What’s going on Buddy?
It’s been a busy couple of days around here. I’ve currently got 5 projects / websites that are nearing completion and that’s been taking up all my mental time coding, re-coding, tweaking, and loads of other stuff like that. I figured I’d write a quick blog about a couple of the projects and give you a sneak peak.
First up I’ve built up an e-commerce shop for my 9-5 employer, SCHILLER Australia.
We’ve been looking at setting up a shop for quite a while, but the cost of getting it done was prohibitive. We’ve had quotes ranging from $18,000.00 to $50,000.00 from website developers, and that was always outside our justifiable budget, with some perseverance I’ve managed to get it all up and running and taking orders myself without any additional cost to the company. If I were coding it for someone else, I reckon it would be in the vicinity of $8,000.00 to $10,000.00, which isn’t too bad considering the quotes we had previously received.
The shop will be officially launched later this week.
And now for something a little more social!
On Saturday I spent a bit of time watching the live stream from the Sydney WordCamp event. Of particular interest was the talk of the WordPress MU, and the BuddyPress project.
For those of you not familiar with WordPress MU;
Ever dream of running hundreds of thousands of blogs with a single install of WordPress?
WordPress MU, or multi-user, is designed to do exactly that. It is most famously used for WordPress.com where it serves tens of millions of hits on hundreds of thousands of blogs each day.
So basically WordPress MU let’s you set up a single install of WordPress, and from there you can set up loads of blogs under that one main install. When combined with the BuddyPress plugins and themes, you end up with a social networking website complete with User Profiles, User Groups, User Blogs, and a ‘Wire’ which is kind of like Myspace’s Friends Comments. It’s pretty cool.
I’ve been playing around with a test installation for the past 24 hours as I’m really interested in using the BuddyPress / WordPress MU combo to add a community to I’m With The Band. So far so good, though I must admit I haven’t even started thinking about customizing the theme as I’ve been playing a bunch of the different features in BuddyPress.
If you want to get involved with the community head to http://community.imwiththeband.com and sign up.
Anyway, that’s just a quick blog on a couple of the bits n pieces I’ve got going on at the moment, I’ll post links to everything else as the jobs are completed to give you a squiz at it all.
Oh and lastly, there’s a huge Reader Poll about to start at I’m With The Band and there are some awesome sponsors who are donating loads of merch to a big prize pool that will go out to a few entrants. Stay tuned for details!!
Prosciutto Wrapped Scallops recipe
Here’s a quick recipe I started playing around with over the weekend. These Prosciutto Wrapped Scallops with Grilled Asparagus are incredibly easy to make, and incredibly tasty! So let’s get straight into it!
Ingredient wise you’ll need;
- Medium to Large Scallops
- Slices of Prosciutto (1 for every 2 Scallops, ie. 4 Scallops = 2 Prosciutto Slices)
- Fresh Asparagus (3-4 per person)
- Balsamic Vinegar
- Pinch of Sea Salt
First things first, slice up the Prosciutto so that they are a similar width to the Scallops. Wrap the Prosciutto around the Scallop, if you’ve got large Scallops you can do it around the sides instead of over the top and bottom, and then secure them with either a skewer or a toothpick.
Once you’ve prepped all of the Scallops it’s time to start cooking them. I’m using a wok in these photos, you can also do them on the BBQ, or in a griddle. They only take about 2 minutes on each side, though it will depend on the size of your Scallops.
Don’t over cook them! Maybe do a test cook first to get the timing right!
Ok, onto the Asparagus. First up you need to trim the woody part off of the ends of the Asparagus. Once they are all ready put a splash of oil in a fry pad, or griddle, and once it has heated up chuck the Asparagus in.
You need to keep the Asparagus moving, you don’t want it to stick and burn on any one part. After about 20-30 seconds splash in a good slurp of Balsamic Vinegar and a pinch of Sea Salt.
Give the Asparagus another 10 to 20 seconds, moving them around the pan so they don’t stick.
And now you’re ready to plate up.
Place 3-4 Asparagus Spears down on a plate, then place 3-4 of the Prosciutto Wrapped Scallops on top and make sure you take out the toothpicks or skewers first!
This makes a great entree, serve it up with either a crisp white wine like a Sauvignon Blanc or even an Unwooded Chardonnay. Now go eat and enjoy!
CPR Flashlight - product shot part 2
I wasn’t entirely happy with the images out of the product shoot this morning for the CPR Torch / Flashlight so I went back to the drawing board with my lighting set up.
This is where I was this morning, and the following two images shows you where I’m at now.
So I’ve ended up repositioning the lights into more of a ‘light tent’ configuration where there is the light directly over the top, one at the side and then the last one throwing light at the background to fill / rim from behind..haha rim from behind.
With the lights in the above set up we end up with light pretty well wrapping all the way around the subject. It’s nicely defused through the umbrellas and the power levels that I’m throwing are enough to give the products soft highlights while still giving them shape through the shadows. All in all I’m reasonably pleased with the outcome.
Now it’s the graphic designers problem to get images finalised for the new website and all the other marketing material that is getting produced. My work here is done.
Actually I wonder how this sort of set up will work with my food photography, it’d be nice to have such beautiful wrap around light for my recipes.
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