Taffs blogThe blog of the TaffMaster. Where I write about whats in my head

For Xmas I ended up gettng some money, and oe thingIve wanted to buy for a while is a Deep Fat Fryer. While they are obviously an unhealthy way of cooking as there is, there also certain things Ive always wanted to try cooking tha really require one.

So I was pretty happy to see that Asda had a decent one on offer for £20. I bought it, went home and promptly made some twice fried chips. This involves frying at a low heat, then letting the chips cool, then frying at a hotter temperature. They were pretty awesome, really crisp on the outside while still light and fluffy on the inside.

Today I got a chance to make something Ive always wanted to make – Scotch Eggs.

I used a Hairy Bikers recipie, which uses half sausage meat and half black pudding for the meat.

Heres some pics!

Cooking

Cooked!

Oh My!

They were amazing!

Because I dont really update my blog (through a combination of being lazy and having nothing to really write about) I figured I’d do a quick round up od what happened in 2010 for me.

Work

Nothing changed majorly, though there was a focus on giving me greater resposibility. At the end of the year we geared up for a move to a new building which is finalised and we start there next week. Hopefully this will lead to less stress and make it easier to get things done. I cant say I always go home happy, but its better than it could be.

Home

We moved. From the flat into a house. Move went through about halfway through the year, and we pay only about £50 more a month than we did for the flat. Its a two bedroom terrace, with a small back yard. Anyone who visits says it reminds them of Coronation Street, because out back when you leave the yard theres a back lane thats gated at either side, with all the neighbours having benches and plants out there to make it look pretty. At the moment our bit is empty. We did end up getting a BBQ (for almost £100!), and a table and chairs set for the yard and I cant wait till the weather is better so we can sit out there and chill with a book while our food cooks.

Having a house is great, theres more space, we always have somewhere to stay and its meant we have more space just for stuff, so we have a whole shelf of cookbooks in the kitchen and we’ve managed to buy a load of things we wouldnt have had room for in the house.

I ended up getting a iPhone, putting me on a phone contract for the first time since 2000ish. I dont really call or text many people, I never use my limits, but I cant say I dont use it enough. I’m always sat messing with apps, checking my email or looking at the net.

Theres talk of us looking at buying a house in 2011, but Im not so sure about that.

Love

Everythings cool with me and Rach. Chops is still round, and still awesome.

Hmm, so thats all of me for 2010 that I can think of, maybe I’ll do another one later with my movies, TV and music of 2010.

Alan Partridge is back.

12 new 11 minute episodes written by Armando Iannucci and Coogan have been commissioned by Fosters as part of some new ad campaign

Im excited. Heres the trailer

So Sonic 4 dropped this week and I was pretty excited.

I was a Sega rather than Nintendo fan when I was growing up, and I loved the Sonic games. I bought them all on Xbox Arcade and completed them all again, still loving the simplicity of the gameplay. So when they announced Sonic 4, a genuine sequel to the side scrolling Sonic games rather than a new imagining like all the recent Sonic games which featured him as a knight or ware-hog or other bollocks that made little sense, I was pretty excited.

Ive avoided all the press about the game, alll I knew was it was returning to its roots. So when I picked up the demo I was ready to be loving it.

But I didnt.

Heres a video of the gameplay

Its just lost the charm, maybe its the 3d look of the characters, maybe its because it doesnt feel like Im in control when Sonic is in the air, maybe its the retarded thing that when you jump you can lock onto things and surge towards them and crush them

It just isnt very good.

Im off to not bother buying this, and instead play Sonic 2 some more.

Off to Club Academy tonight to see Darwin Deez.

Its gonna rule

So I bought Rach a present from her favourite TV chef

A recipie book for Burgers, fries and shakes! How exciting.

So I decided to also grab the ingrediants and cook up a burger, fries and shake for Rach too. I went with Bobbys signature burger, the Crunch Burger. Its the one n the front cover of the book above, and features a burger with onion, tomato and a crunch of crisps. I was a bit suprised, so I went for some Kettle chips. The burger itself is 100% beef with no other ingrediants at all, and Bobby reccomends this cool trick of poking a deep recess in the centre of the burger and as it cooks and expands that becomes flat, rather than if you hadnt done that the burger going out of shape.

I also made some Oven wedges with a mediteranian covering and a toasted marshmallow milkshake. Pics below!

They were delicious!

10am

11am

12:30pm

:’(

Ive been watching a lot of TV shows lately, partly because I uploaded a load onto my ipod which means that I can easily watch a half hour show over my lunch.

I figured I’d let you know some of the shows that I like and dont like that Ive watched recently.

The Great – Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Jesus Christ – how have I missed this show? I knew of it, but never felt inclined to watch. However Ricky Gervais has been banging on about it for a while on his blog, and has filmed a guest slot for next season so I figured I’d try it. Possibly one of the funniest shows I have ever seen. I’m halfway through season two and its terrific. Larry David plays a version of himself who always says what he thinks. Its a programme where sometimes you can anticipate the mishaps that are about to happen, and makes you cringe sometimes, but that doesnt make it any less funny as usually its even worse than you imagine.

The Bad – Shit My Dad Says

A show based on a twitter feed? Great! Theres a twitter where a guy posts the weird and funny shit that his dad says and it got commissioned into a TV show with William Shatnar as the titular dad. One episode in and its fucking terrible, the kind of absolute dross that Scotsman would watch. Avoid at all costs

The Amazing – Community

Season 2 started this week and holy shit have I missed it. From the opening 17 seconds I was laughing and it didnt stop till the end. Such a absolutely fantastic show that has created its own reality bubble. Its hilarious, with Chevy Chase on top form, and every character holding their own in the episode. Abed is probably my favourite, relating everything that happens to a tv show or film. I cant do this show justice, its probably my favourite show at the moment, I even watched the 1st series 3 times in the last 12 months.

The Good – Sons of Anarchy

Theres been a hole in my life ever since the Shield finished, and Sons has gone some way to filling that gap. The third season is starting a little slow, but this is still a must watch for me and Rach every week now.

More later probably. I got bored of writing

And its contagious….

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“If the England Manager called and said “I’d like you to come out of retirement”, what would you say?”

“I’d love to work with Capello, but I’d say no. I read an interview with Alessandro Nesta who’s been asked to come back for Italy and he said he couldnt because he’d be taking someones spot who’d helped get them there. I feel the same. You can’t just walk in when others have put the graft in”

Jamie Carragher, FourFourTwo Magazine, April 2010.
May 2010, Jamie Carragher named in Englands 30 man preliminary World Cup Squad.

What a cunt