Month: February 2014

A speedy adventure in the kitchen

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Afternoon folks! Today we need to talk about egg muffins. They are taking over my newsfeed! Everyone is talking about them, eating them and uploading pictures of their efforts onto Instagram and Pinterest. Not one to miss out on hurling myself on top of an already weighed down bandwagon I thought I’d give them a go for my lunch. These are pretty cheap to make and taste great, probably not as saintly as the regular type but, hey, life’s too short to spend eating bland food.

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Here’s how I made them:

* Preheat your oven to 180°C / 360 °F. Cook 2 clumps of frozen spinach in the microwave. While that’s doing it’s business chop up one piece of bacon and fry in a pan. Chop it up quite small – wee fingernail size is a good guide – so you have enough for each muffin. If you want to be good fry in a low-cal spray like Frylite and discard any visible fat from the meat.

* While that’s cooking whisk 5 eggs in a bowl. Add salt, pepper and about 1 tsp of curry powder. Don’t be mean with the curry powder it’s not that strong once cooked. Chop some chives and whisk them in too.

* Grease a muffin tray. I sprayed a silicone one with Frylite.

* Chop 1/3 – 1/2 a slice of cheddar cheese or grate some of whatever cheese you have to hand.

* Assembly time: Pour your egg mix evenly into each muffin hole. Don’t fill over halfway as they rise like Yorkshire puddings when they are ready. Add your cooked and drained spinach and bacon evenly to each muffin. Decorate with your cheese and add another pinch of pepper and curry powder for good luck before popping them in the oven until they are cooked through and are desperate to get out of their moulds – (about 15 mins or until a knife comes out of the middle of each one clean).

Tip: If you are using a silicone mould be careful putting it in the oven. You probably know this already but I wasn’t expecting mine to go as wibbly wobbly as it did and I nearly dropped it on the floor in surprise. You have been warned!

Enjoy the fruits of your labour. Once cooled they should store in the fridge for a few days. Bon Appetit!

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Something (sweet) for the weekend

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Last week I took a race back home to see loved ones, soak up some culture and eat some good food. The Northern Irish excel at good food and eating is a national past time. I’m pretty certain we invented the term ‘traybake’ though in crossing the Irish Sea these goodies appear to have shrunk and assume a rather paltry portion size that would almost certainly be sent back should one dare present its puny self in a coffee shop back home.

The dark horse leading the charge of the (possibly-not-so-) light brigade towards food nirvana is none other than Belfast-based chocolatier Co Couture. Discreetly tucked away down the steps of a basement on Chichester Street Co Couture has quietly been gathering an army of followers over the past few months and I for one am a devoted disciple to the church of chocolate.

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A film about Christmas

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Afternoon folks! I’ve been a bit quiet this past wee while but been very busy nonetheless. I am really excited to share my first ‘proper’ attempt at making a short film with you and not before time!

Belfast was in the news rather a lot over the Christmas period and sadly not always for the right reasons. I wanted to make a film that explored the importance of Christmas to the individuals featured beyond what’s going to be under the tree on Christmas Day. Don’t get me wrong, Christmas presents and parties are brilliant and something to look forward to but there’s more to the season than just that. For me, and the people I interviewed, it’s a time for family – whether that’s the family you’re born with or the one you pick up along the way – and generally looking out for one another. I hope that comes across when you are watching.

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Spread a little sunshine

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Yesterday I got a lovely message from Kirstan of Getting On Top to say she has nominated me for the Sunshine Award. My first ever blog award – how exciting and made all the more flattering that the award is for bloggers who inspire in a positive and creative way. I’m delighted that Kirstan and others have enjoyed reading my blog and am very chuffed to receive this award!

I first discovered Kirstan’s blog through WordPress’s Freshly Pressed series. The post that led me to her blog is this one. Once you read it you’ll know why I followed her right away and why you ought to as well!

As is the process with a lot of awards on WordPress this one necessitates listing 10 things you mightn’t yet know about me so here goes:

1. I love to sing in the shower when I’m at home, the louder the better. It makes me a little sad that the walls of my new flat are so thin and I don’t have a shower radio…YET.

2) When I was 13 I fell in love with Taylor Hanson and began a roughly 2 year campaign to persuade my parents to relocate to Tulsa, Oklahoma. I don’t remember why my campaign ended but I remember feeling particularly peeved years later when I discovered they all married fans who they spotted in the audience at their concerts. That could have been me!

3) When I was wee I wanted to be a hairdresser. When I was at University I cut off all my hair and dyed the remainder jet black. I was quite the sight to behold. In spite of this not one but FIVE friends subsequently allowed me to cut / dye their hair.

4) I’m fortunate to have family in the most beautiful place on Earth, the Faroe Islands and hope to visit them once I can save enough money. I’d like to make a film there in the future.

5) I really enjoy mixing curry powder with ketchup. This tastes incredible with chips (fries) and sausages and takes me back to my time abroad, eating Currywurst in Herbert Groenemeyer’s favourite sausage stall.

6) I like my own time and space but I hate to be lonely.

7) I make no apologies for watching TLC shows like Extreme Cheapskates, Extreme Couponing and Alaskan Women Looking For Love OBSESSIVELY.

8) Along with a DIY haircut that horrified my parents I also used to sport quite a number of piercings with 2 in my arm – these ended horribly – 1 in my nose and 1 in my lip, among others. Sometimes I re-pierce my lip and nose because I miss them, occasionally because it drives my mum nuts. By her nature she will worry about me anyway, right? Better to worry about a couple of irrelevant things over anything bigger!

9) I once hitchhiked from Glasgow to Amsterdam for a charity race. It was good craic – thankfully I wasn’t doing it on my own!

10) I’ve been told I’m a good person to have around in a crisis. I suppose this is relatively subjective and crisis-dependent but I’ll take it all the same.

I don’t know if any of those things are interesting but there we are. Now, enough of me and on to the next part of the award process – nominating the new recipients! I’ve chosen 5 blogs which brighten up my day, teach me new things and generally inspire me to keep putting one foot in front of the other to get to my end goal. I hope you will visit these blogs and I hope they will uplift you as they do me. Follow them, talk with the authors and keep sharing. I’m grateful to have come across each of them. Without further ado here, in no particular order, are my five:

From Casinos to Castles
A Pretty Penny
Ali Does It Herself
A Girl Called Jack
Made by Fi, Made by Me

To the nominees, if you would like to accept this award, just write a post about the award include who nominated you and pass the award along to others. If you want to you can also tell us some fun facts that we might not know about you. Thank you and happy writing!xx