Sunday, 25 February 2018
The Little Victories of a Beginner Cook
Two months ago I wrote about my struggles as a beginner cook and while some of them are still valid (hello, amount of side dishes!), I know I've made some progress since then. I'm slowly venturing into more complicated recipes (still have a long path to walk) and finding a new joy in baking despite the setback of my mixer arriving with the wrong wands so I had to beat the egg whites with my arms only. So today I'm going to tell you about my little victories as someone who recently started cooking.
New recipes
You know when you try a new recipe for the first time and somehow it ends up being edible and even tastes good? Yes, I have been surprising myself with my ability to not mess up recipes or, at least, still making them edible.
My specialty dish
I thought I would need a bit more experience in the cooking art to have a speciality dish (and maybe I do). However, my spaghetti/tagliatelle alla carbonara has been pretty popular. It's what I always cook when we have people over, mostly because it's an easy one and there's barely anything that can go wrong. I'm still not being able to figure out the right quantity of pasta/rice but I've recently been given an utensil that should help me with that (shout out for tupperware!).
People enjoying the food
When I try a new recipe or present my "specialty dish" and people give you compliments (or just eat peaceful without making remarks) makes me really happy. Of course, I am still not 100% sure they're just being polite when trying to assure me it's good but my own tastebuds tell me it's edible so that's something.
Not burn anything
I was never someone who burned my food a lot (I think it only happened once with rice because I got distracted while it was cooking and I was still able to save the majority of it). Still, being able to produce food without it being burned is an accomplishment one shouldn't overlook.
Perfect omelet
A while ago, if someone asked me if I could make omelets I would reply I could do amazing scrambled eggs. Turns out my fear of burning the eggs was preventing me of being able to cook a decent omelet. I am still working on the shape of my pancakes but my omelets now are a perfect 10/10 as I'm already able to turn them properly!
What about you? Any new accomplishments you felt really happy when you started cooking?
New recipes
You know when you try a new recipe for the first time and somehow it ends up being edible and even tastes good? Yes, I have been surprising myself with my ability to not mess up recipes or, at least, still making them edible.
My specialty dish
I thought I would need a bit more experience in the cooking art to have a speciality dish (and maybe I do). However, my spaghetti/tagliatelle alla carbonara has been pretty popular. It's what I always cook when we have people over, mostly because it's an easy one and there's barely anything that can go wrong. I'm still not being able to figure out the right quantity of pasta/rice but I've recently been given an utensil that should help me with that (shout out for tupperware!).
People enjoying the food
When I try a new recipe or present my "specialty dish" and people give you compliments (or just eat peaceful without making remarks) makes me really happy. Of course, I am still not 100% sure they're just being polite when trying to assure me it's good but my own tastebuds tell me it's edible so that's something.
Not burn anything
I was never someone who burned my food a lot (I think it only happened once with rice because I got distracted while it was cooking and I was still able to save the majority of it). Still, being able to produce food without it being burned is an accomplishment one shouldn't overlook.
Perfect omelet
A while ago, if someone asked me if I could make omelets I would reply I could do amazing scrambled eggs. Turns out my fear of burning the eggs was preventing me of being able to cook a decent omelet. I am still working on the shape of my pancakes but my omelets now are a perfect 10/10 as I'm already able to turn them properly!
What about you? Any new accomplishments you felt really happy when you started cooking?
Sunday, 18 February 2018
Movie Review: I, Tonya (2017)
I, Tonya (2017) is a movie about competitive ice skater Tonya Harding rises amongst the ranks at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, but her future in the sport is thrown into doubt when her ex-husband intervenes. It is based on irony free, wildly contradictory, totally true interviews with Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie) and Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan), her ex-husband. I couldn't resist watching this movie because I thought it was about ice skating and I'm crazy about that. However, it's not really about ice skating but rather Tonya Harding's life up to Nancy Kerrigan's attack and how it affected her and her skating. Here's a somewhat brief summary of the movie and most of her life leading to the big event. Spoilers ahead, I guess.
