Shepard's Pie on the fly!

I bought a pie dish and I had mince. So I got creative and made this up on the fly. HOLY BALLS IT WAS AMAZING! This is super easy to make, and don't be too strict on the portions, ingredients.... well its damn basic and get creative like I did.

Ingredients:

Meaty bit

500g of mince (whatever type you want, I used extra lean low fat pork because that's all I had in the freezer)

Can of Heinz Big Red Tomato Soup (it's the tastiest one)

Salt and Pepper

Garlic

Red wine

2 Carrots (diced)

1 White onion (diced)

Masterfoods Roast Vegetable Sprinkle (RVS) - each time I add in a few shakes. 

Masterfoods Pepper Steak Seasoning (PSS) - ditto to above

Top bit

4 potatoes (I used 3 which was barely enough, so go for 4)

Butter

low fat milk

Masterfoods Roast Vegetable Sprinkle (RVS) - each time I add in  a few shakes. 

Instructions:

Preheat oven at 180

Put onion into hot pan with garlic (I used the jar of pre minced garlic, much easier) cook until slightly browned. Add mince, RVS, PSS, salt and carrot, cook until meat is sealed (browned)

While waiting for meat or onion to brown, wash, peel and cut potatoes into quarters (smaller if it is a big sucker) and place into pot of boiling water. Add RVS to water.

After mince is sealed, add can of Heinz, splash of red wine and mix - you may have to add a bit of water if it is too thick; as it is going to simmer for a while on a low heat and you don't want it to dry out. Mix occasionally for 10mins and meanwhile....

....Once the potatoes are soft and slightly mushy, drain majority of the water and put pot back on low heat. With a masher, mash away! Add as much butter and milk as desired (you don't want it to be like a liquid, you just want it to be mushy - mushier than usual because this is going in the oven).

OPTIONAL BIT

I put some pastry down the bottom of my pie dish because I had some and I wanted to do it. My mum when she makes this she doesn't use pastry at all. So if you want it more pie like, use enough pastry to cover the bottom/sides of your pie dish. Have a little bit lipping above the dish edge to make it super pie like. I ran out of pastry so I couldn't do it, but that would be the best way to do it. Make sure that the pastry is COMPLETELY thawed before you add the meat and mash. 

If you don't want to add pastry; YOU NEVER READ THIS SECTION

Once the mash is done, add meat into the pie dish first, then cover the top with the mash. Make sure all meat is covered by the mash. Sprinkle PSS on top and you can add a bit of shredded cheese to the top. 

Place dish in oven until cooked... Yes, I know that is vague. But with my shitty oven it is very temperamental and is hipster. So I cooked it until it went from this:

To this:

(probably between 10-20mins)

And while you are waiting for it to cook, I suggest having a glass of red wine. Why? Because you damn well deserve it! (plus red wine is great with red meat). I enjoy a nice Pinot Noir

My second serve. Was so tasty I forgot to take a photo of the first!

Serve up and devour! Really great with a side of Green beans :)

What noobs should not fucking do while gaming.

As one of the female population who is an avid gamer, we have to deal with A LOT of "are you REALLY a girl?" and "Are you a 12yo boy?" and "Will you show me your tits/vagina?". The most frequent thing is that you start getting picked on because you are a girl and they don't think you should even be able to game. This is totally irrelevant when there is an epic noob on a team, because it doesn't fucking matter who the hell you are. Prepare for epic haters. So to stop your team from getting pwned while they have to carry a fucking noob there are some things anyone new to gaming should really take note of so I don't kick you for making me rage hard.

I can speak for most of the gaming population in FPS games (which are my personal favourite) that these are some serious noob issues we have.

When we say not to do something, DON'T FUCKING DO IT

When we say stick with us FUCKING DO IT

When we say attack together and we tell you the order BE READY

If it is your first time, let people on your team know. I personally am more lenient with someone who is new and wants help rather than someone who is a retard who doesn't have an excuse. This is a big thing in L4D2 because they are VERY kick happy. 

