Bank Holiday delights

Hi there friends,

Welcome back to The World Of Hagg. It feels like it has been a long week. Possibly because there was a bank holiday and I had to work less or possibly because I am having difficulty remembering what happened when. Either way I have some stories that need to be told and some things in my life that need to be shared. I hope you enjoy them and as ever please comment and share my blog with those like minded people out there.

Status Update

This week saw the country 'celebrate' a bank holiday. I say celebrate because for some reason bank holidays are seen as an excuse to go drinking on a Sunday instead of (or possibly even as well as) a Saturday. I am a real creature of habit because ordinarily I would be visiting Snoozeville (Population: me) following an egg mayonnaise sandwich, so the concept of this just confuses me! I bought into it this time though and had a good weekend as a result.

After a fairly intensive pre-nationals training session on Sunday morning I made my way to the supermarket and bought myself a few beers. I was invited to a barbecue with some friends from hockey and for the first time in a long time I was going to be joined by 2 long time friends from my Uni days. It had the potential to be a great night and it turned out to be just that. Firstly, the food was incredible and I will most certainly be trying to get my hands on the recipes for the Dixon family chilli and crab cakes. Big love as always goes to them for their hospitality! After enjoying the chilled drinking atmosphere of the barbecue and warming up around the fire pit my Uni friends thought it was about time to sample the delights of Newcastle. As much fun as I was having I couldn't say no because one of them had never even been before. I may have had a few too many tequila shots before leaving the barbecue because the night becomes a little bit hazier from there on in, but we went to a couple of bars near the station and I generally danced like no-one was watching! By the time we came to leave my senses were returning, but my judgement was cloudy enough to demand greasy food and order my first ever Parmo!

Put it this way the reunion was so good that we are already talking about meeting up for a more sober affair next bank holiday. We shall see because I can't promise it will be sober, just maybe not as drunk!!!

Haggy's Hols

Apparently I go on holiday a lot. I am even starting to get sarky comments from the customers at work, but I think it is just a case of jealousy. To be honest I can't really help that my girlfriend lives in another country and I have to go abroad to see her and it is less like a holiday these days. That being said I am going back again in a couple of weeks to see her for the last time before we embark on our magnificent tour of America's West Coast. This time I will be travelling by all modes of transport in the value category in the vain attempt to save pennies for the summer. First up I will going Megabus to London and then flying Ryanair to Seville. Really, wish me and my cramped legs luck and hopefully it will all go smoothly. I guess I might appreciate other carriers more after this experience. I will most certainly be reporting back and perhaps warning you of such foolish journeys in the future.

Talking of our tour I can't really go one week without giving you an insight into our plans. Next up after Yosemite is 2 nights in Napa Valley. After making our way up from Yosemite with a potential pit stop in Sacramento we will staying in Napa itself. Renowned for its perfect wine growing conditions you can guess what we will be doing during our stay there...that's right...visiting the Jelly Belly factory in Bakersfield. I am so excited about this because not only is it free, but they also sell of reject jelly beans called Belly Flops - pure genius.

Of course during our time in Napa we will be sampling some of the local grape juice too!We are definitely going to be hiring some pedal bikes and taking in the wonder of the vineyards as we cycle. After the excess of the holiday so far it may be necessary to do some exercise anyway. By all accounts this is a great way to see the wineries and get involved in some sampling. I am looking forward to learning a thing or two and maybe becoming a wine connoisseur (it is hard enough to spell it)! At the moment we are undecided about whether to get a guide or do it ourselves. If you have any suggestions or recommendations then please do tell because it would really be useful right now!

Food Glorious Food

In honour of the fabulous barbecue food I was given I am going to bring you a couple of BBQ delights. Hopefully the nice weather will hold out long enough in the UK for you to try a few of them. If not try it next time the sun appears in a sky near you!

Beer Butt Chicken

This is pretty straight forward but gives you an awesome chicken dish. Essentially the beer will steam off in the cooking process and infuse the meat with its flavours so don't skimp on the beer because you will end up with a chicken that tastes foul. Yes the pun was intended!

Ingredients

Whole chicken (innards removed)

Beer (in a can)

Seasoning

Method

Season your chicken
Crack open your beer and drink half
Place the can in the chicken's cavity and stand upright on a baking tray
Cover with foil and cook low and slow until the juices run clear
Eat!

