My cooking skills

You know how recently Ive been blogging about my food plan? well I thought id share an update, because, frankly its not going very well. I am having a 'cooking block (similar to writers block, but more serious), and practice does most certainly not equal perfect.

I recently tried to recreate this vegetable stew, but some non- peeled potatoes made it gritty and tough. I then tried to make my old favourite Turkish lentil soup which is usually fool proof- but apparently not fool proof enough for this buffoon. The onion got too mushy and I forgot to add the ginger so it just tasted gross.

AND to top it all off, I realised that I couldn't remember the last time id eaten food with a knife and fork. It was all wet food, bowls and eating with spoons, and my poor plates had sat untouched for weeks on end. I vowed to improve my repertoire, but my resolution didn't last very long.

Lo and behold, last week after 6 nights out in a row, our Abel and Cole veg was slowly rotting in the fridge. We are trying to stop wasting food, so it had to be used! So out came the Le Creuset and bowls once more...

It all went in, along with some random spices picked from the cupboard. I even threw a banana in for good measure ( I vaguely remember Jamie Oliver reassuring me on TV that it was a good idea..) It got too late to eat it on Monday, so came home on Tuesday excited to eat our home made curry. We opened the fridge merrily but were met what can only be described as THE FOULEST SMELL IN THE WORLD EVER. "Rotting vegetable and blackened banana stew anyone?"




















It actually looks like sick does it?

It had to be thrown away which pained me but all the worlds climate disasters couldn't make me eat that.

This incident was the last straw. I now know for sure that I have officially lost my food mojo. Help!

Phone wallet purse

In the last 4 months, I have

• Left my purse at home twice
• Left my keys at home twice
• Accidentally taken the train to Kidbrooke
• Accidentally taken the train to Tunbridge
• Accidentally taken the train to Deptford- TWICE
• Lost my phone and found it again about 4 times. The most recent was at a restaurant on Friday. My phone has literally had more lives than I can remember.

Marbles? What marbles?

My mister is trying to school me in some age old ‘three point pat’ activity as you leave the door. Apparently you say ‘Phone wallet keys’ whilst patting your pockets. Im skeptical.

I warmed slightly, however, when he set me a mini craft challenge.

I set about with my paper and glue, making use of all those pesky club flyers you always end up with after a night out and came up with this.
















Hmmmm, I suddeny see the link between craft and old ladies with dementia...

Ways to feel creative and inspired, even though your job is not. PART 2

I love reading and am deeply grateful to the power of the book for its ability to mentally transport me from the dreary world of sweaty commuters and grey offices to one filled with laugh out loud hilarity and wide eyed intrigue. I try to find time to read whenever and wherever humanly possible. This includes on the loo, whilst crammed into a train carriage (much to my fellow travellers disapproval) and occasionally as I'm walking through the park in the morning- although this has resulted in some embarrassing consequences . I try to read in bed but conk out after 2 sentences- so it often takes me quite a while to actually read a whole book. (Ive been reading one book by Simone de Beauvoir for 4 years now. Seriously.)

So it was with GREAT enthusiasm that I saved the following link to my 'favourites' at work. This is, quite possibly, the COOLEST thing I have ever seen. It is a website that looks like a Microsoft Windows desktop. But when you click on the folders on the left, it takes you not to PowerPoint- oh no. It takes you to poetry and short stories- all laid out to look like your busily working away!!!!

Just click here: http://www.readatwork.com/ , sit back, and feel very smug with yourself indeed! (via the 'reasons you will hate me' blog)

Happy reading!

Impulse buying...

I got a new job in January which means we are no longer totally broke. So I felt it was about time to live a little better. This morning I just impulse bought a car.

Kidding!

I signed up to Streetcar. ITS SO COOL.

• There is a pick up point literally 5 mins down the road...
  
• It cost me £19 for 4 months and its £3.95 for 1 hours driving....
  
• It means we can pick up bulky purchases like big food shops or furniture...
  

But most importantly it means Reg the Veg patch and I can be friends again. we can buy compost, plants, and materials to build a cold frame which means that Reg’s quality of life will improve considerably. Recently lots of veg has inexplicably bolted (gone to flower) and we are fighting a losing battle against the weeds (current score Weeds 2, me 0). So hopefully these new purchases will mean Reg will be kind to me.

Friday's Arts and Crafts lunch...

...went very well indeed.

