Monthly Archives: September 2011

Tweets on 2011-09-12

  • RT @ChristofHughes: @alexfoster on your recommendation, have sampled and purchased Lord Alexander's Cipher. Wife loves it as well. Thanks! #
  • RT @qikipedia: For sources and more factoids about this week's episode of QI, check out our 'Guide to QI' here: http://t.co/MUusZ44 #
  • RT @Psythor: ?! RT @rbhinkley For no particular reason I just did a drawing of @psythor doing a @PodDelusion recording: http://t.co/LUoLTn4 #
  • @Psythor that's awesome – it should be the new iPod sleeve art! in reply to Psythor #
  • Waiting for the ice cream van to leave the street so I can type the exciting final chapter of Chasing the Dragon http://t.co/FTemZwp #
  • Forecaster Predicts Early Winter Snowfall – buy your thermals and snowshoes now! http://t.co/GsGii7c #
  • Doing the @libdemvoice members' survey. And surprising even myself on how many "Don't knows/No opinions" I'm registering. #
  • And now… homemade chicken pie. #
  • @SophWheeler you have a cellar AS WELL?! in reply to SophWheeler #
  • @poddelusion I'm not sure I approve of you featuting people. in reply to poddelusion #
  • Mmmmm. Sherry. How fortunate I am that sweet own brand sherry is both a) delicious and b) cheap. #
  • @bykimbo ten year anniversary of QI! in reply to bykimbo #
  • RT @CllrIainRoberts: Wondering which awards ceremony you should host this week. Try gocompere.com <<< groan! #
  • Apple pulled pork à la @wotchers in the oven on a timer ready to come on at breakfast time tomorrow. #
  • I swear, since we started watching Modern Family, the cats have been doing asides to camera behind our backs. #
  • Wow, a single chart of evolution, with 4,000 million years on it. http://t.co/fDhTrmm #
  • Piñata for cats http://t.co/C4VbaVT #
  • Last night, I read for pleasure, for 6 hours. Tonight, academic reading. Needing more breaks, f'sure. #
  • And one day, I might even get around to reading during the day! #

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Tweets on 2011-09-11

  • @Psythor was she called Suzanne? Did the oranges come all the way from China? in reply to Psythor #
  • @Meryl_F six weeks, you say? *pops over to FutureTweets* in reply to Meryl_F #
  • @Psythor did she take you down to her place by the river? Do I need to keep asking questions til you get the #leonardcohen reference? 🙂 in reply to Psythor #
  • @Psythor ask a grownup to explain 😛 in reply to Psythor #
  • Literally waiting for the dust to settle. #
  • I am never forget the day I have to make a nice dessert from scratch. This, I know from nothing, what I am going to do. #
  • But I think of the great Simon Hopkinson, and ahah! Sticky toffee pudding! #
  • RT @rfwgwheeler @alexfoster Recipie I copied from old Vladivostok telephone directory… #
  • @LilyWeston not every number, no: http://t.co/6tKf16c in reply to LilyWeston #
  • @Martin_Veart that goes wrong for me every time! must start buying bleached white sugar, you can see better when it caramelizes. in reply to Martin_Veart #
  • Must NOT confuse sticky toffee sauce with gravy. #
  • Must NOT confuse gravy with coffee. #
  • @karinjr I'm sure the UK won't mind since we know it was written for a Broadway musical and we know the Yanks are overly sentimental 🙂 in reply to karinjr #
  • Have been loving the #qi spesh. Especially the Noble/Cox contention that Ewoks shatter if you hurl them into a lake of fart. #
  • So, Simon Hopkinson's Sticky Toffee Pudding is very nice. http://t.co/yGrCM6M In unrelated news, I'm still so full I can hardly move. #
  • … and that's after making half the mix for 2 of us. I'm guessing the full size one is sticky toffee pudding, as an entire meal, for four. #
  • Brilliant fancy dress costume for people who have or can borrow babies. http://t.co/07t7p0D #
  • Have self-destructive urge to stay up late and read "Lord Alexander's Cipher" http://t.co/4AUi5lL – lots of thrilling plot twists. #
  • It would, in any case, probably still be unwise to attempt to lie down. #
  • heh http://t.co/0XDM5Br #Kindle #
  • finished Lord Alexander's Cipher, or: The Bridekirk Behemoth by Stephen Bowden http://t.co/d3PKDRL #Kindle #
  • finished Lord Alexander's Cipher, or: The Bridekirk Behemoth by Stephen Bowden and gave it 5 stars http://t.co/d3PKDRL #Kindle #

