no longer a game

last shave saturday evening.

stuffed up with the lower handlebars, so creepy it is...

soup it and see

1 onion - chopped
3 garlic cloves - crushed
1 red pepper - deseeded and chopped
1 green pepper - deseeded and chopped
150g mushrooms - chopped
1 1/2 tsp dried chilli
1 tsp ground cumin
2 x400g cans of beans (whatever you fancy) - drained and rinsed
1 litre tomato passata
300ml veggie stock
handful coriander - roughly chopped

fry the onions, garlic and peppers in a little oil until they start to soften. add cumin, chilli and 'shrooms and continue to fry for another minute or so. add beans, passata, stock and coriander. bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes. season. serve.

souper

autumn means cyclocross and soup making. we're three races in and this is my first new soup of the season. i have some catching up to do.

2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp + dried chilli - chopped
750g carrots - diced
150g red lentils
100 ml milk
1250ml vegetable stock
wee drop of olive oil


heat a big pan and quickly (dry) fry the cumin seeds and chilli for a minute or so. add rest of ingredients. bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes.

whizz with a hand blender and serve toot sweet.

champs challenge

moustache time.

best mouser grown by the champs in dundee wins.

no trimming back, no goatees. just moustache.

gentlemen, start your follicles.

emff

sunday is a busy day. up early (for a sunday) to go cyclocross racing at auchentoshan, soup and cakes in the west end, then through to edinburgh for the closing night of the mountain film festival.

am soooo looking forward to the EMFF. it will see the premiere of dave macleod's new film echo wall (trailer below) and a lecture by chris bonnington. guess for people of my age, chris was probably the first mountaineer we'd have heard of through appearances on blue peter and the like. as a member and leader of some of the great UK expeditions to big mountain ranges which included climbers such as Haston, Scott and Whillans i'm sure it'll be fascinating.

roots!

manuva for us at the liquid room tonight. very good work rodney and chums, but lay off the "we love you, er, springfield stuff". unless you were taking the piss. :)

first time i've been to the liquid rooms since c. 1992 when they used to host a soul club called Beats (flyer in form of Boots the chemist logo) on a Saturday night. We had to leave early as my friend Tim thought the Hibs casuals were after him for some forgotten reason.

freedom of information ii

some of y'all might have read an earlier blog post on a freedom of information request that was working it's way through the system.

well lookee here -the Scottish Information Commissioner has reached a decision and found in my favour. unless the decision is appealed by the other side, i'll finally get to see what Forestry Commission Scotland did to try and wreck the opening day of the Carron Valley mountain bike trails.

i'd like to thank the commissioner and my case officer for their help. chapeau!

if you'd like to know more about how a government department went out of it's way to destroy the work of a bunch of eager volunteers then get in touch.