My Life

'Dikke Tom Soep'

2009-05-15T22:34:00.002+01:00

Roughly translated: "Thick 'Tom' Soup" - 'Tom' here isn't a person or a cat, it's short for Tomatoes (what else?)

My mom used to (and still does!) make this soup when it was cold or when people needed cheering up or just for no reason at all except that it tasted VERY GOOD!!

Today I suddenly felt a craving for that soup. The weather had taken a turn for the colder regions of the thermometer and I didn't relish driving back through the rain. So I did what every self-respecting Web-Jockey would do and googled for a similar recipe.

No luck. Lots of soups thickened by adding bread (ciabatta) or cream, but I knew this one got its thickness from potatoes. So I did the next best thing and SMSed my mum to ask if she could send me the recipe. God bless her, because within 10 minutes a mail arrived with the needed ingredients.

And as any good cook knows: you don't need any precise measurements. It leaves room for creativity and experimentation. So without further roundabouts, I'll reproduce the recipe here, slightly altered and with some annotations from moi.

Thick 'Tom' Soup.

Ingredients:

Celery
Celeriac
Leeks
Carrots
Onion
Potatoes
(vegetable) Stock cube(s)
Tomato puree
Beef mince
Breadcrumbs
Egg(s)
Salt
Pepper
Nutmeg

First, dice the onion small. For a big pot of soup use one big onion. For a small one, half of that onion or a small one. Then, dice as much of the celery, leeks and carrots as you want for the portions you want. My mum said about 200g in total for each person which will give you a nice generous portion (or two smaller ones) - I made about equal measures of each, with a little less leek as my darlin wife doesn't like that too much. Also chop up an amount of celeriac. Make this less than the other vegs, as it has a very powerful taste and can overpower it.

After that, peel and dice about two big potatoes per person or portion. Again, do this to taste, but it is the binding agent, so don't skimp on it. In the end, I had two bolws with about an equal volume of the veg mix in one (minus the onion) and potatoes in the other. This seemed to work well, so I guess that's a nice measure.

In the stockpot you're using, heat some oil and fry the onion until transparent but not brown, and then add the vegetables and heat them until they've wilted a bit (especially the leeks) - Don't worry about how long, just get them nicely heated through and on their way to becoming soft. We're going to boil the heck out of them soon anyway.

After you're OK the veg is nice and hot, add the potatoes and add warm water until the contents of the pan are juuuust covered. Actually a little less. Too much water isn't good, you can add more later if needed. also add one or two stock cubes to taste. You will need some seasoning, and vegetable stock cubes worked nicely for me.

Get this to the boil and let it simmer until everything is good an tender. I think it took me about 15 minutes of simmering, but depending on the size of your chunks, that might be more or less. Also: the carrots were still a bit 'al dente', but not overly so.

Whilst the soup is simmering, mix some beef mince with breadcrumbs, egg, nutmeg, pepper and salt and give it a good kneading/squeezing with your hand(s) to make it become a squelchy pasty mix. You want to really get rid of the chunky texture that the mince has when you get it from the supermarket and mix it with the rest. (As a guideline: for 500g of beef mince, use 1 egg and a handfull of breadcrumbs. That should bind it nicely). Once mixed, roll walnut-sized balls from the mixture.

By now, the veg in the soup should be nice and tender. The celeriac and the carrot are the sturdiest, so try some pieces of them to see how well you're doing.

Once you're satisfied they're done, add a good dollop of tomato puree (you know, the very concentrated stuff from a tin or a tube) - I added 3 good tablespoons full for a big pan - and use a handblender or any other kind of blender to blend the soup and tomato mix to a smooth paste.

I used a hand-blender which is handy as you don't need to make too much mess (unless you take the blender out of the pan whilst it's still blending) but using a milkshake mixer or a kitchen machine is OK as well. Just blend small portions at a time and put the blended mix in another pan or bowl for the time being. (My mother used to do this with a hand-powered tool that squeezed the soup through a kind of sieve using a handle. Thank god for electric machines I say...)

Season to taste (don't burn yourself on the soup as it keeps its temperature VERY well) and then put back on a very low heat and dump in all the meatballs. They need about 10 minutes to cook through, depending on size.

Then, serve in large bowls with crusty bread and maybe some parsley on top.

And as with almost all soups: it tastes even better the next day if you heat it up!

Bonne Appetit!

