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.

i'm not a fan of zoos

but i sure do enjoy a safari park. who knew lions and zebras and giraffes lived in england? alex and i ventured to longleat safari park on the way back from glastonbury a few weeks ago and i just realised that i didn't tell you all about it.


you basically drive around this HUGE estate for a couple hours and see all the animals. you can walk around a small bit but for the majority you have to drive which is slightly unfortunate. you can have your windows down for everything but the monkeys and big cats. the monkeys climb all over your car *and in your car if the windows are open* and the lions could eat you if your windows are open.


it's really alot of good fun. i'm not sure about the ethical issues behind keeping animals in a colder climate than they are used to but they really have vast areas to wander in and that makes me feel better about it. it's something i suggest you see if you're in england. check out flickr for some more animal photos.

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

i also like road trips

not only do i enjoy creating things on my days off, i also like going places. alex and i ventured to glastonbury (not the music festival - the actualy town) a while back when we both had time off school. it was wonderful, i love somerset. i think i want to live there when i'm old and make cheese. glastonbury is an interesting mix of myth/legend/paganism/chirstianity/old english/and hippy. you should really read the wiki page.

for such a small town there is really alot to do.

glastonbury abbey is apparently the oldest chiristian church in all the world. joseph of arimathea took a young jesus to visit glastonbury and then returned with the holy grail 60 years after jesus' death and built the first church to house the relic. this is all that stands of the abbey now. after henry VIII and the dissolutionment of the monastries in the 1530's the lead roof was probably scavenged away leaving the wooden under-roof which would have rotted. without a roof the whole abbey was subject to the elements and simply crumbled away. in the above picture you can just see a small sign standing in the grass...that sign reads...

glastonbury was also arthur and guinevere's avalon. so paganism and chiristianity both have strong, old ties to glastonbury. there are pictures of the mists of avalon posted to 23 from my last trip to glastonbury for beltaine a couple years ago.

next to visit would be glastonbury tor. another site with pagan and christian roots. st. michael's tower sits atop the hill. the story goes that the christians built a church on top of the tor but the pagan hill would have none of it and swallowed the church whole leaving only the tower. unfortunately this isn't true. alex and i walked up the hill on a ferociously windy day and almost got blown off the side. that was thrilling.

the holy thorn is another thing to see, again related to joseph of arimathea. he apparently cast his staff into the ground upon reaching glastonbury and a hawthorn sprouted in the place to give all the travellers shade to rest under. this type of hawthorn is only found in glastonbury and the middle east. you can see the tor in the background of the above picture. there are many holy thorns in glastonbury and they all generally bloom at christmas and easter (weather depending).

lastly is my favourite place in the whole world - chalice well. the source of the water is unknown and has been unfailing for thousands of years. people have been coming to the iron rich healing waters for centuries to drink and bathe.

i highly recommend everyone visits glastonbury at least once in their life.

the tales of beedle the bard

you only need to read this post if you enjoy harry potter.



amazon uk has just purchased (for nearly 2 million pounds) one of the seven, un-published, hand written, hand illustrated copies of 'the tales of beedle the bard' - translated from the original runes - by j.k. rowling. this is the book dumbledore bequeathed to hermione; it contains 'the tale of the three brothers' which is the only beedle bard tale retold in the deathly hallows. there are 4 other tales and now amazon is trying to figure out how to let the world at large hear them. they've given a review of 'the wizard and the hopping pot' on their website.

i enjoy the photography of the book on display.

it appears england is under attack again

the terror alert for england has been raised to 'critical', the highest level possible. it basically means a terrorist attack is imminent.

it's all a bit bizarre. it all started with a car bomb that was left outside a nightclub near piccadilly circus. thankfully the bomb didn't go off. and then a second car full of petrol and explosives was found not too far away.

but the most intense situation was when a flaming car full of petrol cylinders was driven into glasgow airport. police somehow arrested 2 men from the car but one of them, shouting 'allah' - apparently - who was completely ablaze, tried to attack the police while others were trying to quench the flames with an extinguisher.

is it all a coincidence that tony blair stepped down and gordon brown took up the role of prime minister days ago?

is it a coincidence that it's almost 2 years since the 7/7 bombings?

and in other news...

north england is severely flooded.

tony blair is no longer prime minister, gordon brown is.

all enclosed public places are now totally smoke free.

8 teenagers have been stabbed or shot in london in as many days.

happy canada day everyone!

