Just downloaded Nine-inch Nails Slip for free

You can download Slip at the Nine-inch Nails website - and still get the first nine tracks of Ghosts I-IV free, too, if you want. Nice one, Nine-inch Nails! Ta, Merci, Shukran, Spasiba an' all that.

And while we're on the topic of freebies, it's time to mention Audacity - a Sourceforge project that has resulted in a fantastic wee multi-track sound recorder programme that you can download free. It's not Cubase but then it doesn't cost a fortune and require all sorts of other shit to get it working. Audacity is free, lite, runs on any platform or operating system and doesn't need huge RAM or a special soundcard. Basically you download the folder, run the program and plug a mic into the mic-input of your computer. The sound quality is great.

When I was younger and still imagining I could hack it as a song-writer and musician, we used to record our wee indie-demos on a fostex fourtrack and later, on a Tascam. Think Tascam 4-track but with unlimited tracks and all the benefits of digital technology over tapes and you're thinking Audacity. Beautifully simplle. Simply beautiful.

And after all that, I have to now admit that I haven't recorded much on it. I had planned to do some ambient sonic wallpaper stuff - bees in the background, hypnotic surf, etc. but I haven't got round to it. I've played techie and recorded stuff for my mate's podcasts and I did the audio units for a Scientific English book for a teaching friend - that's how I know the quality is good - but I haven't done much of my own stuff. If I do get my arse in gear, I'll make a 'Sounds' page in the cookbook and upload anything that turns out okay.

On the veggie cooking front.... last night we had porcini mushroom risotto which was very nice. I might post the recipe but it's essentially the same technique as the one I put up for asparagus risotto. By the way, Porcini mushrooms are the same as ceps or Russian 'white mushrooms': Boletus edulis - I just found that out. Duh!

Plan for the weekend...Georgian Kharcho soup with all the traditional Geogian veggie ingredients - walnuts, pomegranate, garlic, fresh green herbs. Here in Armenia, fresh herbs and greens time has just begun, so we should make the most of it. For this soup, I'll use some basil, mint, dill, parsley and celery leaves and pound them all together and add to the soup at the last minute. I bet it's delicious. We've got a couple of bottles of Georgian red wine stashed, too....

Sveta and I went to Erebuni Fortress during the week and on the way we passed Yerevan train station. We went in and checked out train times and there's a train to Tbilisi every two days. It takes much longer than the road but it has cabins with beds and also takes a different route which we haven't done before. The plan now is to take the train to Tbilisi, then take another to Borjomi and visit the national park and the famous Borjomi mineral springs, then back to Tbilisi and on to Batumi on the Black Sea. From there we could go into Turkey or take a boat to Ukraine, but we'll see how it goes...

Eribuni was more of a hill than a fortress, but it was a good day out - great views over the city and I saw a Bee-eater, a Levant Sparrowhawk, a Black-eared Wheatear and a Black-headed Bunting (they're all birds, by the way).