Off for a Halloween Ball with the jive nation crew - there will be pictures. But for now…
October 2008
Monthly Archive
Fri 31 Oct 2008
Thu 30 Oct 2008
Wow.
So… back when I was looking at ways Spoonfed could add some cool competitions, I spent some time looking at our competitors and similar site to see what sorts of prizes they offered and how they ran the competitions. In most cases, I actually entered the competitions both to see how the entering process worked and because the prizes were often pretty darn cool.
Even through I was working through competitions on the Spoonfed end, giving prizes to real people (and hearing back from many of them, quite happy they had won!), it never actually occurred to me that I might win any of the things I had entered weeks before.
So imagine my surprise when, upon coming home one day, I had a giant package in front of the door which, upon opening, revealed a 70cl bottle of premium triple distilled Smirnoff vodka, two cans of Schweppes ginger ale (to make my moscow mule cocktail of course) and a professional barman’s cocktail kit including shaker, sieve, measuring cups and recipe booklet.
This weekend will certainly be shaken, not stirred ;).
Wed 29 Oct 2008
Well, after my over-excited update from last night, seven hours later the snow is long gone and now it’s just bitter cold. Oh well, it’s actually quite autumnal and nothing made me feel that more than the Apple Day and Borough Market near London Bridge.
I hadn’t been to Borough Market before although Londoneater did a great two-part post about the place. It’s in one of my all-time favourite parts of the city, right on the south bank, next to the Globe and Tate Modern, and all but directly under the Tower Bridge. The market itself is huge (and thankfully covered as it was raining the day we went) and I’m not sure if it’s generally closed Sundays or not as only about half the stalls were open. But those that were took part in celebrating the apple theme of the day.
As I said, it had been raining pretty heavily on the way over so as soon as I made it to the market (no easy task - finding it was no problem but getting anywhere quickly was more of a challenge as enormous crowds were being led from the Globe to the Market by volunteers in Renaissance period dress) I grabbed a cup of hot apple cider and proceeded to enjoy the smells of the market.
For lunch, Sarah, Steve and I all got the irresistible looking “hog roast,” a delicious roast pork (we could see the remains of the actual pig on the fire pit behind the stall), thick apple sauce, spinach and some cracklin on a warm cabatta roll.
The more difficult decision was in what to eat for a sweet. One vendor had an array of absolutely stunning desserts, including some meranges the size of my head (pictures coming soon). I was finally tempted into a sugar high by the candy makers Burnt Sugar which had some very unique kinds of fudge and candies. I had the relatively ordinary chocolate fudge, treacle fudge, peanut brittle and coconut clouds but then mixed it up with some of the more surprising flavours - chocolate chili fudge, chocolate and ginger, and chocolate and sea salt. Don’t worry, it was just a bite of each!
I would love to go back to the Borough Market but it would be a tough place to do my shopping as it’s so far away from the flat. Apple Day was the perfect introduction to the market and a delicious way to get into the Autumn spirit!
Tue 28 Oct 2008
Another busy day and I’m about to fall asleep but…
It’s snowing! This is completely remarkable as I’ve been told we get snow about once a year in London - it’s not going to stick until the morning or anything but it’s absolutely amazing! It’s clearly a rarity as every person I know in London has something along the lines of “Snow!!” as their away message or status on Facebook.
But boy is it bloody cold.
Tue 28 Oct 2008
I know I’m off to Munich in a few days (very exciting!) but I really wish I could do a bit more travelling in the UK before the year is over. My plan for the last few weekends has been to head up to Kings Cross, walk up to the ticket counter, hand them 20 quid and ask for an open return ticket to somewhere. But between all of the things I’ve had to do, it’s been difficult to plan a last minute trip anywhere. There are a couple of sites that I’ve discovered that allow you to plan last minute breaks but often the bigger problem is where to go.
There are two places I feel I really need to travel to, and hopefully soon - they’re also the sorts of places where I can do a last minute trip and still feel as I haven’t missed out on anything I could have accomplished with advanced planning.
