My brother is evil, and has tagged me in a meme. But, I love procrastination so here goes:
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1) Unlike my brother's seemingly amazing athletic ability, I achieved the worst time in the year for the 1500m when I was 15. I took an incredible 32 minutes.
2) On my first weekend in Rome I accidentally drunkenly stalked Harrison Ford, then stood back and watched whilst my friend Sophie shook his hand saying "it's fucking great to meet you, I'm a real archaeologist" (*cringe*). I thought every weekend would be like that, but I never saw another famous person for the two years I was there.
3) Continuing on the 'star' theme, I (and my brother) once met Zammo from Grange Hill in the queue to go down a mineshaft whilst on holiday in Yorkshire in the mid 80s. I think he was with his parents and a bit embarrassed. I have photographic evidence.
4) I am in the slow readers' club.
5) Despite being in the slow readers' club, I have some VERY IMPORTANT* academic publications which appear on Amazon: here and here, and a chapter in here. I never tire of googling myself.
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*The only people who have ever cited me, however, are my friends... for a joke.
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6) I can roll my tongue (in both senses), can only just cross my eyes, can only raise my left eyebrow, not my right, and cannot wiggle my ears. I fear this has stunted my development in many areas of my life.
7) I am never happier than when watching shit on tv. By shit I mean most sci-fi and primetime dramas, not reality tv and daytime soaps. I could be lying though, eating is also top. Ok, I am never happier than when watching shit on tv, whilst feeding my face with fajitas.
***
In order to share the meme misery, I shall now tag some more people (*evil cackle*), though I fully expect them to ignore it, as I should have.
Jeffers
Lisabellela
Alisonicoco
Marios
Rosie
Thursday, 12 March 2009
Monday, 9 March 2009
Adventures in Baking
Since my last disasters in cooking, I've been a little reluctant to step out of familiar territory. Recently, however, I've been getting up the nerve to try again. The price of food here has meant that I've been quite keen to do some home-cooked versions of the staples.
We started out with the Darwin fishcake, but have since moved onto muffins and cookies aplenty. These have mostly worked, with a few exceptions, mostly due to our odd oven. Because the element is at the bottom, everything burns underneath. I've been advised to put in an extra baking tray underneath to disperse the heat, but things are still going black :(
What I was particularly keen to try, though, was bread baking. I tried my first loaf on Saturday but things went a little wrong. We were having a housewarming party and we took on a little too much with the preparation. As a result the bread was still rising when the first guests arrived. Quite a few cocktails intervened and I forgot to bake it, and didn't return to it until lunchtime the next day. I thought I'd still give it a go, but we ended up with a rather flat loaf that absolutely reeked of white wine (not what I wanted with my hangover)! We reluctantly binned it and I worked out the many and varied reasons why the loaf had done this. Accidentally leaving it to rise on the oven heat outlet was probably not my best idea. Anyway, my second attempt yesterday seemed to actually work. It was a wholemeal oaty bread, and it didn't fully rise, but was still pretty tasty (if a bit dense). I have plans to do it better next time.
We also found some Hobnobs in Auntie Crae's for the alarming price of $4.13 and so I searched out a recipe. They're still cooling downstairs but I've already taste-tested them. They just need a thin covering of chocolate and they'll be complete. So much for my diet...
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We started out with the Darwin fishcake, but have since moved onto muffins and cookies aplenty. These have mostly worked, with a few exceptions, mostly due to our odd oven. Because the element is at the bottom, everything burns underneath. I've been advised to put in an extra baking tray underneath to disperse the heat, but things are still going black :(
What I was particularly keen to try, though, was bread baking. I tried my first loaf on Saturday but things went a little wrong. We were having a housewarming party and we took on a little too much with the preparation. As a result the bread was still rising when the first guests arrived. Quite a few cocktails intervened and I forgot to bake it, and didn't return to it until lunchtime the next day. I thought I'd still give it a go, but we ended up with a rather flat loaf that absolutely reeked of white wine (not what I wanted with my hangover)! We reluctantly binned it and I worked out the many and varied reasons why the loaf had done this. Accidentally leaving it to rise on the oven heat outlet was probably not my best idea. Anyway, my second attempt yesterday seemed to actually work. It was a wholemeal oaty bread, and it didn't fully rise, but was still pretty tasty (if a bit dense). I have plans to do it better next time.
We also found some Hobnobs in Auntie Crae's for the alarming price of $4.13 and so I searched out a recipe. They're still cooling downstairs but I've already taste-tested them. They just need a thin covering of chocolate and they'll be complete. So much for my diet...
*
Thursday, 5 March 2009
What do you call someone who collects maps?
... a nerd.
Or so says WikiAnswers. I was trying to find out what the official name for a map collector is and this is all I came up with. Cartophily, which is what I'd assumed, is actually the term for someone who collects cigarette cards. Perhaps a cartographile?
