Red Hot Chicken Noodle Soup

 It's time we all give up the ghost and face it. Summer's over. Pack away your bikinis, dig out your fluffy knitwear and embrace the cold dark months ahead with a bowl of my amazing chicken noodle soup.

It's perfect for colds, warming up after being drenched in the icy English rain, or curing the dreaded 'fresher's flu'. If you've been to uni you'll be familiar with it, and if you're at uni you will have it at least four times before Christmas. I popped up to Reading last weekend for a couple of days of fresher's week (I'm still suffering a bit from the separation) and came home feeling so, so, awful (I blame you LOUISE!). Luckily, I had this trusted recipe to hand. You can make tons of this and freeze it too, perfect for the lazier type. 

Here's what you'll need:

(Mine made about 3 bowls)

•  A few cloves of garlic
• Ginger (about a thumb sized chunk)
• A big teaspoon of crushed chillis/chopped fresh ones
• Zest of half a lime
• Juice of a lime
• 1 pint chicken stock (I'll tell you how to make this)
• Shredded Chicken (as much as you fancy, white and dark meat)
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• Handful of chopped fresh coriander
• Olive Oil
• Fine Egg Noodles
• Spring Onions for garnishing

To Make Chicken Stock

After a roast, take any excess meat off the carcass and put in a large pan on a lowish heat and fill to about half way with hot water. Put in a generous amount of salt (about a tablespoon/just under?), some garlic cloves, flattened under a knife, black pepper, and a couple of red onions cut into quarters. You can also throw in any leftover veg. Leave to gently simmer for a couple of hours, skimming every now and again. Voila. Delicious stock. It keeps for a few days in the fridge, but you can keep it in the freezer for 2-3 months. 

To Make The Soup

Get a big pan, and put a generous glug of olive oil in it. 

Add your chillies, garlic, ginger and lime zest, give them a good stir and fry them off a bit (you want enough oil that they will sit in it and not burn).

Finely chop your onions and add to the mix, and squeeze in the lime juice, keeping it on a lowish heat. 

Shred your roast/rotisserie chicken (great use for leftovers) and throw it in, stir fry for a minute or so and then add the stock...

...which looks like disgusting greyish jelly.

Once the stock has melted in add your chopped coriander and around a pint of boiling water and give it a good stir.

Just before you want to eat it throw in the noodles (if you're going to freeze it I recommend leaving the noodles out until you want to eat it. No one likes a soggy noodle...).

Wait until they're cooked, and serve. 

Garnish with some chopped spring onion, and apply to face.

Consider your cockles warmed my friend. 

You're welcome. 

How To Get Hired, or Life After Graduation

My name's Polly and I am an unemployed graduate.

Around three months ago I was thrust from the loving comfort of my University life into what older friends and relatives like to call 'The Real World'. "You're in the Real World now!" they'll say, sagely nodding over their Earl Grey while you send off your 387th job application or update your CV, again. The same CV that has been rewritten every day since you left uni, because you've suddenly noticed how many times you've used the word 'enthusiastic' or mentioned your 'excellent team working skills'.

I am, quite frankly, exhausted by it. My phone pings with emails from job search sites about unsuitable jobs - that is between the emails and phone calls from recruiters asking if I have considered a career in recruitment. Or recruitment for recruitment. Which means there are people out there, recruiting for recruiters, for recruitment. It's unbearable. I drink 500 cups of coffee a day as I restart my computer again because, after 3 years of endless essay's and googling miniature pigs in tea-cups, several of the letters on my keyboard - handily most of the ones in my name, and therefore email addresses - give up on me at 10 minute intervals.

Then there are my friends. This would all be slightly more bearable were there others in my position, but it seems that, somehow, everyone I've ever met has managed to get employed by Goldman Sachs or a similar fortune 500 graduate scheme that's going to pay them 5 million pounds a year and give them a jaguar because, despite the fact that they've spent the past 3 years with their head either in a toilet or at the end of a beer funnel, they've suddenly blossomed into the most talented young people on the planet. I've watched my number of facebook friends fall rapidly away as I cull anyone posting proud status' about how they've got their 'dream job aaaaaaaah omg so excited #suitandtie #firstday #thatsrightpollyeveryonebutyou'.

