That changed recently when I was looking for a recipe which would suit someone who was gluten intolerant whilst being easy enough to accomplish for someone of my low level cake baking skills.

I therefore present my variation on a Chickpea Lemon & Lime Drizzle Cake recipe.

Ingredients

• 250g cooked chickpeas
• 3 Eggs
• 1/2 Lemon
• 1/2 Lime
• 175g Caster Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons of Clear Honey

The beauty of this recipe is the fact that it is so easy to prepare.

Simply put the chickpeas, eggs, sugar, zest and juice of the half lemon into a food processor and whiz it up until you have a smooth paste.

Pour this paste into a lined and greased 2lb loaf time (the size of a small loaf) and cook in the middle of a medium oven Gas mark 3/160C for around 45 minutes.

Remove from the oven and drizzle over the honey then leave to cool for approx 15 minutes.

Pour over the juice from the half lime then leave to cool completely before removing from the tin.

If you don’t want the cake to be too moist, use less lime juice at the end.

What I like about having such eclectic taste in music is the fact that one day I can find myself  justifying the merits of melodic death metal and the next I’m gushing with praise for a tasty drum and bass track. I have to say, I haven’t heard anything as tasty as Fracture’s Astrophonica remix of Lately featuring the sweet soulful voice of Ella Jones in a long time and when I say long I’m thinking 1990′s Roni Size long but as luck would have it you can pick it up from today from Texan label Warm Communications.

Lately is one of those D & B tracks you can just hear blasting out on a warm summer day; sun shining, ice cold beverage of choice in your hand, perhaps even the smell of a barbecue tickling your nostrils, unless of course you are in the UK in which case you may have to make do with the pitter patter of rain!  What I especially like about the track is it’s also something you can stick on when you arrive home, bleary eyed at 6am, perhaps after that summer’s barbecue and just unwind to, some might even say it’s perfect for snuggling up to!?

However if you think Fracture is all light and fluffy drum and bass you’d be mistaken, this release features Tunnel Track on the flip-side, this is much darker and sure to open up the ears to those crying out for some refreshingly good beats that get your toes tapping and your booty shaking, it has those ghost-like sounds reminiscent of Grooverider but then again I hear Grooverider everywhere so you may want to ignore me there! In fact, why don’t you head over to SoundCloud and have a listen for yourself then tell me what you think.

Fracture aka Charlie Fieber, started out in the ’90s DJing on pirate radio stations before working his way up through the ranks and has enjoyed a long and successful career within the D & B scene, touring the world and releasing tracks on plenty of high profile labels including Hospital, Subtitles and Bassbin. His sound has always been unique and gained him cult status in the D & B scene while also making waves outside, appearing in DJ sets from the globe’s most forward thinking electronic musicians such as Aphex Twin, DJ Food and Amon Tobin.

Lately (Fracture Astrophonica Remix) is out 14 May 2012 on vinyl & digital at all usual outlets but if you pick up the vinyl, only £5.99, you’ll get the mp3 versions free when going through Warm’s Surus store at  www.surus.co.uk/warm-communications

Now, I like a bit of metal however it’s no longer enough to refer to it as metal or even heavy metal. Now it is all about things like symphonic metal, black metal, thrash metal, death metal, nu-metal, old skool metal and one that always makes me smile when I see it written down, Melodic Death Metal. I dunno, it just sounds so oxymoronic, or at least it does to me but I have to admit that until recently I hadn’t even bothered seeking anything out to hear what it was like.

That changed when someone suggested I have a listen to Scar Symmetry, I was pleasantly surprised and guess I can now add melodic death metal to the list of things I can listen to without reaching for the mute button within 90 seconds. Now, you may be asking why I was looking for examples of melodic death metal and the title of this post may have given you a clue.

Last.fm Presents have teamed up with Spinefarm Records and are presenting Amaranthe, a Swedish metal band, as the headline act in what promises to be an ear-splitting night at the Relentless Garage in London. Support comes in the form of their label-mates Dynazty and Soen, who are playing their first ever UK show. Tickets are a reasonable £10 and can be purchased from Ticketweb but read on to see how you can win a pair!

LAST.FM COMPETITION

Last.fm have very kindly given me two pairs of VIP tickets to see Amaranthe, Dynazty and Soen so if you fancy getting your hands on a pair just answer the following question:

Where in Sweden are Amaranthe from?

