Bbc good food

Bbc good food is an excellent source of tasty recipes.  If you are looking for a new food idea I would highly recommend it.  It has a wide range of recipes to Suit a range of tastes.  You can search the cook books for recipes low in calories or low gi or that contain a specific ingredient. Recipes are set out in a simple, straight forward way and sidebars give you a variety of nutritional information as well as tips on variations or different cooking styles.

Student cooking tips: How to make your own bread

I'm back at uni.  Suddenly I have to do a mountain of reading,  still don't know where most of my seminars are and haven't a clue as to who my dissertation advisor is.  This left me walking past all the freshers wanting to scream 'Run away while you can'.

The bigger problem faced by most students now is how to stretch out their student loan.  At the moment shops seem to taking great care to target adverts at students in an attempt to separate us from our pennies.  I sped my days finding ways of spending less.  One of the best ways to do this is to begin cooking from scratch.  So many foods can be made simple and cheaply at home; from sauces, to pasta and bread loafs.  The best part is bread only takes 20 mins to cook (not including the time it takes to rise/mix)!

To bake bread you will need the following utensils:

A large mixing bowl.
A mixing spoon.
A set of kitchen scales.
A set of measuring spoons.
A measuring jug
And lastly a loaf tin!

The ingredients you will need:

450g of plain flour (white or brown)
7g of active yeast
1 tsp of sugar
1 tsp of salt
1 tbs of oil
300-500mls of warm water

How to prepare your dough:

The quickest way to ensure the best results is to make sure the temperature in the kitchen remains between 20-35 degrees until the dough goes into the oven.  This helps the yeast to do it's work.  However, first things first,  mix all of the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl.  You want to ensure the yeast, salt and sugar and distributed thoroughly through out the flour. This encourages an even texture.  Begin to mix your warm water in slowly.  You won't need all of it.  You want to mix the water into the flour until all of the flour comes into a big clump.  This is the point  at which you are ready to kneed the dough.

Kneading the dough:

To need the dough you will need a flat surface sprinkled with flour.  It is also wise to dust you own hands with flour as this is messy business.  Plop the dough on the surface and begin squishing it together and then flattening it with quick successive motions.  This will pull the flour of the surface, simple sprinkle some more down and keep kneading.  The dough will become more elastic as you knead, once this has begun it is ready to go in a greased loaf tin.  Don't put it in the oven just yet!  The next step is allow the dough to rise.






Tips to getting dough to rise:

Cover the loaf tin and place it in a warm place for an hour.  the loaf will rise on it's own over time - just ensure it's in the appropriate temperature range of 25-35 degrees Celsius.  After the hours up simple place in a oven for 20 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.


Finally, once you bread has cooled, slice up and enjoy.

It's been awhile.  I half expected to sign into my blogger account to find that it had died of neglect.  I've been working full-time hours and still volunteering actively with one charity (having to ignore one because while I'd like to do more for them I don't have the time atm).   It's also a lot harder to think of things to write when I'm not trying to avoid academic work.  Chances are I will suddenly have nothing but posts come October.

Life stikes

Been a little bit on the silent side recently when it comes to blog content.  I have been tired, and suddenly it's hay fever season.  I came home from my walk yesterday with a nasty migraine that was so bad i felt queasy unless I was lying down.  I'm fairly certain it was all the pollen from all the lovely flowers in Dyke park.  The headache reduced in severity after my anti-histemin kicked in which was a relief.  However, it forced me to relies that I am probably more affected by allergies at the moment then I was aware of.

Blogger can be so difficult

I had the smart idea today to attempt to try blogging from my mobile. I have been spendingso much more time at work and as a result I haven't had anywhere near the opportunity to type anything up as I did during term time. However I am still getting ideas in the middle of the day and have no way of acting on them. So I thought blogger mobile was a good solution. I was so wrong.

The first thing I did was attempt to get blogger mobile set up on my phone. Sounds easy enough. After a few minutes of reading I realised that was not the case. To set up blogger mobile and link it to my current blog I needed to be in front of my computer to fuss about was login details and claim codes. So I very quickly gave up on that solution. 

