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Posted on August 17 2008 by Jag @ 2:36 pm
Haven’t put up a recipe for ages. So how about chicken in a slightly different style. Not Indian style per se, but can be put together in any kitchen equipped and stocked for Indian cooking. It makes a great change and focusses on the wonderful combination of chickpeas and chicken. This combo is popular in the Mediterranean regions of Europe and North Africa, where the chickpeas are used liberally in meaty stews as well as salads. Contrast this with the use of chickpeas in South Asian and Indian cuisines, where chickpeas are used as a “centrepiece” rather than an ingredient - e.g. in chole bhatura or channa masala etc. Anyway, this recipe is a Moroccan style one, so plenty of use of chillie, turmeric, cumin and coriander, but with a really fresh Mediterranean edge through the use of olives, lemon, parsley and chickpeas.
Moroccan style chicken bake with salad
(Pictures taken with my cameraphone) Click here to learn how to prepare this tasty dish. Best eaten al fresco in your back garden whilst a semblance of summer remains.
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Posted on August 5 2008 by Jag @ 1:58 pm
You know how you go to “Web 2.0” presentations in really swanky Covent Garden venues where “cool” people talk to their Powerpoint slides about endless mashup opportunities that arise from the wisdom of crowds and the power of the web as a platform for market disruptions and exciting user-experiences etc. etc. etc. ? Well, there’s always one slide they always throw up; one that such a presentation would not be complete without: the Word Cloud. So I was staring at a blank Powerpoint slide thinking I’d like to make a Word Cloud slide too. Click on the image below to see it build up: A Word Cloud generated from this blog’s web-feed.
(Video of Wordle Creation taken with my cameraphone of course.) Thanks to Paul Golding who showed me the way to this rather neat app.
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Posted on July 20 2008 by Jag @ 9:48 pm
There was a problem last weekend with the Oystercard system on the London transport network. Aparrently, around 65,000 people who attempted to use their cards during the system outage, had to have their Oystercards replaced with new ones. I’m really glad that I wasn’t one of those, ‘cos my Oystercard is one of the originals.
I’d be gutted if I had to have my Oystercard forcibly replaced.
(Taken with my cameraphone on the Southbound Jubilee Line platform at Kingsbury Station.) You can tell I’ve got one of the original cards (circa 2003) because the London Transport roundel is coloured red on my Oystercard. They’re coloured white nowadays you see …
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Posted on July 13 2008 by Jag @ 5:54 pm
It’s amazing how enduring to the consciousness an entirely fictional character like Sherlock Holmes can be. According to Wikipedia:
So when you’re waiting for the train doors to close after you’ve just boarded the Bakerloo Line tube at Baker Street you just can’t but help wonder at how they’ve managed to ingrain Sherlock Holmes into our consciousness here forever.
Image of Sherlock Holmes on the wall at Baker Street tube station
(Taken with my cameraphone on the Northbound Bakerloo Line platform.) It’s elementary when the dear elements of such images are themselves made up of miniature Sherlock-shaped sillhouette elements. (Apols.)
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Posted on July 9 2008 by Jag @ 10:44 pm
It’s been AGES since I last posted about Slough. Which for those who don’t know has been the most exciting town in the UK for quite some time now. Unfortunately I only work here, so I only really get to experience the place properly during the occasional lunch break etc. And so, on a lunch-break yesterday I took a walk into the town centre from my office on a mission to buy a cheap telephone “splitter” from the local “pound shop”. But whilst I was out I realised how bright and sunny it was. In total contrast to the few hours earlier when miserable dark clouds unleashed heavy rains on the place.
Slough Town Centre during a break in the weather.
(A kind of surreal picture taken with my cameraphone.) There is something very weird about this photo. It looks like a computer-generated image from a scene in computer simulator game or something similar …
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Posted on June 29 2008 by Jag @ 10:36 am
Halfway into 2008. Where did June go? I had to look back through the month in my Flickr photostream to try to work that out. Click on the green button below for a slideshow of my favourite images of June from the few that I have.
As usual, all pictures were taken with my cameraphone; at the 2 megapixel setting. Musical accompaniment is “Maar Sutiya” from a 2005 “Bollywood” film called Deewane Huye Paagal.
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Posted on June 10 2008 by Jag @ 8:25 pm
The Euro 2008 football match between Netherlands and Italy last night was class. I have to say I was quite amazed by the Dutch team’s comprehensive defeat of Italy, and even more amazed by the style and flair of their achievement against the current world champions. Well, at least there are many other things that the Italians are world class at, even if their football might not be of late; and this is one of them:
Mozarella with tomato and basil. The colours and taste of Italy.
(Taken with my cameraphone just before indulging in this taste sensation.) Easy to prepare: Marks & Spencer are carrying imported Mozarella di Bufala Campana in a small hand-separated ball for around two quid (4 bucks). Slice it up into 8 rounds, and do the same with a large, chunky “beefsteak” tomato. Drizzle the tomato slices in extra-virgin, organic olive oil and freshly ground black pepper. Lay out the tomato slices on a serving plate and arrange the mozarella slices on top. Garnish with large, well-formed, leaves of a bunch of fresh basil and serve as an appetiser to the next football match.
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Posted on May 29 2008 by Jag @ 7:46 pm
About two years ago, someone asked me to describe the five best things to do in London. And one of them was Dorney Lake. And I still stick by it.OK; it’s not quite London Town, but it’s not too far away, and on a nice sunny day like today (well it was before it rained), this is an absolutely fantastic place to a) have a picnic b) go for a bicycle ride c) just sit by the water’s edge and contemplate. Or any combination of the above.
Dorney Lake is a superb place to spend a few hours peacefully on a nice day.
