Category Archives: 2016

Creamy chicken, leek and ham pie

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Ok, this is a new recipe I tried from my Jamie Oliver app on my phone, so absolutely no credit due to me, and all of the credit goes to Jamie. (Get the app, it’s amazing). I made a few additions/substitutions here or there, but not many.

It was delicious and I will definitely make it again – next time I may even add pastry to the bottom too, who knows? Or possibly I might try it with shortcrust pastry instead….

Sadly I got too excited about eating it once it comes out of the oven and I therefore don’t have any pictures of it with the puff pastry top on!

IMG_8568 Continue reading →

Another day, another comedy moment from Maya…

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Sometimes I genuinely believe my life should be a sitcom. Someone should just film me at all times and capture the moments of hilarity, Jeremy Beadle-style…

Here’s how my afternoon went down:

I worked out really hard at my aerobics class after work, and then Clarissa and I cycled all the way home – and I even turned right on a mini-roundabout without having to get off and push! Road-cycling badge achieved. I am extremely proud of myself.

I came home and decided to treat my tired, sore, sweaty muscles to a bath. I love baths, but I almost never have them, because frankly if you don’t have the time for music, bubbles, wine, exfoliation, foot scrubs and a good book, then you may as well just have a shower as far as I’m concerned. Baths are both sacred and extremely ritualistic in Maya’s world.

So there I was, in my lovely, hot, relaxing bath,
Music – Jack Johnson (I decided to go old school)
Book – Ayoade on Ayoade (It’s hilariously weird, and makes perfect bath-time reading)
The best Body Scrub in the world – From an amazing care package that my dear friend sent me years ago. I think she may have made it herself and it’s AMAZING.

When I stepped out of the bath, I felt more relaxed than I have in weeks. I felt all soft and clean and relaxed and scrubbed and delicious.

I drifted downstairs humming along to Jack Johnson, went to feed the cats, and then STEPPED IN A PILE OF CAT SICK.
It was camouflaged, as apparently regurgitated cat biscuits are the exact same colour as my oak floorboards.

Nothing has ever ruined a post-bath relaxation high faster. I no longer felt all clean, and frankly, my newly-scrubbed feet felt pretty violated.

To add insult to injury, I had LITERALLY only just forgiven the cats for weeing on my new sofa (apparently they feel the need to punish me when I go away on work trips).

I’m attempting to think of a suitable punishment, and may have to resort to publicly shaming them on social media.

Bibimbap

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Time for another recipe, and this time it’s a craving for one of my favourite Korean dishes, Bibimbap that had me reminiscing about my time in South Korea. Even though I left South Korea over 10 years ago, I still get cravings for some of my favourite dishes! I can’t make Sam-gyap-Sal (BBQ pork belly) very easily at home, but I frequently make both Bibimbap and Dok-boggi (another comfort food favourite of mine!) at home. A trip to your local Chinese supermarket will help you to find the hot pepper paste required, and many other delicious things as well no doubt!

Bibimbap literally means “mixed-up rice” and is very easy to make, very delicious and super filling. One of my favourite things about Bibimbap is that it is always presented looking beautifully arranged, but in order to eat it, you have to immediately mix it all up into a tasty and delicious mess!

There’s a good recipe here on the Guardian website, and it’s a great way to use up leftovers. I tend to make mine with hot rice and a hot cooked egg, but cold/raw vegetables, almost like a salad with hot rice, however you can mix it up any way you like, and can make the whole thing hot or cold depending on your mood. I’ve listed my standard version that I tend to make at home below, but I do encourage you to try it lots of different ways, with different veg, hot and cold, and play around with it until you find something you love! Continue reading →

An homage to Tiggy

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One of the things I’ve spent the last 9 months at home doing is re-connecting with my cats, and all of their crazy ways. So for all your cat-lovers out there, here are some more pics of my crazy cats to keep you amused. I should point out that almost all of these pics are of Tiggy, who is by far the more hilarious cat and has a tendency to be ridiculous almost all of the time when she’s not sleeping. I obviously love Cleo just as much, as she’s a gorgeous soppy, loving, needy, sweetheart of a cat, but Tiggy definitely provides the comic relief of the two of them, so therefore this one is really more of an homage to my favourite comedy cat. Continue reading →

