Dark pictures again because they show up the crispness of the cable better than with the flash.
And one with flash, for the colour...
Sunday, 15 November 2015
Weekend WIP
I've been working on the Telluride. Sadly I have been feeling under the weather today (nothing at all to do with that combination of amaretto sours, prosecco, white win and brandy I was quaffing last night, I'm sure...) so I have only managed to do my work, and not my knitting. Thus, row 40 is still in the future. I'm on row 27.
Dark pictures again because they show up the crispness of the cable better than with the flash.
And one with flash, for the colour...
I'm really thrilled with it so far.
Dark pictures again because they show up the crispness of the cable better than with the flash.
And one with flash, for the colour...
Sunday Baking: Stir it up
I have been making Delia Smith's Creole Christmas Cake for at least 20 years now. It doesn't come out every year but it is a firm favourite; since Sib is going to be in the country this Christmas and he's so partial to it, I have got it going today ready for this Christmas.
I usually tweak the recipe a bit, according to what I have on hand. This year I have used dried cherries instead of glace, roughly chopped almonds instead of chopped mixed nuts; and the booze was -
3 tbsp rum
1 tbsp Cointreau (all that was left in the bottle)
5 tbsp cherry brandy
3 tbsp Becherovka, my favoured east European drink that tastes like Christmas
We'll see how it comes out.
I usually tweak the recipe a bit, according to what I have on hand. This year I have used dried cherries instead of glace, roughly chopped almonds instead of chopped mixed nuts; and the booze was -
3 tbsp rum
1 tbsp Cointreau (all that was left in the bottle)
5 tbsp cherry brandy
3 tbsp Becherovka, my favoured east European drink that tastes like Christmas
We'll see how it comes out.
Saturday, 14 November 2015
Fave Friday Follow-up
Last Friday I blogged about how I liked standing at the gate wishing everybody a happy weekend, but it would probably only last until the weather got bad.
Friday's weather was pretty bad and I was wearing canvas shoes, so I nearly skipped it, but then at 3pm this was the view:
So I just had to, you know? I do love it when it's sunny and leaden at the say time. The whole rainbow was visible over the field but I couldn't get it all into one picture. Marvellous. Did have to shelter under a leafless tree for a couple of minutes when it started raining again, but oh well.
Friday's weather was pretty bad and I was wearing canvas shoes, so I nearly skipped it, but then at 3pm this was the view:
So I just had to, you know? I do love it when it's sunny and leaden at the say time. The whole rainbow was visible over the field but I couldn't get it all into one picture. Marvellous. Did have to shelter under a leafless tree for a couple of minutes when it started raining again, but oh well.
Weeknote 14/11
In spite of this being in the "My favourite tags" menu to the left, a search revealed it has been a massive four years since I made a post like this. Too busy, clearly. They are nice for looking back on happenings, though.
This week I have been mostly...
Knitting:
The Telluride Aran. The yarn is holding the cables very crisply, I am really delighted with it so far. I am 26 rows past the ribbing; my aim is to finish the waist decreases before the weekend is over (40 rows). Maybe. I have a long to-do list.
Going to:
The weekend residential place we bring students to, WITHOUT students! A work friend's husband manages the place and managed to get us a weekend booking at an unpopular time of year as a late celebration of her birthday. So I am tucked up in a student bedroom, tapping away at my book corrections and generally enjoying not having to round up 30 excitable teenagers and get them to re-enact a murder.
I have NOT been going to yoga. This is a bad idea, but I am letting myself off. When I saw Jenny on Wednesday I asked for a cardio circuit, which I haven't done for months and months, so I am trying to keep my hand in somehow.
Eating:
Far too much bread and butter. Mr Z did make me a nice lunchtime salad on Friday (to be fair, he made my lunchtime salad every day this week, and last week...but on Friday he had to come up with his own idea because I didn't have any). He told me it was going to be beef, tomatoes and mozzarella with basil. I was surprised to find there was no beef, until I realised he'd meant "beef tomatoes". That would explain why he complained that Sainsbury's didn't have any beef tomatoes when he came home from the supermarket.
Learning:
About the inventor of the microscope, Robert Hooke, and his cantankerous ways; about how the British government refused to believe cholera was water-borne well into the 1880s because they were afraid it would impact on trade with India; about the history of lung cancer and HIV. Guess the topic of my textbook.
Obsessed with:
Sleep, mainly. The state of my skin since I've been using the fancy new products. How I'm going to meet all my deadlines.All the things I'm going to do when I have met them all/they have all passed.
Entertained by:
The funniest thing I can remember watching this week was a video of a grumpy cat being fed treats with chopsticks, so it hasn't been a good week on this front. However, I am at a party tonight.
