Eye

We went to Eye yesterday for a walk - the weather has been absolutely gorgeous this weekend. Glorious sunshine both days and really mild. Eye is an old village off the beaten track with the ruins of a castle and a spectacular church.Loved the gargoyles:

And the designs in the stonework:

And the tower (for bells, natch):

The inside was incredibly ornate - it's quite unusual.

The walk was the perfect length - 2 1/2 miles. There was a playground near the end - here's the small boy on the swings. Those were some very muddy wellies.

And here's the hubby. I call this one 'Green & Black'. Couldn't resist. His face is a bit washed out - we'll just have to go back with the bigger camera.

More Bells

I went to bells last night - I took this picture of the church tower in the dark. It's quite grainy but I thought it was a neat angle.


There were 7 of us there last night: 3 'veteran' ringers, 2 people who have been ringing for about a year, and 2 of us who have just started. I'm really psyched - I can now ring the bell entirely by myself, although I still need someone standing next to me. I panic pretty easily - I need to work on that. It's getting more comfortable, though.

I also had my first try at 'change ringing' last night, where I was ringing half of the bell with one of the more experienced ringers while the two intermediates were learning how to call the changes. It was really neat the way they were teaching us - we were all practicing different things but while ringing together.

I love how mind-emptying it is - I had quite a week at work and there isn't room for thinking about anything other than the bells. It's how I feel yoga should be, except that I can never get my mind to empty during yoga. I need something absorbing to distract me, I guess.

I had an early Physio appointment this morning and it's a gorgeous day - the sun on the church in Woolpit was gorgeous.


Here's the little bit of spring on our kitchen windowsil: some daffs that are nearly done and some hyacinths that are held together with a rubber band because they keep falling over. There are three of them in a tiny pot, and I didn't think to replant them before they flowered. They smell SO good.


And Mom & Dad sent me this fantastic bag from Muji in New York - I love it! It's the perfect size for my wallet and phone and a book. All I ever need, really.

A bell ringer more famous than I

From today's New York Times:

Paris Journal
No Quasimodo, He Brings Music to Notre-Dame Bells
By JOHN TAGLIABUE
Published: February 8, 2008
A 40-year-old chemist by training, Stéphane Urbain became the keeper of the bells of the Paris cathedral in 2005.

Yup, it's for us.

I called our friendly neighborhood Blockbuster (the selection is mediocre and the fact that the employees are awesome is the only reason we're not on a Netflixy thing) to find out if they had Tales From Earthsea, the latest film from Hayao Miyazaki's son. They'd recommended it and it was out when James and I went in last Saturday, but they had it when we called tonight.

When we arrived in the store, I went to the spot on the shelf and it wasn't there. The Blockbuster Guy was standing by the counter holding the DVD, and said, "I thought it was for you guys!" He'd taken it off the shelf and was holding it for us. Literally - in his hand - holding it. He also looked up the first season of Lost (out) and The Dresden Files (out). See...not much selection. But v. friendly. We got some other movie - The Walker - we'll watch it tomorrow night and see how it goes. I just read the reviews for Earthsea and they haven't been great...but if James likes Miyazaki I'm not going to stand in his way!

Germs on all fronts

Both my office-mate and the hubby were home sick today. Since I spend 95% of my time with one or the other of them, I can't see that I'm going to make it through unscathed. In defense, I had a grapefruit after dinner tonight - I sat at the kitchen table and peeled it and thought about all the tasty grapefruits that we liberated from the dining hall at breakfast time and had as a snack in front of the fire in the evening after lots of studying senior year. Mmmm...college.

I feel like a bit of a book snob: I just read three Maeve Binchy books that the MiL loaned me. And I kind of liked them. But don't want to admit it. Does that make me a bad person? (In case you're interested, in order of preference: The Evening Class, Quentins, and The Copper Beech). I'm not sure that I'll have the gumption to take more of her books out of the library, but they were enjoyable.

I also read another of the 'myths': Jeanette Winterson's Weight. I didn't like it as much as The Penelopiad or Dream Angus, but it was still quite good. There was a very witty part about what really happened to Laika, but overall the portrayal of Heracles as an endlessly horny 20something got tired pretty quickly.

I wanna watch the Superbowl

From the Radio Times website. Maybe I can stay home tomorrow? 10:50pm to 3am isn't really going to work with my schedule. I love that they have a 'guide to the rules of American football,' though.

