Lime and Chilli Aubergines with Peanuts

It's now the end of my 2nd week back at uni (well, my 3rd if you count volunteering the week before Fresher Week) and I already feel like I might drown in my final year.  My current extra-curricular activities are BUSOM (musical theatre), RamAir (student radio) and archery (I finally started this last week and I'm very excited), but I'm scared about having to give anything up to fit in more studying.  In my ideal world, I set out on a piece of paper which lectures or activities I need to attend each day, add in things like what I want to watch on TV at home or read, and then I add in the generic task "do uni work".  I don't set myself specific targets of what coursework I do each day, but I just try to make sure to do some, and until I feel like I've done enough work, that task won't be checked off.  In March is BUSOM's production of Back to the 80s, and I'm already panicking a little bit about that because I'm on the production team (I volunteered to do this because it sounds like a fun musical to do) and I'll need to be concentrating on BOTH that AND my final project after Christmas and not just my final project.  I also want to separate myself from all my to-do lists a bit because I feel bad about not having done everything on time and I feel like I'm not "free" enough, but I also need all those reminders to function properly.  I guess that next semester, I just have to get a routine going and make sure that I've done enough work before Back to the 80s to leave a few days without too much work, but leave time to relax as well.  It's going to get complicated ... Meanwhile, it's getting a bit cooler and wetter as we enter the autumn months (and in mid-September as well - I started asking the universe for sunshine and warmth during Fresher Fayre last week through some solo dance parties, and it kinda worked), but if we're lucky, we might still get a couple of days where it's warm enough for a barbecue.  You can even do this one if you're a student, so if it's warm enough, grab your new/old friends for a barbecue and have a go at this recipe for aubergines stuffed with lime, chilli, coriander, spring onions and peanuts that I found in the 2015 edition of the Tesco Food Family Living magazine!

Ingredients (serves 6)

3 aubergines, halved lengthways
2 tablespoons sesame oil
3 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander
2 limes, juiced
3 spring onions
2 red chillies, deseeded and chopped
oil, for brushing
50g (2 oz) dry roasted peanuts, roughly chopped

Instructions

1. Using a sharp knife, deeply score the flesh of each aubergine in a diamond pattern.  Squeeze to open up the cuts.
2. In a small bowl, combine the sesame oil, 1 tablespoon coriander and the lime juice.  Brush the mixture over each aubergine, pushing it into the cuts.  Scatter the spring onions and chilli over the aubergines.  Wrap each aubergine in oiled foil and barbecue, among the coals, for 30 minutes.  If not using a barbecue, grill at 180 degrees Celsius for 20-30 minutes, or until softened and cooked through.
3. Unwrap the aubergines and arrange on a serving platter.  Scatter the remaining coriander and peanuts over the aubergines.

Katie's Summertime Foodie Adventures Summer 2015!

As well as a recipe (to be published tomorrow), this week, I've decided to share a few food photos from restaurants I've been to between April and August 2015.  This isn't a definitive snapshot (I've left out that gorgeous Pianta pizza from Pizza Express, for example), but there were a few pretty good dishes.

1. Oreo Slice at the Pavilion Café Bar, Bradford - this is just a short walk away from my university, so I'd come here one day in late April for my lunch between my final lecture (well, it was actually a lab session, in which I was doing a website presentation) for 2nd year and going to get ready for Colours Ball.  I'd had jam on toast for my main course, followed by this Oreo slice.
   

   

   Oreo Slice

   
   
2. Artisan Romaine Salad at California Grill, Disney's Contemporary Resort in Florida - this was my starter when we ate at the California Grill at Disney's Contemporary Resort for my dad's birthday dinner.  Our dinner reservation was at about 9:20pm, so this was what I was eating when the truly magical Night-time Spectacular fireworks display started at the Magic Kingdom.  I therefore abandoned this dish for about 10 minutes so I could take 50 photographs of the fireworks.  NOTE:  This dish is supposed to have boquerones (fresh anchovies) in it, but I asked not to have them.
   

   

   Artisan Romaine Salad

3. Toasted Goat’s Cheese with Roast Butternut Squash Mousse, Ginger and Pumpkin Seeds, English Watercress,  Almond Quinoa with Roast Squash and Beetroot, Summer Courgettes, Toasted Pumpkin Seeds, Crumbled Goat’s Cheese and Pomegranate Dressing, and Iced Blackberry Parfait, Vanilla and Orange Granola, Poached Blackberries at Eric's in Huddersfield  - we'd come to this restaurant to celebrate my brother's GCSE results.
   

