Sunday 2 December 2012

Keeping my sprits up

It's officially time to get into the Christmas spirit. The weather has been cold and crisp and there has been a hard frost on the ground all week that makes the street look like a winter wonderland. The advent calendar is up, and Michael Buble is on the television singing Christmas songs so I should be in my element, but I have a cold and seem to have lost my yuletide motivation.  As a result I haven't been doing much baking or yoga this week, but I have been trying to make some time each day to do something that reminds me to take a break and step away from the stresses and strains of daily life.

Here's my top 5 moments of calm amongst the chaos:

1. Stopped for coffee and pastry en route to a meeting at Tapa Organic in Glasgow. A perfect cafe with great food and a great philosophy behind it. It also gave me the chance to try some of their lovely bread.

2. Took a walk with my dog in the frosty sunshine on a cold blue skied winter's day. Breathed in the fresh air and admired the beautiful golden light on the hillside.

 
 
3. Watched people ice skating on George Square in the Christmas wonderland.
 
4. Bought some new cosy winter socks and settled down with a good book on the sofa.
 
5. Helped my son write his Christmas letter to Santa and settled down with the family for our annual viewing of Elf.
 
These may not be huge achievements, but when I look back over the week they are the bits that count. I'll try to get back to the baking, business planning, yoga, christmas shopping and emails soon, but for now I think I'll just stay on the sofa and take a moment to bask in the glory of small victories and the rare pleasure of doing absolutely nothing.

Thursday 22 November 2012

In praise of thankfulness (and the virtues of ugly food)

It's Thanksgiving in the USA today, and although I don't get to celebrate with my brother and sister in law as they tuck into a big plate of turkey in Houston, I always think it's a lovely idea for a holiday. There is a lot to be said for setting aside a day that makes you spend time thinking about what you have to be thankful for in life whilst counting your blessings with your friends and family. When the days are short, cold, wet and dark this isn't always an easy task, so if I can't have pumpkin pie, I appreciate the reminder from across the water to refocus on what's really important in life.

This week has been a hard slog, with illness, work and bad weather so I've been trying hard to find some time for some small pleasures to keep the thanksgiving spirit alive. Yesterday I dragged my poorly son out of the house for lunch at Three Sister's Bake in the beautiful Quarrier's Village in Renfrewshire. I've never been before but heard about it after James from this year's British Bake Off launched their children's cake baking competition and decided I needed to make some time for a visit. The food was yummy and the shelves were stacked with lovely gifts and treats, but the best thing about it was the amazing location. The houses on the estate are all former orphanages which were built by the philanthropist William Quarrier in the best Victorian tradition of improving the consitution and mind by moving the disadvantaged into beautiful retreats in lovely surroundings. The Quarrier's charity, which provides support to disadvantaged families, is still based here, but the houses and church have all been turned into private residences sprinkled with galleries and cafes. The best way to describe it is to imagine if Barrett Homes based their estates on Hogwarts. I loved it.

That night I decided to balance the cakes with a healthy supper of lentil and butternut squash stew. It's a Nigel Slater recipe and like all the best winter food, it ain't pretty but it tastes amazing. Tonight's dinner was also based on this principle when I raided the remnants of the fridge before the Friday shop and roasted up some peppers, onions and potatoes tossed in garlic and paprika with some chilli Halloumi. We raised a thankful glass to distant family and ugly food that warms the body and soul and for a few minutes the worries and stresses of life disappeared.

Sunday 11 November 2012

Baking experiments and social media

This weekend started off with a treat when my husband and I took Friday afternoon off and went on a rare trip to the cinema to see the new Bond film before having a slap up seafood dinner at one of my favourite Glasgow restaurants, Gamba. The food was great and due to the magical world of Twitter, fishy chef extraordinaire, Derek knew we were coming and made sure we were well looked after. My favourite was the fish soup with crab and ginger which I could happily have eaten all day long.

Twitter has also got me my first baking commission with @whwlatest on the look out for some gluten free bread. I've had some flour in stock for a couple of weeks so decided to give it a bash today. It actually turned out quite tasty, more like a crumpety milk loaf then a crusty bloomer, but would make a decent bit of substitute toast to satisfy an emergency bread craving. Looking forward to re-baking it for public consumption and seeing how it goes down with those who need it.

