...And We're Back!

So, in the month since my last post, I haven't been having lots of fun and not sharing it, or taking lots of really artistic photos and not sharing, or even going about daily life and not sharing my insightful and amusing thoughts about it - I've been writing and, more importantly, completing and, most importantly of all, handing in my dissertation. Yay for me!

Before you get too impressed, this was an MA dissertation, only 35 pages long and more what we'd call a thesis in the US, not a real, proper PhD dissertation, which can run into the 100s of pages. Still, it was hard work, especially as I never really got the hang of "social science" writing versus "liberal arts" writing. During the course, I wrote a paper on environmental economics, in which I literally did not understand what I was writing but got a pretty good grade. Then I wrote one about wind farm implementation, on which I worked really hard, did lots of research in local newspapers, and thought I really nailed it - and made a letter grade lower than the previous paper. Then there was the paper that I forgot about. I'd neglected to write down the amended hand in date and was reminded of it the day before when I ran into a classmate at the library who just happened to mention it. I ran home and wrote it in about 18 hours, with no outside sources and a very questionable central metaphor holding it all together. And, of course, that was the highest grade I got the whole year! So it's been a struggle and I have no idea how it will be received. We don't get our results until the end of October, so it will be a nice, long wait - argh!

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to rejoining the land of the living. I've been been keeping my head down for most of the year and have avoided most social occasions over the summer. For the last two weeks, except for morning walks, I literally did not leave the house. I think the guys at the Turkish shop across the road were getting worried about me - I normally go in there a lot, sometimes several times a day. I have a long list of projects I want to do, like finishing reupholstering my chair, gardening, making jam, and lots of sewing. And, of course, Christmas. It's already the end of August, which means I've got to get my butt in gear. I've already got a theme, with a runner-up in place in case I change my mind, and have preliminary lists started. Last year I was so busy with school that I felt like I didn't get to really enjoy Christmas, so this year I'm going to do it right. I'm getting excited just thinking about it!

Saturday at the V&A

Yesterday I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum with my friend Amy. We went specifically for a screening of Handmade Nation, a documentary about the DIY/indie craft movement in the US. It wasn't a cinematic tour de force, but it was really interesting and I came away with notes of people to look up and ideas of things to do.

While we were there we also saw the Telling Tales exhibition, which I thought was very good. Or, at least, very interesting. My favourite piece was probably the Linen Cupboard House, though the mole slippers were sort of lovely. (The micro-website is pretty good, so have an explore.) I think I like this little guy, too. It's hard to see, but he has golden grubs in his ears - which is disgusting but sort of beautiful.

The DIY ethos of the film inspired me, so when I got home, I hand-crafted some roasted vegetables and sausage, then resourcefully combined it with some spinach Matthew'd cooked earlier for my dinner. I must say, I was very pleased with my work!

Dreamland Theatre

For the past few months, I've been having very interesting dreams almost every night. It started when my parents were visiting in April. Being gracious hosts, we gave them our room and we slept in the basement/guest room. It is passably comfortable and we didn't have trouble sleeping or anything, but I think my sleeping mind knew I was in a different environment and went a little bit haywire. One night, for example, I dreamed that I ran a marathon with Willie Nelson.

The dreams continued after their visit, when we moved back into our bedroom. About a month ago, just before her birthday, I dreamt that I was at a masquerade party with my friend Jennie which featured all sorts of activities. I listened to a lecture about alternative energy sources and Jennie kept telling me the yoga/massage area was amazing. She wore a Regency style dress in a multi-coloured sari material and a paper mache mouse mask; I don't know what I was wearing because I couldn't find a mirror. I looked all over, but I couldn't find the toilet. Then a woman asked where we were parked because there was a monster at the party. I didn't believe her, as it was a masquerade party, after all, and I figured she had just seen someone weaing a monster mask. She seemed pretty adamant. I still couldn't find the toilet. It was weird, and then eventually I woke up.

Last week I dreamed that I bought some hand-knitted socks from my old friends and former co-workers Mayanna and Ashley at a craft fair. The socks were lavender, but had red and white stripes on the inside.

This morning I dreamed that I'd gone to visit my old friend Russell Brand (?!?) because he was getting married (?!?) and I'd taken my mom (?!?!?!?) with me. My mom got the guest room and I slept on the sofa, which was fine the first night - this was a really long dream - but the second night he had lots of noisy people over and I couldn't sleep. Then I was back at my house here in London, with Matthew and my mom and sister (and presumably my dad and brother-in-law, though I didn't see them). A baby pigeon flew into the house and the cats started chasing it. I got it away from them and carried it around to keep it safe. At some point, while sitting around a table on our patio, I realised that the pigeon had turned into a real baby, though it was still cooing like a dove. I decided I would keep her and that we'd call her Frankie.

So that was weird.

