Tag Archive for 'in real life'

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.

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.

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?

Back in business.

Published on October 28, 2009 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

So, both computers are back up and running. I had to completely re-install one of them, the other was saved using some pretty sneaky ways of editing the registry. Well, updates:

Have you seen the new sheenakelly.com? If not, then head on to www.sheenakelly.com and check it out!

I keep saying I will make a gallery, but it doesn’t seem like I will ever manage to do it. I’ve put some pictures up on a one page site for the time being, and when I get around to finishing the other projects I have, maybe then I can build a gallery.

Progress is definetly the word when it comes to the masterfade.com page. Although far from finished yet, we have reached some sort of design form now. As for our new supersecret project? We’re not telling you yet.

Shanghai adventures, part IV: Show, friends and the end of this journey.

Published on October 12, 2009 in food culture and travel. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

The end of this adventure is here. Tomorrow, I set point my nose to Europe and home. The last days have been spent mostly in the theatre, working on our performance. We did two shows, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Both went very well, and with a 90% audience attendance of maximum cpacity, I think we are all happy with the result. I would also like to commend Arkadi Zaidi for his piece, that complemented ours very well, and made for a nice and diverse evening.

Today, my new Israeli friends and myself went walking in the old town. A beautiful, but not so well tendered, example of old and ancient Chinese architecture. – Almost the cliche we think of when we think about Chinese houses. Some of the places are quite commercialized, with lots of markets for tourists and shops that sells classic Chinese souvenirs I guess. We went of the beaten track and wandered into the slum area of Shanghai, a completely different feel, much more lively in a way, food and animals everywhere. Shops that sells fake brands all over, and lots of people trying to lure westerners like us into their shop. We found a back alley with a small restaurant, and we managed somehow to order some food, and it was really good. It was a simple soup with homemade noodles (we saw the lady in the back making them) and coriander. Tasty and plentiful. Just the way it should be.

I was quite happy today, as I didn’t wander Shanghai alone – I spent the day with my new Israeli friends (the choreographer, dancer and manager of the Israeli company that shared our stage) and we really had a good time together. Making friends is not always easy in strange countries, but we found some common ground and interests, and I am sure we shall at least stay in touch. The blessings of modern technology is sometimes invaluable.

Tomorrow I get up early for the flight to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, before I transfer to my plane back home to Oslo. It has been a wonderful trip, with sights and experiences worth every hour and penny spent on it. However, it is always nice to come home again. Hopefully, Shanghai is a city I will come back to at some point, and see how the development of this megapolis is changing the life here, and where it will go in the next years.

See you wherever you are.

Hans out.

Shanghai adventures, part III: China must have the best electricians in the world.

Published on October 9, 2009 in travel. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , .

First day of practical work. The culture-collision is a fact. Not that it went horribly wrong or that it is not working or that the result will be crap. It’s just that after working together with some middle aged Chinese men for a day that pretend to be lighting technicians (I have to give them some credit, they know how to hang, gel and cable conventional fixtures.), it’s just that if they know anything more than that they are not showing.  There is also a slight difference in aesthetic sense when it comes to practical stuff, timekeeping and schedules as well as proper job management and planning. Nothing that crashes the production, but it is tiresome to try and do a lot of things that you ordinarily wouldn’t have to do.

Second, my NO SUBSTITUTIONS PLEASE plan when it comes to lighting equipment seems to have crashed and burned phenomenally. The intention was to make the lighting plan so specific and make it clear that only the specified fixtures would do. Then we went to the venue yesterday, and the fixtures in the grid looked like the right ones. Today, it turns out that even though it looks exactly like it, and it even has mechanical engineering to match it, it was not an ETC S4. (Sorry all you non lighting folks..) They copied it so precisely, it even says ETC on the sticker. However, it does not match the light output and optical accuracy of the real S4. This in turn creates some problems when you get to focusing and gobos. And those of you who know me and my tape measure, it makes focusing annoying. Almost outright frightening.

In the end, we got through it all, sadly, with a less than top result. Which is the essence of today I think; I am not completely happy with how the performance is shaping up. It’s not really bad, but it’s not great either. I guess we will see how tomorrow turns out, we have another 3 hrs. of additional tech, plotting and tweaking, so maybe we can pull it together then. I shall let you know in due time.

On the food side, I have now had my first encounter which is probably the best picture on overall food quality; a public university canteen. Mass produced everything (I needed help to order) in a variety of shapes and sizes. It tastes OK, but it is not great either. Same level as any institution based kitchen anyplace in the world can come up with I guess. Tried deep fried fish – it was whole, with intestines and everything, and just deep fried. Tasted OK. Tasted fish.

Didn’t really get to do anything else today, as work was from 9 til 9. Show tomorrow evening. Wish me luck!

Curious fact of the day: China must have the best electricians in the world. They have to, no one else could possibly make any sense of any electrical setup I have seen so far. Cables everywhere in every direction. No standard whatsoever on plugs; in my hotel room alone there is European 2 pin, American 3 pin flat, Australian 2 pin round, Swiss 3 pin and British 2 pin. And most places it’s 220V, but check, some places still have 110V! In the theater, there is 20amp stage pin for some lights, 16amp shucko for some, and on the back of the dimmers? British 16amp 3pin round!

H out.