Whilst I was waiting for that to bake, I also dug out the bag of spelt flour that had been waiting to be tried for a while and adapted a Richard Bertinet recipe for honey and lavender bread. All was going well until the final transfer to the oven when it deflated somewhat leaving me with a strange looking but heavenly smelling loaf. The lavender was subtle and the nuttiness of the spelt balanced with the sweetness of the honey to give a great tasting, unusual bread.

Twitter is a very strange and wonderful thing. It draws you in, introduces you to like minded people, and provides an amazing platform for marketing, motivation and distraction. I've shared today's experiments with the inspiring @thoughtfulbread who are busy baking on a much grander scale at the other end of the country for some foodie feedback and will let Nigel Slater know that his Brownie recipe is indeed a winner later. It's all very strange, but it keeps me working towards the dream. Just don't tell my mentor @PosiOut about my lack of business planning progress!

Sunday 4 November 2012

Time to get festive

This has to be one of my favourite times of year. We've dressed up as skeletons, super heroes, scooby doo characters and dug out our winter woollies. We've had the full range of autumn weather, autumn colours, Halloween treats, bonfires and fireworks and I've loved it all.

It's also been a week of full on cooking and baking, using up all the seasonal treats in our fruit and veg box from Pestle & Mortar and raiding the garden for the last of the home grown goodies and festive treats. We've had Halloween cookies, pumpkin and blue cheese risotto, Aubergine parmigiana, filled the store cupboard with apple jelly with chilli and rosemary & mint, feasted on banana cake, roast beef & yorkshire puddings and apple sponge. The cupboard is now full of mincemeat and the Christmas cake is in the tin. In short the house smells delicious and our tummies are full to bursting.

This weekend's baking experimentation was, however, the best bit of all. Bagels, bagels, bagels. I've loved them forever but I've never made them before and I really don't know why because they are amazing. Chewy, soft, squishy and fun. They are the best reason I've found so far to get out of bed early on a Sunday morning and get baking. Here's some pics of the bagelicious feast in action.







Tuesday 30 October 2012

The yoga side of life

When I'm not baking, eating cake, blogging, parenting or working I like to pop on some stretchy clothes, burn some essential oils and try to switch my head off by doing some yoga.

It isn't a new thing for me, I've practised it on and off since university, but in the last twelve months yoga has become a way of life and an essential part of my day to day routine.

This new obsession started last year when I was very stressed and run down. I needed to start making some changes in my life and devote some time and energy to rescuing my sanity and yoga was one of the things I turned to. I dragged myself out of the house one dark, cold Wednesday night and into my local yoga class run by White Lotus Yoga. It was the first step (or stretch) to finding myself again and just taking that hour a week to do something mentally relaxing and physically stimulating made the world of difference to me. I'm not usually one for making new year's resolutions but this year I did; to make yoga a part of my life on a more permanent basis.

The first part of my plan was to go on a yoga retreat. I say retreat, I mean holiday. I spent a long time looking for yoga breaks where you don't have to do too much strenuous exercise and could still eat and drink in the sunshine and found exactly what I was looking for through Sunflower Retreats who run week long yoga holidays in the beautiful hilltown of Casperia in Italy.




Our teacher was Katharine West from Four Seasons Yoga in Somerset. Katharine was the perfect teacher for me. Patient, fun, wise and a little bit mad, she is a passionate advocate of scaravelli yoga (which works on the natural positioning of the spine) and a beautiful person inside and out. I learnt so much and for the first time in my life felt like I was actually 'doing' yoga properly rather than just manoeuvring my not too bendy body into uncomfortable positions. I practised meditation, learnt breathing techniques that now rescue me from stress on a daily basis and made some great friends in an inspirational setting. Best of all, the food we ate was amazing. The Sunflower team promote ethical tourism and encourage guests to visit local restaurants and sample the local produce which we were all too happy to do. Pizza, pasta, gelato, truffles, cheese, tomatoes, antipasti, it was all so delicious. I did feel slightly guilty when the in-team therapist detected an imbalance in my digestive system during my reflexology session but decided it was worth it!



The up shot of it all is that I came home and, much to my husband's bewilderment, started drinking more green tea, chanting with chakra beads and dragging a back packing yogi chocolatier from New Zealand with me.

