Ingredients

• 1 tsbp oil
• 1 large onion
• 4 garlic cloves cut in large pieces
• Tabasco sauce
• 500g minced beef
• 1 beef stock cube
• 400g Mexican sauce (with Jalapeños)
• 1 tsp sugar
• Salt and pepper
• 400g can of red kidney beans
• Plain rice (to serve)
• Cheddar cheese (to serve)

1. Dice the onions into small squares and cook with garlic in pre-heated oil until onions are translucent.
2. Add the chopped peppers (and spices - not included in ingredients because not used). Cook for another 5 minutes.
3. Add the mince until browned. Do this on high heat so that the meat is fried rather than stewed.
4. Prepare beef stock according to instructions and pour into the pan with the mince mix. Add mexican sauce (or tomatoes), sugar, salt and pepper. Bring to boil and continue simmering for about 20 minutes stirring occasionally.If the sauce is dry add some water (or wine).
5. Add the rinsed and drained beans. Bring to boil again and simmer for about 10 minutes. If the sauce is dry add some water (or wine).
6. Served the chili sauce on top of a bed of rice.
7. Added some cheddar cheese shavings on top of the chili sauce when serving. It was a good idea because the melted cheese tasted delicious with the sauce.

• Cumin features in most of the chili con carne recipes. Try to include next time. Same applies for paprika.
• Try adding a piece of chocolate instead of sugar (idea courtesy of BBC)
• Used tabasco instead of chilli powder because chilli powder was not available
• The chili con carne sauce can be served on jacket potatoes (might be a good idea for a bbq)

• Preparation time: 1hr
• Served: 4 servings
• Amount of clutter: medium (1 pan for the sauce, chopping board, pan for rice)

• BBC Good Food. The ingredients in italics are those that vary from the original recipe.

500 people died in hungary in the past week, and most of Europe is going thorough a heatwave, so there's hardly a better time is it to check out 23 days to beat the heat. The best tips:-

• "Eat hot stuff [spices] ... Chili peppers contain capsaicin, a chemical compound that helps us to perspire more readily ..."
• "Face the blades [of the fun] outside to suck warm air out of the house and pull cooler air in..."
• "Fill a cotton sock with rice, tie the sock with twine, and freeze it for two hours before bedtime. Then slide it between the sheets."
• Trick your mind "Reading about cold can take your mind off the thermometer, evoking one’s own experience of ice and snow,"

Have you ever wondered what a girl from Uzbekistan sounds like speaking English? Or maybe a Chadian?

The speech accent achieve has a huge set of sound files with annotations and phonetic transcriptions of people from all parts of the world, speaking English. Apart from being an invaluable resource for Linguists, and probably Speech and Language Therapists ;) it's also good educational fun for the rest of us.

I still cannot recognize the main accents though after playing with it.

These are some good resources to add to the expand your mind folder for when I'm at a loss what to do on the internet.

How to give a back massage - A short video and text explaining how to relief someone from the stress of the day.

Get rich - A list of youtube videos on personal finance.

Identify star constellations - A step by step guide on how to identify the major constellations and hints how to remember them.

I've uploaded two new videos. The first one is a Venezuela video of a water fight and the other is an older video from Tanzania. If you're a man and a bit unsure on your other man's size don't get depressed after watching it.

Check them out in the travel section

War with the Newts starts with captain van Toch finding some strange ugly creatures in the Pacific Ocean who the locals used to think were devils. One day Van voch confronted public fear and went to meet the so called demons. Gradually he started interacting with the newts until he learned that he could teach them how to fetch pearls from the bottom of the ocean for him. This way he managed to make a small fortune selling pearls so van Toch sought further financing from a G. H. Bondy and prominent businessman, to help him start using the newts for other jobs. This venture was successful and the newts started being used by different countries to help in marine related jobs like building dams and building other submarine structures leading to the building of full blown underwater cities.

The cute ones never want to do anything

The good thing about War with the Newts is that it can be enjoyed at different levels. The main storyline of the book is very readable and enjoyable and can be read as a bedtime story to children. On another level there's lots of underlying satire woven in the events that happen in the story. Underneath the main storyline of the book one can easily notice references to mass production, low cost labour and slavery, mass destruction, dystopia and international politics. The satire is not really subtle but at the same time quite humours and adhering to the main storyline of the book.

