alex is in peru for 3 months...in case you didn't know and he sent me some pictures. he helped turtles hatch out of their eggs and will help to release them into the rivers in a few weeks (amongst other jungle adventures).
i'm so proud of him.
this my friends is a spider catcher. i am irrationally afraid of spiders. i cannot even play with fake plastic spiders during the 'minibeast' topic at school. i cannot bring myself to kill them or catch them, choosing instead to quake in fear if a see one. but those days are past me now!
you simply pull the trigger which opens up the plastic bristles at the other end. you place the bristles over the spider and release the trigger. the spider is caught and easily released outside as the bristles hold but don't squish. and it's all at arms length.
they give you a fake plastic spider to practice on, but i threw it out as i didn't like it. so i practised on my snail door stop. luckily i haven't had to use this on a real spider yet but i know there are 3 big ones lurking somewhere in the depths, i've seen them.
these were pretty good books too. the looking glass wars, frank beddor. these are the 'real' stories of alice in wonderland. 
lewis carroll twisted the stories princess alyss of wonderland (user of white imagination) told him. he turned them into the fanciful drivel that sold millions of copies and she never forgave him for it. there is no white rabbit, there is alyss's tutor, bibwit harte. there is no mad hatter, there is the royal bodyguard, hatter madigan. the queen of hearts is actually alyss's black imagination using, insane aunt who tries to usurp the thrown and forces alyss to flee wonderland and take refuge in our world.
these books are not particularily well written but they are an interesting and fun read. they can drag a little bit and don't attempt them if you really love the lewis carroll stories as they'll probably make you mad. apparently this is a trilogy but the third book isn't out or i haven't looked hard enough for it. start with the looking glass wars and then move onto seeing red.
i recently found a book at the library and i loved it. i consumed it in a week. the book of lost things, john connolly.
it's about a young boy during wartime london who looses his mother. he's angry, sad, a little obsessive compulsive and starts to take comfort in the fairytales that he and his mother shared. through an accident, the boy finds himself in an alternate world where the 7 dwarves are communists, little red riding hood helped to breed a new brand of scary wolf and a valient knight is on a quest to find out the fate of his 'good friend'.
the story is a tad predictable but it's a very enjoyable read. i highly recommend it, if you enjoy grimm-esque fairytales.
i had some left over chili and a half of a butternut squash to make into a dinner. what a happy accident this turned out to be!
roast the squash until soft, top with the chili and put back in the oven until hot, grate over some cheese and serve with a dollop of sour cream. i wasn't expecting to be as tasty as it was...that's why i only have the 'after' picture.
the proof of the yumminess is on the plate.UPDATE: the times just won't work as a hyper link so try copying and pasting the full address.
here's a full link for you of a different yet related article, still humourous...
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article4855164.ece
and here's the intended article....
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/carol_midgley/article4909825.ece
jamie oliver has started a new program - jamie's ministry of food - where he wants people to give up the fast food lifestyle and learn to cook basic meals. then those people them pass on the recipes to friends who pass on the recipes and so on and so forth until thousands of people are cooking.
he's been criticised after his first episode for portraying a typical english village as thick and slovenly (this is the same village where mothers were pushing macdonald's into their children's outstretched hands through the school gates when chips and burgers were banned from school dinners in favour of healthy eating - thanks to jamie
). this article from the times was a very amusing read. i like how they censored 'wanker' in the opening paragraph.
half a butter nut squash, peeled and cubed
handful of prawns, cooked or raw
2T fish sauce plus some to splash
1T sugar
2 garlic cloves, grated or minced
cooked rice to serve
cook some rice.
boil the cubed squash for 6-10 or until just cooked.
mix the fish sauce, sugar and garlic.
splash some fish sauce over the prawns.
heat the fish sauce mixture in a large frying pan until the garlic begins to sizzle and add the cooked squash, stir fry for 5 minutes or so.
add the prawns and cook through.
serve with rice.
yum.
this is my song of the summer.
whistling? oh yes there is!
hand clapping? indeed!
ukulele? certainly!
erin, i can't understand how you managed to keep us all updated during your european vacation. maybe it helps to be in places that have such a thing as internet. scotland is severely lacking.
my parents came over at the beginning of august and we all went to scotland after some furious tourism of the south west of england.
i have some photos but my camera is still packed.
my parents left yesterday. alex left for his research trip to peru yesterday (he's not back until christmas). i went back to work yesterday. i'm a little sad and lonely.
there will be pictures and more posts to come...
this has hit the radio waves recently. i enjoy it but it's a song you have to concentrate on.
when it's hot outside, make lemonade.
basil lemonade
3 lemons, zested and juiced
handful of fresh basil, chopped roughly
2 spoonfuls of honey
2 spoonfuls of sugar
jug of water
pour some of the water into a pot, add sugar and honey and boil for a few minutes, everything needs to be dissolved.
