RIP Graham!

Posted on October 4, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

As I use my blog as a life diary, I feel it is appropriate to remember the person that recruited me at Xerox in 1993. Graham is one of the few people that had a profound impact on my life as an example to try to follow. His funeral was a great refresher on what one should do with the little time we have on earth to leave a legacy that will outlive you.

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To Nick and Graham’s family,

In this challenging time of loss, I wanted to share some memories of Graham to celebrate his time on earth. And maybe let you know that he lives on within me (and many others that he has touched over the years), trying to perpetuate the values that he represented.

Almost 30 years ago, I sent my CV to Xerox every month in a desperate attempt to join the treasury department at Xerox.
The odds were not in my favour; a 26 years old graduate applying from France to a finance role in Marlow in the 1990s was undoubtedly a long shot. But to my incredible luck, Graham got involved. He pushed my CV around his finance function, suggesting that giving me a chance on a six months non-renewable contract could not harm anybody even if I was French!

What followed was a 26-year career in finance at Xerox; if this were the only thing I owe to Graham, I would be eternally grateful.

But it is a lot more that Graham taught me; he was a fantastic example of outstanding leadership to learn from. His presence in a room would bring gravitas, respect and integrity. His knowledge of the business and his great sense of humour were legendary in the finance function.
During my time at Xerox, once I reached more senior roles and expected to mentor more junior managers, I often used his witted comments to illustrate his sharp and critical thinking.

On one occasion, I had done a lot of work for him and was ready to present my findings; within the first minute of our meeting, he stated the outcome of my work like if it was obvious. I complained to him:” But Graham, with all the work I did, it is unfair not to let me take you through my findings…”
He replied :
“Yes, I know Olivier, a lot of work for you, a single thought for me !”.
He had a massive smile on his face for being so witty; it made me laugh then and still today.

He expected loyalty and integrity from his staff only because his own standards were impeccable.

He also made a point of following his people’s progress closely and encouraging them regularly even after he retired. I am proud to be one of the people he sponsored.

There are so many funny stories that come to my mind and put a smile on my face. I hope that it is the same for you, his family, who miss him dearly today.

Sometimes, when somebody was using too many words to explain something important to Graham, he would get flustered and would say :
“I do not want to hear about the voyage; I just want to know the boat got to the port.”

I am certain that Graham has arrived at the port and would be proud of the legacy he created.

My deepest sympathies to you and your family.

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Dinner for friends ! – Tiger prawns

Posted on September 7, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

I love the way people keep their recipes. Some will have a drawer full of magazine extracts, others will have old notepads with scribbles from their grandmother, some will only use recipes from Michelin star chefs, others will browse the internet on a last-minute rush.

Recently we have been to Andrew and Jane’s place for an impromptu get together. (The best sort of evening …really).

Jane prepared this recipe and it was delicious ! I love the title of the recipe and the small scribble on the top of the page, reminding Jane that this recipe is particularly excellent!

In my experience food and wine always taste a lot better with great friends.

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Mum’s Gougeres – delicieux !

Posted on September 4, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perfect for adding something special to a light evening dinner…

it is essentially cheese profiteroles!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

  • 40g Butter
  • 125cl water
  • 75g Flour
  • 2 Eggs
  • 75g Gruyere Cheese
  • Pepper, Salt, Nutmeg

How to make :

  • Put butter, salt and water in a pan and melt until small simmer.
  • Mix flour in one go and incorporate to make a choux pastry, about 2/3 minutes of cooking.
  • Take the mixture off the heat and add the eggs (you can beat them separately or add them one by one into the pastry directly). Mix vigorously and keep going until the mixture turns into a dough. This is the difficult part of the recipe. Keep mixing until you get a fairly dry and elastic dough.
  • Add the nutmeg and pepper, keeping mixing so the pastry cools down a bit.
  • Finally, add the cheese to the mixture.
  • Prepare a cooking sheet and heat the oven to 200 degrees.
  • The mixture should be enough to make roughly 15 (3X5) -16 (4X4) Gougeres.
  • Use 2 spoons to pick some pastry and put it onto the sheet. I prefer it when the overall look is a bit rough. Rather than perfect balls. It is up to the chef to decide on this.
  • Cook in the preheated oven.
  • Do not open the door of the oven as you are cooking the Gougeres…probably about 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy with family and a glass of wine…