The second thing I tried was to use my phones browser to blog via blogger.com.  Nothing on the site wanted to work for me. All link lead to nowhere and even once I got the post new post option to work practically all I could do was type up the body of the post. It would let me alter option, add a title or add anything else. Then, to add insult, I went to publish the post and it disappeared into a site meltdown; I wasn't even allowed to save it as a draft!

My final solution was to dispense with Blogger altogether. I signed into hotmail and used my email account to write this post. It was saved and sent with no hassle. I know what I'm relying on from now on. Not Blogger Mobile :)

Home made candles

Chronic Widespread Pain Syndrome

Chronic Pain Syndrome is quite often misunderstood as a diagnosis.  This is as much due to the fact that often specialist can't explain the how's and why's of chronic pain.  There no established causal factors and no confirmed effective treatments.  This is something we should find concerning as the first thing they do when you are diagnosed with chronic pain of any sort, is stick straight on various kinds of anti-depressants.

The term Chronic Pain relates to any persistent, long-term pain resulting from anything from were-and-tear or injury.  This pain can often persist long after the injury that caused it has healed.  Current theories as to why this is case tend to relate to scarred nerves or fashion in which the brain processes pain.  Suffice it say there is no one globally accepted reason for chronic pai to persist after a injury or strain has healed.  It is this lack of accepted explanation that makes Chronic pain harder to treat.

Common treatments that are currently offered for chronic pain include anti-depressants, various pain-killers and anti-inflammatories, and, everyone's favourite treatment, pain reduction therapy involving counsellors.  The treatments that we are offered will very much depend on what the suspected cause of the pain is.  Speaking from experience, certain treatments will be more effective then others on the basis your own personal chemistry and background.  I personally found paracetamol is a personal favourite for those days where the joint/back pain is getting too much to continue working with.   I alos notice a sharp rise in my awareness of pain if I forget to take my daily dose of Amitriptyline (Which, ironially, I was very wary of taking to begin with.)  I was offered a trial with a pain management clinicwhich was run by trained pain psychologists however I did not find that there was any benefit for me, although others have found this a recommended option.  Pain management is certainly an important factor in dealing with any pain long-term.

Pain management is a tricking business because we all find different things effective.  I find that taking a joint complex formula contain calcium, Vitamin D, Glucosamin and Chronitin as well as a B complex tablet.  I find this helps repair both the connective tissues around the joints while aiding the repair and function of the nervous system (Which is primarily responsible for the conduction of nerve signals to the brain, and therefore pain signals to the brain.)  Simple changes to your lifestyle can also help, such as correct manual handling of heavy items, or replacing an old or poor mattress for something that is more suited to supporting your back.  Even solutions as simple as getting orthopaedic insoles for shoes can make a world of difference.  The key is to begin looking at the lifestyle you lead and look at things that may be aggravating or even causing pain and making a change to the situation.

Every little change you make helps.  Other important areas to look at are Diet and exercise patterns.  Certain healthy activities aren't actually recommended for certain types of pain eg. thoes with joint/back pain are not recommended to engage in yoga.  However, exercises such as swimming and walking are highly rated as gentle but effective exercises.  Exercise is a necessary part of pain control as it helps achieve a chemical balance in the brain that can reduce pain levels.  So choosing a safe exercise and doing it regularly can increase your general enjoyment of life.  Diet can not be ignored either.  Having a healthy number or fruit and vege in your diet is the quickest way to help your body heal itself.

The ways in which can deal with chronic pain are numerous but nothing will make it leave altogether.   However, you can make life easier for yourself.

Wow, just wow

Today this site hit a personal record.  We had a fantastic page view spike.  It was a amazing -when I check yesterday I had all of three page views. Today page views have hit 51 and the has not even ended.  I don't what's going on, but I think I like it!

Thanks for that :)

Orgran

Orgran egg replacer is a natural alternative to eggs.  It can be used in cakes, muffins meringues ect. the list goes on.  I can't say it's an ideal substitute for eggs, however it mimics the addition of eggs quite nicely for a powder that is made primarily of potatoes.  I have found it improves the texture of my gluten-free recipes nearly as well as eggs with the horrible after affects of having the eggs themselves.  It's no worse the substituting soy milk for cows milk.

Orgran no egg can be found in most health food stores, and if you haven't tried it I suggest looking it up.