If you think you know the answer email it together with your name and a contact number to lastfm@mr-omneo.co.uk

Your entry has to arrive before 10pm on Thursday 17 May 2012, the winner will be the first two correct entries selected at random. Over-18’s only. Prizes are non-transferable. No cash alternative. Travel to and from the event is not included.

I think for me the most appealing thing is the way it’s been described as “Crushing riffs, lush keyboards and pop choruses reminiscent of the heyday of ABBA.” Say what you will but death metal and ABBA sound too interesting a combo not to catch, just be sure to wear something black as I’m not sure the majority of the audience will appreciate your sparkly ABBA-esque platform boots but then again, what do I know?

Well, it’s been all systems go at Omneo Towers since the last update which was way back in January. Why is it that even though we know time is measured in a relatively fixed fashion, some days/weeks seem to last much longer (or shorter) than others?

For those eager to know if I managed to submit my Self Assessment form to HMRC without incurring a fine, the answer is yes! 3 days before the official deadline, which was subsequently extended due to industrial action somewhere or other.

I won’t try and remember everything that has happened between the last update and this one. There’s been a lot of stuff happen but obviously I haven’t thought any of it worthy of blogging. Well, that’s an untruth. I have thought about blogging plenty of times but I just haven’t been all that motivated to sit down at the computer and hammer out a few hundred words. Suffice it to say you will live comfortably not knowing what’s been going on in my world.

If you follow me on Twitter you my have saw that I told a close friend that for the last 8 years or so I have been pretty much enamoured by her and torn between telling her how I felt and risking a change to our friendship and living the frustrating life I have been living of saying nothing but not really being able to move forward. It’s very early stages but we are still friends and one day soon will figure out what, if anything, might work between us.

This fairly earth shattering development for me (telling someone how I feel) was quite liberating and I suddenly decided that I would embrace on-line dating, a few months after I cancelled my subscription to a fee paying site. In 18 months all I had managed to do was accrue a number of potential people to contact but I never actually got around to initiating contact with any of them. I therefore chose the slightly more drastic approach to kick start things. I went on a blind date with a female blogger who has chosen to chronicle each of her first dates as she strives to stop being a singleton.

I’m not sure what I thought was more nerve-wracking, the fact I had no idea what to expect as far as what the other person looked like or that my dating technique, or lack of, would be posted for all the Internet to see. Yes, the critique was worrying me more, more so because I have been on perhaps 3 dates in the last 7 years.

From the moment my date arrived it was obvious there was no attraction on either side but we seemed to manage to chat ok for around 2 hours before she indicated that it was time for her to go. A much shorter date than I had imagined but I can’t say that I was heartbroken as we were merely chewing the fat and chatting as friends and not as prospective lovers.

I was however amused to read her review which seemed to suggest that I was much keener than I was and she had had to run for a bus to avoid me asking her for another drink. The thought of asking her for another drink hadn’t crossed my mind!

The upside was that her review of the date was not as bad as I suspected it might be, given my long break from dating I assumed I’d struggle but she seemed to find me amusing and entertaining but then again, she knew I would be reading so I half suspect she held back anything terrible.

Right, let’s get this posted and with luck the next one won’t be three months away.

As you’ll see there’s been another long gap between the last post and this one. All very hectic round here at Omneo Towers.  The holiday period passed without a hitch i.e. no injuries sustained whilst socialising and plenty of rest was had, which is why no blogging was done, very little tweeting either truth be told!

There won’t be time for a proper update for a week or two. This is a result of my annual aversion to doing my tax return which results in me spending most of January trying to scrabble together last years paperwork so that I can file it online by the end of the month.

Yesterday I managed to sort out the contents of The Tax Drawer, which as the name suggests is simply a drawer filled to bursting with any paperwork I need for the return. Now to find the enthusiasm to start working with numbers…oh joy!

It’s also a busy and rather exciting time. I managed to get a stand for the Vibes Saxophone mute so I can now start making some noise with that! In addition I’ve enrolled on a photography course, just an introductory one; given that I bought the DSLR last year it’s about time I learnt to take a proper bloody photo with it and much to everyone’s amusement, I’ve started knitting!  I joined a group on Sunday for a few hours. Now, some may scoff at the idea but personally I’ve no objection to being the only guy in a group of 6 females!