What heaven tastes like

My love my new hobby, cooking, I've even considered cooking fish which I don't even like but just the thought of being able to cook another kind of food made me feel so proud. The good thing about cooking is that there's always something new to learn, even all the professional chefs don't know everything there are new tastes and dishes ready to be discovered.

I made Nigella Lawson's Devil's food cake as promised, which by the way is what heaven tastes like, my boyfriend made it with me, as he does with most of the cakey things, last week we made a cherry and almond pie and got in an argument about how thick the mixture should have been ("it says it's supposed to look like that!" "well I don't think it looks right!" "well I'm going to follow the RECIPE and keep it like this!" "you do that!") but it turned out fine (because I followed the recipe) I tried to impress him by making roast duck with potatoes which usually turns out brilliantly but of course on this occasion it went wrong an I set fire to the duck but I sacrificed myself and ate the burnt one so at least everyone else enjoyed theirs.

I have set up a list of things I want to make in the next few weeks :
- A damn good cake to give to the secretarys i'm working with on my woruk experience (as a bribe for a good report)
- Pancakes with blueberry syrup, for pancake day of course
- Blondies (brownies but blonde)
- My sisters birthday cake (I will take a photo of that and put it on here but her birthday is at the end of febuary so don't get excited)
- Something that isn't a dessert, any ideas?

I would also like to take the oppurtunity to thank my mum for taking pity on me and leaving comments, but I hope some day to get one from someone else.

2011 is here!

I have had a lovely Christmas, I've seen a lot of my boyfriend, usually I can only see him twice a week, he took me skiing which was fun he's been snowboarding for 8 years but last year he couldn't do any so he was a bit rusty, I took great joy in skiing round him in circles when he fell over and laughing at him until I fell over and snow got into my pants then he was the one laughing.

I went out with friends on New Year and my friend was so excited about it and we went to her friends party which was at his house and we were expecting the kind of party you see in American movies with a lot of people but no, we got there and there were 3 people sat in a garage with a few drinks and the radio, everything got better though when our hosts mother came out of the house in a mini skirt and stilettos shouting 'LOOK WHAT I FOUND IN THE WARDROBE! I still look damn good for 50' before falling over. Then she grabbed my arm and told me that I was so pretty that she wanted me as a daughter then my friend accompanied her back to the front door and was told that she had to marry her son so that she could be her daughter too. Eventually we went to the club which WASN'T OPEN until 12.00 on new year, surely they should have been open half an hour early or something so that people could celebrate new year in the warm instead of shivering in the car park waiting to be let in. Anyway when we finally got in we had a very good time.



I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Cooking with Nigella

Thanks to the amazing Nigella Lawson and her programme Nigella Kitchen on BBC I have discovered a passion for cooking, I love her recipies, probably because she uses so much butter and chocolate and gorgeous delicious things, and I'm hoping that if I get fat because of it I will look like her but somehow I don't think so, not that she's fat but she has curves and I actually condsidered trying to GAIN weight to see if I could look like her.

The first thing I made was some brownies, actually I made them with my boyfriend... well I allowed him to stir the sugar while I mesured things out and mixed etc... When they were ready they were absoloutely divine, even though only 150g of milk choccy went in they were so luscious and perfect, it was like eating heaven.

Sadly, the second time I tried to make them for my grandmother but they had 10 minutes too long in the oven and while they were still nice they were juuuust a little too crunchy and dry so I was quite upset.

Tonight I have made her roast duck legs with potatoes, I have never done a roast before so I am very excited, though I will be annoyed if anything happens to it because it was so easy, you just put some duck legs in a pan skin side down with no oil or anything, chop some potatoes, turn the legs over and put the potatoes in the pan, still with no oil, salt, pepper, thym, and shove in the oven (200). I can't wait to see what it tastes like.

I have decided that another thing I want to make is Devil's food cake which looks fantastic, I don't know when yet but I will put a photo of the one she made on for you to drool over.

Strikes and sweets

Last friday the French, bless them, decided to yet again go on strike so I got up at 6am to go to school, got there and found out that I had no lessons. I am not saying that I'm for the new retirement age being 62 or something but It's really getting in the way of my lessons and I might sound like a swot but it's true, how am I supposed to pass my baccalaureat next year with about 2 lessons a week?

Anyway I called mum and asked her to come and get me and she said that she was on the way to Andorra with my aunt and dad so they picked me up on the way there and we drove away from the students and teachers clamouring for attention to escape to a well deserved shopping trip.

We stopped at a big shop first which wasn't in the actual town and it was full of alcool and sweets, so many sweets!!! I wandered around eating all the free samples while my parents and aunt piled the trolley high with cheap wine, the shop music was traditional spanish music like the macarena and the ketchup song. When I saw the giant Chupa chups lollys I got quite over excited and had to sit down.

We finally left the shop and drove into the big town where we had a gorgeous lunch and then we went shopping, when I go shopping there is always something I want to get and when I want something on a shopping trip I will find it. This time it was pink knitted tights and a hat with bear ears. I finally found the hat in Zara and the tights in a little local shop. I was so happy to have found my bear hat and I am wearing it even now as I type.

However, no day is perfect and I fell ill with food poisoning the next day but all better now!

Are you satisfied, with an average life?

I am soooo in love at the moment with my new Marina and the Diamonds album, she has got an amazing voice, I can't stop listening to it.

My favourites so far are : Oh No!, Hermit the Frog, I Am Not A Robot, Mowgli's Road

She's got an unusual voice but I love it.

The ups and downs of winter

Summer is finished, winter is approaching (as always), spending my days slowly evaporating in the sun is over, I will now be passing the time by shivering, getting into fights at school about who gets to sit next to the radiator and risking my life (and shoes) to get to and from the bus stop everyday in the rain, and eventually, ice and snow.

Thank god however that all my winter TV is coming back, because in the summer holidays they don't show all my favourite shows, apart from stuff like Scrubs, South Park, Friends etc... which is shown on an endless loop until you feel quite sick just thinking about them, but I am not talking about them I am talking about quality like America's Next Top Model (well it's not quality but just watching Tyra Banks being Tyra Banks is damn good entertainment), Harry Hill (as one of my favourite journalists said in a magazine the year is split into halves, when Harry's on the telly and when he isn't), all the good dramas usually come on at this time of year I have been watching Single Father with my mum so far and we're hoping Project Runway will start again soon.

The 90's and Jigsaws

I've decided to put some more posts on for my one and only follower even though I know she's not reading them, but I'm trying to make this blog interesting just incase some people do actually read it.

Today me and my sister got a jigsaw puzzle, one of the most evil creations of this world. When I've finished it I will burn it and bury the pieces in the garden incase it magically tries to repair itself. However, we had quite a nice time despite the infuriating puzzle because we put on the music channel and it was the number ones of the 90's, how nostalgic, I was only young when those songs came out but I still knew all the words.

It's a shame that today most of the music channels only seem to play rap, pop (which all sounds the same) and adverts.