Breakfast of University Champions

I’ve been quite bad and not posted anything recently. I really want to do more recipe posts but as I’m back living at home now, I don’t have as much control over the shopping list and what’s for dinner any more.

However I’ve got a great recipe for new university students. As we all know breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It is also one of the hardest to be bothered to make when you’re a student and have an early morning lecture.

Toast is the saviour of most students. Easy. Cheap. And quick !

My recipe is just a pimped out version of toast. One of my favourite breakfasts is pancakes, and this recipe combines the ease of toast with one of my favourite pancake toppings. Trust me Freshers, this little beauty will make your first few weeks at university that much better. Be the envy of all your new flatmates while they eat soggy cereal. Which to be honest, after the first week will become impossible as the milk will never last more than a few hours in the shared fridge and you’ll soon stop buying it.

My record for fasted Milk snatching was a few hours. I bought 4 pints from Tesco and put it in the shared fridge around 8pm. Next morning woke up to have breakfast at 11am and the whole 4 pints was gone. Empty bottle in the bin. And nobody had even drunk it apparently. 

Breakfast of University Champions

Ingredients

2 Slices of bread (whatever type you like)

1 Banana 

Nutella or other chocolate spread

Equipment

Toaster

Butter Knife

Steps

1. Toast your bread.
2. While your bread is toasting, slice your banana into nice thick discs.
3. When your toast is done, spread generously with Nutella and place your banana discs on top of the toast.
4. Eat while warm.

And there you have it, one of the easiest and tastiest university breakfasts you can have !

Tasty & Simple !

Graduatedkate’s Top Tip : Keep your Nutella jar in your room. Nutella is a magnet to food thieves. In my flat, nutella could not be left unattended. For some reason people cannot resist having a spoonful of it when they come back drunk and hungry. Also rather handily, Nutella does not have to be refrigerated.

The Problem With Unemployment…

So there are lots of problems with unemployment but the one I keep encountering recently is putting things off for lack of money.

I know I’m not facing the same financial hardship as some people, who have families depending on them and no other means of support and I’m not making light of the situation but I’m getting so bored of not having money.

I find I’m creating an ever growing list of things I want to buy when I have a job. It’s not just things for myself either, I want to buy gifts/treats for my Mum and Dad, I want to be able to treat the family to a take away. I want to buy a funny outfit for the puppy. I want to buy a bunch of flowers !

Not having money really affects your self esteem. It diminishes your presence in the world.

I’m worried my list will just keep on growing and I’ll never be able to start ticking things off of it.

At Last…

Today…

I got an email saying I had made the short list for the interview stage for a digital internship.

This is the first interview I’ve been offered. My emotions keep fluctuating between joy and fear. Interviews are going to take place on Monday, going to spend the next few days prepping for it and hoping that maybe my luck is about to change.

Yesterday…

I dropped my gold ring on the floor after stupidly twirling it round my fingers. It hit the ground and then began rolling across the floor. The puppy and I both watched it roll to a stop under the table and the we both leapt for it. She reached it before me but I was able to grab it from her. Unfortunately during the leap I smacked both my knees on to the floor. Hard. I now have a massive lump on one knee and my legs ache. Feel like I’ve aged a few decades.

I’ve learnt my lesson though, will never play with my jewellery in the presence of the puppy ever ever again.

By the way, this is the puppy below. Her name is Patsy and she is a minature pinscher. And I love her lots and lots.

An Unsettling Thought

Today is the 25th anniversary of my parents buying and moving into their first flat. I am roughly the same age now as they were then and I am nowhere near to placing a foot on the property ladder. I dread to think how many years it will take for me to get my own flat.

We had fish and chips for dinner to celebrate, the same meal they had when they moved in. So it’s not all depressing !

Some Words On Unemployment

“Unemployment is like a headache or a high temperature — unpleasant and exhausting but not carrying in itself any explanation of its cause.” – WILLIAM HENRY BEVERIDGE, Causes and Cures of Unemployment

Fridge Cake Recipe

Today I made some fridge cake. If you haven’t heard of fridge cake then you need to keep reading ! It’s not only delicious but is extremely easy to make !

*Attention new university students.* I went to UEA and we didn’t have ovens in our halls accommodation. If you’re in the same situation and like to bake cakes, this recipe will satisfy your cake cravings and make you very popular with your flatmates ! All it requires is a fridge and microwave !!!

Graduatedkate’s Fantastic Fridge Cake Recipe

Ingredients

• 300g Milk Chocolate
• 100g Butter
• 10 tbsp of Golden Syrup
• 250g Digestive Biscuits
• As many raisins as you want
• As many maltesers as you want
• Anything else you fancy !

