namesofthedead

Vegan banana/chocolate chunk/peanut butter muffins

2011-02-20T02:11:00.000-08:00

this recipe is loosely based on one from http://www.theppk.com/ but I changed it a lot, so am posting it here. They are really tasty.

you will need:
115g plain flour
115g cornmeal
65g sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp flaky sea salt
1 mashed banana
2 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
100ml rapeseed oil
120ml soy milk (plus extra if needed)
squeeze of lemon juice
50g dairy-free dark chocolate, smashed into bits

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees

Combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder in one bowl, make sure there are no lumps.
In another bowl whisk together the banana, peanut butter, oil, lemon juice and soy milk. Add this to the dry ingredients. If your mixture looks too thick then add some more soy milk to make it runnier, you want a thick batter texture.
Fold in the chocolate bits.
Pour into greased muffin tins, fill them 3/4 of the way to the top.
Bake for 18 minutes.

BUNNIES

2011-01-10T09:22:00.000-08:00

this now serves as the mask for 'hippy predator'

BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA

2011-01-10T09:19:00.000-08:00

I set myself the challenge of making this in 14 days. I went one day over. Never mind. Felt like a penance as the back and sleeves in plain black = BORING!

Quite pleased with it though.

Please note that 'blunt force trauma' is not a music reference, merely the type of injuries one gets from being hit with a heavy object eg. sledgehammer. Good.

THANKS IT'S BEEN A RIOT

2011-01-10T09:14:00.000-08:00

Everyone loses, no-one wins
I have seen the future and this is how it begins
In chaos and riots, the screech of machines
No right and no wrong and no in between
Fall one by one, the queen to her fool
Dos dedos mis amigos - everything's cool
-PWEI

Molotov cocktail and 1970s kids TV presenter colours. Niiiiice.

BE PURE! BE VIGILANT! BEHAVE!

2011-01-10T09:07:00.000-08:00

Handknit, crap acrylic yarn. Inspired by Margaret Atwood, George Orwell, Banksy, 2000 AD, state surveillence and paranoia (unless of course a paranoid is simply a person in posession of all the facts). It's pink because that's the yarn I had in sufficient quantities.

Be pure!
You can be chaste, you can behave
You can be mine, you'll be my cure
Be my religion, be my decision
You'll be my crime, you will be mine - Raymond Watts

new paintings

2011-01-09T07:00:00.000-08:00

click to embiggen.

it's taken me months to get these finished, that is shameful.

the horror of cooking

2009-10-05T09:02:00.000-07:00

I tend to reserve my point and laugh posts for knitwear, however today I will make an exception. My mum got this book cheap in a sale, and thought that she'd picked up a real bargain. She's a strict vegan so a huge book of tofu recipes sounds like the perfect purchase, right? WRONG! This is no normal cookbook, there is something deeply and fundamentally wrong with it.

The Giant Book of Tofu Cooking

So, it's a book about cooking with tofu. There are lots of recipes, for everything from starters, to main courses, desserts, sauces, baked goods. It's certainly not lacking in scope. What it is lacking in however is nutritional good sense and potentially edible recipes.

Call me presumptuous if you like, but I would assume that tofu would be used as the main protein ingredient in the recipes, or as a replacer for eggs or dairy. What I was not expecting was to see it used alongside eggs, cheese and butter. It seems as if the tofu has been added to recipes for no decent reason. For example, there is a recipe for hoummous in here where some of the chickpeas have been substituted for tofu. Why? I have no idea. Another wonderful example is:
"Southern fried tofu with tofu-enhanced mashed potatoes - looking for some homemade country cooking without all the fat? Read on. Serve with cornbread and coleslaw for a complete Southern meal."

It's panfried tofu cubes, served with potatoes that are mashed together with soft tofu. I don't know if it's just me, but this sounds both bland and nightmarish.

For the most part, the tofu in these recipes is used unmarinaded which as anyone who has eaten plain tofu will know, is horribly bland. The few recipes that do call for marinading are the most edible looking out of the whole book. Which brings me to my next criticism - bizarre ingredient combinations only a maniac could have dreamed up.
Here's a few of the most "interesting" sounding:

"Gazpacho - We've added some tropical flair to this traditional Spanish soup with the addition of sweet pineapple"

This is vandalism! Why would you do that? Gazpacho doesn't need pineapple in it. It also doesn't need diced plain tofu sprinkled on top like soggy, dreadful croutons.

"Mediterranean Banana Tortilla wedges - Mediterranean cuisine is known for its delicious and surprising flavour combinations. These crispy tortilla wedges are filled with savory layers of banana, tofu and fresh cilantro. Serve with a big bowl of chilled salsa."
There is nothing Mediterranean about combining tortillas, bananas, coriander and salsa. I am almost tempted to make this just to see how horrible it really is but that would be a waste of food and time. This sounds absolutely stomach churningly revolting.

Other things worthy of special mention are a supposedly South African dish made from onions, bread, raisins, nuts, chutney and chunks of tofu topped off with savoury egg custard and baked, a pasta bake that contains tomatoes, cinnamon, yoghurt, ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, and tofu, pumpkin and tofu pancakes, and that traditional Spanish dessert, tofu flan.

This reads like an elaborate joke. I will have hours of fun reading the recipes and rolling about on the floor convulsed with laughter. However I can't imagine ever wanting to eat any of this.

If you're mad enough to want to buy it after reading this review then it's available on Amazon here. I think anyone posting good reviews is clearly mental.

quick and really easy noodle soup

2009-04-05T12:39:00.000-07:00

This soup is really quick and easy, requires no cooking (or almost no cooking), and tastes nice. Recipe does one big bowl, enough for one person as a main course.

You need a handful each of fresh noodles, chopped vegetable of some kind and chopped greens. I used bok choy and kai lan, but any kind of cabbage or spinach would work. You could substitute any vegetable you want, but hard vegetables like broccoli or carrots would need to be blanched first in boiling water.
For protein, use a handful of unsalted roasted peanuts. Deep-fried tofu, cut into small cubes, is a good addition as well.
Other tasty things to include are finely chopped garlic and ginger, chillies, sliced spring onions, fresh coriander and garlic chives. You can put meat or fish in if you want I suppose.
For the soup base, add a teaspoon of vegetable stock powder, a teaspoon of hot chilli sauce (Sriracha), a tablespoon of soy sauce and a dollop of hoi sin sauce.

Pile everything into a bowl, pour on boiling water from the kettle. Put a plate on top of the bowl, allow to sit for a couple of minutes. Remove plate, stir and eat.

For an even lazier method which requires no soup base ingredients, try using instant noodles. Put the noodles in a saucepan with the contents of the flavour sachet and about 2 mugs of water. Boil until the noodles are cooked through. Put all the other ingredients (vegetables, etc) in a bowl, pour the noodles and broth over the top.

lentil sauce

2009-04-05T12:27:00.000-07:00

This is something my Mum always cooked when I was little, and tasting it makes me nostalgic. It's also really tasty, whether on top of pasta, topped with mashed potatoes and baked to make a vegan shepherd's pie, or add a bit of water to it and blend it to make soup. Quantities are not exact, this makes about 6 servings. The cumin seeds in this recipe are vital to it tasting right.

2 tins of tomatoes
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
4 or 5 stalks of celery, including the leaves, diced
3 medium carrots, diced
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp cooking sherry
200g dried red lentils
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp soy sauce
olive oil for frying the vegetables
salt and pepper, if needed

-Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan and fry the onion until it is soft. Add the garlic, fry for another minute or so.
-Add the celery and carrots. Fry for a couple of minutes and then add the lentils, tinned tomatoes, tomato paste, cumin, soy sauce and sherry.
-Turn the heat down and simmer until the lentils are cooked through. This could take about 30 minutes. Check the sauce often and add some water if it looks like the sauce is getting too dry.
-Add salt and pepper if you want, then eat. This freezes really well, btw.

