Just attempted to make a mix album on 8 track its my first go and for some reason says its not published so obviously Im not doing something right, anyway heres a few tracks that always move me towards the melancholic side, enjoy or ....er maybe not

quick pea and ham soup and small ramble

My CD player is currently refusing to play the junior boys so evil glares at that, although it does remind me that apart from metronomy and Tuneyards (capitals be damned) I havent bought anything for a while, although as it is now officially school holiday (yay) I have plenty of time to potter before finally deciding not to buy anything which is my usual way.
T.O.H has been trying to cut down on gluten this last few weeks and generally it doesnt make sense time wise or in effort to cook two full dinners so Ive been having similar meals (with added bread for my gluten fix hmmm gluten) and so thought I'd jot down a quick and easy recipe, plus have noticed I havent put any food up for ages.
My mum and dad got me (or mamma and pa bought one, if your posh) a hand held blender for my b day which has been so useful not just in soup making but also pestos, making minted peas (which is simply just cooked peas mint jelly and some oil, even peanut butter, anyway this is a recipie for pea soup its very very easy and changable to your needs (for example Im not a fan of really thick soup so the first time I added less peas) its also very easy to make a veggie version simply cook the onions as directed, add the stock salt and pepper and cook the peas for 15 minutes before blending, making it far quicker and way cheaper.

ingredients
about 2 pounds of peas (if using frozen defrost first (and wash) )
around 2 litres of stock (I used two cubes of gluten free stock cubes but you can obviously just use veg stock instead) (oh and I also added a pinch of tumeric as I like the colour) (also I like brackets)
1 onion finely chopped
a small butter portion
1 small bacon joint (I used a sainsburys basic one around 350 g and made sure it didnt have too much fat, I suppose to make it even healthier trim most of the fat off first)

in a large pan melt butter add the onion and cook until soft, add the bacon joint and enough water to just cover the joint (around 2 litters should do it), bring to a boil, reduce slightly and cook for around one hour turning the joint halfway through, by now the bacon should be nice and soft so skim any fat that floats to the surface remove the joint and add the peas, cook the peas for 10 to 15 minutes and as you do take off any fat from the joint and shred the meat, after the 15 minutes blend the soup and add salt and pepper to taste, add the meat and re heat the soup serve with nice thick bread and butter or if your gluten free rice cakes crushed up give the soup a bit more chunk.
anyway thats it, suggestions or changes always welcome. Its Sunday so going to continue to potter in PJs and plan on seeing the Princess of Montpensier in a bit yay sundays yay holidays YaY generally

Hello there, Monday to Wednesday was a three day residential school trip which as you would expect was rather....tiring and have returned home to find I have developed the sickness bug thats been going around (a rather bad habit at school is that as soon as anyones sick you can guarantee that sooner or later you will get it too) so have now also been off for two days feeling sickly ewwwww
anyway Glastonbury is currently on this weekend to which my brother has headed off so theres a certain amount of Mills envy (despite the rain) and right now Im looking out for him as Morrisey sings/makes witty comments I gave him my inflatable pilllow to take away and a list of things to bring and now rather glad I recommended wellies and bin liners. Although a question about glastonbury exactly who brings those massive flags you see waving around? and more importantly whats the point?
On a sadder note just seen that Peter Falk has passed away, I think I've mentioned my love of columbo before and my weekends (and other days of the week) are made so much better if I manage to catch a repeat of an episode, the deceptively smart sleuth battling wits with murders (and if I remember right a kidnapper or two) has shaped crime television since it first aired (see modern programs like The Mentalist which featured a direct lift from Prescription murder the other week) which comes down a lot to Peter Falks amazing performance, thats not mentioning The Princess Bride or Murder by death in which he stared (I love his very confused Humphry Bogart/classic private eye role)

TV has been watched, wii games have been played 13 assassins observed and a riverside festival attended. Not a bad holiday overall but one that went by waaaay to quickly, perhaps it was the first few days of having nothing to do except tidy, yes what a crazy wild time I have.
Anyway yes 13 assassins was rather good indeed possibly it was taking the "we need to make a team." style movie and giving it a twist, or the absolute eeeevvvillll emperor (to be) but it was probably the part with the flaming pigs or the alley of swords that you know will be (and are) used...no actually it was the flaming pig weapons....
Im not a lawyer, but please dont tell my clients, buuuut RatKo Mladic's "I'm a bit sick, see I've got a note." Attempt to avoid being prosocuted for genocide is possibly not the best way to defend oneself.

T.O.H is off away on holiday for the next 11 days leaving me behind in blighty to potter and generally weep in my gooseberry yogurt during this half term break, anyway I asked my little five year old nephew what I should this week on my own and after a little thought he simply said "Watch TV." he didn't seem to want to add anything else.
trying my best so far

As its half term, its also bank holiday which means another full week off, which on one hand is yay and another what the hell am I actually going to do with myself? plus T.O. H is away for 11 whole days away in Spain (where apparenly the rain falls mainly on the plane)
Anyway heading home tonight I was stopped in the street by a random man, who asked me to lend him my phone so that he could ring his girlfriend and ask if he could come around, at this point I should say that A) apparnetly he had no credit and B) I had 3 pints. Anyway I did agree, but only if he first gave me his phone and his keys. He made his phone call (and no his girlfriend didnt want him to come around) and we actually ended up wandering up the road together. Now thinking about back I partially feel bad that I didnt trust the man to make a call without doing a runner and yet think I wouldnt have done anything different, I dont particually hold with it being a sign of the times as any history program shows people have been robbing/conning/stabbing with sharpy things other people since time, or Peter Akyroyd, began. What I do find interesting is the personal aspect of it what would I have done 2 years back?, 5 years back of ten would I have lent him my phone and not even considered him doing a runner? or would I have ignored him completly, walked past and not say a word. As I said to him at the time and still believe now you have to have trust in people, trust that might be broken, but trust all the same.

For some reason still feeling rather....tired this evening although that might be the gins from last night it could be waking up early yes yes definatly that in no way is it the gins. Anyway T.O.H is away working tonight and these last few weeks they have been cooking dinner something that I usually do mostly to releave stress from work (you wouldn't believe the calming effect of bashing tomatoes will have) So tonight I've got the first chance to cook for myself...annnnnd I cant be bothered. I did however see Steve Albini's food blog which as would would expect goes into a lot of detail about everything, which does make me wonder what he would be like to live with, I mean can you imagine having to shop for EXACTLY the right toiler roll or moving the door mat in the wrong place...

Hello hello yes hello, I've had birthdays galore (very nice too thanks for asking) cinema visits in which Werner Herzog shows us really really old drawings and the odd (literally) albino crocodile, a two and a half week holiday that included a surprise visit from my brother, a cheese and cider festival giant margarita glasses picnics listening to a lot of Johnny Flyn and sushi.
That was a busy two weeks wasnt it