potatoes changed my mind

I dislike michael caine.

I hate all those stupid dad films from the olden days with his nasty voice being all cockney over everything.

I suppose now I'm thinking about all this he's been quite good in the recent films and not so over the top. I wasn't really interested in hearing the much trailed festive special big guns desert island discs with him as guest. But it was on, I was listening and it was quite pleasant.

He said one thing that really struck me.

That when he cooks roast potatoes he doesn't do what delia and everyone always say, he puts the cooked spuds into a pan with cold olive oil. Not into hot oil from a tray in the oven as hot as you can?! No. If I remember correctly kirsty young questioned him on this point. My roast potatoes have always been a disappointment to me. They have been ok, but not great. I put it down to not having an ancient old roasting tin, blackened from a myriad family roast dinners, and the wrong amount of lard.

I followed his advice and now for two days running in a row we have had the most fabulous roast potatoes, better than I ever could have wished for. The first ones I over boiled them a bit so there was a bit too much crispy little bits. But the second ones, my word. Fantastic.

What I did was.....

boil the potatoes, but not too much that they fall apart

give a shake in the pan

leave to cool and loose some steam

put olive oil in a cold pan to cover the bottom

toss in the potatoes and drizzle with more oil

put into the pre heated oven on the hottest

keep tossing as the bits tuching the pan cook the best

ARRRRGGHHH!

THANK YOU MICHAEL CAINE!

socks first

I found something that is like magic.

I've been thinking that I would like to actually get good at knitting. I can do it however I have never really put my mind to it with the aim of actually making something. I would be happy if I could learn to knit socks so I could keep my family in good socks. I don't think I want to worry about knitting jumpers (although these are really nice, from www.blackerdesigns.co.uk).

They have lovely natural wool here. Just like the actual sheep, great.

So I went about looking for a kit for beginners to make socks. I have a nice pattern book from Buddug but I really don't know where to start with the patterns. I need more help! I found some good tutorials, which have really helped it all make sense.

at downsizer, although the socks they show are quite nasty.

at silver's sock class, this is FAB.

We probably only want the silvers one but there are some other interesting bits at downsizer. I'm of the the opinion that style shouldn't go out the window just because you are behaving sustainably. Frontier not hippies.

Anyway, socks.

In looking for kits to help me I came across oplal sock wool. I thought wool was wool that came in whatever colour you wanted. No.

Sock wool comes in magic.

There is a whole science (as far as I can say) in making wool that as you knit turns into a pattern.

WOW

So you knit around and around and you get a fairisle! or a tiger! or loads of stuff! It's so clever, to make a long strand of wool that has the correct layout of colours to make a pattern when it's a sock. I really wish I had invented this.

So here are some of my favourites....

...rainforest animals!

...like the paintings of hundertwasser!













...or harry potter!??

Amazing. I'm going to knit some socks. I haven't decided which yet.

I wanted to see some of this in real life so I looked in john lewis but no, no opal. It was pretty rubbish in there actually. Disappointed with you, john lewis. I also, whilst waiting for ralphus, listened to the sewing machine lady trying to sell a £299 sewing machine to a nice middle class mum and dad and 23 year old daughter who wanted "her first sewing machine". I did think the whole situation was a bit sad. They were however quite sensible to the sales lady's pitch, and went away "to think about it". For a start, if that girl, at her age, wants one she should look it up for herself. Secondly £300 for your first machine that you don't even know what you are going to use it for, NO! I got mine when I was 18 and it was, I think, the second cheapest toyota one they sold in argos, and it's fine. Gets stuck in thick stuff but hey. I even just thought 'hmm, maybe I should upgrade and invest in that one the lady says is good' after standing listening to all this nonsense.

I hope they didn't buy it for her. I felt I should have intervened but I didn't.

So I'll buy my sock stuff on the interweb, after hours of debating which to get, and learn to knit the simplest socks known to man. I will never be one of those lovely knitting ladies.

But maybe one day I'll get socks like these...

an octopus wiener may be cute but it’s not really healthy

I did think this before but have again decided that I should do bentos for dinner. As much as I'd like to be a caveman like Ralph I don't get on with all nuts and dried fruit. It makes me sad.

