Stars of Tees Maar Khan at Cineworld Feltham

As I write this, my neck is in pain - never has it been so stiff! - from standing close to an hour in the cold, with my mother, for an opportunity to meet Akshay Kumar...and a glimpse is all we got. We're quite disappointed, seeing as we could have been in better places...like the warmth of our house. My mother was quite excited and so was I, considering I've followed his career since my childhood - he was quite big in the early 90's, then disappeared for a really long time (details of which, I won't go into) before making his successful comeback in recent years. Akshay Kumar is a pretty big Bollywood actor and I have harboured a tiny crush on him since I was about 12(?) - I also think he could be Scott Bakula's Indian cousin or something, the two do look alike and I happen to have had a tiny crush on him too for about the same length of time.

  

Akshay Kumar (left) and Scott Bakula (right)...not that you needed me to point it out...

Not the best pictures I could find, but there is a resemblance...

Review: Professor Layton and the Lost Future - COMPLETE

On Sunday I decided to put my butt into gear and complete Professor Layton and the Lost Future - this was done in a matter of 3 hours, pushing my total playtime to something like 16-17 hours.

There's not much to say on the matter, apart from just like with the previous two titles and the movie - I loved it! For some reason I found the puzzles slightly easier this time around - perhaps my brain is getting used to the pattern of the puzzles?

I never watched a trailer for this game, though for the purpose of this post I thought of including one...however, I thought it gave away too much so if you want to watch it, it's at the end of this post.

Preview: Catherine

This is a post I've had in the draft stages since 28/10/2010. Not because I was stuck on things to write about, but simply because - much to my regret - I don't update as much as I'd like.

I came across Catherine while perusing my source for most information, Wikipedia, to get an update on the goings on at ATLUS, one of my favourite game developers/publishers. Honestly, I have loved every game they have come out with - specifically the Shin Megami Tensei and Persona series. People tend to dismiss JRPG's simply for being thus - we all know the stereotypical archetype associated with it and mainstream anime/manga doesn't help matters. When I say 'mainstream' I refer to the stuff we tend to leap to when hearing anime/manga - big-eyed, pretty boys, androgynous characters, amply-bosomed girls, gratuitous panty-shots etc. It's true most of the market is saturated with harem stories rife with fanservice - 1 boy + 10 girls, who to choose? The childhood friend or the sassy girl who calls him a pervert all the time? - or teenage angst, but you don't really have to dig that deep to find a true gem. The same goes for JRPG's.

Recipe: Autumn Harvest Quiche

Autumn Quiche

Forgive the burnt look, it'll be explained later on...also I don't have fancy tableware...

It all started with a hunt for cheese...

I'm not a big fan of cheese and never eat it unless it's melted - the very definition of 'health' I am - however, I went to an event earlier in the year with my boss and his daughter in Richmond Park. Rather than the standard idea of 'finger food', like sandwiches, sausage rolls, cream tea and anything else you'd expect to see, there was instead...you guessed it! A cheeseboard! A range of cheeses that I know nothing about, apart from cheddar and mozzarella and maybe that mexican pepper stuff from Subway. Immediately, I could feel myself recoiling - I had to eat something, this was after all - judging from the choice of cheeseboard to common finger food - an upper-class affair and while my boss and his daughter may be used to this, I certainly am not. I do feel like a fish-out-of-water at times, and certainly do worry about coming off boorish and uncultured...but I stick around because it's all part of the experience!

Anyway, daunted by the range of the not-so-appetising selection before me - I mean mouldy, veiny cheese?! Why would you think that was good? I was raised to think once it turned blue, in the bin it goes! Then there's the smell and the texture...just ew! - I turned to my bosses daughter and confessed my inexperience, in the hopes that she could perhaps turn me towards some safer cheeses - ones I wouldn't cause a scene by up-chucking immediately. She turns to me and says not to worry, she doesn't know anything either but if you're interested those look nice - she's gesturing towards a curious, light-ish cheese with chives dotting it's surface. Thinking that I should be adventurous, I take two slices and a few slices of similar looking cheeses - all the while not knowing what they were - and grabbed a few baguette slices to pop them on, and maybe a few olives and celery sticks - I love olives and maybe they could neutralise the taste.

