Gems from the school library

A bit like the school canteen, the school library also seems to operate in a strange, strange world. This year, I have been happily surprised by some good educational finds in there, which I never knew existed, and am nearly up to capacity on my library ticket. I know, I know, I do know how to have a good time.

But, when my mind wanders, as it so often does during my frees spent in the library, I start looking around at some of the books on display. You would have thought that these books would be ones that would encourage young people to be lovers of literature, "ripping good yarns", as my English teacher says, that would foster a life-long interest in books. Well my friends, you are sadly wrong.

The worst offender I have seen in the library is this:

Maybe I'm wrong, but the history of the humble toilet has never been something that particularly jumped out at me as one I just HAD to read up on. I especially love that this is illustrated :) I did a quick bit of research on Amazon, to see if I could buy this for my very own and I can! That seems to me like £6.99 well spent... surprise, surprise, this has never been taken out.

On the same day, I surprised my friend with a book entitled 'Mice, Rats and Gerbils'! She actually couldn't even look at the front cover, so great is her fear and all-round hatred of these creatures. As I was made to put it away immediately, I never found out whether this literary gem focused on care of these rodents, or was just a general reference guide. Both are equally appealing, of course.

Another one I've seen: 'Poems about Air', always good if you're doing a project on...air and want to liven it up with a bit of poetry.
Today I came across a whole book on 'Christmas Food', which seemed a) a bit early, considering it's OCTOBER!, and b) very weird for a school library. I suppose there may be some budding cooks in our school, but again, I doubt if this one has ever been borrowed.

Am I wrong? Should the library contain these classics? Perhaps you've seen a book you think is worthy of the prize for most random title. If so, let me know! Post a comment here on on the Facebook page.

Playing the university game

Although I now have one offer under my metaphorical belt, I am still playing the university game. I don't want this to turn into a gloating post, so I will just get it out here and now and say that I am very pleased...and a tiny bit smug :) Right. Enough of that. Onto defining this game.

I was speaking to my best tea-buddy about this recently, and she made me think that applying to university really is like a dating game. First, you have to make the first move-get their prospectus, look at the website, go to the open day...a bit like meeting someone and then totally stalking them on Facebook. Well, this is what I've that heard people do, I of course have my future already mapped out as a cat-lady.
Anyway.

Then they think that you might like them- you have trekked half-way across the country for their open day after all. So then they start trying to encourage you. Have some freebies! Pens! Bags! Keyrings! Leaflets! Other promotional merchandise! A bit like someone buying you a (non-alcholic, OF COURSE) drink.

Then it gets a bit more tricky. They tell you their downside. Much like someone letting on that they are 2 years younger than you/have serious body odour issues/aren't actually single. "Oh by the way, now you know that you like us, you have to get impossible grades to come here." Gutted.

If you get over this hurdle and are brave/stupid enough to apply, you may be lucky and receive some sort of correspondance. Southampton sent me a lovely postcard saying that they were "considering my application". How lovely of them! Others opt for the slightly less nice generic email: "Dear-insert name here-, thank you for your application to -insert subject here-". And others don't send you anything at all...DURHAM. I would imagine that this is like getting a text off some totally fit guy. Eeeeew. Can't believe I said that. Hate. Self. Moving on.

When they finally stop umming and aaahing and just make decision, you get a mysterious email from UCAS saying "your application status has changed" Ooh-er. Perhaps a comparison in this day and age would be a text saying "We need to talk." Designed to inspire optimism.

I haven't accepted any university yet, but when I do, I suppose it's the equivalent of changing your relationship status. "Katie is now attending....who knows where."

The most annoying thing about applying is all the waiting around and not knowing. I want to make my choices now! I want offers now! I want decisions now! But speed is generally not in a university's vocabulary. No, they like to ponder their choices, to make absolutely sure that they're accepting the right person, very s-l-o-w-l-y. Gah! Sadly I have become an extremely impatient person since sending off my UCAS and this just makes me agitated!

