Fatlo.af

Yes, you read correctly. I chose to devote my first post back from hiatus and the first post of the brand spanking new layout to the wonderous Fray Bentos. It’s a pie in a can, just like baked beans, beetroot and 3 bean mix, this bad boy has to have a can-opener applied to it so the general public can get to its bounty. I wouldn’t put it in the microwave to warm it up though, this is strictly oven only.

Now, I’ll get back to the pie later, first let me get some things out of the way.

I’d just like to say thank you to all who are still coming back after me not posting for such a long time and to Grum and Kiz for keeping us all entertained with their rants in the mean time. They’ll get something for their troubles, might not be from me though. Who knows.

There’s so much to talk about and so little time to do it, since I’ve been gone I’ve been to Melbourne a couple of times, once with Kieran, PJ and Nick to watch the Socceroo’s play against Argentina, an experience I won’t soon forget. The other was to watch Liverpool lose to AC Milan in the Champions League final.

Both trips were definitely worth it.

I’ve also started work with my new employer, of course that should be old news by now and as you might have noticed, I’ve finally gotten off my well proportioned arse and finished the new site off.

The new site
Well, where to start. This is now the 3rd version of the site, hard to believe that in just under a fortnight this site will have been around for 4 years. I honestly can’t remember how everyone kept in contact beforehand, it just seems like it would be difficult any other way. I’ll take some credit for it, after all I own the domain, but people still need to come to the site to make it useful and I think everyone involved, from the writers here to the commenters and the people in the forums have all helped it get to where it is.

New layout details
On the front page now there’s my section up the top, naturally I get the best spot as it’s my fucken site and I wanted to put me there. The others who write on here (PJ, Grum, Kizz and occasionally Spence) are now my Advisory Board, chances are they won’t be called upon for anything special to do but I will consult them on ideas and such and I expect them to be insulting, depraved and generally surly toward anyone who visits the site at any given moment. It’s part of the law.

There’s another new section called Featured Articles, in here the plan is to get people who may not normally write anything for the site to put their metaphorical pen to paper and make their subject of choice heard. Up first is the effervescent Bill and his expose on how well the world is going in the aptly titled: Incoherent Ramblings of a Big Bloodnut Beardo: The End of Society. Sounds like it would make a good movie title. I’m glad he’s taken up the challenge on the first time around and I think he’s delivered quite well. I’m on the lookout for who’s next to fill the chair, if you’d like to volunteer you can email me and we can work something out. It won’t be a weekly thing, more fortnightly-monthly as I expect the articles to be from people who don’t normally come out to play very often on the site.

When you leave a comment now you can have an avatar, that means anyone. To get one you need to go over to gravatar.com and sign up and then get yourself an avatar. Using this service means that if you happen to comment on another site that uses Gravatar, it knows who you are and will assign the same image accordingly. It’s pretty cool.

There’s a couple of other new bits like a proper way to search for things, using tags, a slightly different gallery and the intention to bring back the shop are all part of the new site. I hope you enjoy it and I hope you keep coming back.

Now back to the Pie.

Fray Bentos: Pie in a Can
Oh it looks woeful, you have no idea. I haven’t opened the one that I have sitting on my desk and I have no intention of doing so. Ever. It’s a reminder of what food should not look like. There’s actually puff pastry contained within this metal vessel that apparently once placed in a heated oven, will rise toward the heaven it has been kept from the whole time it was trapped in its 425 gram prison.

I bought it as a joke, we were talking about them at work and I had to see if I could find one. Clearly I got lucky. This one was old even before I handed over cash for it, the copyright notification on the bottom is dated 2004 and there isn’t even a use-by date on it. I honestly believe that in the times of anarchy that Bill is proposing, Fray Bentos will survive to be eaten.

If you ask, Wikipedia shall provide. There’s a bit of a history on there about the mighty Fray Bentos. Have a read, I’m sure it won’t inspire you at all to go out and buy one. Just a side note, if you or your parents are english then they’ll probably know the Bentos quite well, apparently it’s quite the seller in the UK, almost like its a form of currency.

Hefeweizen
That’s the name of the beer that I bought from the Lobethal Bier Haus. Myself, Kieran, Ed (and Natalie), Kylie and PJ all met up there for some lunch on Sunday. For me it was to get a giant bottle of beer, it ended up being us enjoying fantastic beer and eating great food. PJ’s ever reliant desire to get himself into trouble surfaced when he loudly proclaimed while ordering his hot chicken wings that “I can take on this chef’s challenge, it can’t be that hard”, to which the chef who was quite nearby replied “excellent”, with more than a devilish glint his eye.

The food we had was glorious, I was very impressed. The chicken wings that PJ brought out were hot, but the underlying poultry which was supporting this molten flavour was damn good, so good that like a crack addict you couldn’t help but consume them as quickly as you could, regardless of the burning sensation that the sauce left on everything it touched. I got the Wurst and Kiz got the Chicken Nuggets and Chips, the best I’ve had.

Considering these guys have only been around for 2 or so years and started with a simple home brew kit, it is encouraging for home-brewers everywhere. I got my giant bottle of beer, some 2 litres worth, and I was happy. I intend on drinking it at the next BBQ wherever it is. I just might need to invest in a larger stubbie holder.

Well, there’s a lot to talk about but it will come with time, so for now, have a look around the site, add any comments you might think I should know about or head over to the forums and use the thread in there to comment on it.