Life

NEW HOUSE GIVEAWAY

- Michael 15 Comments

WE HAVE SOMEWHERE TO LIVE. As of Tuesday we will be residents in Clapham. Near Clapham South station to be exact. And to celebrate I am going to do a whole heap of baking. That’s right. Loads of it. All the time. I am also setting up a new food blog with some London based pals to start blogging about the restaurants we visit regularly.

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Basically things are pretty good at the moment. So those of you that remember my last giveaway no the drill. It’s a rafflecopter and you can win cake. That’s right. I will send cake to your door.

The last lucky winner was Jason and he won a batch of brownies and cookies. This time I’m making it mystery boxes, they will likely be autumn or Christmas themed. The winners will be drawn at random by Rafflecopter and I will contact them to arrange delivery. This is only open to my UK followers, sorry everyone else. It will run until the end of the month and end at midnight on November 30th. It is live now and you can tweet daily to enter.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

To Bake

- Michael Leave a comment

So I am now a Londoner. Oh shit! Yeah that means I am now getting up over an hour earlier and commuting for about 45 minutes in the morning, maybe an hour on the night. I’m also crashing at my mate Tim’s in Walthamstow (Thanks Tim!) until I’ve got a place. Which means a couple of things. To start with it means that I’ve not got my own kitchen, and secondly it means I’ve not got any of my baking stuff. And as great as Tim’s place is, he’s not a big cooker, which means that he doesn’t really have anything for me to use. I’m not complaining at all, he’s helped me out no end.

I am however, starting to get baking withdrawals. And it has ONLY BEEN A WEEK. Oh. So, to keep myself going I’m going to put together a list. This will be a “when I get my own place I am baking the shit out of these things” list. I’ll be updating it weekly. And hey, if anyone knows anyone in London after a super awesome beardy housemate, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!
So to start:
• Povitica (i.e. that ridiculous swirl bread from the GBBO European week)
• Pumpkin Spice Cake with Cinnamon Drizzle
• Cinnamon Buns, so I can update my recipe and photos (as these didn’t rise properly).
• Marble Cake – It’s easy but I made one recently and want to do it again.
• Vegan Lemon & Walnut cake (On request)
• Roasted Nuts:
o Honey & Mustard Roasted Cashews
o Cinnamon Sugar Candied Cashews
• Cinnamon Oven Baked Donuts
• Gingerbread things – It’s Christmas soon alright?
• Bleeding Black Velvet cupcakes for Halloween.
• Chocolate torte
• Weekly round-up of autumn picks; clothes/events/bakes.

Leave any suggestions of requests in the comments below!

Thank You Leeds

- Michael Leave a comment

Well what can I say? It has been a blast. Leeds, and the people I’ve met during my 8 years in it, has completely shaped the person I am today. I’ve had laughs, tears, pure undiluted joy and moments of out and out despair. It introduced me to the best people I have ever met. It provided me with the best job of my life so far (yes O2 Academy Leeds, that’s you). It broadened my horizons. It introduced me to all kinds of food, people and music that I’d never have experienced otherwise.

 

So I am going to say Thank You.

 

Thank you for the friends.

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Thank you for all the pizza; Cano (which fuelled my uni years)/Box/Ecco/Dough Boys.

 

Thank you for the nights spent drunk in various gutters and on various floors with my best friends.

 

Thank you for the Milner Game and Drop Trou.

 

Thank you for introducing me to Frosty Jacks (ok, not really).

 

Thank you for nights at the cockpit dancing like an idiot to songs I’ve liked since my teenage years.

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Thank you for nights in Mojo/Santiagos and Calls Landing.

 

Thank you for all the god damn burgers.

 

Thank you for the House Shows, the stage dives and the human pyramids.

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Thank you for the food, all of it. Leeds is the reason I am overweight.

 

Thank you for introducing me to about 80% of the bands I listen to.

