Soldier, Painting
Thomas Wilkinson
How to Paint: The Dead of Dunharrow

In which I finally start delivering on the promised painting guides...

I have been sat on a fully constructed Battle of Pelennor Fields box for just about a year after purchasing it as a Christmas present to myself at the tail end of 2021. Having signed up to a few "slay the grey" style challenges in the New Year I thought it was time to start with a nice easy paint job.

How to Paint: The Dead of Dunharrow
Puddings, Sponge
Thomas Wilkinson
Vegan Christmas Puddings

In which I modify an old family recipe to be vegan friendly...

After successfully turning my hand to vegan Christmas cake I thought it was high time I adapted my old Christmas pudding recipe to be vegan too.

Vegan Christmas Puddings
Tinker, Web, Python
Thomas Wilkinson
Dominant Colour Extraction in Python (for a ...

In which I discuss getting the dominant colour from an image quickly...

I have recently made a Discord bot that searches for online versions of board games to help people find games to play remotely. This link will add it to your server.

Discord embeds have a colour bar down the side that can be manually set. I thought it would be cool to have this display the 'average' (i.e. dominant) colour of the board game box and decided to investigate the best way to do it.

Dominant Colour Extraction in Python (for a Discord Bot)
Tinker, Productivity
Thomas Wilkinson
The Holiday Do List

In which I plan my holiday tasks…

So it may just be because it is 2020 or perhaps I'm just a bit lazy but I’ve found that I often start holiday breaks with a list of things I’d like to do and by the end of the trip* I’ve not achieved most of them. Whether it’s odd jobs or relaxing activities I wanted to get through I just accidental sit around and don’t do them. This holiday season I decided I needed a to do list and though I’d try out the new Todoist Boards feature.

*Or, let’s be real this year: sitting on the sofa at home.

The Holiday Do List
Tinker, Podcasting
Thomas Wilkinson
How to Record a Podcast Remotely And Get It ...

Remote interviews are a fact of life for every podcaster, and in today’s era of social distancing, more so than ever. Since you rarely get the chance at an interview do-over, nailing down your remote recording workflow is essential. We’ll show you how to prepare for and record a remote interview, so you get it right the first time — with some additional tips along the way to make sure all your bases are covered.

How to Record a Podcast Remotely And Get It Right The First Time

Puddings

,

Christmas Puddings

,

In which stir-up Sunday comes early and on the wrong day of the week...

Although I realise stir-up Sunday is later than this week (and that I made these on a Monday night), it is always good to make your puddings early so that you can top them up with lots of of brandy (feeding the pudding.) Also I always used to make Christmas puddings on Remembrance Day with my school choir.

My mum has always made the best Christmas pudding (as far as i'm concerned) and here is the recipe. This recipe is designed for a Slow cooker.

Apologies to members of CAOS expecting a recipe for tonight's cake but the recipe for mincemeat tart is:

  1. Obtain mincemeat and pastry.

  2. Place pastry in dish.

  3. Fill with mincemeat.

  4. Bake.

UPDATE: Mincemeat tarts came out like this :)

Mincemeat Tart

Ingredients

  • 50g plain flour

  • pinch of salt

  • 2 teaspoons mixed spice

  • 100g currants

  • 100g sultanas

  • 100g raisins

  • 100g mixed peel

  • 100g shredded suet

  • 100g soft brown sugar

  • 100g fine white breadcrumbs

  • 50g chopped blanched almonds*

  • grated rind of 1 lemon

  • 2 eggs, beaten

  • 2x15ml spoons black treacle

  • 1x15ml spoon brandy

  • a little stout/ale or milk for mixing†

*The nuts are really important, it's what makes this pudding that bit better than anyone elses :P

†I change the stout every year, this year I went for Marston's Oyster Stout

How-To

  1. Sieve together flour, salt and spice, add all dry ingredients and mix well.

  2. Add eggs, brandy and treacle with enough liquid to make a soft clinging mixture.

  3. Divide between 2 greased basins, leaving about 1 cm headspace.

  4. Cover with a double thickness of greased greaseproof paper or tinfoil.

  5. Put basins in a slow cooker and pour 1 pint of hot water around them.

  6. Heat on high for 1 hour then low for 12 hours or alternatively on high for 7 hours.

  7. To reheat: heat on high for 3 hours.

In the slowcooker

Almost done!

It's double recipe week this week as on Thursday there is the World Famous ManSSAGO Pudding Party!* Stay tuned on Thursday for the desserts and the recipe!

*May not be actually famous worldwide!

Tom Out!