57. Experimenting in the Kitchen

Hello everyone. Sorry my weekly update post is slightly late this week, I was so tired on Sunday as I didn't sleep much on Saturday night as it was so stuffy. Hopefully they'll be on Sunday evenings from now on. The past 2 weeks have flown by, I've just about recovered from university. So much to do, so little time.

The bulk of last week was taken up by PASS training at university. PASS is basically a mentoring scheme where students in higher years help first years in weekly one hour sessions with academic and non-academic issues. I was a mentor for a local charity in first year anyway so thought I might as well be a PASS leader. We learnt about the different learning styles people use such as visual, intuitive and active. We planned a session, what we would say at the start of our first session and how to use open and closed questions to facilitate discussion. I had PASS training on Monday, Thursday and Friday.

On Tuesday, I finally had my haircut after almost a year! My hair was clearly on the bottom of my priorities during second year. I went in asking for a full fringe and a couple of inches off the length but my hair stylist said my hair was quite thin at the front (despite my resemblance to Hagrid at the back) so she suggested I got a sweeping fringe with a middle parting and a few layers to give it some volume and make it more manageable. If any of you are in Manchester and are looking for a fantastic salon then I recommend where I went, Razor's Edge. There are two salons: one on Oxford Road and the other in the Royal Exchange (where I go). The salons are unisex and offer a student discount too. My stylist, Sannah, also offered some really helpful tips on how to look after my hair better as it has been very dry and frizzy lately. She told me to use a deep hair conditioning treatment once a week so I've purchased the VO5 Give Me Moisture treatment mask which I am yet to try but will let you know how I get on. I've also bought some Moroccan Oil which is worth the hefty price tag and leaves the length of my hair (Sannah said never use it on the roots) so soft and shiny. It reduces frizz to some extent too.

In my previous post, I mentioned that I was reading Harlan Coben's Six Years. I finished it yesterday and honestly, it is the best book I've read in years. It's the first proper grown up mystery novel I've read and it definitely won't be the last. It has a complex unraveling of lots of characters all of whom play a part in the disappearance of Natalie who Jake loves very much. Jake Fisher is a Politics professor at an American university who met artist, Natalie at a creative retreat six years ago when he was having trouble writing his dissertation after the recent death of his father. Suddenly, Natalie dumped him for Todd who was apparently a former boyfriend and her one true love and she was mean enough to invite Jake to her wedding to Todd. At the wedding, she made Jake promise her to never contact them again. Jake kept his promise until six years later (hence the title) when Todd's obituary popped up on his computer because Todd graduated from the university Jake also went to and now taught at (Lanford College). Jake turns up at Todd's funeral expecting to see Natalie but she isn't there. Jake spends a whirlwind week or so searching far and wide for clues on Natalie's disappearance and Todd's death. I'm pretty sure Jake's a cat because he certainly needs 9 lives with all his near death encounters during his quest to find Natalie. What I will say is that Jake is not schizophrenic and he hasn't murdered Natalie or Todd so just stick with it. The suspense was torture for about the first 200 pages (it's 358 pages long) but then the pieces began to fit together and I literally could not put the book down even whilst I was munching on my Flake 99. I've also just found out that it's being made into a film and Hugh Jackman is going to star as Jake so you really have no excuse to not read it!

As many of you will already know, I have just completed my second year of a Biology degree. Last summer, I got science withdrawal symptoms and ended up buying lots of books to read like Bad Pharma and What a Plant Knows, watching lots of Sir David Attenborough and watching YouTube clips like Jim Al-Khalili's talk on how physics can revolutionise biology. I'm already craving science and once I've finished reading The Shock of the Fall, I'm going to read The Selfish Gene. On Saturday morning I woke up pondering one of life's great mysteries: is fear genetic? To answer that question to some extent, I thought I'd ask my good friend Google Scholar who has helped me out during countless university assignments. I am absolutely terrified of mice so ironically, I found an article in Nature on fear in mice which you can read here.

