Only yesterday I was reflecting upon the pointlessness of degrees and today I saw this article in the Times Higher Education essentially proclaiming that university education’s return on investment is very small. I won’t go into great detail, not because I am cagey about it but because analysing the financial aspect of my own educational path is the stuff of hair-raising nightmares, especially when the opposite end of the scales currently shows a salary of exactly zero pounds per year.
But it’s not just me you know? I don’t understand why the THE went to ask some expert about the graduate situation because if they had only asked me, or any of my friends, we could have made one hundred first-hand examples of graduates that live in poverty or next to it. For argument’s sake, I’ll only make five examples.
My friend Paula (class of 1998) is a receptionist and earns a pittance; Jane (also class of 1998) is a teacher who also earns a pittance while dealing with brats (if that isn’t enough to slit one’s wrists, I don’t know what is); Alex (class of 1999) works as an office admin, something that anyone who ever used a computer for any purpose can do, spelling and grammar are entirely optional; Charlotte (class of 1999) is a PA who could have saved herself £ 25,000 if only she had gone into PA at 15 instead of ten years later, after a BA and an MA, while John still has to finish paying his student debt 12 years after graduating. Do you know what this means? It means that he is earning less than £ 2,100 a month, the threashold whereby student loans have to be re-paid to the company that supplied them. John is 34. He makes little more than a supermarket shelf-stacker but spent £ 20,000 to get there. Shame that there is really nowhere.
I’ll stop here with the examples because I don’t want to depress myself, or indeed others, any further. I still have a stinking cold and I don’t want to add weeping hysterics to my poorly nose. Thanks to the THE for talking about something that all graduates three years after graduation realise with the proverbial sinking feeling in their hearts. Wonder what took them so long?
Friday, December 5, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Chocolate Truffle Cake
Right then, the chocolate truffle cake I made for my friend’s birthday... First of all I should apologise for the lack of pictorial reference. If you're at all like me, you'll skip the recipe altogether on these grounds, yet, I must ask you do not, for this is a fantastic, patisserie-like cake that is extremely easy to make, gluten-free, flour-free and egg-free. Unlike most other gluten-free, flour-free and egg-free foods, this one is not also taste-free.
What you lose in the above you gain in calories because this is made with 500ml of double cream and 400g of dark chocolate so feel free to suck air through your teeth at this point but, believe you me, even knowing its calorific content isn’t likely to stop you eating it. All the better I say.
You’ll need:
1 egg white
50g sugar
25g cocoa
400g dark chocolate
500ml double cream
60ml Golden Syrup
60ml spirit (spiced rum, Grand Marnier, Baileys, Tia Maria)
Warm the oven at 170C, beat the egg white with an electric mixer until soft peaks form and then start adding the sugar and cocoa very slowly, so to obtain a very glossy meringue that you will spread on the bottom of your round cake tin (I use a 20cm). Stick in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes. Take out and set aside to cool.
Now melt the chocolate in a double boiler. As it is melting, add the Golden Syrup (do not stir!) and the spirit (do not stir!). You need to ensure that the chocolate is melting at a low temperature (i.e., not above some roaring, boiling water), else the addition of the spirit may result in some freakish problem, namely the burning of the chocolate itself. Chocolate is extremely volatile at the best of times, even more so when combined with spirits. The higher the alcohol content and the more difficult it is to work, so bear this in mind.
Once the chocolate has melted, you can give it a quick stir, but don’t beat it in any way. Just incorporate the Golden Syrup and the liquor and set it aside to cool.
Now start beating the double cream in another bowl. Beat away until it starts to become well aerated and has almost doubled in volume. At this stage add it to the chocolate and continue beating in order to incorporate one into the other perfectly. Depending on which liquor you’ve used (and how cool the chocolate mixture is at this stage), different chemical reactions will take place. In some instances I saw chocolate re-solidifying itself into chips only to re-melt into the cream within a minute or so. Others have given me an aerated mousse-like mixture (no good, you’re not making mousse here) that eventually returned to creamy. In certain cases the mixture trebled in volume and was enough for two, not one, cake, in others it sort of deflated slightly but had a perfect consistency once refrigerated.