Second one isn't from me, but is from the guys at Tasted's Burger Lab. Basically these guys make gourmet burgers and I love it! This edition has some things after my own heart, spice and Spain. It's the Chorizo Burger! Oh, and go check out their other fine works and drool away.

Hagg's Hockey Corner

Last week I brought you news that the North East Dekstars Comets team was on the verge of winning the league and it all rested on one big game. This week I bring you good news because we are the champions, my friends! In a game where a draw would sufficient to win the league we did just enough and tied the game 5-5. Our opponents, Northumbria Sharks, played a really strong game playing a very solid defensive game and forechecking with both speed and aggression. This really caught us cold and at one stage we found ourselves in a 4-1 hole. I am not sure whether there was any complacency or whether the Sharks really wanted to stop our run and halt our title charge, but something just wasn't quite clicking. As ever though the Comet spirit drove us on and with the help of a couple of controversial goal line decisions (one disallowed against us and one given when it wasn't in) we dragged ourselves back into the game. It was all very nervy at the end, but when the final whistle blew a feeling of relief took over.

We can go into the final game of the season against Supernovas knowing that the league is in the bag, but we are all really keen to ensure we go through the season unbeaten. It will be our final game of the season and as well as the standard team with trophy pictures I am told there may potentially be local news reporters there to interview my line mate James Dixon as he prepares himself for the Ball Hockey international.

Next week is nationals week so I hope to bring you more good news from a hockey stand point. A quick prelude is that I have been named captain. Following the Southern Open tournament we found out that our captain broke her toe and has been out of duty since. It has come a bit out of the blue, because there are others who have been with the team longer, are very well respected by the team and would deserve the title, but I am honoured and hopefully I can represent the entire club by leading from the front and put in some good performances. I will sure as hell be trying to make them proud!

Have You Heard What Haggy's Heard

Story of the week - This week the North East Dekstars made the national media unexpectedly! After winning the Ball Hockey Southern Open hockey tournament a couple of weeks ago the majority of the team were making their way home on a private hire coach. At this point I will add I was driving so missed all this, but anyway the driveshaft fell off the coach and caused some damage to other cars as well as abruptly cutting short the victorious journey home. Apparently much hilarity ensued, but as the sun had long set it was starting to get cold. The team were however quickly joined by Highways Officers supplying those snazzy tin foil jackets to keep them warm and staying with them until alternative transport arrived to get them home. The incident has received a full write up thanks to those hard working guys at the Highways Agency. Well any publicity is good publicity I suppose! Full story

Song of the week - I heard this track a little while ago but never caught who it was by, but thanks to my awesome little app Jango it came across my path again and this time I was being told the artist. With a catchy  hook it feels like a summer tune all over and I am also a big fan of Rick Ross' beard! There is also a pretty good remix with J.Cole and Wale doing the rounds so find that too.

Special edition song of the week - After Lauryn Hill achieved the heights of stardom in 1998 with the critically acclaimed ablum 'The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill' she took the controversial decision to leave the music business and focus on family life. This sent shockwaves through the industry as she was touted to be one of the generations best. In my eyes there are only a few albums that have stood the test of time as well as The Miseducation. Well, this week she is back in the news, but for the wrong reasons following a conviction for tax evasion (story here) and it has got me listening to the album again. So, I want to share 'To Zion' with you because it is song writing at its finest.

Quote of the week - "May your neighbours respect you, trouble neglect you, angels protect you and heaven accept you" - Drake

TV of the week - This week a new thriller/drama started on Sky Living, Hannibal. After watching the first in the series I have very high hopes for this gripping series. It has an all-star cast and looks at the criminal profiling of Dr Lecter from a psychological perspective. A tormented psychologist is recruited by the FBI to capture a killer with a taste for human flesh. A serious twist in affairs is that Dr Lecter is also recruited to work alongside them in capturing the murderer. It is beautifully dark and perfectly twisted in every way. Really really do watch it!

Film of the week - No new film this week, but I did watch the apocalyptic offering that is The Day After Tomorrow. Apocalyptic is probably a bit of a strong word for this film given its it will kind of be OK-ish in the end message following the second ice age. With blockbuster special effects and an unnecessary love story this film hits all the Hollywood clichés, but somehow it entertains me. Perfect late night viewing whilst you doze off!

See you next week when hopefully I can tell you all about captaining the Ball Hockey team to nationals victory and some other generally fun stuff.

Love
Haggy

Winning - Better get used to it!