Was it life changing? I hope so. I'm still me, but I'm a better version of me with an escape valve that I can tap into whenever I need to in order to keep me that way, and a commitment to taking proactive steps to becoming a more fulfilled person. I've decided it's a journey I want to take further both for me and, hopefully, for more people like me, who need to find a way to make that space in their life. So I've now signed up with Seasonal Yoga Teacher Training and will be starting their course next year. I may not be the most flexible or spiritual person out there, but I'm a true convert to the yogic way of life and can't wait to take it to the next level.

Namaste.

Tuesday 23 October 2012

Good food and good friends

This weekend the BBC Good Food Show came to town and my pre-Christmas healthy eating, less drinking, money saving regime went out the window.

My son and I set off on Friday morning for the shows opening. We were there in time to see the King and Queen of baking, Paul Holywood and Mary Berry, cut the ribbon and then we spent a fun couple of hours tasting treats, pressing apples with the commonwealth orchard team and decorating cupcakes with Truly Scrumptious Designer cakes. Jamie even exchanged a thumbs up with the silver fox himself, whilst Mummy just blushed. I wonder when the restraining order will come through the post?

On Saturday I had a day of scrubbing my kitchen in a bid to start preparations for a visit from the environmental health team so I can get my granola empire off the ground. Then it was time to head over to Edinburgh for a rare night on the town with two of my best pals from university. We spent the evening drinking dodgy cocktails, doing dodgy dancing and discussing plans to escape the stresses of dodgy jobs, DIY and dating. Are there any women out there in their 30s who are entirely happy with their lot? I'm not sure, but I know there is nothing like the support of your friends to keep your feet on the ground and your self belief and ambitions up in the clouds.

After a monster bacon sarnie the next morning, it was back to Glasgow for the child free version of the Good Food Show. It was mobbed but we managed to eat and drink our way round it and try some amazing produce. My bags were stuffed with sausages and beef from Macbeth's butchers, venison from the Seriously Good Venison Company, giant raspberry meringues from Whole Foods, Giffnock and a couple of other treats that have to remain under wraps until Christmas. Marie and Alex, my partners in foodieness for the day, helped me stuff my stomach with bubbly, turkey rolls, cheese and beer and Luvians ice cream, before I rolled home to cook my dinner!

What a dinner it was - tiny tender venison fillet steaks in a red wine, juniper and chocolate sauce with home grown roasted veggies. Delicious.

My diet and bank balance may have been ruined but my spirits had been restored and at the end of the day, I know which is more important.

Thursday 11 October 2012

The Fife life

We've just spent a week in Fife having fun in the chilly autumn sun (and flash floods) whilst enjoying some of my favourite food haunts. It's more years then I care to remember since I lived in this part of the world but it's still one of my favourite places to visit. The fishing villages in the east neuk are so pretty and it's the perfect place for kids and dogs to play on windswept beaches whilst everyone stuffs their faces.

First stop of the week was Anstruther for mandatory fish & chips from the award winning fish bar. I could take or leave fish and chips before I ate them here, this week I had to fight the urge to visit daily. I know they always taste better by the sea, but there is no denying these people know how to make a good fish supper.

Next up was a visit to Fisher & Donaldson in St Andrews for their amazing fudge donuts. Smothered in sticky, smokey icing and stuffed with creme patisserie they are the kind of cakes that make life worth living, especially when you eat them on the west sands with the the sun shining on your face and the tang of sea salt on the air.

St Andrews has always been a lovely place to visit but it's filled up with even more cute cafes and tasty delhis over the years and you could very easily spend a whole week happily moving from one scone to another. We stocked up on some cheese from Mellis's, fresh fish and huge scallops from Kerrachers and enjoyed every last stomach stretching morsel.

Finally, special mention has to go to the Ardrossan farm shop which was stocked with an amazing range of local produce. We cooked up a roast of free range chicken, spicy chorizo, home grown tomatoes and tatties and raised a glass to a great holiday with beautiful friends and family in a very special part of the world. Apparently, it's quite good if you like golf too.

Sunday 30 September 2012

Sourdough, cake and inspiration

This weekend it was time to try out my rye sourdough starter which has been slowly fermenting for the last month. It had gone from smelling of paint stripper to boozy, sharp apples so at last I could experiment with the sponge method and get baking.

This technique involves mixing together a ladleful of your starter with some flour and warm water the evening before you want to bake and leaving it in a warm place overnight. The next morning it had transformed into a frothy milkshake and was good to go. The next stage was making the dough by adding more flour and salt and kneading until smooth and shiny. This took me about 10 minutes using the satisfyingly aggressive and noisy French kneading technique to which I am now a firm devotee.