My owl is now office based, and called Percy. I have to simplify the pattern so it can be made without a sewing machine at the next A and C lunch…

...There were about 20 people, including 2 boys! They made bracelets, but next time they are going to bring some Mecano and do model making! Boy arts and crafts! Yeah! (there is a picture of everyone crafting away but I don’t have it yet…)

I just managed to make my chocolate and banana cupcakes! The recipe was super easy with supremely gorgeous results, I really recommend it...

























...It was from the Hummingbird bakery, and I now really want the book!







































...And the best part? …I learned how to crochet!















---------

On a different note- we are having some trouble with Reg. Lots of our salad and vegetables are bolting (going to flower or seed rather then producing vegetables). Its surprisingly beautiful sometimes but really frustrating! Does anyone know why?









































Currently listening to The Bears are Coming, Late of the Pier. Another good one to bop around the flat to whilst your hanging the washing out

Things that would make us illuminous green...

This post marks the end of eco week! I hope you've found it interesting/useful/funny or all of the above. If not, sucks to be you.

And finally, here is my list of things that would make us illuminous green.

• I want to see what I use! The lovely local green party has secured free electricity meters available to rent from Lewisham library. It will show how much you use so you can reduce it.

















• I want to save money! I’m following the advice of the money saving God that is Martin Lewis. We are applying to have a water meter fitted.
• I want bins! I would like to buy/ make little recycling bins to go next to our normal bins around the house (We have normal, recycling and compost bins in the kitchen but nowhere else) Maybe these, from www.womansday.com....




















• I want the toilet! Ken Livingston’s favourite subject is toilet flushing. He goes on and on about how wee is mostly water and that we should only flush after pooing, but I forget and you don’t want people thinking your a skank! It’s quite hard to action!
• I want a back door! Direct access to the garden would make it much easier to compost, and also to monitor Reg the veg patch, and our plantlings. I love these floor to celing folding doors! (www.jasttimber.com)
















• I want a mortgage! Oh to own our flat! We could invest in proper insulation and double glaze our ancient windows (tastefully- don’t fret. There’ll be no PVC windows where I live!) We would also buy more planet friendly white goods too.
• I want a van! Our dream is to have our own camper van. A 1980’s orange pop-top. But our ultimate dream is to run it from bio fuel. This would involve setting up a little transformer system in the garage (Newhouse farm run courses- see below!)














(Isnt she lovely?!)

• I want pipes! I’d love to redirect our wastewater somehow- to be used for watering the plants or flushing the toilet. Its crazy that we use water safe enough to drink to flush the loo!
• I want worm city, and a Bokashi box!! The compost bin can only take raw vegetable peelings; nothing cooked, no meat and no dairy. If we had a wormery, or a Bokashi box we could turn all our food scraps into plant food. How cool would that be!













(From wormcity)

• I want the sun! I’d love to be able to invest in solar power, and then sell it back to the grid to make some money!












• I want trains! Beside the fact that trains are better for the planet, I actually have a bit of a thing for them. I love gazing out of the window and letting my mind wonder as the train ambles through towns and countryside. I especially like nosying at people’s gardens!















Ultimately, we want to live self sufficient, sustainable (but not remote) lives, where we generate our own energy, grow our own food and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, the high street, and the supermarket.

Two of our main inspirations are from the telly (classy), Jimmy's farm which documents a london couple moving to a farm in Sussex. It was great, really inspiring, and we really want to visit! But our favourite ever programme is'Its not easy being green' which followed the Strawbridge family who moved to Cornwall to live an eco life. Dick Strawbringe (left) is a total dude, and definitely one of our heroes, look at that tash! Dave just told me that he also used to be on scrapheap challenge! How much better can it get!













Their website, www.newhousefarm.tv is such an inspiration- it truly is how we want to live! They do courses which we would LOVE to go on!

We want to move to the country one day (to the welsh coast to be precise!) but don’t know when or even if we will be able to do so. So our plan is to try and live this way as soon as we can wherever we are; South East London or the Welsh countryside. Of course much of this depends on our finances; installing solar panels and having an airtight house costs a lot of money, and some other stuff may well prove to be too hard; we don’t want to completely sacrifice our life style. But we can dream!...












So that’s pretty much the sum of our eco credentials. There’s still a long way to go, but rest assured that I shall share the experience as I learn!

Stuff that makes us really really ungreen

Ok, were on to stuff that makes us really really UNgreen. I might be about to undo all the good deeds I told you about in the previous post...

