The Author – Bart Busschots
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Jan
31
Photo of the Week 155 – Snowdrops
Filed Under Photography on January 31, 2011 | 1 Comment
Because I’m still sick this shot is not from this year, but it seemed seasonally appropriate, and I did re-edit it for posting today – adding just a little more contrast than my original rendering had.
I just love these little flowers, they symbolise the end of winter for me like nothing else does. In case anyone cares, the latin name for Snowdrops is Galantus nivalis. I got this shot next to the ruins of an old church just outside Maynooth. Any yes, I was lying flat on my stomach in the dirt to get this shot 🙂
- Camera: Nikon D40
- Lens: Nikon DX AFS 55-200mm
- Exposure: 1/500 sec
- Focal Length: 175mm
- Focal Ratio: f/5.6
- ISO: 400
- Camera Mode: Full Manual
- Processing: Used Aperture 3’s brushes feature to dodge & burn a little
Jan
29
A Quick & Easy Oriental Salad
Filed Under Cooking & Food on January 29, 2011 | 2 Comments
When I started this experiment with blogging food stuff, I said that cooking was all about sharing, no post better illustrates that than this one. This is my take on a recipe that I got from Bren Finan, which he got from a friend of his, who got it from her mother, who probably got it from hers, and so on back through the ages. Bren’s friend’s mum happens to be Japanese, hence, this is an oriental salad. I’ve made my own alterations to the original as Bren thought it to me, and goodness know how many other alterations there have been, so the chances are very little of the original is recognisable!
This is a wonderfully imprecise dish, and open to infinite variety, so please please please experiment. Just use this post as a starting point, not as an end point.
Anyhow, when I make this salad I use the following:
- A family pack of mixed leaves (i.e. a 100g bag with pre-washed lettuce of different colours in it)
- One Apple
- Half a block of mature red cheddar cheese, i.e. about 100g (bet this bit isn’t traditionally Japanese!)
- A quarter of a cucumber (I like to get organic)
- A handful of Cherry Tomatoes (I always get Organic, especially for a salad)
- Some Mixed chopped nuts (I just use a small sprinkling, and you can use whole nuts too)
- Olive Oil
- Balsamic Vinegar
- Soy Sauce
- Freshly ground black pepper & salt
Jan
26
Has Belgium Hit the End of the Road?
Filed Under Polemics & Politics on January 26, 2011 | 10 Comments
I’m annoyed today. Very annoyed. I think we’re witnessing the demise of the country which I am proud to be a citizen of – Belgium. There’s no doubt that it is, and always has been, a strange place. It was a purely made up country that had nothing on common apart from a shared Catholic faith, and the newly appointed king. I don’t know of any other country where there is no common national language. The struggles between the Wallonians and the Flemish has been long and complicated. Despite being a physically tiny nation, Belgium has become a Federal State, with a national federal government in Brussels, and local ‘state’ governments in Brussels, Flanders, and Wallonia. The local governments are all working just fine, they have administrations in place, and are getting on with the job of running their respective parts of the country. The problem lies with the national federal government. We have had a string of unstable governments for years now, often with very long gaps between elections and the eventual formation of short-lived and turbulent administrations. When the previous government collapsed last spring, elections were called and held in June. Since then, there have been on-going negotiations to form a government, and they have not gone smoothly. Today, for what feels like the millionth time, talks collapsed, and the King’s mediator has handed his resignation to the King. If you’re wondering why there have to be negotiations, the reason is that there are no nation-wide parties in the Belgium. There are Flemish parties and Wallonian parties, and although there is a Flemish Green Party and a Wallonian one, they are not the same party, and don’t work together. The constitution sets this division in stone mandating that governments consist of coalitions of Flemish and Wallonian parties.
Jan
24
Pondering US -v- EU Locomotives
Filed Under 42 (Life the Universe & Everything) on January 24, 2011 | 11 Comments
This all started with a really childish and really stupid comment on Flickr by a young American rail fan:
Probably because the cabs on American locomotives aren’t ugly as the atrocious things that pass for locomotives in Europe.
The sheer childishness of it all put me off replying, but it did start me thinking, apart from the very obvious difference in style, what are the real differences between our locomotives?
Jan
23
Photo of the Week 154 – Evening Excursion
Filed Under Photography on January 23, 2011 | 1 Comment
This is the last shot I took before my current illness really got serious, and stopped me shooting. I was very much in two minds about whether or not to venture outside to capture this, but, when I realised that the sun would be setting just as the train was coming thought, and that it would be setting in just the right place to light the near-side of the train, I figured I couldn’t miss this rare opportunity.
This shot was taken just outside Maynooth, as a Railway Preservation Society of Ireland (RPSI) special was making it’s way back home to Dublin. The train was pulled by Irish Rail Class 071 diesel electric locomotive number 073. This class of locomotive were built by General Motors in the late 1970s, and originally introduced as mainline express locomotives. After the introduction of the 201 class of locomotives in the mid 1990s the 071s were relegated to less prestigious lines, including the one through Maynooth form Dublin to Sligo. In recent years these less prestigious intercity services have all switched to class 22000 rail cars, so all that’s left now for the 071s is freight duties and the occasional special. A decade ago, 071s came though Maynooth many times every day, now, since there is no freight service on the Dublin to Sligo line, seeing an 071 here is a real event. This particular 071 has been recently re-painted in Irish Rail’s new freight livery. Originally the 071s carried Irish Rail’s old tan and black livery. The carriages on this special were the RPSI’s heritage set.
