James Cannam

Fresh Pesto

jaymze — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:41:08 +0000

You can’t beat the taste of your own freshly made pesto. And there’s something very special in creating you own unique blend of pesto, you know ever single ingredient that has gone into it, and it tastes so much better than the stuff you get in the shops.

It’s simple to make, and you can knock together two weeks supply in ten minutes flat with minimal washing up! If your really keen you can make in a pestle and mortar, but I use a small blender. Recycle an old mayonnaise jar and lid for storage. You can sterilise the jar and lid by boiling in a saucepan for 15 mins, this means it will keep for up to two weeks in the fridge.

Ingredients

80 g basil leaves
50 g pine nuts
4 tablespoons grated parmesan
2 garlic cloves
150 ml extra virgin olive oil
seasoning to taste

Method

Put the pine nuts, peeled garlic, basil and parmesan in a food processor and mix to a paste. Pulsing the food processor may help get it started. If your having trouble you may need to push the ingredients down with a spoon, being careful of the blades
Add the olive oil in stages, mixing inbetween
Taste, season if necessary, then enjoy in your favourite recipe! My top two would be with fresh pasta with cherry tomatoes, or on bruschetta, simple and delicious

Fresh Pasta

jaymze — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 09:44:08 +0000

You can’t beat fresh pasta, it’s so much better than the dried stuff, it’s on a whole new level. Surprisingly its also very simple to make, it just takes a few hours to knock out from three basic ingredients: Flour, eggs and a pinch of salt. The recipe below describes the method using a pasta machine, but it is possible to do with a rolling pin.

Ingredients

This makes 500g pasta, enough for 4 servings.

300g OO Flour plus extra to dust
3 Large eggs
Pinch of salt
2 tsp vegatable oil (optional but makes easier to handle)

Making the dough

Combine the flour and salt then place on a clean work surface, or pastry board.
Beat the eggs gently with the oil. Make a well in the centre of the flour and add the eggs.
Using a fork gradually mix the flour into the eggs trying not to form any pockets. Beating in one direction helps with this. You will need to protect the flour dam from breaking open with your other hand.
When the mixture becomes to stiff to continue with the fork get stuck in with your hands! Continue drawing in the flour until a soft dough is formed. Sometimes you will need more or less flour, its different every time. The perfect dough is soft and workable but not sticky
Now for the kneading to develop a nice consistency. Knead for 10 minutes (good workout for your arms) by folding in half and flattening with your palms, try and maintain a nice round shape.
That’s the dough done, too easy. Place in a small bowl and cover with clingfilm. Take a well earned rest and let the dough have a rest for at least 15 mins or up to a couple of hours.

Rolling the pasta

The final stage is to roll your pasta, there are a few different types you can make, but I’m going to teach you one of my favorites, tagliatelle. If you’ve bought a new pasta machine you’ll need to use the first piece of dough to run through and clean out the machine oil and metal filings from the manufacture process.

Divide the dough into six pieces, work with one piece at a time whilst keeping the rest covered up.
Flatten the first piece, dust with flour and roll through the pasta machine on the widest setting. If the dough becomes to sticky at any stage dust with more flour.
Fold the flattened piece into thirds and run through the machine on the first setting, repeating the folding and rolling process 5 more times to develop the texture.
Roll the pasta through the machine once at each of the remaining settings, you’ll need a bit of practice to feed the increasingly long pasta through the machine as it gets a bit tricky!
Finally cut into suitable lengths for your tagliatelle and run through the cutting attachment on your machine.
That’s it, your should now have enough fresh pasta to serve 4 – 5 people as a starter! To cook drop into salted boiling water and cook for just over 1 minute, serve with a simple tasty sauce such as homemade pesto (recipe to follow).

I like to make plenty in one go, eat some fresh and dry the rest for storage. To dry leave on the pasta tree or tea towel for around 3 hours, then store in an airtight container in the fridge. It will keep for up to three weeks. Dried fresh pasta is still amazing, and requires about 3 minutes cooking time.

2011 Photography Highlights

jaymze — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 10:49:41 +0000

Some of my favorite shots from 2011. Here’s looking forward to taking many more in 2012!

Winter Sunrise @ Coogee

jaymze — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 11:18:18 +0000

Winter Sunrise @ Coogee, a photo by James Cannam on Flickr.

Another beautiful sunrise at Coogee. I love the moss that has appeared on the rocks, looking forward to shooting it in better light next time.

Liz’s Texan Mud Cake

jaymze — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 10:21:58 +0000

My little sister Liz brought this fantastic recipe all the way over from Austin Texas to bake at our engagement party. It looked impressive enough, but when we tasted it we were blown away. Without any exaggeration it’s the best chocolate cake I’ve ever had. It’s also great for a party as it can feed a lot of people.

It didn’t last long and unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to take a photo before it all disappeared so instead you get my artists impression. It has mud filling, chocolate frosting and is topped with marshmallows drizzled with fudge sauce.

As it’s an American cake all the measures are in imperial, and some of the ingredients might not be available. But I’m sure you’ll work out your own substitutes.

Texan Mud Cake

Makes 1 (10-inch) cake

1 Cup butter, melted
1 1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
3 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups whole butter milk
1 1/2 cups boiling water
Mud Filling (as per recipe below)
Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting (as per recipe below)
1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows (optional for decoration)
1/4 cup fudge sauce (optional for decoration)

First preheat the oven to 180º C (350º F). Grease and flour 2 (10-inch) baking

pans.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, gradually whisk the cocoa powder into the melted butter until smooth. Put to one side.

