I bought a couple of t-shirts yesterday. They were black (as always) with New Zealand ponga and fern illustrations. They were in a shop that was very NZ themed and which was promoting and selling New Zealand themed clothing.
The shirts were made in Haiti.
Other shirts in the rack were made in China. In fact, all the clothing I checked the labels of was made overseas.
I had a chat to the store owner while paying. Business is currently ok for her but mainly in the weekends. It's also picking up a bit as the weather gets colder. I asked about the source of the clothing and she said she used to buy more New Zealand made clothing but most of the factories she used to buy from have closed down now. It's hard to source NZ made items for her particular market and at her price range.
Is this a result of our recession or a result of our in ability to compete with overseas manufacturers or a combination of both?
Sunday, 27 March 2011
Sunday, 20 March 2011
Aerobatic plane with smoker attached
This is a 4 minute clip of the final plane doing a fairly spectacular display of throwing itself around the sky. There is an excellent bit around 1:35 where you can see it falling out of the sky on its back while spinning around. Best to view that full screen.
Apologies for the shaky camera work - hand held, leaning back, zoomed in and staring towards the sun. Not easy!
Apologies for the shaky camera work - hand held, leaning back, zoomed in and staring towards the sun. Not easy!
Friday, 18 March 2011
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
The price of lamb
In September last year I wrote about the price of lamb and how I thought it was likely to affect sales. Today there is an article in Stuff talking about the price of lamb and how it is driving away customers: Lamb sales suffer from higher prices. It includes this classic paragraph:
In my original article I said the price of a full leg of lamb was at least $35.00. About a week ago I was looking at buying a leg of lamb and was fairly stunned to find the price of a full leg was over $50.00, something also pointed out in the article.
That's just under a 50% price increase in about 6 months. Fucking outrageous!
While I'm on the subject of lamb, a particularly disturbing trend has begun to appear on the supermarket shelves. The lamb legs are being stripped of the outer fat layer and membrane that sits over the outer fat layer. This makes it impossible to get that beautiful, crisp, wonderfully browned outside layer on the lamb when roasting it. I'm very, very disappointed by this move.
Buyer resistance to lamb's high price was only being talked about by Silver Fern's other customers. In New Zealand, research showed that price was the biggest impediment to sales.Hardly surprising really.
In my original article I said the price of a full leg of lamb was at least $35.00. About a week ago I was looking at buying a leg of lamb and was fairly stunned to find the price of a full leg was over $50.00, something also pointed out in the article.
That's just under a 50% price increase in about 6 months. Fucking outrageous!
While I'm on the subject of lamb, a particularly disturbing trend has begun to appear on the supermarket shelves. The lamb legs are being stripped of the outer fat layer and membrane that sits over the outer fat layer. This makes it impossible to get that beautiful, crisp, wonderfully browned outside layer on the lamb when roasting it. I'm very, very disappointed by this move.
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
Aerobatic competition
Every year in March an aerobatic competition is held at the Waipukurau airfield. For around five days the air is filled with the sound of droning planes suddenly going into power dives or reaching the peak of some loop and cutting their engine out, something I am sure gives a lot of people heart attacks as the plane tends to look like this:
which is, I assure you, not a photo simply turned sideways. Today is the first day of the event and the photo above is of the first plane.
On the Saturday morning they usually send up a couple of planes with smokers attached which then proceed to throw themselves all over the sky in a fairly spectacular fashion. I'll try to get a few photos of those and perhaps even a video or two.
Friday, 11 March 2011
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
Sony E-Reader: PRS-650
Some time ago I said, somewhere (edit: here), that I couldn't see the point in having an e-reader as it would just give me another electronic item to cart around. How wrong I was.
I have been buying books from O'Reilly for some years. Last year I started buying them in the PDF format as it was a bit cheaper and I could have the PDF on the screen at the same time as whatever I was working on. In reality this didn't work out too well as flicking between screens and windows all the time quickly annoyed the hell out of me.