I love cooking and I love science so my science and food cravings in this stuffy weather led me to experiment in the kitchen this week. On Wednesday, I Googled what to do with spare ripe bananas and this came up. Yes, my thriftiness amazes me too. I've also been craving this chilled Starbucks caramel macchiato but it costs £1+ in most supermarkets and it's not the largest portion. I used to get one of these most days when I went to the library to revise last month and they are so delicious. I decided to attempt to make iced coffee at home so I filled a tall glass with ice, made instant black coffee and added the sugar and left it to cool. You then add the coffee to the ice and pour in some cold milk. I might purchase some caramel syrup to make it extra yummy and make the black coffee double strength as the ice does water it down rather quickly. Some people online even suggest making coffee ice cubes but I don't want to be up all night either. 

On Sunday, my friend Misbah came over for a baking day! The kitchen experiments continued as we baked a blackberry buttermilk cake. Neither of us have used buttermilk before in our baking and I always thought it was quite difficult to purchase in Britain as it is used in American baking a lot more. Disaster almost struck in true Great British Bake Off style (the recipe was taken from here) as there was a small patch in the centre of the cake that would not cook. We kept checking every 5 minutes as we were scared that the edges might get burnt. Misbah Googled what to do and we found that it was a bad idea to keep opening the oven and checking as that lowered the oven temperature so we lowered the temperature from 180°C to 150°C and didn't open the door until we could see that the cake was done.

Misbah and I also baked some strawberry macarons! It took about 2 hours included cooking time so I can now appreciate why those tiny treats can be so expensive. It's the second time I've used my Lekue macaron kit and the mould honestly makes life so much easier instead of drawing out circles all over baking paper. If you want to bake macarons at home regularly then you should really invest in one. My Mum loved them and had 8 but they were quite small. I'm really happy the red food colour paste I bought from The Cake and Bake Show works! The first time I made macarons, I used the yellow one and I had to use over half the tube just to achieve a pastel yellow -_-

Have a great week and see you on Sunday! Until next time, take care.
Love,
Mancunian Sheep x

56. Is It Summer Yet? Yes It Is!

Hello everyone! I hope you're all enjoying this long overdue sunshine. I finally finished my second year at university this week, it really does not feel like I've completed two thirds of my degree. For anyone reading that still has GCSE or A-level exams then I'm sorry to rub it in and hope they go really well! 

The first week of my summer holidays has been very busy and that's exactly how I want this summer to be. I want the next three months to be productive, fun and I want to make the most of them rain or shine as I am constantly being reminded that final year will be tough but we shall cross that bridge once we come to it so for now, roll on summer 2014!

Once my final exam had finished on Monday morning, I went out to celebrate with my lovely coursemates. We ended up celebrating from midday to 8.30pm because we had to see out second year properly! We went to Taco Bell for lunch, we were all Taco Bell virgins but loved it, I highly recommend it if you love Mexican food :D I had the 7 layer Bean Burrito and my friends both had a chicken burrito methinks. We then sat in Costa Coffee to keep out of the wonderful Manchester rain and belly laughed all afternoon. One of my course mates is going on a placement year in Spain in September and he will be working at an aquarium (well jel) so we won't be together in final year :( When the three of us had to say goodbye on Monday evening, it was very difficult to hold back the tears and it was a bit like a movie scene! 

On Tuesday morning, I had a summer internship interview at the university and an hour or so after the interview, I received an email to say I'd got the internship! It is an 8 week position and I'll be helping my faculty organise Welcome Week. I'm really excited and can't wait to start!

I did say at the start of this post that this has been an exceptionally busy week for the Mancunian Sheep and on Wednesday, whilst battling the last of my cold I filmed two DVDs for Parkinson's UK. It was great to meet some of the lovely people who work at such a fantastic charity and if you would like to find out more about Parkinson's UK then check out my Carers in Control post and parkinsons.org.uk. 