Garden Update

Matthew always says it's an ill wind that blows nobody good, and while I'm not absolutely certain what that proverb actually means, he uses it as an alternative way of saying that every cloud has a silver lining. (There is some cloud/wind connection that makes sense to me.) Thus, I suppose one nice thing about last year's garden being such a non-starter is that I'm very pleased with the limited success I'm having so far this year. It's been very rainy the past few weeks, but I'm holding out hope that we will still get enough sun overall for a successful season. My little plants, if not exactly thriving, are at least alive and growing (in general - I had a bean and a pea plant that just sort of gave up the ghost, but what can I do if the plant does not have the will to survive?).

These are some peas waiting to be transferred to larger pots, which just arrived in the post yesterday, with the new compost, which has not been delivered yet. They're still a little delicate and it's been chilly lately, so I've been moving them inside at night but back outside during the day in the hopes that they'll get fertilised by passing insects. As you can see (if you look really closely), one is already growing a little pea pod! I've got four pods on the go at the moment, which - admittedly not an enormous crop - is enough to add to a very small salad.

This little pea has one of the other pods. I just don't get it; the peas seem to have almost sprouted from the soil with flowers just waiting to burst out, but the beans, while growing quite tall, aren't ready to flower yet. I guess they're shy...

It looks like the Great Tomato Debacle of '08 may be behind us - I've got at least 4 baby tomatoes growing and I reckon I could get as many as 10 or 12, just from this one pot! A couple of other plants have flowered, but most haven't. It isn't a completely unmitigated success, but I am getting pretty excited about the possibilities.

But speaking of unmitigated success, the spinach patch continues to amaze. We have eaten spinach every day for weeks and weeks, and it just keeps growing! This photo was taken after I picked two bags this morning to take to my friends Monika and Amy. And that was after I picked some for our dinner two nights ago, and enough to make a "Welcome to the building/sorry your stove doesn't work" spinach lasagne for our new upstairs neighbours just a few days before that! I've used it in quiches, lasagne, sag paneer, quesadillas and shredded it in tacos, though usually I just wilt it in a pan with a tiny bit of olive oil and water. A little salt and pepper and it's magic.

I don't know how these little guys are going to turn out, but so far they are doing brilliantly. On a whim, I planted parsnips, because we really like them roasted but they tend to be the most expensive of the root vegetables - several times more expensive than carrots, for example. If they carry on as they've been doing, we should have some fairly decent ones and probably enough for several batches of roast vegetables, so I'm already planning to plant loads more next year.

In fact, I've got lots of plans for next year, most of them half-formed and flying around my head randomly. I'm feeling pretty ruthless about some of our ornamental plants, especially the ones occupying our few sunny spots. Rocco has an apple tree of which I am getting very jealous. But I'm most excited about a current project. I have always heard that mint is very hardy and spreads, almost to the point of being invasive and that you shouldn't put it in a flower bed because it's so hard to control. We have a separate little bed built into the wall at the end of the garden. It doesn't get much sun and is in one of the paths that the cats and foxes use to get in and out of the garden. I've put a little mint plant in it a few days ago; for now, I'm watering it and waiting and every day I whisper to it, "Go wild! I know you can do it!"

We shall see.

4th of July - Cupcakes and Bunting

As per usual, we had a cook-out to celebrate the Fourth of July. The novelty this year was that we actually had it on the Fourth. Last year's was on the fifth, since US Independence Day is not recognised holiday in the UK and everyone had to work on the day. This despite the fact that, as Matthew points out, you'd think the British would've been glad to be rid of us if we were going to be so cranky and rebellious. Or something like that. He has a similar line about Thanksgiving, like being thankful to not have to deal with those dreadful colonials anymore. And then he usually says, "Present company excepted." Usually.

Anyway, we had some people over and had a nice day in the garden. It was lovely and hot, unlike the preceding week, which had been hellish and hot. Our practice barbecues paid off - in a way. Matthew has gotten pretty good at setting up the barbecue with the briquettes and firelighters but his attention still wavers and neither of us is very good at determining when things are cooked as opposed to just charred on the outside while still harbouring dangerous bacteria on the inside. Fortunately, the guests were there to help out. It was sort of audience participation, with everyone taking a turn to flip burgers or turn sausages or say, "Actually, this is still raw inside, I'm going to put it back on."

My position is that I cook inside the house, not in the garden, so I focused more on the baking. We had cupcakes again this year, with flags, sprinkles and little decorations that my parents sent in a pre-Independence Day care package. This is just a sample. There were many, many more than this. Thanks to my friend Adrienne for helping with the icing and decoration. To anyone who got little bits of paper stuck to the back of their flag deco, that was my fault, not hers! I think I have discovered the secret to good icing. I've tried margarine and real butter, with very disappointing results, but apparently the key is shortening. Or as they call it here, vegetable lard. Sounds yummy, huh?