Tonya's mom (Allison Janney) was a smoker and alcoholic and was pretty much terrible to her while she was growing up, hitting her just because but still working double shifts to pay for her training. She's portrayed as not letting Tonya use the toilet while skating and hitting her because, as she said, Tonya would skate better when enraged. Something that made me angry is that we then see Margot Robbie in the 80s pretending she's 15 years old so we had an almost 30 year old woman playing a girl half her age. They cast a girl for 7 years old so I don't understand why they wouldn't cast a teenager to play teenage Tonya. Or rather, I do understand since Tonya was 24 in 1994 and they needed Margot to play the character. Still, in my opinion, she's just too old (even with braces) to play a 15 year old.
She ended up quiting school so she could concentrate on ice skating, got a boyfriend who also started hiting on her, which is lovely. However and despite her dedication, she wasn't graceful for the competition, neither were her choice of music or her presentation, as they also judge on appearance. She wasn't the image they wanted to portray as they wanted the "wholesome of american family".
Tonya was first american woman to complete a triple axel in a competition: "you skate backward and then take off from a forward position on your left leg and then somehow you hurl yourself in the air three and a half rotations land on the opposite foot on the back outside edge". After the triple axel, everything changed. Jeff started hitting her for no reason again (I don't think he ever stopped, it just got worse), and she left him and filed a restraining order against him. Despite everything, she went to the Olympics in 1992 but failed her triple axel because of her skate, allegely.
Her life leading to the main event, according to the movie, was full of ups and downs. She was constantly leaving Jeff and going back to him. Tonya received a threat before the National Championship and Jeff got thinking about doing the same thing to Nancy, allegely one of Tonya's friends. So after Nancy's practice she was attacked with a police baton on the right lower thigh but she recovered for the 1994 Olympics, getting the silver medal. Tonya had trouble with the laces on her skates and was given a re-skate by the judges but ended up in 8th place.
The FBI found a paper with Tonya's handwriting with Nancy's training location and schedule - the plan was to send her death threatning letters to mess with her head for the competition, not an assault. I must say the most difficult part to watch was Tonya's trial. They scheduled it til after the competition and Tonya ended up being banned for life from figure skating for life (she then became a lady boxer). It was heartbreaking watching Margot Robbie say how she'd prefer being sentenced to jail instead of being forbidden to skate, that was an amazing performance from her!
People say a lot of times this was the most important event in the year, that Tonya Harding was the most known person after Bill Clinton and but I feel like this was just in the USA, I'm not sure of how much of an impact this attack had on a global scale. I am disappointed there's not a lot of figure skating, as this was what I went for. I sort of lost the interest halfway through because it focuses too much on the attack instead of figure skating. I get they must feel like this was a huge event back then, but was it really?
Have you watched this movie? What's your opinion about it? Do you agree with me or do you have a completely opposite opinion?
Tonya's mom (Allison Janney) was a smoker and alcoholic and was pretty much terrible to her while she was growing up, hitting her just because but still working double shifts to pay for her training. She's portrayed as not letting Tonya use the toilet while skating and hitting her because, as she said, Tonya would skate better when enraged. Something that made me angry is that we then see Margot Robbie in the 80s pretending she's 15 years old so we had an almost 30 year old woman playing a girl half her age. They cast a girl for 7 years old so I don't understand why they wouldn't cast a teenager to play teenage Tonya. Or rather, I do understand since Tonya was 24 in 1994 and they needed Margot to play the character. Still, in my opinion, she's just too old (even with braces) to play a 15 year old.
She ended up quiting school so she could concentrate on ice skating, got a boyfriend who also started hiting on her, which is lovely. However and despite her dedication, she wasn't graceful for the competition, neither were her choice of music or her presentation, as they also judge on appearance. She wasn't the image they wanted to portray as they wanted the "wholesome of american family".
