Sunday 28 June 2015

New Recipe #15 and New Food #22: Aussie Traditions

My friend Laura is getting married in September and I couldn’t make her hen do. So instead I put on a Neighbours day for her, as she is a massive fan of the show.

I went the extra mile and asked my friend Jas who lives in Australia, as well as my friend Tom who now lives in New Zealand what aussie things I should cook. They both said Lamingtons so I gave them a go.


Lamingtons are basically a sponge cake dipped in chocolate syrup and then rolled in desiccated coconut. Really simple and really yummy!


I also tried Vegemite. I had it on toast and the first few mouthfuls were fine, but then it was a struggle and it started to taste like tar. Why do aussies like it so much?!?

Thursday 25 June 2015

New experiences and places #22: Performing at a Festival

On Saturday I performed as part of Toque Tambor at Rhythms of the World. Toque Tambor is the Brazilian carnival drumming band which I am a part of. I did a blog post before Christmas when I took part in a parade. Rhythms of the World is Hitchin’s music festival which takes place in the grounds of Hitchin Priory, which is where I used to work.


I first heard about Toque Tambor when I saw them perform a few years ago. Our set was an hour long, and we’d been having weekly 3 hour rehearsals for about a month which was hard work.
On the day itself we had a 2 hour rehearsal in the morning and then we performed in the early evening. I played the tamborim and there were other groups from Bristol and other parts of the country joining us, so there were about 6-7 tamborim players, as well as our own director on stage with us, which was a great help.


Great photography skills Fran!

Before our set, a band called CC Smugglers did a set and me and my friend Penny went to watch them stage side (really surprised security didn’t turn us away.) The lead singer was in my maths class at school coincidently.


I haven’t performed on a stage since I was 18, so a long time! I’m not sure how many people we performed for, but we were on the main stage. My friend Coops and his girlfriend Fran watched me as Rhythms is where they first met. And my dad Bobby also came to watch me, which was a nice surprise. It was if I was 5 again in school assembly and seeing your parents in the audience and did a little wave.



I really enjoyed performing and when you see the crowd dancing along then that made it even better.

Wednesday 24 June 2015

New Recipe #14: Pudding club the Sequel

Following the successful debut of my first Pudding Club and Doggy Bag Club; as in it was a success that nobody got food poisoning; it was time for another edition. So over the weekend I made Pavlova. It was another Mary Berry recipe and you can tell, as it was very sweet.


From the picture I think it turned out pretty well. Like the Lemon Meringue Pie I think I over beat the meringue again, so still need to figure out the right time to stop whisking. The recipe was quite simple as well, which I was surprised at because I always thought Pavlova’s were complicated to make.


My parents, sister and Granddad each got pieces, and my friends Jen and my flatmate Charlotte had some but because they were busy bees by the time they got to their pieces it wasn't very edible. But the thought was there!

Tuesday 23 June 2015

New Comedian #13: Missing the mark

The other week my flatmate Charlotte and I treated our friend Rachel to a tour of London for her birthday. I’ve known Rachel since school and have been on several long weekends away; and we always go on a tour of wherever we are.

This tour was one with a difference; it was called the Bullshit London Tour and was completely made up! It started at St Pauls Cathedral and finished at Trafalgar Square. The tour guide in essence was telling funny stories the entire time (which is what a comedian does in stand up anyway), but to be honest, neither Rachel, Charlotte or I found it that funny. The rest of the group who the majority were tourists found it hilarious but I couldn't see what they found so funny.


There was one part which was amusing, and that was when we were walking through this little cafe and quirky shops area near the Southbank and he said how it was the set of a foreign drama, and then pointed out random strangers as if they were actors in the drama.


The weather however was good, so it was a nice way to see London.

Sunday 14 June 2015

Reconnecting #20: Saturday Shakespeare

My dad Bobby loves Shakespeare, but at school I could never get into or really understand it. I studied Romeo and Juliet in English GCSE, Hamlet in English A Level and Macbeth in Drama A Level.

Since Bobby has retired he’s been seeing a lot of Shakespeare at the Globe and I decided to go with him to see one of the plays. So yesterday we went to see As You Like It, and I really enjoyed it. I understood most of it, and I think that was due to the delivery of the lines and the physicality the actors used. It was very funny in parts and there was even a little tap dance section.


We were groundlings which meant we were standing for all it, and it was only £5 to go and see which was the most surprising thing. The play lasted over two hours so it was real value for money. I wouldn't mind going to see some more.


At the end of the play it was revealed by the education director of the Globe that it was Sam Wanamaker day. He was the one that got the Globe built and they did a little speech about this which was pretty interesting.



