Recipe: Saturday Morning TV

I like to think that I've been quite pro-active with my weekends recently, and my 'schedule' has even allowed me to enjoy the delights of Saturday morning cookery programmes, I thank Nigella that this is the way things have worked out.

Never being one to really care for Nigella Lawson, I've found myself engrossed in her post-Saturday Kitchen treat, Nigellissima. I realise it was on before ages ago but it now fits so nicely into my Saturday morning routine just before I pop out to enjoy the rest of the day so I want to gush a little.

Nigellissima has been the inspiration for two recent treats in our house, the first being the one I'm about to share with you, the second is her delicious espresso ice cream, another super-easy one to try yourself.


This beautiful Tuscan steak recipe, which I don't quite do justice in the pictures, had me wanted to eat it all over again the second I'd finished. It might have been the steak itself but having never had a steak served this way, I'm going to bet it's that marinade. I enjoyed this so much, I made it again just a week later, it's such a quick and easy dish to prepare and delivers so much on flavour that your inner carnivore is sure to love you for days and days.

I used a recipe I found on Pinterest (where else?) to give me more precise measurements but adapted it slightly to my tastes. I also didn't deep fry my chips but can honestly say that the prep method used works just as well for oven-cooking and I've made some of my best ever chips since!



Ingredients:

• 2 x Good Quality Steaks - I used sirloin for this one because it was discounted but have since used frying steak and it worked just as well!
• 2 tbsp Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
• 1 tsp Dry Chilli Flakes
• 1 tsp Parsley
• 1 tsp Oregano
• 1 tsp Rosemary
• ½ tsp Salt
• 1 Clove of Garlic (grated)
• 10 Cherry Tomatoes (halved)
• ½ Bunch of Watercress
• 3-4 Medium-Sized Maris Piper Potatoes
• 3 tsps Coconut Oil
• 1 tsp Thyme
• Salt & Pepper

Method - Chips: (I would start with these)

1. Cut your potatoes into chip-shaped strips, you can peel them but I don't.
2. Dry your chips with a tea towel to draw out excess moisture.
3. Place on baking tray add thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper blob your coconut oil around the tray
4. Put in the oven at 200°C and cook for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Method - Steak:

1. Once you've brought your steaks up to room temperature, season with salt and pepper and place in a hot pan.
2. While your steak cooks on one side chop your cherry tomatoes in half and cut your watercress.
3. To a flat-based dish add the ingredients for your marinade and mix together with a fork. Flip your steak.
4. Once your steak is cooked to your liking leave it to rest for 5 minutes in your marinade mixture, turning halfway through.
5. Cut up your steak into strips and mix with tomatoes and watercress, making sure to cover everything in the marinade and serve.

Will you be giving this a go? I think it makes a refreshing change to more traditional steak and chips. ♥

Mixed Britannia, BBC Two.

Last night saw the first in a three part series on BBC Two discussing the issues of being mixed race in Britain. I thought I would give my two cents on the programme due to my photography project about being a half Chinese person living in the UK, but also to express my feelings towards the programme as a mixed race person.

Don't let it be thought that I've ever really thought of myself as mixed race. I mean I knew I was, I can hardly escape the fact that my mother is Chinese and I am incredibly English, although this is more down to geography and circumstance than my Northern Irish 'other half'. I can't remember the last time my 'halfness' wasn't praised as exoticism though, it seems to be pretty cool at the moment, even if it was very uncool for a lot of my school life.

Photo credit: Getty Images, courtesy of the Ah Foo family. (via BBC News)

The programme puts a spin on 'mixed race' that was seen previously in Channel 4's 2009 documentary, 'Is it better to be mixed race?'; the use of a parent who has formed a mixed race relationship and has mixed race children. I really appreciate this perspective, not that I am particularly bothered who George Alagiah is married to, but it was nice to know what he thought about his marriage and children from a genetics perspective (it's 'Wow' btw). I'm sure my friend Gareth Lewis was relieved to know that that the more personal mixed race documentary that he's working on currently has nothing to fear, I really think it's time that a mixed race person steps up to the challenge.

I soon found when carrying out my own project that when it comes to the subject of race, within any medium, it is important for the artist or, in this case, presenter, to have a personal connection, otherwise where does the issue stem from? This episode mainly focussed on the history of mixed-race relationships in Britain from 1910 to the lead up to the second world war. I had never thought about mixed race people existing in Britain as early as that, so it was a history lesson in that sense.

It was an amazing documentation of how far we have come in a little over a century. Mixed race people are now the fastest growing race of people in the world but in the early 1900s violence and riots were breaking out over the relationships between white women and foreign men. I have never understood why that would ever be an issue or how people can still think that it is fine to be against someone's race.

