February - A Month in Review

13 Facebook Recommendations:

I still have the 2 DVD's that I had at the end of last month. They are still unwatched. I am an idiot.

13 Recipes:

Surely we all remember the success of Ham and Egg Muffins? I'm sure there is more to come this month, due to my Charity self punishment.

13 Meals Out:

Suprisingly, 2 meals out this month. Where are nice places to go around the Birkenhead area?

13 Random Acts of kindness:

Oh bugger, this one. I'll be nice at some point, I promise.

13 Letters:

I've bought some nice paper and envelopes, so this will start to happen very soon. And going back on my word, I did say I wouldn't say who was getting a letter before I wrote it, but I have decided one of the letters will be for Ethan to have when he is older. A letter from the past, talking about the first year of having him in my life. Nobody will read it until he is an adult.

13 Blogs per month:

Nailed this for the 2nd month is a row. It feels good to be me.

13 Family days out:

Nothing really happened yet, but we are going to Chester Zoo in March, and my National Trust membership will be coming through soon, so it's all go.

13 New Foods:

I tried Tawa Chicken and I'm open to suggestions for my future meals.

£13 for Charity per month:

Ahead of the game on this one. 3 donations done. And you can sponsor me here

13/30 Autographs:

I've done literally bugger all with this. Curses

13 (minimum) Postcrossing:

I finally found some postcards with pictures of Birkenhead (bought online, I think from America), and I've written the address on, so I'll be posting them ASAP. The ball is rolling.

13 (minimum) Geocaches:

Still nothing. Outside is really far!

13 @Replies or Retweets from famous people:

Adding to last months 5 (Olly Mann, Christina Martin, Bethany Black, Michael Legge and Roisin Conaty), this month I got Richard Herring, Emma Kennedy, Headbanger Thrasher and Player Uno. Might actually get this boxed off next month.

Not bad at all. I really do need to start leaving the house and being nice to people though. Urgh

Oh what have I done??

I have done something rather foolish. On Twitter today, I saw that celebrities are starting something called #TwitterMillion to try to harness Twitter to raise £1 Million for Comic Relief.

Caught up on the moment, I decided that I wanted to get involved. But what could I do? Being a fat lad, I couldn't do any of the usual sponsorship deals. I've not going it in my to run or swim or bike for any real distance. So why not use my special skills to my advance. So I asked myself, what am I best at? Why, the answer was obvious... eating so unhealthily that even a small child would tell me to eat more vegetables. So this is the challenge I have set for myself.

For all of March 2013, I will not eat sweets, crisps, chocolate or takeaways, nor will I drink any fizzy drinks.

I don't drink, smoke or do drugs, my awful diet is my vice, and I'm turning my back on it for 31 days. It will be very difficult for me, I'm not going to lie. I'm going to moan about it, but I'm not going to lie.

So I'm going to ask you, to please put your hands in your pocket and sponsor me. I know times are tough but it really is for a good cause. Also, for my money to be counted towards #TwitterMillion, I need to raise £50 by the day of Comic Relief (March 15th)

I have joined the team of Celebrity Masterchef winner TV's Emma Kennedy, so if you would like to read her blog on #TwitterMillion you can do so here and you can join Emma's team here.

And most importantly (to me), you can sponsor me here

Thank you. I love you.

A very classy meal out!

Yesterday, I treated Katie and Ethan to a very delicious meal on the way home from Birmingham, which, surprisingly has been confirmed as an acceptable meal out.

Ladies and Gentle, I give to you.... the KFC experience.

Katie and I had the Ultimate Dips Box

The whole family can get their dip on with 100% chicken mini fillets, fries and a choice of dips including Tomato Ketchup, Classic Mayo, Kentucky BBQ, Sweet Chilli, Spicy Mayo and (for the spice lovers) 2 Hot 4 U. There's a choice of 12 and 16 mini fillets to share those dips around.  

While Ethan had a kids meal, and most of our chicken

 It was my first KFC in years, and certainly hit the spot, but I think this will be my only mild cheat. Only places with metal knives and forks from now on!

National Trust - Advice Needed

Yesterday was my birthday, and I was very spoilt with all of my gifts, however one in particular is 'challenge related'.

