Asparagus and Radish Salad with Green Chilli

So I'm back!!!  After nearly two months of no new posts, I think I'm just about ready to start writing again and I think I have a few ideas in store, with maybe even a couple of collaborations but nothing's been organised yet.  In the next couple of weeks, I'll be publishing my 100th post (which you can still send asks to @rainbowsunshine67 on Tumblr for, both anonymously and non-anonymously), so look out for that!

So I've actually been up to a lot in the past couple of months, so let's have a little catch-up:

On Friday 15th April, it was the Activities Ball on Friday 15th April.  While the ball had been at the Cedar Court Hotel near the M606 last year, we returned this year to the Bradford Hotel where the ball was when I was in 1st year, and for the first time in years, the Activities Ball took place separately to the Athletics Union Colours Ball (which was in March).  I ended up wearing the same F&F Limited Edition purple satin dress that I wore for the ball two years ago, but one of my friends commented when I told her it was the same dress that I'd "grown and matured into the dress" since 1st year.  I don't really understand what she meant but she said it was a compliment.  I wore it with my gold flower necklace and black bow flat shoes, both from Marks and Spencer.

I received an individual colours award for my services as exec member of both BUSOM (in 2nd year) and RamAir (in 3rd year) after my wonderful friends from BUSOM nominated me.  This year has been a big year for awards in BUSOM as a total of 5 of us received individual awards, we achieved gold status in the society quality mark (SQM) scheme, and we were also shortlisted for the Event of the Year award for Back to the 80s, narrowly missing out to Pak Soc and the Hindu Society's collaboration on the Rang event.




I chose the vegetarian option for the meal, but I don't know how much difference there was between the vegetarian option and the vegan option (I also don't know of any vegans who were at the ball).  The main difference between the vegetarian option and the normal option was that everyone else had chicken with their vegetables instead of vegetable tarts for main course, and the tomato soup starter was probably the same for everyone (except for a friend who was allergic to the cornstarch in the soup).  The raspberry panna cotta wasn't the best but it was alright and if it wasn't already vegan-friendly, it could easily be made so.

A bag of sweets!

The table centrepiece

Starter: Tomato Soup

Vegetarian Mains: Vegetable tart with vegetables

Dessert: Raspberry Pannacotta

On Tuesday 26th April, I completed the website for my final project (which can currently be viewed at http://brassloft.liam.bradweb.co.uk/), had my presentation, and completed my final 4000 word essay and my degree on Monday 9th May.  I'll have to wait for a few more weeks to receive my final results, but I'm still just about on track for a 2:1.  I'm due to graduate on Wednesday 13th July!

Thursday 28th April was BUSOM's summer concert, I Can Sing A Rainbow, where we sang lots of songs about colours.  I sang Colours of the Wind from Pocahontas as a solo, and also had a solo line in Rainbow Connection from the Muppets.  Other songs included I've Got A Golden Ticket from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Somewhere That's Green from Little Shop of Horrors, Red and Black from Les Miserables, and Joseph's Coat from Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  You can read Phil Lickley's review on the concert here. The photos below are courtesy of Bradford Student Productions.




During my final week at university (15th-20th May), I took part in RamAir's 24 Hour Show where I both studio managed other shows and hosted the final two episodes of my own show, Breaking Walls and Closing Cupboards - although the final episode ended up under the name of Fixing The Wall and Opening The Cupboards.  I also took part in the return of Grumpy Young Farts and the final episode of Anything Goes with Emma.






I had my 21st birthday party 3 weeks early so I could celebrate with my uni friends before they all went home.  We used the uni bars' karaoke system for entertainment (I sang Suddenly I See by KT Tunstall, Call Me by Blondie, Tide Is High (Get The Feeling) by Atomic Kitten, and Walking On Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves), and played the chocolate game, pass the parcel (including Truth or Dare) and Never Have I Ever for party games.  I love my friends from BUSOM and I think they made this an amazing birthday party for me.  Hopefully, I'll be publishing my 100th post by my 21st birthday (on 7th June)!

My birthday mocktail gift from the bars, with pineapple juice, cranberry juice, blueberries and grapes

Playing the chocolate game

Other events from that week included the Student Leader Awards where I received a gold award for my volunteering with RamAir and a silver award for being a student representative, the BUSOM end-of-year BBQ, and Party on the Amp, which I missed most of due to work, but had a good time with my friends for the 2 hours I was there and afterwards when spending more time with BUSOM friends.

Emma and I with our awards, photo courtesy of Philip Lickley

I've also now started working at Gaggia Caffe Shop, where I'm tinkering with a website redesign and answering lots of customer phone calls at the moment, but I might be learning more about the coffee machines themselves in the future so I can understand better to give advice to customers.


