Friday 6 April 2012

Creme egg cakes

As Easter was approaching and I had a little time on my hands I thought I need make a suitable Easter creation. I decided that it was going to involve Creme eggs, easily the best bit about Easter, but needed some ideas. This is where I Googled what people had made previously and posted on the net. An amazing array of Creme egg cakes had already been  made to draw upon as inspiration. Hands down the best creation though was a cake with a Creme egg inside. No recipe was really given but the baker gave a few handy hints on her Flickr page and this was enough for me to at least give it a try.


First of all buy a pack of Creme eggs and remove the foil. Then put them in the freezer so they will resist the heat a bit more when in the oven. Leave them in there for at least two hours, I left mine in overnight. Only take them out just before you put the cakes into the oven.

To make the cake batter I beat together 80g or butter and 80g of sugar until light and fluffy. Next step is add two eggs and beat them in. Next add 80g of flour and a teaspoon of baking powder and fold them in. I decided that chocolate cake goes best with a Creme egg filling so added two tablespoons of cocoa powder and mixed in until no lumps were left. To loosen every up a bit add milk until you get a dropping consistency.

As these will turn out to be quite bit cakes use muffin cases. Set out six cases into a cake tray and spoon in about two tablespoons of the cake mix into each case. Now it is time to get the Creme eggs out the freezer and put one into each case. I originally tried to keep them upright but the cake mix spilt out of the cases and left the chocolate eggs exposed. So to be on the safe side try putting the eggs in sidewards. To finish cover the eggs with the remaining cake mixture. Put in the oven, I put them in at gas mark 3 for about 40 minutes to be on the safe side and protect the eggs from melting. Once out the oven leave them to cool.

To make the icing weigh out 50g of butter and about 175g of icing sugar. Mix together well and if you need some help binding it together add a few drops of water. Then I added two teaspoons of vanilla extract to give it a bit more flavour. I piped the icing over the tops of the cake, leaving a bit behind to help me stick decorations onto the cake.

For the decoration I got some mini Creme eggs and cut them open along the join and did slightly different things as topping for each cake, using the icing to help stick them in place a bit more.


And the cakes are good, sticky and sickly but good. The goo from the Creme eggs escaped a bit so made the surrounding cake very sugary but was fun to eat and especially to make.

Thursday 22 March 2012

Chocolate Philadelphia spread

I did something outrageous and bought Philadelphia's new flavour spread - Cadbury's chocolate. It sounds wrong but this is what happens when Kraft, an American company best known for soft cheese, buys Cadbury's. Nevertheless I was feeling brave.

It looks the same as any other Philadelphia products, except it is purple. I peeled back the foil wondering what would be found there, but all I found was a rather pleasant looking spread, rather like chocolate spread.


My expectation was that it would taste like chocolate cheesecake, which I am not really a fan of, but I was wrong. Instead it tastes like cold chocolate spread with a sour after taste. It is actually quite nice, but then it tricks you and if you end up eating about a teaspoon of it then it ends up tasting gross.

I am trying to figure out what I can do it with though. The serving suggestion is on bread, but I can imagine that will be very sickly. I have heard that it ends up tasting like millionaire's cheesecake if you spread it on digestive biscuits, but I want to use it as an ingredient. My biggest hurdle though is my boyfriend doesn't like the taste of the new spread so this limits my options. In fact I think I am stuck with occasionally stealing bits when I open the fridge door.

In conclusion, a fun experiment but probably won't try it again.

Wednesday 21 March 2012

The Linc

This is the last print issue of The Linc that has been worked on by a Reid or a Cresswell. Enjoy!


Tuesday 20 March 2012

BBC iPlayer comes to Xbox

Finally I never need to use a laptop to catch up on television that I have missed ever again because iPlayer is now on my Xbox.

I never thought that I would be a person who would like the option to watch television on demand on my Xbox. When living alone I was quite happy with watching the television and if I needed to catch up on television then my laptop would suffice.


However, I then realised that maybe watching television would be something for everyone, not just when you are watching television on your own. I first realised this when my family where regularly using iPlayer on the Playstation to watch programmes that had clashed with other events. And it all seemed so simple.

Now I live with my boyfriend and we tend to watch television together. This alongside the fact that television of late is a bit hit and miss. Instead we just switch on the Xbox and log onto Netflix and pretend that television is watchable. So far we have got most of the way through Futurama and Scrubs and that is just the beginning.

And now we have iPlayer at our fingertips too, and it is easy to use and a fun application. The only thing now is I am beginning to feel very lazy when I think about the fuss of moving back to normal television from watching shows on demand forgetting that I am using a television.

Yes, I know I should get out more.

Photo: ChipperMist via Flickr

Monday 19 March 2012

Duck socks

My duck obsession also extends to my clothing, here is a fine example.

Friday 16 March 2012

Chicken teriyaki

I have taken a bit of a baking break this week - although I would like to say it is to be more healthy but mostly it is a time thing. So here is a recipe for a meal instead of delicious cake.

Fancying Chinese food I decided to make chicken teriyaki, I imagine the recipe I used was not that authentic but it was very nice and quite simple to do. The recipe comes from Lorraine Pascale's Home Cooking Made Easy book.


It is best to get everything prepared before you start cooking. As this recipe serves two get two portions of rice ready to boil and cut up two chicken breasts ready to fry. Also cut up a bunch of spring onions until they are finely sliced, I cut up about five spring onions.

Then to make the sauce. The recipe says to use mirin, which is a rice wine, but I used a vegetable stock instead. Make up about 40 ml of vegetable stock and then add about 30ml of soy sauce and stir in a tablespoon of brown sugar. It tastes too salty then pour in some more water.

