i just can't do it...

Code without resharper and visual assist that is...

After 10 minutes of my first Xna tutorial, I decided my first task would be to do all my developing in team edition.

Being my own customer, I made up the following criteria:
1. I can create a new c# library in vs team edition that contains a Game class which can be debugged/run from vs team edition
2. No post build copying of project output
3. No need for maintaining 2 separate solutions for each game
4. No dependencies between my game projects

In order to fulfill these, I created a new Xna solution called GameShell. I deleted the Game class, leaving Program.cs which I filled in with this code:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string assemblyFilename = args[0];
string path = args[1];

Environment.CurrentDirectory = path;
Assembly assembly = Assembly.LoadFile(Path.Combine(path, assemblyFilename));
string typeName = args[2];
Game game = (Game)assembly.CreateInstance(typeName);
game.Run();
}

I used Assembly.LoadFile, because using Type.GetType(gameTypeName) was returning null... I don't think anything was spelled wrong, but I was feeling lazy, so I used the code above...

Its sad to admit, but before I thought to set Environment.CurrentDirectory, I had created a new appdomain that was rooted in the other directory and had a lovely class, GameStarter : MarshalByRef, that created and ran the game, which I thought was very clever, but completely unnecessary)

Now that I had GameShell to execute my game, I needed a game to run. I created a c# library in Team Edition, added references to Microsoft.Xna.Framework and Microsoft.Xna.Game and then added a game class to the project. Actually its Game1 from the first tutorial from the documentation (very exciting). Now that the project was ready to debug/run, I went into the project properties and changed the Debug settings so that it ran GameShell.exe with the proper command line arguments (AgileSolutions.GameLib.dll, FullPathToDebugDirectory, AgileSolutions.GameLib.Game1)

Viola! The game ran and I can now write any game library with my favorite tools and run it without any headaches... one minor issue though, graphics... you know, not the most important part of the video game, right?

For this first project, I cheated and put my graphics in the GameShell assembly, a big no no, but I'm gonna do some reading and learn more about content pipeline assets and we'll see what happens. Any ideas?

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Blueberry Muffins

This is the first time I bought blueberries from the supermarket. It has never occurred to me to eat this fruit as it is not as common as strawberries or even cherries. I bought them specially to bake blueberry muffins. I've came across several blueberry muffin recipes but have never had the chance to try it.

I made this batch of muffins for breakfast this morning. The recipe is adapted from Annie Bell's Gorgeous Cakes, Plum Muffins. I took this recipe as it's the only recipe where I have all the ingredients on hand. The muffins lack the fragrance and sweetness as compared to the banana-raisin oat bran muffins I made the other day. They tasted rather "plain and simple", if not for the vanilla essence I added. The blueberries were sweet, and although they were rather small berries, they were quite juicy. Judging from the "nil" comments or lack of enthusiaism from my kids, I believe I'll have to try out other recipes. Nevertheless, these muffins are certainly soft and moist and went very well with a cup of coffee.

Ingredients:
(makes 6 big muffins)

225g flour
75g sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
30g butter, melted
1 egg
200ml milk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 cup fresh blueberries

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200 degC.
2. In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
3. In another bowl, whisk the egg, then add in the milk and butter. Mix well.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and stir until just incorporated. Do not over mix.
5. Fold in the blueberries. Spoon the batter into muffin cups/liners and bake for 20 to 25mins, or until risen and lightly browned.
   

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Banana-raisin Oat Bran Muffins

George Bernard Shaw once said,
"You don't get tired of muffins, but you don't find inspiration in them."

I certainly agreed with the first part of the sentence, but not the second...maybe, during those days, there were only a few types of muffins around?? Anyway, I like muffins...they are usually easy to make, with simple ingredients, always with fruits added, and are more healthy as compared to cupcakes. Thanks to my friend, who passed me some oat bran, I baked a batch of oat bran muffins last night. It was my first attempt to bake wholesome muffins. As a novice, I was not even able to differentiate between oat bran, rolled oats or whole bran!

While I was preparing the ingredients, my little one came along and eagerly offered his help. We had a good time baking the muffins together...just the 2 of us. It was really easy and quick...we took less than 15 mins to pop the muffins into the oven. I was a bit worried when the batter appeared to be rather dry and lumpy. I was only a little at ease half way thru the baking, when my whole kitchen was filled with this wonderful aroma of the sweet fragrance from the bananas.

The muffins were golden brown when they were ready. I was surprised at the coarsely texture...if not for the sweet aroma they were emitting, they certainly look ugly and unappetizing, sitting on the cooling rack. I couldn't wait for them to cool completely before biting into one. Well, the saying, "don't judge a book by its cover" applies to these muffins too. They tasted really good despite their look, the top maybe coarse, the centre was really soft, moist and fluffy. I shared it with my little one, and he asked for another one to go with his bedtime milk. My elder boy who missed out on all the actions, told me over breakfast this morning, "These muffins look really ugly, but they taste really yummy!"

I used to try out recipes based on the appealing photos of the bakes. I have now learnt not to judge a muffin by it's look.

Ingredients:
(makes 12 muffins)

120g plain flour
94g oat bran
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 box (net wt. 42.5g) Sun.Maid raisins
1 egg, lightly beaten
100g sugar
1/4 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
3 medium sized bananas, mashed

Method:

1. Mix flour, oat bran, baking powder, baking soda and raisins in a bowl.
2. Combine egg, sugar, oil, vanilla essence and mashed bananas in another bowl.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture. Stir until just blended.
4. Fill muffin cups/liners till almost full. Bake in preheated oven at 200 degC for 20 to 25 mins.
   