And now finally for this week's recipe.  While flicking through the May 2016 edition of Tesco Food Family Living, I noticed that there's a new symbol for about 4 of the dishes - a small green V with a leaf at the right finishing point of the letter.  I looked up what this meant and found that these recipes "use no animal products, including meat, fish, eggs and dairy".  This will definitely make finding vegan-friendly recipes in these magazines as I was previously searching the vegetarian recipes for milk or eggs and thinking of how I could adapt these recipes.  The first marked vegan-friendly recipe from Tesco that I'm going to share here is going to be Asparagus and radish salad with green chilli:

Ingredients (serves 4)

100g (3 1/2 oz) fine green beans, trimmed
1 x 250g bunch of asparagus, shaved into long strips using a vegetable peeler
2 spring onions, sliced
100g  (3 1/2 oz) radishes, finely sliced
a small handful each of fresh dill and mint, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon hazelnuts, toasted and chopped

For the dressing:
5cm (2 inches) piece fresh ginger, finely grated
1 garlic clove, finely grated
1 green chilli, seeded and finely diced
1 lime, juiced
1 tablespoon sesame oil

Instructions

1. Cook the green beans in a pan of salted, boiling water for 3 minutes, or until tender.  Drain, run under a cold tap and drain again.  Arrange on a serving platter with the asparagus, spring onions, radishes and herbs.
2. To make the dressing, combine the ginger, garlic and chilli in a small bowl.  Add the lime juice and sesame oil.  Season with a pinch each of salt, pepper and sugar, and mix well.
3. Scatter the hazelnuts over the salad and spoon over the dressing.

Back to the 80s and Spinach and Ricotta Tortellini

This week has been a whirlwind as it's now the 2nd of the three performances of Back to the 80s.  Today is my planned day off from being in uni, but I also unexpectedly ended up being at home for quite a lot of yesterday too.  Yesterday's time at home was spent watching an episode of Red Dwarf, reading Ally Sheehan's blog and making final prop preparations for the show, while this morning has also been spent reading Ally's blog as well as taking Rent quizzes, and thinking about who I would audition for if BUSOM were to do Rent for our main show (I want to take a chance and go for a main part, but the only role I can think of that would suit me and who I am is Joanne).  Here's my diary of the last few days of show week!


Monday 7th March 2016 - 3 days left

Tonight (Monday night) marked the tech rehearsal and the start of show week. I spent the first half backstage being quiet, trying not to be in the way, having a solo party whenever nobody else was backstage, and waiting for my scene (Act 1 Scene 5). However, during the second half, I was at the audience side of things (which I can't do after now) and was laughing and clapping and singing along. I love the energy that everyone is putting into it, and I know that they can bring even more energy to it over the next few nights. I'm so proud of everyone. Tomorrow (Tuesday night which is technically now today) is the dress rehearsal, where I get to see all the costume ideas I had with each cast member come to life.

 

Showtime is nearly upon us!  http://www.bradfordplayhouse.org.uk/box-office#loveBUSOM #backtothe80s #mainshow #musicals #musicaltheatre #teambradford
Posted by Bradford University Society of Operettas and Musicals (BUSOM) on Monday, 7 March 2016

Tuesday 8th March 2016 - 2 days left

This evening, we past the 48 hours before the show mark and also had our FINAL rehearsal! I've now finally seen everyone's costumes brought to vivid life and they all look amazing and there's plenty of tie-dye T-shirts made at our fundraising event a month ago. Apart from my singular scene in Act 1 and the finale, I was backstage for the entirety of the dress rehearsal, but it all sounded really amazing. Once again, I'd like to say that I'm really proud of the cast and the rest of the production team, and tomorrow's night off is very well-deserved!

We got through cue-to-cue yesterday in one piece! But tonight everyone is in costume for our dress rehearsal - bright...
Posted by Bradford University Society of Operettas and Musicals (BUSOM) on Tuesday, 8 March 2016

Wednesday 9th March 2016 - 1 day left

It's now just over 21 hours until we start our first performance of Back to the 80s! We've had a night off from rehearsal today, so I'm going to go to sleep early for once and then I'll be around RamAir tomorrow (although not promoting the show on air myself unless someone asks me to), before going to the theatre. During shows on RamAir today, I have heard songs from the show including Video Killed The Radio Star, Kids In America and I'm Gonna Be 500 Miles, and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, as well as plenty of other 80s hits! I'm pretty sure other BUSOMites listened in to these shows and sent messages to our shoutbox for requests.

 

Our Mr Cocker can't believe it!We can't believe it! Tomorrow is our opening night for Back to the 80s! There's still...
Posted by Bradford University Society of Operettas and Musicals (BUSOM) on Wednesday, 9 March 2016

Thursday 10th March 2016 - IT'S TODAY!!!

IT'S TODAY!!! Tonight we start Back to the 80s for the next 3 nights and all our hard work over the past 3 (or 6-10) months will actually be seen by people. I'm both really excited and super nervous. I've unexpectedly ended up at home today, so I'm going to watch a couple of episodes of Red Dwarf before lunch, watching some TV, then heading back to Bradford for the show.

