Category: blog

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about a boy: Hugo

Nearly two.

I’ve been playing a lot recently with shallow depth of field (DOF) images with limited success, mainly because I’m still getting to grips with the new camera and also because the close end of my zoom is only f/4.5. Maybe in this case becuase it’s near the gloaming. But I like this picture of Hugo, mainly because of the expression on his face and the portrayal of his character. I can’t really take the credit for it though, it’s just the serendipity of taking snaps, luck if you like. I think that honing the skill of portraits has a lot to do with being comfortable with the camera, and getting a feeling for hitting the shutter release at the right time.

My friend Harry is coming in from Hong Kong pretty soon and he’s bringing a treat – a 50mm f/1.8 which should be a lot of fun when it comes to shallow DOF stuff. I was going to try to get the f/1.4 but it’s outrageously expensive.

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crushing defeat

After a 4-1 drubbing at the hands of the Scousers, Ben, George and I belayed a mid-afternoon funk by heading off to the Sugarloaf with the dogs for a quick scalp up the hill. Strange weather up there with the clouds sitting firmly on top of the mountain and occasional breaks in the mist, giving a Turner-like opportunity for photos and photoshoppery.

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curry paste

In my search for the benefits of turmeric, I found this recipe for making a curry paste and decided I must try it! Turmeric can be used as an alternative to curry powder. It is the basis of a lot of Indian cooking, so it’s handy to have some in the fridge.

This stuff is delicious, pungent, aromatic and can be heat-regulated by increasing or decreasing the amount of chilli powder or chillies. It keeps for a month in an airtight jar in the fridge.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup coriander seed
4 tbsp cumin seed
2 tbsp fennel seed
2 tbsp fenugreek seed
4 dried red chillies
5 curry leaves
1 tbsl chilli powder
1 tbsp turmeric
2/3 cup wine vinegar
1 cup vegetable oil

Method:

Grind the whole spices to a powder in a spice mill, or grinder. Transfer to a bowl and add the remaining spices. Add the wine vinegar and mix into a paste. Add about 5 tbsp water to the mixture tp loosen it a bit. Heat the oil in a heavy frying pan, and stir fry the paste for about 10 minutes. Allow to cool a bit before putting it into airtight jars and then refrigerating. I used a lot less oil than the prescribed cup. If the mixture looks a bit too dry after stir frying, you can always add a bit more later.

If you want to make a curry powder instead of the paste, just follow the deviation above and don’t add any oil, water or vinegar.

Note:

Turmeric tends to stain everything yellow, so don’t use anything too porous when you’re making it.

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Nokia 6230i reset

*#7780#

Restores phone to factory settings.

I’m having this problem in that whenever I try to set my phone for MMS, it just hangs whenever it tries to initiate a connection. I have no idea why and it’s really frustrating trying to type in the code above before it restarts itself. Whether or not it’s becuase I bought the phone from the UK and it has something unusual in it’s e-prom I dunno, but that’s my theory anyway. Either that or it’s just a lemon.

Youn need a security code to reset the factory settings which is 12345 by default.

PIN1: 5290
PUK1: 34811544
PIN2: 3018
PUK2: 71078551

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lumis*Gallery

So here is something I’ve come across and installed recently. Written by somebody called lumis (David Rencher), it can be found here. Respect to lumis.

lumis*Gallery is a PHP based script which allows flickr members to display the photos they have uploaded to flickr on there own “personal” website. lumis Gallery also allows Flickr members to use flickr as a Content Management System (CMS) for your personal Photo Blog. lumis Gallery uses the flickr API to pull in information from flickr without actually loading the photos to your web server. lumis*Gallery is customizable through the main template files and the CSS files so you can match lumis*Gallery to your sites look and layout.

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next music: Karen Dalton

When my monthly emusic downloads refresh I’ll be rushing out to buy this album from Karen Dalton.

I was pottering round the kitchen late one night, listening to the talented (and sadly graveyard-shifted) John Creedon on RTE Radio when this very eerie, nasally-timbred voice came over the airwaves and it turned out to be a song called Are You Leaving for the Country by Karen Dalton. Not sure whether she was male or female when I heard her first.

She was half Cherokee and beautiful with it, played a long necked banjo and hung round with amongst others Bob Dylan in Greenwich Village in the early 60s. Sparse in her recorded output. Favourite singer of all time for Nick Cave, so I suppose that’s an endorsement of sorts.

She died in 1993.

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novice bettor: Cheltenham 07 Day 01

I haven’t the first clue about horses, horse racing or even how to bet in a bookies, so here’s my yellow-belly account of on-line betting with a reputable bookies. Bets are purely based on the look of the horse in the parade ring or last minute impulses. I have no clue about form, going or tipsters (except for something with Witchita in its name) so as you may guess, mine is an inexact science. This would explain the tiny amounts.

I’m up €10.06

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Asparagus Pee

Hmm. Strange one this. Apparently some of us do and some of us don’t. Have stinky pee after eating asparagus that is. I know I’ve raised the odd eyebrow at the odd dining occasion when enquiring of my fellow eaters if their pee smells after eating asparagus. For those of us in the know, we’ve developed a code for the micturition of stinky pee; we nod knowingly at each other and proclaim having had a moment, or an asparagus moment if you prefer.

After rummaging round in various parts of the ‘net, I’ve come to the conclusion that nobody really knows why, not even the venerable urologist. Some suggest that it is the consumer of asparagus that it the offender, others suggest that the beauty is in the eye of the beholder as it were, or in this case the nose of the offender. What has been established though is that in one poll, only 22% of respondents have fessed up to the affliction.

One thing is for sure, cometh the season, cometh the odiferous pee. About mid to late April for us here in Ireland. And I’ll be there, polling my eating-mates about my preoccupation.

And if you’re interested in a T-shirt, well, you can get a range of them here.

In the meantime, while waiting for your P-shirt to arrive, you can gently poach a few of the mighty spears for a few minutes, crank on your grill, lay the poached asparagi on the griddle, sprinkly with shaved parmesan, a little balsamic and grill till bubbling. Delicious. Or use your broiler of you’re so geographically disposed.

An excellent source of vitamins A, B and C.

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Kildare Place

I’ve been building and have recently launched a blog website for the school my kids go to – Kildare Place National School in Rathmines. It uses the Movable Type platform, since it’s the only one I know, and it seems stable enough for our needs. The KPS blog is beginning to fill up with entries from teachers and the PTA and hopefully it’ll gain some momentum before too long.

One of the things I’m reasonably proud of is adapting a piece of Perl to make a random banner for the site, the idea being that subsequent visits will show a random banner image. Must try to extend the idea to this site.