A Super Cool Music Video! - Brotherhood's "Solo Project"

Our new music Video!

 Besides food, as I mentioned in the About This Blog page, I do play drums much like Jamie (amongst other instruments) and music is large part of my life and one of my favourite things to do is making music videos for fun with some of my family. So, I am really excited to announce the release of my edition to Brotherhood's "Solo Project"! The Solo Project is a series of music videos in which all the band members get to have a chance at leading a video and then you guys get to vote who you think did the best job. So, below is our newest one, my video for the project: Brotherhood - The Solo Project | Toby Mac "The Brotherhood Medley" (Official Video) We certainly had a whole heap of fun making this one so I hope you all enjoy it as much as we do!

 You can vote by commenting below the video on YouTube. (Click here.) Maybe say why you liked the one you did and by all means give suggestions for future videos. 

 We have done other music videos outside of the project too by artists such as Jason Gray, Newsboys and David Crowder so visit our Channel on YouTube right here for more vids. 

"To glorify my Savior, Jesus Christ, the Creator  

of the universe and spread further abroad His glorious gospel." - Yours Truly

Tools For The Job - Part 4 (Special "Time Travel" Post)

Myself in the "finishing kitchen" of a stately home

 No machine needed here, allow me to transport you. Let us go back in time a few decades to discover a few tools used in a stately home's kitchen of the past. 
 The year is 1911 and the picture to the left is of myself in what was known as the "occasional kitchen" or the "finishing kitchen". This was because the real kitchen where ninety percent of the work is done (now under a hotel) was on the other side of the house and so the finishing kitchen was where everything was plated up and the final touches were done to each dish before being transported to the dining room. However, the real kitchen is over a hundred yards away and, in order to keep the dishes hot as possible, they were transported by this post's first tool: a bicycle. I know Jamie Oliver has used a skateboard in a kitchen before but a bicycle is definitely a "Tools For The Job" first!

"Meals on wheels!"

A pat of butter!

 The second tool we shall look at is this huge cabinet. Do you notice anything strange about it? It is lined with metal. This was because finished plates could be placed in here and then the cabinet, which was on casters, would be rolled in front of the big, black ranges to keep the contents hot until need. That's your microwave of the 1900's I guess. For a fridge they used the expensive commodity of huge chunks of cut ice brought in by horse and cart from the mountains and buried them with whatever was needed to be kept cool.

The first prototype for a microwave-oven

 Thirdly, copper saucepans. Not necessarily unusual as such but these things get a mention simply because of the number that they are found in. In most every old kitchen you go to, you will see rows and rows of copper saucepans in a vast array of sizes. Copper is excellent for thermal conductivity (even heating) and is brilliant for meringues and other foams but can have the tendency to react with foods of an acidic nature resulting in toxicity so they were eventually lined with tin to stop this. These saucepans are also on the weighty side and can require high upkeep such re-tinning so nowadays they are "cladded".

 Now, knives back then were made to last! These knives
were hundreds of years old and were still in fantastic
condition.

 So, besides, ice-cream and jelly moulds,  butter pats, pots as heavy as a brontosaurus and meat cleavers large enough to carve one, this gave me an idea of what tools might have been used in a period kitchen of the 1900's.

I could shave in one of these!

 If you own or know of any other peculiar kitchen tools from the past then by all means leave some comments below or take some pictures and write in to onedeliciousman@gmail.com. I'd certainly love to hear from you guys.

Take note of the the size of the wooden board on the left...

Seasoned with Peculiarity,

Jacob

"To glorify my Savior, Jesus Christ, the Creator  

of the universe and spread further abroad His glorious gospel." - Yours Truly

My Sisters' Birthday Cake

Myself, the cake and the birthday girls

  It has to be someone's birthday today so Happy Birthday from me! I love a good party as it usually means food, often something different too. For instance, birthdays mean birthday cakes. It was two of my sister's birthdays (one of which does most of the photography for this blog) this past week so I did a joint cake for them both and it worked out quite well. Take a look at the pictures, have a go at this really simple recipe for a quick and easy sponge and let me know what you think by commenting below.

Time: 10 min prep, 25 mins cooking

Serves: 12 people who like cake!

RECIPE

 1) Preheat your oven to 180 degrees and prepare two 18ish cm tins. Weigh out 8 oz. (225g) each of butter and soft, brown sugar. Cream these together with a whisk or in a mixer and then add four eggs one at a time, whisking after each addition. (Add a little flour if the mixture curdles.)

 2) Give your mix a drop of vanilla extract and weigh 8 oz. of self-raising flour. Sieve this into your bowl a little at a time and fold it in before evenly distributing between your two tins.

This cake took some thought as one
sister likes cupcakes and the other
likes dolphins 

 3) Cook for 20-25 mins and then check with a toothpick. If it comes out clean then they are done, leave to cool before turning out onto a rack.


