The Technomage and I have been scouring Sainsbury's basics section after reading yesterday of a Guardian journalist's rather unsuccessful attempt at meeting the Live Below the Line challenge of eating for five days on less than £1 a day.
The basics prices mean that we have each managed to come up with five days of food for the two of us for £10 (£9.99 in my case) - assuming everything is in stock. But now we can't agree on whose shopping basket to buy. I quite like his idea of including flour and yeast to make rolls and even pizza but he doesn't have any potatoes, which I think is a mistake. Nor does he have any treats - I felt that a welcome inclusion would be my 33p for 10 scones and 22p for lemon curd, or 38p for their excellent basics peanuts. Otherwise, about half of our ingredients are the same.
In many ways I feel today's supermarket's value ranges make the challenge too easy and I'm sure that whoever's list we decide on will provide a good variety of food. And of course the people actually living on £1 a day wouldn't have the equivalent of a Sainsbury's range of 450 ultra-budget decent-quality products, some at prices you can't imagine them making a profit at.
If nothing else, it's made me consider every penny of the budget, swapping in something that's a few pennies less than my first choice. That, I guess, is an important lesson of the exercise.
And it does bring home the extravagance of the casual way we would normally open a £3 or £4 bottle of wine - and how lucky we are to have unlimited tap water on demand. And the benefits of a fridge and freezer to keep the food fresh so that it can all be bought, effectively in bulk, at the start of the week. Oh yes, and the fact that we do have the full £10 available at the start of the week, instead of having to go out each day with the previous day's earnings and start from scratch.
It's a shame that the BBC isn't reshowing any of its excellent Blood, Sweat and Takeways (or T-shirts or Luxuries) series next week to coincide with the challenge - it's a very good at giving an insight into people's lives in these kinds of situations.
Friday, 29 April 2011
Friday, 25 February 2011
The perfect size of hot water bottle...
...is not too small and not too big but somewhere in between.
I'm a big fan of hot water bottles, particularly now that central heating oil is 58p/litre. They're so much hotter than those wheat-filled bags (and are less prone to being seen as food source for any visiting mice).
I was pleased last year to find a smart cream-coloured one as a change from traditional bright ones (strangely, unbeknown to either of us, my Mum bought an identical one 200 miles away the same week). But the trouble with normal ones is that they use a whole kettle of water (I don't go for the wishy-washy approach of using hot tap water), taking time to boil and leaving none spare for a cuppa.
I'd only ever seen 'normal' sized ones, but a good discovery was that they now make 0.5 litre ones and I picked up a pair a pound shop. These seemed great - you can fill one or two and still make a drink. They are great, but not for long - sadly they're too small to hold their heat well.
Best of all are middle sized ones that I bought for £1.50 each in a shop in Diss last weekend - one for me and one for my Mum. These hold a litre, which proves to be the perfect size. It stays hot for ages and is a good size for defrosting fingers when wrapped up in a blanket on the sofa hoping that the lounge will warm up soon. (A neighbour's suggestion of running a fan at the top of the stairs to drive the warm air back downstairs actually works surprisingly well and helps a lot.)
What I really fancy is an electric hot water bottle that you could just plug in instead of having to pour out nearly boiling water. I looked in vain a few years ago and remembered the idea recently so tried again. I found a whole website devoted to hot water bottles, which showed one but it's no longer available. Some similar ones were on ebay but I was a bit nervous about buying this type of thing from there and the Technomage flatly refused to have it in the house anyway. Even if I ever do ever get something like that I'll certainly want to use one of my excellent Masterplug countdown timers to provide some extra reassurance in case it forgets to cut out....(they're recommended for use on the iron too).
I'm a big fan of hot water bottles, particularly now that central heating oil is 58p/litre. They're so much hotter than those wheat-filled bags (and are less prone to being seen as food source for any visiting mice).
I was pleased last year to find a smart cream-coloured one as a change from traditional bright ones (strangely, unbeknown to either of us, my Mum bought an identical one 200 miles away the same week). But the trouble with normal ones is that they use a whole kettle of water (I don't go for the wishy-washy approach of using hot tap water), taking time to boil and leaving none spare for a cuppa.
