This is another recipe which went down well on Sunday. I wanted to cater for all sorts of tastes, so this pâté is gentle and soothing, unlike the spicy, garlic-rich one I shared the other day. As before, non-vegans may want to fiddle with the ingredients a bit.
Ingredients:
1/2 small red onion (finely chopped)
Mushrooms: I used 125g of mixed exotic mushrooms from my local Sainsbury's (Shiitake and Oyster and a third were in there), and added one or two large Forestiere mushrooms and 50-100g of Chestnut mushrooms. Use whatever you have to hand, preferably using at least two kinds.
10ml (2 tsp) olive oil
Vegetable stock: I used 1 tsp of Vecon stock diluted (as recommended) in 250ml water.
100g cashews
50-100ml soya cream
Pepper
1) Chop the onion, and fry for a few minutes.
2) Slice the mushrooms finely, and add them to the onion. Fry until they are cooked, and their liquid has evaporated. Grind some black pepper into the mixture, but not too much: this is supposed to be a mild counterpart to my previous spicy Courgette and Almond Pâté.
3) Add the stock to the onion and mushrooms, and place on a high heat until it has evaporated.
4) Put the cashews and half the soya cream in a suitable container, and add the onions and mushrooms once most of the liquid has evaporated. Whizz them all up, and add more soya cream if desire.
5) Pop the mixture in a container, leave to cool, and transfer to the fridge. Eat as desired.
As was the case the other day, I've never managed to get beyond three or four days without gobbling all of this down on crackers or toast, so I cannot say if it will last any longer than that!
Showing posts with label Cookery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cookery. Show all posts
Thursday, 14 November 2013
Tuesday, 12 November 2013
Courgette and Almond Pâté
I had some guests round on Sunday as a belated celebration of my birthday. This simple little dish went down particularly well, so I wanted to share it with a wider audience. Those of you not on the vegan side of the fence may want to make some substitutions.
Ingredients:
10ml (2tsp) olive oil
1 medium courgette (sliced)
1/2 small red onion (finely chopped)
Fresh basil (they sell it in bags at my local supermarkets, and I used one of those, less a couple of leaves snagged by our rabbit, who also got all the stalks - spoiled little fella!)
1 bulb (not a misprint) of garlic (crushed and chopped)
Salt
Cayenne pepper
50-100ml (2-4 fl. oz) Soya cream
100g almonds
1) Slice the red onion finely, and fry in the oil for a few minutes, until it's softened, and the smell is making you dreamy.
2) Slice the courgette and add to the onion. Fry until the courgettes are cooked.
3) While the courgette is cooking, crush and chop the bulb of garlic.
4) Add salt and Cayenne pepper to the onion and courgette as desired. Tear the basil and add it, too.
5) Put all the ingredients (except half the soya cream) in a suitable container, and whizz them up with a food processor. Add as much of the remaining soya cream as desired until the mixture has a pleasing consistency.
6) Let the mixture cool, and chill it in the fridge until you fancy it.
This might last for more than three days, but I've never managed to avoid devouring it all within that span of time.
Ingredients:
10ml (2tsp) olive oil
1 medium courgette (sliced)
1/2 small red onion (finely chopped)
Fresh basil (they sell it in bags at my local supermarkets, and I used one of those, less a couple of leaves snagged by our rabbit, who also got all the stalks - spoiled little fella!)
1 bulb (not a misprint) of garlic (crushed and chopped)
Salt
Cayenne pepper
50-100ml (2-4 fl. oz) Soya cream
100g almonds
1) Slice the red onion finely, and fry in the oil for a few minutes, until it's softened, and the smell is making you dreamy.
2) Slice the courgette and add to the onion. Fry until the courgettes are cooked.
3) While the courgette is cooking, crush and chop the bulb of garlic.
4) Add salt and Cayenne pepper to the onion and courgette as desired. Tear the basil and add it, too.
5) Put all the ingredients (except half the soya cream) in a suitable container, and whizz them up with a food processor. Add as much of the remaining soya cream as desired until the mixture has a pleasing consistency.
6) Let the mixture cool, and chill it in the fridge until you fancy it.
This might last for more than three days, but I've never managed to avoid devouring it all within that span of time.
Friday, 1 November 2013
Delicious chocolate dessert!