So I made a bento for my dinner today with leftovers from last night's tea. It got jumbled up because there was only giant tupperwares left. So I need to get a bento box.

So I have been looking.

I have found the site which I think I will use as my manual. Its so good. It has quite a shocking amount of information and recipes. Fantastic.

www.justbento.com

This is one of the examples/recipes that I particularly like. I like the "Sweet Potato and Carrot Oyaki filled with ham and cheese" shaped into pigs and fried, great! About the "franks" I am not sure. Maki, who makes this site, writes so nicely about the whole process with a nice humour too. And it's all very sensible unlike some of the silly extreme bento sites I saw before, like something that could actually be done daily by a normal person.



I thought that maybe I'd have a nice picture heavy on wood and earthy food but I haven't quite figured out how bento can be frontier. I suppose when I really start doing my food this way that will happen on it's own. I'm going to look for a frontier bento box though.


Possibly like this....

at bento&co









Arrrgh, this is it. designshop.jp-stores.com

magewappa

This is very frontier, shaped grainy wood. Wikipedia says this "Only Akita cedars over one hundred years old, which have survived the very severe weather conditions of northern Japan, can be bent in the manufacturing process". Wonderful.

I cant figure out the english site version yet, I can only see the bento boxes in japanese, but from the quick look I did have there is some nice things here.

 
However my converter says it is £292.31.

'An extremely fine piece of craftsmanship, which can be used forever'

wonderful wintery greenery

So feeling all lovey dovey about nature and the wonderful things that are still growing, in celebration I made this.

It has yew, bay, holly, I think warefarers tree and evergreen oak which I think is holm oak.
I used windfall twigs from my park. The yew and bay is from my park. I went to kemp for the reat as my holly is only small.

We made some more in ranger time. I think I had more enthusiasm than the children.

I'm going to bring the left overs home to decorate the house. cool.

too ugg lee?

Are these too much like those nasty soggy lazy sheepskin boots? I do like these. I'm confused. Would they be ok?

When walking they wouldn't make that horrid scuffy "pick up your feet, slob" noise.

penelope chilvers £212

birdy din dins

Christmas is upon us, as they say, like some kind of weight. I quite like christmas although I'm not really sure why. The novelty of "going home" for christmas wore off a very long time ago and I've had several spent on my own whilst doing lots of the overtime that was available when I worked at selfridges. This was actually quite nice. Last year we only saw Ralphs mum and dad which was nice too. We had to try and get Roger to buy a whole sea bass with it's head still on, which was funny, and in the end we bought it.

So this year, the first in out new house as a family with cats all around, will more than likely be a low key affair. This is nice. I've only really been thinking about it for about the last week. Ralph is not much into all the nonsense and I can't really find a reason for it all either.

I do like the tree, the feast and the present giving.

With this in mind I've been thinking a lot about wanting a festival for something I can actually find meaning in. They were debating all this on the moral maze last night and the way people talk is totally ridiculous. There was a nice lady on saying how we should have a little bit of thought for the impact of all our excess and she was pretty much made out to be a hater of fun. I had a little look at some history about pagans and such which is nearer the mark but nothing is going to make me feel the need to worship any kind of god or godess.

I like it when the leaves turn, when buds grow, when it stars to get light again. That is it. And I think that is a lot.

I like it when I suddenly see mushrooms everywhere.

At work I collected some windfall twigs and went looking for evergreen trees in the park. Ranger Alan and I went out to find some holly but our children's scissors were too weedy to actually get some, I'm going to go back. I had the thought that I would hake a nice winter wreath for our front door because that seemed like a nice thing to do with all the things that were around. And that seems to me more like a proper celebration of the time of year.

Seasons greetings!

So I've started planning the festive dinner. I like to get something new and a bit exciting and think of it as a good time to experiment with an exciting recipe. I was looking for some game to order on the interweb. I'm so scared of the actual butchers shops, they seem to leave no room to think and work out what you want. I need to get brave. I came across lots of places selling multi bird roasts at crazy prices so found this to tell me how to do it myself.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2008/dec/16/multi-bird-roast-videos

So when I went to sainsbury's I got this duck, it's half price, so it's in the freezer waiting.