   

   Toasted Goat's Cheese with Roast Butternut Squash Mousse,
   Ginger and Pumpkin Seeds and English Watercress.

   
   

   

   Almond Quinoa with Roast Squash and Beetroot, Summer Courgettes,
   Toasted Pumpkin Seeds, Crumbled Goat’s Cheese
   and Pomegranate Dressing.

   
   

   

   Iced Blackberry Parfait, Vanilla and Orange Granola, and Poached Blackberries .

Shortcake Cookies

Now that I've finished my Adventures in the USA series and it's now time for uni to start again (final year), there's several recipes that I want to share.  For the next few weeks, I'll be sharing recipes I've found in the June 2015 edition of the Tesco Food Family Living magazine.  The first of these recipes will be for shortcake cookies.  The original recipe includes a double cream, yoghurt and strawberry filling, but I decided to leave that bit out because my brother doesn't like strawberries (I love them though) and because I wanted to make this recipe vegan.  To do this, I swapped butter for Pure, a dairy-free vegan margarine that was recommended to me a few months ago when I was experimenting with recipes for chocolate Rice Krispie nests for a "Ladies Tea Party" at uni just after Easter.

Ingredients

(makes about 12 small cookies)
150g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
40g plus 1 tablespoon caster sugar
100g vegan margarine, such as Pure

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius / 160 degrees Celsius if using a fan oven / gas mark 4.
2. Measure out the sugar and margarine into a bowl and use an electric whisk to beat the two until smooth.
3. Work in the flour to make a dry dough.  Wrap in Clingfilm and chill for 20 minutes.
4. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a long baguette-like stick.  Divide the dough into 12 approximately equal portions.
5. Use your hands to flatten each portion of dough to about 5mm thick.  Use an approximately 7cm/3 inch diameter cutter to cut a round cookie out of each portion.  Re-roll the scraps if needed.
6. Cook on a lined baking tray for 12-15 minutes until golden.
7. Leave to cool on the tray for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
8. Serve with strawberries or banana nice cream.

Adventures in the USA part 8 - Magic Kingdom, Disney World Florida

On our final day at the parks, we were at the Magic Kingdom.  The Magic Kingdom is usually the first park we visit, but this time, it was the last.  We visited the Magic Kingdom on Friday 17th July 2015, the day of the 60th anniversary of the opening of the Disneyland Resort in California, and also coincidentally my dad's 60th birthday.  Therefore, he was the one who wanted to go to the Magic Kingdom for his birthday.  My favourite of the Disney World theme parks has always been the Magic Kingdom.  There's Cinderella's Castle, so many Disney characters to meet, some of my favourite rides and attractions, and they have the spectacular firework display, Wishes Night-time  Spectacular, every night.  As a result, it's quite difficult to pick top 5s, but after some VERY careful thinking, I think I have my list of my top 5 rides and top 5 attractions at Disney's Magic Kingdom:

Top 5

• Mickey's Philar Magic - This attraction in the Fantasyland section of the Magic Kingdom is the only thing my family and I did twice (well, my brother didn't, but he was on Space Mountain at that time, and the rest of us don't like Space Mountain), and it's probably been an absolute favourite since we first went to Disney World Florida in August 2004.  Mickey's Philar Magic is a 3D spectacular that follows Donald Duck as he travels through scenes from classic Disney films such as Beauty and the Beast (Be Our Guest), Fantasia (The Sorcerer's Apprentice sequence), The Lion King (I Just Can't Wait to be King), The Little Mermaid (Part Of Your World), Peter Pan (You Can Fly!) and Aladdin (A Whole New World) in pursuit of Maestro Mickey's sorcerer hat after he touches the hat against Mickey's orders.  Expect pies, plates, champagne bottles, Flounder, jewels and flutes to be in very close proximity to your faces as the 3D effect brings everything to life!  Obviously, this isn't anywhere near as good as seeing it in person and isn't of the best quality, but if you want to see Mickey's Philar Magic outside of the park, I found a video of it to watch here!
• Tomorrowland Speedway - I may not be able to drive on real roads yet (although I am more than old enough, I'm only now about to try to start learning to drive again), I can just about manage a car on the speedway race track.  Well, slightly.  I find it difficult to steer around curves in the track, so it feels a bit bumpy, but it's less stressful than a real road.
• Splash Mountain - As someone who is definitely scared of heights (amongst many other things), Splash Mountain and its steep 50 foot drop is probably an interesting option to be on my top 5 list.  When I was 11 years old, I had my eyes squeezed shut when it came to the drop, so I look funny in the photograph we have from it.  However, while I'm still scared of heights, I can still tolerate Splash Mountain it has the lighting element that Space Mountain lacks (Space Mountain is very dark and has far too many sudden rises, drops and turns) and it also depicts animated segments from Song of the South, telling the story of Br'er Rabbit.  The drop represents Br'er Rabbit's fall into the Briar Patch.  Also, you'll get wet and also possibly soaked on this ride!