Anyway, you'll notice I've had a quick redesign. I'd got a bit bored of the pink, and I decided that my slight obsession with historic maps deserved an outlet, albeit a very small one.
Liam and I have been attempting to make our mark on the rented house we're in, and so have been on the look out for good posters. We've done pretty well, with a blow up of an old 1930s Newfoundland stamp showing codfish. This is the real thing, but you can just about make out our poster in the previous post, behind my hat.
And we've also sourced a couple of prints of historic maps. There's this one of the fishing banks in the 17th century:
As well as the Icelandic Skálholt map from 1570, which shows Britain, Iceland, Greenland, Baffin Island/Labrador and Newfoundland.
I got very excited, however, after chatting to the folks at the Map Library at MUN, as they directed me to this fabulous site of theirs, which has loads of historic scanned maps of the area available to download free! This is where I filched the map for my header.
Now, if only I had a printer...
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Or so says WikiAnswers. I was trying to find out what the official name for a map collector is and this is all I came up with. Cartophily, which is what I'd assumed, is actually the term for someone who collects cigarette cards. Perhaps a cartographile?
Anyway, you'll notice I've had a quick redesign. I'd got a bit bored of the pink, and I decided that my slight obsession with historic maps deserved an outlet, albeit a very small one.
Liam and I have been attempting to make our mark on the rented house we're in, and so have been on the look out for good posters. We've done pretty well, with a blow up of an old 1930s Newfoundland stamp showing codfish. This is the real thing, but you can just about make out our poster in the previous post, behind my hat.
And we've also sourced a couple of prints of historic maps. There's this one of the fishing banks in the 17th century:
As well as the Icelandic Skálholt map from 1570, which shows Britain, Iceland, Greenland, Baffin Island/Labrador and Newfoundland.
I got very excited, however, after chatting to the folks at the Map Library at MUN, as they directed me to this fabulous site of theirs, which has loads of historic scanned maps of the area available to download free! This is where I filched the map for my header.
Now, if only I had a printer...
*
Recent Projects
Last night I finished two items I'd been working on. This has never happened before so I felt an overwhelming sense of achievement... then I realised how tragically sad I've become. Moving here, being quite poor due to a short term contract, and not knowing huge numbers of people (yet) has meant that most nights are spent knitting or crocheting furiously whilst Liam reads a book - especially as we don't have cable tv (i.e. we have a telly but no reception, Liam is very pleased with this situation).
Anyway, I thought I'd share some of the recent projects I've finished since being here.
First was Liam's "Simon Cowl", quickly knitted in 3x3 rib on a 5mm circular needle in Paton's Soy Wool Stripes. I had to line it with some fleece I obtained from an old scarf from Value Village (a charity shop superstore for UK readers) as it was a bit itchy and also for extra warmth in adverse weather conditions. I think the stripes worked out pretty well (and he wears it most days, so it can't be that bad!).
Second was a hat for me. I'm bored of wearing my tweed peaked cap (especially as I keep hitting Liam in the face with it when I want to give him a peck on the cheek), and I often have my hair up which causes problems with other hats I own. So, I made the Star-Crossed Slouchy Beret by Natalie Larson (a free Ravelry download). I used smaller needles due to my notorious pin head, but it's still a bit big. It'll do for now though...
My favourite so far though is the crochet Sidesaddle Cluster Pullover from the Loop-d-Loop Crochet book. I really like that I now know how to crochet matching buttons using plastic curtain rings.
I have another project that is 90% done, which is my Cabled jumper that I started over Christmas. This is another free pattern. Typically I didn't have the right needles so did it on smaller ones, but this had led to the nightmare scenario that I have now RUN OUT OF WOOL! Gah! This is despite changing the arms to make them narrower. I can't seem to find anything remotely similar here so have tasked a friend back in Brum to find me some to post. Fingers crossed. If she can't find me some I may have to unravel it and start again on bigger needles. I might cry if that happens...
Anyway, I thought I'd share some of the recent projects I've finished since being here.
First was Liam's "Simon Cowl", quickly knitted in 3x3 rib on a 5mm circular needle in Paton's Soy Wool Stripes. I had to line it with some fleece I obtained from an old scarf from Value Village (a charity shop superstore for UK readers) as it was a bit itchy and also for extra warmth in adverse weather conditions. I think the stripes worked out pretty well (and he wears it most days, so it can't be that bad!).
Second was a hat for me. I'm bored of wearing my tweed peaked cap (especially as I keep hitting Liam in the face with it when I want to give him a peck on the cheek), and I often have my hair up which causes problems with other hats I own. So, I made the Star-Crossed Slouchy Beret by Natalie Larson (a free Ravelry download). I used smaller needles due to my notorious pin head, but it's still a bit big. It'll do for now though...
