the pizza doesn't stick.

Drummer wanted for Birmingham indie band

2005-04-05T09:29:00.000Z

I'm part of a recently formed band hailing from Birmingham in the UK. We're currently searching for a drummer to help us write original material. Our influences include Pavement, Built To Spill, Guided By Voices, Weezer, Ted Leo and lots of other good US & UK indie (see my profile!).

Are you a Birmingham drummer with good skills, and a desire to contribute to the creative process? Do you know someone that fits that description? If so, please PM me on audioscrobbler or contact us here.

Mind the mess

2005-04-01T15:26:00.000Z

Just a quick note to say that I am slowly importing old content from my old (abortive) blog, monsterlives. Anything on here from before December '04 is from the old place. Some of it is pretty embarrassing too ;)

You're delicious

2005-03-31T09:22:00.000Z

Just trying out a few things. In the mean time, checkout some del.icio.us links.

Stencil Revolution

2005-01-05T21:48:00.000Z

I've always fancied making my own t-shirts, so I was totally gon-smacked when I found Stencil Revolution. Basically it answers all the questions I had about technique and materials, and it does so with a fairly bad attitude. And it's arty... in a borderline good way. I have to admit that I didn't stumble upon this by chance. Instead it appears here via the new, and wonderful, Preshrunk. Who'd have thought reading about t-shirts could be quite so interesting? Me neither.

Survived It!

2005-01-04T14:51:00.000Z

Phew, that was close.

I'm finally back into my normal(ish) routine after the crazy Xmas period. The actual festive days were some of the best I've had in recent times. It's been a couple of years since my parents separated, and I think this year everyone was finally in a place where they were happy with their new roles and new positions in life.

Most prominent among this was my Gran who declared this one of the best Christmases ever. That said, any time she has her grand-kids nearby is the best time ever for her. I also managed to not eat or drink too much over Xmas week. I did have a couple of mad indulgent times, but I think I balanced them out with a couple of food-laden jogs.

A couple of presents of note: a record player, the dramatisation of His Dark Materials on 6 CDs, and a BiOrb aquarium. Top stuff!

Is it the last minute yet?

2004-12-22T10:00:00.000Z

I'm just about to head off in to the sunny city and do the last of my Xmas shopping. The sad thing is that the only presents I have left to buy in the last minute rush are the ones for the people I care about most. I guess this is because everyone else gets a fairly limited period of consideration before a purchase is made, whilst ideas for presents for these people never seem good enough, or appropriate enough, and I'm therefore ham-strung when it comes to decision making. Well, there's nothing like baying crowds of chavs in a shopping mall to ease the route through complex decision making. Wish me luck!

EDIT: I survived and was eminently successful!

Rock album snapshots

2004-12-20T09:14:00.000Z

The Guardian has a short and punchy review of the year in "rock". My favourite bit is MTV Base being described as a place "where everything's like a mildly pornographic advert for money". Also, they are positive towards The Futureheads, Morrissey and the Walkmen, whilst knocking the (easy targets) of Bono + iPod, Keane and Tim Kash. Good stuff then.

Audioscrobbler :: User :: hawesie

2004-12-19T15:25:00.000Z

I thought I'd make a start at some content by sticking up a link to my audioscrobbler user page. I find this sort of thing fascinating. It combines my geeky love of interesting software with my geeky love of music and my geeky desire for order in the world. Priceless.

A fresh start...

2004-12-17T22:20:00.000Z

Well I guess it's time to throw the old site out of the window. A defenestration as it were. I wanted to have a space where I could write about myself in a semi-private way, but then got so bloody over-excited that I told all my nearest and dearest about it. Obiously these are the last people who need to read this kind of (honest) filth.

So what does this fresh start mean? Well, I guess it means that I will have more conversations with myself (like this), and probably (hopefully) update a little more often. I don't know why I believe this, but what the hell. Anyway, there's no-one out there, so it doesn't matter.

I am the chosen one.

2003-04-05T13:21:00.000Z

I am happy to
report that my dancing shoes worked almost without flaw, and my
experience in the outside world was extremely enjoyable (thanks
girls). I am now free to indulge in one of the most cherished things
in my life. A hang-over Saturday. Although Saturdays are generally
intended for relaxation and a freedom responsibilities, there's
something special about a hung-over one. It's like even if you really
wanted to do something serious and practical (like gardening, or
fixing code on your flakey website) you can't even consider it due to
dehydration, dog breath and a general feeling of weariness. I
feel like by over-indulging last night, I've earned a day of
sloth.

So that's what I'm going to have. More
specifically, I am going to further my attempts to save the world from
Ganondorf (he's a very naughty boy). This new Zelda game is easily
the best in the series so far. Admittedly it doesn't have the impact
of the Ocarina of Time, as a lot of it has been seen before, but the
puzzles are so much better (i.e. less tedious) and the cartoony
artistic direction seals the deal for immersion. It's so good that,
well, I'm off to play it now. Bye!

Exemplar...