Website update!

2009-03-16T07:40:00.000-07:00

My site is back up, lots of new stuff is on there, and the whole thing has had a little nip and tuck so it's far less minging.

click on the banner to view.

SIGNS AND PORTENTS

2009-02-19T09:30:00.000-08:00

Spewed from the deepest pit of Hell, it is here. A creation entirely foul and unholy. A horror, a blemish on the face of the world.

Once described as "the sort of thing Gyles Brandreth would wear when he returns from Hell to mark the start of the apocalypse"* , there is no excuse for this type of thing, no reason for such a horror to exist.

That'll teach you. Don't EVER challenge me saying (while pointing at a horrible Christmas jumper on the television) "I bet you couldn't knit anything as bad as that" because I will make something far, far worse.

Handknitted. Nasty acrylic yarn, never been near a sheep. Charts mostly courtesy of searching for "free knitting chart", apart from the shagging reindeer which are from ravelry.com and designed by Anne Rutten. Swastikas and small text chart designed by me.

*Yes, I know Gyles Brandreth isn't actually dead yet. Don't know who he is? Google him, it's not nice.

greenish bento

2008-11-27T04:34:00.001-08:00

Broccoli, stir fried with a bit of oyster sauce, cherry tomatoes, takuan. Spinach noodles with some spicy furikake on top, tamagoyaki with chilli flakes mixed into the egg, small bottle of soy sauce.
It wasn't meant to be mostly green, it just worked out that way when I found the only noodles I had were the spinach ones.

New experience in dining

2008-11-27T02:55:00.000-08:00

Ben and I went to this restaurant with our friend Al. He eats there often and told me it was excellent, and he was right.
I'd never had Ethiopian food before, but I will most certainly be having it again. Everything on the review website I linked to is true, nice atmosphere, really friendly staff, delicious Ethiopian beer, and amazing food.
We ordered 2 of the vegetarian combinations (one had spicy red lentils, stewed yellow split peas and spinach, the other was the same but with greens and carrots, and a portion of cabbage), some curd cheese, and some stewed chicken with hardboiled eggs. The food was served with a huge plate (at least 50cm across) of flat bread, which had a texture a lot like crumpets and flavour remeniscent of buckwheat and sourdough. The bread went in the middle of the table and the vegetables and stews were put on it in heaps, which are scraped up with torn off pieces of bread.
Everything was absolutely delicious, and the amount of food ordered fed 3 of us with no problem. The bill was £39, including drinks, which we all thought was a bargain considering how good and plentiful the food was.
If you're in London this place is highly recommended. We will definitley be going back. It's also very much vegetarian and vegan-friendly.

disappointment

2008-11-26T05:19:00.001-08:00

I thought it was an einstuerzende neubauten logo on this wine for a second. It turned out not to be.
Sad face.

vegetable lasagne

2008-11-26T05:17:00.000-08:00

I made this last night. It was going to be dairy-free but then I spotted some cheese on offer at the shop and decided to put some on the top. You could leave it off if you want, it would still be nice.
This will feed 4 people if you make a salad to go with it.

YOU WILL NEED:
-an onion
-4 cloves of garlic
-2 tins of tomatoes
-3 red peppers
-half a bag of fresh spinach leaves
-sherry (NOT cream sherry), medium sherry is best. Or you can use mirin instead if you want.
-soy sauce
-salt
-pepper
-10 or 12 sheets of lasagne pasta
-a handful of chopped walnuts
-mozzarella cheese
-olive oil
-handful of fresh basil or about 2 teaspoons dried basil

HOW TO MAKE:

TOMATO SAUCE
-Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the chopped onion and fry over a medium heat until the onion has gone transparent.
-Add the garlic and fry for another couple of minutes.
-Add the tomatoes, a bit of sherry and some soy sauce (about a tablespoon of each is ok to start with), and simmer until the sauce is reduced and thick.
-Stir in the basil and taste. Add salt and pepper if needed. I didn't as I felt the soy sauce made it salty enough but it's a matter of individual taste.

ROASTED PEPPERS
-Pre-heat oven to 250 degrees centigrade or equivalent.
-Cut the peppers into quarters, discard stalks, seeds and membranes.
-Put them on a baking sheet, skin side facing up.
-Put this in the oven and roast, checking every so often, until the skins are blackened and blistered. This takes about 15 minutes.
-Once they are cooked, remove the peppers from the oven and put them in a plastic bag, tie the top to seal it. Allow the peppers to cool inside the bag.
-Now take the peppers out of the bag and peel off the skins. They should come off easily with your fingers.
-Cut the roasted peppers into strips.

TO ASSEMBLE THE LASAGNE
-Bring a large pan of water to the boil and put in the lasagne pasta sheets. Boil for about 5 minutes and drain. The pasta will be partially cooked.
-Put a layer of tomato sauce in the bottom of an ovenproof dish.
-Cover this with sheets of pasta.
-Put half the spinach leaves on top of this, sprinkle with half the roasted peppers and half the walnuts. Cover with pasta.
-Another layer of tomato sauce, then a layer of pasta.
-Now add the rest of the spinach, peppers and walnuts. Cover with the last of the pasta.
-Put the remainder of the tomato sauce on top of the pasta and cover with thin slices of mozzarella.
-Put the dish in a preheated oven (220 degrees centigrade is ok) and bake for about 25 minutes or so, the cheese should be brown and bubbly and all the spinach should be wilted.
-Eat.

fake duck bento

2008-11-25T07:13:00.000-08:00

Mock duck, cucumber, spring onions, noodles and hoi sin sauce.
The fake duck is not the same as real duck by any means but I do rather like it.

curry is good

2008-11-25T07:00:00.000-08:00

mmmmmmmm.... vegetable curry with spiced rice.

really hit the spot in this horrible weather.

delicious sweeties

2008-11-16T03:45:00.000-08:00

Yumminess from the Indian cash and carry in Neasden.

the orange box keeps making appearances.

2008-11-16T03:24:00.000-08:00

This box isn't the nicest colour for making food look appetising, but the size and shape are just perfect, so it gets used often.
Contains: sweet pepper and onion confit, wakame and cucumber salad, and rice, with a bit of takuan and a small bottle of soy sauce for the rice.

pizza...

2008-11-13T04:18:00.000-08:00

Homemade pizza is heaven

bento backlog

2008-11-13T04:11:00.000-08:00

Gnocchi with butternut squash, cooked in chilli, garlic, thyme and olive oil. With raw spinach, tomato, and gherkins in the small compartment as a side salad.

VEGGIE DONBURI BENTO

This could easily be made vegan by missing out the egg, that would turn it into a kind of sloppy (but still tasty) stir-fry.
You could use chicken, beef or pork instead of the tofu, and use whatever vegetables you happen to have laying around.

YOU WILL NEED: (this made 3 portions, enough for me and Ben for our dinner, plus one to go in my lunchbox to take to work the next day)
-Tofu, sliced to about 0.5cm thick. I used 4 of the cubes of deep-fried frozen tofu you can get from Chinese supermarkets, but you could swap it for half a block of normal firm tofu, drained.
-A handful of frozen peas.
-Spinach. I used about 1/4 of a large bag of fresh spinach leaves. Pile in way more than you think you need as this shrinks like crazy.
-Mushrooms, about 4 big ones or equivalent amount of small ones, sliced.
-1 red chilli.
-2cm long piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated.
-3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped.
-3/4 of a mug full of stock. I used vegetable stock.
-4 tablespoons soy sauce.
-4 eggs, beaten.
-A splash of mirin or sweet sherry.
-1 teaspoon sesame oil.
-Sunflower or groundnut oil for stir-frying.
-Hot cooked rice, as much as you would usually eat. It doesn't have to be Japanese style rice, any sort would work.

