Student Celebratory Meals

So today is mine and Dan's 6 month anniversary. Poor bloke has put up with me for half a year and it's been so much fun - he's my best friend as well as my boyfriend and I wanted to do something really special to show him how much I appreciate everything he has to put up with. Honestly, he deserves a medal.

But I'm now back at University, and I'm back to a University budget - I've got a whole list of things I would have loved to have done, like go to the aquarium or have drinks in our favourite cocktail bar, or even simple things like go out for a meal or order a takeaway, but neither our wallets or our waistlines can stretch to that right now.

So instead I'm surprising him with a Thai Green Curry, made - mostly - from scratch. I'm always a little dubious using pre-made pastes in things like curries, and almost all of my recipes are created from scratch, but for certain things I just don't have ingredients like ground Galangal (similar to ginger), and that's where Spicentice comes in.

 I love this company - their spice packets are 100% herbs with a handy little ingredients list on the back and a recipe on the inside. The only issue is they're designed to be cooked with chunks of chicken or fish, so for me and Dan I tweaked the recipe to make it a tad healthier and vegetarian/vegan-friendly.

Vegetarian Thai Green Curry

Time to make: 40 minutes
Calories per portion: 246kcal
Portions of your 5 a day: 2+
Cost per portion: £4.72 (so cheaper than a takeaway!)

You will need:

• 1 pack of Quorn Roast Chicken Style Fillets
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 green pepper, chopped into chunks
• 1 green chilli, finely chopped
• 3 chopped garlic cloves (or 1 1/2 tsp garlic granules)
• 1 tin coconut milk
• 150ml vegetable stock
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• Sachet 1 from the Spicentice kit
• Sachet 2 from the Spicentice kit
• Olive oil, for frying
• Sugar, to taste
• Salt, to taste
• Blender

Heat some olive oil in a frying pan, and fry 1/3 of the diced onion and garlic (or 1/2 tsp garlic granules). Place the rest of the diced onion and garlic, the chopped green chilli, 3 tbsp of water and the Sachet 1 herbs into a blender, or a sturdy bowl or jug if you're using a hand blender.

 Blend the ingredients until it turns into a paste and add it to the frying pan. Stir in the paste and fry it for 2 to 3 minutes.

Stir in the coconut milk, stock, the lemongrass and Kaffir leaves from Sachet 2 and bring it to the boil - I like to make the stock up in the bowl I blended the paste in to make sure I don't miss anything. Once it's bubbling away turn down the heat, add in the Quorn chicken pieces and peppers, and leave to simmer for about 10 minutes.

Stir in the soy sauce, lime juice, sugar and salt to taste, and get ready to dish. I served ours on a bed of rice noodles cooked in lime juice and soy sauce (which took our dishes up to 438kcal each), and we sat down to watch the Thai episode of 50 Ways To Kill Your Mammy (which is actually really funny), and they visited lots of places in Thailand that Dan had also visited, which was really interesting to see where he'd been and be able to match what he goes on and on - and on, and on, and on - about.

I'm currently writing this while watching tv with him, and he has no idea I'm posting this - so I'm taking this opportunity to say just how much I love him, and I'm really looking forward to another 6 months with him. If he can handle it, that is!

University Essentials

So Freshers' Week is almost upon us, and this time last year I was panicking. Did I have enough room for my clothes? What did I need for the kitchen? How was I going to get everything into the car?! It was a squeeze, and we just managed it, but 3 months down the line I found that, of everything I'd rammed into the car to bring with me, there were things I'd barely touched.

This isn't my car but ours was pretty similar!

Yes, there is a lot out there for students wondering what to bring to halls in their first year of university but there is often conflicting information: some tell you to prepare for the very worst and bring everything and the kitchen sink; and others say not to worry and to bring only the bare essentials. In reality you're going to need to be somewhere in the middle - your university is of course going to provide you with some essentials, such as a wardrobe and a kettle, but turning up with no stationery and a single plate, bowl and cutlery set isn't ideal.

