Reduce, reuse, recycle

Now, I am a great believer in recycling – whether it’s old clothes, books, cds, husbands, boyfriends, sorry, well you get my drift. Recently (it must be Spring fever or something), I have been doing an inordinate amount of reducing, reusing and recycling. Onto Ebay have gone clothes, shoes and some very dodgy Christmas presents. Onto Wightbay (yes you’ve read it right!) have gone  a very nice leather chair, a stool, 2 chairs, 1 printer’s tray and a chest of drawers…I hear you ask yourselves ‘why?’ and the answer is because I have and have had my heart set on a red velvet sofa for longer than I can remember. I couldn’t have one when a. the kids were little or b. the cat was still alive so my time has finally come. So far from all my flogging of stuff I have made the princely sum of £400 (the chest is still to be paid for) which means that I am 1/3 of the way to achieving my hearts desire…if it’s not nailed down it’s gone!

Talking of reusing, I have finally knocked down the old wooden greenhouse that’s been here since before I was. It had been in a state of disrepair for ages and despite a former man of mine promising to fix it last Summer (I thought ‘Yeah right’ at the time – how right I was!) or alternatively knock it down (no, he didn’t achieve that either) it took the snow to finally see it off.

It has gone from this

To this

and somewhat forlornly this…

But then it all got turned in this and I felt that I’d done my bit for the environment

A pile of firewood that should last a while. I must confess that I didn’t cut it up myself – chain saws are far too scary – so I had a man do it for me and let’s face it ladies, there’s nothing nicer than a manly form wielding power tools….makes me go quite weak at the knees!

So that was that. I must say that I love to have a good old clear out. It’s very cathartic sometimes to get rid of the old, shed what you no longer find useful and recycle what you can – one man’s trash is another man’s treasure…or something like that anyway. So onwards I shall go – watch this space!

P.S. I did find these lurking under the debris…

Things for a friend

The ACL thinks that I should show you these two things that I have made for her…

The first is The Beast – a quilt so huge and so thick I thought I’d never get it through the sewing machine let alone ever finish it!

The second was this year’s Christmas present – specifically made to colour co-ordinate with her ‘blue’ room

She is the most supportive of friends and is always a pleasure to make things for.

A new look

When posting recently, I’ve found myself squinting at the screen. Whilst this could just be age and dodgy eyesight taking over, I decided that maybe a new look was in order. So I’ve ditched the dark and come up with a new more Springlike look…I hope you like it.

…the apples in the header were the result of my Autumn fishing expedition…

My. How time flies!

I can’t believe that it’s been more or less a week since I last got my act together and wrote anything – but there you go. It is. Maybe it’s an age thing but the time seems to be flying past faster than ever. I can remember as a teenager each hour seeming like a day and each day like forever. If only that were the case now. Think how much more I could squash into a day!

So what have I been up to? Well there was Cirque du Soleil, a most astonishing of spectacles. A myriad of movement, a riot of colour with acrobatics that made you gasp and clowns that had me in stitches. I went along feeling a bit ho hum about the whole thing and not, if I’m honest, really in the mood, but it was truly marvellous. Not as marvellous as Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake but then to be fair that was semi naked men in feather trousers….calm Amber, calm!

And then there has been the weather,. I am British therefore I shall discuss. Well, what a difference a month makes. After all that rain, then all that snow we seem to be moving back into the realms of ‘yay I can get out into the garden again’ land.

My vegetable beds that looked like this

Now look like this

And have been dug over ready for action. The seed potatoes are being chitted in the greenhouse and I’ve been online and ordered the last of the seeds for the year. The ACL has planted 250 onions and we have great plans for the vegetable garden this year. 

We’ve cut the hedges

And Spring seems to be in the air

Mrs Mutterer’s little glass bottles have been put to good use

And contain all the odd spice leftovers like Mace, Fennel and Fenugreek seeds…

Oh yes. And whilst The Other Child was off riding, the smallest baby girl came to play eat Nanny out of house and home

 ’Look Nanny it’s all in my tummy’

Now then. Must get on. Things to do. Cushions to sew. You know how it is…

On life, the universe and everything

Well folks, it’s been a bit of a week. Firstly though, an update. My friend who had the car crash has come out of intensive care and is talking which is fantastic. We are hoping that he’ll be brought back to the Island soon and then we can go and see him to boost him up and get him better. Everybody that I’ve bumped into here who knows him has said what a lovely bloke he is and how they are wishing him better and so far, those good thoughts seem to be working.

Saturday was a sad day. My mother in law who had been ill for some time with cancer and Alzheimer’s died. Whilst this was inevitably sad, it was also a release for her from a life which had no quality and real purpose and a release for her family who saw her everyday despite busy lives of their own. My memories of her, albeit before she lost her power of cognitive thought, was of a kind and generous woman, a bit of a snob at times, with some of the oddest ways of saying things and for whom the wind was ‘irritating’. She was always very nice to me and to my children who were no relation to her and treated them to panto and treats when they were younger, just like she did with her own grandchildren. I’m sure she’s up there somewhere with a glass of  vino, as she always called it, having a wash and set and getting her nails done.