HOW TO MAKE:
-Heat the sunflower oil in a wok or a big frying pan. You need one with a lid, this is important later.
-Add the chilli, ginger, garlic, tofu and mushrooms.
-Stir-fry (carefully if you're using block tofu so you don't break it, more violently is ok with the fried sort) until the garlic has gone golden.
-Pour in the stock, soy sauce, mirin and sesame oil.
-Add the spinach and frozen peas and simmer until the spinach has wilted.
-Pour the eggs on top of everything and put the lid on the pan.
-Cook until the egg is set.
-Serve on top of the hot rice, then pour any sauce in the bottom of the pan over everything.

Etsy shop is online, go see!

2008-11-06T08:04:00.000-08:00

Click here to see my shop
Hand embroidered linen tote bags, hand sewn, embroidered and beaded velvet pouches.
More stuff will be added all the time!

vegatable graveyard

2008-10-29T05:30:00.001-07:00

This bento contained lots of vegetables that had been hanging around in the fridge, sadly wilting.

contents: 3 readymade wontons (bought frozen), brown rice, a small bottle of soy sauce, stir fried red pepper and onion, and namul with pak choi and spinach.

first bento in ages!

2008-10-19T05:17:00.001-07:00

This is the first bento I have made in about 3 months. The reason was I left my full time job to travel, work at festivals and freelance for a bit so packed lunches were not required. Now I'm back in a 'proper' job I need to bring food, so here's the first one.

top tier: gyoza (bought from the freezer section of the Chinese supermarket, I WILL make another batch from scratch but need to find the time), and stir fried veg (edemame, garlic, ginger, pak choi and spring onions.
bottom tier: spinach noodles with creamy peanut sauce and chilli flakes as a garnish and a little extra spicy kick. (To make the sauce, I put some roasted unsalted peanuts in the blender with some nam pla, dark brown sugar and sunflower oil and blitzed it to a paste, then put a large spoonful of this in a small saucepan with a bit of coconut milk, then heated it, stirring all the time until it was not lumpy, then tossed it with the noodles)

Provence

2008-10-13T03:41:00.000-07:00

Montagne Sainte-Victoire and the surrounding countryside, others are of the Calanques.

SATURDAY IS COOKING DAY

2008-09-06T08:49:00.000-07:00

Lovely vegetables from the garden!
Purple beans

Beautiful courgette

And what I did with them:
(both these recipes are vegan, btw)

Garlicy Bean Salad
(makes as much as you want. The quantities for the dressing that I have provided makes enough dressing for about 4 portions)
-Purple beans or french beans, or runner beans, as many as you want
-2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely or minced
-salt
-pepper
-sesame or walnut oil, about a tablespoon
-olive oil, same quantity
-red wine vinegar, a bit less than a tablespoon

Top and tail the beans and cut them into manageable lengths.
Bring a pan of water to the boil (add a bit of salt to it)
Chuck in the beans, boil for one minute, then drain.
Combine the garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil, nut oil and vinegar in a teacup or something and mix it in with the beans.

This is really nice and can be eaten hot or cold. It's really garlicy though, be warned. You could always use less, but I really do like my garlic.
Unfortunately the purple beans lose a lot of their pretty colour when they are cooked.

Courgette & Tomato Sauce
(this recipe makes enough for about 4 people. It stores well in the fridge or freezer)
-one onion, diced
-at least 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
-one big courgette or more smaller courgettes
-2 tins of tomatoes
-olive oil
-bay leaf
-chilli flakes
-2 teaspoons of Marmite (yeast extract)
-salt and pepper for seasoning

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the olive oil and fry the onions until they have gone transparent.
Add the garlic and courgettes and fry for another couple of minutes.
Add the tinned tomatoes (remember to break them up with a spatula if they are not the pre-chopped kind)
Also add the bay leaf, chilli flakes and Marmite.
Cook over a low-ish heat until the sauce is reduced and darker in colour.
Season with salt and pepper to your taste.

This is particularly nice on wholemeal pasta. Of course, it doesn't have to be courgettes, carrots, celery, jerusalem artichoke, turnip, celeriac, sweetcorn, in any combination or alone, will also work. You could also substitute lots of peeled fresh tomatoes for the tinned ones, but this wasn't an option for me since our tomatoes were got by the blight and we didn't get a single edible one. No carrots this year either.

for Camilla

2008-08-27T07:56:00.000-07:00

by request.
'I'll surf this beach', left ankle.

'YOUR MUM'

bleurgh

2008-08-25T06:11:00.000-07:00

I have a cold and am therefore at home feeling icky rather than out enjoying myself.
This better go away soon, I hate it.
I might update this or the food blog later if I can find the motivation. Let's see.

stuff what I have done to my body... COMPLETE LIST

2008-08-21T04:21:00.000-07:00

TATTOO
- entire right arm, solid black
- dragonfly
- beetle
- two rough black blobs that used to be beetles
- two big red roses
- einstuerzende neubauten logo
- smaller red rose and 'AMOR VINCIT OMNIA'
- ?
- hemostat clamps
- lotus with clouds pouring out of it
- severed hand holding skull cup filling with blood
- '7' in Tibetan
- mudra (giving refuge)
- mudra (casting out demons)
- borneo rose with scribbles and 'YOUR MUM'
- heart and eyeballs
- 'I'LL SURF THIS BEACH'
- tiny red heart
- peony
- dzi bead
- suspension hook and rope
- Tibetan rosary
- cotton reel
- 4 psychic crosses/coptic crosses (depending on your views) on the top of each foot
- lotus and bud
- red clouds and squiggles
- robin
- letter 'B' and a little star
- pork pie
- cider bottle

SCAR
- X in a circle, skin removal
- 'BBC' strike brand
- 'OSLO SUSCON' strike brand (didn't come out so well, more like a blob)
- om cutting

HOLES
- pair 5/8" lobes
- pair 14ga second lobes
- pair 8ga traguses
- 14ga left nostril
- 12ga septum (currently no jewelry but still open)
- 10ga tongue
- pair 8ga nipples
- 8ga triangle

stir fried scrambled tofu... thing

2008-08-20T12:22:00.000-07:00

I am not quite sure what to call it, but it's nice. This amount will feed one person.

you need:
cabbage, pak choi or bok choi, 2 big handfuls at least (it shrinks a lot), chopped
firm tofu (about 1/4 block)
1 clove garlic, chopped into little bits
small chunk fresh ginger, peeled and chopped up small
red chilli, deseeded and chopped (as much as you like)
a large spring onion, chopped
fresh coriander, chopped (about a handful)
soy sauce
sesame oil
vegetable oil for stir-frying

these are optional but nice:
sriracha chilli sauce
juice of 1/4 lime
crushed up toasted peanuts

what to do:
-heat a dribble of vegetable oil in a wok and put in the garlic, ginger and chilli.
-stir-fry until the garlic is turning golden.
-crumble in the tofu and stir-fry for a couple of minutes, until the tofu has completely fallen to bits.
-throw in the cabbage, spring onions and coriander, followed by a glug of soy sauce and a trickle of sesame oil. At this point you can put in some sriracha chilli sauce, if you like your food really hot.
-stir-fry until the cabbage has completely wilted.
-eat. If you want, squeeze lime juice on top and sprinkle on the peanuts. Or don't. It's up to you.

