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March 06 2010
polytunnels and taps
Weve had a few spring-like days now, causing me to dig over some ground for the little polytunnel and clean and set up the coldframe to let the ground warm up for salad seeds. Browsing Suttons trying to decide what to plant this year – will have more room with extra raised beds… this really does feel like waking up after winter! The pond is finally unfrozen today so I expect frogly activity soon 
It’s been like this in varying thickness of ice and pattern for months:
Dance mania continues with ballet, tap, jazz and contemporary being studied :)
Books and films amany dug out to accompany this in fine home educating fashion. The Ballet Companion is a gorgeous book, it’s been to good for me to read that things have come on with problems such as eating disorders and painful pointework (ouch pouches – love them!) being dealt with much more compassionately in general. High quality vegan ballet shoes are even available As for films… oh so many, from White Nights to A Chorus Line, loving them all, also deeply appreciative of friends sharing the enthusiasm and cost of DVD purchase… Had a nice time reading over T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats and then watching Cats and boring delighting others with tales of cast members I knew/was taught by or with… same goes for Billy Elliot… ah to be an old “when I was young — fill in with unbelievable sounding fact–” person – it’s great fun!!
February 06 2010
swan lake
There were swans on the loch yesterday
Had a lovely day with friends morphing into a very balletic afternoon which was great fun. It’s been wonderful rediscovering ballet being for enjoyment, rather than an eternal striving (not to mention starving) for perfection. Looked out the old class music etc. I have but it’s all on cassettes – technology moved on a bit fast for me there 
Watched Fast Food Nation (quite good trailer there on amazon), fictional film based on the non-fiction book – strong stuff, a round of exploitation to go with the fries… good cast, making it very watchable though gradually more horrifying.
February 02 2010
cheap
a frugal recipe again, basic pasties :)
and bargains to be had – the book people are offering 10% off all orders until midnight tomorrow (Wed. 3rd Feb) – just enter WIN10 at checkout for offer.
January 30 2010
among the snowdrops
more snow… some little bits I’ve been meaning to mention spread among the lovely signs of spring to come
Wayne Dyer’s new program: Excuses Begone! – been enjoying listening to that – he is always so motivational and uplifting.
The Bristol Dyslexia Centre has some interesting stuff on it’s site including some free educational games taken from the Nessy learning program.
Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome: Different Sensory Experiences, Different Perceptual Worlds
Olga Bogdashina has written a wonderful book here – helpful in very practical ways and quite refreshingly non-patronising in it’s manner of looking at autism and the associated sensory and perceptual issues. There is evidence that these may be at the core of ASDs and what is actually physiological has been treated as purely psychological for far too long by the so called experts. A fascinating read 
Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
January 23 2010
blog, Illich and broth
Have finally got the blog how I want it – a terrible tale of databases, installations of wordpress and corrupted (by me) css files ensued but I’ve now uploaded the archives (see drop down on sidebar) and cleaned up dead links too
Reading a book lent by my mum. She found it while scouring her shelves during the snow time (unable to get to a library) and thought it might actually be mine… can’t imagine why
Ivan Illich’s Deschooling Society is full of wonderful radical thoughts on education, reminds me a lot of Holt and Gatto. The previous owner has hardly left a page untouched, with highlighting and notes everywhere, which somehow makes reading it more interesting, an extra dimension, what someone else finds of import. I think he went a bit too far in sometimes underlining whole pages of text, but there we are
Enjoying Scotch Broth, not the most photogenic of soups but it tastes good:
January 12 2010
a casserole and a cookbook
We will have been married 20 years this year… which causes me to reflect how far weve come, how much the world has changed in that time and to note the two items above. They were given to us as a wedding present by friends who I used to babysit for and here they are still with us, I don’t think any other dish we own has survived that long! The Cranks Recipe Book sparked my interest at once, as I had eaten in their restaurant in London while a student, and it called to mind lovely brick walls and earthenware plates of hearty soup (they now have one restaurant in Devon).
