Film | Edit
Marcus McInnes of pix.ie and Lisa Fitzsimons from Guinness organised a photowalk around the Guinness Storehouse early this morning before it was open to the public. This is an amazing place, the most visited attraction in the country with over a million visitors per year. Great opportunity to take a few snaps, you can read all about it here.
In search of other Chaloners.
I’ve been trying to brush up on my pixel editing (read: photoshop or gimp) recently and nothing better for it than trying to create something that will turn stomachs and terrify the kids. These manipulations are reasonably fun to do and are teaching me techniques I’d never actually tried before with still images. I still have a bit to go to get the blending right though.
Despite all its unloveliness, my left leg has seen me through good times and bad, in sickness and health and I’m still steadfastly connected to it. I have plans for it, but more of that later …
As you can see, I have a few issues with varicose veins, which run (excuse the pun) down my late father’s side of the family. While they’re not generally inconvenient or dangerous, they’re not the prettiest. One day maybe I’ll do something about them if I continue to want to be a leg model.
I still have a right leg, but due to the contortions I had to perform to create these images, its pixels had to be surgically removed for artistic purposes.
I’ve shortlisted these four for the upcoming Dublin Flickr Exhibition and need to narrow it down to two. I’m thinking #1 and #2 or #3.
[flickr-gallery mode=”tag” tags=”dublinflickrexhibition” tag_mode=”all”]
This post is also a test of the Flickr Gallery Plugin – seems to work.
Here’s a Rolleicord image that I’ve hand tinted – I’ve taken a bit of liberty with the colours of the poles, but I like it all the same. It started off life as a BW 120 neg which was scanned and then taken into Photoshop. I roughly matted out the shapes of some of the poles and selectively coloured them.
GraCanDo is a concatenation* of Gra[nd] Can[al] Do[ck] like TriBeca in New York, and I’m claiming it!
Actually it’s a syllabic abbreviation. But there again, maybe it’s a neologism in which case I might have some issues next time I see my psychiatrist …
I’ve been rabbiting on about how good Photo Booth is elsewhere on this blog so I should also mention that I’ve spent a little time messing round with GarageBand with my kids. The younger the child, the louder the noise, generally speaking. Hugo (3) is fond of the drum instruments. Shona had given me a midi keyboard a few years, and since both my older kids can actually play it, I’ve got them started on composing stuff. Kate is currently investigating 12 bar boogie woogie which is massively contrapuntal to her more classically-based viola studies. This is a good thing.
I learnt the piano a very long time ago and wasn’t very good at it, but with GarageBand’s editing tools, I managed to “record” my own tune and right the wrong ‘uns. There’s a limitation imposed though, you can’t print the sheet music from GarageBand (in an attempt to get you to buy the much more sophisticated and expensive Logic Express software from which you can), so what you’re seeing above is just a screen grab. Which is fine for a few bars, but anything longer is a pain.
Anyhow, here is a tune by Hugh: “Valse Sinistre”.
Ubiquitous broccoli has the habit of ending up in the bottom of our fridge, neglected, unwanted, unloved and uneaten. Here’s a way to freshen it up (with thanks to Domini Kemp).
Ingredients:
2 heads broccoli broken up into florets
100 ml olive oil (maybe too generous)
2 cloves of garlic sliced thinly lengthways
1 hot red chilli de-seeded & sliced
the juice of a lemon
salt’n’peppa
Method:
In a large pot of rapidly boiling water, cook the broccoli florets for about ONE minute only and then plunge them into cold water to cool them very rapidly. Make sure they’re completely cold, then drain and pat dry. Put ’em in the fridge for a bit.
Meanwhile, get your skillet and heat to smoking. In a separate small pot, use half the olive oil to cook the chilli and sliced garlic, and then set aside. When you’re satisfied the broccoli is chilled, combine it in a bowl with the rest of the olive oil and season well.
Then chargrill the broccoli until blackened sporadically, combine with the garlic and chilli oil and add the lemon juice. Serve with pasta (or noodles or whatever).
Ubiquitous broccoli has the habit of ending up in the bottom of our fridge, neglected, unwanted, unloved and uneaten. Here’s a way to freshen it up (with thanks to Domini Kemp).
Ingredients:
2 heads broccoli broken up into florets
100 ml olive oil (maybe too generous)
2 cloves of garlic sliced thinly lengthways
1 hot red chilli de-seeded & sliced
the juice of a lemon
salt’n’peppa
Method:
In a large pot of rapidly boiling water, cook the broccoli florets for about ONE minute only and then plunge them into cold water to cool them very rapidly. Make sure they’re completely cold, then drain and pat dry. Put ’em in the fridge for a bit.
Meanwhile, get your skillet and heat to smoking. In a separate small pot, use half the olive oil to cook the chilli and sliced garlic, and then set aside. When you’re satisfied the broccoli is chilled, combine it in a bowl with the rest of the olive oil and season well.
Then chargrill the broccoli until blackened sporadically, combine with the garlic and chilli oil and add the lemon juice. Serve with pasta (or noodles or whatever).
This rice dish has a sort of Indian theme, using turmeric, curry leaves and cumin for flavour and colour. Instead of beans, you could substitute peas or soya beans. Great with baked or grilled chicken, maybe some meaty white fish. And green tabasco. Enjoy …
Serves six.
Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1 red onion
1 white onion
1 tsp cumin seed
1 tsp turmeric
12 frozen curry leaves
2 cups basmati rice
4 cups boiling chicken stock
17 string beans
Method:
The turmeric stains pretty much everything it comes into contact with, so be warned.
Peel and chop the onions and garlic, fry in a heavy pot in the olive oil for about 5 minutes. Add the cumin seed, rice and turmeric and coat everything. Then add the 4 cups of hot stock, add the rest of the ingredients and bring back to a simmer. Cover with a lid and cook very gently for about 20 minutes until all the stock is absorbed.
I suppose if you wanted to make a meal of it, you could add in some finely cut carrots at the onion stage or maybe some courgette. And a few cardamom pods or cloves.