What are you thinking right now?

[Caspin]

Well, yes, maybe Muller got some comeuppance. Some of the Ghanian players were messing about too (like the one who got another yellow card and will have to sit out the next match) but, like much of the crowd in the stadium it seemed, I still ended up cheering for them, which isn't as expected given that I'm a quarter German!

I haven't been to Culzean Castle. It looks huge in the website pictures! Nice grounds as well. At least those places always have tearooms to retreat to if the heat gets too much (or it starts raining).

Next weekend I'm going to York (yes, again, can't keep away from the place). My brother will meet me there so we can have a bit of a holiday of some description this year. Maybe we will actually be able to walk all the walls and get the certificate! It was disappointing that part of the walls were closed last time.

In other news, Ollie is on some sort of camp excursion. He seems to go on a lot of those. Must be an Aussie thing.

[Minty]

I think Suarez may have taken his last bite at football. What an idiot!

Germany & the USA need a draw to qualify. The US manager is Klinsmann. If this isn't a draw I'll be amazed. It'll be funny watching big head Ronaldo flouncing off after another early exit. To think he thinks he's up there with the likes of Pele and Beckenbauer, no way is he in the same league.

I'm wondering if Ollie's in some sort of cadets, unless it's one of those brainwashing camps some schools force their kids in Aussieland to go to where they have to learn about "leadership" & the like. Just so long as it's not at Hanging Rock

The Americans are big on Summer Camps so they can get peace from their kids for the summer. I think with the Canadians it's the kids that want to go to summer camp to get peace from their parents!

[Caspin]

Yeah, what an idiot Suarez has been!

Well Ollie did used to say that he wanted to be a pilot so maybe he is in some kind of cadet thing. Or a Scout thing. Or just a go-camping thing. I used to enjoy camping.

I was made to go on a "retreat" once when I was at school. We were supposed to be meditating but I fell asleep, then was woken by my friends laughing - I had puffed out some candles while snoozing and the retreat leader was apoplectic with rage that I had dozed off instead of finding enlightenment or whatever it was meant to be about.

[Caspin]

I make a mean lasagne, even if I do say so myself. Mmmmmmm.

[Minty]

Lasagne's one of those meals that always tastes better if you makes it yourself rather than out of the packet (even if I'm making it & it ends up resembling a demolished multi storey car park).

Reading what's being posted on the officials and MTS over TS4, I'm thinking Graham Nardone should make sure his CV's updated.

[Caspin]

Yeah there are some angry simmers out there. I understand the frustration if their hopes are being dashed, but it's hardly life or death stuff - it's just a game. And what did they expect after The Sims 3 and all the crap that simmers have had to put up with from EA over that! As far as I'm concerned, EA have made a product, so you consider the product, you decide whether or not it's worth the money and whether you like it. To me it is just the same as buying a car or a sandwich. Nothing to have a fit over and certainly nothing to get into fights with people about.

I took a picture of my leftover lasagne (before I eat it for lunch). As you can see, it holds together nicely (and can be made to fly on a spatula). The pasta has gone a bit wavy now but it'll still be yummy.




I like a good solid lasagne that you can cut up into chunks. But the taste is more important than anything. It takes me all day to make one because I cook the filling for hours, so I can only do it if I have a day off.

So I suppose what I am thinking right now is that I'm hungry!

[Minty]

I am thinking I am sorely tempted to try this out for myself.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopi...inute.html

Leo Lund from Grasten in Denmark has come up with a canny trick to help lazy cooks get around the laborious task of peeling potatoes.

In this video Mr Lund can be seen removing the skin from 1kg of new potatoes within 50 seconds by using what appears to be a toilet brush attached to a drill.

Mr Lund sprays water from a hose into the bucket of grubby spuds and turns on the drill. Sure enough, after a minute the potatoes are gleaming, golden and peeled - perfect for a roast.

I hope it was a brand new bog brush & not the one from his loo!

[Caspin]

It is like a homemade version of an industrial spud peeling machine! Quite a good idea if you routinely peel a large number of spuds. I usually don't bother.

Right now I'm thinking that they need to stop changing the weather forecast from one moment to the next. It is making it very difficult to make sensible plans. I'm also thinking that the football at the Workd Cup seems to have entered a boring phase.

[Ollie]

I'm wondering what your accents sound like... In a not-so creepy way.

[Caspin]

Hmmmm. Difficult to describe unless you happen to be a connoisseur of regional British accents! I would say I have a very neutral northern English accent. People can tell I'm northern but they cannot usually narrow it down to Liverpool unless my accent gets a little stronger when I'm excited/angry/upset/in Liverpool. Since all of these are rare occurrences, it remains mild.

I tried to find something similar on YouTube but I failed.