Am I saying all of this just to scare you? No, I am warning you not to chuck anything down the sink until you’ve beaten the cream into the chocolate well, even if you see the latter losing its glossy and perfectly smooth appearance in favour of something else entirely. Also, do not overbeat! If you do, cream and chocolate will eventually split and then, yes, you’ll have to pour it all in the sink. Beat until it looks like chocolaty whipped cream, and stop as soon as it does.
Pour the mixture onto the meringue base (which will have deflated slightly by now), cover tightly with cling film and refrigerate for at least 12 hours, 24 is better. When you’re ready to serve, take the cake out of its tin and dust it with cocoa (yeah, and remove the clingfilm as well, right?). Imagine eating the inside of a chocolate truffle in cake-slice-size. This is the stuff of dreams... of 10,000,0000 calories-dreams mind you but, hey, there’s a catch even in dreams.
What you lose in the above you gain in calories because this is made with 500ml of double cream and 400g of dark chocolate so feel free to suck air through your teeth at this point but, believe you me, even knowing its calorific content isn’t likely to stop you eating it. All the better I say.
You’ll need:
1 egg white
50g sugar
25g cocoa
400g dark chocolate
500ml double cream
60ml Golden Syrup
60ml spirit (spiced rum, Grand Marnier, Baileys, Tia Maria)
Warm the oven at 170C, beat the egg white with an electric mixer until soft peaks form and then start adding the sugar and cocoa very slowly, so to obtain a very glossy meringue that you will spread on the bottom of your round cake tin (I use a 20cm). Stick in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes. Take out and set aside to cool.
Now melt the chocolate in a double boiler. As it is melting, add the Golden Syrup (do not stir!) and the spirit (do not stir!). You need to ensure that the chocolate is melting at a low temperature (i.e., not above some roaring, boiling water), else the addition of the spirit may result in some freakish problem, namely the burning of the chocolate itself. Chocolate is extremely volatile at the best of times, even more so when combined with spirits. The higher the alcohol content and the more difficult it is to work, so bear this in mind.
Once the chocolate has melted, you can give it a quick stir, but don’t beat it in any way. Just incorporate the Golden Syrup and the liquor and set it aside to cool.
Now start beating the double cream in another bowl. Beat away until it starts to become well aerated and has almost doubled in volume. At this stage add it to the chocolate and continue beating in order to incorporate one into the other perfectly. Depending on which liquor you’ve used (and how cool the chocolate mixture is at this stage), different chemical reactions will take place. In some instances I saw chocolate re-solidifying itself into chips only to re-melt into the cream within a minute or so. Others have given me an aerated mousse-like mixture (no good, you’re not making mousse here) that eventually returned to creamy. In certain cases the mixture trebled in volume and was enough for two, not one, cake, in others it sort of deflated slightly but had a perfect consistency once refrigerated.
Am I saying all of this just to scare you? No, I am warning you not to chuck anything down the sink until you’ve beaten the cream into the chocolate well, even if you see the latter losing its glossy and perfectly smooth appearance in favour of something else entirely. Also, do not overbeat! If you do, cream and chocolate will eventually split and then, yes, you’ll have to pour it all in the sink. Beat until it looks like chocolaty whipped cream, and stop as soon as it does.
Pour the mixture onto the meringue base (which will have deflated slightly by now), cover tightly with cling film and refrigerate for at least 12 hours, 24 is better. When you’re ready to serve, take the cake out of its tin and dust it with cocoa (yeah, and remove the clingfilm as well, right?). Imagine eating the inside of a chocolate truffle in cake-slice-size. This is the stuff of dreams... of 10,000,0000 calories-dreams mind you but, hey, there’s a catch even in dreams.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Deviated
I am very grateful I’ve only got a cold and not the dreaded flu, yet, as the proud owner of a deviated nasal septum, I cannot say that a cold is just a cold. In simple terms, a deviated nasal septum means that the cartilage inside the nose is screwed and does not allow its owner to breathe through both nostrils. Contrary to popular belief, this is a wide-spread ailment. It can be rectified with an operation that takes the excess cartilage out, that straightens the one that is left and that corrects the shape of the nose in case this collapses slightly following internal adjustments.
