Busy!

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!

Googleworld

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.

Read on…

Eurobeat

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.

Brioche

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 flour

Other Ingredients
200g/8oz strong white flour
large pinch of salt
1 tbsp caster sugar
50g/2oz butter
2 eggs, beaten

Method
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.

Back to Wales?

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!