While I wait on the rest of my offers (Pah!) I think I will be forced to take up something constructive like knitting, or husband-hunting. Or extra curricular reading, of course. In the meanwhile, I wish you all the best of luck in the university game!
xx

In praise of the curry

Yesterday night was Saturday night and in my book that means curry and X factor, a winning combination if you ask me. I do love a good curry. Spiciness is key though. I mean, I would rather it didn't put tears in my eyes, but if it has a bit of a  kick, then I am happy. Saying that, I usually go for the totally non-spicy korma, but I'm also partial to a good old tikka masala. I recently discovered a dhansak, which I would highly recommend. And when I'm in one of my random ' Eating-meat-contributes-to-climate change-I'm-such-an-eco-warrior-I want-to-be-a-vegetarian' moods, I go for a  vegetable biriani. The mixture of rice and roasted vegetables with a hint of spicy sauce is just... divine.

Another thing I LOVE about curry are all the things that go with it. Onion bahjis, popadoms, cucumber raita, plain naan, peshwari naan, daal, saag, Bombay alhoo, pilau rice, yellow rice, white rice, and most of all, samosas. But not mango chutney. This seems far too like jam to me. I just don't understand why you would mix sticky sweet with lovely creamy sauce. My sister, on the other hand, could and would eat it out of the jar.

I did a quick bit of research (sad, I know) on curry and I found out that recipes for curry date back to 1700 B.C. when it was used as an offering to the gods of Mesopotamia, or modern-day Iraq. So curry is not really Indian at all! The word 'curry' comes from the Tamil language, which is spoken in India though. Curry came to Britan in 1780 with the invention of curry powder, and was even served by Queen Victoria's chef in 1846. However, curry as we know it would be totally alien to people in India. According to one chef, 95% of Indians would not recognise vindaloo, jhal farezi or a madras. People coming to Britain from all areas India gradually began to open restaurants, and the oldest surviving one, Veersaswamy in London, was opened in 1926. So I guess it is thanks to immirgration that we have curry. How's about that, B.N.P! Always glad to inform and educate :) Next time you have your curry, you can bust out a few fun facts and be the envy of all your friends...and you'll have me to thank for looking COOL.
This makes me seem like a bit of an obsessive and someone who frequents the local takeaway far too much, but all of this talk of food has made me mega-hungry. Bon appetit!

School food...update.

Ham and egg mayonnaise. Just no.
And chicken salsa that looks suspiciously like marmalade.
MY WORD!
I did have a lovely fajita today though. But it's pronounced 'fah-heat-ta',  not 'Fa-jit-ta', small girl in the lunch queue.

School food

I don't know about you, but I sometimes wonder if the people in the school canteen operate in a completely different world from mine. They seem to put ingredients together that you would NEVER EVER do at home. It's like they play a culinary version of spin the bottle every morning to decide what to put in the sandwiches. "Tuna...aaaaaaaaaandddd it's landed on coleslaw". I can safely say that I have never eaten a tuna sandwich and thought mid-way through, "you know what would really improve this plain old sarnie? A nice mixture of mayonnaise and assorted vegetables." I really wonder who buys them.
Another one which keeps coming back with a vengeance is sliced egg. WHY? Apart from tomato, this is my absolute nightmare of a filling. Cold slices of  grey hard boiled egg. Yum...yet people must eat them.
One of their more successful inventions is naan bread topped with cheese. Everything in the canteen seems to be already covered in cheese, so why not add this Indian  staple to the list? It is actually rather delicious...if a little greasy.
In the world of the canteen, appearances can be deceptive. Who knows, the sliced egg sandwich may be the best thing since sliced bread (sorry, had to be done). But, the thing that seems to have got everyone talking recently is the tiffin trifle. Perhaps you are unfamiliar with tiffin...it's basically a scrumptious mish-mash of chocolate, biscuit and a bit of raisin. However, in canteen-land, this treat resembles...tuna. I have no idea how. Despite acquiring the nickname of 'tuna trifle', I am told it is very nice. I'll just have to invest my £1.20 (WHAT?) and have a try myself.
The final weird thing I have noticed in the canteen is the drink selection. Besides the usual suspects: water, fruit juice etc, they offer a horrible supposedly healthy take on the Slush Puppy in a beautiful fluorescent pink colour. I would never dream of drinking this in case I had a funny turn in History from all the E-numbers. They also have about 900 types of coffee. I really don't get the reasoning behind this. How many 12 year olds care about  the difference between a Mocha and an Americano? How many even drink coffee? If I'm honest I'm not sure I do myself! So, the board has an explanation of what every type of coffee is, but tea is hidden away to the side of the machine. This makes no sense to me. Tea is an obvious essential choice.
Although the canteen will always bemuse me, there are  many things on their menu that I count amongst my guilty pleasures. For example, the delectable chocolate brownie, which thanks to Jamie Oliver, must be healthy...in some way. Win-win! Or the cheesy naans: mmm-mmmmm :) Perfect to cheer you up
after a strenuous morning.
Am I wrong? Is tuna and coleslaw actually worth a try? Let me know.
I guess I'll see you tomorrow at lunch :) Bon appetit!

