Spooky green halloween cake recipe

Flyingpops has put on her baking hat (all of a sudden) and now we have cakes coming out of our ears! This one she made last night to celebrate Halloween, a spooky green cake!

To make it you need the following -

6 ounces of self raising flour
6 ounces of caster sugar
6 ounces of butter
3 eggs
2 teaspoons of green food colouring
1 dash of vanilla essence

• Beat this lot together into a smooth creamy mixture (Flyingpops used the hand blender with whisk attachment and didn't make *too* much of a mess thanks to careful use of a tea towel, but you can do it with a spoon if you need to)
• Spread the mixture evenly between two 6 inch, medium depth cake tins which you have lined with a grease-proof paper disk (draw around the bottom of the cake tin onto the paper and cut just inside the line, it will fit perfectly in the bottom)
• Put into a pre-heated oven (190 Centigrade/Gas mark 5) for between 20-25 minutes (until golden brown)...turn the tins out onto a wire rack and leave them to cool, carefully removing the grease-proof paper disks.
• Spread your favorite jam onto the base, then sandwich the two together, decorating the top with icing (butter icing with lemon zest is good, but use your imagination) and sprinkles of your choice...
  

Spooky green Halloween cake...Done... ;)

Gickr

Wow, this is really cool, if you Flickr, you *must* check it out... ;) It's super-fast toy to make "on the fly" animated GIFs from your recent pictures (can't browse your whole archive, only the last 30 or so shots), pick the ones you want by checking them, hit the "Next" button and it spits out a bit of code that you can paste into any web page (or blog post) about 10 seconds later! I can think of loads of times this would have been *very* handy!

Click the animation to go and see their website...(interestingly you don't need to be a Flickr user, you can put in any tag or username and just get making animations)!

Only downside is that people can't easily get to larger versions of your pics...but there will be times I will use this...perhaps next to all those times I have said "check out the Flickr stream if you like this kind of thing"... ;)

Closed Bus Stop #2

Spotted another one today (my previous, and up to that point, singular other occurence of bus stops that are "closed" is my normal stop to get off the number 17 - I literally walk out of the back door of the bus, take a single step, swipe my card in the door and I'm in the office, quite incredbily convenient...) but this one was down the Gray's Inn Road (just before you hit Kings Cross)...I had finished reading Metro and didn't (really) have time to boot up the PSP, so I was just gazing out of the window...about 200 yards ahead of us I spotted a young couple with a push chair (and what looked like luggage) frantically waving at the driver of our bus in a futile attempt to get him to stop...they obviously hadn't spotted the (albeit rather small and very high up) yellow sticker attached to the top of the sign reading simply "Closed". As we zoomed past them, I glanced back in sympathy, but they weren't moving or apparently looking for an explaination, just patiently awaiting the next bus!

I hope it doesn't take too long to sink in... :(

Halloween Party

Went to a Halloween party last night (costume, of course), drank a lot, played silly games, made a terrible mess with party poppers, jolly good fun... ;)

Actual halloween isn't until Tuesday, but have stocked up on required sweets for the little darlings on the estate (millions of kit-kat bars, as they were on offer in Tesco)...plus we scored one of the numerous pumpkins, provided as decoration at the party, to put in our window so the kids know it's okay to knock (the one pictured above actually!)... ;)

End of BST - Clocks go back!

Remember to put your clocks back tonight! In fact, I set my clock back when I woke up this morning, made Flyingpops rather confused as to quite why she was awake so early...(which earned me a whack when she finally realised, as she wanted to hit the shops early)...

Tee hee... ;)

New version of Firefox is out (2.0)...

...so it's time to upgrade, link added to my sidebar for your convenience (down there on your right)...

If you don't already have it on your machine, then take the plunge, use it instead of Internet Explorer and (as if my magic) 99% of the nasty exploits waiting to trap you and steal your credit card number or bank details, will simply dissapear...and it's totally free...