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Tweets on 2011-09-10

  • @Meryl_F 😦 ah, dear 😦 in reply to Meryl_F #
  • @Meryl_F at least that means it's a real person, rather than a chat robot. in reply to Meryl_F #
  • @prateekbuch @psythor yup, deffo Zoom H2. But practice using it first. Never actually got my line-in to work. in reply to prateekbuch #
  • @prateekbuch @psythor affordable? All the 2006 LDV podcasts, including Nick Robinson, were made with a cheap digital dictaphone. #
  • So, my parents' cat, who arrived just after I was on German exchange at school, didn't quite make it to 20 years old 😦 #goodinnings #
  • Ooh, my conference badge has a sparkly Lib Dem hologram security feature. Still not going. #
  • @prateekbuch @psythor that's always good in theory but I've never made it work. We use the Zoom to record whole meetings separately from PA. in reply to prateekbuch #
  • RT @BitterCoffey: Apparently there's something called a "twittclass" for people learning #French …? http://t.co/Zx4jSAa #
  • Small, midweek shop #myarse (@ Sainsburys Arnold) http://t.co/YuoRp8k #
  • RT @binny_uk: RT @wowser: Ask yourself: "Is there a naked owl in my bathroom?" Don't wait for the hooting – CHECK. #
  • Funnest thing about ringing for weddings is walking through the baffled, betogged groomsmen in jeans and tshirt. #
  • Taking in bag o'books #decluttering – ended up being given #outadate fairtrade pineapple. (@ Oxfam) http://t.co/ZHqMReC #

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Tweets on 2011-09-09

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Tweets on 2011-09-08

  • @Psythor one specially for you http://t.co/2yH3fum in reply to Psythor #
  • @tweetminster It's not Guido making the claim it is Bell's local newspaper. in reply to tweetminster #
  • Postman comes with my magazines: Liberator and the magazine of Assoc for Language Learners. (Inc Francophonie and Deutsch Lehren u. Lernen) #
  • I can't see "Irene" (as in hurricane) written down without hearing it as spoken by Patricia Routledge in Ladies of Letters. i-RENE. #
  • @jamesgraham @UnlockDemocracy so it turns out some MPs DO need to be made to work harder. Who knew? in reply to jamesgraham #
  • I haven't so much turned the heating on, as left the heating on the thermostat all summer. Just now, the house is starting to fall below 18. #
  • @owenblacker @cr3 @Rackspace yebbut… did they drop prices? Is that WHY they're expensive? 🙂 #missingthepoint #knowingpriceofeverthing in reply to owenblacker #
  • Gah. I'm supposed to be being productive today, and yet somehow @ramtops has me googling crumhorn fingering and hoping nothing rude pops up #
  • (@prateekbuch) I don't usually *Read* Liberator, it just goes onto the periodicals pile 🙂 in reply to prateekbuch #
  • RT @miltonline: I have domainnameacquisitionsyndrome.com #
  • @alixmortimer I'm sure no-one would mind if you just had a leeeeeetle sherry. in reply to alixmortimer #
  • @alixmortimer *pokes dainty finger out and slurps genteely* #
  • The story says Mad Nads "stormed out" – but the video clip seems to show her chuckling along at the joke? http://t.co/Uebkp81 #
  • Restaurant Zest wants to be your friend on Foursquare. Er? Not sure that's how it works. WE go the VENUES. They don't try and friend us! #
  • Can't even see the name Ted Haggard without thinking "is completely heterosexual" (Gay Homophobe http://t.co/wbBNePC) #
  • Ever since ill-advisedly following a link by @alixmortimer (despite the warning) I've been humming "moon cup dot com!" to the card ad tune. #
  • Alan Titchmarsh rang his first quarter peal (Campanophile) http://t.co/azj2cUJ #
  • So, does anyone want an atticful of old Lib Dem conference policy papers before I recycle them? #
  • @catofstripes hah! we made that at school in Home Ec once, and for years I thought that's what pizza was! in reply to catofstripes #
  • @catofstripes mmmm pizza. #
  • RT @warrenellis: Bachmann: "if we burned sinners for energy, we could create 1.2 million new pre-Rapture jobs" #
  • That's strange. I've gone from "too full to move" to "hungry" after reading about Blue Peter Scone Pizza http://t.co/ddgRTrs #