You then leave the dough for an hour or two, before deflating and re-forming into a ball, then repeat the resting, deflating and reforming stage 2-3 times until you have a lovely fluffy, smooth pillow to play with. The final stage is to divide the dough and form into loaves to pop in proving baskets for the final rising stage (again another 2-3 hours). Finally by tea time they were ready to go in the oven and by supper time we were tucking in to some delicious fresh sourdough.

This is definitely a technique for a long lazy weekend, rather than when you want bread in a hurry but the results were amazing. My best sourdough yet.

It also gave me a chance to try out my new signature slash to the crust. The H for Hels' Bakehouse looks great, although much to the delight of my husband, who works at the SECC, it also looks like the new Hydro arena in Glasgow and has now been christened 'Hydro bread'. I spy a marketing opportunity!



In between all of this bread making it was the usual weekend mixture of dog walking and child ferrying. My son goes to a drama class on a Saturday so whilst he was busy becoming a star, I took advantage and headed off for a coffee and a cupcake at The Butterfly Bakery & Cafe in Bearsden. I've been driving past for a while and looking for an excuse to pop in and I'm glad I did because the cake was delicious and it's the perfect sneaky treat for busy Mum's looking for a sanity saving 20 minutes peace and quiet.

To keep my motivation levels up (with less calorific side effects) I've also joined the ManicMums group on Linkedin and would definitely recommend this and the website mumandcareer.co.uk for anyone struggling to balance work, family, career, guilt and ambitions for a better way of doing all of this. It's full of inspiring advice from like minded people and there's nothing like feeling you're not alone to give you the confidence to keep going.

Sunday 23 September 2012

Autumn life on the West Highland Way

I've not posted anything for a while, which is a sign that things have been progressing too slowly on the mission statement and that 'real' life has taken over for a while. This weekend, however, the sun has been shining (a miraculous three whole days in a row) and although there is a chill in the air and the leaves are starting to change colour, it's put me back on track a little bit.

Saturday was all about starting to do the big autumn garden clear out. This was the first year of the veggie patch, and it's been a mild success although not quite the self sufficient idyll I had envisaged. I blame the weather, but I have a sneaking suspicion it may also be down to my lack of knowledge about what I'm doing. However, there's still been plenty to eat and I decided we would have a weekend mini harvest festival with some of the successes. I dug out the potatoes, rescued the last of the sprouting broccoli and rhubarb and lifted some of the miniature carrots and onions. This was more than enough to feed us for the weekend on some tasty warming autumnal fare. First up was some lentil soup - the only soup both my children will eat without looking like I am trying to poison them. Next I made some rhubarb and apple chutney (our apple tree is awash with fruit which I am thinking of selling on the black market to all the hard pressed English cider makers), then in the evening a chilli which I washed down with a glass of West Highland Way beer from the Loch Lomond brewery.

After a fine night's sleep I woke up to see the sun shining again and felt the need to take a long walk so, clearly influenced by last night's beer, I set off on the first leg of the West Highland Way. Our house is just a mile or so away from the path, so I grabbed the dog and set off up the hill and enjoyed every step of the way to Drymen in beautiful autumn sunshine.

My husband and I walked the West Highland Way three years ago, and I've only done little parts of the route since, but it really is a great thing to do and my walk today was a reminder that maybe it was time to plan a new challenge.

If you're a whisky lover, or just visiting Scotland and feel you should check out a distillery, you should definitely stop off at Glengoyne. The first leg of the West Highland Way goes right past, and it's a lovely spot with great whisky. We loved it so much that 18 months ago, we chose to get married there in the tasting room which overlooks the waterfall. Such a great day, such a bad hangover. Every time we go past it brings a smile to my face and when real life is bringing you down, it pays to have a little reminder of the things that are really important.

Tonights evening meal of sausages with home grown roasted potatoes and onions, followed by apple and west highland way blackberry crumble with my family was the perfect end to a lovely day in a lovely part of the world.

Tuesday 4 September 2012

Cookbook heroes

If you could marry a chef who would it be? It doesn't matter if they are male or female, straight or gay, fat or thin, nasty or nice, this is all about the dinner they'd make you every night at the end of a long day whilst you sipped a glass of wine in your ever expanding, elasticated trousers.