All times are ish

I went to bells on Friday - I can now ring a bell on my own. Well, by 'on my own' I mean I can ring it with someone who knows what they're doing standing rightthere ready to catch something if I screw up. I'm still finding it surprisingly scary, though. I also have what are probably the most bizarre bell-injuries ever. I was wearing a somewhat tight oxford shirt under a sweater, and when I raised my arms over my head for the backstroke, my shirt was digging into my upper arms. Completely forgot about it until I was brushing my teeth, when I noticed that I have HUGE welts on my arms from the shirt. Good thing it's not summer - if I were wearing a tank top people might think that hubby was beating me. Granted, in odd places, but still. I'll try not to get injured at practice next week. It's a dangerous 'sport' - one of the v. experienced ringers broke her finger when she got it stuck in a rope a few weeks ago. Ouch!

John and I ran errands in the morning yesterday and then decided sort of late in the day to go to Woodbridge for a walk. I'd only ever been to the part of town by the river, which is gorgeous, but it turns out that there's a v. cute high street with lots of independent shops and neat places to poke around. When John was growing up, his parents spent a lot of time on a boat moored in Woodbridge, so he knows the town pretty well. We drooled in the cookshop, the bookshop(s), the lamp store, and some art galleries. This little guy was keeping watch outside an art gallery/antique/junk shop. V. funny.


We stumbled on a wood furniture store, filled to the brim with all kinds of gorgeous furniture, extremely well priced. None of which would fit in our house. The sign outside was the best:

It was just up the street from this - I loved the way it's silhouetted against the sky.

Here's the harbor, looking cold and wintry:

And this warmed me up:


After we got home, we went to the Stowmarket Regal to see The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford. 8/10 on IMDB and 75% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes - we thought we couldn't miss. It was LONG. And dull. It was pretty, though. The cinematography was stunning and Brad Pitt is easy on the eyes. And you know from the title what happens at the end - I felt like I spent the whole movie waiting for it. And about half way through started thinking, "Ok, kill him now! No? NOW! ... still no? Bloody hell."

Kate the Bear

There are always people taking collections and running raffles at work, for various charities. Today, one of my colleagues came around with a "guess the bear's name" sheet and a bear. I gave her £1 and plopped my name in the 'Katie' box. And completely forgot about it.

About half an hour later, the receptionist came on the PA and said, "Thank you all for your donations. The bear's name is Katie. Congratulations to Kate - please come get your bear!" At which point I let out a whoop of joy (which was heard throughout the sales department and caused much laughter). Katie the bear has come home and has been introduced to the other soft toys - I think they'll all get along.

Spring soon?

I know it's weeks and weeks until spring, but it's starting to feel like the darkest part of winter is over. We were driving home from the inlaws this evening at about 5, and while it was definitely twilight, there was still some light in the sky at 5:20. I was also given a small pot of bulbs by my friend last week - they turned out to be tiny daffodils that are blooming happily on the windowsill. Spring, I tell you.

Whatever extra light there is has pressed the 'garden' button in my brain. I'm obviously not the only one - the Thompson & Morgan seed catalogue arrived today. (Not sure how - since it's Sunday and it was sent via the postal service, but it was on the mat when we got home.) We planted a few shrubs last year and a whole bunch of bedding plants, as well as lots of herbs. We're definitely going to go with the bedding plants by the house again - they looked so jolly and lasted well into October.

There's a runty piece of lawn between the patio and the fence, about 18 inches deep and 5 feet wide. Last year, it was a pain in the ass to mow. This year, it's going to be a raised bed with tomatoes and marigolds in one end and herbs in the other. We also have a spot at the back of the garden where the parking lot behind goes underneath the grass. It's a perfect spot for a tree, except that there's only about a foot of dirt before you hit concrete. So we're going to use three half-barrels that we found at the garden center as planters and give up on the grass. Gravel will be our friend. The area around the compost bin is another spot that's going to get the gravel treatment - it's the lowest part of the garden and gets kind of boggy. The grass is dead in one spot and 8 inches high in others, fueled by what must be by now some v. ripe compost.

Trouser Mystery/Dilemma

I ordered some trousers from Boden this weekend - they turned up today. Having not ordered from them before (except for James), I wasn't sure of my size. They have really clear sizing charts, so I measured. Lots.

I ordered two pairs: these sailor trousers that look like they were made for me, and these jeans that are a bit too small. And yes, they're both the same size. Grrr. I called and asked if they would shrink, and the girl said that they hadn't had any feedback that they would. So do I keep the jeans and hope they stretch a little or do I get the bigger size? They're a little bit stretchy, and we don't have a dryer... It's a little frustrating - you'd think a mail-order company would rely on consistent sizing. Right?

Jeans are the first picture, sailor trousers the second. Ok, now that I've put them in as thumbnails they kind of look the same. They're different, I promise.



Update: I returned the jeans for a different cut - the same as the sailor pants. We'll see what happens.

