The Kingdom

Now this is a screwed up program if I ever seen one.
Tales from a haunted hospital in Copenhagen which was built on a piece of primal mystic swamp...
Weird Weird Weird
I knew Danes are weird, have some Danish colleagues at work, the original Nightshift film (not the one with Ewan McGregor) was a masterpiece, but this is f*cked up, I love it.
One of the surgeons mixes Voodoo potions into colleagues' coffee to get rid of them and talks to his floaters, there's a giant baby in an incubator in the basement, and I think he just made a Zombie...
I remember seeing half an episode when I was in Germany early July but switched channels because there was something else on...

It's really hard to describe, I suggest you catch it yourselves, BBC 2, Friday nights, after Buffy.

Final Fantasy movie

Just saw another trailer. Wow...

Home Cooking ...

... is best.
*Burp*
Mmmm, that was good. I'm usually not one to brag, but this time I managed to cook my steak to perfection (deep pink throughout, with no blood coming out. That's how I like it, anyway).
Simple dishes are the best. OK, the ingredients were slightly over the top but the making was simple... ;o)

Steak with Chanterelle mushroom cream sauce and potato bake

Coat your steak in crushed pepper (white or black, whatever you like best) - no salt to start with or the meat will get tough in the pan - pressing it in thoroughly. Wrap it in cling film and leave it for about an hour.

For the potato bake, cut a big baking potato in fine slices and put those in a scale pattern in several layers in an ovenproof dish. Grate enough mature cheddar to completely cover the top. Season some single cream (you'll need about half a cup) with salt and pepper and pour it over, making sure the cream almost comes to the top. Put the dish in a preheated oven, top shelf, for about 40 minutes until the potatoes are cooked and the top is crispy.

Put a knob of butter and some oil in a pan and heat it up to smoking point. Sear the steak on both sides, turn the heat down and then fry as long as you want (about a minute to rare, two/three minutes to medium and five minutes to done, depending on the thickness and type of steak - fillet will take less time).
Take the steak out on a warm plate, cover with baking foil and let it rest.

Fry the shrooms in the pan without changing the oil. For a little extra zing, put a dash of brandy or whiskey in (i usu use JD - careful on a gas oven, it might catch fire, don't worry though it will go out as soon as the alcohol is gone, just watch your eyebrows ;o)
Then, fill up with double cream (single cream curdles easily) to make as much sauce as you want, seasoning with salt and pepper. Cook until you have a smooth sauce.

All that remains is to serve it with a slice of potato bake, some green (bell) pepper salad (cream, salt, pepper, lemon dressing) and a nice glass of red wine...

Simple, isn't it? The only tricky bit might be the timing. Just make sure you put in the bake first and start frying the steak about 10-5 minutes before it is done. The salad is best made well in advance for best taste.

There's obviously a cheap option, just use cheap steak and button mushrooms... ;o)

Lost socks

When I was doing the laundry this afternoon, I was missing a sock, so I went back upstairs and searched my room and the bathroom without being able to find it.
I just went into the bathroom to wash my hands, and there it was. And I swear it was grinning at me...