this is nice on steamed rice, or with noodles, or even in toasted pitta bread. It's generally really nice. The picture does not show it looking hugely appetising, but it tastes great and looks better than this in real life, promise!

link

2008-07-29T06:13:00.001-07:00

http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/blog/2003_02_01_archive.asp#90366686

not quite science fiction any more

2008-07-11T12:03:00.000-07:00

I am currently re-reading Pattern Recognition. I like it more each time I read it, I think. Not sure about how I feel about the plot as a whole, but I like the way he describes places a lot, especially the descriptions of London, which are uncannily spot-on in places. Feelings coming from a place, he's good at that.
Which reminds me, I need to re-buy Neuromancer. I suppose it says good things about a book when every time I lend it to someone, they don't give it back. And staying on the William Gibson theme, anyone know if Spook Country has actually been published in the UK. Every time I find myself in a bookshop I look for it but I've been unable as yet to find a copy. Suppose I will have to give in and get one ordered for me from a shop or get one from Amazon. If you've read it, is it any good? No spoilers please.

adventures in confectionary

2008-07-10T11:24:00.000-07:00

I am not sure if this really belongs here or in my other blog, food of wrong but here it is. Some candy horrors found on Brighton Pier (naturally, where else?).

Watford seaside rock. Who would have thought Watford warranted it's own rock? It tasted disgusting, not disimmilar to Watford itself.

full English breakfast made from sweets. This made me laugh rather a lot. It is currently residing on the bookcase in my living room, and is far too silly to eat. Although looking at the next photo, a close-up of the label to show all the lovely additives, not eating it might be the healthier option.

I had a look at the website of the people who manufactured this abombination in the hope of finding more novel ideas for things to do with sugar and artificial colourings but it was sadly devoid of a catalogue. rainbowcandies.co.uk - must try harder.

wooden cross pouch

2008-07-10T11:22:00.000-07:00

hand embroidered, design from some flash by Duncan X. The fabric came from an old skirt I never wore.

much rain, damp

2008-07-09T08:19:00.000-07:00

I've updated the list of links, pruned out the dead ones and added on more that I really should have added a while back.

Have some photos.

green fields flag at glastonbury. I don't know if it's just me being immature but that sure does look like a penis.

myself and Veronica, trash city knitting circle

broad bean risotto

2008-07-06T14:22:00.000-07:00

homegrown broad beans are delicious, even more so when popped out of their pods and cooked simply. Here is a vegan risotto recipe that really shows them off to their best advantage.

serves 2 really hungry people or 3 quite hungry people. Quantities are not exact as I never measure anything.

you need:
200g ish arborio risotto rice
a small onion
2 cloves of garlic
vegetables (I used homegrown broad beans from the garden but use whatever you have. Grated courgettes, peas, mushrooms, asparagus, fresh tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, olives... all are good)
herbs (I used fresh lemon balm - the lemony flavour is really nice, and basil but again, whatever you want. Marjoram, thyme, mint or oregano are good too)
a vegetable stock cube dissolved in a litre of hot water. If you run out of stock just add more water
olive oil
salt and pepper

chop the onions into small bits. Do the same with the garlic and other veg.
fry the onions until they are soft.
add garlic and the rice. stir until the rice is completely coated in oil.
add a small amount of the stock. stir until the stock has been absorbed by the rice.
continue like this adding the stock a little at a time until it's been soaked up until you have about 1/4 of the stock left
add your vegetables, continue adding stock a little at a time.
just before you pour in the last bit of stock, add the herbs.
season with salt and pepper how you like.
eat.

mmmmmmmmmm...

old school

2008-07-03T06:43:00.001-07:00

I won one of these on ebay for £8.50. Bargain!

Can't wait to collect it and try it out. It'll be great, a sewing machine where I can sew just about anything including thick rubber and leather as there is no motor to break, just the power of my own arm to shove the needle through but without the stabbed fingers and blisters. Oh, and it requires no electricity, which is awesome. I had a good look at the one Caz has in her tent at Glastonbury and was most impressed.

strawberries from the garden

2008-06-21T09:06:00.000-07:00

look at that last little lumpy one! You won't find strawberries as interesting as this in the supermarket. And they taste MUCH better too.

2008-06-21T09:03:00.000-07:00

I knitted myself a couple of hats from this pattern ready for the winter since my dreads already don't fit well in a beanie and they will be longer come the cold weather so that problem will be worse.

I used Mirasol Hacho in no.309 for the purple and pink one and Manos Del Uruguay silk blend in no.7325 for the green and blue one. They do up with a wooden toggle at the back. I added a few cables to the blue/green hat to make it more interesting.

I also made this neckwarmer from the same blue-green yarn since my winter coat has a high collar and I don't think a regular scarf would work with it too well.

two bento day

2008-06-09T15:12:00.000-07:00

Starting work at 8:30 in the morning and not finishing until after 9 the same night means making two bento so I don't need to buy any food.

the main lunch box

yakisoba with broccoli, spring onions and sesame seeds. Top tier has a softboiled egg, cherry tomatoes, pickled aubergine all on a bed of rocket.

mango, lettuce hearts (the best bits), crackers and smoked cheddar. This one is for a snack/second meal.

still love the orange box!

2008-06-08T03:56:00.000-07:00

bottom tier: soba with steamed broccoli and cherry tomatoes. top tier: green beans and wakame, 3 homemade kimchi gyoza, pickled aubergine.

I like how broccoli looks like little hedges or bushes, it's so pretty in a lunch box.

bento roundup

2008-06-01T05:17:00.000-07:00

Contents: mushroom rice, cherry tomatoes and a small bottle of soy sauce. Other tier has stewed hijiki seaweed with edemame and carrots, pickled aubergines and some homemade spinach and tofu gyoza.
This was really nice. Surprisingly so considering I packed it the night before and was drunk when I cooked it all.

I used the top tier of my small muji box inside the large box to give me more dividers.
Contents: the rest of the stewed seaweed, edemame and carrots, leftover chicken pieces, lettuce, tomatoes, pickled aubergines, a hardboiled egg and some brown bread. Also a sachet of tonkatsu sauce for the chicken.
I had a big delivery to shift at work the day I had this one so I knew I would need a bigger lunch than normal. It hit the spot perfectly.

CRAB TIME

2008-06-01T05:10:00.000-07:00

Ben bought me 2 crabs. Live ones.

with my hand to give an idea of scale. They were gargantuan.

Once we'd sent them to meet their maker, we made tagliatelle with crab, garlic, chilli and parsley. Delicious.
Of course the leftovers were eaten for lunch the next day:

In the other tier is watercress and a small bottle of red wine vinaigrette.

raw like sushi

2008-05-17T13:16:00.000-07:00

I made sushi beads out of modelling clay, painted, varnished and strung them today. I'm really happy with how these came out!

more fun than a bench full of monkeys

2008-05-11T15:24:00.000-07:00

sock monkeys, earlier

made from my old socks and an old duvet... recycling in action which is rather cute, no?

beautiful

2008-05-11T15:22:00.000-07:00

sunny sky, apple tree

pizza bento

2008-04-28T13:24:00.000-07:00

Muji single tier box, contains homemade spinach, egg and parmesan pizza, raw spinach leaves. Red wine vinaigrette in the little bottle. Chopped kiwi.