Two completely different movies

John was working yesterday so I had the kind of quiet Saturday that I used to have when I lived in New York. I had a lazy morning, then walked into town (in my new and v. waterproof jacket), where I went to the library, Blockbuster, and then had a very tasty jacket potato for lunch.

We got to Blockbuster quite a bit - one of the employees has very similar taste in movies to John, and so is always recommending things. I got Hairspray, which I hadn't seen - I LOVED it. The music was fantastic and the story was cute. My parents saw it on Broadway ages ago, but somehow I missed it. I may have to watch it again before taking it back to the store.

Then when John got home, we watched Shoot Em Up. This was the one that Blockbuster Girl had recommended - she said that it was a very stylized and funny action movie. I wasn't so sure, and was thisclose to not even watching the movie after the previews on the DVD were all either really stupid action flicks or sophomoric comedies. The basic premise of the movie is that the hero finds a baby and needs to protect it. I usually can't tolerate violence in movies at all, but this was just so completely over-the-top that it was fine. It was filled with lots of in-jokes and Bugs Bunny references, and John and I really liked it. Not one to watch with James around, but a thumbs-up anyway.

Ring-y ding-y!

I've been meaning to go learn how to ring the church bells in Stowmarket for about a year, and finally made it down to a rehearsal on Thursday night. However, they'd canceled rehearsal at the last minute so nobody was there. Boo. I'd called someone a few months ago and never gotten a response, so I was feeling a little frustrated. I left a message on the answering machine of one of the ringers, explaining that I'd love to come ring but that I didn't seem to be able to get in touch with anyone. We were at work pretty late last night, and didn't get home until about 6:45. I checked our messages, and Jo (the ringer) had called back. I called her, and she said that they were going to be having a quick practice tonight and did I want to come down? John said he didn't mind, so we bolted some dinner and I drove down to the church.

They were the most welcoming group of people - the ringing captain who's been ringing since about 1850, a married couple who have been ringing for a year, a very enthusiastic 9-year-old boy who's been ringing for 2 weeks, and Jo. I had a lesson on the '4' bell, which is an 8 cwt bell that was cast in 1450. Eek! It was the most incredible experience: relaxing and challenging and a little bit scary. And I'm completely hooked.

There's an entire Bell subculture that I never knew existed - there's lots of jargon and a crazy camaraderie and all kinds of networks of bells and ringers. Check out the Suffolk Bells website. There's also lots of info on Wikipedia about change ringing. I'm not up to the changes or exciting stuff - I'm still trying to get to the point where I can ring the bell without breaking anything or hanging myself. We were up in the church tower (click the picture to go to the church website):



My dad has sent another batch of photos - I thought these were good Jr. Foodie pictures. Mmmmm.

2 reviews

I finished two books this week. And now I'm going to review them. Lucky you.

First, When Madeline Was Young, by Jane Hamilton. I don't remember where I heard about this - I think I stumbled across it on one of the blogs that I read. It's a 'family saga' tale told over the lifetime of the narrator, who is raised with a somewhat odd family. It didn't really have much of a plot, as far as I could tell. If the same story had been presented as autobiography, I probably would have enjoyed it more - it just seemed a sort of pointless novel. Meh.

Then I picked up one of the books in the pile from Freda (she makes extensive use fof the book swaps when they go on vacation). This time, Margaret Atwood's Penelopiad. It's the second book I've read in the series of myths retold by modern authors, published by Canongate. I've found some of Atwood's other books to be sort of spacey and wandering, but that style fit this story perfectly. It's kind of like The Red Tent in that it casts a minor (female) character from a well-known story in her own tale. It was a quick read and very witty - I loved it. The other one I read in this series was McCall Smith's Dream Angus and that was really good too. The rest of the series are at the bottom of this page. And are going to be in my library queue very shortly.

Mug Cozy

I've been at loose ends since I finished the blanket - I'm not feeling inspired or energetic enough to start something as big as a sweater, I have a million hats & scarves, and I don't wear mittens. Don't like wool socks, either. So I was trawling the interwebs for project ideas and made a mug cozy. I cannibalized a bunch of patterns around the internet: I cast on 50 stitches and worked a K2P2 rib until I was 'done'. It's a little tall for this mug, but it works on our bigger ones. Guess I'll just have to make another one. Oh, and because I'm so clever, I found this tutorial and made a buttonhole. I'm not sure I did it right, but it's a buttonholey looking thing and it hasn't unraveled. Yet. It's tied together with yarn at the moment, since I'm short a button. There were lots of tutorials where I was supposed to crochet a loop and other nonsense - I need to learn how to crochet but not right this second.