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Best BBQ Ribs – Oli’s Secret recipe

Posted on September 4, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

This is simply the best way to make a rack of ribs either on the BBQ or in the oven…

Ingredients:

  • A full rack of ribs from Costco or butcher
  • 2 Tablespoons of Sugar
  • 1 Onion
  • Montreal Spices (it is pepper, salt, dried garlic, red pepper flakes, paprika)
  • Herbs of Provence

How to make :

  • Cut each rack into 3 pieces, something like 4ribs per part.
  • Liberally coat the ribs with the Montreal Spices and Herbs
  • Chop Onion in medium-sized chunks
  • Put into the Fast-Slow Cooker (or another type of pressure cooker)
  • Layer onion and meat
  • Add a cup of water (to make the steam in the pressure cooker)
  • Cook for 12 minutes from the time the pressure is “on”.
  • Once cooked, you can keep the ribs in the fridge for a few days before grilling
  • When it is time to eat, simply grill on medium to high heat on the BBQ.
  • Alternatively, broil in the oven, on a cooking sheet with aluminium foil.

 

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Been a long time – Summer Holidays

Posted on August 30, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Had 3 weeks of holidays in the south of France…feeling disconnected but happy.

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Never too late !

Posted on June 4, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am over 50 and I never ever played proper golf …..ever!

I never wanted to play, because of the snob and self-centred idiots I occasionally had to meet in my youth as my parents were playing in France. For me, the golf course was the place you would find a white middle-aged male, poorly mannered, misogynist, self-important and most critically with shady ethics, using the under-cover of wine and dine to corrupt a deal.

I know it is an outdated view of golf, my friends and family who are players are often appalled by my perception of the game. I think the game is great, it is the people I met in the past at a golf course that I dislike.

I had a long career in a Corporate environment and never had to play a round of golf with anybody. Thank god really…

I wish Kite-surf would have been on the list of Corporate entertainment.

I did mini-golf and that’s it…never even had a go in a golf range.

Recently my friend Chris from tennis organised a lesson with a coach for 30 minutes and then took me on a round of golf with him! I was under some serious pressure. All self-imposed. But I was not ridicule. Thanks to the scoring system, I did not feel humiliated and could walk back to the bar with my head up. Everybody was very friendly and I felt the pleasure of discovering something new.

I feel very blessed to have a friend like Chris who took some of his precious time to share it with me, just because he wanted and knew how much it would mean to me. I had a great time and although I am probably going to stick with tennis, mountain biking, skiing,  sailing/kite-surfing as my preferred sports, I am pretty sure golf is now on the list of things I must learn and improve on.

Thanks to Chris, I also feel less intimidated to go for a round of golf with my kids who have been playing for many years thanks to Papy & Mamy.

Was I wrong about golf all this time? Some will say yes. I would argue that like in the boardroom, things have improved over time. The majority of golfs have had to adapt to economically survive and discovered that diversity and inclusion are more powerful than the elitism of a few.

This is great as I look forward to my kids taking me for a round of golf where we can just chat about anything and have a nice walk together, trying to find my lost ball in the rough…

 

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Message Board

Posted on June 1, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

I made an electronic message board using Raspberry Pi and RGB-Pixel boards.

Something similar to my virus simulator but with a horizontal layout. I can display various information messages a bit like an airport arrival board or a share price ticker, or a daily inspirational quote.

I also made a web-submit page to send messages directly to the board from anywhere on the planet.

Or simply use the app below which I built with Anvil for python.


 

 

It also gathers the data from the Solar Panels and displays how much of the house electrics are being covered by the solar panel’s energy. It is the green line at the bottom showing 100% of house electricity being supplied by the solar panels.