take off the heat and add the zest and basil, allow to cool completely.
pour lemon juice into a large bowl, strain the zesty, sugary water into the bowl and taste.
add more water or sugar or lemon or anything it needs.
minty melon lemonade
half a melon (i used cantaloupe) puree with a splash of water using a hand blender
1 lemon, zested and juiced
handful of fresh mint, roughly chopped
jug of water
2 spoonfuls of sugar
boil some of the water with the sugar until dissolved, take off the heat and add the zest and mint, cool completely.
strain the blended melon into a bowl and add lemon juice.
strain cooled mint water into the melon and lemon juice.
add more water or lemon or sugar to taste.
i love my garden. my turf has taken really well and is growing with gusto. i have some deep blue, hot pink and yellow flowers in bloom. my tomatoes and courgettes have definite buds that are looking suspiciously like flowers...which mean food will be growing soon! my strawberries are flourishing and i have my first pea shoots!
look at my first pea shoot!
i cannot wait to eat you.ok, so it's only using some basil from my garden, but it's basil that i grow. i don't have any measurements for this recipe.
soya mince
bottle of tomato juice, sauce or puree
cherry tomatoes
garlic cloves, finely chopped/grated
grated cheese - i used parmesan and mozzarella
basil leaves, half chopped half left whole
dried cannelloni pasta.
preheat oven to 175C or 350F, bring a pot of water up to the boil.
slit and X into the bottom skin of each tomato and pop into boiling water for 30 seconds. the skin slips right off when slightly squeezed.
fry the vege mince until wamred, add skinned cherry tomoatoes and a sploosh of tomato sauce. cook for a few minutes and then allow to cool a little.
pour 1/3 of the tomato sauce into a deep baking dish, making sure the whole surface is covered.
sprinkle the chopped garlic and basil over the top.
spoon the mince filling into the pasta tubes and lay the tubes into the sauced dish. fill the dish with as many cannelloni's as you can.
pour the remaining tomato sauce over the pasta, ensuring good spreading and coverage.
grate the parmesan over the top and rip pieces of mozzarella over the top.
place the whole basil leaves on top of the cheese because it's pretty.
bake for 30 minutes covered and then uncovered for another 15 minutes or until the cheese is gooey and brown.
you didn't cross your fingers and hope for the best did you? the strawberry plants i saved have all died but one so i went in search of living plants that will give me fruit. i ventured out to my school's local garden centre and found the plant perfection i was seeking! i even found a bat box, ladybird house, bee house and a variety of bird feeders...i'll pick up some of those next month.
not only did i get 2 huge and healthy strawberry plants - with flowers and fruit already, far yellow tub - i procured purple sage and moroccan mint to accompany my basil, coriander and garden mint already in my herb tub - far orange tub. i purchased a plum tomato and cherry tomato plant - close yellow tub - along with 2 courgette plants - close orange tub. i also picked up some pea and broad bean seeds - small black tubs - guaranteed to sprout in 7-10 days.
so my garden is now complete. except maybe some mulch or bark for around the flowers to help smother the weeds. i love every aspect of the garden up-keep but i can't say i enjoy weeding.
i cannot wait to eat some of my own fruit and vegetables! i'm so impressed with myself.
a few weeks ago i decided it was time to attack the over-grown wilderness that was my back garden. i was high on the sunshine at the time.
imagine, if you will as i didn't take any 'before' shots, this mash of tangled weedland covering my entire back garden up to your knees. it was a forest. and old forest. the roots grew deep.
i enlisted some help of alex and his mother as there was no way i could tackle this wilderness on my own but 3 cheers for alex who basically cleared the whole thing by himself! as you can see he and i both gave up towards the back of the patch and laid some paving tiles down to separate the wasteland from the garden. that back patch may be a job for another day.
once everything was cleared we ventured to the local garden centre to pick up some plants. the theme is 'cottage garden'. unfortunately nothing has really bloomed yet so the theme is not obvious. but i have poppies, lupins, lavenders, periwinkle, heathers, clematis, and others i cannot remember. i also picked up some turf so i can have a little patch of grass to lay my head. this weekend i found some dreadful strawberry plants that i saved from the indoor horrors of tesco grocery store and planted in a large tub on my patio along with another tub for herbs *cross your fingers that the strawberries survive*. next weekend i think i'll get another tub or two and plant some vegetables. beans? tomatoes? courgettes? yes i think so. can you grow courgettes in a tub?
i have bumble bees visiting my garden regularly as well as squirrels and a variety of birds. that makes me happy. now i want to get a bat box, a ladybird house and possibly a bird feeder. i could really go crazy. check out flickr for more picture goodness.