(Taken with my moby at the end from which the TV cams will watch Olympian rowers win in 2012) I have a little regret mentioning it now. As it’s probably best kept secret or else everybody will want to go there …
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Posted on May 17 2008 by Jag @ 10:12 am
London’s equivalent of the feeling you get when you exit to the street from Penn Station in Manhattan for the first time on arrival to the heart of New York City can be had at Canary Wharf. The ascent up the escalators in the fabulous Canary Wharf tube station is definitely something every visitor to the city should do. I wouldn’t say it’s as breathtaking as Manhattan; but it’s definitely spectacular. London’s Docklands is still very new; and because of that the architecture is a lot more clinical; and in the early days (when the landscape wasn’t so filled out) it was actually quite cold and bleak. But now it’s “matured” and feels like a city. But there’s one piece of civil engineering genius that really integrates the human being into the architecture of Canary Wharf; and it’s a low wall that spans most of the width of the square in front of the tube station entrance. The two powerful ingredients of a) sunshine and b) a low wall will have human beings attracted to it like ants to honey.
Provide a wall and sunshine. People will sit.
(Taken with my cameraphone outside Canary Wharf tube station in London’s Docklands) Canary Wharf in the sunshine rocks.
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Posted on May 6 2008 by Jag @ 9:27 pm
It’s a moment to behold when you command the bus to stop and you get on and find your seat.
Getting on the Route 79 bus in Kingsbury, London NW9.
(Taken with my cameraphone of course.) A wonderful moment. Enjoy.
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Posted on April 27 2008 by Jag @ 9:06 pm
My mobile phone plays MP3s. Drifting off into daydreams staring at the nothingness of the Metropolitan Line on standing-room-only commutes into London town. Wars on terror, mayoral elections, missing toddlers.
The headlines on the front pages burden upon the soul when haunted by music so sad and so loud in your personal space. But staring at the ordinary can often become extraordinarily and hauntingly beautiful when doing so.
Lost in music staring at the nothingness of London commuting.
(Taken with my cameraphone on the Metropolitan Line towards Baker Street.) Click on the green button below and while it’s loading (be patient; it’s a high quality MP3 but should only take a couple of mins on broadband) put your headphones on and when it’s loaded turn up the volume really loud and click the “play” button and stare intently into the picture; focussing on infinity.
Music is the beautiful voice of Alyssia singing “Tera Pyar” (”Your love”) produced by London’s own Punjabi Hit Squad. This track has dominated the desi music charts in London last couple of months. Enjoy.
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Posted on April 15 2008 by Jag @ 7:24 pm
It’s been a while since my last update here. Busy busy. In the meantime I discovered that Flickr now does video! And I’m actually getting the hang of it. At first I was a bit hesitant at the idea; I mean: why try to compete with YouTube etc. but now I’m beginning to realise the genius of it: a) max 90 second clips: b) perfectly integrated with the way in which stills are handled; c) email upload mechanism preserved for us cameraphone junkies - the net result is that you won’t get pirated videos or user-generated karaoke-diatribe there; instead you’re more likely to get stuff that complements stills very well; and more likely to get cameraphone footage: which, of course is all about real life. We love real ife! Sometimes I have to drive to work instead of taking the buses and trains. If I do this, I have to park in a multi-storey shoppers car park in Slough near my office. The drive up the ramp can seem boring and mundane, but there is something quite exhilerating about it. You get a slight feeling of power as you hit the gas to get to the top and then command the barrier to raise: Driving up the ramp into a multi-storey car park in Slough.
(Taken with my cameraphone of course.) For those new to Flickr, you can get an insight into the Route 79 Flickr lifestyle here.
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Posted on April 6 2008 by Jag @ 10:58 pm
When it snows you can guarantee that there’ll be loads of Flickr people checking in with pictures of the scene from their windows. North West London is rarely graced with such sights, and even rarely in April, so I could not resist doing the same. By the early afternoon a razor-sharp spell of fierce sunshine caused this spectacle to vanish completely. A classic example of the craziness of the weather systems here in the UK.
Morning scene of surreal quality in North West London.
(Taken with my cameraphone.) Enjoyed while it lasted. (You can see my beloved Route 79 bus in this picture; a blaze of colour in an otherwise greyscale frame.)
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Posted on March 26 2008 by Jag @ 9:52 pm
Three chairs lined up just outside the window of an Indian restaurant called “The Bengal” in West London intrigued me somewhat.
Indian Restaurant near Royal Oak in West London.
(Taken with my cameraphone as I walked by on my way to a bus stop.)
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Posted on March 24 2008 by Jag @ 7:59 pm
No, not a type of pizza, but Italian for Spring. You wouldn’t believe it from the crazy weather we’ve been having lately, but Spring has arrived. (Of course, the further-out suburbs of London that occupy the southern hemisphere will be experiencing quite the opposite.) And so with it an exceptionally early Easter Bank Holiday weekend here in UK meant that my lunch on Friday 21st March (yes I know that Spring officially started on the 20th this year) was not spent having the usual Friday fish’n'chips in the office canteen. Instead, the Route 79 posse took advantage of the day off to trip it into town to visit our all-time favourite “chippy”: Mr Fish in Bayswater. And since Friday was the 21st of the month, I selected 21 of my favourite cameraphone snaps of that day and assembled them into a simple musical montage to record the sights and sounds from our quest for quality fish’n'chips - London-style. Click on the green button to get loading, turn up the volume as loud as you can and then use the green button to step through the pics with an imaginary fork in your hand waving it about like an virtuoso conductor and enjoy the trip.
Music is Op. 8/1, RV 269, “Spring” - 3. Danza Pastorale from Antonio Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” performed by Venice Baroque Orchestra lead by virtuoso violinist Giuliano Carmignola in what has to be my favourite interpretation of this all-time classic set of violin concertos.
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