CloudSteph

Closing time

2009-04-12T21:55:00.004+01:00

I went for the usual few pints of beer last night in the local, chatting away with the folks and getting nicely merry into the wee hours.

Something in the fresh sea air, the invigorating landscape or just within the beer (who knows) inspired me to write a blog post on www.iamsteph.com, a domain I've been hoping to call online home to a 'proper' blog and a bunch of other things but I haven't got around to sorting it and keep fobbing it off.

I wrote from the heart/gut/head/wherever and at 4am, after failing to get some audio clips on the page I gave in and hit Publish and fell asleep. I woke with the inevitable "oh f*ck" recounting my online trip the night before that involved a lot of writing, possibly too much of it in hindsight. My initial reaction was "must delete that asap" but I've done that so many times before, be it blog posts, comments, texts, emails. I decided not to delete it and just clean up the awful grammer and typos and get the audio up. It's a new blog and a new approach to blogging for me and why not start with breaking the unwritten rule of "never ever drink & blog" :) That said, I'll do my best not to become dependent on pints of Smithwicks for inspiration to write!

I don't know where it's going but I can't wait to find out!

www.iamsteph.com

Niamh gigging for Cobh Hospital on May 8th

2009-04-09T14:27:00.003+01:00

My "little" sister Niamh (on the right) is gigging in aid of Cobh Hospital on May 8th in Cobh Heritage Centre with local baritone Darragh McGann.

Darragh will be performing classical and contemporary pieces while Niamh will be throwing in the odd solo piece on the piano.

Despite her being my sister and my obvious tendency to be a little biased, please do go along to support them and enjoy what I'm sure will be a beautiful evenings' entertainment. She'll be but two days turned 19 for this concert and it's her second charity event, having donated proceeds of her first recital to the guys in SpunOut.ie. She's one top lady & hopefully I'll see you down there on the 8th.

Info here: www.niamhfrancis.com

Wishmaster. It's just that kind of a day.

2009-04-08T15:13:00.001+01:00

For all you ladies out there...

2009-04-07T09:42:00.002+01:00

Some words of advice from the lovely people at Wilkinson Sword (thanks to @dhuntrods).

"Mow the lawn"

And...

Ever wish you'd stayed in bed?

Song for the day - Dangerzone

2009-04-03T10:22:00.000+01:00

Turn it to 11. For Goose.

Contrast on Unconventional Web Apps at FOWA Dublin

2009-04-02T15:20:00.001+01:00

One of the most engaging, entertaining and useful presentations I've ever had the fortune to see live. Well done again guys!

Why should I care about politics?

2009-04-02T12:47:00.004+01:00

Last weekend I went to my first Ard Fheis, the Labour Party National Conference in Mullingar. I wouldn't describe myself as political in any sense but I always vote and try to keep an eye on what happens in the world of politics in general.

I went along (as hired help) with blogger & boards.ie Community Manager Darragh Doyle who wanted to interview some of the movers and shakers in the Irish Labour party. And boy did he get interviews. Eamonn Gilmore, Pat Rabbitte, Joan Burton, Prionsias de Rossa, Michael D.Higgins to name but half. How? He asked nicely.

He's got some of the interviews online on his blog with more to come. The two main questions asked were:

"Why should I care about politics?" and "Why should I care about Labour?".

I left the conference on Saturday with huge respect and admiration for the Labour party and a refreshed interest and understanding of how politics affects each and every one of us, no matter how much we might dislike it.

Congrats to Darragh on taking a fresh and unique approach to the conference and Irish politics with (what I think at least) are great results.

Photo via http://www.flickr.com/photos/labourparty

Tele-Medicine - First Concept Video

2009-04-01T13:45:00.002+01:00

This popped into my neglected Google Reader last week and only got to take a look at it now. Very interesting concept, looking forward to seeing what the next iteration produces.

Via Kev's blog from Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design

COPD - service design concept - finalCUT from ujjval panchal on Vimeo.

Favourite April Fools

2009-04-01T09:12:00.002+01:00

Moo's "super-eco-friendly" business cards - http://www.moo.com/blog/2009/04/01/announcing-a-new-moo-business-card/

SpunOut.ie newsletter claiming Pat Kenny has quite the Late Late to work with them in Galway.

Six degrees of separation - not in Ireland

2009-03-27T13:51:00.002Z

I took a taxi home last night from Westmoreland Street to Glasnevin after an evening at the Connector event. The driver was chatty (no kidding I hear you say) and had a ripe Monaghan accent. The chat eventually led to Mondays' 24 hour strike by Taxi drivers. I asked questions about it and I guess being more curious than most he asked "how come you're so interested?". So I began my tale of why I started Down With That Sort Of Thing with "well I work on the corner of Nassau and Dawson Street and..."

I didn't get go finish my sentence.

"You're that one who takes photos of the protests and puts them on the internet!". I'd finally come face to face with my subject, something I've avoided thus far as I want to keep the blog firmly in documentary territory, no taking sides. We had a laugh about it & I sat there thinking "oh so there's actually someone looking at it".

So I direct him towards the apartments in Glasnevin and as we approach he asks "are you happy with the apartment?" Bit of an odd question but ok. "Yeah they're lovely, I'm only renting but it's the best place I've lived in in 7 years renting in Dublin." Mr.Taximan: "That's good to hear. I worked on those when I was with Sisk. Great company, great work. Now I'm working a 95-hour week at this game to try make some money."

If the journey had been a bit longer I might have teased out his Monaghan background to see if we could strike any more common ground and no doubt we would have. It's a small world but Ireland seems to be truly tiny - I think Guare's six degrees theory could be halved for us lot but I wouldn't have it any other way :)

GoBus - the best way to travel Dublin to Galway

2009-03-26T18:49:00.002Z

GoBus is a new direct bus service between Dublin and Galway that launched last week. I was travelling west last weekend so thought I'd give them a go. In short, it was ace & in my opinion, the best way to travel between Dublin and Galway. Why?

1. Free wifi - yes, free internet that's pretty reliable for a moving vehicle going through a country deprived of decent connectivity.

2. Comfort - seats are the best I've put my delicate rear on ever. I normally hate coaches & their seats but these were fine. Got a fold-down table with cupholder airplane style, wee bins beneath each aisle seat, proper air con that works & radio jacks over each passenger with individual volume control.

3. Convenience - there's about 14 direct services that take the lovely M6, shaving about 45mins off the journey. They even do services through the night in each direction (including Dublin airport drops & pickups).

4. Service - I emailed to find out about wifi charges in advance (as there was no info on the website) and had a reply within an hour. Drivers in both directions were superb - handling baggage in/out of boot, offering to call head office if the wifi didn't kick in.

5. Value - it was only €20 return. That's less than half the price of the train which does the journey in the same time.

I've emailed GoBus again to congratulate them on a great service. Best of luck to them with the services - won't be catching me on a train ever again! Website is www.gobus.ie.

