November bits and bobs!

So, I'm now the grand old age of 23.... and the day before and on the day, for the first time I felt old... weird feeling yah. People always tell me they feel so old when they hit 20... didn't feel it, til now. I think it's partially to do with the fact that the majority of my pals and people who I grew up with have graduated?

So... what I mean is... I'm 23 years young ... maybe :)

I spent a bit of time dossing around in London during study week (and much filtering - Chiswick to Holborn in 25 mins is a record), and YES, some work was actually done that week. And boy was it awesome. So I met a bunch of strangers.... strangers? I've been corrected: "friends you've never met" and boy, what a good description that is. Going up to London again at some point in Dec. to meet them again.

So, whilst I was there, I bought some mushrooms... Girolle, Oyster, and some other type that I forget the name of... Porcini? These all went into my lovely mushroom risotto. £4.54 poorer on fresh mushrooms later and a ride back to Bristol, did my risotto taste any better?


I had Tara and El over, the week after I was in London, and DAMN!... Tara cooks up some fine pizza. We had a pizza stone to work with, too... Supposedly they're good as they heat up the pizza properly. ... did it make much difference?


Here's my risotto, early stages.


El was having a nap (long day, eh?) so we'd just woken her up... and I think at this point, her cavegirl instincts came out... watch out there!


This picture needs no description:


Gertrude was looking rather scary. Thankfully, the oven sorted him out, and he was charred by the end of it. That'll teach him to look scary!

So, did the mushrooms make a difference? Yes and no. There was a light bit of mushroominess to it, it tasted marginally more mushroomy, but considering I ain't a conoisseur, I ain't one to appreciate it. For now I'll be sticking with the dried stuff, which is marginally cheaper, Tesco's do a pot for £2-3 I think, the fresh, equivalent amount from Whole foods is roughly £4-5. (The fresh stuff was bought out of novelty). As for the pizza stone, I will say Yes to it, having made pizza in the past on a metal tray, I think this heats up the base properly and ensures thorough, rather than doughy cooking. Even slightly soggy pizzas weren't so soggy when they would have normally been. The only thing about the pizza stone, is that it needs to be heated at 230 degC for 45 mins, which means you need to plan ahead. I got it for £5 in Oxfam.


On another note, I've been getting out and listening AND seeing live music acts! 3 in the last 2 months or so I think? Hopefully I can top that around Christmas or after. Live music is an awesome night out imho. I need to remember my earplugs though... my ears suffered lol. Here's "This is my Normal State" - Non's and Adam's band playing at The Croft, in Stokes Croft.


Crazy folk in Redland on this strange contraption...


Anyways, that's all for now. Hopefully I'll have some more interesting updates, and sorry no pics (still) of travel. Boo. You guys know how 3rd year uni is... bloody hard.

Peace.