A date was finally set to visit the notorious Camden Town over the weekend. Saturday would have been more suitable as we had lots of sunshine, Sunday was a bit of a wet one but enjoyable nonetheless. It is always a mission to travel from South London to North London but we soldiered through.

It has been a while since we have been to Camden Town and a lot has changed around the Stables area, it is quite amazing now. The only annoying thing is the street vendors that try their luck with the prices and won’t let you browse, always in your ear trying to sell it to you. I don’t think they know how many potential customers they scared off like that.

A lot of stalls had brilliant displays and most had the same items to sell. Worst part of the day is deciding on only one meal, which of the many types of food you will choose from, yep, it is a tough decision. Oh, on the other hand, if you are thinking of inking or poking yourself, then Camden has a lot of options in one street. I love the whole Camden Town feel, plenty to see, lots to do and tonnes of food to sample.

Wonder what adventure this weekend will bring…

There is this fantastic program out there that not only gives back to the community but it restores a sense of pride as well as rewarding you for you time and effort. This program is called Orange RockCorps. This is the second year that I have volunteered four hours of my time in exchange for a gig ticket that can not be bought anywhere. You can not even sell your ticket to anyone else as it is registered with your name.

I got into it first of all to help my friend save some money by giving some time in exchange for a concert ticket. I am not too fusses about the concert and enjoy the volunteering experience. You might enjoy both aspects of the experience. I’ll try to explain it all as best I can.

How does it all works and is there a catch?

First of all, you register on their website and see if there are any programs you can help out with in your area or close to where you live. You will then need to book your space and they will phone you to confirm your spot on the project. None of this costs you any money. You will then receive an email with the project details and they kindly ask that you bring with the waiver form.

On the day, you should arrive 15 minutes early to allow them to sign you in and provide you with your free t-shirt and tools you need on the day. There will then be a group induction and then everyone splits up into their designated teams.

Last year I helped clean the Thames River at Rotherhithe, great fun but a lot of hard work walking on the mud with the wellies. We removed an old motorcycle, a few bicycles, and tonnes of clay tiles, tyres and other general rubbish. It was definitely worth the experience. This year we helped trim hedges, clear pathways and picked up litter at a local park to make it more enjoyable and safer for people using the park.

There will be a break in between and you will be handed a bottle of water to keep you going. We had a lot of music playing in the background whilst we worked and it was really enjoyable. Once we had done our four hours, there were a few works from the project supervisor and we then got our tickets, a sandwich, crisps and a drink before we left. You can bring your own refreshments but remember there is nowhere to store them.

I missed out on this year’s event, can I still do something?

Yes, there is another awesome project called the Collective, also by Orange RockCorps that allows you to do any volunteer work for four hours, you then submit your story which they will verify. Once verified, they will issue you a Ticket Master voucher worth £30 to be used on any concert of your choice. This can sadly one be done once per person.

Hey, this is a great way of helping your community restore a few run down places in exchange for a music concert ticket, well worth it if you ask me. Please visit their website for more information and the terms and conditions.

We would like to introduce you to Susan, the giant straw sculpture at the South Bank. She is part of the four month long festivities to celebrate the 60^th anniversary of the Festival of Britain. The whole area has been done up and they are not done yet. I had to go in for a closer look as the Urban Fox is pure genius.

That is what I like about the South Bank; they have strange and interesting events all the time. There is always something to see and do, best part is that majority of it costs you nothing. What is this Festival of Britain business all about? In a nutshell it is a celebration held each year since the end of World War II to bring some cheer to Britons. Just after World War II, most of London was in ruins and the festival was an attempt to give Britons a feeling of recovery and progress.

Get in the party mood and head over to the South Bank, plenty more going on that what we are talking about here.

The bright spark in me decided that it would be wise to bake a milk tart (traditional South African recipe) yesterday afternoon. I seem to get these moods where I want to whip up something from scratch. It can be quite daunting if you read the instructions at first but the trick is to work through it step by step, do not rush it. I thought that it would be an expensive experiment but was pleasantly surprised that it does not require much at all.

Remember that you do not need the most expensive brand items to make it taste good, trust me. I used a lot of the basics range items in mine and it tastes great none the less.

Pastry Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 egg
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 125g butter
• pinch of salt

Filling Ingredients:

• 4 ½ cups milk
• 2 ½ tbsp corn flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• pinch of salt
• 2 ½ tbsp flour
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• a big spoon of butter

You will need to make the pastry first before you move to the filling. Make sure you have all the ingredients ready before you start with the milk tart.