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Thank you for introducing me to some ridiculously talented and hardworking people:  Rob Lynch, Kamikaze Girls, The Lion and the Wolf, Jimmy Holland, Pinky Swear Recs, Pinky Swear/Slam Dunk, Hello Bastards etc To name but a few.

 

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Thank you for introducing me to baking, and to blogging.

 

Thank you for ruining my body and my mind.

 

Thank you for putting up with my grouchy & miserable attitude to life.

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Thank you for everything, I will miss you, but I will be back soon.

 

Leeds Bucket List

- Michael 2 Comments

I started thinking up my “last two weeks in Leeds” bucket list. I realised that it’s almost entirely food, and that there is no way I could possibly eat this much food in the remaining time I actually have left in the city. It’s looking something like this:

– Bundobust
– One last pork pie from the Duck & Drake.
– Slice of Dough Boys
– Burger from Patty Smiths
– Last film at the Hyde Park Picture House
– Last pizza from Ecco
– Last ever Slam Dunk
– Whiskey Wednesdays
– Grab a cushion from the Little Button Co.
– Tattoo commemorating my time here (this is less time sensitive)
– One last Canal Mills.
– Get a pint from as many of the Leeds microbreweries as possible: Ilkley Brewery, Leeds Brewery, Kirkstall Brewery, Burley Road Brewery etc.
– Pickles and Potter/Hepworths deli
– Pitza Cano (for old time’s sake) & Box Pizza
– 4am Chicken Cottage/Little Oven
– Last lonely Hearts & Souls club

What will actually likely happen is I just end up in Bundobust 5 times and drunk in the Palace.

Suggestions welcome in the comments below. Current suggestions from the Facebook pals were a mixture of sensible and life threatening:

– Roundhay Park/Tropical World
– Break in to cockpit and have my own gig
– Have sex in the field outside my house (like the couple he just saw out of his office window)
– Get a pint in the Duncan without being stabbed.
– Otley Chevin
– Knaresbrough

Current listening:

I need a better alarm clock

- Michael Leave a comment

Ah, holidays, those wonderfully stress-relieving times of year. When you only have a couple of things to worry about and a constant supply of alcohol & good food. Stress? What’s that? Or at least, that’s normally the case. This time around I had the most stressful start to a holiday I have EVER had.

I was due to catch the 5am train from Leeds to London Kings Cross, to give me ample time to get to Heathrow for our 11.50am flight. I was all packed, my alarm was set for 4am and I was tucked up in bed by 12 (having popped for a friend’s leaving meal earlier in the night, at which I didn’t drink).

I woke up at 7.13am.

Shit. Fuck. Bollocks. All of these profanities escaped my mouth as I jumped out of bed grabbing my phone and dialling my friend Tom (who I was making the trip with). He quickly checked some train times while I chucked on clothes, and discovered there was a train at 7.38am that would get me to London with a very slim chance of making the plane. I live a 15-20 minute walk from Leeds station. I managed to be out of the door and out in under 5 minutes. I didn’t even put socks on.

I made the train at 7.37.

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We made the check in at 11.04 (check in closed at 11.05). And finally, made the gate at 11.28 (it closed at 11.30).

Never again.
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Let me put the above in perspective. I never sleep right through. I always wake up every couple of hours. I’m an awful sleeper. I had a couple of very lough alarms set. When I know I have to wake up for something I usually wake up even more. I slept straight through for 7 hours. This just does not happen.

But, we made it. And that means you all get to endure me doing several blog posts about the trip and raving about deep dish pizza.

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Don’t worry, I’m going to get some actual bakes up in between. Currently thinking of finally blogging about my ginger cake w/ dark rum drizzle and lime buttercream and also some pumpkin spiced cake.

I also have to move soon, which means giving my laptop back to work, and also may mean internet/baking downtime, so I’ll apologise now for any lack of updates. I have however added a new comment section using Disqus, and finally added some social sharing buttons. So share away.