Shameless self promotion

I now also have a page on Facebook! It currently has zero members, so I'd love it if you could like it!
It's http://www.facebook.com/pages/What-Katie-Did-Blog/163142437031065

Autumn Days: The reality sets in...

Oh dear, how my outlook has changed in a few days. Yes, sadly today the reality of autumn was brought home to me. Pouring rain, strong buffeting winds and the cold: this is what autumn is really like, none of my romanticised woolly jumper rubbish.
I had a horrible walk home which seemed to take about eighty times longer than normal. It didn't help that I forgot what my mum calls my "natty mac", so I was freezing in only my jacket and a scarf which kept blowing up and blinding me. I was also carrying what felt like a ten-tonne bag stuffed full of extra-curricular books, in the hope that I might just get round to reading them. They are rather soggy. I might have to go at my beloved History notes with a hairdryer...hope my writing on Napoleon hasn't smudged!
On top of this, I was carrying my violin. Oh, you didn't know I played? Well, I am a girl of many talents...and playing the violin is definitely NOT one of them! However, I am doing a favour for one of the most lovely people in the world (hey Han :P) so I dusted off the ol' fiddle and attempted to practise at school. But today, I remembered the reason that I avoid playing the violin. It is SO impractical to get anywhere. Admittedly, it could be worse-I could play the bassoon, or the cello or a whopping great harp, but I got some funny looks on The Train today. My violin case is shaped a bit like a banana, and a bit like a surfboard, so that it does not in fact resemble a violin at all. I  must have looked like some sort of wet, dishevelled pack-horse with a frizz problem as I plodded home today. I will be writing to John '£4.99-a-bottle-' Freida to complain that his Frizz Ease did most certainly NOT ease my frizz today. It obviously cannot stand up to the great British weather.
And another thing! My shoes should carry a health warning. To make it clear, I am not the sort of person who goes in for black leather sexy stilletto boots. No, these were just bog-standard high street ankle ones with a little heel-nice and comfy, and they make a cool clip-cloppy sound :) But today they were an absolute death trap thanks to the lovely mush of mashed up conker shell, conkers and wet leaves that carpeted the roads. One of these days, I am going to make a right fool of myself and slip. Just you wait, it won't be long before I post something entitled 'The fall'.
Oh dear, I'm actually in a great mood, despite what you  might think! So, hopefully the rain will stop soon and I will be able to enjoy autumn once more. Roll on Christmas, I say!

Read this!

In preparation for what I'm sure will be a glittering career in sports journalism, Ash has set up a blog. I know he's got 500 views so please help him get to 1000! AND he's already been published in the local paper, so he must be good :)


http://ashh-theaspiringjournalist.blogspot.com