DOUBLEDUMP 2.0

2009-01-23T13:29:00.003Z

I would like to - belatedly - announce the release of my first shareware project: DOUBLEDUMP 2.0.

Well, make that very belatedly. It's actually almost 20 years late. And that's also why it's all in caps. DD2 (as I'll call it now) was my first ever 'published' program for the Apple //gs. It was used to visually compare 2 regions of memory.

What uses could that have you ask? Well, one of th eless nefarious ones was to find out how to create cheat-patches for games that involved 'lives' or other things stored in memory. The Apple's memory at that point wasn't very large (it came in 'banks' of 64k) so it wasn't too hard a task.

No, I don't expect you all to rush out and download the program, because, to be honest, the Apple //gs is a bit of a dead platform. Not many people (excluding my dad) will have one of them in the basement. In all fairness, the only reason I'm posting about this now is the fact that I only discovered that there was a copy of my program available on the internet. You have to understand that - although I gave an e-mail address in the 'about' section of the program - the Internet was not available to us mere mortals those days. One of the reasons I give for the shareware fee is "to enable me to send YOU (the ones who don't have regular access to a BBS or PD-library) my latest programs." (from the read-me file I wrote).

Yes, PD-libraries and BBSes. The glorious days of the modem. I don't know if you can imagine the sheer glee I felt on discovering this gem here. Here was something I had even forgotten the name of, let alone know of its existence on the internet. (It was only that I remembered the fact that I did make it and the pure luck of finding it by googling my name and 'shareware' that made me aware it was still alive).

I've got some images of the program working. I used the emulator KEGS32 and had to dig deep to remember the ways the Apple and ProDOS worked. But after not too much time it was back in all its glory:

The Intro screen

In action

Help!

The Plea

So there you have it. My teeth well broken on this first chunk, I went on to publish... nothing else sadly. So far this is the only self-published application of me on the Internet. Oh, I've helped create several internal or not-so-widely-spread application later on, but nothing on the scale of this little app. Yes, it's small, but it meant a lot to me.

Weighing in at...

2009-01-20T12:35:00.004Z

Yup, I'm trying to lose weight. I don't think I've actually tried to slim before. It's always been under the guise of 'fitness' or just running or something like that. But this time it's really all about the weight.

I was going to do it in grandiose, web-enabled, iPhone motivated style, and parts of that I'm still going to do - I'm twittering my food and exercise on SnakeNuts_weigh* and I'm still working on that Facebook app. But I was also going to 'reward' myself with an iPhone at the end of an arbitrary 20-week period. But... no... let's not.

I'm getting more and more convinced that what I really need is a good old change of habits. Eat less, be more aware of what you eat, move a bit more and do it with such a conviction that after a while it becomes second nature. Granted, I'm still a foodie, so I'll probably want to make the odd grand feast, but if my mind then juxtaposes a bit more exercise to balance that, that would be ideal.

So, without too much fanfare and pomp, here's my announcement:

I'm trying to lose 40lbs, 3 stone or 18 kgs (choose which you prefer) in the next 20 weeks. Let's see how far I get shall we?

Oh, one problem though: both our weighing-tools (the Wii-fit and the scales) are buried in some boxes somewhere. I'll have to 'fly blind' for a while.

---

* Don't feel in in ANY way that you have to follow this twit by the way. It's probably the most boring one out there. Don't say I haven't warned you if you do.

Notebooks

2009-01-11T20:43:00.003Z

I seem to have less original ideas these days, but when I do have them, I want to save them and put them somewhere where I can easily access them again.
Ideally, I'd like to have an on-line storage of those ideas, but since I'm not always on-line (yes, I do live outside the 'net sometimes!) and sometimes I'd like to add a small sketch or something similar, I do tend to use old-fashioned pen-and-paper when I can.
Of course, loose pieces of paper or random notebooks get lost in the piles that surround my desk most of the time, so I decided to have something 'special'.
What I needed was a notebook that I could have with me most of the time but also with some quality and 'gravitas'. And to round it off, a good, sturdy pen.
It seems logical, but when I tried to get this kind of thing sorted previously, I invariably ended up with something the was either too large, too garish or somehow entirely unusable or unused. I needed something luxurious.
My final decision resulted in a large Moleskine plain notebook. No lines or grid to limit me, stylish exterior and expensive enough to satisfy my sense of propriety.
The pen of choice was one that I have used since secondary school. Parker pens used to be the ultimate in pens if you couldn't afford a Mont-Blanc pen (and who does?). I chose the brushed steel look for its excellent 'gripability' and the 'Jotter' style because it is the original Parker pen.

