Archive for January, 2010

Claims Team UK slash USA – Con Artists

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

Despite being on Telephone Preference Service, I get about 4 calls a day from these con artists asking me about my finances. The call always starts from a record message and then it asks me for a random number to press to speak to someone.

When getting through to someone to enquire about how I can arrange the deal, the person who I speak to sounds like a drop-out from the most menial job you can possibly think off, with all the charm and charisma of an Harry Enfield character. Their staff are, probably, working under a “Self Employed” basis and, should they do actually make a ‘sale’, they’ll be let go under some excuse, in order for commission not to be paid.

Make no mistake, these people are scum who pray on the innocent, and hopefully, “Claims Team UK slash USA”, “Claims Team UK / USA” or whatever they’re calling themselves this week, will fall foul of Trades Descriptions.

And if you work for them, feel free to out all the shady business practices to the world, I have no doubt that you are better off on benefits than working for them.

How to invite ALL your friends to a group, event or page on Facebook.

Sunday, January 17th, 2010

Want to promote your Facebook group, event or page? Facebook has a limit on how many mates you can add, I’m guessing because it’ll be filled with spam, however, good news, there is a neat little way around that.

When you’ve got an invite box, like this…
invite-box

Just copy and paste the following code into the URL bar (the bar where you type in website addresses)

javascript:elms=document.getElementById(‘friends’).getElementsByTagName(‘li’);for(var fid in elms){if(typeof elms[fid] === ‘object’){fs.click(elms[fid]);}}

And by magic, it’ll select them all for you =)

Open Letters

Sunday, January 17th, 2010

Open Letters

I’ve gotten passionate and started writting letters to people, here are the first three.

Enjoy =)

365 thing… maybe we’ll turn it into a 52.

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

dislikeOk, this creative 365 thing isn’t quite working out how I wanted, I’ve done creative stuff, but haven’t had the time to blog it. So, I’m turning it into a ’52′ thing, one thing a week. This week I’m working on my portfolio, should be finished in the next few days.

Then, next week, I shall make a Dislike button for Facebook, hopefully one that does something.

Failed Roast beef, but awesome Accidental Soup.

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
Roast Beef (I think)

Roast Beef (I think)

I really like Roast Beef. I grow up not having it, I don’t think my mum ever cooked it for me, but when I go to the likes of a sandwich shop, a roast beef and horseradish sandwich is one of my favorites. My mum did make Salt Beef, which I’ll try to make myself one day, but it just isn’t the same (in fact, it’s far better, but still, not the same).

By chance, I was browsing around ASDA with my flatmate, Russingleton, when I spied a ‘brisket’ and my juices got flowing about having having lovely roast beef sandwiches for a week.

I couldn’t find any recipes on the video websites by any of my favorite chefs, so I thought I would piece together what I thought I remembered from Telly and do something myself.

Here’s what you need.

  • A bag of carrots
  • 2 onions
  • 2 Garlic bulbs
  • Some port or red wine
  • Some concentrated beef stock
  • A brisket of beef.
  • Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper
  • Mustard (Grainy or English)

Here’s what I did….

  • Put the oven on full-whack
  • Cut the onions into 6 or 8 pieces, all put together.
  • Cut the carrots up into bite sized chunks.
  • Cover the beef in Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper
  • Make up about 1½ pints of beef stock, I used some concentrated stuff because I thought it would taste stronger.
  • Add three good glugs of port to the stock.
  • Brown off the beef in a frying pan
  • Cover the beef in grainy mustard, or English if want a fuller flavour.
  • Rest veg in the pan, with 2 bulbs of garlic separated into cloves (I didn’t bother to peel it, life’s to short) cover  the veg with stock.
  • Place the beef on top, cover with tin foil.
  • Put the oven down to about 150ish.
  • Cook it for about 3 hours, turning it every now-and-then.
  • Leave to rest for 30 minutes, carve and serve.
Most of the stuff I used.

Most of the stuff I used.

Brown off the beef.

Brown off the beef.

Veg in a pan

Veg in a pan

Beef covered with mustard, veg covered in stock.

Beef covered with mustard, veg covered in stock.

The liquid doubled ! Oops, oh well, makes a nice soup.

The liquid doubled ! Oops, oh well, makes a nice soup.

Looks good, but was way too tough.

Looks good, but was way too tough.

The soup bit is amazing though.

The soup bit is amazing though.

The garlic is nice and squidgy, but the other veg was too hard.

The garlic is nice and squidgy, but the other veg was too hard.

Jamie Oliver’s Risotto (with peas and aspagous)

Saturday, January 2nd, 2010
Finished

Finished

I’ll admit to it, I hate cooking with rice. I can never get it quite how I like it, it’s either over or under done. I’ve not gotten around to buying a metal strainer either. I like eating it, just hate cooking it. I was sitting at the doctors, going through the “20 minute meal” Jamie Oliver app, and he showed me how it’s done. It looked a bit of a palaver, but I was determined to try it, and it turned out good (the second one, the first one I wasn’t keen on.)

What you need for two people…..

  • 200g Arborio Rice
  • A glass of White Wine
  • An onion
  • Some frozen peas
  • Asparagus
  • Some butter
  • A pint of  Chicken Stock (Make your own, pre-made or stock cubes/gels are all good)
  • Parmesan Cheese (get Flaked or fresh if you can, not sawdust).
  • Same garlic
  • Olive Oil

What you need to do….

  • Put the stock in a pan and on the hob, if you’re using cubes/gel, add one cube/gel to boiling water. Let it simmer and stir.
  • Chop the Asparagus tips into 3 pieces.
  • Chop up some garlic and an onion, shallow fry ’till translucent in butter and a bit of olive oil
  • Pour in the rice and cook it for a few minutes (the point if this is to break the rice’s shell and let the stock and wine get in)
  • [For the next few bits, keep on stirring every few minutes]
  • Pour over the wine, and let it evaporate.
  • Keep on adding a ladle full of stock when it all gets evaporated. Over the 15 or so minutes this takes, add the Asparagus, the thick end after 5 minutes, the middle after the next 5, and the tips right at the end. On the last one, add the peas too
  • Once the stock is absorbed, if the consistency is too stodgy, add some water, or cook it for longer, use your judgement. Remember though, the Parmesan will thicken it.
  • Add a nice nob of butter and the Parmesan, stir it all in, take it off the hob and leave it for about 10 minutes.
  • Serve and enjoy =)
All the bits you need

All the bits you need

Simmer the stock (using Gel here)

Simmer the stock (using Gel here)

Sweat down some garlic and onions in butter.

Sweat down some garlic and onions in butter.

Add the rice and let it cook.

Add the rice and let it cook.

Thick bits of aspagous first, then thin bits. Let the stock get absorbed into the rice.

Thick bits of aspagous first, then thin bits. Let the stock get absorbed into the rice.

Once all the stock and stuff is in, it tripples in size.

Once all the stock and stuff is in, it tripples in size.

Serve and enjoy =)

Serve and enjoy =)