Reconnecting #29: Save the best till last

Everyone has that neighbour that they grew up with. For me this was Hannah who lived across the street with and I was friends with till she moved away around the age of 4 I think.

We stayed penpals for a little while and briefly saw each other when we were 10 but then we lost touch.  After adding each other on facebook I think we did try to meet up while I was at uni but it never happened. And then I thought with this challenge, why not get in touch with Hannah. She’s now living in London so the geography wise it couldn't be more perfect, and what’s the worst that could happen? She would say no.

Well she didn’t and yesterday evening we met up, we hadn’t seen each other in around 20 years, and we got on like a house on fire. There were no awkward silences and it was as if we’d be friends all this time. There were also quite a few similarities between us as well, we both went to sports with our dads and we both had in essence free coats. Gone are the days of bowl haircuts and playing with dolls!

As Hitchin is enroute on the way back to Hannah’s parents’ house, Hannah and I are hoping to catch up a bit more regularly then every 20 years!

New book #29: The nicest guy

A few weeks ago I went to the Radio Times Festival with my family. Strange as it sounds I love the Radio Times and it’s a sign that Christmas has arrived when the Christmas edition is out and I can highlight all the films and programmes I plan to watch.

The festival had lots of talks taking place and I went to two. The first was one by Bafta about how to get into TV and the second was a talk with David Nicholls the author who is best known for his books Starter for Ten and One Day which were also made into films.

His talk was about his career and about his latest book Us. It was actually the last time he’d be doing promotion as it had been a year since the book was released.

I decided to go to his book signing after the talk about Us as it was the only book of his I hadn’t read. I had wanted to ask a question at his talk but they ran out of time so I asked him when he was signing my book; I said that I was writing a screenplay and asked how he dealt with writers block. And he couldn’t have been nicer he gave me some tips even though there was a queue of people behind waiting for their books to be signed. So that gave me more motivation for my writing.

Now back to the book it was about a couple called Connie and Douglas who had been married for 25 years and Connie was thinking of leaving Douglas. They had a son called Albie and they planned one last holiday through Europe before he went to university. The book was well written and travelled through each country as well as the couple’s past and how they got to where they are today with ease. David Nicholls books are easy to read and the characters develop quickly which makes you care for them. During the talk quite a few people took either Douglas or Connie’s side on things and I couldn’t decide which side to go for. It might take a second reading to determine that.
So a great book to finish the book part of the challenge.

New Recipes #27-28 and New Activity #30: Thai and Mexican cuisine

For my food gathering I was going to cook Thai fish parcels, but with some late drop outs I decided to cook these at a later date and at the end of last week I did. Now I’m a real stickler to the recipes, even when it comes to something as simple as pancakes, so it may come as a shock to my friends that I didn’t follow the recipe.

The recipe said to use coconut cream and red curry paste. I didn’t have either, so I used Greek yoghurt, double cream and tikka paste instead. It was an easy way to cook fish, just wrap it up in baking parchment and foil and put in the oven. I thought that with the flavours being wrapped up, when I opened it up once it had been cooked the flavours would be really strong. However I was underwhelmed by it. It tasted okay, but didn’t really look that great.

The second recipe I made was recommended by my friend Rachel and I made it for her while we were at the fitness weekend. It was Mexican scrambled eggs and I think the last time I cooked or at least got taught to cook scrambled eggs was when I was 5 at school. The recipe was pretty easy to make, fry some tortilla wraps which have been cut into strips. Fry chopped chilli and a spring onion, then add that and 4 beaten eggs together and tada! I was expecting it to be really spicy but it wasn’t too bad and was very filling. I’ll definitely make it again as it was so easy to do.

Even though I've finished the new experiences part of the challenge I also went to my first pilates class over the weekend. As I thought the class consists of lots of stretches, but challenging ones. It was towards the end of the weekend so was a good way to wind down.

New foods: What have I learnt and what was the best?

Looking back over the list of foods that I tried there’s a great variety. I‘ve tried different meats, different desserts and foods from different countries.

Trying panna cotta, crème brulee and biryani inspired me to make me try the recipes out for the challenge as well. And my attempts at these dishes were successful.

Although there was a great variety, I think it would have been good to be a bit more adventurous with what I tried. The most adventurous I got was trying a locus and I think going forward I’m going to consider more out there choices.

In one of my first jobs I was given 2 bits of advice, the first always look up at the ceiling of places (especially in grand buildings) and the second was when eating out for one of the courses always go for something you haven’t had before. So with this in mind, trying new foods in the future won’t be a problem.