So that was it. Some good news and some bad. But then that’s the way life goes isn’t it? On a brighter note, we are off to see Cirque du Soleil at the Albert Hall this week which promises to be a great spectacular. I don’t know much about it, but everyone that I mention it to has either been to see it and raves about it or wants to go and is very envious. The trip to the heady world of life off the Island will also be a catch up with my family who I haven’t seen since before Christmas, a chance to give my brother the birthday presents he never got because of the snow and an opportunity to hear about my Mum’s latest moans and groans (!). There will be a little light purchasing, a posh dinner in London, lunch with the family and maybe even a lie in…bliss!

Look what Nanny won for me…..

Thanks so much to Louise at sewscrumptious for the blanket which she ‘gaveaway’. A pink fleecy blanket is not really my thing, but I know a girl who likes one…

Yay!!  Look what I’ve got!!

And I can put Upsy Daisy to bed under here too.

The only thing that she wouldn’t do was look at me when I tried to take the pictures! She is her mother’s daughter!!

A sobering event.

On Monday afternoon a very good mate, fellow thespian and teller of the dirtiest jokes ever had a very serious car crash. He is currently in Southampton hospital in a bad way. I have known him for many years and have appeared on stage with him, directed him and stage managed for him and he is one of the nicest people I know (and a great hugger when things have been bad for me).

When awful things happen it puts the rest of life into perspective and makes us re-evaluate what we have and what we should be thankful for. It makes the minutiae of  things seem very irrelevant. But he is a big strong bloke and hopefully that will get him through and he has many friends here on the Isle who are sending good thoughts. Get well soon my friend. x

If music be the food of love, play on!!

I love music. I really, really love music and wonder how I would live without it. I realise that sounds a bit dramatic but it came to me this morning as I was driving to work with Vampire Weekend’s ‘Cousins’ followed closely by Kasabian’s ’Fire’ blaring out of the speakers that life would be very colourless without it. It is a release, a comfort and there are certain songs that ’send me’. Music brings back memories, history, lost loves, sticky situations, never to be repeated experiences and near misses.

As a girl brought up in Ireland I was subject to some of the best and worst of music, most of which I didn’t appreciate until I was much older. I saw Thin Lizzy at 15, U2 had to wait until my 40th birthday (thankfully they were still around) and I have seen any number of traditional Irish bands in my later years. The worst song ever, ’Drop Kick me Jesus Through The Goalposts of Life’ was number one in Ireland for God knows how long and was a favourite of a local band of which the bread van driver was the lead singer wearing a very bad, black and obvious toupee that he kept for his singing engagements only… happy days! We saw so much live music as teenagers, most of it local, and a live band was de rigueur on a Saturday night at the local club (imaginatively called Clouseaus for reasons which escape me).

My teenage radio years were filled with New Romantics and I must confess that I donned a frilly shirt on more than one occasion as I and the rest of my schoolmates swooned over Simon Le Bon et al and it seemed that my musical taste was doomed. And then came the revolution. From two different sources came the influences that would shape my musical taste for the rest of my life. On one hand I had my younger brother who was heavily into heavy metal and we air guitared to Iron Maiden and AC/DC and on the other was my friend Mary Rose’s brother who introduced me to Frank Zappa and Neil Young. Throw into the mix a summer in Canada at 16 seeing Queen in concert and the discovery of The Doors, a summer with a pen friend in France with The Alan Parsons Project and The Eagles and a boyfriend at 18 who was a huge traditional Irish music fan with a touch of Ricky Lee Jones thrown in for good measure and you have some idea of the eclectic breadth of my musical taste. And nothing has changed.

This is me and my good friend Alex at the Isle of Wight Festival last summer of which I have blogged in the past so I won’t go on about it again here. But it is fantastic and I have seen variously Bowie, REM, Paolo, The Stones, Snowpatrol,Coldplay and any number of other fantastic bands and singers. It gives me a yearly chance to revisit my inner teenager and to destroy my liver and I absolutely love it. My greatest thrill last year was to finally see Neil Young after a lifetime of being a fan. I know that he isn’t to everyone’s taste but he writes some of the most beautiful lyrics and I could listen to him forever (well actually it seems like I have been). Over the years I have done stadiums (Springsteen, Dire Straits, Eagles, AC/DC (my brother took me for my 24th birthday), Coldplay, Robbie Williams and U2) and smaller venues like the Albert Hall (Clapton, Van Morrison and a very controversial Christy Moore), festivals and pubs and they have all been fab. We even had Simply Red last summer at Osborne House and Mr and Mrs Folly and TG and I danced the night away. It doesn’t matter where or when, if it’s live I’m there.

