Heston Blumenthal - tickling multiple bones
I saw the first episode of Heston’s cookery series on TV this evening. He simultaneously tickled my foodie and engineering fancies with some of the things he showed. He deconstructed the classic Black Forest Gateau, found out what the real essence of it was and then rebuilt it using some awesome techniques.
Watching him aerate chocolate using a Tupperware container, a vacuum-bag for storing clothes and a vacuum cleaner was a 2006 TV highlight for me.
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Tuesday, November 7, 2006
My first mention in a national newspaper does not include the phrase the accused
When Haydn asked the question recently on the BarCamp Ireland blog if anybody had any favourite Irish entertainment sites/blogs and I replied, little did I know that he was going to quote me more than once in The Irish Times. I thought it would be just part of a “Conor likes this”, “Mick likes that” “Mary like these” list. Chuffed? Hell I grinned from Bandon to Dublin yesterday.
That has to be one of the best newspaper articles I have read in a long time.
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Tuesday, November 7, 2006
John Braxton Hicks has a lot to answer for
Not only did he invent those horrible contractions which didn’t exist before 1872 but he also plays the saxophone.
For once, would one of our bloody children arrive early before my wife loses her mind and what’s left of her pelvis?
The Tailor of Secours had better hand over the Oxytocin, Prostaglandin, Epidural and Red Bull Slammer next Tuesday.
technorati tags:Braxton+Hicks, Epidural, Induced+Pregnancy, Bons+Secours
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Wednesday, November 1, 2006
CBBC, CBeebies and UTV on Sky Digital
I don’t know why it is so hard to find this info so I thought I’d post it here to solve that problem.
A lot of Sky customers don’t know that there are many other free channels accessible on the various Astra satellites (like the good old analogue days) which you can programme into your Sky Digibox. From talking to other parents, by far the most popular of these has to be CBBC and CBeebies.
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Monday, October 30, 2006
Irish men of a certain age, brace yourselves
Leslie Dowdall is playing The Brogan Inn in Bandon soon!
Pause, little shudder of excitement, continue.
For those of you too young to remember, Leslie was to many Irish men who are now in their late thirties, the 1980’s equivalent of Jessica Alba. I’m not sure if Hot Press had pull-out posters of her, but they should have. She sang with a band called In Tua Nua who were famous for 6 months in Grangemockler (five miles from Windgap).
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Sunday, October 29, 2006
Who do they think they are fooling?
Cork->Rosslare, Rosslare->Cork on a Bank Holiday Weekend. Number of cops encountered? Big fat zero. Number of hard-of-thinking suicidal cretins encountered? 4.
Oh but they did arrest over 100 drunk drivers today. Keep that up for 365 days a year and maybe it’ll be something other than a reflection of their day-to-day incompetence as they waste taxpayers money snaring people doing 45 in 40 zones on bypasses across the country.
Technorati Tags: roadsafetyblog, efficiency, resources, resource+managment, competence, quotas, lip+service
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Sunday, October 29, 2006
Nurture my ass
I have 4 kids (soon to be 5), 3 boys and 1 girl. Sibéal gives as good as she gets as far as fight are concerned. She has a very non-girly mother and only a slightly girly Dad. Yet this is what she spent all day yesterday in whilst chasing her cousin Rachel (similarly attired).
Technorati Tags: Kids, [High Heels](http://technorati.com/tag/High Heels), [Jimmy Choos](http://technorati.com/tag/Jimmy Choos)
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Sunday, October 29, 2006
Welcome to Rosslare
Give us €2 for every kid who wants to use the playground and shag off if you want to use it at 5pm on a Bank Holiday Saturday.
Hey, I’ve got a great idea, €5 per beach walk from 9pm to 5.30pm with a half day on Saturday.
But the nice new pastry place goes some way towards making up for the gouge.
Technorati Tags: Rosslare, Tourism, Tax Payer
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Sunday, October 29, 2006
Digging a hole to China
This site has been around for ages but I only discovered it today. It is a Google Maps mashup that allows you to click anywhere in the world and then it shows you where you would come out on the other side of the world if you dug straight down. I was stunned to see that you come out near New Zealand if you dig from Ireland. Many a childhood sleepless night for nothing.
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Wednesday, October 25, 2006
So I told a little white lie
We had an hour to kill in Cork whilst waiting for Oscar to finish one of his many activities. I told them I’d bring them to a playground.
“That was the worst playground ever, wasn’t it Dad?”. “Like really crap, like?”.
Any tips for playgrounds in the County Hall, Model Farm Rd, College Rd, Mardyke area?
Technorati Tags: Cork, Lee, Saurian
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Thursday, October 19, 2006