Author Archive for hp

Potatoes potatoes potatoes

Published on July 5, 2010 in food culture. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

So, it’s been a while since we did anything food related here, but I have been experimenting with potatoes recently, trying to find simple ways of making them just a little bit better.

It seems, that for texture and consistency, salt is the trick. When boiling them, add as much salt as you dare, but be careful not to pierce the skin of the potatoes after you have done this, as it will cause them to get very salty and uneatable in the end. It works best with smaller types, like Duchesse and Cherie, but larger, newpotatoes and similiar will also work well, you just need to be patient and give them enough time to boil properly.

The salt trick works when oven baking them as well. Place potatoes with skin on a baking tray, drizzle over as much salt as you dare, as much as 2kg is fine, and again, be careful not to pierce the skin. Bake in oven on roughly 200 degrees celsius until they start collapsing inside the skin, that means they are finished and that the texture is just perfect.

Serve with melted butter and chives with a pinch of fine sea salt, Washington or Maldon are my favourites, and just a twist of fresh pepper. Alternately, mix with balsamic vinegear and olive oil for a fresh take on the potato salad!

Use as a side for almost anything  that needs potatoes, or just as a dish on it’s own!

Are we better, connected?

Published on May 22, 2010 in computers and in real life. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

I own two mobile phones, I have two different phone numbers and a spare sim card for my most used one. I have an Apple iPod that I use for music and entertainment on the go, a tablet laptop for most of my work and another computer at home. Wherever I go, I can reach every single bit of information I might need. GPS coordinates? No problem. Last weeks meeting reports? Yep. Updated calendar info for the whole company? I can do that to.

Wherever I go, I’m connected. Facebook. Twitter. Several blogs. Hotmail. Gmail. Google maps and WIKIPEDIA. I can connect and access them with the flick of my thumb, a status update on one is reflected on all the others without me doing anything, everything is linked to everything else and information floats freely between services and platforms. A true child of the age of information revolution, I think differently about what I share and tell others than my parents, I lie open my life to a potential of users that is ever growing. If I’m  not careful I will risk others stealing my very identity with the intent to misuse the information obtained.

I’m willing to take the risk. I move borders. I change people. I can alter the course of a small group. I can interest the local media. I am part of the whole. We are. We change the world. We alter the course of billions. We attract interest of all the media. We are the people of the world, and we are working, communicating and living… together. As one single world, one single mechanism, we have begun the shift that will forever change the borders, the dividers and the mental state of nations. We have begun the change that will change democracy forever.

I’m willing to risk it. The benefit is too good to miss.

We’re better. Connected.

Hope.

Published on May 18, 2010 in in real life. 0 Comments Tags: .

Hope is the feeling that somehow, one day, it will all be ok.

What is your hope? Give us your thoughts on brookfieldlodge.org/wordpress

A long way from home

Published on April 27, 2010 in in real life. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

So, as I’m touring the country with “Olsenbanden jr.”, we are in Harstad this week. Harstad is one of the three major cities in the northern part of Norway, far above the arctic circle. It’s april 27th, and it’s still snowing here. I was walking around today and I found this curiosity, an English phone booth in the middle of town. Complete with a working phone and all.

Do you know where it comes from? Let me know if you do!

I need to

Published on April 13, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Fix this website. Get a system for publishing HP logg as well. Update the startpage. Get better at writing this blog.

Really.

Real chicken with mango and red wine sauce.

Published on February 18, 2010 in food culture. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

It has been absolutely ages since I wrote anything of importance here – actually, I never really write anything of importance here, but you get the point. Yesterday however, I created a dish worthy of some words on this meagre blog.

I give you: real chicken with mango and a redwine sauce.

And by real chicken, I mean real chicken. Not some genetically altered superboosted broiler posing as a chicken. But a homegrown (not really) well fed, free-to-walk-around-in-the-open-chicken. You see, this is where all the difference is. If you get a chicken that actually tastes and feels like chicken, it will be that much better. I get chickens from Stange gård, which is sold in grocery stores here in Norway, and it is of the “Liveche” type, which is known to be the best chicken for cooking.

