Tuesday, 26 July 2016

UPDATE! MUST READ!

Hiya!

I have no excuse for no posts over the past month, life took over I'm afraid. But I'm back BABY! New schedule coming out soon! I've noticed all I write on my blog is about sports, food and anything else. I made a schedule so I could teach myself discipline in creating content for you guys. However, for example, Wednesdays on my old schedule I would post something to do with lifestyle or sport. I'd come to write for a Wednesday post and have nothing to say about these subjects. From now on, I'm going in with a different approach! I will be posting on the weekends instead of weekdays. I seem to spend more time on the weekends on social media and connecting with people. Therefore, lunch time on Saturday's & Sunday's there will be blog posts. I hope this is okay and I'm sorry for neglecting this blog.

Love ya! Xxx 

Want to see more of me?

Twitter & Instagram: @beastfromeast26
Snapchat: beasteast26

Thursday, 23 June 2016

Fluffy American Pancakes!

Hiya!


I LOVE American food, especially pancakes! Recently I have been craving them like mad, its unreal. They tasted so delicious and looked amazing, so I thought I'd share the recipe with you- so here it is!


Fluffy American Pancakes!


Ingredients


135g/4¾oz plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 tbsp caster sugar
130ml/4½fl oz milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tbsp melted butter
½ tsp of olive oil for cooking


Method
  1. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and caster sugar into a large bowl. In a separate bowl or jug, lightly whisk together the milk and egg, then whisk in the melted butter
  2. Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture and, using a fork, beat until you have a smooth batter. Any lumps will soon disappear with a little mixing. Let the batter stand for a few minutes.
  3. Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and add a knob of butter. When it's melted, add a ladle of batter (or two if your frying pan is big enough to cook two pancakes at the same time). It will seem very thick but this is how it should be. Wait until the top of the pancake begins to bubble, then turn it over and cook until both sides are golden brown and the pancake has risen to about 1cm (½in) thick.
  4. Repeat until all the batter is used up. You can keep the pancakes warm in a low oven, but they taste best fresh out the pan.
  5. Serve with toppings and syrups of your choice- I used golden syrup and chocolate chips!



I hope you like these as much as I do. If you do make these then please send me pictures using the social media fields below.

Love ya! Xxx

Twitter & Instagram: @beastfromeast26
Snapchat: @beasteast26

Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Delicious Chocolate Brownies!

Hiya! 

I LOVE chocolate and I want to make this a regular thing on my blog, recipes and reviews. Today's recipe is chocolate brownies! The brownies are seriously good. Here's the recipe to how I made my chocolate brownies, Enjoy!

Ingredients!

185g unsalted butter
185g best dark chocolate
85g plain flour
40g cocoa powder
50g white chocolate
50g milk chocolate
3 large egg
275g golden caster sugar

Method!

1.) Cut 185g unsalted butter into smallish cubes and tip into a medium bowl. Break 185g best dark chocolate into small pieces and drop into the bowl. Fill a small saucepan about a quarter full with hot water, then sit the bowl on top so it rests on the rim of the pan, not touching the water. Put over a low heat until the butter and chocolate have melted, stirring occasionally to mix them. Now remove the bowl from the pan. Alternatively, cover the bowl loosely with cling film and put in the microwave for 2 minutes on High. Leave the melted mixture to cool to room temperature.

2.) While you wait for the chocolate to cool, position a shelf in the middle of your oven and turn the oven on to fan 160C/conventional 180C/gas 4 (most ovens take 10-15 minutes to heat up). Using a shallow 20cm square tin, cut out a square of non-stick baking parchment to line the base. Now tip 85g plain flour and 40g cocoa powder into a sieve held over a medium bowl, and tap and shake the sieve so they run through together and you get rid of any lumps.

3.) With a large sharp knife, chop 50g white chocolate and 50g milk chocolate into chunks on a board. The slabs of chocolate will be quite hard, so the safest way to do this is to hold the knife over the chocolate and press the tip down on the board, then bring the rest of the blade down across the chocolate. Keep on doing this, moving the knife across the chocolate to chop it into pieces, then turn the board round 90 degrees and again work across the chocolate so you end up with rough squares.

4.) Break 3 large eggs into a large bowl and tip in 275g golden caster sugar. With an electric mixer on maximum speed, whisk the eggs and sugar until they look thick and creamy, like a milk shake. This can take 3-8 minutes, depending on how powerful your mixer is, so don’t lose heart. You’ll know it’s ready when the mixture becomes really pale and about double its original volume. Another check is to turn off the mixer, lift out the beaters and wiggle them from side to side. If the mixture that runs off the beaters leaves a trail on the surface of the mixture in the bowl for a second or two, you’re there.