1. Shopping at Tesco, rather than the local shop next door...Tesco are the worst supermarket in almost all categories in the supermarket ranking tables (salt, sugar, trans fatty acids, recyclable packaging, bad value etc) but it does stock fresh food, and the local shop next door doesn’t! There are now THREE Tesco’s on my local high street- three! And they will inevitably close down a lot of local shops. Boo Tesco’s, Boo! (Baad Hannah, Baad!)
2.Being an ‘occasional smoker’ (downgraded from ‘smoker’- yey!) I just like the taste and the social aspect which is shallow I know. But the farming of tobacco and the corporations behind it are really bad apparently.
3. I have a dirty secret. The Asos clearance store. Its mass produced, cheap, probably made by child slaves, but oh so beautiful! This is a biiiig eco sin. Especially because I worked for Fairtrade! I do not give in very often, but I can’t always afford fairtrade clothes, and sometimes you just need stuff!
4. Having food that’s about to turn in the fridge, then buying takeout. We went through a stage 6 months ago of buying take out twice a week! (This is down to 1 a month, if that!)
5. Plastic bags. We try to bring our cotton shoppers out with us but often forget so have a mountain of plastic bags under the sink, which is also supremely irritating.
6. Eating meat. If I really cared about the planet, I'd become a vegetarian. The production and transportation of red meat has a bigger affect on green house gasses than the aviation industry. That’s a lot. (read more here) But I love bacon sandwiches sooooo much. Like, SO much. We are cutting down our meat consumption a lot though, but my mouth is watering at the thought of a bacon butty right now...
7. The heating. I am quite a cold person, and was in the house, unemployed for 6 months. Rather than layer up I'd end up sticking the heating on pretty much all day. Our windows leak heat out of them too so its really inefficient! The worse thing is that I’d then open the window to smoke, DOUBLE ECO SIN! We are going to try and keep the heating mostly off for the rest of the summer to make up for it.
8. Loving Ikea, who apparently still use illegally logged wood. I cant help it. I blame my aunties!
9. Our biggest eco sin is the amount of food we waste. We are really busy, so even with an Abel and Cole box that comes twice a month we end up throwing rotting vegetables away, but I have a plan for this.

Rather than buying things from (evil) Tesco’s down the road, we are trying to make nice meals of what we have in the house. To really live this whole less wasting food thing, I have found that I need ‘the magic 5’, 5 ingredients to have in the house at all times: Pita in the freezer, lentils, canned chickpeas, canned tomatoes, and lots of spices. If you have the magic 5 and ANY veg- then a tasty meal is just round the corner!


Listening to annie Lennox, the whole Medussa album. One of my ATF's!

Things that make us green

Continuing the 'eco week' theme....

• Buying the green/ organic or fairtrade version. Usual suspects- Ecover, Fairtrade, Local/organic etc. See a massive range of products at ethical superstore.
• Avoiding the supermarkets as much as possible.
• Having an Abel and Cole vegetable box delivered, which supports local farmers and fairtrade producers. (We LOVE our veg box!)
• Being a member of the Green Party. I guess I realised that in order to make a wider difference to society its necessary to engage with politics in some way. For us this amounts to delivering the ‘Green news’ to my street, and feeling like kids on a paper round. I wont rant on, you can read about their policies for yourself, here.
• Trying to put only full loads in the dishwasher and washing machine.
• Using 1 mug and glass each a day (it got to a stage where 2 of us would end up with a huge pile of dirty mugs and glasses at the end of the day!)
• Skitzing at Dave (much to his delight) for leaving the tap running whilst he’s cooking (to get hot water). I even shouted at him for over watering our plants! Poor man.
• Putting all un- drunk water dregs in the watering can for our plants.
• Not Buying as much disposable stuff (less stuff in landfill) That includes kitchen towel, cling film and tin foil, and (if your squeamish, look away now!) I also no longer buy sanitary stuff because I have my beloved Mooncup! Its cleaner, grenner and easier to use.
• Buying our electricity from ‘Good Energy’. It has worked out the same price as British Gas, was very easy to switch, they're much friendlier and there is never a long waiting time on the phone!
• Kind of growing our own food. This has amounted to tatsoi that has bolted, some curly leaf kale, carrots, cabbages, and something else we cant identify. We haven’t eaten anything from it yet though! We recently planted potatoes and courgettes and butternut squashes, and are detailing every bit of their growth here!
• Reusing stuff where possible. I have just made 2 ‘waste paper’ boxes- one for my desk at work and 1 for the kitchen (good for shopping lists!) and I also have boxes for fabric and paper scraps (good for patchwork- my favourite)
• We have become a little renowned for serving our guests their wine in jam jars! I love jam jars (we had hundreds at our wedding with candles in that our friends saved for us) and I actually really like having a cupboard full of em! Its also a self replenishing, sturdy and free source of glasses!
• Composting as much as possible. If I wash coffee granules down the sink instead of putting them in the compost bin, one more time, my mister has threatened to divorce me.
• Trying to waste less food. This takes a surprising amount of planning.
• Not buying new things for our house where possible. Our flat is furnished almost entirely from a junk market (although Ikea has a special place in my heart! More on that later!)