Cinderella's Castle



Cinderella's Castle from a bit closer.



A statue of Walt Disney with Mickey Mouse.

• It's A Small World - I think this is another ride to have changed in the past 5 years, and it now includes the famous It's A Small World song being sung in different languages as you see the puppets throughout the boat ride.
• Wishes Nighttime Spectacular - Normally, we see this from the actual Magic Kingdom, standing near the Walt Disney Railroad at the entrance to Main Street USA.  This time, we saw my favourite fireworks display ever from behind Cinderella's Castle, from our table at the California Grill at Disney's Contemporary Resort.  Before now, we didn't realise how far behind the castle the fireworks were actually set off, and it was interesting to see it from a new and different angle.  We even had the restaurant lights dimmed and soundtrack to the display playing in the restaurant, so we could hear what viewers in the park itself could hear.  In fact, I stopped eating my starter at the restaurant to grab my camera and take 50 photos of the fireworks, my favourites of which are below!



Cinderella's Castle at night from the California Grill at Disney's Contemporary Resort.







Wishes Night-time Spectacular.













In case that's difficult to see, it's a golden firework shower.

For my dad's birthday dinner, Mum tried to secretly make a reservation for the California Grill at Disney's Contemporary Resort, which is only a short monorail ride away from the Magic Kingdom.  However, this reservation appeared on the My Disney Experience app that Dad had downloaded onto his smartphone (this app is useful for booking Fast Passes in advance), so it was no longer a secret.  Something I have discovered recently is that I find eating 3 course meals very difficult and I can get bad tummy ache.  Instead of having a heavy starter and a heavy main course, I opted for the House-Made Potato Gnocchi Salad for mains and the Artisan Romaine Salad for starters, for which I have recreated the recipe below!

Ingredients

4 large romaine lettuce hearts per person
croutons
sun-dried tomato pieces
roasted garlic dressing (recipe below)

Instructions

1. Wash and arrange the four lettuce hearts on each plate.
2. Scatter the sun-dried tomato pieces and croutons amongst the lettuce.
3. Drizzle with roasted garlic dressing and serve.

Roasted Garlic Dressing Ingredients (to make 1/2 cup of dressing)

1 large head or 2 small heads of garlic
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons balsamic or red-wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/8th teaspoon salt
freshly-ground pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius or 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Rub off the excess papery skin from the garlic without separating the cloves.  Slice the tips of the head (or heads), exposing the ends of the cloves.
3. Place the garlic on a piece of foil, drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil and wrap into a package.
4. Put in a baking dish and bake for about 40 minutes to 1 hour until the garlic is very soft.  Unwrap and let the garlic cool slightly.
5. Squeeze the garlic pulp into a blender or food processor (discard the skins).
6. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons oil, vinegar, lime juice, salt and pepper and blend or process until smooth.
7. Cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

Artisan Romaine Salad

This post marks the end of my Adventures in the USA series, so we'll be back to normal in the next few weeks.  This week, I've been volunteering with packing Team Bradford bags in preparation for Freshers week, so there's been a couple of achy arms and trying to avoid papercuts from putting all the paper into bags.  I'll be starting my final year of university on Monday (well, next week is Freshers week and lectures start the Monday after that, but I'm volunteering during Freshers week) and some other very exciting things will be happening this year as well, so stay tuned!

Adventures in the USA part 7 - Disney's Hollywood Studios, Disney World Florida

Day number 8 (Thursday) of our 10 days in Florida actually started with my observation that my bow-drawing arm (my right arm, seeing as I'm right-handed) hurt.  To actually see if it was still aching at various points during the day, I actually positioned my arms as if I was holding a bow and drew my right arm back as if preparing to shoot an arrow at an imaginary target.  You can probably see how excited I was already to start properly going to archery at uni in September!  Anyway, although I didn't encounter any Disney character who was experienced in archery (such as Merida, Robin Hood or even Mulan) while I was there, my day at Disney Hollywood Studios was actually the first day that I'd really encountered characters in the parks (although I'd briefly seen Pluto while entering Epcot on Monday).  This was the day of many Frozen sing-alongs as various areas of the park were struck by Frozen fever!  In light of this, Frozen attractions will appear in my top 5 for Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Top 5