If you don't know who's instructions to follow; follow the player who is the best. If you're new don't start harping out directions to someone who is clearly better than you. Suggestions are fine but don't take control because you don't know what you are doing.

Practice offline if you can before joining the online community. Get the basic understanding of the game first.

Invest in a mic because it's way easier/quicker to communicate with your team mates.

If you decided that you want to get into gaming, WECOME! I highly recommend installing Steam. They have heaps of sales which can get you games super cheap (every now and then L4D and L4D2 go on sale for $10). It works for PC, Mac and PS3.

My personal fav online games are L4D2 (which is my best game), TF2, Borderlands, Portal 1 & 2, ARMA DayZ mod, BF3. 

If you see "Sandrix" or "|F.A.G.S| Sandrix" playing with this avatar, say hi! I am the one who sounds like a pre-pubescent  guy.  

How to deal with anxiety.. In my unprofessional opinion

As my blog title points out, I am seeking a job within my field. I apply for a few jobs every couple of weeks whenever one comes up. I am never usually perfect for the position/missing previous experience so I don't get my hopes up because that way I never get disappointed when I either don't receive a response or just get a "BAD LUCKY BUDDY" email.

But there are those few times when something comes along which makes your anxiety levels jump from "meh" to "HOLY MONKEY BALLS WHEN WILL I KNOW". I have gotten this feeling for about 3 jobs I have applied for; 2 of them, naturally, I got rejected. This time I have applied for a graduate position (which automatically increases the likelihood I will get selected) which only comes around every few years. And I know the last person to get this position who has given me a fabulous recommendation. I feel slightly confident which is making me doubt I will even be considered.

Even though applications only closed a few days ago, my anxiety has already gotten to "restless sleeping" but not to "hair falling out" ...yet. So how do you deal with this before you start forming stomach ulcers? Well this is my unprofessional opinion:

Chill the fuck out

Yeah that seems so obvious doesn't it? Well when you are stressed out about something it becomes an impossible task. Do something active to distract you! Go for a run, or a workout of some kind. Play some music and dance like a maniac around the house (I do this while cooking when the boyfriend isn't home). After you do something active or if that isn't your style; go for a massage. Light some candles and have a bath and/or read a book. Just take a breather. I always loved doing a Body Balance class while I was at university which involved Tai Chi/Pilates/Yoga. I would catch the train from uni to the gym (which was on the same line I needed to take to get home), do the class for an hour then bus it home. Take a breath. I took this photo while in my third year of university while I was at my desk studying. Clearly Buff was hinting to me that I should come lay down, listen to some music and possibly nap which brings me to my next point...

Noms and Naps

I know I can have the tendency to over/under eat when I am anxious or stressed. I will also forget how to sleep which makes me a little crazy and cranky; making things worse. I get pretty cranky if I don't get a nap; just ask the boyfriend. When I am in a foul mood he will say "Are you hungry? You're hungry? Want something to eat? A snack? No? You sleepy? Want to have a nap? You tired or hungry?". I get furious at first until I realise I am either hungry or sleepy, then once that is satisfied I will generally chill out. Don't forget as well as eating regularly, you should be eating healthy. Even though I don't get a good night sleep all the time, I sometimes need a bit of a nap just to make sure I get enough sleep in total. 

Girls just wanna have fa-uun!

This also applies to guys... Anyway.. 

Some people will go anti social and just shut down when they are anxious. Most times people will start avoiding you because you start getting snippy even though they are trying to help. When you are around friends or family, let them know why you are acting like an aggravated Bull Ray. Voice your concerns, if they are your friend they should understand. Go blow some steam and do something fun! Even though my Honours was super important and super stressful, my buddy Alice came over once a week and helped me chill out. The boyfriend lives with me and was always there to help but unfortunately he copped much more because "YOU'RE A BOY YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!". But he was there for me (when it wasn't too deadly to approach) while I cried from the amount of stress. 

