Gordon Ramsay is totally obnoxious and rude

I love food, I love watching food programs and I love watching programs where people travel and taste food of other cultures. But it was terrible watching Gordon Ramsay and the Great Escape where he went to different places in India, sampling Indian cuisine. He is so rude and obnoxious. He is definitely not open minded when it comes to trying and accepting Indian food. And I thought Zimmerman was bad, Ramsay is worse. Give me Anthony Bourdain anytime.

The girl with the dragon tattoo

The only time I watch movies is when I am on the plane. This means I don't watch movies very often because I don't fly that often compared to business people. But I did fly recently to Canada and on my flight back, I watched this Swedish movie titled The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

It was dubbed in English but that did not stop me from enjoying the movie. Good plot. I don't know about the version shown in the cinema but this version but uncensored. It is a movie for mature adults. I don't know if I will get to watch the other two episodes.

How to start a fire in the fireplace...

Winter is here again. This means cold, windy and/or rainy days. This also means having to light the fireplace. Now, I like to experiment with different ways of starting the fire. Criteria that I have given myself:

• use only 1 fire starter
• all firewood that I need for the few hours must be in the fireplace. Why? Because I do not like the idea of firewood in the house but not in the fireplace. That gives spiders and borers a chance to enter the house.

So here is 1 method I found to be fulfill those 2 criteria. What you need are:

• 1 piece of non-toxic fire starter made from raw material
  
• 3 pine cones
• 3 kiln dried pine blocks
• 3 pieces of macrocarpa or any well seasoned hardwood

First, place 1 piece of macrocarpa in the center of the fireplace as shown.


Then place the other 2 pieces of macrocarpa on the side, one on either side.


Place pine blocks, pine cones and fire starter as shown below. Ensure that macrocarpa, pine blocks, pine cones and fire starter are in contact with each other, one way or another.


Place the remaining pine blocks on the pine cones:


Light and wait for the warmth. Some times the pine cones may roll off. Therefore, try to place them so that they are "supported".


Depending on the size of the macrocarpa, this configuration would burn for 2-3 hours before I need to go out and collect more seasoned firewood. Keep warm!