Passwords

Password are now a daily part of life. We need them for everything from email address to bank accounts.  Often we have so any that it becomes easier to have the same password for multiple accounts.  This is much easier to remember, however it is also dangerous!

A few weeks ago the company Evernote (excellent programme) was hacked. This means the emails and passwords of account were seized.  Thankfully Evernote blocked the accounts and issued a password reset globally. The problem lies in another area.

If the email address you use made use of the same password as your email account, this means the hackers can log into your email and steal your account.  In my case the password was identical to the one I used for PayPal.  This was a massive error and it was fortunate they didn't try to log Into PayPal.

There is good reason to have separate passwords for different accounts.  At the very least email accounts and PayPal,or similar services should be given unique passwords.  This way if one is hacked the others are safe!

Cheap cleaning products: bicarbonate of soda!

In my house bicarb can be used for most things because its gentle on sensitive skin

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.