Feeling:
Slightly less overwhelmed than I did last week, but that email from my editor reminding me that every time I am late for a deadline it makes her life difficult went down like a cup of cold sick.
The end is in sight. In four more weekends after this one, the thing will be DONE, DONE, DONE.
Here it is - I know you want to see it.
This week I have been mostly...
Knitting:
The Telluride Aran. The yarn is holding the cables very crisply, I am really delighted with it so far. I am 26 rows past the ribbing; my aim is to finish the waist decreases before the weekend is over (40 rows). Maybe. I have a long to-do list.
Going to:
The weekend residential place we bring students to, WITHOUT students! A work friend's husband manages the place and managed to get us a weekend booking at an unpopular time of year as a late celebration of her birthday. So I am tucked up in a student bedroom, tapping away at my book corrections and generally enjoying not having to round up 30 excitable teenagers and get them to re-enact a murder.
I have NOT been going to yoga. This is a bad idea, but I am letting myself off. When I saw Jenny on Wednesday I asked for a cardio circuit, which I haven't done for months and months, so I am trying to keep my hand in somehow.
Eating:
Far too much bread and butter. Mr Z did make me a nice lunchtime salad on Friday (to be fair, he made my lunchtime salad every day this week, and last week...but on Friday he had to come up with his own idea because I didn't have any). He told me it was going to be beef, tomatoes and mozzarella with basil. I was surprised to find there was no beef, until I realised he'd meant "beef tomatoes". That would explain why he complained that Sainsbury's didn't have any beef tomatoes when he came home from the supermarket.
Learning:
About the inventor of the microscope, Robert Hooke, and his cantankerous ways; about how the British government refused to believe cholera was water-borne well into the 1880s because they were afraid it would impact on trade with India; about the history of lung cancer and HIV. Guess the topic of my textbook.
Obsessed with:
Sleep, mainly. The state of my skin since I've been using the fancy new products. How I'm going to meet all my deadlines.All the things I'm going to do when I have met them all/they have all passed.
Entertained by:
The funniest thing I can remember watching this week was a video of a grumpy cat being fed treats with chopsticks, so it hasn't been a good week on this front. However, I am at a party tonight.
Feeling:
Slightly less overwhelmed than I did last week, but that email from my editor reminding me that every time I am late for a deadline it makes her life difficult went down like a cup of cold sick.
The end is in sight. In four more weekends after this one, the thing will be DONE, DONE, DONE.
Here it is - I know you want to see it.
Friday, 13 November 2015
Fave Friday
I do love a beauty product or six. I picked up a Kiehl's serum a few years ago and was dismayed to find it discontinued when I returned to replace it. Last month I wandered past a Kiehl's after getting my hair cut; I was in a spendy mood so I went in to ask for a recommendation.
The white-coated sales assistant held something to my skin and told me in hushed tones that it was very dry indeed. Of course it was. He recommended me a serum and then - because I was such a desperate case, presumably - a facial oil. I impulse-purchased both, then put them in the bag Mr Z was taking home from London because I was flying with hand luggage only, so they sat unloved for a week or two.
I have been using them daily since, though, and they are very good. I should by rights be looking akin to a haggard, 90 year old witch with eye bags you could pack a lunch in, but, even though this is how I feel, my skin looks like I've just had a few weeks at a relaxation retreat with unlimited sleep. Magic.
The serum feels a bit weird. It's a bit like plastic. That's probably the silicones. It does seem to have diminished the crow's feet after using it twice daily, though. I'm afraid now I'm getting old that I need to be less picky about ingredients. That said, I did prefer the acai one I got back in 2011; I got a sample of the midnight one and think I might prefer that, too. Maybe for Christmas.
The facial oil is delightful. It smells of oranges. It is possibly even better than the Neal's Yard one I love, mainly because it has a plunger to fill the pipette instead of a squeezy - that squeezy split in my washbag during the summer holiday and the entire bottle of Neal's Yard stuff is now moisturising said washbag. Old white coat was insistent that the oil was quick absorbing an not at all greasy. I wouldn't quite agree; I wouldn't put it on in the morning. But it does feel quite light and Mr Z is slightly less annoyed when he kisses me goodnight and ends up with a lipful of it than he was with the Neal's Yard oil.
The white-coated sales assistant held something to my skin and told me in hushed tones that it was very dry indeed. Of course it was. He recommended me a serum and then - because I was such a desperate case, presumably - a facial oil. I impulse-purchased both, then put them in the bag Mr Z was taking home from London because I was flying with hand luggage only, so they sat unloved for a week or two.
I have been using them daily since, though, and they are very good. I should by rights be looking akin to a haggard, 90 year old witch with eye bags you could pack a lunch in, but, even though this is how I feel, my skin looks like I've just had a few weeks at a relaxation retreat with unlimited sleep. Magic.
