Asparagus and Radish Salad with Green Chilli

So I'm back!!!  After nearly two months of no new posts, I think I'm just about ready to start writing again and I think I have a few ideas in store, with maybe even a couple of collaborations but nothing's been organised yet.  In the next couple of weeks, I'll be publishing my 100th post (which you can still send asks to @rainbowsunshine67 on Tumblr for, both anonymously and non-anonymously), so look out for that!

So I've actually been up to a lot in the past couple of months, so let's have a little catch-up:

On Friday 15th April, it was the Activities Ball on Friday 15th April.  While the ball had been at the Cedar Court Hotel near the M606 last year, we returned this year to the Bradford Hotel where the ball was when I was in 1st year, and for the first time in years, the Activities Ball took place separately to the Athletics Union Colours Ball (which was in March).  I ended up wearing the same F&F Limited Edition purple satin dress that I wore for the ball two years ago, but one of my friends commented when I told her it was the same dress that I'd "grown and matured into the dress" since 1st year.  I don't really understand what she meant but she said it was a compliment.  I wore it with my gold flower necklace and black bow flat shoes, both from Marks and Spencer.

I received an individual colours award for my services as exec member of both BUSOM (in 2nd year) and RamAir (in 3rd year) after my wonderful friends from BUSOM nominated me.  This year has been a big year for awards in BUSOM as a total of 5 of us received individual awards, we achieved gold status in the society quality mark (SQM) scheme, and we were also shortlisted for the Event of the Year award for Back to the 80s, narrowly missing out to Pak Soc and the Hindu Society's collaboration on the Rang event.




I chose the vegetarian option for the meal, but I don't know how much difference there was between the vegetarian option and the vegan option (I also don't know of any vegans who were at the ball).  The main difference between the vegetarian option and the normal option was that everyone else had chicken with their vegetables instead of vegetable tarts for main course, and the tomato soup starter was probably the same for everyone (except for a friend who was allergic to the cornstarch in the soup).  The raspberry panna cotta wasn't the best but it was alright and if it wasn't already vegan-friendly, it could easily be made so.

A bag of sweets!

The table centrepiece

Starter: Tomato Soup

Vegetarian Mains: Vegetable tart with vegetables

Dessert: Raspberry Pannacotta

On Tuesday 26th April, I completed the website for my final project (which can currently be viewed at http://brassloft.liam.bradweb.co.uk/), had my presentation, and completed my final 4000 word essay and my degree on Monday 9th May.  I'll have to wait for a few more weeks to receive my final results, but I'm still just about on track for a 2:1.  I'm due to graduate on Wednesday 13th July!

Thursday 28th April was BUSOM's summer concert, I Can Sing A Rainbow, where we sang lots of songs about colours.  I sang Colours of the Wind from Pocahontas as a solo, and also had a solo line in Rainbow Connection from the Muppets.  Other songs included I've Got A Golden Ticket from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Somewhere That's Green from Little Shop of Horrors, Red and Black from Les Miserables, and Joseph's Coat from Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  You can read Phil Lickley's review on the concert here. The photos below are courtesy of Bradford Student Productions.




During my final week at university (15th-20th May), I took part in RamAir's 24 Hour Show where I both studio managed other shows and hosted the final two episodes of my own show, Breaking Walls and Closing Cupboards - although the final episode ended up under the name of Fixing The Wall and Opening The Cupboards.  I also took part in the return of Grumpy Young Farts and the final episode of Anything Goes with Emma.






I had my 21st birthday party 3 weeks early so I could celebrate with my uni friends before they all went home.  We used the uni bars' karaoke system for entertainment (I sang Suddenly I See by KT Tunstall, Call Me by Blondie, Tide Is High (Get The Feeling) by Atomic Kitten, and Walking On Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves), and played the chocolate game, pass the parcel (including Truth or Dare) and Never Have I Ever for party games.  I love my friends from BUSOM and I think they made this an amazing birthday party for me.  Hopefully, I'll be publishing my 100th post by my 21st birthday (on 7th June)!

My birthday mocktail gift from the bars, with pineapple juice, cranberry juice, blueberries and grapes

Playing the chocolate game

Other events from that week included the Student Leader Awards where I received a gold award for my volunteering with RamAir and a silver award for being a student representative, the BUSOM end-of-year BBQ, and Party on the Amp, which I missed most of due to work, but had a good time with my friends for the 2 hours I was there and afterwards when spending more time with BUSOM friends.

Emma and I with our awards, photo courtesy of Philip Lickley

I've also now started working at Gaggia Caffe Shop, where I'm tinkering with a website redesign and answering lots of customer phone calls at the moment, but I might be learning more about the coffee machines themselves in the future so I can understand better to give advice to customers.


And now finally for this week's recipe.  While flicking through the May 2016 edition of Tesco Food Family Living, I noticed that there's a new symbol for about 4 of the dishes - a small green V with a leaf at the right finishing point of the letter.  I looked up what this meant and found that these recipes "use no animal products, including meat, fish, eggs and dairy".  This will definitely make finding vegan-friendly recipes in these magazines as I was previously searching the vegetarian recipes for milk or eggs and thinking of how I could adapt these recipes.  The first marked vegan-friendly recipe from Tesco that I'm going to share here is going to be Asparagus and radish salad with green chilli:

Ingredients (serves 4)

100g (3 1/2 oz) fine green beans, trimmed
1 x 250g bunch of asparagus, shaved into long strips using a vegetable peeler
2 spring onions, sliced
100g  (3 1/2 oz) radishes, finely sliced
a small handful each of fresh dill and mint, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon hazelnuts, toasted and chopped

For the dressing:
5cm (2 inches) piece fresh ginger, finely grated
1 garlic clove, finely grated
1 green chilli, seeded and finely diced
1 lime, juiced
1 tablespoon sesame oil

Instructions

1. Cook the green beans in a pan of salted, boiling water for 3 minutes, or until tender.  Drain, run under a cold tap and drain again.  Arrange on a serving platter with the asparagus, spring onions, radishes and herbs.
2. To make the dressing, combine the ginger, garlic and chilli in a small bowl.  Add the lime juice and sesame oil.  Season with a pinch each of salt, pepper and sugar, and mix well.
3. Scatter the hazelnuts over the salad and spoon over the dressing.