Daikon/Mooli Hash Browns

I went to the Chinese market today to pick up some Daikon/White Mooli it’s a kind of East Asian Radish. We made Daikon/Mooli hash browns here is what you need:

Utensils:

•  Chefs Knife
• Chopping Board
• Pot
• Frying Pan
• Grater
• Sieve
• Tablespoon
• Fork
• Containers
• Bowls
• Tea towel

Ingredients:

•  600g (1 lb 5 oz) Daikon/Mooli, peeled.
• 1 ½ Teaspoons grated or ground ginger
• 1 Small onion, finely chopped
• 1 Small handful mitsuba or flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• 1 Egg, lightly beaten
• Ground white pepper
• 60g (2¼ oz) Potato starch
• 30g (1 oz) Plain flour
• 1½ Teaspoons salt
• Vegetable oil, for shallow-frying

Method:

Cut the peeled Daikon into three even pieces, then put the pieces in a pot and cover with water. Bring to the boil and cook for 25-30 minutes, or until just tender (prod with fork).

Drain well with a sieve and leave until cool enough to handle. Then coarsely grate into bowl lined with a tea towel and squeeze the remaining moisture out of it.

Put the squeezed Daikon/Mooli into a clean bowl, then add the ginger, onion, mitsuba or parsley and egg, mix together then mix the remaining ingredients (potato starch, flour and salt) together.

Pour enough vegetable oil into a deep-sided frying pan to come 5mm (1/4 inch) up the side of the pan, then place the over a medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the mixture to the pan in heaped tablespoon, working in batches and flatting the mixture down with the back of the spoon.

Cook for 2 minutes each side or until crisp and golden. Drain well on paper towels and serve hot as a side or snack.

Belated Blog.

Sorry I haven’t been on here in a while I’ve just had nothing much to say. To be honest nothing I’m saying today is of much value either but hopefully that will change by tomorrow.

In the past blog-less days I haven’t really done much. I’ve been at work, played video games (as always) and made little progress on the clearing and cleaning of my mother’s front garden and drive.

The garden/drive is slowly beginning to look less like a jungle now with all the hoeing I’ve been doing (Nothing sexual). I kid you not the garden was full of weeds and this one particular Clematis-type plant strangling the Sky dish halfway up the house.

So far I’ve spent most of my time hoeing the vast amount of weeds and newly formed grass and piling it in the brown bucket then prying the Clematis-type plant off of the wall and clipping it off of the Sky dish, nearly falling off of the ladder in the process. Now that the main “eyesore” as such has been taking care of I don’t think that the garden/drive will take long to finish.

Apart from the garden all I’ve done is play video games on the Playstation 3 (Final Fantasy IX and Battlefield 3) (PSN: JoshWilson_).

Artistic Recognition.

Hello, todays post is going to be about my girlfriend/partner Joanne, but it’s going to be less about her as a person and more about her artwork.

She started art when she was in fifth year of secondary school; she stayed on until sixth year at secondary school and then went to Aberdeen College to study art again. She is now in her second year of her HND (Higher National Diploma) and hopes to get into Gray’s School of Art, it’s linked with the Robert Gordens University of Aberdeen.

 

She can be very negative about her work, even when it is really good. Here are a few pictures:

Parrots.

Lady Gaga.

Incomplete Rose on canvas, especially for me!

The only thing I would say that she does wrong is that she does not make art enough, as she should.

If you want to know more you should check out her DeviantArt and Twitter. I would appreciate it if anyone out there could comment on her work; constructive criticism goes a long way in the improvement or confidence in someone and their work. Thanks.

Gotta Catch ‘Em All

Hello, Todays/Tonight’s post is going comprise of me moaning about something rather silly, Pokemon.

Now I know what your thinking. Is he really going to talk about Pokemon? He’s 19 years old. Well yes I am but let me tell you why!

First of for those who don’t know what Pokemon is it was a child’s cartoon and card game from the 90’s that later turned into a video game. I guess you could call it a media franchise, the franchise is owned by Nintendo. Having sold over 200 million games, it’s probably one of the biggest things to come out of Japans video game industry.

But lets continue with what I was saying, I remember Pokemon when they only had 151 now they seem to have 649 I really think this out of hand! It would appear that the company is milking the franchise either that or the fans of Pokemon I becoming increasingly easier to please. With new characters being named stuff like Wurmple, Aran and Flygon its like they’re not even trying anymore!

Pokemon battle.

I bought the newest game Pokemon Black seeing as I had not played a Pokemon game since Gold (and I wanted to be “Hip” and “Old-school”) round about last year and I must say I’ve only gotten about an hour through it. The fact I can no longer name any Pokemon in the game is just upsetting.

