I’m in love with my Tefal Actifry

Hooray it’s National Chip Week this week (20th – 26th February) and as most of my friends know, I love potatoes especially chips! I’d probably be disowned from my parents if I didn’t like potatoes, considering they grow around 10 tons of lovely red skin desiree potatoes every year.

Not only I love chips, but I’ve also fallen in love with my favourite kitchen gadget that cooks chips – my Tefal Actifry.

I quite sad to say that for my birthday last year, all I wanted was a Tefal Actifry. Since reading great reviews about the crispy golden chips that were healthier than the normal oven and deep fat fried chips in Slimming World magazine/forums and sampling chips made in one, that was the one kitchen gadget I NEEDED at the time.

Before then, I was dreaming and saving up for a Kenwood Food Processor after flirting with one while browsing in John Lewis… that’s for my next birthday if I can find room in my kitchen…

I didn’t get one for my birthday however I did recieve enough birthday money from family and friends to buy one. As I was so excited in owning one, I had to go to a local shop and buy one rather than wait for Amazon to deliver it.

Ahh chips…it is amazing that you only require one tablespoon of oil to cook 1kg of chipped potatoes, and they come out nice and cripsy on the outside and fluffy on the inside (depending on the breed and age of potato). And it’s so easy to prepare – peel and chip your potatoes, throw into the Actifry, drizzle a tablespoon of oil over the chips, turn on and cook for 40 minutes. Amazing!

None of this par-boiling potatoes, draining, give a quick shake in the pan, tip into a roasting dish and spray with FryLight and cook on high heat for 45 minutes. Don’t forget the occasional shake to the roasting tin to make sure the chips come out cripsy.

Don’t get me wrong, Slimming World syn free chips are good only when you’ve done them a few times and mastered your chip cooking skills but they take a lot of time, effort and love to make them to your liking. There’s more to life than spending an hour in the kitchen making healthy chips. Same logic as making pastry.

 

Slimming World readers – I can hear you now, flicking through your SW books, looking for the syn value of 1 tablespoon of oil. Olive oil is 6 syns per tablespoon or a Healthy Extra B choice. Now you might think it’s a lot of syns for chips but when preparing 1kg of chips, this is enough for 3 hungry people and works out 2 syns each. Or, save your HE B choice for olive oil.

Personally, I can’t save my B choice for olive oil as I need my bread or porridge fix every day, so I use my syn allowance for the chips (2 or 3 syns depending how many people I’m feeding). Also, I find using vegetable or sunflower oil makes a better chip than olive oil, and it’s cheaper as well.

You can use FryLight to cover the potatoes before placing into the Actifry and the chips turn out okay but not to my liking. But don’t let me put you off doing this – give it a go and see if you like it or not. For something in life, it’s worth using some of your syn allowance for oil and butter. As an old friend told me one – Fat is Flavour!

 

The type of spud – I’m still experimenting to be frank and it will take me a while to find the perfect spud to make the perfect chips using the Actifry. I have been mostly using the endless supply of potatoes I get from my parents which are Desiree (red skin) potato and not only they make really good mash but they make good chips as well, especially the older the potato as there’s less moisture in the flesh. They keep there shpae, turn cripsy and fluffy on the inside yum!

I have tried Maris Piper (typical white skin potato for chips) and baking potatoes in the Actifry and they are okay but they can loose their shape and become a ‘floppy chip’ (like the chips you find at the bottom of your chip shop wrapper that have soaked up all the vinegar and fat).

That’s the one thing I find when buying potaotes from a supermarket – they are probably imported from Cyprys or Egypt, still fairly young and full of moisture. Get your spud from a farmers market and still covered in some earth!

 

What oil to use – Don’t waste olive oil on making chips, it not worth it. Save it to drissle on pasta and salads. I find good old fashioned vegetable or sunflower oil make really good chips in the Actrifry. To be honest, i haven’t experimented with any othe roils like corn oil, rapeseed oil but the Actifry instruction manual does state that you can use virtually any oil to make chips.