Now that everything is prepped start boiling the rice and cooking the chicken. Flavour the chicken with salt and pepper as well as same garlic and ginger. Once the chicken is cooked add the sauce and allow it to cook for another 3-5 minutes. Then add the spring onions and cook for a further minute. At this point you can also add some seasame seeds but I couldn't find any in the supermarket.

Then serve up the rice and the chicken and you are done. I suggest making it, it is fresh, simple and really tasty.

Wednesday 14 March 2012

Emma the English Oak tree

Today I went to a conference about reducing Lincoln's carbon footprint and the parting gift was an Oak tree sapling which I have planted in a tub for the time being and popped in my garden. It has been named Emma


Sunday 11 March 2012

Life is what you make of it

This week I have made a realisation about life. The scariest thing about life is not what happens, but what could happen.


Let me explain what I mean. If you were to be made unemployed then you wouldn't be scared, you would be busy with sorting out what new jobs you can get, whether you can afford the rent so you have something to focus your attention on.

Whereas before that you would be worrying about if you are going to lose your job, whether it is something you need to worry about at all, where can you get a new job from. Essentially you have all the same questions but there is absolutely nothing you can do so much so that is a relief when you get the news, good or bad, so that you can actually do something to sort it all out.

The same thing can be applied to illness, exams or relationships. We may have an inkling about what will happen or plan what to do but it all comes back to this fear of the unknown. And as far as I know there is nothing to stop it apart from listening to the snowballing panic stricken thoughts your brain creates.

Photo: Sarah Faulwetter via Flickr

Saturday 10 March 2012

Zelda

So not my own music this time but today I bought Zelda Spirit Tracks for my DS and spent most of the day listening to the soundtrack,

Friday 9 March 2012

Chocolate chip whoopie pies

This is the first bake that I haven't been 100% completely happy about. It all started rather ominously as I made a trek in the rain to get the few ingredients I needed by somehow forgot the marshmallows for the marshmallow filling, meaning a second soggy trip was needed. Whilst I was baking I dropped the mixing bowl - thankfully just a tablespoon fell out - and the filling wouldn't set properly. Yet they still tasted amazing.

So this recipe is a combination of chocolate chip whoopie cakes and then the filling comes from a recipe for chocolate whoopie pies. Both recipes come from Love Food's Cake recipe book.


Start by measuring out 115g of butter and 150g of light brown sugar, beat them together until you make a pale, fluffy mixture. Then whisk in an egg. Measure out 250g of flour and then start adding the flour to the butter, sugar and egg mixture gradually. Then pour in 150ml of soured cream (or I used 150ml of milk with a few drops of lemon juice). Mix well and when smooth add in 85g (or a packet) of chocolate chips.

Then spoon out about 20 discs of the mixture in to baking trays, as my baking trays are quite small I did a few at a time. Then put in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes at gas mark 4.

As it is quite a short baking time I wait until they have finished baking until I make the filling. So once the cookie/cake discs are out then oven start melting a packet of marshmallows (around about 225g) and 4 tablespoons of milk. Once they have melted remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Then get 115g of vegetable fat, or butter, and mix with 55g of icing sugar and beat together with an electric whisk until you have a creamy mixture. Then add the marshmallow mix and beat it in until the mixture is fluffy. This is where it went a bit wrong and I ended up adding quite a lot of icing sugar. But if you have problems then put it in the fridge to harden up a bit before spreading onto the discs.

Once the discs are cool and the filling is hard enough to spread without it spilling everywhere then put them together. They are very sweet so you can only eat one at a time otherwise you feel sick, but it is worth it.

Wednesday 7 March 2012

Tuesday 6 March 2012

Personal news

Today marks two years since I started going out with my boyfriend Jon. Now before this starts getting too personal and romantic here is a link to all the characters in Monty Python and the Holy Grail made 8bit.

Monday 5 March 2012

Ducktor Who

This duck was given to me by my friend Michaela who was worried I wouldn't like it but look he is still pride of place in my bathroom.


Sunday 4 March 2012

What does television mean to you?

Television gets some tough press. It gets the blame for people wanting to become famous, dumbing down the nation and seen as a poor babysitter. But hopefully people will start to see the good that television can do as well, especially as the BBC's most recent success Call The Midwife has apparently got more interested in training to become midwives, as well as people wanting to become the next pop sensation.

Even without television people would have wanted to become pop stars or midwives, but it is a medium that will get people learning more about the world around them. So yes it is good to read to learn more about life and history but television can have a similar effect - and I am an avid fan of both.


This particularly struck me when watching the documentary Being Elmo which follows the life and career so far of Elmo's puppeteer, Kevin Clash. He learnt all about The Muppets and the work of Jim Henson through the TV and his appreciation extended to watching everything available to him to learn more. And this is where he was different to everyone else he created his own Muppets, puppets and characters all by himself of an amazing quality. This led to him working with his hero Henson and with The Muppets and responsible for Elmo. The remarkable thing though is he is not the only one to have done this as he gets calls from kids doing similar things. Now that wouldn't have been achievable without television and who doesn't love Elmo?

I have to say that my own educational and career choices are down to television too as Jon Snow and Jeremy Paxman led me into journalism. Now television may have started that, but other things helped to continue it.

Photo: Constance Marks/Being Elmo

Saturday 3 March 2012

Sea salt and olive oil pain d'epi

I have attempted making bread before but it doesn't feel as spectacular as it does to make a nutritious pie or a beautiful cake. Yet this pain d'epi looked fun to create. Turns out I didn't really make it look like it is supposed to but it was still fun. The recipe is from Lorraine Pascale's Home Cooking Made Easy.