I love cold pizza. Even more if it's homemade and not all greasy. Although you can't beat greasy pizza when hung over.

new box

2008-04-28T13:21:00.000-07:00

from the Japan Centre, about £5. 600ml ish, 2 tier, upper tier has a divider. Came with the elastic strap to keep it together. Excellent seal on the top tier. Amusing engrish on the lid.

and a closeup of that lid:

cute!

cider tattoo

2008-04-27T01:27:00.000-07:00

armpit tattoo no.2
by Duncan X

two more bento

2008-04-27T01:21:00.000-07:00

Both contain mushroom soba (soba noodles cooked with dried mushrooms), simple and good.

also has spinach and tofu dumplings, takuan, and green beans and carrots with oyster sauce. Chilli and soy sauce mixed in the small bottle.

this one has a grilled sausage, cut into bits, green beans and a bit of carrot with some chilli flakes, blanched spinach and some pickled aubergine and takuan.

Both of these were good.
The dried mushrooms is a simple and effective way to spice up soba.

two bento

2008-04-22T13:36:00.000-07:00

Contents: pork and kimchi gyoza (more details here), mangetout and baby corn stir-fried in oyster sauce, cherry tomatoes, takuan, pickled aubergine. Brown rice with sesame seeds, soy, chilli and vinegar in the pig.
It made me very happy when I discovered that the kimchi dumplings were just as nice cold.

Contents: peppered smoked mackerel, cherry tomatoes, cucumber slices, pickled aubergine, rice with sesame seeds.
I was in a real hurry making this one, but it turned out to be very tasty.

new tattoo

2008-04-06T06:15:00.000-07:00

Pork pie in my right armpit, by Duncan X

I love it.

bento roundup

2008-04-06T06:08:00.000-07:00

contains: about a third of a 4 egg tamagoyaki, some takuan, mangetout, baby sweetcorn, brown rice with umeboshi, and soy sauce in the pig.

contains: brown rice with kimchi furikake, hardboiled egg, edemame, cherry tomatoes, kimchi in the sidecar. Smelly but nice.

contains: egg noodles with sesame seeds, soy sauce in the pig. Homemade spinach gyoza (recipe is a couple of entries back), mangetout, sweetcorn, edemame, takuan and cherry tomatoes. YUM.

I thought this was pretty.
Brown rice onigiri with radish leaf, seaweed, sesame and umeboshi furikake.

flowering tea

2008-04-06T06:04:00.000-07:00

Present from Mel. Thankyou!
I also rather love my Beatrix Potter cup and saucer set.

dumplings on parade!

2008-04-06T05:39:00.000-07:00

I spent Tuesday night making dumplings. I did about 120 in total, in 4 different fillings. Most have been frozen but I couldn't resist cooking a few of each immediately, as you see in the picture above.
1: Curry dumplings, made using this method. I used some leftover medium/hot curry with onions, carrots, beef and potatoes. They worked well but I think I included a little too much of the curry sauce.
2: Basic gyoza. There are a few recipes around for these and this one is the closest to what I used. I just added more ginger and substituted chives for the spring onions.
3: Kimchi gyoza. These contain pork mince, chopped up cabbage kimchi, chives and some extra garlic. These were something I just made up as I had enough pork to do a second batch of gyoza, and then I spotted the kimchi in my fridge and was all "click. Aha." My other half liked these. The spiciness was a nice change.
4: Spinach and tofu gyoza. I made up this recipe as I was looking for a vegan gyoza recipe that wasn't all dry and flavourless like the ones you can buy and this was it. I see it as pretty successful. I don't have exact quantities.
-1/2 block of firm tofu, crumbled
-200g bag spinach leaves, blanched, with all the water squeezed out thoroughly, then torn up into small bits
-handful of chopped chives or nira
-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
-smallish chunk of ginger, finely chopped
-dash of soy sauce and a trickle of sesame oil.
Mix all this together in a bowl. Let it stand for about half an hour so the tofu can soak up the flavours of the other ingredients.
Put into gyoza wrappers. A good tutorial for how to do this is linked above (the recipe for curry gyoza) and it has pictures for how to fold and seal the dumplings.
Cook immediately or freeze.

I'm pleased. All the dumpling recipes were tasty and successful and my freezer is full so I have always got something there for packed lunches or days when I am too lazy to cook.

the good, the bad and the ugly

2008-03-21T14:04:00.000-07:00

Good: best tamagoyaki I've made. The texture, flavour and appearance all came out great. It's got chilli flakes mixed in and almost no sugar as I still can't get on with sweet omelette.

Bad: basmati rice with umeboshi. The other half made dinner and there was some basmati rice left over so I packed it and... not great. The taste of umeboshi with basmati rice is not a great combination and it's also almost impossible to eat with chopsticks. Won't be having that again.

Ugly: the last 2 homemade gyoza from the big batch I made and froze a while back. They might not be attractive but they are immensely tasty.

Other stuff in the box: blanched spinach with sesame seeds, cherry tomatoes, takuan, a few raw spinach leaves and some soy sauce in the pig.
It was quite a healthy lunch and it looked nice but that rice ruined it.

vegetables and egg

2008-03-20T14:48:00.000-07:00

Blanched spinach with sesame seeds, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, takuan, boiled egg and some wakame (hiding under the egg). Rice with shiso leaves from a packet of umeboshi. Soy sauce in the pig.

I tried a new onigiri filling today: canned tuna (with the water squeezed out thoroughly) mixed with Sriracha hot chilli sauce. It was pretty good.

Here's one of the onigiri:

I love new recipes

2008-03-10T14:42:00.001-07:00

Contains stewed hijiki seaweed with carrots and tofu, a hardboiled egg and plain rice. Small orange sidecar contains blanched baby corn, mangetout and two cherry tomatoes.

I've had the hijiki, tofu and carrots before as part of readymade bento lunches I have bought, so I was thrilled to see this recipe. Maybe next time I will cut my carrots into flowers or something as I feel it's kind of lacking in the presentation...

updated complete tattoo list

2008-03-09T14:27:00.000-07:00

- entire right arm, solid black
- dragonfly
- beetle
- two rough black blobs that used to be beetles
- two big red roses
- einstuerzende neubauten logo
- smaller red rose and 'AMOR VINCIT OMNIA'
- ?
- hemostat clamps
- lotus with clouds pouring out of it
- severed hand holding skull cup filling with blood
- '7' in Tibetan
- mudra (giving refuge)
- mudra (casting out demons)
- borneo rose with scribbles and 'YOUR MUM'
- heart and eyeballs
- 'I'LL SURF THIS BEACH'
- tiny red heart
- peony
- dzi bead
- suspension hook and rope
- Tibetan rosary
- cotton reel
- 4 psychic crosses/coptic crosses (depending on your views)
- lotus and bud
- red clouds and squiggles
- robin

Two more will be added to this in little under 3 weeks.

mmmm.... vegetables

2008-03-09T14:25:00.001-07:00

Lots of vegetables in this one. In fact, I think I may have gone a bit light on the protein.
Contents: salted salmon, green beans stir-fried with garlic, walnuts and a bit of mirin and soy sauce, blanched baby corn and mangetout, takuan, chinese egg noodles. In the smaller compartment (breakfast section) is cherry tomatoes and kiwi.

I seriously love this box so much. It's been even more useful than I hoped.

I am the nemesis of the vole

2008-03-08T07:05:00.000-08:00

I met Bill Bailey on Wednesday. He was very nice.
Excuse my excited/deranged face.

cute

2008-03-02T13:29:00.000-08:00

Little brass Vajra necklace from the Tibetan Buddhist shop in Camden.
That place is dangerous. I am glad I didn't bring much money with me or it could have been disastarous.

I am liking drinking this at the moment. It's also great value as one of the little metal mesh ball tea infusers will do for about 4 cups. Just add more boiling water, it's the tea that just keeps on brewing.

I have a bit of a cold but I think the tea and regular showers with this seem to be helping. Fortunately, since I have to work all week.

two curry bento lunches

2008-03-02T13:23:00.000-08:00

Today I made a big batch of curry and brown rice so I've packed lunches for the next two days. Hooray for timesaving.

