This month the Tangent Team substituted Homemade Monday with a group trip to Melbourne's Hofbräuhaus, so I can still get away with posting the remaining recipes from Homemade Monday #1.

I made a Spinach and Feta tart using this recipe with a few alterations. I didn't have any parmesan to hand, but did have some homemade pesto in the fridge that needed to be used. I also substituted some crushed up walnuts for the top of the tart ...

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Sebastian, our newest employee, hails from Germany. He sent through this delicious onion tart recipe to me accompanied with a language challenge. I got through the ingredients list before giving in to Google Translation, although the English version proved almost as difficult. My two favourite auto-translations for this page were "If he leaves, lay the cake pan with the dough." and "Then stir the flour in immediately and let cool for the masses."

Ingredients:
For the base:
250g flour
50g ...

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

It's time to get some more of our wonderful Homemade Monday recipes up before the next one rolls around. Jon Price, one of our Front End Developers, made a delicious looking fried rice. Being vegetarian, I sat this one out, but have been reassured that it was very tasty.

Ingredients:
Rice
Vegetable oil
Garlic
Prawns
Spring onion
Peas
Chinese sausage
Egg
1/2 cup salted water

Method:
Whisk an egg then cook it in a little oil before dicing ...

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

I had a lot of favourite books as a kid. Books that I read over and over again, obsessively. The Folk of the Faraway Tree; Adventures of the Wishing Chair; The Naughtiest Girl is a Monitor; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Amelia Jane Again; Tootle; Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Although logic points to the idea that I wasn't able to read from day one, I honestly don't remember a time when I couldn't. As ...

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Today's Homemade Monday recipe comes courtesy of our account manager, Marielle. Despite not knowing what anyone was making we ended up with a soup, a salad, savoury snacks, two different vegetarian tarts, two meat mains and a dessert. Pretty impressive.

Mix together...

2 stalks of celery, sliced finely
2 stalks of spring onion, chopped finely
12 small cooked and chunkily chopped Colbian potatoes
2 teaspoons of chilli flakes
2 tablespoons of whole egg mayonnaise

Chill and eat! Serves 4 ...

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Chickpeas make this a low GI dish, helping keep hunger pangs at bay. This soup can be made on Sunday night and taken into work for lunch on Monday and Tuesday.

Ingredients:
4 large truss or Roma tomatoes
Olive oil
Sea salt
Ground black pepper
1 red onion, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, minced
400g tinned chopped tomatoes
1 tsp smoked paprika
400g tinned cannellini beans
400g tinned chickpeas
Large handful fresh basil, torn
Small handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley ...

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Back in the day, we'd occasionally do a Homemade Monday here in the Tangent One offices, where one staff member would cook a lunch or sweet and bring it in to share. We've recently revived this with a few changes: everyone brings in a dish to share over lunch on the last Monday of every month. We had our first one yesterday and it was, quite frankly, delicious. We'll be updating the blog with all the recipes ...

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

This week I'm coming to you from sunny Darwin, a mere 3750 kilometres from our offices in Melbourne. That's one day and twenty hours non-stop driving, or just over a month of walking, if Google Maps has it right (Australia: it's big).

The great thing about working in this kind of business is that all our tools are portable. Sometimes family members need help (as is the case for this trip ...turns out raising a small child ...

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

It's worth remembering that the IT Industry is a creative industry. The capacity for alternative approaches is infinite at every level, in every aspect, of the field. Possibilities proliferate and escalate. As such, it is important always to acknowledge the necessity of a breadth of research and a continuing reconceptualisation. It is for this reason that Tangent One undertakes at intervals what we call Fedex Days. For one working day we are encouraged to pursue something we wouldn't ...

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Back at the beginning of August, Gareth wrote a quick blog post about the term "creative", and how it applies to everyone, not just those in the art department. This is an idea I've wanted to expand on for a while now. As I've mentioned in previous posts, outside of Tangent hours, I work for myself as an artist and have just completed a Master of Fine Art degree. If I had a dollar for every time someone ...

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Working in a digital agency, we're exposed daily to new ideas and ways of doing things. My mantra has always been to avoid randomly throwing technology at human problems. I'm a fan of trying new things, but also realise that nothing is perfect. Any new solution might solve some of your existing troubles but will, in all likelihood, introduce new challenges.

With this in mind, I want to put the spotlight on the software that has proven to ...

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Since moving to Australia and working with clients to get the maximum from their ecommerce platforms, I have found that here at least, there are many questions on how to get started or move to the next level with ecommerce of any scale. In this 6 part series, I outline the simple steps to make sure you have a great foundation for your ecommerce platform.

This blog series is not going to tell you what you should sell — that part ...