Home made soap

This is what happens when I get bored; I make stuff. :)  This is my first completely successful batch of soap.  To the left is an example of one that has just come out of the mould.  It is free from unnatural colours and fragrances and made from Virgin olive oil, water and 100% pure lavender oil.  It smells so nice.

Then problem is I now have too many so I'm attempting to offload some on ebay.

Making soaps seems almost theraputic in some ways.  It was fairly okay except I wasn't as careful when mixing the caustic soda as I should have been.  Got myself a mouthful of the gases that came off the water.  The irony is when I did the first batch I didn't have that problem because I was right next to a large open window when I mixed the soda with the water.  The second batch I mixed in the kitchen with a open window and an open door but the ventilation in the kitchen is no where near as good as in my bedroom clearly.  However, I choose to mix the soda with the water in the kitchen so I didn't damage any of my things if it spilt.  Will just have to give up and wait for my mask to get here.

Working too hard

It has been a bust few weeks.  I've have finally getting enough work to have monies again.  Of course, that meant last week I was getting to many hours.  Now my knee is a little crippled as a result of over working the connective tissue in and around the knee joint.  I'm having trouble getting up and down from a seated position and Forget trying to get up from my mattress on the floor - once I finally manage it I'm staying up.  Thankfully, the knee isn't to bad to walk on.

Despite this I've been having to continue work this week, because as it's not landing me hospital or a wheelchair, I have to keep working for monies.  This sentiment has continued on my days off.  On my days off of work, I take advantage of the time at home and do my chores.  Yesterday I was flitting between home and the laundrette to get my double duvet clean and partially dry while trying to wash clothes in my twin tub at home and get my room vacuumed.  This was barely a dent in my chores list unfortunately as when i was having long days at work last week, things just kept building up.  I still have a lot to do, and as with anything that requires cleaning , by the time I've finished one lot of chores other chores need to be done again.

Got to love working for a living.  I have what is diagnosed at Chronic Widespread Pain Syndrome (A Diagnosis I've never sure I trust as accurate and fully believe it may change in the future).  Every extra hour I spend cleaning at work or in the home has an impact on my physical pain levels.  Even trying to take it easy doesn't help because any form of movement whether it's walking or just sitting at a desk (this still require muscle movement as they fight to keep you in an upright position) will have an effect on the levels of pain felt.  The irony is, I've tried the other alternative of doing as little as possible and it doesn't work either - you still find pain crops up, so I just get on with it when I can. :)

Cocoa Patisserie Cafe, Brighton, UK

Cocoa Patisserie Cafe produces some of the most visually beautiful pastries and tarts in Brighton and Hove. I first came across the pastries in the Brighton and Hove food festival a year or two ago.  I remember the pastry I bought quite vividly as it stuck in my mind as being very yummy and unusual in that the caramel was salted (a taste I had not come across before.)  The Salted carmel shortbread tart can be seen in the image below, it is the second from the right.


                  My grandmother was in town the other day and I was stuck with somewhere to go for lunch, so I decided that we would try the Cocoa cafe, being that it is in a quite central locale.  You could quite literally step off the train and go there for lunch.  Lunch ended up being quite an enjoyable experience.

The cafe is very nicely decorated with the companies cocoa theme colours and features nice wooden furniture that was surprisingly comfortable to be seated at.  This was a nice change.  Each table was decorated with a fresh cut yellow rose and our tea came served in lovely china teapots with matching tea cups.

For my lunch I ordered a Char-grilled chicken Caesar salad, mostly because I'm supposable on a health kick. :)  However salad is always a good test of any kitchens food hygiene as it features fresh vegetables that go off very quickly if kept in poor conditions.  Much to my delight the salad was crisp and fresh, this is always a bonus.  It was also beautifully presented, I could really tell that the chef was a first artist when it came to food.  It's no wonder he's won awards.  The chicken was grilled just right and the parmensan cheese came in a caramelised section (An absolutely yummy way of eating cheese).  My one concern was the the salad leaves were drenched in olive oil which tasted good but made for an oily meal.  However it was a very nice meal all round and as you can tell from the photos of the pastries it was very hard to resist having a yummy yummy desert.