As I had purchased these items as e-books I was able to download them in any of the available e-book formats. This brought me round to thinking that perhaps having an e-reader would be a good idea. Simply being able to discard the weight of the various books I tend to have lying around is what convinced me in the end. After all, what is one more small electronic item compared to several technical manuals?
Having made the decision to buy I then had to decide what to buy. Fortunately this was made easy for me as a colleague at work who is also a librarian had recently purchased an e-reader. Being the type of person she is, she had gone out and tested all the models and decided on a Sony PRS650BC as being the best available and so that is what I bought. In fact I bought two as I decided Camille would probably want one as well.
I ordered them online through the Sony store. What an experience! I am never, ever going to buy another Sony product online again. From when I ordered them it took several e-mails (unanswered), 4 phone calls and 40 days before we received them. The order - an electronic order, mind you - actually got lost on at least one occasion.
During this farce I discovered an interesting thing about the Sony website. They have an area called "My Sony" which is impossible to sign up to using their links. Each link to 'Join' or "register' with "My Sony" actually leads to their Product Registration Page.
However, if you edit the links so they they go to https://www.sony.co.nz/registermysony instead of https://www.sony.co.nz/registerproduct then you get the "My Sony" registration page. I did inform Sony of this via one of my several unanswered e-mails but obviously the message didn't get through.
Here is a link to a Canadian Sony site's PRS650BC page as the product has completely disappeared from the NZ Sony website.
The e-reader itself is excellent. Very easy to use and very easy to read. The e-ink technology is easy on the eyes - there is no glare from the screen at all and it is very visible in daylight. I have imported all my technical books to it and find it very useful while working. I can't flip from index to page and back again in the same way I would with a paper book but it is still a good experience.
PDFs can be read on it but I wouldn't bother with them. They don't re-flow on the e-reader so can be difficult to read. Also large ones are very slow. With one manual which was around 1200 pages it was taking literally minutes to turn a page. However, I installed Calibre, an e-book management utility (Windows, Linux, MAC) and used it to convert PDF to the epub format. Now it flows properly and the pages turn as they should.
My fiction reading has also gone up. I'm not sure why but this is a good thing. I'm spending less time in front of my computer screen aimlessly reading pointless blog comments and more reading novels on the e-reader.
All in all, a good buy but I recommend avoiding the NZ Sony website for purchasing products. Go to a physical store and get one.
I have been buying books from O'Reilly for some years. Last year I started buying them in the PDF format as it was a bit cheaper and I could have the PDF on the screen at the same time as whatever I was working on. In reality this didn't work out too well as flicking between screens and windows all the time quickly annoyed the hell out of me.
As I had purchased these items as e-books I was able to download them in any of the available e-book formats. This brought me round to thinking that perhaps having an e-reader would be a good idea. Simply being able to discard the weight of the various books I tend to have lying around is what convinced me in the end. After all, what is one more small electronic item compared to several technical manuals?
Having made the decision to buy I then had to decide what to buy. Fortunately this was made easy for me as a colleague at work who is also a librarian had recently purchased an e-reader. Being the type of person she is, she had gone out and tested all the models and decided on a Sony PRS650BC as being the best available and so that is what I bought. In fact I bought two as I decided Camille would probably want one as well.
I ordered them online through the Sony store. What an experience! I am never, ever going to buy another Sony product online again. From when I ordered them it took several e-mails (unanswered), 4 phone calls and 40 days before we received them. The order - an electronic order, mind you - actually got lost on at least one occasion.
During this farce I discovered an interesting thing about the Sony website. They have an area called "My Sony" which is impossible to sign up to using their links. Each link to 'Join' or "register' with "My Sony" actually leads to their Product Registration Page.
 | |
| The links highlighted in the top image take you to the page in the 2nd image. |
However, if you edit the links so they they go to https://www.sony.co.nz/registermysony instead of https://www.sony.co.nz/registerproduct then you get the "My Sony" registration page. I did inform Sony of this via one of my several unanswered e-mails but obviously the message didn't get through.
