Hello New Car!

So, the choice is: what to get now?

I looked at a few other cars: the new BMW 3-series coupe (esp. the cabriolet) is lovely, but hardly rare. Audi S4's are nice, but the current model is being replaced next year and the thought of having another "rag top" cabriolet was scary.

So, I decided upon an Audi A5...Much more practical! The model I selected was the 3.0TDI Quattro.

I expected the performance of this car to be a little disappointing, but the oil burner manages to accelerate this (rather large) car to 62 in under 6 seconds...Not bad!

Spec on this car is fantastic, 14-speaker Bang and Olufsen stereo, SatNav, 6 disk multichanger, IPod connectivity, keyless entry and engine start, triple-zone climate control, front/rear parking sensor, electric seats, electric everything else actually; it's a dream to drive.

Goodbye Old Car

Well, I loved my little BMW M Roadster, with its two seats, RWD, 3.2 Litre M-spec engine producing 321 BHP, but it was getting a little impractical...As well as leaking like a sieve!

Time for a change!

New Blog!

Well, thanks to the hard work of my good friend Andy, I have now added a Blog to this site. Well, actually, the whole web site is constructed around a blogging engine built in some magic called Symfony.

All of the (very limited) content from my previous site will be including on the new site over the next couple of days and I will be writing about anything else interesting as it happens.

(Oldstuff) Crypto Quotes

My previous collection of crypto quotes are available here.

(Oldstuff) Spaghetti Bolognese

Everyone thinks that their Bolognese sauce is the best, and I'm no exception ;) This is an old family recipe.

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 1lb Mince
• 1 large onion (very finely chopped)
• 1 clove of garlic
• 2 to 3 carrots, grated.
• 1x red and 1x green pepper, finely diced
• 1 tin of tomatoes. Separate liquid from tomatoes.
• Mixed herbs
• Ground spice
• Fresh nutmeg
• Pinch of ginger
• 4 bay leaves
• Generous handful of chopped mushrooms
• Grated cheese
• Squirt of lemon juice
• Butter.
• 1x Tablespoon of Bisto

Method:

Heat a large pan with a little oil. Heat mince until it's browned thoroughly (stirring occasionally). Drain off fat and add a knob of butter.

Add onion and fry for 5 minutes or so. Add the rest of ingredients, apart from the cheese and tomato sauce.

After a couple of minutes mix the Bisto with the liquid from the tomatoes and add to the pan.

Cook for 10 minutes or until it's a thick sauce and add the cheese. Stir well over the heat for a further minute and serve.

(Oldstuff) Peppered steak - hot! ;)

A simple peppered steak for those that don't mind it hot.

Serves: 3

Ingredients:

• 3x pieces of steak. Fillet is best I find, but sirloin is ok
• 2x tablespoons of brandy
• 3x tablespoons of peppercorns. For best taste I'd strongly recommend a milder blend of different corns like these.
• Pinch of salt.
• 300ml of single cream.
• Butter

Method:

Crush the peppercorns with a pestle and mortar. Don't even think of using ground or pre-crushed pepper, it's just not the same.

Press the crushed peppercorns onto the steaks firmly and sprinkle a touch of salt on each side. Leave to sit for 10 minutes or so.

Heat a heavy based frying pan until very warm and add half of the butter. Heat until nearly fully melted and then add the steaks. The idea is to sear the outside of the steak and seal the peppercorns. The steaks should be heated for about 45 seconds each side and then the gas turned down significantly. Add the rest of the butter and sprinkle liberally with freshly ground pepper. Cook to the desired taste on each side. Medium rare should take about 2 minutes each side.

Once cooked, remove the steaks to a covered dish in a gas mark 1 pre-heated oven (it's important to cover, this prevents the steak from drying out). The frying pan should now have a fairly significant amount of cooked pepper, and this will form the basis of the sauce. Heat the peppercorns heavily for half a minute or so and add more freshly ground pepper. Remove the pan from the heat for 30 seconds and add the Brandy. With any luck, the brandy will just gentle boil but it may set alight.

After 10 seconds of stirring, return the pan to a low heat and stir constantly. When there is only a little brandy left, pour in the cream. Turn up the heat and stir constantly for a couple of minutes. When the sauce has thickened, remove from the heat and serve.

I'm a heathen and enjoy this meal with onion-rings, potato wedges and broccoli. It goes very well with a full bodied red wine, though I'd specifically recommend Clancy's 1998 - surely one of the best wines for under ?10!