Apple Mac Music Video
May 23, 2008
What can I say, this just speaks to my inner geek!
Looking For Group: Slaughter Your World
May 22, 2008
Looking For Group is a great webcomic loosely based on a World of Warcraft style universe. This 4 minute musical short gives a glimpse as to what Richard’s existence was like before meeting the rest of the group.
How to eat Crawfish
May 21, 2008
Being a Brit Crawfish eating doesn’t come naturally to me, after trying several different ways this peeling method is the one that finally got me into a rhythm!
Adding Thrive to Directories: Round 1
May 19, 2008
As part of building traffic for Thrive I started to add it to as many directories as I could find. If you’re curious the sites I submitted it to and if they added it do their directory are shown below.
So here goes Round 1:
Technoratti - PR 8 - Immediate Acceptance
Blog Catalog - PR 7 - Accepted
Blog Top List - PR 6 - Accepted
Top Blog Area - PR 4 - Submitted
BlogDirs - PR 6 - Submitted
BlogsWorld - PR 4 - Submitted
Thrive - Current Status
May 19, 2008
A friend and I have been working on a joint blog together called thrive!. So far we have just been developing as a blog with no real focus on making money, or developing the brand. We are now about to change that, it’s business plan time!
To make it easier to collaborate on the business plan etc., I created an account with the Microsoft Office Live Small Business site. Office Live allows us to share documents, access a central contact management system and track website usage.
thrive! is currently running on a Wordpress blog platform using a modified version of the Revolution theme. I have a lot planned for future versions of the site, as they get implemented I will discuss them here on my personal site.
Watch for future posts about thrive! and learn with us as we try and develop an online business.
Making use of Wordpress tags
May 19, 2008
Using tags for the keywords meta tag
There are two ways you can use keyword for your meta tag, the first is to add the following code to your template:
<meta name="keywords" content="ID);
foreach ($metatags as $tagpost) {
$mymetatag = apply_filters('the_tags',$tagpost->name);
$keyword = utf8_decode($mymetatag); // Your filters...
echo $keyword.",";
}
}
?>barbecue, recipes, grilling" />
You should change “barbecue, recipes, grilling” to keywords you want to be used on pages that don’t display a single post.
The second is a plugin I use on this site, called Add-Meta-Tags. I have had no problems using this plugin right out of the box with it’s default settings. Oh, and not only does it add the keyword meta tag, but it uses the excerpt or part of the post to add a description tag too.
Displaying tags for individual posts
You may also want to display the tags associated with each post, for this you are going to have to get your hands dirty. Break open your trusty php editor and find the code that generates the page for a single post, the file will vary on a theme by theme basis. Around where the categories are added to the page add the following:
<?php the_tags('Tagged With&#58; ', ', ', ''); ?>
The code above will add something like the following to your post: Tagged With: elvis, lasvegas, love, marriage, wedding
For more information check out this code on the Wordpress Codex.
Easy Mashtun
May 19, 2008
Parts List
- 10 gallon circular cooler, in fact any cooler can be used
- Minikeg rubber bung
- Some 1/2 inch OD x 3/8 inch ID food grade high temp vinyl tubing
- Short length of 3/8 inch OD food grade high temp vinyl tubing
- Inline nylon valve
- A length of water supply line with a stainless steel braid (be sure you get a stainless steel one) for a jacket
- 3 cable ties or stainless steel hose clamps
Step By Step
- Undo the nut holding the existing spigot in the cooler and remove it
Bruce Frankel’s Grilled Bread
May 10, 2008
Another recipe taken from “The Barbecue! Bible” by Steven Raichlen
Ingredients
1/2 envelope active dry yeast
1 tablespoon molasses
2/3 cup warm water
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
3 tablespoons cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
Black pepper to taste
Directions
1. Mix 2 tablespoons of the warm water with the molasses and yeast. Let stand until foamy.
2. Stir in the remaining water, all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, cornmeal and salt.
3. Mix to form a dough that is soft and pliable then knead until smooth.
4. Brush a bowl with some of the olive oil, place the dough in the bowl, then brush the top of the dough with oil.
5. Cover with a damped kitchen towel, allow to rise in a warm place, until doubled in size (a couple of hours).
6. Punch the dough down, and allow to rise again. Punch down again and divide into 6 pieces.
7. Roll the dough into balls, then roll out until 5 inches in diameter.
8. Brush the dough with oil, and grill over high heat until puffed and golden brown.
Grilled Stuffed Peppers
May 10, 2008
Ingredients
3 bell peppers
2 green onions, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
olive oil
1 cup of diced smoked sausage
1 1/2 cups of cooked rice
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
1. Cut the top off the peppers, remove the stalks, and clean out the seeds
2. Finely dice the top of the pepper
3. Stir fry the green onions, garlic, and diced pepper in the olive oil for 2 minutes
4. Add the diced smoked sausage and cook for another 5 minutes
5. Stir in the cooked rice
7. Stuff the peppers, and season to taste
8. Grill, over medium indirect heat until the peppers are tender
Pork Spareribs
May 10, 2008
As you may have noticed by now, recently I have been cooking using food supplied by Angel Food Ministries this recipe is no exception. In June’s BBQ box they supplied some frozen “enhanced” pork spareribs. Normally I would shy away from “enhanced” meat in favor of the more natural meat from my local warehouse store, but I decided to give these a try.
After a little research online I found that it is important to watch how much salt you use in your chosen rub as most liquids used in the enhancing process use a lot of salt. It struck me that Chris Lilly’s rib recipe is an ideal rub for this kind of rib, the photo above are the result.
I found that they weren’t to salty at all, and was very pleased with the results.
