The Complete Chinese Takeaway Cookbook

I've been looking forward to Kwoklyn Wans latest book for a while now, so I'm very excited to find that Amazon Prime delivery have been and it's finally here!

It contains all the recipes found in his previous Chinese Takeaway books with around 50 new recipes to try out and I can't wait to get started...

I've just had a look in the fridge and I have enough ingredients to give the Chicken and Mushroom in Oyster sauce recipe a go...

Needless to say, it was absolutely delicious 😋 and I can not wait to try some more out 😎

Barry Cryer - Twitter Titters with Colin Sell

Not long been back from a great evening out at The Castle theater in Wellingborough to see Barry Cryer who (amongst other things) is famous for writing for some of the greatest people of all time from the likes of Tommy Cooper to Morecambe and Wise and you don't get more famous than them!

I have to admit I've not really followed Mr Cryers radio career so I had no idea who Colin Sell is and to be honest when I sat down and took a look at the stage and saw a grand piano standing there, I was a little confused as to what was going on.  When a pianist came on stage (who I later learned was in fact Colin Sell) and started playing background music I was beginning to wonder what sort of show I had come to see as it was beginning to look like a piano recital and when Colin started singing, I really began to wonder what I had let myself in for...

To make my concerns even worse, when Barry Cryer came on to the stage he too started singing which really made me wonder what on earth was going on!

It wasn't long before the singing stopped and the show turned in to what I had hoped, lots of funny tales and jokes about people Barry Cryer had met (and sometimes written for) over his many years in show business.  There were lots of 'old' jokes that we'd all pretty much heard before, time and time again and it was these jokes and stories I had come to hear, as a lot of them are jokes we've all taken for granted and forget that someone wrote them in the first place, and in many cases it was Barry Cryer who was part of a team of people that wrote them.  :)

All the singing wasn't my cup of tea, but it was soon explained that Barry and Colin have been working together on the radio in this way for many, many years and a lot of the audience members were familiar with their work together and seemed to enjoy it.

All-in-all I have to say it was a very different and mostly enjoyable night out - the last of a dying breed you might say as modern comedians use observational comedy which when I was growing up was called Alternative Comedy but it's now so widespread that it's the norm so is just, well, comedy.

Although he's from the same era as Ken Dodd, he wasn't quite up to that standard for me, but it was still a good night out so I've given this show a well deserved 3 stars.

Rolson Battery Operated Precision Screwdriver

I've been looking for an electric screwdriver for a while now as although a lot of desktop/tower computers these days come without any screws that need undoing to get inside, all laptops are still held together with screws so I was looking for something to get things done a bit quicker.

The only problem with an electric screwdriver is you've got to make sure it's charged up and if you're out in the field you need to make sure you have your charger with you (and not left it back at base) in case it runs out of power.

The other day I was browsing around my local Maplin Electronics store and found a battery operated screwdriver!

OK, it's more correctly called a precision screwdriver as the 'bits' are smaller than those you would find on a 'normal' sized screwdriver, but as I was after one for working on laptops with this was a perfect choice.

It takes three AAA batteries which means I can carry some spares with me should I go off-site to and run out of power.  It comes with eight double-ended bits including, slot, cross and torx heads.

There is a switch that you slide to make it rotate in which direction you require and you operate the screwdriver by holding down the power button on the bottom black part of the screwdriver.

The only thing I don't like about it is the fact that the spare screwdriver bits are not stored on or inside the screwdriver itself so there is a risk (certainly for me) that the tube containing the bits may get lost or left behind by mistake.

I paid around £15 in Maplin for this screwdriver which was a bit more than I was originally intending to pay, but after a quick search online I found this exact same screwdriver on sale with a starting price of £20 going on up to just over £32.

If it was £20 in Maplin then I don't think I would have purchased it and I certainly wouldn't pay £32 for it, it's good, but not that good.

Overall I would give it 3 stars out of 5, if only the screwdriver bits were stored in or on the screwdriver then it probably would have scored a 4.