Ok I cant remember anything more, and im actually boring myself, so you guys must be suicidal. What do you do that makes you feel nice and green?

My eco journey...

(Sorry for big gap- had crazy week. Had arts and crafts lunch today! went well, will do a proper post about it soon! But for now...)

My eco journey…

Ive come along way since I first really noticed the climate change issue. My family are not exactly climate activists, and the PSE (personal social education) class at school was publicly known as the doss class. Actually, my family have recently started recycling; well done family! And my Dad and Step mum have decided that they want the new baby to be organic. Quite how they’ll manage that when neither of them eat/buy organic I’m not sure, but I didn’t bring attention to that!
I’d argue that I learned quite a lot about the worlds problems and how to fix them via the medium of Captain Planet. It was one of my most favourite cartoons. I still secretly wish that I could shout ‘EARTH’ to the photocopier at work, and then a blue mulleted man and his planeteers would come to help me!

Man I wish I had a cool eco power ring!

Anyway, It all started back when I was a wild young filly in 6th form. I was realizing for the first time that there was indeed a world outside of my own. This was propelled by a combination of a growing sense of outrage at the worlds injustices derived from my faith, and 2 very vocal, politically aware friends.

My progress went a bit like this:
• Realise world is complicated, and humans cant keep consuming it without consequence.
• Start recycling.
• Become empowered consumer by buying Fairtrade and organic. Yes.
• Feel smug.
• Eat a lot of soup. (Don’t know why but it feels wholesome)
• Have epiphany by recycling kitchen waste. No more smelly bins! Free food for your plants! Hurrah!
• Start feeling like a green goddess, (Swampy/ Hannah. Hannah/swampy Who knows the difference?)
• Realise that it’s less about recycling and more about... using less. This is quite hard…

But it actually cleared the way for the most exciting stage, D.I.Y; Creating Reg the veg patch. Making birthday presents and cards. Creating furniture from old wood. Growing flowers, crocheting, making dresses. You name it. Were making it. I embarrass Dave by taking photos of every nice dress I see and saying loudly “Totally overpriced, I could make that”. I now also seriously want a wormery (but I’ll come to that later). So we've gone from captain planet to worms, which brings us to a nice close for now!

More soon...

Eco week!

In honour of a recent blog post about the G20, Ive decided (drum roll please...) that this week is ECO WEEK! You can look forward to posts on ‘My eco journey’, ‘things that make us green’ ‘things that make us really really un-green’ and ‘things that would make us luminous green’ (winner).

Please don’t think I’m being all righteous by talking about this, Its not for everyone. But I thought if I share what I do, it might inspire others to do something , and I might also be inspired by what you do (please share). By being honest, I might also shame myself into being better, so I'll even share some of my ‘mega eco sins’ which, lets be honest, will probably be more interesting...

Watch this space for all manner of eco fun!

Yesterday, we also...

Re- potted our seedlings. Actually, some of them are in that weird in betweeny bit and more like plants, so I have dubbed them 'plantlings'.















Here are our ever growing sweet peas, with our ever growing range of containers. I wont look at a yogurt pot the same way ever again.

Is it wrong that now, when I'm shopping I choose products for their potential as plant pots? Dairy products currently top the list. Milk bottles, yogurt pots and cream containers are great planters, so mine and Daves diets are suddenly very calcium filled. What strong bones we'll have!

The plantlings have now actually outgrown our flat (yippee!)! So we had to set up our camping table in the hall outside the front door. I hope our poor neighbours don't mind. What must they think of us? One minute its loud parties with (apparently) shaking floors ( I don't believe it!) and the next we're lovingly cultivating our plantlings in the hall!! Maybe a kind of cross between 'Skins' meets 'The Good life'?

