The other night I made this cauliflower and cheddar soup from Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food recipe book. It turned out very delicious, which was exciting as it was my first time making it and there were a few hiccups along the way.
Turns out making soup for a serving size of 6-8 does not fit into one pot (when that pot is meant to hold a max of 7 litres). So I did my best to divide the chopped carrots, celery, shallots, and cauliflower (which I had already combined in a mixing bowl) into 2 ‘large’ pots. Apparently I need a bigger pot!
As I was heating the veg in the pots, the newer pot that’s supposedly non-stick ended up burning part of the vegetables on the bottom of the pan. And when I poured in the chicken broth it turned the colour of the soup in this particular pot a very dark amber. Not so much a Guinness colour, but maybe a dark beer colour. The other – cheaper- pot fared much better!
When it came to adding the Dijon mustard, cheese and then blending them, I realised I did not have a hand blender. But I had a full blender and poured one pot in at a time and it did the job stunningly!
The only issue was the blender was VERY full and I feared that it might start bubbling over. Thankfully, with my quick thinking, I held the top of the blender with a rag and kept it from spilling over. Although taking off the top was tricky as the soup was to the tipity top and did splash when it was cocked to one side to get a good grip to pull it off.
I cozied up on the couch with Fatty, after topping my soup with some recently cooked bacon bits and throwing together a quick baby spinach salad, and turned on the TV to the new season of Project Runway.
The soup was creamy and thick, and tasted of fresh vegetables. The cauliflower wasn’t overpowering, but was definitely a great compliment to the carrots and celery. Very filling as well, this was good since I was having it for my dinner! I’m not sure what the fat/calories were in this, but seeing as I made it from scratch and it included fresh veg and chicken stock, I imagine it was relatively healthy – despite the cheese.
I would highly recommend this soup as a starter, lunch or even a main any day!
Friday, 18 September 2009
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
The Twitter debate
The infamous Kanye incident at the VMA’s on Sunday now seems like old news. The fact that it’s still in the news (and that I’m writing about it) has got to be annoying to more people than just me, right?
But I just read on Boston.com that President Obama called Kanye West a ‘jackass’ during chatter before a CNBC and ABC interview in Wall Street on Monday, which was then reported on Twitter by three ABC journalists as they listened in.
The fact that this is even in the news, despite the face most can agree Kanye is a jackass, is because it brings up the debate between journalistic ethics and the new media such as Twitter. The digital age has speed up so quickly and has become all-encompassing; there are no rules for journalists to be governed by.
Twitter is perfect for this sort of information. It’s interesting, it needs no explanation, and it’s about someone everyone knows. The perfect tweet. And yet, it came from a professional journalist who should have known the President was speaking off the record…
I imagine that we’ll be seeing more and more of these as Twitter grows in popularity. Although many might see this as the end of journalism as we know it (no rules, no boundaries), this is the perfect opportunity to create new ethics. Journalism needs to expand and grow as Web 2.0 (3.0?) take over.
Who doesn’t want to hear Obama calling Kanye a jackass? Of course, this isn’t really news either. Journalists know the difference between off-the-record and on. And this should be no different for tweeting. Presidents, public officials, and businesses alike have for years felt protected behind the ‘off-the-record’ comments, and just because we have access to post a comment for all the world to read seconds later, this does not mean we as journalists should – or can for that matter.
The fact is ABC had to apologize to the White House and CNBC and the tweets were deleted from Twitter after about an hour of being posted. But the damage has been done and the debate will continue.
Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Restless
The sky in London today looks like it's late November, not mid-September. It's very Dickensian; dark grey clouds, fog, rain, wind. Very depressing indeed.
It makes me think how quickly the 'summer' came and went. Actually, it seems like ages ago that I was planning the summer ahead with a number of trips home to the states and weekends of wine drinking and picnicking in the park. Now suddenly the staunch realisation that those lovely bright summer nights are long gone until 2010.
Soon it will be cold and dark by 5pm. 4pm. 3.30. Sigh... I have to get ahold of myself before I fall into a deep depression!!
But with this I've been trying to plan little trips that Mark and I can take to keep our spirits bright (of course, not by natural light I'm sure). I don't think it helps that I'm still unsure of my career's future past 30th September. So I need to plan further ahead. With visions of train trips up north, perhaps to Edinburgh? If it's going to be dark sooner, might as well take advantage of the evenings, right?! And in Scotland it will surely get dark quicker than London... so where can we enjoy a tipple and nibbles in a lovely city on a hill? That's my next investigative plan.