Picturegate rolls on

2009-03-25T12:49:00.004Z

My blood has been simmering since I heard about the RTE apology to the office of an Taoiseach last night. And it's not settling.

I just heard Mary O'Rourke being interviewed on Newstalk about the whole mess and she seems to be in agreement with the FF slap on the knuckles to RTE while saying it would be crazy for the Sunday Tribune to apologise. She went on to say (I am paraphrasing) that it was okay for the paper to print such a story because you can't always be sure of what your reading in the printed news is truth while something like RTE's 9pm news is more, well, "gospel". What wasn't "factual" about the report on RTE? I happened to see the broadcast as it happened and I can honestly say they coudn't have reported it more "factually'. I'll link to the Lunchtime show podcast one it goes up so you can hear it for yourself.

I'm disgusted that Cathal Goan didn't have the neck to stand over something that had already been approved for broadcast. Did RTE paint the portraits? Did Cowen have them comissioned? It would be a stroke of genius if he had to try and avert the attention him and his cronies are getting for the shoddy handling of the economy. Why didn't he take the higher ground and offer to buy them if the artist came forward & insist the money be given to charity?

I can't wait to see where this fiasco goes next. RTE are now firmly under the thumb of FF if they weren't already before. Cowen's aggressive attitude & bully tactics (and that of his government) seems to know no bounds. My discomfort living in Ireland under the current government began when I heard Cowen losing the rag on challenge to the opposition and shouting something to the effect of "I'll run this country any way I see fit" a few months ago. This discomfort is turning to anxiety, unease and anger and I'm not going stay quiet about it.

Twenty, Mulley, Suzy, Alexia & many others have written about it & over on Creative Ireland there's a thread lighting up with more crude interpretations. Will they be shut down? Will the FF press office be scouring the internet & demanding posts, threads & images to be removed? Bring it on.

(Image via http://www.creativeireland.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25084)

All the girls have lovely bottoms

2009-03-24T18:23:00.002Z

As @lexia said earlier today, "We're all a step away from a Father Ted gag. This knowledge makes me feel safe."

Beautiful sunset

2009-03-20T22:12:00.001Z

iPhone didn't quite capture the beauty of it but...

I shall go to the ball

2009-03-20T09:09:00.002Z

GeoTagged, [N53.34209, E6.25826]

Very tired but very happy.

Ready, set, go!

2009-03-19T23:45:00.001Z

So at 8pm there were already about 20 people forming a queue for U2 tickets outside Stephens Green Shopping Centre. That's at least 12 hours before they go on sale.

Not the warmest of nights in Dublin so good luck to them all. Not sure if I'll join them, think the multiple PCs approach might do me fine. Fingers crossed.

To queue or not to queue for U2

2009-03-19T09:39:00.002Z

It's that time again. 4 years have passed since the last time you got up in the dark early hours of a March morning to go take your chances in a queue at the nearest Ticketmaster outlet. Or if you're really hardcore (nuts) you're already queueing, living out of a sleeping bag & dining on McDonalds.

I did the queueing at the crack of dawn thing last time around. It wasn't easy leaving the bed at 5am to stand on a freezing Nassau St watching the sun come up but the experience was pretty enjoyable despite not getting any tickets (due to bad choice of vendor). There was great banter among everyone who was out, people doing coffee runs once shops started to open. Even the Gardai were having a laugh. I'm not as crazy about the new album this time around but Bono & the boys do a good show so I'm game for the ticket rush once more. I'm not sure if I'll queue or go for the internet option yet, maybe you'll help me make my mind up. Here's some pointers if you're new to the whole thing:

Tickets are on sale at 8am, limited to 6 per transaction. They will go fast.
To better your chances of successful online purchase, get to a computer with as fast & reliable a connection as possible
If queueing is your thing, go to a proper Ticketmaster vendor. Places like Sound Cellar on Nassau St only get a pre-printed batch to sell over the counter (my fail last time around). Here's a list of Ticketmaster vendors.
Queue early - I'm talking a minimum of 2hrs previous (6am) if you're in Dublin city centre.
Consider buying for gigs abroad - there's a load of European dates on sale tomorrow at 8am, tickets will probably be cheaper, you'll have a better chance of sunshine & why not make a weekend of it?
Make sure your credit/debit card is in date & has enough credit on it!
Don't lose the head - I didn't get any on the day but a friend of a friend had a spare a few weeks later, win win.

If anyone's game for being my online wingman (i.e. shop online while I shop in person) let me know. Good luck!

My first Dublin Paddy's Day

2009-03-18T22:04:00.002Z

I've lived in Dublin for close to 7 years now & have managed to pretty much avoid Paddy's in the capital like the plague until this year.

I know, how could I or why would I do such a thing?! Well I'm not really into the paddy-whackery or the drinking or any of it. Paddy's even down the country never appealed to me. Memories of watching floats of farm animals sprayed green and little Irish dancers frozen to death in their little costumes while trying to take shelter at the side of Donoghues' pub in Fanore while the rain pelted in straight off the Atlantic. That or being sent off to pick shamrock to pin to ourselves for mass the night before are memories that stick out in my mind, neither of which get me rubbing my hands gleefully in anticipation of March 17th.

This year I somehow got caught up in the festival in Dublin. My first spin on a big wheel, waltzers & some other crazy spinny thing that nearly made my eyes pop. The theatre and creativity on the streets with the bands, the flash mob, the Spheres gang in the Docklands, and of course the big parade on Tuesday. Huge thanks to Marcus of Pix.ie for the last minute spare wristbands - check out the amazing photos from all the weekend fun & frolicks over on the site.

I'm not sure if it was the perfect weather, the great spirit around town or just our desperate need to let the hair down and have a laugh but it was fantastic. It certainly made a nice change to see the streets full of people laughing & joking rather than pickets & protests that have become all too frequent in the past few months! Let's hope the Paddy-magic doesn't ware off & the smiles keep spreading for just a little longer:)

Robert Webb on Comic Relief

2009-03-16T09:49:00.001Z

INTO website fail

2009-03-13T13:59:00.003Z

This is what you're faced with if you hit the INTO website. Well it made be stop and look so I guess it served its' purpose to some extent....?

The Impossible Dream

2009-03-11T21:52:00.003Z

Just saw this ad on telly. I'd forgotten how much I love Scott Walker's voice, whom I first came across when I fell in love with the songs of Jacques Brel. Off to Amazon to purchase some Walker, very long overdue.

Sushi goes where sushi has been before

2009-03-10T21:23:00.001Z

GeoTagged, [N53.37059, E6.28072]

Seems Dublin 2 shall have its' sushi services restored by Yo Sushi "soon" at the former Aya premises.

Horray for sushi!

Riverdance at Crufts

2009-03-10T10:01:00.002Z

If you can't handle the suspense scrub out to about 4mins...