In a large mixing bowl use an electric mixer to beat together the sugar, eggs and vanilla. When the mixture becomes pale and fluffy slowly add the butter mixture and continue to beat till combined.

Next add the flour, baking soda and salt to a medium bowl and mix together. Slowly add this to the sugar mixture , alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour, whilst beating until just combined with each addition.

Slowly add boiling water, beating until just combined. Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared pans, bake for 28 to 34 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes then remove and cool completely on wire racks.

When completely cooled add the mud filling to the middle of the layers, put the cake together and chill for a couple of hours. Once chilled make the frosting and spread over the top and sides of the cake, decorate the top with marshmallows and finally drizzle with the fudge sauce. The cake should be stored in the refrigerator before serving.

Mud Filling

1 (8-ounce) container frozen nondairy whipped topping, thawed
1 (7-ounce) jar marshmallow creme
4 ounces cream cheese, softened

In a medium mixing bowl combine all the ingredients. Beat with a electric mixer until smooth, the cover and chill for about an hour.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

1 cup softened butter
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (9.7 ounce) box bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
3 (1-ounce) squares semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
6 cups confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large bowl beat the butter and cream cheese together until creamy. Next add the melted chocolates, beating until combined. Gradually add confectioners sugar, beating until smooth. Finally add vanilla, beating until combined.

Top iPad apps for Building Services Engineers

jaymze — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 11:58:19 +0000

Since its original release the iPad has been hugely popular. In fact by the time Apple released the iPad2 they had sold over 15 million devices. With the iPad2 now thinner, faster and sporting a camera it’s becoming even more popular. I’ve had an iPad since near the beginning, and although it was mainly for fun at the start I’m starting to find it more and more useful for both work and play. With internet connection on tap wherever I go I can use time on the bus more effectively to do many tasks such as checking my emails. And although you can do this on a smartphone its not nearly as fun on a cramped screen.

Over the past six months I’ve churned through many an app, collecting the useful ones, and discarding those that are not so useful. I wanted to share some of my favourites, and also learn of others I may have missed. So after reading the list please feel free to add a comment if you know of any must have apps for engineers.

PCalc Lite Calculator

The iPad doesn’t ship with a calculator, or at least the iPad 1 didn’t. This free calculator does the job. No frills and my favourite price, free. You can pay for extra features but didn’t find them necessary.

Wind Tunnel App

This app is really amazing, and I can’t believe it only costs $1.99. The prime example of when to use this app is when someone asks ‘are turning vanes really required?’ now you can draw the duct in the wind tunnel and show them that yes, turning vanes are extremely important to the airflow. Other examples of use would be to show a client how wind will interact with their building especially lobby areas.

The screenshot doesn’t do this app justice, you really need to see it in action to understand.

Dropbox

Dropbox enables you to easily share files between multiple devices. Sign up for a free account online, set it up on your iPad and PC and then you can easily access files on all machines with no cables in sight. Need to discuss a spreadsheet or pdf in a meeting? Drop it into your dropbox folder, and pick it up on your iPad over the wireless.

SPL Meter

Ever fancied yourself as a sound engineer? This app is a portable sound pressure meter for your iPad. For accurate results calibration may be required, but if you have a bit of sound knowledge you can probably calibrate it yourself to get accurate enough readings.

Architizer

Contemporary architecture at your fingertips, browse through a library of over 20,000 architectural projects for inspiration whilst on the bus.

3D Via Mobile

If you’ve mastered a 3d program such as SketchUp you can use this app to upload and view 3d model on the go. Great for showing of work outside of the office.

Abobe Ideas

This vector based graphics program is the best drawing app I’ve found to date. Used in conjunction with a stylus (available at JB Hifi) it gives some great results. I use this to sketch on the go, it has replaced the need to carry a sketchbook. Sketches can be emailed as pdfs, and you can even sketch over the top of a photo.

Penultimate

This turns your iPad into a digital moleskine notebook. Complete with different types of paper. Again I find this app best used with a stylus.

Goodreader

Goodreader is the iPad version of bluebeam. You can view and markup pdfs and then flatten and email the comments to others. It links up with your dropbox account to make sharing files simple. I’ve used this to fill in online forms, including signing forms digitally with my finger. Saves the time and effort required to print and rescan documents.

And that concludes my favourite engineering apps for now…. If you have any you would like to share add a comment.

Wylies. All washed out

jaymze — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 11:52:20 +0000

Wylies. All washed out, a photo by James Cannam on Flickr.

I went for a jog along the coast last weekend, and took a few shots of the surf pounding the coast during an abnormally high tide. Wylies, which is my favourite rock swimming pool, was completely overrun by waves. I didn’t spot anyone brave enough to take on these conditions, better just to get a coffee and enjoy the show.

http://www.wylies.com.au/

Sydney Downtown: Ducati

jaymze — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 04:08:15 +0000

photo, a photo by James Cannam on Flickr.

Taken on my lunchbreak, with an iPhone. The light in Sydney really is spectacular, the photo is pretty much straight out of the camera, slightly sharpened and a soft focus added.

Coogee Beach @ Sunrise

jaymze — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 11:42:37 +0000

They say the best time of day for landscape photography is the golden hour each side of sunrise and sunset. I dragged myself out of bed at 5am on a couple of occasions to see if this was true, and was rewarded with some spectacular sunrises at Coogee Beach. The outcome was these photos:

Object Gallery

jaymze — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 14:00:43 +0000

Object Gallery, a photo by James Cannam on Flickr.

The Object Gallery exhibition space in Surry Hills, Sydney. Currently showing the outstanding Now & When Exhibition, as featured in the 2010 Venice Architecture Biennale.

More of my photos are available here:

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjvmr8wL