Start off by measuring 275g of strong white flour and pour into a bowl. Next add 1 teaspoon of salt and 2 teaspoons of yeast. Then gradually add 150-185ml of warm water, once it starts to look like a dough you can stop adding water, and also add 1 tablespoon of olive oil.


Once it has all been brought together to make a soft dough take it out of the bowl and knead the mixture for a good ten minutes or until is stretchy.

Next dust a baking tray - I needed to use a bigger try which is why mine looked quite podgy. Get the dough and make it into a ball shape and then roll it out into a sausage shape. Cover the dough with clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm area for an hour.

Once the dough has risen take off the clingfilm and put the bread shortest way facing you and with a pair of scissors at a 45 degree angle make a large cut every 10cms to the middle of the dough, and then the same on the other side so it starts to look like a wheat stalk. This means that you can rip off pieces easily to eat.

Before putting it in the oven sprinkle the bread with flour and sea salt and then place in the oven for about 25 minutes at gas mark 6. You know when the bread is ready because it will be golden coloured and when you tap it the bread will sound hollow.

The annoying thing was even though I had intended to save it and use the bread throughout the week we ended up eating it all in about two days. Just need to make them look less fat.

Wednesday 29 February 2012

Plants update

A quick update on my plants, lots of chives and the thyme is doing well and finally there are some shoots in the basil pots too. Still no peppers but they look like healthy plants.


Tuesday 28 February 2012

To pay or not to pay?

Recently big companies, like Burger King and Tesco, got themselves into trouble for being part of government campaign which involved people working for them for nothing more then jobseeker's allowance. This sparked a lot of debate about whether people in these situations should be paid or glad for a job, and so I thought I haven't ranted about the job market for a while.


I can understand not paying people as part of work experience - and in my eyes that is one or two weeks shadowing people in the work place. Whilst I was a journalism student I did work experience stints like this regularly and fully appreciated the experience. In some places I got a few bylines, and although not paid they went out of their way to say thanks with a free lunch and a glowing reference.

But when you start finding unpaid internships for a month or three months then that is rude. Yes I understand that times are tough but you can't get round that by having a free dispensable worker. You don't get the quality of work you want, and more importantly, nobody feels particularly valued. Sitting at a desk, working in a shop for over 30 hours a week constitutes as a full time job and that means payment with money. Even if the money is just minimum wage, or a little over it that is better than nothing.

Not only can these huge companies afford it, it makes people feel like they are doing something in return for something. It feels crap to know that you went out all day to sit in an office to know that at the end of the day you can't afford to pay your way, let alone go to the pub to relax. 

As we having a bad time economically this is the time to change the system and make people feel valued, rather than see it as an opportunity to screw more people over and achieve nothing.

Photo: Guudmorning! via Flickr

Monday 27 February 2012

Sunday 26 February 2012

World Book Day should be for one and all

The annual event, World Book Day, is coming up on March 1st. It is usually associated with children's books, those little vouchers you get given as a kid and dressing up as your favourite character from a book. As the World Book Day's website explains the day is a chance to get children and young adults reading.

Now, undeniable, this is a good idea. I vividly remember one year dressing up as Mary Lennox, the little girl from the Secret Garden. We photocopied my Grampy's dramatic front door key and I carried around a plush robin all day at school. My costume only lost out to a girl dressed as Mary Poppins, whose family made costumes for a living and happened to have a Mary Poppinsesque carpet bag. 

I also enjoyed the opportunity to get more books and to read more, but being somebody who already loved reading not much was needed to convince me. I mean one of my ambitions in life is to have a library room in a house - although made out to be cool and homely of course.


However, there are also a great number of adults who just don't read as well. Not because they can't but because finding the time to sit down and enjoy the written word seems hard to do. But we should. Through a book you get to live vicariously through other people, learn about things and people you never would in normal life or just enjoy yourself. 

If it is important to children then it is important to adults too and it would be sad to miss out on a simple pleasure in life.

Friday 24 February 2012

Choc mint marble cake

I may have got a bit too interested in baking now. Throughout a stressful day this week I ended up half fantasising half planning my latest cakes. It felt therapeutic and I am frankly beginning to find this alarming.

However, more people found my latest bake alarming. I made chocolate and mint marble cupcakes.

Although it sounds ambitious it is in fact relatively simple, just requires having a lot of bowls to hand.


You need to half the mixture to make a normal Victoria sponge, so that you can flavour the two sets of cake batter differently.

So cream together 65g of sugar and 65g of butter. Next add 65g worth of flour and a teaspoon of baking powder. Fold this in carefully until all the lumps have gone.

Then repeat this process again so you have two bowls of normal cake batter. The only difference I made was for the cake mix that was going to be flavoured with cocoa I used dark brown sugar so that it tasted more treacle like.

So for the chocolate cake mix add in about a tablespoon of cocoa powder. Mix this in until you have a lovely rich brown looking cake mix.

For the mint half of the cake I attempted to make it look green. I added in about 4 teaspoons of green food colouring which made the mix look green but when baked it just looked like normal cake. This was disappointing but I suppose I should just look a bit more into the best kind of food colouring for cakes etc.

To make it minty I added in about 4 teaspoons of peppermint flavouring, and mix it in. This is thing to gauge for yourself based on how much you like mint, but this amount did not end up being too overpowering in the end.

Now for the fun part. Set out 12 cupcake cases in a cake tray. Go round each of the cases putting in one large tablespoon of one of the cake mixes into each case. Then top of the cases with a tablespoon of the remaining cake mix. I went chocolate first and then mint second.