The desert are what make cocoa worth the visit.  They are as tasty as they look.  I would highly recommend trying them if you are in Brighton :)

Cheap ways to to avoid the laundrette

I have not fallen off the face of the planet, although it feels like it this week.  I have been called in for extra work shifts almost every free day this week.  This is fantastic money wise.  It means I can start replacing the items that got destroyed/broke down in the past few weeks (it's been a really bad few weeks luck wise).  But I'm shattered and have no energy to do anything but sleep. (Working from 7am to 8pm has that effect). Today is the first day off in a what feels like a looong time.

One of the items that broke down recently was my twin-tub camping washing machine.  After nearly 18 months of constant use (definitely not what it was designed for!) my twin-tub stopped draining.The annoying part is that the wash tub and spin tub are both still in working order - meaning i can wash and spin dry clothes but can't drain the wash tub of water.  This actually made me a little sad because it has been such a good machine and, it still usable fir the most part.  However once they stop draining getting the water out will take the better part of an hour or two, so it needs to be replaced.

I live in housing which has no proper clothes washing machine or anywhere to hook one up.  I used to use the laundrette down the road.  However, at £3.80 at wash, this was getting very expensive.  Depending on what I needed to wash during the week I was spending between £16-£24 a month on laundry.  This is a lot of money when on a limited income so I was desperate to find a way of cutting down.  Then I came across these twin-tubs on amazon.co.uk.

The twin-tubs are electrical, but they use very little power.  Every function, aside from spin and agitation, is manual.  Water has to be poured in through the top and clothes have to be moved manually from the wash tub to the spin tub.  IT does do a good job at cleaning everyday stains, however I have needed vanish for stronger stains.  It is overall a very practical option.  They are ideal for shower cubicles however mine has been rigged up my desk in my room as my kitchen and bathroom do not provide the appropriate set-up for the twin-tub.  I find it need a level surface or the spin tub will not balance correctly.  The drainage pipe also needs to be horizontal for it to drain correctly.  These factor catered to and it makes for a very good washing machine.  I would recommend it highly for anyone in a situation where they can't have a household washing machine.

Virgin Media, for all your hassle needs

There are days when I'm so glad that I'm only on the most basic broadband contract Virgin Media offer, because days like yesterday would be all the more insulting.  My network signal was out for the entire day and now I'm actually convinced it's due to a fault in the local area network cables because last night at 11pm I was out checking those attached to my house.  I went outside, to the exposed connection point and unscrewed each cable, checked the sockets for damage and screwed them back in (given this was an outdoor connection, not only should that have been in a covered box to prevent this sort of tampering but the cables should have been so tightly screwed that I couldn't get them loose in the first place.)  Despite all this effort I still had no connection.  However my Internet was magically connected again the next morning.

This is not the first time it happened.  In fact it happens so often that I begin to worry about it when it rains.  The worst part is I've given up calling Virgin Media to involve tech support because £10pound worth of credit it mysteriously fixes itself and I have to call them back and cancel the home support team because they are no longer required.

Blogger is not my friend

Sorry, I'm having a little trouble with the blogger publisher.  No matter what i do my post text keeps coming out wrong - like in the last post, half the text was huge and the rest was too small.  And there's that stupid highlighting thing it is doing with my text.  Can't seem to figure out why it's doing this to me.

Basil Pesto; Dairy free

Pesto is a tasty and highly nutritious pasta sauce, but it is always frustrating that commercial brands contain cheese.  Depending on your level of sensitivity to lactose/dairy, the level/kind of cheese contained in pesto can irritate the digestive tract.  If you find this is the case then this recipe can be a nice substitute to classic pesto.  I found this recipe at Vegan Spoonful. Other recipes can also be found on many vegan sites.  If you dislike the taste of the yeast, this item can be left out.  Once you have your pesto simply stir t through some cooked pasta. :)

Ingredients:

Basil; 3 cups

Garlic; 2-3 large cloves

raw pine nuts; 6 tablespoons

salt; 1 teaspoon

olive oil; 6 tablespoons

nutritional yeast; 1/4 cup

Directions:

Place the nuts, basil, garlic and salt in a blender or food processor and blend until finely chopped.  Add the olive oil and blend again.  Finally, add the yeast and blend until the pesto becomes creamy.