Spinach Noodles

I tried to make dumplings with spinach wrapper, and they turned out very uneven.  I think it would work better if I have a juicer.  Anywho, I no longer have a spinach glut, I can return to normal.

Mini Mint

We were so close to throwing the whole mint tray out as it has taken 2 months to sprout.  I spotted a tiny specks of green!  Lets see how long does it now take to grow!

Ubuntu Install Phase 2

I have installed more patches and unpacked more apps on the Ubuntu.  It is still slow, it still doesn't have driver on some devices.  It is good for watching video and listening to music.  I am still debating if I should release to the wild or keep it for a backup.

Ubuntu Install Phase 1

I opened the laptop for a quick clean.  I suspect the old laptop has a RAM problem, when I swapped the RAMs in their slots, it did not boot, so I swapped them back.  

I installed Ubuntu and it installed okay.  I used a few app, and they worked, except it is extremely slow.  This laptop had a touch screen, fingerprint scanner, screen buttons, wifi, etc, but it appears that there is no available drivers.  There may be more updates before it settles down.

I may release it free to good home.

Ubuntu Install Phase 0

I first learnt about Ubuntu from Andy over 10 years ago.  I am trying to put it on an old laptop.   Before I can install,  I need to download and made a bootable USB.   It took a whole day do make up that bootable USB!

Cultured Margarine

I was wondering why the crumpet got a sourdough funk.   Then I was adding the butter to the pancakes and noticed the funk was on the margarine!   Although people are paying good money for cultured butter,  we decised to throw our cuktured margarine. 
I need to try the Hambleton bread properly next time.

Surprise View Chevin

I rode past the Surprise View Chevin the other day,  so I planned to stop for a visit.   It was a nice view,  but wasn't exactly surprise.

Knackered S4 GPS

So I thought I fixed up the S4,  but the GPS also doesn't work.

I searched for solution,  onlyvafter I did a hardware mod and a firmware fix,  it started to work,  ish.

Loungewear Shortage

As I predicted with the increase loungewear usage, there is no incentive for company to discount their products.  Now Next is back online, they have very few loungewear in their sale department.  Even on SportsDirect, there are also very few suitable slippers.  Luckily we are well stocked and we will keep our eyes open got any good loungewear in the January sale.

Imitation Farm Shop

When a farm shop is not a farm shop?  The farm shop that makes nothings, produces nothing and sells substandard commercial non-artisan products.  I rode around and stopped at a farm shop, I got a substandard pork pie made with sausage meat and a substandard machine crimped pasty.  Buyer beware!

Resurrecting Knackered S4

My Sony is just a bit too big for the tank bag, so I want to connect the comms unit to a phone which can fit in the tank bag.

The old Xperia M refuses to connect to GPS, so I had to find another device.  The Australian S4 with broken screen, twice, has been exhumed and reset.  Let's hope it will do what I want it to do.

Pride Season Cancelled

York Pride in June was cancelled a few months ago, and now Leeds Pride has confirmed to cancelled.

To be fair, everyone has been buying up rainbow flags honouring NHS, there wouldn't be much left for pride.

Dutch Oven Spelt Bread

I got some spelt flour and I was adamant to bake it using a dutch oven.  So I followed a simple spelt bread recipe from the Great British Bakeoff, and baked it in a dutch oven.  It is very unnerving to bake blind.  I should have just oiled the pan rather than using greaseproof paper,  as greaseproof paper only works if the item is oily.

It looked very nice and it tasted very nice.  *I am not sure it is worth the spelt premium though."

Plants Resuscitation

We neglected a few plants, and they were extremely sad.  A few of them just went into drought mode, and a bit of water has brought them back to life.  Some of these has some irreversible damage, but they will survive the ordeal.  One of them was pretty much dead, I gave it some water, and it was not having it, so I took it apart.  On another thought, some plants look very dead on drought mode, so I gave it another chance, but on the next day, there was still no sign of life so I let it go.  You win some and lose some, no plants live forever.

Hambleton Country White Sourdough

We finally got our hands on a Hambleton sourdough.  It is good bread, but you can really taste the funk once toasted...