Firstly, Bath. The home of Jane Austen, setting of many of her novels, only a few miles away from Stonehenge and with, of course, the ancient Roman baths. I’ve already (sadly!) missed the Jane Austen Festival earlier this year but there’s so much there in terms of history, places to see and shopping that I’m certain I could spend a day, a weekend or even longer. It’s also incredibly accessible from London which makes it pretty high on my list of last minute destination choices.
The other place I’d love to visit is Cornwall to see the Eden Project. Mimi went earlier this year and her pictures were amazing - basically the Eden Project is a series of ecodomes and is kind of a cross between a museum, a garden, an amusement park and a concert venue. It’s a bit longer trip from London but will be absolutely worth it. As soon as I have a nice weekend I think it would be worth looking at how much a trip to Cornwall would be.
There are so many other places I need to visit in the UK - Canterbury, Haworth, Isle of Skye, Dover, Durham (as my dad keeps telling me)… I haven’t even seen the Windsor Castle yet!
I may have some international trips coming up, but there’s is clearly plenty to keep me busy right here :).
Sun 26 Oct 2008
Well, it’s been an insanely busy last week and I’m just going to make a list of things that happened in the (overly optimistic) hope that I will have the chance to come back to each thing to elaborate.
Thursday - went dancing with Sarah and Steve and Sarah took more video recordings of us dancing; hopefully I can get those up soon. Learned a really snazzy new lift during the class that night which was fun.
Friday - went out to dinner with a friend who graduated the year above me at Colby and is now also living in London. Tested out a brilliant Cuban restaurant called the Floridita which had live salsa music and great food. Ended up staying out until nearly 2am with dinner and dancing and then the bus home through amazing London at night.
Saturday - went on a long walk and shopping on the nearby high street; got a nice new winter coat, a sweater and new shirt, also got a non-stick fry pan and (FINALLY) US-style measuring cups for cooking. Then Sarah and Steve came over for dinner and I cooked pizza, potato salad, hummus and toasted tortillas and baked brownies for dessert.
Sunday - meet up with Sarah and Steve (these poor people, I know. I really need to expand my social circle; they’re going to get so sick of me) for Apple Day at the Borough Market for some delicious food; headed up to the Brick Lane market for some general knick-knack oogling; came home and made spaghetti and a delicious tomato sauce.
Next week is going to be crazy at work as well; the weekend is Halloween; and then the following Thursday I leave for Munich. Yikes… I don’t know how I’m going to fit it all in!
Thu 23 Oct 2008
It’s been an incredibly hectic week that sort of peaked last night with a super late night at the office. But on Tuesday I had a chance to go to a very interesting lecture at the Institute for Contemporary Art called Googleworld. I’ve done a full write up on Spoonfed.
Tonight, it seems, I’ll be present for the foretelling of the end of society as we know it. I’m learning of our decent into an Orwellian future where our every move and thought is read and recorded. The cause of our downfall, and the subject of tonight’s lecture, ‘Googleworld’, at the ICA is none other than Google, which, despite a cuddly logo and a name two letters away from ‘giggle’, is poised to control the world.
Mon 20 Oct 2008
I’m not sure if I’ve previously described the European phenomenon that is Eurovision yet. I didn’t actually see the Eurovision song competition this year but I did catch the Eurovision dance competition spin-off which gave me a pretty good taste of the show.
Basically, Eurovision Song Competition is a televised singing competition in which different countries from the European Union have send one act to perform in the finals (not every country or the thing would go on forever - I think usually sixteen countries compete?). The best part, however, is the voting. Each country votes but you can’t vote for your own country’s act. At the end of the competition, each country is broadcast into the host country (and the live program) by video link to share the results.
The competition has apparently been going on for decades and has launched pop groups, including Abba, into fame and popularity. As far as I can tell, Eurovision in the UK is sort of like marmite. You love it or you hate it but very few people take it seriously. It’s incredibly campy and often quite stereotypical which is why it lended itself quite well to a spoof musical called Eurobeat which is now playing at the Novello theatre.