Also on Wednesday, I decided to bake some Slu**y Brownies. I saw the recipe on my favourite blog, The Londoner a few months ago and thought they were the ideal treat to have after a productive week whilst watching Andy's quarter final match against Monfils. Congratulations to Nadal for a fifth consecutive title at Ronald Garros however, I must admit I was rooting for Djokovic as he had been playing exceptionally well throughout the tournament and as it's the only Grand Slam he is yet to win you could tell how much he wanted it. Talking of treats, I am going to see Clean Bandit in October in Manchester!

Thursday and Friday weren't as exciting as the rest of my week unfortunately as I spent Thursday sorting out my passport renewal by filling out the form, having my mugshots taken and sending it all off. On Thursday evening I watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and completely forgot Dobby dies and was then left comfort eating my brownies. I hate Bellatrix but love Helena Bonham Carter. I just couldn't help myself and ended up watching Part 2 on Friday night. What's your favourite Harry Potter book and film? I'd say my favourite book is the Prisoner of Azkaban because I don't know what it is about him but I just love Sirius and he really changes the dynamic of the whole story.My favourite film is The Half Blood Prince because despite Dumbledore's death making me cry like a baby, I love Ron's facial expressions when he has the love potion chocolates. I was going to do a Harry Potter movie marathon and watch all 8 films over the weekend but I was too tired and have started in a weird order now.

On Saturday I was at work during the day working on an event which was a bit like a mini Open Day for parents of students who have worked on several different programmes at the university. I came home to an Amazon package containing the Frozen DVD (yes I know I must be the last person on the planet to watch it) so HAD to watch it immediately. I love it! I want to download the soundtrack to sing along to but quite like living in a house with windows. I want Olaf to be my friend and I want to give him warm hugs! Sven is brilliant too for bringing Kristoff and Anna together. Also can we all just take a moment to appreciate Elsa's outstanding performance of Let it Go, she is so sassy!

Today, I've just had a quiet Sunday and spent the morning watching the Hollyoaks omnibus and then the French Open final. I am so excited for Queens and Wimbledon now, grass court season is definitely my favourite. I'm also currently reading Six Years by Harlan Coben. I have a couple of book gift cards to spend so if you have any book recommendations then please let me know, they would be much appreciated! 

Until next time, take care.
Love,
Mancunian Sheep x

55. Trees Make Me Happy

Hello everyone, sorry for not posting in so long, I've been busy revising. I had my Immunology exam this week and have my Evolution exam in just over a week and finally my Plant Biology exam the week after. If you also have exams then I wish you the very best! Those of you in the UK will be enjoying the sunshine and I've been sat outside revising and looking up at the brilliant blue sky a lot. Revising outside actually makes it more bearable.

Oh and don't forget the ice cream/ frozen yoghurt! Yoo Moo is delicious and much healthier than Ben and Jerry's!

How have you all been enjoying the sun?
Until next time, take care.
Love,
Mancunian Sheep x

54. Summer Revision Playlist

Hello everyone! Firstly, I would like to say a massive THANK YOU to all of you because earlier this week, The Life of a Mancunian Sheep hit 2000 page views. I could't believe it and I hope you stick around to read more about my adventurous (slight exaggeration) life!

Unfortunately, the dreaded exam season is once again upon us so instead of a song of the month for May, I thought I would share some songs with you all that I am currently listening to whilst revising and finishing off the last of my assignments for my field course. As it is a bank holiday weekend, make sure you have a bit of a break too especially as the sun is out. Whether you are freaking out over GCSEs and A-levels worrying that you won't make the grades you need for your preferred college/ university (don't worry, it's very likely that you will and if you don't, it's not the end of the world) or whether you are at university like myself, I hope the songs below make your revision more bearable. If you're reading this and actually have no exams then lucky you and I hope you enjoy these songs anyway. So, without further ado, here is the Mancunian Sheep's top 5 revision songs for summer 2014 (in no particular order):

1) The first two are new songs by bands that I absolutely love and listened to a fair bit during secondary school. First up, it's There Is No Other Time by Klaxons. This song sounds rather different to It's Not Over Yet and Golden Skans but I love it nonetheless and it's upbeat so will definitely motivate you.

