Um.. what happened?

Wow. Last post in February! Oops.

That gives you an idea of just how busy things have been!

To be fair, inbetween maintaining the Mattched IT Blog and Handmade Crafts Blog, I don't get a lot of time to write posts for here, anymore, but I'm going to try and post occasionally at least.

Mind you, this might not be the best time to start since we're off on holiday in a few weeks..!

Classic ASP (VBScript) - Type mismatch: 'URLEncode'

Just a quick note - half aide memoir and half you-never-know-when-this-might-come-in-handy. We do quite a lot of maintenance work on Classic ASP (VBScript) sites and there are loads of gotchas.

Back in the day when it one of the main technologies I used they got me less, I seem to remember, but nowadays thats not entirely the case!

It's the obtuse error message that got me this time.

baseString = URLEncode(baseString)

Generates this error:

Microsoft VBScript runtime error '800a000d'

Type mismatch: 'URLEncode'


The fix? Simple.

baseString = Server.URLEncode(baseString)

DOH! Hopefully if this trips you up, you'll find this post in less time than it took me to realise what a doughnut I was being..!

lastminute.com - our top secret hotel saga Part 2!

Well. Phew. We've made some significant progress on the 'lastminute.com top secret hotels' front.

Because I made a big fuss on twitter (and here), I managed to get a lovely lady from the lastminute.com VIP desk to look into our problem and it has been more or less sorted out.

At least she actually listened to / read / understood the problem! While I'm happy that it has been adequately dealt with, the misleading information correct and we have been compensated (with a room upgrade!), I'm still somewhat peeved by how hard it was to get the same simple message through via their standard support channels.

I dread to think what would have happened if I hadn't used social media to complain, though.

Apparently they are going to investigate the awful asssistance we received - I shall report back with the outcome (if we are kept updated, can't remember if they said they would or not)!

lastminute.com top secret hotels? Just Say No!

The title kinda says it all. I won't go into details yet, but we are currently involved in what I will politely call a "wrangle" with lastminute.com.

Their customer service is frankly disgusting. It is the worst experience I have had with a company when something has gone wrong for a VERY long time.

Will post more once the matter is concluded (for better or for worse). However, in the meantime, my personal advice is - if you are thinking of booking a top secret hotel via lastminute.com, just don't. It's not worth it.

Barclays: Surely it can't get worse?

So. I've ranted about how much Barclays bank sucks before. We have a business account with them. Though I'm not sure how long that will continue - now is not a convenient time for us to change, however, they seem to be doing their best to force us.

The latest part in the saga?

Yesterday I tried to pay for a software license, online, from a company in america, using my business debit card. Transaction declined. Tried again. Declined. Very odd.

Then I tried to log into online banking (a bit later). You have entered your details incorrectly. Hmm. No I haven't. Try again. Same. Try again. Very Carefully. Same. Give up. Try again later incase their service is broken (as usual). You have been locked out.

Bum. Phone up this morning. Explain. OK-Sir-I-Will-Definitely-Be-Helping-You-With-The-Problem-You-Are-Being-Having (it is so PAINFUL talking to Barclays employees on the phone, mainly because the scripts they are given are agonizing). I gave my name, date of birth and mothers maiden name, but apparently, incorrectly. This is interesting as I gave them a couple of months ago and they were OK.

So now in order to check our bank balance (and send receipts to our clients) I have to go to the branch with two forms of ID to "update and verify" my account.

So while I'm out, I'm going to pop into HSBC and pick up some information on opening a new account.

Bastards.

Thai Inspired King Prawn curry

Since last nights dinner was very successful and entirely my own concoction I thought I'd share it with you. I was originally intending to write this sort of thing down in a notebook, but it might be more fun to blog it.

For my very own "thai inspired" prawn curry.. you will need:

King prawns (raw, up-to you if you shell them or not, I do) - 6-8 per person
Zest and juice of 1 lime
3 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
1 thumb sized piece of ginger (grated or finely chopped)
A pinch of turmeric and one of coriander
1 red chilli (de-seeded & chopped)
1 green chilli (de-seeded & chopped)
A splash of Soy, Nam Pla (Thai fish sauce) and white wine
1-2 tbsp Creme Fraiche

Heat some olive oil in a wok until very hot - but not smoking. Add the garlic, ginger and chilli with the spices and fry for a few minutes. Add the lime zest and the prawns and fry, moving/turning the prawns so they coat well in the spice mixture.

Add the soy, fish sauce and white wine (don't add salt/pepper - use soy to adjust the seasoning). Chuck in the lime juice as well.

Once the prawns have cooked through (very quick - don't cook too much or they'll be orrible), remove from the heat and stir in the creme fraiche to finish.

Serve with noodles and stir fried veggies (a mix of fennel, chicory and brocolli spears is a nice green, wintery mix).

Pie: Sausage, Apple & Sage

Recently, I bought a copy of "Pie" by Angela Boggiano (see Amazon link to the right). This is an awesome book. Well, it is, if like me, you are somewhat addicted to pie.

It was test-driven for last nights dinner and officially gets the thumbs up (so much that I've added an affiliate link to Amazon to try and sell it to you all!).

I even made shortcrust pastry with only a minor adjustment to her recipe. In brief:

Mix 250g of plain white flour with 50g of butter (leave this out to soften for a bit first) and 50g of "good baking margerine" e.g stork (you're supposed to use lard, but firstly I have enough around my middle as is and secondly I forgot to buy any). Rub mixture together until it goes breadcrumby and is soft. Then stir in 2-3 tbsps of water a little bit at a time with a knife. As soon as the dough sticks together, knead it into a ball and let it rest in the fridge while you make the filling.

Extract the meat from half a dozen sausages and set aside. Chop two onions and fry gently on a low heat with a good dollop of olive oil, until they start to soften. Add the sausage meat and cook for a few minutes. Chop and add two small apples - and switch off the heat. Mix in some dried sage (or add fresh sage at the start - I only had dried available), plus a couple of tbsps of creme fraich and one of mustard.

Thats it! Roll out your pastry, assemble the pie in a shape of your choice - in the original recipe it is a plate pie, I made a sort of deep dish one because we're a bit limited on pie-baking-equipment at the moment. Bake for 40 mins (or so) at 200 degrees. Eat. Eat more. Feel a bit fat and wonder how you ate so much pie.

Can't wait to try another recipe out..!