 

Other vegetable chips and wedges – The Actifry is not exclusive to making chips; you can make other items such as sasuage casserole or beef curry but I haven’t bothered making these. What I have been making is various cuts of chips like:

• Fries (chips around 1cm thick) take less time to cook. I’ve got a Potato Chipper to make fries. 30mins is my max.
• Wedges (thick chunky chips) and roast potatoes need at least 45 mins.
• Roast parsnips – quarter and remove the woody stalk, cook for 35-40mins.
• Sweet potato – I’m still experimenting here as the orange flesh sweet potato has a lot more moisture than a normal potato and requires less time to cook. At the moment, I cut into wedges and cook for 30 mins. I find whte flesh sweet potato works better as it keeps it’s shape better and turns crisper. If you’re trying to look for this in the supermarket, they look very similar to orange flesh sweet potato but longer and slightly dearer. Cook for 35-45mins.
• Onion rings – I haven’t tried to cook frozen supermarket onion rings in the Actifry but my mum has (she’s joined the Actifry Club!) and claim they come out nice and crispy, only if the onion rings don’t get caught in the paddle.

 

Verdict – I love my Actifry and it’s the best £130 I spent (August 2011). The price has dropped since then, with a number of Christmas promotions with the likes of Curry’s and price war with Amazon, so you should be able to get one for around £80 (standard 1kg Tefal Actifry in White).

The 1kg version is fine if you’re only feeding chips for up to 3 hungry adults or enough roast potatoes for 5-6. If you have a family, I would spend a little bit extra to get the 1.5kg version to make sure evryone has enough chips on their plate.

You wouldn’t be dissapointed with owning a Actifry. What I have found is I haven’t bought frozen chips since July 2011 or been to the local chippy for a takeaway as buying potatoes and preparing them for the Actifry is a lot cheaper plus helps with watching the family’s waistline. So in marketing speak, the return on investment is pretty high!

Still not sure? F0ind a friend who owns one and invite yourself over for a chippy tea. And join the Tefal Actifry Club!

I’m still alive

So much for giving blogging a go! I haven’t forgotted about my blog, it’s just I’ve been so busy!

I will be back on the case on blogging soon and I am considering changing the format a bit as well so I talk more about kitchen life (ie cooking & baking and my dream kitchen!) and my experience on Slimming World.

Watch this space…for the next 6 months ha!

Bring back prescription charges in Wales

This is a topic that really irritates me every time I go to my local health centre. It has irritated me so much, it has made me wanting to express my opinions on prescription charges in Wales.

So, I was at my local health centre, waiting to be called in by the nurse but things were a bit chaotic and busy as it was a Friday morning. The nurse was running 30 minutes late and after checking Facebook & Twitter on my phone, a quick game of Angry Birds, I found myself eavesdropping the receptionist’s telephone calls.

Well, I could not ignore the conversations as she was being quite loud!

Anyway, here are some conversations I heard:

1. A parent phones up asking for an appointment to see the doctor as soon as possible for her son. Her son, I’m guessing primary school age, was sent home after having a fall during play time and has grazed his chin and cut his lip open.

The receptionist told the mother that there’s nothing the doctor can do and all the mother had to do is clean the graze on her son’s chin and the cut on his lip with antiseptic and cover the graze with plaster if needed.

Guessing from the conversation, the mother probably said something on the lines of ‘I need to get the antiseptic and plasters from the doctor’. The receptionist told the mother politely ‘You can get antiseptic and plasters from ASDA or your local chemist’. The mother hung up on the receptionist. Probably in a huff and now bitching about the local health centre to her friends and family.

2. Asian father walks in to the health centre with his daughter, around 6/7 years old, asks the receptionist for an appointment to see the doctor. This poor girl has been sent home from school as she had headlice. It must have been quite a extreame case of headlice if she was sent home from school.

Receptionist says that there are no appointments available for today and to try again on Monday or go see the local chemist. The father is starting to get irritated and demands to see the doctor. The receptionist says that his daughter does not need to see the doctor for headlice as he can buy the shampoo from the chemists. The father is having none of it and starts shouting in broken English that his daughter is ‘special’ and requires ‘special treatment’ for headlice.

The receptionist is not having any of it and clearly says he needs to go to the chemist to get the shampoo. The father stays quiet for a few minutes, walks away and come back again asking for an appointment to see the nurse!

Fair play to the receptionist, she was having none of it and didn’t cave in to this man. She said that he can’t have an appointment to see the nurse or doctor as they will not prescripe his daughter shampoo for head lice, stop trying to claim ‘freebies’ on the NHS on low cost items, and stop wasting doctor’s time.

By this time, the father and his daughter has an audience. The poor girl started crying and he eventually left the health centre. He only needs to dig into his money-filled wallet and actually buy the shampoo from the chemist which is only 2 minute walk away.

I’ve got more similar stories like this, some I’ve experienced while in the waiting room or read online. But all these stories relate to one thing: The Welsh Government’s policy on Free Prescriptions.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great idea. Anything that is given out for free by the government is great. Everyone loves freebies! I’d like to see something in return from the taxes I pay. But I can’t help thinking that this policy is getting Wales into debt and the money earned from precription charges could be invested back into the Welsh NHS.

