First luncheon results

Here are the brownies I made - my first attempt ever and they actually came out great! The smell of cocoa permeated throughout the house. The taste was sensational...YUMMY!



Next was some chewy chocolate and caramel biscuits - these although easier to make the mixture, were a lot more difficult to make. Getting them to cook in the right shape took a few attempts and the caramel tended to explode a bit more than I hoped. I will need to work on them again and their presentation. The taste was great though!!



Ok enough of the sweet stuff, I chose to opt for a basic salad. I went with rocket, fennel, parmesan and pinenuts. I used a red wine balsamic vinegar to give it a little extra bite! Seemed to go down well with everyone :)



The main dish was a Duo cheese penne pasta bake - I used ricotta for the middle and a cheddar for the top layer. I mixed with sundried tomatoes and wholegrain mustard. I also added some fresh chives throughout. I garnished with some cherry tomatoes. It came out beautifully. Will definitely be making it on a regular basis!





So there you have it - didn't do so bad afterall.

Until the next cook off....

Becoming a REAL Chef....

So this is the next challenge I have set for myself...to become a real chef.

I no longer want to make quickly put together or rushed dishes. I want to perfect the art of cooking. From entrees through to desserts and everything in between!

I want to create a story with each meal I make.

Challenge commences on Saturday 18 September. Will be back to let you know how I go.

Effort? Lack thereof...

What is it that actually determines the way in which we measure effort? This has been playing on my mind the past week. I am not certain it can be defined.

If the absolute maximum capacity of someone is 30% in effort levels, should we just except it? We can't possibly change the inherent nature of a person....

Zero!

It has been 2 weeks now since I emailed potential organisations and I have received ZERO.

Not a single acknowledgement of receipt or even a NO THANKS, nothing available.

A few enquiries from friends who work in the region have advised this is quite normal and that responses are usually quite delayed.

Well, they have another fortnight to get back to me. If not, they are off my hit list....for good!

The Plunge!

So, I have finally embarked on real searching for a role in the Middle East.

8 emails sent out. Will I hear back from anyone?

The Irony That Is The Password Hint

It has taken me an entire week to figure out the password for this blog account!

After trying every possible combination, I decided to try the password hint function. What I thought was a relatively simple hint led to hours of responses to no avail.

So much for the password hint!? What the hell was I thinking? I know the answer. I swear I do. I just can't actually figure out what answer I actually typed out when configuring this damned thing!

I finally resorted to emailing Google for assistance but apparently they couldn't verify that I am who I am on this account and that was that!

I decided that it was a sign. It was time to announce a sudden and swift death to Verocious Voice. Time to bury the blog.

However, I woke up slightly troubled this morning at my own inability to memorise a simple damned password and mortified at the thought my brain could not compute my own password hint! I was not going down without a fight!!!!

So I gave it one final shot and a few magic words appeared - password is too short or not enough characters in password (something like that) - and after a couple of attempts, SUCCESS!

Password changed - Affirmative.
Password hint changed - Affirmative.
Keep the blog - Undecided.

The Mammoth Search...

Searching for a specialised role in Digital in the Middle East/Gulf is akin to finding a needle in a haystack.