The serum feels a bit weird. It's a bit like plastic. That's probably the silicones. It does seem to have diminished the crow's feet after using it twice daily, though. I'm afraid now I'm getting old that I need to be less picky about ingredients. That said, I did prefer the acai one I got back in 2011; I got a sample of the midnight one and think I might prefer that, too. Maybe for Christmas.
The facial oil is delightful. It smells of oranges. It is possibly even better than the Neal's Yard one I love, mainly because it has a plunger to fill the pipette instead of a squeezy - that squeezy split in my washbag during the summer holiday and the entire bottle of Neal's Yard stuff is now moisturising said washbag. Old white coat was insistent that the oil was quick absorbing an not at all greasy. I wouldn't quite agree; I wouldn't put it on in the morning. But it does feel quite light and Mr Z is slightly less annoyed when he kisses me goodnight and ends up with a lipful of it than he was with the Neal's Yard oil.
Thursday, 12 November 2015
Throwback Thursday
Since I've just had a recent trip to Berlin, it stirred up memories of when I went 10 years ago, on an amazing free trip for history teachers, organised by the German government. We were exceptionally spoiled for five days - visits to the education ministry, publishers, schools, as well as all the usual touring and a really spectacular evening at a cabaret. It was really interesting to see how different the city is now to how it was ten years ago - I didn't remember that when we visited the Holocaust memorial, it had only been open for a couple of weeks.
There were 20 of us on the trip and I'm not in touch with any of them, this being before Facebook. However, I recently came across the delegate list and realised that I see one of them at the history conference every year, and she's actually quite a VIP in exam circles.
Interested, I posted this picture of me with two of the folks I hung out with the most during the trip, Matt and rachel. here we are at Potsdam, trying to recreate the famous picture. Matt is being Stalin.
I shared the picture on Twitter when it popped up in Timehop last May and was pleased when somebody responded to say she knew Matt and that he's in a senior leadership position now in the northeast somewhere. Good for him! I still remember our long conversation about career progression routes as we wandered the gardens of Charlottenburg. It was, coincidentally, the second inset I did with him that year.
No word on Rachel, though. Hopefully she is also doing well.
There were 20 of us on the trip and I'm not in touch with any of them, this being before Facebook. However, I recently came across the delegate list and realised that I see one of them at the history conference every year, and she's actually quite a VIP in exam circles.
Interested, I posted this picture of me with two of the folks I hung out with the most during the trip, Matt and rachel. here we are at Potsdam, trying to recreate the famous picture. Matt is being Stalin.
I shared the picture on Twitter when it popped up in Timehop last May and was pleased when somebody responded to say she knew Matt and that he's in a senior leadership position now in the northeast somewhere. Good for him! I still remember our long conversation about career progression routes as we wandered the gardens of Charlottenburg. It was, coincidentally, the second inset I did with him that year.
No word on Rachel, though. Hopefully she is also doing well.
Today I wish I was....
...only a year off sipping my first bottle of lemon gin.
I came across this lemon gin recipe two years ago, when I was looking for advice on making good sloe gin. It sounds amazing and I do like the idea of driving around with bubble-wrapped gin in the boot. But three years! Who can wait that long?
Then at the weekend I saw Sainsbury's had a special on their Bombay Sapphire again (£18 for a litre or £20 for 75cl...) and it reminded me of the recipe. I could kick myself. I'd only have to wait a year if I had made the effort to peel the lemons back in 2013.
Mr Z brought me a bottle home tonight so guess what I will do this weekend?
Incidentally, we took the advice of the owner of this website and recycled our sloes into a bottle of sherry when we fished them out of the gin last year. I reminded Mr Z about that this week and so we finally siphoned off the sherry and laid those sloes to rest. The sherry currently tastes a bit like medicine but I expect it just needs some sugar, or to be drunk at the end of a long night of drinking, or something. I will report back.
I came across this lemon gin recipe two years ago, when I was looking for advice on making good sloe gin. It sounds amazing and I do like the idea of driving around with bubble-wrapped gin in the boot. But three years! Who can wait that long?
Then at the weekend I saw Sainsbury's had a special on their Bombay Sapphire again (£18 for a litre or £20 for 75cl...) and it reminded me of the recipe. I could kick myself. I'd only have to wait a year if I had made the effort to peel the lemons back in 2013.
Mr Z brought me a bottle home tonight so guess what I will do this weekend?
Incidentally, we took the advice of the owner of this website and recycled our sloes into a bottle of sherry when we fished them out of the gin last year. I reminded Mr Z about that this week and so we finally siphoned off the sherry and laid those sloes to rest. The sherry currently tastes a bit like medicine but I expect it just needs some sugar, or to be drunk at the end of a long night of drinking, or something. I will report back.
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