Another long term project…with many potential uses, none of them critical for life on earth.

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Pizza !

Posted on May 27, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

Just bought an OONI Pizza oven for Jules birthday party!

So getting the recipes to make the best dough and sauces…

 

 

 

 

For the dough, the quantities are a bit “odd” probably because of some Imperial to Metrics conversions from the USA based company…

Ingredients (OONI recipe):

  • 607g of Caputo Flour. (This flour is the “only” good flour for Pizza – order online)
  • 364g of warm water. (60% Water)
  • 18g of Salt. (3% Salt)
  • 9.2g of dry yeast. (1.5% yeast)
  • no olive oil surprisingly…

With the “Oli converter”, slightly easier to remember quantities…

  • 500g of Caputo Flour.
  • 300g of warm water. (60% Water)
  • 15g of Salt. (3% Salt)
  • 7.5g of dry yeast. (1.5% yeast)

How to make :

  • Put flour in a bowl.
  • Dissolve salt into the water until water is clear and transparent. (yes I know this is counter-intuitive but I have now done it many times and this works without any problems)
  • Dissolve the dry yeast in the salty water. (yes I know….but it works)
  • Pour water in flour and start mixing for 10 minutes (manually) or 5-10 in the machine.
  • knead until firm and elastic dough. (I find this part very therapeutic)
  • Leave to rise for 1 hour (if you are in a rush) or 2 hours for even better taste.
  • Cut into pieces of approx 180g each.
  • Make small balls with the dough and place them in a covered tray. Use the stretch and fold method to make the balls. Folding the dough onto itself to make balls.
  • Let to rise for another 1 hour. Covered with cling film or equivalent.
  • I have found that the easiest way to make the pizza is to push the dough down with your fingers all over the pizza. Using plenty of flour to sticking to the worktop. (You can use a rolling pin, but I find this method quicker and easier)
  • Once you have a roughly round base, take the edge in your fingers and rotate the pizza, leaving “gravity” to pull the pizza dough down and stretching the dough to a thin base.

Cooking:

  • Start the Pizza oven with a full cup of wood pellets.
  • Wait 15 minutes for the oven to be warm and ready for cooking.
  • Make your own pizza on a “peel”.
  • Make sure the Pizza is always able to slide on the peel. (very important)
  • Push the Pizza in the oven using the peel and close the door.
  • Rotate the Pizza in the oven every 30 seconds.
  • Pizza is ready in approx. 2 minutes !!

 

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Making Some Beer with my little boy…

Posted on May 22, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

Jules is soon going to be 20 years old. He just finished his exams for his second year at University. He has been very disciplined all year to make sure he would not fall behind in his work. He has a group project to complete and the year 2021 for him will be done!

He will then leave for Holland for a summer job at Optiver . He went through a tough recruitment process a few months ago.

We will probably go to see him during the summer.

 

He has a few days of “break” to recover from exams and called me to have a day together doing nerdy stuff together. It was a super fun day. As always we did not do half of what we wanted to do but it was nice to spend time with my little boy now grown-up to full-size adult….

So we decided to make some beer….using a kit I ordered on Amazon a few weeks ago. That is a lot of cleaning and preparation for just a few pints of IPA.

We have done the brewing part and the beer is now fermenting. It is definitely making a lot of bubbles…Need to wait a couple of weeks before we can finish that project and bottle the beer.

As usual, I ordered more stuff on Amazon to track the level of alcohol etc…

I also shared with him all the stuff I have been doing in my garage over the last few months and showed him some computer-controlled tools I made.

We also started coding the RGB-LED screen I made for him. We decided to add a new micro-controller to the screen to track temperature, humidity and air pressure. We went through the details of the I2C protocol and soldered the bits and bobs required.

As we were fooling around with the screen we decided that it needed a way to stand on its own. So I designed a “foot” for the frame and 3D printed it quickly to attach to the screen.

Was a super fun day, just sad it is already finished….and will be a long time again before we have another. Although I think of the time when he was a little boy of 5 or 6 years old as a special time in my memory, I am also looking forward to all the amazing things we can still do together in the future.