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.

go london!

i'm jumping on the blog bandwagon to heap scorn on the new 400, 000 pound london 2012 olympic logo.

lisa simpson giving a blow job.

the people behind it have already had to alter the tv spots because it caused epileptic fits.

graham norton showed me on thursday how you could use the logo as a tangram and create a dog chasing ducks or t-rex having a poo.

amusing.

vancouver island is annexed!

there's a show called 'monster moves' on channel 5. big things are moved a variety of distances; last week a grain silo was transferred to the next town over. on this week's show...

a victorian villa is shipped from canada to vancouver island.

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.

an optical illusion

there's a magic strip of road in scotland, the electric brae, that will pull your car up hill.

you look out your windshield while your car is in neutral and you'll swear that you're facing a slight downward slope but your car will be naturally rolling up hill.

no one can explain what is going on.

i'm most certainly going to take a road trip up to scotland to check this out.

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

Lilly Allen - LDN

have i even played any lilly allen for you lot? she's great and her album 'alright, still' was my summertime listening. she's sort of the softer, girlier, popier version of the streets.

the beginning bit in the record store is apparently lilly taking the piss out of the way people have described her music.

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.

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.

ing-ge-lund!

inglund till i die,
i'm inglund till i die,
i know i am and so i am,
i'm inglund till i die.

england is out of the world cup. it was a well played match that saw england knocked out by portugal in penalties. i've never cared so much about football before.

rooney got a controversial red card and thus england were a man down for much of the second half and still portugal couldn't score.

and david beckham has stepped down as captain.

we love you beckham, we do.
we love you beckham, we do.
we love you beckham, we do.
oh beckham we love you!

it's unfortunate that the world cup is over for us, i've only just started to understand what people are saying for all the various chants.

holy hectic week batman!

first of all, cheers to ben for these 2 lovely photos! and happy summer solstice to you all...sorry it's a little late, but i've been a wee bit busy.

i went up to stonehenge for solstice with ben. it was good fun, staying up all night and driving into the early hours of the morning. once the rain stopped the sunrise was looking to be fantastically beautiful but unfortunately the clouds soon moved in and obscured the colours.
then last weekend, i went to shropshire (somewhere in the midlands) for play, a juggling/camping/festival. it was the best 2.5 days i've had in a while! i've learned how to hoop. and i don't just mean swinging it round your hips....which is a feat in itself, believe me...but hoop tricks that involve arms and necks and knees and thumbs. it's such fun and i have the bruises to prove it. i'll post some pictures of the festival soon.

and last night ben and i went to victoria park (my local ghetto park) for some opera. the marriage of figaro was beamed live (and free) from the royal opera house in covent garden to a large screen in the park. we had a picnic, wine, summer sun, and opera. how very civilized. we're going back for turandot on the 7th.

and the prelude to all this excitement of the past week? i met a boy...he accompanied me on my adventures...swoon. his name is alex.

oh dear god!

i just had to call 999 - the britsh version of 911. i fight broke out in the chicken shop over a girl and someone was stabbed. nice.

i know i joke about living in the ghetto, but my neighboorhood is seriously going downhill beyond general ghetto standards.

update: i just gave a statement to the most yummy ginger bobby.

the girl is ok, but there's a chav who has been beat up quite badly. and apparently it's not the first time it's happened to him in the chicken shop.

the count down is over

the time is here! i'm not ashamed to say i'm staying home on a saturday night to watch the eurovision song contest 2006. you cannot understand the seriousness which europe takes this musical tournament unless you live here. there's always accusations of political voting, certain countries banding together to ensure victory. and i find myself sucked into the furore every year.

but this year is special. england's entry is daz sampson. a middle aged, white, double denim wearing, football hooligan look-a-like, asbo who is rapping about teenage life. unbelievably a large portion of the british public is slightly crestfallen that daz was voted in, but that's what happens when you trust a public that kept the crazy frog ringtone in the number one spot on the singles chart for too many weeks last year. let's hope he does better than jemini from 3 years back...they scored "nil point" (say with a fake french accent), i don't hold out much hope.

but then a light in the tunnel, news of finland's entry into the contest became known.

Lordi, the hard rock monsters from Finland. Wearing platform shoes that must be 12 inches high, lead singer Lordi growls out '‘Hard Rock Hallelujah'’ in front of a stunning display of pyrotechnics, this isn'’t just a few sparks; we'’re talking huge jets of fire. Huge bat wings unfurl from Lordi'’s back and by the end and the now-smoke-filled arena is stunned. Terrifying but brilliant.

there was such who-haa over lordi. some fins blamed russia for tactically voting in lordi to ensure russia's victory, who would vote for a metal band over a greasy russian? but a large british audience has embraced the finnish competitor. it's an exciting time to be alive! i know who i'm voting for in a few short hours.