The Hall:

























Look at all those pots! I'll talk you through em ; on the left we have a line of Larkspur seedlings. Then its my 6 lavender plants. To their right are my Begonia bulbs, and under them are some Coriander and Rocket seedlings. Most of the right side of the table are rocket and coriander seedlings, but there are also 3 butternut squash plants somewhere in there too. So these are our babies. I hope they grow!

And there is my misters foot poking out at the bottom there! Just one reason that I love him is that about 6 months ago he banned black socks from our house, party because they are so hard to pair, and partly because he wanted colourful feet! I love that, and happily obliged!

Yesterday...

I made an Owl!



















(Its the free pattern from Frank Kaufman that I blogged about here)

I feel ill but had a lovely day sewing whilst my mister spent the day with his man flu on the sofa.

I ended up making my own pattern because, to be honest I found this one waaay too complicated. For a start, all those specific fabric codes are like another language, and there were too many silly fiddly bits for me.

It said to use bondaweb- a kind of iron on glue, but it was a more expensive and complicated way of pinning if you ask me, and you only sew over it at the end anyway. And its made the wings look all greasy, so I'll be getting rid of that. I also simplified the ears and feet.













Do you see what I mean about the wings? They went all see through with the bondaweb so I'm not very pleased by the results. The feet are quite cute though aren't they?!

I thought this would be a good project for arts and crafts lunch but it took me all day so I'm thinking maybe not. Or maybe that's because I'm very slow.

I did teach myself how to chain stitch though, so now I'm a teeny bit closer to crocheting!

Happy Easter! Hurrah!

Things I love today

• Gossiping with my cousin a zillion miles an hour about every member of my family, and then every other detail of our lives. My mister couldn't get a word in edge ways.
• Waking up and realising it was a bank holiday and jumping on the bed with excitement like a child.
• Sneezing. I'm getting ill, but Isn't there something weirdly satisfying about a good sneeze?
• Going to the Toad and having good service, the garden to ourselves, and egg that wasn't totally dried out! There is hope yet!
• Going on a fervent mission around my house, looking for things to turn in to planters for our seedlings (skint). My favourite find so far is a Listerine bottle.
• Finally planting out said seedlings
• Parcels. I received 4 yesterday. I loooove parcels!
•'Those Dancing Days' album. We bought it today and bopped round the kitchen whilst we potted our marigolds into shampoo bottles and hummus tubs.
• Having an Illness competition with my mister. I won with; "No, YOU make the tea, I know for a definite fact that I feel way worse than you." Yeah!
• Feeling superhuman even though you have a horrid cold because of the power of Lemsip all in one cold relief. Makes you feel better than you ever have, ever.

Blossom FESTIVAL!

Oh wow, I was browsing the BBC website today, and came accross this news feature about a blossom festival in Tokyo! Imagine- a whole festival, just to celebrate Blossom! This has just rocketed Japan to the top of my travel list (over taking Goa but still under the Trans Siberian Express)Or- brainwave- maybe i should save myself some money and start my own Blossom festival? We could dance around the little blossom sapling at the bottom of my garden! No? Ok. Lets watch the video instead.

My dress

At the last sewing club, I finally figured out how do the darts. Victory! Its really easy (sew easy!) when you know how. Note to self, don't try and do maths and measuring with a migraine. This is possibly where I failed last time!

This is how I conquered my darts:
1. Measure and mark the middle of the fabric (at the bottom) with a little mark
2. Use the middle mark to measure 2 or 4 equally spaced dart lines, Draw these lines long to make them clear.
3. This leaves you with I small middle mark and long lines on your fabric. You then measure 1 cm on either side of these long lines (or however big your darts are) and mark with little marks. So your dart measurements should look like this:
















4. Then you fold the fabric along the long line and draw a diagonal line from the bottom of the fabric (the little mark) up to the top of your dart- getting closer to the fold line as you go- like this:

• Then you sew it up! After darts its time to start stitching it together.

I had mis-measured the top, because I drew around it and didn't leave enough room for the darts. Thankfully I had enough fabric to redraw it out again. (I had t0 adjust my pattern)

• 

Do you see what I did? I had drawn round the top wrongly, not giving enough room for the darts. The side of the top should actually go straight down, not nip in at the waist.

Next you....