Put them into an oven at gas mark 5 for about 20 minutes and then you have mint choc marble cakes.

When I told some people about it they were a bit disturbed because mint should either be hard or chewy and not 'cakey'. However, the people who have eaten the cakes, ie me and my boyfriend, have liked them.

Also you don't have to stick to choc and mint. The traditionally flavourings of a marble cake are chocolate and vanilla, but as long as the flavours work together then pretty much anything could work. And the marble effect is fun to make.

Thursday 23 February 2012

Radiant Rayman

I am about to do something which I have never done before. Write a game review. Now before you get worried that I start calling myself a games journalist it is because I have been crap and not read a book in a few weeks.

Recently I became the proud owner of an Xbox and the best Xbox game I own is Rayman Origins. This is largely due to the fact that it is the only Xbox game I own, but regardless of that it is a pretty damn good game.


The last time I played a Rayman game was on the Megadrive and I was aged approximately 10 years-old. The game has a lot of childhood nostalgia for me and I was worried that a new version of it wouldn't have the same charm. I had no reason to be worried because the game looks beautiful, is silly and creates hours of brilliant fun. It also has save points, which is an added bonus.

So the game is beautiful and a joy to watch but it is also a really good game. It could be written off as a kids game but the challenges are hard. You can soon find that you have spent an hour trying to complete one level to achieve 100%, an enjoyable way to waste time.

The game also rewards you for your hard work. You work hard to get past the increasingly difficult bosses to get an entire level which is just collecting points and bouncing around in fun little world.

In brief it is amazing and I am glad that something from my childhood is still as clever as I remember it.

Photo: Ubisoft

Wednesday 22 February 2012

St Marks in Lincoln


Clarkson cleared

So Jeremy Clarkson was cleared by Ofcom for what he said on The One Show. Yes, unbelievably, it turns out that what Clarkson said was stupid but nothing more than that. Ofcom cleared him because viewers should know by now that the presenter has a "provocative and outspoken nature". I think that is a technical way of sighing and then saying "Who cares? It is Jeremy Clarkson, ignore it".

The Top Gear presenter does like to say a lot of things to cause a reaction, but I don't think he expected over 30,000 people to complain when he said that protesters should be shot in front of their families. Especially when that wasn't really what he said. It was a joke. Perhaps in poor taste, but again the words were coming out of Clarkson's mouth.

One Show - Clarkson (mp3)

So the next time that people decide to have a hissy fit make sure you understand what you are complaining about. Or the best piece of advice I can think of just before midnight is - stop watching The One Show.

Monday 20 February 2012

Yabba the duck

This is the duck from kid's show Timmy Time, when you squeeze it's tummy it quacks.


Sunday 19 February 2012

Dressing up war

The new series of period drama, Upstairs, Downstairs started tonight. Despite it all being terribly posh and now with Alex Kingston, who I can't stand, I felt compelled to watch it.


I am a fan of classic literature and learning about the past through fiction, but as some pointed out whilst I was watching the show. There was a focus on Nazis and Hitler, and this seems to be a theme when thinking about making a period drama. Foyle's War and Land Girls just two recent shows that come to mind now.

I suppose it is an attractive time to write about because it is so well documented with millions of stories to tell. Also as an educational benefit more people should know what happened during the Second World War and what Hitler did. A television show about posh people showing the hardship of war is easier going in comparison to a documentary about Hitler.

But this is not why I was drawn to it. I was drawn to it for the same reason that I love watching shows like Poirot. The dressing up. Marvelling at the amount of costume changes a well to do person can make, especially when they have been told to stay in bed. Then comparing this to what the ordinary folk are wearing, and realising that you would prefer to wear what the ordinary folk are wearing because it takes less effort.

It might be dealing with something serious but it has something beautiful for the eyes too.

Photo: BBC

Saturday 18 February 2012

Friday 17 February 2012

Chicken and leek pie

This week I felt the most middle class I ever have. It went even to a level that I wasn't too sure I was comfortable with. This was all because there was a leek in my kitchen. It was all for a pie, which I am not entirely sure justifies it. But it was tasty.

I like making pies, but find I tend to make quite samey recipes - chicken, vegetables and a sauce. I have wanted to do something a bit different for ages and finally found a recipe that caught my eye, thanks to The Fabulous Baker BrothersTheir recipe for a chicken and leek pie is why I ended up with a leek in my kitchen. 

I only made a few changes to their recipe, mostly because the recipe was for six people and I was making it for two, and it used wine which I switched to stock. 

The most significant change was how the pastry was made. The Baker Brothers used beef dripping and butter, which just sounds indulgent to me. So I just made a normal pastry using 115g of flour, 55g of butter. Rub them together until it looks like breadcrumbs. Then add 4-5 tablespoons of water to bring the pastry together. Whilst you are doing the rest of the pie keep the pastry wrapped up in cling film in the fridge.

Next it was time to tackle the middle class leek. The recipe says to shred it and I had no idea how to do this. So I answered my question by asking Google and came across this helpful video. Essentially you cut the top and the bottom off the leek. Then cut it in half along the middle and then slice it up. To cook, put a knob of butter in a frying pan and add the shredded leek. To season add a little salt, pepper and herbs and leave to cook on the hob until soft. Once soft then add in about half a pint of stock, and wait until it has boiled off.

Dice the chicken, and when the leeks are soft remove them from the frying pan and put them somewhere else for the meantime. Then cook the chicken in the frying pan.

Once cooked put the leeks back into the frying pan with the chicken. Then to make it creamy add in about 4-5 tablespoons of creme fraiche and mix it all together.