As one is born with such affliction, I’ve been struggling with my nose ever since I can remember, with colds lasting a good couple of weeks when lucky, with hay fever being light and yet incredibly persistent and with a voice permanently stuck up my forehead, as I can feel my nose’s insides popping and moving around, closing one nostril and opening the other in turn.
Three of my friends had this problem corrected and they all proclaim the usual: I wish I had done it sooner. I was this close to it when I was fifteen and was suffering from a permanently blocked nose that had me gasping for air at night, as if I had been sleeping under water. But no, I chickened out at the last second because of my great fear of being put to sleep.
Fast-forward by fifteen years and I am struggling as much as ever, with a cold never being just a cold. If only I were not so scared of needles and general anaesthetics... if only I could be a normal person in that sense at least. But then, were it not for this built-in terror of all things hospital-related, I wouldn’t just have a normal working nose but also some great tits, a tucked tummy and a very, very small bottom.
As one is born with such affliction, I’ve been struggling with my nose ever since I can remember, with colds lasting a good couple of weeks when lucky, with hay fever being light and yet incredibly persistent and with a voice permanently stuck up my forehead, as I can feel my nose’s insides popping and moving around, closing one nostril and opening the other in turn.
Three of my friends had this problem corrected and they all proclaim the usual: I wish I had done it sooner. I was this close to it when I was fifteen and was suffering from a permanently blocked nose that had me gasping for air at night, as if I had been sleeping under water. But no, I chickened out at the last second because of my great fear of being put to sleep.
Fast-forward by fifteen years and I am struggling as much as ever, with a cold never being just a cold. If only I were not so scared of needles and general anaesthetics... if only I could be a normal person in that sense at least. But then, were it not for this built-in terror of all things hospital-related, I wouldn’t just have a normal working nose but also some great tits, a tucked tummy and a very, very small bottom.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Cold and Miserable
Oh no, I'm off the radar, struck down by a very potent, very miserable-making cold. And to think I would have posted the recipe for the truffle cake I made for a friend's birthday! Maybe tomorrow...
Monday, December 1, 2008
1 Dec
Yes well, what an inventive title for the first day of the month, right? I couldn't think of anything more fitting seeing that I went to feed the horses at -5C earlier this morning and that the fields looked like the Norwegian tundra. 
And thanks to my girlfriend Tess for supervising the feeding of the horses in the bottom field. She walked all the way around following me, just to make sure I did the right thing with those buckets you know...
And thanks to my girlfriend Tess for supervising the feeding of the horses in the bottom field. She walked all the way around following me, just to make sure I did the right thing with those buckets you know...
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Assessing November
I am finally getting to the end of this series of posts. I swear I won't use this stupid title in the year. What was I thinking when I started? Why assessing month x, as if I were writing a damn report? You all know by now that the most notable thing about November is that I finished my book and I sent it to the publisher for editing and that's all there is to say for a month that was, with the exception of the past few days, intense writing only. Now back to London...
Liberty is one of my favourite places, especially so at Christmas because the selection of decorations is always slightly different from the usual suspects found across the nation from John Lewis to Harrods. But this is not all. I've often walked its wooden boards dreaming of living there, not in the shop itself, but in the house that it looks it could have been in the distant past. Yet, despite its mock-Tudor look, both inside and outside, Liberty was always a shop. Its current premises were in fact built at the beginning of the 20th century and have as much to do with the Tudors as I have with a size 6. I bought some vintage-inspired glass ornaments and spent quite some times in haberdashery, where I fantasised about quilting now that I have finally figured out how to use my sewing machine.
There was more to London this weekend than just shopping or indeed eating (at Laduree of course, but also at the Patisserie Valerie, at Zia Teresa, at Fortnum's Parlour and others). There was also this:
But if you too have seen The Mousetrap, you will know that I cannot reveal who has done it after all...
Liberty is one of my favourite places, especially so at Christmas because the selection of decorations is always slightly different from the usual suspects found across the nation from John Lewis to Harrods. But this is not all. I've often walked its wooden boards dreaming of living there, not in the shop itself, but in the house that it looks it could have been in the distant past. Yet, despite its mock-Tudor look, both inside and outside, Liberty was always a shop. Its current premises were in fact built at the beginning of the 20th century and have as much to do with the Tudors as I have with a size 6. I bought some vintage-inspired glass ornaments and spent quite some times in haberdashery, where I fantasised about quilting now that I have finally figured out how to use my sewing machine.
