A New Career Direction...

Well it's been quite a while since I've posted, I've been rather busy of late!

I have recently moved in a new career direction in the form of audiobook narration. I love reading and have recorded readings for YouTube but didn't think it would go any further than that...

...Until my partner discovered ACX and began narrating audiobooks himself. He suggested I give it a go so I set up my profile, uploaded a sample from my YouTube channel and started to audition.

It was such a simple process I just fell headfirst into it.

In August I recorded my first audiobook 'Collection Of 8 Wonderful Bedtime Stories for Young Children' by Renee Sandy.

It was a wonderful experience. I loved working with the author, dicussing accents and vocal style and thoroughly enjoyed producing the final audiobook!

Since then it has snowballed quite a bit, I currently have two further solo audiobooks in production, one collaboration with audiobook narrator Ian Gordon and have auditioned for several others.

I'm really loving it and hope it continues to grow.
 
Check out my profile and listen to my samples!

I'm also giving away 25 free downloads to my audiobook 'Collection Of 8 Wonderful Bedtime Stories for Young Children' on my Facebook page, pop on over to win a free download.

My Tour of America Revisited and My Journey 'Home'

Back in the UK now after 12 months working and travelling in Australia. 

I had a fantastic time and learned a lot about myself but I'm glad to be back in the UK (for now) settled and working on a multitude of new projects including music and writing.

 

Once I'd made the decision to head back to the UK I knew there was only one way I could go - through the USA. After my tour of the west coast in 2013 I was hooked.

This time my partner and I decided we weren't going to do things by halves: we would fly into San Francisco, drive across the states and fly out of New York. A little ambitious but it was so worth it! Simply put, this was the most amazing experience of my life so far!

I've decided to revisit the My Tour of America posts and write about my extended trip across the 27 States I managed to pop into on my way back 'home'.

To get a general idea of the grandeur of the trip, here's a rough map of the route my partner and I took:

Jaffa Cake Cupcakes

I'm rapidly approaching my 30th birthday and, as a celebration, am hosting a small tea party. It's a 'bring your own' where everybody contributes to the food or drink (mainly to keeps costs down).

Among my contribution will be these delicious Jaffa Cake style cupcakes. For me they are the perfect desert, the cake is light and fluffy, the chocolate is crisp and the orange center is sweet and tangy. Yum!

Ingredients:


Margarine or softened butter (I prefer Stork or Flora)
Self raising flour (sifted)
Caster sugar
2 Eggs
Zest of 1 orange (plus 1 tablespoon of the juice if you like)
Thick shred marmalade
Your preferred choice of chocolate


Pre-heat your oven to 200°C fan/180°C/gas mark 6

Recipe:

The first part of this recipe is a basic fairy cake/cupcake recipe. Simple yet delicious, so light and fluffy. My grandma taught me this recipe and I've used it for the past 20 years.

Beat the sugar and margarine (or butter) in a bowl until creamy, you can use an electric whisk (which is much easier) but i prefer to beat by hand. Whisk the eggs into the mixture.

Little by little gently fold in the flour using a metal spoon, its important to fold the flour as it keeps the mixture light and airy.

Add the orange zest and a tablespoon of the juice if you like, don't add too much or the mixture will be too wet.

Spoon the mixture into cupcake cases (I like mine bigger so I use muffin cases).

Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until the cakes have risen and are golden brown.
Place on a wire rack to cool.

Now for the fun part...

Once cool cut a small circle out of the top, add a teaspoon of thick shred marmalade (you can use thin shred or shredless if preferred) then replace the top.

Melt the chocolate either in the microwave (in short bursts being very careful not to burn it) or using a Bain-Marie.
Spoon the chocolate onto the top of the cakes until they are completely covered. Then place them in the fridge to cool and harden.

As an alternative you can cut the top and add the marmalade while the cakes are still warm and serve with warm melted chocolate, I did this and they were delicious!

If you like this recipe, why not visit my 'Sweet Treats' page for more yummy treats!

One Vivid Night in Sydney

It's been a while since I've talked about my time in Australia and I think I'm almost ready to discuss my next adventure.

But before I do...

Sydney has so much to offer, there's always something happening. Writers festivals, food and drink festivals, fashion shows, fireworks displays just for the fun of it. You really get caught up in the magic of this vibrant city.

The current offering is a spectacular display of light, music and ideas all put together to form Vivid Sydney, a plethora of light shows and installations throughout the city.

Highlights of Vivid Sydney 2014 are Martin Place, Customs House, Darling Harbour's fabulous light show (every hour on the hour) and of course the world famous Sydney Opera House which displays a stunning timeline of the development of architecture, civilisation and technology.

My partner and I spent a whole evening wandering around this amazing event; taking photos, shooting footage. We've then edited the whole thing into a nice little video with one of our Chasing Ourselves songs over the top.

Here's the link to our experience of Vivid Sydney 2014...

And here are just a few of the shots I took using my Nikon D5100 with an 18-200mm lens.

For more information on this years Vivid Sydney visit their website here or follow them on twitter @VividSydney for highlights and traffic updates.

