suggestions

happy valentines!

1. make this apple puff pastry tart. everyday can be valentines with this treat! this recipe makes 4 tarts.

pack of puff pastry at room temperature
flour for dusting
1 pink lady apple
4t of caramel sauce
1/4t cinommon
1T icing sugar
whipping cream (optional)

preheat the oven to 200C/390F.
roll out the pastry until 4 8x10cm hearts will fit. the recipe suggests making a template but i just guessed.
quater and core the apple and slice each quarter into 6 pieces.
lay out 6 apple slices in a heart shape on the pastry.
cut around the apple heart leaving a good sized (1cm) boarder (repeat for all 4 tarts).
spoon 1t of caramel sauce over each pastry heart and spread around leaving the boarder free of sauce.
arrange the apples on top of the sauce.
dust all 4 tarts with the the cinommon and icing sugar.
place on a large baking tray and bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden and bubbly.

whip some cream and swirl with some more caramel sauce, if you want.

eat warm! yum.

2. if you live in london go and see la clique, a melange of cabaret, new burlesque, and circus sideshow. for your pleasure are the talented..

Captain Frodo, Norway’s outrageously bendy man, hula hoop’s finest exponent Yulia Pikhtina, the PVC-clad Miss Behave who has a penchant for swallowing pointy objects.

not mentioned was my favourite guy, mario queen of the circus. a leather clad, juggling, queen fanatic. and miss behave didn't swallow anything for our show, but she did reveal some lovely crystals she had been hiding upon her person at the end of the act. she was naked save 3 small strategically placed hearts, a treat for the valentine's show. there's also the wet rope dancer as pictured above. yum.

la clique was fantastic! i would like to go again as i think each show is probably a little bit different.


3. if you live in bath go to jamie's italian, jamie oliver's new restaurant. i cannot gush enough about how much i enjoyed this restaurant. it was a tough decision on what to eat as the whole menu made our mouths water. there are a few locations, if you live near one you must go! if you're visiting england factor this restaurant into your plans. check out my flickr for the meal play-by-play.

dive in

i am bout to delve into the launch edition of jamie magazine. i feel a little nervous for him, starting a magazine is a big thing. he's a pretty busy chef....or so the tabloids tell me. but i love him. every recipe i have made has worked beautifully. he fights for food in his country. he kills/grows what he eats or at least knows where it's come from. i shop at sainsbury's because jamie oliver endorses it.

i'm excited.

he takes his own pictures for the magazine and funded the whole thing himelf. it's printed on paper that is from sustainably managed forests.

i'm also thrilled about the great britsh food fight that just started on channel 4.

maybe hugh fearnley-whittingstall will start a magazine as well.

2 turtle doves

last weekend was the rochester dickensian christmas fair. i go every year and it has yet to get tiresome. i LOVE it! i'm like a child, giggling and hurrying here and there. what's not to love? people dressed up like dickensian characters. mulled wine. roasting chestnuts on every corner. little old ladies playing jingle bells on real bells. fake snow. carousel rides. parades. christmas carols. i could go on and on.

Credit to ali for these wonderful pictures!

burn baby, burn

it is the week of fireworks

dancing, fizzing lights

saturday, wednesday, sunday

sparkling, twirling bursts

the festival of lights

happy diwali!

i got the joy of fireworks over my house tonight. i love fireworks! it's still odd to me that you can buy them in grocery stores and let them off in your backyard...or the street.

i do believe the credit crunch has hit the firework industry though. usually the cacophony starts about a week before diwali with fits and stops and it reaches a crescendo on diwali. the light displays then slow down before reaching another fevered pitch for halloween. there is another dip in activity before the final climax of bonfire night.

this year, there was no build up to diwali and the night itself has been fairly quiet. i only counted a hand full of small displays. i hope the bonfire night display i'm going to next weekend isn't going to be holding back.

happy beltane

hail thalia, grace of flowering and mirth!

hail to the lord and the lady!
hail to the king and queen of faery, to blessed flora,

and to maia majestas!

hail to the summer! hail to the summer!
the season that drives the cold winter away!
hail to the summer! hail to the summer!
light your bonfires - today is beltane

a little life in my life.

on the weekend, alex and i went to a garden centre so i could spruce up my flat with some plants. i purchased a lovely trio of foliage.

a tall dragon tree with 3 levels of leaves.

a purple, fuzzy prayer plant. the purple side feels like velvet.

a stripey, green prayer plant.

