Ten Material Wants (it has been a while since I've done this one, honest)
1. This protective skin for my Kindle.
2. NYDJ Jeans. I have heard good things about how flattering they are on the chub. I intend to purchase these in NY at the end of the month.
3. Something new and fancy for my skin, like a serum. Skin looks like it needs a pick-me-up lately.
4. Interweave Knits Summer....as a subscriber, I would have expected to get this before they had it in my LYS, but it still hasn't arrived.
5. A travel hairdryer. To, yknow, use on my travels.
6. This book of short stories, which I read many times when I was a kid and haven't been able to find since.
7. A bottle of Hendricks gin. Best for summer drinking.
8. A new pair of large and dark sunglasses. My favourite pair are just a little too big and now, after three years of putting up with it, I have reached the end of my patience.
9. A new electric whisk that does not sound like it has sand in the motor when I am using it (my current electric whisk was a present from my grandparents for my 18th birthday, so it has served me well).
10. Olympics tickets! I applied for two pairs, but I am not especially hopeful. However, I would like to know one way or the other because if it's a no, I can get myself a little present from this list with the cash I have saved.
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
Weekword: Sinister
I think nobody else has nominated a word so I am jumping the gun a little here and offering one of my own for you all to ruminate on.
In honour of this week holding a Friday 13th, I'm picking the word SINISTER.
If you want to join in, please leave a comment and make a post on your blog about this word by the weekend. On Friday I'll post a list of people taking part. Please feel free to join in even if you haven't done before! I'm really looking foward to seeing what people come up with :)
In honour of this week holding a Friday 13th, I'm picking the word SINISTER.
If you want to join in, please leave a comment and make a post on your blog about this word by the weekend. On Friday I'll post a list of people taking part. Please feel free to join in even if you haven't done before! I'm really looking foward to seeing what people come up with :)
Friday, 6 May 2011
Weekword
This week, Carmen over at Biomouse picked the word GYPSY.
This clip (I hope the embedding works - if not it can be viewed here and I should warn it has a little bit of bad language in it) is from a documentary about gypsy weddings. Recently there has been a six-part series of this documentary, following gypsy brides and looking at their culture and lifestyle in this country.
I found it FASCINATING. I could have watched double the number of episodes - it was so interesting to see into their communities a little bit. It was also really interesting to watch other people's reactions to what is evidently a very misogynistic society.
My reaction was somewhat different. There was a lot of disgust at the stereotyping of women, who are often expected to leave school very young to care for siblings, marry at 16 or 17 and dedicate their lives to cleaning their homes and raising children. I got a bit annoyed at the judgement.
Now, I feel like I have to pick my words carefully here because I don't want to seem as though I am condoning a society in which girls are forced out of school before they can read properly and where domestic violence cases are shockingly high. However! The judgements made in some cases got my back up, because they suggest, by proxy, that the "norm" is infinitely better. There are some positives to the way they live, not least the strong family bonds they build up. These young women also seem quite confident - more confident than a lot of girls I work with, some of whom I'm certain have been subject to something akin to "grabbing" themselves but quite probably given in for fear of being stigmatised for not giving in.
Anyway. Mr Z has just accused me of being on my soap box and since I could wax lyrical about this topic for pages I had better take the hint and stop ;)
The series certainly gave me lots to think about, in more ways than one. I can thoroughly recommend it. Watch out for one of my pupils who appears in the final episode, face pixelated out, tripping over a bride's dress outside a church! We have a fairly large number of traveller children at school. One of them had a full-on tattoo by the age of 13. He had a girlfriend in his class, too, but broke up with her pretty sharpish when he left school on his 16th birthday (with no qualifications - but he was the first generation of his family to stay that long so he didn't do badly). He is 19 now, and married. So, it's not just the women who don't get the choice.
Make sure you pop over to Carmen's blog to read the other entries this week and find out who'll be picking next week!
