@david@theblower.au
@david@theblower.au avatar

david

@david@theblower.au

IT geek of many trades, hobby Blacksmith, cook and photographer hailing from the southern end of Queensland (Australia)
Beware, I am a fully qualified Dad Joke practitioner.

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david, to random
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For tonight’s dinner, I’m baking a badger.

A Buckinghamshire Bacon Badger, to be precise.

  • no actual badgers were harmed in thus exercise
david,
@david@theblower.au avatar

Quite tasty, if fairly simple in flavours. Kinda like a giant pasty. The reduced vegetable stock, scotch and mustard just on top was fantastic though.

Not the best plating, but here are two slices of bacon beaver. The outer crust is crunchy and golden brown, while the inside is a mass of cooked, but soft pastry, potato, bacon and onion pieces. It is topped with a dark brown thick jus made from vegetable stock, smokey whisky, and seed mustard.

david, to random
@david@theblower.au avatar

In a rare case of forward planning, I actually have a plan for dinner and it's not even 11am.

Traditional Tagliatelle con Ragù al Bolognese.

Thus I have meat defrosting on the sink, and vegetable stock defrosting too. Pasta will be made closer to dinnertime.

david,
@david@theblower.au avatar

I'd say that come our all right. Very tasty, very different to what I've, until now, associated with Bolognese.

david,
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For those playing along at home, here is the recipe I followed for the sauce:

https://www.accademiaitalianadellacucina.it/it/ricette/ricetta/ragù-classico-bolognese

The pasta was hand made, using my standard pasta dough recipe of 120g flour per egg, and I used two eggs.

david, to random
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Spotted on our office notice board just now.

david, to random
@david@theblower.au avatar

I made the mistake of once again looking at rolling my own zigbee/matter/homekit Bridge thing yesterday.

Currently I have a Pi running HomeBridge to expose my Davis Weatherstation’s readings to HomeKit (for automation purposes). I briefly played with HomeAssistant on a Pi but found it to be incredibly flaky, although I have. SkyConnect USB Zigbee adapter I’d like to use at some point.

Anyway to that end I thought, why not use the existing HomeBrigdge Pi, since it’s working as a Bridge at least. There is a Zigbee plugin for it, cool. Except for that you need an MQTT server.
Ok, that wasn’t too hard. But then you need Zigbee2MQTT, which in turn needs ZigbeeD for the SkyConnect to work. Once that is done (I haven’t got that far), I think I can move on to the HomeBridge-Zigbee plugin.

It’s just one rabbit hole after another with this stuff. I can see why I (and presumably others) just use the HUE Bridge (etc) rather than rolling ones own.

Mike was right - Computers were a mistake.

david, to random
@david@theblower.au avatar

I have just today found out about SPREADABLE BEER.

Yes, you can have Beer on Toast.

http://www.birraspalmabile.com

(no I haven't tried it... yet)

david, to random
@david@theblower.au avatar

The Christians have something called Passover (no I don't want to know, thank you), but I propose the period between Christmas and New Years be known as Leftover, since that is the predominant food consumption ;-)

david, to random
@david@theblower.au avatar

Cooking Olliebollen for New Years breakfast (yes I know they’re usually a New Years Eve treat but we had pavlova last night instead).

A pavlova (egg whites and sugar whipped until fluffy and then baked) topped with cream and berries.

david,
@david@theblower.au avatar

This is how they turn out. Fluffy Dutch doughnuts.

david, to food
@david@theblower.au avatar

It’s 37.2°C on the veranda but i braved the heat to make delicious pizza for lunch.

A 12" pizza still on the peel, fresh from the pizza oven.

david, to random
@david@theblower.au avatar

Dear game devs, there is absolutely no need for a splash screen on a game that requires the user to "Press any key" to continue, if it only goes to the menu afterwards.

Just don't.

(Yes, I'm looking at you Ubisoft)

david, to random
@david@theblower.au avatar

Went for a short walk up to our creek before it gets unbearable outside. There’s a tiny flow of water from the recent rains. Not enough to wash the palm fronds away, but I’m sure the local wildlife will appreciate it.

https://youtu.be/JKsYeJTfd4c

david, to random
@david@theblower.au avatar

I found somewhere that sells modern day Liquamen (clear Garam) in Australia, and have therefore ordered some, because I'm not going to try fermenting fish in my backyard anytime soon. (Colotura di Alici in case you're wondering what the modern equivalent is called).

I guess I should dig up my copy of Apicius at some point. ;-)

david, to food
@david@theblower.au avatar

Breakfast of champions. Dutch Apple Fritters (as my Grandma called them, Appelflappen), with vanilla fudge ice cream.

david, to random
@david@theblower.au avatar

I can now reveal that on Thursday, I had my team at work attempting to make Origami Humpback Whales. I even recruited someone from another team too.

It turns out that no-one, including our token Japanese member could manage to make a decent whale.

Having said that, I did pick a particular impressive looking piece to attempt, but it was to go with the birthday present for @leadegroot

If you want to have a crack at one, here's the link to the instructions we were using:

https://www.scribd.com/document/689237795/Michael-G-LaFosse-Humpback-Whale

david,
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@leadegroot this was the best I managed.

david, to food
@david@theblower.au avatar

Pudding came out well. Very delicious. Fruit didn’t stink either.

david, to random
@david@theblower.au avatar

It's 98% humidity outside, approx 23ºC and my fire alarm keeps going off because it's TOO HUMID.

Time to close up and put the A/C on Dry I guess.

david, to random
@david@theblower.au avatar

We had a hail storm! 3-4cm hail.

Hail bouncing off our roof and collecting on the ground.

david, to food
@david@theblower.au avatar

It’s that time of year again where I make my Grandmother’s Veal Croquettes (this is a two day thing, so starting today in order to eat tomorrow).

https://degroot.id.au/recipes/veal-or-chicken-croquettes/

david, to random
@david@theblower.au avatar

One of my work colleagues has started a Christmas Song Playlist on their computer and then wandered across campus to attend to a job.

I’m now at the point of considering shutting down the PC.

david, to random
@david@theblower.au avatar

Apparently the microwaves at work are very untrustworthy.

timrichards, to random
@timrichards@aus.social avatar

As a fun Sunday activity, @NarrelleMHarris and I got our sixth COVID vaccination yesterday (this was the new Pfizer XBB.1.5 dose for the current variants). Couldn't point at the band-aid this time, as I needed both hands to count!

david,
@david@theblower.au avatar

@timrichards @NarrelleMHarris oh is the 2nd booster for 2023 approved for general population now?

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