Goldfish Bowl

Lambeth Conference

Yes yes, the Lambeth Conference has been happening up at UKC, and I’ve been doing some IT support for it.

I have been working on the Help & Enquiry desk at the library. Bishops, it seems, are confusing.

We had one fellow who wanted to “send an email from here”. I explained that we didn’t give out email addresses, but he didn’t understand. He just gave me an email address that he wanted to send the email to, and expected to magically open an email account and just send it. He only wanted to send one email, he kept telling me - like that makes any difference!

I ended up pointing him at Gmail and getting him to sign up. At which point he sat at the helpdesk and started writing an email. I awkwardly asked him to go use another machine, as it looked like he was working there.

Then there was the person who wanted to get the name and addresses of some of the bishops he met. I got him logged on, at which point he started fiddling with the mouse like he’d never used one in his life. Then my replacement turned up and I ran for the hills.

One of the other helpdeskers working in the press office (which, by the way, is not “as far away from the conference as possible”, in fact it’s as close to the conference as possible.  Oh and the fence isn’t 10 foot high.) got a mention in The Times Online.

So, yes. Fun times.

Posted in Personal, WTFs | No Comments »

Summer of Ca..ookies: Stotty’s Recipe

I mentioned a desire to make cookies in #cs earlier today, and was greeted with a slightly worrying amount of enthusiasm.

14:39  <crowbar> cookie materials are now here :)14:40  <andee> o.O

14:43  <xand> o.o

14:44  * Steve thinks Crowbar likes cooking

14:44  <steve> ...and cookies

14:44  <xand> who doesn't?

14:44  * Stotty|work likes cooking cookies

14:44  <andee> on a lighter note, my debian package for lastest asterisk works  

14:45  <stotty|work> check it out:  http://www.jstott.me.uk/recipes/chocolatechipcookies.php

14:45  <andee> as in this wont make you fat  

14:45  <steve> I'd use chunks of chocolate  

14:46  <stotty|work> that is the w00test recipe ever

14:50  <crowbar> Stotty|work: you're a star - i was about to look for arecipie :p

14:50  <steve> Use chocolate CHUNKS not chips  

14:50  <crowbar> i've got a bit of cooking chocolate

14:51  <crowbar> and some white chocolate

14:51  <stotty|work> needs milk, white and dark chocolate

14:51  <steve> PERFECT

14:51  <steve> Dark is preferable

14:51  <steve> as an addition  

14:51  <crowbar> i'll have to make my own white chocolate chunks

And thus, cookies.  I made a slight alteration in that I put in chocolate chips AND chocolate chunks, as well as adding some cocoa powder and a smidgen of that nice white chocolate stuffs.  I’ll post my perfected alterations as soon as I’ve worked out exactly what’s best.

Posted in Baking, Personal | No Comments »

White Chocolate Cake: Beta Test

So, this is that white chocolate cake I’ve been going on about.  I finally made it.  Here’s how I made the sponge.

• 4 medium eggs
• 250g Butter
• 250g Sugar minus 4 tablespoons
• 250g self raising flour
• Tablespoon of Baking Powder
• 4 tablespoons of White Hot Chocolate Powder from Whittards
• Vanilla Essence

1. Grease up two cake tins with baking parchment on the bottom.
   
2. Combine butter and sugar in a bowl.
   
   
3. Add the flour.
   
4. Add the eggs and vanilla essence.
   
5. Mix well.
6. Add 4 tablespoons of white hot chocolate powder and mix thoroughly.
   
7. Divide into the two tins, and put into a preheated oven at Gas Mark 4 for about 30-45 minutes.
   
   
   
8. Allow to cool
   
9. When cool, ice it inside and out
   

Now, the icing (frosting for you yanks) was a bit of a disaster and is more in alpha stages.  When I’ve worked out exactly how to do it properly, I’ll write it up

I tested it on my neighbors - they liked it lots, particularly with ice cream.  In fact, they liked it so much that they still have it.   If they all keel over and die, you’ll be the first to know.

It was fairly light, quite rich, and the sponge had a definite chocolaty taste.  Definitely good for people who want something a bit more interesting than the average chocolate cake!

I’d like to dedicate this cake to xugglybug and mattp for giving me good ideas and to Twigathy and Eek for being around when the idea popped up.

Posted in Baking, Personal | No Comments »

White Chocolate Cake: In progress

I’ve just finished baking the sponges and making the icing for my white chocolate cake.  After a suggestion from xugglybug I went to Whittards and got myself some white hot chocolate powder.  It turns out that it’s mostly sugar, with some dried cocoa butter, so I mixed a couple of tablespoons with the sugar and butter at the beginning.

It smells nice.

The icing was, however, more problematic.  After a slight disaster which resulted in InstaToffee, I’ve had to go for a slightly different approach.  I was using condensed milk with the butter and icing sugar, which I’ve warmed and mixed in some Green and Black’s White Chocolate (yummy).  However it needs constant stirring or the chocolate seperates and cracks.  So I think I’m going to have to apply it whilst it’s still warm. Thankfully, the consistency is pretty good without needing to cool it too much, so I don’t think this should be a problem.

Pictures will be coming soon!

Posted in Baking, Personal | No Comments »

Cake Proposal: White Chocolate Cake

I came up with this idea whilst at a friends house a while ago.

Chocolate sponges are all well and good, but what about white chocolate sponges?  After pondering if this was even remotely possible, I have a few ideas.

To start off with, make a normal sponge (Victoria Sponge sort of thing), but swap the butter with cocoa butter.  This stuff is kinda hard to find (well, for cooking purposes anyway, I’m not putting body lotion in a cake), but I’ve found an online shop that sells it. EDIT: Ah, coconut butter.  Oh well, I best keep looking! EDIT2: Ah, found another one.  But £16.99 for 500g? Blimey.

To back up the chocolate flavouring, I’d put in extra vanilla, possibly even some vanilla pods too.  To make sure the cake is quite dense, I’d further grind the sugar to make it extra fine.   The sugar would need to be white, of course.  Perhaps add a little cream to the eggs before beating them into the mixture.

I suppose there’s only one real way to find out if it’ll work!

Posted in Baking, Personal | No Comments »