I'd only ever seen 'normal' sized ones, but a good discovery was that they now make 0.5 litre ones and I picked up a pair a pound shop. These seemed great - you can fill one or two and still make a drink. They are great, but not for long - sadly they're too small to hold their heat well.
Best of all are middle sized ones that I bought for £1.50 each in a shop in Diss last weekend - one for me and one for my Mum. These hold a litre, which proves to be the perfect size. It stays hot for ages and is a good size for defrosting fingers when wrapped up in a blanket on the sofa hoping that the lounge will warm up soon. (A neighbour's suggestion of running a fan at the top of the stairs to drive the warm air back downstairs actually works surprisingly well and helps a lot.)
What I really fancy is an electric hot water bottle that you could just plug in instead of having to pour out nearly boiling water. I looked in vain a few years ago and remembered the idea recently so tried again. I found a whole website devoted to hot water bottles, which showed one but it's no longer available. Some similar ones were on ebay but I was a bit nervous about buying this type of thing from there and the Technomage flatly refused to have it in the house anyway. Even if I ever do ever get something like that I'll certainly want to use one of my excellent Masterplug countdown timers to provide some extra reassurance in case it forgets to cut out....(they're recommended for use on the iron too).
Friday, 11 February 2011
At last, a use for all those little jugs
I've accumulated quite a few nice jugs over the years from craft stalls, car boot sales and charity shops. Most get very little use, mainly coming out when guests are staying and we want to be posh and avoid serving milk straight from the bottle.
So I've been very pleased to find that there are lots of little tasks for jugs when using a shiny new espresso machine. The machine was a Christmas pressie, picked by us - we eventually opted for a De Longhi EC270, chosen as it seemed robust and takes ground coffee as opposed to pods (but has the option of using generic ESE pods, which will allow us to keep a few sealed sachets of decaff in for visitors). We're enjoying the output - it's working really well (and will provide even better coffee once we've finished using up very-out-of-date supplies).
A jug from my Denby Manor Green collection is ideal for topping up the water tank and running water through the milk frother arm after use; the milk jug from an old metal teapot set is just the right size for heating the milk (though the handle gets very hot); and an adorable little rounded pale green jug is proving just right for collecting the coffee if the mug it's destined for is too tall.
An 1980s set of black hexagonal cups and saucers (the set also includes a useful jug) has also been dug out from the back of the cupboard and is being used for the first time in years.
Sadly I've yet to find a role for a particularly sweet and well-proportioned little brown jug from my collection of miniature objects....
So I've been very pleased to find that there are lots of little tasks for jugs when using a shiny new espresso machine. The machine was a Christmas pressie, picked by us - we eventually opted for a De Longhi EC270, chosen as it seemed robust and takes ground coffee as opposed to pods (but has the option of using generic ESE pods, which will allow us to keep a few sealed sachets of decaff in for visitors). We're enjoying the output - it's working really well (and will provide even better coffee once we've finished using up very-out-of-date supplies).
A jug from my Denby Manor Green collection is ideal for topping up the water tank and running water through the milk frother arm after use; the milk jug from an old metal teapot set is just the right size for heating the milk (though the handle gets very hot); and an adorable little rounded pale green jug is proving just right for collecting the coffee if the mug it's destined for is too tall.
An 1980s set of black hexagonal cups and saucers (the set also includes a useful jug) has also been dug out from the back of the cupboard and is being used for the first time in years.
Sadly I've yet to find a role for a particularly sweet and well-proportioned little brown jug from my collection of miniature objects....
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
Pasta now, polymer clay next
Our new pasta machine - kindly chosen by parents as a raffle prize as they knew I was looking for one - has at last had an outing. Making the pasta dough was very easy - 300g of Tesco pasta flour (which proved to be a lovely yellowey, grainy flour), mixed with three eggs.
We then ran a lump of it several times through the adjustable roller
and used the slicey attachment to turn some of it into tagliatelli (good)/spaghetti (less successful).
We also made some raviolli by putting lumps of cheese on some of the flat sheets.
Cooking times involved intermittent tasting to check for the al-dente-ness - seemed to be about seven minutes in our case, though our sheets may have been a bit thick.