My great love of music, my need for it all day every day and it’s importance in my life was brought sharply into focus last year when I embarked on a relationship with someone who just didn’t get it. The music thing that is. He has no tv, no radio and his favourite singer is Enya ( I know that taste is purely subjective and who am I to comment but…). The festival was a bit of a mystery to him and he just couldn’t understand why I got so worked up about songs and lyrics. When I played my favourite tune of the moment, Elbow’s ‘One Day Like This’ (one of those songs that send me) he said ‘What IS this noise’? Noise? Noise??? That was the final nail in a rapidly filling coffin. I realise as I get older that I can’t be with someone who doesn’t ‘get’ music, I just can’t. It takes all the joy out of life.

Luckily I have a boss who played drums in a band and so we have the radio on in the office from 8 in the morning and at 10.30 or thereabouts we have the Pop Master challenge (yes we are sad muppets) and he drums on his drawing tablet at difficult moments to marshall his thoughts. My nearly 17 year old son is a huge music aficionado, plays drums and has inherited his mother’s eclectic taste and you never know what will be drifting out from under the bedroom door – sometimes it’s the Doors, sometimes Queen, the Arctic Monkeys or more recently Vampire Weekend. I think that it wonderful to open your mind to all kinds of musical experience and I get him to put what he thinks I might like, or what is good at the moment onto my iPod and he rarely gets it wrong. I do ask him from time to time if he’s embarrassed that his Mum goes to the festival and is listening to what he is listening to but he says that no, he thinks it’s cool. So that’s alright  then. I shall carry on listening, being sent and enjoying what is one of the great pleasures in my life. All day. Every day.

UFO Completion…

Now , I know that some of you out there may think that I just idle my time away, eating chocolate and thinking of George. But no! I have not been idle. Since the sad (well not really) demise of the afternoon job I have been finishing all those UFOs lurking in various cupboards and drawers. I have made, in no particular order – 9 cushions – the pictures of which you have seen, a million (some) napkins to go with the jars of delight for sale at Christmas, 69 odd name labels for the ACL’s sailor boys and a baby quilt of which I don’t have a picture because I was too rubbish to get my act together and take one (and the fabrics weren’t my choice and I didn’t like it much..). Oh yes and a cosy toes sleeping bag thingy for the smallest baby girl’s pushchair.

Next on the list was The Child’s long awaited quilt and yes folks, it is finished. Not sadly in time for the coldest snap since time immemorial (I’m not that together), but by yesterday, just in time for it to warm up and for him to sweat to death…

And here it is

It’s nothing fancy but he likes it and that’s all that matters. His friend Tom also likes it and wants one too. For his birthday. On the 20th. No pressure then! Why can’t they be like normal 17 year old boys and be into girls and booze. Oh, hang on. They are!!

Back to the sewing machine.

Seasonal Gastronomy

My name is Amber and I am a cookbook junkie. There, I’ve said it. Not out loud as such, but well, as good as. I have any number of cookbooks by any number of authors and chefs covering any number of countries and cuisines. They feature heavily on my Christmas and birthday wish lists and nobody and I mean NOBODY is allowed to read them before I have. And yes, before you ask, I do use them. Well, most of them.

For my delight this year there were two really fantastic books – one a wish list whim that I had read about and the other by a firm favourite to add to my collection of his tomes (one still to go).

Firstly, my daughter bought me Economy Gastronomy…

Now, this is a clever book which is based on the premise that we are all throwing away far too much food and not doing enough planning ahead when it comes to our shopping. Basically you take one ingredient – say for instance a chicken, have a nice roast, and then use the leftovers for something else the next day, or make and freeze something. This is all so that at the end of the week there won’t be something lurking and festering at the back of the fridge. It also is a big believer in buying in bulk, making and freezing and also making the most of special offers. So on the basis of this and having read the book from cover to cover, we have so far made a kilo of mince into a cottage pie, a ragu and a chilli. Last nights roast chicken (organic, free range and bought in the reduced section of the supermarket for £3.50!) which was very nice, will tonight become Arrizo con Pollo with the addition of a few bits and pieces. TG has also made some very nice bread – the kneading wore him out but he could do with losing a few pounds post holidays – perfect!  None of it is rocket science and I’m sure that most you do it already,but it’s more a different way of thinking. I have been making fridge scraping soups for years and making things from leftovers, but this takes it to a whole new level.

My other book is from my favourite ever chef – the very lovely Nigel Slater – probably the best writer of food prose in the world.

This is the man who can elevate the most humble of ingredients to the most sublime of levels, who makes me want to cook everything that he describes and who generally speaking only ever uses one pot. I love his magazine and newspaper articles and I read his books from cover to cover – not just for the recipes but for his beautiful descriptions of buying, growing and cooking food. I love the simplicity of his cooking using readily available ingredients (none of your ‘ just pop down to your local South African grocer’ here) and I love his very obvious passion for food and in this latest book, his passion for growing it. His quiet enthusiasm and lack of  arrogance is very refreshing. You can keep your ranting chefs, your jus, your reductions, your fancy smancy ingredients, your nouvelle cuisine and your fannying around – give me Nigel and his Coq au Riesling any day!!

P.S. If you haven’t tried him, then Real Food is a good starting place…..

 P.P.S. His Thai Green Chicken Curry is also beyond good!