Recipe

Mushroom Sauce

A rich cream and butter sauce infused with earthy mushroom fragrence.

This pairs very well with steak and chips.

Recipe

Lemon Bars (Claire Saffitz)

A rich version of the lemon bars recipe.

Recipe

Lemon Bars

A lemon custard atop a shortbread crust. Finely balanced between the sweetness of the sugar and sourness of the lemons.

Recipe

Hedgehog Slice

This is a biscuit base chocolate recipe that is fast and easy to make. It keeps well in the cupboard or fridge.

In our family, this was always known as fudgecake. It’s a recipe mum would make a few times a year as a treat for the family. It requires few ingredients, and no cooking.

Conveniently, each of the major ingredients can be bought at a local supermarket in these sizes.

Recipe

Chocolate Chip Cookie

A classic, chewy, Amercian style chocolate chip cookie.

Recipe

Peppercorn Sauce

The classic Steak Au Poivre sauce. Rich, creamy and peppery.

This pairs very well with steak and chips.

Recipe

Broccoli Bacon Salad

Broccoli adds brightness and crunch, while the bacon adds saltiness and umami to this dish. Cranberries bring in some floral notes, and the walnuts round it all out with some nuttiness.

Recipe

Banana Bread

Whenever there are over-ripe bananas in the house, it’s time to make this cake.

Recipe

Scrambled Eggs

Lovely, soft, buttery scrambled eggs.

Recipe

Pork Vindaloo

An authentic, spicy and hot vindaloo dish from the Goan community.

Recipe

Lamb Rogahn Josh

A wonderfully hot and spicy dish from Kashmir.

Recipe

Bin Bhuna Hua Garam Masala

An untoasted garam masala.

Recipe

Sausage Roll

A basic sausage roll.

Admin

Windows 10 - Moving In

Moving into a fresh Windows 10 installation. Didn’t deploy.

Recipe

Lamb Doner Kebab

A fairly traditional lamb kebab recipe.

Recipe

Murghi Korma

A curry that is mild enough for anyone to eat.

Switching Website to Github

I’ve been self hosting this site on my own personal web server for quite a few years now. It’s not convenient, but it is cheap, which is always a good motivation for me. Today I’d like to talk about moving this site from self hosting to Github Pages.

FPGA

First Steps with FPGA

The title of this post suggests that this is the first step into programming an FPGA, but that’s not quite true. We need to take a few steps back into the past to see the real truth. Jump back 31 years and you will find a very young version of me taking his first steps into the world of computing. My options at this point are limited in ways I wouldn’t be able to see for decades. Read More >>

Garden

Building A Joystick (Part 1)

The long and boring story of how I went from a 12 year old boy in the 80’s to a 50 year old man in the 2020’s making a joystick to play retro-arcade games from the 80’s.

Garden

White Fuzz

“It was one time…” (Fart in a Jar Martin)

…what exactly do I have in this jar?

Administration

Installing Nginx using Docker and Portainer

Quick instructions on getting Nginx up and running again for my site using Docker and Portainer.

Administration

Moving into a Fresh Ubuntu Install

Instructions for a quick start getting all my usual software and setup on a fresh Ubuntu Linux install.

Recipe

Mapo Tofu

A classic Sichuan dish made with beef or pork, tofu and chillis.

Garden

Spring 2021 - Time to Try Again

Here’s some sobering images of the refugees from the Devastation of Smaug. See how they huddle together for protection.

Recipe

Red Curry Beef

A Thai red curry using beef.

Recipe

Red Braised Pork

This slow braised dish has tender pieces of pork covered with a glistening moreish Chinese red braise sauce.

Recipe

Mongolian Beef

A classic stir fried beef dish - popular in Chinese restaurants.

Recipe

Cinnamon Scrolls

Sweet, doughnut like, cinnamon scrolls with a drizzle of cream cheese icing.

Recipe

Caesar Salad Dressing

A dressing for a Caesar salad. It’s also good for pretty much any salad.

Programming

Chrysalis Update for 2020-08-02

In this article I will cover recent progress on my project, Chrysalis.

Recipe

Chicken Tikka Masala

Britain’s national dish. A curry that is mild enough for anyone to eat.

Recipe

Porchetta

A fairly simple herb roasted pork dish.

Programming

Adding EnTT ECS to Chrysalis

In this article I will discuss the process I followed and the results of integrating the EnTT Entity Component System (ECS) into Chrysalis.

Recipe

Quiche

A basic quiche.

Recipe

Chocolate Ice Cream

A thoroughly rich and creamy dessert that is certain to please.

Recipe

Chocolate Ice Cream

A thoroughly rich and creamy dessert that is certain to please.

Recipe

Ginger Beer

A delightful, fizzy traditional ginger beer. This is a lacto ferment so the results will depend on the lacto bateria in your kitchen and will likely vary from your friend’s efforts.

Recipe

Ginger Beer Bug

A ginger beer bug is the first step to making a traditional ginger beer. It is a living organism containing yeast from your work area.