This clip (I hope the embedding works - if not it can be viewed here and I should warn it has a little bit of bad language in it) is from a documentary about gypsy weddings. Recently there has been a six-part series of this documentary, following gypsy brides and looking at their culture and lifestyle in this country.
I found it FASCINATING. I could have watched double the number of episodes - it was so interesting to see into their communities a little bit. It was also really interesting to watch other people's reactions to what is evidently a very misogynistic society.
My reaction was somewhat different. There was a lot of disgust at the stereotyping of women, who are often expected to leave school very young to care for siblings, marry at 16 or 17 and dedicate their lives to cleaning their homes and raising children. I got a bit annoyed at the judgement.
Now, I feel like I have to pick my words carefully here because I don't want to seem as though I am condoning a society in which girls are forced out of school before they can read properly and where domestic violence cases are shockingly high. However! The judgements made in some cases got my back up, because they suggest, by proxy, that the "norm" is infinitely better. There are some positives to the way they live, not least the strong family bonds they build up. These young women also seem quite confident - more confident than a lot of girls I work with, some of whom I'm certain have been subject to something akin to "grabbing" themselves but quite probably given in for fear of being stigmatised for not giving in.
Anyway. Mr Z has just accused me of being on my soap box and since I could wax lyrical about this topic for pages I had better take the hint and stop ;)
The series certainly gave me lots to think about, in more ways than one. I can thoroughly recommend it. Watch out for one of my pupils who appears in the final episode, face pixelated out, tripping over a bride's dress outside a church! We have a fairly large number of traveller children at school. One of them had a full-on tattoo by the age of 13. He had a girlfriend in his class, too, but broke up with her pretty sharpish when he left school on his 16th birthday (with no qualifications - but he was the first generation of his family to stay that long so he didn't do badly). He is 19 now, and married. So, it's not just the women who don't get the choice.
Make sure you pop over to Carmen's blog to read the other entries this week and find out who'll be picking next week!
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
Tuesday Ten
Ten Haikus of the Moment
British 'sparagus -
I love thee. Shame your season
Is so very short.
I would like a nap
But instead I must wade through
Year 13 coursework.
Controlled assessment
By year 11 also
Must be marked this week -
unfortunately
Osama bin Laden's death
Makes them out of date.
Wore new shoes today.
Felt about six feet tall - well,
I WAS six feet tall.
In two weeks it is
My Geology exam.
I am quite nervous.
But one week later,
I'm flying to NYC,
Me and Mr Z.
(Whoopee!)
William and Kate,
Your wedding was so lovely.
Thanks for the day off.
Robin on the fence,
Watching the cat. Think its chicks
are learning to fly.
British 'sparagus -
Why do you make wee smell bad?
Small price to pay, though.
British 'sparagus -
I love thee. Shame your season
Is so very short.
I would like a nap
But instead I must wade through
Year 13 coursework.
Controlled assessment
By year 11 also
Must be marked this week -
unfortunately
Osama bin Laden's death
Makes them out of date.
Wore new shoes today.
Felt about six feet tall - well,
I WAS six feet tall.
In two weeks it is
My Geology exam.
I am quite nervous.
But one week later,
I'm flying to NYC,
Me and Mr Z.
(Whoopee!)
William and Kate,
Your wedding was so lovely.
Thanks for the day off.
Robin on the fence,
Watching the cat. Think its chicks
are learning to fly.
British 'sparagus -
Why do you make wee smell bad?
Small price to pay, though.
Monday, 2 May 2011
Cakes: Rhubarb, and Vanilla-Grapefruit Cupcakes
I have been baking today. I like the spring because it brings rhubarb, one of my favourite things. I like to make this cake with it.
12oz butter
6oz caster sugar
4 eggs
1lb self-raising flour
pinch of salt
12oz mixed dried fruit (I use a cherry/berry mix I get in Asda)
At least 12 large spoonfuls of stewed rhubarb
Beat the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs one at a time, then beat in the flour and the pinch of salt. Stir in the dried fruit and rhubarb. Turn into 2 lined 2lb loaf tins, and bake at 180 degrees for about an hour, until set.
