Friday 21 December 2012

Jess's Christmas gift from Taq

Preparing 'the gift':



Jess discovering her gift:

The perfect gift

In Taq's absence, Jess gift-wrapped his desk for him. 'The gift' included wrapping up his monitor, phone, all of his paperwork, waste-paper bin, the bins' contents, his chair, his loose change - everything basically. The post above this one shows what Taq did next.


Monday 17 December 2012

Cake Monday 17th December


We race (electronically) and the loser has to bake a cake to feed the office. 
Why? because we like cake.
Who? everyone in the office. No one gets out of it.
When? every Monday.
The rules: you make the cake yourself, without any help. You can't 'repeat' a cake. Your cake will be judged on presentation, difficulty and taste, and marked out of 10 by each colleague.


'Clementine Cake' by Georgina. A dense and sticky cake made with clementines and almonds, served with crème fraîche. Christmas tree painted on top in green and silver shimmer. 

The verdict: unsure at first, but as the eating of the cake progressed, so did its judgement. Moist, not sweet, straightforward and different. Some would order again if at a restaurant. Only one said they wouldn't have a 2nd helping. Luckily for George, the toughest judge was out of the office.


Clementine Cake Average Score: 8





Tuesday 11 December 2012

Murder Mystery Evening - Who Dunnit?


The lead singer of the Purple Roses rock band has been poisoned. Everyone had a motive, everyone enjoyed the food and beverages, and everyone played pool. Many people had tattoos, many people contested the pool 'house rules', many people were suspicious of ASA Spades (aka Andrew) and many people guessed who the murderer actually was ('head phones-sound man' Adam). Everyone enjoyed themselves. Many people felt ropy the next day. Thank you to Teresa and Andrew (and Sophie) for organising and hosting.




Monday 10 December 2012

Cake Monday 10th December


We race (electronically) and the loser has to bake a cake to feed the office. 
Why? because we like cake.
Who? everyone in the office. No one gets out of it.
When? every Monday.
The rules: you make the cake yourself, without any help. You can't 'repeat' a cake. Your cake will be judged on presentation, difficulty and taste, and marked out of 10 by each colleague.

'Pizza Cake' by Adam. Compilation: pizza base (plain sponge), tomato paste (strawberry jam), with a ham (strawberry sweets), olive (raisins), and pepperoni topping (dyed fizzy strawberry laces), not forgetting extra cheese (white chocolate shavings). A first-ever cake for Adam, he billed the process as 'very stressful'. Using YouTube as his recipe/trainer, the creation involved several visits to the shops, a visit to his neighbour for equipment, and 3 hours of his life. He has vowed never to make a cake again. Considering a soup blender was used, the taste of the cake surprised us (and Adam). 

The verdict: positives included, superb effort, tasted good, and very original. Its rise and density were questioned as were its dryness, and topping flavour combination.

Pizza Cake Average Score: 6



Next week: Georgina again. She's not happy.

Monday 3 December 2012

Cake Monday 3rd December


We race (electronically) and the loser has to bake a cake to feed the office. 
Why? because we like cake.
Who? everyone in the office. No one gets out of it.
When? every Monday.
The rules: you make the cake yourself, without any help. You can't 'repeat' a cake. Your cake will be judged on presentation, difficulty and taste, and marked out of 10 by each colleague.

'Cupcake surprise' by Georgina. The surprise being jam in the middle. Otherwise your regular cupcake decorated with flowers and butterflies (handmade). 

The verdict: mixed results. Tasted good and the jam was appreciated. BUT.....size and originality was an issue for most. There needs to be more cake, and the judges were looking for something more unique and less "Waitrose-style bakery". Semantics were raised, 'cake Monday' means A cake.


Cupcake Surprise Average Score: 8
Next week: Adam. He cooks, but has never made a cake. He tried to get out of it by 'accidentally' booking Monday as holiday. The request was rejected. 

Monday 26 November 2012

Cake Monday

We race (electronically) and the loser has to bake a cake to feed the office. 
Why? because we like cake.
Who? everyone in the office. No one gets out of it.
When? every Monday.
The rules: you make the cake yourself, without any help. You can't 'repeat' a cake. Your cake will be judged on presentation, difficulty and taste, and marked out of 10 by each colleague.

First up, 'Morning Coffee Cake' by Teresa. A sweet-tasting cake to accompany your morning brew. Ingredients include, homemade yogurt (reiterated several times), raspberry jam, almonds, and no coffee. Did I mention the homemade yogurt?

Overall verdict: very nice and tasty. Criticism: there are more complicated cakes out there and some weren't blown away by its 'brownness'...

Morning Coffee Cake Average Score:  7.5





Next week : the Newbie, who is now seriously regretting talking about cake decorating as a 'hobby' during her interview, and who would like to take this opportunity to point out that the course attended was for decorating cookies, not cakes...