Human Remains on Tour

A lot has happened in the world of People Services at Blind Veterans in the last two years and the time had come for us to all be in the same room for some bonding and planning so the southerners took to the road (or rail) to Cymru with their onesies.
We spent two days working on our People Services strategy and our management and operational plans  but as you can see it we managed to find a bit of time for fun too.
We don't always dress like this, it was Wear Your Onesie to Work Week to raise funds for Blind Veterans and we are never slow to engage in an opportunity for dressing up.  I do hope the bees were not traumatised by their visit from this group  of wolves, giraffe, various cats, pandas and mice.

We followed up the woodland walk down to the bee hives with a raging agreement about the venue for our Christmas lunch and selections for the Secret Santa followed by a game of Who Am I.  Even without the lubrication of alcohol it was a lot more fun than it looks in this picture.  Andrew Lloyd-Webber locking horns with Robin Hood while Ghengis Khan and James Bond look on.

Our colleagues in Wales put on a crystal maze tournament of archery, darts, pool, quiz, mosaic making and creative cheer leading.  Its amazing that we had time for any serious work.  Each one of us is now the proud owner of a mosaic coaster to remind us of a great event.  We certainly lived up to the idea that if your job is not fun, you're doing it wrong.  Looking forward to the next one.

BU Media School Graduation 2013

Matthew Paul Williams BA Hons; James Hughes Mulligan BA Hons; Lawrence Edward Davies BA Hons.

It seems like a few minutes ago that Adrian Lawrence and I set off to choose a university and now he's graduated, got a job and moved to London.  Of course it wasn't all plain sailing but judging by the noise in the room yesterday it was worth every study session, late night, hangover, red bull, desperate phone call and £ spent.

Lawrence and I travelled on the same train from Waterloo to Bournemouth, new suit safely stowed in the overhead rack. Because of the peculiarities of the train ticket booking service my ticket was cheaper in first class so we had to chat through the communicating door, dodging the train manager from time to time but the new suit got a first class ride and we remembered to retrieve it at Bournemouth.


Abby graduated on Thursday so we celebrated that at The Edge with the Tarrants.  Abby's grandad Bill became unwell during the dinner and had to leave with Jill, Caroline and Richard but I am delighted to hear that he has made a full recovery and I hope we get the chance to raise a glass with another time.
Abby, her brother Harry and the Davies continued to have a lovely meal unspoiled by the fight over the bill and associated wine juggling or the Pencilgate incident in the lift on the way in.

Up early Friday morning greeted with a text from Lawrence at 8.16 'I'm up and en-route to BIC'.
Very reassuring as when we went to bed at midnight he went out (with his suit) for more fun with friends.
What it is to be 22 and look so fresh after hardly any sleep and a lot of partying under your gown!
The official proceedings were impressive with lots of funny hats and brightly coloured gowns, bowing and procession.
The graduands all set in the stalls and the hangers on in the dress circle.  I loved the part when the Vice Chancellor Prof John Vinney asked them to turn around an applaud all the people who had supported them in various ways during their time at BU and they did so with great enthusiasm.
We had lunch at WestBeach and all the officials from the ceremony were sitting at a table behind us (we were too discreet to take pictures so you will have to take my word for that).
All in all an event to remember.
Well done all the BU 2013 grads.
Here's hoping the future is as bright at the last 4 years have been!

checking stocks?

Where did my hat go?

Savoury Bread and Butter Pudding

An evening of fireworks and celebration resulted in a lot of leftover baguette and as I'm still not completely over GBBO I decided to try an experimental dish to use it up without ending up with a sweet bread and butter pudding that I would be unable to resist.

Adrian's verdict was 'surprising, it has the texture of normal bread and butter pudding but it is savoury............surprisingly delicious'.  So here's how I did it.

half a full size baguette
6 eggs
50g butter (weight guessed)
150ml milk
100g chorizo sliced
1 tomato thinly sliced
250g mushrooms, sliced
75g chopped green and black olives
dried herbs
parmesan cheese

First I grilled the mushrooms on the maximum grill setting on foil, moving them around every few mins, to get most of the moisture out.  About 8-10 mins in total.  While the mushrooms were grilling I chopped the chorizo.

Then I grilled the chopped chorizo for about 4 mins on a slightly lower grill setting to get some of the fat out.

Then I put the thinly sliced tomato onto the foil, with the chorizo fat, sprinkled with mixed herbs and grilled for about 10 mins turning a couple of times.

  

Butter the baguette slices, thinly, on both sides.  My original plan was to make sandwiches as you do for sweet bread and butter pudding but I abandoned that idea as it didn't look great.

The big gaps here are the reason I didn't go with this first configuration.

Put a layer of baguette slices on the bottom of the greased pie dish squashing them up so there are not big gaps.

Cover the bread with the chopped olives, grilled mushrooms, chorizo and tomatoes.

Cut the remaining baguette slices in half and placed them over the top of the mixture with the crusty side uppermost.  

Beat the eggs and milk together and pour over the top.  I squashed the whole lot down with an egg lifter to make sure the wet mixture was thoroughly soaked into the bread.

Sprinkled parmesan cheese over the top and bake in the oven for about 25-30 mins.

A nice alternative to quiche and good way to use up stale bread.