my own private hidey-hole

"to make bacon jam, first, you must create the universe." - not quite carl sagan.

in fact, to make bacon jam, first you must buy a load of bacon. i found a bacon joint in waitrose (hush now) on sunday which seemed cheaper than buying lots of sliced bacon. (in retrospect pre-sliced bacon would have been SO MUCH easier. and i probably wouldn't have a hole in my finger.)

also, to make bacon jam, you need a decent casserole type pot. ah. this may have been the most expensive bacon jam i will ever make. but hey, at least i now own a decent pot!

also also, to make bacon jam, you need a lot of time. a good 3 hours or so. still, it's all a good evening's entertainment, no?

most importantly, one needs a recipe. i've been eyeing one up on a food blog for months. (not quite nigella. google it!)

so with my new pot, and some bacon, sugar, maple syrup, cider, tabasco, coffee, water, onion and garlic i made bacon jam.

AND THEN i sterilised some jars (soapy clean, boiling rinse, oven dry) and popped the tasty goodness in.

how productive! how cottage industry! how very easy!

***

i have not yet eaten the jam properly, perhaps later. initial taste test indicates lovely barbeque flavour, not too sweet, very bacony. could probably have stood more tabasco.

***

i have had to entertain myself, the last few days. d seems to have some sort of sleeping sickness. have also managed to polish off season 4 of law & order. 18 to go!

the office smells of actual paint today, it's delicious. (to smell, i mean, i haven't tasted it. yet.)

xxx

is it bad to be dreaming of getting home and tasty dinner already? really? lunch fail again. remembered to pick up fruit x3, forgot to pick up roast veg for couscous. i *could* have plain cous cous, but really, no.

xxx

bright club last night was BRILLIANT. the combination of METAL (\m/), scientists and men with gold penises worked perfectly. and there were plenty of teases at my favourite songs. i need more metal in my life.

xxx

another reason i'm looking forward to home, is that the last episode of season 3 of l&o awaits me! whooo! i've (almost) managed 3 years worth of telly in 3 months! only another 284 odd hours to go! that's, er, only 12 whole days..... oh dear.

xxx

(no, i don't have much to say for myself at the moment. trauma, trauma, who am i if i am not a sozzled old hag?)

i'm sparing you most of it. yesterday i almost posted about whether i should by a pair of choos or a maine coon. ahem.

saw sherlock holmes last night. it was jolly good indeed! though robert downey jnr does appear to be ageing into lovejoy, which is a bit worrying. and it's very guy ritchie. but it works.

***

also, as i may have told some of you before, holmes was really james watson. at least if you believe the sanctuary, which i have also been obsessively watching. [there were 5 scientists. they injected pure vampire blood. something or other griffin (not important, dead) became the invisible man. james watson (dna, holmes) found his (already huge) intellect increased. developed science(!!) to help him live for centuries. helen (main character in show, 'abnormal' benefactor) stopped ageing. john druit (aka jack the ripper, also long life via injecting helen's blood) gained the ability to teleport. and nikola tesla (yes that one) became a vampire.

seriously. you have to love that sort of insane television.

in the last episode of the 2nd series (HOW DARE YOU END ON A CLIFFHANGER??) they were trying to calm a giant sea beast that can move tectonic plates, who turned out to be kali. and if you were connected to her, you can talk to her. but only if you do a little dance. and then it all went bollywood. I LOVE THIS SHOW. I NEED MORE.

***

i've also been reading rather than snoozing on the tube. i can heartily recommend the steep approach to garbadale by iain banks. it doesn't seem to be going anywhere, told mostly in flashbacks that don't necessarily fit together, and the pull-back-reveal isn't quite as much of a shock as expected, but the characters and their lives matter.

