Study Group - Creative Services Blog

Say what you will about Americans, but you can’t fault them for their enthusiasm and energy. Pep rallies, half time football bands, presidential elections – they do it well.

When I saw this photo story about Thon, which is a charity event that Penn State host to raise money for paediatric cancer I thought it was another example of just that - a decent show of support for a worthy cause. Until read into it a bit more and realised it’s a charity event that has consumed about a gallon of Red Bull – in a year they raised over US $12 million. $12 million! WHAT?!  

The idea is that students dance and stay on their feet in a test of endurance for 46 hours. The children that they are working to help come with their families to cheer the students along with support crews, friends and other students from Penn State.

Being a relative newcomer to the UK I am a sucker for anything quintessentially British – be it teapots decorated with the Royal Family, Tunnock's tea cakes and pretty much everything in London. Which is why I will be buying the new book London Underground by Design which celebrates 150 years of Tube design by Mark Ovenden which is due to be released at the end of the month. 

For the last few months Creative Services have worked with Bellerbys London to produce a fire safety video for the induction of their new students. We worked with a film and video production company we haven't used before called Kinamo.

We are all fans of the It's Nice That projects in the studio, especially after we went to one of their events earlier in the year. Their annual publications and magazines are always favourites to flick though and the blog keeps us updated with what's happening in the art and creative world on a weekly basis.

These images of a woodblock print in the process of being cut out were too good not to share via the It's Nice That blog. The painstaking work that goes into creating this type of print is astounding. Who wouldn't want one of these on their wall! 

The Wall Street Journal has launched brilliant app that helps you look back on 2012. They have selected one photo for each day of the last year from a varying selection of news wires. The photos are taken all over the world, marking different events, some you will remember, some you will never have heard of.

We’ve recently introduced a great online system for reviewing and marking up marketing asset proofs. The feedback we’re receiving from clients is very positive. ProofHQ saves sending PDFs via email, keeps all comments in one place and allows project leaders to arbitrate conflicting comments thereby reducing the number of proofs for each project.

After watching 'All in the Best Possible Taste' on channel 4 I just had to see more. I loved these programmes, Grayson Perry was exploring something I too find fascinating – taste. He explores the different classes – working, middle and upper (if indeed you believe they still exist) and then weaves the information he has gathered into 6 tapestries. And they are fantastic, even my 3.5 yr old son liked them. The humour and insight into the different social classes is just brilliant. Really makes you question your own taste and background. 

Grayson Perry comments: "The tapestries tell the story of class mobility, for I think nothing has as strong an influence on our aesthetic taste as the social class in which we grow up. I am interested in the politics of consumerism and the history of popular design but for this project I focus on the emotional investment we make in the things we choose to live with, wear, eat, read or drive. Class and taste run deep in our character - we care. This emotional charge is what draws me to a subject.

One of the highlights of our lunch were Kim's baked scotch egss. They were ruddy delicious. Here's how she did them: 

Baked Scotch Eggs

Ingredients

Serves: 6

400g (14 oz) extremely good quality local organic (if possible) sausage meat

6 hard boiled eggs

Lots of dried breadcrumbs

1 egg, beaten

1. Divide sausage into 6 equal portions. On a lightly floured surface, pat out each portion to about .25cm (1/8 in) thickness. Wrap portions completely around each of the hard boiled eggs, pressing edges together to seal.

 To make the breadcrumbs grate day or so old bread and spread out over a baking sheet and toast in oven for about 5-10 mins

2. Dip sausage-coated eggs in beaten egg, then roll in breadcrumbs. Place on baking tray and bake in preheated 190 C / Gas mark 5 oven until lightly browned, about 25 minutes.

Tip:

Part two in our recipe series. Camilla made this... we ate it. 

Australian pavlova

Ingredients

4 egg whites at room temperature

Pinch of salt

250g castor sugar

2 teaspoons cornflour

1 teaspoon white-wine vinegar

Few drops of pure vanilla

300 ml cream, firmly whipped

Stawberries for on top

Melted dark chocolate to drizzle over the top

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Line a baking tray with baking paper and draw a 20cm circle on the paper.

2. Beat egg whites and salt until satiny peaks form. Beat in sugar, a third at a time, until meringue is stiff and sharp. Sprinkle over cornflour, vinegar and vanilla and fold in lightly. Mound onto paper-lined baking tray within circle, flattening top and smoothing sides.

3.Place in oven, immediately reduce heat to 150 degrees celsius and cook for 30 minutes. Reduce further to 120 degrees and cook for 45 minutes.

4. Turn off oven and leave pavlova in it to cool completely.

Last week, Creative Services organised a summer celebration in the form of an international potluck lunch! (For the uninitiated, a potluck meal is one where all those attending bring a dish to share with everyone else.) The cooking was an enormous success (as were our bellies after scoffing it all!) and we just couldn't keep it all to ourselves. To share it with you, we are posting each recipe online here (some of which might just be instructions for how to get to your local M&S) To get us started we have Sue's Coronation Chicken recipe and a rather fab photo of it, taken by Camilla. Enjoy! 

Coronation Chicken

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 chicken, about 1.5kg


1 cinnamon stick


5 black peppercorns


Pinch of saffron


1 tsp salt


4cm piece of fresh ginger


Bay leaf


5 tbsp good quality mango chutney (I swear by Geeta's)


50g ready-to-eat dried apricots, finely chopped


2 tbsp good curry powder


2 tsp Worcestershire sauce


200ml homemade mayonnaise


200ml Greek yoghurt


50g flaked almonds, toasted


Small bunch fresh coriander, chopped


Green salad and basmati rice, to serve

1. Put the chicken, breast-side up, in a large pan along with the cinnamon, peppercorns, saffron, salt, the bay leaf and half of the ginger and fill with cold water until only the top of the breast is exposed. Cover with a lid and bring to a simmer, then turn down the heat so only the occasional bubble rises to the surface. Cook gently for about one and a half hours until the juices run clear. Take out of the pan and set aside to cool, then remove the meat in bite-sized pieces while lukewarm. Finely chop the rest of the ginger.

2. Put the mango chutney and apricots into a large bowl. Toast the curry powder in a dry frying pan until fragrant, then add the chopped ginger and stir both into the bowl, followed by the Worcestershire sauce, then the mayonnaise and yoghurt. Season to taste.

By Awwwards Team