The objective is to stay positive with the turn of the seasons. It's all about the little things, isn't it? Like decking out the house in Halloween decorations or planning a Thanksgiving soiree. And since I won't be making it back to Boston for the holidays, I must prepare for a lovely English Christmas in Shropshire! And how will we celebrate New Years 2010? Magically, I'm sure.
The next months may be in the future now, but as sure as this rain will past it will fast approach. And I need to set my spirits high (although always prepare for a hard landing)! If nothing else, but to get through it all until the suns warmth grazes my skin again. :)
It makes me think how quickly the 'summer' came and went. Actually, it seems like ages ago that I was planning the summer ahead with a number of trips home to the states and weekends of wine drinking and picnicking in the park. Now suddenly the staunch realisation that those lovely bright summer nights are long gone until 2010.
Soon it will be cold and dark by 5pm. 4pm. 3.30. Sigh... I have to get ahold of myself before I fall into a deep depression!!
But with this I've been trying to plan little trips that Mark and I can take to keep our spirits bright (of course, not by natural light I'm sure). I don't think it helps that I'm still unsure of my career's future past 30th September. So I need to plan further ahead. With visions of train trips up north, perhaps to Edinburgh? If it's going to be dark sooner, might as well take advantage of the evenings, right?! And in Scotland it will surely get dark quicker than London... so where can we enjoy a tipple and nibbles in a lovely city on a hill? That's my next investigative plan.
The objective is to stay positive with the turn of the seasons. It's all about the little things, isn't it? Like decking out the house in Halloween decorations or planning a Thanksgiving soiree. And since I won't be making it back to Boston for the holidays, I must prepare for a lovely English Christmas in Shropshire! And how will we celebrate New Years 2010? Magically, I'm sure.
The next months may be in the future now, but as sure as this rain will past it will fast approach. And I need to set my spirits high (although always prepare for a hard landing)! If nothing else, but to get through it all until the suns warmth grazes my skin again. :)
Monday, 15 June 2009
To barbecue or not to barbeque
For someone, like myself, who finds spelling and grammatical errors such a pet peeve, it’s shocking that until this weekend I only just noticed the difference in spellings of the word ‘barbeque’.
I have always been a speller of the word with the ‘que’. I’m not sure if it’s how we were taught to spell it at J.W. Killiam Elementary School or if I have picked it up along the way. I’m not sure if it’s just something I developed, seeing as the abbreviated word is BBQ or bar-b-q. It would seem only natural to add in the ‘q’.
Then I had to wonder if the reason why I noticed the spelling difference was because I was in England. Perhaps in English it’s spelled ‘barbecue’ and in American English it’s spelled ‘barbeque’. But after a bit of research in Google, Websters, and Oxford Dictionary, it seems to be a bit of a palava.
Where more often than not the dictionary will show the spelling of ‘barbecue’ and then in parentheses (barbeque common variant) – I’m not sure if this means there’s a correct spelling or not?
Then there’s the argument that the spelling of ‘barbeque’ would actually be phonetically spoken as ‘barbeck’ – like the word ‘discoteque’. This would surely rule out the spelling of barbeque. But unfortunately English is a funny one because where certainly words follow a rule, there are always the few that don’t (cow is not spoken like mow, but like row – in English anyways – but then in American English row is like mow and not like cow – how annoying!!).
But I may have to concede my spelling of barbeque as it seems it’s more often spelled with a c and not a q. The Guardian style guide only has the spelling of it with a c. Same with The Times/Sunday Times and Times Online style guide. And the AP Stylebook spells it as barbecue as well.
Seems I’m going to need to make the switch immediately! Although, it’s still OK to abbreviate to BBQ – and that is fine with me.
Thursday, 16 April 2009
I have a sunburn in April
I’m on lunch, where I seem to always be whenever I blog. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing. I was meant to go to the gym, but I’ve got a meeting at 2 and wouldn’t have been able to work out and shower in time to be back. I could always NOT shower, but then, that just makes me gross, doesn’t it?
Last night we had a games night at our flat. It was only myself, Mark, Krystin and Alex, but it was a great time. We played Rumikub and then Boogle, which I forgot how much I enjoy! Although we have the Master Boogle version – meaning it flashes red constantly and could possibly give me an epileptic fit. Regardless, I still enjoyed it. I even found the word ‘chav’ in one of the turns (of course, the two Englishmen in the group didn’t, but Krystin did which cancelled that would-have-been-awesome point out!).