I must say that I don't usually make it in loaf tins, as I only have one small one; it all goes in a big square cake tin and, as a result, always takes ages to set. However, it is quite a soft cake anyway.
I also had a bit of experimentation with some cupcakes before the holidays. I have gotten into the habit of baking for my year 11s, and since I haven't seen them for over a month I wanted to ensure their last memory of me was sweet. So, I made vanilla cupcakes filled with grapefruit curd, a la Cupcake Bakeshop, but with a little twist of my own. Here is the recipe I used -
8oz butter
2 cups vanilla caster sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2-3/4 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Beat the butter until fluffy and then beat in the sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, and add the vanilla to the milk. Alternate adding these two things to the buttter, sugar and egg mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, which should be sifted in. Scoop into cupcake cases and bake at 180 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
Make the grapefruit curd to this recipe, but using two pink grapefruits in place of the lemons.
Fill the cupcakes with the curd using the cone method. Top with a vanilla cream cheese frosting - I combine vanilla sugar with cream cheese and a bit of butter, and I added a smidge of red food colouring, for pink grapefruit suggestion. Top with pieces of candied peel.
They went down extremely well. The grapefruit curd is quite tart, which is why I really amped up the vanilla flavour of the cupcakes.
The final thing I invented recently was for the ski trip. I baked toasted hazelnut caramel flapjacks for the journey. We were on the coach for the equivalent of four meal times so I tried to come up with something that would sustain us. I used this basic flapjack recipe, and then poured a quantity of caramel sauce over the top and then pressed in 8oz of hazelnuts I'd toasted under the grill and bashed to pieces. My colleague Adam dared to suggest they were the best flapjacks he'd ever had, so I think it's safe to say I'll be making those again some time soon. Flattery will get you everywhere with me.
12oz butter
6oz caster sugar
4 eggs
1lb self-raising flour
pinch of salt
12oz mixed dried fruit (I use a cherry/berry mix I get in Asda)
At least 12 large spoonfuls of stewed rhubarb
Beat the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs one at a time, then beat in the flour and the pinch of salt. Stir in the dried fruit and rhubarb. Turn into 2 lined 2lb loaf tins, and bake at 180 degrees for about an hour, until set.
I must say that I don't usually make it in loaf tins, as I only have one small one; it all goes in a big square cake tin and, as a result, always takes ages to set. However, it is quite a soft cake anyway.
I also had a bit of experimentation with some cupcakes before the holidays. I have gotten into the habit of baking for my year 11s, and since I haven't seen them for over a month I wanted to ensure their last memory of me was sweet. So, I made vanilla cupcakes filled with grapefruit curd, a la Cupcake Bakeshop, but with a little twist of my own. Here is the recipe I used -
8oz butter
2 cups vanilla caster sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2-3/4 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Beat the butter until fluffy and then beat in the sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, and add the vanilla to the milk. Alternate adding these two things to the buttter, sugar and egg mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, which should be sifted in. Scoop into cupcake cases and bake at 180 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
Make the grapefruit curd to this recipe, but using two pink grapefruits in place of the lemons.
Fill the cupcakes with the curd using the cone method. Top with a vanilla cream cheese frosting - I combine vanilla sugar with cream cheese and a bit of butter, and I added a smidge of red food colouring, for pink grapefruit suggestion. Top with pieces of candied peel.
They went down extremely well. The grapefruit curd is quite tart, which is why I really amped up the vanilla flavour of the cupcakes.
The final thing I invented recently was for the ski trip. I baked toasted hazelnut caramel flapjacks for the journey. We were on the coach for the equivalent of four meal times so I tried to come up with something that would sustain us. I used this basic flapjack recipe, and then poured a quantity of caramel sauce over the top and then pressed in 8oz of hazelnuts I'd toasted under the grill and bashed to pieces. My colleague Adam dared to suggest they were the best flapjacks he'd ever had, so I think it's safe to say I'll be making those again some time soon. Flattery will get you everywhere with me.