Tonya was first american woman to complete a triple axel in a competition: "you skate backward and then take off from a forward position on your left leg and then somehow you hurl yourself in the air three and a half rotations land on the opposite foot on the back outside edge". After the triple axel, everything changed. Jeff started hitting her for no reason again (I don't think he ever stopped, it just got worse), and she left him and filed a restraining order against him. Despite everything, she went to the Olympics in 1992 but failed her triple axel because of her skate, allegely.
Her life leading to the main event, according to the movie, was full of ups and downs. She was constantly leaving Jeff and going back to him. Tonya received a threat before the National Championship and Jeff got thinking about doing the same thing to Nancy, allegely one of Tonya's friends. So after Nancy's practice she was attacked with a police baton on the right lower thigh but she recovered for the 1994 Olympics, getting the silver medal. Tonya had trouble with the laces on her skates and was given a re-skate by the judges but ended up in 8th place.
The FBI found a paper with Tonya's handwriting with Nancy's training location and schedule - the plan was to send her death threatning letters to mess with her head for the competition, not an assault. I must say the most difficult part to watch was Tonya's trial. They scheduled it til after the competition and Tonya ended up being banned for life from figure skating for life (she then became a lady boxer). It was heartbreaking watching Margot Robbie say how she'd prefer being sentenced to jail instead of being forbidden to skate, that was an amazing performance from her!
People say a lot of times this was the most important event in the year, that Tonya Harding was the most known person after Bill Clinton and but I feel like this was just in the USA, I'm not sure of how much of an impact this attack had on a global scale. I am disappointed there's not a lot of figure skating, as this was what I went for. I sort of lost the interest halfway through because it focuses too much on the attack instead of figure skating. I get they must feel like this was a huge event back then, but was it really?
Have you watched this movie? What's your opinion about it? Do you agree with me or do you have a completely opposite opinion?
Sunday, 11 February 2018
Workshop: Healthy Breakfasts
Já há algum tempo que me tenho interessado por alimentação saudável e equilibrada (apesar de nem sempre o praticar) e desde então que ando a seguir algumas contas mais saudáveis e "fit" no Instagram. Passou pelo meu feed um anúncio a um workshop e pensei que não podia ser mais oportuno! Afinal, o pequeno-almoço sempre foi algo complicado para mim porque apesar da maioria dos especialistas defenderem que é a refeição mais importante do dia a verdade é que eu, como nunca tenho fome assim que acordo acabo por comer muito pouco, não comer como deve ser (olá chocapic!) ou mesmo sair de casa sem nada no estomâgo. Assim, no sábado passado, dia 3 de Fevereiro, decidi experimentar o Workshop sobre Pequenos-Almoços Saudáveis com a Patrícia, autora do blog Ele Cozinha, Ela Lava.
Confesso que inicialmente estava um bocadinho de pé atrás porque não arranjei companhia para vir comigo e porque sou ligeiramente esquisita com comida mas acabei por me inscrever e ainda bem que o fiz! A Patrícia foi super simpática, todo o grupo que foi ao workshop era muito porreiro e comi tanto que mais valia não ter almoçado antes de ir para lá! Conheci algumas das pessoas que já seguia no Instagram e descobri novas pessoas para seguir, todas muito simpáticas e terra-a-terra e todas com um objectivo: tornar os pequenos almoços mais saudáveis!
Foram quatro horas e um bocadinho onde a Patrícia nos mostrou como preparar seis receitas, onde tivemos que "pôr as mãos na massa" e tínhamos um cantinho especial para tirar fotografias dos resultados finais. Saí de lá a saber fazer matcha latte, papas de aveia proteícas, panquecas de banana e baunilha, crepiocas, tarteletes de aveia e com umas ideias giras para coberturas saudáveis em tostas e sandes.
