July 28, 2026 Recipe / AI / MH / Personal

That last post probably needs a little context. I lost my job earlier this year so I now stay at home whilst my wife goes off to work. I’ve never enjoyed cooking, but it is now my responsibility.

My main problem with cooking (apart from a near phobia of handling raw meat) is the timing and sequencing really stresses me out. I worry constantly about getting it wrong and over/under-cooking some component. It takes any pleasure out of cooking. I see other people enjoy it but for me unless it is something I know really well, I’d rather sit an exam.

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July 28, 2026 / Recipe

Smooth Pineapple Sweet & Sour Sausage Stir-Fry

A rich, savoury-sweet stir-fry with a blitzed pineapple sauce that coats every slice of sausage and vegetable evenly.

Prep: 15 min | Cook: 20 min | Active: 22–26 min | Servings: 4

Timeline

gantt
    title Cooking Timeline (serving at 19:00)
    dateFormat  HH:mm
    axisFormat  %H:%M

    1. Blitz the Pineapple & Whisk the Sauce :s1, 18:34, 5m
    2. Brown the Sausages :s2, 18:39, 10m
    3. Sauté the Firm Vegetables :s3, 18:49, 5m
    4. Add Mushrooms, Broccoli & Garlic :s4, 18:54, 3m
    5. Simmer with Sauce & Bok Choi :s5, 18:57, 3m

Ingredients

• Base & Meat:
  • 8 good-quality sausages (sliced into bite-sized coins)
  • 1 tin pineapple chunks in juice (chunks AND juice blitzed smooth)
  • 1 tbsp cooking oil
• Vegetable Mix:
  • 1 onion (sliced)
  • 1-2 bell peppers (sliced)
  • 1 carrot (sliced into thin coins or matchsticks)
  • 150g mushrooms (quartered or sliced)
  • 100g tenderstem broccoli (halved lengthwise)
  • 2 heads bok choi (stems sliced, leaves left large)
  • 2 cloves garlic (minced)
• Smooth Sweet & Sour Sauce:
  • Blitzed pineapple puree (from the entire tin)
  • 2 tbsp tomato puree (tomato paste)
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2.5 tbsp apple cider vinegar (or white vinegar)
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar or honey (adjust slightly to taste)
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch (slurried in 2 tbsp cold water)

Steps

1. Blitz the Pineapple & Whisk the Sauce (5 min)

   Start: T-26 to T-22 min before serving

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July 27, 2026 / Car / VETuner / AI

(long post ahead)

A Roundabout Story

For a while now, my car gets grumpy when it gets hot. In stationary traffic it gets hot, the fan kicks in and it becomes a bit of a struggle to keep it running at idle as the engine goes lean. I assumed it was to do with the engine ingesting hot air coming out of the radiator as under bonnet temperatures get quite high when the fan is running¹

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July 26, 2026 / Tech

If you’re reading this, it worked :)

This site is generated by Hugo and controlled with Git. Whilst markdown is quite easy, I had grown attached to Obsidian at work (thanks Eva!) when I still had a job.

Anyway, here’s a picture of Oscar peeking out from the Fury bonnet in the garden. That will be the subject of another post once I’m sure pictures work.

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June 26, 2026 Car / VETuner

I’ve found a new gadget that I’m genuinely excited about. The Pill from Shelly is a tiny little USB powered thing that you can plug sensors into and advertise the values over BLE

A little bit of time travel

I have a Stupid Car

and I’ve always had trouble with temperatures under the bonnet.

Over the years I’ve tried to interface to DS18B20 sensors in various ways. It started with Raspberry Pi(s) which required a lot of effort not to kill with car voltages and shutdown.

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