 

It's here! Opening night is tonight! We hope you're as excited as we are!#loveBUSOM #backtothe80s #openingnight...
Posted by Bradford University Society of Operettas and Musicals (BUSOM) on Thursday, 10 March 2016

Friday 11th March 2016

Last night's opening performance of Back to the 80s was pretty fantastic, and I can't wait for tonight's and Saturday night's performances, especially with even more people I know coming!

Saturday's performance is sold out, but if you're EXTRA SUPER-QUICK, you can still buy tickets for tonight's performance HERE.  Tickets are £10 in full or £8 for concessions (including students).

Spinach and Ricotta Tortellini

One of my favourite meals after a BUSOM rehearsal is spinach and ricotta tortellini (otherwise known as "BUSOM pasta"), so I found this recipe at The Vegan Word to make a vegan-friendly version of the dish.

Ingredients

2.5 cups flour or preferably '00' grade pasta flour
1 cup water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 recipe vegan ricotta (see below)
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic
125g spinach

Instructions

1. To make the tortellini dough, form a mound of flour on a clean workspace.
2. Form a well in the flour and fill with the oil and some of the water.
3. Mix the water into the flour, and repeat step 2 (forming a well, filling with water, and mixing the flour and water together) until all the water is incorporated into the dough.
4. Knead the dough for a minute or two and form into a ball.  Cover in cling film and leave to rest 30 minutes.  In the meantime, you can prepare the spinach and ricotta filling.
5. To prepare the spinach, heat a tablespoon or so of vegetable oil over medium heat in a frying pan or wok.  Once the wok is hot, add the minced garlic and sauté until just browned.  Add the spinach and stir, stir frying until it wilts, then remove from heat.  Squeeze out the water and mix the spinach into the ricotta recipe (which follows).
6. To roll out the ravioli dough, divide the dough into 3 sections.
7. Sprinkle some flour on a clean counterspace.  Put the first third of the dough on the counter, sprinkle some more flour on top, and roll out the dough with a rolling pin, as thin as you can roll it.  If you have a pasta machine, follow the instructions on your machine to roll out the dough.
8. Place 12 spoonfuls of the spinach-ricotta filling on the dough, stopping half along the length of the piece of dough, and keeping it as evenly spaced as possible. You’ll probably want two rows of 6.  Now, fold the piece of dough in half, so the half without fillings on is resting on top of the piece with the fillings.
9. Press down and around each dollop of filling, pressing the air out and sealing the two pieces of dough together, creating pieces of ravioli.
10. Now, with a knife or ravioli cutter, cut out squares of ravioli along each piece of filling.
11. Repeat steps 7-9 with each other piece of dough.  Cook the tortellini in boiling water as soon as possible after cutting them.  If you're not going to cut them immediately, you can freeze them.
12. To cook tortellini, place in a pot of boiling water.  It will be ready when it floats to the surface of the pot (which should happen in 2-3 minutes).  Serve.

Vegan Ricotta

Ingredients

1 package (approx 1 lb) firm tofu, drained and pressed
1/2 cup cashews
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1 tsp tahini, optional
1 tsp white miso, optional
10 fresh basil leaves, chopped
fresh black pepper to taste
Italian dried herb mix to taste

Instructions

1. In a spice grinder, grind cashews until fine.
2. In a food processor, blend cashews, tofu, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, nutritional yeast, tahini, miso, basil, black pepper, and Italian herb mix until it forms a thick paste.
3. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Garlic Bread

It's now show week and 3 days to go until opening night which is both pretty exciting and pretty scary.  I've reposted the reminder to cast members to look after themselves this week to our Facebook group page, but I'm so worried about people being ill.

During the past week, I have been sharing the daily countdown photographs to my Facebook timeline along with a little diary entry of what I have seen at rehearsals, what I have been doing towards the show, and how I'm feeling about it all.  Here's some of the posts:

Saturday 27th February 2016 - 12 days left

This was one of my favourite scenes from Thursday's rehearsal. It's only 12 days until Back to the 80s begins (and sadly only 14 days until ends), so get your tickets quick for Thursday 10th to Saturday 12th March at 7:30pm in the Studio@ space at the Bradford Playhouse. Tickets are £10 in full or £8 for concessions (including students) - you're guaranteed to want to sing along!

There's no need to fight over tickets! But be sure to get them soon - the clock is ticking! ...
Posted by Bradford University Society of Operettas and Musicals (BUSOM) on Saturday, 27 February 2016

Sunday 28th February 2016 - 11 days left

This picture is really sweet. It'd be awesome to have all four members of the production team in a photo because we're all very awesome. Today, I learned the choreography for The Glory of Love, although I did forget to bring the cardboard computer cursor that I made last weekend (oops), and had a discussion with our brilliant director about props, including lightsabers!

