Tag Archives: New Year!

Cocktail Ideas: Missy Flynn’s 2017 Round Up

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In our final instalment of Cocktail Ideas before the big day, we’ve got some inspiration from cocktail expert and mixologist Missy Flynn. This week the cocktails featured are a step away from being quintessentially Christmas but a round up of the biggest food and drink trends of 2017 in a glass. Inspired by foraging, veganism and superfoods, we simply love the colours and healthy element of these cocktails. We think they would be the perfect day-after partying tonic for you to refresh yourself and unwind as well as being utterly instagrammable so impress and wow your friends and family and serve up these delicious cocktail creations this week and if mixing up your cocktails is not for you fear not, All Bar One will be serving these very cocktails all the way until New Years Eve.

From Left to Right: Baileys Blush, Turmeric Sour, Beetroot Mule, Tanqueray Forager Smash

Our star cocktail this week is the;

Captain Morgan – Turmeric Sour

Ingredients:

50ml Captain Morgan Spiced Gold
75ml Funkin Sour mix
15ml ginger syrup
1/4 bar spoon turmeric
Lemon twist and mint sprig to garnish

Glass: Rocks
Ice: Crushed

Method:
Add the Captain Morgan Spiced Gold, sour mix, turmeric powder and ginger syrup to a shaker or jam jar.

Seal the shaker or jam jar and holding it closed, carefully ‘dry shake’ so that the sour mix begins to emulsify the drink, building a froth.

Open the shaker, add ice and then shake again.

Strain over ice into a tumbler. Using a zester, take the peel from a lemon and snap it over the drink to expel oil from the skin, resting the peel in the glass.

Clap the mint between your hands to release its aroma and then place inside the drink as garnish.

Bailey’s Blush

Ingredients:

35ml Baileys Irish Cream
50ml Half and Half cream / milk
15ml Cherry Heering
12.5ml cherry syrup
Garnish with raspberry dipped in edible glitter / gold

Glass: Coupe
Ice: None

Method:
Add Baileys, Half and Half cream / milk, Cherry Heering, cherry syrup and ice into a cocktail shaker.
Shake hard!
Double strain into a chilled coupe or martini glass, use a tea strainer to remove any small shards of ice so the drink is nice and smooth.
Roll raspberry in edible glitter or gold until it reaches your desired level of glam, cut a slit in the base of the raspberry and rest it on the edge of the glass.

Tanqueray Forager Smash

Ingredients:

50ml Tanqueray London Dry Gin
25ml lime juice
20ml sugar syrup
Mint leaves
Pea shoots
100ml soda
Garnish with pea shoots, viola flower and mint

Glass: Copa
Ice: Crushed

Method:
Fill a tall glass with lots of ice, add the Tanqueray London Dry Gin, lime juice and sugar syrup. Stir to mix, and top with soda water. Add a little more ice if needed. Gather all your herbs and flowers and toss into a rough mix, dress the drink with this mix, scattering a few extra flowers on the top.

All cocktails featured are available in All Bar One bar’s until New Years Eve and liquors and ingredients are available to purchase through ocado.com

中国新的一年快乐 ( I hope this wishes everyone a happy Chinese New Year )

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The next couple of weeks is a busy time in my kitchen, Pancake Day, Valentines, I have to cook soul food for Mardis Gras, a rocking Jambalaya, Buffalo Wings for when I watch the Super Bowl and most definitely celebrate the Chinese New Year. I hasten to add I am not American but they would kind of have this month’s events sewn in the bag if not for Chinese New Year. Now everyone has most likely had at one time in their life a Sweet and Sour or Cantonese Pork or Chicken from the local take away. You know the big deep fried doughy balls of slightly tough meat in a sharp Day-Glo orange sauce. It is about as close to being authentic Chinese as my mother is.

I can only hope to cap Sweet and Sour by giving you a version of a totally bastardised American Chinese dish. Again sweet, a little spicy and altogether created for the palates of mid-twentieth century America a dish called General Tso’s Chicken. The dish is named after General Tso Tsung-tang, a Qing dynasty general and statesman, however, any connection is very tenuous. The origins of the dishes invention are in the 1950’s influx of Chinese to the United States.

