dyno’s weblog

Last night I had my first attempt at making pizzas from scratch! My lovely little brother gave me a recipe for the base and the tomato sauce (using the standard tin of chopped tomatoes). Here’s what I found!

1) Making the base was relatively simple! All the ingredients put in a pile on the work surface, add the water and mix / knead!

2) Tin of chopped tomatoes boiled for a while then pressed through a sieve. With some herbs and more heating, the sauce reduced down to a good consistency!

All in all the pizzas tasted great but next time I think I could live without all this cheese

Nearly a year after living down in the deep south, I took a trip over to a good friend’s house in Croydon! Of course this journey innevitably involved the infamous M25 motorway.

Thankfully this time of the weekend wasn’t too busy on the roads so I took it easy and stuck on the inside lane. This is when it dawned on me… Why does the M25 have different rules to the rest of the motorways in England? Why is this? I’ll explain my point…

1) how is it that however slow you go, there’s always someone wanting to to slower thus forcing you to change lanes?
2) why do people still continue to go over 85mph despite the repetitive flashes of speed camera (between the A3 & M40)?
3) why do people sit at 65mph in the third most lane (of 4) when the “slower” lanes are perfectly clear?
4) why does this make undertaking a necessary course of action?
5) and finally… What ate these signs about?

Despite the intermittent weather, we’ve (with my housemates) tried to fit in as many bbq’s as possible!  Today, I found a gap in the cloud and booted her up.  When our new housemate moved in, he brought with him a contraption that lets you heat up your coals quickly without the need for any firelighters or lighter fluid.  So good it is, I write about it today.

bbqchimney

Inside the chimney, there’s a wire rack on which you place your coals. Under the rack, you pack with some news paper. Light the news paper and shuzzam.. 15 minutes later you’re good to cook on. As you’d expect the metal chimney forces heat upwards past the other coals making things nice and hot, nice and quickly!

bbqchimney

Without a doubt, this has been the longest time I’ve ever had to wait for a new golf club. Back in February, I went to a Mizuno fitting centre near Leatherhead to get my swing assessed. They could then make some recommendations for best equipment options ie. Shaft flexes, loft angles, shaft length etc.The setup down there is brilliant. You hit balls into a simulator net which monitors every minor detail of the ball and contact behaviour - such as head speed, ball speed, launch angle, back spin rate, side spin rate, ball direction.. And determines how the ball will actually fly. This is a great idea, since it is pretty well understood what conditions are optimal for a good ball flight. Ok.. So to cut the story short somewhat, they understood why I wasn’t getting the most out of my driver and recommended some options that work!

So here it is.. It arrived yesterday. Eager beaver I am just had to take it out on the range last night. My word.. I’ve never been so pleased. 2 months worth the wait? Of course, but why (Mizuno) did it take 2 months to arrive?

Spec: Mizuno MP-600 10.5 degree, exsar ds3 stiff shaft.

Last weekend, I headed to Bristol to spend a few days with Andy - the guitarist from Gonzo Long (.. I miss being in a band!!).  Although on Valentines Day, I have no commitments, so it turned out to be better than imagined!Not deterred by my current de-tox / t-total alcoholitary diet, I found the wealth of caffeinated drinks much to my advantage.  The gig itself was at Thekla, a venue made from an old ship, moored in Bristol Docks.  I was so suprised to find this a permanent venue with a fully kitted out stage and bar area.. and a nice area on deck to get some air!  We managed to catch two different ‘bands’ in the evening The Whip, who I must add were awesome, and Simian Mobile Disco - also good, but the whole buzz of live PA electronica has softened by my good friend and very talented Seventh Heaven.  The ‘official’ afterparty was a bit of a flop on our parts, but we managed to make the night fun enough. Whilst in Bristol, we also had a mooch round some of the shops and were introduced (at least I was) to SuperDryJpn.  The style really fits into what I think is cool, so bought a wicked lightweight Jacket  We also headed out for a Friday night of fun and ended up in the little sister of a nightclub of a club from home - Syndicate. The idea is quite the same, but the loudness of the music doesn’t seem to damage your ears in the same way that the one in Blackpool does! There were certainly some interesting characters in there.. and definately put up good reason to visit Bristol again.With very little to do on a Saturday, Andy and I took a trip on his motorbike to Wales. I must admit that I’ve never been so scared on a motorway, but nevertheless it was an amazing and uncomfortable experience!  Thanks for slowing down when I asked Andy!