The only disappointing thing was that it didn’t rain. I was all set with my bright blue hippo poncho, but I’ll have to save it for another day. 

Saturday 13 June 2015

Reconnecting #19: Not allowed to pay

During my uni holidays I had two summer jobs, one was working at an old people’s home and the other was working as an assistant to the conference manager at a conference company. The assistant job meant every summer for 4 years (as I worked there the summer I graduated) I helped the conference manager Liisa Daniels organise and attend risk assessment conferences in 4 and 5 star hotels. Liisa taught me everything on the job and gave me life lessons along the way.


Since leaving the job we’ve managed to stay in contact but although we’re 15 minutes apart in distance we seem to only see each other every couple of years. And a couple of weeks ago we caught up again. Time flies whenever we catch up and before we knew it she had to go and pick up her daughter. Because we were chatting so much I didn’t get a chance to get a picture of us two. So I’ve put a picture of my purse and handbag. Why the random picture? Ever since I've worked for her, she’s never let me pay for any food or drink. I offer, but every time she tells me to put my purse away.


We’re hopefully going to meet up again later this year for a spa day, so this bit of reconnecting has kick started our friendship again on a more regular basis.

Friday 12 June 2015

New recipe #13: Pudding and Doggy Bag Club debut

A few weeks ago I started a new job, and on Fridays I finish at lunchtime. So I thought I should spend my afternoons doing something productive, although the first couple of weeks I spent the afternoon catching up on The Good Wife.

Then one of my friends said I should do things for the 29 challenge in that time, and that’s when I thought of the pudding club.

The first pudding I created was Lemon Meringue Pie, which is my dad’s favourite. I used a recipe from my signed Mary Berry recipe book and unlike my Key Lime Pie landslide, it actually set!


My mum and dad were the first pudding club participants and the pie tasted great, a little rich as Mary Berry likes sugar. But my dad went up for seconds, so I must have done something right.


As a side club and to ‘waste not want not’ (as one of the old people I used to serve breakfasts to use to say), I started the Doggy Bag club. My flatmate, Lord Studman aka my Grandad and a few others got drop offs of the pie, so plenty of people enjoyed it.

Sunday 7 June 2015

New Book #19: Bedtime Stories

The latest book I read, I heard about in an article a few years ago, and it had been on my Amazon wish list for years. So when I saw it in Waterstones for £1 I couldn't turn it down.


The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma is about a promise Alice and her dad made to read aloud together for 100 consecutive nights. Upon completing what this, they then challenged themselves to see how long they could keep their ‘streak’ of reading going. They started the challenge when Alice was 9 years old and finished on her first day of college. This totalled 3,218 nights!

I thought it was a great book to read for the challenge, as what they did was a challenge itself. Alice and her dad Jim have a very close relationship and it explored her being raised by a single father and the ups and downs of growing up.

Jim was a Librarian and his passion for reading and books was shown throughout the book. I have to admit I cried at the end when he retired from being a school librarian, but cried of happiness when in his retirement he volunteered to read to the elderly in old people’s homes and found it rewarding.

It’s a great read for anyone who is close to their dad or has a passion for reading. There’s also a list of a selection of the books Alice and her dad read if further reading inspiration is needed.

Wednesday 3 June 2015

New Album #19: It’s all a Blur

My friend Jen and her husband Mark are music experts, so it’s about time that listened to one of their recommendations. Mark said I should listen to Blur’s Great Escape album, so while cooking some banana bread I got through the whole album.


Mark, Jen and Alex James from Blur, who can add making cheeses to his talents!

Like the Led Zeppelin album there were quite a few songs on the album which I recognised. The whole album felt like a concert, so it definitely made cooking more entertaining. Stand out songs for me were Charmless Man and The Universal.


Listening to the album couldn't have come at a better time as Blur is playing a gig at Hyde Park in a few weeks, which a few of my friends are going to, including Jen and Mark. So at least when they tell me all about it, I’ll know a few more of the songs they’ll be going on about!

Tuesday 2 June 2015

New Book #18: Broadening my Horizons

I read this book a while back and came across it thanks to a colleague at work. Recently I’ve been interested in how people can move on from things in their life, and my colleague recommended I look at CBT which is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.


I bought Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Dummies and got reading it straight away. It was quite a long book with 20 odd chapters. In essence it was a textbook and was a struggle to finish it at the end, but I did find it really interesting. The theories actually make sense and can be applied for everyday use. It’s a good book to have for friends if they are going through a tough time.