I read in my local newspaper yesterday that the kitchen of the pub I used to work in while a student had caught fire over the weekend during a busy evening service. My friend Juliette who still works there said on her Facebook page:

Burning Down The Pub

“So at peak time on my pub shift the chef comes running in shouting ‘FIRE’! Before you can say ‘blasted chip pan’ the pub was in flames. A mass exodus ensued followed by 4 fire engines, 2 ambulances and several police cars! Now, some would suggest that I attract a somewhat abnormal amount of bad luck…

“AU CONTRAIRE..! Rescued by truck loads of brave strong firemen and plied with Tequila to settle the nerves!?! I’d imagine that’s what Heaven is like!”

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Image via Wikipedia

Summer seems to be the time many young people choose to move out of the parental home into their own place. Whether it’s because they’re leaving to go to university or because they’ve finished their exams and they’re ready to move on now it means that many people are going to find themselves living, and cooking, by themselves for the first time.

As well as ensuring that you have a good set of pans, a very sharp knife and many more teaspoons than seems altogether reasonable there are a few other Do’s, Don’ts, Hints and Tricks which the newly independent cook should observe.

Chefing Do’s

Organize. Everything from your shelves to your fridge, and even your recipes need to be well organised. If you can see at a glance what you have and what you need you’ll find cooking far more enjoyable without having to dash to the shops halfway through a recipe.

Clean on the Go. Cleaning as you cook saves a great deal of time, you won’t find that you’ve run out of equipment and you won’t have to face ploughing into a bombsite once you come to the end.

Read Recipes Properly. Read any recipe you’ve not tried before thoroughly and make sure you understand it. Even if you’re in a rush taking a couple of moments at the start will mean you won’t have any nasty surprises at the end.

Watch Some-one Better. Watch good cooks on TV if necessary but preferably find some-one you know can cook and see if you can stand by and watch or help, find some-one who is going to be happy to have you there and asking questions.

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As some of you who are following my Twitters may of noticed a few weeks ago, my faithful washing machine of twenty years had finally decided it couldn’t take any more and gave up, so without further ado I went on the hunt for a new washing machine.

I decided to go with the Hotpoint Aqualtis AQXGF149PI which boasts a 9kg drum and super silent operation and boy they’re not wrong.

Over the last few weeks of having the machine I can quite honestly say that the washing has never been so clean and having a large drum reduces that amount of times the machine has to go on, you can even fit in a double quilt, yes quilt not quilt cover, into the machine, amazing.

The washer has an energy efficiency rating of A+ great for the environment and even detects if it needs less water and automatically selects a half load option for you, with options such as time saver, to reduce water and electricity and even a mini load for that tiny load of 2kg or less it amazing.

The super silent as mentioned above is very super silent, after putting on the machine you hear the water fill and then that’s it, you don’t hear a thing until the water drains from the machine and then all you hear is the machine spinning, which in itself is not that noisy.

There are 16 programs on the machine all of wish can be altered to your own needs such as reducing the water temperature in 10 degree steps down to 30c and then to cold only, you can even reduce the spin speed down from 1400rpm down to 400rpm in steps of 200rpm.

Other options are Reduced Creases, Extra Rinses, Time Saver and Mini Load, it even has a delay timer of 24 hours, so that you can put your washing in the night before and it will be finished when you get up, perfect.

Some other features the machine has:
70litres normal water consumption for a 60 degree wash
Cold fill only
Easy iron programme
1.36kW energy consumption
Silk wash
Intensive wash option
Refresh option – low temperature wash
No spin option
Wide opening door for easy loading/unloading
Zero delay door safety lock
Automatic water level control
Out of balance spin protection
Delicate wool wash.

So if your after a new washing machine then you can’t go wrong with this one.