Friday, 29 April 2011
Weekword
This week my namesake Sally picked the word book. It made me think of a slang phrase I like to use, "Let's book" - which made me go away and look at where it came from. Interesting!
I grew up in a book house. At work, we often try to guess how many of our pupils are also growing up in book houses, meaning anywhere where books are valued and collected. I hypothesise that they are the ones who don't write in the text books, or tear corners of their exercise books out to write notes, since they have been taught a little more respect for tomes than that.
I currently live in a book house, too. I have a shelf above me as I sit here, full of all my university text books (which, if I'm honest, were not well thumbed during my degree and have been even less used since) and a random selection of History textbooks I keep for when I need to set cover. Donwstairs is another heaving bookcase, which holds them two rows deep. I am getting rid of them, a few at a time. I love having lots of books around and in an ideal world I would have a library, but we don't have the space for that really.
Of course, now I have my Kindle, so the need for actual books is diminished. I have lost count of the number of people who have said, "But it's not like a real book! It doesn't smell like a book!" which is very true. However, it is better than a book for me, because I keep it with me all the time and that means I read more, which makes it a winner in my eyes.
Unfortunately, it does not fulfill the secondary purpose of books - to sit prettily on a shelf, looking inviting. I think growing up in a book house creates an unusual love for this secondary purpose. I would spend hours staring at my parents' bookshelves, and my grandparents' bookshelves, and my aunt and uncle's bookshelves. I was in the library every month, and up in the adult section by the age of 12, having exhausted the paltry 15 shelves of teen literature. Being around a lot of books is calming, and reassuring, and full of promise. And can create familiarity in unfamiliar surroundings - when I went to Cornwall with my friends last month, I was delighted to walk into a bedroom with two walls lined with old testimonials and Methodist texts - it was like being back at my gran's house. I was up late that night re-reading From Witchcraft To Christ.
Good word this week! Pop along to Sally's blog to read the other entries and find out who'll be hosting next week.
I grew up in a book house. At work, we often try to guess how many of our pupils are also growing up in book houses, meaning anywhere where books are valued and collected. I hypothesise that they are the ones who don't write in the text books, or tear corners of their exercise books out to write notes, since they have been taught a little more respect for tomes than that.
I currently live in a book house, too. I have a shelf above me as I sit here, full of all my university text books (which, if I'm honest, were not well thumbed during my degree and have been even less used since) and a random selection of History textbooks I keep for when I need to set cover. Donwstairs is another heaving bookcase, which holds them two rows deep. I am getting rid of them, a few at a time. I love having lots of books around and in an ideal world I would have a library, but we don't have the space for that really.
Of course, now I have my Kindle, so the need for actual books is diminished. I have lost count of the number of people who have said, "But it's not like a real book! It doesn't smell like a book!" which is very true. However, it is better than a book for me, because I keep it with me all the time and that means I read more, which makes it a winner in my eyes.
Unfortunately, it does not fulfill the secondary purpose of books - to sit prettily on a shelf, looking inviting. I think growing up in a book house creates an unusual love for this secondary purpose. I would spend hours staring at my parents' bookshelves, and my grandparents' bookshelves, and my aunt and uncle's bookshelves. I was in the library every month, and up in the adult section by the age of 12, having exhausted the paltry 15 shelves of teen literature. Being around a lot of books is calming, and reassuring, and full of promise. And can create familiarity in unfamiliar surroundings - when I went to Cornwall with my friends last month, I was delighted to walk into a bedroom with two walls lined with old testimonials and Methodist texts - it was like being back at my gran's house. I was up late that night re-reading From Witchcraft To Christ.
