February 2014 Favourites List

This has been a wet, cold and pretty miserable month, hasn't it? We've had an unbelievable amount of rain. My brolly is cursing me for taking a complete battering! If any of you have suffered over this period of fairly freaky weather, my thoughts are with you.

My working life has been frenetically busy too. Exam marking is a necessary evil of my job and it has taken a lot of time. You can't miss anything. Each student needs to be given full credit for every item which demonstrates their knowledge and understanding. So I've had to concentrate and put the necessary hours into careful and painstaking reading of my students' work. As a result, I've been disorganised, low in focus and have not been cooking as much as I would like.

My students will, at the end of this month, have exactly two months before their big knowledge exams, which are centrally set. That's enough time, if they start now to cover and learn everything they need to pass. 

I was a student once, and not a hugely talented one. I have my lazy streak, and I can be a real procrastinator. As a result, I always suggest a 6-8 week revision period to allow for all those days where your revision goes slow. Or you get distracted by friends or family and get nothing done. Or you spend a day on facebook instead of knuckling down. Or you stare at the page and nothing goes in.

Revision is exactly that: RE-vision. So the first thing a student needs to do is to ensure they have covered the syllabus once before making a start. I know that as a student I had to be honest with myself. I had to look over what I had studied and made notes on and identify the gaps. They had to be filled first. Then I had to ask myself which topics were the ones I had an incomplete understanding of - they were my next target. Then I could safely say I had studied the topics over the first time. Only once this process was complete could the true revision begin. 

Revision can be a tedious business, and it is always stressful. I hope you will wish my students well with theirs. If any of you have any advice or suggestions for them, please do get in touch and let me know. 

I am regularly tweeting tips for effective revision and study, which you can find by searching for the hashtags #revisiontips and #studytips. If they are of any use to any of you, I would be delighted.

I started a series of posts all about Vienna. So it is no surprise that this month's pictures are from my trip. Hope you like them!

The iconic Weiner Schnitzel

Blogs Worth Following:

http://vohnmcg.com/ Vohn's Vittles - lots of cooking and recipes

http://www.italiankiwi.com/ Authentic Italian cooking

http://thisisrocksalt.com/ Cooking and eating out - the Rock Salt blog

Recipes:

Jardaloo Ma Murghi – Chicken with apricots by Cyrus Todiwala: http://www.gloucestershireecho.co.uk/Recipe-Cyrus-Todiwala-s-Jardaloo-Ma-Murghi-8211/story-20466962-detail/story.html

The humble Chilli Con Carne gets a makeover with some tempting high quality ingredients: http://metro.co.uk/2014/02/04/how-to-cook-the-ultimate-chilli-con-carne-4288936/

Feeling under the weather? Cold, cough or similar? Time for some Aadha cha - Ginger tea! http://cookingwithsj.com/2013/12/08/ginger-tea/

I really like Dishoom. the Bombay cafe style eateries in London's Covent Garden and Shoreditch. They serve authentic food which is a cut about the rest. Here is their Whisky Sour cocktail recipe.

http://editer.com/food-drink/dishoom/

Making "couscous" out of cauliflower. A sneaky way of getting kids to eat their veg? http://food52.com/recipes/21165-spice-merchant-cauliflower-couscous

Proper posh Valentines' day cooking by Mr Ottolenghi. Forget the steak & Black Forest Gateau! http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/feb/07/valentines-day-recipes-yotam-ottolenghi

Vegetarian and vegan easy lentil and veggie soup for cold days: http://www.getmecooking.com/recipe/simple-kitchen-sink-soup

I'm not sure Mozart used a mobile phone...

Yakisoba by Junya Yamasaki, head chef at Koya (a stir-fried noodle dish you can make for less than £5): http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jan/19/recipes-under-5-yakisoba-noodle

A south Indian style Cashew nut curry, in tribute to Vineet Bhatia Rasoi in London's Chelsea: http://www.thepasadenachef.com/2013/03/cashew-nut-curry-southern-indian.html

A speedy soup supper with the bold flavours of chilli and blue cheese (and broccoli, a superfood): http://metro.co.uk/2014/02/03/how-to-cook-broccoli-chilli-and-blue-cheese-soup-4285743/

My favourite colour is purple. But did you know purple fruit and veg contains anthocyanins which reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes and Parkinson’s? Here is a purple salad recipe to make the most of them!  http://familyspice.com/recipes/recipe/?recipe_id=581

I've been asked about what to do with whole Urad dahl. I'd say something very slow cooked. Dahl Makhani is a Punjabi classic. http://www.tarladalal.com/Dal-Makhani-%28-Punjabi-Recipe-%29-30900r
Alternatively, http://chefinyou.com/2012/09/dal-bukhara/ Dahl Bukhara.

Pan roasted cauliflower with some Sicilian influences: http://food52.com/recipes/24372-cavolfiore-palma-a-la-leah-pan-roasted-cauliflower

Articles/Know How:

I've reviewed Brixton Market's Kao Sarn restaurant at Snig's Kitchen. Here is a broader round up on Brixton Market: http://editer.com/food-drink/brixton-village/

French chefs call time on food photography in their restaurants... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-26189607

Forceful and passionate response to Edwina Currie on food banks by the Trussell Trust's Chair. http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2014/01/edwina-currie-is-wrong-about-food-banks/

Film:

A Separation (Iran)

TV:

When Rock Goes Acoustic (documentary)

Music:

Temples - Sun Structures

Heaven 17 - The Luxury Gap

Warpaint - Warpaint

Led Zeppellin - III

Viennese hot dogs with a hollowed tunnel for the sausage