 

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Gas left in Bottle

Posted on May 22, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

Made this super simple calculator, to find out how much gas is left in the BBQ Gas bottles….not that the weather has been any good this year so far…

Almost end of May and very little sunshine, lots of rain…

 

Gas Calculator.

 

 

 

Check the ring first for the 2 numbers :

 

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More Generative Art – Spinning

Posted on April 30, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

More computer coding … this one is trying to illustrate how some little details can change things dramatically between calm and chaos.

I started coding this following a conversation with Noe about trigonometric maths and his revisions for an exam. We talked about knowing formulas by heart to score well at exams and learning a deeper understanding of the math involved in the formula.

With the immense amount of knowledge that schools are providing to our kids, it is normal that most of it is just blasting through subjects that other people have spent their entire lives researching and understanding.

In general, I would say that my memory is not very good. In school and at university I would really struggle with subjects that would require a lot of memory storage for facts and figures. Things like names of people or historic facts would be a real pain to drill into my brain. I have forgotten everything from that time. (This includes the French standard chart of account !!!! – https://www.plancomptable.com/  my university teacher for accounting was simply terrible, he was exactly what most people would imagine an accountant would be…possibly knowledgeable but simply inept at transferring any of it to another human.) Note: It is possible to meet amazing people that are also accountants…

However, on some subjects, I did spend the time to try to understand the mechanics or the way things work a bit more. This then gave me some foundation for other knowledge or new subjects to discover. I probably can remember all of that knowledge and can use it in my everyday life. I find it unfortunate that we do not have the time to learn slowly when at school.

Below is 2 small Generative Art code using simple trigonometric. As I was trying to decide what to draw and how to draw it. I remembered how I could use trigonometry to obtain the result I wanted.

I wanted to represent the feeling of people spinning in their own loops. I wanted to have circles drawing other circles in a way that would not feel “mechanic” but would still be a “loops”. I wanted things to spin close to each other with some spinning faster than others, like people trying to help each other to prevent spiralling out of control. I wanted some sort of rhythm when sometimes the circles are moving fast together and sometimes only one is slow. I wanted one going spinning in a different direction. I did not want to have collisions, just things moving next to each other. I wanted it to be soothing to watch, calming for the mind. As I explored the parameters for the code, it was interesting that a single parameter could change the output so dramatically, that the drawing could look out of control and chaotic or allow to see the path of each circle more clearly.

Click this to see it live.

 

 

Try this for the live version.

 

 

Below is the ENTIRE code. By changing the second line of code between :

let space = 1.5;
or
let space = 15;

You then get this massive change in the resulting drawings.

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Brain Teaser ! – April fool

Posted on April 1, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

I have not researched yet how this works but I find it fun….and perfect for an April’s fool day….

 

 

Pick in your mind one of the following 2 words.

Brainstorm

or

Green Needle

then push the play button below. It will play a short sound clip, listen attentively. You will only hear the word that you have picked. Try it many times. Try it with friends or family. It works almost 100% of the time. I think it works because our brain is specialised in recognizing patterns. You expect to hear something and as soon as you hear the slightest matching pattern or sound that matches your expectation,  then your brain fills the rest and ignores the actual true data. So you truly believe that you have heard a specific word when actually it was just a sound that initially matches the pattern you are thinking about.

Now for more weirdness…if you do this too many times in a row…then your brain is going to “learn” one or the other. It will become a pattern of a pattern and as such you will only hear the particular one that your brain is always associating to the sound pattern.

I love this kind of stuff. Magicians have been using this kind of trick for centuries. More recently there have been a few comics spending time swapping words in the lyrics of well-known songs. Go and check it out it is very funny. Again it is simply tricking the amazing pattern recognition machine that is your brain.

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Proud Dad

Posted on March 28, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

I could not be more proud of my son, who just participated in a Hackathon at Imperial University where he is studying Computer Science.

https://ic-hello-world.devpost.com/

I love generative art as a way of using technical skills and mathematics for the purpose of creativity. It goes against the usual view that machines are cold and science leads to a world without a soul.

