Making Focaccia 4

Here we go. All finished, and well worth it. It has a pleasing salty outer crust (vaguely reminiscent of pretzels), with a fluffy olive-oily centre. Not too oily though. Delicious.


The recipe was from this website, and it worked very well. The only changes I made were not putting yeast in (ahem), but then adding it later, and because I rose it in a slightly warmed oven, I shortened the rising times from 2hrs, 45mins and 45mins to 1hr, 30mins and 30mins respectively. Also, I used dried rosemary from tesco, as we haven't got rosemary in our garden at uni.

A most delightful morning well spent. Now back to the cardiology.

Tom

Making Focaccia 3 (How can you tell I'm supposed to be revising for an exam?)

Now yeasted and happy, focaccia is in the oven and we are very excited - here it is in ready to go state.

Making Focaccia 2

Yes, Alex is right, and for all I'll be teased by my father, I did somehow forget to put the yeast in. Which means I spent 2 hours rising a lump of playdough. BUT, I've now added some extra yeast, with a splash of water and flour to help it dissolve, and the bread is now on its 2nd rise. Soon (though not as soon as originally though) there will be tasty focaccia.

Here's a picture of the dough struggling to rise (with no yeast).

Making Focaccia 1

We're currently having a European morning. Having enjoyed a cup of coffee with croissants, and now I'm baking some focaccia - tasty Italian salted bread with olive oil and rosemary. I'll keep you posted on how it goes. At the moment, it's rising, and in our poorly lit Sunday morning kitchen it looks like this:

Hearts and Vodka

A quick nod to the vet-thing, today I learnt how to listen to a horse's heart (not a moment too soon!) and managed to identify systolic and diastolic murmurs (hooray for vet-school horses). The lady who runs the stable was surrounded by one gynaecology rotation, and our cardiology rotation, which lead to the phrase "are you here for hearts or bums?" Eurgggh.

In other non-vetty news, Alex and I are planning on creating chocolate vodka. It is a simple recipe involving cocoa nibs and vodka. Instructions as follows. 1) Mix nibs and vodka 2) Wait 3) Drink vodka. My sort of cooking (though I did make a champion Teviotdale Pie this evening if I may say so myself)!

T0ӎ

p.s. It was Alex's birthday on Tuesday, which means it's shout-out time. Happy birthday Alex!

I'm in trouble.

Mary asked me to ice a cake while she was out... I fear this may be the last time I am honoured with such a request...

I had to cut the top off one to make it flat so it'd fit on the bottom... but it seemed like such a waste of good cake... so we have the cake of directorly crowning glory...

Baking for Students

I am making my first loaf of the term. I took to making my own bread last term (even splashed out on a 2lb tin and a book of recipes), I suppose my genetic memory is full of it owing to my Grandfather (who was a baker) and my Dad (who has inherited, and passed on) much baking knowledge. I have even advanced to including such insane ingredients as honey, milk and wheat bran. It's really good fun, and very cathartic (a wonderful word) beating the hell out of a lump of dough, and having a tasty, stodgy, sweet smelling, warm and crisp loaf at the end of it all. The best thing about it is that baking is essentially designed for students. It takes 10-15mins to prepare everything, then you have half an hour of work time while it rises, followed by a few seconds to get it in the oven, followed by another half hour of work before it's ready. Before you know it, in less than an hour and a half you've done an hour of work and you have a tasty home-made loaf. Amazing!
Note to self: less work is done if you blog about how amazing it is that you have time for work.

Another day of lectures today - we had more small ruminants (goats and sheep knowledges were passed) and an animal breeding lecture (including photos of vibrating and thrusting dummy mares for stallion semen collection), and an introduction to nutrition (which is a particularly topical subject owing to the infamous rise to fame of "raw meaty bones"). 4 hours, 4 lectures, and much more stuff to try to learn!

Tom

Clipped

Had my hair cut yesterday - guy in the Barber's near Clare Colony wanted to charge me an extra £8 for having alot of hair to cut off, so I politely walked out. £18 is too much for a haircut, especially when there's a sign outside saying "gentlemen's haircuts, £10". So I went to Mr Polito's, who did a fine job for £12. Note to cambridgians. DO NOT GO TO THE BARBERS BY CLARE COLONY (is that libel? can I be arrested?)

