Day Eleven: Cooking Masterclass

Right, I’m back again and today is the last day that I will be giving things a go as I can’t do anything this weekend, but never fear, I hopefully have the White Water Rafting covered and I’ll give you the low down on Paintballing and the trip to Blackpool’s Illuminations so don’t think the blog has gone just yet!

But, back to my updates. Last night, I went to the Cooking Masterclass held in the Atrium by Lee Nutter, Atrium Co-Ordinator. The idea was to give us ideas for good recipes and show us how easy it is to make them.

I have to say the menu was fantastic; Mussels with Chizoro sausage and a Tomatoe sauce, Wild Mushroom Risotto, Peppercorn sauce with Steak or Salmon and to finish, Chocolate Fondants!!! Delicious to say the least!

Unfortunately, Lee had to do a lot of cooking on sort of camping stove so it did take a while to cook, which was absolute torture considering I hadn’t had tea because I didn’t want to be full for this, but he showed us how best to go about making each dish and explained how to prepare things such as the mussels, though due to time he had already done most of the work.

He let us into some tips of the trade. For instance, to tell when your steak is done, if you put your thumb and forefinger together, the fleshy part below your thumb will be resemble a rare steak, if you do the same but with your middle finger instead it is like a medium rare, your wedding finger is medium and your thumb and little finger is well done.

Lee also demonstarted how to tell if a mussel is still alive. Most of the time they will be slightly open, so if you tap them and they close, it shows there is a sign of life.

Although it took a while to cook, I was suprised at how easy it was to make the meals and it was definately worth the wait because it was absolutely gorgeous!!! Most of the food I’d never tried before either, so it was great to experiment and try something new and I have a new found love of risotto and chizoro sausage, which I think may because a new staple meal in my student lifestyle as it’s cheap, quick and easy to make!

But, I have to say the best part of the night for me was the chocolate fondants, which were amazing! Lee told us how difficult it to cook them, because to get the cake effect on the outside and the gooey, chocolate centre really depends on how long you cook them for; too little and they are too gooey (I know, as if that could possibly be a bad thing!), too much and they turn out like little chocolate cakes (again, not bad at all in my eyes!). 

Nevertheless, I see his point because to eat what looks like a little chocolate cake and then discovering a gorgeous gooey chocolate centre is a real treat and so I will definately be making them some time in the future, though whether my house mates get any or I eat them all is another thing!

Keep an eye out for an interview with Lee and pics of him cooking, they should be going up wither tonight or tomorrow.

I’m off to the Journalism Masterclass now, so I’ll be back in just over an hour with an update of that!

Tata. x

Day Eleven: Student Life Fair and Spanish Class

Hey, hope you’re all ok.

So, GIAG is heading towards it’s conclusion on Sunday. Can you believe the last week and a half has gone so fast? But, just because uni life is getting more serious with talk out assessments (already!!!), it doesn’t mean that the events are slowing down, oh no, if anything there’s even more going on!

Today, I’ve been to the Student Life Fair and what an event that was. I don’t think I went to it last year, or at least I don’t remember it, but did I miss out or what?! It’s in the least as good as the Intro Fair when it comes to hand outs, but there were so many people on offer to help and give advice.

Stalls included Endsleigh for all those insurance needs, the UCLan Accomodation Services and the Co-Op.

Speaking of the Co-Op, their stand was by far my favourite because the smoothies they were making were delicious! Banana with honey and a few other little treats thrown in and mixed berry smoothies were on offer and they really tasted delicious.

I think the Preston Transport stall was a great idea too because it gave people the chance to find out what was available to them in their area and they were very helpful.

There was a great turn out at this event and as Lee Bradshaw, Campaigns Officer told me in an interview (which will be going up tomorrow) there was a steady stream of students throughout the morning.

I do have some pictures for the event, so they will be up tomorrow soon.

Next on my list was the Spanish workshop. This was the last of the language taster sessions involved in GIAG and it was just a good as the previous ones.

Esther Lopez-Figueroa was our tutor during the session and her passion for her home country’s culture and language really came through.

She began by teaching us the basics of greetings and decribing where you are from like the other tutors did and went onto how to go about ordering food and drinks and how to count.

But the highlight of the session was the question and answer section towards the end, which was great for all those queries about the language, but Esther went onto describe the culture in Spain and little snippets of how its past has influenced the present.

She also mentioned how the country is split into different areas, a bit like counties in Britain, but these areas have a different local government and speak a different type of Spanish. For instance, the area above Portugal is greatly influenced by the Portuguese language and the area in the North by France, sounds very similar to the French language.

Esther also mentioned that Spanish can be taken as an elective or a certificate on top of your degree, as are all the languages available from the School of Languages and International Studies.

So if any of the language reviews have whet your appetite, go down to Fylde Building and ask.

That’s it for now. Unfortunately, I missed the How To…Guides, but I am waiting on a review of the Table Tennis event that took place this afternoon.

As for me, I’m off to the Cooking Masterclass in an hour, so I’ll be back later on this evening with another entry, but until then, tata.

Em. x