There was more to London this weekend than just shopping or indeed eating (at Laduree of course, but also at the Patisserie Valerie, at Zia Teresa, at Fortnum's Parlour and others). There was also this:
But if you too have seen The Mousetrap, you will know that I cannot reveal who has done it after all...
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Christmas Windows
I have a very soft spot for two very specific types of mail that come through my letterbox: the Studio Catalogue and the Harrods Magazine. When I mention this to anyone willing to listen, this anyone is baffled, if not shocked, by this coupling, for Studio and Harrods could not be more different if they tried.
The former is the purveyor of all throw-away cheap and nasty tack, Christmassy or otherwise, including revolting boiled sweets of the basest sort and vulgar willie-and-tits-shaped chocolates, while the latter sells everything for everyone everywhere, provided this everyone has a job trading commodities such as oil (the black, not the olive, sort) or weapons and can therefore afford essentials such as £1m snooker tables or £ 18,000 Swarovski-encrusted table footballs.
Still, Harrods is one of my favourite places and the one that has the very best sale in town if not in the world. Having shopped at Saks, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Harvey, Selfridges and everywhere else all the way down to Lord and Taylor, John Lewis and Macy’s, and having read the past ten years of French, British, American and Italian Vogues, I really do know my market. This year, the Christmas windows pay homage to the latest Bond, James Bond outing in Quantum of Solace (nice title by the way, not that it means anything to me), with glamourous Bond girls languidly draped over desirable objects, wearing very gorgeous dresses, among typical Harrods super-lux settings.
Yet, for all of its refined bling (a bit of an oxymoron this one, but not quite if you know Harrods), my personal award of Best Christmas Windows in London goes, yet again, to Fortnum and Mason. Fortnum has a real knack for creating magical displays that tell a story. I recall their fabulous Alice in Wonderland windows for example, but this year they have surpassed their own greatness, with an icy take on the Snow Queen having children and adults alike stopping agog, ooohing and aahing with their mouths open. And I’ll tell you something else... I wasn’t the only one taking pics of these.
The former is the purveyor of all throw-away cheap and nasty tack, Christmassy or otherwise, including revolting boiled sweets of the basest sort and vulgar willie-and-tits-shaped chocolates, while the latter sells everything for everyone everywhere, provided this everyone has a job trading commodities such as oil (the black, not the olive, sort) or weapons and can therefore afford essentials such as £1m snooker tables or £ 18,000 Swarovski-encrusted table footballs.
Still, Harrods is one of my favourite places and the one that has the very best sale in town if not in the world. Having shopped at Saks, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Harvey, Selfridges and everywhere else all the way down to Lord and Taylor, John Lewis and Macy’s, and having read the past ten years of French, British, American and Italian Vogues, I really do know my market. This year, the Christmas windows pay homage to the latest Bond, James Bond outing in Quantum of Solace (nice title by the way, not that it means anything to me), with glamourous Bond girls languidly draped over desirable objects, wearing very gorgeous dresses, among typical Harrods super-lux settings.
Yet, for all of its refined bling (a bit of an oxymoron this one, but not quite if you know Harrods), my personal award of Best Christmas Windows in London goes, yet again, to Fortnum and Mason. Fortnum has a real knack for creating magical displays that tell a story. I recall their fabulous Alice in Wonderland windows for example, but this year they have surpassed their own greatness, with an icy take on the Snow Queen having children and adults alike stopping agog, ooohing and aahing with their mouths open. And I’ll tell you something else... I wasn’t the only one taking pics of these.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Latest Loot
When I feel a little hard-done by for whatever reason, I buy books. And also when I do not feel hard-done by, I buy books anyway. Seeing that I am going to London this afternoon, I thought that an Amazon order was due and so here's this week's picks:
Now that my book is finished, I've already started thinking about what to write next, provided my first oeuvre doesn't tank with a bang. You may not know of Watchmen unless you are, at least in passing, into graphic novels, but the movie adaptation is finally coming next year and I have an inkling that I may be able to squeeze some book-worthy ideas out of both graphic novel and movie itself. You'll hear a lot more about this book in the coming months so brace yourself.
