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.