Good word this week! Pop along to Sally's blog to read the other entries and find out who'll be hosting next week.
Monday, 25 April 2011
Where I have been
It has been a straight month since I checked in. It has been a long road back to a point where I wanted to talk about myself again! March completely kicked my backside for a large number of reasons. Luckily since then I have had a few fun trips and recharged my batteries.
We had a knitting retreat to Shaftesbury, where I finally finished the little blue baby slipover I was volunteered to knit for a friend's sister's baby (look, I know it was small and I agreed to do it, but it totally sucked all the joy out of my hobby! So no more commissions for a while...) and therefore found my knitting bug again. Since then I have knitted a little baby jumper for a friend...
I know, I know, it sounds like it should have killed knitting for me again, but it was different. This was a surprise gift, and to my favourite pattern, and using half yarn from my stash....although I bought two balls of the pink and ran out 6 rows from the end of the second sleeve, I kid you not. Error.
I have also been knitting away merrily on the Camellia shrug in Lorna's Laces Honor (I only spell it incorrectly because that is the way the makers spell it, people) which has been dyed into a smorgasboard of blues and named Royal Wedding, after soon-to-be Princess Kate's engagement ring and blue dress. It is a thing of joy and I am almost done with the back after less than a week.
So yes, firstly I have been knitting.
Secondly I have been SKIING!
I know every year I come back and say it was the best trip ever so I won't disappoint this year: it was the best trip, ever. We had a paltry 18 students between six of us and we were a bit worried to begin with as there wasn't really any snow to speak of, and we had to be bussed round the mountain to the only resort in the area with any lifts still operational.
The reps were gloomy. On the third day, it rained. We started to mutter about being bussed to the glacier, but then - miracles - the rain turned to snow and it did. not. stop.
Behind me is the off piste I skiied into. I fell over, became mired in snow up to my thighs like a turtle stuck on its back, and had to crawl back up the slope to the piste, throwing my skis ahead of me. It took nearly 15 minutes! That's why I'm a little rosy in this picture.
Incidentally this is the first year I have worn that helmet liner which I knitted nearly four years ago.
It was still snowing when we left. So, on day 4 we were skiing knee deep in fresh powder; on day 5 we got a crack at it after the piste bashers had done their thing; and by day 6 I was so enamoured of the entire thing that I chose to ski through lunch.
That deserves its own line. *I* chose something over food....and it was a sporty something, too. Amazing.
We had fancy dress day....
We had to dress each other. I made the WonderWoman outfit for Cara. I was dressed as a butterfly. The wings were amazing but the helmet cover was definitely my favourite bit! Skiing in costume got us quite a bit of notoriety in Leogang, and we had some nice comments from kids from other schools saying they wished their teachers were as fun; and the next day an Austrian man brought me my ski after I'd fallen over and said, "Hey, I know you! You were the dragon from yesterday!" - I assume he meant dragonfly; it was nice to be recognised!
Here's a video of me fluttering down the slopes, though it may be best avoided if you get motion sickness.
Finally, I have spent the last 5 days hanging out with my bff Jen in Sheffield. Jen is getting married next february which is really exciting, so we talked a lot about that and enjoyed the company of her extremely cute two year old daughter Abi, and yesterday I wrote my school reports while she and her fiance cleared out the loft; it was all very relaxed and just perfect for going back to work.
Yes, because work begins again tomorrow. I can't see any reason why it would kick my backside as much this term, though I perhaps should not tempt fate. I found another job to apply for; in fact, I was invited to apply for it by the deputy head of the school it's at, so I feel quite confident about it. Before the end of term I was a dead cert to apply, but then the ski trip happened and now I don't know. I got to thinking about what the good bits of my job are, and one of the amazing things about my school is the network of support I have from my colleagues. They inspire and boost me daily, and I find myself wondering if that isn't really what it should be about, rather than promotion. After all, I have another 30+ years of work left to apply for promotion. Also it would mean taking a pay cut, for more responsibility. That should probably be tabled as a factor.