2) Second, eez-eh by Kasabian because this song is optimum for chair dancing. If you sit still whilst listening to this then there is something wrong with you and I think you should go to the GP instead of doing that 2013 past paper (just kidding, past papers are the best). 

3) When I first heard this on the radio, the beat reminded me of old school Justin Timberlake you know, the Senorita and Like I Love You days. When he started SINGing, I was pleasantly surprised to realise that it was actually the lovely Ed Sheeran. He is just so talented as this song shows that he is capable of diverse genres. I think this is my favourite song of 2014 so far.

4) BBC Radio 1 helped me through GCSE revision and I absolutely love their acoustic Live Lounge covers. It was also when I was revising in Year 11 that I heard Ivy and Gold by Bombay Bicycle Club for the first time and they have come a long way since then. They have such a unique sound so I was delighted when they recently covered one of my favourite songs from 2013 in the Live Lounge. I've no idea how many versions of F For You there are going to be because Disclosure recently re-released it with Mary J Blige on vocals without changing anything else but this is definitely the best one in my opinion.

5) Finally, in 2013 we asked "what does the fox say?" but did not acknowledge that Foxes CAN sing (oh that was so good, I just gave myself a pat on the back) and I am going to reward myself by listening to the beautiful Foxes' Holding Onto Heaven. This is so catchy and they all look like they're having a great time in the video.

I hope these songs help you to have a great time whilst revising (if that's actually physically possible, I'm not so sure). Anyway, I want to wish you all the very best of luck for your exams. Until next time, take care.

Love,
Mancunian Sheep x

53. I went to Nob End

Hello everyone! I realised that I hadn't done a regular update post in a while and seeing as April is almost over (exactly how I don't know), there is no time like the present! Before you all ask, no the title of the post is not an innuendo, it is a real place name. This week, most people at my university were still off but I was in Tuesday to Saturday (most days 10am to 5pm) on a field course in the Greater Manchester area. Nob End is actually in Bolton and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI- sounds like Parseltongue). Between 1835 and 1885, Nob End was home to a washing powder factory and the waste from the factory was highly toxic so not much was around in terms of wildlife until the 1950s when some local schoolchildren spotted orchids. As it is a SSSI, Nob End has to be conserved so it remains the same as to what it was like in 1988 when it was declared a SSSI. We also went to Chorlton Ees which used to be a sewage works that closed in the 1970s. Ees is a term given to land prone to flooding. Whilst at Nob End and Chorlton Ees, we used keys and books to help us identify the plant species to define the different habitats e.g. broad leaf woodland to produce a Phase 1 survey map. We also collected invertebrates and we found some pretty spectacular specimens. At Chorlton Ees, we collected a big black slug which I affectionately named BatSlug. We also collected some yellow snails, a couple of spiders and lots of other insects and flies using sweep nets. Despite living in Manchester for the entirety of my existence, I had no idea how green it was. There were lots of people walking their dogs at both sites and they were both parts of larger green areas so there were child friendly playing zones, benches and lots of paths for walking, cycling and running too so if you are from the Greater Manchester area, they are worth checking out for a nice picnic over summer. 