Take this off the heat and put it into an oven proof pie dish. Then get the pastry out of the fridge and roll out to make a top for the pie.

Put the pie in the oven at gas mark 6 for about 30 minutes, or until the pastry looks cooked.

So far this pie is the best pie I have made, so do recommend that you try it out.


Thursday 16 February 2012

Practise makes perfect

When Channel 4 first announced 10 o'clock Live it was expected that it would become Britain's version of Jon Stewart's Daily Show. Instead it felt more like the combination of four individually funny people doing the same thing they normally would but with other people. There was nothing wrong with that, per se, but it didn't change the world as much as expected.

Luckily the show did get a second series and now seems to be forging more its own voice rather than relying on the reputation of its presenters.


In the first series Charlie Brooker was pretty much doing old Screenwipe and Newswipe pieces. David Mitchell had his soapbox, similar to his rant videos over on the Guardian and Jimmy Carr was doing his opener from 8 Out of 10 Cats. And poor Lauren Laverne was sort of left out it mostly, every now and again given a silly pre-record to do, but sometimes felt a bit token woman.

They also tried discussions, which involved many, many people. Asking lots of different people what their opinion was on something much like a real news programme would do.

This time around there is still plenty of conversation and debate, but it is focused on the four presenters. It may not be informed discussion because they no longer have the most qualified person in the country to talk about that subject. But then they have gained something from it - humour. And I do believe that is important in satire.

However, the show is not quite at running level yet. It also suffers from the problem of relying upon the news and for that to keep on giving quality stories to make jokes about. But the turning point seemed to come this week from Charlie Brooker and his rant about The Sun newspaper. And I am glad that is starting to prove itself.

Photo: Channel 4

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Tuesday 14 February 2012

Surprise news, always the best kind of news

I was going to do a piece about how Twitter is made out to be important, and have a general rant about those articles going on about people reading the news about celebrities dying on Twitter before the usual mediums.

But then I got distracted by something fun.

I, along with my friend Emma, run a little television blog called TV Talk. It gets a fair amount of readers each month even though we don't publicise it a great deal. Turns out if you write about Gino D'Acampo and Timmy Time there is always an audience.



The amount of content we put up goes up and down depending on our schedules, and recently the quality of television. This is why we were pleasantly surprised to see that an article Emma had written about the recent return of Top Gear had been highlighted on the BBC Top Gear site.

It may only be fleeting fame, but it feels great to be appreciated. Hopefully it could lead to something good.


Sunday 12 February 2012

Bring back...?

Finally the UK can see The Muppets movie in the cinema. It feels like, and probably has been, promotion for the film has been going on for about six months. This is because not only do they want to make a lot of money out of the film, but they want to bring The Muppets back. Everyone must know who The Muppets are now, no matter how old or where you come from.


So this made me think about what shows I would like to be brought back.

My first television revival would be Mongrels. Yes, it was only on the television just before Christmas but that is the last we will see of it. BBC Three cancelled the show because it wasn't getting enough viewers, and the BBC is axing anything they can at the moment. This has genuinely annoyed me - I have even deleted BBC Three from the television.

The show is also puppet based, but it is for adults. It followed the lives of a fox, a cat, a dog and a pigeon all living behind a pub. There are jokes about the usual adult things; sex, violence and obscure references. Half the time I was amazed that the show was even on the BBC, but exceptionally grateful.

Much like The Muppets, Mongrels have a musical number each week. It produced such classics as Middleclass is Magical, Die Evil Zombies and Breaking Up is Such a Faff.

Essentially I miss it and I want a series three.

Next up I would like to see Buffy the Vampire Slayer back on the small screen. It does continue as a comic book, and it is down properly with Joss Whedon in charge of it, but it is not the same.

They do get to do story lines that could never be done on the telly well - for example one character, called Dawn, suddenly became a giant overnight. It is still confronting hard hitting issues too. Buffy isn't coping with being an adult (still) and became pregnant from a one night stand. Whedon has decided that the character is going to have an abortion. A bold choice, and if it was on the television it would have become watered down and less meaningful.

It also helps that seeing as most of the characters in the Buffy universe are immortal or don't age. So drawing your main characters means that you can make them look however you want. Whereas actors have an annoying habit of ageing.

And my final choice is decent Saturday morning children's television.

When I was growing up we had Live & Kicking and SM:TV, just to mention a few. They were daft and funny and now all we have is bland cookery programmes. Now I know that I am 22, so technically should not have an interest in kid's TV, but I would appreciate if early morning weekend television had something creative on. Rather than just the usual dross that you can film easily and make cheaply.

Photo: Disney

Saturday 11 February 2012

Coughing

I have been coughing like this for the past week. It has caused some concern, but I am fine.


Cough (mp3)

Friday 10 February 2012

Apple and cinnamon cupcakes

So this week I was ambitious and created my own cupcakes. Apple and cinnamon is a known combination of flavours, and cake is good. So even if this recipe had gone wrong it still would have tasted nice.


So the filling is an apple puree, which I have used when making an apple tart. So get one apple and cut it up into small pieces. You can take off the skins of the apple if you like but they mostly boil down and become soft Put this into a small saucepan, ideally one that has a lid. Fill the saucepan with water and then add two tablespoons of sugar. I like using brown sugar because it makes it more caramel tasting. Then put it on the hob on a low temperature. Keep tabs on it and if the water starts to get too low before it starts to look like a puree then put in some more water.

When it starts to look more like a syrup then add a few drops of lemon juice. Just before you would take it off the heat add a tablespoon of apricot jam, which just brings it all together more.