But although the results were pretty good, we're only planning on a couple more goes before I get custody of the machine. I'd long been on the look-out for a secondhand pasta machine - not to make pasta, but to try covering little tins in sheets of patterned Fimo modelling clay. I know I won't be very good at it, but on several occasions in recent years I've bought some fantastic things as pressies or for myself from a very talented polymer clay artist called Angela, and would love to have a go. Her Etsy shop is called Polymer Clay Creations and I particularly love things made using the coloured floral pattern that's her shop banner. So now I'm planning on buying some unbaked floral canes from her as the basis for my attempts, as I know there isn't a chance of me making such intricate things myself.
We then ran a lump of it several times through the adjustable roller
and used the slicey attachment to turn some of it into tagliatelli (good)/spaghetti (less successful).
We also made some raviolli by putting lumps of cheese on some of the flat sheets.
Cooking times involved intermittent tasting to check for the al-dente-ness - seemed to be about seven minutes in our case, though our sheets may have been a bit thick.
But although the results were pretty good, we're only planning on a couple more goes before I get custody of the machine. I'd long been on the look-out for a secondhand pasta machine - not to make pasta, but to try covering little tins in sheets of patterned Fimo modelling clay. I know I won't be very good at it, but on several occasions in recent years I've bought some fantastic things as pressies or for myself from a very talented polymer clay artist called Angela, and would love to have a go. Her Etsy shop is called Polymer Clay Creations and I particularly love things made using the coloured floral pattern that's her shop banner. So now I'm planning on buying some unbaked floral canes from her as the basis for my attempts, as I know there isn't a chance of me making such intricate things myself.
Sunday, 2 January 2011
Stitch & Zip - avoiding the faff of pointy needles
The trouble with needlepoint is that completing the canvas doesn't mark completion of the project. After a year or so of sewing away, I've got various things that await the final tiresome steps with a pointy needle to turn them into a cushion, specs case or whatever. I really dislike that stage - and am not very good at it - and they will no doubt linger folded up in a box for many months to come.
So I've been enjoying the relatively instant satisfaction of three cute little kits I came across by chance on ebay. They are called Stitch & Zip, by Alice Peterson, and come entirely made up when you buy them - all you have to do is the actual needlepointy bit. The little fishy purse is about 4.5" by 3.5" (12cm by 9cm) and the bigger floral ones are about 7" by 5" (18cm by 13cm).
The canvas and backing are already both sewn neatly onto a zip, which undoes all the way round to provide full access.
The ones I bought are printed with flowers and fish and, rather oddly, carry the legend 'Princess Cruises'. It's a rather strange concept for a promotional item! I have a vision of them being handed out as a mandatory recreational activity on a trip round the Med, with rows of passengers sitting on deck in a kind of open-air workhouse, sewing diligently and having to complete another square inch before being awarded their next G&T...
Of course there is no need to follow the pattern - I could have ignored them completely, and would have done so if I hadn't liked these designs. As it is, I'm just aiming to hide the writing - eg with an an extra fish in the case of the smallest one. However, I was very lazy and didn't bother painting over the words Princess Cruises. It still shows through (the thread on these particular kits is stranded cotton, which doesn't have very great coverage) and so I'm sprinkling the background with random flecks of green to try and disguise it.
I'm part-way through the second one and I've painted over the words, ready to do the background areas. The writing still shows up on the photo but is less visible in real life and I'm fairly optimistic that the painting will be sufficient. This one's for my Mum to keep her magnifying glass in - not sure yet whether appropriate words or another flower will fill the gap.
I'm no neater with a sewing machine than a pointy needle, but may in time have a go at making up a similar purse myself, as it can't be very difficult (if only I can make myself measure it out properly and tack it together first). But in the meantime, I'll keep an eye open for more of the kits - they don't seem to be readily available in the UK. They're ideal for carrying round as a project on the go as, being a purse, you can of course keep the scissors and thread safely zipped up inside.
So I've been enjoying the relatively instant satisfaction of three cute little kits I came across by chance on ebay. They are called Stitch & Zip, by Alice Peterson, and come entirely made up when you buy them - all you have to do is the actual needlepointy bit. The little fishy purse is about 4.5" by 3.5" (12cm by 9cm) and the bigger floral ones are about 7" by 5" (18cm by 13cm).