You need: (for two people) 

  • One chicken breast of high quality (approx 500 grams)
  • 1 red onion
  • 6 potatoes
  • 1/2 mango
  • Fresh or dried chili
  • 1/2 lime
  • 1 garlic
  • Olive oil, balsamic vinegear, salt and pepper
  • Some fresh thyme

Slice and dice potatoes french fries style with salt, pepper, garlic and olive oil and put in heated oven (220) for about 35 - 40 minutes. Add fresh thyme and stir after ten minutes. ’

Make a nice mixture marinade of olive oil, garlic, balsamic vinegear, lime peel, salt and pepper and put in an oven dish. Fry the chicken breast quickly on both sides to give a crust then put it in the oven dish with the marinade mixture and place in middle of oven for about 10 – 15 minutes. – Trick here is to have the chicken and the potatoes finish at the same time. The chicken is better if left to rest for 5 – 10 minutes after comming out of the oven.

Approx 5 minutes before serving, slice 1/2 a mango into medium slices, season with chili and lime, (I like to add extra lime to the oil in the frying pan as well) and then fry this on very high heat for about 1,5 mins on either side. And leave to cool down for a minute before serving.

I like to top this off with a nice red wine sauce, which is easily made by frying a red onion in butter, then adding a decent amount of red wine and finish it off with a pre-made mixture of flour and water (in a shaker to avoid lumps) then simply bring to boil and simmer for a few minutes and season with salt and pepper if nescesary.

3

Published on February 3, 2010 in in real life. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Three thoughts:

How high can anyone love someone?

I’m going to marry the most wonderful girl in the whole world.

Making gold is not as hard as it seems.

AVATAR

Published on December 23, 2009 in cultural stuff. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

I just saw James Cameron’s new masterpiece. AVATAR is a perfect blend of science fiction, adventure, a love story and how we shape our own path. It’s almost like Pocahontas in space. Although I prefer the nickname “dances with smurfs” better… There is no reason whatsoever to not go and see this film. Now. And in 3D please.  And for once, I hope they don’t make a sequel. There is nothing else that needs saying. In 20 years, we will look back and think of AVATAR the same way as we look at Star Wars today; it changed cinema forever. And that is the true art of it, not just the subtle nuances in really really photorealistic CGI, not the well developed world and mythologies, not the near perfect storyline and certainly not the cheesy ballad at the end. No, the true art of AVATAR is what it does to you. Me. Us. The moviegoer. It hits you right in the face and sticks to your brain like Corellian snugsnails. This is a film you will remember, and keep watching. 

This changes everything.

The future.

Published on November 25, 2009 in in real life. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Who knows what the future will be like? I dont’t. And neither do you. In fact, no one does, because the future isn’t yet. No one can know what doesn’t exist.

…Yet, do you ever have this feeling, this feeling that we’re meant for something else? Destined for something bigger? Do you ever lay in bed, wishing you could reach for the stars and actually touch them? Do you ever walk the street, watching other people go about their daily lifes, pondering what your mission in all of this is? Do you ever wake up early in the morning, before the sun has risen, and think to yourself – today I can take on the world? Do you ever have the feeling that our purpose is to change the world?

If you do – you are like us. We call ourselves the BrookfieldLodge society. Would you like to join us?

7 thoughts on 7

Published on November 4, 2009 in computers. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , .

So, I have switched to the long awaited Windows 7 on my laptop. (HP Pavilion tx2020 now running Windows 7 Ultimate.) And what are my first thoughts on this new os?

  1. It seems inherently more stable thant Vista was, at lest when multitasking and running more than 2 programs at once.
  2. However, I have lost fingertip-touch functionality. My touchscreen still works with the sylus, but not with my fingers. My guess is that there is an updated driver from HP releasing soon that will fix this.
  3. My graphics driver is having issues with 7. This was mercilesly fixed by switching to custom Omega drivers. Mind you, they are not made for Windows 7, but they seem to work better than the vendor supplied ones.
  4. The upgrade process from Vista Business to 7 Ultimate took forever. No, really. Forever!
  5. It has some clever new things of organizing, virtual folders and tags for example. Perfect for controlfreaks like me.
  6. It comes with a shiny new taskbar that actually has some real improvements to it: when docking a program icon to the taskbar, it doesn’t require more space when you launchthe program, it simply let’s you know by highlighting the icon that it’s being used. Also, autogrouping and onmouseover previews are handy things.
  7. It gives you more detailed control of the securtiy settings than Vista. Which used to be a pain.

All in all. I like it. Will install this on my girlfriends laptop as well, and when I get a new machine, this shall also be with 7. However, if you have an older pc, like my old laptop, then don’t bother. Stick with XP. If you’re stuck in Vista mode however, it’s worth a switch. Although the switch itself will take forever.