2003-04-04T14:16:00.000Z

I think I may have
stumbled upon a modern day definition of a failed romance. I give you
exhibit A (EDIT: The link now appears to be photo-less :().

ps I don't look at this
site often, but sometimes I feel the need to evaluate others based
purely on the quality of their digital photography/scanning
hardware.

The outside world.

2003-04-04T09:47:00.000Z

Tonight I am
dusting off my dancing shoes and heading out into the wide world to
inflict drunken havoc on the fine establishments of Bristol. This
comes after a similar drunken outing on Monday. God, if I leave the
confines of my high-tech dwelling one more time this week I fear my
geek status may be threatened

Wish me luck!

EDIT:
Oops, I meant to mention yesterday that 12xu has some free
Sally Crewe mp3s.

The Nintendo magic

2003-04-02T18:55:00.000Z

As I mentioned the other day, I bought so brand spanking new games. Although I've had enough time to really see enough of either of them to make a definitive judgement, I'm sure it's not overly hasty of me to say that they're fucking brilliant. Although they are examples of very different genres, they both demonstrate the kind of attention to detail that Nintendo manage to infuse their best products with. The game worlds are magnificent, and the characterisation is pretty awesome (especially in Zelda). I'm a little daunted by the thought of tackling Zelda, as if the size of the world map is anything to go by, then it will be a game I will be playing well into the summer, and probably beyond (not a bad thing at all really).

Along with the games, I've also been exercising my internet shopping muscles at Amazon too. Making up the kernel of my order (you know, the things that you really want, before you add all sorts of other stuff) were the 2 EPs by The Dawn Parade. They're a fantastic indie rock (is that a legitimate term still?) combo that have written 2 of the most atmospheric and uplifting tunes I've heard for a while. Amazingly enough, you can download one of them for free from their website

Making up the rest of my order were CDs by Rainer Maria and Sally Crewe. The Sally Crewe (and The Sudden Moves) album is something special. At first is sounds a little too obvious and trivial, but it has lyrical hooks to die for and an upbeat poppy appeal. It's the sort of album Kenickie should've made instead of going their separate ways (I can't believe Lauren Laverne is now Johnny Vaughan's music bitch).

Anyhoo. I might update the site tonight and add an archive page. There's something about coding PHP whilst watching football that soothes my tortured soul. I will leave you with a quote from The Dawn Parade... Teenage rebel icons are one more way to conform.

Back at last

2003-03-31T12:47:00.000Z

OK, so my good intentions of updating on a pseudo-regular basis were thwarted by the
complete disintegration of my computer. Luckily it's now back in one piece and things can start happening again. The bad news is that my nice post lady turned up this morning with copies of the new Zelda and Metroid games, fresh from the importer's best friend. These two additions to my life may significantly reduce my already sketchy
productivity.

The Geek Hierarchy

2003-03-25T23:50:00.000Z

Never attempt to apply thermal compound to a CPU fan after a couple of glasses of wine. Half of my body now conducts heat exquisitely.

A guilty pleasure.

2003-03-24T21:47:00.000Z

I consider myself to have quite decent music taste. For example, I regularly read Pitchfork, wear t-shirts that proclaim the greatness of Superchunk and Cinerama, and am always willing to offer a lofty and cynical opinion on the latest band-hibernating reality tv show.

So why is it that I've spent the day listening to Sound of the Underground by the forged in the public eye Girls Aloud? I honestly think it's a great song. It's got style and energy where a lot of other music performed by "manufactured" bands is just bland and dry.

I think I'd now better try and expose myself to as much early 80s indie as possible. It will cleanse my musical soul.

Pointless manifesto...

2003-03-23T21:09:00.000Z

Motivation is a strange thing. I started this blog because I was taken with the idea of writing about things that interested me and maybe the odd bit of social commentary. Now I have got the thing up and coded, I am at a loss for opinions on things (well not everything, I still love Penny Arcade) and can't seem to recall all the great ideas I was originally inspired by.

I put this down to 2 reasons. Firstly, I think the technical challenge of hacking around with PHP and MySQL was so alluring that I managed to convince myself of my desire to blog, when really I could've kept a very small notebook of my thoughts. I'm pretty sure I'm not the first to develop this fallacy. Secondly, I am suffering from a strange strain of performance anxiety. On one hand I'm a little nervous about people reading my words, and on the other I feel ridiculous because no-one is probably going to read them anyway. I'm sure I'll get over it.

In an attempt to dispel my unease, I will share with you (my currently imaginary reader) a glimpse of my new hobby. After getting a taste for free mp3s from the the likes of Napster and AudioGalaxy, I continually long for new sounds without handing over old money. I don't do this just to be cheap, I genuinely buy albums if I like the tracks I've heard from it (although this can go horribly wrong, shhh....). Recently I've found that record label websites can be a tremendous source of free music, and have begun building a collection of links to such sites. For example, look at the wealth of songs available on the polyvinyl site. I can heartily recommend the tasty morsels by Rainer Maria (try the marvellous Breakfast of Champions), and Sunday's Best.