Thursday 28 July 2016

Quiz Night - July 2016

We split into 2 teams. The strategy was - put all our quiz-master-queens in one team to win (eyes on the prize), and everyone else in the other team with the booby prize in their sights. The experiment failed. The losing team won! Several things were taken from the evening; Peter Crouch, Sue's map drawing of Florida, "Uncle Jamie" (appearing very early doors way before the pub was ready for him), the Icelandic clap, the sailing question, and the maths question (you know who you are). Now all we need to do is defend our title...


Wednesday 6 July 2016

Cake Monday - July

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? 1st Monday of the month. 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. When you have baked 3 cakes, you are out of the competition for 1 year.

'Apple & Cinnamon Cake' by Jamie H
Chosen because it's the first recipe that came up on a Google search for 'Dorset Apple Cake' inspired by a recent holiday. Jamie's method as always was short and to the point - flour and cinnamon were mixed, sugar, butter, eggs and milk were added and mixed by hand. He peeled an apple, cut it into chunks and mixed it in with the other ingredients along with sultanas. Demerara sugar was sprinkled on top and into the oven it went. 

The Verdict:
Relief was the overwhelming feeling towards this cake. It was edible and more than that, it was tasty. (People still fear kale cake creations). The fact that this cake was made without machinery aid and involved hard labour pleased some, not Jamie however, whose wife queried why he hadn't used an electric mixer after he had finished making the cake. Plenty of people enjoyed the apple and crunchy sugar topping. Half found it a moist cake, with others referring to it being slightly dry and needing icing or something to moisten it. We think this was because some slices had heaps of apple and some didn't, and those without found it a tad dry. Everyone liked the combination of flavours in the cake and it was plain to see that this was Jamie's best ever cake. Jamie is now out of the competition for another year.

'Apple & Cinnamon Cake' Average Score: 7.8

Next time: only three people were in the race due to booked holidays. Greg lost...
P.S. the office fridge is smelling beautiful again.


Monday 4 July 2016

Smelly fridge update

The smell is getting worse!!!! Jamie's even googled "smelly fridges". There was another milk carton contender, but although that smells, it's not THE smell. Teresa is sniffing plastic containers to work out the root cause.

Mystery Smell Drama

Cake Monday will follow soon, but the "mystery smell" has taken over the office since last Thursday. Adam has received all sorts of derogatory comments about his cauliflower meal creations, but his defense has remained resolute; the smell began before cauliflower was introduced. The focus moved at one point to an old cup of coffee whose milk had turned to cottage cheese. Gone off milk? Spilt milk? A bin leakage? Neighbouring offices have even started commenting. The cauliflower concoction was asked to leave the premises.

All windows are open. Teresa has cleaned the fridge inside and out, broken nails in the process and yet the wafts continue. One thing's for sure, when the cause is found, that colleague will never live it down. Ever.