There’s been lots of little glimmers of sparkly shiny stuff in my life recently that I don’t want to let just trickle out of my brain without being recorded, and hopefully you won’t mind reading a mishmash of life lately. I noticed that everything has had pink or purple hues lately, so at least there’s random theme tying it all together.
My magic 3 adventurer Craig & I were born a week apart. I don’t know why I can’t seem to retain this information, but every year I am surprised all over again. This year we we decided to have a VIP party for two bam-smack in the middle of our big days. I snuck home early enough to prepare a kids party table of treats and covered Craig’s eyes as he walked in. There was all the classic 90s faves; cold pizza slices, cheesy shapes, hula hoops, cucumber & ham sandwiches cut into triangles (no crusts!) and of course… cheese & pineapple on sticks! I’m not sure if it was all the E numbers or the orange food power but we chatted away for hours until we basically exhausted ourselves, like cranky toddlers. We were planning to watch a Ryan Gosling movie but even the prospect of topless Ryan action couldn’t tempt us into staying up and we crashed out at 11.
My work had its annual Bake Off last week. I really enjoy baking but usually opt for cupcakes over big decorative cakes – my current favourite being Rolo Cupcakes where you bake an entire rolo into the middle creating a molten caramel sensation. As a result I ended up stood in my kitchen at midnight, with one cake in the bin that resembled jammy scrambled egg. I have no idea what went wrong (actually I blame the recipe! Surely 3 eggs is excessive…?) and the whole house stank like a greasy spoon cafe fry-up. Luckily the second attempt came out a little less yolky, but still had a soggy bottom that Mary Berry would have destroyed me for. Luckily I had planned for this eventuality and woke up early, donned my pinnie and covered the whole thing in cream, jam, edible petals and my secret weapon… popping candy! The cake crackled the whole bus ride into work and scooped a prize for “most attractive bake” – note that it didn’t get a mention in any of the flavour-related categories but I’m still so chuffed to have won something and now have some nifty silicone spatulas & kitchen tools to play with.
Blossom is making me so happy. Even though temperatures seem to have plummeted again (on the bus this morning every single person was in a winter coat and I counted 4 pairs of gloves and 2 scarves, including my own – WHAT is going on?) I’m happy that natures confetti seems to be indestructible and surviving the rain showers. I also found my first dandelion clock yesterday. I know it’s childish but they fill me with absolute glee. I still love working out the time with giant wolf-blows, although these days I do then get an attack of the guilts over the garden I just spread weed-seed all over. Sorry North London!
In Tufnell Park, directly opposite the underground station, is a very average looking corner shop. You could even go into the corner shop, grab something quickly, and leave NEVER knowing that you have in fact stepped foot in the shop of dreams. The reason it’s the shop of dreams that lurking through a narrow doorway, at the back of the shop, is the worlds largest biscuit collection. It is an entire AILSE dedicated to every cookie, biscuit, digestive, creme and cracker you could think of; most of the imported from exotic lands and packed with unusual ingredients. This is just a third of the offering so if you are a fan of something to dunk in your tea, you really need to hop on a tube to this promised land!
& Finally. Yesterday my (social media) LIFE PEAKED. It will never, ever get better than this! I’m a huge fan of Simon Reeve, he is one of the many brilliant things that wise-owl-Nick has introduced me to. He is a British writer/presenter of the best travel documentaries where he visits little-known areas of the world and as well as reporting on the treasures to be found, he also shines a light on some of the murkier goings-ons. He is incredibly brave, risking life and limb over and over in order to publicise stories that others have been too scared to approach. He has also written books on international terrorism, modern history and about his adventures. If you haven’t had the joy of experiencing Simon Reeve (although a deserved 2.7million tuned into his new Australia show on BBC2 last night so I don’t think he’s exactly obscure) then I really recommend the Tropic of Capricorn / Tropic of Cancer series for a starter. Frustratingly so much of his series are barely available on DVD or download so you need to do a bit of digging, but these are both currently listed on amazon. His books are also all well worth investing in, particularly The New Jackals where he basically prophesies 9/11 in spooky accuracy. An extremely savvy, smart man and my number 1 pick for that “who would you invite to a dinner party” question. Anyway yesterday as we settled down to watch episode 1 of Australia with Simon Reeve (on iplayer here), I sent a cheeky tweet about him and he REPLIED! And he complimented me! I’m not really one that goes in for tweeting celebs but to have one of your idols respond directly had me absolutely shell-shocked. I feel like I need to shout it from the rooftops but the moment has passed in twitter-land, like most things. So please indluge me in dorkily sticking the screengrab here for posterity.
