By design

I finished my Uni design course U101 this week.  It was one of the best courses I have been on.

As part of the course, I had assignments to design a t-shirt, create a solution to a problem (my group chose a better way to transport drinks from a drive through), a board game and to fix a fundamental problem within education (I chose procrastination).  Phew!  It's been a really interesting journey, has made me bolder, more creative and willing to take risks and make mistakes.  No bad thing.

This FridayDateNight will be on the subject matter of design.  I spent a bunch of time researching what kinds of foods are particularly designed and in the end I decided on Scandinavian open sandwiches, which has moved quite beyond a usual sandwich into a bit of an art.

Olé

Tonight we fancied some colour and spice.  We both came up with the idea of a fabulous paella.  We have a paella pan, which we bought at a Cheltenham Food and Drink Festival.  It serves 6-8 people, so we might possibly have some leftovers.  Possibly!

We had a brilliant time in Barcelona last Autumn (I piggy backed a business trip he had) and we were both disappointed by the paella's we had.  I know, probably our fault, when you're a tourist, you can't much avoid going to the wrong places as you just don't know.

Hungry Hungary

Hello all!  What a sunny week.  I have been zooming around in my little convertible playing Fleetwood Mac.

This week I finished off a contract where we had a lovely team of developers in Hungary.  I haven't been to Hungary so I thought I would go there virtually tonight via the medium of food, drink and music.  And no queuing in airports and constantly wondering where my passport is.

The company I was working for is Monochrome, they are fun boys and "monochrome" is a GREAT theme for a FridayDateNight - all that black and white.  However, I have done a chess theme before, which touches on the two colours (and also a white theme) and I wouldn't want to get repetitive :-)  So Hungary it is.  I like my emerging tradition of marking the occasion of working at places with music and tunes.  There was the Football League, Vodafone and London Underground (which was the most epic FridayDateNight ever with 11 courses to represent the different tube lines).

So, Hungary... what do we know so far?  This picture is of Captain Hungary.  Is he like Captain America?  No. The flag is like the Italian one, but sideways.  I am so informed.

New York, New York

An evening's homage to New York City.

The idea of this theme came up from the innocuous comment, "well, what *is* a New York strip steak".  The best way to find out such things is to cook 'em.  I did a similar thing earlier in the week with Chicken Parm, which was mentioned a hundred times in a Leverage episode.  So I had to check it out.  It was win.

Seaside Rendezvous

Tonight we are taking a trip to the seaside.  Riding a donkey, making sandcastles, playing the penny slots on the pier and wearing one of those knotted handkerchiefs on our heads.

What food reminds you of seaside holidays?  What tunes make you imagine cloudy sunshine summer beaches?

Purplemania

This week's theme was easy as we decided it during last week's FDN.  Then again, we do that all the time; come up with the PERFECT theme we should do, knock back a celebratory drink to toast it, and (obvs) totally forget it.

When listening to new songs, he will nod his head a little, and say either "hmmm, they're a bit like early Genesis" or "hmmm, they're a bit like Deep Purple".  For every band ever.  Well, early Genesis I know (and judge harshly), Deep Purple not so much.  So when he said Gotthard were a bit like Deep Purple (see if you agree here), I thought ENOUGH, let's listen to these buggers.  And, as if the artists had named their band so I could have a food theme too, there was an opportunity for lots of purple food.

Because we're both doing a load of driving to get to our jobs this week, we're sharing the food part.  Plus, how hard is it for me to slap a playlist of purpleness together?

Tobleroneland

Ummmm... let's make some fondue!

After the last attempt at fondue (just guessed and melted whatever cheese was around), when I found this recipe today when I was looking for something entirely different, it was if God himself was saying "Makkkeeeeee fondueeeeee".  That's how higher beings talk, you know?

Well, okay then.  We slapped a theme around it, "Switzerland", an offensive name for the blog "Tobleroneland" and off we go.

I can't think of any musical act that has come from Switzerland.  Zero.  How educational this will be!