These are a few of my favourite things

Do something you genuinely love doing. I love the ocean. So going for a surf, a swim, or exploring rockpools is always going to make me feel better (unfortunately I don't live near the ocean so I just go hang with my best buddies or watch some tv shows). Getting into nature seems to make a lot of people feel better. If you enjoy writing then write something. If you enjoy killing zombies in Left 4 Dead 2 then go play that game! But maybe not with bots because they are pretty stressful. What's something you always enjoy? Got an idea? GO DO IT! One of my friends loves his car and when he gets stressed out he goes for a drive. I also love having cuddles with my poodle Buff. He seriously has a sixth sense for these kind of things, and man he is a champion at the cuddles.

Now if there are any other tips you can think of which help you stress less, then feel free to leave it in the comments. Also if you think that you get anxious a bit too often and too frequently, go see a doctor. It might be possible that you have an anxiety disorder which can have some serious effects on your health.

The Olympics 2012 Coverage in AUS

If you are living or currently staying within Australia, you will know the frustration that the whole country seem to be having with Channel 9s coverage of the games. On social media sites, there has been so much anger towards the coverage within the first few days of the Olympics; only showing the swimming, the replays of swimming, rowing and equestrian. 

At least we didn't do the massive balls up that NBC did with not including the tribute to the victims of terrorism but instead cutting to Ryan Seacrest interviewing Phleps yes? Well...we did get Eddie annoying 90% of the viewers with his incredulous comments and borderline sexist/racist/idiotic comments (which by the way is present in his commentary on Foxtel). Many countries weren't shown marching into the arena but our athletes doing stupid dances and not behaving well was. I know I definitely missed Russia and Japan entering, who aren't exactly no name countries either.

On the Saturday after the opening ceremony, there were events such as gymnastics, football, archery, badminton, volleyball, table tennis, basketball, judo, cycling, fencing, handball, tennis, shooting, boxing. If you don't have Foxtel because you can't afford it, I bet you had no idea all those events occurred before the swimming heats started. Even Channel 9 has status updates such as

When I got up specifically to see these events, they were not showed. I saw swimming instead and nothing else. Oh wait, they cut to 1 goal scored by the aussies in the water polo then more swimming.

Don't get me wrong, I love swimming, it is my favourite event of the games. I even lifeguard where VIS and AIS quality swimmers train so I feel even closer to the swimmers. But even I am getting a little over re-watching the 4x100m relay every single day. The reasoning behind the epic amount of swimming coverage is probably because within Australia it is known as our best event. This year we haven't gone so well and frankly I think the amount of confidence and cocky attitude that has been forced down our throats has also been our undoing. We should be thankful to be in the top 20 countries, and coming second in the Olympics should not be scuffed! That is the general feeling Channel 9 is producing to everyone which is pissing people off further. The person who wins the award for worst commentator of the games has to be James Bradshaw, who instead of commentating on the rowing, decided to talk about AFL poaching from other sports. He talks in absolutes such as "MAGNIFICENT" and "Fantastic position" and "They are definitely coming through" while the Aussies he's talking about are in 5th place and loosing ground not gaining it. It's as if he is looking at a wall while commentating. There is another word starting with "I" that he says all the time but now I can't remember it...

Now that the Athletics has started, we are seeing more events shown. Maybe because they finally heard our cries? Who knows. Not only is the limited showing of events frustrating, the only showing 30 seconds of a gymnastic routine or just showing a slow motion replay of someone crying is driving everyone insane. We didn't even see the event but we hear about the epic tension that happened. Don't even get us started on the poor commentary for the rowing. 

I am happy to say that if you want to see extensive coverage, don't bother trying to watch it live. Watch "London Gold" because it covers more events than the live coverage shows.

If there is something you definitely don't want to miss, I highly suggest finding someone with foxtel and crashing at their place. Bring snacks and if appliciable, try this drinking game: