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Recipe: Vegan Butter Chicken
Vegan Butter Chicken
This is a healthy and inexpensive recipe for vegan curry. The making of
this dish was recorded through Twitter’s new Vine app and photographed using
Instagram
Ingredients
-Rice
-Onion
-Ginger
-Garlic
-Mixed vegetable
-Pumpkin
-Cauliflower
-Carrot
-Tomato
-Butter chicken seasoning
-Margarine
-Lentils
-Coconut cream
Instructions
Step 1
Cook rice, follow instructions on back of the packet or use a rice
cooker
Step 2
Prepare all your ingredients
-Dice onion, crush garlic
and ginger
-Cut pumpkin and
cauliflower into bite sized cubes
-Dice up fresh tomato
-Dice carrot small, and
dice up any other vegetables you are using.
Step 3
Boil pumpkin and cauliflower until fully cooked. Add any other vegetable
that needs pre-cooking (e.g. potato, broccoli, sweet potato etc)
Step 4
Melt margarine in a fry pan and add onion. Cook until softened then add
garlic and ginger
Step 5
Once it starts to smell yummy, add the tomato
Step 6
Add your vegetables and stir to incorporate
TIP: save the pumpkin water to use as a stock, it add more flavour
than water and avoids wastage
Step 7
Sprinkle in a couple of tablespoons of seasoning. Add just enough to
coat, put in less than you think as you can always add more later.
If
you want ease and don't mind dairy, you can add stir through sauce, it's still
delicious
Step 8
Add pumpkin water, lentils and a drizzle of coconut cream and let
simmer.
TIP: Coconut cream adds the desired creamy texture while still being
vegan. If you are not worried about animal content, add unsweetened double
cream.
Step 9
It’s done, just add a dollop of margarine and serve on rice
TIP: Sauce can last for a ages in the fridge (or freezer) and doesn’t
need to be kept in the fridge or re-heated when planning work lunches.
Bon Appetit
Vine Cooking Experiment - READ FIRST
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Welcome to Social Studios’ Vine cooking experiment. Before
you start on what I can assume will be a crazy, laughter filled journey there
are a few things I feel I should say.
Firstly, let me introduce myself, I am Kate Doyle,
I am a Roller Derby Official (Photo courtesy of Roaringstorm Photography)
film maker
And first and foremost; managing director of a little a
little studio I like to call social.
This business focuses on using video to help build branding
and overall web presence for small companies, bloggers and individuals.
So why am I doing this, and what on earth is it? A couple of
weeks ago (specifically the 29th of January) Twitter launched a new
application called Vine. I like to say that Vine is to Youtube what Twitter is
to Facebook. While it may not ruin Youtube all together, it will certainly
change the way people blog and share their life experiences with friends or
strangers. Now I am not a Twitter user, and I only just got into Instagram,
however I’ve decided to go against my late adopting nature and jump in head
first into learning the ins and outs, positives and negatives and basically how
to use Vine, so that I can deliver to my clients the most current marketing
strategies and fads.
I have gone overboard however, and decided not only to post
on Vine and Twitter, but to also share these posts on my personal Facebook page
and photograph using my personal Instagram account. THEN take all this and edit
together a Youtube video (not sure it’s possible, hence the word ‘experiment’)
and write a full blog post which follows each step.
I will also preface that even though I am doing this for my
work, I am not going to be 100% professional, meaning I will be myself, tell
jokes in my own humour and be the crazy irrelevant self that my friends know me
for.
And before I sign off and give all the links and call to
actions and all that technical stuff, I first need to point out that even
though I have said it is vegan butter chicken, due to my local shopping center
(bloody Metro) not stocking butter chicken seasoning ANYWHERE (something that I
used to sell in my past life as a deli manager, so I know it exists), I will be using an alternative
seasoning mix, but it will still be the same…. I promise….
So links!
@SocialStudiosAu #SSocialExperiment #VineCookingSS
#SSocialExperiment #VineCookingSS
Website – www.socialstudios.com.au
Email – kate@socialstudios.com.au
How you can get involved: This is a live streamed event,
however due to the amazing permanent nature of the internet, you will still be
able to follow in your own time. During the ‘broadcast’ I
will be following all the feeds and answering any questions, giving tips and
generally interacting with you at home. So get posting, commenting and @tagging
and all those other things and get involved.