Começámos pelo matcha latte, algo que eu nunca tinha provado, e confesso que fiquei um bocadinho reticente quando ouvi a Patrícia dizer que no último workshop que deu a maioria não tinha gostado e por isso ia fazer com metade da dose desta vez. Alguém também comentou que uma das propriedades era o efeito laxante, o que contribuiu ainda mais para o meu receio dado que eu sou bem esquisita com a comida! Sabem o sabor ao chá verde? É basicamente isso, mas com leite. Gostei bastante e, felizmente, não teve o efeito laxante nenhum. Prosseguimos para as tarteletes de aveia que, à falta de forno na altura, tinham sido cozinhadas pela Patrícia antes do workshop (e estavam tão saborosas!) mas mesmo assim fizemos na hora e experimentámos à mesma. Seguiram-se as papas de aveia proteicas, com três sabores para experimentarmos: maçã e canela, banana e cacau e bagas goji e arónia, O meu preferido foi o de maçã e canela com manteiga de amendoim por cima, estava delicioso! Depois disso aprendi a fazer crepiocas, ou seja, crepes com tapioca (algo que ainda hei de experimentar cá em casa) e por último, experimentei pela primeira vez abacate no pão.
Ontem experimentei pôr em prática a receitas das paquecas. Não tinha baunilha por isso fiz sem ela e acrescentei aveia de brownie em metade delas (ver fotos no final). Acho que não correu mal de todo apesar de ainda ter que trabalhar na minha técnica de viragem de panquecas e, talvez, investir numa placa ou numa frigideira maior. De qualquer maneira, apesar de ligeiramente desformadas, o sabor estava todo lá e é isso que importa!
Em conclusão, fiquei muito contente por ter decidido ir ao workshop apesar dos meus receios iniciais. Conheci pessoas novas, experimentei sabores que de outra maneira não me tinha aventurado e que irei introduzir no meu dia-a-dia e fiquei cheia de vontade de aprender mais por isso no próximo workshop (dia 4 de Março sobre snacks pré o pós treino) estarei lá!
Sunday, 4 February 2018
Book review: One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus
“Unless one of us is lying. Which is always a possibility.”
One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus is the story of what happens when five strangers walk into detention and only four walk out alive. Everyone is a suspect, and everyone has something to hide. Pay close attention and you might solve this. They say it's a mix between The Breakfast Club and Pretty Little Liars and while I've watched both and I can see where they're coming from I can say I was more entertained reading this book than I was watching both the movie and tv show they use to compare it to.
On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention for having phones (which are not theirs) with them with a certain teacher who doesn't tolerate technology. Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule. Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess but holding together the cracks in her perfect life. Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing and is one misstep away from a life of crime. Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher who greatly improved during the summer. And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High's notorious gossip app, About That, and won't ever talk about any of them again.
Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention, he's dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn't an accident: he was highly allergic to peanuts and somehow peanut oil ended up on a cup he was drinking from. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he'd planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who's still on the loose?
Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.
I really liked how this book started with presenting typical american high school stereotypes as main characters. It has multiple points of view, one for each suspect and, as you get to know them, McManus keeps breaking the stereotypes they are one by one so it is anything but cliché. The book has a few trigger warnings as it touches on cheating, emotionally abusive relationships, mental health and homophobia, but without making it all about it because this is still a mystery book. It does get side tracked sometimes but since it's narrated by the main suspects it's understandable they sometimes need to stop thinking about the crime itself.
So did I figure out who the murderer was? Yes, I had two main suspects from the beginning and I got very suspicious about a certain someone halfway through but they keep throwing new evidences at you. I ended up being correct, though! The problem with Simon being dead is that there's always someone updating this Tumblr with new information being thrown at you from the killer's prespective. I got very frustrated with the police because they are clearly incompetent and someone else actually had to solve the crime for them.
All in all, it's a very fast paced, fun to read book. The last two chapters are pure pain, so be prepared. If you like young adult mystery books this is definitely worth a shot! I look forward to reading more from Karen M. MacManus (and honestly I'm still trying to understand the peanut oil problem)!
You can get One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus on Book Depository with free shipping. Let me know if you figured out who the killer was!
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