What I’ve Read – July 2013

A Gambling Man – Jenny Uglow

Fascinating and worth reading if you like history. I do feel that I need to know more but am resisting buying anymore books about the period.  I have a ton of history books to get through first.

Dark Triumph – Robin LaFevers

This is the second of three, with each book focusing on a different girl.  I really enjoyed Grave Mercy, which I read last year and I enjoyed this as well. This is a darker book, Sybella is a more damaged person but I really enjoyed it. The only thing that really bugged me is the use of British when they meant English. I know that it’s a fantasy novel but it is loosely based on actual history, set in the 1400’s and you would have said English or Scottish not British, they are not interchangeable. Sorry it bugged me and pulled me out of the story which I really didn’t want because I was enjoying it.

Broken Soup – Jenny Valentine

I read Finding Violet Park about four years ago and really enjoyed it although I think that the US title, Me, the Missing and the Dead, was a better title! I really enjoyed this too, it was quite grim and yes, I’m happy for parents in YA to be flawed but I really, really wanted to slap these parents. I loved that meeting the boy doesn’t solve all problems and that the ending is left open for all sorts of stuff, which is how a story about a 16 year old should be

A Regimental Affair – Allan Mallinson

The third of the Matthew Hervey books and one of my Barter Books purchases. I really enjoyed this, although I just found out that there are 11 books in total so I’m not sure whether I want to read all of them. It reminds me of the Hornblower stories but for dragoons rather than the Navy. Good fun but well researched although I accept that other may not enjoy them as much I did.

Feed – Mira Grant

Another zombie book, I’m enjoying parts of it and when I read it I want to carry on reading it, when I put it down, I’m not too bothered about picking it up.  We’ll see

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Want

I love the shop at the Royal Festival Hall.

This book seems appropriate for some (like me) who thinks London is the best city in the world and in spite of Boris Johnson’s best efforts to muck it up!

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Fridge clearance dinner

It’s fair to say that my eating over the past couple of weeks has been erratic. I’m mostly blaming the weather with a side of ‘really can’t be bothered’ and ‘don’t feel very well’.

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Dinner on Saturday night was about using up food that needed to be eaten before it had to be thrown away and it was really good.

I took two small red onions, a lemon, the roasted tomatoes I hadn’t used in my lunch last week and a smoked mackerel fillet.

Sliced and browned the onion, added the flaked mackerel and tomatoes, let in all mingle for a bit and then added the juice of the lemon and mixed it through cooked linguine.

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Dinner done in 30 minutes and nothing wasted. There were leftovers, which I ate for lunch on Sunday and it was good enough that I’ll cook it again.

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The Weekend and a sad thing

There were good things this weekend.

The theatre, haircuts, shopping, time with friends, tiding up. It was a full weekend.

All of it was overshadowed by the news late on Saturday night that Tina had died earlier in the day.

I feel that I’m treading a fine line here because although I knew it was coming and I’m sad about it, at the same time I’m very aware that my grief is nothing compared to what Charles, Christina and Tom are going through.

The last time I saw T was just after her birthday, I dropped in to deliver a card and a cake. Tina commented how much my writing of her name was like hers and I reminded her of an afternoon I spent when I was 17, signing her company Christmas cards for her. Having spent 4 hours writing ‘from Tina’ and trying to get it so it was just like hers, I couldn’t get out of the habit and now I write her name almost like she did. Until T pointed it out, I had stopped noticing.

The people we love have the ability to do that, to change us in ways so deep that we don’t notice we didn’t used to do that or be that way.

I was very lucky to have known Tina and I could make a list a mile long of the things she taught me. The most important thing that she taught me was just to get on with life and be as kind as you can, something she did by example and with energy and enthusiasm. I don’t know anyone that knew her that didn’t feel glad to know her and I know that my life is richer for having had her in it.

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On Sunday night, Kathy and Adam came for dinner, a dinner that made easier because of my magimix, the magimix that T bought me as a thank you for making cakes for a party. Eating and friendship, seemed like the best tribute I could come up with.

I’ll miss her.

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Saturday

First up on today’s task list was get hair cut and coloured.

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One task down…miles to go.

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Friday Night Cocktail

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Satan’s Whiskers

I suppose I should wait until Halloween to post this one but it’s good enough that I won’t.

