Mrs Birks Blogs

Last week, thanks to the generous babysitting of Nanny, Mr Birks and I went to the cinema. The last time we went was to see Skyfall, which I loved and started writing a big blog post about straight away.  Unfortunately, I never quite finished it and now it seems a bit dated.  But nevermind, I will tell you about Star Trek instead! Now, I wasn't entirely sure what was on at the flicks when we arrived, it seemed to be mostly action films and in the end we decided on action of the sci-fi variety.  It seems unusual to me that two big action films (the other being Iron Man 3) have been released at around the same time but judging by the number of people watching Star Trek, the gap between the release dates has been significant enough. Those who know me, know how much I love to get a bargain. Which is probably why I find parting with nearly £10 to go and sit in a darkened room a bit of a rip off,especially as I'm not convinced you really get what you pay...

Shhh! Don't tell anyone I'm here! I should be marking! What could distract me from my professional commitment and enthusiasm, I guess you're wondering.  Well, I just had to take a moment to lament the loss of Merlin from our TV screens.  Yes, I know the award winning, prime time BBC TV show left our screens at Christmas but, quite frankly, I still haven't got over the loss and am extremely grateful that I received the series 1 box set for my birthday back in March (I hope the others will follow shortly!) Now to some, Merlin was the annoying medieval programme that followed the glitter and glamour of Strictly Come Dancing on a Saturday night (that Merlin-yoke as described by Marian Keyes on Twitter).  It's true, you could not get a bigger contrast than these two programmes - one is about fake tan, sequins and posh frocks, whilst the other is all running around in the forest with mud caked clothes.  But I loved them both and I can see why the BBC scheduled these two...

Like many, I jumped at the chance of indulging in some Great British Bake Off before the return of the new series and watched the Easter Masterclass (you can no longer see this on iPlayer but there are re-runs of series 2 - hoorah!). Of all the deliciousness on offer, I opted to make The Berry's Lemon Pavlova complete with mini nests and garnished with mini eggs. I've only ever made pavlova once before, it didn't turn out too badly, a little bit soggy in the middle but an ok first attempt. What I'd forgotten about my first attempt was how long it took to make. The recipe I followed can be found here . The pavlova is made with 6 egg whites, caster sugar and a few teaspoons of cornflour and white wine vinegar. I was a bit impatient with the meringue and really thought I had gone wrong until eventually it thickened up and I was brave enough to do the "meringue over the head" test. I probably should have whisked a bit more, as when I added the cornflour mixture ...

Sooooo, I have seriously neglected my blog for the last month - did anyone notice? I'm not sure!  But whilst I've been away I have in fact been doing proper work - my actual real life job.  Yes, my maternity leave came to an end in February and since then I've been focusing all my energy on preparing students for exams and getting them through coursework.  I did have time to enjoy a trip to New York just before half term but apart from that, it's been work, work, work (and in fact, NYC was work too as I was accompanied by 38 students) Before returning to work, I did have time to do a few bits. Firstly, I tried out a little project from a book called Sew a Metre, which contains loads of ideas of things to make with just a metre of fabric. I needed to make something to tidy up my knitting needles (and newly purchased crochet hooks - more on these later) so opted for a simple needle roll. From my scraps of fabric, I cobbled together a metres worth, in two complimentary ...

So, I haven't updated my blog for a while and that's mainly because I've been watching TV.  I am working on a post about Skyfall (coming soon!) but mostly it's all about spending time with the box.  After all, if it's good enough for Homer Simpson, it's good enough for me.  I will confess right now that I do have a bit of a thing for trash tv.  I'm still a devoted Eastenders fan (always will be) and I also indulged in a bit of Celebrity Big Brother (sorry!).  However, at the moment, I think the best thing on TV is the so called Scandi-Drama that has been brought to us from Denmark. Now, I'm not an expert on Danish TV drama, I've only watched Borgen and The Killing 1 but I love both and I'm going to explain why... We first started watching Borgen when it appeared on BBC4.  It had great reviews in the TV guide and Saturday night is generally a bit of a wasteland when it comes to TV drama (especially now Merlin is finished) so we thou...

At the moment I'm on maternity leave so I've got more time then most to get stuck into making stuff.  That said, I always find myself in a making mood at Christmas time and baking in particular gets me feeling festive.  This year I tried a range of new stuff although I didn't take pictures of everything. Firstly, I made mince pies using  this recipe .  I'm not a great lover of mince pies usually but this recipe by Nigella is fantastic.  Rather than being too traditionally "fruity" this recipe is heavy on the cranberries and gives a different flavour.  I loved the fact that they weren't too sweet, just deliciously tangy.  The pastry is a bit of a faff (in and out of the fridge and the freezer) but it's worth it.  Overall these were a big hit - perhaps too much of a hit with me - I couldn't stop eating them! I also made my very first gingerbread house.  In fact, I made three small ones, so that myself, my hubby and my daughter could all ha...

Now, before you read this post, I have to confess it wasn't written specifically for my blog.  It's something I wrote for  Media Magazine  in June 2011 but was never published.  It's a little bit dated - I believe series 8 has already been shown - but it might still prove useful for media students studying TV drama.  For everyone else, it might just be a good way to appreciate this fab show.  Incidentially, I still haven't watched series 7 or 8 - anyone want to lend me the box set??? Back in September, a student, after hearing my confession that I was a House fan, lent me the first six seasons on box set.   Now (the following June) I have almost finished watching the lot.   That’s 34 discs and 133 episodes.   Approximately 5320 minutes of my time or about 3.5 days.   It may not sound much to you ( I remember the days of watching box sets in bed when I was younger) but it’s hard to fit in such committed viewing along with a f...