The canvas and backing are already both sewn neatly onto a zip, which undoes all the way round to provide full access.
The ones I bought are printed with flowers and fish and, rather oddly, carry the legend 'Princess Cruises'. It's a rather strange concept for a promotional item! I have a vision of them being handed out as a mandatory recreational activity on a trip round the Med, with rows of passengers sitting on deck in a kind of open-air workhouse, sewing diligently and having to complete another square inch before being awarded their next G&T...
Of course there is no need to follow the pattern - I could have ignored them completely, and would have done so if I hadn't liked these designs. As it is, I'm just aiming to hide the writing - eg with an an extra fish in the case of the smallest one. However, I was very lazy and didn't bother painting over the words Princess Cruises. It still shows through (the thread on these particular kits is stranded cotton, which doesn't have very great coverage) and so I'm sprinkling the background with random flecks of green to try and disguise it.
I'm part-way through the second one and I've painted over the words, ready to do the background areas. The writing still shows up on the photo but is less visible in real life and I'm fairly optimistic that the painting will be sufficient. This one's for my Mum to keep her magnifying glass in - not sure yet whether appropriate words or another flower will fill the gap.
I'm no neater with a sewing machine than a pointy needle, but may in time have a go at making up a similar purse myself, as it can't be very difficult (if only I can make myself measure it out properly and tack it together first). But in the meantime, I'll keep an eye open for more of the kits - they don't seem to be readily available in the UK. They're ideal for carrying round as a project on the go as, being a purse, you can of course keep the scissors and thread safely zipped up inside.
Monday, 29 November 2010
Three days lost a year...
I didn't quite believe it when I first did the sum - brushing your teeth for two minutes twice a day equates to about 2 hours a month or 24 hours a year. Thought of another way, that's three whole working days every single year.
I really can't quite get my head round this. I know that cleaning my teeth thoroughly is something very worthwhile and that it saves pain and bills in the long term, etc etc. But to spend three working days a year doing it????!!! Two minutes seems such a small amount on each occasion but does seems rather unproductive when multiplied up that far. Perhaps I should be listening to little doses of something instructive at the same time - brushing up on my Spanish while I brush?
I have been quite diligent about cleaning since getting a posh Oral B Triumph toothbrush last year. I initially scoffed at the fact it included a timer (or Smartguide to use their jargon) but have found that it does help spur you to the full two minutes by prompting you to to change quadrants every 30 seconds. And it does reward you with a smiley face after two minutes...
I've occasionally experimented with using it for longer - you sometimes then get one of several different winking expressions. Leaving it running on my desk for five minutes just now only resulted in one change so I'm no nearer to knowing how many expressions are in its repertoire.
Perhaps I'm out of favour because I haven't yet responded to its instruction to bin my existing brush?
I really can't quite get my head round this. I know that cleaning my teeth thoroughly is something very worthwhile and that it saves pain and bills in the long term, etc etc. But to spend three working days a year doing it????!!! Two minutes seems such a small amount on each occasion but does seems rather unproductive when multiplied up that far. Perhaps I should be listening to little doses of something instructive at the same time - brushing up on my Spanish while I brush?
I have been quite diligent about cleaning since getting a posh Oral B Triumph toothbrush last year. I initially scoffed at the fact it included a timer (or Smartguide to use their jargon) but have found that it does help spur you to the full two minutes by prompting you to to change quadrants every 30 seconds. And it does reward you with a smiley face after two minutes...
I've occasionally experimented with using it for longer - you sometimes then get one of several different winking expressions. Leaving it running on my desk for five minutes just now only resulted in one change so I'm no nearer to knowing how many expressions are in its repertoire.
Perhaps I'm out of favour because I haven't yet responded to its instruction to bin my existing brush?
Monday, 15 November 2010
Splodges - an enjoyable little interlude
I'm enjoying plodding on with time-consuming needlepoint projects including the Ehrman Spring cushion cover, but fancied getting sidetracked by something that would:
a) let me try out painting a bit of a design on some canvas;
b) allow for decision-making as I go along;
c) not take long to finish.
