Gibraltar: Africa, National Day, Biting off more than you can chew, Tagged, Local News

My name

The only way I can motivate myself to run.

The Swan

Here's one I ran earlier.

THE POWER OF TIMEOUT

Trendy art store opens in bohemian north-west London neighbourhood (also location of my home).

Trendy art store advertises free giveaway in Timeout.

Barricaded at home by a line that winds round the corner, for hours.

Piccadilly Circus, close to 3.30am, Monday 30th August 2010

Hello Autumn

Autumn is the new summer. Shout it to the eaves, whisper it to the chrysanthemums, tell the nearest kid to pull out his wellies and go jumping in puddles. Rain came and with it, an unseasonal, thick green sweep across the land. Autumn raided Summer's wardrobe and stole her best frock. The wind picked up and the temperature dropped. Except for that green wash, all of the brightest colours on show tarnished and bleached quite suddenly- the hydrangeas went from bright blue to weak tea, the trees started dropping pale leaves, all of the berries have gone and the gorse has started to retreat. All in all, it's been the kind of delightful foretaste of autumn that inspires a feeling of dreaminess that compels you to use words like delightful.

At work, Spotify has come to satisfy a large chunk of my daily music needs. It's one perk in an otherwise tedious, unfulfilling job with no discernible redeeming factor whatsoever. I listen to lots of music at work.



Occasionally, inspiration deserts me and I am bereft of ideas of what to select next to listen to. Sometimes I take a chance and follow the similar artists selected by Spotify. Sometimes I browse review sites, blogs or facebook music likes to get my imagination going. Sometimes I play things I've been listening to elsewhere. Sometimes, sometimes I even consult my colleagues, although this is a risky business and to be considered an absolute last resort. Recently, I discovered the search menu on a website called allmusic.com. You can search by Editor's Choice, by instrument, or you can search by mood.

Acerbic, Agressive, Ambitious, Amiable/Good-Natured, Angry, Angst-ridden, Atmospheric, Austere and right at the end of the A Moods, Autumnal. This has been my go-to point for music recently.




Thanks to allmusic.com's parameters of autumnal music, I discovered Fairport Convention and a few other bits I hadn't known. Some choices I agree with and definitely find autumnal. Some I don't. However, the really interesting part wasn't in the music but actually comparing the 'Similar Moods' with my definition of Autumn. According to the site, come Autumn I'll probably be feeling a little 'reflective', 'intimate' and even 'literate', amongst others. Which bodes well.

FAILURE

Total failure.

I thought I was the big man in the kitchen. Sure, I've had failures before. Big ones. In this very kitchen, I once tried to bake some white chocolate chip scrumptious something or other, from a recipe on the side of a funky shampoo bottle. A shampoo bottle. Think about that. Don't know why I didn't. Didn't even buy the shampoo. I was working near a concession stall in Harrods that sold the stuff and just scribbled it down one day. Big failure. Big mess.

I thought I was the big man, I've now made three quiches, one a total mess but quite tasty (what was left of it), one a little shallow and one an absolute, chest-thumpingly marvellous success. I've made three quiches and I thought that qualified me to make puff pastry for sausage rolls, from scratch.

I mostly blame Delia.

Delia Smith makes it sound simple. According to her recipe, we neatly segue from,

'coat all the pieces of fat with flour until the mixture is crumbly' (she means butter, not fat, for the record),

to,

'Next add enough cold water to form a dough that leaves the bowl clean, using your hands to bring it all gently together.'


And that's it.

No measurements, no indication of how much water, no problem! according to Delia.

Well, looks like I added too much water, Delia!

You would not believe the amount of information there is out there on the internet about making pastry dough from scratch that I didn't bother to look at, because I had Delia's recipe and it looked bloody simple. Reems of video. Columns and comments and theories. And it all pretty much says, 'Good luck, novice! Hope there's someone there to laugh at you when it all goes wrong and you're left with cold lumpy porridge stuck to your fingers.'

One helpful chap even notes,

'Practice
Everyone's ability to handle doughs, both the mixing and the rolling, increases with experience. If your first efforts at pastry doughs are not successful, refer to the corrective measures described below. Above all keep practicing. The rewards will be beautiful tarts and pies, appealing to the palate as well as the eye.'

Above all keep practicing.

Bloody strawberries don't defrost from frozen either.