Traditional Golden Syrup Flapjack

I always knew when mum had been making flapjack while I was at school, I'd come home to find the whole house smelling of syrup and butter... yummy.

The recipe for flapjack is so simple I truly believe anyone can make it. Just follow the easy steps below and you can't go wrong...

Ingredients:

350g rolled oats
175g unsalted butter
175g brown sugar
175g golden syrup
A handful of raisins (not traditionally included in flapjack but I love them)

Recipe:

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees and line a baking tray with grease proof paper.

Melt the butter in a pan on a low to medium heat, be really careful not to burn the butter.
As soon as it's melted, remove from the heat, add the sugar and syrup and mix well.

Add the oats and raisins to the butter/syrup mixture and mix until completely covered.

Spoon the mixture into a baking tray and flatten with the back of a wooden spoon or spatula.

Now pop it in the pre-heated oven and bake for 25 mins.

Remove the tin from the oven, don't worry if the flapjack looks too soft and sticky, it will harden once cooled

Score the flapjack into squares - this will make it easier to cut once cool.

Once cool cut into the marked squares and store in an air-tight container, or eat. I know which I'd rather do!

If you like this recipe, why not check out the 'Sweet Treats' tab at the top of the page for more yummy treats!

Chocolate Tiffin Recipe (no bake)

I first discovered chocolate tiffin at a Costa Coffee cafe in the UK and fell in love with it instantly. I've made this a few times and think I've finally found the perfect balance of ingredients.

This recipe serves around 10 depending on how big you cut the squares (the bigger the better in my opinion).

It's really simple and requires no baking, just a cook-top and a fridge (or log fire and cold box if you happen to be camping).

Ingredients:

125g butter (or hard margarine) cut into small chunks

3 heap tbsp cocoa powder

3 heap tbsp golden syrup (I like to add an extra squeeze for good luck)

2 tbsp caster sugar

200g broken digestive biscuits (ideally you want mainly small chunks with some crumbs)

2 handfuls sultanas or raisins

200g of your favourite chocolate for topping

You'll also need; a saucepan, small-medium size baking tray lined with either grease-proof paper or cling film and a medium size bowl.

Recipe:

Melt the butter, syrup, sugar and cocoa powder over a low-medium heat, stirring regularly until smooth, taking care not to burn the mixture.

Once smooth, remove from the heat, add broken biscuits and sultanas (or raisins) and mix until the biscuits are well covered.

Spoon the mixture into your lined baking tray and press down to flatten, you can make the tiffin as thick as you like, it doesn't have to fill the tin completely.

Allow the mixture to cool a little now while you melt your chocolate, you can either do this in a microwave (spurts of 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between to ensure the chocolate doesn't burn) or over a bain-marie as shown in my Mars Bar Cornflake Cake recipe.

Now simply pour the melted chocolate over the mixture and pop it in the fridge for 1-2 hours. 

Then cut the tiffin into chunks and eat!

This photo is a last minute addition - I've just had a piece and yep... Best recipe yet! Delicious!

If you like this recipe, why not check out my new recipe for Jaffa Cake Cupcakes!

Chicken Teriyaki: simple and delicious!

The first meal I made in my mini kitchen (that wasn't soup from a can or cereal) was chicken teriyaki. It's so simple to make and absolutely delicious!

The below recipe serves 2.

Ingredients
1 large chicken breast
2 Tbsp Vegetable oil
One small onion cut into medium sized pieces
1 Yellow pepper cut into medium sized pieces
Handful of mushrooms
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper

For the sauce:
2 Tbsp sake
4 Tbsp soy sauce
4 Tbsp mirin
4 Tbsp sugar
grated ginger


Recipe
Mix the sake, soy sauce, mirin, sugar and ginger in a bowl. Cut the chicken into strips or pieces and poke with a fork.
Place the chicken in the sauce and mix well so the chicken is fully covered, marinade for 15-30 minutes (or longer if you have the time although it doesn't need much more than an hour).
Once marinated, heat half the oil in a frying pan and place the chicken strips (or pieces) in the frying pan, fry until they begin to cook. Then pour the sauce into the frying pan and cook thoroughly on a medium to low heat.

In a separate frying pan (or good saucepan - which is what I used) heat the remaining oil and add the onions. Once the onions have started to brown add the yellow pepper and mushrooms, the pinch of salt and pepper and fry for 3-4 minutes (until they begin to soften).

All that's left to do now is serve and enjoy!

As stated above the recipe, follow these guidelines for 2 people, increase measurements accordingly.

You could just as easily make this with pork or turkey depending on your preference and it's so versatile it can be served with rice, noodles, vegetables (like I did) or salad. 

I really hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

I'm back...

Well that lasted little over a month!

I decided, although I had other projects to work on, I couldn't abandon Polygarble, I missed her too much.

As you'll be aware (I rambled on about it enough) I've recently relocated to Australia, I'm currently living in a little studio apartment in the Sydney suburb of Potts Point. 

It's taken a while to settle in and has felt very much like an extended holiday up to now with lots of visits to restaurants and cafes and I have decided its about time I cooked for myself again (plus I'm swiftly running out of money).