I duly splashed some splodges of Tesco's acryllic paint onto a piece of scrap canvas...
...and have been semi-following the splodges and semi-ignoring them, according to whim.
The inspiration is Kaffe Fassett's lovely millefiori-like Paperweight fabric in the colourway 'sludge' though it's by no means an attempt to replicate the fabric. The wool is Anchor Tapisserie, in the colours I had to hand that were closest to 'sludge' - some a good match, others less so. There are some shapes that are vaguely reminiscent of the ones in the fabric but I decided early on that any attempt at copying the design would be doomed to failure - and that it would in any case defeat the object of being able to invent as I went along.
I've no idea what I'll do with the resulting little piece - I imagine I'll back it with Paperweight and make it into a little bag - or perhaps leave it as a little picture. I didn't really think about that when choosing the size of scrap to work on!
Unfortunately, I've had to pause as I haven't enough of colour 8072 to finish the background. I thought I'd spotted some on Saturday in a big remaindered box of wool in the Singer sewing shop in Bury St Edmunds - but it turned out to be the next-darker shade 8074 so I'll have to wait a little longer. (Of course I couldn't resist buying a big bag of wool anyway!)
I'd really recommend this type of project. It's fun deciding what to do as you go along while having a bit of painted guidance - I can't imagine me ever wanting to do a precisely painted canvas. The acryllic was cheap to buy (about a fiver I think) and easy to apply. It is also easy to correct mistakes, either by sewing over a few stitches or by cutting stitches out if a bigger area is involved. For instance, I sometimes found that larger concentric circles looked a bit boring and so oversewed one of the rings with a few spots of another colour. I found that I got slightly better at making the shapes fairly circular as I went along.
My only slight misgiving is that it feels a bit of a cop-out doing something all in very basic tent stitch. I suppose I could have used something more textured for the background, but it was more relaxing to keep this in-front-of-the-telly-task as simple as possible.
Now back to cracking on with one of the neverending bigger projects...
a) let me try out painting a bit of a design on some canvas;
b) allow for decision-making as I go along;
c) not take long to finish.
I duly splashed some splodges of Tesco's acryllic paint onto a piece of scrap canvas...
...and have been semi-following the splodges and semi-ignoring them, according to whim.
The inspiration is Kaffe Fassett's lovely millefiori-like Paperweight fabric in the colourway 'sludge' though it's by no means an attempt to replicate the fabric. The wool is Anchor Tapisserie, in the colours I had to hand that were closest to 'sludge' - some a good match, others less so. There are some shapes that are vaguely reminiscent of the ones in the fabric but I decided early on that any attempt at copying the design would be doomed to failure - and that it would in any case defeat the object of being able to invent as I went along.
I've no idea what I'll do with the resulting little piece - I imagine I'll back it with Paperweight and make it into a little bag - or perhaps leave it as a little picture. I didn't really think about that when choosing the size of scrap to work on!
Unfortunately, I've had to pause as I haven't enough of colour 8072 to finish the background. I thought I'd spotted some on Saturday in a big remaindered box of wool in the Singer sewing shop in Bury St Edmunds - but it turned out to be the next-darker shade 8074 so I'll have to wait a little longer. (Of course I couldn't resist buying a big bag of wool anyway!)
I'd really recommend this type of project. It's fun deciding what to do as you go along while having a bit of painted guidance - I can't imagine me ever wanting to do a precisely painted canvas. The acryllic was cheap to buy (about a fiver I think) and easy to apply. It is also easy to correct mistakes, either by sewing over a few stitches or by cutting stitches out if a bigger area is involved. For instance, I sometimes found that larger concentric circles looked a bit boring and so oversewed one of the rings with a few spots of another colour. I found that I got slightly better at making the shapes fairly circular as I went along.
My only slight misgiving is that it feels a bit of a cop-out doing something all in very basic tent stitch. I suppose I could have used something more textured for the background, but it was more relaxing to keep this in-front-of-the-telly-task as simple as possible.
Now back to cracking on with one of the neverending bigger projects...
