From Man Bag to Camera Bag

Camera bags are expensive. Really expensive. And worst of all, they all look like camera bags unless you’re willing to pay a premium for a good looking bag, on top of the premium that you’re already paying for padding. That said, I’m really really happy with my Lowepro Slingshot 200 AW, with it’s easy access, sling-around, hold-everything-I-have goodness. It’s ace for if I’m out and about and being a tourist, but it’s a bit rubbish if I want something that looks anything less than a back-sized fannypack. So I wondered what it would take to come up with something myself. Read the rest of this entry »

Cardboard Macbook stand

Working from home, sitting at my desk can be a bit of strain on my neck, since I’m always looking down at the screen of my 15″ Macbook Pro. Researching the range of laptop stand options available from the Apple store and around, there didn’t to be anything that wasn’t either too expensive, flimsy, a little bit ugly, or all of the above. I thought, at the very least, I could solve the expensive part of that equation, and I get the joy of a make as a bonus. Read the rest of this entry »

Documenting HttpServletRequest

For such a core object the HttpServletRequest javadoc is a little lacking in the Examples Dept. when it comes to documented output. With various methods returning various parts of URLs, it’s often easy to pick the wrong one, so I thought I’d knock up a little table with the getters which trip me up sometimes. Read the rest of this entry »

URL connection timeouts… not timing out

After much fussing about, I’ve found out that the default UrlConnection object in the core Java libraries doesn’t correctly obey connect or read timeouts set via the setConnectTimeout() or setReadTimeout() methods. The only way I’ve managed to get this to work, is to add the following arguments to the JVM. Read the rest of this entry »

Hearty Chicken Stew with Dumplings

This is a bit of a hybrid recipe inspired from a bit of a Nigella and a bit of one of the anonymous cookbooks I’ve got hanging about. I’m proud to say that the dumplings were all my addition, although I didn’t have all the ingredients to make them so I had to settle for a pre-mixed packet.

• a pack of lardons
• two leeks, sliced into small rings
• an onion, roughly chopped
• 1/2 swede, peeled and roughly cubed
• a pack of about six good sized skinless, boneless chicken thighs, chopped into bite-sized pieces
• three cloves garlic, sliced
• handful of parsley, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• a bottle of white wine
• couple of handfuls of frozen peas
• couple of cups of chicken stock
• salt and pepper to taste
• 6-8 dumplings made from packet mix

Brown off the lardons in a hot stock pot, before adding the leeks, onion, garlic and swede. You don’t need extra oil, just let them cook in the tasty bacon fat until they’ve softened up a bit, for about 5 minutes or so. Add the chicken, cayenne pepper, ground ginger, and turmeric, and stir about in the mix before adding in the bottle of white wine and frozen peas. Top up with the chicken stock until it looks like there will be enough liquid for about half an hour’s cooking, and sit the doughy dumplings made from the mix on the top.

Cook for half an hour and when almost done, throw in the chopped parsley and season. This can be served on it’s own in a bowl, or with a generous serving of mashed potatos should make enough for four people.