General Tso ChickenThe dish is reported to have been introduced to New York City in the early 1970s as an example of Hunan cooking though it is not typical of Hunanese cuisine, which is traditionally very spicy and rarely sweet. Fuchsia Dunlop, in the New York Times, identified the claim of a Taiwan-based chef Peng Chang-Kuei. Peng was the Nationalist government banquets’ chef and fled to Taiwan during the Chinese Civil War. In 1973, he moved to New York to open a restaurant and experimented and developed Hunanese-style cuisine adopting it for western tastes.

Other chefs claim that they created the dish or variations which include vegetables, meat other than chicken in a sweetened sauce. Later the chicken was deep fried before being added to the sauce, now almost every American Chinese restaurant has General Tso’s Chicken on the menu. Where the dish is cooked outside of the United States the dish is less sweet with more vinegar or rice wine vinegar and soy sauce in the ingredients. This is more to my taste and I have an admission I’m really rather partial to it, so here is my version.

General Tso’s Chicken      serves 4
As always a general note of caution
BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN FRYING IN HOT OIL.

 

1 Carrot, peeled and cut into fine strips

100 gr Button Mushrooms, wiped and quartered
1 Red Pepper, diced
A small bunch of Spring Onions, washed and sliced into 2 cm pieces
1 small Red Chilli, finely sliced
3 Cloves of Garlic, peeled and crushed
3 cm piece of Ginger, peeled and finely chopped
100 ml quality Chicken Stock
2 tablespoons of Oil
2 tablespoons Soft Brown Sugar
1 tablespoon Tomato Paste
2 tablespoon Sherry Vinegar
2 tablespoons Rice Wine or Dry Sherry
1 tablespoon Corn Flour
2 Cloves
A good pinch of Chinese Five Spice

for the fried chicken
2 skinned chicken breasts, washed and diced
2 egg whites
Juice of 1 lemon
50 gr Corn Flour
Sea Salt and Cayenne Pepper
2 pints Vegetable Oil

For the sauce heat the vegetable oil in a wok and stir-fry the carrots, mushrooms, garlic and ginger for two to three minutes then add the peppers. In a small pan, heat the chicken stock, vinegar, rice wine, sugar, cloves and Chinese five spice and bring to the boil. Simmer for twenty minutes then thicken with the corn flour mixed with a little water and the tomato puree. After another five minutes simmering, strain into the wok and set on a very low heat.

For the chicken, sieve the corn flour into a large bowl and add a generous amount of salt and cayenne pepper. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites and lemon juice. Then dip the chicken pieces into the corn flour, the egg whites and back into the corn flour. In your wok or a large heavy bottom, pan heat the oil to 160°C / 320 F using a thermometer to check. If you do not have a thermometer have a few cubes of stale white bread to hand. Place a bread cube in the oil if it rises to the surface and cooks to a golden brown in a couple of minutes the oil is hot enough.

Fry the chicken in batches carefully lowering into the hot oil, for around six to eight minutes or until the batter is crisp and golden, turning from time to time with a large slotted spoon. When the chicken is cooked using the slotted spoon remove from the hot oil, drain on kitchen paper and place into the hot sauce. Add the Spring onions and simmer for a couple more minutes and then serve with steamed rice and garnish with a few extra, finely sliced spring onion tops.

10 tips on fighting the festive flab in the New Year

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getfit lose weight10 tips on fighting the festive flab in the New Year By Garry Kerr, Head of Training and Operations at British Military Fitness

Nom, nom, nom…extra eating: During the winter and especially over the festive

season we typically eat more than we would normally and exercising is a great way

to burn those extra calories and keep yourself in shape so when spring finally arrives

you’re in tip top shape! Here are some tips to help you beat the Christmas flab!

 

1. Keep a fitness journal

 

A workout log can help keep your exercise routine on track when you’re

struggling to stay motivated because it will show you how far you’ve come

since you started, and therefore how worthwhile it is to keep going.

 

2. Commit yourself.

 

Get moving! Just do it! There is no time like the start of a New Year. You’ve

got the indulgences of Christmas behind but it’s important you commit. Why

not write all the classes you can attend in your diary so they are viewed as

actual appointments and you’re less likely to cancel.

