Busy Baking weekend

Having 2 slightly under the weather children meant a somewhat housebound weekend therefore here is batch two of my sparkly fairy cakes (2 year old Mac made swift work of the first batch). Due to time constraints of baking with small chidren, the batches are pretty small so we'll see which of the tictoc Developers (notorious for there ability to strip any plate of cakes bare in seconds!) gets to the kitchen first!

By Melanie Russell
Published: 14 February 2011
3 Comments

Lambok Chicken, Tarte Tatin, white wine/red wine!

Here are some piccies of the tictoc Xmas party which started in Peckhams Cook School (an old favourite of ours!) and ended somewhere unmentionable by the hard core boys!

The menu was Goats Cheese and caramelised Red Onion Tartlets, followed by Thai Lambok Chicken and finished with a tasty wee Apple Tarte Tatin! All very tasty, so far I've made the chicken again which both my 2 year old and 7 month old loved (minus the chillies!).

There were lots of top gifts in the £5 Secret Santa challenge - mainly Alans fantastic purchase of a coffee machine and Davids very beautiful original painting for Kerry! Put my £5 pack of lovely mens M & S pants to shame (bought for Ross - did you keep them Ross!)

By Melanie Russell
Published: 10 January 2011
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80s-tastic

So, a couple of weeks ago I was speaking at a Marketing Industry Network event in Leeds about Using Social Networks for Business... and one of the other speakers on the panel was Colin Gilchrist from Digital Face.

After we'd both presented, and answered questions, and spoken to all the lovely people who came along, we ended up in the bar with our fellow speaker Adam Gordon (as you do...) and at some point in the evening somebody asked me where I come from (it's the accent). So I got to talking about the good old days of growing up in Camden Town, and how the Market isn't like it used to be (sigh). Turns out that Colin used to have a stall in Camden Market, selling dresses he'd made from a job lot of men's tweed jackets...

And wouldn't you know it, here is a photo of me, circa 1988 (aged 15), in aforementioned jacket-dress, made by Colin's fair hand! I was at my cousin Karen's wedding, and just in case you were wondering it was kind of obligatory to have bad hair in the 80s.

And here's a wonderful photo of Colin himself from that era, much as he might have looked when he sold me that dress.

What a coincidence! Anyone want to divert attention from my 80s hair by sharing some reminiscences of their own?!

By Kate Wooding
Published: 21 May 2010
4 Comments

That's showbiz...

Oscar here, the tictoc office dog.

A penpal from my holiday kennels forwarded me on this fantastic ad for Pedigree dogs biscuits.  He had auditioned but was pipped to the post by the smiling bulldog, that's showbiz!
Click here - Pedigree: Catch

Enjoy...Oscar out

By Oscar the Dog
Published: 4 March 2010
2 Comments

Scary seagull flocks to the Buz Dev window!

So here we are, myself, Kate and Sarah, on a Monday morning getting stuck into the new business week when a huge (and they do seem very large when flying straight at your window!) seagull decided to drop in to say hello!!

Quite a surreal moment up here in the 3rd floor office with a pretty teeny ledge!

By Melanie Russell
Published: 1 February 2010
1 Comment

Heralding in a new era

tictoc is the subject of today's SME Focus in The Herald (that's p23 for those of you with the paper version), as our very own Mel Russell sat down with the boys from the press to answer their questions and give them an insight into the joys and growing pains of running a digital agency.

Their questions were tough and cut straight to the heart of the matter, and we think she did a great job of answering them. Plus, her dad said he thought she was very refreshing and didn't give the stock answers you see most weeks. So there.

If you want to know more about Mel's days as a florist, or exactly what she thought when she opened the front door to a wall of floodwater, you only have to ask: now's your chance!

By Kate Wooding
Published: 3 August 2009
2 Comments

Grow Your Own

So, for the first time ever, I've been trying my hand at growing my own veg. I've already had a crop of spinach, the chard is coming along nicely, but last night was my piece de resistance - I picked and cooked my first home-grown courgettes! As you can see, they're not weedy in any way, and they tasted delicious - and there are loads more to come! I also have lots of courgette flowers, which I'm planning to either stuff with ricotta and cook, or deep fry in a light batter. Italian delicacy I believe! So, in a few weeks when I am sick of courgette soup, courgette casserole, and courgette for breakfast, and you want to try some, let me know!

By Kate Wooding
Published: 24 July 2009
4 Comments

Frabulous fractals

tictoc's Technical Director Tom Beddard will be demonstrating how to create mathematical and generative art on a Mac. The pic above is one of Tom's creations. As an ex-physicist, fractals are one of Tom's specialist subjects. Actually, he has many specialist subjects, and I don't understand what fractals have to do with physics, but that's why I'm going to the talk - it's all about the edukashun, innit.

If you want to find out more, come along on Thursday 14th May 2009 at 6pm to Apple's Buchanan Street store in Glasgow. You'll find directions and details in the calendar of events on the store's webpage. Do come on down and find out about the wonderful world of fractals - I have a feeling that the pictures will not only be pretty, but clever!

By Kate Wooding
Published: 24 April 2009
3 Comments

tictoc Happy Easter art

Here's a wee message from tictoc's Tomek I thought I'd share with the tictoc blog! Goes to show magnetic boards are good for more than just writing coding notes!

Hope you all had a lovely break and the Easter Bunny was good to you!

By Melanie Russell
Published: 14 April 2009
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