I’ll write a more detailed blog next time with pictures, but Mark and I went to his parents’ place in Shropshire for the Easter holiday break. We got the best weather in the whole of the UK – and I managed to even get a sunburn (in April? IN ENGLAND?!). I didn’t know that was possible… But we had a really great time, in short, drank a lot of wine, relaxed outdoors, had some hikes throughout the fields and hills, harassed a LOT of baby lambs, and ate a lot of great food.
Oh and last week I got an iPhone. This can either be perceived as ‘awesome’ or ‘I'm a sell-out’ to most people. However, I’ve been dying to get it since Apple first released it in the States in June 2007 (I was actually home in July so I made sure to go to an Apple store to play with it. Love at first sight.). I’ve named it iLoveIt. I think that’s appropriate. It’s also got me out of being lost twice now – which is impressive considering I’ve had it for a week now and 4 of those days I was out of service (not the phone’s fault, Shropshire’s fault). Or maybe that's not impressive and I have a poor sense of direction?
Anyways, I have to get back to work. I’ll be sure to upload pictures from Shropshire, if you’ve not seen them on Facebook yet.
Last night we had a games night at our flat. It was only myself, Mark, Krystin and Alex, but it was a great time. We played Rumikub and then Boogle, which I forgot how much I enjoy! Although we have the Master Boogle version – meaning it flashes red constantly and could possibly give me an epileptic fit. Regardless, I still enjoyed it. I even found the word ‘chav’ in one of the turns (of course, the two Englishmen in the group didn’t, but Krystin did which cancelled that would-have-been-awesome point out!).
I’ll write a more detailed blog next time with pictures, but Mark and I went to his parents’ place in Shropshire for the Easter holiday break. We got the best weather in the whole of the UK – and I managed to even get a sunburn (in April? IN ENGLAND?!). I didn’t know that was possible… But we had a really great time, in short, drank a lot of wine, relaxed outdoors, had some hikes throughout the fields and hills, harassed a LOT of baby lambs, and ate a lot of great food.
Oh and last week I got an iPhone. This can either be perceived as ‘awesome’ or ‘I'm a sell-out’ to most people. However, I’ve been dying to get it since Apple first released it in the States in June 2007 (I was actually home in July so I made sure to go to an Apple store to play with it. Love at first sight.). I’ve named it iLoveIt. I think that’s appropriate. It’s also got me out of being lost twice now – which is impressive considering I’ve had it for a week now and 4 of those days I was out of service (not the phone’s fault, Shropshire’s fault). Or maybe that's not impressive and I have a poor sense of direction?
Anyways, I have to get back to work. I’ll be sure to upload pictures from Shropshire, if you’ve not seen them on Facebook yet.
Monday, 6 April 2009
The ideal location
The weather has been ideal for the past few weeks. Which means that since the Easter holiday break starts at 5.30pm on Thursday – rain is forecasted for the next four days in a row, including Thursday and Friday. Typical Murphy’s Law. Or as Will calls it in About a Boy by Nick Hornby, Sods Law. At least for the time being it’s still nice out and Krystin and I may even get in a cheeky barbeque before it all goes south.
Yesterday I spent a fantastic day in Highgate, North London. It’s technically called ‘Highgate Village’ – which suits the area well. For an area located in London, it honestly felt just like a village. It was such a surprise! And of course I’ve added it to Mark and my (ever growing) list of possible locations we will want to move to. Which of course means I’ve now already gone through a number of pages in Primelocation to check out how far the pound can go there.
We’ve come up with a list of necessities for our future property, where the majority of them need to be ticked in order for us to say ‘yes, we’ll take it!’. It must have:
• Storage space for all of our luggage and things we don’t want out in the open
• A large double bedroom or a double bedroom with a single bedroom which we can use as storage/study room. We’ve got a lot of stuff between us!
• A kitchen big enough for Mark to make a mess of while I clean up as he cooks (Monica Gellar style)
• A shower with appropriate water pressure
• Ground floor would be ideal, light and airy
• Possible garden access – if not, then a nearby park
• Safe area so I don’t worry about coming home at night
• Close enough to local transport and food shopping
We’ll see how we do. Sadly we can’t start looking until Jun/July, since we’re probably not going to start the lease in Aug.
