Taming bash autocomplete

To make bash's autocomplete a little smarter, but these lines in ~/.inputrc:

"\e[A": history-search-backward
"\e[B": history-search-forward
set completion-ignore-case on

This will let you, for example, type out 'mvn' and have bash autocomplete from history, the last maven incantation used.

Another neat trick is to add these two lines to your .profile:

export HISTCONTROL=ignoredups
shopt -s histappend

The first line will stop duplicate commands from cluttering up your history, and the second line will make sure that your history gets maintained between different sessions.

Béchamel done wrong?

I've had some trouble stomaching my béchamel for a while. It's felt a lot like eating uncooked flour. The way I've learned to do it is it add flour to frothing butter, and then incorporate the milk at the end.

Well, according to Jacques Pépin's Techniques this is incorrect. You're meant to:

• Mix softened butter and flour, in a bowl, into a smooth paste.
• Bring milk to a boil, and whisk in the paste into the milk.
• Bring to boil, cook at low heat for 4-5 minutes while stirring.
  
• Season.

For a thin sauce, use 2 tsp flour, 2 tsp butter per cup of milk. For a thicker sauce, use 3 tbsp each of flour and butter.

Triple Chocolate Cookies

I can't quite remember where I got this recipe from. Probably Donna Hay. Must make this again so I can take pictures.

Ingredients

1. 120g dark choc, chopped
2. 110g unsalted butter, softened
3. 3/4 cup brown sugar
4. 1 egg
5. 1 tsp vanilla
6. 1 cup plain flour, sifted
7. 1/4 cup cocoa, sifterd
8. 1 tsp baking soda
9. 1tsp bicarb soda
10. 1/2 tsp salt
11. 280g dark choc, extra, roughly chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 160. Melt choc over steam, set aside
2. Cream buttter and sugar
3. Add egg and vanilla, beat for 3 or 4 mins
4. Stir thru dry ingridients and melted chocolate
5. Add chopped choc and mix to combine
6. Form into balls, and bake for 10-12 mins