 

I think that computers are simply modern tools like a stone for a primitive human.

Like those previous tools, they can be used as weapons or enablers for human creativity.

I feel blessed that my amazing little boy has friends that are not only very accomplished students but also creators.

Take a few minutes to read how sophisticated their Hack is…. here.

https://ic-hello-world.devpost.com/

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Pi Day ! 3.14 and what ?

Posted on March 14, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

Was Pi day today! 14th of March or 3-14 in USA style date.

It is a constant and an irrational number (its decimals goes on forever) and is defined as the number you get when you divide the circumference of a circle by its diameter.

People have tried to find the last digit of Pi for many years. There are databases on the internet with a million digits of Pi etc…and still no pattern to predict the next digit.

I have made over the years several computer codes to find the next digit of Pi. It is a great way to waste a lot of time…

I know a simple way to remember the first 15 digits.

How I want a drink, alcoholic of course, after the heavy lecture involving quantum mechanics…

Count the letters of each word : 3. 1 4 1 5 9 2 6 4 3 5 ….useless but fun trivia.

Try to see if your birthday is in the digits of Pi. Use the below and type your birthday the link will tell you how far down the decimals of Pi you need to go before you can find that sequence of numbers, mine is quite soon at 8434: Pi

I am always puzzled by numbers that have an infinite number of decimal points like Pi. Each time we find a new digit, the number Pi is bigger than the previous one but by a smaller amount…so it is bigger each time for an infinite amount of time but the number Pi itself will never grow to infinite.

Here are the first 1000 digits of Pi :

3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510
  58209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679
  82148086513282306647093844609550582231725359408128
  48111745028410270193852110555964462294895493038196
  44288109756659334461284756482337867831652712019091
  45648566923460348610454326648213393607260249141273
  72458700660631558817488152092096282925409171536436
  78925903600113305305488204665213841469519415116094
  33057270365759591953092186117381932611793105118548
  07446237996274956735188575272489122793818301194912
  98336733624406566430860213949463952247371907021798
  60943702770539217176293176752384674818467669405132
  00056812714526356082778577134275778960917363717872
  14684409012249534301465495853710507922796892589235
  42019956112129021960864034418159813629774771309960
  51870721134999999837297804995105973173281609631859
  50244594553469083026425223082533446850352619311881
  71010003137838752886587533208381420617177669147303
  59825349042875546873115956286388235378759375195778
  18577805321712268066130019278766111959092164201989
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Yakitori Chicken Skewers

Posted on March 7, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

[Update March 2021] I have made this recipe a few times now. The skewers are “fancy” when you have people around for dinner but for just a nice quick evening dinner, it is a bit overkill. So I have now simplified and I start by pan-frying the chicken cut in small cubes, then I broil them in the oven on a tray to give them the BBQ burn style. I serve with lots of spring onions and just plain rice. This can be done in 20-30 minutes and it is delicious. The more sauce the better. Sometimes I keep the skins on the tights, which make some nice crispy bit.  (does not work for the skewers version)

 

 

 

[Initial post 2nd Dec 2018]: I want to make this one. Called Negima Yakitori.

I have been wondering of Yakitori sauce was a different sauce from soy sauce or plum of fish sauce etc….turns-out it is simple to make with the basic ingredients of Japanese cooking.