As one can see, fame demoralizes even the newts

I admit that if it were not for my literary mentor who gave me this book I would have never dreamt to read it. Now that I've read the book I'm glad that I did and I'll recommend it highly. The book can be enjoyed even if you don't get the satire behind it, but then again if you're alive and go out from home once in a while you'll be able to get most of the satirical references. 4.5/5

There is an ebook version of this book at Adelaide University (translated by David Wyllie)

Rouxbe delivers step-by-step video recipes of cooking some equisite looking dishes from homemade mayonaise to slow roasted lamb loin. All the videos are very high quality and very detailed. All you have to do is signup for free and pick up the pan.

I picked up a selection of 3 dishes to whet your appetite. I'm sure somebody is going to get really hungry seeing them.

Not many songs are likely to catch my attention at 7am in the morning, let alone an atypical song (for me) like a good start. But then again maybe I'm more receptive earlier in the day.

Just in case Maria Taylor was a huge artist I never knew existed (something not unheard of from me) I did a quick google on her and found out that she's a relatively small artist from Nebraska. That suits me fine, I like exploring new artists even though I doubt that I'll continue listening much to her when I really wake up.

I found from semantic bits blog.

Maria Taylor's myspace

In Los llanos we had the opportunity to experience a traditional folk night. People gather around a spot, put up some lights and a small beer stand and sing away for the rest of the night. The songs are improvised and are usually insulting to their opponent who has then to replicate with his own insult. The closest I can compare it to is a folk freestyle rap battle. Anyways, see the video and judge for yourself.

I was tagged by Karen with this meme. Instructions for this meme:

• Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about himself/herself.
• People who are tagged need to explain the 7 random facts/habits about themselves in their blogs.
• Then in turn, they need to choose 7 people to tag and list their names at the end of their blogs.
• The player needs to visit their sites too and inform them (say, by leaving a comment) that they have been tagged and that they need to read your (the player’s) blog to find out more about it.

1. The safety announcement on the plane – I catch a plane every other fortnight yet I still cannot help looking at the flight attendant during the safety announcement. I know every step by heart but feel uneasy looking away. (This bares no co-relation with the beauty or otherwise of the flight attendant)
2. I've started wearing matching socks – Since I've started living alone I found the solution to the matching socks problem. Buy different coloured socks. It works wonders when you come to pair them.
3. I die for gossip - The only reason I'd like to have more friends is so that I can start a friend circle tabloid. Nowadays people are starting to feed on my curiosity and playing pranks on me by inventing fake pregnancies and fake new relationships.
4. I'm a sucker for punishment – If there's a piece of dirty work for anybody and I'm around the rest of the crowd relax because it's going to fall in my lap anyways.
5. I hate white trousers - No, not even if you're a supermodel with the sweetest ass, I still hate them. Not even if you've just got these gorgeous new white trousers and you've over the moon with excitement and ask me for my opinion. This brings me to …
6. I'm terribly bad at lying – I cannot control the muscles of my face to hide my real feelings or intentions about anything.
7. I collect playing cards – As souvenirs of my travels. I'm also the card fanatic who teaches all the games, and ends up losing most of the time.

Tagged:

• Truer Words
• Simply Geeky
• Ken McGuire
• In a puddle
• Irish Flirty Something
• Silverberry
• Isle dance

[This wasn't in the mailbox but overheard during an evening gossip session about a new "acquaintance"] M: What's his name?
B: Ben
M: Ben like Big Ben
B: [Laughs out loud] I haven't got that far yet M, it might also be little Ben

I'm fed up saying Good morning. I've already said it 20 times to each and every person entering the office. I think I should record a good morning and press play. While we're at it I should also record a bye for the even before they're leaving.

