Busy: sorting, cooking, kittens, art and more...
Category LifeOh lordy, I do apologise for neglecting the blog recently (well for the last 6 weeks to be precise), but to be honest we have been busy.
The seemingly never-ending sorting of the flat has, seemingly, come to an end. For the time being anyway. With all cupboards, drawers, boxes, shelves and stacks having been gone through at least twice each and rearranged to suit the flat’s new status of ‘married quarters’ ;) If you had told me when we started that we could take soooooooooo much stuff out of the flat - with regular runs going to, among others: local charity shops (Goodwill), the dump, the recycling plant, Muma’s local church bazaar, Muma’s rental cottages, my Brother’s new student flat – I would have laughed in your faces. But we have and the place does, finally, feel a lot tidier, more sorted and less cluttered. In the words of Ann Maurice from The House Doctor (http://www.housedoctor.co.uk/) we have ‘de-cluttered’. I hasten to add that we have not ‘de-personalised’, but as we are not trying to see our flat that is, luckily, not a recommendation.
[digression and mini rant] I do hate this idea that people cannot look beyond the decorating style or room use preferences/needs of the current owners of a property when they are looking at it with a view to buy it. Examples of ‘Oh no, the sofa’s in the wrong place.’ ‘I don’t like the colour of the paint/wallpaper on the walls.’ ‘Its not clean.’ and others drive me mad.
Much of Ann’s house presentation advice is in the common sense vein of ‘remove stuff you don’t need, sort, categorise and then store stuff you do need away, leaving you with a more spacious feeling place that will require less time and effort to keep clean and tidy’ which I wholeheartedly approve of.
However she then moves into the arena of ‘depersonalisation’ which entails painting your entire house magnolia and making it look like an IKEA catalogue, so that the poor darlings with no imagination can tell that your house is the sort of space they want to live in. Heaven forbid they might have to imagine how the room you use as a study could be furnished as a guest bedroom or that the blue walls of the kitchen could be painted magnolia when they move in. That requires far too much brainpower.
So instead of educating people in the way of ‘seeing beyond the surface’ we pander to their inability to be anything but superficial and, in pursuit of that all-important sale, we dumb-down.
(It seems to me that so much in life can be considered in to fall into the same trap, politicians, world leaders to name but a few ;) )
All is not doom and gloom though. For those of us who can see beyond orange walls, outdated bathrooms and appreciate a space for what it can be used for by ourselves we are likely to be able to pick up more of a bargain in the property market than our less open-minded rivals. Yay! [/digression and mini rant]
So, having de-cluttered to an extent that I think Ann would be proud of we have started to entertain again. I cannot remember the last time I cooked supper for more than two of us so many times in such a short space of weeks. It has been great fun. We have had our great friends Lewis & Sarah round, Alison and last week our Chief Bridesmaid C was up in Scotland for about 36 hours and managed to fit us in for the evening! It has been a blast to use all our wedding presents and we thank everyone for them again. I have merrily been making one hell of a mess of the kitchen in pursuit of 4-course meals and loving it :D
The cooking has inspired me to run another series of recipes for the blog and I thought we’d have a baking theme for a while. Now despite that I can’t eat these at the moment (the diet is working so I am sticking to it) I have been enjoying making things for my hubby’s delight so everyday this week there will be a baking recipe for you to share in that delight. Today: Banana Bread (see separate post, which will be along in a minute or two once I find the people I need to acknowledge!) And – humble apologies to Chris - I shall also post the hints and tips on roasting chickens and other birds.
On other, but related, fronts we have been updating certain bits of the flat with new lanterns and rugs in the hall and various bits and bobs throughout really.
Deserving of specific mention are:
- Our kittens: They are still so cute. They are getting really good at gymnastics. They still fight like cat-and-dog. They love being in our company which is great and bodes really well for the future when we want them to act as hot water bottles on laps etc. But it does mean that when we go to bed - which always seems to just when they are waking up again – they come and have their play-fight …on our bed making sleep a little difficult as you wait in the dark and wonder if/when your toes are going to be the target of attack! Masses of pics of the little darlings are available here on flickr should you wish to see.
