random bits

[cellio]

15 most strange buildings in the world is bizarre. While it's not the strangest, I am fond of the library that looks like a shelf full of books.

Dani's comfort foods include shepherd's pie, which was not part of my upbringing. I've made the version from Cooking for Engineers a couple times, substituting margarine for the butter because of kashrut and beef for the lamb because of availability, but he says it's not quite right. I asked him to do some searching and he reports that everything that looks right involves milk or cheese, which is of course a problem. Do any of my kosher or lactose-intolerant readers have a favorite recipe?

A friend recently burned DVDs from some treasured old videotapes, but our DVD player won't play them. (The computers will.) Google tells me that this is a common problem, especially with older players. There are the competing standards of DVD+R and DVD-R; the documentation for our player mentions neither by name. (These discs are DVD+R.) This happened once before and I assumed a bad disc; now I suspect the problem is the player. We bought our DVD player, a region-free Sampo, when the first season of The West Wing was released in the UK, which was apparently 2002.

I could get this video adapter for my iBook for $19. There might be other benefits to that too, though streaming Hulu might not be one of them (video seems jumpy). Or it appears that region-free DVDs have come way down in price, so maybe we should replace our player. Maybe with this ($58 and I've heard of the manufacturer) or this ($40, no reviews, and never heard of the maker). These are the results of half an hour of surfing; if anyone reading this has opinions, I'd love to hear 'em.

Recently I've seen a few "bot" LJ accounts go by -- users that seem to subscribe to people at random but don't do anything else (so they're not, say, making harrassing comments), and then the accounts get nuked. The last one I got was Russian, as I gather many are. I don't really care if such accounts show up as subscribers, but I find myself wondering two things: what do they get out of it, and why do some folks get upset enough to get the accounts suspended? What am I missing?

Comments

[kayre]

I don't have a specific recipe, but given your comments, here's how I'd change the recipe to which you linked. Sounds like the potatoes would need more flavor-- I'd add garlic, and more margarine.

In the meat mixture, I always include peas, green beans, or both. Also probably some garlic and herbs.

I'd top the meat mixture with soy cheese before putting on the potatoes-- or alternatively, top with soy cheese after baking.

[tashabear.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's a busy recipe for shepherd's pie.

Mine is super simple, and kind of down-market, but it tastes good. Not sure if you can use it, though.

I brown a pound of ground beef and pour off the fat, then add a couple of handsful of frozen corn and a can of tomato soup. Top with mashed potatoes (and I add sliced cheese) and let it heat till the soup bubbles up (and/or the cheese melts). Serve it forth.

The cream in the tomato soup might be a deal-breaker though. :-/

[fauxklore]

Re: the odd buildings, the Crazy House in Dalat is just as odd inside. Each room has a theme and they are all overdone. (I didn't stay there, but we visited). I've also seen the Hundertwasser building in Darmstadt, which is actually an apartment complex. Hundertwasser apparently built a similar complex near Vienna.

Re: shepherd's pie, could you do a milchig version using soy-based fake meat instead of lamb? The type of soya mince you can get in South Africa (and, presumably, England) would work well. The TVP from health food stores here is allegedly the same thing but doesn't come as neatly packaged in my experience. (There are also, of course, various pareve milk and cheese substitutes.)

[wrenb.livejournal.com]

I make my shepherd's pie very similarly to the recipe given, but less fussy. :) The filling is ground beef, beef gravy, and leftover veg (or carrots, onions etc as you like). The topping is where I make it kosher. I make my mashed potatoes with a dollop of olive oil and some of the cooking water from the potatoes. Add lots of salt and pepper.
Since all the parts in this version have just been cooked you don't need to heat them at 400F -- just brown the potatoes under the broiler.

DVD issue

[tc-tick.livejournal.com]

Try copying the DVD over onto a DVD-R disc. BTW the difference between + and - discs is the erased state and how they record data. '-' discs erase to all '1's and write '0's, '+' discs erase to all '0's and write '1's.

Re: bot accounts

[byronhaverford.livejournal.com]

When someone friends you, there is a tendency to want to friend back (do I know this person by another name?)
Then you got 'em. You can lure them into clicking on the links you embed in your fake diary.
If I were running the site, I'd delete these to reduce clutter.

[nsingman.livejournal.com]

I've seen some of those buildings before. I love the one with the embedded house. Few things make me happier than projects motivated by a sense of humor and fun.
:-)

[profane-stencil.livejournal.com]

(W)hy do some folks get upset enough to get the accounts suspended? What am I missing?
Have you forgotten that the internet is serious business?

[starmalachite.livejournal.com]

In case it matters to you or Dani, tomatoes in any form are NOT traditional ingredients of shepherd's pie.