So, my medium has been chosen. Now all I have to do is lie back and wait for the muse to whisper in my ear...

OId Theme

2009-01-11T20:41:00.001Z

I didn't get many comments on my new theme, but on second (and third, fourth and fifth) viewing, it just didn't work. I'll be looking for something else later. In the meantime, here's the old theme back.

New post at 9!

New Theme

2008-12-16T23:34:00.001Z

Bored with the old theme. Trying out new one. Let me know what you think.

(Not my own creation. I'm not that good at CSS & HTML... yet.)

Kriegspiel

2008-09-12T12:59:00.002+01:00

A colleague made me aware of the existence of a neat little game called 'Kriegspiel'. It is a 2d/3d war game simulation based on a board game created in 1977.

The style is actually quite nice: It's meant to look like paper cut-outs on an ink-pen hand drawn map. (One of the promotional items you can download from the front page are actual paper cut-outs to cut out and glue together)

It also has two play modes: a top-down 2d view and a quasi-3d view (which uses the cut-out graphics). It doesn't however have a single-player mode, so I haven't really played it yet.

The rules look good though: there are only a handful of units and they have really simple rules. There are also rules about lines of communication, radiating from arsenals and relays. Any unit not in contact with a line of communication has to be in contact with a unit that is, otherwise it's disabled. Combat seems straightforward too, but I haven't really read up on that yet.

However, these details aren't actually the niftiest feature of the game. The fact that it is based on a board game designed by a French poet/filmmaker and revolutionary is. The guy in person is Guy Debord (no pun intended) and if you want to know more about him, read his Wikipedia Page. He sounds like a proper old-school revolutionary though.

He got fascinated by the art of war by reading Carl von Clausewitz and about the European campaigns of Napoleon. The game has therefore a distinct Napoleonic feel about it. It also reminds me a lot (stylewise) of the old Risk and Stratego games.

It's written in Java and has versions on the site for Windows and Mac OS. (No idea if a Linux version is forthcoming)

Chrome

2008-09-03T13:14:00.002+01:00

Well, I'm guessing not everybody will have heard of Google's Chrome yet, but I don't think it will be too long before this new entry in the Browser-war game will at least have been tried by the better part of the Internet community.

It's a logical step for Google: Any software producer will want to maximize the user-experience of their product. As Google, you control the code on your side of the connection - and you can't really control anything from that point onwards - but what about the end-point of the connection? Maximize the performance on that side as well and you've got a winner.

And that's what they've done: Chrome is nothing if not fast! On the code side they've added a very speedy Javascript implementation which some people say is almost 70x the speed of IE's engine. They've also streamlined the actual UI to the bare minimum, so there's no fuss around your workspace.

And that's the crux: Two of the tabs I have open all the time are Gmail and Google Reader. And they now fly. It's easy to see the added value for Google to have people use Chrome with their web-applications. Add the quality you can almost guarantee from Google - haven't most of their other products been slick too? - and it's a no-brainer.

I've not run in to many sites that don't work. By using WebKit - a well-established browser rendering engine used in things like Apple's Safari - they've insured that 99% of the sites out there will work. Sites using flash or variations thereof have worked fine for me up till now and even in-line PDF-reading seems OK (Firefox still has problems with that sometimes).

Of course I'm a self-professed Google fanboi, so it should not be a surprise that I give it the benefit of the doubt, but I'm suggesting that people give it at least a try. Download the installer and have it import the bookmarks of your favourite browser and give your sites a whirl. I'm certain you'll be impressed.

(And if you want to learn about the hows and whys of Chrome, why not read the excellent comic they made as a promotion?)

Geoffrey Perkins killed in road accident

2008-08-30T00:32:00.002+01:00

This blog seems to have a nasty tendency to report on Sci-Fi and Fanatsy writing greats passing away. Sadly, this time it might not be a household name that has left this life, but Geoffrey Perkins is nonetheless a mighty name and it is a great unjustice that an accident has taken him away from us.

For starters he produced The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. That alone places him firmly at the top of the firmament, just slightly below Douglas Adams himself. I've read some articles about the creation of the series and Geoffrey's name features often in those.