I'm a great believer that you can cook a really tasty meal in whatever kitchen you have available to you. In my mini kitchen I currently have an electric cooktop (2 burner) and a microwave oven.

Over the coming months I'll be experimenting with a variety of recipes, which I'll share with you, these may be particularly useful for (but are definitely not limited to) travellers and holidaymakers staying in self catering apartments, short stay hostels and those using camping equipment. They'll be tasty but super simple so wont be time consuming. 

I hope I can inspire you to whip up a storm in your mini kitchen.

Farewell For Now...

I've been a little 'off the radar' recently with my relocation to Australia.

I'll be putting Polygarble on hold for the foreseeable future while I concentrate on my work with Chasing Ourselves. 

We are taking our music, film and photography on the road and have created a Chasing Ourselves blog which I hope you'll have a peek at. 

http://chasingourselves.wordpress.com/

This isn't goodbye, I'll be writing for Polygarble again and will keep you posted through my facebook, twitter and google+ pages when I do.

So with a few photo's of my Polygarble life, I bid you farewell... For now!

 

 

The Big Move - Arriving in Sydney

So we finally arrived after a laborious 13+hour flight. Rushed through immigration surprisingly quickly and ushered ourselves swiftly into a taxi. We were literally shattered, hadn't slept much on the plane due to lack of space and it was incredibly uncomfortable.

All we wanted at that point was to get to our guest house, shower and sleep as quickly as possible.

However nothing prepares you for Sydney. Anyone you know who's been will tell you what a spectacular sight it is but you'll never fully appreciate it until you see it for yourself. Only one word sprung to mind... 

WOW!

The harbour bridge and the opera house are set against high rise buildings and multiple bays and coves. Being the main tourist attractions in Sydney they are instantly recognisable but no less incredible than you would imagine.

After wandering through Sydney centre for the last few days I began to get the same feeling I had when I visited Hollywood, it has a similar sense of creativity and success. 

I'm so excited to be starting my travels here.

The Big Move - Leaving

I won’t bore you with the details but this last 12 months has been a bit of a rollercoaster for me. 

I made the decision in June this year that I wanted to travel and my first stop is Australia. 

I'll be leaving the UK on 3rd September and starting in Sydney. 

I’ve never done anything like this before, I didn’t think I wanted to travel. Thought I was happy in my comfortable job at my local council, would get married and have a few kids and that would be it.

Then I met my current partner and things just changed. 

My Little Tour of America - National Parks

In-between the city stops on the USA tour we also visited three National Parks. Deciding which ones to see was tough considering how many national parks California has to offer.

The first park we visited was Yosemite National Park. Yosemite is stunning. What seems like infinite forests of Pine trees stretching as far as the eye can see…

My Little Tour of America - Las Vegas

The final city (booo!) on my tour was Las Vegas.

It’s quite a surreal place, all those mini ‘cities’ within walking distance from each other. It really is like being in a different world. 

The 'Great' British Summer

Lovely weather we're having! 

This start to the 'Great' British summer has been an excellent preview of my pending relocation. On the 3rd September I'll be taking Polygarble to Australia. 

Although I've been busy with preparation, this beautiful sunshine has allowed me to take my breaks outdoors...

My Little Tour of America - Los Angeles

The second city I visited during my little tour of West Coast USA was Los Angeles.

It’s hard to say because my trip was so varied but I think L.A. (Hollywood in particular) was my favourite part.

It has such a good vibe. There's an abundance of creativity all around you. I felt as though I was really in the heart of where ‘it’ was all happening.

My Little Tour of America – San Francisco

My little tour of West Coast USA was the first trip of this kind for me. I used to be a beach, hotel pool, resort type of girl but have been introduced to a whole new way of holidaying and I have to say – there’s no going back. Moving from place to place, 2-3 days at a time, getting to see so much in one trip is an amazing experience.

The tour began in San Francisco…

A beautiful city with an abundance of culture. 

                               
                                            Chinatown                             St Peter and Paul Church

                       
                                             The Bay                                          Pier 39

This was also the first time I had experienced an ‘American breakfast’. It consisted of bacon, eggs, sausage, hash browns, pancakes and maple syrup all on the same plate. It was amazing! Probably a good thing I don't live there, I’d be huge. 

While there I took a Segway tour of the city and learned more from the young tour operator than I could from any book or website. It was great to quickly and easily move around the city hearing about China Town, the gold rush, Little Italy, Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe and so much more. Fabulous!

I also visited Alcatraz Island home to Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, what an experience that was. For the most part it’s grim; derelict buildings where the prisoners, guards and the guard’s families lived for months, even years.  

And the yard the prisoners spent their daytime, surrounded by a huge wall with amazing views of San Francisco just out of sight.

Then in contrast there are beautiful gardens and nesting sites for many different species of birds e.g. seagulls, cormorants and snowy egrets (no I’d never heard of them either and they make a very strange noise!). 

   

And finally, if the notorious San Francisco fog has lifted, there's the Golden Gate bridge…

All in all San Francisco is an amazing city, and a wonderful introduction to the West Coast!