We had the inlaws over yesterday for lunch - we roasted a chicken using this recipe from Good Food. It was, by far, the best chicken I've ever had. Sorry, Mom. And then I made chicken soup for the boys, using the stock and some carrots and peas and pasta. Which was good, because I was home sick today (some kind of cold-y thing), and it was a very restorative lunch.

Gloria Steinem on Barak and Hilary

This is a fantastic article, published in Monday's New York Times.

Op-Ed Contributor
Women Are Never Front-Runners

By GLORIA STEINEM
Published: January 8, 2008
Correction Appended

THE woman in question became a lawyer after some years as a community organizer, married a corporate lawyer and is the mother of two little girls, ages 9 and 6. Herself the daughter of a white American mother and a black African father — in this race-conscious country, she is considered black — she served as a state legislator for eight years, and became an inspirational voice for national unity.

Be honest: Do you think this is the biography of someone who could be elected to the United States Senate? After less than one term there, do you believe she could be a viable candidate to head the most powerful nation on earth?

If you answered no to either question, you’re not alone. Gender is probably the most restricting force in American life, whether the question is who must be in the kitchen or who could be in the White House. This country is way down the list of countries electing women and, according to one study, it polarizes gender roles more than the average democracy.

That’s why the Iowa primary was following our historical pattern of making change. Black men were given the vote a half-century before women of any race were allowed to mark a ballot, and generally have ascended to positions of power, from the military to the boardroom, before any women (with the possible exception of obedient family members in the latter).

If the lawyer described above had been just as charismatic but named, say, Achola Obama instead of Barack Obama, her goose would have been cooked long ago. Indeed, neither she nor Hillary Clinton could have used Mr. Obama’s public style — or Bill Clinton’s either — without being considered too emotional by Washington pundits.

So why is the sex barrier not taken as seriously as the racial one? The reasons are as pervasive as the air we breathe: because sexism is still confused with nature as racism once was; because anything that affects males is seen as more serious than anything that affects “only” the female half of the human race; because children are still raised mostly by women (to put it mildly) so men especially tend to feel they are regressing to childhood when dealing with a powerful woman; because racism stereotyped black men as more “masculine” for so long that some white men find their presence to be masculinity-affirming (as long as there aren’t too many of them); and because there is still no “right” way to be a woman in public power without being considered a you-know-what.

I’m not advocating a competition for who has it toughest. The caste systems of sex and race are interdependent and can only be uprooted together. That’s why Senators Clinton and Obama have to be careful not to let a healthy debate turn into the kind of hostility that the news media love. Both will need a coalition of outsiders to win a general election. The abolition and suffrage movements progressed when united and were damaged by division; we should remember that.

I’m supporting Senator Clinton because like Senator Obama she has community organizing experience, but she also has more years in the Senate, an unprecedented eight years of on-the-job training in the White House, no masculinity to prove, the potential to tap a huge reservoir of this country’s talent by her example, and now even the courage to break the no-tears rule. I’m not opposing Mr. Obama; if he’s the nominee, I’ll volunteer. Indeed, if you look at votes during their two-year overlap in the Senate, they were the same more than 90 percent of the time. Besides, to clean up the mess left by President Bush, we may need two terms of President Clinton and two of President Obama.

But what worries me is that he is seen as unifying by his race while she is seen as divisive by her sex.

What worries me is that she is accused of “playing the gender card” when citing the old boys’ club, while he is seen as unifying by citing civil rights confrontations.

What worries me is that male Iowa voters were seen as gender-free when supporting their own, while female voters were seen as biased if they did and disloyal if they didn’t.

What worries me is that reporters ignore Mr. Obama’s dependence on the old — for instance, the frequent campaign comparisons to John F. Kennedy — while not challenging the slander that her progressive policies are part of the Washington status quo.

What worries me is that some women, perhaps especially younger ones, hope to deny or escape the sexual caste system; thus Iowa women over 50 and 60, who disproportionately supported Senator Clinton, proved once again that women are the one group that grows more radical with age.

This country can no longer afford to choose our leaders from a talent pool limited by sex, race, money, powerful fathers and paper degrees. It’s time to take equal pride in breaking all the barriers. We have to be able to say: “I’m supporting her because she’ll be a great president and because she’s a woman.”

InevitaBagel

What comes after bagels? Bagel chips! I cannibalized a bunch of recipes from the web and ended up slicing the bagels thinly, spreading them with a mix of crushed garlic, herbes de provence, and olive oil, and baking them at 160C for about 10 minutes. They're a little greasy but v. crispy and tasty.

J & K Bagels

The hubby made bagels yesterday. He used this recipe for "Authentic New York bagels." For some reason, I thought making bagels would be really hard - it was surprisingly easy. And they were SO good. The one I had straight out of the oven was chewy and crispy on the outside and just the right kind of doughy on the inside. Mmmm. They were way better than the ones from the supermarket (I know, I know), and I think with a little tweaking they could be better than the ones from my bagel shop in New York.




