The half-term void, filled with second hand clothes.

Why hello there. S'up. Gooday. Or, as the 5 year old girls at my Rainbow unit say, gracias.

I haven't written in a while, I know. I could blame it on exam stress, or on having other, more important things to do, but let's be real, I just didn't write. But now I am! So get down with it, my friends.

Things that have happened this past while... I've finished all but one subject Re: GCSEs, and so have spent the past week on the couch, in me jimjams, watching harry potter films (record = three in a day) and ludicrous amounts of Gimore Girls. As you may have noticed, I have also rejigged my blog, to make it prettier, which I think I have achieved. What do you think?

The main thing that I have done this week, which involved leaving the house, was that me and my two goodest friends Jenni and Mabel went thrift shopping. Alack and alas, we didn't play macklemore whilst doing so, but there ya go.

We went to the East End Thrift Shop, which is just off Mile End High Street and it was well cool. For anyone in NZ, it kinda reminded me of a scaled down version of savemart, but with a more indy crowd sifting the rails. There's also another, more catorgorised vintage shop attached to it, which is nicer/cleaner, but is a wee bit more expensive. But, less of the description, more of the what I got (finally, the suspense is over).

I bought a whole bunch, as I got a £10 bag and filled it to the brim. A denim shirt, a not denim shirt, another top of some kind, a sweatshirt I plan to bleach dye, a jersey, and jeans which I have just this day finished cutting off into shorts. 

But Georgia, where this Jersey be? Well, I'm wearing it now, so there ya go. (So damn comfy) 

 

'Scuse the laundry n' dat...

This is how much was cut off of the original jeans to make the hella beaut shorts.

Apart from this exhilirating experience (I left with a fine layer of clothesdirt on my hands - mmmmm)

that's it really. It feels kinda weird, this whole "not actually having a frame work for the 'post" thang, but it may make it easier for me to be bothered to post more :P 

Until next time, bonne nuit. (except wait lol, it's 11:04 in the morning)

Double crust pear pie - 'Cook More'

Helloo,

This is the blog post with the proper recipe for the pudding in my last video (link in the previous post) it’s basically a pear pie with a layer of marzipan goodness between it and the pastry. It’s from the Great British Bake Off ‘How to turn everyday bakes into Showstoppers’ book, which I got for Christmas a couple of years ago and haven’t used much, but I’m really glad that I did for this. 

Ingredients:

For the pastry

300g plain flour

Pinch of salt

3 tbsp sugar

175g butter, chilled and diced

1 large egg, beaten

1 tbsp ice-cold water

For the filling

225g marzipan, diced

100g butter, softened  and diced

2 tbsp plain flour

2 large eggs, beaten

4 large pears

Put flour, salt and sugar in a food processor and just ‘pulse’ a few times to mix them up. Then pop in the butter and process until it looks likes breadcrumbs. Add in the egg and water through the feed tube whilst the machine is running until the mix starts forming a soft dough, check it’s consistency before adding any extra water though, because it may not actually form a “ball” of dough; just make sure it’s not sticky and you can always compress it with your hands. Make the dough into a ball and wrap it in cling film before putting it into the fridge for 15 minutes. When rolling it out, cut off 2 fifths for the top and roll out the rest for the base, before putting it in a pie dish. Don’t cut off the excess pastry from the edges.

To make the filling, put marzipan and butter in a food processor and blend till smooth. The add the flour and eggs and process again until mixture is lovely and creamy. Spoon this into the pastry case and spread it out. Slice up the pears and lay them on top of the marzipan mix, to fill up the pie. Roll out the remaining 2 fifths of the pastry to just bigger than the circumference of the pie dish. Lightly brush the rim of the pastry case with cold water and then roll the pastry lid over a rolling pin and unroll over the pie. Press the edges together to seal the pie and cut off the excess pastry. You can decorate and finish the pie however you like, but make sure you put three slits in the top so it doesn’t explode in the oven. Put the pie dish on a pre-heated baking tray in the oven at 190°C for 40-45 minutes and leave to cool for 15 minutes before slicing.

Not to blow my own trumpet or anything, but this really did taste brilliant. Marzipan and pears were a match made in heaven, and it tastes petty grand cold, too.

  

Aand that’s it! See you next time, and let me know how you go if you try this :)

Love,

        Georgia

Pork Ribs - 'Cook more'

Oi oi!

Welcome to the first blog post in… ahem… a while. This is a more detailed accompaniment to my January new years resolution video ‘Cook More’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ihit3PW9ldU) . To illustrate me “cooking more” I filmed me making a bit of an effort with dinner… Pork ribs!

They were surprisingly easy really, but tasted great. This recipe comes from the Hairy Bikers’ family cook book (the Mum’s know best one) which is a lovely book that I have used plenty before.

Now, let’s get down to it.

Ingredients:

1 rack pork ribs

3 tomatoes (plum tomatoes work best)

1 finely chopped red onion

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 clove garlic (roughly chopped)

1 tsp ground mustard

240 ml ketchup

2 tbsp soy sauce

55g sugar

1 tbsp cornflour, mixed with 3-4 tbsp water

Salt and pepper

Method:

Slice to separate the ribs, and put them in a pan of boiling water for 3-5 minutes, then leave to cool.

 

For marinade, mix together all remaining ingredients except the cornflour and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Then slowly mix in cornflour mixture until the marinade has thickened and pour it into a bowl/deep dish. Pop in the ribs, make sure they’re well covered in marinade and leave for 1-2 hours.

When you’re ready to cook, transfer ribs to a double foiled tray and cook in a preheated oven at 150° C for 1 hour. You can also barbeque them, but remember to wrap them in foil first. 

And that’s it! Finito! I also made potato and sweet potato wedges to go with my ribs which are dead simple, as well as salad, but you can do whatever you want to accompany them :)

I hope you like it, and let me know how you get on if you try this yourself! Stay tuned for my pudding recipe (pear and marzipan pie) and I shalt see thou anon. 

Love,

  Georgia