Once done take it off the heat and allow it to cool.

Next make the cake. I fancied making cinnamon cake mixture but decided to leave it, but I am sure it would work. Instead just make a normal cake mixture.

I did 150g of butter, 150g of sugar (white sugar this time) and cream together. Then I only had one egg so mixed the egg with 100ml of milk. If you have more eggs then just use two eggs and forget about the milk. Then put this into the sugar and butter and mixed together. Then added 150g of self raising flour. If you need more moisture then just add some more milk as you are mixing until you get a dropping consistency.

Then put the mixture into cupcake cases - this mixture made 12 cakes. Put them in the oven at gas mark 5 for 20 minutes.

During this time I made the icing. I had one tablespoon of butter, and then three tablespoons of icing sugar. Added one teaspoon of cinnamon powder to flavour the butter cream icing. To make butter icing I find it best to use an electric mixer, it will spew icing sugar everywhere so be prepared to make a mess and to inhale a lot of icing sugar too, but it makes really nice icing, really quickly. If it looks too sloppy then add more tablespoons of icing sugar. I think I ended up using about six.

Once the cakes are done, take them out the oven and allow them to cool.

Once cool use the handle of a teaspoon to poke a hole in the tops of the cakes. Try and keep it neat but at the same time make sure you can poke lots of your apple puree mixture into the cakes.

Then put about a teaspoon of the apple mixture into each hole in the cakes. If there is mixture left over then fit it into the cakes where you can until it is all gone.

Then put a tablespoon of the cinnamon icing onto the tops of each cake and that is it done.


Thursday 9 February 2012

Teenage Revolution

My recent reading trend seems to be reading the thoughts of memories of men the same age as my Dad. Most of them were also bought for me by my Dad. Nevertheless the most recent, Alan Davies' Teenage Revolution was an interesting read.

You would only really be interested in the book if you are a fan of actor and comedian, Alan Davies. Although the book does cover a lot of the issues of the 1970s and '80s such as racism, music and The Sweeney, it is all through the eyes of Davies and what he was doing at the time. 


The book also came with a television series a few years ago, which lightly touched upon the issues of the era in the way that Davies saw it.

However, for an autobiography Davies is honest that a lot of what he remembers is in fact wrong once he has looked it up. Even simple things have escaped him. He saw his favourite band, The Jam, six times. He can in fact only remember three of those gigs.

It does make my childhood sound quite dull. I went to school and then I came home and did my homework, not really book worthy. Davies did similar things but he grew up in more interesting times. In his earlier years Davies does reminisce about the television shows he watched and what they meant to him. When he got older he had to deal with racism at his school and at the football matches he attended. Likewise with people his age learning about homosexuality and finding the kid at school to bully over that.

Mostly I am jealous at the music he grew up with. Having the chance to see The Jam is enviable. Whereas I had a myriad of shit girl bands and boy bands to feign interest in to appear normal.

The saddest thing about the book though is the fact that Davies lost his mother when he was very young. Missing his mum is something that you can tell in almost every page, which makes the book more than just a vague memory of his childhood. And you realise what a terribly shitty thing it is to happen to a child, and how it never really leaves them.

Tuesday 7 February 2012

Is this the real life?

After weeks of Denise Welch hitting the papers because of various indiscretions, she decided to announce on live television that she and her husband have separated.

She decided to use the daytime television programme she works on, Loose Women, that talk of her having an affair was false. She then cried as she announced to the audience that her and her husband Tim Healy had broken up. This was all live on the television whilst most people were just about to tuck into their lunch.

So not only was that sad but it seems to have become a selling point for Loose Women now. The show's host, Andrea McLean, announced in the papers and in her autobiography that her second marriage had broken down.

The entire show does revolve around the honesty of the women as they dissect their lives so the viewers can identify with them and know that someone else feels the same as them. So I suppose when something happens in their relationship they have more of an obligation to let people know. I mean it is nothing like when David van Day used Channel 5's The Wright Stuff to dump his girlfriend.

But at the same time, the show now feels the need to use this to their advantage. If they can have a discussion where both Denise and Andrea look sad and reflect on their current emotional state, then they sure as will.

This feels slightly weird, and maybe should be something for people, and celebrities, to take note of. When you are fawning and gushing about your latest partner and talk about nothing else, then realise that first of all it is unbearable for everyone around you. Secondly, it could all go wrong and then you will have to announce this too.

Admittedly, it is unlikely that in a normal job you would have to disclaimer that you are getting a divorce in a meeting at work.

Photo: ITV

Monday 6 February 2012

Crispy duck

They aren't my ducks but they look so cute in the snow that I had to post them for my duck post.


Sunday 5 February 2012

How to get yourself noticed in advertising

Advertisers are supposed to be able to sell you anything. Even if you don't need what they are selling. But at the moment you would think that they have run out of things to sell.

I am referring to the abysmal Andrex Washlets adverts. During the adverts now you can cringe as Dawn Porter repeatedly asks unsuspecting members of the public how they wipe their bottom.


This is all to convince people that for years we have been cleaning up after ourselves incorrectly because we 'dry wipe', as Porter crudely refers to it. Instead we should be using wet wipes. It seems Porter will not rest until everybody knows this. So far she has paced high streets, walked into gyms and disturbed shopping centres in order to tell people about the merits of wet wipes.

Originally the adverts started with people shunning Porter, thinking that she was a mad stranger asking too many questions. Gradually people have started warming to her and are now getting sucked into this absurd belief that we just aren't going to the loo correctly unless we have some wet wipes nearby.

I mean what next? Adult nappies for the busy lifestyle and you don't have time for the loo.