You know it makes sense... ;)

Update - thanks to -Mr X- who pointed out that IE7 came out of beta/rc too just recently, they even sent the nice chaps at Firefox a cake... ;)

430 bus from Redhill

I honestly couldn't believe my ears, got on the bus home from Redhill tonight and sat right at the back were two naughty chav girls who (looked about 10, and) were screaming into a mobile phone which was set on hands free (so thus, all the other passengers could hear the person on the other end talking, it being a noisy MP3 playing model) -

I took minutes of the meeting for your convenience -

Girl 1 - *swearwords*
Girl 2 - *more swearwords*
Girl 1 - "Yeh, but 'ave you gone to the clinic?"
Ollie (I clocked his name after the phone call finished as you will see) - "Yeh, 'course I 'ave" (gruff voice, but obviously just out of puberty and putting it on)
Girl 1 - "Yeh, so you've got some medicine then?"
Ollie - "No, they said I didn't need none!"
Girl 2 - "Yeh, right, she ain't f**king stupid!"
Girl 1 - "Look, ring me back, right! I ain't got no credit for this!"
Ollie - "No, I can't, I've got football"
Girl 1 - "NO, ring me back, that's well out of order!"
Ollie - "I've got to go to FOOTBALL (exasperated) well bad..."
Girl 1 - "Alrigh' so ring me after that! I'm pregnant remember!"
*eyes stand out on stalks*
Girl 2 - *swears*
Ollie - "Can't, going over Paulines"
Girl 1 - "Wot? You gonna give her genital warts too then?"
*stunned/shocked expression crosses Fink's face*
Ollie - "Yeh, wotEVER"
Girl 1 - "So, you gonna call me l8er?"
Ollie - "Wotever" (deadpan)
*hangs up*
(Girl 1 and Girl 2 now spend the next 3 stops of the journey discussing how lame/gay Ollie is, how she has been itching in a private place and isn't sure if it's genital warts as *she* hasn't checked it out, and *most importantly* ISN'T PREGNANT! Then...)

Girl 1 - "Ya know wot...? I really fancy Ollie..."

FinkAngel - (in his mind) *swears loudly*

Jesus... >;(

York Way accident

Whoops, looks like someone hit a lamp post in York Way overnight, leaving it at a bit of a crazy angle...the odd thing is, to do that you would imagine the vehicle in question must have been going quite fast, but the road (at that point) is a one-way street, in the wrong direction! And how did the thing next to it survive?

*Fink scratches his head*

(Previous crashes - bus crash (same road) and lorry crash (2 streets away) plus pictures of the aftermath)

Tiny Goldfish...

Beautiful as they are, rather tricky to shoot... ;)

Google Adsense

Well, as you may have noticed, I have decided (just as an experiment) to try out Google Adsense. It's that little advert up there under the header, on the left (yes, the one probably saying something about Tapas because that's what I have been going on about lately)...

It's been working since Friday afternoon, Google have tracked that as 3 days, and in that time it has recorded just over 300 successful impressions (some people block them, obviously) and (wait for it!) 5 clicks!!

That little box has earned me $2.07 (in exchange for those clicks) for essentially doing nothing more than I already do anyway...if this keeps up I'll be getting a blog "salary" of about $20 a month, or $240 a year...dunno why I didn't turn it on before really...*slap*...

That might not be it's final shape, or position, but it seems to be doing alright at the moment, so there it shall stay for now... ;)

Oh, and I am contracturally not permitted to ask you to click it though, and nor am I allowed to do so. So definitely don't click it unless the ad is relevant to you, and you want to... ;)

Halloween comes to Priory Farm

Took a trip up to Priory farm this morning (our local Farm shop/Garden Centre) to take a look at their Halloween display (which is normally very good), they didn't disapoint this year either -

- with some rather spooky trees guarding the entrance -

- and the sign inviting visitors to try and find the Pumpkin King on his throne -

- somewhere in "Spooky castle" -

- (he wasn't too hard to find, sat there on his "throne", har har ;)

We had a bit of a walk round the rest of the place (didn't know that they had stocked ponds there too) -

- and found the (very muddy) pumpkin patch, well, more like pumpkin field actually... ;) Then the gathering storm forced us back to the car, shame, because it was supposed to be their "fun day" today when all the kids come visiting, oh dear... :(

Jordan sings - "A whole new world"

Well, the original news article in the Austrailan Telegraph has vanished, but the "listen" pop up is still working...almost certainly a fake, but a totally hilarious one...have a go... ;)

Update - Better go here now to listen...the AT has pulled their copy... ;)

Refuge Point?