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Tweets on 2011-09-07

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Pulled pork

I hadn’t really heard of this before this summer, and suddenly it’s everywhere. It’s essentially a cheap joint of pork cooked long and slow with barbecue-sauce-like marinade. After cooking, you reserve the sauce, take out the pork and remove the bones and fat, and pull it apart with forks, like rillettes or Chinese restaurant Peking duck. The sauce has its fat removed, and then to serve, you reheat the sauce and mix it with the shredded meat.

I cooked it for our dinner party on Saturday, and apart from it tying up your oven for an entire day ((or a slow cooker if you have one. I’m almost considering getting a slow cooker again just for this!)), it’s a really good dinner party dish. I had cooked the starter and pudding the day before, and it came out of the oven in good time to let me make the canapés in the half-hour before the guests arrived.

As I put the starter out, I set the fire under a big pan of potatoes which would eventually become mustard mash (potatoes with the skins still on, but cut smaller; wholegrain mustard; butter and something creamy – cream, yoghurt or quark, whatever was in the fridge). Then about halfway through the spud cooking time, I put prepared French beans and broccoli florets into boiling water. The pork had been ready since about 6pm, so I put the jug of gravy sauce into the microwave to boil it, stirred it through the meat, then brought out the meat, mash and veg in big steaming pots for people to help themselves.

The main recipe I read was Matt Tebbut’s, from last September’s Olive magazine, reproduced here. We’re not terribly seafoody people, and some of our guests had specifically said no fish, so no clams. Reading around on the internet found an enormous variety of different rubs and sauces, but the essential thing seemed to be that anything vaguely marinadey would do. So I rubbed mine the night before with salt and sugar, then on the day, improvised a marinade. It included: chopped onions, shallots and garlic; HP brown sauce, tomato purée, red wine vinegar, sherry ((I love sherry)), sugar, Dijon mustard. The lot was whisked together in a big lidded cast-iron casserole and the meat joint was wiped of its salt and plonked on top. I kept opening it up during the day to see how it was getting along, and ended up worrying it wasn’t cooking quickly enough. It got 7 hours in total, and each time I looked at it, I turned it up a bit, so it got 3 hours at 140 deg, a few more at 150 and had the last two hours at 180. It could well have been fine at the lower temperature, but didn’t seem harmed by the higher. I think this is a fairly forgiving dish. Each time I looked, I also basted, by spooning the juices over the side.

In terms of it being everywhere, it’s on the Clarkies supperclub September menu, for starters (their mixed grill sounds fab!)

And this evening I have been reading through the back posts on the blog of one of the Great British Bake Off contestants, Mary-Anne – and there was a gorgeous looking version made with apples, which sounds like a very good combination and which I am itching to try out.

So, pulled pork has a lot going for it. Delicious, cheap, flexible… but one final benefit, given that I am now starting to think with my “back to school” head on, is that it looks to be very easily doable either on a prepare ahead basis – make the marinade the night before and leave it cooking in the oven during the day on a timer – or that it looks eminently freezable. Make it at the weekend, and make ghost portions for the following week.

Mary-Anne on the GBBO is one of my favourite contestants, and her blog is top notch. Special shout out for her gorgeous looking and sounding Apple Rose Tarts.

Solar panel performance – 2010

It’s a bit rum writing a post about this so many months into 2011, but it is supposed to be an annual thing, after all!