It is also ridiculous because people will always need to buy toiletries, so you have a head start. Toilet paper is not a luxury item that people constantly think about if it is worth buying.

In fact it reminds me of a That Mitchell and Webb Look sketch. The advertisers have run out ways to sell a toothbrush. So they come up with an idea that even they are sceptical about.


Photo: Andrex

Saturday 4 February 2012

Sound: making a cake

I made cakes and then I wanted to know if any of those sounds made good radio, turns out most things are quite quiet unless you present it. I apologise for the heavy breathing, I have a cold nothing lewd.

Making a cake (mp3)

Friday 3 February 2012

Lemon meringue pies

So after accidentally mastering how to make meringue I decided it was time to stop making an assortment of chocolate cakes and make a tart. So I went with the obvious choice of lemon meringue pie.

I made all the sections separately, especially after a conversation with my friend Emma (who has a funny blog of her own) that the meringue on lemon meringue pie is too foamy and soft compared to just normal meringue.


So start with two egg whites, separating out the yolk can be a bit difficult but just concentrate. Then measure out 3oz of white sugar. Whisk the egg whites until sort of foamy and then add the sugar gradually whisking as you go. Then I like to add a tablespoon of icing sugar just to make the meringue mixture look shiny.

Pour it into a baking tray and then put it into the oven at gas mark 1 for about 30-40 minutes or until when you tap it there is a hollow sound.

Whilst the meringue is in the oven make the pastry. Measure out 115g of flour and 55g of butter, rub them together until it looks like breadcrumbs. Add a few tablespoons of white sugar and mix together. Then bring together with 4-5 tablespoons of water.

Roll out the pastry, make it quite thin. Then as I was making individual pies I used a cupcake tray and cut out circles of pastry to fit the trays. Then prick the bottom. Once you have taken out the meringue out of the oven put in the pastry and put the temperature up to about gas mark 6.

About 10 minutes later take out the pastry and put in a couple of teaspoons into lemon curd into each case. Then back in the over for another 10 minutes.

Take out the oven and allow the pies to cool. In the meantime break up the meringue into sections to put on top of the pies.

They are really good and I might try making a big sized pie too.

The Good, the Bad and the Multiplex

So I have finally gone and done it. I have found the time to read a book. It only took an evening as well.

The book in question is film critic Mark Kermode's latest offering The Good, the Bad and the Multiplex. Although it is a book it was easily devoured in an evening because it felt more like having a chat with Kermode down the pub about his love of cinema. Although there wasn't a really a chance for the reader to talk back or disagree, but I have a funny feeling that is what would happen anyway.


I mean if you did happen to be in the pub with Kermode you would talk about cinema, only a mad man would decide that this was the time to find out his opinion on German fiscal policy. And if you did disagree would you tell him? Or would you let him continue with an anecdote about when he was interviewing Spielberg or when he found out the truth behind those "This is the best movie you will ever see" movie poster quotes?

The book would only really appeal to you if you have a fondness for Kermode, whose rants are similar to those of Charlie Brooker's but with a focus on cinema, or if you have a passion for film.

I fall into the category of enjoying Kermode's rants, my favourite in the book being a short review of the film The Animal (never seen it myself) which said "an appalling affair which made me understand how a fox can chew its own leg off in order to escape a hideous ordeal of entrapment".

The book covers a range of topics for Kermode to get angry about and equally excited like popcorn (an angry topic) to a bicycle powered film festival (an excitable topic). Throughout the book you also get the sense that he has a bizarre job and consequently a weird life, but seems very normal and down to earth. Ignoring the fanatical knowledge of films. But everyone has a hobby and I am sure his family have learnt to tune him out when he gets into one of his usual rants.

But the thing I have always liked about Kermode is, yes he gets angry, but he equally gets passionate. And he isn't a boring film critic who likes the powerful, Oscar tipped films because everything we do in life should have a meaning. No, he enjoys the Twilight films, is a fan of Zac Efron and cries at The Sound of Music.

His writing makes me realise what I have missed out on from not being a regular cinema goer. I mean to change that each time I read or listen to him, but secretly know that I will not. This means my cinema experience is sitting down in the evening and catching up with Kermode has written of late and for that I am grateful.

Wednesday 1 February 2012

Photo: more herbs

I am growing more herbs and this week little shoots started poking through.


Also I have now been doing this blog for a month, only another 11 to go now.

Tuesday 31 January 2012

The lack of snow this year has made me tetchy. Last year I had several inches of snow and this year so far all I have seen is a flurry.


Even the news is getting tetchy as it reports that Europe is gripped by the cold. The news is practically begging for a snow drift to come to the UK. Then we can have news about how the country has stopped because of the snow rather than what the banks have done now. But the weather refuses to play along.

Last night the weather predicted for Lincoln to have some snow overnight and then some more in the morning. So we went to sleep in the hope that the next day would be a winter wonderland. Whenever we woke up in the night we hovered by the window to see if it had snowed, saw nothing and then hid our disappointment.

When the morning came there was still nothing apart from a bleak, grey sky. However, on the walk to work there was an attempt at snow mixed with sleet which was enough to keep me happy for the time being.

Although I am not expecting anything on the scale of the snowmageddon from last year's winter but something would be nice especially because it is so cold. I would like something in return for my shivering.

Monday 30 January 2012

Elvis Duck

This is Elvis Duck, he was a Christmas present and he also lights up when in contact with water, what a guy!

Sunday 29 January 2012

Til the shine comes off

This week I have my house inspection. The only real difference you feel from owning your home to renting your home is when some parental figures comes in to tell you that you need to vacuum and clothes aren't stored on the floor.