 Now it's up to you; decorate as you will. Simply fill with a jam of your choice or use some ingenuity and come up with a design of your own. Be sure to email me some photos and a little on how things went for your very own post on my sister blog Your Blog! at onedeliciousman@gmail.com.

Seasoned with Festivity,

Jacob

Both sisters very pleased with their cake

It's done at last!

The final touches

If you are wondering about the quote on the fridge, see my brother's very cool
carpentry blog here

My littlest sister absolutely loves dolphins so I put one on the cake just for her

Piping icing...

... demands a steady hand.

"To glorify my Savior, Jesus Christ, the Creator  

of the universe and spread further abroad His glorious gospel." - Yours Truly

One of My First Three Course Meals

A black-bottom peanut butter pie (Pillsbury.com)

 My chef/baker friend who taught me all about Sourdough and his family were staying with us along with another family a few years ago and we had planned to do a meal for both sets of parents and my Mum and Dad. Making a simple but really nice evening meal and creating an atmosphere for it is one of my favourite things to do. (I'm not sure about you but I'm not so keen on the "being serenaded" bit though.)
 Anyhow, we brainstormed a menu and came up with a three course meal within a few hours. It went something like...

~oOo~

A chicken and vegetable soup with home-made bread rolls

~ Smoked cheese and pea white sauce penne topped with a whole, breaded chicken  ~ 
breast with parma ham and cheese 

Black bottom peanut butter pie served with whipped cream

~oOo~

Now there's a 'baby face' if ever I saw one!

 Together we knuckled down and started the prep. Only a day before had he shown me how to correctly use a chef's knife when making the chicken and vegetable soup with a real chicken stock made from scratch. (That really is the "Bee's knees" and there is no substitute that comes close.) Already I was noticing the differences in my level of control and how much more effective I was in the kitchen though.

 The next thing we did was an all American dessert, 'Black-bottom Peanut Butter Pie'. Diabetics are forewarned! If you are a sweet tooth then you will fall in love with this dish and if you know anyone who is a sweet tooth and serve this to them, you will have a friend for life and beyond. 

Apparently bread rolls are on the rise...

 As soon as that was in the fridge, we made a start on the main course which involved breading chicken breasts. This is great fun and you can really get in a rhythm. Firstly we wrapped grated cheese around the breasts with the ham and then went through the process of egg, seasoned flour, egg, bread crumbs. While these baked, I then made a  delicious creamy white sauce with smoked cheese. Oh, man, I loved that.
 Anyhow, the table was set, the guests were 'arriving' and I was running out of time. The 'head-chef' had to go and change which I knew had to happen but I was getting a little freaked out. I just remember him telling me all cool as a cucumber as he untied his apron before leaving, "You take care of it, mate." Due to the starters needing to be all plated up right then, I had no choice but to get over it and plough on. I was not completely alone in this endeavour as I had previously employed the aid of my younger sister (who currently does the fantastic job of most of my photography) and a younger brother as a waiter but that did not alleviate the responsibility of being in command of literally everything. 

Making the mixture for our peanut butter extraveganza!
(Unfortunately, the photography was still under
development.)

 I had no need for my fretting, however, the meal was a complete success and I had learned much. Every course was near perfect. There are few things that give me the same sense of satisfaction of seeing those whom I have cooked for pleased with whatever it is I have made and I have no doubt that it will again and again continue to do so. 
 What would my next challenge be...



 Seasoned with Achievement,

 Jacob

"To glorify my Savior, Jesus Christ, the Creator  

of the universe and spread further abroad His glorious gospel." - Yours Truly

My New Blog Author Photo

You may have seen this photo of Jamie.
My brother Joe did one for the blog with a green fork...

Some Crazy Food Art

My tiny attempt: a finely diced chilli.

 When I first came across 'Water Melon Carving', I also found a wealth of other food art and carvings of different fruits, vegatables and many other substances. Whilst trawling the interent briefly for a few good ones for the 'Water Melon Carving' post, I did stumble upon a few that caught my eye so I've stuck a few below. 
 Leave a comment to vote your favourites and send in any you find or have made to onedeliciousman@gmail.com.

Look very closely; this is all food

Erm, pumpkins aren't pliable...

The chances of anything coming from McDonalds...
(War of the Worlds)

Yeah, I had to double take too!

For my much loved brother who just loves the old campers

Now, this one made me laugh!

The bannana has a cap?

One of my all time favourites. 

Clever, right?

Cauliflower?

"Orange you going to give me a hand with this?"

A publicity poster for the fruit cruelty prevention organization, Orange Aid
Joking!

I think penguins are kind of groovy anyway but aubergine penguins? Cool!

A sack of garlic, literally!

"To glorify my Savior, Jesus Christ, the Creator  

of the universe and spread further abroad His glorious gospel." - Yours Truly