Dolly mixture: Cork, Copenhagen & blogging

2009-03-09T21:14:00.002Z

Cork

Randomly, a feature on the Blog Awards of a few weeks ago appear in today's Evening Echo in Cork. A bunch of photos accompany, including mugshots of myself, my sis, and fellow X Comms-ers Darren & Sarah. Damien has some snaps here.

Copenhagen

Kev is reporting that the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design (CIID) will be enrolling students once again this year for their masters degree in Interaction Design. He's currently loving the pilot year of the programme & the work they're doing looks fascinating. Applications need to be in by April 1st so jump quickly if you're interested. Info is all here.

Blogging

So my new site, www.iamsteph.com, is far from being moulded and tweaked to perfection so for now I'll be blogging my little head off as usual here with the more design-related/nerdy stuff going over on the new site. Don't forget to keep an eye on the delightful www.downwiththatsortofthing.com for snippets and snapshots of Ireland's protests & strikes.

Dublin Bus website issues

2009-03-09T14:07:00.001Z

This is what I found when I stuck "dublin bus lost property" into Google. What's the big deal you say?

1. The old website pops up - where's the shiny new one?

2. Throwing the same search material into the site search on the new website? Google search results in an iframe with the old website with the same information, not to mind the blank white box thing above it (see below)

3. The address of the Lost Property Office reads as "CIÉ Canteen, Earl Place (behind Clerys), Dublin 1. "

So it looks like I'm making a trip to the CIE canteen tomorrow morning looking for a cardboard box or something full of junk for my wooly hat. I'll go out of intrigue but may not wear the hat ever again. As for the website? In my experience it's been up and down for the past week like a yoyo and now this shoddy mess? Bet it didn't come cheap & great to know my inflated bus fare is paying for a lack-lustre job.

Enda on the beat

2009-03-08T18:04:00.004Z

Yesterday, while nursing a sizeable FOWA afterparty hangover I bumped into the dashing Enda Kenny and his troops who were on the prowl canvasing for support in the upcoming local elections. I asked him when he was going to sort out the somewhat lack-lustre Fine Gael website to which he replied "there will be a new one up and running within 2 weeks". Needless to say the Obama website got name-dropped almost instantly to which I said was not a simple case of "copy > paste" or whatever it is FF seem to be doing. He also promised that the launch would be advertised as a launch and they would not be taking an approach similar to that of FF (i.e., not telling people who signed up to attend that it would be so).

The very happy chap in the middle of the fabulous photo above is Paschal Donohue, my local FG Senator. He was delighted to tell me he just launched his own website and is also on Twitter.

All in all, a very amicable group that were out on the beat. I got all the info I needed for changing my address so I receive my ballot (a trip to the Garda station, wahey!). They're even going to personally look after Dec's change of address seeing as he was sitting on the fence over who he would vote for. Looking forward to seeing what they launch, but hopefully it won't be like anything the people at Exsite have produced for some of FGs' most high profile members.

Poll that needs you

2009-03-05T18:20:00.000Z

If you can spare me a click or three, could you please take my poll on mobile website delivery?

http://www.iamsteph.com/poll

See you at Future of Web Apps tomorrow!

American Idiot

2009-03-05T11:51:00.005Z

Could someone please tell me who the F "St.Patty" is? Not even going to get started on the fact that the photo above is not likely to be anywhere in Pattyland nor would any girl in their right mind consider leaving the house in that getup on Paddy's Day. By the way, American Apparel is coming to Dublin. Here's all the informations on the American Apparel site, Rosemary McCabe blogs about it here.

I've lost my hat

2009-03-04T08:31:00.004Z

I left my lovely warm and toasty hat on the top deck of the 83 bus this morning, right when the second winter is hitting the country. Lost property/garages don't answer the phones this early but I've a feeling they may just laugh anyway. If you've any ideas on how I might be reunited with my hat (pictured above), leave a comment or tweet me @cloudsteph.

Update: Lost Property office of Dublin Bus will know tomorrow if said had was found by driver. We live in hope.

Energy prices to be cut

2009-03-03T15:20:00.002Z

The Commission on Energy Regulation has just delivered the good news that gas and electricity prices are to be cut - 10% in ESB PES Tariffs, 12% in Bord Gáis Tariffs (on average). And about time too.

Shame the commission's website isn't up to date - all the "click heres" go nowhere. Here's the source anyway, hopefully details of precisely when these price cuts will take effect will be added later.

Hot Chip in Limerick this weekend

2009-03-02T13:41:00.003Z

Seems the lovely boys from Hot Chip are hitting the Trinity Rooms in Limerick this Friday with a DJ set. What's even more lovely is it's only €12 in. According to the venue website, tickets are available from Clubhouse & Empire Music as well as Ticketmaster (although booking online means the ticket will cost you €15.60 - boo).

Brian O'Driscoll goes all Philosoraptor

2009-02-27T14:46:00.001Z

Nearly spat my tea out when I heard that choice vox-pop on Newstalk sports bulletin...

Down With That Sort Of Thing is up and away

2009-02-27T13:27:00.006Z

Last Wednesday, after another day of protests in Dublin, I decided to start a new blog - Down With That Sort Of Thing. We're living in uncertain, uneasy and unusual times, particularly in Ireland where we're all coming down to earth after the heady days of the "boom-time noughties (or naughties as I like to call them). I'm in a fairly unique position given I work on the corner of Nassau St and Dawson St and over the past few months have had many days interupted by various groups of angry protesteres making their way to government buildings.

It's not going to be political, it's not going to be from any particular point of view other than my office window. Hopefully it will serve these purposes: 1. to document the protests/strikes happening in Ireland, 2. to provide useful information in advance of protests/strikes (e.g. if there's a bus strike, what services are affected etc), 3. to help me satisfy some of this blogging bug I've picked up at the Irish Blog Awards last weekend.

http://www.downwiththatsortofthing.com/

Gran Turino - a quick review

2009-02-27T09:24:00.000Z

Firstly, I can't believe that Clint Eastwood is 69 years of age. Now Gran Turino, it's a mixed cookie of a movie - we've got grumpy old man syndrome, racism, ageism, materialism, war and a wave of different generations colliding onscreen.

Essentially, Clint plays Mr.Walt Kowalski, a tough-nut veteran who gets to grips with an Asia family moving in next door and all the drama that unfolds with it. Clint's performance is a throwback to to the like of his legendary Dirty Harry character & he does a fantastic job both acting & directing the movie. A great story about a great character, definitely one I'll be adding to the DVD collection.

Fianna Fáil epic fail

2009-02-26T09:33:00.005Z

On Tuesday I signed up for a talk to be given by Joe Rospars from Blue State Digital, New Media Director of the Obama Presidential campaign. I found out about it via Damien Mulley on Twitter & through Maman Poulet's blog & for me, that was a pretty good endorsement.

Off I went last night & was surprised on arrival to see so many suits & handshakes - alarm bell #1. Lights were dimmed & then the Fianna Fail homepage was beamed on the screen - alarm now going ninety. Joe was introduced by Damien Blake of Strawberry Media, at whose site I had signed up for the event. Text on strawberrymedia.ie:

"Joe will be discussing the lessons of the Obama campaign, how it can be applied in other fields, and will take a Q&A on his talk. Attendance at the seminar is free."

If I had dug further I should have copped Damien is actually Councillor Damien Blake, Fianna Fail. Lovely. So then Joe gave his short talk about the Obama campaign & the floor opened to questions. Most were from FF councillors & election candidates of which my favourite was along the lines of 'we have politicians with great charisma so how do we get it out there via the Internet?" Rospars spoke about how you need to plant the idea of the website being central into the minds of all FF members, right from the very top in order for it to work. This proved to have failed when his piece ended with telling Damien Blake that this was the point where he should give outo the web and email address to everyone to which Mr.Blake replied (paraphrasing here) "well if that's the only thing I've forgotten all day I'm doing fine". Was he even listening to Rospars for the 30mins previous? Not to mind any of the background work they've presumably been doing together?

Words that were repeated throughout Joe's speech and responses were "transparency", "relationship buildling" & "conversation". Afterwards, Mr.Blake spoke to Darragh Doyle and myself and when it was put to him that it wasn't very clever or nice to dupe people into going to what was clearly a Fianna Fail event he said "if people knew it was a FF event they mightn't have come". So you've lost some of the respect & trust of bloggers, journalists & others who attended innocent to the FF element of the event but you're probably happy that you'll have people talking about it anyway? He agreed.

So the image of "sneaky FF" lives on. They're never going to change from what I see & Blue State Digital have their work cut out for them. Transparency? Failed at the first hurdle. Building relationships? I have my doubts. I felt cheated & lied to last night and came out with more disdain for FF & all involved than any hope of real dialogue with the people of Ireland.

Epic fail. There's more about it here at Maman Poulet (who also attended), Mulley Communications, Irish Times coverage (overheard them requesting permission to record for podcast, haven't seen it so far) & conversation on Twitter.

Jif Lemon Day

2009-02-24T13:40:00.005Z

So it's Pancake Tuesday, or Shrove Tuesday, or indeed Jif Lemon Day. Arguably one of the oddest food products I've ever come accross, this little lemony wonder first came to life in 1957 when rights to the design of the little plastic lemon design were bought & the legend was born.

Only available in Ireland and the UK, many times I've had people from beyond these boundaries finding them completely bizarre and alien. And so they should! How difficult is it to get a blooming lemon these days? I'm surprised that's its still in production in this day and age. I've got some Spanish folk visiting this week so I'm going to get one,de-label it & leave it lying around just for the reacion! If you want to watch the bizarre video of a Jif lemon production line from the Unilever website, click away below. If your colours look borked then you need to turn off hardware acceleration on your graphics card by right clicking your Desktop, go to Properties > Advanced. Happy pancaking everyone!

Obama sushi

2009-02-23T15:00:00.003Z

Two of my favourite things in the world all in one. Amazing work. Via BoingBoing.

Goodbye Aya

2009-02-23T09:25:00.002Z

I was never much of a fan of their food but sushi places are few and far between in Ireland and Im a sushi addict so I gave in from time to time. My last visit was about 2 months ago, I desperately wanted sushi & had precious time to get it so I popped into Aya. For a Thursday night half the conveyor belt was shut off & the handful of cutomers squished to one side. The sushi was the worst ever, most of it was deep fried somethingorother and the sashimi was like skinny smoked salmon. Don't get me started on the state of the wasabi & ginger pots, dirty would be a mild description.

If the recession is good for one thing alone, hopefully it will weed out some of the cowboys that have been skipping through the last decade making a nice living out of mediocre services. Goodbye Aya, the best of luck to all who sailed in her but you shall not be missed by this food-lover.

Passenger 166

2009-02-22T14:29:00.001Z

GeoTagged, [N51.85008, E8.49710]

If you were at the Irish Blog Awards last night or on one of the Ryanair flights full of bloggers then you'll know Passenger 166 is the new FAIL title.

A bad mix of severe sleep deprivation, much chasing my tail & lack of eating properly for days resulted in a slow but sure descent into a brain & body crash yesterday. I've been aware of the Blog Awards from the beginning 4 years ago, back when TCAL (The Community At Large) was where I blogged & the blogosphere was opening up a new world to me. There was always some excuse for not making it & after the great experience of the Web Awards last year I was determined to get to the Bloggies this time around & finally get to meet some of the wonderful blogging minds that inform, delight & entertain me every day.

Sadly my crappy week prior to the IBAs put a spanner in the works & I failed to meet many of my peers. That's first fail. Fail #2 was not making it to IBA 1,2 & 3. It's a fantastic event with a wonderful spirit & energy & it was great to see Damien getting commended for his superb work. To the bloggers I did meet at last night, it was great to meet the person behind the Twitter avatar, particularly @jbraine & @maryrose. I still owe @darraghdoyle a drink (now 2 drinks) & when I do finally honour that promise (on a day when I'm at least coherent), I hope I can learn how to have such energy!0

Congrats to all the winners, nominees, organizers & of course Damien for keeping the movement going. Blog on.

My first dabble with Wordpress

2009-02-20T17:43:00.003Z

Yes, finally got down and dirty with Wordpress for a little project for my sister Niamh. Very nice platform to work with, even if your PHP is as dusty as mine is!

There's more polishing to be done so I guess you could call it "Beta" but I hate that word so let's just say it's a live work in progress.

Let me know what you think. www.niamhfrancis.com

Not helpful, Amazon...

2009-02-18T14:05:00.002Z

100 days, 100 songs, 100 videos

2009-02-18T11:29:00.001Z

BOOMBOX from Ely Kim on Vimeo. Thanks Fionnuala!

Extreme dog grooming

2009-02-17T15:34:00.001Z

Via PeoplePets.com. More of the same here including poodles as camels, vineyards & fish.

Snow day

2009-02-15T22:18:00.001Z

Finally uploaded photos from last weekend.

Valentines offer

2009-02-13T13:38:00.001Z

The Washerwoman restaurant opposite the Met office in Glasnevin have a Valentines offer...

10 reasons to add music to advertising

2009-02-12T09:38:00.003Z

From the same school as "Masters of the Website" comes this gem of a marketing presentation demonstrating how adding music to your advertising can do wonders for your campaign.

And there's more at YouTube.

Masters of the Website!

2009-02-11T20:27:00.002Z

If this is a hoax, it's a glorious effort with the fabulous sound effects & jingleyness continuing throughout their online portfolio. So that's what I've been doing wrong all these years...

http://imagemanagement.com

Keep shitty jobs at home

2009-02-10T13:55:00.001Z

Obama Promises To Stop America's Shitty Jobs From Going Overseas

Go Mickey!