The film talked to a number of mixed race people, ranging in age from their 50s to 80s, who discussed the lives of their grandparents and parents. I found this to be a very interesting twist in the narrative, because as I mentioned before, many would have thought that, considering all the exposure, being mixed race was a relatively new thing. It was also interesting to see the common ground I shared with some of them.

Towards the end of the film there was also a mention of The Eugenics Society, who tried to prove the link between degeneracy and mixed race children - funnily enough, the test results did not support their theory and they eased off slightly, transferring to the still slightly offensive question of how mixed race children could be passed off as British despite their true heritage.

I thought George Alagiah did a really sensitive job reporting on how mixed race children were treated during the beginning of last century. Despite having a slight, understandable dig at those who thought badly of mixed race relationships, his overall performance was accessible and interesting. I'm looking forward to the next instalment.

Last night's episode of Mixed Britannia can currently be found on iPlayer.
BBC TV Blog: Mixed Britannia

Happy Friday!

I removed myself from the Internet yesterday and didn't get involved with anything job-hunt related. I spent the day working on editing the photographs in my portfolio. I also had a driving lesson which involved a lot of tooting because my instructor forgot to put the 'L plates' on. I painted my nails, using 17's new magnetised polish (more on that soon) and finished up the afternoon watching 'The Believer', which I thought was really intense but good.

I'm not sure what else to say other than I'm feeling a lot fresher and less teary than in my previous post. As I haven't got anything of my own to share with you at the moment, I thought I would share some things I've enjoyed and appreciated this week.

TV Shows:

I love it when Autumn rolls around, telly is always much better during this season, and it makes such a nice change from the endless repeats on every channel, I could have just watched Dave.

Fresh Meat, Channel 4 — A hilarious new comedy drama from the creators of Peep show, really made me nostalgic over my first year at Uni, apart from I was good and managed to get into halls.
Educating Essex, Channel 4 — I never want this documentary series to end! It's so good, it's funny and sad, as well as being well filmed and un-intrusive. Another programme that I can relate to, I think everyone had a teacher like Mr Drew.
The Great British Bake-Off, BBC Two — I think this may have been better suited to the summer time but I still enjoyed it. I love the design of the tents and the over-use of Cath Kitson everything. Now that the winner has been crowned, I was rooting for Janet but that didn't happen. The competition programme has been replaced by a very uncharismatic cookery show of the same name with the lacking in chemistry duo, Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood, please don't think I mean this version. No wonder they didn't get a lot of screen time during the competition stage.
New Girl, FOX — I was a bit skeptical of this Zooey Deschanel comedy, not being a big fan of anything Zooey is in, but she's won me over. If you watch any new American programme this season make it this one.


Topshop, £15

Topshop might actually have produced something I would actually want and might be able to afford to buy! I reckon it's titch and probably wouldn't suit me but it is cute and anything less than £20 at Topshop is nothing to be sniffed at, I will have to investigate further.

Beard by Matthew Rainwaters

I kind of can't wait for this book to be released over here, it has the neatest portraits inside. I know Moon would love it.

(via Hello You Creatives)

(via The Daily What)

Flickr Stream from Niagra Falls' Nightmares Fear Factory. Hilarious set of photos showing visitors shocked expressions and reactions to the 'most haunted house in the North West'. It seems like a fun place to go, and if you get really scared, you can gain some internet stardom.

I'll get back to posting the standard stuff soon, I have some nice things planned for the weekend, and I'm hoping to head back to the carboot. ♥

Indeed...

via The Trouble with Scott

I love this show, it's a shame there are only six episodes, I wish there were 20 like American sitcoms.
There's so little good TV on but the good ones are really good, kind of makes up for Big Brother and the constant repeats of Anchorman on BBC3.

Oops.

Kay, so I still haven't updated with the neat photos I've taken, haven't even put them onto my computer yet.
Moon is leaving for Ireland this evening so I've spent the last couple of days with him instead of doing anything productive but give me a break I don't actually have anything to do and I won't be seeing him for like 10 days.
I have the dentist this afternoon and am heading back up to New Malden in a bit, then I'm on my own until Monday - urgh. I've been putting it off because I'm not a huge fan of being on my own.

It's just dawning on me that it's now a month until Uni starts again. Better start reading properly. The only relevant chapter in one book wasn't as great as I thought it would be. I think I'll start on the main book tomorrow.

Looking forward to seeing this:
I thought the film was pretty intense, so I'm quite excited that 'Combo' is meant to make an appearance in this too. I'm hoping I'll have a decent TV to watch it on by the time it comes out.

I promise I'll sort myself out - while I'm on my own - over the next couple of days.