But from his obituary I saw that he has had a hand in many more of the great British comedies of the last few decades. Father Ted, Spitting Image, The Fast Show and The Catherine Tate show to name but a few.

I'll let his IMDB page and his obituary speak for himself. I wish less people that have brought me joy pass away anytime soon. I hate seeing funny people die. I know that is a selfish thought, so I will also say that of course my thoughts go out to his family and friends who have suffered a great loss today.

It's Firefox 3 download day!!

2008-06-17T09:35:00.002+01:00

It's download day, it's download day, it's d-d-d-d-download day!

(Edit: Apparently not until 18:00 GMT though...)

"This I believe"

2008-06-01T15:33:00.003+01:00

As so often these days, I was 'stumbling' along the Internet highway and a small gem fell into my lap.

Robert A. Heinlein wrote what I can only see as his 'creed' in 1952. He apparently delivered it at a radio interview the same year.

In 1988 his wife, Virginia Heinlein, delivered the speech again at when she accepted the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal posthumously on his behalf.

You can read it here.

I agree. This I believe as well.

Nice to work in I guess...

2008-05-19T22:39:00.001+01:00

I mean, it looks a bit too over the top.

But still...

Well, look for yourself.

R.I.P. Gary Gygax, Shaper of lives

2008-03-04T20:36:00.002Z

Call it synchronicity, but I spent the whole day listening to Podcasts from Wizards of the Coast on Dungeons & Dragons. Tonight, I browse to the WotC site and there I am confronted with a grey page telling me of the man's demise. Or should I say The Man.

For me, his creation of D&D has shaped my life. I would not know many of the people I know today if it weren't for this hobby. I've been toying with getting more serious in it but I think I will double my efforts in that in respect to Mr. Gygax.

Rest in peace Gary. I hope you will encounter only Angels where you go. Demons and Devils better stay away.

2007 - 2008

2008-01-09T10:39:00.000Z

Well, we're well on our way in the 2nd week in the new year and I feel the urge for a retrospective/prospective.

What did 2007 do for me? It saw me through my first full year in the games industry for one. If nothing else, 2007 will stand testament to the fact that dreams can come true.

Sadly it also showed me the other side of that medal: The financial sacrifice I had to make for this opportunity didn't go unnoticed. So 2007 has also been a low point in my financial management.

Some more high-points:

- I started driving lessons. (I seem to still like it after 30 lessons, so that's good)
- Our bedroom was (finally) plastered. It's a lot nicer now than our old bedroom.
- Lots of nice games (Guitar Hero II, Asassin's Creed, Mass Effect, Pokemon Diamond, Zelda Phantom Hourglass, Super Mario Galaxy... I could go on)

And to contrast:

- Amanda lost a couple of family members.
- Didn't see my family enough.
- A few niggling health problems.

So what will 2008 bring us then?

Looking in to the future is like... well, looking in to the future I guess. We're going to Sweden for the first time ever this year to see a good friend get married and hopefully workwise we'll have a couple of projects start and finish.

But beyond that it's all up in the air. Amanda got a promotion just at the end of 2007 which should bring in a bit more money and possibly a bit less stress. If all goes right we should also be able to get going on the room that was our bedroom and turn it into a hobby room.

Maybe I'll even pass my driving exam and I can get some real practice on increasing my 'action-distance'.

But what will 2008 really bring us?

I haven't got the foggiest.

Have a good 2008!

Alex.

New balls please!

2007-10-26T15:08:00.000+01:00

Having been subjected to a couple of well-aimed kicks to the groin in my life (one of which was self-inflicted - ask me if you want more details), this collection of the same found in comic-book panels left me laughing with glee and wincing in pain in equal measures.

I like the name too: Nad Shot. Says it all, doesn't it?

(Link)

Life, don't talk to me about life...

2007-10-03T20:02:00.000+01:00

This about sums it up for me.

Sony Bravia Ads - Bunnies!!!!

2007-09-28T15:52:00.000+01:00

You must have seen them. You know, the millions of rubber bouncy balls cascading down the San Franciscan streets. Or the flats exploding with paint.

I'm too skint to buy any of their products right now, but I really adore their ads. And there's going to be a new one. It's set in New York and features coloured play-doh bunnies. That's all I know.

There's a teaser up for it on their site.

