Cooking With Richard

Here’s the raw avocado soup, a rawfood recipe:

It looks, and probably tastes, like the green gunk they have in science fiction films. Well, it’s not too bad, but I felt quite hungry afterwards.

Update: I realized that I forgot the olive oil …

We went to the Dacorum Steam Rally again on Sunday.

Previously …

A Breville hand blender, to replace the one which I stole from Erin many years ago. Essential for soups.

I don’t think I’ve ever owned a toaster before.

We are growing the cayenne variety of chilli peppers. Here is my scientific test of the first pepper from this season.

I think these photos show cirrus clouds being pulled along in a jet stream, a very unusual and beautiful cloud formation.

versus

(More …)

A petrol lawnmower, from Chipperfield Garden Machinery:

My not-so-new but favourite blog is Cooking Issues, which is the French Culinary Institute‘s tech blog.

Some interesting articles to start with:

• pressure cooking
• liquid nitrogen (looks like I won’t be using this then)
• rotovap
• and finally .. drinking shots
  

Wikipedia: Treadmill desk

Monty Don’s guide to making soap …

1. Soap is simpler to make than you might have thought. You’ll need olive oil, organic palm or coconut oil, and beeswax pellets.
2. Heat the ingredients together on the stove to about 54 degrees centigrade stirring regularly.
3. Now for the tricky bit. Soap is produced when the oils which are acidic are mixed with lye.
4. Lye is sodium hydroxide or caustic soda, a powerful alkali. When powdered lye is added to water it heats up, add the hot lye water to the melted oils, taking great care to avoid splashes as these will burn, and stir until the mixture thickens.

5. After this is done, you can add any colourings, fragrance and softening oils – for example, honey and sweet almond oil.
6. Pour the raw soap into a mould for setting and curing which is a maturing process needed before the soap is ready and safe to use.
7. Finally turn the soap out of the mould and cut to the desired shape.

Image from NASA’s Terra satellite, huge version here.

At the Dacorum Machinery and Steam Preservation Group fair in Potten End:

BMW Isetta “bubble car”:

(Photo by Nicu)

Yesterday I visited Beaufort Court a.k.a. the Kings Langley wind turbine, which is sited on the old Ovaltine chicken farm …

Solar powered train:

Chotto-chicken:

I went to Bletchley Park today (Wikipedia page), home of the code-breaking efforts during World War II.

On my own!

They are starting to preserve the original nissen huts and later brick buildings like this one …

The rebuilt Colossus, arguably the first digital computer:

Captured Japanese codebooks:

They have their own Harrier:

and at the end of the day there was a fly-past by a WWII Hurricane:

I’ll have to take N-sama next time!

Today to the Mosquito Aircraft Museum / De Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre in Hertfordshire.

Chipmunk, similar to the ones I used to fly in AEF:

Comet 4 interior:

De Havilland Gyron engine:

Vampire trainer jet (one of two at the museum which are both very well preserved):

Mosquito, built and used during World War II:

Top gun … is it Tom Cruise?