When I moved into halls I scoured the internet for these lists and packed everything on them, hoping to cover all bases and be prepared for any eventuality, and I quickly found out that I'd packed the least important things and brought things I used maybe once. I figured that this time around I'd write a list of things that I really counted on last year and made sure that they were the most important things I brought with me.

I also asked my family and friends on Facebook what they thought was important and the response was overwhelming so thank you, all, for responding and bringing alternate perspectives and views from different halls and universities! Their contributions really inspired me to write up 15 of what we considered to be essential items in our first years, and I hope that they come in handy for you, too!

1. Pyrex dish
2. Tea Towels
3. Push Pins
So the first three on the list are particularly kitchen-based, the first being a pyrex dish. As my friend Jay pointed out, at his university they didn't have access to kitchen facilities like many other freshers (including Sussex students) do, and pyrex dishes are super-sturdy and microwaveable so were a must-have for him to cook as much as he could.
Another suggestion was to bring tea towels - fellow Sussex University student Sarah mentioned that all 11 of her other housemates failed to bring one, and - as is the case with many things - you never notice that you need something until it's gone.
Also, most shared kitchens will have some kind of noticeboard or pinboard to share all kinds of information, and push pins came in super-handy last year for pinning notes to each other and keeping takeaway menus easily available. Very useful!

4. Ear Plugs
5. Flip Flops
6. Washing Basket
7. Hangers
8. Blanket
9. Slippers/thick socks

These items came up a lot. Unfortunately you will get groups of people who don't care about making noise all times of the day and night, and I hope that you don't have to deal with them, but just on the offchance I'd recommend you do invest in a pair of earplugs.

You will also have to deal with other peoples' hygiene habits when you share a bathroom, and unfortunately they're not always up to standard. Flip flops were also recommended when traversing communal shower floors, but rest assured there are cleaners at Sussex to make sure it doesn't get too bad, and if you all do your bit to keep it clean you shouldn't have a problem.

You also might want to invest in a washing basket and some hangers - some people do prefer the floor-cupboard approach but it makes trying to find clean and unwrinkled clothes each morning a real pain.

You also might want to invest in a blanket and a pair of slippers or thick socks - each room and accommodation block is different, and some were toasty warm most of the time, but others were absolutely freezing, and I totally back up Kelly and Nadine's points. Trust me, I visited them. Their rooms were cold and the blankets were well-received.

10. Extension cable
11. Pack of cards
12. iPod dock/speakers

I think almost every person I asked mentioned the importance of extension cables, and I agree. How else would I be able to dry my hair while warming my straighteners, charging my phone, playing games on my laptop and blaring music out of my speakers? With our reliance on technology these days we need multiple plugs for all of our appliances, and no-one wants to be forced to choose between charging their phones and setting their alarm for morning lectures. No-one would ever attend morning lectures.

A pack of cards was also highly recommended, and we spent many a night playing Cheat and other card games in our kitchen. It's such an easy way to get to know your flatmates, and we often sometimes played drinking games before going out in the evenings.

As for an iPod dock or a set of speakers, I couldn't say it any better than my friend and fellow Sussex Student Elana:

13. University Standard Calculator

14. Emergency Contact

15. ID

Finally, the most important of our groups of 3: the first of which is boring but so useful - I didn't realize until I got to Sussex that any old calculator just won't do when it comes to exam season, as you can only take in approved calculators to your exams to prevent the risks of cheating. Cue a mad scramble to find out what calculators were approved. You should be provided with a list of approved calculators, but don't leave it til the last minute to get one.

My penultimate point: make an effort to remember your parents' phone number too, as if anything goes wrong they will be your first port of call - even if it's just not being able to afford the taxi home after a night out. You don't want to be in a situation that really calls for knowing your emergency contact and not being able to remember it.