I finished Second Glance this morning - it was a ghost story, which I didn't realize at the beginning. I really liked it - the story romped right along. It's another one set in Burlington, VT...I don't know if I'm drawn to Vermont authors or if all authors just live in Vermont...

Blanket's Done!

I finished my blanket last night. I started it in October last year and I feel like I've been knitting squares forever. Granted, I've taken some extended breaks, and have been working on it more since I got the cream yarn, but it's still taken a LOT of time.


The backing and the border are all one piece of brown fine-wale corduory. I tried to make the corners neat but they're not my strong suit. I had originally hand-sewn them with navy thread but I think they look better with the yarn. The whole thing sort of fell into place: the corduroy was a remnant that was on sale, and it ended up being the exact right size for the 48 squares that I made. The middle is hand-tied with more yarn - I had a blanket as a child that someone had hand-tied that I thought looked really silly, but I think it works on this one. There's no batting in it - just the corduroy and the knitted squares. It makes the edges a little less warm than the rest of it. If I find it's too cold, I can always pick part of the edge stitching out and put some batting in. I'd probably want to use some dark-colored fleece - regular quilting batting would show through too much. The original Anthropologie blanket of Emily's that inspired the whole project is un-google-able - neither she nor I have found an image or any mention of it anywhere on the web. She's promised to ask the boy to take a picture of it - we'll see how they compare.

Mine will be extensively tested this weekend while I curl up on the couch with my current Jodi Picoult, Second Glance.

Tea

Went back to work yesterday - I was in for a few days between Christmas and New Year's so it was really nice to not have zillions of work emails to catch up on. Plenty of work to do, but not the usual inbox inundation that I get after a break.

Our 'tea lady' broke her wrist in December, and the usual sub is out this week, so I've been making the teas and coffees with my old boss. It's been kind of fun - I wouldn't want to do it every day but it's an interesting diversion. One more day tomorrow and then back to regular purchasing. At least we have a dishwasher so I don't have to wash all the cups...

I usually listen to the Mike Harding folk show on BBC radio 2 on Wednesday nights, and they've been pushing podcasts quite a bit recently. I subscribed to the podcast and started listening to it tonight. "That's funny," I thought, "the show's usually an hour and the podcast is only 17 minutes." Turns out that's because the podcast is an abridged version of the show where it's edited down and the songs get faded in and out. *^#% that! I'm listening to the 'listen again' stream, which is the full version. Harumph.

Happy New Year

We were going to be really virtuous today and go for a walk, but a really close fog has settled and doesn't look like it's going anywhere fast.

John and I had a really chill night last night - we made this veggie curry for dinner and watched the final 3 episodes of the first season of Heroes. We're completely obsessed. Like having-discussions-about-it-in-the-middle-of-the-night-when-we're-supposed-to-be-sleeping obsessed. The interwebbies have been murmuring about how the second season isn't as good - we'll just have to watch it ourselves and find out. It's supposedly starting on BBC 2 sometime this year...

Just as we were finishing the DVD, our across-the-street neighbors rang the bell and invited us over for some drinks and nibbles. V. nice of them - we had fun and it was all very low-key.

I love this picture that my dad sent of Edward and me at the Bronx Zoo. He's scanning and digitizing all of his slides and photos. It keeps him out of trouble, and he sends the best ones over to me via email. I think he should set up a photoblog with them. He didn't included a date for this one but it looks like it's sometime around 1987. I remember the outfit I'm in - my mom made it for me (I picked out the fabric and the pattern). She used to make all of our PJs and a lot of our clothes. This one had a really cool square neckline and matching shorts. I can't believe how much time she must have spent on our clothes, especially since we always grew out of them so fast!



I made this video last week when we were baking bread with the new Kitchenaid (from Santa). We've made three loaves of bread and a batch of slice'n'bake cookies. YUM! The original soundtrack was...erm...weird. So I decided to be witty with a little Tori Amos.

Walkies!

I must have said 'OOh, that's blogworthy!' fifty times over the last 10 days, with absolutely no actual blogging taking place. Last Saturday, we took a spin around the park that's near F&T's - here's James walking with grandad.




And here's our tree with its new and improved decorations from Mom & Dad:






Sunday, we went on a walk in East Bergholt and Flatford (also known as Constable country), and took lots of pictures. It was a perfect winter walk - the sun was really low in the sky and set just as we were getting back to the car.






This is where The Haywain was painted.

Photo Catchup

I'm lazy and have only just uploaded a few weeks' worth of pictures from my camera to the computer. Here is Kate Rusby, singing up a storm:


This one was taken from a rooftop parking lot in Cambridge - the light was so wintry and cold - I HAD to take a picture. Brrr.