Here is a link to a Canadian Sony site's PRS650BC page as the product has completely disappeared from the NZ Sony website.
The e-reader itself is excellent. Very easy to use and very easy to read. The e-ink technology is easy on the eyes - there is no glare from the screen at all and it is very visible in daylight. I have imported all my technical books to it and find it very useful while working. I can't flip from index to page and back again in the same way I would with a paper book but it is still a good experience.
PDFs can be read on it but I wouldn't bother with them. They don't re-flow on the e-reader so can be difficult to read. Also large ones are very slow. With one manual which was around 1200 pages it was taking literally minutes to turn a page. However, I installed Calibre, an e-book management utility (Windows, Linux, MAC) and used it to convert PDF to the epub format. Now it flows properly and the pages turn as they should.
My fiction reading has also gone up. I'm not sure why but this is a good thing. I'm spending less time in front of my computer screen aimlessly reading pointless blog comments and more reading novels on the e-reader.
All in all, a good buy but I recommend avoiding the NZ Sony website for purchasing products. Go to a physical store and get one.
Monday, 7 February 2011
Otane Fair and Recession Effects.
Every year on the 6th of February the small town of Otane holds its annual fair. The town closes off a couple of lovely tree lined streets and all manner of stalls and food outlets are set up under the shade of the trees. This year there was a wide range of stalls ranging from second hand books and records, arts and crafts of various types to imported items of giftware and decor. Of course there are also all the food stalls.
I bought a plate of tempura battered vegetable pakoras from the Health Rock Cafe. These were excellent - very light and crisp with a sweeet/sour dipping sauce and they filled the gap from no breakfast quite nicely. I really enjoyed the flavour of the red capsicum pakora in particular. It came through very well and was well complemented by the sauce.
I wandered around the place checking out the wares. I bought a couple of wooden vases from one of the stalls to give to Camille who was away in Christchurch. The price on the bottom of the vases was $39.00 each but the stall holder hurriedly informed me the actual price was $20.00 each. The reason for the drop in price? She had been forced to close her Napier store as nobody was buying in her market and therefore no longer had the same costs to cover.
The stall holder next door to her had also closed the doors of her premises for the same reason.I was also informed that they knew a woman who had closed her entire chain of 14 or 15 stores around the country. Their particular market was dead in the water due to the recession. However, they did say that every retailer they knew was suffering.
I don't think that New Zealand is really in any real recovery from our recession.
Having stuffed myself with pakoras, bought Camille a present and wandered around in the 30 degree heat, I headed home to lie in the hammock in the garden for a couple of hours. Very pleasant. Got some ok photos of some cicadas too. Quite a nice day really.
I bought a plate of tempura battered vegetable pakoras from the Health Rock Cafe. These were excellent - very light and crisp with a sweeet/sour dipping sauce and they filled the gap from no breakfast quite nicely. I really enjoyed the flavour of the red capsicum pakora in particular. It came through very well and was well complemented by the sauce.
I wandered around the place checking out the wares. I bought a couple of wooden vases from one of the stalls to give to Camille who was away in Christchurch. The price on the bottom of the vases was $39.00 each but the stall holder hurriedly informed me the actual price was $20.00 each. The reason for the drop in price? She had been forced to close her Napier store as nobody was buying in her market and therefore no longer had the same costs to cover.
The stall holder next door to her had also closed the doors of her premises for the same reason.I was also informed that they knew a woman who had closed her entire chain of 14 or 15 stores around the country. Their particular market was dead in the water due to the recession. However, they did say that every retailer they knew was suffering.
I don't think that New Zealand is really in any real recovery from our recession.
Having stuffed myself with pakoras, bought Camille a present and wandered around in the 30 degree heat, I headed home to lie in the hammock in the garden for a couple of hours. Very pleasant. Got some ok photos of some cicadas too. Quite a nice day really.