5.) Pour the cooled chocolate mixture over the eggy mousse, then gently fold together with a rubber spatula. Plunge the spatula in at one side, take it underneath and bring it up the opposite side and in again at the middle. Continue going under and over in a figure of eight, moving the bowl round after each folding so you can get at it from all sides, until the two mixtures are one and the colour is a mottled dark brown. The idea is to marry them without knocking out the air, so be as gentle and slow as you like – you don’t want to undo all the work you did in step 4.

6.) Hold the sieve over the bowl of eggy chocolate mixture and resift the cocoa and flour mixture, shaking the sieve from side to side, to cover the top evenly. Gently fold in this powder using the same figure of eight action as before. The mixture will look dry and dusty at first, and a bit unpromising, but if you keep going very gently and patiently, it will end up looking gungy and fudgy. Stop just before you feel you should, as you don’t want to overdo this mixing. Finally, stir in the white and milk chocolate chunks until they’re dotted throughout. Now your mixing is done and the oven can take over.
                                
7.) Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, scraping every bit out of the bowl with the spatula. Gently ease the mixture into the corners of the tin and paddle the spatula from side to side across the top to level it. Put in the oven and set your timer for 25 minutes. When the buzzer goes, open the oven, pull the shelf out a bit and gently shake the tin. If the brownie wobbles in the middle, it’s not quite done, so slide it back in and bake for another 5 minutes until the top has a shiny, papery crust and the sides are just beginning to come away from the tin. Take out of the oven.

8.) Leave the whole thing in the tin until completely cold, then, if you’re using the brownie tin, lift up the protruding rim slightly and slide the uncut brownie out on its base. If you’re using a normal tin, lift out the brownie with the foil. Cut into quarters, then cut each quarter into four squares and finally into triangles. These brownies are so addictive you’ll want to make a second batch before the first is finished, but if you want to make some to hide away for a special occasion, it’s useful to know that they’ll keep in an airtight container for a good two weeks and in the freezer for up to a month.


Feel free to use this recipe, that what its here for! If you do decide to create these then please send me a picture using my Snapchat, Twitter or Instagram details below. I can't wait to see them.

Love ya! Xxx

Want to see more of me?
Twitter & Instagram: @beastfromeast26
Snapchat: @beasteast26

Thursday, 12 May 2016

How to make the perfect Hot Chocolate.

Hiya!

Yep I know its approaching summer BUT Hot chocolates will always be my favourite drinks. When I was in Egypt a few years ago, I sat beside the pool drinking a hot chocolate at least twice a day! So here's how I create the PERFECT Hot Chocolate... enjoy!

Ingredients!

4 x heaped teaspoons of Cadburys Hot Chocolate Powder.
1 cap of milk
300ml of milk
Squirty Cream
1 1/2 Cadbury Flakes
Mini Marshmallows.

Instructions!

1.) Put your 300ml of milk in a mug and in the microwave for 1 minute. Take out often to stir.
2.) Gradually mix together the cap of milk and chocolate powder to form a paste.
3.) Once the steps above are complete, combine and stir together until a chocolate brown and a milky consistency but still hot!
4.) Sprinkle some of the marshmallows on top of your drink then put the cream over the top.
5.) Crumble the half of the Flake on top of the cream then sprinkle the rest of the marshmallows, after insert your whole Flake halfway through your cream so it kinda looks like a 99 ice cream... VOLIA!


I hope you enjoy this! If you decide to make this please send me a picture of it to my social media sites below!

Love ya! Xxx

Want to see more of me?
Snapchat: beasteast26
Instagram & Twitter: @beastfromeast26

Wednesday, 11 May 2016

DOUBLE English Champions... ASPIRE PFC!

Hiya!



As most of you know, I play powerchair football for London based Aspire PFC- however if you don't know much about powerchair football, here's a little synopsis of the game!


"Powerchair football is a 4 a-side sport played in enhanced powerchair's on a indoor basketball court sized pitch. The sport is played by thousands around the world with regular regional, national and worldwide competitions. Powerchair football is one of the quickest growing sports with continuously new equipment and rules coming into the game all the time. One of the main rules of football is 'the offside rule', however, in powerchair football there is no offside rule- instead we have a 2 on 1 rule where only 1 player from each team can tackle the ball in a 3 metre radius at 1 time. Other than that, there's still throw ins, goal kicks, kick offs, corners and sadly yellow & red cards. The game is played in two 20 minute halves, the winning team from each game is whoever scores the most goals."