Rii Mini Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Review

Wow!  I've only had this device for an hour or so now and it's absolutely brilliant.  As you'll have read from my previous posts, I am the proud owner of a Raspberry Pi that I am using as a Media Centre.  Up until today I was using a full-size USB keyboard to navigate the software as I couldn't find the Remote Control that came with my legacy Dell XPS 420 desktop that I have.

As I have not managed to locate where my remote control is (I have the USB receiver but it's not much use on its own) I decided to buy a compact keyboard and mouse and after several hours of looking at the different options I found the RiiTek RT-MWK01 and promptly ordered it from Amazon as the price was right at just £14.20 compared to over £20 for a lot of the other ones I could see.

It's not the latest model from RiiTek but it certainly does the job and the bonus is that not only is it the size of a typical remote control, it works really, really well and has a backlit keyboard so if you're watching TV with just a table lamp on you wont struggle to see what you're doing with it.

The trackpad is small (and not as useable as one you'd find on a laptop) but is adequate enough for using to operate a media centre on a computer.

Duronic Mini HDMI Switcher

The Duronic HDMI Selector arrived this morning so time to give it a try...

According to the box, the HDMI switch auto switches up to 3 HDMI devices but just in case you have 2 or more HDMI devices on at the same time it comes with a handy remote control that you can use to manually select the HDMI device you want to view.  Failing that, there is a Select button on the HDMI Switch itself that cycles through the 3 different connections.

It supports full 1080p my TV is only 720p so I wont see the benefit of that.  There is a place to plug in a 5V power supply but it doesn't come with one as it's not required for it to function.

There isn't a built-in infrared port, instead you have to plug the enclosed infrared lead in to a port on the side of the HDMI switch.  This means that you can hide the HDMI Switch and the ugly looking wires behind your TV set and just have the infrared receiver on show which makes the place look a lot tidier.

I purchased this switch from Amazon and paid £9.99 + £3.73 delivery for it which is right within my budget (I didn't want to spend any more than £15).  Some people on Amazon were selling this for £19.99 and this is a Sale price as it once was £29.99!  It's a nice device but certainly not worth £19.99 let alone £29.99 - especially when you can get a gold plated version (without a remote control) for £8.99 with free delivery.

At £19.99 - £29.99 I would only give it 2-3 stars but as I only paid £13.72 for it I will give it 4 stars.

Raspberry Pi As A Media Centre Review

It might not be Christmas Day yet but I already have a parcel to unwrap thanks to CPC and the super fast delivery by Royal Mail!

My Raspberry Pi that I ordered from CPC on Sunday has arrived so I now need to get to grips with it so I can set it up to be a Media Centre to play all my media files on my TV.

The first thing I did was to download NOOBS (New Out Of Box Software) which has the RaspBMC option in it which is the software I am using as my Media Centre - it's basically an open source application called XBMC that has been configured to work on the Raspberry Pi.

After downloading the NOOBS file I followed the installation instructions and downloaded, installed and run the SD Formatter utility and formatted the SD Card I ordered using the FAT system.

I then extracted the NOOBS file I had downloaded on to the root of the SD Card and then popped it in to my Raspberry Pi and then turned it on by connecting it to the USB slot of my HP MediaSmart Server.

Winmau Lakeside World Championship Edition Darts Set Review

I've always wanted to learn to play Darts but I've never managed to get around to it.  Today I had an urge to give it a try so I had a quick look online to see what shops on the 'High Street' sold them so I could pick one up today (before I changed my mind) after searching around I found that Argos was pretty much the best place to shop.

After looking at all the options I narrowed it down to either the Winmau Blade 4 or the Unicorn Eclipse dart boards, but which one is best?  What a minefield that is!  After reading reviews on the internet I found that for every person saying the Blade 4 is the best there was another saying the Eclipse was the best - so at least I had picked the two most popular ones at least.

