culinary trimuphhhsplat

made the famous african peanut soup this evening followed by the promisingly delicious lemon tart by gordon ramsay. but the lemon didn't set so we ended up having savoury soup then sweet soup. the pastry was good and the lemon sauce ... unconventional but tasty.

this is not a criticism of gordon ramsay. don't sue me. i just can't get his lemon tart to firm up. this also is not a veiled insult to the man.

i ate two pieces as consolation and now i feel rather bloated.

a lemon yellow day.

it takes a girl

Thank goodness I arrived at the boys bonfire and BBQ to take charge. They had the cooking under control but gee whizz, they didn't know how to keep a bonfire going ;)

After a day working without any natural light it's great to sit by a lake in the evening with mates, eating BBQ, gathering sticks from the woods, drinking beer and waiting for the rod tip to move.

today's colour chart

pale blue all day then a dark purple evening.

special mention

special mention to boyf of borrower who bought us a rather splendid indian nosh last night. fanks mate. welcome to the piratha elite.

"which was nice"

seems i have a new job. didn't see that coming a week ago. nothing exciting for the outside blog reader - internal transfer blah blah blah - but a pretty big change for me and rather exciting too.

culkin roadshow

watched 'igby goes down' this evening. granted, i had to suffer it with a settee full of girls talking the whole way through but even so it was a disappointment. got back to read one rave review on amazon. hmm. well, the main character could have had so much more depth. he was an interesting idea but not half as raw as he should of been if they were trying to portray a really rebellious young man. my 13 year old has more attitude than him and we were meant to be convinced he was a drop out from a string of schools and dealt drugs. no he was too preppy by far. the estranged, mentally ill father figure could have been so interesting as well but guess what, they kicked him out after the first scene and shove him in an institute. there's a slight twist at the end when you discover the 'murder' was assisted euthanasia. not really enough to turn it round!

rent something else.

Marsh Arabs

Call me a lightweight but I've never really tried travel writing before and I always feel slightly unnerved when I read non-fiction. For some reason I think I'm going to tire of real life in a way that fiction continues to grip me. Anyway, no need to worry with Wilfred Thesiger. Really good. I haven't finished yet but I am really glad I picked this one up. After seeing his photos at the Natural History Museum in Oxford last week I knew I had to read this book. I suppose he's the last of the explorers. I'm entranced by the way these people build homes from reeds. Not only protection against the elements, as you often see in the 'mut hut' approach to foreign travel, but beautiful structures that look Arabian even though they are essentially a bunch of weeds a la three little pigs. http://www.public.iastate.edu/~mariposa/images/11-Mudhif.jpg These Arabs live in Iraq and, from what I've read so far, seem to be entirely uninfluenced by the outside world. Does anyone know what has happened to these people since Thesiger wrote about them in the 50's?

Kitchen

have just finished 'kitchen' by banana yoshimoto which has a short story, 'moonlight shadow', at the end. They both gave me a similar feeling to Murakami even though the themes were quite different. They are quietly impacting. Not a lot seems to happen but after you've closed the last page you think how that was actually a very touching and enduring read. I would recommend them both but don't expect action.

Small Island

Finished reading the prize-winning Levy novel this evening. By half way I really could not put it down. It's essentially about two couples, one pair black, the other white, whose lives are shaped by the second world war and racial issues. This is not a simplistic colonial read though as each of them have their own barriers to overcome. Their lives draw you into the story and you wish you were able to follow their story beyond the final page. A really well crafted and utterly human story.

