Something Saucy…

I’m going to share with you my home made recipe for a brilliant Satay Sauce – I’m nothing if not modest – but follow the simple steps to either a great marinate, or a general condiment.

The basics:-

1 x tin of coconut milk

1 x tablespoon of dark soy sauce

1 x tablespoon of light soy sauce

2-3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

1 x thumb sized bit of fresh ginger, roughly chopped

1 x tablespoon of light brown sugar

1 x heaped teaspoon of crushed chillies

3-4 drops of Tabasco

Couple of twists of black pepper

2-4 tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter (add later after using as a marinade) – or during the heating process.

In a pan mix all the ingredients together.

Now, one option before adding peanut butter:-

Use as a marinate, so to the basic mixture (no peanut butter yet) add finely sliced beef/pork or flattened chicken breasts, sliced into strips, or a vegetarian equivalent – put in the fridge overnight, drain the meat/vegetarian option ready to grill, bbq, griddle etc.

To finish the sauce:-

Depending on how thick you like the sauce, depends on how much crunchy peanut butter you add – if using a full tin of coconut milk, I usually add 4 tablespoons.

Add the peanut butter as the sauce gently heats up on the hob, don’t boil, as this can cause the sauce to separate, or just go wrong…

Gently simmer, stirring all the time, adding the peanut butter a tablespoon at a time, until it has broken down.

Simmer longer for a thicker sauce.

Test seasoning.

Cook your main ingredient of choice, ladle over the satay sauce, be generous.Or use it as a general condiment (careful if you have marinated meat in the sauce, heat through thoroughly and use same day) otherwise, prepare as described and use at your leisure with a ton of other dishes, or as a salad dressing with a twist.

Enjoy.

Things change, therefore so do I

Way over due an update here – lots has been happening after all and I don’t flatter myself by thinking I’m a great wordsmith – but it is poor of me not to do more with my very basic blog.

So more happening here, complete with an up-date on Addiply and my work with Papirfly (Norwegian for Paper Aeroplane, we call the company Paper Fly, a tad easier…).

To be continued…

Addiply – really is rather good – www.addiply.com

Guess I would say that, I’m working with them – looking to get some traction for a very small business that, oddly in this day and age of freeconomics, social media (social my ****, more of that later), and knitting muesli actually, yes hold on, generates an income!!

Realise that the elephant in the room no-one wants to talk about is how any of the myriad of new start ups, ideas, collective hugging sites out there actually fund themselves, and even support those willing to invest their time in trying to run a business.

Of course, Not-for-profit is one thing (still don’t get how they are funded? Or do I pay for this stuff via my taxes…?) And anyone willing to give new stuff a go gets my whole hearted support, what ever the cause, reason, or idea – and yes I’m a tad cynical about a lot of new stuff out there, and yes it is frustrating to see X get a ton of money, when Y doesn’t – and of course it is all down to honest personal opinion, and all that, but…

…when you come across a business that allows publishers, for free, to set up an account to take community based advertising, when that business allows the publisher to set their own revenue model, and when it allows the publisher to keep 90% of gross takings from any revenue generated, I think you have to take notice.

Yes Addiply is simple txt based advertising right now, and yes its very much aimed at the very local website community and yes it ‘only’ earns a couple of hundred quid a month for some – but imagine sites that have a community base of some 10,000 plus? Backed by some ‘sales’ knowledge and imagine that the system can feed rich media, and that can allow customisation for the publisher/advertiser, and that can feed banners, CPU’s, and tower ad space – then we start to see a whole new ball game.

And it still provides transparency, easy user interface, and someone at the end of a phone – for free.

Take a look – www.addiply.com

My Blog now becomes a TO-DO list…

Finding time for these things is always a hassle – its not for lack of ideas, or things I think are interesting, its taking that idea, putting it down, cleaning it up and then deciding its right to publish.

I’ve always believed in the ethos of “Publish and be dammed” – but that’s not always the smart move.

But…

There is stuff that’s in my head, I feel the need to get down, here, and that way non of it gets lost in the fog, and hopefully prompts me to do get my arse in gear and do more on here!