- Camera: Nikon D40
- Lens: Nikon DX AFS 18-55mm (D40 kit lens)
- Exposure: 1/320 sec
- Focal Length: 18mm
- Focal Ratio: f/4
- ISO: 400
- Camera Mode: Full Manual
- Processing: created by tonemapping a single RAW image with Photomatix Pro, and tweaking the result with Aperture’s built-in Dodge & Burn plugin
Jan
23
Lemon & Balsamic Vinegar Marinated Steak
Filed Under Cooking & Food on | Leave a Comment
This week I thought I’d share my favourite way to cook steaks. Despite the fact that I do marinate the steaks, you don’t have to do any prep work the day before or even a few hours before. You can leave the steak marinating while you prepare the rest of your meal, it only needs about 20-30 minutes.
Since this recipe describes the process per-steak, it’ll yield as many steaks as you make 🙂 As for ingredients, the amounts will vary depending on the size and number of steaks you do, but you’ll need the following:
- The steaks of your choice (I love Strip Loin)
- A few cloves of Garlic
- Lemon Juice
- Balsamic Vinegar
- Olive & Vegetable Oil
- Fresh or Dried Rosemary
- Freshly ground Black Pepper & Salt
Jan
18
Photo of the Week 153 – Ennis Friary
Filed Under Photography on January 18, 2011 | 1 Comment
This week’s photo of the week was taken the summer before last when I was in Ennis for a friend’s wedding. I didn’t have much time for sight-seeing on my visit, but myself and another friend did find a half hour to go pay a visit to the ruins of the old Friary in the town. We didn’t have much luck with the weather though, it was generally cloudy, and we spent quite some time sheltering from the rain within the ruins! Just as we were about to head for the exit the sun burst through very briefly, and I managed to get off a few shots in good light, including this one. You can see the full set of shots from my visit on Flickr.
- Camera: Nikon D40
- Lens: Nikon DX AFS 18-55mm (D40 kit lens)
- Exposure: 1/1250 sec
- Focal Length: 18mm
- Focal Ratio: f/8
- ISO: 400
- Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
Jan
15
Mapping Belgium’s Collieries
Filed Under History & Geography on January 15, 2011 | 1 Comment
A side effect of being sick is having a lot of time to kill while avoiding expending energy. Considering I’ve been ill now for three and half months, that’s a LOT of time to kill. On the days that the infection is particularly bad my brain just goes to mush so I melt the day away with some old TV shows (have watched all of the original Star Trek and all of Star Trek The Next Generation already), but on the days that my head is clearer I find Google Earth to be an amazingly interesting way to loose a few hours. It never ceases to surprise me how much of a nation’s history is etched into the very land itself. A canal may have been re-routed decades ago, but it’s old alignment still affects the boundaries of properties and fields all along it’s length. The same goes for that railroad that’s been gone for over a century, or that coal mine that closed in the late 1800s. You can look at the street plans of cities like Antwerp and Brussels, and still see the alignments of the old city walls even though they’ve been gone for hundreds of years. The many wars that have been fought in a country like Belgium also leave their mark, from massive WWII bunkers to beautifully shaped WWI fortresses to Napolionic fortifications to even older castles and towers, to simple things like defensive ditches and banks, and even tank traps. They’re all there to be seen on Goole Earth by anyone with the interest and the patience to seek them out.
Anyhow, the point is, maps fascinate me, and I can stare at then for hours, and satellite photos with map data overlaid on them doubly-so. If you don’t have Google Earth installed on your computer and/or iPhone or iPad yet, you should stop reading now and go download it from earth.google.com.
Jan
13
A Red Pepper Omlette
Filed Under Cooking & Food on January 13, 2011 | 3 Comments
Following on from last week’s Bolognese recipe, I thought I’d share an omelette I often make with left over ingredients the next morning. This is very much a non-scientific thing, just take these amounts as guidelines. This recipe makes one generous omelette, I prefer to use two pans when I do this for two people rather than doubling everything in one pan because I don’t like my omelettes too thick.
Here are the ingredients I suggest:
- 1 Small Red Onion
- ½ Red Pepper
- 2 Large Eggs
- Salt, Pepper & some Herbs
Jan
12
Photo of the Week 152 – Moon & Venus Over SPCM
Filed Under Photography on January 12, 2011 | Leave a Comment
I was looking back through some older shots this week when I noticed this one which I had forgotten to upload to Flickr. I have no idea why I didn’t upload it when I shot it, because it’s one of my best astrophotography shots, nicely and clearly incorporating both the Moon and the Planet Venus into the shot. What at we see here is a view across St. Joseph’s Square in St. Patrick’s College Maynooth (SPCM)looking towards St. Patrick’s House with the spire of the College Chapel also visible. In the top left of the shot you can see Venus, and just above the building you can see a very thin crescent Moon with a lot of Earth Shine. This shot was taken with a tripod because it was dark and a four and half second exposure was needed.
- Camera: Nikon D40
- Lens: Nikon DX AFS 18-55mm (D40 kit lens)
- Exposure: 4.5 sec (shot on tripod)
- Focal Length: 19mm
- Focal Ratio: f/8
- ISO: 200
- Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
- Exposure Bias: -3.0ev