Solar panel performance 2010

As the yearly data graph shows, despite feeling a little disappointing, last summer, or at least the year as a whole, provided more hot water through my solar evacuated tubes than any previous since the installation was put in.

3,999 kWh of heat is just ever so slightly frustrating. An extra hour of sunshine on Dec 31st and we might have had 4,000…

Nottingham Energy Partnership have an Energy Costs Comparison table. I neglected to look at it last year, so will have to use the data from last month now to estimate the financial value of the heat we got from the sun. At 4.40 pence per kWh, the value adds up to £175.96.

The running total to the end of 2010 is therefore £451.68.

There are all sorts of flawed assumptions being made to come to that figure, so take it with a fairly large pinch of salt.

But if you are considering a solar panel of your own, whether for hot water or to generate electricity, and you live vaguely near Nottingham, do please get in touch with Sungain at Nottingham Energy Partnership, who would be delighted to let you know what to do next. You can also follow them on Twitter, and they also have a very helpful service on their website that lets you compare your electricity and gas tariffs and see if you can save money.

Buckets more information about my own solar panel under this link.

And a declaration of interest: I’m on the board at Nottingham Energy Partnership, where they very kindly describe me as an “energy expert.”

Liberal Drinks / #tweetup at #ldconf

LibDemVoice have for the last few years nominated a time and a place for an informal drink and meet-up for internetty Lib Dems to let their hair down and have a chat.

This time around, we weren’t quite fleet enough of foot to get any such event in the conference directory, so we will have to rely on word of mouth helping to spread the details.

After a quick chat on the topic in Lib Dem Voice’s private members’ forum, we settled on meeting at the Wellington pub, a short distance from the conference centre itself, on the Monday night of the conference week. Kickoff will be around 7.30pm.

If you’d like to come along, why not click here to let your twitter friends know.

In addition, Lib Dem Voice have our usual strong presence at the conference, with the following events planned:

Lib Dem Blog of the Year Awards 2011
Join LDV and online friends for a walk down the yellow carpet to award the 2011 BOTYs. Categories,
nominations and public voting all happen in August at http://www.LibDemVoice.org
Saturday, 17th September, 10pm onwards
Hyatt Regency, Andante

Do we need a Coalition ‘exit strategy’? Preparing for 2015
How should the Liberal Democrats campaign as a distinct party in the next General Election? Our panel of experts explore the party’s options for 2015.
Tuesday, 20th September, 8pm
Jurys Inn, 102

Lib Dems and the Media: friend or foe, and does it matter?
“The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.” Media coverage of the Liberal Democrats has increased hugely since the 2010 General Election campaign – but have we got the coverage we craved?
Wednesday 21st September, 1pm
Hyatt Regency, Fortissimo

Tweets on 2011-09-06

  • Loving the Guardian picture series about Barra's airport on the beach http://t.co/f5YltgO #wanderlust #
  • @ScottyWalks get wet 🙂 in reply to ScottyWalks #
  • @helenduffett cripes! in reply to helenduffett #
  • Taken 5 goes to find a jeweler who will replace watch batteries, but this one offers free coffee while I wait 🙂 #
  • Yay, working watches. Now just to get used to wearing one again. #
  • Bloody hell, when did my wrist get so fat?! #interrobang #
  • RT @dbelbin: I'm told there's an Elbow tribute band called Arse, who are so good that people can't tell them apart #
  • Wow, someone is tarring and feathering Paris parking meters. http://t.co/HM2bfaH #
  • For the love of god, Flylady, will you STOP GOING ON AND ON AND ON about BLOODY WATER BOTTLES!! #
  • @DrewCR2 which one? in reply to DrewCR2 #
  • @po8crg got that one as soon as the group was split. P shouting out the Madge one very early on too. Never knew she had 4! in reply to po8crg #
  • @10anta half planned a Lib Drinks at Wellington, 1930 on Monday, that can serve also as a #ldconf #tweetup in reply to 10anta #
  • Sudden taste fantasy of curly fries. Should go and eat the fennel pasta I cooked. #
  • Oh, such treasures on't Tivo. The Simpsons Itchy and Scratchy Land episode. "Mai children need WINE!!" #

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