Our MDs can't believe that it's only 11 days to go until we go Back to the 80s! Can you believe...
Posted by Bradford University Society of Operettas and Musicals (BUSOM) on Sunday, 28 February 2016

Monday 29th February 2016 - 10 days left

It's now only 10 days until the 1st of the 3 nights of Back to the 80s, and exactly 7 days until we begin show week (ok, technically we'd have already been in the tech rehearsal for a couple of hours now). Last night was the pub quiz (which was the first time I've been to it) co-hosted by BUSOM, and I was on the team "Five BUSOMites and a Very Satisfied Baby". Emma hosted the general knowledge round on 80s music facts (based on what she has posted on the BUSOM social media) and the music round, both of which our team scored 100% on and won drinks vouchers to use at the bar (I used mine on hot chocolate this morning). We also met and held Elizabeth (the very satisfied baby who was very wriggly). Today has really only been RamAir, on which I was mainly talking about leap years and songs involving forms of movement in the title (such as running, walking, jumping, dancing and singing), but I managed to fit Walking On Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves into that to promote Back to the 80s (as I have been doing every week on Breaking Walls and Closing Cupboards). Next week, I will hopefully be having other production team members or other cast members for my show which will be fully containing songs from the show and also discussion about the show and whatever else comes up (but I also need to play lots of music). Meanwhile, Carys and I will be going over to BCB tomorrow afternoon to promote the show there, so listen in a bit after 4pm!


P.S. Does anybody have any tips on how not to be tired during show week?

You're having a laugh! Only 10 days to go? http://www.bradfordplayhouse.org.uk/box-office#loveBUSOM #backtothe80s #mainshow #musicals #musicaltheatre #teambradford
Posted by Bradford University Society of Operettas and Musicals (BUSOM) on Monday, 29 February 2016

Tuesday 1st March 2016 - 9 days left

I've written a post for the Bradford Life Blog about BUSOM's upcoming production of Back to the 80s, including information about the show, what I've enjoyed about recent rehearsals, things about costumes, and also things we've been doing recently like the tie-dye fundraiser and busking for RAG. There's only 9 days until the show, but I'll be posting a proper update later tonight after rehearsal and my trip to the BCB studio to promote the show at 4pm!

Today, Carys and I went over to the BCB studio and spoke about Back to the 80s, along with a couple of questions about 80s fashions and things of the time. You can listen back here. We start at just after 8 minutes in until just after 14 minutes, followed by Kids in America by Kim Wilde, which is a song in the show. As for rehearsal, lots of the songs sounded absolutely brilliant with Mickey and We Are The World being highlights (I started singing along to the chorus of the latter).

We're down to single digits now! Only 9 days until we take to the stage!  Have you got your tickets yet? ...
Posted by Bradford University Society of Operettas and Musicals (BUSOM) on Tuesday, 1 March 2016

Wednesday 2nd March 2016 - 8 days left

Just over a week left to go http://www.bradfordplayhouse.org.uk/box-office#loveBUSOM #backtothe80s #mainshow #musicals #musicaltheatre #teambradford
Posted by Bradford University Society of Operettas and Musicals (BUSOM) on Wednesday, 2 March 2016

Thursday 3rd March 2016 - 7 days left

So it's now only ONE WEEK until Back to the 80s begins. In less than 7 days time, we'll be on the Studio@ stage performing to friends, family and members of the public. It may be just me having a coursework deadline tomorrow, but I'm so, so nervous and stressed about the show at the moment. Mainly, I'm just concerned about cast members or even crew members being ill or not having everything or little bits and pieces not being ready on time. I am really, really excited though. Every rehearsal has now got me singing along for one song or another. This evening, Footloose had me smiling like an idiot and singing along, Mickey had me clapping along, and We Are The World and Centerfold had me singing along, and I've felt so, so happy at rehearsal today (especially while we were singing along to We're All In This Together and You Can't Stop The Beat during the break). I'm so proud of everyone, both in the cast and my fellow production team members.

It's the final countdown!⌛️Do-do-do, do-do-do-do-do, do-do-do-do, ah-ah!It's exactly 1 week until curtain up! If...
Posted by Bradford University Society of Operettas and Musicals (BUSOM) on Thursday, 3 March 2016

Friday 4th March 2016 - 6 days left

Now only 5 days to go! With an important coursework deadline, the past day has been a bit stressful, but I can now do a couple more things for the show before concentrating again on coursework (will probably have to do that later today anyway). Today, I decorated the cursor for the dream sequence!

Less than a week to go now! Get your tickets now - whilst there's still some left!http://www.bradfordplayhouse.org.uk/box-office#loveBUSOM #backtothe80s #mainshow #musicals #musicaltheatre #teambradford
Posted by Bradford University Society of Operettas and Musicals (BUSOM) on Friday, 4 March 2016

Saturday 5th March 2016 - 5 days left

Today is 5 days until we start Back to the 80s and only 7 days until it's all over. That's scary, isn't it? Nearly 10 months since the first production team meeting last May and it all just comes down to three nights to have the time of our lives (see what I did there). Tomorrow, the 7 days of seeing the cast and crew every day begins and I'm so proud of them all for all their hard work and the energy they have put into this.
Today, we also SOLD OUT the Saturday night's performance (my mum got the last ticket), so if you haven't got a ticket yet and would like to see BUSOM's production of Back to the 80s, book ASAP for the Thursday or Friday night at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/EFFFMM. Tickets are £10 in full or £8 for concessions (including students)!