Hello everyone,

Welcome back. This week I have tales of winning awards to compliment my tales of hockey. Not only that, but I will bringing you part 3 of my amazing West Coast holiday plans and topping all that off with some foody delights. You know it makes sense so keep on reading!

Status Update

I don't usually talk about work, but this week I will make an exception to the rule. This week was the annual staff party and company awards at work. Every year 5 awards are given to congratulate the individuals or teams that exemplify the values of the company and have generally done something great over the past 12 months. Alongside that it is generally a melee of drunken colleagues enjoying each others' company and blowing off steam from the humdrum of day-to-day life. This year there was definitely a lot of drinking, but not from me because I was driving so got to watch as people lost their inhibitions and dance the night away. I may have also joined in because I have very little shame and love to bust a move!

Anyway, back to the big news. This year my team and I were up for an award because we had been nominated for our continued good work to modernise the way in which sheltered housing is marketed in the borough and ultimately reduce the number of empty properties on our books. This year we have managed to do just that and have received high praise from colleagues across the company, but have not received any critical acclaim for our efforts. Last year we were nominated for a similar award, but fell just short of the post so I wasn't 100% sure we would win. All I knew is that we sure as hell deserve it for the blood, sweat and tears we give up every day! Anyway as the envelope was slowly prised open by the guest presenter my heart was in my mouth. I felt a hush come over the usually rowdy team and I began to wonder if the other contenders would have pulled on enough heart strings to beat us and I would have to put on my gracious loser face. Well there was no need for that because we won! To hear our team called out as the winners was unbelievable. It is always great to be recognised for the hard work everyone puts in even if it is a certificate and a handshake, but it is just nice to feel appreciated. So, congrats to everyone working in the Housing Plus team and I hope the good news just keeps on coming.

Haggy's Hols

A couple of posts ago I told you about how after a whistle-stop tour of LA we would be taking in the sights of Las Vegas. Our fun doesn't stop there, if anything it will only have just begun! We have an authentic road trip ahead of us as we make our way gradually towards the city of San Francisco. I won't jump ahead of myself though and this edition I bring to you our next steps of our tour - Yosemite National Park.

We will be staying in a lodge at the bottom of the mountains in a town called Oakhurst. I found a cool looking place for a very reasonable price called Queen's Inn By The River which has individual suites and it's very own wine bar. Admittedly, we will be travelling there in a drop top car, but can you forgive me?! I mean if you are going to do something you may as well do it properly hadn't you? Plus, if I am driving through a desert to get to Yosemite I may as well catch some rays hadn't I? After taking in the wonders of the man-made world it may well be a welcome reprieve to travel to a place of natural beauty to experience the peace and quiet of the mountains. We are only there for a day, but I plan on making the most of it by waking Vic up early and driving up the hillside to take in the views and rent some bikes or go for a walk. Either way we will be taking a cracking little picnic to chow down on and spend a relaxing day amongst the trees and meadows before heading back down the hill as the sunsets. I hear that is how the locals do it so figure I may as well join in. And after a long day like that I believe a steak is in order and a bit of website searching suggests that there may be a couple of restaurants happy to provide me with that!

After Yosemite we plan to drive on to Napa, but I will save that for another issue because you can't just skip over Napa especially with what we have in store!

Food Glorious Food

This week I have been eating a lot of chorizo. It literally can be used in anything from salads to roast chicken dishes, but I thought I would share with you one of my faves - Chorizo and Bean Chilli. It is quick and easy to make so well worth a try. Initially I found the recipe on the Good Food website and it used chickpeas, but being the thrifter I am I changed that for cheaper butter beans and to be honest I prefer the creamier taste of them in this dish. So, feel free to change the beans for different sorts but remember that they bring different flavours and textures.

Ingredients (serves one)

50g chorizo sliced

Half a can of kidney beans

Half a can of butter beans

Half a can of chopped tomatoes

1 teaspoon of hot chilli powder

Method

Before you start get some rice on because it takes about the same time to cook as this meal does to prepare.

1. Fry off the chorizo until it is starting to give off some of its oil

2. Add the beans and fry for a couple of minutes

3. Pour in the tomatoes and reduce the heat

4. Add the chilli powder and season

5. Simmer 5-10 minutes

6. Serve with fluffy rice and enjoy!

Hagg's Hockey Corner

The Northern Ball Hockey Conference continues and the Comets continue to reign supreme. Going into this week's game it was possible that we could clinch the title. This was reliant on other fixtures going our way and obviously us winning our own fixture, which was Newcastle Wildcats. In a game where we dominated from start to finish the Comets came out 12-1 winners. It was a game that had it all from goals to fights, but unfortunately no shutout for our hard-working goalie Taz. Goals and assists came from all over the team and confidence is evident every time we hit the court and the score could have easily been more if the referees hadn't disallowed goals that ripped holes in the net! On a personal level I also bagged a hat-trick and I am feeling great on a line again with Justin and Leafy.