And this is the Stowmarket Santa. I think it was the Rotary club or something similar- they were blasting carols and collecting money. It was really funny and oddly surreal, though. Sorry he's a little blurry - I still haven't quite figured out all the camera's settings.


Mom & Dad sent us a care package, which arrived yesterday. It had great stuff: some English Christmas lights from the 1980s that had somehow made their way back to New Ro (and still work!), some personalized ornaments, an ornament from my Grandma's tree, matzo ball soup mix, two of my Harry Potters, and all of my French Horn sheet music. YAHOOO! Since I didn't have the matzo ball soup mix when I was sick last weekend, I had chinese noodles with chicken stock and lettuce - it's definitely in the same genre.


It's been really frosty lately - this is our honeysuckle bush, looking like a Christmas tree (according to James).

Read Lolita, napped.

It's time for a media round-up. I've been sick since Saturday afternoon - queasy, achy, intermittent sore throat, and general ickyness. I was all geared up to go to work today and it didn't happen. I also missed the choir's Christmas concert in Lavenham - I was SO bummed. Hopefully I'll be better tomorrow. However, my extended time resting in bed and on the couch has given me some more review fodder...

1. I finished Reading Lolita In Tehran. And I have to confess, I hated it. It was another of those books that everyone had recommended. I just couldn't get into it - I didn't care about the characters or what they thought of the books they were reading. I finished it, finally (it took me almost a month and I had to renew it twice).

2. I rented and watched High School Musical 2. And thoroughly enjoyed it. It's an oversaturated teenybopper movie with canned n'sync dance moves and stupid lines. The music was v. catchy and for some reason I found the whole thing very compelling. John refused to watch it (smart man).

3. We've also rented the first season of Heroes (the NBC drama). We sat down last night to check out the first episode, and ended up watching 4. The only reason we stopped was that it was 10pm and I'd been watching TV for 4 hours and my tummy was starting to hurt again. We have a date for some more episodes tonight. It's funny - I haven't watched scripted television in AGES, and I was really enjoying it. It really romps along and it's great not having to watch the commercials. Maybe by the time we get up to the current season, the writers will have ended their strike...

Rusby Roundup

We went to Norwich last night for a Kate Rusby concert. She's an incredible performer - the concert was REALLY good. Having both been to our fair share of 'concerts,' John and I both assumed that since the tickets said '7:30pm' it fell into the rock/pop 'doors at 7:30 - opening act at 7:45 - Rusby on at 9'. So we got there at about 7:30 after getting a little lost on the way and having trouble finding a parking spot. Not worried about missing anything, though.

We were a little surprised, since there was nobody in the foyer. And there was an act on the stage. And when we got to the box office our tickets were in a little pile by themselves. They whisked us to our seats and we sat down right as KR started strumming the first chords at 7:32. Oops!

The concert itself couldn't have been better: it was about half Yorkshire Christmas songs, which Kate obviously LOVED singing. They were all really beautiful - different tunes with the traditional. It made all of the well-known carols seem really vibrant, and the arrangements were flawless. I really hope she records them and releases a CD. The rest of the concert was a mix of old stuff and things from her new album, which we loved. It reminded me of the folk concerts that Mom & Dad took us to when we were kids - it was very sedate but the singing was enthusiastic.

John & I both had an extra day of holiday to use up before they expire at the end of the year, so we took today off. We've both been feeling pretty run-down and I definitely thought I was coming down with something. We had a lazy morning and then headed to Cambridge for some Christmas shopping. It was pretty hectic in town, considering that it was a Tuesday - why weren't all the people who were there at work? We're both feeling much more rested and generally better.

John made a really tasty moroccan lamb risotto from the leftovers - he used lots of spices and some dried apricots and raisins. It had a really well-rounded flavor, but we both agreed that it was missing something...it didn't quite have the 'sparkle'. We'll just have to have another leg of lamb to experiment!

I guess I've always been a foodie...

Here I am, nearly 2, being fed by BOTH of my parents. Grown-up food, too, by the looks of it. Yum!


We roasted the leg of lamb for F & T - most of the recipes I read included garlic and rosemary, so I jammed some into the cuts I made and dumped olive oil on the top. It was pretty tasty.




I finished the table runner and the six placemats - now I just need to make the orange napkins and appliqué the sheep on to them.


Here's the general shot of the Christmas tree, with a better one (taken by John with the tripod and the dSLR) below.

I still want a daemon

James and I had some stepmother-stepson bonding time today - John had to make a last-minute trip to London. We mostly had chores to do in the morning: pick up the leg of lamb for tomorrow from the butcher's, go to the farm shop, and have Freda try on her potential Christmas present.