Saturday, 22 January 2011
Sunday, 9 January 2011
A Champion of Plain English
“If you can’t explain what you’re doing in plain English, you’re probably doing something wrong.”
With those words in a celebrated memo written shortly after he became chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board, Alfred E. Kahn urged the lawyers and economists on his staff to express themselves more clearly when drafting board rulings and letters for his signature.
“Every time you’re tempted to use ‘herein’ or ‘hereinabout’ or ‘hereinunder’ or, similarly, ‘therein,’ thereinabove’ or ‘thereinunder,” and the corresponding variants,” he continued, “try ‘here’ or ‘there’ or ‘above’ or ‘below,’ and see if it doesn’t make just as much sense.”
Mr. Kahn, who died late last month at the age of 93, was almost alone among his fellow economists in his devotion to clear, parsimonious language. The first impulse of many dismal scientists is instead to ask, “Isn’t there some way to make this idea more complicated?”
Original New York Times article here
With those words in a celebrated memo written shortly after he became chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board, Alfred E. Kahn urged the lawyers and economists on his staff to express themselves more clearly when drafting board rulings and letters for his signature.
“Every time you’re tempted to use ‘herein’ or ‘hereinabout’ or ‘hereinunder’ or, similarly, ‘therein,’ thereinabove’ or ‘thereinunder,” and the corresponding variants,” he continued, “try ‘here’ or ‘there’ or ‘above’ or ‘below,’ and see if it doesn’t make just as much sense.”
Mr. Kahn, who died late last month at the age of 93, was almost alone among his fellow economists in his devotion to clear, parsimonious language. The first impulse of many dismal scientists is instead to ask, “Isn’t there some way to make this idea more complicated?”
Original New York Times article here
Wednesday, 29 December 2010
Flower slideshow
A second flower slideshow. This has some particularly alien looking flowers in it
And here is a link to the original flower slideshow
And here is a link to the original flower slideshow
Friday, 17 December 2010
Somebody from Huntly doesn't like me
Somebody who lives and works in Huntly doesn't like my video of Huntly, The Ugliest Town in New Zealand. It has offended them enough that they have included me in one of their websites.
They have made the usual mistake with confusing an impersonal comment with a personal attack on themselves. They don't seem to realise it but there is a difference between saying, "Your town is ugly" and "You are ugly" or "I don't like Auckland" and "I don't like you". Having made this mistake they have written a personal diatribe about me.
Judging by their writing style and the "# number of people are not surprised that someone was offended by Thrash Cardiom" view counter line, I'd say they think they are the New Zealand version of Maddox. I think they have a long way to go.
My original Huntly post.
An update.
A second update
They have made the usual mistake with confusing an impersonal comment with a personal attack on themselves. They don't seem to realise it but there is a difference between saying, "Your town is ugly" and "You are ugly" or "I don't like Auckland" and "I don't like you". Having made this mistake they have written a personal diatribe about me.
Judging by their writing style and the "# number of people are not surprised that someone was offended by Thrash Cardiom" view counter line, I'd say they think they are the New Zealand version of Maddox. I think they have a long way to go.
My original Huntly post.
An update.
A second update
Sunday, 31 October 2010
The Frog
The frog is no more. I hadn't seen it for a day or two and was wondering if it had succumbed to either the chlorine or my cleaning actions. Today I found it when emptying out the leaf catcher in the pump. There it was, feet caught in the mesh and body pressed up against it. Obviously it had been caught in the flow to the outlet at the bottom of the pool and was unable to swim against the tide.
A sad but inevitable end.
A sad but inevitable end.
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
Yesterday morning I was awoken by an odd sounding bird. It had what could only be described as a very frog like sound. It went on for hours.
Eventually Camille and I arose and did our usual morning things before going for a wander around our property. To our surprise we found the below swimming around in our swimming pool which I had heavily chlorinated the previous day. It's body is about 6 centimetres in length - is this a good size for a New Zealand frog?
