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The Visitors Chair [A Long Stop: Pete Rogers]

Occupation: A creator of things and cog in the machine

Location: Mostly Wrexham

Intro: I do my best to have a new challenge every few weeks or so, I’m host and creator of podcast Backyard Beasts, wildlife filmmaker, manager of a coworking space, founder of The Not So Secret Santa Project, Co -Director of hip hop company Larynx Entertainment and possibly some stuff I have forgotten!

Do you have a favourite dinner?

This is a bit of a cheat as technically it’s multiple dinners but I am going to say curry due to the fact you can have so many varieties of it, personally the spicier the better for me

Can you suggest any handy household tips?

I have been making an effort to have more ‘wild’ areas in the garden, humans tend to like really neat clean looking spaces but for wildlife to thrive they need some messy grass, piles of wood or rocks to hide under. So my tip is to make a mess!

Do you have a favourite celebrity chef or home & lifestyle influencer?

It’s an obvious answer and a lot of people don’t like him but I do think that what Jamie Oliver has done and how passionately he fights to give people access to affordable and healthy food is pretty admirable

What does home mean to you?

Comfort, in both a spiritual and a material sense

How do you like to spend time aside from home/family?

I’ve been making a lot of short nature documentaries recently and I ran a charitable project for kids during Christmas, I suppose I just like taking on new challenges and seeing what I can learn from them, whether I technically succeed at them or not

Do you have a favourite desert?

Cover anything in chocolate and I think it will qualify as my new favourite dessert

Can you name one item you couldn’t live without?

I stared this by cheating so I will end by cheating, this is two items. Definitely a notepad and a pen. My mind is so unpredictable, I can go days without an original thought or I can be trying to hold onto ten at once out of nowhere. So a pen and a pad have become pretty invaluable.

Thank you Pete! 🤎

https://www.facebook.com/BackyardBeasts1/

https://www.facebook.com/TheNotSoSecretSantaProject/

https://www.facebook.com/LarynxEntertainment/

Quinoa Jambalaya with Soya Strips & Spinach

It’s really important to have a back up for when you don’t feel like cooking & you’ve run out of homemade freezer portions, and to don’t need to compromise your nutrition to do so.

This is my favourite frozen steam meal from Aldi’s. It costs £1.49 and takes 9mins in the microwave.

Just add a fistful of spinach or any salad, and you’re good to go!

Spinach & Red Pepper Penne

Serves 2

200g pasta

2tbsp cooking oil

1 onion

2 vegetable stock cubes

2tbsp tomato purée

1 red pepper

1 tin chopped tomato’s

2 large fistfuls of spinach

Salt

Pepper

Cook & drain pasta without shaking off excess water, set aside.

Fry onion in oil, add stock cubes & continue to fry for a minute. Add peppers & fry for a few minutes before stirring in tomato purée, then add chopped tomato’s. Simmer & reduce for 20-30mins.

Stir in pasta, mix well. Add spinach & cover to steam for 5mins. Stir in wilted spinach & serve.

Cake Bites Recipe

Ready for coating in chocolate & decorating tomorrow.

175g self raising flour

175g caster sugar

175g butter

3 eggs

1tsp baking powder

1tsp vanilla extract

1 pinch salt

Beat everything together with a wooden spoon until just smooth, transfer to greased baking tins, bake for 45mins at 180•c/160•c fan/gas 4.

Remove from oven & leave to cool for 10mins, remove from tins & leave to cool fully on a wire rack.

Use a sharp, flat knife to cut off the tops, and set aside for a crunchy cake top stack snack.

Cut remaining cake into cubes, ready to coat in chocolate & decorate.