Every day we're getting closer to opening night! Will you be joining us? http://www.bradfordplayhouse.org.uk/box-office#loveBUSOM #backtothe80s #mainshow #musicals #musicaltheatre #teambradford
Posted by Bradford University Society of Operettas and Musicals (BUSOM) on Saturday, 5 March 2016

Sunday 6th March 2016 - 4 days left

Woah - only 4 days to go! (Tickets for Saturday are now sold out, but we still have tickets for Thursday and...
Posted by Bradford University Society of Operettas and Musicals (BUSOM) on Sunday, 6 March 2016

Garlic Bread

Garlic bread is one of my favourite things to have as a side with my dinner or as a main part if I'm having leftovers for lunch because it's quite soft in the middle, so I decided I needed to find a dairy-free version for that eventuality.  This recipe is from In Michelle's Kitchen and I've chosen a baguette to make it as close to the garlic bread I currently use as possible.

Ingredients (makes 1/2 cup garlic butter)

1/2 cup softened vegan margarine (such as Pure)
1 1/2 tablespoons garlic powder, or grated or finely minced fresh garlic to taste
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 long baguette, cut into slices

Instructions

1. Mix softened margarine, garlic powder and dried parsley together in a bowl.
2. Spread mixture onto each slice of the baguette and bake in hot 190 degrees Celsius or 375 degrees Fahrenheit oven for about 3 minutes or until golden brown. 
3. Serve on its own as a snack or as a side dish!

Chunky Oven-Baked Ratatouille and Pasta

It's now 13 days until BUSOM's production of Back to the 80s starts (and 10 days until we start rehearsing in the theatre itself).  Last Sunday, I cut a cursor out of cardboard on my bedroom floor for the one scene that I will be appearing in and will soon be learning the choreography for.  On Tuesday, we had our first full run-through with members of the tech team coming to watch us and take notes for the set of the production, and I heard and saw some of the songs that I hadn't heard being rehearsed before and I was very impressed by the sound and choreography.  Yesterday's main focus was Act 2, from which the choreography to Dancing On The Ceiling, the line delivery of "The only difference between you and a bucket of crap is the bucket", and the choreography of a fight scene between two characters.  I've now also seen most of the costumes, including a black sparkly dress and a few of the tie-dye T-shirts made at the fundraiser event we held a few weeks ago.  I'm getting more and more nervous about this every day, but I'm also very excited and very proud of the cast and the rest of the production team.  Tickets are on sale at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/EFFFMM!

Get your tickets now for our main show 'Back to the 80s'.Be sure to get them before they're gone! ...
Posted by Bradford University Society of Operettas and Musicals (BUSOM) on Wednesday, 24 February 2016

Getting closer every day!⏳http://www.bradfordplayhouse.org.uk/box-office#loveBUSOM #backtothe80s #mainshow #countdown #musicals #musicaltheatre #teambradford
Posted by Bradford University Society of Operettas and Musicals (BUSOM) on Friday, 26 February 2016

Meanwhile, my final project group development plan was submitted today, meaning that 15% of the marks have now been accounted for.  The main areas that I wrote were the competitor analysis of the other websites that have similar features to what we are going to provide with the website we are developing, and the industrial budget for the project, for which I was constantly updating the final totals after changing one figure after another.  The next 15% is for my 2000 word individual reflective report which is due next Friday.

I've heard some people say that they think a plant-based diet is too expensive for them, but it's been proven to be possible.  There is the Live Below The Line initiative in which participants fed themselves on £1 (or Australian $2, seeing as I followed agirlnamedally's Live Below The Line journey) a day for 5 days to gain an insight into the amount of money that those who live "below the poverty line" are able to spend each week on food.  There are also plenty of blogs by vegans who have a lower budget, including students.  I found this recipe in a little booklet called "Meat-Free: Feed four for under a fiver!" that I picked up at a stall at my university's volunteering fayre promoting volunteer work with animals, anti-animal testing and veganism.  What I like most about this recipe is that it's full of delicious vegetables!

Ingredients (serves 4)

1 large red onion - peeled and cut into chunks
1 large courgette - cut into chunky pieces
1 large aubergine - cut into chunky pieces
2 red peppers - de-seeded and cut into chunks
2 yellow peppers - de-seeded and cut into chunks
8 garlic cloves - peeled
juice of half a lemon
1 tablespoon olive oil
freshly ground black pepper
400g can plum tomatoes
several sprigs of fresh basil
Your choice of pasta

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius OR 350 degrees Fahrenheit OR Gas Mark 4.
2. Put all the vegetables into a roasting tray or large shallow casserole dish, and sprinkle with the lemon juice, oil and pepper.
3. Mix so that all the vegetables are coated.
4. Bake, uncovered, in the oven for 20 minutes, giving the vegetables a stir after about 10 minutes.
5. Add the tomatoes and cook for a further 15-20 minutes.
6. Cook the pasta according to packet instructions whilst the vegetables cook for another 10-12 minutes.
7. Season the vegetables with more pepper if necessary, tear the basil over the top and serve with the pasta.

