4 march plate

we struggled yesterday. lamb hotpot is just one of those dishes whose beauty is in the aroma and taste, and not necessarily the look I'd still favour a steaming casserole of good stodgy lamb hotpot over fancy food most days though. we did try, but parsley can only do so much.

lesson? maybe some individual oven pie bowls would not go amiss...

lamb hotpot

3 march plate

bowling?

"cowboy beans" with feta, avacado, corriander and lime

the shocking state of my photography has annoyed n who i think will now be taking the pictures until he gets bored. you will be able to tell...

2 march plate

we had differing views on this one - and i think in the end neither of us was right.
lessons learned:
1. less is more. we are tending to go on the idea that if garnish is good - a lot of garnish is really good. results do not support this.
2. keep back some of any interesting ingredient - like a slice of those lovely red chilies say.

chicken spinach curry with rice 

chicken spinach curry with rice

march challenge - plating!

n and i love food - eating food (of course), but also buying food, making food, thinking about food, reading about food, dreaming about food. i have often woken up on a saturday morning, rolled over, kissed n, and asked happily "what should we make for dinner?" (this is probably how relationships actually survive - i'm pretty sure romance is over-rated). one thing we haven't paid enough attention to is how we present food. we are exceedingly admiring of a good looking plate - and always swear that we will try harder next time, but the allure of actually eating takes hold and we skip the presentation completely.

this is all going to change. we've set ourselves a challenge to plate, to the best of our ability, every evening meal we make in the month of march. we came up with this idea over whiskey (obviously) and decided it was a fabulous idea, whereupon i promptly forgot about it entirely. imagine my surprise then yesterday evening when my jacket potatoes came to the table looking like this:

"stuffed" potatoes with cottage cheese, salmon, and green onion

i was delighted. really - much more than a potato with cottage cheese would normally engender.

so people, it is on. i will post the pictures here and you can have a good laugh at how much we have to learn. considering where we are starting from, i have no doubt you will see a dramatic improvement over the course of the month.

feel free to critique and leave tips - we are going to need all the help we can get!

and february can bite my arse

i think it's safe to say that now - it's only a few hours till march is in and surely revenge takes time?

i saw out february in the best way possible seeing as the sun has not shone on this land for a good fortnight. a friend of mine (a very lovely friend indeed) organised for four of us to have a spa day today - courtesy of her - in celebration of unexpected funds appearing, and the general necessity of this sort of thing at this time of year. in an extremely unfortunate turn of events, one of the snappers belonging to the above came down with scarlet fever - which was a relief because it looked like meningitis and there was a rush to the hospital which gives you a flavour of what last night was like for them. he was to be discharged today, but by then one and possibly two snappers of super lovely friend also caught the victorian malady and it ended up that only two of us enjoyed the much anticipated spa day. it was still a lovely (though guilt-tinged) day and i am now more relaxed than a bag of frogs. on xanax. the frogs, i mean, not me.

so. being this relaxed is crap for pithy updates or observations on life. who cares? gill scott heron is on spotify, and yes, if i was down and out and did not know what to do, i would indeed call on lady jane and john coltrane.

this year has been tougher than expected - the year anniversary of my dad's death has been effecting - in many ways. i didn't really expect that - i thought we were through with most of that. it's good though- it's healthy, and i'm ok and the people i love are ok - and that's a lot - but i'm glad to start to move on now.

"and they'll take your troubles your troubles your troubles your troubles away...."

hello march - we've been expecting you!

i also have this huge unquenchable desire to KNIT ALL THE THINGS!!!!! is it spring fever? at this rate i'm going to have to quit my job for more knitting time...

preparing for an eventual spring

when we first moved "to the countryside" from london, there was a lot to learn. such as the fact that it is only possible to buy logs in the winter. when one thinks about this, it makes sense: logs = fireplace/woodburner = not necessary in summer. however we use logs outside, in a fire pit, all summer (whenever it stops raining so next to nothing last year). after two summers of disappointment  (once due to ignorance, once to laziness), we now know that if we need logs, get them well before thoughts of late and balmy evenings are taking root.

which explains why we had a delivery of half a truck of logs this morning, on a day so cold the wind literally takes your breath away, to a house with no chimney and therefore no fireplace.

there can be no doubt that we are optimists.

snapshot

-da-da- hey hey hey hey
-da-da-hey hey hey hey
don't you - forget about me

simple minds on the radio in the cab of the lorry. the lorry is so big i have to reach above my head to open the door. i'm sitting in the front seat looking out at sheets of rain through a foggy windscreen. london looks different from up here. the lorry belongs to our removal contractor. i have a crew out today picking up desks and cabinets from another site that i will need for the weekend when we're re-designing a floor in our main building. the boys let me ride along because it's quicker, even though we're not really supposed to. the driver is giving a running commentary on how senseless london drivers are. there is an obvious fraternity and courteous respect between the drivers of these huge trucks on narrow roads. there seems to be a code, but if i asked, he'd drive in silence for the rest of the job. two young guys and my foreman are talking shit in the back of the cab. something about football transfers. "it sucks being the only kid not opening presents at christmas" one of them says. they all laugh.

the music is a perfect fit.

laa la-la-la-laa la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
laa la-la-la-laa la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la

snow

as witnessed in the post below, the uk really loses its collective head over snowflakes. i've lived here now for 16 1/2 years and this is one thing that i still fundamentally do not understand. it is forecast to snow tomorrow -  in wales, quite a lot of snow (even for canada!), and maybe 5-10 cm for the rest of us. maybe. for faversham, there is an amber cold weather warning, and light snow forecast from friday lunchtime until monday, more or less.

no big deal right? well, ordinarily i'd just be doing my snow dance and keeping all my fingers crossed - i love it when it snows here. but i have an office moved scheduled for saturday, and today i had to weigh up the pros and cons (and likelihood of disruption) and i had to do so by 2pm. here my rational mind and psyche divide.

my rational mind knows perfectly well that 24 hours of snow = major train cancellations, and that southeastern's response to trains being stuck overnight with no power, heating, light, or food has been to issue train conductors with foil blankets and glow sticks . not to mention the chance that my lorries will get all gummed up in the ice/idiot driving that surfaces upon london snowflakes. so i rescheduled the move.

my inner canadian is having a fit.

i tell her - look - you are being rational. this is how it works. you know this. even though every winter on the one day it snows you still trudge to the station and are still surprised (every year) to find no trains running and you come home and feel guilty all day for not trying hard enough - you know this. it will snow and the lorry won't get through and the train will be cancelled and you could be stuck in london or worse (much much worse) on an actual train and you will be forced to go to plan b anyways. so? what's the problem?

but it really really bugs me.

anyways on the upside - SNOW!!!!

commence snow dance in 3 - 2 - 1

seriously?

ah bbc. it's your subtlety i really love...

christmas 2012