..and the holiday begins!

Just arrived in Athens, dropped off by the best looking taxi driver ever (white pencil skirt, tan fishnet stockings, black patent heels with yellow buckles). Me, bedraggled in purple sneakers and pink hoodie :)

I think this will be a fun trip!

Kiwi Mojitos

My bother loves Kiwi and we both like a nice drink, so when I found them in a local supermarket while in Sri Lanka and some left-over Bacardi, we decided to put the two together!

Ingredients

4 Kiwis 
2 teaspoons of Sugar
100ml / 4oz white rum
Handful of mint leaves
Sparkling water - Club Soda/ Seltzer
(Makes 2)

Directions

• Puree the Kiwis in a blender and set aside
• Muddle the mint leaves and sugar together
• Add the Kiwi and Rum
• Pour the Kiwi-Rum-Mint mix into two glasses and top-up the glass with soda/ seltzer
• Sit back and relax with drink in hand :-)

Tips

• Strain the Kiwi if you don't like the seeds. I find a metal strainer is easier to push the pulp through and keep the seeds out
• Prepare the puree earlier and refrigerate to make the drinks faster
• If you like your drinks a little sweeter, blend the sugar with the Kiwi
• If you like your drinks very sweet, add simple syrup to taste (prepare simple syrup easily: microwave a cup of water for 1 minute, add a half cup sugar, stir to dissolve sugar, microwave another 30 seconds)

Cod Ceviche

I often forget how much I love ceviche, and just how easy is it to make with many things I happen to have around. This variation came out really well!

Ingredients

2 Cod fillets, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1 red Bell Pepper, Chopped
1/2 a bunch of Cilantro/ Coriander Leaf - Chopped
2 Lemons, juiced
1 Orange, juiced (if orange is not very ripe or sweet, use a pinch of sugar)
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Mix everything together cover in cling wrap, and leave overnight in refrigerator. Keeps for a couple of days. Enjoy! If you have plantain chips, they go well together.

Amazon

Everyone that known me that I love Amazon.com, not just for the product offering and prices, but for the features built into the site. Amazon must qualify as on of my hobbies (obsessions?) since I order multiple things every week. The simple fact that Amazon tells me if I already ordered or own something is the sort of thing that impresses me.

Well today for the the first time, I go through the return process and see:

As a valued customer, you don't need to return this item to get a refund.

Sure, it was something cheap, but... 
I'll say it again... Amazon.com is simply amazing!

Login Screen Design

It's been a long time since I created a page or a site... but now that I have no designer on the team and don't entirely want to trust all the details of the design to development timelines, here I am.

A few hours of searching for the various bits and pieces I needed to make my page, here I am, pleased with my-self for no real reason!

What and How:

Automatically Stretch Background Image to Fit Resolution

// HTML
<div align="center">
 <img src="...image file location..." class="bg">
<div>

// Stylesheet
.bg {
 width: 100%;
 height: 100%;
 position: absolute;
 top: 0;
 left: 0;
 z-index: -1;
}

Login Box Background

• Placed in the center of the screen (horizontal and vertical)
• Rounded edges with a border

// Stylesheet, simply apply to DIV
.LoginBox {
 border: 3px solid white;
 border-radius: 15px;
 width:373px;
 height:250px;
 position:absolute;
 left: 50%;
   top: 50%;
 margin-left: -186px;
 margin-top: -125px;
 background: #032b4f;
 z-index: 10;
}

Reflection

I couldn't get the reflections working because I wanted to reflect a DIV and not an image. Played around with some links, gave up, and used an image instead:

• http://blog.gface.com/2012/02/22/crossbrowser-css3-reflections/
• http://webdesign.tutsplus.com/tutorials/htmlcss-tutorials/cross-browser-css-reflections-glows-and-blurs/

The Result

Download the HTML and CSS files

And finally, how do I display formatted code on this screen? 

1. Click on every button on the toolbar
2. Scratch head for 2 minutes
3. Google for help
4. Find help! http://www.craftyfella.com/2010/01/syntax-highlighting-with-blogger-engine.html

Page doesn't look exactly the same on IE 7, but I'm not officially supporting IE 7 and only need it to work.