• For the First Time in Forever: A "Frozen" Sing-Along Celebration - Before seeing this show, my brother had managed to avoid seeing Frozen or really hearing the story of it.  Obviously, he'd heard Let It Go and Do You Want To Build A Snowman multiple times (like on the radio or from my iPod or from me just singing them), but for the times I'd seen it, he'd been a) at school when I first saw it in cinema (I saw it the day after finishing my first set of uni assessments in 1st year), at home while I saw it at my uni's student cinema with my friends, or just in another place in the house when I'd watched it on DVD at home.  He has now watched Frozen since coming home from Florida, but this 30 minute abridged version of the most recent film in the Disney Princess franchise was actually his first experience with it.  This version told the story of Frozen in 30 minutes using two narrators, the newly appointed historians of Arendelle, actors playing Anna, Kristoff, Olaf and Elsa, and was punctuated with a screen that showed clips from the movie for each song and had the lyrics of the songs for the audience to sing along.  Of course, my brother was not happy to have me sitting next to him as I excitedly sang along to Let It Go, Love Is An Open Door and the other songs.  In the evening was "Coolest Summer Ever" Dance Party, a DJ-led mini disco which included Uptown Funk and YMCA, followed by the Frozen Fireworks Spectacular accompanied by even more singing along to the songs from Frozen!

Grass sculptures of Elsa and Anna.

• Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular - This show based on Raiders of the Lost Ark invited volunteers from the audience to learn a few low-level stunts and participate in an Indiana Jones stunt show that included falling from building into soft beds, acrobatics from a Cairo marketplace set, staged fight sequences, a giant boulder chasing Indiana Jones, explosions, and fires.
• Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show - There are little changes to this ride between times of seeing it, but the premise stays the same - cars do stunts including flying through the air off a ramp, driving across the roof of a "fruit stand", high-speed car chases, cars changing behind the scenes (ssshhhh), motorbikes driving through a line of fire and the cyclist being extinguished, and a remote control being handed to a member of the audience so that they "control" a seemingly empty car.  On a previous visit, the well-known Disney car that visited in this show was Herbie (The Love Bug, Herbie Rides Again, Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, Herbie Goes Bananas, and Herbie Fully Loaded), but this time it was Lightning McQueen of the Disney Pixar film Cars.
• Walt Disney: One Man's Dream - I think this is a new attraction in the past 5 years, because I don't recall having seen it before.  It's an exhibition of both original and replica artefacts used by Walt Disney himself (including a school desk) or clips and items used in landmark Disney films, short films and television shows, including new camera and motion techniques, the development of Mickey Mouse from an earlier version of his appearance to the appearance that we know and love today, merchandise, the Mickey Mouse Club, and the promotional programmes surrounding the opening of the Disneyland Park in California (which celebrated its 60th birthday on 17th July 2015, while I was at the Magic Kingdom park in Florida instead).  The exhibition actually charts most of Walt Disney's life, as well as plans for the developments of the parks after his death (including the different parks at Disney World Florida, Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disney Resort, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, and Shanghai Disney Resort (due to open in 2016).
• Fantasmic! - This fireworks display is a story told through the colourful imagination of Mickey Mouse as the Sorceror's Apprentice (as seen in Fantasia).  The audience sees scenes from Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Sleeping Beauty, Peter Pan, Cinderella, Aladdin and The Little Mermaid through Mickey's imagination, but when Mickey encounters Disney villains including Maleficent, the Evil Queen, Cruella De Vil and Scar, his dreams quickly turn into a nightmare.  Disney's animations projected onto walls of water, fireworks and laser lights bring this show-stopping performance to life as Mickey fights against the villains of Disney films past.

It's very dark, but a statue of a 1930s movie director
 using the viewing scope on his camera.  More information here.

Long have I heard about smoothies or homemade juices with carrots in them, but I've not tried it in person before.  This may be about to change.  In the past year, you've probably seen me go from only drinking water (and the irregular cup of coffee or tea) to really getting into my smoothie recipes, which is thanks to Ally Sheehan and the smoothie bike at uni.  This time, I have found a smoothie recipe on the Disney Mickey Check website that I found while in Florida, and it's probably sure to leave you with plenty of orange energy as it has both carrots and oranges!

Ingredients (serves 2, but may only serve 1)

1 cup orange juice
2 cups strawberries
1/2 cup carrots
1 orange, peeled
1 medium banana

Instructions

1. Cut up strawberries, carrots, orange and banana.
2. Pour orange juice into the blender and then add the cut up fruit.
3. Blend until the smoothie reaches your desired consistency.