Tasty Hoisin Duck

I found this rough receipe in a book and mixed a few things up with it and it turned out really tasty so thought to share it.

Ingredients

2 duck breasts, skin on
[You can get these from Makro – its around £6 for 2, or £11 for 4]

Marinade

1 teaspoon five-spice powder
1 tablespoon sesame oil
3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
3 tablespoons soft brown sugar
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

Marinade the Duck

Pour all marinade ingredients into a bowl and mix. Pour the mixture into a sealable bag and add the duck. Seal the bag, place in fridge and marinade for as long as possible, however 20 minutes is fine (apparently) – I did it the night before so close to 20 hours.

Cook it!

1. Heat the oven to Gas mark 6 (200’C).
2. Heat a pan over a high heat.
3. Remove duck from marinade and pat dry.
4. Place duck in pan skin down and cook for about 1 minute and turn over and cook until other side is golden brown.
5. Place on an oven tray and cook in oven for 15 to 20 minutes
6. Serve

It turned out so tasty, and I encourage you to try it 🙂

Some days are bad, and other days are great!

Thankfully I don’t really seem to have so many bad days nowadays but good days – they are growing and its quite awesome in my thoughts.

On Wednesday night I felt exhausted so went to bed early and was awake thursday after about 11 hours sleep feeling a lot better but not wanting to get up. I went ice skating (not done that in ages) and then on to work for the day followed by some Trampolining, and uni classes and then on out to a hypnotist show at the student union.

I’ve never been to a hypnostist show before that I aware of, we got seats next to the stage so could see everything. People from the audience went up and joined in, I was not one of them. I was thinking – “I could never be hypnotised” – its a point where people need to be willing to accept it.

They did the guided hypnostism on stage and it reminded me a lot of meditation I have done in the past. It was like a guided meditation story and thinking about it, the meditation is like a self hypnotism so maybe I’ve been there several time. I recall listening to the words spoken on stage and feeling inside the peace I get through meditation and then reminding myself not to go there (I don’t want to get publically hypnotised in the crowds). I came to the conclusion that if I was to choose to be involved, I could quite easily be hypnotised – very different to my previous thoughts.

They had people hugging one another as if they were the most comfy pillow, the regular “glasses” illusions, Sounds initiating reactions, the invisible people but seeing the objects moving around, and someone convinced they were a koala bear that went and found the tallest person there, sat and attached them self to them. They looked truelly shocked when awoken.

I am glad I went, and would go again as I enjoyed it and look forward to the next one – apparently it is in freshers week next university year.

I slept really well when I got in, better than I have done in weeks. I awoke with a fuller energy ready for the day and felt really happy all day. So… Some days are bad, but others… they are quite awesome!

Paint Party – Awesome Fun

I’ve had a great weekend so far, I went to a UV Paint party and had a lot of fun. I got totally soaked with paint and now have a white shirt that is technicoloured and have not had that type of fun in a long time. It reminds me of many years ago when I went out in some clubs but instead of saying on the sidelines watching and wondering if I should join in, I was in the middle of it and loved it.

I went out with a few friends, and a group from the Uni Trampolining club. I managed to lose some friends that seemed to split off into other groups and got updated that they had a good time too. Some did not make it to the paint party, I’m glad I did. They are quite messy and crazy but reminded me of times when I went out years ago… there was a lot of the music that I enjoyed from college times.

I was out enjoying the party, but also to celebrate my 33rd Birthday which is on Monday. It was fun and will go to another. Very good idea to wear something you don’t really care about getting covered, and to have a hot shower at the end of the night. It took ages to get the paint off, and still not sure if I got it all as it was UV paint.

I don’t write much now, just do not have much time left. I have been writing my dreams down in the paper journal and one day I would like to convert some into stories. I seem to have many adventures and many dreams seem to continue over many nights so its like a second world sometime and I look forward to sharing it with others too.

I don’t often have a free day, there is always something to do… but I planned for this saturday to be free from everything. I planned to sleep in (and somehow woke up refreshed after 4 hours sleep), caught up on TV, Played games, read a little, and got the washing done and its only 3pm now… It seems odd not to be doing something but kinda refreshing too… hence a little time to write on this thing 🙂