Posting on my blog just to remember to try…

Ingredients :

  • 100ml Soy Sauce
  • 100ml Mirin
  • 50ml Sake + 50ml Water (or 100ml Sake if you want more humpffff !)
  • You can also do 1/3 Soy, 1/3 Mirin, 1/3 Sake
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 500g Chicken Tights (boneless and skinless)
  • Spring onions
  • Bamboo skewers to hold the chicken during cooking

How to make :

  • Put Soy, Mirin, Sugar, Water and Sake in saucepan and let cook in medium heat for 15 to 20  minutes until sauce is thick and glossy. (It will reduce)
  • Cut the chicken into 3cm cubes and put on the bamboo skewers spaced with a piece of Spring Onion.
  • Soak the skewers in water before using them to avoid burning them in the oven. (helps with moist chicken as well)
  • There are 2 methods: either broiler or saucepan
    • Warm a frying pan to medium heat.
    • Set the chicken skewers in the pan and baste with the sauce.
    • Cook by turning the skewers and basting more and more until fully cooked.
  • Or with the broiler
    • Set the broiler on high
    • Put the skewers on aluminium foil over a cooking tray
    • turn a couple of times and baste as you cook
  • keep some of the sauce for a final coating before serving

Hope I try this before Xmas, might be an easy one to make for the whole big family….

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Time Capsule

Posted on February 17, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

This is a post I will review regularly and update like a time capsule about time :

 

 

 

 

I have been interested in “Time” for a while. It is something that I find particularly troubling. It is why I have that little catchphrase at the top right of my blog. I simply want to capture here some thoughts and questions I ask myself about time.

Like many, I “feel” once in a while that “time” flies fast and others that it lingers. Is it my perception of time or actually time that dilates and contracts as we move through space at variable speed as we spin around stars in the Universe? For sure this further confinement is more taxing on all around us and collectively we are probably slowing time by moving less! In general, I think that time actually shrinks and expands under the influence of the entire world. (not just the people but the whole universe in its infinite entirety)

Science says that time and space should be considered as one thing. Essentially if I move around in space, I also move in time. Time is personal to each one of us and does not tick/flow at the same speed if I move fast through my garden compared to the motionless flowers. I like things that go fast or do things rather than sit, I struggle to read because it feels so slow to capture data. I like to make decisions and move on. I want to ski fast, ride a fast motorbike, drive a fast car, live. Maybe it is for me a disguised way to slow-down time. Unfortunately, it is not possible to “stop” moving in this time-space, you are always drifting because of the laws of physics.

Do we perceive time passing more quickly as we get older simply because our brains get slower to process things? Science has shown that our brains can only process data at a few frames per second. Our brain gives us the illusion of continuity when it actually can only capture discrete events and process them with little speed in comparison to machines. So the quicker you think, the slower the world appears to you. Which is helpful when tripping during a walk to avoid a bad fall but rarely used consciously to simply enjoy the beauty of Nature. Next time you see something beautiful try to think very fast and you will probably “really” make it last longer.

If time travel was possible, I do not think I would want to revisit the past. There are things I have done or said that I am less proud of than others and wish I had taken a different path, however, I am happy that they have happened so I could learn from them by remembering them. It is the same for good things, romantically it would be nice to relive good times but they would most certainly lose much of their magic, I prefer to remember them as a sailing tack-point in my lifetime.  I believe my present to be richer because of my past. I am not so clear-cut on the possibility of travelling in the future. I would like to know it but do not want to miss out on the journey to it either. The good news is that I do not have to make a choice.

So the present is a good place and the only place I exist. I seek to simply enjoy today because soon it will be the good old days that I reminisce. I don’t like planning and it stresses me, it is creating a “certainty” in the future. With confinement, many find comfort in planning a new holiday or a future event, it simply does not work for me. I cannot change my past and arguably cannot do much about my future either as it will never exist until I act. One could be scared by all this weirdness and philosophical thinking. Although my views create a profound need for sparkles and adrenaline in my present, I still think that I am in control of where I swim in the river, just not in control of where the river is taking me. It also makes me less anxious about having made bad decisions or making mistakes in my present or even fearing my own ineluctable entropy.

This is also why I want to do things now and not wait for tomorrow. If I have to wait for tomorrow, let’s start early.

 

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Happy Valentine ’21

Posted on February 13, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

Happy Valentine in full confinement…although this round is a lot harder we can still try to have normal lives.