Over the weekend, Sarah, Steve and I went to see the show which a friend of ours at work had given rave reviews. Upon entering, we were offered a flag pin at random of one of the ten different countries “performing” that evening. I, of course, was Ireland. We were also told to leave our cell phones ON during the show as we would be using them to call in and vote for the winner (which was actually chosen by the audience and our votes were announced by video link. I was impressed).
Overall, the music was ridiculous, the parts were over acted, and there was no plot or storyline (it was, straight up, ten different acts competing for our votes, then the winner getting announced). But it was absolutely hilarious and so much fun. I don’t know if I’d see it again (as our work colleague had) but it was so much fun (I still have Italy’s song stuck in my head).
Now I just need to see the real thing.
Sun 19 Oct 2008
Ages and ages ago (like, about a week), I decided I was craving something fresh baked for breakfast (it’s just occurring to me that I probably shouldn’t write this post right before breakfast. Oh well, scones are easy and tasty) and decided to try my hand at a bit of pastry. I have always been nervous about attempting anything that is meant to be light and flaky, more because of the time it requires - it’s always more disappointing when you mess up something you spend a long time making - but I found what looked like a fairly simple recipe on the BBC website.
Ingredients
Yeast Batter
2 tsp dried yeast or 15g/½oz fresh yeast
3 tbsp milk, hand-hot
1 tsp sugar
25g/1oz strong white flourOther Ingredients
200g/8oz strong white flour
large pinch of salt
1 tbsp caster sugar
50g/2oz butter
2 eggs, beatenMethod
1. Stir yeast into the milk. If using dried yeast leave it to stand for 5 minutes.
2. Mix in the flour and sugar and leave in a warm place until frothy - about 20 minutes.
3. Sift together the flour, salt and sugar.
4. Rub in the butter.
5. Beat the eggs into the frothy batter.
6. Stir in the flour mixture and work to a soft dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and no longer sticky.
7. Cover the dough and leave to rise until doubled in size - about 1-1½ hours.
8. Knock back the risen dough.
9. Grease twelve brioche tins 7cm/3in in diameter or twelve deep bun tins.
10. Divide the dough into twelve equal pieces. With each piece cut off a quarter and form the largest part into a ball and place in tin. Firmly press a hole in the centre of the ball and place remaining small piece of dough as a knob in this. Glaze with beaten egg.
11. Cover and leave to prove until light and puffy - about 30-40 minutes.
12. Bake in a very hot oven 230C/450F/Gas 8 until golden brown - about 18-20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
Now, I’m not sure it was the lack of folding and chilling (often used in pastry making) or the fact that my flat was so cold that the dough didn’t rise properly (maybe I was just impatient) but it was pretty clear these weren’t the best brioche. Whether the recipe or my cooking skill, they came out incredibly dense without any of that light flaky inside I had expected. They still tasted great, with jam and butter, but really they were more like buns than brioche.
Sat 18 Oct 2008
This was the weekend I was meant to go to Amsterdam and although I am very very glad I didn’t end up going, I really do want to sort out some more traveling in the very near future and I keep thinking I’d like to go back to Wales.
It’s getting a little late in the season to hike Mount Snowdon, which I had really been looking forward to (that will have to wait until next summer) but there’s still a ton of hiking throughout the country and that just sounds so much nicer now that I’ve been in a city for so long. I’d also really like to get to Cardiff which is supposed to be a fun city.
Wales also has a ridiculous amount of choirs and vocal groups that are renowned for their talent so when I do go back I’ll have to get some concert tickets in Cardiff.
I also decided that I’d love to go back to Hay-on-Wye, the town of books. When I was there on my Wales trip, I only got about half an hour of open bookshops.
If I could find a group of people, I’d love to go to something like Tenby Self Catering Cottage because it would be much easier to stay in a cottage rather than staying in a hotel or hostel (especially if I’m doing as much hiking as I’d like to!). Anyone up for a visit and a trip to Wales?
But with upcoming trips to Germany to see Gretchen, Austria to see Shelley, and New York to see the department of homeland security and visas, I’d better get my Wales trip in soon!