I found a lovely recipe the other day, and one with an unexpected ingredient. It's a recipe for chocolate torte, but it contains avocado! Needless to say, I had to make it to see what would happen. The first time I got so distracted by trying to convert measurements from American that I forgot to put the avocado in. It's confusing enough in Britain with Imperial and Metric without having to try to work out what a "cup" means. I'd say we're a simple people, but maybe I'm just simple. Anyway, effort the second worked out wonderfully well. I've even tested it on volunteers, and they loved it. I followed a couple of the suggestions at the foot of the recipe, adding a layer of kirsch-infused cherries and vegan vanilla ice cream. The recipe's here if you fancy giving it a go. As ever there's a wee Guardsman to provide scale - he ain't getting any!
Tuesday, 26 February 2013
Hot mushroom & leek soup with tofu croutons
This blog is usually about making things. Today it's about making dinner. This one is very high in protein, something we vegans often get accused of forgetting about. It's also delicious, the refuting of which we battle almost daily to our immense amusement. (If we didn't like it, why the hell would we eat it?) ;)
Ingredients:
* 100g leek
* 250g mushrooms (I used 100g Forestiere, 100g large flat and 50 g Shiitake, but whatever you have is good)
* A chilli
* 2 cloves garlic
* 10ml Olive Oil
* Oil for deep-frying
* Tofu for the croutons (I used about half a packet of Cauldron tofu). I froze it beforehand, and then microwaved it, mopping up all the water that came out of it. It's tougher this way. Said half-packet is probably enough for two folk, really.
* Flour
* 250ml stock (I didn't make my own, sorry. I used a teaspoon of Vecon Concentrated Vegetable Stock and added that - as per the instructions on the container - to 250ml water)
* 50ml vegan single cream
* Lots of black pepper
First off, the ingredients above should be considered an advisory. I like thick soups. I like soups so thick they could be considered super-dense new elements unknown to science, but I will accept soups slightly less dense than your average pâté.
1) Get the tofu out of the freezer, use the tap to wash off the external ice, then pop it on a plate and begin microwaving it. Have several (paper) towels ready to mop up the surplus water.
2) Chop your leek, mushrooms and chilli. Begin to fry them. Do not add the garlic unless you prefer it cooked to raw. Intermittently stir the vegetables while performing the next few activities.
3) While the vegetables cook, press the water out of the tofu. Be aware that hot water is hot. You aren't a customer at McDonald's. Pop some flour in a bowl, cut the tofu into chunks, and ensure that each side is covered in tofu.
4) Add some oil to another saucepan, and add the floured tofu chunks. Deep fry them. Once they are crisply golden brown all over, pluck them out with a fork and spoon, and deposit them on a piece of (paper) towel, which will absorb the excess fat.
5) While they deep fry, add the stock to the vegetables, and let it bubble away on a high or low heat (depending how thick you want the soup to be). If you want the soup to be thinner, use more water, of course.
6) Pop the 50ml of soya cream into a jug. Crush and chop the garlic, and add it to the same. If you dislike garlic, you will already have cooked it. Remove a couple of slices of mushrooms from the vegetable mix and set them aside. Add the reduced vegetables and stock to the garlic and soya cream, and with a food-processor whizz them together. Add black pepper as desired. I like things fairly spicy, so I used forty twists of the pepper-grinder.
7) Pop the tofu croutons in a bowl, and pour the soup over them. Add the slices of mushrooms previously set aside as a decoration, and serve.
8) Devour rapaciously.
Here's a photo with flash and another without. I suppose chicken might be a good stand-in for the tofu for anyone wholly opposed to its use. I hear it's not so flavoursome. After half a lifetime, you do forget these things. Sorry. Imperial Guardsmen are for scale purposes only. :D
Ingredients:
* 100g leek
* 250g mushrooms (I used 100g Forestiere, 100g large flat and 50 g Shiitake, but whatever you have is good)
* A chilli
* 2 cloves garlic
* 10ml Olive Oil
* Oil for deep-frying
* Tofu for the croutons (I used about half a packet of Cauldron tofu). I froze it beforehand, and then microwaved it, mopping up all the water that came out of it. It's tougher this way. Said half-packet is probably enough for two folk, really.
* Flour
* 250ml stock (I didn't make my own, sorry. I used a teaspoon of Vecon Concentrated Vegetable Stock and added that - as per the instructions on the container - to 250ml water)
* 50ml vegan single cream
* Lots of black pepper
First off, the ingredients above should be considered an advisory. I like thick soups. I like soups so thick they could be considered super-dense new elements unknown to science, but I will accept soups slightly less dense than your average pâté.