My lovely family clubbed together to get Kate and I National Trust membership, so we can go out for various day trips over the next year.

So, dear reader, I'm asking you for advice. Where is good to go? What's good for kids? Is there anywhere that should be avoided? Where we go and what we do is in your hands.

Don't fuck it up.

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/

Twitter Challenge - Player Uno

Very happy about this one, not only does it get me closer to completing my first challenge, but it's the perfect excuse to post a few videos.

A few days ago, I got a tweet from Player Uno, one of my favourite gimmicks from when I really only watch Chikara on YouTube.

To truly understand the beauty of Uno, and Chikara itself, you need to see it for yourself

61.5% of the challenge completed!

Enjoy!!

Twitter Update

One of my rubbish jokes has been retweeted by a proper comedian that used to be on the telly and everything!

I'm not going to rob you of the joy of discovering the hilarity yourself, you to find out what it was, you will need to follow both myself @rsshghs and Richard Herring @Herring1967

Meal Out - Ristorante Italia

Well, Valentines Day was a bit of a tricky one. Originally Kate was supposed to be working till 8, so we weren't going out, but she managed to finagle a 5pm finish AND a babysitter so announced we could still go out. All this was organised on about the 11th.

Luckily, I managed to get a cancellation at her favourite Italian Restaurant. It's called Ristorante Italia. I wonder what that means?... such a beautiful language.

Anyway, we have been before, but I'd not had the pleasure of meeting the owner before, this time I dealt with her when booking and when we arrived. This isn't normally the kind of thing worth noting, but every negative review of the place mentions her, so I was a bit dubious. For example, here is a review from a couple that were there the same time as us:

Went for Valentines Day evening, was supposed to be romantic and relaxing!!! Ha what a joke, the manageress needs to retire as she is forgetful, rude, and downright unpleasant. After being seated, we had no menus given to us and had to ask for them, then we weren't given an complimentary bread sticks (unlike everyone else). We eventually ordered from the disgusting oversized menu's, and people who had come in after us were on to there desert and we hadn't even got our starters!! The starter was adequate but the garlic bread was burnt. The main was lovely and desert was lovely. My partner finished her meal and was asked by the manageress if she would like desert at 7.15pm to which she replied can we just have a minute and the manageress replied we need you out by 8pm as the table is booked!!!! OMG how rude we had 45 minutes before then and maybe if we hadn't had to wait half an hour for our starter we would've been finished by then, duh!! I don't recommend anyone to go here unless you want to be insulted and eat over priced adequate food!!!!!!!!

I need not of worried though, the old Hughes charm ensured that she was nothing but pleasant to me.

We shared a garlic bread with cheese for a starter, then I had Chicken Kiev and chips (shut up, I don't like Italian, it's all tomato nonsense) and Kate had lasagne and chips. For pudding I had ice cream and Kate had a Sundae. Then we got home before Ethan returned from his hot date. Dirty stop out!

If you are interested, the website is here. And if you have your speakers on, you will understand why leaving a bad review with your real name is not so smart.

Trying new food - Tawa Chicken

I must admit, I only realised I was trying something new after I'd eaten most of it, so images will be provided by our good friend, Professor Google.

Last night, we have a takeaway from Sultan Tandoori, we have been there before and it's bloody lovely. They always throw in a few freebies as well, and a couple of lollies. Clearly they know the way to my heart! (If you are wondering, it's to the left of my sternum, between the 3rd and 5th rib, through the costal cartilage.)

Despite being the least adventurous man in the world when it comes to Chinese food (I'm either going to have beef mushroom and chips (no onions) or chicken mushroom and chips (no onions), thank you very much!) I do like to try different things when it comes to Indian food. Last nights choice was Tawa Chicken.

About as authentic as one can get to traditional takeaway‘s, chicken tawa is a street food and roadside favourite through the regions of India.

Succulent marinated chicken is grilled or pan-fried to golden perfection, and mixed with spicy chilli, pungent garlic and ginger to make a fairly dry dish. Enjoy this spicy specialty with lots of hot naan or roti.

Like the balti, chicken tawa takes its name from the large, flat griddle pan it’s cooked on.