My favourite so far though is the crochet Sidesaddle Cluster Pullover from the Loop-d-Loop Crochet book. I really like that I now know how to crochet matching buttons using plastic curtain rings.
I have another project that is 90% done, which is my Cabled jumper that I started over Christmas. This is another free pattern. Typically I didn't have the right needles so did it on smaller ones, but this had led to the nightmare scenario that I have now RUN OUT OF WOOL! Gah! This is despite changing the arms to make them narrower. I can't seem to find anything remotely similar here so have tasked a friend back in Brum to find me some to post. Fingers crossed. If she can't find me some I may have to unravel it and start again on bigger needles. I might cry if that happens...
Friday, 20 February 2009
Shake it like a Poladroid picture
I have become obsessed. Yet again.
This time it is with my new camera. I recently bought a new digital camera after a whole lot of trauma due to credit cards and billing/shipping addresses not matching. One of the many hazards of being a Brit abroad. Anyway, I eventually bought it in an actual shop (*gasp*) this past weekend and have been snapping away left, right, and centre. This, however, is not the obsession.
I recently upgraded to being a Pro on Flickr (sadly this doesn't actually provide you with a great improvement on your photographic skills, just more storage space). On idly flicking around I found Poladroid. It's free software that you use to create Polaroid-like images. It's great, you drag your image onto the icon of the camera, it spits out a photo, then you can shake the picture using your mouse and it slowly develops. Whether or not shaking the image actually succeeds in speeding up development time is unknown, but 1) it's fun, 2) you can sing 'Hey-Ya' loudly whilst doing it and, more importantly, 3) it really annoys Liam!
"Shake it, shake it, shake it, shake it, shake it shake it..."
You can can take samples of the image at any point during the developing, and even add scratches/fingerprints to give aging effects. Anyway, here are my three favourites so far. I've cropped them but you get the idea...
Icy Window:
The rainy view out of our front window:
A random crow:
This time it is with my new camera. I recently bought a new digital camera after a whole lot of trauma due to credit cards and billing/shipping addresses not matching. One of the many hazards of being a Brit abroad. Anyway, I eventually bought it in an actual shop (*gasp*) this past weekend and have been snapping away left, right, and centre. This, however, is not the obsession.
I recently upgraded to being a Pro on Flickr (sadly this doesn't actually provide you with a great improvement on your photographic skills, just more storage space). On idly flicking around I found Poladroid. It's free software that you use to create Polaroid-like images. It's great, you drag your image onto the icon of the camera, it spits out a photo, then you can shake the picture using your mouse and it slowly develops. Whether or not shaking the image actually succeeds in speeding up development time is unknown, but 1) it's fun, 2) you can sing 'Hey-Ya' loudly whilst doing it and, more importantly, 3) it really annoys Liam!
"Shake it, shake it, shake it, shake it, shake it shake it..."
You can can take samples of the image at any point during the developing, and even add scratches/fingerprints to give aging effects. Anyway, here are my three favourites so far. I've cropped them but you get the idea...
Icy Window:
The rainy view out of our front window:
A random crow:
Thursday, 12 February 2009
Happy Birthday Charles #2
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UPDATE!
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Here is the finished item. Hope it tastes ok - there was an issue with the baking powder...
UPDATE!
************
Here is the finished item. Hope it tastes ok - there was an issue with the baking powder...
Happy Birthday Charles
Today is the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin. I was rather surprised to hear last night that Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were exactly the same age. In my mind Lincoln was very much of an older period in history than Darwin, but it seems it's not true at all, just a construct of my own mind. Liam decided last night that this was because Darwin is seen as the beginning of a modern age so I was simply associating him with being 'younger', whilst Lincoln is all big hats and civil war. I wonder why his birthday isn't being made a deal of?
In the spirit of evolution, this is me as an australopithecene. You can devolve yourself on this Open University web site, which is quite fun, except that it was male only and I ended up with a large beard in most of the iterations. Hey ho! No change there then...
That aside, in celebration, Liam and I decided to do some baking. We used Delia's recipe for all-in-one-sponge cake and got busy with the icing. It took two goes at making the icing as we were relying on internet recipes. The first batch was a disturbing lumpy mess that kept separating. The second was more successful and we managed to use a ziploc bag as a pipe. It's quite fun, if a bit messy when the bag explodes at the top and you get icing all over your nice lambswool cardigan.
So here are some photos (apologies for the quality - they're from a phone):
This is our amazing giant 60s cooker. I love it!
The outline in baking parchment:
After the icing sugar has been sifted over the outline, and the piping begins!
More piping:
Liam attacks the edge:
You'll have to wait for the final photo as Liam is withholding it from me, for reasons unknown.
More soon!
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