Old year, New year

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Okay, okay, I know it’s a bit late for this post, but who cares? I was busy doing stuff…

I’m not a massive fan of new year as a rule – it’s almost always a huge letdown as a night out, and unless I’m at a houseparty with some good friends I’d frankly rather be at home watching TV like any other night of the year. However I do occasionally like to stop and take the opportunity to reflect on the year that has gone by, and the new one that is coming, and think about all of the good and bad things that have come along, or that might be waiting right around the corner. Continue reading →

Day in the life of…

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So, while flipping back through my facebook posts searching for something unrelated, I thought I would put together a little montage of snippets from the last 6 months of my life for all my readers out there.

I realise most of my blog followers are also friends of mine on facebook, so this will be boring and meaningless for them (they get to enjoy my awesomeness on a regular basis via my facebook posts, and often also in person), but for those of you out there who follow my blog and don’t know me in person, or are not friends with me on facebook, (and assuming you are interested), here’s a little bit more of what it’s like in my head, and in my life, in short, bitesized chunks…

2nd June 2015

A day in the life of Maya (abridged version):

1) Woke up, went to work, decided it was far too early to read any stories about mass graves, and selectively deleted those emails, thus maintaining my cheery disposition a bit longer (ignorance is a beautiful thing sometimes).
2) Went to a cash for work payout and met not one, but two beneficiaries called Saddam Hussein.
3) Reflected that names such as Saddam Hussein will no doubt be significantly less popular these days, and will probably soon be extinct, along with names such as Barry and Clive….
4) Started what will no doubt be an endless cycle of edits to a document I am co-writing with an American, in which we both continue to change the spelling of “labourer/laborer”.
5) Felt guilty that I failed to do my daily 7-minute workout, managed to counter-balance it by actively not having a cornetto after dinner. Felt so proud of my self-control I rewarded myself with a gin and tonic. Dieting in Maya’s world is an extremely complex process…

Continue reading →

Taking food from the homeless

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So a few days ago, I took 2 sandwiches from a homeless guy.
Here’s why.

I was walking to Sainsbury’s and this guy was sat outside. It was only 7pm and already only 2 degrees (it got down to -5 overnight). While I was fiddling about getting some change out of my bag, I got chatting to him, and asked if he was able to get to a shelter for the night, as it was so cold.
He told me he didn’t go to the shelter anymore, as there are a lot of bullies there who pick on him, and he showed me the gap where his front tooth used to be, which got knocked out last time he stayed at the shelter. He also informed me glumly that with the new government cutbacks it didn’t look like the shelter would be around for much longer.

As I was headed into the supermarket anyway, I asked him if, in addition to the spare change I had given him, I could also buy him a sandwich or something to eat?
He laughed and with an extremely wry smile pointed to a Sainsbury’s bag next to him, which was full of sandwiches. Apparently loads of people had given him sandwiches, all of which were reduced and would go off tomorrow, and he didn’t think he could face eating another sandwich.
I asked him if there was something else he’d rather have instead, and he said what he’d really love was a sausage roll or a steak slice.

So I bought him one of each, (although was gutted I couldn’t heat them up for him!) and as I gave them to him, he insisted I take some of his sandwiches, as they’d only go in the bin, cos he couldn’t eat them all before they went off, and anyway he didn’t like half of the ones he was given.
Naturally I said I couldn’t possibly take his food, and he looked really sad, and said no-one would take them, he’d been offering them to people all day, and then he said “I swear they’re perfectly all right. I know I’m homeless, but I’m not contagious or anything, and still no-one’ll touch em. They’re all still in their packets and everything.”

Poor man looked so sad that no-one would touch anything from him, so of course I took the sandwiches!
My flatmate and I got a free lunch, and I was once again reminded of why it’s so much better to always give people in need cash rather than in-kind goods – whether overseas or here at home. So much better if he could have chosen for himself what he’d like to eat, instead of being constantly given reduced, about-to-go-off, tuna sandwiches, day in, day out.
It was a perfect example of what I do most of the time in my current job – working on convincing people that it’s better to give cash rather than food!

Next time I’ll just give him the money and offer to watch his stuff while he goes and shops for himself.

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