Curry contains Golden Curry curry mix in 'hot', carrots, onions, potatoes and a small amount of chicken.
In the box is brown rice with black sesame seeds, pickled aubergine, kiwi and mango.
I'm going to heat up the curry in the microwave before eating it.

Same as the other one, apart from takuan replaces the kiwi.

And here's the first brown rice onigiri I made that didn't fall to bits! It's stuffed with Umeboshi.

10 minute bento

2008-02-25T14:50:00.000-08:00

The gyoza were homemade and frozen, and the vegetables were blanched so this one was really quick.

Muji large box again (this box has become my favourite)
Contents: soba noodles with some chilli flakes, asparagus, baby sweetcorn, cherry tomatoes, takuan, pickled aubergine, gyoza, soy sauce with a little bit of mirin in the pig. Small section (breakfast) contains frozen berries and a sliced kiwi.

chicken and the egg

2008-02-09T12:14:00.001-08:00

Muji large box. Contains Oyako-donburi using brown rice (I found a number of different recipes for this and just ended up using what I liked the sound of, so as well as the chicken and egg cooked in dashi, I put in some green beans and spring onions), in the corner is a cherry tomato and some pickled aubergine. In the other section (which I had for my breakfast that day) is some mango and kiwi.
This box seals really well. Most pleased with it.

muji white bento boxes reviewed

2008-02-04T12:08:00.000-08:00

I saw this post on JustBento and went along to Muji to have a look at the plain white boxes in the flesh... and liked them so much I came away with both of them. These are brilliant. I like a plain box as it shows food off well and I'm not so much into making 'cutesey' food as much as stuff that looks nice and makes me want to eat it.

The stacking box, closed.

and open. You get one 300ml tier, one 210ml tier with moveable divider. It IS a bit small, but will work well for less hungry days or like I used it today for the first time (see below).

The flat box, which is microwave safe (yippee!). This is 800 ml, which kind of goes the other way and is a bit big for me, but I bought it anyway as I have a cunning plan for its use, which is to put the divider at about two-thirds across the box, fill the larger section with my lunch and on days when I am working early, put breakfast (usually fruit, onigiri or oatcakes or similar) in the smaller section. Lunch and breakfast in one box: pure convenience.

The Muji boxes are a bit more expensive than the basic lube sheep and daiso boxes I've been using up til now, but no more pricey than the more fancy 'character' boxes you find on Ebay and Jlist, and the quality is excellent. I'm really pleased with these, definitely a worthwhile purchase and I can't see myself buying another box for a very long time.

Now on to what I put in the stacking one for it's lunchtime debut:

top tier is kiwi fruit and a piggy full of Vietnamese chilli and garlic sauce. Bottom tier is plain rice. Microwaveable round sidecar contains carrot and potato curry. Hot luch is SO nice right now as it's gone and got all cold again outdoors...

bento

2008-02-01T12:45:00.000-08:00

I am pleased with the colour variety in this one. I've also definitely got better at arranging the contents nicely. If you look at the first bento photos I've posted and then at this one there is a definite improvement.

One tier plain rice with some pickled shiso leaves which were in the last pack of umeboshi I bought, other tier has blanched mangetout and baby corn with some black sesame seeds, cherry tomatoes, pickled cucumber and stir fried ginger pork.
I'm actually looking forward to work tomorrow so I can eat this!

prettier onigiri

2008-02-01T12:40:00.000-08:00

just some onigiri with wakame seaweed and dried salmon flake furikake mixed into the rice, no filling. I think these are ever so pretty (they're quite tasty as well).
I'm working early tomorrow so I've got 2 of them and a kiwi fruit in a separate small box to my lunch to have for my breakfast. I like rice for breakfast, it's something I've lately got into the habit of having as I always forget to buy bread...

omelette again

2008-01-31T11:26:00.001-08:00

rolled omelette with lots of chilli flakes mixed into the eggs and with far less than the usual amount of sugar. Not a huge fan of sweet omelettes. Also some lightly boiled spinach and some cherry tomatoes. Soy sauce in the pig. Rice with nori furikake and a sidecar of frozen blackberries, raspberries, blackcurrants and redcurrants.

I'm thinking of investing in a small rectangular frying pan for making omelettes in. Does anyone have one and is it any good? (like, significantly better than a normal round one?)

two more bento

2008-01-30T11:52:00.000-08:00

Onigiri Win!

These are the first hand-moulded onigiri I have made that turned out a nice shape rather than looking mangled. I think I am getting the hang of this. They're filled with umeboshi.
In the other tier is some wakame seaweed, chopped carrots, green beans, a few walnuts and a lazy tea egg. Soy sauce in the pig.

I am thinking of experimenting with different onigiri fillings. I think pickled aubergine sounds like it could work, as could flaked salted salmon or canned tuna with a bit of soy sauce. Any other ideas? Btw I don't like spam or large quantities of mayo so those are out.

And dessert too... well, sort of

Soba noodles sprinkled with black sesame seeds. Soy sauce and mirin in the pig. Another lazy tea egg (I made several on Sunday and have been eating them all week), wakame seaweed, some pickled cucumber, green beans and a piece of salted salmon. This is the first time I bothered using the tiny orange box as a sidecar and it contains frozen raspberries.

The tea eggs are really good. I definitely recommend them as a nice extra that can just sit in the fridge until you need them. The salted salmon was made using a method I found on Just Bento as well. There are a few bento-size portions of it in the freezer. I love any method of saving time when putting together my lunch.

the view between my tits

2008-01-26T06:15:00.000-08:00

because there's more to life than lunch.

I have a cold. I'm thinking about going to the Brighton tattoo convention tomorrow if I feel healthy enough.
There was a second-hand book sale on today. I picked up about 6 paperbacks for under £2. Some Douglas Adams, some Terry Pratchett.
I took the cupboard doors off upstairs and have primed them. They'll get painted some time soon. Maybe even today, if I feel up to it.
Now however it is time to update the other blog and then have a nap.

just the two

2008-01-26T06:01:00.000-08:00

It's been a lazy week for bentoing. I took packed lunch to work every day, but they mostly consisted of leftovers chucked in a box. However, these 2 were nice so here they are.

Homemade salted salmon from a recipe on Just Bento, green beans, carrots and chopped walnut salad and soba noodles tossed with a little oil and some chilli flakes.
I find mixing a tiny amount of oil into the noodles before packing them helps to stop them from sticking together too much.

Using my clear microwaveable boxes as this one was eaten hot. One tier plain rice, vietnamese chilli and garlic sauce in the pig. Other tier has bok choy and carrot stir fry, spinach leaves and stir-fried tofu (marinated in soy sauce). It was nice to have a hot lunch for a change.

Other stuff eaten has been things like leftover pasta bake, leftover rice and peas with green beans and some deep fried tofu (would you call that chinese-jamaican fusion cooking) and another bento yesterday which was very... green. Pictures of that one another time.
Still quite pleased that I made lunch every day. Been a month since I decided to make lunch every day no matter what and I've only missed one day.

two today

2008-01-20T04:05:00.000-08:00

This bento was put together in part when I went out for dinner with some colleagues from work the other night. We went to a restaurant in Chinatown where the portions are really big, but for some reason they charge you extra to take home leftovers. So I had my bento box in my bag already, washed up after lunchtime and I surreptitiously filled one of the tiers with my rice when nobody was looking. The result: I ate all the food on my plate (well, half was as part of the lunch but still no waste), and lunch the next day was super-quick.

contains yeung chow fried rice, in other tier is more of the pork and ginger I posted about the other day (yes, I made more than needed for dinner and packed up the surplus into bento-sized portions for later eating), topped off with a few slices of cucumber.