So I'm writing a seven step survival guide, if not for anyone but myself.

Step 1
Pamper yourself every now and again. Take some time to relax, or when potential jobs do call you they will sense your stress and desperation as you chatter desperately that you'd be great if someone, ANYONE would just give you a chance! Have a bath and a glass of wine. Or two.

Step 2
Avoid, at all costs, family events. "How's the job hunt pol" when asked by the 50th person is likely to be answered solely with hand gestures. If you have to go, keep the wine at hand. Joke about separation anxiety from uni life if people question it.

Step 3
Find a hobby. Needlecraft. Taxidermy. Exercise if you really must. Wine Tasting.

Step 4
Work on your CV. Both on its presentation and on its content. If you can't find relevant experience do some charity work. Charity events usually have wine.

Step 5
Go to each interview as if you don't really need the job. Panic beforehand, as it will make you prepare better, but on the day be the embodiment of confident charm. Nothing says confident like ordering wine for you and your future boss.

Step 6
When you're feeling stressed take time to appreciate things you can do because you don't have a job. Okay, so you're too poor to do anything that interesting, but you can wake up late to the sound of birdsong. You can spend all day on facebook (if you have any friends left after the cull). You can drink wine at lunch.

Step 7
Wine. 

Callum's feeling 22...

It may seem as though most of my blog is dedicated to birthdays. It's starting to seem this way to me too, but I couldn't not write about my wonderful Callum turning 22 - and doing it in style with a good old fashioned English rainy barbecue.



Gazebo party! Callum and family whipped up an amazing barbecue feast, and there were many cocktails (I may have helped out with this part) and live music courtesy of 'All the Clever Lines'.

They may be a band made up of family friends, but they're not your typical dad-band. They're pretty darn good, and had us all standing out in the rain all night, without minding a bit. They even let Callum have a go, which actually wasn't the disaster we were expecting from his previous karaoke dalliances *cough high school musical*.

Special mention also has to go out to the other band who formed specially to perform their own interpretation of Taylor Swift's '22'...

...and Callum's incredible speech (written by me and McGuigan, filled with awkward stories and inappropriate poetry).

This is quickly becoming one of my favourite birthday traditions...apart from the cocktails and cake, obviously. I might leave you with a recipe or two at the end, after a few more snaps from the night.

So. Sweet.

The best fondue ever. Made inside the bread. OMG. 

Cheese-gasm.

Bathroom Selfies. Had to be done.

One of the most photogenic people ever, Mark.

Twerking. I think...

Callum's interests are apparently quite well known...

Callum is one of my favourite people in the world, and his party, despite being slightly damp, was amazing. Big thanks to the Thomas family and everyone else involved. Hope you're having an amazing time in Amsterdam Cal!

The Bar

The amazingly well stocked bar. I ended up going off menu for most of the night, but I like how fancy the board looked. You can find the recipe for the ginger and lemongrass martini's here. I'm going to give you some fab shot recipes.

Red White and Blue Shots

These are so simple, and make you look like a pro. All it takes is grenadine, blue curacao, and either vodka or sambuca. I used vodka, because sambuca is awful in my opinion. Pour a bit of grenadine in each glass, then pour the curacao down a spoon sitting just on top of the red layer, then the vodka/sambuca down the spoon on top of the blue layer. Pour slowly so they don't mix, and the different densities mean they'll sit one on top of the other (I think if you use sambuca it will sit in the middle, where vodka sits on top). Easy Peasy.

Brain Haemorrhages

These shots look amazing. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures, but they should look like this:

(Credit here)

How I make them:

Fill a shot glass about 2/3 full with sambuca. Using a bar spoon, dribble Bailey's onto the top (to get the brain effect do it in a few drops). Then pour in using a speed pour. You want a quick drop so it pulls down the Bailey's a bit with it (if you don't have a speed pour put a bit on a spoon and  then drop it in from a height, it has the same effect). These are definitely going to be whipped out at halloween - maybe with some blue curacao to make them 'Alien Brain Haemorrhages...

I learnt a very similar shot in South Africa that uses Frangelico and Amarula (no grenadine), stomach-churningly called the Soweto Toilet (eugh), but it is delicious, and, if you have the ingredients should definitely be tried.

Happy Shotting!