 

3. Set short-term goals

 

Having something specific to aim for, such as losing a certain amount

of weight or entering a race / marathon for example the Major Series

in the Spring will help you stick to your training

plan. But make sure your goals are achievable. Setting and failing to reach

outlandish targets will put you off.

 

4. Find the fun in it

 

Exercise should not feel like torture. After all, you have made a conscious

decision to do it. You can take great pleasure from overcoming challenges

and progressing with your fitness alongside other people.

 

Does that mean that it will be easy? No. In order to change your body, you

need to experience ‘overload’. This means that you need to keep challenging

your body in order to increase your fitness levels. You will however improve

your fitness levels if you rest and recover properly after each workout.

 

5. Reward yourself

 

Once you’ve hit one of your targets reward yourself. By training and

committing to your training you’ve earned the right to spoil yourself. Whether

it’s a new item of clothing or fitness-related gadgets or clothing – enjoy your

achievements.

 

6. Use visualisation

 

If you don’t believe that you can do that final burpee or make it through

those final reps, you certainly won’t be able to but by picturing yourself doing

it before you try it, you’ll create a mental template that can translate into

success.

 

7. Eating right

 

Food is 90% of the health and fitness battle. You can make great changes

just through making small adjustments to your eating habits alone. While

changing any habits may seem like a daunting task, there is a wealth of

resources available to guide you. By eating a regular mix of proteins, fats and

carbohydrates you will reap the benefits of your physical training routine. You

will have both the energy to perform and the nutritional foundations needed

for recovery. This exercise and nutrition relationship will help you to achieve

your goals

 

8. Be realistic

 

Rome wasn’t built in a day. Unfortunately, while over-used, there is some truth

in that saying.

 

A healthy approach is to aim to improve on yesterday. By repeating this

process you will start to feel like you have made great improvements over a

course of weeks, months and years. It is also important to consider where you

want to be.

 

9. There is gain without pain!

 

While exercise should be challenging in order to encourage the body to adapt

and therefore improve, it should not lead to any injuries.

 

Many people, particularly those new to exercise can become over enthusiastic

because of the physical changes that they experience. Our bodies can only

truly complete exercises at 100% intensity for a number of seconds. Exercises

completed over the course of an hour-long session are performed below

maximum intensity. You should therefore focus more on your technique and

try to work as hard as possible but not push yourself to the point of nausea.

 

10. Abandon an all-or-nothing attitude

 

Don’t think of exercise with an all-or-nothing approach. If you unexpectedly

miss a session, don’t beat yourself up. Just get back on track tomorrow.

Remember; exercise and fitness is a way of life, it’s not a destination.

 

Psychologies Reveals The New Year Resolutions We’re Already Planning To Break

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Anti Gravity yoga , Anti-Gravity Yoga and Ballet Barre Conditioning at The London Dance Academy, barrel ballet, conditioning. fitness, sport… And why the New Year is the worst time to make them

I have given up making New Year Resolutions. Instead I reevaluate my life when I have a birthday, making lists of goals and plans. It seems that other people are not good with resolutions either. In fact, my resolution last year was not to make a resolution.

Nationwide research by UK lifestyle magazine, Psychologies, has revealed that a surprising 70% of us will already be thinking about the opportunity that the New Year presents to make changes in our lives, by the first week of November. The findings indicate that we’re holding out for January 1st, despite the fact that one in five of us admit that we’re currently ‘desperate’ to make a change – and that we’re also almost certainly doomed to fail.

Nearly three quarters (72%) of the UK makes New Year resolutions, but the majority of us admit that we’ve failed to succeed in the past, with a staggering 68% giving up within the month of January itself. It’s not surprising, then, that only a depressing 11% of us believe that we’re very likely to stick to the changes that we’re already planning for 2014.

Life coach and editor of Psychologies, Suzy Greaves, believes that the problem lies with the New Year tradition itself and is urging her readers to boycott January resolutions and just start right now, instead, “It’s not just the post-festivity blues, empty wallets and grim weather that make January a bad time to make positive changes. The January 1st tradition focuses us on one huge goal, like ‘being healthy’ and we feel that we should be able to magically transform our behaviour overnight, rather than implementing smaller changes that work towards the bigger goal, over a realistic time period.