Also, I'll be posting soon about my weekend in Newcastle over Valentine's weekend (it was for a 21st birthday party and had nothing to do with Valentine's Day though)!

Harry Potter Book Night at Waterstones, Bradford

On Thursday, I made the last-minute decision (well, it was about 5 hours before I had to set off for the event, but it was still too late to get my Hogwarts and Hufflepuff pins from home and too late for me to have put my camera in my bag) to go with a set of friends from BUSOM and one from RamAir to a Harry Potter Book Night event at the Waterstones store at the old Wool Exchange in Bradford.  Two of my friends came in full-on Slytherin attire (one in a Slytherin uniform with tie, scarf, wand and a dark mark temporary tattoo, and the other in a Bellatrix-inspired costume complete with Bellatrix's bird skull necklace and a dark mark ring, as well as a wand and a dark mark temporary tattoo), while a couple of the other girls just wore house-relevant T-shirts/scarves/hoodies.  Meanwhile, I was just in my BUSOM hoodie and my Moby Dick show T-shirt.

To start proceedings, each attendee was sorted into Hogwarts houses for the competition aspect of the event, as we would be scoring points during each activity.  We each had the Sorting Hat placed on our heads and we picked a folded slip of paper containing our house at random from a hat.  This meant that many of us were sorted into houses that were not our official houses.  For example, my two aforementioned Slytherin friends were both sorted into Hufflepuff, and a Gryffindor friend and I (a loyal Hufflepuff) were both sorted into and scoring points for Ravenclaw for the evening.



I was sorted into Ravenclaw for the night ...



But I'm a Hufflepuff!

The first activity was a treasure hunt where we each had a piece of paper with the names of ingredients involved in making polyjuice potion (powdered bicorn horn, leeches, lacewing flies, knotgrass, fluxweed, and shredded Boomslang skin), and we had to raid the children's section of Waterstones to find these ingredients and write the letter that identified each ingredient onto the sheet.  As there were only approximately three Ravenclaws, we only scored 3 points for each of the first two activities.

The second activity was a wordsearch, where we had to find a large set of words associated with Harry Potter, including Riddikulus, Morsmordre and Expelliarmus, either horizontally, vertically or diagonally as well as forwards or backwards.

After a short break for buying ourselves presents (see below), white hot chocolate and either jelly beans or chocolate frogs (Freddo bars), the third and final activity, the quiz, commenced.  We teamed into our houses (due to there being a lot of Hufflepuffs, Hufflepuff had the largest number of groups, while Ravenclaw only had 2 teams for their 3 members) and answered questions on charms and spells, jinxes and hexes, transfiguration, potions and ingredients, curses and the dark arts, and a "wildcard" round.  Having not read the books (not because I don't want to, but because it would take a lot of concentration and time I currently don't feel like I have), I could only answer a few of the questions myself, but my aforementioned true Gryffindor friend was very enthusiastic and keen to share her knowledge of Harry Potter and we managed to achieve 100% in every round, reaching a total score of 2190 points!

In the end, Hufflepuff (probably due to their having several teams for the quiz) won both the quiz and the competition overall, followed by Gryffindor and Slytherin, while Ravenclaw came 4th with 3000 and something points (we suspect someone else had a small Hufflepuff team).  One of my friends in a Hufflepuff team won a bookmark for being the most enthusiastic team member, and we were all given certificates of attendance.



My certificate of participation in the event!

This was next to the display of Harry Potter books and other Harry Potter things and it's so cute.

I also treated myself to the Harry Potter colouring book and a Harry Potter snow globe!



My new colouring book.

My Harry Potter snow globe.


 

Ginger and Coriander Tea

For half of this past week, I was stressing about a presentation for my final production project.  I've always been nervous about presentations, but whereas previous presentations that I've done at university have been for projects that I have done during that past semester and a demonstration of what's in the website and how it works, this presentation was a pitch to a class of about 21 for a website that I was proposing to make as part of a group for our final projects.  In the past couple of weeks, I've also been worrying quite a lot that my web design skills are not sufficient and that I'm not getting enough good grades.  The former may be helped via a series of tutorials on YouTube that one of my coursemates has now suggested, and the latter has now been helped by an unexpected good grade on a project I'd thought I'd done really badly in.  During the presentation itself, I was very nervous and my prepared speech did not line up very well with the detailed Powerpoint presentation I'd produced, but one of the others said that I'd had plenty of information in the presentation.  To recover afterwards, I went to Elina's for lunch (some very nice tomato pasta) and curled up for a bit.  On Thursday, I was then placed into a group to create a website called Brass Band Live, which will be a hub of resources, news, interviews, reviews, etc. for brass bands around the country.  My homework for the weekend is to learn how to use the Bootstrap framework, watch lots of tutorials on YouTube, and make a draft visual design template for the front-end of the website.

