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About me

I live and work around Shoreditch, London. My obsession with making Internet stuff leads me to spend my days heading up the tech side at POKE. What you’re looking at is entirely my doing, though, and as you’ve probably guessed, in no way reflects POKE’s views on anything, at all, ever.

In addition to providing me with a soapbox, this site tracks what I’m up to online using feeds from Flickr, del.icio.us and others.

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Regular reads

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Huddle

Huddle
Staying out of the way of the main crowd a short distance away

Knjaz Mihailova, Beograd, Srbija

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Pacemakers

Pacemakers
I walked behind these four for a good few hundred yards across the square. It felt like the second pair’s pace was swaying in and out of phase with that of the first; sometimes they were close enough that they might be just two parts of the same patrol, and sometimes the distance between them was great enough that perhaps in fact they’d merely chanced upon each other — as though despite their ongoing efforts to declare their independence, the complex interplay of their orbital wakes held them eternally tied in some arcane gravitational pavane.

Intersection of Trg Republike and Knjaz Mihailova, Beograd, Srbija

Monday, January 21, 2008

Calf’s head casserole

Calf’s head casserole
It’s about 2 years since I’ve partaken of this traditional Serbian dish. Though I’ve happily added the experience to my ever-growing collection of gustatory anecdotes, the unfamiliarity of the circumstances in which I found myself at the time of that first indulgence meant that my memories of the actual dish and its eating are now hazy at best, so I was pleased to be able to give it another bash last Saturday night.

The apparently equally traditional highlight of my meal at the relatively recently-opened Елемент (Element) restaurant a few short streets away from Trg Republike (Republic Square) in Beograd — a beef steak stuffed with thick smoked bacon and strong yellow Serbian cheese — safely out of the way and the subsequent myocardial episode booked in at the city hospital, this delicacy was brought with minimal ceremony to the table and despite my already significantly distended belly, I made sure to take a sample. Purely for research purposes, you understand.

As far as I can tell, the good bits of the calf’s head (presumably mainly the cheeks) are stripped off and fried up with some onions, at which point vegetables and various herbs and spices are added, and the whole thing is left to reduce down, leaving behind after some unspecified length of time a casserole of medium to light consistency.

The overall impression was surprisingly subtle, certainly not as overpowering as offal-avoiders may fear, and the onion seemed to have caramelised somewhat, adding a pleasant, slightly sweet nuance to the overall concoction. The meat itself was tender, as can only reasonably be expected from a casserole, and had kidney-ish textural overtones, though on balance it remained firmly on the “meaty” side of the entrail divide.

In summary: I ate baby cow’s head. It was good.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Baked pig's face

Baked pig's face
Nearly-birthday boy gets special birthday dinner in Mirjevo, Beograd: a chopped-up baked half-pig, followed by extremely good cake with fruit and white chocolate and lemon and stuff. Anyone who hasn't been treated to such a repast: for your information, this is basically where it's at.

Saturday, December 30, 2006

One of the things I love about Serbia …

One of the things I love about Serbia …
… is that you can get circular packs containing 6 of the above foil-wrapped triangles of cream cheese. Something like Dairylea, you might think? Nothing special? Well, you'd be on the right lines, except that it's nicer cheese, and, oh yeah … IT'S FILLED WITH HOT CHILI PEPPERS. Yes. It also comes with meat or mushroom fillings. I love this stuff.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Sure about that?

Sure about that?
Baggage check, Nikola Tesla airport, Beograd, Srbija
Serious

Serious
Baggage check, Nikola Tesla airport, Beograd, Srbija
Lilting gait

Lilting gait
Departure lounge, Nikola Tesla airport, Beograd, Srbija
Pause for coffee

Pause for coffee
Airport café, Beograd, Srbija

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Start 'em early

Start 'em early
Airport, Beograd, Serbia