Rob's Blog - March 2010

Links for 2010-03-23

• Get Stuffed I used to love watching this late night cookery programme.

MooTools 1.2 Beginners Guide Book Review

After a year of using jQuery, I have an upcoming project that requires me to go back to MooTools. A lot of my MooTools knowledge was rather rusty, but a couple of weeks ago the nice people at Packt published a new book called MooTools 1.2 Beginner's Guide and I managed to get my hands on a copy.

MooTools 1.2 Beginner's Guide by Jacob Gube and Garrick Cheung promises readers they will "learn how to create dynamic, interactive, and responsive cross-browser web application using one of the most popular JavaScript frameworks", and it certainly does that.

The book is very clearly written, with plenty of step by step examples. You'll need a basic understanding of HTML, CSS and JavaScript but not much more.

The book starts out explaining what MooTools is, how to go about downloading it and then using it on a web page. It clearly explains the difference in using normal JavaScript code and MooTools code, before moving on to DOM selectors and other key utilities in the MooTools library. In addition to this, there are chapters on events, AJAX, animations and plugins.

When the book arrived I expected a very simple book, and I have to admit to having been pleasantly surprised. As well as being an excellent tutorial for beginners, there is actually quite a lot for the more experienced developer and I found myself picking up quite a few new tricks, and clarifying my knowledge in a few places. One area that MooTools has always been weak in comparison to rival frameworks like jQuery has been the quality of the documentation and tutorials for beginners, this book really addresses that area and should be a welcome addition to the library of any MooTools developer.

MooTools 1.2 Beginners Guide Official Website.

Stir Fried Pork On A Bed Of Wilted Pok Choi Recipe

Here is my recipe for delicious stir fried pork on a bed of wilted pok choi. It takes about 15 minutes to prepare and cook, so is perfect for a quick after work meal.

You will need the following ingredients...

• Rice (white - half cup)
• Pok Choi (2 or 3 heads cut in half)
• Lean Pork (I use one loin steak)
• 1tsp Sugar
• 1tbsp Light Soy Sauce
• 3tbsp Oyster Sauce
• Pinch of Ground White Pepper
• Garlic (1 clove - crushed and finely sliced)
• A few Chilli Flakes
• Groundnut Oil

Now, here's how to put it all together.

1. Cook the rice. For perfect white rice, use one part rice to two parts water. I use about half a cup of rice to one cup of boiling water. Cook covered on a gentle heat for 10 minutes, before removing from the heat and leaving to steam for a further 5 minutes. Don't remove the lid of the pan during this time.
2. Meanwhile, prepare the marinade by mixing together the sugar, light soy sauce, ground white papper and 1tbsp of the oyster sauce.
3. Thinly slice the pork and add to the marinade. Leave for about 10 minutes.
4. Heat the groundnut oil in a wok on a high heat until smoking, then add the marinated pork. Spread over the wok's cooking surface and leave for about 15 seconds to seal on one side. Then stir fry until cooked (about 2 minutes).
5. Remove the pork from the wok and add some more oil to the wok.
6. Sprinkle a few chilli flakes into the hot oil, then add the pok choi. Leave for about 30 seconds, then add the crushed garlic and stir. After about a minute the pok choi will have wilted, turn the heat off and add the remaining 2tbsp of oyster sauce - mix well.
7. Add the pok choi to a serving dish, placing the pork on top. Serve with the rice.

I enjoy this dish after a hard day at work. i hope you find it as tasty and delicious as I do.