(If you add marshmallows I think it becomes a rocky road)

Essential Equipment

• Microwave
• Fridge
• Rolling Pin/Mini Chopper
• Tin (to set it in)

Everything You Need To Make Delicious Fridge Cake

Instructions

Get your digestive biscuits and smash them up into small crumbs any way you want. I have a mini chopper which I use to do the job. However a rolling pin works just as well, put the biscuits into a sandwich bag and smash them over the top until they resemble sand.

Weighing The Biscuits

Like this

So basically, once you’ve weighed out your butter, chocolate and golden syrup, put it all in a bowl small enough to fit in your microwave.

All In A Bowl

Now, place the bowl in your microwave and set the timer for 20 seconds. Every 20 seconds take a little look at it and give it a stir. Repeat this process until it has all melted together. The time it takes will all depend on the strenght of your microwave. Make sure you check every 2o seconds as if you microwave it for too long the chocolate might burn, and burnt chocolate is horrible !

Now the fun really begins !

Add all the ingredients to the mixture. I chose to use raisins and maltesers, but you can put whatever you want into it, nuts, candied peels, whatever !

Pour In The Crushed Biscuits

Add Everything else and Mix !

It may not look that pretty at this stage but don’t worry. Now have whatever container you’re gonna set your fridge cake in ready. You should line it with cling-film for a hassle free release once it’s set. I used greaseproof paper once when I didn’t have any cling-film but it didn’t work as well. And NEVER EVER do it without lining the tin. It’ll just get stuck and you’ll have to try and cut it in the tin.

Here’s my tin, lined with cling film

Now it’s time to pour the mixture into the tin.

It’s gonna be so good !

Now try and push it into the corners with a spoon. This might be a bit difficult as it’s quite sticky but persevere !

Squish it into all the corners

Once you’ve done that, get a clean spoon, and use this to smooth the top. This is normally my favourite bit.

It should then look like this

I used loads of raisins and maltesers in this particular Fridge Cake so it doesn’t look that pretty. It’s now time to put the Fridge Cake into the fridge. Within 1-2 hours you can take it out and slice it up to eat. If you’re not impressed with how this looks then there is one more thing you can do.

Once the fridge cake is set, melt some chocolate in the bowl and then pour it on top of the Fridge Cake.

Chocolate Hides All Sins

Then you can make it look all pretty and nice.

Leave it to chill again so that the chocolate topping sets. Once it’s set, it’s time to take it out, cut it up and enjoy it !

So that’s my recipe for Fridge Cake. If you’ve never had it, please give it a go. It’s really moorish and so easy !

Direction

I started this blog to document my attempt to find a job but obviously that’s a bit boring. My other passion in life is cooking. Well cooking and eating.  I know blogs that are unfocused are a bit annoying so the type of blog I’m trying to do is a lifestyle blog, admittedly the lifestyle is that of an unemployed graduate but I’m hoping to pepper it with recipes and advice on what to do while at university to give yourself a better start in the employment race once you’ve finished. It’s all so clear with hindsight !

So if you’re interested in unemployment, food, British Television and university life, please stick around and give my blog a read.

Frustration & Panic Applying

The problem with applying for jobs is you soon get frustrated with the lack of response. Why can’t you employ me ? I fulfilled all the criteria you were asking for ! You get so frustrated that jobs you qualify for don’t want you, you start applying to any old job. Jobs that you never in a million years would qualify for. Of course they don’t reply and the whole situation gets worse.

A few weeks ago, I had a really bad day. People around me were getting jobs and I felt like the most unemployable person ever. So I panic applied. I clicked apply to as many jobs as I could. Jobs I didn’t want or couldn’t do.

The key is to take a deep breath and don’t just panic apply to every job you see. Read the descriptions. If you don’t fit it exactly you’re not going to stand a chance. Job seeking involves a lot more strategy than you’d think. You have to plan your applications. Write a covering letter with all the key words the description uses. Tailor your CV to fit it. If parts of your CV are irrelevant to the job, get rid of them. I have multiple CVs on my computer now, each one tweaked for different jobs.

I haven’t got a job yet though so my advice isn’t bible, but it’s got to be improving my chances a little bit…I hope.

Welcome To My Blog

My graduation pictures arrived in the post this morning and it reminded me, it’s been a  month since I graduated.

A whole month.

And in that month I haven’t really achieved anything concrete. I’ve applied for jobs. I’ve made my CV look pretty. I’ve baked a few cakes and acquired a few more cook books. I need to get proactive. I need a way to show employers that they should employ me. So I’ve decided to start this blog. Hopefully pictures of my baking will entice a few job offers… because my degree* obviously isn’t !

So, welcome to my blog, where I hope to share the trials and tribulations of being a graduate searching for her first proper job.

*English & American Literature 

<meta name=”google-site-verification” content=”SqVAJ6VtquLEU7XI2k9LzkX0jkUOjHXN3APTjlHJhQo” />