2009-02-09T11:21:00.000Z

Best speech by far. Go Mickey!

Party like it's 1999

2009-02-08T16:16:00.002Z

So I just noticed I've hit 1,999 tweets. It's such a lovely number I don't want to change it so I'm going to avoid twittering any further today to bask in its' beauty.

And no, I'm not stoned.

Now that's my kinda Micra

2009-02-05T13:56:00.002Z

Maybe I'm crazy but isn't that front just hot! Not quite a Figaro but not too shabby and a damn lot cheaper at €4450. If you're curious here's the info.

Penthouses for rent

2009-02-04T23:14:00.002Z

No photos up of the inside so it must be a dive. But in case you're interested, here's the link http://www.daft.ie/2574359

Fuck the recession indeed.

Salmon a la Niall Harbison

2009-02-03T13:46:00.001Z

It was delish! Cooking with grapeseed oil was a revelation & the basil & lime combo just gorgeous with the fish.

Snow != fun

2009-02-02T19:48:00.001Z

GeoTagged, [N53.35213, E6.44312]

On the N4 near Lucan just now while my Citylink coach slides around the road on dodgy brakes.

Spring is in

2009-02-02T10:28:00.001Z

GeoTagged, [N53.13066, E9.13954]

These 2, the first of about 70, arrived early in the morning of Feb 1st. The one on the left is about 4 hours old, walking & feeding itself already. And we're the advanced ones?

Web Standards, a definition

2009-01-29T17:51:00.000Z

Hope?

2009-01-28T15:06:00.003Z

One of the great buzzwords of the Obama campaign last year, "hope". The New York Times did a poll to find out what were the hopes of the American people for the Obama administration. Some lovely visualisation of the results along with sound clips from individual participants can be found here at http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/01/15/us/politics/20090115_HOPE.html

Decent instant coffee hunt

2009-01-27T09:31:00.001Z

This Clipper organic stuff gets a rating of 1 out of 5 - just about bearable in taste while providing caffeine required. The hunt continues.

I you've got a spare million lying around...

2009-01-25T20:06:00.004Z

...maybe you could buy this and rent me out a room? The most amazing property I've ever come across on Daft.ie is in Portlaoise, Co.Laois and is selling for a cool €1m. It's an award-winning piece of architecture by Michael Rice and covers just over 6000 sqare feet. The photos are fantastic and worth a look even if you're just a lowly tennant like me.

Also, it appears the apartment directly benath me is up for rent, here's the spec should you wish to be my neighbour! www.daft.ie/2649999

THE inauguration photo to beat all

2009-01-23T14:42:00.002Z

"How I Made a 1,474-Megapixel Photo During President Obama’s Inaugural Address". This guy took 22 images to create a 59,783 X 24,658 image weighing in as a 2GB .TIF file. Amazing work by David Bergman.

What's Twitter

2009-01-23T14:25:00.001Z

At last! Twitter explained!

Joaquin Phoenix - don't give up the day job

2009-01-23T11:53:00.002Z

And then he fell off the stage. Seriously lad, you do a fantastic Johnny Cash tribute but I'm really not sure about the rapping.

Eamon Ryan putting Muckinish on the map?

2009-01-22T13:41:00.005Z

The National Broadband Scheme was unveiled today by Eamon Ryan & partners Three Ireland today. Apparently under this scheme Ireland will have 100% coverage by 2010. Wow, happy days if this is so but, I have my reservations being a girl from the fair countryside of north Co. Clare who up until about 6 months ago, could use only dial-up Internet when visiting the folks. Not the end of the world you say until you see your dad trying to download forms from the Dept. of Agriculture website for his day to day business at crawling speeds, my sister trying to fill out her CAO application praying the connection won't die & my mum telling her college lecturers she can't receive the course notes by email as the connection is too crap to receive anything bigger than about 50kb. I purchased a 3/Three dongle (seeing my mobile was getting their 3G signal) despite warnings from the sales rep that our area wasn't covered. Popped in the SIM and viola, a guaranteed minimum 1MB download for €20, quite a bit less than the 4c per minute from Eircom dial-up. They're like pigs in poop since. There's plenty others in the area and wider areas who aren't so fortunate and are still in an age where email is non-existant, booking a flight, concert ticket or renewing insurance means a drive to the nearest town/city.

But, according to RTE it's only 10% of the population that's without cover so it can't be that bad, right? "While Ireland has over 1.2 million subscribers to broadband, approximately a third of the country is without coverage." Ok so that means Ireland has a population of about 1.3 million people? That doesn't seem right. And a third of the country without coverage? Are we talking geographical now? Huh? Broadband in Ireland has a long history of dodgy claims on stats and we're heading into more of the same if you ask me.

While 3 winning the competiton for the job hasn't been the most popular decision (and indeed maybe not the best decision) it might be a bit of a kick in the arse to Eircom, who being the owners of most of the fixed line system in Ireland should have a lot more broadband rolled out than they have thus far. I'm a firm believer in the notion of not bothering to do something unless you're going to do it right but in this case, any progress is progress and if means 100 people being able to check their email without re-dialling 5 times, I'll be content with that.

Ikea Dublin recruiting

2009-01-22T08:31:00.001Z

GeoTagged, [N53.35153, E6.26086]

Tempted I am... :)

Transport cuts - who cares?!

2009-01-21T13:32:00.002Z

Following on from a post at An Spáilpin Fánach regarding the rather quiet coverage of the job cuts at CIE, I decided to have a look around to find out what routes and services would be affected. So far I haven't found very much.

Dublin Bus website:

CIE website:

So are we going to be finding out the hard way by being left at the bus stop for an hour longer? And what about timetables? The annual re-print was only distributed in the past few weeks, will another lump of cash will have to be doled out on re-printing the? If CIE don't seem to be bothered about the cut-backs how the heck do we expect their customers or the media to be?

Worst day of the decade?

2009-01-19T14:11:00.004Z

It's just gone 2pm and thus far on the fabled worst day of the year. Thus far we've been forecast snow & thunderstorms, share prices in AIB and BOI are below 40cent, some homes & businesses are without power and/or Internet and I've run out of coffee.

Never mind worst day of the year, think we're headed for a record and the title, 'Worst day of the decade'. Then again, it's Bush's last day in charge so I guess every stormcloud has a siver lining :)

How £9 = €14

2009-01-18T21:54:00.001Z

GeoTagged, [N53.37047, E6.27945]

I was in too much of a hurry to entertain my suspicions of being led down the exchange rate rip off path. Turns out that £9 actually equates to under €11. Debenhams now on my boo list.

