love those cupcakes

Lately I've been......

.....enjoying the last of the granola I made (adapted from this recipe) between Christmas and New Year.

.....trying to motivate myself to crack on with the consultancy work I've taken on so that I can get paid.  But there are so many distractions.......

.....catching up on series 2 of this.  Having learned that a third series is being filmed, I've just one thing to say to the producers.  Tak.

.....baking Roman style ("crusty, crumpety") spelt bread, using the very straightforward recipe on the back of the flour bag.

.....watching this, one of my Christmas presents.  Very different from the usual "wagons, roll!" Western, and with minimal dialogue, this film is about the struggle of three families travelling the Oregon trail in 1845.  It's bleak, it's grim, it's powerful.  It's going to leave you feeling very thirsty (and possibly wishing for a different ending) if you watch it.

.....marvelling at someone's efforts to get at the catnip.  Just look at that tongue!

.....listening to this, another Christmas present.  I love it.  You can get a taste here.

.....booking a (planes, boat, train) holiday.  More on that later.

Today

The plan:

Carve this.

Eat this.

Light ginger cake with limoncello and cream cheese frosting

 Watch this.

 But someone here isn't happy to wear his Hallowe'en collar and tie.

As my mum used to say, there's always one.

 

Update:

Tick!

Birthday treats

The baby of the house turned 21 this week, a birthday which seems to be turning into one of the longest celebrations ever. Those significant birthday numbers (you know the ones) are marked here with a family holiday, the destination chosen by the birthday person.  The Boy has picked somewhere rather warm at this time of year so we've delayed going until September when we'll be travelling en famille, plus the Girlie's bf, for a week of fun.  The birthday cake is planned for next weekend, when the Girlie will be home again, and the day of the birthday itself was spent in London.

We had a very early start for the rail trip so the Boy thoughtfully (ahem) opened his cards and presents the day before.  As it turned out, we could have had an extra hour in bed due to a broken down train further up the track near Durham. Fortunately, the Girlie, who was meeting us in London, happily amused herself dodging the rain in various coffee shops and bars until we arrived.

First stop was the London Eye (re-scheduled from the train) and a welcome glass of Pimms served by a very charming member of the Eye staff.

Oh yes, the Meerkat (which you might remember from this post) insisted on coming with.

We had a tapas lunch here which was handy for popping into the Natural History Museum.

There was a stroll around Covent Garden......

....... and a coffee and cakes stop.

All in all, a great day out.  And no shopping.  Now that has to be a first.

Swanning about

Reading about this little girl's first experience of going to the ballet reminded me of mine. 

I was a little older than Yoyo, 8 or thereabouts, and had been attending dance lessons for several years.  After one ballet class my dance teacher, Miss Ella, announced that we were being given the opportunity to see the Bolshoi Ballet performing Swan Lake.   I couldn't believe what I was hearing.  My dad had bought me a record of ballet music and the Swan Lake excerpts were my favourites to prance about to in our little living room.  

All of us budding cygnets squealed with excitement and, along with the other mothers, my mum promptly paid for two tickets (which looked suspiciously like raffle tickets with a bit of handwriting on the back), one for me, one for her.  It seemed like we had ages to wait but the date on the tickets eventually came round.

We'd been given directions to the venue which should have set the alarm bells ringing in the various mothers' heads.  My dad worked in our shop which stayed open until 10 o'clock every night and as my mum didn't drive (remind me to tell you about her first, which also turned out to be her only, driving lesson under my dad's instruction), we had to get the bus.  I remember it was dark and wintry as we set out and it took forever to get to our destination.  But get there we did.

The venue turned out to be a tiny, ramshackle community hall in what was at that time an area of heavy industry (think ICI and strange smells) and where all of the houses had been demolished some years previously.  The hall hadn't been in active use for a long time so it wasn't heated.  Of course, there was no such thing as "refreshments".

As for the much anticipated Bolshoi Ballet, it turned out the mothers had paid for us all to watch an extremely poor quality reel of film.  A silent film, I might add.  This was fed into the projector by the caretaker who coughed continuously whilst chain smoking and who loudly bemoaned the fact that he'd had to leave his cosy fireside in the nearby town.   It didn't appear to cross his mind that we were all equally if not more uncomfortable.  (I suspect those of us who were gloveless were tempted to warm our hands over the lit cigarette ends).

I spent the rest of that night snuggling into my mum's coat sleeve (nobody was brave enough to remove their outdoor clothes), feeling so very disappointed (for heaven's sake, I'd taken my autograph book with me) and wondering how I was going to talk about "the performance" at school the next day.  Naturally, I'd told my teacher and fellow pupils all about who and what I was going to see.  My head mistress was very keen to bring culture into the lives of us little girls from the terraced streets so I'd been tasked with standing in front of the whole school to share my experience and maybe even give a little demonstration of some of the ballet steps I'd watched.  It would have helped if I could have actually seen, through what seemed to be indoor fog, some of the dancing on the small white (ish) portable screen that we were all seated in front of.

Getting back home proved to be problematic as the buses ran infrequently.  There was no way of contacting my dad to come and pick us up (we did have a phone at home but we couldn't locate a public phone in working order.  Well to be honest, we couldn't locate any public phone, working or not.  And anyway he'd still have been working in the shop).  A bus did come along at some point (there were no street lights and I just remember us all huddled together, mums and girls alike, in what had been a bus shelter in a previous life) and we arrived home long after my usual bedtime.   At least my dad had thoughtfully put the electric blanket in my bed.