alex then suggested we go to the pet shop across the way as he wanted some fish and was trying to convince me that i needed some fish. interesting idea as i have been feeling the urge for some sort of pet. we wandered around the shop looking at the various creatures and i made a slightly impulsive purchase.

may i introduce - yin and yang (a.k.a. the babies), they're chinese dwarf hamsters. they are so cute and tiny and i cannot tell them apart as they are exactly the same down to the last spot and stripe.

they truly live up to their name as one is very active while the other is very lazy. they have a little coconut house - which they adore, a hollowed out log, a running wheel and tunnel for their enjoyment. they are truly amusing to watch. one has fallen asleep in the wheel as i type this. so cute! i'm very excited; they may not be cuddly like cats but as least i can hold them, unlike fish. check out flickr for some more photo sweetness.

earth hour

earth hour, i almost forgot! luckily i read this article about 60 things to do during earth hour with 20 minutes to go...

alex and i think we'll start out with a number 16, followed by number 24...which will lead nicely into number 26 and then we'll finish the evening with number 19.

what are you going to do?

have fun!

happy solstice

i think i'm getting too old to be staying up all night or getting up in the middle of the night for a sunrise.

alex and i didn't venture to stonehenge this year, we stayed closer to home and went up to primrose hill. it has some lovely views of london.

sunrise was very nice, there are some flickr pictures up if you want to have a little looksie.

the weather is great for the longest day of the year and all i want to do is go back to bed.

i hope the sun is shining on all of you.

blood red moon

the weather could not have been more perfect for last night's lunar eclipse; there was not a cloud in the sky. alex and i took a drive out into the kent countryside where the only light was that of the full moon. ever so slowly the moonlight faded into a red glow. magical.


i unfortunately have lost my tripod, as the moonlight faded so did my picture quality. i just can't stand still enough in comparison. but as fuzzy as my red moon is...it's still evidence that i was present.

i get to see an eclipse!

the next total lunar eclipse is a little over a week away. it's my favourite sort of eclipse as you can look directly at the action without going blind.

unfortunately for you lot over on the west coast of canada, i don't think you'll see much. but i am smack in the middle of the goodness! now i just need to find somewhere dark to set up camp and camera.

kung hei fat choi...

...which actually is closer to meaning 'congratulations and be prosperous' rather than happy new year.


bring on the year of the pig!

happy new year!

new years celebrations in london...what can i say? i'm glad i've finally been in the city over new year.

fire works over the london eye were great! alex and i managed to run out of the tube station and get to the river with 50 seconds to spare before midnight. here's the dodgy camera phone pictures to prove it.









today there was a 3 hour parade that wove it's way from parliament square to berkley square. fun! but there were too many american high school bands and cheerleaders for my liking.

the highlight?



when a large, inflated, fierce lion.....







almost tumbled into the crowd when it couldn't quite make a tight turn.

good time, good times.

i wish you all prosperity, happiness and good health for 2007.

kiss kiss xox

on this day...

it's friday the 13th and i just noticed something interesting.

Some historians propose that the origin of the "Black Friday" was the simultaneous arrest of hundreds of Knights Templars on 13 October 1307 (Friday), to be later tortured into admitting heresy.

so today is the original friday the 13th.


Marble effigies of medieval knights in the Temple Church.

on this day...

who's a little homesick for their london ghetto? i think it's me.

The Blitz was the sustained bombing of the United Kingdom by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 16 May 1941. It was carried out by the Luftwaffe, and hit many towns and cities across the UK, but the main attack was concentrated on London.

major bombing happened in my old east london hood of bethnal green. and that is why you see lovely old brick buildings from 100 years ago beside newer, nasty, raty, eye-sore, ASBO causing council flats...exactly like the one in the background of the picture.

crikey!

the crocodile hunter, steve irwin, is dead.

He was killed in a freak accident in Cairns, police sources said. It is understood he was killed by a sting-ray barb that went through his chest.

how bizarre.

one this day...

london's burning, london's burning
fetch the engine, fetch the engine
fire, fire! fire, fire!
pour the water, pour the water

1666 - Great Fire of London: A large fire began in London and burned for three days, destroying 10,000 buildings, including St. Paul's Cathedral, but only 16 people are known to have died.

this was taken from here.

happy day of the devil

6.6.06

 

breaking news

the first documented polar-grizzly bear was discovered recently in canada. it had...

thick, creamy white fur, typical of polar bears, as well as long claws; humped back; a shallow face; and brown patches around its eyes, nose, back, and one foot, which are all traits of grizzly bears.

unfortunately an american hunter shot and killed it. his mother must be so proud.