Duck-chicken-other small wild bird.

shoosies

These came today. I got them as there was a special 20% discount on the dorothy perkins website.

I was too late to see the plummy velvet leggings though, only seeing them after I ordered the shoes.

dress is nice

Ok, well, the first I knew about the jimmy choo dresses for h&m was in my regular ebay search for suede. I love suede. Frontier. Hair metal. yes.

The dresses kept coming up from those awful people who must queue up on the launch day and buy a load of them with the nasty little idea of selling them on for much much more on ebay once they have sold out in the shops.

These are horrible people, nothing forgives it, they go to the island.

Seeing the dresses though, particularly the blue one, really made my a bit sad. The blue dress is pretty much exactly what I would want, should I be looking for a blue suede dress. Only maybe I'd like it long enough to cover my knees.

However I don't think I'd really like to be wearing "that blue suede dress from h&m". Not because it's from h&m but because people would recognise it, it's like a label, I think that's why. It's not a lovely blue dress.

I like the grey one too. I have no idea how much they were originally but I guess less than the £180 buy it now price.

I also found these.

From wallis, £95, asos, £150, topshop, £150. I don't think I've ever been in a wallis shop.

Also these..

 

From best behavior, £370 and won hundred, £260.

This velvet dress is at topshop. I like it but it's tricky to tell how long it is. It looks knee length on the mannequin that's probably quite tall, so maybe it is a good sensible length. It has the little shape at the front that is a bit distressing for the knees.

Hmm.

It's £60 which is good.

Hmm.

I found these people too. ymc.

I like most of the clothes but sometimes I think the look is not for me. It's a little bit graphic designer.

This shop seems good. I like this coat.

http://www.thethreethreads.com/shop/women/sale/kandi_french/graphite

 

in my excitement I forgot

The day I had been waiting for came, the other day.

The opening of Wilkinsons Walthamstow.

I love wilkos. There were things that I had been waiting to get since we moved.

This is the hoard..

Lots of good things including pom bears, cat collars, a handsom dustpan and brush (I think it's a coal scuttle really) wooden pegs and the greenforce washing up liquid which I like.

It is about 3 minutes from our house. How good!

washing with mud and nuts

I might have mentioned before how I've become a little obsessed with what things are made from, and mistrustful of ingredients or materials that sound too much like things I do not know.

I've been looking at the lables on shampoo.

Accidently, whilst looking for a morrocan dress, I found a place selling rhassoul clay and other bits for the hamam. I have seen it before and even bought some for putting in scrubs, but reading all about it on this site really got me excited. www.naturalspasupplies.co.uk

They have a little set "The Lowest Carbon Footprint Strip Wash Challenge Clay & Alum" which is an introduction to strip washing as a day to day alternative to having a shower. I really like this idea. I'm not that fond of having a shower, for reasons I cant really put my finger on I don't like the washing.

Last night in our hill billy shared bath, I used some of the rhassoul I had from before instead of facewash, shower gel, shampoo and conditioner. It really did feel nice just using one thing and is very pleasant to smear the clay all over, mildly scrubby and nice and slidy. The hair was less fun as mine is quite long now and I'm a wimp with combing it, especially when it's wet. But it cleaned really well! I didn't think it would on my hair and it was exactly like using conditioner not that horrible squeaky pully thing when only using shampoo.

Revelation.

So the parcel of goodies I ordered came today..

Lovely and all wrapped up nicely, with a handwritten note from the lady that runs the shop, fantastic. There is rhassoul clay, argan oil, alum crystal, hand whittled wooden spoon and soapnuts.

 

Soapnuts you say? Yes, nuts for washing! I think they are really a kind of dried fruit. You use them in a sock in the washing machine instead of washing powder! WOW! I haven't tried them yet so can't say how good they'll be. You can use essential oil in the conditioner tray to make it smell nice.

So we are going to try the clay washing and the soapnuts and slowly turn into hippies.

bedouin

I have a fascination with complicated traditional clothing, big things in layers like kimonos for example. Things made of wool.

I'd like to be this lady.

Look at this.



I haven't come across anywhere I can get such things.

jumpsuit

I found this after yet another web search for woollen leggings. Where are all the wool leggings that should exist?

www.beaumontorganic.com

I had my buying finger all ready to go when I saw these, alas, they are out of stock.

