My brother-in-law, @beep, was published in .net magazine, which went on newstands in the UK today.  He’s not new to being published, but it’s still special and awesome and my hubby swiped all the copies he could carry off the WH Smith in Victoria Station today (he did pay for (most of) them).

I bore you. Twitter. Too excited for my own good, I took a photo (below) of the intro to send to the fam.  I tweeted.  Views went from 4 to 7.  Beep re-tweeted.  Views went from 12 to 112. IN LESS THAN 10 SECONDS.

He truly is an unstoppablerobotninja.  Who schools you on fluid design.  If you’re in the UK, buy a copy; you can read about @zeldman and @simplebits too.

hush is going to be doing in-house product photography and we’ve got the whole setup coming together in our offices.  Three lights with umbrellas, overhead tripod, iMac, camera, lens and all the fun toys that go with them – monitor balancing software, Magic Mouse and more.

I have no excuses to go home early now; I’ll happily stay late to play work.

In preparation for the big setup (next Friday – I’m counting down), I get to play with the camera and lens, try my hand at Aperture and Bridge and work out just how in the world I was trusted with what will soon be the flat lays for everything hush prints or publishes.

This time-lapse photography from Peter Belanger is not only cool in its own right, but is exactly what kind of photography I soon hope to produce!

So I registered my repair, wrapped it up like that kid from A Christmas Story and sent it away.  Sod the freepost label, my baby went next day with added insurance.

I’m sure I could live without my phone or my computer if forced to, but after 3 days without my camera, I know I could never live without one.  It stays at home during the week and only comes out for days out, rowing regattas or visits with friends, but suddenly I feel like my right arm is missing.

Thankfully the repair should be done in a few more days.  I’d much rather be without it now than at my sister’s wedding in October.

Designer gear at huge discounts – some at 80% off – and they ship to most countries.

I couldn’t resist, I bought a fab new pair of Chloé heels for…wait for it…£72!  The same amount I paid for my last pair of Kurt Geiger platform sandals.

They were sent today and (fingers crossed) should arrive tomorrow.

They also have great sales and reverse auction offers (more info here).  Definitely a new bookmark for my browser, if only just for window-shopping.

My favourites: ‘Bad Idea’ (“I don’t know the guy, but I figure he needs one kidney and I’ve got two….”), ‘Microsoft Word is not a design tool’ and ‘Do not get en and em dashes mixed up.’  I heart English.

Overall, it was a great recipe and a wonderful afternoon.  We stocked up ahead of time on the equipment we’d need and I had quite a bit of fun wandering around Denton’s in Clapham looking at all the shiny kitchen tools.  We now have a china cap, chinois and (my staple for a kitchen) Silpat for future recipes.

Dinner took about 5 hours from start to finish, mostly due to the amount of time required to reduce about 6 cups of broth down to 1 cup.

We had to steep the lobsters in a boiling water-vinegar solution for 2-3 minutes.  I’m never cooking lobsters in a pot of water again – this method (pour the boiling water over the lobsters and let sit for 2-3 minutes, then remove and put claws back in for another 5 minutes) is absolutely amazing!

I’ve never been able to remove meat so easily from all parts of the lobster.  The tail slid out without problem and even the knuckle meat was coming out without really breaking the shell.

The meat isn’t cooked when it comes out – it’s just cooked enough on the outside to facilitate removal, but the flesh on the inside is still raw enough that you can finish it however you like.

The broth begins with the lobster bodies in quarters being sauteed and then veg, tarragon, and water are added and left to simmer for an hour.

The broth itself required quite a bit of skimming, which I found quite calming.

Since reducing broth doesn’t make for good photos, I’ll just skip to the poaching.  You can see how cleanly the meat came out of the shell – all the claws remained intact, although the colour isn’t as vibrant as when it’s fully cooked.

The lobster poached in beurre monte (left) and the broth, reduced to one cup, was then mixed with 2 cups heavy cream and then reduced to 1 cup again.  We couldn’t find orzo at our usual markets, so substituted troiffe, a twisted pasta that was thin, though longer than orzo, but made from the same hard durum semolina.  I think it was a good substitute given we didn’t have time to scrounge around the finer markets during the week.

As the lobster poached, we combined the troiffe with the creamy lobster broth, then added the two tablespoons of mascarpone and chives.  To plate, the troiffe went first, then half a tail and a claw, topped with a crisp.  We didn’t have any coral from the lobsters, so couldn’t make the coral oil to garnish the plate, but I’m very happy with the outcome.

The final pics aren’t uploading properly, so check out my flickr site for more.

We ended up with quite a lot of leftover lobster, but I didn’t want to run the risk of reducing the recipe and mucking up the numbers, so I guess we’ll just have to eat lobster again soon.  Shucks.

For drinks, we started with some pink champagne and drank a Visintini pinot bianco during the meal.  Visintini is one of my favourite vineyards and they offer a gorgeous copper-coloured pinot grigio, my favourite for a special meal.  I went with the slightly lighter pinot bianco for this one, as the dish itself is very, very rich.

Photos of Barnes taking ages to upload, but eventually here.

Transport update: All buses cancelled, no trains from Barnes Bridge, and any tube stations near me are in the sections listed as ‘part suspended’.  Essentially, anything overground is closed.

Yes, I know, it’s not that much snow, it’s not that big a deal.  But I’d rather be here with 6 inches than back in CT with 6 inches and still having to go to work!

A moment that changed the history and future of America and what was I doing?  Cleaning up orders on the mail order software.  Crap.  Damn time difference – if only I’d been on lunch break.