1) Get the tofu out of the freezer, use the tap to wash off the external ice, then pop it on a plate and begin microwaving it. Have several (paper) towels ready to mop up the surplus water.
2) Chop your leek, mushrooms and chilli. Begin to fry them. Do not add the garlic unless you prefer it cooked to raw. Intermittently stir the vegetables while performing the next few activities.
3) While the vegetables cook, press the water out of the tofu. Be aware that hot water is hot. You aren't a customer at McDonald's. Pop some flour in a bowl, cut the tofu into chunks, and ensure that each side is covered in tofu.
4) Add some oil to another saucepan, and add the floured tofu chunks. Deep fry them. Once they are crisply golden brown all over, pluck them out with a fork and spoon, and deposit them on a piece of (paper) towel, which will absorb the excess fat.
5) While they deep fry, add the stock to the vegetables, and let it bubble away on a high or low heat (depending how thick you want the soup to be). If you want the soup to be thinner, use more water, of course.
6) Pop the 50ml of soya cream into a jug. Crush and chop the garlic, and add it to the same. If you dislike garlic, you will already have cooked it. Remove a couple of slices of mushrooms from the vegetable mix and set them aside. Add the reduced vegetables and stock to the garlic and soya cream, and with a food-processor whizz them together. Add black pepper as desired. I like things fairly spicy, so I used forty twists of the pepper-grinder.
7) Pop the tofu croutons in a bowl, and pour the soup over them. Add the slices of mushrooms previously set aside as a decoration, and serve.
8) Devour rapaciously.
Here's a photo with flash and another without. I suppose chicken might be a good stand-in for the tofu for anyone wholly opposed to its use. I hear it's not so flavoursome. After half a lifetime, you do forget these things. Sorry. Imperial Guardsmen are for scale purposes only. :D
Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Mushroom Pesto
I am quite the fan of mushrooms and garlic and pesto. So when I heard rumours of a mushroom pesto recipe out there, I went a-looking. I mainly ran into ones with parsley, and I had thyme, but it turned out delicious, so I'm quite happy! The quantity I made probably serves probably four or five folk. In a word, the remainder is in the fridge waiting for the next time I fancy some pasta. And the next few times after that!
Ingredients:
1. Mushrooms
2. Garlic
3. Fresh thyme
4. Cashews
5. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
6. Dark soy sauce
7. Fresh ground black pepper
8. Onion
9. Porcini mushrooms
10. Red wine vinegar
Method:
1. Pop Porcini mushrooms in some boiling water and leave for 10 minutes or so.
2. Then pop some pasta on to boil (wait a few minutes if you're using regular rather than wholewheat).
3. Chop onion and mushrooms (I think I used about 150-200g/5-7oz of mushrooms, with Shiitake, Chestnut, Portobello and large flat white, but whatever you have), then fry with a teaspoon of normal olive oil.
4. Crush garlic (I used half a bulb, but I do love garlic) and tear some thyme (as much as you like – I half murdered my plant). Pop them in a mixing jug with the cashews (I used about 50g/2oz), 10ml/2tsp of the red wine vinegar, and 60ml (4tbs) of Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
5. Add 10ml/2tsp of the soy sauce to the frying mushrooms, grind some pepper into the pan, too, and add the Porcinis and most of their stock (remember that the very dregs will be gritty).
6. Keep cooking until the mushrooms and the pasta are nicely done. Then drain the pasta and add the cooked mushrooms to the mixing jug with the other ingredients in. Swoosh it all up with a food processor and then mix into the pasta. Savour the mushroominess!
Ingredients:
1. Mushrooms
2. Garlic
3. Fresh thyme
4. Cashews
5. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
6. Dark soy sauce
7. Fresh ground black pepper
8. Onion
9. Porcini mushrooms
10. Red wine vinegar
Method:
1. Pop Porcini mushrooms in some boiling water and leave for 10 minutes or so.
2. Then pop some pasta on to boil (wait a few minutes if you're using regular rather than wholewheat).
3. Chop onion and mushrooms (I think I used about 150-200g/5-7oz of mushrooms, with Shiitake, Chestnut, Portobello and large flat white, but whatever you have), then fry with a teaspoon of normal olive oil.
4. Crush garlic (I used half a bulb, but I do love garlic) and tear some thyme (as much as you like – I half murdered my plant). Pop them in a mixing jug with the cashews (I used about 50g/2oz), 10ml/2tsp of the red wine vinegar, and 60ml (4tbs) of Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
5. Add 10ml/2tsp of the soy sauce to the frying mushrooms, grind some pepper into the pan, too, and add the Porcinis and most of their stock (remember that the very dregs will be gritty).