Just in case I fail the inspection I have been scrubbing the house from top to bottom, I mean they might stop taking my money as payment if they know that sometimes there are blotches of toothpaste in my sink.

But this comes to a funny point of the human condition is a funny old thing. When we first moved into our house we tidied up after ourselves as we went along, washed the plates on the same day that they were made dirty. About two months later it became less appealing when there was television to be watched and we could walk round the house as long as we made paths through the dirty plates.

But why does this always happen with everything we have?

Its like when you start school again. You have a genuine enthusiasm for your course and shiny new stationary but about two weeks later those feelings have gone. Until you are tested and you have to learn everything you have only been partially paying attention to, but because you care you do it and you do it well.

So even though sometimes I feel like I could do anything, within the law, and no one would care if it was good or bad. So random little tests, like a house inspection, make you want to show off what you can do best. Just sometimes the tests can be more interesting or dramatic than an inspection.

Photo: rudenoon via Flickr

Friday 27 January 2012

Chocolate fondant cakes

The book made these cakes look a lot more appetising than I made them. However, it is cake so it was still all good. The recipe came from the Cupcakes and Muffins book

Put 4 tablespoons of butter, 55g of sugar, 1 egg, 85g of self raising flour and 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder in a bowl and mix together until smooth.

Set out all the cupcakes cases into the cupcake tray, the recipe says about 8 but I made 10 with the mixture.

Spoon half the mixture into the cases then put in a square of chocolate into each cupcake case. Then fill the cases with the rest of the cake mixture. Then put in the preheated oven at gas mark five for 20 minutes. 

Although the cakes were a good idea, the fondant chocolate sets in about 10 minutes but it is still nice. My biggest problem was the cake mixture wasn't that nice, too buttery. So my verdict is still out until I make them again but with a better cake mix.

Thursday 26 January 2012

No one wins anymore

I still haven't read a book yet this year. This is very bad of me and does need to be rectified. It doesn't help that  on top of that there is no decent television to watch at all at the moment. So instead here is an idea sort of related to television.

It is hard to think of a time when television isn't filled with quiz shows. They come in all varieties. The family quiz shows, the genuinely testing quiz shows and the ironic ones that are loosely based on a quiz show format.



And it seemed that no matter how poor you were on the show then you would be given something small like a pen set, a gimmicky product or even a paperweight. Nowadays you can get to the final of the show and still go home empty handed. Even comfortable, cosy BBC quiz Pointless requires you to beat all the other contestants and then face a final challenge before you even get a sniff at a prize.

The worst examples of this is Channel 4's Million Pound Drop where you face seven questions that you can rationally answer if you have some sense and can get to the last question with a decent amount of money for it to all come down to luck as you guess at the end.

Even more humiliatingly was the final of the sister show The Bank Job. All week contestants tried to out-quiz everyone else to get their place in the final. As more contestants got shoved to the side it led to two people negotiating if they should split the final sum of money between them or just take it all. Funnily enough the finalists said to one another that they wanted to do the good thing and share the money but then chose the box saying they wanted the money all to themselves. As the finalists were awkwardly standing next to one another making the final shots of the series, you could see the contestants who hadn't managed to strive to the end get a share of the money that the finalists had pretty much thrown away.

So essentially like the contestants themselves, quiz shows have become quite selfish. It isn't so much about rewarding contestants that do well, it is showing them off as entertainment and if you can embarrass them in the process that would be great too.

I mean on University Challenge you might feel ashamed but Jeremy Paxman pouring scorn on your answers is hardly likely to get you laughed at down the street. Whereas losing £1million on one question because you wrongly thought that Jedward was a fruit could.

Photo: Channel 4

Wednesday 25 January 2012

Lego graduation


My Mum got me a very late graduation present. By very late I mean I graduated from university in September. But it doesn't matter because it is awesome.

Tuesday 24 January 2012

Jobs a good'un

Well there is never any good news it seems. The latest figures show that 2.68 million people are now jobless. And that figure could be higher based on my own experience of the job seekers system.


It is daunting news when you are trying to find a job, no matter what age. Trying to get a job is hard enough without have to think of the pressure that you are just a number and worrying if you don't get this job then when will the next vacancy come around.

So to help guide people through this horrible part of life there are all sorts of people handing out advice. A quick browse of the internet reveals how to write a CV, a covering letter and what to do in the actual interview. All this is helpful advice and the more that people know about it the better.

However, there is a small group of people who have seen this as an opportunity to get out some joyless and patronising television shows. My particular favourite was Up For Hire, a BBC Three show that was supposed to help conquer mass youth unemployment by giving out four jobs. Undeniable helpful.

It also adopted a wonderful tone telling young people they had only themselves to blame because all they had to their name was a degree and a Facebook page filled with drunken photos. Why should they be deserving of a job?

ITV2 have jumped on board and decided that this a wonderful format too. They are due to show The Exclusives, which is being called The Apprentice for journalists. Again it seems to be working on the premise that 1.04 million people will be solved by one television show giving away one job. In this case the lucky person will get a 12 month contract with Bauer Media and get a chance to work on titles like Heat, Kerrang and Empire.

So I have decided that these shows telling people how to find a job are just like property shows. Most people on these shows aren't experts in these fields. So instead of being helpful they just end up being annoying, repetitive and patronising.

So the people out there doing good - keep doing it. If you are thinking of making a programme where thousands of applicants fight it out on a crappy, digital channel for just the one job, then stop right there and forget you ever had the idea.


Photo: jacobchristensen via Flickr

Monday 23 January 2012