Isn't it cool having a clock that doesn't tell you the time

Apdejtidd

Lately Europe has been flooded by low cost supermarkets like Lidl, Aldi and Netto which sell everything under the sun and more. I used the term low cost because the business model of these supermarkets parallels the airline low cost model quite well. To keep low prices these stores keep overheads to a minimum by choosing cheaper property locations, using basic shop furnishings, keep minimal staff, stock cheaper brands and promote themselves aggressively.

Whether you like it or not it's a fact that we're influenced by brand names, packaging and ads. While the brands on sale may not be D&G or the culinary equivalent, the low prices are undeniably attractive and these supermarkets are very popular even if not everybody admits buying from them. I've already said that eating is expensive and time consuming so even I'm a Lidl convert especially when it comes to unimportant food.

This post came to mind when I saw some Scuba diving gear in Lidl. Now, that's one thing that I wouldn't mess around with and buy disreputable supplies to save a couple of bucks. This leads me to the question for you – what would you never buy from these supermarkets?

From the top of my head I would avoid condoms, running shoes and toilet paper.

On persistence: "The success of my book and website have in large part come from the fact that I have been consistent and persistent in both travel and web writing." (Source: Vagablogging by Rowlf Potts)

Getting things done: "i list projects or goals that are important to me NOW, and that I want to be focusing on, or have in the front of my mind today. They could be things like stick to my diet, get exercise, make headway on X project, take time to really enjoy the day, and so forth. It helps me to phrase these things in positive affirmation statements that remind me why I have the goals, such as: I want to stick to my diet today because I want to look good at the reunion. or I’m going to spend a little time organizing the house today because my life will be so much easier when it’s all done. (Source: From a comment by Christine in Zen Habits)

Reinventing business models: That’s when Hong and Young (from hot or not) decided to rip apart their business model and remove the requirement for members to have premium accounts to talk to each other. A month ago, the requirement was turned off, and about $500k/month in revenue disappeared overnight. (Source (Hot or Not Tears Itself apart)

I started reading Norwegian Wood after having already enjoyed other (2) books from Haruki Murakami so I thought I knew what to expect. I was expecting some strange surreal and intriguing story with mild references to The Beetles because of the book's title. I was only right about it being intriguing and having Beetles references, because Norwegian Wood is the only realistic book by Murakami. There are no talking cats or strangely marked sheep, and the character's behaviour is potentially plausible in real life.

If one had to broadly categorise the story he might say it's a love story set in the late 60's. The narrator and main protagonist is a Japanese university student called Toru Watanabe. The main storyline explores the relationship between Toru and Naoko, the girlfriend of his dead friend Kizuki, who committed suicide at the age of 17. The relationship is challenged by the pains of love, death and mental health which are the three main themes of the book.

Murakami makes art of the ordinary life of an average university student and writes to explore the psychological feelings of his characters. There are only a handful of characters in the book, yet as usual the author delves deeply into each character and makes each one very distinctive. Murakami's characters are always searching for something. This time it's a search for love, personal identity, and purpose of life of Toru and his friends, who are at the critical stage of stepping in adulthood.

There is no thrilling plot or weird story to hook you to the book yet I still finished the book in two days. From the translator's notes at the back of the book, I learned that this is the book that brought success to Murakami and gained him popularity out of Japan. After you read the book this fact wouldn't surprise you in the least. 4/5.

This this cool lastfm.com site tells you how mainstream the music you listen to is.

I'm currently 12.32% mainstream.

Now I'll linger around with doubtful intentions.

What is your excuse for showing your girlfriends photo to mum and not the rest of the family??? You're very naughty??!!

I learned that J managed to put one of his sperms to good use.

I watched Wickerman by Nicolas Cage ... it's one of the bottom 5 films I watched in my life ... It doesn't even have any sex or special effects to make it mildly interesting.

this week we had to upload the flash games on the website but as usual the company's director who administers the site had a nap and did nothing

lizzziiin .... vot iz zis?? vi cannot zu zis!! xek zis zez caze!

I've just uploaded the Tuska festival and Helsinki Pictures on my SmugMug account. Click on the images for the different galleries.

The simple fact is that the giving and receiving of a ring is a fundamental aspect of marriage. (Source: 9 rules forums) - Mmm, run that by me again!