After experiencing a few scenarios at the local health centre and hearing other similar stories, I have come to this conclusion:

1. Some people do not bother going to their local chemist or contacting NHS Direct to seek advice before contacting their local GP or nurse. A lot of people don’t realise that the majority of local, high street and in-store chemists have privacy rooms so you can discuss your health concern in private with your chemist.

2. Some people have become scourngers, even those who are high earners and walk around with their wallets bursting with £50 notes. They’ll do anything to avoid paying £5 for a bottle of headlice shampoo or 35p for a box of ASDA own brand paracetemol. They want everything, and I mean EVERYTHING free on the NHS.

3. UK are becoming a nation of idiots who have no idea of basic hygine and how to clean simple wounds and grazes and let them get infected, pussy and eventually turn black and drop off.  Didn’t your parents teach you how to clean cuts with Dettol,  cover with a plaster and change dressings?

So here I am, on my soap box shouting out: “Bring back prescription charges in Wales to stop people claiming low cost items on Welsh NHS and stop time wasters in health centres and doctor’s surgeries’.

If all those time wasters where not there, harrasing receptionists, giving abuse to nurses and demanding all sorts of drugs from their doctors, people with actual health concerns and conditions can be seen and treated quicker and more efficiently. Plus, it will make the whole experience going to the doctors a bit more pleasent.

Just to make it clear, I’m not saying everyone should be paying for prescription charges, just follow the previous free prescription policy (and currently England’s) on those who should have free prescriptions:

• If you are aged 60 or over.
• If you are aged under 16.
• If you are aged 16, 17 or 18 and in full-time education.
• If you are pregnant, or have had a baby in the previous 12 months, and have an exemption certificate.
• If you have a listed medical condition and have an exemption certificate.
• If you are an NHS inpatient.
• If you (or your partner) gets one of the following:
  • Income Support.
  • Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance.
  • Income-related Employment and Support Allowance.
  • Pension Credit Guarantee Credit.
• If you are entitled to, or named on, a valid NHS tax credit exemption certificate.
• Some war pensioners – if treatment is connected with the pensionable disability.
• People on a low income who have a certificate.

I think that’s fair, don’t you think?

I hate going to my local health centre because of the idiots that go there trying to save some buck or unable to brush their teeth. I choose to pay for any drugs I need before going to the doctors, just to avoid being in the same room as these timewasters plus the doctor can allocate his appointment slots to someone in real need. I only go there when I really, really have to i.e when my local chemist can’t assist me, need a routine check up or it’s a real emergency. I always leave the place feeling irritated. Grrr…argh…pah…tsssk (annoyed sounds).

The receptionist in my local health centre is a brave and strong woman and probably is not paid enough to deal with the constant shit she has to put up with every day. She’s constantly in a mood or looks stressed whenever I ring up or turn up for my appointment, but I know deep down she’s a lovely lady. I’d be in a mood / stressed / hair going grey / suidcidal if I had to deal with idiots every day.

What to do when your dog gets attacked by another dog

Is that Batman & Robin? No, it's Teleri & Stitch

For those who know me well, you will also know my little partner in crime – Stitch, my jack russell terrier. A dog with a big personality! This year, we decided to have a ‘staycation’ and have our holiday in Devon and take Stitch with us for his first ever holiday.

On our way down to Devon, we decided to call into Cheddar Gorge in Somerset for lunch and stretch our legs. Plus, Chedder Gorge is a dog friendly tourist attraction so no need to leave Stitch in the car. We went around the caves, had a look in the cave man museum, Stitch met some other dogs – all went well until we headed back to our car.

Without any warning, a St Bernard dog (same dog as seen in the Beethoven films) went for Stitch’s rear and bit and shook him on the rear left leg. The owner had given his dog to his teenage daughter to hold, she wasn’t strong enough to control the dog and he broke loose when he saw Stitch.

It was an unprovoked attack – no barking or growling – the St Bernard dog just broke loose and went for Stitch. I had to grab the St Bernard’s scruff of the neck and shake him in order to let Stitch go. By this time, the owner eventually appeared and took the St Bernard away from me so I could get to Stitch.

Stitch after getting attacked by St Bernard at Cheddar Gorge

Stitch sustained two skin keep cuts to his rear left leg with a few puncture holes on his bum and legs. The St Bernard got a beating from his owner.