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
My very favourite web shop
I'm always pleased when I can find an excuse to buy from Cult Pens. I've used dozens of online shops - hundreds if you count every ebay seller - but this is my favourite, even though I don't have reason to buy from it very often. When I do come up with something to order, I always spend ages pouring over the site to decide what else I can treat myself to.
They do one thing and they do it brilliantly. They sell every kind of pen, pencil or refill imaginable, ranging in price from a pound or two to hundreds. The descriptions are very thorough, so you know, for example, what brands of refills will work for a particular pen. They also manage to be very friendly, letting their own opinions come out. Comments like "Sorry - Red standard cartridges have been inexplicably discontinued by Parker" make you realise that the descriptions are compiled by people taking a real interest, rather than bored temps. As their about us page says, they love pens and pencils. I've had occasion to mail them a few times with queries about discontinued models, and they always respond speedily, helpfully and knowledgably.
They also have a very sensible and quite generous postage policy - you only have to spend £10 to get free delivery.
The highlight of today's parcel - ordered on Sunday evening, arrived Tuesday - was a bottle of Diamine ink in China Blue, one dozens of colours available at the very reasonable price of £5.95.
It comes in a very classy bottle, taking you back to a pre-biro and computer keyboard era. I bet my grandfather, who was an architect with the most beautiful handwriting I've ever seen, used ink from a bottle just like this.
I'd been wanting to try Diamine for ages and agonised about which to pick first. In trying to choose a colour, I came across this excellent review of the individual colours. I can feel another order coming on soon - perhaps I'll go for the tasty-sounding Damson or Pumpkin next. But there's a danger that I'll start collecting them - and there are 80 colours in the range, with new ones launched from time to time so I'd better resist the temptation...well, perhaps I could just get one or two...
They do one thing and they do it brilliantly. They sell every kind of pen, pencil or refill imaginable, ranging in price from a pound or two to hundreds. The descriptions are very thorough, so you know, for example, what brands of refills will work for a particular pen. They also manage to be very friendly, letting their own opinions come out. Comments like "Sorry - Red standard cartridges have been inexplicably discontinued by Parker" make you realise that the descriptions are compiled by people taking a real interest, rather than bored temps. As their about us page says, they love pens and pencils. I've had occasion to mail them a few times with queries about discontinued models, and they always respond speedily, helpfully and knowledgably.
They also have a very sensible and quite generous postage policy - you only have to spend £10 to get free delivery.
The highlight of today's parcel - ordered on Sunday evening, arrived Tuesday - was a bottle of Diamine ink in China Blue, one dozens of colours available at the very reasonable price of £5.95.
It comes in a very classy bottle, taking you back to a pre-biro and computer keyboard era. I bet my grandfather, who was an architect with the most beautiful handwriting I've ever seen, used ink from a bottle just like this.
I'd been wanting to try Diamine for ages and agonised about which to pick first. In trying to choose a colour, I came across this excellent review of the individual colours. I can feel another order coming on soon - perhaps I'll go for the tasty-sounding Damson or Pumpkin next. But there's a danger that I'll start collecting them - and there are 80 colours in the range, with new ones launched from time to time so I'd better resist the temptation...well, perhaps I could just get one or two...
Sunday, 17 October 2010
Fungal foraging
We spent a very enjoyable morning yesterday on a fungal foray run by mycologist Jonathan Revett in Thetford Forest.
Together with our friends Ursula, Dave and Helen...
we found a lovely basketful....
...which Jonathan then checked so that we took home only edible ones (plus a rare earthstar for Helen to take to school).
This year seems to be particularly good - the group as a whole found more than 50 types of mushrooms and toadstools in a couple of hours ambling round the forest.
I loved the range of colours we found - purply and orange and red and yellows - and their wonderful names, such as hares' ears, wood blewits, shaggy parasols, wood woolly-foot, saffron milk cap and amethyst deceivers.
Of course there were also ones that were ugly (black saddle)
very dangerous (death cap)
and weird (stinkhorn)....
I learnt far lot more on this foray than on ones I've done in the past (though still won't be filling the frying pan without an expert to hand!). And I've finally realised that there's no need to try to identify lots of different types - all I have to do is to learn with confidence a few good ones (as well as any they could be confused with and of course in particular the very dangerous ones).