I decided to look at the different accessories that you can get with them as I wanted to hang it on the wall and as a beginner I'm more than likely to miss at some point so I need some sort of surround etc. to minimise damage to my wallpaper.  After looking at all the different options I decided that the Winmau Lakeside Word Championship Edition Darts Set was the right one for me as it includes the Winmau Blade 4 dartboard, two sets of darts and a deluxe cabinet to hang it on the wall with.

After reserving it online I popped down to my local Argos store and purchased the set and brought it home where I spent the next 20 minutes hanging drilling holes and hanging it on the wall.

I have to say though, first impressions are that the finish of both the dartboard and the so called 'luxury cabinet' are pretty poor.

Kettering Asda Breakfast Review

I don't often go out for a cooked breakfast but today I fancied a treat and as I needed some shopping from Asda I decided to give one of their cooked breakfasts a go.

Now I have to be honest, they've not been particularly brilliant in the past, in fact it's been downhill at this site since they took over from the Co-Op who did fantastic cooked breakfasts!

On ordering my breakfast I was asked if I wanted one of the fried eggs (that had clearly been cooked a long, long time ago and had gone all hard) or a fresh one.  Obviously I opted for a fresh one.  After taking my money, the young whipper-snapper on the till started ranting out-loud to her colleague how much she hated eggs, both eating and cooking them.  Nice thing to say in front of customers when it's your job to cook them.

I was told to take a seat and she'd bring my breakfast over when the egg had been cooked and within a matter of minutes my luke-warm breakfast was brought over to me:

The egg was perfect, hot and runny just how I like it.  However as I started to tuck in I soon found that the rest of the breakfast was luke-warm at best and when I got to the sausages, well I was in complete and utter disbelief:

As you can see there was a thick-black burnt crust to them.  Surely the young girls who had cooked them had noticed this??  They clearly didnt have the gumption to realise they should not be serving substandard food items and should have binned them and started again, but no they served them to their customers.

After I scrapped off the barely edible part of the sausages I was left with two bits of charcoal that would be more at home in an artists studio than on a plate of food.

I dunked the now cold bacon in my actually yummy freshly cooked fried egg and left the rest.

Like I said before, Asda cooked breakfasts here have never been particularly nice, but they've always (just) been edible but this experience has put me off for life.

A real shame as everything else in this store is brilliant.

The Corby Cube

This evening I had tickets to see a show at the Corby Cube which is the first time I have been to Corby's new Theatre.

First impressions, I'm sad to say, were not very good as there is no car parking at the Corby Cube.  Their website has some cleverly worded directions for parking which basically say you can park in the car park next door.

The only problem with this is that it's the swimming pools car park.  And you'll never guess who parks in it?  Yes, that's right, the users of the swimming pool so there was no room for myself and many, many other cars that were aimlessly driving around in circles wondering where they could park.

The best known fact about the Corby Cube is that is has been a cock-up from start to finish.  It was supposed to cost around £21million instead it cost nearer £49million - more than double the initial cost!  The bungling councilors didn't stop there though, they build the Corby Cube to a dangerous design that was revealed in a leaked report to the BBC.

I don't know what they spent the overspend on, it certainly wasn't on a car park.

I finally found a place to park in the car park where all the shops are.  After a short walk I arrived at the cub where I was greeted with a gigantic pavement area that serves no point what-so-ever other than to annoy people who couldn't park in the swimming pools car park as this could have quite easily been used as a car park.

There wasn't a clear entrance to the theater as all you can see is the Library and after walking all the way around the Corby Cube we realised that that was the only entrance so ventured in.  We soon could see some smartly dressed people who looked like they worked in the Theater part of the Cube so we walked towards them and as we did so they greeted us with a smile and a warm welcome and after a quick look at our tickets they helpfully pointed us in the right direction.

After walking down several flights of stairs we ended up in the bar area where we decided to have a drink whilst we waited for the show to begin.  Now I don't know what is in the local water supply but whatever it is, it makes the Diet Pepsi taste like flat dish water so if you want a non-alcoholic fizzy drink then I'd steer clear of anything on tap as it's disgusting - luckily they sell bottle soft-drinks too and that's what we had during the interval of the show.

