Masterchef

Yep, another one already. I just realised that my last blog is probably my first in months in which I haven't moaned about cancer etc - lol. Well I'll make sure I sneak somethin' in this time:P Anyway, got back from my CookAbility cooking course yesterday evening, so I am now a fully proficient chef! w00t.

There are two people who own the company - both have nice big houses which they use to put up teenage Pot Noodle eaters. The house I was in was awesome - a load of bedrooms, nice new kitchen, just by loads of fields - great view. The man of the house is a hotel owner, chef & caterer, land owner & shooter. He owns 15,000 acres. Dude. That's 45,000 times the plot of my house or somethin'. So yeah, pretty well off. It's his wife that runs the CookAbility side of things though. There were 2 other guys & 4 gals on the course - here's the group photo:

The two on your left hand side are at school together in Taunton (where the course was), and were constantly flirting & denying anything & everything. The two 17 year old gals in the middle are 'all girl school goers', and yeah, they were... pretty close... :P Nah they both have older boyfriends - one is with her 29 year old boss! Lol and the other blonde, on the right, phoned me while I was on the train back home, withheld her number & read a page of erotic literature to me then hung up :S She was very bored... Ahem... The Frodo lookalike at the back used to go to Holmwood House & knows a load of Felsted people - & he's applying to Newcastle, so might see him in a while. Both the guys were smokers, unfortunately, but they were kewl.

Ugh... they have a hot tub in the back garden... Mmm... damn that's good, always improved by the company of the two bikini clad blondes ;) So spent a good hour or two in there most nights. Went down the local pub a few nights, a karaoke night included, in which we all participated - 'twas a good laugh. One son of the hosts came along & sang 'Combine Harvester' by The Wurvels, in his wellies - in true Somerset farmer style:P He's 23, runs his own 60k-a-year fencing company (as in putting up fences), and is going out with a 35yr old University lecturer. The other son is a navy bomb disposal officer, so quite a varied & successful family, eh?

Anyway - the cooking. Cooked a whole load of starters, mains & desserts, including pâtés, roulades, pizzas, pastas, curries, roasts, cakes, tarts, cookies, brownies & a gorgeous banoffee pie. We didn't all get to do everything, but still learnt a lot. Here's my self-made pizza (didn't get to it with the camera before it was cut in two:P):

And here's a delicious pudding we all made:

If you aren't drooling yet, you should be:P So had a good time, & can now put my skills to use at home... maybe... Coz my dad's even more disabled than he previously was - he's still on crutches after a knee op, a month or two later got diagnosed with diabetes, then rheumatoid arthritis in his hands, accelerated by using crutches, so he now uses a wheelchair around the house. So I have plenty to do at the moment, including driving him to Springfield almost as many times as I needed. Which reminds me - think I need to book my monthly checkup. Have just started on some heart pills - one a day for 6 months or more, but nothing too serious. Heh the side effects are listed to be the same as chemotherapy & more, but luckily aren't very common:) Hopefully I'll be allowed to scuba dive later on in the year - fingers crossed. My next trip will be to Nice on my French language course in mid-April :D can't wait. Anyway, that'll do for now, you all know my email address for any catering requirements ;)

Eat lots.

Geordieland

Howdy folks, just recently got back from a 2 night stay in Newcastle. The main reason was my choral scholarship audition, but I also timed it with an open day so I could have another look around the uni, as accomodation still needed to be chosen.

The plan was originally to go stay with my cousin, who lives in the nearby town of Pegswood, but she had some business trip or somethin', so we ended up just staying in her house, the mother and I. Got a taxi from the airport, and of course we had to pick the driver who didn't know where he was going... he asked us which way we normally go when we got in & we didn't know well enough. So yeah, he said he knew it, but we ended up in some other town, him asking "Is any of this familiar?" ... When we hadn't even seen a sign to Pegswood, let alone followed one yet. Anyway, got there in the end, & he tried to charge us the full amount for the whole trip... cheeky bastard. Got a reasonable price in the end, thankfully. Then, on arriving at my cousin's house, we were getting prepared to get inside quickly & type in the security code, that had been texted to us... only to find it was the wrong code... sigh. Cue frantic calls to cousin while security box bleeps wildly... Anyway, once we'd gotten in properly, there was a freshly baked chocolate cake in the kitchen, and a bag of Jelly Babies & some Terry's Chocolate Orange segments in ma room :D

So, next mornin' was the cathedral appointment - the choir director's a southerner of some sorts & he's a good laugh. Had a warm-up, sung my 2 pieces, bodged up a couple of times, did some German sight reading :S bodged up even more, then sat down for a lil chat while the dude printed off some info for me. He asked if my place at Newcastle was definite, I said it was & then he says "Well I can guarantee you a choral scholarship then." Except... he wasn't looking at me when he said it & I didn't really realise what he was saying. I was expecting a letter in the post in a few weeks or somethin', but he just offered it on the spot :D So after I'd got my head around what he was actually saying, I was a happy bunny. Tis a big commitment though - rehearsals nearly every day, two Sunday services (inc. 9am practice beforehand), but I'm pretty sure I'm gonna take it, the only thing being what else I'd wanna do at uni including other musical stuff - could be some clashes & some serious lack of free time if things build up. But it being a scholarship, I'd obviously get paid - £800 a year, plus there are extra days I'd get paid more for:) Then the rest of the day was spent lookin' round the city a little - am pretty impressed, although I unfortunately forgot to take my camera, so no pics today, I'm afraid.

Wednesday was the Open Day - had a tour round the accomodation in the morning & have now decided on the catered halls, closest to the main university site - no surprise there, but had a look around & 'twas nice, let's just hope I can get in. I don't really have an advantage over those who haven't had their A level results yet - we all get sent forms at the same time, but I know exactly what i want, so should be able to send it off straight away. I'll be doing Combined Studies at Newcastle - which is 3 subjects (for the first year at least). It was the only way to do French & Chinese, plus I thought I'd want to do something other than a language, as I've no idea what career to pursue. So... I think I've finally decided on Computing Science. It won't be the full course, obviously - just a third. Was thinkin' of something accountancy / financy to begin with, but am not too bothered. Saw a few fitties & got a few looks ;) and got chatted up by some irish girl on the plane home :S Had just sat down, started to read Abhorsen, when she (next to me) says "So what are you reading there?" 8-) Sigh. I was reading the last 20 pages of an awesome fantasy trilogy... huge battle between good & evil, yeah? Wouldn't have minded finishing it, yeah? But noooo. Lol nah had a nice chat & she asked for my number at the end. I gave it to her, but alas, she was not such a fittie & interrupted a good book, so no chance there:P

Anyway, am back down south now, & off cooking in Somerset next week:P Peace out.