Just recently a lot of new signs have appeared around the office, this is one of them (they can be found on the landing on each floor in one of the stairwells). Now, admittedly I'm guessing here but, in an emergency, what are we supposed to do? Wheel all the non-able bodied people into the stairwell and wish them jolly good luck (while everyone else legs it down the fire escape)?

I think I would have great difficulty with that (both in concept and execution), but if that isn't what the sign is implying, then what does it mean?

It's like something out of Monty Python "Now, Mr Smith, just to get this clear right from the off, obviously being a man in your position, you will understand that, in the event of a fire, you will, I'm afraid, have to be left in the building. Don't look so shocked, it's quite alright, we'll put you on the landing before we go, not much combustable material there, I'm sure you'll be fine. If things start to get a little hot, just wheel yourself to the nearest window, the canal will break your fall... What do you mean you can't swim?"...

Silly search terms #6

Another batch of "interesting" hits I have had from the search engines for your enjoyment, these are terms people have entered into Google (for example) and somehow ended up here(!) -

cauliflower tonsils pictures - Urm, nope, sorry...

homemade paste recipies for fishing - Never been fishing in my life!

Playboy toys - Hrm, yes, that oh so responsible parent must have been to blame for this one...

redhill dr who groups - Please, surely not... ;)

pushing her bogged vw out of the bog - Hrm, kind of!

Nibbles pole in living room - Well, I've done lots of things in my living room, but never that... ;)

torquay massage parlour - Eh? No idea, sorry... ;)

Previous entries can be found here...

Autumn in Surrey

A study in pictures (taken on Sunday last)...

Posting over at...

...history matters today... ;) If you want to follow suit (max 650 words), click here...they want you to tag it up also, so have some keywords ready... ;)

History Matters

Ah, two other things -

1. Tomorrow, don't forget to go and fill in your day on History Matters, they want as many people as possible (anyone, you don't have to be a blogger, in fact probably better if not!) to record their thoughts on the History Matters blog, which will be wrapped up and sent into the future, so the strange super-evolved future humans will know what it was like on "any normal day" back in the ancient times of 2006 (when people couldn't even fly (or something))...Only one thing, it's got to be about tomorrow, what you do, what you think tomorrow...
2. I didn't sleep too well last night, and in order to waste some time I started thinking about doing some creative writing (which I haven't since I last ran a game of Call of Cthulhu) and I came up with an idea I kind of like...so, I'm going to try fleshing it out a bit and we'll see where we go...more on this later... ;)

Picasso, Tapas House, Worthing review

Second birthday celebration in a row (wow, really dirty-stop-out behaviour going on lately!), Saturday night found us down in the distinctly "Balearic resort"-style, south coast town of Worthing (a mish-mash of largely shiny, inviting bars, resturants and clubs containing a large number of drunk people, although not as many as I had *expected* there to be, I guess Brighton is stealing some of the thunder)...

- we enjoyed a couple of drinks in chain-pub Yates (much like any other Yates) and then on to the simply divine Picasso resturant, hidden away behind the Guildbourne Centre on Annes Road-

Walking up the stairs you find yourself simply transported to Spain, the buzzing atmosphere, the wonderful aroma and the music, the warm sunny decor (looked like the Spanish flag?) all combine to create a perfect ambience -

- if you come here, please, don't miss the Tapas...it looks a bit like a set menu, and it is, in a way, you pay a certain amount per head (depending on how many of you there are) and can select from 3 lists, one largely chicken and seafood, one largely pork and beef and one wholely vegetarian, we went for a selection of all three and I can quite honestly say the smile never left my face...roughly 40 dishes were delivered to the table from ensalada, melt in the mouth garlic bread, deep fried squid, beef in red wine, garlic mushrooms, spanish tortilla, deep fried chicken with chilli, herb roasted spuds with garlic, Paella...the list went on and on...and *every* *single* *dish* was *perfect*...

