Chilli-shizzle!

Emma's AMAZING Chilli Con Carne

 (don't knock it till you've tried it)!

You will need:

• 1 onion
• 1 green pepper
• 1/4 tin of Kidney Beans (drained)
• granulated sugar
• 500g beef mince
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 142g tomato puree
• 1 beef stock cube
• ground black pepper
• celery salt
• garlic salt
• normal salt
• mixed herbs
• brown sauce
• tobasco sauce
• chili flakes
• 1 tbsp Chili Hot chocolate powder (can be bought from Whittards - alternatively just use normal hot chocolate powder)
• 1/2 tsp instant coffee
• 1 x 25ml shot of Tequila 

Preparation:

1. Heat a little oil in the pan and add chopped onions, sprinkle a few tsp's of sugar over the onions to caramelise. Once soft, add the beef mince.
2. Once the mince is browned all through add the chopped tomatoes. Dissolve stock cube in a mug of boiling water and add to the pan. Then add the 142g of tomato puree, a few "dolops" of brown sauce, mixed herbs, ground pepper, salts, chilli flakes & tabasco sauce. There is no specific  amount for these ingredients, be creative!
3. Chop the green pepper and add to the mix along with the kidney beans.
4. Dissolve the hot chocolate powder and coffee in 1/2 mug of boiling water and add to the pan.
5. Finally add the shot of Tequila and stir well. Bring to the boil for a few minutes, then leave to simmer while cooking your rice.

Depending on how well you recreate this you may need to add spoonful of cornflour (dissolved in a small amount of cold water) to thicken the sauce. On the other hand if the sauce is too thick, add water.

I would have added a photograph but I ate it to quickly :P

Stresss!

My "shit i have a presentation tomorrow... i'm so screwed" face!

Burnt out!

It's half 3 on a friday afternoon, I am in my lounge, on my couch (my usual location), still in my pjamas (though you can't even call them that, it's really a pair of yoga pants and one of andy's jumpers) and so far I have achieved nothing more with my day than a phone call with my mother & sister. This has been going on far too long! Andy, who is hungover today, has left the flat TWICE - once to go to the sorting office and once to go down to campus (where I presume he is now).

This must be the third day running where I have wasted so many hours either sleeping into the early afternoon or sitting on my couch (in the SAME spot every day), procrastinating on my laptop! The situation has become so sever that the is indeed a dip in my couch... what one might call a "bum imprint"! In fact... I do both... firstly I sleep into the early afternoon... get out of bed and come and park myself on the couch for a few hours.

Maybe it's the SAD, maybe it's the guilt of not doing enough uni work, maybe it's because I know that I have run out of money and can't even do the christmas shopping. It's starting to get dark outside (it is now 3:40pm) so I'm going to blame the SAD for keeping me here. I seem to be ok as long as I am comfy, warm and un-distressed here on my couch, basking in the light of my 60 watt lightbulbs. The other problem is exactly this  - lightbulbs.

About 4 days ago I woke up, stumbled into the en suite, flicked the light switch and BANG! I blew up the lightbulb.. quite litterally, the bulb smashed within the frosted glass port hole like light fitting. Along with the en suite light I somehow had managed to blow the fuse which means that now the bedroom lights and the study lights also do not work! Not ideal for someone who works like a solar panel - only  capable of functioning where there is a certain amount of light. So I have since been avoiding the study for fear of is gloomy darkness (it's also the coldest room in the flat) and also the bedroom, which Is not in the tidiest of states. I WANT to tidy it...no.. I WANT it to be tidy, and I would go in there and sort it out if only there were a bit more light than the free standing lamp (which thank god still works).


This has turned into a far more miserable blog than I had intended :(

It is now 3:50pm and the street lamp outside has just flickered on, the sky is a gloomy pink/purple from what I can see of it, the majority of the view from our lounge window (and bedroom window for that matter) is the side of the Athena, a nice screen of dull brick wall.

Depressing, isn't it.

MEGA Blog!!!

Have been getting withdrawal symptoms, but just been too busy (for once) to blog!

Went to Dita's book signing in London the the other day. Here is a photo of Sammy, Emma and myself after meeting her... kind of in a state of recovery. Then we have a photo of the moment I met Dita... Dita looking fabulous, me looking like I'm about to collapse with a bout of mild hysteria!

It probably took at least 24 hours for me to recover and return to reality! She was absolutely stunning, more beautiful in reality, just left me speechless. She signed both books for me and liked the wrapping paper I used on the gift I gave her (a copy of my documentary on DVD).

"Aww, it's so pretty"... were her exact words.

So that was a pretty momentous occasion for me, deffinatley up there in the top 10 best moments in my life.

Next up, a pretty funny photoshoot... which HAD been intended for the Burlesque Society had they actually bothered to show up! So in the end it was just Sammy and I posing our arses off.

I have eaten 3, (4?)... 3 of these in a week! The perks of working in the chocolate business - learn what you like... then eat lots of it!

Finally... December 1st! Andy wouldn't let it before, I wouldn't let it happen any later than.... yes.. the tree is UP!!!!

Bonjour!

There was something very french about this morning. No, I didn't have croissants for breakfast, it was just that during my walk towards campus there was a certain french-ness in the air. I can't put my finger on what it was, and I honestly cannot describe it. Whether it was the unusual sunshine I do not know but then maybe every morning is like that, I'm just never usually up and about with the rest of civilisation so early in the day.

Btw, "Bonjour" is actually french for "good morning".... not "hello".

Did I ever mention...

... how much I LOVE Florence + the Machine?

If not....then I have now :)

Think I'm going mad....