We were very grateful for the interval as watching a show at the Corby Cube is a painful experience as the seats are the thinnest, most flimsy and uncomfortable seats I have ever had the misfortune to sit in.  Again, I can't for the life of me see where the £49million was spent, not only was it not on the non-existent car park, but they certainly didn't spend very much on the cheap and nasty seats that wobbled all over the place when anyone in the building walked around.

All-in-all I have to say that I sadly would not recommend the Corby Cube to anyone.  Even the McKinlay Theater (which has now been demolished) on the former Tresham Institute site on St Marys Road in Kettering was better than the Corby Cube and Ken Dodd once described that as nothing more than a disused aircraft hanger!

If you're looking for a night out in Corby, then either drive, catch a bus or hail a taxi and go to the Castle in Wellingborough as it has ample car park spacing and the seats are very, very comfortable.

I've given The Corby Cube 1 star out of 5 simply because I don't have an image with no stars in it as up until now I didn't think I would need one.  :(

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Django Unchained Film Review

It's a couple of years before the start of the American Civil War and Dr King Schultz who is a German immigrant dentist is searching for a slave by the name of Django.

When he locates Django he finds that he has recently been purchased by a chain gang so he has to purchase him and gain a bill of sale as proof of ownership.

Why is he searching for a slave?  Well, Dr Schultz is also a Bounty Hunter but there isn't a bounty on Djangos head, instead he needs Djangos help to identify some brothers who do have a bounty on them so he gives Django his freedom and asks him for his help and this is how the story of Django Unchained begins.

As you can probably guess Django agrees to help Schultz and they end up in a partnership and they soon find the brothers that Schultz is looking for, but this is only the beginning of their partnership...

As with Quentin Tarantino's other films, the soundtrack throughout the film is fantastic and plays an important part of the story telling and as per usual there is a different 'special effect' that is used throughout the film that is both gory and funny at the same time.

It's quite a dark film and is Tarantino's first attempt at a Western and I have to say it is one of (if not the most) fantastic film I have ever seen.  Some of the subject matter in the film can be hard to stomach and I'm not talking about the bloodshed but the graphic depiction of how slaves were treated as nothing more than property for their 'owners' to do with as they please.  From whipping their backs to dogs ripping them apart limb-from-limb.  Although you don't always see the full gory details on screen, you hear what is happening and your imagination does the rest.

There is the typical Tarantino humour throughout the film and you find yourself laughing at subject matters that you shouldn't/wouldn't normally be laughing at.  One particular example is there is a moment where what can only be described as the beginning of the KKK where they are discussing the merits of their new headgear which consists of a poorly designed white hood with eye-holes they all can't see out of properly.  I can remember hearing the whole cinema erupting with laughter, followed by an uneasy silence.

Although you could wait for it to be released on DVD and Blu-Ray I would strongly recommend you watch this amazing film at the Cinema as the experience you'll get from the atmosphere is simply fantastic.

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Microsoft XBox 360

I've never really gotten on with games consoles, more specifically, their controllers.  That was until the Nintendo Wii came along which changed things for me and I became an avid gamer for several years until the games became tiresome and the Wii's popularity slowly dwindled.

Give me a keyboard and a mouse and I can cope - give me a controller with fewer buttons/keys and I just don't get on with them.  That was until I got hold an XBox 360 controller that I used on my laptop to play Duke Nukem Forever (yeah I know, it's not a great game but I only paid £5 for it secondhand).

I found I got on quite well with the controller so I finally bit the bullet and last month I purchased an XBox 360 console along with a couple of games - GTA IV, NCIS and Flatout Ultimate Carnage.

The NCIS game is a lot weaker than I expected and it's a bit of a 'no brainer' so I'll keep it for when I just want to play a game without having to think too much.  Flatout Ultimate Carnage is a fantastic game with lots of cars, tracks and crashing to have fun with.  GTA IV is just as good as the previous versions but I haven't done many of the actual missions as of yet as I just keep driving around trying out the different vehicles I come across.