6. Keep cooking until the mushrooms and the pasta are nicely done. Then drain the pasta and add the cooked mushrooms to the mixing jug with the other ingredients in. Swoosh it all up with a food processor and then mix into the pasta. Savour the mushroominess!
Thursday, 19 January 2012
A funny thing happened on the way to the forum today
Kev, you asked for a non-wargaming one, so here you go!
I really do just shoehorn inaccurate titles in, don't I? In fact, I popped to a contemporary supermarket today. I didn't jump in the Delorean and zip back to practise my Latin and buy some olive oil from some chap not wearing trousers. I was picking up a few ingredients for a chocolate and rum cheesecake I made for Mum, for which the recipe follows. Anyway, I also picked up a picture frame. Some friends bought me some beautiful pictures of Audrey Hepburn for Christmas, so I need frames for them. Since I was in the "household stuff" bit of the store, there were all sorts of bits and bobs lying around. It gave me a momentary pang that at thirty, when so many of my contemporaries have long since picked out decorations for their own homes, I am not in sight of that milestone. Well, in a sense.
I have bowls, plates, ramekins and various kitchen bits and pieces upstairs, and downstairs a set of saucepans,* all residue from my relationship with Jenny. I am surrounded by bookcases and so on, likewise residue from said relationship. In the main, however, I don't have that accumulated pile of possessions, and I rather felt that lack for a few seconds. Then I went and finished my shopping. Tomorrow night I am going out with Mawbs and Deak, and we are going to try our hand at entrancing the good ladies of Newcastle-under-Lyme. I doubt I'll be back here tomorrow night declaring I have met my true love, but it's a start. Sometimes one doesn't want to admit to oneself that one's wary of relationships, having been hurt in the past. Sometimes one uses the third person to make things seem yet more distant! :-D
Tomorrow night should be amusing, at the very least. If my honest attempts at chatting to a lady fall down, I shall fall back on comedy. That said, I have been advised repeatedly in very definite terms that I am not permitted to use my favourite lines. First, from Futurama, a line uttered by Bender in his sleep, "Hey, sexy momma, wanna kill all humans?" Second, from Back to the Future, "I'm George, George McFly. My density has popped me to you." I think the former will be my exit line if things go badly, as it always amuses me. The latter has a little more history. I was out with Mawbs some time before last February, and we espied two pretty girls on the far side of the room. Pretty is a rather insubstantial adjective, and anyway, could only fairly be applied to one of the young ladies.** Her companion was a vision of beauty. You won't believe it, but I'll tell you anyway. She not only looked quite like the actress Natalie Portman, but appeared even prettier.
This was before I had my hypnotherapy session last year, so I wanted to talk to her, but didn't know how. Only the acquisition and consumption of some Dutch Courage (strange that I have never seen such a brand of alcohol on sale) gave me the strength to perambulate to the far side of the room, dragging Mawbs, unwilling as he was wise, with me. Faint heart never won fair lady, as the saying goes, and that rather scuppered me before I began. We got there, and I turned about, the room being full of people, and rather loud, we had probably not been observed. Mawbs was about as nervous as I was, but less laden with "Courage", and sought to persuade me that, as I had no plan or opening line ready, I should beat a tactful withdrawal. While he was right in one sense, in another I felt a personal need to at least make an attempt. I realised that if I let my brain engage, that it would concur with Mawbs, and talk me out of action, as it had done for years before last February.
So I shut off my brain, turned round, and declaimed to Natalie Portman's prettier twin the first thing that my brain offered me, "I'm George, George McFly. My density has popped me to you." Her response was confusion, even when I repeated the line, so I apologised and beat a tactful retreat. My courage was just about up to an unsuccessful attempt, but not to a prolonged siege! Mawbs then explained to them that I wasn't an escaped mental patient, and shortly thereafter rejoined me. So that's the history of that line. Funnily enough, I suspect that that recounting would go down quite well as an introductory story tomorrow - provided I was sensible enough to excise the information that the lady in question was drop-dead gorgeous. Even beautiful women are often self-conscious about whether their beauty measures up to that of others.