“When we fail to meet this inflated demand, feelings of ‘failure’ negatively reinforce our behaviour to the extent that, as our research has found, over a third of us (39%) don’t try again for another year. Simply put, January 1st creates a vicious loop when it comes to making important – and often vital – changes in our lives. My advice as a life coach is simply to forget January and start now – our current issue has a special report to help readers ditch bad habits and take up good ones by making tiny changes that deliver huge results.”

The Psychologies research found personal finance to be the most common area for desired change, with over half of us citing this as something we were resolving to change. But whilst a third (33%) wish to save more, only 10% want to resolve to spend less. 49% want to find a way to earn more.

Despite the focus on our finances and perhaps suggesting an over reliance on hopes for a lottery win, only a quarter of us are considering making a change within our careers. Of these people, 39% are hoping to initiate promotion, 26% are wishing to change career paths entirely and 23% want to start a business.

The orthodox resolution to ‘lose weight’ was the second most popular desired change and on the minds of over half of Brits surveyed. Weight loss features again amongst those who want to improve their health with 28% acknowledging that it’s the change that’s required.  20% more women prioritised weight loss as a desired change, than men.

The Psychologies research found that when it comes to those wishing to make changes to social and family relationships, 43% want to prioritise improving the relationship and sex life that they share with their partner. Whilst that may sound gloomy at first glance, these statistics can be viewed more positively when compared to the fact that only 7% want to leave a relationship with a partner. Looking at sex lives specifically, 16% more men want to improve their sex life, than women, but an equal percentage of men and women (27%) want to improve the relationship with their partner.

 

What is your New Year Resolution?

New Year, New You, New House! – Part 4:

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So, it seems that I’m still loving this whole “New Year, New You” series of mine – I keep thinking of more things to write about! Well, in this series (which I think is part 4 – however, I have lost count a little bit…), I’ve decided to write a little chapter for those who are deciding to build their own houses in 2013. After all, taking the decision to build your own home can be an exceptionally daunting prospect for most, so it’s always nice to have a little helping hand along the way.

Part of the problem of building your own home is actually knowing where to start; how do you know what design to choose? How do you go about choosing the best sub-contractors? How do you source the right materials for the right price? With all of these questions, it’s easy to get lost in the self-build-construction-jungle.

Well, in order to help you along a little bit, a good place to start is with the actual structure of your future home; from the bricks, to the walls, to the roof. Surely it’s just as simple as a few bricks and tiles, right? Wrong. Because, the key to a well built home lies with a strong and sturdy well built frame.

You’ve been looking at the range of options available to start with this all-important structure, but with so many choices available, you feel like you’re back at square one with all the confusing questions and decisions. However, in your desperate hunt to find one, you have come across one that sounds quite interesting; timber frames.

But, how do you know if timber frames are the right option to exactly meet the requirements the planned structure you hope to build? Well, this run-down of these benefits may just help you decide:

1. Highly Adaptable

Timber frames are the perfect option for all kinds of building design needs; whether you’re looking to self-build communal buildings, flats or housing, as they can be altered and adapted to fit any structure. As well as providing the highest quality supports for your build, they also boast high environmental performance, energy efficiency and the ability to meet top sustainability targets.

2. Reduce Building Times and Costs

Timber frames also dramatically reduce building times – in fact, timber frame construction requires 20% fewer on-site labor days than traditional methods. So, that means 20% fewer days your sub-constructors have to be on-site, and therefore, 20% less time that you have to pay them for! Sounds like a good option, right? And what’s more; timber frames also save up to 5% in building costs compared to traditional brick and block construction – so you can save your money for other aspects of your home build process.

3. Environmentally-Friendly

Another key advantage of using a timber frame, such as those available from http://www.eco-dam.com/, in a self-build project, is it’s ability to help cut onside waste into the environment. So if you’re looking to help the environment and are particularly conscious about being ec-ofriendly throughout the entirety of the construction process, then a timber frame structure will be the perfect option for you!

New Year’s Resolutions – Will you be another statistic?

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I am one of those strange people who are actually quite good at sticking to their New Year resolutions, if you are not as strange as me, follow this advice from some great NPL coaches.