I also made a Victoria sponge cake, which English people just love. It's like a layer cake, but without the icing. There is jam between the layers and the top is dusted with powdered sugar. I added fresh strawberries to this one and dusted the top just before cutting. There were obviously some issues with the filling, which was on the oozy side, but it still tasted very good.
To continue this summer's theme of all bunting, all the time, I made some special red, white and blue bunting, with fabric kindly supplied (and even cut!) by my mom. All I did was lay it out on the floor to decide on the order, then pin and sew. It was great. The flags are raw-edged, with the top folded into seam binding and zig-zag stitched.

And you know how at a party, everyone congregates in the kitchen, no matter how cramped? Apparently the same principle operates at barbecues, as you can see below. Everyone is crammed within 20 feet of the grill (just out of site to the left), while the other 2/3 of the garden is empty, except of deck chairs and a red/white/blue picnic blanket. I just don't get it. Though, to be fair, they may feel they need to keep an eye on the grill in case the cook wanders off.

The postscript is that today I have eaten half a blueberry muffin (Matthew's friend Vincent brought 2 dozen homemade muffins!), two cupcakes, a hamburger and sausage sandwich, and some baklava (brought by Adrienne). I feel slightly sick, but mostly in a good way. I like to think, the American way.

P.S. Apologies on the wonky formatting lately. Blogger is doing my head in!

Paradise Gardens: the Vintage Arcade

The other weekend we went to Paradise Gardens, a free festival in Victoria Park. There were bands and food booths and lots of people sitting around in the grass. My favourite part was Carter's Steam Fair, an old-fashioned carnival that tours the southeast of England with vintage attractions and rides. I took a lot of photos, but my favourite part was the vintage arcade, with all the old penny games. They don't take pennies anymore, but the tokens were 8 for £1, which I thought was pretty good, and according to Matthew, they are the size and shape of old pennies, i.e. really big and flat.

As you can see, these aren't really games of skill, more just "pull a lever and see where the little ball goes". I preferred the ones where I knew I would win something, or at least get some info. We didn't do this one, but a more traditional Love-o-meter said Matthew is a cold fish! I think he was a bit disappointed, but I found it pretty funny.

I consulted the Matrimonial Bureau regarding a future child and this is what I got:

I'm not sure what I think about it. Not only is the baby black - I'm not a geneticist, but I believe that would be a highly unlikely outcome of the two of us procreating - but it also seems to be poor! While we are so solidly middle-class! I wonder if this machine is perhaps not terribly reliable and that it might have given me a picture of someone else's baby.

I was much happier with the results of the X-ray photo machine below:

As you can see, they were very accurate:

Cabbages and Frocks

On Sunday, we went to the Marylebone Village Street Fair, which featured Cabbages and Frocks, a craft fair that normally takes place every Saturday in the churchyard of St Marylebone Parish Church. Almost every single thing was very, very cute! These are some of my favourites:

The theme for the day seemed to be bunting and cupcakes, and although these ladies didn't have actual cupcakes at their table, their items were so sweet, I almost went into a sugar coma anyway. As with all the vendors, I asked if they minded if I took a photograph; when I said it was for a blog, they said, "Oh, we love blogs!" Me too!

Unfortunately, I didn't get a card or web address for them and can't find anything Google-able in my photos, so I have no choice but to go back next weekend so I can link to them.

Linda of Handmade to Measure had a gorgeous table dominated by owls, but also featuring cats, cushions, little coin purses and a dachshund draft excluder. She uses vintage fabrics and some carefully chosen reproductions to make these really bright, beautiful designs. As I was taking these pictures, I heard a passerby say to her friend, "Didn't we make owls like that at school? With fabric and bits of felt for the face?" The friend murmured something vaguely affirmative, and the woman said, "Well, I know how to do that, then!" You may know how to do it, I thought, but you didn't do it. Linda did.

Oh, and there was a roast pig.

Stella James makes beautiful organic knits, mostly for little people. This booth actually made feel a little bit sad that I'd managed to buy and send my niece's birthday present (more or less) on time!

Tarts of Temptation are Cabbages and Frocks regulars. They have cupcakes, tarts, cake by the slice and cake-y things like candles, magnets and little knitted cake ornaments (or maybe pin cushions?)

Just a few tables down was Peggy's Cupcakes, which does what it says on the tin - all cupcakes and nothing but. I am sick with jealousy over her gorgeous, fluffy icing, having recently tested and rejected a new recipe for my 4th of July cupcakes.

I'm also quite jealous of her precious cake stands. I've got my eye on a rather different one on Amazon, but these are so sweet.

And it's probably rude to call Chelsea Pensioners sweet, considering that they are all former soldiers, so I asked these gentlemen if I could take their photo because they looked so resplendent. They couldn't refuse after that - who could?