Mint & Oranges

I have numerous incomplete drawings lying around.

This is really getting to be a bad habit.

I’m struggling to juggle coming home from work, doing the chores and then trying to make myself draw.

Excuses excuses.

Nearly finished my sketchbook. 

Which at one point I very nearly lost. (Which would have been devastating.)

My agenda for this sketchbook was that I must not tear out any pages,

and all pages one must have a considered drawing (not some half-assed scribble).

So it’s taken ages to fill it up.

Ruined 1 page though. Boo hiss.

Mint & Oranges in the kitchen

Makes me think of summer and Spain

3 Oranges

Orange Skin

My on-going love affair with Rava. Showing no sign of abating. I’ve been making a batch nearly every weekend now.

Raisins are my favourite part.

But nuts are important too.

Kings Cross with star

Kings Cross e. There’s a moon too.

I think that might be Venus. I don’t think stars are usually that bright or that close.

Angel Antiques Market, Camden Passage

On a sunny weekend the Antique and Junk market in Camden Passage is a lovely place to go for a stroll.

There’s a wide range of silver, faux silver, vintage clothes (some over priced, a tad too much fur – rather shabby rabbit), costume jewellery, old magazines, a suitcase full of scissors (who is buying that?), an entire wooden box of spoons (for the spoon collectors I imagine), old stamps, empty boxes, tiny silver cream jugs, candle stick holders, wooden seals, old prints, just all sorts of stuff.

Sometimes the vendors bring their dogs and it’s fun to pet them while looking through what is largely tat.

What’s exciting about looking through reams and reams of tat is that occasionally, just occasionally, you find something that is pretty darn sweet.

The ex and I once had a massive row over some junk. I know, most of our arguments are ludicrous, this one was no exception. (This was ages ago. Now we just fight about imaginary stuff)

I saw something the ex had glossed over as ‘rubbishy rubbish’ and when I went to get cash to pay for it the ex went and bought it. Man, I was pissed! Almost irrationally pissed.

There was a cold front for a little while but we eventually kissed and made up. The ex doesn’t notice things until you sift through all the tat and when you’ve finally found something, then decides it’s worth liking.

Anyway I went on a photo spree a couple of sunny weekends ago. One vendor reproached me gently for taking photos of her stuff. I suppose I should have asked. Naughty naughty.

So I bought a silver Moon face broach from her so that was sort of my apology. (Well, I wanted that broach anyway.) I’ve decided to start a brooch collection.

Found a silver sea-horse broach a while ago, as well as a mounted Grouse foot. My mother saw the Grouse’s foot and squealed in horror. So the next year I got her one for herself. (Because that’s just the kind of daughter I am – Enjoys horrifying mother.)

She has yet to wear it.

One of the stalls just before you go into Camden Passage

Broaches on muslin

Some Old Posters at the same stall. He also sell vintage toys.

1920′s Broach Closeup

Broaches Collage. I rather like the Scottish feathery one.

One of the stalls opposite the Camden head

Marcasite Necklaces. Or some junk.

Sun & Moon & Clock broaches.

Scottish Broaches

Sign Board & Yellow Typewriter

Rocking Dog

Boy Holding Dog Outside Tesco’s. I love the dog’s expression.

Boy Holding Dog Outside Tesco’s

The Breakfast Club in the Evening

Breakfast Club Window. I like the way the light looks from the outside set against the yellow.

Camden Head Pub

Camden Passage street empty.

Camden Passage. Took ages to get a not so shaky shot.

Milky Way Store Window

Milky Way Store Window. Like the light here too.

Remember The Sun?

Way back in March there was this glowing yellow thing in the sky. It made everything warmer, all the colours were brighter, the sky was bluer. Feels like it was yonks ago.

I really enjoy using the word ‘yonks’.

It’s very under-used. I’d especially like it used in historical articles or documentaries.

“The Romans invaded Gaul back in…well… yonks ago.”

The sky was a depressing green tinge a last week (as it is now). There was thunder and lightening. Very apocalyptic in the office.

My only hope is that during the Olympics there might just be a flood that washes the entire village away. That would be fun.

(Apparently there is a ban for Olympic ticket holder taking photos and sharing them via social media. These people are fucking morons. I hate the Olympics. I wish we could give it back to France. Just take it France, please.)

This is a very florally set of photos to combat the general depression.

All the flowers have by now fallen off now and it’s been dreary and grey most days.

I’m like a Gran now. I take photos of flowers.