Screenwriting #6-7: I can sleep when I’m dead

With the Hea-Van series coming to a finish I decided to work on another screenplay. I have two screenplays I wanted to work on, one that I started five years ago and one I had an idea for a few months ago. I will finish both but have put a concentrated effort into writing the latter first.

I have started writing what was to be a one off TV piece called Marathon Money and it’s about a woman in her early twenties called Jenna. In short she is going to be running the marathon and has got a charity place. But with charity places you have to raise a certain amount of money, and although she finds this easy in reality it’s not.

She’s exhausted all options of fundraising and then realises that an unconventional way might be the answer. Jenna had been going to pole classes for a few years and got quite good, so she takes an evening job at a pole club in order to raise the money. Obviously there are obstacles along the way and while the marathon is at the forefront of the screenplay, the real focus is whether she can raise the money.

This by far is the easiest screenplay I’ve written, for some reason the words have flowed out onto the page really quickly. The second evening of writing I wrote 23 pages and was questioning how long I could stay awake as I couldn’t stop writing.

I guess its true what they say, write about what you know. And while I don’t have any experience in doing pole at a club (well as a paid job) I did go to pole classes for around 3-4 years. And although I haven’t run a marathon, I’ve done several races and challenges which require sponsorship. For me the training part wasn’t the problem for the challenges, it was getting a person to sponsor me which was the tricky part.

The timing of me writing this couldn’t have come at a better time as all over Facebook I’m seeing friends who have applied for a ballot place in the marathon to be told the outcome over the past few days. Others have been toying with the idea of a charity place, but many are put off by the high amount that has to be raised.

Over the weekend I went to a fitness weekend and somehow between classes I managed to write an awful lot. I’m now on 71 pages! So with plenty more still to explore, instead of a one TV piece, I’m making it a film. I’m heading for 90 pages, but I reckon I could do 120.

I hope the rest of the writing will be just as fast. Question is how much sleep do I really need?

New phrases #24-29: Insulting finish

For my food gathering some people brought a phrase with them, and my friend Fran did just that. She told me in German how to say my sister is sometimes annoying, which is; 'Meine schwester est manchmal argelich.' And I’m sure my sisters will use that one on me in the future!

My friend Kayleigh couldn't make the gathering but she text me a Spanish phrase that she had learnt on holiday. A very useful one in ‘Can I have the bill’ which is; 'La cuenta, por favour.'

In the book I’m reading at the moment a trip around Europe is the main focus and in one of the flashback scenes one of the characters says; Ton coeur brise se reparera rapidement in French and for some reason I liked the sound of the phrase.

The last few phrases are courtesy of my friend Rachel, a regular contributor to the challenge. She gave me a book of insults in a foreign language and when I started reading through them I couldn't stop laughing. It was a really tough choice to decide which ones to put in the challenge, and so I've decided on the following phrases:

Vorrei rompere qualcosa. Posso prendere in prestito il vostro naso? This is Spanish for 'I would like to break something. Can I borrow your nose?

Avete il cervello di un panino del formaggio. This is Italian for 'You have the brain of a cheese sandwich.'

Votre pay est comme une toilette. Il n'a pas besoin d'un président, il le besoin justes quelqu'un de vider toute la merde.' This is French for; 'Your country is like a toilet. It doesn't need a President, it just needs someone to flush all the shit away.'

So an insulting finish I think you’ll agree.

New food #29-32: What the gatherers brought

As part of the food gathering that took place on Sunday I asked friends to bring either a phrase or a new food to try. I ended up trying 4 new things and the first was Dal Puri which my friend Penny made. Dal Puri is an Indian flatbread made with lentils and they tasted great. It was really nice that she went to all that effort to create a food for me to try from scratch.

My friend Coops also did the same and made Pigeon Pie which was another great gesture of helping me complete my challenge. It also showed off Coops’ cooking skills and the pie had just the right amount of sauce, so it wasn’t too watery. He also bought an alpaca burger for me to try and I tried it a few days later. It tasted nice and was a rich meat. My Grandad had warned me off trying unusual meats as the last time I had an unusual meat which I think was goat, it did not sit well.

To finish off the day my friend Claire brought round Physalis to try which is a berry that tastes a bit like gooseberries. They’re more for decoration on desserts and are bright orange.
So a great variety of foods to finish off the food part of the challenge.