The mock-mocha: A caffeine-chocolate discovery

Or: Things I did in the kitchen whilst not revising for my mock (part I) 

Take some instant coffee

And some of this incredible stuff

Genuinely lightweight friendly!

And some milk (protein and calcium, anyone?)

Plus a kettle with water in

A really cool owl mug (owls not actually necessary to the process)

COFFEEEE

The milkier, the better

so beautiful...

Final stage: hope it gives me strength

How to (almost) create a Danio yogurt

Or: Things I did in the kitchen whilst not revising for my mock (part II) 

 Things you need:

Some of this.

Yay! Protein and not too much sugar

No added sugar...

Lots of sugar anyway! (and shoutout to the distributor in St Albans!)

A pot. Can also use a bowl, mug, or cup if you're feeling adventurous. 

Spoon! Unless you don't mind getting messy...

Mix a heaped teaspoon and a bit with about 100g of the Frage (I also threw in a few blueberries to make it more interesting...) 

Yogurt is not the most photogenic of foods. Still, it tasted okay. 

All gone!

I did this as an attempt to see if there was a cheaper and healthier way to get my creamy, fruity yogurt fix. The stats are as follows:

1/5 Fage Total 0% = 50p
25g of St Dalfour = (approx.) 17p

Overall - 67p

Danio yogurts - 85p (or 3 for £2, so 66.6666666p each)

Nutrition:

My creation:
114 Kcal
Carbs: 18g
Sugar: 18g
Protein: 11g
Fat: 0.1g

Danio raspberry yogurt:
150 Kcal
Carbs: 17g
Sugars: 16g
Protein: 12g
Fat: 4g

Basically, you might as well buy Danio yogurts. They taste nicer, anyway.

Spanish hot chocolate, lots of rowing, and actually writing an essay

Whilst the UK spent the first two weeks of 2014 suffering flooding, gale force winds and hailstones, the CUWBC squad was lucky enough to be in Banyoles with beautiful sunrises, sunsets, clear water, hardly any wind (most of the time), moderate temperatures, and far too much hot chocolate.

View from my balcony

I think I was vaguely aware about Mediterranean style hot chocolate before, but I now have a heightened awareness of its superiority. It's not some milky, vaguely chocolatey tasting drink of the kind that we have in the UK. No, this is proper hot chocolate, insofar that someone has literally melted a chocolate bar with a tiny bit of milk and produced, essentially, a mug of molten chocolate. Beautiful. And dangerous.

I didn't actually take any photos of the hot chocolate because I was too busy eating/drinking it. Instead, here's a photo of some healthier frozen yogurt. 

Combined with the beautiful hot chocolates, there was also the problem of pretty much all Spanish supermarket food being chocolate-related in some way or the other. Chocolate belvita, chocolate cereal, chocolate rice cakes, chocolate chocolate, chocolate breadsticks, chocolate yogurts.... those twelve days definitely do not rank highly in my 'most lightweight moments'.

Girona, where we spent an indulgent afternoon with pancakes, churros, hot chocolate, frozen yogurt and one reasonably healthy apple.... 

In between all the food, there was quite a bit of rowing going on, but apparently I talk about rowing a lot anyway, so I won't go into it too much. The scenery, on the other hand, was something extraordinary. Snow-capped mountains rising up in the distance, the morning mist over the hills... I think it was probably the first time I've rowed in water that wasn't grey.

Also, we found out that Catalan for rowing is 'rem'. Hence the reason the Banyoles unisuits say 'rem rem rem rem rem rem rem'. An entertaining, yet probably useless piece of knowledge.

In other, more important news, I finally got around to starting an essay that I've been putting off for six months. This has taught me a few valuable lessons about procrastination, from which I may or may not learn:

• Don't procrastinate
• Seriously, stop
• Just start the work when it's set
• And stop procrastinating
• It's not worth it
• On the other hand, there's nothing like an imminent deadline to improve one's work ethic.
• But really don't procrastinate. 

My mum bought me this t-shirt for my birthday. I get the impression that she understands.

Themes and Sources: six months of procrastination in bullet points

I wanted to spend a bit of time explaining Themes and Sources, the first proper bit of my degree that I've had to do. Then I realised that most of the stuff I write on this blog involves bullet points, and I feel somewhat continuous-prose-ed out.

So, in slightly sporadic, nonsensical bullet points, this is the story of the last six months:

• Essay title, got some ideas, got some books out the library. Got over six months to go. Boom. Sorted.
• Still got the books. Maybe I should read them?
• Nahhhh
• Having a great time rowing, running around pretending to be a soldier, flying in helicopters, canoeing across Denmark. Standard stuff. A couple of months pass in this way.
• Still got some books. Took them all the way back to uni with me. Definitely a good sign.
• Why do today what I could put off indefinitely? January is ages away. 
• Rowing. Sleeping.
• Oh look, term started.
• The following eight weeks involve continuous napping, eating, rowing, supervision work, and resolutely ignoring Themes and Sources.
• Maybe I should start reading now?
• Yes. Maybe I should...
• Okay. One book down. I've got this sorted. 
• Oh, Christmas. Can't work at Christmas. Or my birthday, for that matter. Or any of the days in between. By now the procrastination has become aggressive.
• On the train to Gatwick. It's 2014. Finally starting to write. 
• Chilling in Spain. Getting some words on the page. Feeling relieved. I mean, if I can at least get a third, I'll still be able to pass, right? I just need to hand something in.
• I'm never doing a dissertation. Ever. 
• Reading the examiners' reports. Oh my God, no one got a third last year. Imagine if I'm that person. What if I'm the only one with a third? The shame! The humiliation! Quick! Work!
• I've left it too late. It's all too late. Time for pity chocolate.
• Oh no, lightweighting. Not the pity chocolate! Pity rice cakes instead.
• Or just finish off the essay, you know?
• Regret. So much regret. 
• Citations. Cite stuff. Actually read sources. Realise that I reached a flawed conclusion. Edit.
• Edit more.
• What's the point?
• Maybe I can ask for an extension?
• Oh god. It's awful.
• How many footnotes are enough?
• I understand nothing. What am I writing? What am I reading? What have I created?
• This is truly horrendous. This is the worst essay I've ever written.
• Finally. Just finish up.
• Read through, take a deep breath, make sure the word count's alright. Transfer to CD. Go to computer room. Press print.
• What do you mean I've run out of printing credits?
• Okay. Not a problem. Just buy more. 
• It's too late to change anything now. Read the mark scheme again while waiting for the printer; 2:2 "Any overall argument will at best be stated at the beginning and end, or possibly left for the reader to divine. Large issues may go unexplored. The capacity for brief summary or self-criticism is likely to be slight. The style may be unclear, repetitious and ungainly. Factual errors, non sequiturs, self-contradictions and obvious gaps in knowledge are likely. Presentation may be careful and even pedantic, but in other cases the typing may be poor, the footnotes sporadic and unstandardised and the bibliography ill-organised and incomplete" Hopefully I've managed that. There's still summer exams, right? I mean, it can still average out okay...
•  Fill in cover sheets, staple things together, put in a clear plastic folder... and breathe. 
• Try really hard to forget about it and stop caring.
• Hand the stupid thing in.
• Write a silly blog post. 
• Move on.

If any first year historians are reading this, save yourselves and try to do something over the summer. I'm also hopeful that I'll actually learn something from this to take into my dissertation... who knows?