Tomorrow night we two, armed with a third in the form of Deaks, will sally forth to battle the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. I am a little worried it won't go well, and a little worried that it shall. I'm not the same chap I was this time a year ago, though, so I will be making the attempt. One cannot damn oneself to inconsequence and inactivity, waiting in terror behind the DJ booth for that pretty girl you have your eye on to come talk to you. Well, since that worked perfectly well with Jenny, as she sought me out, let us say that one cannot do it twice! I may recount that tale at a future point. With the best possible will toward her, I rather hope to find someone of finer qualities tomorrow. Anyway, if you are in N-u-L tomorrow and see that fella who's visible on this blog in a tiny picture by the name Pete, but with a thin ginger beard drawn on him that ain't in the pic, then that's, er, Mawbs or possibly Deak. I'll probably write something when I return tomorrow night on this. Au revoir, mes amis!
Recipe for Vegan Chocolate Cheesecake
200-300g Sainsbury's ginger biscuits***
100g margarine
170g dark chocolate
225g vegan cream cheese spread****
50ml Captain Morgan's rum
Some blanched almonds (for decoration and because almonds are great)
Some dried cranberries (as many as you like, really)
1. Pulverise biscuits.
2. Melt margarine and mix in with biscuit bits.
3. Make the base with the above (Steps 1&2) mixture.
4. Melt dark chocolate.
5. Add as many dried cranberries as you like, the rum, the melted chocolate and the vegan cream cheese and mix thoroughly until a lovely chocolatey paste is formed. Don't worry about the cranberries being lumpy so long as everything else is well-mixed.
6. Smooth the chocolate mixture atop the ginger biscuit base.
7. Decorate with almonds and leave to chill.
8. Heart failure. :-D
* Which Dad has murdered by repeatedly putting them in the washing machine. Top tip #1: non-stick coating does not like to stay on when dumped in one of those things. Top tip #2: one can stop Dad doing it repeatedly, but he'll always end up doing it again.
** I use young lady rather indiscriminately. We weren't chatting up toddlers. I think the ladies were in the early to mid-twenties.
*** 200g will give a thinner and more coherent base, but 300g seems to work quite well. These are just about the only vegan biscuits they have these days, sadly. I think their Rich Tea ones are ok still.
**** I used Tofutti today and Scheeze last week and both worked perfectly well.
I really do just shoehorn inaccurate titles in, don't I? In fact, I popped to a contemporary supermarket today. I didn't jump in the Delorean and zip back to practise my Latin and buy some olive oil from some chap not wearing trousers. I was picking up a few ingredients for a chocolate and rum cheesecake I made for Mum, for which the recipe follows. Anyway, I also picked up a picture frame. Some friends bought me some beautiful pictures of Audrey Hepburn for Christmas, so I need frames for them. Since I was in the "household stuff" bit of the store, there were all sorts of bits and bobs lying around. It gave me a momentary pang that at thirty, when so many of my contemporaries have long since picked out decorations for their own homes, I am not in sight of that milestone. Well, in a sense.
I have bowls, plates, ramekins and various kitchen bits and pieces upstairs, and downstairs a set of saucepans,* all residue from my relationship with Jenny. I am surrounded by bookcases and so on, likewise residue from said relationship. In the main, however, I don't have that accumulated pile of possessions, and I rather felt that lack for a few seconds. Then I went and finished my shopping. Tomorrow night I am going out with Mawbs and Deak, and we are going to try our hand at entrancing the good ladies of Newcastle-under-Lyme. I doubt I'll be back here tomorrow night declaring I have met my true love, but it's a start. Sometimes one doesn't want to admit to oneself that one's wary of relationships, having been hurt in the past. Sometimes one uses the third person to make things seem yet more distant! :-D
Tomorrow night should be amusing, at the very least. If my honest attempts at chatting to a lady fall down, I shall fall back on comedy. That said, I have been advised repeatedly in very definite terms that I am not permitted to use my favourite lines. First, from Futurama, a line uttered by Bender in his sleep, "Hey, sexy momma, wanna kill all humans?" Second, from Back to the Future, "I'm George, George McFly. My density has popped me to you." I think the former will be my exit line if things go badly, as it always amuses me. The latter has a little more history. I was out with Mawbs some time before last February, and we espied two pretty girls on the far side of the room. Pretty is a rather insubstantial adjective, and anyway, could only fairly be applied to one of the young ladies.** Her companion was a vision of beauty. You won't believe it, but I'll tell you anyway. She not only looked quite like the actress Natalie Portman, but appeared even prettier.
This was before I had my hypnotherapy session last year, so I wanted to talk to her, but didn't know how. Only the acquisition and consumption of some Dutch Courage (strange that I have never seen such a brand of alcohol on sale) gave me the strength to perambulate to the far side of the room, dragging Mawbs, unwilling as he was wise, with me. Faint heart never won fair lady, as the saying goes, and that rather scuppered me before I began. We got there, and I turned about, the room being full of people, and rather loud, we had probably not been observed. Mawbs was about as nervous as I was, but less laden with "Courage", and sought to persuade me that, as I had no plan or opening line ready, I should beat a tactful withdrawal. While he was right in one sense, in another I felt a personal need to at least make an attempt. I realised that if I let my brain engage, that it would concur with Mawbs, and talk me out of action, as it had done for years before last February.
So I shut off my brain, turned round, and declaimed to Natalie Portman's prettier twin the first thing that my brain offered me, "I'm George, George McFly. My density has popped me to you." Her response was confusion, even when I repeated the line, so I apologised and beat a tactful retreat. My courage was just about up to an unsuccessful attempt, but not to a prolonged siege! Mawbs then explained to them that I wasn't an escaped mental patient, and shortly thereafter rejoined me. So that's the history of that line. Funnily enough, I suspect that that recounting would go down quite well as an introductory story tomorrow - provided I was sensible enough to excise the information that the lady in question was drop-dead gorgeous. Even beautiful women are often self-conscious about whether their beauty measures up to that of others.
Tomorrow night we two, armed with a third in the form of Deaks, will sally forth to battle the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. I am a little worried it won't go well, and a little worried that it shall. I'm not the same chap I was this time a year ago, though, so I will be making the attempt. One cannot damn oneself to inconsequence and inactivity, waiting in terror behind the DJ booth for that pretty girl you have your eye on to come talk to you. Well, since that worked perfectly well with Jenny, as she sought me out, let us say that one cannot do it twice! I may recount that tale at a future point. With the best possible will toward her, I rather hope to find someone of finer qualities tomorrow. Anyway, if you are in N-u-L tomorrow and see that fella who's visible on this blog in a tiny picture by the name Pete, but with a thin ginger beard drawn on him that ain't in the pic, then that's, er, Mawbs or possibly Deak. I'll probably write something when I return tomorrow night on this. Au revoir, mes amis!
Recipe for Vegan Chocolate Cheesecake
200-300g Sainsbury's ginger biscuits***
100g margarine
170g dark chocolate
225g vegan cream cheese spread****
50ml Captain Morgan's rum
Some blanched almonds (for decoration and because almonds are great)
Some dried cranberries (as many as you like, really)
1. Pulverise biscuits.
2. Melt margarine and mix in with biscuit bits.
3. Make the base with the above (Steps 1&2) mixture.
4. Melt dark chocolate.
5. Add as many dried cranberries as you like, the rum, the melted chocolate and the vegan cream cheese and mix thoroughly until a lovely chocolatey paste is formed. Don't worry about the cranberries being lumpy so long as everything else is well-mixed.
6. Smooth the chocolate mixture atop the ginger biscuit base.
7. Decorate with almonds and leave to chill.
8. Heart failure. :-D
* Which Dad has murdered by repeatedly putting them in the washing machine. Top tip #1: non-stick coating does not like to stay on when dumped in one of those things. Top tip #2: one can stop Dad doing it repeatedly, but he'll always end up doing it again.
** I use young lady rather indiscriminately. We weren't chatting up toddlers. I think the ladies were in the early to mid-twenties.
*** 200g will give a thinner and more coherent base, but 300g seems to work quite well. These are just about the only vegan biscuits they have these days, sadly. I think their Rich Tea ones are ok still.
**** I used Tofutti today and Scheeze last week and both worked perfectly well.
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit!
The lasagna, which I made on Sunday, went well. I'm not sure how others will take to it - vegan cheese, like Scotch, is an acquired taste. Who was it said that an acquired taste is one not worth acquiring? Untrue, untrue! How could one have a taste for Ovid without a little acquisition of knowledge? However, whether the non-cheese would be universally appreciated or not, the appearance of the dish is unquestionably pleasing to the eye.