• You then have to cut it in half for the zip which feels a little scary!

• 

• Sew the shoulders together
• 

• ...and then the sides which gives it its shape. (Its gaping at the back though, as its waiting for the zip) At this stage you can try it on.
  
• I figured out I need to give myself more neck room and more arm room. I also need to let it out as much as possible at the sides, as it was quite tight!

This is where I am at. Next off is sewing the back of the skirt to the front, then pleats and stitching together and finishing!














Look at this beautiful fabric. I cant believe it was an old curtain, only 50p! I’ll feel like a Von Trap child prancing about in an old curtain!

Listening too:Those Dancing Days, Hitten. I love this band. I posted their video too because I think its nice.

Ways to feel creative and inspired, even though your job is not.

My list of ways to be creative and inspired, even though your job is not.

1. Don’t let your job overtake your whole life (easier said than done, and I'm afraid I failed at this rather spectacularly in my last job, but I'm trying to learn!). The idea is that you get home and feel energized enough to make stuff/write/read or whatever.
2. Don’t be seduced by the telly! Also easier said than done!
3. Start a blog! It makes it way easier to resist the telly and actually make stuff. I have my public to think of now! I started my blog to motivate myself to be more creative and articulate my ramblings, but I really surprised myself in how much I’ve enjoyed actually writing.
4. Wear exciting shoes, like these ones from office (I’m going to buy them in three colours!)







5. Use lunch time to write blogs, or browse Etsy, or the other zillions of creative sites out there
6. Start an arts and crafts lunch in the office! There is a revival of interest in arts and crafts, especially as we’re in a recession. I was certainly surprised when so many people showed interest at my office.
7. Go to galleries at the weekend and/or spend time making stuff.
8. Start a sewing (or other crafts) club with friends. I now have 2! The idea is to get together and share what little sewing knowledge you have, and help each other to bumble along with projects. Its fun and free! Always include wine.
9. Find ways of making small work things more creative. i.e, I always suggest getting a good designer to do our booklets, or to get funny video’s made to help promote an idea.
10. Avoid the free papers! Not only do they pollute the planet and make London look messy (euch) I believe they pollute your mind! I try to read books that are beautifully written, that really get your imagination working overtime (I just read Half a Yellow Sun, by Adiche- so well written. Murakami is also amazing for inspiration. Norwegian Wood is my favourite book of all time )
11. Make your home somewhere colourful and creative and inspirational! I have a very specific flea market style which isn't for everyone, but whatever your style I think its nice to feel inspired at home.
12. Wear colourful undies, even if you have to wear boring black office crap for a meeting. That way, you can enjoy a burst of bright colour, even whilst you’re on the loo!
13. Enjoy little, everyday beautiful things, like blossom. I love blossom so much that my mister often sends me photos of it at work because he knows it brightens my day! He sent me this on Friday.















Listening to Caught Wheel, by Your Twenties. So summery and boppy. When will they release an album?! http://www.myspace.com/yourtwenties

Arts and Crafts lunch prep...

12 days, 14 hours and approx 30 seconds till Arts and Crafts lunch is upon us! I'm starting my preparations early, and I am very excited.

I bought my crochet kit this week from my favourite new shop. Its called ‘I knit’ near Waterloo. I visited after a colleague recommended it, and it is indeed a sanctuary! The very friendly staff stopped me from needlessly buying 2 crochet needles (you only need one! Who knew?!), and the shop is filled from floor to ceiling with brightly coloured wool, weird and wonderful accessories, more knitting magazines than I thought could have possibly existed and tons of project ideas! So exciting!





























And here is my bounty:



















Don't ask me what I'm going to make out of them, I don't know yet, but oh how I love balls of colourful wool! I'd happily leave them like this, all stacked up and lovely!

I also decided to make some cupcakes for the occasion, and think I am going to use this mouthwateringly gorgeous Hummingbird bakery recipe from the observer mag a couple of weeks ago. Mmmmmmm.

So I think I am nearly all ready for the next A and C lunch! (3 weeks early. Mercy me. How am I more organised for an office social sewing club than for the launch of an imminent, serious work project? If ever any of my work colleagues saw this they would honestly think I was raving, and probably eject me from the office immediately!)


I have also decided on the next arts and crafts project (only 2 months in advance!)



















How cute is this? I will pre-make one and then bring it to the next A and C lunch with me to show them what its like. I think its a really good easy first project, and its so adorable too! (Damn my sewing jokes, I now have to stop myself from replacing 'so' with 'sew' every time!)