How to make the pastry?

• Cream butter and sugar well together and add the egg, before beating well.

• Add all other ingredients – making a stiff dough.

• Press into one or two round cake tins/pie dishes and bake at 180°C until light brown. The dough should be thinly rolled to allow the crust not to be too thick.

How to make the filling?

1. Bring milk to the boil.
2. Beat eggs well and add sugar, flour, corn flour and salt.
3. Mix well.
4. Pour boiling milk into the mixture and stir well.
5. Return to stove and stir well until mixture thickens.
6. Add butter and vanilla essence and pour into cooked shell.
7. To decorate, sprinkle with cinnamon.
8. Stick in the oven on 180 C for 15 minutes, then leave to cool. I chose to let mine sit in the fridge for at least two hours before serving to allow it to properly set.

Now that I have made it once, it should be far easier the next time. Good luck with your attempt at making milk tart at home. This recipe does not belong to Stooly.com, we would like to direct all credit to Just Easy Recipes.

I had forgotten how spoiled we are living in London with all these convenience services around. We spent the first few years here carrying our weekly shopping up stairs, down stairs until we could not feel our poor fingers anymore. You try dragging your weekly food shopping all over the public transport system and enjoy it? Walking down the aisles in the supermarket you think everything is a damn bargain and you grab it, before you know it, you’ve got a trolley filled up and two arms to carry it home.

This is until we discovered the beauty of online grocery shopping. It is simply brilliant that you register with them online, browse through their virtual aisles, add it to your basket, choose your ideal delivery time and pay. It’s really quite simple. Best part is that you can buy up to four weeks in advance, perfect if you are going away on holiday or too busy to pop around the store. The second best perk of online grocery shopping is that you can buy all the heavy stuff such as tins, bottles and laundry items ie, the bulky items and they will deliver it straight to your door. Supermarkets here are quite competitive and they will compete with each other to offer the lowest delivery charge, between £4 and £6, depending on the day but that is quite reasonable thinking on how much time you saved and effort.

Another perk would be that most supermarkets will do a price match on substitutes which means that if you chose the most basic value item on the shelf and they do not have that in stock, they will deliver the more expensive version and not charge you for it. If you are unhappy with the product they substituted, you can ask the driver to take it back and they will deduct it from the purchase.

The bad part of ordering online is that when it comes to fresh food items, they will not take the product that is furthest away from expiry and you might end up with items that should be used by tomorrow. I try not to buy fresh items such as bread and meat for my online delivery. Hey, if you have a freezer big enough, you could simply chance it and freeze everything and the whole experience will be enjoyable then. Do not forget to register your loyalty card with them for all the extra points and special offers. There are also some websites that have regular free home delivery codes, keep an eye out for them.

Earlier this week the Mayor of London (Boris Johnson) lifted the police recruitment freeze and pledged to have more police officers on the beat than when he started her mayoral term. The claim is that he “found” an extra £42 million pounds which he is redirecting to Scotland Yard to recruit more police officers. First question, where in the world did he find £42 million pounds after so many people in Government positions, lost their jobs? Not that I am complaining about an additional police presence on the streets, I am just curious.

This could all be a quick win for the Mayor when it comes to re-election time as critics say the numbers will soon drop after the London Olympics and the mayoral race. Politics is a funny thing and we ordinary peons will never really grasp the decisions politicians made as they all have their own agenda.

On to more positive news, the Metropolitan Police launched a new website where you can see how bad a neighbourhood is in terms of what crime has been reported. Now I would not advise you to solely use the website to make important decisions as some have slammed the information as inaccurate at times. You simply type in your postcode or street name and wholla, you get to see everything. There are a lot of tabs that show you the streets in the area mentioned so you can see it all street by street and what crime was reported. I am quite intrigued with the website, give it a whirl!

Met Police Website – How Bad is Your Area?

This is truly a morbid topic to be talking about but a stint to Homebase this weekend reminded me how important it is to get the word out there. Strolling down the aisles in Homebase trying to get some much needed inspiration I discovered the home safety section. They had all kinds of smoke detectors and alarms, fire blankets, household fire extinguishers and carbon monoxide alarms.

Before I continue with this story I might as well explain what carbon monoxide is. We come from a country where we do not rely on any sort of gas to heat our homes, no central heating or mains gas supplies. This was all new to us when we landed six years ago! Carbon monoxide is a product of incomplete combustion of natural or petroleum gas. What makes it so dangerous is when inhaled, it reduces our blood’s ability to carry oxygen to our organs effectively starving the body of oxygen. Roughly 50x people die each year as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning.