I can’t help it. I’m enjoying the macro zoom on my new little baby.

Be warned, lots of photos will appear on this blog from now on.

Yellow & Pink Flowers

Yellow & Pink Flowers

Yellow Flowers on tree

Strange Green Flowers. No idea what these are.

Green Flowers Closeup

White Blossom Tree. Makes me feel like I’m in Japan.

White Blossom Tree Close Up

Pink Flowers with the sun shining. Ah the sun. So long ago I’ve nearly forgotten.

Pink Flowers with white blooms close up.

Pink flowers bud. Look I warned you this was an uber florally post.

Pink Flowers and white bloom closeup

Sun! Bring it back!!!!

Goodbye Twitter. Hello Pinterest

My Pinterest Boards

Not satisfied with the scores of social media sites I’ve signed up to I’m now also on Pinterest.

Unlike Twitter, which I never really committed to (I’m a visual person, besides all those hash tags are annoying.) I have only 3 Pinterest boards: one for Arty-Farty stuff, a Home one and my work one. So I’m certain I can commit to updating them regularly.

I have also created another blog called 10 Years of Mediocre Photography where I’ll be posting 1 photo a day until I run out, which given my happy-go-lucky trigger finger is unlikely to happen until I die.

I’m starting off with all my black and white photos I took and developed in our college darkroom at Camberwell, then I’m afraid it’s largely digital.

The rubbish Motorola Razr phone camera first then on to the surprisingly decent Sony Ericsson phone /camera and after we’ve got through all those finally we’ll get to my new camera. God knows when I’ll get to those. I have bucket loads of photos. 

Camberwell was a marginally shoddy college however they had a great black and white darkroom that was open till 9:30 every evening. Having no social life at the time (it was a really anti social 2 years) I spent nearly all evenings in the darkroom.

Can’t say my photos are particularly good, but I like a couple. I do miss developing film. I miss the smell of darkroom chemicals (oddly like fried chicken), I miss watching your photo develop in the tray but it was a pretty expensive hobby.

There is a great photographic supply shop in Southwark called Silverprint where I used to buy lots of discount photographic paper.

I also used to buy cyanotype chemicals (toxic stuff but handy) from there and make up a batch in my tiny student hall room. (No gloves used either. Health & Safety? What’s that?)

Chest X-Ray Cyanotype

If you don’t know what a Cyanotype is, it’s very similar to a photogram.

You coat a piece of paper with this greenish chemical mix, but unlike a photogram this coating is only sensitive to UV light.

So it’s something you can easily do in your room as long as it has a window facing the sun or a sunny balcony.

Once your paper has been exposed to UV light, you then rinse it in water to develop the print and set the chemical coating.

The coating looks dark green once exposed but after the water bath it turns a vivid blue. You can also make these in a warm sepia tone. I’ve found the cheaper the paper (higher acidity) used the better the print quality.

Skull Cyanotype

The only way I could make these was by taping the piece of coated paper to my student hall room window for a couple of hours and the only thing I had that would stay up that long were a series of X-Rays. (Now and then I’d find the masking tape had worn off and the X-Ray and coated paper would fall off)

Some are mine, some are from various family members.

Hands Cyanotype

Clocks & Cranes Photo Series

Borough Market Photos

Took the new camera out last Saturday since it was the hottest weekend of the year. Gloriously sunny and not a cloud in sight.

I still wore a thermal and a coat.

I don’t trust these meteorologists and their optimistic predictions. I especially don’t trust the British weather.

Rule of thumb – always carry a jacket and/or a sweater.

I haven’t been to Borough market since I was a fresh-faced foreigner just off the boat, although there are shots of it on nearly every cooking show – Masterchef and Market Kitchen especially.

I was shamelessly taking photos like a tourist all over the shop. I don’t even look kosher because the camera is so small and clearly not the camera of a professional photographer, but it does the job and 12 Mega Pixels (not just regular big pixels, but ‘Mega’ pixels. I wonder who named it? It’s rather lame.) is a lot of pixels for someone who never prints but likes to imagine she will one day.

A friend bought some Pate and got another one free since the seller was closing for the evening which she then bestowed on to me. So I got some free pate! Better than that Sainsbury’s crap. Smooth, creamy and utterly spreadable on toast. I ate it 2 days in a row.

Anyway here you go, lots of photos. I rarely am able to exercise restraint with a camera in hand.

Market light under dome

Parsley & Blood Orange

Free Taste Girl. The Free taste was way too salty. Horrid stuff. I pretended to like it.