Go, you cannot possibly be dissapointed...and the huge seafood paella the table behind us had delivered, with mountains of mussles and about 40 king prawns...there's more, definitely much more to discover once you have tried the Tapas, although I'm not sure I'll be able to resist having exactly the same again next time...extraordinary...and the bill worked out at about a tenner a head (before drinks)...so excellent value also...

I'm not ashamed to say, I asked and was allowed in to meet the chef and I shook him by the hand...

We'll be back! ;)

Nic and Stuarts Birthday/Housewarming

Just a very quick update on Friday night, we had the very great pleasure of attending Nic's Birthday/Housewarming party, the place was absolutely packed with all the usual suspects (pics on Flickr for the family), and the usual mainstay cuisine of such events (the omnipresent "chilli", which I must remember to provide next time we are the hosts, will have to restrain my hand as I spice it up though, we can do without any further near fatalties ;)

They have a lovely new flat, complete with "Spa bath" (Ooo! The luxury! Next time you go off on hols I don't suppose it would be too tough to come and check on the place from time to time ;) -

- and festivities ran into late into the night, including an absolutely incredible co-incidence, one of those "Well, isn't it a small world" things...nice to meet you again Mr Mainstone...goodness, we aren't *miles* away from being related...and *that* is a trip... ;)

Anyway, once again, happy birthday Nic... ;)

Take Away a Kebab! Redhill cuisine...

(spotted in Redhill near the "Road Runners" taxi stand)

Courtesy of the Kebab Marketing board..."enjoy...!" ;)

Oh and just to clear up one minor point - there is absolutely no relationship between what is represented in this picture and the reality of any Kebab actually purchased in Redhill...especially not from the dodgy kebab van/shoe hire firm that lurks in the Abbot car park in the early hours...

Bowlarama at the Trocadero

Last night was the office "Bowlarama!", we all met up for a quick drink in the Lincoln Lounge (it of the naughty artwork) then managed to split up into about 10 different groups in the crush and confusion on the tube -

- arriving staggered over the space of about 20 minutes at the Strada in Panton Street (near Leicester Square) -

- as a result we were cutting it pretty fine for the alloted slot for the bowling alleys -

- thus it was straight to main courses, I went for the "Pizze rosse" (sic) which was spicy sausage, caramelised red onion, red peppers, tomato and cheese (and jolly good too, once I had added freshly ground black pepper and a generous amount of peri peri oil, which was thoughtfully left on the table) -

- then it was on to the Trocadero, which is much less exciting for the death of SEGA World (the owners just put a coke machine in front of the escalator that used to lead up there), "The Aliens Experience" and the IMAX cinema, the majority of the machines that comprised the former are now scattered around pretty much everywhere, so it looks like FunLand bought them all up and just expanded over the whole place...

...there is, at least, one cinema still in there, lending a small illusion to the contrary...the shops, of course, survive in various reinventions of themselves, and a slightly seedy undertone is lent to the place by the addition of a number of market stall affairs touting cheap jewellery and mobile phone accessories (this is not the Trocadero of old)...

The crew descended on the dodgems, with a similar enthusiasm to that witnessed at the climax of "Carry on at your Convenience" -

- and then onto the main event of the evening, amazingly they had bowling shoes in my size(!), and the finger didn't get in the way of an almost respectable performance from me (once I had warmed up)...but I was no-where near the league of the heavy hitters who seemed to manage to effortlessly get strike after strike (a mis-spent youth, obviously) ;)

Then, equally amazingly, "B" and I had a relatively stress free journey home, my train (from Victoria) dropped me right at Earlswood, so I had a lovely spooky walk through the (full moon lit) fog across the fields, back to the house, and bed...

On the buses...