I'm away two days and you're bickering already! heh heh
Just had an ace weekend with the people whose wedding we went to in the states a year past christmas. I had met the bride online in a literary discussion group about the writings of Iris Murdoch. We are firm life long friends now I'm sure :) She is not only about to graduate from med school, specialising in neurology but she also retains the most amazing knowledge about everything. We went to Pitts River museum as recommended by borrower, thank you (!), and she had comments on so many exhibits. Oh these are the....did you hear the story about.... I read about this once.... etc. I really have to read more non fiction and get myself an(other) education. Oh and she runs marathons as if being a junior doctor wasn't enough pressure!
In the evening we had a pudding soiree which pretty much was what it says on the can. I made ye famous kumquat special - pear and almond tarte. Also cream teas, trifle, peanut butter cookies courtesy of mini me and drinks-a-plenty. How rare to sit in a room full of eloquent people discussing politics and making social comments in a reasoned manner. Of course I only listened!!
Monday, we went to Oxford as an Iris Murdoch pilgrimage. I bet we are the only ones to yell out on the top of a bus when we saw St. Anne's College! The pub clientelle over there is another breed - bow ties, tank tops and immaculate shirts tucked into chinos. The afternoon was the museum trip which included a "bunch" of natural history. Of course I was thrilled by the heaps of bones and unidentifiable mishmash of curiosities whose labels shed no light but there was a stuffed cheetah in the entrance which i rather took to and he didn't object to being tickled under the chin and rubbed on his belly. Whole lives may be passed over by a careless reader (im) but whole millenia can be passed over in a museum. We saw the photographs of William Thesiger which were stunning. They were about the Marsh Arabs which is also the title of one of his better known travel books. I bought the book today and can't wait to get into it.
One life isn't enough. 5 years of lit study is one thing but now i need some other lives to dedicate one to science, one to art....

News for y'aaall

Having a couple of South Carolinian friends staying for the weekend so here I am at quarter to ten waiting for the sauce to finish cooking to go with the meatballs I prepared earlier before I start on the desserts, the cleaning and the nervous break down.

Last night I went to see my mate's band, Black Ramps, play The Marquee in Leicester Square. They were great, of course.
I met Big Dog again and marvelled at his big girly dancing, the touching moment when I led him to make a link between drunkeness and drink (it was like a light going on) and the routine late night leaping o'er phone box banter. Splendid stuff. How odd to jump over nettles when they don't grow this far south.
Who should be in the audience but Ronny from Eastenders! I had to have him pointed out, as I haven't yet watched an entire episode.
Anonymous, who frequents this site and can occassionally be dubbed 'borrower', was also in attendance and much merriment did we have listening to her stories of previous drunken revellry.
If my memory serves me correctly, the evening concluded with Big Dog promising to buy all the drinks next time we're out.
>winks and points<

classic work days

Customer comes in asking for a book by "Grievous Phinn".
Customer comes in and asks where they can buy first edition Harry Potter.
Customer comes in and asks 'how much is the 3 for 2?'
Customer comes in and stands in the humour section reading jokes out loud to himself and laughing raucously.
Customer comes in and asks about a book for which they do not have the title or author but it's something about a dog.
Customer comes in and asks if we have a list of all the new books.
Customer comes in and asks where the Da Vinci code is. (This is funny on so many levels)
Customer comes in and asks if I'm looking on the shelves for the book he wrote. It's a fictional work yet I'm in the crime section. Oh the irony. You'd think he would know it was a work of fiction. And incidentally no I'm not looking for your book. Why should I when the front cover looks like it's been photocopied and the writing makes me look back with respectful nostalgia to Peter and Jane books.
Customer faffing at chip and pin machine forces me to comment that if they struggle reading highlighted words in bold writing on a lit screen in front of them, how do they imagine they will complete a whole book.
Customer incapable of inserting card into chip and pin machine has me wondering if I should recommend they go to the Early Learning Centre and buy a shape sorter to take home for practice.

Do it yourself AKA Lou, can you do it?

I am living in a reinforced house with impenetrable walls. I suspect something in the order of superveillance and subterfuge. Possibly I just have really hard walls I can't get a drill through. Two of us were pushing against the drill to try and get a hole in the wall, for Stan's sake. All is not lost though. I have three solid hooks, two firm candlesticks and a bit of sturdy work top. Just don't TOUCH them!!!