The top ten resolutions for 2012 were:

  1. Lose Weight
  2. Get fit
  3. Eat more healthy
  4. Save money/spend less
  5. Get a new job
  6. Spend more time with people who matter
  7. Try out new experiences
  8. Get out of a rut
  9. Visit a new country
  10. Read more

How many of us start the year with the best intentions – learning a language,  climbing a mountain, or just losing a bit of weight – only to get to February and forget all about it. According to the Mental Health Foundation, a massive 80% of us fail to achieve our New Year’s Resolutions.

Sarah, an NLP coach with Canary Coaching, says that “one of the main reasons that people don’t achieve their goals is that they set unreasonable  and vague targets which don’t fit in with the rest of their lives – somewhere down the line, usually around February, they realise that they haven’t left room for anything else, and then the pressure builds and they quit”.

Sarah’s NLP based advice for sticking with your New Year goals:

Firstly – make sure your resolution is an achievable goal, rather than a pie in the sky dream – this quick tool (PECSAW) will help – work out answers for the following sections:

 

Positive. Talk in terms of what you do want rather than what you want to give up. I want to play the guitar, I want to be a size 10, I want to be a non-smoker, I want to speak Italian

 

Evidence. What will be evidence that you’ve achieved the goal – what will you see and hear? ‘I’ll see my family singing along with me, ‘I’ll hear people say ‘you look well!’. List as many as you can.

 

Context. Frame the context in which you want to have these things – ‘I want to play the guitar in the evenings with my family’, ‘I want to be a size 10 in July and for the rest of the year after that’.

 

Self Achievable. This is probably the most important. If you’re relying on the behaviour of someone else, then you don’t have control over whether you do it. So rather than ‘I want to have a published novel’, how about ‘I want to have finished writing my novel’.

 

Advantages and Disadvantages. Consider these carefully. What will be the benefits of being able to speak another language? What will be the drawbacks of training for the marathon – especially in the winter months? Considering these and acknowledging them means you’re much more likely to achieve as you’re going into the goal knowing about the hurdles you may face.

 

Worthwhile.  A final check. What will achieving this do for you? What are the benefits? What will it help you to avoid?

 

Using this tool makes ‘dream’ seem real and turns it into ‘well-formed outcome’. You might want to go on from this into making a more solid timetable or timeline and get buy in and support from members of your family and friends.

 

So there you go – don’t be another statistic – create a well formed goal and get on with it!

 

 

New Year, New You – Part 2: Kicking The Habit

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In my previous article, I wrote about starting the New Year with a New You – touching on ways to change your job, your wage and your home, if 2012 hadn’t quite been the most of exciting of years in these areas for you personally.

And, by continuing on with this theme, I decided that as we approached the final month of 2012, there was no better time to touch on changing another huge aspect of your life; kicking that habit.  Yes, that’s right, I’m talking about the habit of smoking.

I’m sure you were all aware of ‘Stoptober’ campaign that went on last month, encouraging smokers in Britain to give up the habit for 28 days. It was hard to ignore, and I’m sure it got you thinking – you know you should give up, but actually doing it and sticking to it is something you’re not sure can be achieved realistically.

Well, if you’re currently addicted to the habit, but would love to ditch it for the start of 2013, then the following advice may put you in good stead:

Tell Everyone:

Often, if you tell yourself your going to stop smoking, although you know you’ve got to in your head, actually doing it is a completely different thing. Why? Because, if you’ve only tried to convince yourself that you’re going to quit, if you fail at your attempts, you’re only letting yourself down and you only have yourself to tell off – so, giving up is an easy option.

However, if you tell people around you that you are going to quit and you are going to stick to it, you’ll have them to deal with when you fall at the first hurdle. No-one likes to be the first one to drop out, and no-one likes to be known as a quitter, so when they start saying “Ah, we know you couldn’t do it”, you may find yourself wanting to prove them wrong.

Also, the more people who are likely to know about you wanting to quit, the more likely people will stop you from returning back to the habit when they see you starting to spark up.

Try A New Method: E-Cigarettes

You’ve tried every method going; from the patches, the chewing gum, to even going cold turkey, but somehow you’ve failed miserably at all.  As well as missing that little naughty nicotine habit, you’ve also noticed that the void that’s left between your fingers is another habit you’ve been left trying to fight. You miss the habit of holding one. Well, this is where the relatively new invention of stop-smoking techniques may be able to help you; E-Cigarettes.

