General miscellany

For photos which don't belong anywhere else...

One ♣ Zwei ∞ Trois € Cuatro ¥ Cinque α Seis π Zeven © Osam

So, where was I...?

Christmas 2005 (continued)

Ah yes, that was it.  So, after much eating and drinking, we turned our attention to the fun party quiz PlayStation game, Buzz!  Everyone got involved, via two semi-finals.  Here, the oldies are deep in thought.

Mark was too pissed or bored to care, though, and comforted himself with a cold bottle of Kronenbourg 1664.  What was going on in that mind of his?  Probably wishing he was playing the game and not them.  And winning.

Matt took this shot, which oozes warmth and the spirit of Christmas.  And still the Buzz! goes on.

In a blurry moment of action, evidently Graham won something.  But it meant nothing to him you understand.

We must have turned out attention to Pro Evolution Soccer, a perennial favourite (although not played in some years).  Note my green-visored poker hat.  Must have been a Christmas present from someone.

And that was that, time to go home, fun over for another year.  Thanks for hosting, etc.

A quick shot of the lovely Lynne, dolled up and ready for action on New Year's Eve.  No idea what we did, though.

2006

Mid-January and it's already time for a poker night, one of our regular cash Texas Hold 'Em games that have been going since late 2002.  At first, it was a real struggle to find anywhere to buy cheap poker chips, and we made do with backgammon counters and monopoly money.  Then Chris Moneymaker, an internet qualifier with a very apt name, won the 2003 World Series of Poker and, with the internet taking off, poker exploded in popularity.  Suddenly you couldn't move for poker sets.

Anyway, here we have Ross Mckinstry, poker night funder, wearing my green-visored poker hat (seen that before somewhere) at a playfully anti-establishment angle.  This was Poker Night XVI and looking at my results spreadsheet (did you ever doubt it?), I finished £22.50 up and Ross was down £31.  We have now played 43 cash poker nights (as of February 2012) plus one tournament night (and one of the cash games led onto a tournament), and it's still going strong.

Here is the line-up for the night:  Wes (aka barney), Jonathan (aka JNo), Ross (aka Roscoe) and Euan (aka Windy).  In this game, it looks like Ross has lots of chips, so I'm not really sure which round this is...  Looking at the night's results, I actually remember it.  I bust out on two successive rounds as my blood-alcohol level peaked early.  After going out the second time, I went for some fresh air waiting for the pizza and even had some orange juice I think.  I came back and won £8 in the next round and, in the final round, won another £30, clearing out three opponents.  Euan, having bought in for £10 twice, managed to finish £20 up (net of the buy-ins).

And then it was time for people to leave.  Get out now.  Release the hounds.

I love Andrew Flintoff.  That's all there is to say.

Here is the beer and wine consumption.  Not bad.  Could do better, though.

That'll do for now.

Right then, it's time to make some cake.  At the end of January 2006.  I don't make cakes often, preferring to ply my culinary trade on savoury dishes.  Here is the recipé.

First get some high quality chocolate, then melt it over hot water, and look, melted chocolate.

Weigh out some icing sugar a little messily, and mix it into the chocolate.  This sugary chocolate mix will form the filling and the outer coating.

Next, it's time for the sponge mixture itself.  Stir it all in, put in cake dishes, bake in th'oven, and hey presto.

And this is what it looks like, garnished with mint and served with quality vanilla ice cream (which you need 'cos it's so damn rich).

The sharp-eyed of you may recognise this from this page - yes indeed, it was tapas night.  This was the mere dessert and it turns out I took a lot of photos of that.  Do you want to see them?  No?  Tough.

First up, mint raita.  Take the ingredients on the left (grate the cucumber, chop the mint, crush the garlic), mix them together, and you get the thing on the right.  Easy!

For the meatballs, take the mince and, er, make them into ball shapes, cook bacon and onion together, then make a tomato sauce, meanwhile brown the meatballs...

...then combine and cook for, like, ever.

More cooking was done.  Stuffed peppers, Spanish tortilla and chicken & leek in a creamy sauce.  Amongst other things.

Then the guests arrived.  Nic, Suze and Rick, and Lynne of course, the hostess with the mostess.

Suze's head turned fast when I made a move on Rick.  That's what lager does to me - sorry.

Gunner-till-he-dies, David Sills soon arrived.  Erm, wait, number one?  Should that not be the goalkeeper's jersey?

Not completely sure why Nic was wearing this - I'm sure there was a sound reason.

Here is everyone then, tucking into the tapas.  From left to right:  Fran, the top of Dan's head, Rachel, Claire, Caroline, Nic, Rick, Suze, Dave.  Not sure where Lynne is.  Ah, I think from another photo that she is left of Rachel.  People kept quiet during this bit, which is always good when you've made the food.  (Slaved over a hot stove all afternoon, etc.)

Dan, tucking into a bit of choccie cake, probably doesn't particularly appreciate being snapped doing so.

Schoey on the lager beers.

As it got late (the time of the picture says midnight but I suspect the camera wasn't completely set right), some coped better than others.

And with that, it is time for the third page.