If you use Grand Marnier as your triple sec the whiskers are straight, use Cointreau and they’re curled.  Little things like this make me happy…

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What

1/2 oz gin

1/2 oz sweet vermouth

1/2 oz dry vermouth

1/2 oz Grand Marnier or Cointreau

1/2 oz orange juice

dash of orange bitters

ice

How

Pour ingredients into ice filled shaker

Shake

Strain into cocktail glass.

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Friday Links

Light week for me this week, I’ve been busy and hot and all of the news has been about the royal baby and I’m not too interested in that…

1) Rent control, the idea that dare not speak its name. I know I bang on about housing a lot, that’s because I’m at the pointy end of it..

Building a new property creates jobs and expands supply, and that is a real investment. But that’s not what many landlords do. They are “rentiers” and speculators on existing property, adding nothing to the economy, enriching themselves by gouging ever higher rents out of younger adults. Rent control will make this game unprofitable and cut house prices – a good thing, unless you are a chancellor so bereft of ideas that you think a property bubble is the only way to win an election.

2) Can you tell the city by the Starbucks location? I got 5 out of 20, but I did recognise my city so I feel good about that.

3) Why the case against GMO is overblown.

I think Monsanto is evil, that patenting seeds and suing farmers is unethical, and that some GMO crops (like Roundup Ready Soybeans) lend themselves to irresponsible herbicide and pesticide use and cross-contamination.

But I’m also not going to let my anti-corporate sentiments get in the way of a diverse and promising field of research.

4) Mark Steel on the royal baby.

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Survival mode

After months of suffering in the cold, dark wet, London has summer weather. So now we’re complaining about the hot, sweaty, sunny weather! We’re English, complaining about the weather is what we do…

I did have a conversation last week that centred on how people who live in places that are really hot all the time EVER get anything done. It’s calmed down a bit now, in the high 20’s but it’s been too hot to want to do anything other than lie in front of a fan moaning about the heat and although that is a great idea, it’s not going to pay the rent or put food on the table.

In addition to having a fan next to my bed, this is how I make my life more bearable in heat…..

1) Water bottle.

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When it’s hot you should drink more water, everyone knows that right? Often on the train in the morning, the very hot train packed with sweaty hot people, the water bottle is the only thing between me and faint. So it’s always with me and I fill it with ice, then water. That way I have something to drink and something to cool me down a bit. It’s also useful if you notice someone else about to go, I can’t offer them my seat (like I get to sit down!) but I can offer them some water.

2) Sunscreen.

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I’m fairly evangelical about sunblock, I am very pale and burn easily and if I don’t burn I just freckle, which I noticed yesterday makes me look a bit ginger all over (the curse of Irish heritage!). I also spend most of the day in an office but I put my sun block on in the morning, the once a day stuff is good for six hours so I have a bottle of sun spray in my office drawer to spritz on before I leave to go home. For going to and from work, I use SPF 30, for holiday or being out in the sun all day, I use SPF 50 and re-apply more often

3) Iced coffee

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I’m not prepared to give up coffee, so I just make it and pour it over ice. Caffeine and cooling and really do you need any more.

4) Anti histamines, nasal spray, eye drops, inhaler, contact lenses and sunglasses.

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Air quality isn’t great at the moment and I’ve been suffering from it and hayfever. These help me keep everything under control.

5) Coconut oil.

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I love this stuff, it’s from the same range as the Baby Bottom Butter and is great for my chaffing thighs (yes, I went there and no, I’m not sorry!) as well as just generally nice on my skin. I know that in summer you don’t need to moisturise as much (except maybe your feet, they need extra help in the summer!) but this stuff after your shower just before you go to bed is lovely and the smell is lovely and helps me go to sleep. I know it’s cooler this week because last week this was liquid!

Anyone got any heat survival tips to share?

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Current favourite lunch

This is what I’m eating for lunch most days. It’s not so much a recipe more a guide..

It consists of sprouted lentils, roasted tomatoes, pepper, feta, basil and mint. It’s easy packs a big flavour punch with the tomatoes, feta and herbs. It also requires minimal cooking so works for me..

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What are you eating most at the moment?

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Want

This print from Samphire Bay . Because it would remind me of Northumberland…

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