Malmo Chokladfabrik Esmeralda Ecuador, 68% Dark Chocolate bar

This is the best Malmo bar I have so far.  It is tasty and smooth.

Yorkshire Midges

In honour of Sarah's birthday, we got a Japanese meal take away and ate it by the reservoir.  We had the window opened for the fresh air, but as soon as the distraction, aka food, is over, we noticed the midges are out in force.  I never knew Yorkshire has to much midges!

Enterprise Goose

Some elves insisted on translating one language to another, and insisting translating back using a weird meanings of the same word, so we get enterprise goose.  Nobody will associate enterprise goose as penguin, but they would if they translated correctly as standing goose.

It is like starting out with "cooling tower" and ending up with "endothermic building".

Leafy Glutinous Rice Dumplings

After a few trials,  I have a better gauge of how much rice to use per dumplings.   I actually got some bamboo leaves and I made one of each.   When cooked together,  the sausage casing dumpling picks up some of the leafy flavour.   The packet of leaves is very large,  so more to come.

Lockdown Flapjack III

The third flapjack we did was a "healthy" flapjack involving carrots also from BBC Goodfood.  It has turned out quite nicely and feels less evil than the jam and peanut butter one.

Locked Down Flapjack II (Failure)

The second flapjack we tried is "yummy golden syrup flapjack" also from BBC good food, expects it has no binding power and turned out to be granola...  We are not making this one again.

A64 Red Bus Cafe

We were walking in the area, and we noticed the Red Bus Cafe was actually open.  I have always been meaning to come for a bacon bap.  Sarah got me a coke.  We were not allowed to sit due to the quarantine rules.  They must have been (re)opened very recently, on the sign, it says 4pm-9pm,  and by the looks of it, they have given up on the typical breakfast / greasyspoon market, they are doing mostly donner.  I could have done with a portion of chips, but of course that was forbidden.

Lettuce Refreshed

After the heavy pruning of the lettuce, it has grown well.  So I will keep up the regime.

Malmo Sambirano Madagascar 70% dark chocolate bar

I was excited about the "Madagascar" bit,  but I was disappointed.  This and the other Malmo bars have a similar taste,  factory taste.   The factory taste was so prominent that I cannot taste the nuttiness that I expect from Madagascar...  I will bare that in mind and hope the next one is less factoryty.

Red Kites

We have seen a lot of bird of prey sightings, we can only assuming them are red kites.  How do we identify them without a powerful biocular?

Rainbow Flags

A lot of people are showing their rainbow crafts, in order to keep up the lockdown spirit. But we have also seen people hoisting rainbow flags on flag poles, it is very confusing.

Return to Sander

The wall was filled so many time and started to look lumpy.   I borrowed a sander,  and immediately regretted when I turned it on.   A dust storm!  I had my mask on,  but I was otherwise covered head to toe, my hair turned grey.  The smoke detector was going.   Thats with a hoover running full speed at the same time.

Never again!

Flipping Mattress

So most of the memory foam mattress is not flippable, but I dissected the mattress, and decided to flip it.  Let's hope this breathes new life to the mattress for another 5 years.

Sluggish Trap

I had a clear out in the and fridge and setup the last beer slug trap using a very old can of beer, vintage 2015.  It started out slow, there was only one big slug, then a few more joined the party.  I hope a few I eliminated would have prevented the hundreds that they would have turned into.

Plasma "Donation"

Once upon a time, when I was at Vanderbilt, my friend would be very happy having just come back from "donating" plasma, of which she also gets money from the process.

I always think American's private hospitals have their own plasma and blood bank, and since then the industry has expanded.

I just saw a BigThink video, claiming it is an industry that is large but remain largely unspoken of.  I heard of it from my friend, way back when.  On a similar token, I have also heard of eggs "donation".

I didn't see a problem with plasma "donation", and I still don't see a problem now.  If there is a large medical service relying on the plasma, we should definitely satisfy the needs domestically.

Lettuce Pruning

The lettuce is definitely maturing, but there are also bits that look sad.  So I gave it a very heavy pruning, removing all the dead and sad leaves.  Now the whole tray gets some Sun and I hope the next round of shoots will come nicely.