I can see this is going to be a fun one.

DO WANT!!!

2007-09-19T12:24:00.000+01:00

This must be the ultimate in geekish A/V fanboyism. Two certified Star Wars geeks have built a home theatre which... well, superlatives won't do it justice. What can I say: It's designed by Doug Chiang himself (lead designer on Ep. I and Ep. II) and the list of equipment is staggering.

Go and look. Read the article and watch the slideshow. And then spend your month's wages on lottery tickets. God knows I want to.

Runescape Ruffians

2007-09-17T13:05:00.000+01:00

(Disclaimer: I don't play Runescape. The only reason I post this is because the Runescape developers are located in Cambridge - which is where I work as well - and because the story is set in The Netherlands - which is where I was born.)

Apparently, two younglings were arrested in Leeuwarden in The Netherlands because they kicked and beat up a 13-year old boy who refused to hand over in-game credits for the game RuneScape the two other boys - aged 14 and 15 - claimed they deserved. They took him to one of their homes and beat him until he relented.

The local police arrested the two and they both confessed to the heinous deed.

I don't really know what to think of this. On the one hand it's sad that it has come to the stage that virtual property is considered worthy enough to beat someone up for. On the other had I think that arresting them and (possibly) causing them to have a criminal record is a bit strong for this. Especially at their age.

Here's the original article by the way. It's in Dutch, so don't say I didn't warn you.

R.I.P. Robert Jordan

2007-09-17T12:56:00.000+01:00

Another great writer passes away...

He was ill for some time, but he kept his spirits up and said he'd write on for another 30 years, beating his 4-year life expectancy.

Sadly it was not to be. My thoughts go out to his family and friends of course, but somewhere in my mind a selfish thought sprouts: "Did he leave enough notes for someone to finish the Wheel of Time?"

All we can say is that the Wheel definitely keeps on turning.

Charley

2007-09-05T23:01:00.001+01:00

I like cats. I used to have one. He was really ill just before he had to be put down... I miss him sometimes.

This is Charley. Charley is ill too. But in difference to Muppet, Charley can live happily with his illness, although some people would say otherwise.

Enjoy Charley's antics. Smile. Have a nice day.

(Oh, and this is where I found him, just in case you want to see him in his full glory.)

Let the voting begin

2007-07-18T17:17:00.001+01:00

Fantasy Maps

Vote:
1
2
3
4
5

The Sting

2007-07-10T11:09:00.000+01:00

I love The Sting. It was on again yesterday evening. Pure enjoyment.

Cars

2007-07-10T08:31:00.000+01:00

I'm a total newb when it comes to cars. I haven't got a driver's license (although that's to change in a few months) and besides having a basic knowledge of engineering and physics, I know nothing about the actual machines.

My wife had a nice little runabout before we got married and we still use it to careen up and down the A14 every day. It's a little Nissan Micra and it's called 'Scoot'. But sadly Scoot is getting a bit long in the tooth. It's done its job with admirable grace and performance (only breaking down twice as long as we've had it) but the money we need to spend on it to keep it in shape is getting a bit much. But then again, it's almost 15 years old...

But now we're getting in the game of buying a new (used) car. And my god, what a minefield it is. I'm not even talking about the dodgy dealers, the wrecks sold as new or the stolen cars out there. No, it starts with the sheer number of brands, makes and types out there.

Brands I still get. Most of them I know if only by name, but when you drive (or more accurately: get driven) up and down a very busy patch of road every day, you get to know brand badges quite well.

Makes. Still not too bad. They don't tend to change that often. People like that they can go into a dealership and know that a Golf is a nippy little car and a V40 is an estate. Fair enough. You do get into problems if you want to make any sense of them though. Numbers, names, codes... as the great Eddy Izzard said: 'It makes no sense.'

But then. The sheer variety in types, versions, badges, luxury types, special editions, sport versions.... It is enough to drive you wild.

And we're d(r)iving straight in to it....

Spam!

2007-07-04T08:48:00.000+01:00

Today I got my first comment spam. Not nice. For a second I thought "Hey! I'm popular!!!" - But no. Just Spam.

So I've had to enable the word verification feature of Blogger. I was hoping to keep this off for as long as I could, but it's necessary now.

I hope this doesn't deter the people that actually want to comment too much. Please continue commenting. I do like the odd reaction now and then :)

And now back to our (ir)regular programming...