Unfortunately, Dekstars Supernovas were beaten 9-0 by Northumbria Sharks so we are not yet champions. It does however set us up for an epic clash this week against the Sharks themselves. If we don't lose we claim top spot, but if they win they have an outside chance of claiming the title on goal difference. We are not going to let that happen, so watch out Sharks the Comets are coming!

A quick comment on the NHL. A few weeks ago I brought to you some of my fears about being a New York Rangers fan. Turns out I didn't need to be so worried because as they regular season came to a close my boys came good and won 9 of their final 13 games to be one of the hottest teams going into the playoffs securing a 6th place seeding in the East. To those non-hockey loving people out there that won't make much sense but it doesn't need to. All you need to know is that the ice hockey season is about to get feisty because it's playoffs time. That means teams going against each other in epic 7 game series to win the highest prize in ice hockey, Lord Stanley's Cup (with strong connections to it's creation in the UK).

First up for Rangers is the Washington Capitals who unfortunately are on a hot streak of their own. It is going to be a very tough series and a replay of a series from last year which Rangers won 4-3. I am concerned about the speed and skill of the Capitals, but Henrik Lundqvist is performing wonders in goal and finally the forward lines are clicking so fingers crossed we can best the Capitals and go on to have a long and successful playoff challenge. Lets go Rangers!

Have You Heard What Haggy's Heard?

Story of the week - I don't usually get political in my blog (mainly because I don't want to bore any of you) but with local elections approaching and a by election in South Shields coming up I can't help it. However, I won't be commenting on local issues but instead on a story about a Gloucestershire election candidate. John Sullivan of UKIP has claimed that exercise prevents you being gay and congratulated the Russians for banning Pride events. I have played hockey with enough gay guys to know this is not the case. Now I accept that people may be favourable of UKIP's immigration policies, but in a country that says it promotes tolerance of others I can't understand how someone can be so damning and downright ignorant of others can even be considered to represent our society. If you live in Gloucestershire and read this I implore you to go out and vote on election day and ensure a tolerant and intelligent candidate gets elected instead. To read the initial story click here

Song of the week - There are two tracks I am excited about this week so it is not just song of the week, but songs of the week. First up is a track that is totally mainstream but signals a return to form for the classic dance duo Daft Punk. Teaming up with Pharrell Williams to bring you a catchy track that is made for the summer as long as it is not overplayed and you are not bored of it by then!

Next up is a track from another electronic artist by the name of Pretty Lights. I use a music app called Jango to get my hit of tunes when out and about that takes one artist you like and creates a radio station just for you, what's more it's totally free and has no adverts!!! Riding back from hockey training on Sunday this track came on and just reminded me of beach chill out sessions. Definitely going to be on my summer playlist for many years to come. Ladies and gentleman, Pretty Lights - Finally Moving.

Quote of the week - "A relationship isn't a relationship until you've wafted the quilt" Classic workplace banter from Elaine! She knows her onions.

TV of the week - This week's TV isn't TV per se. Instead it is a regular YouTube program from the Canadian YouTube sensations by the name of Epic Meal Time. The concept of the show is that a group of guys who love bacon and beer make big big BIG meals and consume them on a weekly basis. I have got to say their older stuff is better, but their gluttony does make me laugh. Check out their channel by searching for Epic Meal Time, but to whet your appetite here is one of their videos.

Film of the week - This week's film of the week goes to a sci-fi classic, The Fifth Element. I remember watching this film and instantaneously loving the combination of action and aliens. Not only that, but it filled with tension and comedic moments to keep you entertained throughout. I do seem to recall this film being fairly violent at times so I was amazed to see this film being shown at midday on a Sunday following a morning of hockey. I loved that I wasn't having to keep myself awake late at night to enjoy this classic, but I can't imagine many parents were totally pleased to see their children watching Bruce Willis mixing it up with a load of Mangalores in a shoot-out. Ah well to the future and thank you Channel 5 for being brave with your TV scheduling!

Laters,
Haggy