Wonderful Web

Today nothing of any consequence happened therefore I have been trawling through some blogs to bring you the best and the cheesiest of blog entries. Enjoy the ride.

http://dvr4u.blogspot.com/
"Keller Graduate School of Management Adult students have multiple real-world demands"

Thunderbird School? So they're named after a low budget puppet show and their claim to academic excellence is that their students can do more than one thing at a time? Genius. Where do I sign?

oOo

http://5nicoleu.blogspot.com/

" 'I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them.' Isaac Asimov. What this quote is saying is not to be affraid of computers and be affraid of what it could do. "

So how about you start with spell check, honey?

oOo

http://valleyofme.blogspot.com/

lately
Ive been obsessed with images,

so many things youll forget in life,

people, places, feelings,

Im terrified of forgetting,

so now I photograph,

my life and thoughts,

so Ill never forget.

With poetry like this, who wants a good memory?

oOo

http://kangelyka.blogspot.com/

"All about me!
Things About Me. I am perfectionistI am broke… not really though. I just want money to shop!I easily fall in love with something (not someone because it’s a different thing)."

What were you perfecting the day you skipped grammar class, lady?

A Prayer for Owen Money

High Lord Stanley, to whom I have already offered up an initial £17.98, instructest me thou that I should continue to sacrifice monetary offerings at the holy shrines of Do it All? I have today vowed allegiance to all things copper and steel by purchasing some screwdrivers, something zinc with hookey bits and a bradawl. Forgive me for the cheap plastic tool box, it's only a standby 'til I can pilfer the offering bag of loose change by the phone and invest in something more fitting to your cause. I will take the time to read thoroughly the most sacrasanct of treatise, the UpStanishads, in order to open my mind to all the wonders you have in the store for me. For now I drink deeply from the new red and white spotty tea cup of reverence and ponder the many tea breaks you will deign to afford me as I, in my own meagre way, try to afford you.
Amen.

Going Ape

Today I went here: http://www.goape.cc/Pages.asp?M=1&Page=27

It was a really good laugh. Took four kids for the birthday treat. The best bit was on a 'black' challenge - the hardest. Unlike the other very high and very long zip lines, this one began with a few seconds of freefall from a great height before you felt your safety harness doing what it was meant to. Exhilirating. Highly recommended but learn from me and take gloves!

"so unfair"

Today I became the mother of a teenager. The change is startling.

I have duly bought myself a twin set and pearls so that he has good reason to be thoroughly ashamed of me in public. I have invested in some sensible scholl shoes so that when his friends come round I can leave them in the hallway for him to trip over unceremoniously. I will of course be banning everything fun for the next 7 years. I will cease to make any effort to understand him. I will develop an intolerance to anything louder than the sound of the kettle boiling and try my utmost to ask him to speak properly even when he's making perfect sense. I have decided to set up a series of meetings under the guise of being reasonable but with a hidden agenda of me trying to make him squirm with guilt over things he hasn't done or over which he has no control. I will make a point of telling his friends how early he goes to bed and insist on a kiss goodbye whenever he's in public. I will deliberately choose tasks for him when his favourite programmes are on television. I'm working on a look of disdain that I can use whenever he buys clothes for himself. I have started hiding his favourite clothes so that he is obliged to wear awful clothes when he goes where there might be girls. I have put a one hour time limit on the bathroom so that he has no way of making himself presentable before going out. This is only the first day, think what miseries I can dream up in another 6 years and 364 days.

It's inexplicable. I woke up today and I was completely different. Trying times indeed.

Hedda Gabler

Last night I went to see a production of Hedda Gabler at the Almeida theatre in Islington.

http://www.almeida.co.uk/index.cfm?id=hedda

Richard Eyre directed and it was really very good. The set was great, some of the actors were particularly impressive and the text itself has some very insightful lines. Not at all the heavy, static type of performance you may associate with Ibsen. (I saw a ghastly 'Doll's House' and thought I'd never get on with him for a long time.) We had restricted viewing because the seats sold so quickly but it was still a very enjoyable evening. And who was sat a few rows in front of us but Alexei Sayle!

Later, over copious wine, we toasted Ibsen with the wish that Scandanavian drama may ever outstrip its furniture trade.

cat buckaroo

http://www.ashearer.f2s.com/blog/?p=2

This is not to be missed. Having a rather flighty cat I think I will have to start with small items. Crisps maybe.