Flyingpops has a training day today, so it was back on the rural buses this morning in order to get to the station, I take them every night on the way home, so getting the bus is nothing new, it's just getting out of the door in time to catch it (they are very infrequent to the estate) which normally adds a bit of a sense of urgency to my getting up routine, unfortunately today, when I finally managed to untangle myself from the duvet, I found - to my horror - that I was going to have to be out of the house in 17 minutes...bleugh! >;(

I made it, by the skin of my teeth, and found a seat right behind a ginger-haired mother and small child, who was repeatedly banging his head against the bus window (thrown around by the motion rather than doing it voluntarily) he didn't seem to mind too much but it did rather keep my attention on him, and drew a few dissaproving glances from me towards his mother (who didn't seem to mind too much either)...this is why, when we pulled out of the hospital and into the Royal Earlswood estate, I noticed him tugging on his mothers jumper, pointing to the pair of coots who live on the pond and quite clearly saying "Mummy, Dreammail!"...

At this moment my mind did one of those nasty camera-zooming-into-face-horror-movie-type-things, I shook my head, thinking I *must* have imagined it, and then he said it again - "Mummy, Dreammail!"...God knows what he was *really* saying (or trying to say), but DREAMmail (the email system) has been the source of some extremely stressful, very long days and very late nights for me over the last month...

It's really shaken me up!

Hey, you got yourself a fish biscuit!

...a wonderful new, and perfect euphemism for working your ass off for something that was a complete waste of time...

Thank you LOST... ;)

Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre

Really didn't want to get out of bed this morning, the clocks haven't even gone back yet (last Sunday in October, don't forget!) and it's already dark when the alarm goes off...then managed to miss the early train, the one I did get had a faulty announcement system (every time it came on to announce the next station it was punctuated by very loud crackles), just miss a bus (I knew because there was no queue) and then that bus got held up when a cyclist nearly got thrown from his bike by an unobservant driver at the junction of Cannon Street and King William Street...now, considering I was at the top of the noisy bus about 200 yards from the incident, he must have yelled *extremely* loudly, because I looked up from the paper to see what had happened, and about 200 other people stopped what they were doing too and we were all staring at this hapless motorist get the roof of his car (repeatedly) walloped while the cyclist communicated his current state of mind to him in crystal clear, bullhorn fashion...by the time he finished expressing his displeasure (it felt like a very long time to me, and I wasn't on the receiving end), I think everyone was feeling rather sorry for the motorist, there were many wincing faces in the crowd (including mine)...it look him a while to pull away after the cyclist finally peddled speedily off (probably *very* carefully checking his mirrors this time)... ;)

Friday and Cardamon, Cranleigh (curry) review

Another really late night (working) on Thursday meant I was looking forward to my break on Friday with the same earnest desperation as you can clearly see reflected in the begging eyes (and trailing drool) of a hungry dog (seated directly below you, resting it's chops on your leg) under the dinner table when (said hound) is perfectly aware that you are about to enjoy an extra large, extra rare, fine and juicy steak dinner (and they are so obviously hoping you haven't quite the heart to push them away)...

I was up at the crack of dawn with Flyingpops, got to the station 40 minutes before my train, so I popped over for a cheeky McDonalds Double Sausage and Egg McMuffin for breakfast (because I could)...I ate it sat right here watching a succession of college students arriving, blocking the top of the stairs while they waited for their trains to Reigate College (totally ignoring the increasingly desperate station announcements begging them to "*please* use the whole length of the platform and not prevent other passengers from leaving the station!") apparently quite oblivious (not that it bothered me) -

- Tommo picked me up right on schedule at Chilworth and we proceeded directly to his new country mansion (the hall by the front door could double as a perfectly reasonable living room), we spent the morning slavering over Elder Scrolls Oblivion on his exquisite video card, as always (blissfully) reminising on old times, catching up on new discoveries (literary, cinematic, televisual, interactive and virtual), oh, and sinking a beer or two (all of which to great mutual delight), and then (when hunger called) off for lunch (not Chinese for a change!) -

- we happened, quite by accident on an unexpected Indian (right by the car park in Cranleigh) called "Cardamon"...we got there pretty early, but even so, it took the staff a few minutes to wake up to the fact we had arrived (I guess a lot of these places operate more at night than on lunch covers, apart from Sunday of course), we made our selection from the menu, I had a special request for my main course (Chicken Tikka Dansak, not on the menu) which was "No problem Sir"...and at a pace (perfect for our circumstances, but not otherwise (had we been on a work lunch we might have been in trouble) as it was) somewhat leasurely, the first courses arrived -

- I had ordered Lamb Tikka (starter), which seemed to be a little on the small side, and was certainly on the chewy side, but perfectly spiced...Main courses arrived, and considering my dish wasn't even on the menu, they did a wonderful job...