These are the ones whose cookbooks you buy just to imagine eating the food within them, spending hours drooling over the pictures. It wouldn't make a difference if you never made any of the recipes, but when you do, you love them just a little bit more each time.

My husband and I have an agreement that we would leave one another instantly if Nigel Slater or Bill Granger offered to shack up in our kitchen. There is a similar (slightly more one sided) policy in place about any member of Take That or Michael Buble.

I made Bill's char sui ribs from his Asian cookbook tonight with oven baked ginger, lemongrass and pea rice. As I watched my normally annoyingly fussy four year old wolf it down, I knew he'd also be up for the agreement. Now we just need to track him down.

Monday 3 September 2012

A weekend of local living

So this weekend it was time to put my money where my mouth is and start doing more to support local businesses whilst shunning the supermarket baddies. I started with a trip to Sainsbury's (whoops) but I kept my spending down to a minimum and only on the things I would struggle to get elsewhere. Still, I felt like a bit of a sham so I tried to make up for it from there.

On the way home I picked up my first Mollinsburn organic fruit and veg box from the village deli, Pestle & Mortar. It's a brilliant wee shop packed full of interesting things and it felt great to be using it for more than just an emergency supply or special treat. The veg sack was great. Definitely good value, the produce tastes wonderful and it has been fun playing ready steady cook with the contents all weekend.

Next up was back to the home baking to keep us stocked up on goodies. On Friday I russled up an orange and almond cake, a batch of chocolate chip cookies and two loaves of Bertinet rye, caraway and raisin bread using the flour that had arrived in the week from Shipton Mill. I also got some more sourdough on the go, which I baked off on Sunday with mixed success. Both loaves tasted great but one was a flat pancake as I've still not mastered getting them out of the proving baskets.

On Saturday I went to top up the fridge and my tummy from the Loch Lomond Food Festival at Lomond Shores. My bags were full of tasty sausages from the Extraordinary Sausage Company in Kippen, pork pies, juicy olives, salami and beer from the Loch Lomond brewery.

Meanwhile I'd sent my son and husband on a mission to Fantoosh Fish in Milngavie to pick up some lemon sole for our dinner on Sunday. I cooked it in a gram, ginger and garlic batter with spiced home grown potatoes, beetroot raita from the veg bag, and some steamed organic spinach and sat back to sip my bonny n' blonde local beer in a very smug and contented way.

A good start to a new way of doing things.

Thursday 30 August 2012

Scottish ice cream and the last day of summer

It is a little known and ironic fact that Scottish people are really good at making ice cream. Tomorrow is the last day of August and, although I can't actually remember summer happening (apart from in the Spring), this must mean it is the end of it. So here are my favourite places that I would have gone to eat more ice cream this summer if I hadn't been so busy making soup to keep myself warm:

Colpi - Their Italian style ice cream only comes in one scrumptious creamy flavour but the fun is all in the accessorising which obviously appeals to the girly side of me. They have a sprinkle, syrup and waffle cone to match every outfit, but personally I find it hard to resist the single nougats. My nearest one is in Milngavie and is regularly used to bribe my children.

Nardini's - The best reason to go to Largs. The cafe is an art deco tea room and the sundaes are enormous. There's one on Byres Road in Glasgow as well but it definitely tastes better at the seaside.

Janetta's - I worked in the cafe next door to Janetta's during my first couple of years at university in St Andrews. They were always queued out the door, we were not. The cafe closed, I lost my job, and Janetta's took it over, but I forgave them because their ice cream is delicious. I have to go on a pilgrimage at least once a year.

Katy Rodgers Artisan Dairy, Knockraich Farm, Fintry - This place is amazing. You can mix up your own cold stone concoctions in their lovely cafe which means my children always insist on something disgusting like jelly babies in mint choc chip, but the ice cream, frozen yoghurts and sorbets made in this dairy farm and creamery are really delicious. Last time I went I tried the melon and ginger and I have been obsessing about it ever since. I'd also highly recommend their pro-biotic yoghurts.

Special mention this year also goes to The Pokey Hat in Oban which we were introduced to on our 'summer' camping trip and officially has the best name ever for an ice cream shop. Go and try their turkish delight ice cream before you get on the ferry. You won't be disappointed.

