This really is a quick one. I spotted some chestnuts in the shop yesterday, and thought that my air fryer might make a good mini-brazier for cooking these delicious nuts. First off, cut a diagonal cross on the rounded back of each fruit. Then, boil a kettle with a bit of water, enough to batheContinue reading “Air fryer Chestnuts”
Author Archives: Ben Vost
Creamy Spicy Thai Butternut Squash Soup Recipe
Before I start, I need to say that my soup is largely based on a good recipe by Christian Reynoso. He posted the original in the New York Times; I’ve just added a couple of things. It’s naturally vegetarian, you can make it vegan using soya sauce rather than fish sauce or go the otherContinue reading “Creamy Spicy Thai Butternut Squash Soup Recipe”
Hard boiled air fryer
Just a quick note to say that in the new air fryer I received as a present (a Ninja with two drawers!), I can add six eggs, set the timer to seven minutes and the temp to 170°C. Then I pour a bottle of water I have in the fridge into a jug, add someContinue reading “Hard boiled air fryer”
A syncing feeling with Dropbox
I’ve been using an application called Writerside to create the documentation for LightWave. It’s great. It uses a coding language called Markdown to do things like bold text, inserting images, or creating other page furniture. You can do this without needing to use a mouse, which speeds things up immensely. It has also introduced meContinue reading “A syncing feeling with Dropbox”
Emergency training
Over the last two days, I’ve needed to create training for teaching French people the specific English to lead business meetings and I thought I could share it here so you can see what I do. This training was designed to allow A2-level students host business meetings – a tall order, but the students leftContinue reading “Emergency training”
Editing your keyboard, Windows (11)
Update 251209: A new update adding ə (schwa) I need to use the IPA symbol schwa representing the unvoiced unstressed sound that is the most common in the English language I live in France but communicate mainly in English. However, I do need to write in French on a regular basis and so to getContinue reading “Editing your keyboard, Windows (11)”
Scooter range
Scooter range anxiety Updated: 251209 – I added in a trip I did to Loupiac. It didn’t stretch the range further, but it was a nice trip I’ve had my electric scooter, a Rider 3000W, for nearly a year now. I still have some range anxiety for longer trips – it afflicts me more thanContinue reading “Scooter range”
“NotZero” insanity
I’m having a “debate” with a climate change denier on Twitter (who’d have guessed?). Part of the exchange is the fact that this man – because it’s always a man – claims that the costs of attempting to reach Net Zero, the point at which our carbon emissions are balanced with the amount of carbonContinue reading ““NotZero” insanity”
Recent films
I haven’t posted any film reviews for a while, so here’s a selection of the most recent films I’ve seen at the cinema (always the best place to see something) or on TV. Let’s get the ball rolling with… Bring Her Back (Substitution – Bring Her Back), 2025 I went to see Substitution – BringContinue reading “Recent films”
Changes
Things need to change. I’m writing them down here to make sure I do them this time