MamaDoo - Filming
Today marked the start of an ongoing relationship with the upcoming
website company MamaDoo.com. We have just finished filming the first in a
series of videos with Managing Director Natalie Dinsdale.
The video will serve as the introduction to the company as
well as help us set up a specific style, personality and procedure to work with
for the videos to come.
We started the video by moving around our entire office to
fit in our brand new cyclorama. With a custom backdrop picked out by Natalie,
we transformed our small office into a studio, complete with 3 point lighting
(which made the office heat up extremely, making us glad we shot on an over
cast day and not the 40-odd degree heat of Tuesday).
It was wonderful to see an already beautiful woman transform
through hair and make-up to become someone who looked professional and stunning
on camera. As to be expected being her first time on camera, Natalie was
nervous, but throughout the filming, (through the energy drops, pick ups and
overly hot lights) Natalie shined on camera and delivered a star performance.
We are looking forward to editing the footage and sharing it with you in the
not to distant future.
Keep your eye out on our Facebook site for photos and
further updates on our filming adventures.
Written by Kate Doyle for Social Studios
Epic Meal Time
Epic Meal Time- What Do You Know About Cooking?
By Richard Siou
Epic Meal Time: EMT. Once you realise the insanity and sheer power of meat, you will never look at food the same way again. They make Man vs. Food look like an appetiser. EMT makes meals that would take the average person days to eat, that are truly epic (think of the grandeur of Heston's Feasts, replacing anything that isn't meat with meat), yet horrifying, and filled with more fat, grease and alcohol than you can conceive of.
Are you calorie conscious? No problem, the Canadian boys at EMT have got you covered. With one meal clocking over 69,000 calories (thats right calories, not kilojoules) collectively, you're probably wondering the same thing as I am: How have these guys not managed to single-handedly ruin the public health system and themselves simultaneously, and how do I order myself a one-way ticket to heart failure as well?
When life gives you lemons what do you do? You buy bacon of course. Bacon strips, bacon strips & more bacon strips - that is the recurring motif in every dish they make, whether it be sweet or savoury, bacon is the appetiser, the main meal and the dessert. What goes with bacon? Booze. Without fail, these men of meat have managed to amass an unlimited supply of Jack Daniel's and bacon, which was probably inspired by drunk butchers. And then the guys one-up each other by drinking out of bacon shot glasses.
With a following of over 2.9 million subscribers and more than 480 million hits, this group of Canadian carnivores have made it pretty damn big since starting in September 2010. This has earned them coverage from various media, from a live cooking demonstration on the Jay Leno show, to crossovers with other YouTube partners, and even an awesome guest appearance from Deadmau5.
A walking, drinking and eating testament to the power of mankind.
When life gives you lemons what do you do? You buy bacon of course. Bacon strips, bacon strips & more bacon strips - that is the recurring motif in every dish they make, whether it be sweet or savoury, bacon is the appetiser, the main meal and the dessert. What goes with bacon? Booze. Without fail, these men of meat have managed to amass an unlimited supply of Jack Daniel's and bacon, which was probably inspired by drunk butchers. And then the guys one-up each other by drinking out of bacon shot glasses.
With a following of over 2.9 million subscribers and more than 480 million hits, this group of Canadian carnivores have made it pretty damn big since starting in September 2010. This has earned them coverage from various media, from a live cooking demonstration on the Jay Leno show, to crossovers with other YouTube partners, and even an awesome guest appearance from Deadmau5.
Are you a meat-hater? Here's a more herbivore friendly recipe than the meaty monstrosities which have probably turned you off food. Which is why you should watch this, lest you become a vegan:
But that means you're a hater. And stop hatin' on bacon, hater. Embrace bacon. Bacon is a way of life.
Written by Richard Siou for Social Studios - www.socialstudios.com.au
What the sh*t Skyfall?
Skyfall is coming... Any time now.
By Donnelly. David Donnelly.
