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

Give It A Go: Day Six

Right then, well I hope you’ve enjoyed the coverage of GIAG’s first week, I’ve certainly enjoyed covering it.

Unfortunately, I won’t be specifically covering anything this weekend because I really need to catch up with uni work and sort out my pages for Pluto, but never fear, here is a quick guide to the weekend’s events!

This morning saw a coach load of excited UCLan students going off for the weekend to take part in the Bear Grylls Survival Weekend. The group are travelling to the Llyen Peninsula in North Wales where they will be learning how to look after themselves in the wild, setting up shelters, finding food and cooking for themselves.

The menu is set to include mackerel, spider crabs and possibly even rabbit, so lessons in catching, killing and cooking your food will be included!

The other trip that left UCLan this morning was on its way to Chester Zoo! I have to admit I love that place, it’s not far from where I live and it is the UK’s number one zoo.

They have over 7000 animals and 400 different species, so it’s no wonder more than a million people visit every year. They also do a lot of conservation work and house some of the most endangered species we have on the planet.

For those that are visiting today or have done in the past, you will know what a fantastic place it is and a great day out that you will remember for a very long time and for those that have never been, don’t worry that you missed the trip this time, it isn’t far away from Preston (about an hour in the car) and the prices aren’t that bad either (£13.50 with a valid NUS card).

Chester Zoo is also in need of people to make donations so they can continue their great work. Take a look at the website: http://www.chesterzoo.org.

And for those of you who have stayed in Preston this weekend, don’t miss out on the two great events taking place at the uni today.

In about five minutes the Rounders Tournament, BBQ and Football is due to kick off at Source so get on down there and Give It A Go and tonight sees the return of the Roller Disco at 53 Degrees!

This was a huge success last time when it involved a trip to the roller disco place in Manchester, but due to the massive number of people who wanted to go, it has since been brought to 53 and this year sees its return as part of Fresher’s Week and GIAG 08.

Falling over, leg warmers, bad skating and neon skirts are a must at this 80s cult night and I hope those of you who go don’t have too many bruises in the morning.

And if you do take part in any of these events, drop me a line at pfeatures@uclan.ac.uk and I’ll pop your pics, reviews, comments and interviews up on the blog!

That’s all for now, but I’ll be back later this evening with all the details about tomorrow’s events!

Take care,

Em. x

Day One: Cocktail Masterclass and a quick round up of Day Two

Hey everyone, really sorry I didn’t get back on here last night, felt a bit too tipsy after the cocktails! I got to say, it’s the cheapest way I’ve seen twenty-odd people get tiddly!!!

Right then, so to start where I left off. Last night I headed on down to the Atrium where an array of spirits, liquors and mixers had been lined up and the guys from Mojito in town were ready and waiting to show us how to make some great drinks.

To start off with we were all treated to a cocktail called Cham 69 (or at least I think it was called that) and then a choice of either sambuca or tequila, which really helped to loosen everyone up and started off the tipsy feeling in me (I’m such a lightweight it’s ridiculous!!!).

Throughout the night we were offered more drinks if we wanted and Blue Lagoon and Sex on the Beach were available, but the really fun bit was when we each got the chance to make a cocktail. I’ll be putting up some pics tomorrow of people making their various ones and how they all turned out, but I have to say I don’t know how the guys working behind a bar remember everything that goes in! Not to mention not breaking anything when they are flinging the glasses and bottles around (which I’m reliably informed is known as “flailing” in the trade!), but not much of that went on last night.

When it came to my turn I made a Key West Cooler, which has at seven different ingredients that included vodka, midori and I think orange juice went in there as well. I was pretty pleased with the effect too because it is meant to be layered and I think everyone who made a layered cocktail achieved it so we were all pretty chuffed with our efforts.

One tip not to forget when making your own cocktails is: one of sour, two of sweet, three of strong and four of weak!

I think the highlight of the evening was when Hayley Stubbs had to make and drink a Flaming Lamborghini. I have absolutley no idea what went in it, but it was meant to be on fire when she drank it (though there wasn’t enough sambuca left to get the effect) and as she drank it two more shots were put in it! Hope your hangover wasn’t too bad this morning hun!

But, in all seriousness the idea for the masterclass wasn’t so that everyone could get drunk for £2.50. It was a great way to try out drinks that you may or may not like and learn a few of the techniques needed to make them. The question and answer session that the guys did was helpful, but my only wish was that there was a receipe list handed out at the end.

Interviews with Hayley and Chek who runs Mojito will be up tomorrow with some pics.

So then, on to today. Well, I’m happy to report I didn’t have a hangover, just a lecture 😦 but after that was done I headed off to the Arabic Language class that was on.

Unfortunately, I did get to this half way through, which didn’t help me to pick it up, but I have to say I found out more than I had though I would.

The booklets that we were given were fantastic and we used them to spell our names and learnt how to hold a basic conversation in Arabic.

But, I also learnt how important it is to be polite in their culture. It might sound like a nag but I think too many of us tend to forget our ‘P’s and Q’s’ in today’s world, but our tutor for the session, Summer Mouallem told us how important politeness is and how easily you can offend someone if you forget.

Now, I have to admit I struggled to pick up the lingo and the writing still doesn’t make sense to me and I wasn’t great at getting my tongue around some of the words, but I think it was a great taster session for anyone hoping to take up the language as an elective or certificate and even if they chose not to do Arabic it was a great advertisement for the University’s language department.

An interview with Summer and some pics will also be going up tomorrow.

So then, what else happened today I hear you ask?! Well, to be honest today was a relatively quiet day for GIAG 08. Unfortunately, Irish Dance Class was cancelled due to lack of interest, but the Ikea trip certainly generated enough people’s attention and the Cooking and Eating event held tonight in the Atrium was a sell out by lunchtime.

I didn’t go to either of these due to other commitments, but I can tell you that those of you who went to Ikea should have gorgeous looking rooms and houses now (I have to say most of room is covered in Ikea products) and those that went to the masterclass should have some great ideas to eat healthy this year. Not only that, but you should be pretty stuffed too!!!

I went to a similar masterclass last year and it’s still on the site if you want to read the review, but for those who missed tonight’s event, have a look to see if the Cooking Masterclass taking place next Thurday (2nd Oct) evening isn’t fully booked yet. It’s a similar event and a good excuse to try some great grub!!!

Right well that’s all for now, but come back tomorrow for those pics, interviews and little bit more about what’s been happening in GIAG, including the Clubs and Socs Fair, Lacrosse and the Pie Eating Contest in Source tomorrow night!!!

And if you have been to any of the events or are planning to go, let me know, send me your reviews, pics comments and anything else you think would great on the site and I’ll get them up. My email is pfeatures@uclan.ac.uk.

Remember, it’s your union, your GIAG and this is site is yours too so let everyone know what’s going on!!!

Bye. x