What this doesn't mention is that the Tawa from Sultan Tandoori comes with grated cheese on it. And looks and smells fantastic.

This picture really doesn't do it justice

This meal really is recommended, as it the takeaway itself (delivery is fast and yesterday's freebies were a portion of rice, 4 onion bhajis and 2 lollies).

And of course, the most important test of a curry. How do I feel this morning?

The 'extra' Charity Donation

Obviously, one charity donation per month was going to leave me short on my challenge, so this month I have made a second donation.

http://www.justgiving.com/bidonbaines

Bidding over £10 gives you the chance to win an Everton shirt worn by Leighton Baines and the money is donated to Everton in the Community

Everton in the Community is the official charity of Everton Football Club and is proud to deliver a range of programmes to promote health, education, social inclusion and equality of opportunity to over 30,000 participants every year across Merseyside and North Wales using the power of sport.

Would you give a Comic Relief?

This months charity donation has gone to Comic Relief because my friend Charlie is organising at fund raising effort at the care home where she (and Katie) work.

If you would like to join me in donating, you can do here

If you would like me to donate to your favourite charity, get off your backside and do some fundraising for them (and make sure I know about it!)

Happy St Pancake Day, tossers!

Slimming World Chips

Good evening class and welcome to another 'cooking with a fat lad'

Tonight's gourmet offering is 'Slimming World Chips'

This is very complicated, so I'm going to type this slowly for you.

First you peel and chop the potatoes into small rectangular shapes, or 'chips'.

Then you boil them, like you would with boiled potatoes. But these aren't boiled potatoes, they are chips. Are you getting all this? If not, start reading again from the top.

When they have been boiling for 4 -5 minutes, you drain them and transfer to a baking tray

Now you will see that I have covered the baking tray with tin foil. This is a what all the professional chefs use when they can't be bothered to wash the baking tray before using it.

Turns out though, potato WILL stick to tin foil when heated. This is both a cookery lesson and a science lesson. No extra charge!

mmmm Delish!

'Ham' and Egg Muffins

Morning food fans,

In an unexpected twist, rather than being asleep or pretending to be asleep, I've just been up cooking breakfast from scratch. Not for myself as I'm sure you would guess from the list of ingredients, but I did all the cooking, so it still counts.

So lets take a look at the recipe

Okay, alarm bells should be going off straight away here, because this is clearly from the Slimming World website.

Also, if I can draw your attention to the 2 main ingredients. Small chestnut mushrooms and lean smoked ham. We don't have either of these things in the house. We do have field mushrooms though, so I can work with that. However Katie selected this to substitute for the ham:

For those of you fortunate enough to have avoided this monstrosity  I can reveal that this is what Quorn bacon looks like. By sheer coincidence, it is also what used odor eaters look and smell like.

To try and make these muffins a bit more interesting (i.e. to actually taste of something) I added a few more ingredients. Onions, tomatoes and peppers all went in. I already wasn't going to eat them, so I might as well use up as much of the other things I don't like in there as well. If we had any coconut or fish in the house, that would have gone in too!

To be fair, this isn't even slightly complicated, so I just cut it all up and stuck it in a pan

As you can see, I've not quite mastered the art of cutting things finely. But as far as I'm concerned, if it fits in the pan, it's small enough.

Next up was getting it into the muffin tray, and adding the eggs and milk:

I must admit, as this stage I was thinking it was an absolute doddle this cooking lark. Then I tried to pick up this very flimsy plastic case and pissed muffin juice all over myself and the floor.

I managed to rescue most of it, and 30 minutes later, they came out looking like this:

They were more like mini quiches than muffins, but Kate was suitably impressed and I didn't have to eat any, so we are calling that a win/win

  

It's all kicking off on Twitter

2 replies since my last blog.

David Reed, comedian and Penny Dreadful tweeted me regarding one of his Podcasts @MrDavidReed

And most excitingly of all (to the 12 year old me... who frankly, is pretty much the 31 year old me) I got a tweet from former WWF Tag Team Champion - Headbanger Thrasher!! @GRthrasher

Yep... I am pretty cool.

No, my girlfriend doesn't read this blog, why do you ask?