I cooked meatballs on Friday, which was an interesting experience, i just bunged together some mince, herbs and onion in balls, fried them and then added a few veggies and dolmio, and BANG, it worked! Huzzah! My fear that I would think I was eating testicles was unfounded. Muwahah!

In other news, 15 exams is a lot of exams to do, especially when they are horribly fact based. I am not a "taperecorder" as Omega so eloquently put it yesterday, and am not enjoying it, Neurobiology especially. Still, they start in a week so will be over soon, and we'll be free, and, of course, it is my birthday on Tuesday. How exciting! I'm having a subdued meal at mine with friends, because everyone is revising at the mo, and I doubt they (and I know I can't) could devote a whole evening for a formal/club session, though I would love to. (So many commas. I Know that that was an appaulingly disarticulated paragraph (unlike a Badger's jaw (google it)), but I'm lazy so aren't going to change it. It's a stream of consciousness - the best way :)

Right, I have to learn about motor-systems now. It's raining and I don't want to, but I have to. Roll on the 8th of June!

Tom xxx

Workyworkywork

Yesterday evening was fun. Alex, Vicky and me (I stirred) made vegetarian chili which was tasty. OO, and now I think about it, I have a room for next year - 7 Braeside - it's south facing, has two big windows and is a confortable size. Only problem is that it has no sink, but I'm sure I can get around that. Back to the evening - Alex and I went down to the LCR to watch Green Wing, and then came back to Castle end where we chatted with Jen (and later Dave) until almost 1am... A rareity nowadays, but good fun :)

So much work. So much work that I actually hoovered my room yesterday. So much work that I have photos of me doing work. Still, I think I'm almost all the way through Neuroanatomy now, which is a relief because that is the hardest bit. I think I can remember the path of the Dorsal Columns/Medial Lemniscus system - thank God I'm not doing it next year!

Still, I'll work hard this weekend, and then I can go canoeing on Monday night, and play cricket on Tuesday.

Hope you are all well!
Tom
xxx

What IS Partially Inverted Syrup? Happy Birthday Lydia!

This morning was Lydia's birthday, and so, for the early-morning-loving Linguiunes I set my alarm for 8.15, and promptly fell asleep after it went off. 15 minutes later I was woken by Lydia's wake up serenade, consisting mainly of raucus singing and an accordion. In a panic I jumped up, pulled on a tshirt, jeans and my dressing gown, and bounced out of my door just in time to sing a beautiful harmony to the last "to you" of Happy Birthday! Superb.

After that we set about making Pancakes - lots of pancakes. Probably about 40 in the end, and, considering that I have never done it before, I thought I did quite a good job of both the not-burning and of the flippage. Lydia opened presents, I sang a song about partially inverted syrup, and much fun was had!

Post party I spent the morning rearranging one of my noticeboards as it was unpleasantly orthodox and regimented in its arrangement. Now it is an amazing concoction of pictures, photos, post cards and sheets on Avian Flu. I'm so proud I took a photo and wrote about it on here! Should probably do some work now, but am going over to see Alex - she's just got up! Hehe - poor sleepy Vetsci -she's been doing her play all week; I'm impressed she stayed up so late last night, and hasn't collapsed of exhaustion all week!

Photos to follow!!!

Gawd and Bleugh?

Just made an interesting lunch in an attempt to use up some old stuff in cupboards.

Bacon and Salad Risotto.
These quantities serve 1, but can easily be multiplied up!

Ingredients:
* Half an old pack of preprepared salad
* 2 bacon rashers
* A carrot
* 2 spare bags of rice
* A beef oxo cube
* Some oil
* Dregs from the bottom of a bottle of wine
* Garlic Paste

1. Chop up and fry the bacon in the oil. Add the carrots.
2. Dissolve the oxo cube in boiling water.
3. Add the rice to the bacon and carrot.
4. Slowly add the oxo bit by bit
5. Add the wine dregs
6. Add a bit of garlic paste
7. Add the salad
8. Simmer for 10 minutes


TADA!

And it was actually really nice!