As for school the next day, dear readers I blagged it.  I pretended I really had seen the Bolshoi and managed to execute a few pirouettes and plies in my much admired pink satin ballet shoes.  (I don't remember faking autographs to show people but, who knows, maybe I did).   Anyway, when I finished everyone clapped so it must have been OK.

The whole experience didn't dampen my enthusiasm for ballet or live performance. 

But I'd have to admit I've never felt quite the same about Swan Lake.

And I have an idea my mum gave Miss Ella an earful.

Bits of Saturday

Baking:  a tomato and basil focaccia using this recipe.  To be eaten as part of an easy "indoor picnic" supper tonight with a selection of cheeses, salads, olives and maybe a tortilla.  The healthy eating regime I was meant to start this week?   Meh.

Dipping in and out of: 

Making:  gift tags using this method from Pebbledash.

Planning to watch:

Spotting:  a lime green corner in the garden.

Monday again

Well, that went quick.  The weekend, that is.   We had no plans but seem to have fitted in........

- a bit of shopping, resulting in the purchase of a couple more books from a charity shop, a pie dish and Jane Asher biscuit cutters in a tin from Matalan (worth looking in if you're after cheap kitchen stuff).  The soaps, with irresistible names like Turkish Delight, Swinging Sixties, Bed of Roses, Summer Solstice, were from a nearby farmer's market.  I didn't know farmers made soap.

 

- some (uncomfortable) telly watching

 

- Sunday lunch in a North Yorkshire village

- a spot of wildlife gazing (whilst the giant Yorkshire puds and apple crumble settled)

- a glimpse of history

-  some refereeing

Please don't be alarmed at the baring of teeth.  This was not a re-run of the Holyfield/Tyson match and all ears remained intact. 

It's the weekend

With nothing exciting planned, maybe I'll.......

• have a look at this new purchase

• manage a little house cleaning

• dig out the sewing machine

• find some new recipes for next week's meals

• indulge in the latest addiction

• prepare to return to work (albeit working from home for the first couple of weeks) after 3 months absence

• admire the Guardian of the Slippers (which, incidentally, are not mine)......

 

....sporting one bobby dazzler of an accessory.

Yes, Bea is wearing her first collar.

Under protest.

An old favourite

One of my Top Ten films (in my Top Five actually), which never fails to raise my spirits however low I'm feeling, is The Commitments.  It's a wonderful adaptation of Roddy Doyle's novel and I love everything about it, even all that effing and blinding, but especially the "Dublin Soul" soundtrack. I might just have to make space for another viewing over the weekend.  So, what do you load into the DVD player to cheer yourself up?

End of the month

We road tested the pumpkin last night.  Tonight it will be placed outside the front door with a couple of other decorations to welcome little (and not so little) visitors hopeful of a treat or two.  I'm planning on watching the original Halloween film (the music is still scary even after many viewings) at some point with a bowl of homemade popcorn and probably any left over chocolate treats.

Whatever you have planned, enjoy this wonderfully autumnal last day of October and the rest of the weekend.

Recently watched

As well as reducing the "To read" pile recently, I've also managed to put some ticks on the "To watch" list, too.  Some films were enjoyed, some not so much.  Here's a quickish run through of what I've been watching.

• Notes on a Scandal - I liked Zoe Heller's book, which is about what you hope teachers don't get up to, either with their students or with each other, and I really enjoyed the film.  Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett seemed perfectly cast as the two main characters and I'd definitely watch this one again.

 

• The Reader - This film is based on the novel by Bernard Schlink, which I read recently on holiday, and I'd have to say it seemed to stick pretty much to the original story.  Kate Winslet is very good as a former Nazi concentration camp guard and the film, which was wittily described by one reviewer as "Mein Kampf meets Penthouse Forum", kept me interested. But, really, that's all it did.

 

• Changeling - I'm quite the fan of Angelina's films and this one didn't disappoint.  It's about the real life story of a single parent whose child goes missing in 1928 and the police subsequently return the wrong one.  I loved it and, if it had been left to me, I'd have given the Oscar to Angelina.

• Confessions of a Shopaholic - I saw this at the cinema with the Gorgeous Girlie as part of my Mother's Day present.  Set in Manhattan, it was easy to watch, instantly forgotten, and a pleasant enough way to spend a Friday evening (with a box of salty popcorn and a giant bag of Revels).

• Revolutionary Road - I really liked the book with its 1950's America setting and exploration of a young married couple's relationship but for some reason (well, the accent probably didn't help and she was so obviously acting, if you know what I mean ), Kate Winslet really grated on me in this film and, overall, it just didn't do it for me.

• The Dark Knight - I'm not sure why I watched this (possibly because of all the hype and the DVD just happened to be around)  as I didn't enjoy the earlier Batman films.  And, no surprises,  I didn't enjoy this one either and couldn't wait for it to finish (I probably would have switched off the DVD if I hadn't been knitting whilst watching).  The Husband fell asleep about a third of the way through, though this shouldn't be regarded as a definitive comment on the film as he can sleep for England.

• Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day - Loved the book (which has been written about on many blogs) but sort of wish I'd given the film a miss.  The characters weren't how I'd pictured them in my head and it just didn't seem to capture the essence of the novel.

 

• Righteous Kill - Hmmm.  Al Pacino plus Robert de Niro should have equalled something much better than this.  I wasn't expecting a masterpiece, having read a couple of reviews before I watched it but, as a "cops hunt serial killer" type thriller,  it was rather dull and didn't, erm, thrill.  And the twist in the story was easy to guess quite early on.

• Slumdog Millionaire - What more can be said about this one?  It was wonderful.  I was hooked from the start and it had me yearning to make a return visit to India.