The wood blewit and amethyst deceiver were my favourite new discoveries of the day - not only did I like their colours and taste, but also appreciated the fact that they are easily recognisable!
We started our breakfast with some of yesterday's findings (sadly a few including a big cep had gone past their best and so had to be thrown out) sauted with garlic and parsley...
...then went a little walk to put our new powers of observation to the test - and were pleased to find that we are now able to spot and identify (at least approximately) many more than on a walk a week ago!
Together with our friends Ursula, Dave and Helen...
we found a lovely basketful....
...which Jonathan then checked so that we took home only edible ones (plus a rare earthstar for Helen to take to school).
This year seems to be particularly good - the group as a whole found more than 50 types of mushrooms and toadstools in a couple of hours ambling round the forest.
I loved the range of colours we found - purply and orange and red and yellows - and their wonderful names, such as hares' ears, wood blewits, shaggy parasols, wood woolly-foot, saffron milk cap and amethyst deceivers.
Of course there were also ones that were ugly (black saddle)
very dangerous (death cap)
and weird (stinkhorn)....
I learnt far lot more on this foray than on ones I've done in the past (though still won't be filling the frying pan without an expert to hand!). And I've finally realised that there's no need to try to identify lots of different types - all I have to do is to learn with confidence a few good ones (as well as any they could be confused with and of course in particular the very dangerous ones).
The wood blewit and amethyst deceiver were my favourite new discoveries of the day - not only did I like their colours and taste, but also appreciated the fact that they are easily recognisable!
We started our breakfast with some of yesterday's findings (sadly a few including a big cep had gone past their best and so had to be thrown out) sauted with garlic and parsley...
...then went a little walk to put our new powers of observation to the test - and were pleased to find that we are now able to spot and identify (at least approximately) many more than on a walk a week ago!
Monday, 4 October 2010
Astonishing hibiscus tree
I really loved this beautiful little flower-smothered hibiscus tree we came across in Spain.
The Technomage has quite a few shirts featuring hibiscus flowers
and when on holiday I'm always on the look-out for suitable bushes that he can be photographed blending in with (to the amusement of passers-by!). Our own bush at home this wet English summer only managed five flowers:
and most of the ones we saw in Spain had lovely flowers but not many of them.
Now that Nerja's street market has been moved to a ridiculously inaccessible place out of the town centre, we got our holiday market fix in nearby Torrox Costa, where we came across the astonishing little tree completely covered in huge flowers. (Sadly, he wasn't wearing one of his hibiscus shirts at the time)
It was just on a strip of grass lining the main road, not in someone's carefully tended garden.
I've no idea whether it is a special variety or just a freakishly wonderful plant but I just loved it and could have happily spent the afternoon sitting gazing at it (and probably would have if I'd had my bigger, better camera with me). Sadly, even if I could track one down it probably wouldn't thrive here!
The Technomage has quite a few shirts featuring hibiscus flowers
and when on holiday I'm always on the look-out for suitable bushes that he can be photographed blending in with (to the amusement of passers-by!). Our own bush at home this wet English summer only managed five flowers:
and most of the ones we saw in Spain had lovely flowers but not many of them.
Now that Nerja's street market has been moved to a ridiculously inaccessible place out of the town centre, we got our holiday market fix in nearby Torrox Costa, where we came across the astonishing little tree completely covered in huge flowers. (Sadly, he wasn't wearing one of his hibiscus shirts at the time)
It was just on a strip of grass lining the main road, not in someone's carefully tended garden.
I've no idea whether it is a special variety or just a freakishly wonderful plant but I just loved it and could have happily spent the afternoon sitting gazing at it (and probably would have if I'd had my bigger, better camera with me). Sadly, even if I could track one down it probably wouldn't thrive here!
Great format for printing digital photos
I've always loved taking photos but have been struggling since the onset of digital with which, if any, to print. I tend to get some printed whenever I need a selection to show people, eg at my school reunion last week, with the result that I have a random pile of prints while most photos only ever get viewed on screen. I would like to have a more coherent set of prints to leaf through, but don't want to get swamped.