You’ve vaguely heard about them, but you have no clue how they actually work. E-Cigarettes, available from stores like E Cig Wizard, are electric inhalers that vaporize a nicotine-infused liquid solution into an aerosol mist, to simulate the act of cigarette smoking. So, rather than being another method that doesn’t quite come naturally to you, it both works like a real cigarette and can be held just like a real one, too. They’re quite simply the perfect solution if you’re looking to start taking those all-important steps to kicking the habit completely.

Shock Tactics:

We’ve all seen the television adverts and the shocking pictures put on the back of cigarette packets, but somehow these shock tactics just don’t have any effect on making you pack in the habit. Why? Probably, because they’re not personal to you.

As you think about giving in from giving up, take time to think about your health as well as those people around you who you love dearly, who are really important to you and those who could be affected by the consequences of your habit. Suddenly, the shock tactics become more real now they’re related to your own life.

Are the long-term affects of that little stick of tobacco really worth more than them? No. So, kick the habit now and get started on the journey for a new you for the New Year.

New Year, New You

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2012 is gradually coming to a close; we’re nearly in December and judging by the songs now being played on the radio, Christmas is officially just around the corner.

For many of us, the final few weeks of the year signify a time of reflection. We often reflect on the year gone by and the events that have occurred, and weigh up the things we wish we’d done, what maybe we wish we’d achieved and also perhaps the things we wish hadn’t of happened. And, it’s through these that we make resolutions for the next year, in order to try and make it our best year yet.

Usually when it comes to new years resolutions, things like ‘I must try and eat less chocolate’, ‘I must try to be more on time’, and ‘I must try harder to think about what I say before I say it’ often top the list. And, although these could help to make 2013 your best year yet, there are a few bigger aspects of your life that you wish you could change; starting with your job and your home.

If this is you and you’re struggling for a little inspiration on how to do this, here are some suggestions that could help to make your 2013 truly amazing:

Your Job

There’s one thing about 2012 that sticks out more than anything else when you think about what you’d most like to change; your job. As you’re reflecting on your last year, you’ve realized that maybe 2012 hasn’t exactly been the best year when it comes to your career.

So, with 2013 just around the corner, it’s time to take some action.

Take some time to really think about what you would love to do – don’t be afraid of considering a whole new career change. After all, it’s not uncommon to have just got stuck in your current 9-5 job and want to explore something new.

The end of an old year is the perfect time to take a look on local jobs boards. By searching by your location, you’ll get a comprehensive list of jobs in your area in seconds. So, your new career is just around the corner!

Your Wage

If you love your job, but there’s one thing you’d love to change for 2013 in order to make it that little bit more perfect, it’d most definitely be the pay.

We’ve all been there; we’ve worked hard, you’ve been a member of the team for several years now, and so it’s only natural that you you feel like you’re a little deserving of a pay rise. But, there’s one problem; you have no clue to go about getting one for the New Year.

If this is you, the first thing to do is to evaluate the financial position of your employer in relation to the timing of your pay rise request. Given that it’s close to a brand new year, it’s common for companies to review their employee’s progress. So, if you’ve worked hard and you know your company’s financial position is looking up, it may be the perfect time to take the plunge and ask. But, if it’s the opposite, then it may be a better idea to wait until you’re firmly in the New Year before you put in your request.

Your Home

As you’re sitting in your home reflecting on 2012, you’re also maybe starting to realize that your home is also the result of you feeling uninspired and un-satisfied with certain aspect of your life.

As you’ve lived in it for years, you’ve become pretty comfortable with your home and it’s surroundings. And, it’s probably due to this that you’ve not made any effort to decorate, furnish or do it up.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could start 2012 with a beautiful new home, in fresh new surroundings? But, given the current economic climate and the situation of the housing market, this prospect feels totally unrealistic.

Well, if this you and you’d love a new start in a new home for 2013, you could part exchange your home. Part exchanging is the perfect way to move into a brand new home, quick and easily, with zero hassle. It ensures that you get both a guaranteed buyer and a guaranteed house to move into, as well as make sure you don’t run into broken property chains along the way. And if you’re worried about the whole money issue, part exchanges also offer the best value for money. It makes sure you avoid expensive estate agent fees and you can move knowing you’ve been offered the best possible price for your old home. So, your dream for a better 2013 can be closer to becoming a reality.