As well as this successful culinary expedition, I have thrust myself back into going through our film catalogue. Yesterday was the turn of Kiss the Girls,
a flick about Morgan Freeman hunting down a serial kidnapper-cum-rapist-cum-murderer. The ending is rather predictable, and yet one can be denied that small pleasure if one looks the film up on IMDB and their featured quotation reveals the mysterious monster's identity. Tsk-tsk! It was interesting to see the chap who played Doctor Emmett Meridian in Dexter turn up in something else. Today I've put myself through Outrageous Fortune, which was pleasant, but not worth wasting your time over, unless you like seeing George Carlin in small roles. As well as that, I exposed myself to Barbarella. The most peculiar part of the film is that the music seems so often totally divorced from everything else. It's a rather peculiar pile of events, unified only by a skimpy plot and a youthful and scantily clad Jane Fonda leaping on everything in sight. Aside from her amorous adventures, the most memorable scene for me was when she was sentenced to death by being sealed in a cage with hundreds of small birds - budgies and the like.
I dug through an old computer the other day, and ran across an account of a pre-Apocalypse-era battle I GM'd (badly) at uni. I can date the report to 2003/4 thanks to internal evidence. Oh, cunning of me, eh? Not really too interesting to you, though, so I shan't recount it all at length. The main points of the battle were as follows. We used an area 12' by 8', divided into two 12' by 4' strips. We had a designated attacker and defender, and the defender's had an HQ located in a fort my Granddad built for my brother, and which I had borrowed for the occasion. He still has it in his room: it's about 20" long on either side, although the gates aren't really quite wide enough for Chimera models and such, it made an impressive sight.
The events of the game suggest just why the chaps at GW formed the Apoc rules as they did. Our defenders didn't bother to occupy a network of defensive bunkers (and possibly not even the fort besides a single minor special character), and sallied forth to glorious combat. One wing of the attackers advanced so slowly that they took forever to get into combat. Only one player paid any heed to his objectives or to the cohesion and safety of his force. He ended the game on the verge of turfing the scant defenders of the fort out of their positions, so was probably a bit miffed! The fella representing critical reserves for the defender ambled off after turn 2, and the game stalled about turn five after six or seven hours of play. Heh! Then I seem to have gone off to console my then-fiancée who was upset about her post-graduate degree in Cultural Heritage Management. Two battles lost in one day! :-D
I must see if I can dig up some pictures from that battle. I know there are some extant from the era. Pictures of what I've been working on these last few days are right to hand, happily. First of all, there's a delightful Scotch from the Isle of Jura, Superstition, which by some happenstance, I bought for myself at the same time that my friend's sister bought it to congratulate him on passing his degree. So I feel I should congratulate him, too, and feel a bit abashed at buying myself Scotch. I'm sure we're both enjoying this stuff, as it's very "moreish", as the portion I have poured myself shows!
"Why, that's enough sippin' whiskey to bathe a man!" As well as noting that this Scotch is less ruddy than these pictures suggest (does Scotch get "red-eye"?), I'd also like to draw your attention to a friend's blog. He recently had an inspired idea, combining a beloved children's TV character with his Ogre army. I challenge you not to delight in the idea and in his skill with Greenstuff. Here, meanwhile, I have been distracting myself by fiddling about with some 1/72 plastics. I have a large box of these fellas, sat securely on a shelf over my sink, covering many periods. I can remember Romans and Gauls, Mediaeval Knights, Conquistadors and Aztecs, Seven Years War Austrians and Prussians, all sorts of Napoleonics (although mainly French and British), a fair whack of WWII vehicles and infantry, including several jeeps I purchased, intending to run a game based on that Michael Caine film all of you will recognise if I mention these clues: Winston Churchill, paratroopers.
But what I have been working on has been the ACW infantry I have here. I haven't decided what to do with these models yet. Well, I mean to use them for skirmish gaming, as I have only Johnny Reb and Billy Yank infantry. Nary a gun nor horseman is to be seen. I have elected to give Johnny Reb a variegated look, while Billy Yank is getting a somewhat uniform, er, uniform. I started off giving the Bluebellies an Ultramarine Blue jacket, but it struck me as a bit bright, so I have switched now to the Foundation Paint Fenris Grey. Pop some Leviathan Purple or Asurmen Blue Wash over that, and it's just about right. The trousers are Lightning or Ice Blue, I think. I don't intend to throw too many hours into producing these guys, and I always seem to produce somewhat manky-looking 1/72 stuff, no matter how hard I try, so these guys will just get some basic coats of paint then a few washes to tie everything together. Here's how they look so far. Until next time, dear reader!