Here is the last bento for this week

4 homemade gyoza, soba noodles, carrots (raw), pickled cucumber. Not shown: container of soy and chilli dipping sauce for... everything.

one bento, new box

2008-01-19T10:28:00.000-08:00

I like soba and I like umeboshi, so why not have an umeboshi with soba rather than rice? It was actually pretty good. In the other tier is a hardboiled egg, some shiso leaves, pickled cucumber and lots of carrots.

In other news, I got a new box today for only £1.50 (US $3) from the Japan Centre in London. My usual box is a 570ml capacity 2 tier one of the type you can easily find on Jbox. The new one is 400 ml or thereabouts and in 3 tiers. It's microwaveable without the lids, and the seal on the lids seems ok, about as good as my bigger box. I'll be using it either all 3 tiers filled as a smaller bento when I'm not feeling very hungry, or one of the tiers on its own as a sidecar containing extra fruit, lemon wedges or whatever.

Best of all, it's a lovely cheerful shade of orange!

vegan lunch (shock, horror)

2008-01-18T10:51:00.000-08:00

fried tofu, carrots, peas, pickled aubergine, cherry tomatoes and rice with vegan furikake.

I also packed a small container of soy and chilli dipping sauce as the tofu is a bit bland on its own.

keeping it simple

2008-01-17T14:39:00.000-08:00

ginger pork, wakame seaweed and cucumber salad, plain rice with an umeboshi.

this was all leftovers and it was one of the better ones I've made recently. It was very nice.

two bentos

2008-01-13T06:21:00.000-08:00

Omelette Bento

Contains rice with nori and sesame furikake, rolled omelette with chilli flakes and spring onions, carrots, 2 gyoza (hiding under the carrots) and a few pickled aubergine bits.

Vegetarian Bento

Rice with plum and sesame furikake, hardboiled egg, carrot sticks, spring onions, raw cabbage, pickled cucumber and aubergine.

kare udon

2008-01-13T06:17:00.000-08:00

Not exactly following any recipe. A carrot, about 4 leaves of cabbage, boiled. Once vegetables are almost cooked, add udon noodles, a smallish lump of curry roux (I used Golden Curry in 'hot'), a dash of soy sauce, and simmer until the noodles are cooked. This wasn't quite hot enough for me so I added a good dollop of Vietnamese chilli and garlic sauce. It was quite nice, a good quick, filling dinner.

dumpling success

2008-01-03T13:09:00.000-08:00

Tonight I made gyoza for the first time, using this recipe. I swapped 2 cloves finely chopped garlic for the garlic salt though as I like garlic lots. I doubled the ingredients and this made 55 dumplings. It was a little time consuming and fiddly but well worth it, they're really nice, as good as any you can buy readymade. They won't win any beauty contests but the case held sealed and they tasted great so who cares if they look somewhat lumpy.
Oh, IMPORTANT: although this is not mentioned in the recipe, it is vital that you brush the edges of the wrappers with egg yolk before closing them to seal them and make them stick together. If you don't do this they will probably fall apart when you cook them.
Dumplings like this have been a staple in my freezer for ages now and when I worked out the costing, 55 homemade ones cost the same as 30 readymade from Chinatown, which is not a bad saving if you don't mind putting in a bit of effort. Apart from the 6 I cooked and ate, the rest are sitting in the freezer for future use in packed lunches or quick dinners when I'm feeling too lazy to cook. Next step is experimenting with different fillings...

adventures in lunching

2008-01-02T12:18:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to eat more healthily and save money, and one obvious way of doing this was to take packed lunches to work rather than eat what's available nearby. I've always liked the Japanese way of eating and fiddly small things, hence... BENTO!
Well, a rather ham-fisted, cack-handed stab at bento. But the box is cute. And was only £2.50.

On to the lunches.
Meat gyoza, omelette, monster onigiri
This was my one of my first ones. The gyoza were nice, as was the omelette (recipe later), but the onigiri was a beast and I couldn't finish it. The method of making it came from here. It was a plain rice one stuffed with umeboshi, and I couldn't finish it all. In the round box are some bits and pieces (tomato, lemon wedge, edemame, pickles. Still a triumph however as I beat the how to make an onigiri that does not fall to bits problem. Apologies for the out of focus photo.

Pork and ginger
Pork and ginger went like this: cut the fat off the pork and slice extremely thinly. Also slice a decent size lump of fresh ginger very thinly. Marinade the pork and ginger with a mixture of soy sauce and mirin (rice wine, but sweet sherry also works) for about 15 minutes. Then stir fry til cooked. Sprinkle with chopped spring onions. Also in the box are some pickles and some edemame. I think I had plain boiled rice with this.

Omelette bento
To make an omelette, beat 2 eggs together with a tablespoon of dashi (fish stock), some chilli flakes, a teaspoon of sugar, a glug of soy sauce and some finely chopped ginger. Heat a small, lightly oiled frying pan and pour in a very thin layer of the egg mixture. When the egg has just cooked, roll the omelette up like a swiss roll. Now push the roll to one end of the pan, pour in another thin layer of egg and when cooked roll this omelette up around the first one. Repeat until all the egg is mixed up (this is bloody tricky the first few times but it gets easier). Allow to cool then cut into slices. The one in the picture is a bit overcooked btw. Also in the box is edemame, spring onions and pickles. Plain boiled rice is in the other tier of the box.

Veggie gyoza, other bits and pieces, onigiri
3 veggie gyoza, a hard boiled egg, edemame and carrot sticks. In the other tier is 2 small onigiri. The rice for these was mixed with a torn up umeboshi and about a tablespoon of seaweed and sesame seed furikake. The small black pot contains a mixture of 'spring roll sauce' (sweet and vinegary dipping sauce I got from Chinatown) and doy sauce for dipping the various bits in.

I can see an improvement. And this is MUCH nicer than supermarket prepacked sandwiches for lunch. Oh yes.

my first pizza

2008-01-02T12:09:00.000-08:00

Made entirely from scratch, including a bread base. I used this recipe and I can't reccomend it highly enough. The step by step photos are a massive help.

Toppings were anchovies, capers, cured pork (cut very thin) from our holidays in spain, mozarella, parmesan and two eggs. Marvellous!

and a closeup of the lovely thing

I would have made one of these ages ago if I'd have known how easy it was.

my new years resolutions

2008-01-02T12:06:00.000-08:00

First is to update this more often.
Others are to draw more, make more things and be a more adventurous cook, more on that in just a moment...

Ozymandias

2007-10-23T12:46:00.000-07:00

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Shelley

I like this. Have been feeling not so good, but I've got a plan of action for sorting myself out, started on it already and it can't do any harm. Enough of the cryptic. I wish I could remember who did the illustrations for the WONDERFUL illustrated copy of Dante's 'Inferno' which we used to have in the library at college.

I find plastic surgery makeover programmes fascinating and deeply sad.

Been reading: Rumours of a Hurricane by Tim Lott, Valley of the Dolls by Jacquelline Susann, Careless Love by Peter Guralnick, No Mercy by Pat Califia and The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis. All are re-reads. All will be read again, without a doubt.
Recently read Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis, as well. I bought it second hand as I wasn't sure whether I would like it as I read very mixed reviews, but I found myself unable to stop reading, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a very strange and unsettling book and I would absolutely have paid £7 for it.