To cut a long story short, I have been meaning to get a carbon monoxide alarm for ages now so I took one and decided that the money I spend here is worth it. The typical smoke alarm costs around £5, the carbon monoxide alarm cost anything from £29.99 upwards. You get battery operated ones as well as mains connected ones. Majority of homes in the United Kingdom rely on gas to heat their homes which increases the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Key Points

-          Get a carbon monoxide alarm and test it about once a week

-          Get the boiler tested once a year as per law regulations, even if you do not own the property, get on the landlord to get it done.

-          Tell someone else about the silent killer!

Read more about Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

Gloom and doom is all we read about in the headlines for the last couple of weeks. The Government for one made a lot of cuts last year to benefit the country in the years to come but it will not make 2011 an easy one. The Government then decided to increase the VAT rate from 17.5% to 20% and all forms of public transport increased their fares. That is just some of the fun things all Londoners will experience this year.

This is as good time as any to get a financial check-up. No need to bring in the experts, these tips you can digest and work through them on your own pace, all free of charge.

1. Love Food, Hate Waste – Brilliant campaign we heard a lot about in 2010 where people are being encouraged to make a meal out of nothing and send less to the landfill. By thinking outside of the box you potentially save a few quid here and there.
2. Every Penny Counts – Like the headline says, every penny counts, so get a jar and start saving every penny you would have thrown away. I have actually seen people throwing away “coppers” into the bin and then they complain about everything being expensive. London’s streets are full of pennies and other coins, pick them up, seriously!
3. Regular Saver Accounts – Take one hour out of your busy life and search the web for “Regular Saver Accounts”. These types of savings account normally have a higher interest rate than Instant Access accounts and will require a commitment every month of at least £50. This is a good start to help you save every month.
4. Brand Downgrade – Companies spend millions every year to promote brands and brainwash people into buying their products. We strongly urge you to drop a brand or two which could save you a lot of money. Test it at least; we are not saying everything will taste the same, some you will like, and others you won’t.
5. Voucher Savvy – London is a brilliant place to score a bargain with all the companies competing for your business and they have all jumped on the voucher wagon. Websites like MyVoucherCodes.com will help you save a few quid on something you most likely would have purchased. Don’t be shy or scared to use the vouchers, thousands already do.

These tips are just the top of the iceberg and we will be following up this post with more tips in the near future. Have you got any tips to share with fellow readers?

Packed lunches is not the coolest thing to do but it is definitely the smartest way forward if you are on a budget in London. The choices are endless if you shop around and explore with different cuisines. When people think of packed lunches they think of sandwiches and we all know how boring they can get after a while.

The best thing about living in London is that there are a lot of different cultures living together and you can easily get your hands on a lot of ingredients at good prices. Think outside the box here and lunch could be the most exciting thing yet!

Three Benefits of Packed Lunches

1. Budget Control – You can plan your lunch weeks in advance according to your budget and stick to it.
2. Food Contents – You will know exactly what is in your food. Food preservatives, colouring and allergies etc.
3. Healthier Diet – Eating the correct portions and taking in your five-a-day.

We could go on and on about the benefits about taking a packed lunch to work but you have to find your own reasons for making the effort. The maths is quite simple to help you decide in what you want to do with your money. The cheapest sandwich at any of the big supermarkets is £1.00. Saying that, could you eat the same thing over and over again or would a sandwich be enough for lunch? The reality is that you are most likely going too spent between £3 – £4 on lunch.

Ideas for Packed Lunches:

-         Homemade Jacket Potatoes

-         Soup (Homemade, Tin, Packet)

-         Salad & Pita Bread

-         Potato Salad and Sausages

-         Hamburger (fry patty at home and assemble at work)

-         Couscous (Vegetables or Meat)

We are days, ok hours away from starting a whole new year and I am hoping that this message gets across before someone in London becomes another statistic. TFL is running a campaign to help spread the word of people getting into unlicensed cabs. There is a reason why licensing laws have been put in place and that is to help save lives.

Do yourself a small favour; search the web for a local cab company in the area you will be in on New Year’s Eve and save the number. It should not take more than a few minutes

of your time. These things do happen and you increase the odds by getting into an unlicensed cab when you are completely wasted. Simple, isn’t it? One quick thing to help you enjoy the New Year’s celebrations fully and welcome 2011 with open arms alive!

TFL CabWise – Safety Campaign