F & T weren't sure where the store was (and I was having trouble explaining it), so they came over to our house and we all went to Needham Market together. Freda gets cold easily, so she generally wears an old quilted waistcoat around the house. She's had it since the dawn of time and it's completely threadbare. New waistcoat, you say? Well, that was the plan. But she doesn't like things high on her neck, so it had to be a v-neck waistcoat. We looked EVERYWHERE. The only ones that come in v-neck are generally men's ones, which tend to be too big for her since she's quite petite. But we managed to find one, at the v. horsey High Flyers (where we got my wellies and some other stuff). It's a mens' one, but it was a 'small' so it fit. And since it was so small, it didn't fit any of the men, so it was on clearance. Which was awesome - if it had been full-price (quite expensive), she wouldn't have let me buy it. I would have had to ask the saleslady to put it on hold and then I would have had to make a second trip to buy it (and we'd have had to tell the M-i-L that it was on sale...) Phew. And I have randomly had brainwaves (and suggestions) for what to buy the rest of my NY family for Christmas. They can be a tricky group. Not sharing here, obviously, since they read it. Sorry, guys!

T decided that he wanted a coffee after the shopping ordeal (the whole thing took about 10 mins, start to finish, but it wore him out emotionally). We went to the farm shop cafe, where the coffee was pretty good, the hot chocolate was fab, and the cakes were v. yummy. We had cups of tea there when mom & dad were here - but it seemed a world away.

We coordinated with John on his return - he got off the train in Ipswich and we all went to see The Golden Compass. I LOVED the books (read them twice and made John read them), and the movie was pretty good. Most of the characters were as I'd pictured them, but it was one of those bizarre book-movies where a character will randomly reel off about 30 pages of plot in one breath. And then they'll have some drama. And then another chunk of plot. It was a little bizarre, but definitely worth seeing. And I hope they make the next two - apparently it's still up in the air. I thought the witches were perfectly drawn - Serafina Pekkala is one of my favorite characters in the books and she was exactly as I'd pictured her. Lee Scoresby was awesome, too - just the right kind of gritty.

We HAVE to break James of his most recent annoying habit: he's a movie talker. The WHOLE time, he kept asking me questions, from "Who is that?" to "Why didn't they put [something from the book that he describes in great detail] in?". Then we had the totally random comments that were unrelated to the movie. I'm pretty patient, I think, but finally I'd had enough (and I imagine the people around us had). "Kiddo, that's enough. No more questions." I'm a mean stepmother.

He tends to talk through TV programs, and he's always interrupting me when I'm reading to ask questions, and he talks through dinner. And he monologues in the car. Ok, so he talks all the time so I shouldn't really expect that movies should be any different. It's funny - he's obsessed with daemons and keeps asking us what form we think his daemon would be taking now. And now. And how about now?

mmm...chocolate

We had some Gu soufflés after dinner tonight - we impulse-bought them at the supermarket after being v. restrained and following our list and menu plan all week. Here they are, in all their chocolatey goodness. The picture is fabulous because hubby used the uber-camera with the portrait lens. None of the point-and-shoot for him!


Included in our menu plan was a spinach and lentil curry for dinner tonight, which I was CONVINCED had way too much water (900ml of water for 150g of lentils). It actually turned out pretty well, despite the fact that I was a little cavalier with the recipe. If I follow it properly, I think it'll be a keeper.

We've also bitten the bullet and bought tickets for Kate Rusby in Norwich next week. I'm SO excited. I felt so silly a few weeks ago - I was talking to two of my college roomies and apparently they were listening to KR when we were all living together - I'd thought that a few of the songs sounded familiar. The fact that I didn't discover her properly until 5 years later and on a different continent is a little bizarre, though.

Another random thing I did today (and completely cracked myself up about): I was texting my friend who was not at work today, and got tangled up in predictive text on my phone. I meant to type 'email' and ended up with 'dohaj'. I got a completely mystified text back from my friend asking what on earth I was on about. Ok, now it's not funny. It was at the time, though, trust me.

Oh, and my friend E. has started a blog, called 'All Abode' - go check it out (link in the 'blogs' section).

There's mud in my saddle shoes!

I caved. We bought a plastic tree yesterday. At ::shudder:: B & Q (an orange Home-Depot-type place, for the Yanks). It actually looks pretty reasonable and is a good size for the room.

I'd had my heart set on a real tree, but John was resisting on two counts: that it (1) would stain our v. pale carpet and (2) would be bad for the planet. We averted WWIII on Sunday morning but it was a near miss. I wanted the 'real' tree for three reasons: (1) they smell SO good, (2) I'm morally opposed to plastic trees and (3) I JUST DID.

