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I was looking for a recipe for a chickpea salad - not that anyone needs a recipe for chickpea salad, and in fact I ended up doing exactly what I was going to do in the first place, which was cut up a stack of crunchy things and pour vinegar over them - when I found the delightful blog Veggie Friendly. Veggie Friendly was originally a restaurant review site, and they do still do them, but the reviewers are currently holidaying in the Middle East and reviewing what they find there. The photos are likely to have you trying to reach into your computer screen. As you would hope from a vegetarian blog, they also have a recipe collection.

It's Nice That is now complementing Drawn! for my daily fix of pretty things to look at and play with.

Got a ROOT! out of it

ROOT! on Best of the Brat, 3RRR, 60Mb

I have no idea how to do streaming audio or any of that fancy-schmancy shit, so there you have it - 1 hour of the singer and guitarist from ROOT! playing their top 5 rooting songs. Highlights include The Legendary Stardust Cowboy and the exquisitely named Smegma (played with the spindle in the wrong hole...).

The next ROOT! show is at the Retreat Hotel, Sydney Road Brunswick, Cup Day November 6th. I shall be there in my fascinator. If I can find one that costs less than $250, I mean.

Dick.... That's an interesting name. "Dick".

There is a new Electric 6 album out. It's called "I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Being The Master." This appears to be the first single.



If you've really missed TISM, but are more interested in the prosciutto and melon-like pairing of rock and disco than in lyrics that "make sense", I strongly recommend uncritically absorbing all of the Electric 6's oevre. Or egg.

Restaurant review: Nights of Kabul

I must confess I went to Nights of Kabul more out of morbid curiosity than any expectation of quality. The last time I went to an authentic Central Asian restaurant in my area it was, uh, a little bit too authentic - we were basically served perfectly-cooked meat with pickles and not much else in an environment which accurately reflected the country's history as a Stalinist republik. (That particular restaurant has since moved, and its interiors certainly look a lot nicer now - I'll try to check it out sometime, as the kebabs were magnificent.) So I rolled along to Nights of Kabul full of hilarious speculation on the decor and possible entertainment (that would be Buzkashi, not wife-carrying, although the restaurant that offers that as weekend entertainment will be guaranteed all the publicity you can eat).

The decor, I have to admit, is not amazing, and we didn't go on a night when they had live music so I can't comment on it. The restaurant is licenced, but if you do drink I would advise you to stick with nice safe beer, which is supposed to go with this sort of cuisine anyway. Afghan food is supposed to be similar to Indian, and you'll notice several familiar items such as tikka, korma and gulab jamun. However, you should probably not go in thinking "Oh, it'll just be like Indian" - my mum ordered a mixed tikka, thinking it would be like the mild tandoori style you get in most Indian restaurants, only to find it was like eating a mouthful of pepper. Conversely, I ordered the mixed Soltani and it was absolutely delicious. We also got a mixed entree which, despite the somewhat colourblind image on their website, both looked and tasted incredible. After we pushed our chairs out to accommodate our humourously-distended stomachs, dad insisted on having a Turkish coffee, which was served in an adorable little dainty teacup. I had a sip and was expecting it to be like chewing a Gauloise, but it wasn't - it was sugary and perfect. If you're the sort of person who doesn't normally eat dessert I highly recommend it.

If you're the sort of food nerd who goes to restaurants based on how exotic they are I can recommend Nights of Kabul, but if you're the total opposite and just want to be fed until you explode then I can still recommend Nights of Kabul.

4th Casual Gameplay Design Competition - entries unveiled!

Entry time is over and playtime has begun! Jay will be posting a new entry every few hours or so, so start playing and thinking about how you're going to distribute your votes. For anyone new to JayIsGames.com or the competition, basically, Jayisgames puts out a call for entries with a theme for game designers to integrate into their game - this time around, it's "ball physics". It's up to the designer how they do this, and following the theme slavishly won't guarantee them a prize. Aside from the main prizes, this year sponsored by Sierra Online, ArcadeTown, ArmorGames and FreeworldGroup, the real excitement for mine is the Audience Prize, which is composed of donations by JayIsGames readers. (That would be you.)

So far, I'm liking:

Roll

Starts off annoyingly easy - quickly becomes annoyingly hard. Nice, clean, Nitrome-style graphics.

Factory Balls

ZOMG! A Bart Bonte game I don't hate!

Day of the Bobteds

By the eeeeeeeeevil genius who brought you Hapland, an elegant little game with polished graphics that might disappoint Hapland fans (you may be comforted to know that they look a bit Ferry Halim, so all is not lost).

Kaichou

Bless you! No major strategy or effort here, just shoot black balls to turn them into pretty flowers.

Mr. Mothball

From the artistic vision that brought you Submachine and Daymare Town, the virtue of this game lies not so much in the motion physics as the sound. Jump on the blocks (what do you think they are made of?) and listen to the noise it makes.

Brownie Motion

Amateurish graphics and a gameplay so simple you can feel your brain getting smaller as you play, yet weirdly compelling. If lopsidation can just team up with an artist and/or musician to make the interface just a tiny bit less crap, we could be onto a winner.

For my money, the winner so far is:

Angular Momentum

It's easy to learn, quite polished in its presentation, addictive and fun. A few physics nerds over at Jayisgames have complained that the movement is inaccurate, but I don't think that interferes with the enjoyment of the game itself.