Free Taste Green Curry. They were loudly yelling 'Free Taste' for ages. I don't know who was buying.

Pork & Liver. Mmmmm liver looks so good raw.

Colourful Chalkboard at the Juice Stall

Purple Flower. Not sure what flower this is.

Herbs, Flowers and a Stall Lady

Veg Boxes

Lily at posh Florist

In Season painted board & Lavender

Flowers by wall

Apples, Pears and Pimms. There really couldn't be a better combo.

Walk back via London Bridge southbank walk

Tower Bridge with Tree

New Camera! Test Run! Exclamations!

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Test run from the photos I took with my new Camera. That’s camera with a capital ‘C’.

Very exciting.

It’s an expensive birthday present to myself.

I finally figured out how to use manual mode.

Parsi Rava Recipe (Or Look How Domesticated I Am)

Parsi Rava. Ok so I stage managed this photo a little bit. I mean that mint plant isn't really there usually. But I wanted to hide the kettle.

Rava closer. Little auto magnet from Goa.

Parsi rava is like a yummy rice pudding but uses semolina instead of the rice and boiled milk instead of a custard.

So really it isn’t much like a rice pudding at all, but it’s a white-creamy colour and I guess that’s close enough. The semolina has a really lovely texture, that I prefer to a rice pudding anyway.

My Bombay household usually makes this in the morning for special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries and Parsi new year

Parsees must have rava for Parsi New Year and birthdays. It’s crucial. Hell, it’s the crux of our family meal. Parsees everywhere would throw terrible tantrums if there was no breakfast rava… well I’d throw a tantrum.

Eat it for breakfast or as a dessert (or both if you like). Lately I’ve been craving some in chilly ol’ London. Also I felt like procrastinating. I was supposed to scan some drawings over the weekend but I’m being lazy.

So I cajoled the ex into making the first batch. The ex forced me into the role of su chef (read that as ‘lackey’) to help out and then I felt relatively confident about handling it on my own.

I should mention that I’m not much of a chef. I once nearly burned down my flat kitchen. The exhaust above the stove melted, there was charcoal everywhere. We didn’t have a fire alarm or extinguisher. Then the ex came over and fought with me. To say it was a bit of a bad business is an understatement.

The incident was slightly traumatic and I feel nervous around fire and oil now, but this recipe is so simple, even a dolt like me can manage it.

Also all the recipes out there on the internet seem a little odd or convoluted and involve rose-water and all sorts of nonsense so I thought I’d post this pretty straightforward recipe. I’m helpful like that. Sharing and caring.

Parsi Rava for 2 people

Or one greedy person. I’ve finished all of that bowl above. It’s a very moreish pudding.

Total time: 15 mins

• 3 teaspoons melted butter or Ghee (Clarified butter)
• 2 tablespoons semolina
• 2 cups milk with 2 tablespoons sugar mixed in it
• 2 tablespoons soaked raisins (or as many as you like, I like a bit more, soak for 10 mins in hot water)
• 2 tablespoons pistachios (soak with raisins)
• small handful almonds blanched and finely sliced (or add as many as you like)
• a pinch of nutmeg

Optional extras instead of or to go with the nutmeg:

• rosewater
• cardamom (power I think)
• drop or two of vanilla essence

1. Lightly brown the almonds in 1 teaspoon of ghee.

2. Then add the raisins and pistachios to the same ghee.

The soaked raisins look wonderfully plump and luscious in their glistening coat of ghee.

Don’t I sound like Nigella? I’m channelling.

Although unlike the seductive and sensuous Nigella, the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the wrinkled raisins all swelled up was of a engorged tick sucking the blood of some hapless dog. I loved pulling them off and dropping them in kerosene. I hated those ticks but the way they morphed from a paper-thin bug into a swollen monster fascinated me. This memory is probably not something I ought to mention halfway through a recipe. Oh well. Don’t let that put you off.

3. Remove once roasted (about 1 min or so) and keep on the side in a bowl.

You can pop one or two in your mouth. The ghee or butter does something to the raisins. It just makes it better. Ghee makes everything better. Ask any Guju. Go on ask ‘em.

4. Add 2 more teaspoons of ghee + 2 tablespoons semolina & stir until it turns light golden. (It cooks pretty quickly – so don’t let it turn brown, which means it’s been burnt. Apparently. I didn’t get to the burnt stage.)