Getting to the Blog Awards

2009-01-15T11:29:00.007Z

Fly

It's the easiest way to get to the Blog Awards is to fly seeing as Cork's beautiful airport is right on the doorstep of the venue for the event. Connections to Dublin & Belfast, Dublin served by Ryanair & Aer Arann, Belfast solely by Aer Arann. Tip if you're flying from Dublin - book with Aer Arann & for €60 you can check in 15kg luggage, 8kg hand luggage. Sale ends Sunday 19th. Ryanair is minimum €70 with only 10kg hand luggage. Don't be fooled by the initial cheapness of Mr.O'Leary's fares!

Train

Arguably the most expensive option. Example: adult fare Dublin to Cork return is €71. Trains are frequent from Heuston. Tip - check online for possible deals in advance or ask for a Weekender ticket, usually cheaper by 10 - 20%, who knows why! List of all fares here, don't be disappointed if you 'pre-book' & you don't get your seat either.

Bus

Aguably the cheapest option. Bus Eireann & Aircoach operate to Cork City (Aircoach from Dublin only, €22, pretty comfy). Sadly Citylink have ceased operations from Galway.

Automobile

As long as you think you'll have your wits sufficiently about you for driving home the next day, go for it.

Cork city centre to Cork International Airport Hotel

Buses operate from the city to the airport pretty frequently and drop off near the hotels at the airport en-route. Skylink (have an online sale on btw) and Bus Eireann do the routes pretty frequently.

See you there!

2009-01-15T09:36:00.000Z

Advertising targeting it's customers on a personal level :)

Nissan.ie fail

2009-01-14T17:35:00.002Z

Wow, what a way to advertise the 2009 models, really selling it to me. No wonder I was changing a button that was to say 'View our 2009 range' to 'View our cars under €12000' on a client's website today :)

Opposition doing what it does best

2009-01-14T12:52:00.003Z

From today's Irish Times. Good to see they're doing what we're paying them for at the very least :)

The ____ cards

2009-01-13T14:24:00.003Z

Awesome twist to greetings cards, in time for Hallmark Day too! You can buy them online direct from the designers in Singapore - http://www.the-breeding-ground.com

That time of year again

2009-01-13T09:57:00.005Z

Time for third-level institutes to pedal their wares, polluting the airwaves with their ads to lure the thousands of wide-eyed Leaving Cert students still trying to decide what they want to be when they grow up. Or as it should really be advertised, what you want to do for the next 3-4 years.

I'm a graduate of DCU's B.Sc. Multimedia, a science degree from the School of Communications in the Faculty of Humanities. A contradiction? I would rather say diversity. The course has changed somewhat since I left it in 2006, now only 3 years in length and the mandatory semester of work placement removed. DCU have launched a new site to introduce themselves to prospective students, DCU World. I'm delighted to see that the multimedia guys have finally put a showcase of some of the work online too, showing the many different paths this course can take you down. I can't recommend it highly enough and often wish I could do it all over again. Take a look and see if it tickles your fancy. Feel free to get in touch if you think it might be for you!

Showcase video & course details.

Mobile web development poll

2009-01-12T15:50:00.008Z

Important: please specify what 'other' means you use if you choose this option. Feel free to leave comments instead if you need more room for your feedback. Thanks for your time!

Irish Independent on how to build a website

2009-01-09T12:45:00.006Z

Today I stumbled across an article that featured in the Irish Independent this week via Creative Ireland's forum entitled 'How to build a website (It's as easy as www)'. Alarm bells instantly started to ring at the title alone but after reading the article I'm a more confused and annoyed as opposed to worried.

Firstly, I can't figure out who the article is aimed at. After establishing that many people still aren't clued in on how to get a website up and running, the section entitled 'Do I need one?' fails in helping to answer said question. Instead we meet the exhibit A for the exercise, phony photographer Hortense McCreedy.

My second problem is the paragraph on how to get a domain name. He points to a bunch of UK and US based companies citing how these re-sellers are ("...usually work out cheaper for generic domains such as .com, .biz or .info). Who the hell wants .biz or .info? What about the little-known .co.uk? Support? Reputation?

This article is lifted directly from the UK sister Independent and plonked directly into the Irish version, leaving out some rather important and useful information regarding .ie domain registration, Irish hosting & domain re-sellers etc.

The article ties up with "Better by design: how to have a hit site", providing some basic but valid pointers on the use of white space & cross-browser compatibility. However, to me the piece seems to be implying that there's no reason for anyone to approach a professional web services company to get an online presence up and working. Yes, it's great to encourage people to be aware of the need to get your name out there on the online channels. Yes, it's also good to encourage people to shop around and have a go themselves but it certainly isn't the solution for everyone. "Of course, there'll always be a trade-off between the ease of getting a site built and its professional sheen." Yes, its professional sheen, usability, effectiveness, communication of your message and so on. But hey, at least you've got a website for less than €20! Bad-mouthing the idea of putting forward a sizeable budget to spend on a website & online presence is mis-leading, ill-informed and good for absolutely no-one.

For all 80s children...

2009-01-09T10:48:00.003Z

"Remembering the 80s as they REALLY were" is the tagline of a fabulous little blog I happened upon today. From technology to news to popular culture, there's some wonderful snippets of the shoulder-padded decade to tickle up some giggles and nostalgia. http://80sactual.blogspot.com/

O2 Ireland, a thieving shower

2009-01-08T08:46:00.003Z

I'm not the first and won't be the last to rant about O2 Ireland. Here's my experience:
Dec bought me an iPhone, most fab XmasBirthday present ever. It's prepay, so I am free from contracts and plan to unlock it to switch network.

Dec 26: Pop my mums billpay O2 sim into it to have some fun.
Dec 27: Purchase O2 prepay sim to tie me over till unlocking
Dec 28: Mum receives text from O2 - cost effective data bundle added to your bill, €7.50 p/m.
Jan 2: Mum gets same text again, shows it to me, I say "you never asked for it, get rid of it." Into O2 shop, queue for 30 mind to be told call 1909.
Jan 3: Call 1909, told to keep the add on to save on data charges as she spent €70 that week. Jaw drops.
Jan 6: Receive text from O2, on prepay Im charged 99c per day up to 50mb download allowance.

So it's 'cheaper' to use data on prepay? Why not the same cap on billpay? How are they allowed to add on extras to their customers bills without asking them first? I'm not letting this go. If anything, they should at least get the message they're robbing people blind and can't get away with it with every misfortunate customer.

Advice on where to start with my complaint would be great btw.

Macbook Wheel

2009-01-06T14:01:00.002Z

Too good not to pass. Nice work from The Onion, brought to my attention by Stu.

And we're back

2009-01-02T18:28:00.003Z

Nothing like a 3 hour bus journey in the darknes to finally get you thinking about new year's resolutions. Nothing like setting reminders on my iPhone via Remember The Milk to cement them a bit more. Here's the list this far:

• Lose 10LB - yes the inevitable cry of many this week
• Get my iPhone unlocked & finally get off 3Pay
• Pass my driving test first time around & buy a car
• Give my creative brain cells a kick up the arse
• Learn ActionScript 3
• Complain less about trivial things
• Meet more people
• See more countriess
• Finally get blogs for myself and each of my sisters up, running & looking tasty
• Pay less rent
• Give blood

Last year wasn't a bad year at all for keeping resolutions but because I didn't make a list most got forgotten. Fingers crossed for this year & best of luck to you with yours.