If I were to have one minor compaint it would be that the Dansak gravy was a *little* on the dry side...

If I were to have one minor compliment, it would be that the Dansak gravy was nicely on the spicy side...

The Garlic Naan was flawless... ;)

Popped to the "Gentleman's Salon" (before our departure), and noticed (what I am *sure* is just a borrowed) shopping trolley full of recycling (from the local supermarket) in full view in the courtyard behind the kitchen...could have probably lived without that experience... ;)

Rest of the day was spent mostly on the xbox, drinking some *more* beer, watching an *amazing* NT single actor monologue (that Tommo had recorded using Sky Plus) covering (sorry Tommo, can't remember the chaps name) a Jewish chemist's (obviously unpleasant, but occasionally ludicrously hilarious) way through the Auchwitz experience...through to late night Derren Brown mimickery (by me) (which *almost* worked)...I tried the card suggestion thing and we were one number away (on my first go)!!

Then I passed out while trying to read the first few pages of Tad Williams - Otherland...which has just lost me all respect for the guys that thought up "Second Life"...get to chapter 3 and all their inventiveness suddenly seems, well, a bit "second hand"... ;)

Coughs and sneezes spread diseases

So it begins, the weather has definitely turned. Leaving the house this morning I noticed proof positive of Autumnal conditions in the form of condensation in the cold air of the moisture in my breath...Yep, it's "huff" weather (as, for some reason, I seem to recall referring to it as a small child)...

When I got to London Bridge it was steadily drizzling from the slate coloured sky, not enough to merit getting the umbrella out of my bag, just enough to make it depressing...I was just starting to think perhaps it is time to officially put a close to summer and swap into the winter trousers when the number 17 swang into view (silver lining?) I clambered aboard with the other damp commuters feeling a bit better for the warmth of the heaters -

- but things came crashing rapidly back to earth the minute the slightly overweight lady squeezed past me into the seat next door and began her journey-long succession of rattling coughs and explosive sneezes some of which were so aimed as to cause my Metro to billow (spattered with spittle) reaching final straw, I (at fingertips) placed the infected paper on the floor in front of me (scowling, and hoping she noticed), lacking any further will to finish reading it...

I admit, I felt a lot of animosity towards this person..."why, why, WHY bring your germs onto the bus???", "STAY AT HOME you horrible human being and *get* better", and other more unpleasant imaginary outbursts crossed my mind as I sulked...

But it was wasted venom...it's not going to stop now until the spring...(let me out!)...

Crinan Street

- my team moved desks a few weeks back, so I thought I would share a picture of the space we now inhabit...(I've spoken about my office before), but this should give you an idea what it's like to work in this "imaginatively converted warehouse"), from up above, with all the walkways and netting it kind of feels like being in a grown up adventure playground, but in the depths (where we sit) I'm afraid it feels a bit like working in Alcatraz (might do, obviously I never actually worked there in order to make the comparison)...

There is also the fear factor, the constant upward glances in case someone accidentally drops a pen on you when you are walking to the tea machine (the old lags don't do it, being jaded to the risk)...but for the new inmate it's intimidating - in places the nets are littered with previous accidents that no-one has bothered to retrieve (pens, books, rulers...the odd *coin*)...

Touch wood though, nothing has hit me yet... ;)

I also don't like it when the wooden bridges creak under you, that's unpleasant...I've had at least one dream where I have been trapped 3 stories up hanging onto a tiny bit of remaining structure...*shudder*...and the really odd thing? Just very occasionally getting the crazy notion in your head that you should test the netting by leaping off (and that's from a confirmed acrophobic)...does funny things to me, this place... ;)

Sunset - A storm brewing?

Oh, mustn't forget, shot these in Merstham yesterday while waiting for Jinx...You can see what colour the sky would have been if not for the clouds...bright blue! Pretty scary...

Goodness knows how I missed getting soaked... ;)