Ever the diplomat, John came up with a compromise: I could have a tree, but it had to be plastic. In return, I could pick out whichever one I wanted. In addition, I could have whatever decorations I wanted for the front of the house. Oh...you thought I was Kate Monster before. Well, the tree is here and up (pics to follow - it's so damn DARK in England in the winter), and there's a wreath on the front door. I see some lawn ornaments in my future... You know, those Santa & snowman snowglobey things with the blowing-around 'snow'. And music. And blinky lights. And reindeer on the roof. And lights outlining the house.

Putting up the tree yesterday (i.e. clipping it together and un-mashing the 'branches') meant that I could have Sesame Street Christmas! It's so convenient having it on mp3, especially since the record version is in New Ro and I am not. And we don't have a record player. I LOVE the 'Christmas On Sesame Street' (Gift of the Magi) story - I think I drive everyone crazy by talking along to it. And James' new favorite Christmas carol is The 12 Days Of Christmas On Sesame Street, with the climax being Cookie Monster's rendition of 'ONE DELICIOUS COOOOKIE!!' (in place of that tired old partridge...)

My parents have joined us in the 21st century with Skype and a webcam on my mom's new laptop. After much internet research and gnashing of teeth I found a Logitech Quick Chat 'Skype Edition' that works with both my Mac AND Skype. Skype isn't thrilled with it - it crashes randomly, but it's great to be able to 'see' mom and dad when I talk to them. Oh, and I'm not using up all my skype credits and my mom's cellphone minutes by calling them on SkypeOut. Not that I mind, but still. Oh, and apparently the crazy people in Rhode Island pick out their Christmas tree some time over the summer, while it's still growing at the farm, and decorate it. So it doesn't get lonely, I guess. And then they come and collect it at Christmas like normal people.

John and I were very industrious yesterday morning and planned out all of our meals for the week. We've been reading that 1/3 of all food bought in the UK is thrown out, and we'd run into the 'what's for dinner - go to the supermarket - get home and realize that we had something that needed eating' problem. So we've planned out all the meals for this week and did a big-ish shop yesterday and have planned a mini-one for Thursday evening to get some more green stuff. I feel so organized and Rachael Ray-y. And frugal - we didn't buy anything that wasn't on the list.

BBC Good Mediocre Food Show

After much excitement and build-up, I went to the BBC Good Food Show today. John was smart and went to the annual Worley Model Railway show (that we went to last year and the year before). We were talking about it yesterday with a friend at work, and she said that she had gone to the Good Food show for the last two years but wasn't going this year. She was also impressed that we were going to 'brave it on a Saturday.'

We got up pretty early and made it to Birmingham by about 10, and John trundled off to look at trains while I made my way to the other side of the NEC on a shuttle bus. I subscribe to the magazine (which has been plugging the show for months), and I had my e-ticket, which included a 'show program' (supposedly worth £2.50). I asked the people at the entrance who were selling what looked like the show programs if I could have one, pointing to my ticket. "No, you just get the free one - it's over there if you want to go get it." Lovely.

I went in and it was heaving with people - so I thought I'd walk around the perimeter and get my bearings. Basically, all the booths were either giving away free samples of whatever it was they were selling, or they didn't really have anything to sell. Bunched around any possible free sample were hordes of people, shoving each other out of the way and grabbing fistfuls of whatever the vendor happened to be handing out.

The whole thing was like Price Club the weekend before Thanksgiving. I did manage to fight my way through the crowds to get a new kitchen knife (for which there was no line because they weren't giving anything away for free).

All of the tickets came with a 'supertheatre' ticket - and I'd signed up for a mock-taping of 'Ready, Steady, Cook!' It's kind of like Iron Chef, in that there are ingredients presented and the chefs have 20 minutes to make whatever it is that they're given into a 3-course meal. It actually ended up being pretty funny and entertaining, but I was so harried by that point that I didn't really care.

Here's Ainsley, the host:


And here's everybody, cooking up a storm:


The guy on the left was really funny - they'd told him to whisk some cream and somehow he managed to get cream EVERYWHERE. On the cameraman, on Ainsley, on the table, on the floor, and all over himself. It was very entertaining.

Here we are, queueing to get in (since they were trying to get all 3000 of us through one door:


And here is the mass of humanity, stampeding from one free sample to the next:



I feel like such a crotchety old bag complaining about it - but the behavior of 'the general public' today was truly appalling. I think it had the potential to be a good event, they just completely sold too many tickets. That, and I was pretty darn excited about it. There's a slim possibility that I'll try again next year, but there's no way I'm going anywhere near it on a weekend.

Glad to be home, anyway.