All-in-all I'm having fun with my XBox and the next game I will be getting will be one of the Raving Rabbids games, one works on the standard console but the other requires the Kinect Sensor which I don't have yet, but looks like a great way of playing games!

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Casio LK-120 Key Lighting Keyboard

I've always wanted to learn to play a musical instrument but I've never gotten around to it, that was until today!  I am now the proud owner of a Casio LK-120 digital keyboard.

The reason I went for this keyboard is because it has full-size keys, was in my price range and has light-up keys to help you learn any of the built-in songs.

I want to learn how to play properly so I've picked up a book and found some good videos on YouTube.  I plan to do things properly so I'll be starting by learning all the scales rather than just memorising how to play certain songs.

From reading the book that I have I have already learnt about pentatonic scales and what a piano score it.  Separate from the book I have also learnt how to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star using the Casio keyboards built-in teaching method with the light-up keys so you know exactly what keys you should be pressing.   This way I get the best of both worlds, I'm learning to play properly but I'm also able to play a little tune so I can feel like I've achieved something as learning the scales properly is going to take some time...

  

I gave myself a budget of £100 so the Casio LK-120 was just what I was looking for and when I saw that it had light-up keys that help you learn to memorise songs I knew it was the keyboard for me!  It even has a small display telling you what fingers on what hand you should be using to play the different notes with.

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Sony Reader PRS-T1 - Unboxing

Good job I didn't go out this morning as my shiny, new, Sony eReader turned up this morning!  I only ordered it yesterday and didn't expect it to be delivered until Monday!

Let the un-boxing commence...

It's in what I call an 'Apple Style' box where the box is made of quality cardboard and is just big enough to fit the product.

As you can see, it's nicely wrapped up inside too.

As it's a European model, as well as the UK paperwork there is an assortment of languages to choose from:

After removing the last piece of packaging I'm left with a very, very light eBook reader:

All I need to do now, is plug it in to my computer with the supplied USB lead and charge it up!

A full review will be coming soon!

Rock and Chips - Five Gold Rings

Rock and Chips, Five Gold Rings is the second feature length episode in a fantastic trilogy that depicts the early life of Derick Trotter and all of his family and close friends.

It's just as brilliant as the first Rock and Chips DVD that I saw the other day.

It was like a trip down memory lane as we've all heard the stories that Delboy and Grandad spoke about in the Only Fools and Horses TV Series and now thanks to Rock and Chips we get to see them first hand!

In this episode Del is still selling records from the docks and has thousands in the garage that belongs to the flat they now live in and it's in this episode that we first hear Del being referred to as a trader and his long and winding 'career' has now begun...

Rodney has been born and **spoiler warning** it is confirmed that Freddy the Frog is definitely his father.

The mannerisms of all the characters fantastically mimic those of the older versions of themselves that we have seen in Only Fools and Horses so not only is the writing fantastic but the acting is too.

As with the first part of the Rock and Chips trilogy, this an absolute 'must see' DVD.

Rock and Chips - DVD Review

Rock and Chips is the feature length prequel to the hit TV series Only Fools and Horses and what a fantastic prequel it is!

If you enjoyed watching (and growing up with) Only Fools and Horses this is an absolute 'must see' DVD.

You get to put faces to names you have heard in the Only Fools and Horses shows but never got to see.  People from the Trotters past such as Freddy The Frog and Jelly Kelly!  All the usual characters are in this prequel so you get to see Delboy, Trigger, Boyce and the gang in their youth!

Even at a teen at school Delboy was selling hookey gear from records to nylon carpets that give of so much static there's a wonder they need electricity!

Fantastic writing, fantastic cast and all-in-all a fantastic program.