- Our new TARDIS of a fridge/freezer: We have gone 'american'! A double-doored fridge freezer now takes up a lot of our kitchen. It is greatand if the hot weather continues we might just hide in it. Pics here on flickr.
- Our art purchases: Untitled and Angel Standing By. Pictures of both are available here on flickr. You’ll remember the Angel thing. Well she has arrived, has been framed and has taken up her post watching over our bedroom. She is positioned so I can see her when I lie in bed and, as far as I am concerned, is the earthly representation of my Guardian Angel. Strangely she has a sister who is living in Dublin, but you’d have to ask Paul about that ;) Our BIG purchase is stunning and my photography cannot do it justice. It is a screen print on paper with a series of stripes of beautiful and striking colours. To achieve the finished effect it has been repeated 25 times and the resultant depth of colour and 3-Dness of it is beautiful. It now proudly overshadows our dining table and IT IS FAB.
- Our blender: Now I know that may seem a little daft among these important and rather large things, but I have never come across one so competent. It was one of our wedding presents and we will forever be grateful to Alan and Barbara for it. It has a wonderful 1.5litre glass jug with the blades being detachable allowing you to clean all the bits properly, in the dishwasher and the jug will not crack/go yellow over time. It is perfectly capable of crushing ice should you need it and has a setting specifically for that and one for smoothies alongside the normal min -> max dial. It also has something that I have never seen before on a blender – a filter. This I designed so it fits over the blades, inside the jug. You then fill it with raspberries (or whatever you are preparing that has pips/bits) and use as normal. The filter allows all the juice etc to flow out into the jug whilst holding the pips/bits inside so you don’t have to sieve it afterwards! There is also a coarse-grade filter on the lid to allow you to pour the contents would of the jug whilst holding back the bits. This, coupled with its huge capacity, is simply brilliant for pureeing and sieving soups in one go. Here she is on-line.Well done Philips.
Aside from all that as you will have seen from Warren’s blog, BE Systems are hiring and muggings here is madly pulling together an HR department’s worth of stuff for them hence there may be some radio silence again this week (aside from the recipes) as I write numerous Policies, Procedures, Documents, template forms, letters, schedules etc.
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Comments
Well, I guess there are a few guidelines I use when posting recipies, but please don't mistake me for an expert on all things technical ;)
Firstly, make sure that if you are using a recipe from a book that you attrribute it properly. You'll notice that I always list the book title and author in my recipe posts so that you aren't pretending something is your own when it is not. The same goes for when you do recipes that you get from friends - always credit them, even if only by first name or 'My Mum' or whatever (remember that not everyone is happy with their full name being put out there on the big bad www.)
Secondly, if you know that there is a little knack you use to make a book-found recipe better or a sign you use to know that something is 'ready' / 'mixed' / 'done' then add it into the text - they are invaluable, especially to those who are less proficient. My husband always says that he doesn't know how he is supposed to know when something is 'done' and I guess that those of us who cook a lot get to know over time or were taught so long ago that we don't realise we learnt it.
Put up recipes you like. Unless there is a specific reason, like someone has requested something you don't normally cook, there is little use in writing about things that you don't enjoy - it often comes over in the text and can put a downer on the rest of the blog.
Also, if you are posting a recipe that you have never actually cooked yourself, state that clearly. As we know some recipes need a little amendment or adjustment and it is unfair to your readers not to give them fair warning that you haven't tried it yet and it is therefore not filled with your usual 'failsafe' tips.
Most of all, go visit loads of sites and see how they do it - take what you like of their style and use it if it suits you.
The most cooking-orientated recipe on my blogroll (list of links on the left hand side) is the tao of fish - she has some lovely things and I recommend it.
Thanks for stopping by and I'll keep an eye on your site. :)
Posted by T At 16:07:24 On 15/09/2006 | - Website - |
Thank you,
Maggie.
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