After reading that hopefully you have an idea of the game. In England, we have a governing body like The FA called The WFA, this organisation creates leagues & tournaments, helps develops clubs and much more. The WFA created the Premiership National League that me and my team compete in with 11 other teams. This season we've ben extremely successful in the national league - we won 20 games, drew 2 and lost 0. 


This is a fantastic achievement! I'm so proud of myself and my team, we'd worked so hard throughout the season so this is an amazing reward.

WFA also run a FA Cup inspired trophy, so any club registered with the WFA can take part in this cup. The teams are drawn out of a hat then planned on a spread sheet for the rest of the competition. This year the final was held at St Georges Park (FA Training Headquarters). Of course Aspire were in the final against Northern Thunder PFC. At half time the score was 0-0. I was brought on and set up the winning goal!


So we are double champions this season! Next stop, Denmark!

Love ya! Xxx

Want to see more of me?
Snapchat: beasteast26
Instagram & Twitter: @beastfromeast26



Tuesday, 10 May 2016

My pet peeves as a photographer!

Hiya!


I was talking to my friend Sarah the other day about pet hates and cringey things like that and it got me thinking, what are my pet hates. As an individual I can't name any, however as a photographer I can name so many! So here are my pet hates... Photography related! 

1.) Using #Photographer in an image caption on Instagram because you put a filter over it. 

This genuinely boils my blood, not gonna lie. People take pictures of landscapes or pretty places or things and upload it onto Instagram with a filter which sometimes ruin the image, then posts the image using the hashtag "photographer". Seems pretty harmless, right? Calling yourself a photographer you'd know the technical meanings and settings on a camera for example Apperature, ISO, Shutter Spead etc, you'd also gone through some kind of training? I've been training for atleast 4 nearly 5 years now in photography and I've still got about 6 years till I'm 110% fully qualified. So just because you took a good picture doesn't mean you're instantly a fully qualified photographer. First rant over

2.) When clients ask you "Can you make me look pretty?".

Yes, I maybe the photographer but you are who you are and I can't change that. I can use a blemish tool on photoshop to blend in any blemishes on your body, I can make you look skinnier but I can't physically make you look a different person.

3.) The megapixel discussion! 

I seriously am no camera technician, but all I know is when I'm asked this you don't care, but I care because I need to know if it takes pictures. We care a lot about pictures. Our pictures. 


4.) When someone critiques your work who doesn't have any knowledge of photography. 

Being a photographer you like to show off your work, either that being in an exhibition of gallery, social media or something else. You are the mother of your work, you created your work and gave birth to it. You're extremely proud of your work, then this nobody comes in and shoots you down with an airrifle of a gob- they haven't even looked at the name or caption of your piece, they haven't even looked at it for more than a second!  "I don't like it it's......". Criticism is valuable but when something about your work is blatantly obvious and is about that you have to understand and consider it before critiquing it.


Rants over. 

Love ya! Xxx


Want to see more of me? 

Snapchat: beasteast26
Instagram & Twitter: @beastfromeast26 

Thursday, 5 May 2016

Throwback Thursday!

Hiya!

Happy Thursday! Todays Throwback Thursday is inspired by my holiday to Sharm El Shiek in Egypt. Sharm is a beautiful holiday resort for families in Egypt, the workers are so proud of the place and love tourists. Its mainly European visitors (English, German, some even Russian!) with the odd person from somewhere else.


We stayed at Sea Club Aqua Park which is near Nabq Bay (near all the commercial restaurants and shops). Inside our hotel we had a spa, a sports bar, 3 restaurants and an Asda! We stayed over the Xmas period because we needed some Winter Sun (it got to as hot as 28 degree Celsius) and I can say it was one of the best Christmas's I've ever had! Enjoy the following images from my sunny Christmas in Egypt.

 

The Hotel grounds. You can see the waterpark slides which were a 5 minute walk from our room. Our room was so close to the pools - you can see the sun loungers and parasols.

 

The beach and the Red Sea. Very close to the local towns and sandy deserts. During the time I was there the UN was there trying to settle and disagreement with some "pirates" who docked their ship in an illegal part of the sea as it was a protected part due to wild life ... I think?!
 

Under da seaaaaaaaaaa! The Red Sea in fact! On Xmas Eve we went on a submarine ride. It was so hot, I remember on the bottom deck it was all glass and freezing cold which was nice as it was boiling hot!!! 


In the Cockpit with my brother as our flight was delayed on the way home for about an hour. It was interesting to sit in the front and see all the important controls and buttons, it was very tempting to touch!!

That's all for today! Come back next Thursday to see more throwbacks of my life!

Love ya! Xxx

Want to see more of me?

Snapchat: beasteast26
Instagram & Twitter: @BeastFromEast26