We pulled it out of the pool and gave it it's own unchlorinated rainwater pool with a rock to sit on a good thirty feet away from the pool behind a wall. About half an hour later it was back in the pool. All that chlorine can't be good for it but it seemed to be fairly happy - and quite vocal about it too.
Maybe I let the pool get away on us a bit over winter.
Eventually Camille and I arose and did our usual morning things before going for a wander around our property. To our surprise we found the below swimming around in our swimming pool which I had heavily chlorinated the previous day. It's body is about 6 centimetres in length - is this a good size for a New Zealand frog?
We pulled it out of the pool and gave it it's own unchlorinated rainwater pool with a rock to sit on a good thirty feet away from the pool behind a wall. About half an hour later it was back in the pool. All that chlorine can't be good for it but it seemed to be fairly happy - and quite vocal about it too.
Maybe I let the pool get away on us a bit over winter.
Friday, 15 October 2010
Lifts and Stairs
There are only two working lifts in this hotel. The other(s) are out of action. This makes for a lot of waiting around for a lift to arrive and, occasionally, when travelling down you can find yourself unexpectedly heading back up again.
I had to get something from our room earlier and waited and waited and waited for a lift but decided in the end that it would be quicker and easier to use the stairs. This proved not to be the case. On entering the stairwell I discovered, much to my surprise, that I could only travel downwards. The up door was locked and the door I had just came through turned out to be a one way door only. So down I went and found myself in a strange part of the building with no way to get back to the hotel area. In fact, I had to exit the building, walk down the street, around the corner and back in via the main entrance.
This is obviously a security precaution to prevent stair-dancers but it is bloody inconvenient when the lifts aren't all functioning as they should.
I had to get something from our room earlier and waited and waited and waited for a lift but decided in the end that it would be quicker and easier to use the stairs. This proved not to be the case. On entering the stairwell I discovered, much to my surprise, that I could only travel downwards. The up door was locked and the door I had just came through turned out to be a one way door only. So down I went and found myself in a strange part of the building with no way to get back to the hotel area. In fact, I had to exit the building, walk down the street, around the corner and back in via the main entrance.
This is obviously a security precaution to prevent stair-dancers but it is bloody inconvenient when the lifts aren't all functioning as they should.
Wellington
There are few things more ineffectual in life than cleaning one's teeth manually with an electric toothbrush. Somewhere between home and the hotel it had somehow managed to turn itself on and drain the battery. Let's hope that this is not an indication of how the day is going to be.
When we arrived here yesterday I had to shoot off to see some people while Camille booked in. Apparently our room wasn't ready and they were to call her when it was. Unfortunately nobody informed me of this and when I arrived back at the hotel some hours later and headed to reception to pick up my keycard I succeeded in changing our room from a superior suite to a standard suite at an extra cost of $100 per day. Don't ask me how I did this but I will say I won't be taking advice on hotels from Camille's brother any time soon.
I went up to the room that had been assigned to me and lay around in it thinking, "Well this is a pretty crap upgrade" until Camille arrived back to sort everything out. I don't know where I would be with out her. However, I am with her and we are in the room we should be in. Relief all round.
When we arrived here yesterday I had to shoot off to see some people while Camille booked in. Apparently our room wasn't ready and they were to call her when it was. Unfortunately nobody informed me of this and when I arrived back at the hotel some hours later and headed to reception to pick up my keycard I succeeded in changing our room from a superior suite to a standard suite at an extra cost of $100 per day. Don't ask me how I did this but I will say I won't be taking advice on hotels from Camille's brother any time soon.
I went up to the room that had been assigned to me and lay around in it thinking, "Well this is a pretty crap upgrade" until Camille arrived back to sort everything out. I don't know where I would be with out her. However, I am with her and we are in the room we should be in. Relief all round.