This recipe is adapted from "The 250 Best Muffin Recipes, by Esther Brody".

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Curry Chicken

I have decided that I will add in a category "Simple Dishes" to my postings here. I am not a good cook, in fact I can't really cook! I have been cooking for the family for almost a year, but till now, I can only make simple dishes such as porridge, fried rice, fried noodles and claypot chicken rice. My family members are not fussy eaters...that's probably why I can't improve ;)

This curry chicken will be the first post for this category. I have not cooked this dish for months. Simply because I have ran out of my sis' homemade chili paste. She finally found time to make the paste 2 weeks ago.

It's really a simple and easy dish, especially, if you have ready-made chili paste. Here are the steps:

Step 1:
Mix 1 ~ 2 tablespoon of chili paste with the chicken pieces (half a chicken).

Step 2:
Stir fry the chicken and potatoes a little, and add in 1 packet of coconut water and simmer for 20mins.

Step 3:
Mix 2 tablespoon of curry powder with a little bit of water to form a paste and add into the curry.

Step 4:
Add in 1 packet of coconut milk and simmer for another 5 to 10 mins. Ready to serve!

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XNA

In addition to this very exciting blog, another goal for the year is to experiment with a new technology. Originally I was going to play around with Ruby, but I've decided to try out XNA instead. I was all psyched and ready to embark on the journey to creating my first xbox game when I discovered the following:

1. XNA development is only supported in VS Express addition!!! This is most upsetting because I cannot work without resharper and visual assist. Really, I can't. I keep doing things like ctrl-b, ctrl-alt-F7, ctrl-alt-v, shift F6, the list goes on... And intellisense without the ability to misspell just does not work well for me... I need colored listboxes!!!

2. No xbox live support :( this wasn't as much of a downer as #1, but I was looking forward to making up some clever achievements

3. How am I to test drive without add-ins? This really goes with #1, but this isn't about making development easier, this is about how I develop.

Despite the above, I'm still excited about my game idea and I hope its fun!

Wish me luck

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Piano Cake

I finally picked up the courage to make this cake.

Saw this video clip from youtube while searching for sanrio products. My 5 yr old is a fan of Cinnamoroll, one of the many sanrio characters. We were watching a video clip of Cinnamoroll when I came across the Sugar Bunnies, another sanrio character. After viewing the clip, I told my boys that someday, I will make them this cake, just like the sugar bunnies. If you like baking, do spent less than 4 mins of your time to watch the clip, I am sure you will find it very cute and interesting. It is in French (I think), but it is really self-explanatory.

Since this is my first real attempt to frost a cake, the result is very very very far from the one shown in the video clip. It took me a while to convince myself to post it here, haha!

The cake itself was quite easy, as I used a simple sponge cake recipe. I used peach slices and whipping cream for the filling, but then I realised there wasn't enough cream for me to decorate the cake, in fact, it wasn't even enough to cover the entire cake!

My younger boy helped me with the filling, and, as usual, he helped himself with the left over peaches. The elder one guided me on the correct position of the "black keys". They were actually chocolate wafers from Meiji. Too bad they weren't exactly black...they were dark brown. They were the closest I could get. My son asked me whether we could just paint them black ;)

I really lack the skills to assemble a 3-layer cake. The cake was not really flat and sharp at the edges. I ended up with a bulging keyboard. Well, although the cake didn't look what it's suppose to be, at least the taste is still alright. I guess I have to practise many more times, if not will have to go for a formal baking class, before I could make a decent looking cake!

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Korean Fare

We had a little gathering at my friend's place over the weekend. We had a full spread of Korean food for dinner. One of my friends cooked the Korean dishes...there were spicy rice cakes, kimchi soup, jajian mien (Korean style), and a few side dishes, such as simmered lotus root, cold tofu, etc. She even prepared cinnamon & ginger tea, though it was not very well received, sorry Ah M, I guess not many people like the taste of cinnamon...including myself ;) I like the spicy rice cake and lotus root most.

I brought these Strawberry Jellyhearts for dessert. It was my 2nd attempt in making these, and I was very happy with the result this time.

The jelly layer is so much better as compared to the 1st attempt. I made the biscuit base and cheese layer in the morning, and made the jelly layer only at night. The cheese layer was fully set by then, as such, there were no bits of cheese floating around, and when set, the jelly layer was almost crystal clear. It gave a very nice reflection when I was trying to take the photos:)

I was also able to achieve nice clean cuts without having to heat up the knife. The only problem was the biscuit base...it was a bit too crumbly...either I didn't use enough butter or I didn't press them firmly enough in the cake pan? By the way, I used an ordinary square pan...I don't own any loose-bottom pans or springform ones. I improvised by lining my square pan with a layer of foil...once the jellyhearts are ready, I simply lift it out of the pan with the foil.

Made a batch of Horlicks Doggies Cookies for my friend. Her kids can't take too much chocolate, so I omitted the chocolate chips that were supposed to be wrapped in the cookies. Nevertheless, the cookies are still as tasty, but they are not sweet at all, as no sugar or eggs are used. I hope her kids will like them :)

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