Ghee ghee ghee! The ex carted a little tub back all the way from the Punj. We’re both such Indians – We’re constantly carting back food and jars of pickle. The ex’s ghee is white, which puzzled me. I always thought ghee was yellow. Drawings of child Krishna always had him grabbing mutkas of yellowish ghee and stuffing his face. Artistic license I suppose.

5. Then pour in the milk bit by bit and keep stirring. Don’t pour all at once, because you’ll lose that rich flavour of the boiled milk.

This is what my mother told me, and what my Great-granny told her. My Great-gran and my mother were at each other’s throats for the better part of 20 years, so she could have lied about the milk. You never know.

6. Once you’ve poured in all the milk, add half the raisins and nuts and keeping stirring. If the mix is too solid add more milk. Should not be too thin or too thick. (Pretend you’re Goldilocks.)

In my combined greed and sloth I doubled all the ingredients (so it was a 4 person batch) when I made a second batch of this and was stirring for a good 10 mins. A 2 person batch is much quicker. (Greed because I’m going to eat all of it, the ex is not a fan. Sloth because I don’t want to make it again so I made a bulk batch.)

7. Add a pinch of nutmeg. You can also add cardamom, rose-water or a drop of vanilla essence if you like.

I don’t add any of those things. Just the nutmeg. I don’t like the idea of rose-water, but I daresay it could be quite fragrant and shit. I’m not exactly sure how much nutmeg goes in. I put in a liberal pinch. It seems alright.

8. Pour into a dish, sprinkle the rest of the almonds and raisins on the top and allow to set.

Try not to stick your finger in yet. Just lick the ladle. That should hold you.

9. Eat warm or cold. (Mmmmmm warm. 30 seconds in a micro. So good.)

Give it a shot. It’s a lovely winter pudding.

Wow I can’t believe I just posted a recipe. That shows how far I’ve come since the days of burning down the kitchen.

Now I need to go lovingly prepare my ready-meal dinner.

A Few Grubby London Photos

I’ve had a lot of stress lately, both at work and at home over the last 2 weeks.

Stress on issues I can’t even blog about.

As soon as home issues were resolved happily, work issues began.

I have a hard knot of anxiety in the pit of my stomach that won’t go away and there is at the moment a lot of pressure on me to do something that would be really wrong for me.

No amount of mal is going to make that knot go away.

I’m hoping that it’s going to get smoothed out eventually because it really is a storm in a tea-cup.

I just need to be calm, be reasonable and just stand my ground (Fine last words! Fingers crossed.)

Here are some photos.

 

No Entry Sign

Decorated bicycle in Portabello

Key Cut Van with Perched Tiger

Key Cut Van Signage

Missing Tube Sign at Westbourne Park

Levels of paint - Missing Tube sign

Rose Bollard

Rose Bollard Up Close

Rainbow

Instagram: Have We Now Reached Saturation Point?

A good majority of these photos are poor. During the infancy of Intragram, we might have thought they looked better because of the filters, But as more people post other photos with the same or similar filters, it neutralizes that earlier novelty effect. It is now clear these photos are, to put it mildly, shite. And I say that with love, as an occasional poster of shite phone photos myself.

I apologize for publishing this post a mere 24 hours after the last one. I’ve resolved to post max twice a week, no more, but I really couldn’t restrain myself. It had to all come out. 

This is a public service message.

I’d really like to start a petition to get people to stop using Instagram for every single photo.

Sure, I get that some things looks better with Instagram.

I get that it’s a handy little tool with a sweet interface.

Boring food photo? Hey Instagram! Wow! That’s suddenly an exciting food photo.

Ugly child? Hey Instragram! Child with soft-focus blur obliterating face.

It’s a winner I get it.

But Instagram on all photos?

Come on! A little variety won’t hurt anyone.

In fact I hear that this ‘variety’ schtick is the spice of life.

Mostly I’m just bored with looking at the same filter effects on my Facebook feed.

Everyones photos just look the same. Generic.

Fake soft focus, random blurs, rounded corners, the ‘negative’ frames, the yellow ‘retro’ tinge, the over saturation. Some of the filters are subtle, some are way over the top.

Sometimes neither type of filter adds to or improves a photo. Every photo in an album doesn’t need heavy, black mock film negative borders or a violent fake soft focus blur (Blurred everywhere except in the middle. Looks utterly ridiculous). Really they don’t. Sometimes a photo doesn’t need any kind of border at all.

So please, pretty please a little restraint.

Some photos, Instagram. Some photos, au natural.

How hard can that be?

Thank you for your time.

End of public service message.