Week 7: PIES!!!!!

So Week 7, and I was hungry again (just about regained appetite after the giant burrito!). So I decided to make pies (from scratch). I like meat and potato pies, so I made meat and potato pies :)

 Started off by covering the beef in flour and frying til browned.

 Chopped up some veggies.

 Split them up between 2 casserole dishes.

 And cooked on a low heat for a couple of hours.

I then pulled out most of the meat and potatoes and reduced the gravy with them to make the filling.

 Any juices which were left I reduced again and made into an awesome gravy.

 Shortcrust pastry I made by hand and then forgot to take any pictures, but I promise I did do the whole kneading the lard and butter into the flour thing, the mess which was left across the kitchen could testify to that, as can the mostly still full bottle of fizzy water I have in the fridge still.

And so I made 12 meat and potato pies, perfect for snacking on, which I did, for the rest of the week with a dollop of gravy on each. An endeavour I will certainly repeat!

Week 6: Go to a Metal Battle of the Bands

First of all, apologies for falling behind with these blog posts. But I can confirm that I have been keeping up to date in terms of doing the challenges.

So on week 6 I got to go to a 4 band Metal competition at Grand Central Rock Bar in Manchester, the winner of which would play at Bloodstock.

I was there supporting my friends in Bloodyard who without being biassed were awesome!

  Bloodbus!!!

They really put on a show AND were technically good. A really impressive feat especially considering the heat in the room was insane.

Slightly different band promotional photo!

Unfortunately Bloodyard didn't win but reaching the final was an impressive achievement none the less and is part of a series of vast improvements for them over the last year. Really had a fun night!

Week 5: Attempt an Eating Challenge

So for those you follow me on twitter and or facebook you will be aware that last week I allowed you to choose what I was doing from:

Skinny Dip
Eating Challenge
Ride a Spacehopper on a Train
Skiing
Rock Climbing

It was a close race.

In third place: Skinny Dip (Thank you ladies :p)

In 2nd place: Ride a spacehopper on a train

And so in 1st place: . . . with no preparation . . . Eating Challenge!!!

Go Burrito was the place to be to take on their Sink The Titanic Challenge, a humungous Burrito surrounded by nachos. I feared for my life.

But I dug in, and motored on through getting roughly a third of the way through within 5 minutes. But lack of preparation told and I was forced to concede. If you really want to watch the pain, agony and disgusting tactics I used then here you go : 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltVtNmiJMMs

 

 

Remnants

So Notes:

1) Prepare: Eat loads, stretch out the stomach for the week/month beforehand. Then minimal eating on the day before. Also heavy exercise beforehand.

2) DON'T try to this whilst slightly hungover

3) DON'T play football an hour afterwards

OOOPH!!

 

Week 4: First Ever Vlog

Week 4 guys, and its my first ever video blog (going to try keep doing them but here is the first).


Enjoy

Week 3 - Ice Cream Mixing Skillz!!!

As  a follow up to the ice cream making for your delectation here are some decidedly average videos showing some mixifying.

From Method 1, Shake, Shake, Shake!!!

And From Method 2, stirring and stirring.

In future I'll try and be more organised and get some better videos shot.

Week 3 - Ice Cream

The Sun came out, so we made ICE CREAM, (well tried to). This week I was joined by #3 Dan Burnett

as well as #4 Ben Macfarlane.

 

 I found 3 recipes online, bought the ingredients and we were away!

Method 1

To make single portions of ice cream taking a lot of time effort and mixed results.

Place milk/lactofree/hazelnut milk like drink, sugar and flavouring into a small freezer bag and SEAL WELL!

 

 Put crushed ice and salt into larger bag.

Then put the sealed smaller bag inside the large bag, seal the larger bag and shake. And shake. And shake. Continue this for about 20-25 minutes occasionally massaging the smaller bag, until you get ice cream. This worked really well for the Hazelnut Milk Substitute.

Took a bit longer for the lactofree milk.

And just didn't work at all for the whole milk.

Method 2

To make batches of ice cream which theoretically are smooth and creamy but only if you have the right sorts of bowls.

Get 2 bowls, preferably both quite tall and narrow, one smaller than the other. (Ideally the smaller one should be metal).

Fill the larger bowl with ice, salt and water and put the smaller bowl inside (don't let any water get in the smaller bowl).

Put the ice cream ingredients inside the smaller bowl (in this case we used half and half lactofree and hazelnut milk, a splash of baileys, sugar and vanilla). Then use a whisk to beat constantly for half an hour - helps to work in relays.

Unfortunately I think our bowls were too shallow and the inner bowl was quite thick plastic so it didn't really work so I threw it in the freezer and followed . . .

Method 3

Make a custard mix (ice cream mix plus egg yolks plus cornflour). Put in bowl, Put bowl in freezer. Pull bowl out every 30 minutes to stir. Finished once all the ice cream has solidified.

So there we have it, how to make your own ice cream, simple option - don't. But thats not what this is all about so thanks to Dan and Ben, had a really good time.

Week 2 - Live Acoustic Gig

OK, last week hurt - a lot!!

So this week I thought I'd do something a bit more - relaxing. And so I found myself going to an acoustic gig at The Three Mariners in Lancaster to see Amy Rae and Friends.

Didn't have my camcorder with me so no sound I'm afraid but I'd highly recommend going to see them.
 

Cosy Location

The venue was brilliant, really cosy and intimate, wouldn't work for any bigger but for what it was, the acoustics were good and the small crowd really led to a relaxed atmosphere as well as an interactive atmosphere. (Also helps that everyone knew each other :p).

All in all definitely something I'll be doing more of! (and yes I know its weird that I've not been to one before).