At this point, shock took over and we quickly went to the car, examined Stitch and cleaned his wounds. I didn’t know what to do – I just wanted to find a vet to get Stitch stitched up.  The car park attendant at Cheddar Gorge helped us to get to the local emergency vets while my boyfriend spoke to the dog owner and get his contact details. The dog owner offered to pay for the vets bill.

We found the local emergency vets (Axe Valley, Blackford, Somerset) and Stitch had to go under anesthetic to get properly examined and get two 3in long cuts stitched up. The bill came just under £300 but it would have been significantly more if he needed xrays or sustained injuries to his neck, chest and stomach.

Stitch after surgery

We attempted to get hold of the dog owner but he hasn’t responded to any answer phone messages or refuses to answer his phone. We suspect that his dog has done something similar before so he knows to either to give false contact details or ignore any phonecalls.

Stupidly, we only got a telephone number and a first name from the dog owner and didn’t think to get his home address or take note of his car numberplate. Also, there was no CCTV at Cheddar Gorge car park and the car park attendants didn’t take a note of his number plate.

So, a lesson learned here hence why I’m writing this blog post. One thing I’m glad is that I have pet insurance on Stitch otherwise it would have been an expensive holiday.

If your dog gets attacked, this is what you should do:

1. Get the dog owner’s contact details – telephone number, address, Twitter account, car number plate anything so you can contact him/her. The dog owner should have pet insurance on his/her dog and you should be able to claim for any vets bills on this policy.

2. CCTV footage or witnesses – if you can get it!

3. Photograph the wound, before and after. It might be the last thing you want to do at the time but try collect as much evidence as possible. Photograph your dogs wounds before visiting the vet, after getting operated / stitched up, and the days after the incident. Your pet insurance might want to this as well.

4. If you are unsure of the dog’s breed, try get a photograph of it or ask the dog’s owner.

5. If in doubt, or scared of the dog, don’t approach it. You can see what damage a dog can do and it could do the same to your arm or face.

I was confident to approach this dog as I’ve been around dogs of all sizes since I could remember and strong enough to grab his scruff to choke him. But I was also foolish too as this dog could have easily gone for me and bit my arm or go for my face. I was very lucky in this case but I wouldn’t recommend this action.

5. Report the incident to the local Dog Warden. The local Dog Warden might know the owner and it’s dog only if he/she lives locally. You can find out who the local Dog Warden is by calling the local authority.

Should I contact the local police?

I phoned the Somerset & Avon Police Force non-emergeny line for advice and this is what I was told:

Yes – if the dog has attacked or bitten you and the wound requires medical attention such as stitches, treatment, antibiotics etc. A dog attackeing a human is a criminal act as the dog owner has lost all control of the animal. This is the case if the dog is a known dangerous breed or not.

Yes – if the dog has attacked your dog and the dog is a known dangerous breed. The dog owner should not take the dangerous dog out in public or should have a muzzle/restraining harness such a sa muzzle.

No – if the dog attacks your dog. You’ll just be wasting the local police force time. This is not a criminal act therefore vets bills (if there are any) should be settelled by the dog owner that attacked your dog. However, you should report the incident to the local Dog Warden.

Other tips:

1. Get pet insurance for your dog – I pay £10 a month for Stitch with Direct Line and it’s a small cost per month compared to a £300 vets bill! Majority of pet insurance policies cover treatment for attacks from other dogs.

2. Carry an old towel, pet friendly antibaterial wipes and water in the car for your dog. I always do this as Stitch likes to get dirty when we go for walks and I like to give him a quick rub down before he jumps into the car. Luckily for this occasion, I was able to keep Stitch warm, protect the car from any blood stains, and clean is wound within minutes of the attack.

3. If you go on holiday with your dog, find out where the local vets with 24 hours emergency services are from your accomodation. We were lucky in this instance because the staff at Cheddar Gorge had contact details of a local emergency vets and Stitch was seen to within an hour of the incident.

Stitch in the car

How is Stitch now?

It was a horrible start to the holiday but in 48 hours after the ordeal and he was back to his usual self. I took him out for a walk in the field next to our accomodation and he ran off and rubbed himself in fox poo! Plus he enjoyed the morning walkinga round the Donkey Sanctury in Sidmouth.

He had a week’s worth of pain killers and antibiotics to take but he got extra special attention from myself (smoked salmon and icecream) and lot of support from locals and other tourists in Devon. He got the all clear from the vets the following week and got his stitches out 14 days after the attack.

