I’VE MOVED!
Come on over to the new improved site called
Going Pete Tong…
Was listening to the radio while doing the washing up tonight (it’s all rock n roll round our gaff). Can’t get my fave 6music (the station of choice for senior indie / raver citizens) because the supposed infallible digital signal makes everything sound like very loud daleks under water. Anyway, guess who was on good old analogue radio 1? Pete Tong! Well blow me. Took me back to circa 1992, sitting in bedsit land in kentish town. I used to religiously tape Tongy’s show and then use my double cassette deck (really showing my age now!) to edit together intricate mixes of all the songs. This was before I graduated onto actual vinyl and a set of actual decks. Never got further than DJing at home but hey, I had fun.
So Tongy’s still “avin it large” all these years later. I did notice the tunes were slighty more on the ambient side these days but you have to hand it to the guy for still doing what he obviously loves. He seems to be passionate about it all.I think you can tell when a presenter is just going through the motions and reading a script written by someone else. But even Tongy seems like the new kid on the block compared to the amazing Annie Nightingale who is still helping millions of people discover new dance music after I’m guessing nearly 40 years in the biz. Now that’s dedication! I love Annie. I had the privilege on working with her a few times answering the phones for her radio show. She was a joy to spend time with. Knowledgeable, gracious and fiercely passionate about her music but also with the biggest dirty laugh around. If you’re up late Friday or early Saturday, give her show a listen. I bet there’s some good music to wash up to…
Frosty cows
Was so glad to see the cows were let out of the shed and into the field at the back of the house yesterday. The farmer’s finally come to clean them out. It’s always exciting to see life in the field when it’s been empty for so long. Especially because it always takes you by surprise. “Oh look! The cows are back!” Did feel sorry for them out in the freezing cold though the last few days. Here they are in the frost and mist. Probably just glad to be out of their own umska I expect. 
Been fiddling about with the camera a bit today to try and figure out some of it’s more scarey “manual settings” eek! This was the view “of” and “through” the front door …
Paints and Adventures At The Launderette
We did some painting yesterday with the lovely new poster paints R got for xmas.
Not sure who was more excited with it all, especially when we got down to the technical stuff ie. red and blue makes ? red and yellow makes?? blue and yellow makes??? Amazing stuff. I get a bit distracted putting the newspaper on the table because I’m reading all these headlines and 
articles mostly for the first time and it reminds me that there is actually a grown up world going on out there somewhere. Talk about “yesterday’s news”. More like “3 months ago’s news”.
After lunch we had to get a scoot on because we needed to wash and dry some stuff at the launderette (pipes to our machine frozen as it’s outside in the lean-to) and fit in a 
carwash and trip to the swings, all before time to make tea. Believe me, with the worlds most talented dawdler in tow (R’s quite slow too!) , this is a challenging list of errands.
It set me thinking that despite us spending most of our time together, mine and R’s world’s are so totally different. Her version of the afternoon would have read something like: Mummy says I have to turn off my favourite programme. She says we can go and see imaginary friend #1 in the launderette and take him to the swings. Imaginary friend #2 is coming with us too so I have to put his boots on and help him with his carseat buckle. I want to walk on the pavement by myself like that other girl. Why do I keep banging into big people? Mummy pulls me too quickly into shops. What happens when I move all the little boxes off this shelf? There’s a robin. My face looks funny in the washing machine. There’s some big boys at the playground!! I want to go on my swing and fly high in the sky like a bird! And so it goes on. It’s amazing that we manage to get anything done at all together seeing as our agendas are so different.
mud n sunsets
Today I decided we would go down the field to see our friends rather than take the much longer route on the path. I remembered when I was on a steep bank knee deep in mud carrying all 3 stones of R, why I’d decided not to do that again the last time.
The gorgeous sunshine and crisp frost gave me a false sense of security. That was until the layer of ice broke and plunged us into the goo. A few drinks, biccies, chats and changes of borrowed socks and trousers later, poor R had to endure the long way home via the proper path with her foot inside a freezer bag inside her wet welly. Of course she’ll be scarred for life.
The tea was very late tonight and to add to the rush, there was a brilliant orange sky at sunset which I decided I would try and photograph. I couldn’t get a proper focus the night before so I decided tonight I would dig the tripod out that I have never used and see if that helped. Course by the time I’d elongated all the legs and turned all the knobs this way and that, there wasn’t enough light to focus on ought at all!
Still, I’ve had fun going through my archive of old piccies tonight so why not let’s enjoy a sunset from july 2005. Much more dramatic than tonights anyway so here yar…
Domestic Goddess In Training
I have an issue with my oven. It’s cack. I know this because it turns out rubbish cakes. Roasts and biscuits and home-made pizza it likes but it has a problem with cakes. This is a shame because anyone that knows me knows that cake is a major part of my life and my midriff.
I did make the lemon cupcakes …
but they came out with hard biscuity tops. They taste good and they look good though so all ok at this stage. Next in my recipe it says pour the rose water icing over. Now I can’t blame this next bit on my oven. The picture in the book looks sophisticated: subtle pink icing delicately drizzled on with crystalized rose petals floating daintily on top. Well, ahem. I did put a photo of mine here but they looked so much like a bunch of toddlers had an accident that I have deemed the picture too offensive and taken it down. Let’s just hope I can pretend that R made them.
Cakemare also happened with R’s birthday carrot cake last week. Nearly burnt to a crisp on top in the oven but - help - still wobbling crazily underneath. Managed to get it cooked through by covering the top with greaseproof to stop it browning (thanks mum in law for the tip!) but then my cream cheese icing went all runny and had to replace it with butter icing which dragged all the cake crumbs along with it threatening a pebble dash appearance. Managed to bring it back from the brink again by carefully sculpting the icing with my hands. I quite enjoyed that – they would have called it “messy play” at R’s nursery. A few sliced strawberries hid the nightmare at the bottom and hey presto, got away with it by the skin of my teeth:
Don’t think you need to watch your back yet Nigella
Things Happen In 3s?
Oh dear. P fell this morning whilst DIYing and smashed a picture frame. Now we have a flat tyre. Wondering what the 3rd calamity may be. That is if you don’t count me not catching R at the bottom of the slide this morning and her landing on her bot in the mud – ouch!
Hoping to make some scrummy lemon cupcakes with rosewater icing this afto for our family day tomorrow…
up late again
I’ve had a sneaky slurp of the bullace (wild plum) vodka tonight to see if it was tasty enough to give some to my brother as a belated xmas prez. Yum! It tasted of cherries. I’m going to leave the rest of the fruit steeping nicely for another few months…
I was looking for some inspiration for how to bottle it up (and the sloe gin that I’m yet to make) so was googling for some images of home-made liqueurs. Just come across this amazing blog which has the most beautiful pics of homemade food, homemade drink, homemade well just about everything.
Images of stylish dinner parties in a new york apartment, exquisite handmade gifts for friends.
Who is this creative genius? Turns out it’s not only me that thinks so. She’s originally from the UK and an award winning designer. And she grew up in Brum! So I’ve sent her a note to tell her she’s brill. I expect she’ll be green with envy when she reads I used to live in Redditch…
i loves sunsets…
One of the lovely sunsets from the kitchen window
The branch in the foreground is elder and how Im SO hoping they will grow back this year since we asked the farmer if he would do the hedge a “trim” and he’s hacked the whole thing clean away.
Actually, now Im looking more closely, I think its the hawthorne but I’m still hoping the elderberries return! I need to go and consult my specialist shrub silhouette expert… I may be some time…