"I had not heard this particular toast before. In Japanese, the word 'chin' means penis. So when he said 'chin-chin' to me, I thought at first he was insulting me. Then I thought about it, and decided if this man wants to toast my penis, who am I to argue? So I accepted the toast gladly." (Source: i18nguy.com)

He had been growing lumps for a few years now, to the point where he was starting to look like Quasimodo. (Source Simply Geeky)

Microsoft Network (MSN) - Dialup access and content provider. (Source: Alexa Statistics) - Ok since when exactly did you leave the stoneage

Alexa, the website popularity tracking providers let you create these t-shirts. Oh, I'm so tempted to get one, I like the 0.000045% popularity on the web. It's hilariously pathetic.

After 3 days of metal in Finland I almost regretted having brought the ticket, but it was too expensive to waste it. I was expecting Ozzy dressed in a long violet cloak wearing a golden crown and clenching the mike, with an oxygen tank and wheelchair on standby. But no, Ozzy came wearing his all black pajamas instead.

Luckily his Alzheimer's didn't mess the part of the brain that contains his lyrics, and he was sober enough to run around and throw buckets of water at the crowd. This was his 2nd preferred way of stirring a response apart from "I can't fucken hear you", shouted out like he's calling his bulldog Lola.

All this is minor detail that’s easily forgiven. This is Ozzy we’re talking about, so the fact that he’s alive and on stage is enough. Even though he might not have been performed the same way as his glorious days, it was great listening to the classics coming out the man himself. To my relief he played mostly old classics like Bark at the moon (the opening song), Mr. Crowley, Suicide solution, War pigs, I don't want to change the world, I don't know, Mamma I’m coming home and Crazy train. Then he ended the gig in the best possible way - playing paranoid.

I don't know whether I can claim that because Ozzy can still move on stage it means he put up a great show. What I can say however is, that I enjoyed it greatly.

... when I buy a plant to cheer me up!

But then how could I resist a plant with such a Venezuelan name as "Celosia Caracas". And today Venezuela's football team made history when the qualified for the quarter final of the Coppa America.

You know you really had a great holiday when you feel hollow returning back home. Yesterday I had a severe case of Tuska blues, the sort of day where you only feel like curling into a ball and sleep. The Irish weather didn’t help much either, because as soon as we landed I was unsure whether it was Dublin or India in the monsoon season – a distinct change from the glorious Finnish sun.

The highlight of the trip was the 3 day open air metal festival - Tuska. This was my first proper festival and like all good things in life the first time is always a unique experience. We got to see loads of bands (in order of appearance):-

• Immortal
• Katatonia
• Children of Bodom
• Battlelore
• Baratrum
• Pain
• Emperor
• Finntroll
• Moonspell
• Stratovarius

All these big names at once are a dream for someone hailing from the dot but when you're in Finland, you're in Finland. Undoubtedly the best show was from Moonspell, with Pain (Peter Tagtgren solo side project) a close second. This judgment is based on the outstanding performance of these bands rather than the poor performance of the others.

The organisation of the concert was excellent with the only snag being that you weren't allowed to leave the concert grounds once you enter. This meant that on Saturday we had about 5 hours to kill because Pain played at 15.15 and Emperor only started at 20.45. It felt like being back in University having loads of free lessons. Luckily there was no shortage of beer and people watching opportunities so we sprawled ourselves on the grass drinking beer in the bar area. You weren’t allowed to drink alcohol near the stages so the "beer garden" was in a separate enclosed area only accessible to over 18's.

Pictures of the concert should follow shortly. Pictures can be found here.

Apart from the festival we also did some sightseeing and went on a pub tram which passes though Helsinki’s main sights. We were also mugged by a gang of seagulls who first swooped over my head to drop a whole ball of precious cloudberry ice cream. As if this wasn’t enough another gull repeated the aerial feat and tried to steal the remaining ice cream in the cone but only managed a 2 inch deep peck in the soft blueberry ice-cream. The same story happened to my most welcoming host, with the difference that the tugs dropped the ice cream in the sea. If you’re thinking that we were trying to be friendly with the birds, we weren’t. Actually we were furious at them. You might recall how possessive we can get with ice-cream!