Nob End

For a nice (and hopefully permanent) change, I have actually been out and about more AND exercising. I am sick to death of sitting down in front of screens, either watching Eastenders (who do you think killed Lucy?) on the TV, writing essays and lecture notes on my laptop or scrolling through my Instagram feed on my phone. For the first time since Year 11 when I used to be a gym addict, my face looked like a beef tomato last week because I have decided to do the NHS Couch to 5K challenge. I've probably already mentioned on here how I want to run a marathon/10K for charity, specifically Parkinson's UK in 2016 once I've graduated so need to prepare for that as much and early on as I can because I'm not the most athletic person. Also, running is a great way to improve your physical and mental health and best of all, it's free (well you will need to invest in a decent pair of running shoes). I did a trial run of week 1 of the challenge last week and it was basically a 5 minute brisk warm up walk followed by alternating cycles of 90 seconds of walking and 60 seconds of running finished off with a 5 minute cool down walk. The NHS couch to 5k podcasts are free to download here:(http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/c25k/Pages/couch-to-5k-plan.aspx) if you would like to check them out. I managed to complete the 30 minutes without getting blisters or a stitch, surprisingly and I intend to complete the 9 week challenge over summer. 
To treat myself for running, I did some baking. Last weekend was Easter so I decided to bake something that used eggs as the main ingredient- macarons! I used my Lekue macaron kit (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lekue-Macarons-Decomax-Piping-Baking/dp/B005LB5AXK) which contains a silicone mould and a special piping device with lots of different nozzles. The piping device isn't very good as the lid of the device is made from tough plastic so you can't squeeze out the mixture so I ended up using a standard disposable piping bag. The mould is fantastic however and saves the time and hassle of drawing out uniform circles all over baking paper. I used the lemon macarons recipe from John Whaite Bakes but changed the recipe by omitting the lemon as my Mum doesn't like it and instead using strawberry jam and vanilla buttercream for the filling. It was my first ever attempt at macarons which is why they are far from perfect but I will definitely be making these again as practice makes perfect. I definitely recommend that you give them a go as they are incredibly cheap to make at home and nowhere near as difficult as they are rumoured to be. I'd say they were like mini merignues but you need to be extra careful and precise when making them. I really want to overcome my baking fears in 2014 so my next challenge is to make more dough whether it's bread or bakes like Chelsea buns. What have you been baking?

Until next time, take care.
Love,
Mancunian Sheep x

52. Apple Woes

Hello everyone, slightly different post but I hope you enjoy Story Time with Mancunian Sheep regardless.
Regular readers are probably aware of my fruit addiction but the past few months of my life have been rather traumatic. I have had an apple a day for as long as I can remember (even before I had heard of the famous expression) but since approximately September 2013, I've unfortunately found that apples no longer taste of anything. I'm not exaggerating. I might as well be crunching into an apple shaped ice structure or a raw potato (perhaps the latter as it would be less painful for my gums).
The usual apple variety I have is good old Gala but when they started tasting of nothing I thought I might try the more fragrant Braeburn and Pink Lady varieties. Nope, nothing changed. Then I thought perhaps I should switch retailer as we do our big food shop from Asda so I tried the good old Sainsburys, Tesco and Morrisons stores near university but again nothing changed. I didn't know what else to do because we have two apple trees in our back garden but I'm sure one of them has cooking apples growing on it and the other has Crown Gall's disease which I identified after learning about Agrobacterium tumefaciens in my first year microbiology module. All winter I've been eating plums and dried fruit instead like apricots, dates and raisins to make up my five a day but nothing could replace the crunchy satisfaction of biting into an apple. 
O Malus, Malus, wherefore art thou Malus? Unlike Romeo and Juliet, this story does have a happy ending. After an incredibly tough 7 months, I have just eaten a Golden Delicious apple that tasted like an apple should and I really hope my ordeal is over. I'm pretty sure I've not finally gone mad because my Mum's been complaining about their bland taste too. 
Let me know about your #applewoes below or if you've dodged bland apple syndrome then let me know which apple variety you enjoy and where you purchase them from. Until next time, take care.

Love,
Mancunian Sheep x

51. Song of the Month- April

Hello everyone, yes it is that time again! This month's choice comes from one of the best bands ever to have graced the Earth, Coldplay. I am incredibly excited for their new album if the rest of it is anything like Magic. 

I don't know what it is about the song but overall, I just find it very soothing. The lyrics are beautifully written, the video is stunning and reminds me of The Great Gatsby. Perfection. Welcome back Coldplay. What did you all make of Magic?

Until next time, take care.

Love,

Mancunian Sheep x