I cant quite work out some of the clothes, and I'm not keen on all the colours, or at least how heavily the beige is featured. But I like how everything feels a bit like it's from the homestead.

I like the buttons on things.

I will keep an eye on them.

I'd like the undies if they were not white. Maybe the blue of the jumpsuit above.

'lotment

I went down to the allotment to do work for the first time yesterday. In the excitement and then tiredness I forgot to actually take photos of my plot. Here is the view across the site, its pretty big. A bit like what I imagine a shanty town to look like but with more green in between the rickety shacks. Some of the sheds are actually quite fancy and definitely pushing the 2 square meter area I was told is allowed. My shed is quite sturdy of frame but falling down in the walls a bit. It's also about 3 inches too low to stand upright in, which is particularly frustrating. It was really full of junk,  alot of which made up from a really rather large pile of soil.
Why was there soil piled up in the shed?
I also had to clear a big collection of sawn off plastic water bottles. From underneath plants and all around. Hmmm.
I also found several lone gardening gloves around, this I disapprove of. No.

I dug up some potatoes that had been left behind, and found two small fennel plants.

I tried to plant my bulbs but underneath the grass in the orchard area was both a layer of carpet and a layer of fabric weed stopper stuff. Under the grass. Rubbish. I couldn't pull it up on my own so no bulbs for me yet.

I need this guy to help me...

Or rather Ralph needs some kind of linen smock and a hat.
He's grafting a fruit tree. I found him whilst trying to understand about how big a cherry tree will grow. As now is a good time to be planting substantial things I had a bit of a trawl to find the things I want.

The plot is pretty much split in half, with one side having been left and one side with beds that have been cultivated. The wild side has the apple trees and and the blackberry hedge. I am going to keep this side for my native plot of edible wild plants. Possibly apart from fruit bushes, but the thought will be there.

Mmmmmm.

I got my tools, I got these....

So I looked around and I saw the Spear and Jackson traditional range and ordered a border spade and border fork. I don't like saying it but I found a good deal on tesco for two for £30. I went to pick them up from the store and the fork handle was broken. "do you want to keep it?" I was asked. Of course not, it is broken.
So I got my refund.
And no more shopping from tesco online.
I hunted some more and found the Joseph Bentley traditional range and found them for good prices at gardencentreonline and a couple of other places. I did my favourite put all the stuff in the basket of several shops and then panic to choose which place to buy from. I got them from gardencentreonline.co.uk and treated myself to next day delivery.
I have never done that before.
The parcel came and I was very excited. It is all great.
Seeing the spear and jackson next to the joseph bentley you can really see the difference. They look pretty much the same in the picture but they are not. The joseph bentley things are very fine. The secateurs are less splendid, I think the handles could have been a little neater but they are still nice to use.

We will see how they all fair as I really start to use them, I've never really had big tools before, I used cutlery in my last garden.

More next time on the actual plants.
I am plotting for my half barrel pond. Crispa, lilies.
Plants for my edible wild area.

Ooh, I also got my wax jacket, for 99p from ebay. Cool. I suppose there will be photos. It is stinky.

a couple of new obsessions

I keep getting sucked into the inteweb in the hunt for the correct things.

Currently I'm after....

Sheepskin fingerless gloves. These are from celtic sheepskin, but as they are "one size" I'm obviously suspicious that they wont be my size and I'd like them to fit.










Still on the sheepskin theme, I'd like some new slippers, some warm ones, some sensible ones that dont make me look like a teenage girl at a sleep-over. I've had some nice ones that I got in topshop years ago, burgandy "velvet" in which a put fleecy insoles. These have lost the will to live and have gone all baggy, it's so sad.

I like these in toast, which are obviously not sheepskin however it's the same train of thought ...









... but I think I might need some warm ones too (ie I need two pairs!)  These are from Nursey of Bungay.





I would like to get a good waterproof coat for going out in the rain, to the allotment for example. I'd like a nice long wax jacket. All the second hand ones on ebay seem to be huge, all the new ones are many, many pounds.
This is a Drizabone one, great.

And what I really would like is an old wool kimono (I think they might all have different names but I haven't worked that out yet).

Arrrgh!