We joined my boss at a table he had procured, and I began to eat tentatively from my plate. The first two cheeses were ones I don't think I'd miss - I can't even remember them; I know they didn't taste all that nice, but not as bad as I had imagined - then it was time to eat the mystery cheese with chives. I eyed it eyeing me and then, mustering my resolve I placed it upon the baguette slice. I was surprised to find it quite spreadable, but my apprehension grew as I realised it could end up tasting like feta. With a celery stick at the ready - I was saving the olives for last - I took a bite and chewed...then kept chewing...then realised something strange was happening...I LIKED this cheese. It barely tasted like cheese, but had a buttery texture to match its spreadable-ness. I wanted to get up and grab more, but we had a presentation to get to and I never got around to asking what cheese it was...thus I fear the identity of this cheese shall remain a mystery...

Since then, each time I stopped by the supermarket, I would scour the cheese aisles looking for some clue as to the identity of it - much like the Prince searching for Cinderella, when all he had was the memory of their dance and her glass slipper. Then, just the other day, I went to Tesco with my mum - her quest being to procure some ink cartridges and pick up some food. Having mostly given up hope, I decided to do a more thorough search of what was available and came across the Double Gloucester with Chives and Onion. It certainly looked like the mystery cheese, if only a slightly darker yellow, and prodding it revealed it could perhaps have the same texture as well. Deciding that I didn't have much to lose, apart from my taste-buds waging war against me, I stuck it in the trolley along with some crackers.

The next day, as I semi-fantasised about indulging on a tea of Cheese'n'Crackers, I realised...what would I do if I DIDN'T like this cheese? I couldn't let it go to waste, since it wasn't its fault I didn't like it. Then the idea struck me, I could make a Quiche! I haven't made a Quiche since Year 11 and I've always wanted to try making one again - what a perfect opportunity! And so, remembering also that I had bought Sweet Potatoes in order to try the Houmous Recipe on iamafeeder.net, I decided to throw them together with a little onion. Partway through, I realised something felt missing and decided to throw in half a Green Pepper - otherwise I'd have forgotten they existed.

What follows is my recipe, made from a combination of THREE different Quiche - well, one of them was called Grandma's Sweet Potato Pie - recipes, I nabbed from my Baking Cookbook, combined with a little guesswork to get the Eggs/Milk combination which I'm glad turned out right!

Also, a not-so-interesting fact - the original title for this post was going to be Sweet Potato Quiche with Onion and Peppers, but that sounded pretty blah and then I realised that all the ingredients were Autumn-related...at least according to the Harvest Moon games...

Yes, I do know that song

A memory that keeps surfacing for me is one that happened only a few months ago, I think it was over the Summer because my youngest brother - who this post features - was looking forward to starting University - something he has worked very hard for.

Let's sidetrack a bit before I dive too deep into the event - my taste in music is...not so much unique, but rather I don't quite care about it. I listen to what I like the sound of and this usually consists of anything with good use of guitars and drums. I love golden oldies like Sinatra, Elvis, The Beatles, ABBA - who doesn't? I love a lot of old songs I don't know the artists and/or, in some cases, the names of. I bought the Toploader album - Onka's Big Moka - just for Dancing in the Moonlight, and it was a number of years later before I actually listened to the entirety of it and realised...I liked all of their songs, Achilles' Heel being my favourite - it barely makes any sense, but it resonates with me in a way that I actually understand what it's about. I remember my father buying the Trogg's album because my brothers and I loved the Wild Thing song from the Lion* adverts - remember those? Back when a 8-piece bucket of KFC was cheaper than it is today** - I never got around to listening to that completely...it got misplaced.

I'm only 24 at the moment, and these are the songs I love as well as a lot from the 80's/90's. There are a few songs I like from this decade, but honestly? Almost every song sounds the same to me, though one band I will faithfully listen to is Linkin Park. Say what you will, but I commend the boys on their efforts and experiments - the Black Eyed Peas never got flack for getting 'creative', and I doubt any of them have a set of pipes like Chester - the man's voice is heaven-sent. Okay, that may be going a little far considering Danny Glover's voice is chocolate for my ears...I know...I was surprised too...

...Oh if my SatNav was voiced by Danny Glover...