Monday 27 August 2012

Bank holiday baking bonanza

This weekend has been all about the the bread. I am slightly obsessed and my kitchen now looks like a science lab, come illicit still.

I've baked bread occassionally over the years but the obsession started in earnest in June when we went on our family holiday to Lyme Regis and made a daily pilgrimage to the Town Mill Bakery.  I love everything about it: the communal cafe set up and open plan kitchen, the friendly atmosphere, the home made muesli, jam and peanut butter and, of course, the bread. We started each day with a mountain of toast, fresh apple juice, coffee and a pastry or two on the side, and I left inspired to bring some of that feeling back to our every day world.  I heard on the grapevine that the franchise is up for sale, and if I lived at the other end of the country and had won the lottery I would definitely be up for it.  As it is, my home kitchen will have to do for now.

Since then my bread maker has been relegated to emergencies, and I've been working my way through Richard Bertinet's great book - Dough. Every weekend, I've been trying something new and watching my family devour the results. It takes a lot of time, but it is time well spent and I am now addicted to therapeutic qualities of the French kneeding technique which I'm sure helps set off the calories I am now consuming in fresh bread. Next time I go to visit my parents, I'll definitely be insisting we head to Bath to check out the Bertinet Kitchen.

Although my results so far have been impressively edible, I decided that I really wanted to get a bit of expert advice, especially as I wanted to take it to the next level and start experimenting with the king of all artisan breads - the sourdough.

That's when I found Lesley's Kitchen, run by the lovely Lesley Martin, and signed up for her one day sourdough class. Lesley and her husband run a B&B and baking school in Muirkirk, Ayrshire. They converted an Old Church into their beautiful family home and business and Lesley now passes on her many year's of baking expertise to keen amateurs like myself in the heart of her amazing kitchen. I had a brilliant day, starting with fresh cake and coffee on my arrival, to going away armed with my own starters to try and keep alive and a whole host of new tips, suppliers and techniques to try out. The next day I baked off the white and sourdough loaves I had started under Lesley's expert tutelage and enjoyed the fruits of a day well spent. Now the only decision I have to make is which course to try next!




Sunday 26 August 2012

A mission statement and a trip to Durham

This is a blog about my personal mission to build a life for myself and my family that allows me to go to bed at night feeling good about myself.

Over the last 12 months I've come to the realisation that I'm tired of working hard and making sacrifices that damage the things and people that I love, and that I want to get to a place where if I do make those sacrifices they are for something that I am truly passionate about.

What are my passions? Simple really; good food, good people, good places and the good feeling they give you. I cook, I bake, I practice yoga and I want to combine these hobbies, come obsessions, with my skills in marketing, sales and customer service to build a business that enhances my life and the lives of others.

Only problem is, I don't know what that business is yet! I've got lots of ideas, and this blog will chart my journey as I explore them. Starting on the premise, that I know the kind of businesses (and people that run them) that I love and I want to give them the praise and recognition they deserve as I aspire to be more like them.

I'm based in Scotland, in a beautiful village on the outskirts of Glasgow, but I do a lot of travel for my work, and as I sat in yet another Starbucks this week prostituting my ideals once more for the benefits of free wi-fi, I realised that this was not where I wanted to be. Physically and philosophically.

I packed up my laptop and hit the streets of Durham in search of a better way of life.

My first stop was a cafe called Vennels. I hear it's an institution in Durham, but there is no way that I would have walked up the alley to it's tiny courtyard to find it and the delicious home made quiche, pies and cakes that it sells, if I hadn't been with someone that knows better. I also broke free from the shackles of the chain hotel on my trip and stayed in agreat boutique hotel called Gadds Townhouse. The food was delicious, and the themed rooms and opulent, boudoir meets 19th century brothel interior, made an otherwise boring work trip almost fun. The stairwell and corridors were looking a bit shabby, but you know what, that's probably because they don't get enough people staying there because they're all opting for the boring business hell-holes down the road instead. The only thing I didn't like was the muesli, which was over sweet rabbit food. But I have a thing about that, and should have known better. Their sister restaurant Zen, which serves an asian fusion menu was also a tasty alternative to another night at Pizza Express.

I wanted to go to Durham university and they rejected me. I was devastated at the time but I've forgiven them now, and I ended up going down a different path that has allowed me to meet so many lovely people.  It therefore, seems only right and fitting that a crappy coffee in Durham should set me off down a new path in life. Who knows where it will take me this time.