Here are some of my work bezzies and me on holiday in Cornwall in March. That was just what was required, too.
We had a knitting retreat to Shaftesbury, where I finally finished the little blue baby slipover I was volunteered to knit for a friend's sister's baby (look, I know it was small and I agreed to do it, but it totally sucked all the joy out of my hobby! So no more commissions for a while...) and therefore found my knitting bug again. Since then I have knitted a little baby jumper for a friend...
I know, I know, it sounds like it should have killed knitting for me again, but it was different. This was a surprise gift, and to my favourite pattern, and using half yarn from my stash....although I bought two balls of the pink and ran out 6 rows from the end of the second sleeve, I kid you not. Error.
I have also been knitting away merrily on the Camellia shrug in Lorna's Laces Honor (I only spell it incorrectly because that is the way the makers spell it, people) which has been dyed into a smorgasboard of blues and named Royal Wedding, after soon-to-be Princess Kate's engagement ring and blue dress. It is a thing of joy and I am almost done with the back after less than a week.
So yes, firstly I have been knitting.
Secondly I have been SKIING!
I know every year I come back and say it was the best trip ever so I won't disappoint this year: it was the best trip, ever. We had a paltry 18 students between six of us and we were a bit worried to begin with as there wasn't really any snow to speak of, and we had to be bussed round the mountain to the only resort in the area with any lifts still operational.
The reps were gloomy. On the third day, it rained. We started to mutter about being bussed to the glacier, but then - miracles - the rain turned to snow and it did. not. stop.
Behind me is the off piste I skiied into. I fell over, became mired in snow up to my thighs like a turtle stuck on its back, and had to crawl back up the slope to the piste, throwing my skis ahead of me. It took nearly 15 minutes! That's why I'm a little rosy in this picture.
Incidentally this is the first year I have worn that helmet liner which I knitted nearly four years ago.
It was still snowing when we left. So, on day 4 we were skiing knee deep in fresh powder; on day 5 we got a crack at it after the piste bashers had done their thing; and by day 6 I was so enamoured of the entire thing that I chose to ski through lunch.
That deserves its own line. *I* chose something over food....and it was a sporty something, too. Amazing.
We had fancy dress day....
We had to dress each other. I made the WonderWoman outfit for Cara. I was dressed as a butterfly. The wings were amazing but the helmet cover was definitely my favourite bit! Skiing in costume got us quite a bit of notoriety in Leogang, and we had some nice comments from kids from other schools saying they wished their teachers were as fun; and the next day an Austrian man brought me my ski after I'd fallen over and said, "Hey, I know you! You were the dragon from yesterday!" - I assume he meant dragonfly; it was nice to be recognised!
Here's a video of me fluttering down the slopes, though it may be best avoided if you get motion sickness.
Finally, I have spent the last 5 days hanging out with my bff Jen in Sheffield. Jen is getting married next february which is really exciting, so we talked a lot about that and enjoyed the company of her extremely cute two year old daughter Abi, and yesterday I wrote my school reports while she and her fiance cleared out the loft; it was all very relaxed and just perfect for going back to work.
Yes, because work begins again tomorrow. I can't see any reason why it would kick my backside as much this term, though I perhaps should not tempt fate. I found another job to apply for; in fact, I was invited to apply for it by the deputy head of the school it's at, so I feel quite confident about it. Before the end of term I was a dead cert to apply, but then the ski trip happened and now I don't know. I got to thinking about what the good bits of my job are, and one of the amazing things about my school is the network of support I have from my colleagues. They inspire and boost me daily, and I find myself wondering if that isn't really what it should be about, rather than promotion. After all, I have another 30+ years of work left to apply for promotion. Also it would mean taking a pay cut, for more responsibility. That should probably be tabled as a factor.
Here are some of my work bezzies and me on holiday in Cornwall in March. That was just what was required, too.
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