I have been playing with the “Processing” language for many years. [probably something like 2012]. The recent evolution has been towards P5.js which is a javascript library that provides very simple functions to make drawings on a webpage Canvas. I have used on occasions OpenProcessing but recently I have enjoyed the simplicity of P5.js to create quick visuals for the simple Generative Art I make.

I was inspired by some work done by Etienne Jacob after watching a youtube video of the Coding train of Daniel Shiffman…

I had to learn a lot about “easing” functions and GIF-making as well as dive back into trigonometric functions!

My preferred one is “X-plode”.

 

  • This first one is “Pi-R” :

 

  • This one is “+lse”:

 

 

  • This one is “X-plode”:

 

 

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Machining Aluminium

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

I made a clamping tool for holding the wheel of my bike on my workshop table.

I designed the part with Fusion360 on the computer and then started making it from a rough-cut from an aluminium bar.

Cutting such a thick piece of aluminium is not easy and takes a lot longer than one would expect. I use an electric hack-saw but still, it is hard work.

Once the rough block is cut approximately to size, it is time for proper machining with my CNC-Mill. The starting block was about 5.5cm wide in all dimensions. This is almost the maximum size for my little milling machine! I had to get a bit creative with the holding clamps etc…

I used a fly cutter (a scary piece of tool steel that appears to be “flying” over the part), it was creating so many chips of metal in the workshop that I had to build some sort of box to enclose the mill. I use my laser cutter to make the pieces and attached them to the wooden base.

This project was a classic demonstration that once you start one project it spans many other small projects.

Just to change a small ratchet on my bike, I had to build the aluminium clamp, I had to build a box for the mill, I made some helping tools such as a laser-cut protractor, I then had to modify the software on the CNC Mill to make the cutting less tedious, I had to update the raspberry pi that controls the Mill etc… This would have frustrated me to no end in the past when “only” a weekend was the time I could do any of this. now, I take the time to do everything one step at a time. If I can’t do it today, who cares…

By the way, once I had everything done.(a full day of work)..changing the ratchet only took a couple of minutes…

 

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Pear and Chocolate Crumble

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients for 4 Ramequins:

  • 80g flour
  • 80g Sugar + some for the pears cooking.
  • 80g Salted Butter + some for pears cooking.
  • 4 pears
  • 30g of Chocolate

How to make:

  • Mix flour and sugar
  • Crumble the butter into the flour and sugar mixture
  • Put mixture into the fridge
  • Peel the pears and cut in medium size cubes. (remove any seeds before).
  • Chop the chocolate into pieces
  • Warm the oven to 180 celsius.
  • Put the pears in a frying pan with a bit of butter for about 5 minutes. Make them nice and caramel by sprinkling some sugar on them. About a tablespoon or 2.
  • Sprinkle some sugar on the pears to make a bit of a caramel outside
  • Put the chocolate and the pears into the ramequins, then sprinkle the four mixture on top.
  • Cook in the oven for 40 minutes.

Best consumed slightly warm with a bit of creme fraiche!

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Tax return time….or is it ?

Posted on January 24, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

Getting to this time of year when I struggle to get myself fired up and seems that days go too fast without very much done…

 

 

 

 

We had a fun snow day today, nothing like what we used to get in the USA but something special for London and was just fun to go out in the falling snow.

 

When I think of how much I used to get done in a day! Soon to be 2 years.

Got to do my tax return….should be simple…but never really…

Also, this time of year his loaded with emotional things like the anniversary of the passing of good friends, Darren Hooker, Paul foster, James Marshall. As usual, I made sure I would go to see them at the CAT and have a drink for their souls to rest in peace and give me a bit of kick in the backside. Remind me how lucky I am.

Darren was the most forceful, as usual, he reminded me to just get on with it! Because of COVID the CAT was closed obviously, so I sat on a wall along the canal close to my old office. (What a dump it has become now…). Andrew called and we had a good cheer for our departed friends.

It was a long ride to get there but I was rewarded with sunshine all the way back home.

There are more anniversaries coming for recent losses in the family, Phillipe, Guy…I am going to make some plans because I know it will be another beautiful day of sunshine.

 

 

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