The Middle East and Africa, generally speaking, were the first cabs off the rank, receiving Skyfall as early as October 26th. Whilst most of Latin America and Europe got their first taste of Bond towards the start of November. That's before even North America, where the film opened to mostly positive reviews in it's widest, highest grossing release to-date, on November 9th. Meanwhile us Aussie's are sitting over here, presumably throwing another shrimp on the barbie, while we wait for the rest of the world to come to us. That's comparatively late even for Asia Pacific, with most of our region screening to the public at the start of the month.
Following the poor U.S. Box office performance of the Timothy Dalton film, Licence to Kill, the release of Bond films have traditionally taken place between October 31st and mid-December to avoid the risk posed by the minefield that is the summer blockbuster season. In all likelihood, Australia was the last stop on the world wind tour to celebrate Bond's 50th anniversary, with 007 himself, Daniel Craig attending the Australian Premiere in Sydney. And don't get me wrong, I appreciate that they didn't just phone this one in, but still, Why were we left so long to salivate like Pavlovian dogs?
I'm probably too close to this to be able to write objectively with any form of sincerity. As a Bond fan and self-confessed cinephile, a delay of 24 hours would have prompted a similar response - more Hulk than Bruce Banner.
But with the proliferation of torrenting sites such as Pirate Bay - which have been the subject of considerable media attention (read: a copyright proprietor lead witch hunt) in recent times - but hey, there's no such thing as bad press, right? - I would have thought that a simultaneous release date would have been the way to avoid the high seas of piracy. And yet, Universal, Sony Pictures and MGM still consider Australia to occupy that region of the map marked "here be dragons"... and the von Trapps.
That is of course, unless they already have the piracy side of things covered. Less of a random torrent-able simulacrum, more of a personal statement.
Perhaps a strongly worded letter to the custodians of the Bond legacy is in order. Just to say "Hey, with the advances of modern technology, Australia isn't so far to come when Bond 24 is released, so don't leave it so long between Vesper Martini's. And yes our toilet's flush in the opposite direction."
Written by David Donnelly for Social Studios - www.socialstudios.com.au
Don't look now, it's a chair!
Facebook advertising - You're doing it wrong
By Kate Doyle
On October 4th 2012, Facebook (the social Media platform that has changed the way gen Y communicates) released it's very first television commercial.
Now ignoring the quality and copy of the ad (more about that later), the biggest question is: Why? Why would Facebook need to spend thousands of dollars to produce and screen a commercial for television when you consider around 15% of the entire worlds population (over 1 billion people) are active users. Surely that is enough users on your website.
Maybe advertising the advertising features of Facebook (i.e. how they make money) would be an effective strategy. Maybe they were trying to improve their branding, and not gain more users.
Consider this for a second, Companies all around the world are introducing social media marketing strategies, using video and on-line platforms for their brand building and generally starting to move away from expensive television real estate (obviously not completely...yet). You would assume that one of the websites pioneering this change in commercial advertising, would use this alternative platform, instead of the traditional television advertising.
But let's not rationalise the methods of a crazy man (have you seen the Social Network?), lets just read what he has to say for himself.
“Celebrating a billion people is very special to me," he said. "It’s a moment to honour the people we serve. For the first time in our history, we've made a brand video to express what our place is on this earth... We belong to a rich tradition of people making things that bring us together."
So it was a branding video, ah it makes sense now... wait, their place in this world? To understand our confusion, maybe you should watch the ad.
So, Facebook's place in the world is for us to sit on, press, walk all over and dance on whilst trying not to get sucked into black holes? Lets analyse line for line.
Chairs. Chairs are made so that people can sit down and take a break.
Yes, chairs are made for people to park their asses on to relieve the pressure on their feet. Some people also happen to stand on chairs to get a much needed height boost.
Anyone can sit on a chair and, if the chair is large enough, they can sit down together. And tell jokes. Or make up stories. Or just listen.
You'll also find that if a chair is big enough to sit together on, it becomes a couch, or bench, or really god-damned squish.
Chairs are for people.
Again, Chairs are for sitting.
And that is why chairs are like Facebook.
Huh?
Doorbells. Airplanes. Bridges.
Are nothing like chairs, go on...
These are things people use to get together, so they can open up and connect about ideas and music and other things that people share.
Um, Doorbells are for people to let other people know they are on the other side of a solid object that keeps people apart. Airplanes are for people to move long distances in the quickest way they can, much like boats, cars and other vehicles. And bridges are for people to cross bodies of water or to cut from point A to point B easily.