Cute alert – Stitch in the car

Are we there yet? - Stitch in the car on a recent trip to Devon

Cupcake Decorating Class

Since I started full time work about six years ago, I really miss my ‘study at home days’ of being creative and getting my hands dirty. That’s the one thing I loved while doing my degree in Graphic Communication – I was either drawing, painting or doing something crafty which involved getting my fingers sticky while playing with PVA glue.

That came to an end when I got myself a job, a full time job so no time to get messy and doing art for the sake of it.

These days, my creative output is usually cooking – either cooking tea in the evening or trying out new recpies from Slimming World or Good Food Magazine. I try to hunt down unusual cake recpies like Chocolate & Beetroot Brownies and Parsnip & Maple Syrup Muffins to keep the creative cogs turning and tast buds tingling!

Then I saw a tweet about a Chairty Cupcake Decorating Class at the Ladybird Club on 10th September. Great! My sugar craft skills are poor – it’s one thing in crafts I havent mastered. I’m confident with my baking skills but I’m hopeless with decorating cupcakes. I’ve got the creative eye & imagination to come up with wacky cakes designs but it’s the technical side of mixing up your butter icing and colouring it I get wrong. I always land up with runny and lumpy butter icing. Hence why I decided to go to the Cupcake Decorating Class.

Andrea from Angel’s Cake was the teacher and she was great and down to earth. She went through everything from how to prepare your butter icing, tips on colouring your butter icing, flavour your butter icing, demonstrated what each nozzle does, how to prepare your icing bag and how to achieve the rose flower and ‘Mr Whippy’ effect on your cupcake. Exactly what I needed.

Plus, a group discussion about cupcake recpies and other ingredients you can add to your butter icing like smooth peanut butter, chocolate spread and soft cheese. I also asked her for advice on how to store your cupcakes after decorating to avoid the butter icing ‘melting’.

We got to practice our piping on plastic muffins before we were given real muffins to decorate. I learnt a very important lesson during this class – if you mess up the decorating on your muffin, no worries, just scoop it off and put it back into your piping bag. Andrea gave us an array of items to decorate our cupcakes – white chocolate stars, mini marshmallows, edible gold and silver balls, glitter, chocolate curls, chocolate hearts, mini smarties and plenty of colours to choose from. Even bright lime green colouring! We were spoilt for choice. The only thing that stopped the class that day was our imagination. Mine was going crazy.

My cupcakes! I don't want to know how many syns are in each cake!

I decorated my 6 cupcakes and overall I was chuffed with my piping skills. I achieved the perfect rose flower and Mr Whippy effect, mixed pink and red butter icing and sprinked some glitter everywhere. There looked perfect in my presentation box but sadly they got damaged on the bus ride home:

Ops! Clearly cupcakes and Cardiff Bus don't go well together

Still edible though! Didn’t stop me from eating on Saturday afternoon!

Tah dah! Here I am with my cupcakes

Oh by the way, food colouring is so hard to wash off your hands, especially red & blue.

My hands stained from red food colouring

I have to say, well done Sally & Jo for arranging this cupcake decorating class / fundraiser. They managed to raise £500 from the event, probably from the raffle as everyone wanted the voucher for afternoon tea at Waterloo Gardens.

Visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/princesbounty/ to see the photos from the class.

So as it’s National Cupcake Week, 12th-18th September 2011, I’ll be heading to Kitchen’s on High St to get myself some piping bags and nozzles and try out my new piping skills on a batch of cupcakes for a friend’s 40th birthday. The theme for the cupcakes are Twp Gun (aka Top Gun) so Stars & Stripes cupcake cases, just need to decide what cupcake recpie and butter icing to do. Wish me luck!

My Autumn 2011 Resolution

I read something interesting the other day – the best time of year to start something new is in September. The success rate will be greater than starting in the new year / January.

Not entirely sure where I saw this, it could have been the Sept/Oct issue of Slimming World magazine or the Channel 4′s Food Twitter feed.

Anyway…

This inspired me to do a number of things:

1. To re kick-start my weight loss, I must try out at least one new Slimming World / Good Food recipe a week.
2. Get back into my ‘Gym 3 Times a Week’ routine.
3. Start a blog.

Start a blog? Am I mad? Will I become more anti-social by maintaining a blog? I’m already terrible on Twitter, always looking at it via my phone or at my desk in work. I’m waiting for the day when my boyfriend will tweet me a question as he didn’t get a responce by asking me in person.

My excuse is – ‘Well, I am a young professional working in the world of web. I need to get experience in blogging.’

So, here I am. Blogging.

Watch this space…