I may not blog again before I go to Germany, but I'll be back in the country by Tuesday and will try and write about what I did on my weekend, but for now what I am doing is a sort of secret

it's just a trick of the light

2007-10-17T12:02:00.000-07:00

This is going to be the last post where I write about the recent events on BME.
I'm going to stay on IAM and carry on using it just like before. Why? Because I want to, and see no reason to leave. The thing that keeps me on IAM is the people there and that hasn't changed (ok, a few have left, I know how to contact those of them I wish to stay in touch with.)
As usual I am incapable of blogging about anything coherently, so I'm glad to see that others (especially Marisa are posting about this in an articulate, balanced and intelligent way, something I am incapable of even on good days. I don't know shit about what's really happened and as more stuff comes out I'm pretty sure I don't want to know, but I'll be staying.

By the way, both Livejournals are now dead (will be reading my friends page and communities but that's all). Feels good. And why I left LJ and went to Blogger? I knew a lot of people on there sort of vaguely, and felt it was taking up too much of my time, which could have been better spent doing something else like scratching my arse or catching up on sleep. I'd filtered and filtered who was actually able to read it to the point where hardly anyone was. Reasons being in some cases I didn't want to offend people, some stuff I wrote seemed appropriate only for those I knew well, BLAH BLAH BLAH. I have no interest in the 'community' side of blogger, if there is indeed one, I haven't looked around this site in any detail. I just wanted to start over with a blog where I would write what I want and if you want to read it fine, if not just avoid it and do something else. All posts here are public and hopefully by escaping Livejournal I will escape the hordes of whining little turds that populate that site. (If you think I'm talking about you, I'm probably not.)

Had a day at work that started horrendous and climbed an upward trajectory from then on. Was nice for a change.

Earlier this evening I found myself absent-mindedly wandering about the house clutching a lump of cheese. Reasons could be not enough caffeine / too much sleep / early onset of dementia.

fence sitter extraordinaire

2007-10-14T07:27:00.000-07:00

With all that's happened regarding BME, IAM and Modblog lately, the only thing I can be sure about is I don't know what to think. I've heard conflicting accounts of what happened and the bottom line is I don't know what or who to believe as I do not know any of the people involved personally. Since I don't know any of them personally I think it is best not to take sides until ALL the information is out there, if even then. I don't like the way it everyone is taking sides here. For example, a comment on the Bodytwo modblog was posted, stating that anyone who is still continuing to use their IAM like nothing happened has no integrity. Somewhat harsh, I think. Unless this person is privy to information that I (and I would guess the majority of people on IAM) are not, then I don't think continuing to use the site compromises my integrity one bit.
IAM is of great use to me, often for catching up with people and keeping in touch with those I don't see often. I like that it's a closed community and that all the people in the community have shared interests of some kind. I'm not going to let that go, lose touch with many people who although far away, I consider friends, and lose the ability to organise things (example being the upcoming suscon Ben and myself will be attending) if I don't know all the facts about what's going on.
Until I know where I stand with the ownership dispute on the site, I won't be submitting any content. There are certain things on my IAM page (examples being photographs of my genital piercings) when, if BME did not exist, these photos wouldn't either. I'm glad I submitted them anonymously, tattoos and other identifying marks cropped out, but the fact remains if BME wasn't there then I wouldn't have taken the pictures. The purpose being to add to the archive of content and reference available on the site. I won't be taking any more photos like this for the forseeable future. I would not have submitted any content to the site at all, apart from I really liked BME and what it stood for.

Basically my views are this:
-I'll still be using IAM, mainly as a tool to organise suscons and tattoo appointments and to stay in touch with those I don't see often.
-I'm not taking sides as I know neither the facts nor the people involved.
-I'm not submitting any content to BME or Bodytwo until this is resolved.
-I will continue to blog (a bit) on IAM but to all intents and purposes, this is now my main blog, and is likely to remain so.
-I'm not a fan of censorship.

By the way, the namesofthedead Livejournal is getting deleted today, and it's likely I won't be posting in the ___dust account either as of.... very soon. I'll keep it for the purpose of reading communities and certain people on my friends page who haver friends only status and I can't reach any other way, but basically this is it. If you actually want to read my rubbish then you'll have to come here.
I'm signing off for the afternoon.
Later.
-

Jun Matsui

2007-10-14T07:04:00.000-07:00

WWW.LIFEUNDERZEN.COM
I'm not sure how I stumbled across this site, but it is the best discovery I've made in the last few months. Matsui is a tattoo artist working in both Japan and Brazil, and his work is some of the absolute best neo-tribal tattooing I've ever seen. It takes elements of traditional tribal styles from several cultures. The tattoos tend to be large scale, and take design elements which are usually seen quite small as part of an elaborate tattoo, and enlarged and simplified to fit an entire arm, or entire calf, for example. Beautiful bold, graphic designs. The tattoos flow perfectly with the body, and the sheer quality evident in the linework and the solid black is astonishing.
The site is a portfolio site/blog. I like the way it is set up, with each blog entry showing the whole process of one tattoo, from the initial drawing on paper, to transferring onto the body, to outlining, ending up with the finished tattoo. It's extremely interesting to see the amount of work and attention to detail that goes into these abstracted and deceptively simple tattoos.
I think Matsui's work tends to look better on the male body, it just seems to fit better. But that's no criticism of the work he's done on women, it's all beautiful.
Best tattoo artist and site I've seen in ages. Just great.

endless mindless

2007-10-12T13:55:00.000-07:00

more as a note to myself, tattoos are currently:
- entire right arm, solid black
- dragonfly
- beetle
- two rough black blobs that used to be beetles
- two big red roses
- smaller red rose and 'AMOR VINCIT OMNIA'
- ?
- hemostat clamps
- lotus with clouds pouring out of it
- severed hand holding skull cup filling with blood
- '7' in Tibetan
- mudra for giving refuge
- borneo rose with scribbles and 'YOUR MUM'
- heart and eyeballs
- 'I'LL SURF THIS BEACH'
- cotton reel
- 4 psychic crosses/coptic crosses (depending on your views)
- lotus and bud
- red clouds and squiggles
- robin

rust

2007-10-11T11:46:00.000-07:00

It was the first foggy morning, properly cold, of the autumn.
Things:
- eating pizza on the beach near Biarritz on a cold and windy night, the only light coming from neon orange bolts of forked lightning crackling from a storm some way offshore. I wonder, what happens when lightning strikes water? Imagining the sea boiling. How would anyone even get close enough to find out?
- the colour of the sea the next morning, this incredible blueish green capped with foaming white, huge waves breaking over the rocks. I think the sea that day was the single most beautiful colour I have ever seen.
- chemical factories at night, lit up like a cliche sub-Bladerunner movie set, except it's real as are the gases boiling from the huge chimneys. It frightens me a bit, like I am so saturated in media that it is difficult to view anything without comparing it to something else. The cross-referencing irritates me when I catch myself doing it, but I think it's something pretty much constant and unconscious, unfortunately.
- speaking of which, the view was incredible from the church that overlooks the port in Marseille, the whole city sprawled out below like a vast upturned jewelry box. Islands too. One used to be a quarantine colony during outbreaks of the plague, the other a prison. Allegedly the prison island written about in The Count of Monte
Cristo. So the island is real. I learned something new that day.

I keep these images in some kind of mental file and take them out and look at them from time to time. Sometimes photos just don't cut it.

The last few days have comprised good pork and risotto, very bad curry, good friends, lots of wine and beer, my ill-concieved attempt to escape from a straitjacket, and a lot of work.

testing, testing

2007-09-29T05:16:00.000-07:00

testing, 1 2 3

Since I find Livejournal frustrating and lately IAM.Bmezine has been up and down more times than a whore's knickers (and don't get me STARTED on Myspace), I think this is where you can find me for the forseeable future.

Expect the usual. Those who have the misfortune of knowing me already will know what this means.

And also expect a website overhaul, soon. It's depressing when your newly-created blog is far more attractive than your actual site.

Alice