Grownups Series 3 - DVD Review

Oh my god, just when I thought it couldn't get any weirder I've just seen Grant in a dress pretending to be Kylie to cheer up the boy he blinded playing tiddlywinks who isn't actually blind (he's just pretending so he doesn't have to go to school) and Michelle in a gimp mask and full rubber outfit!

Grant doesn't stop with dressing up as Kylie, he even ends up dressing up as a Geography Teacher in a 'sexy' attempt to turn on his new girlfriend from his office.

They're still trying to have sex with each other (and anything else that moves) but the humour seems to be a lot better than Series 2 but it's still pretty strange.

Don't bother with Series 2 as that's just complete tosh in my opinion but this one isn't too bad.

Grownups Series 2 - DVD Review

Until I joined LoveFilm I hadn't realised there had been a second (and third) series of Grownups and as I enjoyed the first series I thought I'd give the second one a go..

To be honest, I wish I hadn't bothered as it was nowhere near as good as the first.  All that it seemed to be about was all the main characters having sex with each other and that was as deep as the plots got.  I'm not saying that the plots in the first series were exactly intellectual (they're not) but they were so much better than this series.

If you're a fan of the first series and were hoping they would make a second - please don't bother with the second series as it will ruin it for you.

The third series is on my LoveFilm list - despite the second series being pretty poor, I'm going to give it a go so I'll be leaving it on my list.

The Inbetweeners Movie - DVD Review

Just when you thought The Inbetweeners was over this fantastic and hilarious film comes along!  If you enjoyed the TV Series then you must watch this film.

Will, Simon, Jay and Neil head off on holiday together, not a camping trip like the last episode in the TV Series, this time they venture further afield to Malia where they do everything you'd expect on a lads holiday from staying in a crap hotel to attempting to attract the ladies by wearing Pussay Patrol T-Shirts!


Full of all sorts of politically-incorrect humour you are bound to find this film absolutely hilarious.


All-in-all this is a great British Movie and if you're looking for something to make you laugh then make sure you watch this film/DVD.

The Inbetweeners Movie [DVD]

Blue Streak - DVD Film Review

In this film Martin Lawrence plays the part of a criminal who gets caught in the act.  Just before he is brought to justice he stashes the diamond in the ventilation system of a building that is in the middle of being constructed.

Two years later when he is released from prison, he returns to the scene of the crime to find the building is complete and is now a Police Department.

He then takes on the role of a cop using false ID some bloke in a cafe has made for him.  Lawrence ends up meeting a few of his 'colleagues' as he is partnered up with a rookie cop to tackle crime.

When he can, he gets inside the ventilation system and finally finds where he stashed the gem only to find it has gone.

Will he find the gem and if he does will he get away with it?  There's only one way to find out!

It's not the greatest of films I have ever seen but it's worth a watch if it happens to be on TV or someone you know has it on DVD.

 

Northamptonshire Ghosts - DVD Review

Richard Felix has been on a Ghost Tour of the UK and in 2005 he found himself in Northamptonshire.  If you're a fan of Most Haunted and are expecting this DVD to be like that then I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed.

Unlike the TV show, this DVD will not show you any ghost hunting - what it does show you however are some of the most haunted parts of Northamptonshire, from Fotheringhay Castle (where Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded) to The Hind Hotel (where Oliver Cromwell stayed for a few days before he went to battle).

So if you're looking for some haunted places to visit in Northamptonshire then this DVD will be right up your street!

If you're not looking for haunted places to visit or you're not interested in the paranormal at all then this DVD will also be up your street for the simple reason that the places that are haunted are great places to visit as they have a bit of interesting history behind them so the DVD can act as a tour guide!

I'm having difficulty in rating this DVD as I'd like to give it 3 stars but I think I'm going to have to give it just 2 stars for two reasons; firstly because the recording quality isn't particularly brilliant, it's only in 4:3 ration and at time the camera angle is wonky. Secondly I was hoping it would show a lot more places to visit than it did.

So 2 stars it has to be I'm afraid, don't let that put you off, if you want some ideas of places to visit in Northamptonshire then this will show you some of them.