It really taught me to cook, being the only cookery title I had at the time (bit of a change there then) in our first flat that we loved so much. I was fairly clueless when it came to the culinary arts. I remember phoning my mum at times with questions such as ‘how do you cook a neep? I can’t even seem to cut it up’. With the book I learned to bake bread, make cakes and the wonderfully frugal crecy plate pie, prepare soups and casseroles got put in the dish It influenced me in more subtle ways too. Being the one and only it got thoroughly read and I absorbed the health oriented nature of the pages, reading for example, how much adding fresh herbs enhanced the nutritional value of the food. I remember the excitement of planting up a small herb garden and reading more deeply into these subjects. Looking at it now I notice all the cheesy recipes but you could just use any one of the many vegan cheeses available now or leave it out altogether.
Bit different when we first went vegan - a vegan cookbook obtained from the library that shall remain nameless (mainly as I can’t remember it’s name, I think it was somewhat generic, but also I do not want to slander it as it may have had other redeeming recipes) was responsible for me making a vegan cheese out of marg and yeast extract 13 years ago - absolutely disgusting, totally foul!!
So, my cranks book, heavily marked with food, water and childrens crayons. It is now available in a swanky new asparagus covered edition but you can still pick up the original for a penny
As for the dish, it still gets used though not as much anymore. The odd apple/rhubarb crumble is popped in it. I now favour my big Le Creuset that you can cook on the hob and in the oven with - very handy for making a sheperdess/red dragon pie base in and just putting mashed tatties on top and then into the oven it goes. I am very lucky to also have two similar cast iron AGA pans/casseroles given to us by another friend who had them sitting unwanted and unused in his garage, and these are my 3 usual dinner cooking pans now.
Weve always been blessed with friendship I am currently reading Walking to Greenham sent to me by a wonderful woman and friend… a fascinating book and I find myself contemplating the larger worldwide changing of the times. What will the next 20 years bring?
January 08 2010
Porridge - Breakfast of Champions!
Cooked Porridge
1 cup pinhead oats
11/2 cups water
1 cup soya or other dairyfree milk
pinch of salt
You will also need: wooden spoon and strong wrist(!)
Serve hot with cold dairyfree milk and your choice of sweeteners and add-ins.
My kids love theirs with maple syrup, sliced banana, cinnamon and ground flaxseed.
In Other News: I recieved my copy of 'Come In Spinner' through the post from Abe books. To my joy, not only was it a second-hand book but the cover illustration is just awesome!
Hope you all have a good day!
January 05 2010
edinburgh xmas
they're fieldfares, and had made their way into j's mum's garden to eat the last of her pink rowan berries during the hard frost that accompanied the snow we've been having for the past few weeks.we'd gone for the handmade xmas approach and so didn't really have much to offer in return for our epic treatfest, which included a new teapot and some pekoetea to go with it, an alessi jar with some dried beans to fill it, two sets of whisky glasses (j and i love our single malt!), a tweed flatcap for j and some awesome books:
so, left to right, that's veganomicon (unbelievable book! super-highly recommended), vegan cupcakes take over the world (perfect for the sweet tooth in everyone, not just vegans), jekka's complete herb book (how to grow, harvest and prepare herbs for cooking, medicinal and cosmetic uses), and the twisted sisters sock workbook (beautiful handspun, beautiful socks, inventive approaches and inspiring ideas), phew!we just gave folk homemade truffles and knitted items...
apparently, this is the coldest winter for 30 years. really, it couldn't have come at a worse time. just as it seemed the tide was turning on public opinion of climate change science, this year has really put a spanner in those works. a feeble summer, dodgy scientific practices, failed UN summits, and now more snow than there has ever been in my lifetime. as much as this is actually evidence for rather than against climate change, it rarely gets interpreted that way - least of all by the deniers. so, it really feels stacked against at the moment...listening: most of the day, to j's sister's will young cd
reading: too many brilliant books!
November 24 2009
pressies
Ethical Superstore have a good offer on until the 1st of December - spend £60 and get a free £10 voucher, a free lavendar soap and free delivery
The Book People and Stocking Fillas also good priced gift finding places.
Our kids book store lists many books that our kids have loved over the years in various themes from vegetarian and spiritual to self esteem, caring for animals and the environment.
and on the decadent side:
Maybe Soup is currently being updated? I'll try again automatically in a few seconds...