Wait, in my complaining, I have said "such-and-such" is for people.., maybe these advertising hacks are on to something.
Dance floors. Basketball. A great nation. A great nation is something people build so they can have a place where they belong.
How is a great nation like a dance floor?
Sorry that's not a joke, that's a serious question, now I'm thinking they're just putting random words together.
The Universe. It is vast and dark. And it makes us wonder if we are alone. So maybe the reason we make all of these things is to remind us that we are not.
So now you're randomly throwing in the big question, is that what you're doing here? Maybe you should take a long look at that sentence, comparing Facebook to something you say makes you wonder if we are alone. Do you realise Mr. advertising person that there is a massive debate about how social media platforms are causing a form of social-retardation amongst the vulnerable and young.
Now I wont say that I am an expert in marketing, but I think I know what people want to see in videos. And to be honest this is spot on, most people want to see something they can take the piss out of and parody for their own YouTube view counts.
Bellow are a few examples of parodies people have already made. Do you think the creative genius' in the marketing department knew this was going to happen? It is very possible that this was the plan all along. Create something so bad it's good, have people spread the word for you and become a viral hit! While this is a marketing technique we've seen before, I seriously doubt that was the intent, considering this is a 'branding' video. We can only wait and see where the world will go with this, and to be honest, I'm not sure I really care.
Meanwhile... In Germany.
How Fails help us to publicly indulge our schadenfreude... without fail
By David Donnelly
Part of the allure of the Internet has always been the way that seemingly obscure photos, videos and web pages gain momentum and begin to invade all facets of popular culture. Before the advent of sites such as Youtube and Flickr, these Internet memes clogged our email inboxes. Now they’re also on blogs, prime-time television, nightly newscasts and being shared across Facebook and Twitter.
Until recently, the most popular viral video was the infamous "Gangnam Style", but this intelligent, coccyx-breaking, cannonballing enthusiast has knocked Psy off the top spot, being shared 1,200,756 times in the last 7 days, compared to 776,430 shares for the K-Pop anthem, as of October 23rd.
In terms of virality, the Fail meme has been prevalent since the turn of the century and is internet slang to denote situations with unfortunate outcomes. Fail or Epic Fail is commonly superimposed as a caption on to photo's or short videos depicting people falling short of their expectations. Although Slate stipulates that:
The highest form of fail—the epic fail—involves not just catastrophic failure but hubris as well... Totaling your pickup not because the brakes failed but because you were trying to ride on the windshield. Not just destroying your fish tank but doing it while trying to film yourself lifting weights.
Variations include Imminent Fail - to denote the seconds prior to a failure and Owned (Pwned) - synonymous with a high degree of failure, the term strongly implies domination, severe defeat, and/or humiliation of a rival, among others.
The earliest documented usage of the term “FAIL” can be traced back to a Japanese 16-bit scrolling shooter game, Blazing Star (1998), often mocked for its grammatically incorrect “game over” message that reads:
“YOU FAIL IT!
YOUR SKILL IS NOT ENOUGH-
SEE YOU NEXT TIME- BYE BYE.”
As seen with the All Your Base are Belong to Us meme:
Retro video game narrative + Engrish = powerful source of lulz.
The Fail meme hit widespread notoriety and popularity in May of 2008, marked by the launch of Failblog, a guide to the taxonomy of fail and a chronicler of humiliation, which has sparked a proliferation of sub-genres and spin-offs to the traditional fail. Subsequently our need for the traditional push media format of Funniest Home Videos has been superseded by the internet and it's application as an outlet for expressing our schadenfreude out loud.
And as the pop cultural yardstick, The Simpsons eloquently illustrates (pun-intended) just how content we are with viewing the failure of others, particularly when it involves people hurting themselves for comedic effect.
So what's the lesson in all this? Probably that we will never tire of posting fail videos on our Facebook walls as an afternoon pick-me-up, or sending out the latest viral fail video into the twitter-verse as a form of cultural capital to remind our followers that we are still relevant in a constant game of one-upmanship.
In essence, with Fails, everybody wins, with the exception of the proverbial German cannonballer.
Written by David Donnelly for Social Studios - www.socialstudios.com.au
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