I'm hoping that a type of print I discovered on Truprint yesterday may be the answer. They're called collage prints, and cost just 9p for a 6x4 one (19p and 99p for bigger sizes). You pick one to 20 of your photos, choose a background colour, specify the gap between pics and decide whether to add a title. It then arranges them
and you can either accept the design or make changes.
I'd love to get into the habit of doing one of these for each month/quarter/year/holiday or whatever. I've tried something similar before, but that involved using a macro in Photoshop and was a bit fiddly and I never got into a routine.
The collage prints aren't completely flexible - pics are rearranged simply by shuffling so it could be frustrating if a star shot resolutely remains small. But for 9p, I'm not going to complain!
My preferred normal photo printing service is the excellent Photobox but I just happened to be using Truprint yesterday as their calendars were half price - we thought that designing the calendars would take us only an hour or so but we ended up faffing round all day!
I won't be swapping to Truprint for normal prints though - theirs are 6"x4" not 6"x4.5" so some of the print gets cropped (and you can't choose where). So I won't be deserting Photobox.
I'm hoping that a type of print I discovered on Truprint yesterday may be the answer. They're called collage prints, and cost just 9p for a 6x4 one (19p and 99p for bigger sizes). You pick one to 20 of your photos, choose a background colour, specify the gap between pics and decide whether to add a title. It then arranges them
and you can either accept the design or make changes.
I'd love to get into the habit of doing one of these for each month/quarter/year/holiday or whatever. I've tried something similar before, but that involved using a macro in Photoshop and was a bit fiddly and I never got into a routine.
The collage prints aren't completely flexible - pics are rearranged simply by shuffling so it could be frustrating if a star shot resolutely remains small. But for 9p, I'm not going to complain!
My preferred normal photo printing service is the excellent Photobox but I just happened to be using Truprint yesterday as their calendars were half price - we thought that designing the calendars would take us only an hour or so but we ended up faffing round all day!
I won't be swapping to Truprint for normal prints though - theirs are 6"x4" not 6"x4.5" so some of the print gets cropped (and you can't choose where). So I won't be deserting Photobox.
Sunday, 19 September 2010
Getting some sewing done
I've had a bad track record sewing in Spain - after all, the kit I started there in 1983 only got framed this year...
So this time I thought I'd tackle something easy and took an Ehrman kit that I'd picked up at a car boot the other week. It proved ideal - I normally prefer to do something where I can make decisions as I go along, but I am enjoying having a project where you simply sew where the appropriate colour has been painted on the canvas. It's a bit like painting by numbers! The only difficulty is that the painted canvas areas for two of the shades of green are very difficult to tell apart - to my surprise, I found it easier to see the difference in the early evenings, rather than bright sunshine. Since getting home, I've printed out the photo, which is proving a help too.
I did a little every day, while listening to a good book (I especially enjoyed the ubiquitous The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Lindsay Davis's Falco story, A Body in the Bath House) and watching the world go by.
I'm making steady progress - though it's probably hard to see what I've done from these shots, taken on 2 September before I started, and on the 14th.
In fact. I've liked having the painted pattern so much that I bought some acrylic paints from the supermarket yesterday and am going to try designing a canvas myself!
So this time I thought I'd tackle something easy and took an Ehrman kit that I'd picked up at a car boot the other week. It proved ideal - I normally prefer to do something where I can make decisions as I go along, but I am enjoying having a project where you simply sew where the appropriate colour has been painted on the canvas. It's a bit like painting by numbers! The only difficulty is that the painted canvas areas for two of the shades of green are very difficult to tell apart - to my surprise, I found it easier to see the difference in the early evenings, rather than bright sunshine. Since getting home, I've printed out the photo, which is proving a help too.
I did a little every day, while listening to a good book (I especially enjoyed the ubiquitous The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Lindsay Davis's Falco story, A Body in the Bath House) and watching the world go by.
I'm making steady progress - though it's probably hard to see what I've done from these shots, taken on 2 September before I started, and on the 14th.
In fact. I've liked having the painted pattern so much that I bought some acrylic paints from the supermarket yesterday and am going to try designing a canvas myself!
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