I used to make this for my father before he passed – his sense of taste went and everything tasted bland to him – so I made him a spicy soup and he loved it. I had to make it every week! Lots of other people tasted it and loved it so I write down the recipe – I thought I’d share here too:

• Tom Yum Paste – has to be the proper stuff!
• 1 Can of Coconut Milk 400ml
• 700ml litre of Chicken Stock
• 3 Cloves of Garlic
• 1 chunk of Ginger
• 1 Red Onion
• 1 Lime
• 1 stalk of Lemongrass
• 3 Kaffir Lime Leaves
• 2 Chicken Breasts
• Sugar (Palm sugar if possible)
• Fish Sauce
• Vegetables: Peppers, peas, tomatoes, mushrooms, scallions, Chillies

Instructions:

1. Boil coconut milk in a pot for 5 minutes with a stalk of Lemongrass, 3 cloves of Garlic, some ginger chopped finely, and a chopped red onion.
2. Add the stock, and then add the Tom Yam paste. 2-3 tablespoons depending on how hot you want it – taste it and add more if necessary. Let simmer for a few minutes.
3. Thinly slice the chicken and add into the pot. You can use Prawns also.
4. Add any vegetables you like. Peppers, peas, sweetcorn, mushrooms and small chopped tomatoes etc.
5. Add 1-2 tablespoons of fish sauce, the juice of half a lime, and 2 tablespoons of sugar. It’s the balance of these three ingredients that make the final flavour so add in small increments to taste. Fish cause gives the sour taste, sweeten with sugar and add zest with lime juice.

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Firstly, imagine every time within a day that football is mentioned by someone else. Secondly, replace it with something that you don’t want to hear about every day. Say… Archaeology. Then, think about how an average day would pan out.

So, you awaken to the clock radio. It’s 7AM. Just as you awaken, it’s time for the news and archaeology already. Not news and other historical investigations, like library restorations or museum openings (unless there’s another event happening), but just the news and archaelogy. Malaysian plane is still missing. Pistorius is still on trial. New dig announced in Giza. Ancient Mayan temple discovered. Exciting stuff.

Time for a bite to eat over the morning TV. More news. More archaeology. Yes, you are aware of what is up with the missing plane. Fine. Now the archaeology in video format. Video of people dusting off some skulls and bits of pottery. All well and good, but archaeology isn’t your thing. It would be nice to hear about something else. Even when it isn’t archaeology season, the media follow noted archaeologists. They drive fast cars, have sex with beautiful women, advertise fragrances, and sometimes they go to nightclubs and act in the worst possible way. Scandals erupt as the tabloids follow these new celebrities when they’re not searching the past for answers. It is entirely possible you can recite the names of certain researchers, even if you don’t pay attention to archaeology. You don’t know what transfer season is, but you know that someone was transferred to a dig in Peru for a sum of money that could fund the London Underground for two whole days.

Out of the car at 8:55 and into work. What are the colleagues talking about, I wonder? Oh, Jones dropped a 3,890 year old pot and smashed it? What a useless wanker! Someone should do something unpleasant to him. And don’t even ask about the unfortunate incident in Athens two years ago – you’ll be there all day! Breaking a pillar like that! We don’t talk about that here, mate. What? You don’t want to discuss the finer points of the prevalence of phallic imagery in Pompeii? Is there something wrong with you?

The drive home from work. Every thirty minutes, no matter the station, someone mentions the archaeology. Best sit in silence. Drive past a huge billboard with a black and white picture of a rakishly handsome archaeologist draped over an impossibly beautiful woman. He’s winking at you. Trowel in his left hand, supermodel in the right. Jurassic, by Calvin Klein.

And now the pub. A nice pub with a beer garden. Posters in the windows. LIVE EXCAVATION AT THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS! All of it on a huge TV with the volume up too loud. Drunken people yelling at the screen. “SEND IT FOR CARBON DATING, YOU USELESS CUNT!” “WHAT ARE YOU ON, MATE? DUST THE ANCIENT MEDALLION GENTLY! SMELTING METHODS OF THE TIME PRODUCED VERY SOFT AND IMPURE METALS EASILY PRONE TO DISFIGURATION!” All this from two men out of a crowd of twenty. One lousy drunken idiot and his chum ruin the image of other archaeology fans. Carbon dating report from the lab updates on TV, read by a man employed because they’ve been following the beautiful science since they were a boy. The drunk chimes in again. “WHAT PHARAOH’S REIGN DID YOU SAY? DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS SAYS ABOUT THE UNDERPINNINGS OF OUR THEORY OF AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT OF 4TH BC EGYPT? GET IN, MATE!” A cheer cascades through the building and you can only wonder why.

Best go home and avoid anyone who might be drinking and singing. You once met a disagreeable chap who threatened to beat you up because you didn’t watch the archaeology. “Not a late paleolithic era supporter are you? Think you’re better than me? I’ll fucking have you, you scrawny cunt!”

To bed. To repeat the cycle tomorrow. The inescapable, inevitability that wherever you go, someone, somewhere, is just dying to talk to you about the archaeology.

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Asian makeup artist Promise Phan can make herself look like just about anybody. From famous people and popular cultural figures such as Antoine Dodson to Jack Sparrow to Taylor Swift.

Promise Phan without makeup

Johnny depp

Michael Jackson

Kim Kardashian

Jessica Rabbit

Angelina Jolie

Britney Spears

Drake

Nicki Minaj

Katy Perry

Lil Wayne

Yes We Can – Geraldine Hoff

Princess Jasmine

Rihanna

Mystique

Marylin Monroe

Mona Lisa

Neytiri

Pocahontas

Jack Sparrow

Megan Fox

Milan

Taylor Swift

Chris Brown

Edward Scissorhands

Antoine Dodson

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This is very nerdy but I think its cool

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Check this place out – it has to be one of the coolest places to stay you could ever find. Absolutely beautiful and amazingly well built. I assumed it was in the US or Canada – but it’s actually in Cork!

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1 x 8 + 1 = 9
12 x 8 + 2 = 98
123 x 8 + 3 = 987
1234 x 8 + 4 = 9876
12345 x 8 + 5 = 98765
123456 x 8 + 6 = 987654
1234567 x 8 + 7 = 9876543
12345678 x 8 + 8 = 98765432
123456789 x 8 + 9 = 987654321

1 x 9 + 2 = 11
12 x 9 + 3 = 111
123 x 9 + 4 = 1111
1234 x 9 + 5 = 11111
12345 x 9 + 6 = 111111
123456 x 9 + 7 = 1111111
1234567 x 9 + 8 = 11111111
12345678 x 9 + 9 = 111111111
123456789 x 9 +10= 1111111111

9 x 9 + 7 = 88
98 x 9 + 6 = 888
987 x 9 + 5 = 8888
9876 x 9 + 4 = 88888
98765 x 9 + 3 = 888888
987654 x 9 + 2 = 8888888
9876543 x 9 + 1 = 88888888
98765432 x 9 + 0 = 888888888

Brilliant, isn’t it? And look at this symmetry:

1 x 1 = 1
11 x 11 = 121
111 x 111 = 12321
1111 x 1111 = 1234321
11111 x 11111 = 123454321
111111 x 111111 = 12345654321
1111111 x 1111111 = 1234567654321
11111111 x 11111111 = 123456787654321
111111111 x 111111111 = 12345678987654321

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