Recipe

Punjabi Garam Masala

Punjabi Garam Masala is an Indian spice blend that adds deep aromatic flavours to many dishes.

Garden

The First Planting of Our New Orchard

Summer is coming… Read More >>

Garden

Finishing the Earthworks

The earth is moving. Read More >>

Garden

Ginger, Galangal and Turmeric

Some herbs can be hard to find at the stores. It’s time to try and grow these for myself. Read More >>

Garden

Earthworks

Destruction as a form of creation. Read More >>

Recipe

Dashi

A basic stock used for a lot of Japanese recipes.

Recipe

Tonkotsu Stock

Tonkotsu means “pork bone-broth” in Japanese. It is a rich, unctuous dish that coats the mouth as you consume it.

This tonkotsu ramen broth recipe takes a full day or at least overnight to make. Plan accordingly.

Recipe

Beef Stock

A home made beef stock will give your dishes the depth of flavour required to excel.

Recipe

Vegetable Stock

A simple vegetable stock.

Recipe

Chicken Stock

Chicken stock made from necks, wings, backs and drumsticks. This will make a rich full flavoured stock. Wings provide a lot of skin, fat and gelatinous tissue which will break down and increase the luxuriousness of the stock.

Recipe

Light Batter

A simple and light batter; suitable for fish and chicken.

Recipe

Red Curry Paste

Aromatic and herbacious. Red curry paste provides the base flavours for many Thai dishes.

Recipe

Nicoise Salad

A French salad with tuna, green beans, hard boiled eggs, tomatoes, onion, capers, and potatos.

Recipe

Vinaigrette Dressing

A simple and traditional French salad dressing.

Recipe

Massaman Curry Paste

A classic Thai curry.

Recipe

Laksa Paste

Laksa paste is the key ingredient in a bowl of laksa.

Recipe

Laksa

A terrific Malaysian soup. Rich, creamy and warming. It can be served with a range of toppings to suit the individual.

Recipe

Felafel

This middle eastern dish has many variations. The deep fried balls are crispy and nutty, with a herbaceous aroma. Try experimenting with different blends of herbs to see what suits you.

Recipe

Sweet and Sour Pork

This version of the dish is similar to one from a take-away place, though it is less sweet than usual.

Recipe

Char Sui Pork

The mouth watering Chinese pork dish that can be eaten on it’s own or added to soups and other dishes to bring them to life.

Recipe

Black Bean Sauce

A salty sauce with a large umami kick.

Recipe

Pho

The famous beef soup dish from Vietnam.

Recipe

Chinese Brown Sauce

A sauce rich with umami flavours which is great for stir frys.

Garden

Start A Kitchen Garden

Plants are growing. Read More >>

Garden

Garage Garden Update

An update of the small garden just outside my living space door. Read More >>

Garden

Celebrate the Little Things

Plants are growing. Read More >>

Garden

Closing the Loop

Utilise every resource at your disposal. Read More >>

Garden

Enthusiastic About Compost

I’ve become that person at parties who always wants to talk about compost. Read More >>

Garden

Too Much Rock, Too Little Roll

It’s time to fix the mistakes of the past by digging out all the rocks and starting new garden beds in their place. Read More >>

Garden

Getting Through the "to-do" List

The garden is just one of the endless tasks that need doing around here. Read More >>

Garden

First Crack at Garlic

Planting garlic. Read More >>

Recipe

Easy Bagel

Simple bagels done right—it takes a bit of effort to make them the first time, but it’s easier every time thereafter. And the end result is so very worth the time.

Recipe

Tom Yum Soup

Tom Yum Goong soup is one of the most well known dishes in Thai cuisine, and in this recipes you’ll learn to make the authentic Thai street food style version. There are 2 different types of tom yum, the clear version and the creamy version, and there’s directions on how to make both types. Enjoy this recipe for tom yum.

Garden

Chicken Update

An update on the joy I feel at owning chickens. Read More >>

Garden

Our First Flock of Chickens

The girls arrive. Read More >>

Programming

Switching to CRYENGINE 5.3 New Entity System

In this article I will cover the changes I made to Chrysalis for the release of CRYENGINE 5.3. Some were required due to old code being deprecated, others were simply improvements over the previous way of doing things.

Garden

Making the Beds

I’m making beds. Read More >>

Garden

Starting Somewhere

Every garden has to start somewhere. This is my orgin. Read More >>

Garden

First Results

Getting some results. Read More >>

Garden

Get Grubby

Making my Beds Read More >>

Garden

Mr Gobbles the Bush Turkey

Our local bush turkey has got game. Read More >>

CRYENGINE

First Person and Action RPG Cameras

In this article I will introduce you to view management within CRYENGINE and then use the existing view management to build a camera manager, a first person camera and a third person orbit camera (action RPG style).

Programming

Controlling an Animated Character in CRYENGINE using C++

Making an animated character move around the screen in CRYENGINE requires many thousands of lines of code and a lot of time and dedication. This series of articles will show you how to control a character animated in CRYENGINE Mannequin using C++ code.