Thursday, 14 October 2010
Off to Wellington
Camille and I are off to Wellington today. One of our clients is having their annual conference at the Intercontinental Hotel which I have to say looks quite good. Here's hoping it lives up to its looks. While we are there I will endeavour not to
Lock my self out of the hotel room
Get locked inside the hotel room
Get stuck in one of the lifts or almost stuck in one of the lifts.
It's pissing down with rain so its likely to be a long, slow trip. The car is already loaded up with conference bound boxes and other bits and pieces and everything else is basically packed and ready to go. Just need to add the two laptops, two netbooks and the data projector and we should be able to swan off around 8:00am.
Lock my self out of the hotel room
Get locked inside the hotel room
Get stuck in one of the lifts or almost stuck in one of the lifts.
It's pissing down with rain so its likely to be a long, slow trip. The car is already loaded up with conference bound boxes and other bits and pieces and everything else is basically packed and ready to go. Just need to add the two laptops, two netbooks and the data projector and we should be able to swan off around 8:00am.
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Microsoft patches and IE8
I have been providing some of my users with new computers recently. Yesterday I belatedly realised that they had all gone out with Internet Explorer (IE) version 7 installed instead if IE8. This is because of Microsoft's automated patch software, WSUS, happily applied XP SP3 before doing the upgrade to IE8.
When I tried to manually install IE8 I was informed that I had to install another patch first. However, I couldn't install the patch as the install process informed me that there was no need to install it as SP3 was installed. The only solution I can find is to
When I tried to manually install IE8 I was informed that I had to install another patch first. However, I couldn't install the patch as the install process informed me that there was no need to install it as SP3 was installed. The only solution I can find is to
- Uninstall XP SP3.
- Install the patch manually.
- Run the IE8 upgrade manually.
- Re-install XP SP3.
- Re-install any other required patches.
- Check that everything is working as it should.
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Day to day stuff
IAt this time of year we upgrade the older computers and I get to deliver new boxes to my happy users. I also get to do things like turn up at someone's desk and say things like, "You aren't getting a new computer this year but you are getting a new keyboard and mouse", and watch as their faces fall in disappointment. I am having them on of course but it's fun to let them hang for a minute or so.
Well, it's fun for me at least.
It's probably fitting then that when I got home from work Camille took delight in pointing out I had been wearing my t-shirt inside out all day. Not a single co-worker mentioned this to me. I wonder why?
Well, it's fun for me at least.
It's probably fitting then that when I got home from work Camille took delight in pointing out I had been wearing my t-shirt inside out all day. Not a single co-worker mentioned this to me. I wonder why?
Monday, 27 September 2010
A Potato Dish
This is not a dish for those who have a cholesterol problem or those who are afraid of fat. It is a dish for those who enjoy potatoes and onions along with butter, cream and milk. It's a variation of the old layered baked potato dish. This one is a little different in the preparation and gives a result that is, I think, a little more subtle.
You need enough medium sized potatoes to feed how ever many people you are catering for. Around one medium onion per four potatoes. A bunch of a single fresh herb - rosemary or thyme or basil are good. You can use sage but you need to use less than the others as it has a very strong final flavour.
Preheat your oven to around 180 - 200 degrees celcius. This isn't a fixed temperature as you can cook this dish fast or slow.
Peel the potatoes and onions and then slice them as thinly as you can. Put them in a pot and salt it to your liking. Add water to just cover them and then put them on the stove to bring them to the boil. Stir it from time to time with a spatula to mix the onion and potato together.
Chop your herb of choice. If you are using basil you want a couple of handfuls of leaves. Rosemary: a couple of decent sized stalks. Thyme: a couple of table spoons of leaves. Sage: your choice - be careful.
Lightly oil a low sided baking dish. Sprinkle a few bits of your herbs across the bottom. Add a bit of freshly ground pepper if you wish.
