Bargains!

Wow!! Virtually everything I love was on offer in Asda today! Okay, some of this stuff wasn't on my list, but except for the water, tuna, Philadelphia, tea and pick'n'mix, everything in this haul cost only £1!! That's especially amazing for the snacks. Buying my own snacks is saving me a LOT of money at college; I mean buying a packet of crisps there is usually about 50p for a bag, whereas any of those will be less than 20p. Okay, doesn't seem like a big deal, but those pennies add up and let me justify buying my 75p flavoured coffee every morning I'm there... Had hazlenut today, sooo nice! :D

So this has been my first week of college and it's going well for me. Got an assignment due for next week, which was why I thought I'd get a blog post in before all my computer time is used up drafting and redrafting it :P I'm glad it's the weekend though, I am pretty tired! So, thanks for reading, I'll sign off now :)

Bez

Pancakes!

So, the housemates are all away for the weekend, and it was my thought that I would make them pancakes for them getting back! I decided to make bannocks because they are typically Scottish -- we do love our homebakes here and there are few smells more nice to come home to than freshly cooked bannocks. I rang my mum up for the recipe which she helped me to convert into cups as I don't have a set of scales here: 1 1/3 cups self raising flour, 1/4 cup white cane sugar, 1 large tsp baking powder, a pinch of salt, 1 egg beaten together with 1/2 pint of milk. Combine all the try ingredients, then gradually beat in the egg/milk mixture until you have a nice, smooth batter.

Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and add about half a ladleful of batter. It should make a hissing sound when it hits the pan; if it doesn't, you need to heat the pan longer.

One thing you are definitely going to need for this recipe is a good, bendy, heatproof spatula. It is IMPOSSIBLE to make bannocks without one. Well not impossible but incredibly frustrating. Anyway, when the pancake you've just poured on starts having bubbles on the surface (see picture) it's time to flip it over! It should look golden (or darker if you prefer). It will only need about 5-10 seconds on the other side. I will warn you this recipe does demand a lot of time and attention -- usually about 45 minutes to 1 hour per batch of pancakes, although this is shortened if you have a non-stick griddle as these can cook 4 pancakes at a time. (I had a hard time getting these pictures as pancakes cook very quicky, so it definitely does my phone's camera justice how well they came out under the circumstances!)

After you have cooked a pancake, pop it onto a teatowel and fold it over to keep warm (if you're eating them now) or cool. The teatowel stops them from drying out as they cool. To reheat either put them on a plate in the microwave for a few seconds, or pop them in the toaster on a low setting. I prefer this as they go lovely and crispy around the edges!

Traditional toppings for bannocks include sugar and lemon juice, butter and jam, or fresh fruit and whipped cream. My favourites though are butter and cinnamon, or Philadelphia cream cheese. Delicious!

I hope you'll give pancakes a try! They're cheap, healthy, easy baking for students; they also have the added virtue of being filling and an excellent comfort food! :)

Thanks for reading!

Bez

Cooking for the housemates!

So tonight was really nice. My housemates and I all had odd things needing used up, so I put together one of my mum's recipes, cheese and onion potato bake, with a twist: grilled bacon and cheese on top! Mmm! It was really tasty and went down really well; and because we were sharing resources it was a really cheap and filling meal for us all! I don't think this will be the last time we do this. It was so enjoyable for me to cook for a group of people again; cooking for one has felt very strange to me after being used to cooking for family and friends, and I often end up with far too much and eating leftovers the next day (not always a bad thing: I have casserole in the freezer for Monday night, my first day of college classes). I'm getting along with everyone really well, we are really gelling with each other and there's a lot of banter to be had.

Also (and my poor mother has heard this twice already :P) I had my college induction day yesterday. I had such a good time, my classes are going to be really interesting and I was exciting to learn I'll be doing a module in Philosophy, which I loved at highschool and didn't know my course covered, and my classmates all seem really nice too so I am really happy. I'm settling in so well and I'm already starting to speak with the local dialect. I knew I would get it, but I didn't realise it would happen so quickly! So all in all, this has been a great week so far!

Thanks for reading!

Bez