Ripailles is a fantastic book about classic French cuisine and one that, like many other books, I was inclined to judge by its very thick padded cover and thick mat pages. I know that French cuisine isn't exactly vegetarian-friendly but I can safely state that I do not care. I have plenty of books about cooking that are not vegetarian books and I am all the better for them. Widen your horizons, that's what I say.
Vampire Knight is the first in a series of Japanese manga picture novels, something that reminds me of the fantastic manga cartoons I used to watch as a child. And considering that the conclusion of my PhD is still sort of absent without leave, I am certain that this little volume and many similar others will come in handy. That's how I justify its price anyway.
The Second Sex needs no introduction, nor stilted paragraph. I need it for something else I'm writing and I think that it will go very well indeed with What Is A Woman? by Toril Moi, some other excellent text I am using for work.
Yet, for all of the shrieking excitement at the delivery of the parcel only yesterday, I am actually taking Christmas Stories to London with me. It has the most lovely robin on the cover, a silk red bookmark, looks intelligent, doesn't weight a ton and feels great in my hands. Not that I would dream of judging a book by these attributes mind you...
Now that my book is finished, I've already started thinking about what to write next, provided my first oeuvre doesn't tank with a bang. You may not know of Watchmen unless you are, at least in passing, into graphic novels, but the movie adaptation is finally coming next year and I have an inkling that I may be able to squeeze some book-worthy ideas out of both graphic novel and movie itself. You'll hear a lot more about this book in the coming months so brace yourself.
Ripailles is a fantastic book about classic French cuisine and one that, like many other books, I was inclined to judge by its very thick padded cover and thick mat pages. I know that French cuisine isn't exactly vegetarian-friendly but I can safely state that I do not care. I have plenty of books about cooking that are not vegetarian books and I am all the better for them. Widen your horizons, that's what I say.
Vampire Knight is the first in a series of Japanese manga picture novels, something that reminds me of the fantastic manga cartoons I used to watch as a child. And considering that the conclusion of my PhD is still sort of absent without leave, I am certain that this little volume and many similar others will come in handy. That's how I justify its price anyway.
The Second Sex needs no introduction, nor stilted paragraph. I need it for something else I'm writing and I think that it will go very well indeed with What Is A Woman? by Toril Moi, some other excellent text I am using for work.
Yet, for all of the shrieking excitement at the delivery of the parcel only yesterday, I am actually taking Christmas Stories to London with me. It has the most lovely robin on the cover, a silk red bookmark, looks intelligent, doesn't weight a ton and feels great in my hands. Not that I would dream of judging a book by these attributes mind you...
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Nightcap
Although I do not dislike it, I think that Horlicks is for wusses and honey and hot milk for Goldilocks. The Ultimate Nightcap is the one that follows, so fabulous and grown-up it could be mistaken for a cocktail. But then again, cocktails too are for wusses, aren't they? I am a neat kind of gal.
1 shot Tia Maria
1 shot Baileys Irish Cream (do not bother with imitations!)
150ml hot chocolate
half a tsp Golden Syrup
I am not going to discuss the hot chocolate topic this time, even though it is important to note that you really ought to do justice to the spirits by using the very best hot chocolate you can find, by which I do not mean some poxy powder but one made of chocolate itself. How to thicken it with cornflour is also for another time, but if you have access to Ciobar, you won't need the flour at all. What else can I say? Spirits at bottom of cup, hot chocolate with Golden Syrup (or partially inverted sugar, if you haven't got the Golden Syrup) on top and so to bed.
1 shot Tia Maria
1 shot Baileys Irish Cream (do not bother with imitations!)
150ml hot chocolate
half a tsp Golden Syrup
I am not going to discuss the hot chocolate topic this time, even though it is important to note that you really ought to do justice to the spirits by using the very best hot chocolate you can find, by which I do not mean some poxy powder but one made of chocolate itself. How to thicken it with cornflour is also for another time, but if you have access to Ciobar, you won't need the flour at all. What else can I say? Spirits at bottom of cup, hot chocolate with Golden Syrup (or partially inverted sugar, if you haven't got the Golden Syrup) on top and so to bed.
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