In no particular order – blogs to come will cover some or all of the following…

www.addiply.com – a new venture I’m working with, exciting stuff, actually makes money, just needs a final push…

Why “Social Media” needs a name change – its not always that social, really, and one of my new years resolutions was to tell it the way it is sometimes – time for some of that honesty me thinks

When people let you down – tied to the Social Media thing I guess – I have some ideas.

Raising capital.

Raising children.

Raising the spirit.

The HTC Magic, has it got the touch…

Ah the new Goggle/Android mobile, exclusive to Vodafone here in the UK, is out, and has garnered some excellent reviews so far, but having had the phone now for nearly a week days what is it really like, and is it an ‘iPhone’ beater?

Sorry, I’ll stop there that’s a rally dull intro – there I am trying to be all sensible about a hands on mobile phone review…I’m cutting to the chase, here are the finer points – the good stuff first means I don’t waste your time on piffle…

The Good: It works as a phone! Yes, really, you can make and receive crystal clear calls, whatever next?

The Bad: The touch screen is not for the fat fingered, or medium, or child sized…

The Good: Its as light as a feather – when I took it out of the box it started to float away, luckily it comes tethered so you don’t loose it within a couple of mins of ownership…

The Bad: Its as light as a feather and comes coated in the slickest most grip resistant plastic known to man – seriously the military should investigate this material because I reckon bullets would just slip of soldiers if used as amour, or the clothing industry, no need for costly washing or dry cleaning if your clothes were made out of this stuff!

The Good: Its as light as a feather, no more costly pocket lining repair bills, you don’t know its there.

The Bad: It’s as light…no I’ll stop with the feather thing

The Good: Proper fast Internet action, great 3g coverage from Vodafone (well at least compared to the nonsense that is 02′s, iPhone carrier in the UK, 3g coverage).

The Bad: Its small

The Good: Its small

The Bad: Landscape mode only available when turning to the left (the phone that is, not you)

The Good: Who cares the screen only landscapes one way?

The Bad: Webpage browsing is a little painful, iPhones multi touch screen works better – fact

The Good: Navigating a web page is simple once you don’t treat it like an iPhone – another fact

The Good: More than one app open at once, simple book marking of web pages, syncs seamlessly with all things Goggle.

The Bad: Goggle know who you are, where you are, your inside leg measurements, and any dodgy on-line activity you indulge in during the small hours…and so do the US government, the Military establishments, secret services, your boss, the inland revenue, boarder and immigration control, your mum and your partner…

The Good: It works

The Good: Hang on; we all know the old joke about not being able to loose an iPhone as it’s always plugged into a power source…? Well this little baby after a days heavy web use, twiddling with settings, app downloads from the Android Market, phone calls, some Twittering and so on, 50% battery life left – and what’s that odd thing at the back, oh yes a cover which comes off and allows you to change the battery, along with being able to make calls, this is turning into a winner!

The Good: Video capture

The Bad: So now the US government can mashup your film footage to really put you in the s**t if you step over the mark…

The Good: Search anything, er including emails – although that is coming to the firmware up-date for iPhone this summer

The Good: A track ball – yes all you Blackberry fans are now catered for, so now there is no excuse to get a proper smart phone

The Bad: It’s got a track ball; I’ve used it once…

The Good: Did I mention battery life?

The Bad: No 3.5mm thing, crap standard earphones, which, I think, were designed for anyone with ears the size of Elephants.

The Good: Slick user interface, it looks good

The Bad: It’s not an iPhone

The Good: Free on a 18 month £35.00 tariff that can include un-limited txts or un-limited landline calls, and un-limited Internet access, which is useful as the phone always talks to the net…

The Bad: its white

The Good: you can get it in black, if you live in the USA…

 Well the Piffle: -

 It’s a good phone, very good, does all an iPhone does, but its not quite as slick, or cool – but you can make calls on it, play with apps, browse the web during a working day and not have to worry about finding additional juice about halfway through the day – and if need be I can carry a spare battery with me, crazy thing modern technology.

 If the iPhone, or Apple, is not for you – this is easily the best alternative out there for the time being.

Lets see what happens

An HTC Magic review – Vodafone UK – coming soon!

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