At BUSOM this week, I continued to try to sort out costumes on Tuesday and extracted a few items from the society's costume boxes, including two Muse skirts used in Little Shop of Horrors (main show, March 2014) and a pair of sunglasses with sideburns used in The Rocky Horror Show (24 hour show, October 2014), and acted as a stand-in on Thursday during the acting rehearsal.  The scene where I cameo as a "Minion" (no, not the annoying yellow thing), who acts as a computer mouse/cursor and moves characters around the stage during a dream sequence, was in the scenes rehearsed last night, but I'll only be learning my choreography for this when another song is learned.

At Archery yesterday, I learned from Owen that because I'm using a lower poundage bow (18lb 66in), I need to aim higher when shooting.  Normally, a lot of my arrows end up going under the target and onto the floor, but after this tip, a lot more of them hit the target yesterday, and I even scored a 3, 5 and 8 in one end!  However, I also need to learn to bend my arm more and move my armguard higher up my arm because the bowstring slapped my arm a couple of times and I now have a couple of bruises on my left arm.

Tomorrow, I'm going to Anna's birthday party which is a tea and craft party at another friend's house (the friend whose birthday it is has already graduated and lives in another town).  We've been told to bring a cup, a teapot if we can (so we can have several different teas going around the group), a type of tea, and a craft to do.  If there's the space available in the kitchen, I'm thinking of making this super-simple tea recipe that I found in Hidden Kitchens of Sri Lanka by Australia-based Bree Hutchins, a freelance travel and food photographer who travelled around Sri Lanka for 2 months in 2013 and took up residence in many Sri Lankan locals' kitchens to learn recipes from them and about their individual cultures and traditions.  Later this year, I'll be discussing Sri Lanka more and finding more curry recipes, but this is the only one for now.  This tea is said to have health benefits, including as treatment for colds.

Ingredients (serves 4)

50g (1.75 oz/heaped 1/2 cup) coriander seeds, washed
40g (1.5 oz) piece ginger, roughly sliced
sugar, to taste

Instructions

1. Mix together the coriander seeds and ginger in a saucepan with 1 litre (35 fl oz/4 cups) water.
2. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
3. Strain and add sugar to taste, stir well and serve.

This Is Not A Book - 2. This Is A Secret Agent

I think I'd originally promised to be back last Friday (8th January 2016), but I've been a bit busy with uni assignments over the past few days.  However, those are now finished and for the next few days, I can generate as much blog material as I want (I'll also be catching up with studio manager things at RamAir, and attending a production meeting for BUSOM's March production of Back to the 80s).

I also have a lot of things happening in 2016:

1. This is my final semester of uni and overall education, so from next week until mid-May, everything is going to become a huge whirlwind.  I have to get an idea pitch ready in the next fortnight, and then we'll be split into groups for our big final project.
2. From 12th to 14th March, I'll be producing the aforementioned Back to the 80s production at Studio @ at the Bradford Playhouse.  The production team and I are all very nervous and excited.  I'm mainly doing behind the scenes things like props, costumes, etc., but I've also been thinking about some choreography for Material Girl which I can't wait to test with the others if it works.
3. In early June, I'll be turning 21.  I currently don't have anything planned, it's also while my brother has school, and it's while many of my uni friends will have possibly gone home for the summer/before graduation and my school friends won't be back home yet, but I'd love to go to London with some of my friends and check off some items from World of Wanderlust's London Bucket List!
4. In mid-July, I'll (hopefully) be graduating from the University of Bradford with a BSc in Web Design and Technology.  I don't know what the plan is from here though.
5. Something else that I am kinda excited about, but I'll keep under wraps for a bit until I know properly what's going on.

Anyway, flashback to a month ago, and I was doing Christmas stuff at uni and had had the BUSOM Secret Santa, in which I received This Is Not A Book by Keri Smith.  I said in my first post about this book (12th December 2015) that I didn't know who had given me this for Secret Santa, but I now think it might be Hannah (because of reasons involving wrapping paper), so THANK YOU SO MUCH!  I really want to get into this book more this year and blog my experiences with it on this blog, so here's the second instalment:

"This is a secret agent.

Instructions: Give This Is Not A Book some kind of disguise to hide its identity."

So this sounds mostly simple, right?  By the way, I'm not going to stick anything onto the book, so the following "disguise" is just temporary and also a lot like a dust cover ...

The book without any disguise ...

 

I feel disappointed in myself for not doing anything more elaborate, but this is a little bit awesome anyway.  I'm not very good at folding at all, so the folds to slip the book covers aren't straight or even at all.  I had to try several times to get it right.  Here it is anyway - a simple blue card cover with the title "Little book of Adventure 2016" because I think and hope that this book will bring me many adventures over this year (and possibly beyond) without having to go to places far away (although I will possibly be doing that as well).  Maybe I should have put a picture of a previous adventure under the title ... oh well.  Maybe another time.