General

CRYENGINE 3.7 Source Control and Perforce

In this article I will try to cover the issue of source control, particularly for a CRYENGINE 3.7 project. I will touch on what it is, why you need it, and briefly on how to implement a decent source control system.

CRYENGINE

CRYENGINE Flowgraphs - Blacklists and Substitutions

On a large project, such as a game built using CRYENGINE, structure, clarity and consistency can provide decent gains in productivity by reducing the time it takes to comprehend and perform simple tasks. Blacklists and substitutions for Flowgraph Nodes are one way to improve these parts of your project.

general

MediaWiki on the Beaglebone Black

There’s been a lot of excitement over the past 2 years regarding the Raspberry Pi. The Pi is a wonderful piece of hardware / software with a great community behind it. I’m definitely a fan and would happily recommend one to a friend, but there’s another player that is possibly even more exciting for the hardcore nerds - the BeagleBone Black (BB).

Math and Physics

Matrices, Vectors, Quaternions and CryEngine 3

This article will introduce you to matrices, vectors and quaternions and how you can use them for programming games using the CryEngine SDK. You will only need a basic understanding of mathematics, beginner level c++ and a general knowledge of the CryEngine SDK; in particular, the gamesdk.dll code which is written in c++.

general

WD MyBook Live vs Raspberry Pi as a Linux Server

I’ve spent a lot of time in the last few months playing around with low power Linux based devices. As power becomes more expensive, and computers push out more heat and noise I find myself looking for ways to enjoy the comforts of always-on-service without paying the heat and noise toll.

CRYENGINE

CryEngine 3 System Event Dispatcher

Earlier this week I wrote about CryEngine listener classes in a brief overview. I intimated that they are an excellent way to write code against the CryEngine SDK and today I want to go into more depth.

CRYENGINE

Introducing CryEngine 3 Event Listeners

In this article I will introduce you to event handling within CryEngine 3 and give a brief overview of the many listeners you can utilise within your project.

Programming

Adding New Actions to CryEngine 3 FreeSDK

This tutorial will help you add new actions into CryEngine 3 FreeSDK projects without needing to make any changes to the base code provided by CryTek.

Programming

Google App Engine, Go and Go-RESTful

I’ve spent the better part of a week now learning about a new suite of technologies which I am interested in using to develop my TMO gaming framework.

Programming

The REST API Design Handbook

There’s a lot of confusion and disagreement about what makes for a RESTful design.

Programming

How I Learned to Love Go (Language) And Stop Worrying

There’s a new love in my life, and she’s petite, versatile, responsive and modern - it’s the language, Go. I’m still in the honeymoon stage, getting to know the ways she likes to play and the things she can do for me, but I can tell you now - it’s going to be a long romance.

CRYENGINE

Joining StoneRage

A few weeks ago I decided to place my own projects on hold and join a team working on a game - specifically the StoneRage game. The developers seemed organised and were well advanced in terms of graphic and environmental production.

CRYENGINE

How to Make .PAK Files With Your Assets

Something that doesn’t seem to receive much coverage is what to do with all your awesome assets once you’ve made your game. You’re going to need to ship them to end users, and the best way is within a .PAK file.

general

Building A Cheap Motion Capture Studio

A while back I became interested in motion capture as a means to easily get basic animations into the game I am working on. Using reasonably priced software from Brekel and a cheap Microsoft Xbox Kinect camera you have the beginnings of a motion capture setup.

CRYENGINE

CryEngine 3 - Flowgraph Events

As you begin to learn how to program for CryEngine 3 you will run into a lot of barriers. The code is dense, filled with magic numbers, brimming with pre-processor code, macros, and templates and all sorts of traps.

Programming

Dealing With The Difficulty

I’ve been working on my pet project for almost five months now and I must admit that some parts of the project are easier than others. I don’t actually get a choice about which parts I will try and deal with, but I do get a choice about the order in which it happens.

World Design

On Building a World

To date I’ve been focusing on making my little zone with little regard for the world around it. Till now it’s been acceptable to know just the prime locale of the zone, but it’s been niggling at me that I don’t know it’s location on a world map, it’s climate, or even the location of the sun.

World Design

Creating Interesting Terrain

At first blush terrain might seem like a fairly easy thing to be able to create, and at it’s simplest it might well be. Toss a few mountains about, some rolling hills, a valley or two, a little water, and you’re done - or are you?

Programming

Overcoming Inertia

A few weeks have passed with very little development occurring. I have hit that most dangerous of problems, the lack of inertia.

CRYENGINE

Sunset Oasis

My first effort towards building a CTF style game went a little awry. I tried tinkering with the gameplay parameters and added in extra elements and came up with a hybrid that might be interesting when I get back to it. My big mistake though was to create a landmass about 8 times bigger than was really needed. Even using much of it for ocean, I was still left with these way too large spaces for the tight gameplay I wanted.

CRYENGINE

CryEngine3 and UDK3

I’ve been playing games for over 30 years now and I’ve seen them progress from simple text based games through all the iterations to give us the amazing looking games we have today. I have at times written my own games; most were very simple - due to the nature of the machines at the time.