Sadly milking games seems to be the “Hip” thing at the moment, as every gamer should know by now with CoD (Call Of Duty), but why Pokemon! It used to bring me so much joy, all of that is now ruined. Just bring back the good old addictive Pokemon Red, Blue and Yellow, with its nice black and white graphics and simple easy to control menus and upbeat 8-bit music!

Improved or ruined? Pokemon: Black graphics.

Rant over… but what do you think? Is there anything you’ve seen that get milked/extorted?

Balmedie Beach Madness

I went to the Balmedie sand dunes with my two friends yesterday, Gavin and Ross. We where supposed to be “filming” for a Jackass type group that they invented called ‘HellzHamsterz’ (I know, very childish.).

But anyway, we went to Balmedie in Ross’ car, It’s a Rover for anyone that cares. We arrived at the start of a wooden walkway about 10 or 20 minutes away from the city centre (Aberdeen is a coastal city).

We finally got on to the beach/dunes. It’s not quite how I had remembered it, the sand was dull and the dunes looked dead if that’s a good way of describing it. The dunes seem no longer be ‘Sand’ dunes but grassy hills.

 Part of the Beach.

Anyway, we soon moved on to the actual beach by means of jumping of the dune onto the sand. Ross couldn’t do it he said he was “scared” of heights. Once we got on to level ground we headed only the sand until we reached the old Second World War pillboxes, I had never seen them before. I don’t know much other than they were from during the war, there are various rumours about them such as homeless people sleeping in them and that they were not actually there for coastal defence but rather to hide something. We spent a while looking and going inside of them. I took some photos. We even climbed on top of them but as I ran to jump on it I slipped and just about broke a few toes in the process, guess I deserved it.

The pillbox

We then though it was round about time to go home, we were starting to get bored and Ross had prior arrangements. So we headed home but only after we had drawn rude pictures in the sand, skimmed a few rocks and recorded ourselves being prats (arses). I’ve got a stupid picture of Ross.

 Ross

So yeah, that was my day. How was yours? Have you got any dunes near you?

Video Game Blog!

Hello, How are you all today? I’m going to try a quick video game review so bare with me.

The game in question is Dungeon Village by a company named Kairosoft, Here are some useful links: Official Website (In Japanese), Wikipedia and and English fan site here.

In Dungeon Village you must develop your village and help adventurers grow stronger, as you develop your village your popularity grows and new adventurers will begin to visit. After a while adventures will begin to enjoy visiting enough to stay and have their own residence. All of these things contribute to a total score that is counted in your 16th year in the game. Once in reaches the 16th year your scored will go onto the online leader board and you can either start again or continue playing though it will not count towards your highscore.

First thing I would like to point out in this game is the easiness, and it is not just this particular game! A lot, if not all Kairosoft games are very simple to complete but I find that this has a positive effect on people. It makes the player feel very relaxed when playing and doesn’t put much stress on the mind.

This game is highly addictive as much of Kairosofts games are, with it’s simple structure, child-like avatars and chirpy and cheery music it opens up you inner child.

Dungeon Village Title Screen

This game appeals to me with its simulation style play, I like the fact that I grow and develop my character but also my village. Its these kind of games that I could easily sit for hours on end playing and I would never be bored.

 My village in the early years.

My village later.

I would say that the games graphics are quite good considering these are for you mobile phones. I like the childish cartoon style, it reminds me of these old Sega and Nintendo games I used to play when I was young.

As far as the playability goes I would say that its a very easy to understand. It has a simple menu that is easy to navigate but at times it can be slow. Another issue I had was that my thumb was to big to place buildings in the village, It seemed to take forever to place the building down and select it later on. This issue particularly can get quite annoying but its bearable.

If I had to rate this game I would give it a 7/10.

I would give it a 7 because:

•  Easy to play and understand
• Addictive gameplay
• Quirky styled characters and names
• Catchy music

I would not give it full marks because:

• Slow at times
• No replay value

I know that I have not really explained this game well but I don’t really have the time at the moment. Sorry.

And so it begins.

Well, Hello my name is Joshua Wilson and this is my first WordPress.com post.

I’ve only recently discovered this site thanks to a YouTuber named Micaela you should check out her stuff here:  WordPress, YouTube.

Anyway, I’m 19 and live in the reasonably sized but dreary city of Aberdeen in Scotland. It rains here about 70% of year but despite that I can still have some fun.

Sorry if this blog seems to jump from topic to topic, I have just never been that good of a writer but what I wanted to show was some of the pictures I took on my camera. I’m starting to enjoy photography and would like to make a hobby of it. Here are some photos taking on my overly-priced under-powered camera:

This is the frog statue on the birdbath in my back garden.

This is a macro shot I took of a flower, I’m not sure what kind of flower it is ( if anyone can tell me).

and finally the abandoned birdhouse behind my shed. It’s rather eerie looking for a birdhouse.