When your potato pot is getting near boiling, melt at least two tablespoons of butter in a pan on a low heat. Add your herb and saute it lightly. Keep the heat low. You definitely don't want things to get too enthusiastic. Pour in about quarter of a cup of cream and mix in well. Keep it low on the heat.
When the potatos boil, let them sit on the heat for a minute or so and then drain them well. I usually tip them out into a strainer and let them steam themselves dry. Give them about a minute and tip them into your oiled baking dish and spread them out roughly.
While the potatoes are drying, add quarter to half a cup of milk to your butter, cream, herb mix and stir it in. When the potatoes are in the dish, pour the herb/liquid mix evenly over the top. Grind some black pepper over and crush a bit of Malden sea salt over the dish and then drizzle some olive oil over it to bind everything together.
Throw it in the oven for at least one hour, longer if you have the heat lower. I have cooked this dish at heats from 150 degrees right up to 210 or so. Lower heat means longer cooking of course and you may need to finish it with 10 minutes or so on 220 degrees. (Sorry all you Americans who still use Imperial measurements. It's easy to convert though).
Serve with .... whatever takes your fancy really. Fish is good though as are lamb racks.
Originally this dish was done with vast amounts of sorrel which gives it a very nice slight lemony tang. If you use sorrel: a) use lots of it. b) be very careful with the cooking in butter. Add it to the butter and watch it very carefully. It will start to go grey quite quickly. This isn't a bad thing but you don't want to let it go too far. Add the cream and milk, stir them in and get it on top of the potato dish quite quickly.
You need enough medium sized potatoes to feed how ever many people you are catering for. Around one medium onion per four potatoes. A bunch of a single fresh herb - rosemary or thyme or basil are good. You can use sage but you need to use less than the others as it has a very strong final flavour.
Preheat your oven to around 180 - 200 degrees celcius. This isn't a fixed temperature as you can cook this dish fast or slow.
Peel the potatoes and onions and then slice them as thinly as you can. Put them in a pot and salt it to your liking. Add water to just cover them and then put them on the stove to bring them to the boil. Stir it from time to time with a spatula to mix the onion and potato together.Chop your herb of choice. If you are using basil you want a couple of handfuls of leaves. Rosemary: a couple of decent sized stalks. Thyme: a couple of table spoons of leaves. Sage: your choice - be careful.
Lightly oil a low sided baking dish. Sprinkle a few bits of your herbs across the bottom. Add a bit of freshly ground pepper if you wish. When your potato pot is getting near boiling, melt at least two tablespoons of butter in a pan on a low heat. Add your herb and saute it lightly. Keep the heat low. You definitely don't want things to get too enthusiastic. Pour in about quarter of a cup of cream and mix in well. Keep it low on the heat.
When the potatos boil, let them sit on the heat for a minute or so and then drain them well. I usually tip them out into a strainer and let them steam themselves dry. Give them about a minute and tip them into your oiled baking dish and spread them out roughly.
While the potatoes are drying, add quarter to half a cup of milk to your butter, cream, herb mix and stir it in. When the potatoes are in the dish, pour the herb/liquid mix evenly over the top. Grind some black pepper over and crush a bit of Malden sea salt over the dish and then drizzle some olive oil over it to bind everything together.
Throw it in the oven for at least one hour, longer if you have the heat lower. I have cooked this dish at heats from 150 degrees right up to 210 or so. Lower heat means longer cooking of course and you may need to finish it with 10 minutes or so on 220 degrees. (Sorry all you Americans who still use Imperial measurements. It's easy to convert though).
Serve with .... whatever takes your fancy really. Fish is good though as are lamb racks.
Originally this dish was done with vast amounts of sorrel which gives it a very nice slight lemony tang. If you use sorrel: a) use lots of it. b) be very careful with the cooking in butter. Add it to the butter and watch it very carefully. It will start to go grey quite quickly. This isn't a bad thing but you don't want to let it go too far. Add the cream and milk, stir them in and get it on top of the potato dish quite quickly.
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