Little book of Adventure 2016!

 

 

Before I sign off, I'd just like to say I was distraught to hear on Monday morning as I turned on the television to watch the news during breakfast about David Bowie's death.  In fact, it felt like I was being kicked in the stomach and I kept wishing it wasn't true.  I was so confused because he'd released a new album on his 69th birthday, just 2 days before his death, even though he'd been ill.  Even as a 20 year old, many of my friends and I were influenced by David Bowie and yesterday I felt quite lost, especially when listening to his older music and finishing my report.  I've been listening to his music since I was 14 and at an awkward stage of my life where I was quickly changing (not physically, but emotionally) and didn't know what to do.  Last night, just as I was about to go to sleep, I looked out of my bedroom window to see if there were any stars in the sky that were any twinklier than the rest.  Most of the stars were very faint, but I think there was one that was just a little bit brighter, and I thought that maybe that was the Starman, waiting in the sky.  Rest in peace, David Bowie (1947-2016).

 

 

 

This Is Not A Book - 1. This Is A Recording Device

On Wednesday this week, we had our annual Christmas party at BUSOM.  We went to see a couple of our members in a local pantomime of Aladdin, which was very funny and we were noted as bringing the energy to the audience participation.  We also had our Secret Santa present-sharing.  I received (from one of my friends but I don't know which) a book called This Is Not A Book by Keri Smith.  This is a type of journal which provides the reader with different tasks which often involve the book itself, which prove that it is not a book and finds innovative ways of using it for other purposes.  I then had the idea of documenting my experiences with This Is Not A Book in the format of a vlog on YouTube for each different task.  Unfortunately, I'm not that much of a person for being filmed on camera and I don't feel confident that I'd be able to keep going with a vlog.  Meanwhile, I find writing blog posts much easier, so I want to now try to document this new adventure here as part of this blog as regularly as I can.

Without further ado, this is the first challenge:

"This is a recording device.  Record the events of your day in point form here:  Make a mark for every time you enter a room."

I'm not going to make a new point for every time I enter a room as I will be entering a lot of rooms today, but these were the events of my day on Friday 11th December 2015:

• I started my day VERY early in the morning with finishing off my posters and bookmarks for the Christmas Fayre at uni today.  I then organised my music folder for carol-singing and my pocket money for anything I want to buy at the Christmas market.
  
  
  

  

  Mickey Mouse poster made using a Mickey Mouse drawing
   tutorial and adding a hat!

  
  

  

  Reindeer and sleigh poster made using stencils!

  
  
   
• My best friend and I explored Waterstones and the new Broadway Shopping Centre for a couple of hours.  We discovered glitter spray in The Body Shop, clothes in a variety of sizes at Marks and Spencer, and lots of Terry Pratchett books in both Waterstones and WH Smiths.  I think it definitely woke us both up and cheered us up.
• The BUSOM (Bradford University Society of Operettas and Musicals) stall is full of handmade Christmas cards, hats, scarves, Christmas decorations, candles, mice, posters and bookmarks.  For group photos, we have all been using the hats, and some of us have also been buying the hats.  I've bought five Christmas cards, most of which have buttons on them, one of which is of a female same-sex couple kissing under the mistletoe.  Other stalls include Heather's Jewellery, The Art of Conversation by the chaplaincy team, a Prince's trust stall that is selling adult's colouring books called Don't Judge A Book By It's Covers, and some food stalls too!  We also sang a selection of Christmas carols at both 1pm and 3pm and drank warm, spiced apple juice.
  
  

  

  The BUSOM stall, including Christmas decorations, homemade candles,
  bows, bookmarks and earrings.

  
  

  

  Christmas cards, mice, posters, scarves and hats!

  
  

  

  Warm, spiced apple juice

  
   
• I watched some of Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog with both of my two best friends from uni, but we had some problems with the Internet connection and buffering, so we played The Hobbit: Love Letters card game and talked for a while.
• The evening ended with a BUSOM mini-Christmas party for eight, at which we ate food, sang along to You Can't Stop The Beat from Hairspray, Natalie Imbruglia's Torn, Skid Row (Downtown) from Little Shop of Horrors and Take Me Or Leave Me from Rent, amongst other songs, and found out that two of our members have just got engaged!

This was my haul from our stall, which cost me a total of £5 (£2 for any 5 cards and £3 for any 3 Christmas decorations)!  The card with two girls kissing under the mistletoe is part of a set of cards designed by Zainab Ojulari to support LGBT couples, which is something I fully support!

Christmas cards

Christmas cards by Zainab and Elina

Christmas decorations by Zainab, Elina and others

So that is now my first task complete.  I'll update you with task 2 in the next few days, once I've caught up with writing some other posts!