And my last point may seem obvious, but you'd be surprised how many people forget their ID's in the first week of Uni, and those bouncers won't make any exceptions for you. The Sussex Student ID only works on Campus and I'm sure this is the case with other student ID's, and being turned away because you don't have the right form of ID to prove your age is such a buzzkill during Freshers' Week.

I honestly hope that all of you reading this have a great Freshers' Week, and are fully prepared for your next great adventure. Cheers!

En-Thai-cing Fun For Less

This weekend was the first Thai Festival in Brighton, and as my partner lives barely a 5 minute walk from Preston Park we figured we'd check it out. Dan is a huge fan of all things Thai, having spent the majority of the time he was travelling in Asia in Thailand and spending a month alone in the city of Bangkok, and I can't even describe how excited he was to be going to a Thai festival. The human embodiment of all of these excitable dog .gifs:




I almost had to stop him from skipping down the road on the way there.

It was obviously signposted and really easy to see, too - the bouncy castles and bright orange tents were hard to miss - and the ticket offices at the entrance were smoothly run. We bought a LivingSocial offer that got one of us in for free, so we spent £3 on entry for both of us, on both days; for a first festival, we weren't expecting much, but we had so much fun.

The first thing that hit us as we walked through the entrance was the aroma from the food tents - they were situated right next to the entrance and the food smelled divine, almost calling us over to have a nose (pun totally intended).

Each stall had food from different regions of Thailand with many dietary options - although many were pork or chicken, or laden with fish sauce as a flavouring ingredient, I found a fair few stalls with vegetarian offerings.

    I picked up some vegetable stir fry noodles for £4.50 as I wanted something hot (although I could have had Som Tam Thai - papaya salad - or sweetcorn cakes), and loaded up on the sweet chilli sauce for an extra little kick of flavour, and it was so good I would have gone back for more had I not been full. It was cheap, it was delicious, and at an estimated 400-500kcal it was definitely a diet-friendly meal.

Dan had a Pork Panang Curry which is a traditional Thai dish made with coconut milk, and a Singha beer for £8. He loved it, as it was a dish he'd enjoyed in Thailand and insisted that it felt and tasted really authentic, especially as he was ordering from a market stall and it had been cooked outside. Singha beer is produced in Thailand's first and largest brewery, and they sponsored the Brighton Thai Festival.

After lunch we headed over to the main stage to see some of the scheduled performances - the descriptions we'd read of the festival promised traditional Thai music and dancing, as well as boxing demonstrations and performances by Thai Lady Boys, so we settled down on one of the many hay bales surrounding the stage to catch two of the lady boys performing to Beyoncé and Moulin Rouge.

 I just want to take a moment to point out one of the performer's shoes, too - honestly, I could not even stand in them, so kudos to her for throwing herself into performing in them! They were gorgeous, I had such shoe envy.

Thailand is a lot more accepting of Kathoeys, or Lady Boys, than other Asian countries, considering them to be a 'third gender' - although they do still face legal and social impediments. I love Lady Boys: to me, they take all the things I identify with femininity, such as makeup and high heels, and expand on it. Heels are taller, makeup is bolder, and they embrace the glitz and glamour associated with being female with confidence, and the performance at the Brighton Thai Festival was a fun, family-friendly way of introducing an important element of Thai culture.

We also checked out some of the product stalls to see what was on offer, and some of it was your typical festival tat, but others were intricately designed items such as carved soaps - which is actually a handicraft that has been developing for years in Thailand.

  The buffalo horn carvings aren't exactly my thing but I can appreciate the hard work put into each hand-carved horn.

We spent a good 3 to 4 hours at the festival over the weekend, and we had so much fun: the food was tasty and authentic; the entertainment was enjoyable and a real fusion of modern (in the Lady Boy performances and Thai boxing demonstrations) and traditional (we caught the tail end of a Thai flute performance and I'm gutted we didn't catch the performance in full); and it was generally rather good value for money. We spent a total of £15.50 between the two of us on entrance and food, and there was a variety of vegetarian options for me which can be a big issue at other festivals.
 ขอขอบคุณ Brighton!