As well as this successful culinary expedition, I have thrust myself back into going through our film catalogue. Yesterday was the turn of Kiss the Girls,
a flick about Morgan Freeman hunting down a serial kidnapper-cum-rapist-cum-murderer. The ending is rather predictable, and yet one can be denied that small pleasure if one looks the film up on IMDB and their featured quotation reveals the mysterious monster's identity. Tsk-tsk! It was interesting to see the chap who played Doctor Emmett Meridian in Dexter turn up in something else. Today I've put myself through Outrageous Fortune, which was pleasant, but not worth wasting your time over, unless you like seeing George Carlin in small roles. As well as that, I exposed myself to Barbarella. The most peculiar part of the film is that the music seems so often totally divorced from everything else. It's a rather peculiar pile of events, unified only by a skimpy plot and a youthful and scantily clad Jane Fonda leaping on everything in sight. Aside from her amorous adventures, the most memorable scene for me was when she was sentenced to death by being sealed in a cage with hundreds of small birds - budgies and the like.
I dug through an old computer the other day, and ran across an account of a pre-Apocalypse-era battle I GM'd (badly) at uni. I can date the report to 2003/4 thanks to internal evidence. Oh, cunning of me, eh? Not really too interesting to you, though, so I shan't recount it all at length. The main points of the battle were as follows. We used an area 12' by 8', divided into two 12' by 4' strips. We had a designated attacker and defender, and the defender's had an HQ located in a fort my Granddad built for my brother, and which I had borrowed for the occasion. He still has it in his room: it's about 20" long on either side, although the gates aren't really quite wide enough for Chimera models and such, it made an impressive sight.
The events of the game suggest just why the chaps at GW formed the Apoc rules as they did. Our defenders didn't bother to occupy a network of defensive bunkers (and possibly not even the fort besides a single minor special character), and sallied forth to glorious combat. One wing of the attackers advanced so slowly that they took forever to get into combat. Only one player paid any heed to his objectives or to the cohesion and safety of his force. He ended the game on the verge of turfing the scant defenders of the fort out of their positions, so was probably a bit miffed! The fella representing critical reserves for the defender ambled off after turn 2, and the game stalled about turn five after six or seven hours of play. Heh! Then I seem to have gone off to console my then-fiancée who was upset about her post-graduate degree in Cultural Heritage Management. Two battles lost in one day! :-D
I must see if I can dig up some pictures from that battle. I know there are some extant from the era. Pictures of what I've been working on these last few days are right to hand, happily. First of all, there's a delightful Scotch from the Isle of Jura, Superstition, which by some happenstance, I bought for myself at the same time that my friend's sister bought it to congratulate him on passing his degree. So I feel I should congratulate him, too, and feel a bit abashed at buying myself Scotch. I'm sure we're both enjoying this stuff, as it's very "moreish", as the portion I have poured myself shows!
"Why, that's enough sippin' whiskey to bathe a man!" As well as noting that this Scotch is less ruddy than these pictures suggest (does Scotch get "red-eye"?), I'd also like to draw your attention to a friend's blog. He recently had an inspired idea, combining a beloved children's TV character with his Ogre army. I challenge you not to delight in the idea and in his skill with Greenstuff. Here, meanwhile, I have been distracting myself by fiddling about with some 1/72 plastics. I have a large box of these fellas, sat securely on a shelf over my sink, covering many periods. I can remember Romans and Gauls, Mediaeval Knights, Conquistadors and Aztecs, Seven Years War Austrians and Prussians, all sorts of Napoleonics (although mainly French and British), a fair whack of WWII vehicles and infantry, including several jeeps I purchased, intending to run a game based on that Michael Caine film all of you will recognise if I mention these clues: Winston Churchill, paratroopers.
But what I have been working on has been the ACW infantry I have here. I haven't decided what to do with these models yet. Well, I mean to use them for skirmish gaming, as I have only Johnny Reb and Billy Yank infantry. Nary a gun nor horseman is to be seen. I have elected to give Johnny Reb a variegated look, while Billy Yank is getting a somewhat uniform, er, uniform. I started off giving the Bluebellies an Ultramarine Blue jacket, but it struck me as a bit bright, so I have switched now to the Foundation Paint Fenris Grey. Pop some Leviathan Purple or Asurmen Blue Wash over that, and it's just about right. The trousers are Lightning or Ice Blue, I think. I don't intend to throw too many hours into producing these guys, and I always seem to produce somewhat manky-looking 1/72 stuff, no matter how hard I try, so these guys will just get some basic coats of paint then a few washes to tie everything together. Here's how they look so far. Until next time, dear reader!
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