Yesterday I spent a fantastic day in Highgate, North London. It’s technically called ‘Highgate Village’ – which suits the area well. For an area located in London, it honestly felt just like a village. It was such a surprise! And of course I’ve added it to Mark and my (ever growing) list of possible locations we will want to move to. Which of course means I’ve now already gone through a number of pages in Primelocation to check out how far the pound can go there.
We’ve come up with a list of necessities for our future property, where the majority of them need to be ticked in order for us to say ‘yes, we’ll take it!’. It must have:
• Storage space for all of our luggage and things we don’t want out in the open
• A large double bedroom or a double bedroom with a single bedroom which we can use as storage/study room. We’ve got a lot of stuff between us!
• A kitchen big enough for Mark to make a mess of while I clean up as he cooks (Monica Gellar style)
• A shower with appropriate water pressure
• Ground floor would be ideal, light and airy
• Possible garden access – if not, then a nearby park
• Safe area so I don’t worry about coming home at night
• Close enough to local transport and food shopping
We’ll see how we do. Sadly we can’t start looking until Jun/July, since we’re probably not going to start the lease in Aug.
Thursday, 2 April 2009
It's a sunny day in L-Town, despite the anarchy!
I just had a great lunch. The food wasn’t the part that was great. It was the news! I ran into the canteen, like most days here at News Int, and I grabbed a cup of soup (26p) and a portion of chips (57p) – I normally stay away from the chips but I had a craving and couldn’t help myself – and scanned the room to see where I could sit. Andy (my line manager) was seated at a small table on his own so I pulled up a seat.
Most would think sitting with their manager during lunch isn’t the best way to go, however Andy is really easy going and great to chat to. Plus, I’ve been so busy with other work with the team this week we haven’t had a proper catch-up, so it was a good opportunity to hear how I was doing. (Being ‘in limbo’ – his words – is stressful at times, so it’s good to know!) Thankfully, he gave me good news! It doesn’t seem likely that come the end of my ‘temporary’ period (30 Jun) I’ll be gone from News Int. Even if I am not hired on full time (due to the budget, not my performance) he’s going to come up with a way to keep me around.
Well thank God for that!
Other work related news – I’m at News Int for the whole of April. No Blackbridge at all, which gives me the opportunity to fully invest myself with work here. Never a bad thing, especially when things are so busy.
It’s the G20 Summit here in London (it started yesterday) and things were meant to really kick off yesterday. We were told to dress down yesterday and today so as not to ‘stand out’ and avoid briefcases (not that I own one) in case they might make us any more of a target. I’m not sure if it’s the fact I’m too far south east from the City (it’s probably two miles away at the most) but I didn’t see any disruption other than the helicopters hovering overhead. Although, it was cool knowing Obama was within miles of me. He may be my president, but he’s also a superstar! Although the chances of me passing by his cavalcade are slim! I can still hope…
Oh and other news, Mark, Kerry and I are going to the Reading Festival on 28 Aug! Ages away, I know, but the line up is getting me excited, mainly for the fact I’m going to see Kings of Leon finally!
Most would think sitting with their manager during lunch isn’t the best way to go, however Andy is really easy going and great to chat to. Plus, I’ve been so busy with other work with the team this week we haven’t had a proper catch-up, so it was a good opportunity to hear how I was doing. (Being ‘in limbo’ – his words – is stressful at times, so it’s good to know!) Thankfully, he gave me good news! It doesn’t seem likely that come the end of my ‘temporary’ period (30 Jun) I’ll be gone from News Int. Even if I am not hired on full time (due to the budget, not my performance) he’s going to come up with a way to keep me around.
Well thank God for that!
Other work related news – I’m at News Int for the whole of April. No Blackbridge at all, which gives me the opportunity to fully invest myself with work here. Never a bad thing, especially when things are so busy.
It’s the G20 Summit here in London (it started yesterday) and things were meant to really kick off yesterday. We were told to dress down yesterday and today so as not to ‘stand out’ and avoid briefcases (not that I own one) in case they might make us any more of a target. I’m not sure if it’s the fact I’m too far south east from the City (it’s probably two miles away at the most) but I didn’t see any disruption other than the helicopters hovering overhead. Although, it was cool knowing Obama was within miles of me. He may be my president, but he’s also a superstar! Although the chances of me passing by his cavalcade are slim! I can still hope…
Oh and other news, Mark, Kerry and I are going to the Reading Festival on 28 Aug! Ages away, I know, but the line up is getting me excited, mainly for the fact I’m going to see Kings of Leon finally!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
