Chocolate Fudge Brownies

150g butter
150g dark chocolate (preferably more than 60% cocoa solids)
225g dark soft brown sugar
3 medium eggs
seeds scraped from a vanilla pod, or one teaspoon good vanilla extract
90g whole plain flour
half teaspoon baking powder
100g walnut pieces (or a mixture walnut/cherries)

Cut the butter into chunks and break up the chocolate. Place both in a heatproof bowl and melt together in a microwave or over a pan of simmering water. Stir well, then cool until tepid.
Heat the oven to 190C, gas mark 5. Line the base of a shallow rectangular baking tin (approximately 20cm x 27cm) with non-stick baking paper. Beat the sugar, eggs and vanilla in a mixing bowl til frothy. Mix the flour and baking powder. Beat the buttery chocolate into the sugary eggs, followed by the flour and the walnuts.
Scrape the mixture into the tin, level with the back of a spoon, bake for 30-45 minutes until a crust forms over the top. The centre will feel slightly soft when pressed. Remove and cool in the tin for over 2 hours. Cut into squares while in the tin and lever out with a knife. Enjoy.

Even Rocky Had a Montage

So, for those of you who don't know, I'm excited because it's the annual Tall Persons Club Anniversary event. I feel a montage coming on...

I Wii'd til I could Wii no more...



I bought a dress I wasn't sure about, but I'm coming round to it...



I dyed my hair and (sort of) learnt to curl it....



And now I'm all packed and ready to go...



Always fade out after a montage, always fa....

Close but no cigar

So I haven't updated this blog in ages. And it's only because Twitter isn't working that I've come here. I feel a need to SAY SOMETHING. I wonder if anyone actually comes here any more.
I'm sat on a train writing this on my HTC magic (great phone, completely feeds my obsession with social networking like tinder to a flame). I'm going backwards. In fact, this is not as irritating as usual. I am listening to November Rain and it is in fact raining. The air con is on and, just like at work, I am freezing my butt off. I brought Shopaholic goes abroad with me for a bit of froth but found it too frothy and now have nothing to read. I miss good old meaty Wilbur Smith action. The guy next to me was having some kind of moment when I got on the train, but seems to be normal now. Oh no, he's being odd again, maybe he's got some kind of OCD.
I feel better now, hope you enjoyed that random diatribe.
Update: we're running slow because of a report of a cow on the line. Brilliant.

Twitter

Ah well, I have heard the call of Twitter and gone running. From tomorrow my posts from Twitter should be posted onto this blog. I hope it works.
For live updates, visit Tall Scientist. Well I thought I'd use this handle again, why not!

Cats are Stupid

Several comfortable sofas, a couple of baskets, even the odd bed to lie on, but no, the cat decides on the vegetable box.

No Pets Allowed

...but apparently foxes are OK.
I have mice too but unfortunately I haven't been able to take any photos of them, and I decided that perhaps nobody really wants to see the end result of mouse vs. properly set mousetrap.

From Snow To Sand... and back to Snow!

From Snow in the UK to sunshine in Tobago... and I was delayed on my way home because of 4 inches of snow at Gatwick!

What Women Really Want....

I was trying to find a recipie for cake and I came across this list that I made up a long, long time ago. It made me laugh and it's still very true.


1. A Hot Bath
2. A Duvet
3. Chocolate
4. Trashy Movies
5. Boiled Eggs (actually, a lot of people hate these but I love them)
6. Things that smell nice
7. A bottle of wine

Combining 2, 3, 4 and 7 before 1 is of course completely indulgent but brilliant.

So True...

This picture, printed at PHD comics, with the footnote "Usually, my research interests add up to more than what I have time for, and some interests take up more time than what they are supposed to." just sums up my time in research. And could probably be subtly altered to fit pretty much any job. I would also like to edit "why other people's blogs are more interesting than yours" to "Facebooking"

Apologies...

Yes, been exeptionally rubbish recently. But most of my friends are far far worse.

Thoughts of the moment:

- They've had pictures of this "Amy" on the underground before and after her "cosmetic surgery". I think she looks better before. Even if she's not smiling.

- I like my new job. That's all I can say about that.

- Sitting down all day makes me fat. Oh dear.

- I love Heroes. It rocks. My favourite is Peter Petrelli. Hubba Hubba!

TPC Annual Do: Better Than Ever

New Haircut:£70

New Dress:£30

Having a fantastic time with good friends and the man I love....

ABSOLUTELY PRICELESS!!

Great T-Shirt Slogan Seen The Other Day

What if the Hokey Cokey
is what it's all about?

The Bus That Talks

"This is the 243 to Waterloo"
"Rosebery Avenue"

Yes, it's true. I've found a bus that talks. And it tells you where you are going. It's incredibly helpful when you have no idea where you are.