The best thing about this project is that it FREE! Its from Robert Kaufman and you can download it here. How great is that?!

Luella love

Oh wow, I just received my Asos magazine today (yes, they even have their own magazine!) and was happily perusing its pages in a semi hungover state when I saw Luella Bartley Spring 09 collection. I nearly fell off the sofa (which wasn't very nice for my foggy head)

But just look at it!


























































It combines some of my favourite looks, Bright colours, geek chic and crazy art teacher. In my head its exactly what I am wearing right now, on this gorgeous sunny day! (Rather than ripped jeans and a baggy grey vest top...hmmm) Look at those shoes! I just know that if I wore anything like this I would look like a drunk textiles student, but one can dream!

See more here

We have had a very lovely afternoon actually. We managed to scrape together a very tasty lunch despite having nothing in the house (too lazy to go to the shop!) We had soup from the back of the freezer (turned out to be celeriac, no idea how old it was, but it was yummy!) and also some of Phil's bread, also forgotten and found in the freezer. I have one thing to say; where has Phil's bread been all my life? It was gorgeous- it had cumin seeds in it! Wow!

Listening too Photo booth, by exlovers. (My friend is in the band- we were at their single launch last night, hence the foggy head...!)

G20 meltdown.

I have always wanted to be the type of person that buys the Guardian every day and keeps up to date with politics and current affairs, but I never managed it, until now. In my new job, I routinely receive parliamentary updates, and the Guardian news RSS feed which means I read articles as they are published. Its free and better for the environment, but most importantly, it has taken me from someone wallowing in total ignorant and carefree darkness along with the rest of the Londonlite reading masses, to someone who has seen the light! Ah the Guardian! How I love how intelligent you make me feel!(I also love radio 4 and listen to it every morning, so I'm doubly armed !) So it was with great interest that i watched the events around G20 unfold this week.

Anyone who is breathing this week knows about G20- Michelle Obama's wardrobe, the anarchists etc. What I learnt today though, was how pathetically the G20 dealt with the environment. What a blow. What an anti climax after this weeks media circus! Its been ridiculous! Why oh why is the governments response to climate change setting higher and higher targets, despite the fact that they had failed to meet the previous, lower targets? Its bonkers! The Government has the capacity to recreate the big bang, create a weapon capable of devastating the whole earth and clone human cells, but it is unable to harness the renewable power we already have and turn it in to energy? I wont rant on about what did and didn’t get sorted at G20- you can read for yourself the full article climate change and the G20 here

But for now, back to the protests. (I have to get this out of my system!) The thing is, I unreservedly believe in the power of protest as a way of coming together, inspiring people to take action and demonstrating strength of feeling. (Just to illustrate, here's me at the 2006 climate change demo!















...yes, dressed as a tree!)

I hope i'm proved wrong, but after watching the activity this week my conclusion so far is that the G20 protests have actually hindered, rather than helped people to engage in the issues.

Any positive action, peaceful protest or knowledge sharing seems to have been subsumed by the (relatively little) violence from the anarchists, and the fact that the police force had all annual leave cancelled! As far as I can tell, the protests seem to have been received quite negatively, and sometimes fearfully. I think most people don’t actually know what even happened in the discussions and probably associate the G20 protests with either violent riots or pointless slogans and unrealistic targets. This photo typifies for me, the futility of a lot of this weeks protests (and I also think its hilarious, they've probably all got high street bought clothes on and mobile phones in their pockets!)
















I believe that a protest is just one way that someone can respond to something like G20 but its not the only way. Mass protests and government action have to be met by individuals choosing to make a difference in their own lives and influence their friends, families and local communities. Don’t get me wrong, I believe the government has drastically let us, and the planet down in its willful lack of action on climate change- and action is clearly needed soon, but we cant simply do nothing whilst we wait for the government to get its act together. And If we, as individuals cant get our act together, how are we to expect others to do the same?

I’ll share in another post how I have tried to respond to all this. But I know I'm perilously close to boring your pants off with my faux political rantings so il’ ll bring it to a close.

Aaah. I feel much better. Rant over. (for now).



In honour of the G20 protests, im l istening too Killing in the Name Of, Rage Against The Machine (hee hee!) Actually one of my favourites (Reminds me of dancing in Hawthorns in Bolton with Jocelyne when we were 16!!!)