Lemon chicken & roasties

2008-12-21T20:24:00.001Z

Delish. Nice one Jamie. That is all.

Most Depressing Christmas song ever

2008-12-19T11:08:00.000Z

Has to be heard to be believed. Seriously.

Buckley vs. Burke

2008-12-18T10:31:00.002Z

Seems enough people were sufficiently disturbed to mount a campaign to get Jeff Buckley's cover of 'Hallelujah' to the number one spot and kick X Factor winner Alexandra Burke off the top spot, securing the Christmas number one slot. And they're not doing too badly either!

It's covered on Sky News, there's a Facebook group you can join, but ultimately what you really need to do is go to the iTunes store and buy the song for €0.99.

Metro epic fail

2008-12-18T09:02:00.002Z

The headline accompanying the photo was along the lines of "Forced to eat floor covering". At the bottom left of the sticker there's a prompt to 'peel here'. Well done Metro.

Blog Awards promo hotel rate

2008-12-12T12:14:00.003Z

I emailed the Cork International Airport Hotel earlier to see if the promo rate mentioned on the awards site is applicable to online bookings. Here's the response I got from the folk down there, which may/may not be helpful to you:

"The rate available for that function is €55per person sharing or €100 for the single room, including breakfast. The rates available in the internet can be cheaper if you book an internet saver rate, but be aware that is charged immediately, and is NOT REFUNDABLE."

If you want to get in touch with them they're at 021 454 9800, info@corkinternationalairporthotel.com or http://www.corkinternationalairporthotel.com/

On a side note, they seem to have changed their 'Contact' button on the main menu to 'Apartments' - some sweet pads available for those liking a longer stay and some extra space. Looking forward to staying there (the hotel that is :))!

BoxedUp.com - Christmas sorted

2008-12-10T13:35:00.003Z

It's not just for Xmas, it's damned useful all year round. I've been playing with this for the last hour or so and find it quite lovely for creating an online wishlist of things I might like for say Xmas, birthday etc or even just giving inspiration to gift buyers of the kind of thing I like or where I like to shop.

Full review will pop up later on on LouderVoice but so far very impressed, even have a set of buttons including 'Add to BoxedUp' that you can attach to your browser so you can pop anything in there wherever you happen to browse.

My current inspirational list is here - http://www.boxedup.com/people/stephaniefrancis

Happy wishing!

Update: found the widget, see sidebar :)

Frosty morning in the Burren

2008-12-06T09:54:00.001Z

What a fabulous frosty morning, I love there winter mornings.

Festive tunes

2008-12-05T14:19:00.003Z

If non-stop Christmas tunes are your idea of heaven, then Christmas FM is like Xmas come early. Streaming live online at www.christmasfm.ie and on the wireless at 89.9FM.

Doing my unpatriotic duty

2008-12-04T22:22:00.002Z

There's been a lot of talk about shopping "up north" to save some cash this Christmas season. One tells us to tighten our belts and "shop around", the other says we need to spend & spend locally. Is anyone listening? Few, I hope.

I usually buy Irish. I understand the benefits for businesses, their employees & ultimately the country as a whole. But when the pennies are tight & unemployment is rising towards the 10% mark, I'm being more choosey about where I spend my money like many others. A huge amount of personal debt has been accumulated by Irish people in the boom times. I have friends who have borrowed to go on holidays, bought everything from car insurance to spray tans to rounds of booze on their credit cards with interest rates of 15%+. Thankfully, most of them didn't go that step further & buy property they didn't need. I can't help but see similarities between the housing market "normalisation" & what's happening in the retail sector. A lot of the people in trouble with their mortgages were living beyond their means when they bought property on 110% mortages in their 20s when prices were inflated beyond reason. It's a similar story when it comes to the day to day spends - buying stuff we didn't need on easy credit. I'm delighted to see that people are copping on and getting wiser with their money, even if it is a case of one man's meat is another man's poison.

On Monday, I took my Xmas booklist to Easons to do a quick price comparison. 4 of the 6 books I wanted were in stock & totalled around €58. Later I did the same on Amazon, got all 6 books for around €45 including delivery. And today they arrived in pristine condition in plenty time for Xmas. I guess the thousands of us who shop online are as unpatriotic as the throngs going to Newry, but at least we've a bit more sense. If you want to save yourself some cash & some stress & don't mind losing some patriot points, shop online this Xmas.

happyMail - email for the elderly

2008-12-04T12:30:00.002Z

happyMail from Kevin Cannon on Vimeo.

A really interesting project undertaken by Kev & his colleagues at the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design. You can see & read more about the interface & work leading up to it on his blog.

That time of year again

2008-11-30T15:42:00.001Z

Yes, one of the few precious times when I abandon PhotoShop and jump into the world of paper creativity. Friends always look at me sideways when I mention Xmas cards. I say its one of the few occasions when you open your post and its not a bank statement or a bill but a little bit of good karma & might even inject a little happiness into someones day, especially in these less than jovial times.  
Heres to an afternoon of Pritt Stick, paper cuts & festive tunes :)

Ewes lunching on Kildare St

2008-11-28T12:51:00.001Z

A rather comfy looking bunch currently sitting outside the Dept of Agriculture today. Met them on my way to Govindas :)

George Lee - happy for once

2008-11-27T09:38:00.003Z

Much thanks to Gavin for capturing this. I hope the rest of the speech was more interesting. Muppet.

Dublin Bus fares going up again?

2008-11-26T09:50:00.000Z

Today I gave in & bought a Dublin Bus prepaid ticket for the first time in ages. It's a pain scrounging for change every day but the cheapest prepaid option is more than I'd spend with cash fare & I'm tight when it comes to giving state companies money.

I bought a 'Travel 90 Smartcard'. It cost me €17. I noticed my ticket had an odd 'feature'. A black mark. On further inspection I see it's covering the figure €19.50. Hmm. Immediately I thought of two possible reasons:

Miss-print of price merely being corrected
Fare increase is on the way

I found out via Twitter that other tickets seem to have this 'blemish' also. Possible reason #1 starts giving way to fury that #2 is the likely outcome. ~~I have sent an email to Dublin Bus asking if these are indeed fare increases we can expect in the near future.~~ Update: They responded via email (no Dear x, Hi, Hello, not even a sign-off) "These are the new proposed prices , which may come into effect at some stage in the new year". I've checked out their website, the CIE website, no news of fare increases anywhere. So I'm guessing the news will be delivered in the same way it has been in previous years - posters start appearing on the buses around Xmas listing old & new prices & before you know it, the bus driver is tearing strips off you coz you haven't paid your extra 10cent on January 1st.