I wonder how long it'll take before it gets annoying... never mind, I'm moving next week... I hope!

Printer Farce

Last week, I mostly tried to get a printer. It was supposed to be delivered last Friday and arrived on Wednesday. There was a catalogue of mishaps along the way, including:
- My father allready being a member of the site, which meant I couldn't register with the same address, and because I was busy the next day I had to leave it to poor Tony, who was having a bad day anyway
- The printer being "delivered" on Friday - not sure what happened there, but I sat around all day jumping every time I heard a car go past
- The bloke turning up on Monday morning, just as I was going to London, being told that my mother was in the house and not bothering to knock loudly, just leaving a card
- The delivery being "returned to the branch after an unsuccessful delivery attempt" on Tuesday i.e. they couldn't find us
- Finally turning up on Wednesday, after I'd rung to check where they were and being told they couldn't find us again, only with one box - printer cartridges and no printer
- Calling them again, only for them to assume I was still chasing both boxes, and finally getting two minutes to explain I'd got one box and not two. Then I was told that they'd only loaded one box onto the van that morning. Duh. They said they'd see if they could get someone on their way home to deliver the printer
- The bloke turned up at 7:30, saying "Here's your delivery they cocked up for you"... never has a truer word been said

Worst of all... they're going to deliver something to me tomorrow. Agggh. I really hope they can get it right this time, otherwise I'll have no nice new shoes for next week! (that'll then lacerate my feet... ah well can't have everything!)

Messing About By The River

Yesterday I got to be fraightfully posh and go to Henley. Henley, for those of you who don't know, is all about rowing. Well, mostly anyway.

My father in byegone days was once a great rower and rowed this course several times. This is why he comes every year to watch, and got annoyed when, in years gone by, a certain daughter of his had Parent's Day on the last day of Henley (which, needless to say, is the finals day...). I got home on Wednesday night after midnight (not drinking, just for a change, babysitting for my sister's incredibly well behaved and very sweet children) with a horrendous throat and as a result, wasn't feeling terribly special.
We ate the most delicious lunch - I had a half pint full of shell-on prawns, very fiddly but yummy with seafood sauce, followed by crab with new potatoes and salad and to finish, half a platter of cheese. Mmm. Oh, and I probably finished off a good half a bottle of wine.
After that rather filling lunch we - that is me, my godfather and my father, decided to go up to the start, which involved a rather interesting walk along the river which was quite narrow in places, and getting out of the posh area and seeing what is rather sadly the commercialization of this event - at what point do you really want to buy silver jewellery/fat face tops/an ergo at a rowing event? We did go into the food tent where I succumbed to buying beautiful tea that expands into a flower and my father bought some garlic for my mother...

When it got to tea time, the rain started, but, in a very British manner, we sat down with our umbrellas opened, had cake and scones with champagne and eventually went home.

And There Shall Be Much Rejoicing

... for I have been offered my dream job.

Sometimes I wish I knew more internet trickery so I could bring you them dancing.

Pop Goes The Gooseberry

Half a pound of tuppeny rice
Half a pound of treacle
That's the way the money goes
Pop goes the weasel

We've had a lot of rain here. Although, we're lucky because some poor people have been flooded badly up north. The problem with rain, if you're growing fruit, is that it seems to make ripe fruit burst. So, it was, as I was picking gooseberries, that this rhyme went round my head. There's something about picking fruit that makes me think random thoughts, such as "what does this rhyme really mean?" I came to the conclusion that it was a subversive rhyme suggesting that if you bought rice and treacle, you would have no money and be fat. I was almost right.
Last time I picked gooseberries, I decided that fruit plants had a "zen". I did warn you my mind wanders. The zen of fruit plants was that they attempt to hide all their fruit under their leaves so that I didn't see the ripe ones. And, in the case of gooseberries, protect them with evil thorns to put you off.
Nevertherless, I got a whole punnet of mostly non-popped gooseberries.

However, before I picked the gooseberries, I picked a whole load of tayberries. These fruit may look the same, but because they're redder and smaller, are different. My mother told me not to pick them any more, but then in the afternoon started picking them anyway. Yes, I was confused too.

I Thought Cats Sat On Laps?

So Much For The City

Well, here I am. Last week all I could see from my bedroom window was a street lined with houses leading down a (very steep) hill to the train station, this week all I can see is fields.
I miss the city.

Making It Up As We Go Along

This weekend I went to a friend of mine's house who happens to be Indian. We started to watch some Bollywood movies, the first was Bride and Prejudice, which was actually quite good and in English. The second film was entirely in Hindi with the odd English word thrown in, with no subtitles. So we made up what they were saying which made the film probably far more amusing than it really should have been.