I moved to Dublin in July 2002. I have lived in the Glasnevin area (within the same bus fare zone) since then. In July 2002, the bus fare to town was €1.05. Today the same fare is €1.50. That's an increase of almost 43% in 6 years. CIE are reporting massive losses this year which may result in hundreds of job losses, service cutbacks & in some cases, route cancellations. And now it looks like fares on Dublin Bus (if not across the entire CIE network) are going up yet again. I want to know where's the justification? Fuel prices are falling daily so surely that can offset some of the decline in passenger numbers? Job cuts, route cuts, sale/rent of the 100 buses being withdrawn from service should help balance the books, shouldn't they?

I've been boycotting CIE as far as I can this year, choosing private bus services where available in protest against the ridiculous train fares & unreliable Bus Eireann services. Dublin-Belfast is €86 return on Irish Rail, journey time 2 hrs. Same journey with Aircoach is €25, journey time 2hrs. I'm now also learning to drive. I'd love to say I'll boycott their services in protest but I am dependent on Dublin Bus to get me to & from work every day.

Seriously guys, where has all the money gone?

Pimp my HGV

2008-11-21T09:10:00.001Z

Awesome sight on a grey miserable morning in Dublin City Centre. Midlands Steel deliverying rods to the old Irish Times site. Wonder does it play Johnny when it honks?

Woodentoys.ie

2008-11-20T17:58:00.003Z

Listening to NewsTalk today I heard about these guys, www.woodentoys.ie. It's a small, Irish family business that imports and sells beautifully crafted wooden toys online. They've got a huge range of stuff from baby rattles to customisable cars and doll houses and of course, really lovely old-school trains sets (like the above). If you feel the need to justify the cost of some of the larger or more advanced products, think about the fact that it will last much longer (being wooden) and does far less harm to the environment than all the plastic awfulness that you'll find in your local giant toystore.

Keeley Jo Ogrin debut exhibition Dec 6th - 9th

2008-11-20T13:35:00.003Z

My lovely cousin, Keeley Jo Ogrin, is having her debut art exhibition at the Oakwood Arms Hotel, Shannon, Co.Clare from December 6th to 9th. Keeley Jo is a gifted young artist & jewellery designer and will be exhibiting her collection of paintings entitled "The Colours of Nature". The painting featured above is part of the exhibition, entitled "The Canadian Rockies".

Looking forward to it! More info at www.keeleyjo.com.

At last

2008-11-19T23:40:00.002Z

My adventure in flatpack furniture is over for a while. On the upside I finally have a mirror in my room, a jewellery tray & somewhere to put my socks. Yay Ikea designers :) Off to bed.***So versatile it even functions sideways***

'whatever's in the fridge' risotto

2008-11-19T19:48:00.001Z

Will post 'recipe' after putting this in my belly

The Spice Shop - perfect yellow curry

2008-11-18T13:49:00.004Z

I have a soft spot for a good Thai yellow curry but it's taken me a long time to stumble upon a spice mix that's spot on for making one at home. I took a gamble on a mix from London's "The Spice Shop", found in the spice rack at Fallon & Byrnes (Exchequer St, Dublin 2). Took the lovely little yellow tin home & thankfully it doesn't just serve as something cutesy to stick on my spice shelf.

Recipe (draft #1)

2 chicken/turkey breasts
2 shallots
1 clove garlic
1 red pepper
Fistful of baby corn
Fistful of sugar snaps
Lemongrass stalk
Squeeze of fresh lime
Pineapple chunks
The Spice Shop Thai Yellow Curry powder
1 tin Coconut milk

Dice the meat, start frying it off in a little olive oil & garlic, half-way through add the chopped shallots.
Chop your peppers, mushrooms, baby corn & sugar snaps whatever way you like and toss them in once the meat is ready. If you like a bit of a kick, throw in a little chopped chilli. Toss it all around for about 2mins.
Add 2 tsps (1 per person) of the lovely curry powder & then your coconut milk. Throw in a squeeze of lime juice & a stalk of lemongrass. Let it simmer away on a low heat for about 20-30mins.
Cook off your rice (or whatever you like with your curry) and tuck in.

So so tasty and you can adjust the amount of curry powder till you get a flavour you like. The Spice Shop website could do with some love & updating but there's recipes & an online store up there all the same. Looking forward to trying more of their magic powders :)

Feed bag

2008-11-12T21:14:00.000Z

New Wearable Feedbags Let Americans Eat More, Move Less

CloudSteph

Closing time

Niamh gigging for Cobh Hospital on May 8th

Wishmaster. It's just that kind of a day.

For all you ladies out there...

Song for the day - Dangerzone

Contrast on Unconventional Web Apps at FOWA Dublin

Why should I care about politics?

Tele-Medicine - First Concept Video

Favourite April Fools

Six degrees of separation - not in Ireland

GoBus - the best way to travel Dublin to Galway

Picturegate rolls on

All the girls have lovely bottoms

Beautiful sunset

I shall go to the ball

Ready, set, go!

To queue or not to queue for U2

My first Dublin Paddy's Day

Robert Webb on Comic Relief

INTO website fail

The Impossible Dream

Sushi goes where sushi has been before

Riverdance at Crufts

Dolly mixture: Cork, Copenhagen & blogging

Dublin Bus website issues

Enda on the beat

Poll that needs you

American Idiot

I've lost my hat

Energy prices to be cut

Hot Chip in Limerick this weekend

Brian O'Driscoll goes all Philosoraptor

Down With That Sort Of Thing is up and away

Gran Turino - a quick review

Fianna Fáil epic fail

Jif Lemon Day

Obama sushi

Goodbye Aya

Passenger 166

My first dabble with Wordpress

Not helpful, Amazon...

100 days, 100 songs, 100 videos

Extreme dog grooming

Snow day

Valentines offer

10 reasons to add music to advertising

Masters of the Website!

Keep shitty jobs at home

Go Mickey!

Party like it's 1999

Now *that's* my kinda Micra

Penthouses for rent

Salmon a la Niall Harbison

Snow != fun

Spring is in

Web Standards, a definition

Hope?

Decent instant coffee hunt

I you've got a spare million lying around...

THE inauguration photo to beat all

What's Twitter

Joaquin Phoenix - don't give up the day job

Eamon Ryan putting Muckinish on the map?

Ikea Dublin recruiting

Transport cuts - who cares?!

Worst day of the decade?

How £9 = €14

Getting to the Blog Awards

Nissan.ie fail

Opposition doing what it does best

The ____ cards

That time of year again

Mobile web development poll

Irish Independent on how to build a website

For all 80s children...

O2 Ireland, a thieving shower

Macbook Wheel

And we're back

Lemon chicken & roasties

Now that's my kinda Micra