***

i'm now reading prachett, something i have long avoided. ok, so it isn't discworld, but still. challenge your prejudices! or, er, read whatever's on the shelves you haven't read yet...

seriously though, how much of a DICK is shane?

i haven't been doing HUGE amounts of late. this summer (can we call it that yet?) finds me listless, and trying to claw my way back to being comfortably in the black again. hmmmm.

anyway! this means i have been doing other things, such as READING and, er, watching the telly.

freezer burn - joe r lansdale. a random choice plucked from declan's stash. a nice, easy, trashy read. total loser (mum dead and mouldering in bed, failed firework stand heist) ends up working for a freak show, boffing the boss's wife, and failing even further at attempted murder. i'm not sure what the overall thing was trying to say, maybe 'don't trust a woman you're sleeping with she's only up to no good', but it was fun to read. and i have a wonderful mental image of conrad the dog-man that may not go away very fast.

the red queen - margaret drabble. took this on my little holiday by the sea. was a xmas pressie AGES ago from dan's mum, i think, bought solely because of the title. a book of two halves, the first tells the story (researched and mostly accurate but fictionalised) of the red queen in the title. a crown princess in korea some centuries ago. court intrigue, pre-teen marriage, insanity, and rampaging murder. the second half is the story of the modern woman who 'discovers' the tale of the red queen, becomes obsessed by it, and propogates it. including, at the end, to, oh yes, margaret drabble. hmmm. apart from that, i loved it. absorbing. i may have to do some research into old skool korea.

***

i have also seen:

coraline. hmmm. passed the time. probably more exciting with 3d glasses than on the telly.

quite a bit of 30 rock which is also so-so, why do people love tina fey so?

and breaking bad, which i only jumped into for the second series and regret not watching more. (chem teacher gets cancer, turns into meth king pin to provide for his family. what?)

***

my decision today: to BLOW my 5 months of good work in not buying things and invest in some completely unnecessary shoes or not. well?

(actually i need to ruin my record anyway, for i must purchase some sunglasses and oh look i own no shorts.....)

weds
to the alwyne for bluekieran's birthday drinks. head over straight from work, intending on a couple then home for dinner. am still there after teh birthday boy has left. whoops.

thurs
( spoilers! spoilers! krypton factor! spoilers! )

today
i am already looking forward to some tasty sushi later. can it be the weekend now, please?

so, a little late to the party here (god DAMN you archive email files!) but well done president obama. well done america. i clearly don't live in the usa, or have a proper idea of how he's going to change day to day life for all those that voted for him, but he seems to know what he's doing.

what i was most impressed with was the hugely high voter turnout. it seems, overnight, america got off it's arse and actually *cared*. and this i applaud.

***

of course, i didn't watch any of the coverage. i was watching more important voting. and catching up on old episodes of x-factor.

oh yeah, and actually, i like that macca iTunes advert. sorry. i don't find him smug, i see him trying to be cool and failing miserably, like an embarrassing dad. i find this ridiculously endearing.

shock horror :)

(still think it was a rotten choice of single though, but meh...)

The best thing this weekend was getting an email asking if I wanted to go to a Dick Party. Of course, the only possible answer to that question is HELL YEAH! BAYUUUUUP. Ah, joy!

***

It’s been an interesting weekend, in which I have spectacularly failed to do most of the things I planned to do. Things I did do, however:

Friday

Drinkies in the Foundry. Absinthe & lemonade is rather delicious!

Bedroom Bar! Dancing! Drinking! Lounging on beds with ace people! Leaving at a sensible(ish) hour! Ah, I always have an ace night there.

***

Saturday

Lovely drinkies in the Chandos for yiskah’s birthday.

Toasties! YEAH!

Falling over. BOO

Attempting to fall over repeatedly! I don’t understand. Perhaps my shoes were too small and my blood not alcoholic enough.

Home for Doctor Who (meh, although I can’t really comment due to repeated closing of eyes) and pizza and getting ready for slaughterhaus5

Schoolboy (girl?) Error!!! Lying down. Dozing. Did make it to the bus stop, bus didn’t appear. Went back home. Slept. On a Saturnight! Rubbish.

Sweet, sweet, sleep.

***

Sunday

The day of being stood up!

Yoga is cancelled, as I am almost ready for it. Gah!

Tea and cookies is postponed.

I don’t mind, and crack on with serious sewing. Only broke 2 of my machine needles! Well, you try sewing hugely gathered denim and see what happens! End result = basic skirt shape. Now to faff around with ‘windows’ and get some boning and make an underskirt out of the sheet I ruined in the washing machine. Recycle baybee, yeah!

Also manage to deconstruct bodice and start cutting pieces out of actual t-shirts. Wheeee! I can do this! Discover wedding decorations are perfect for lining too. More recycling! Yeah!

Bloomsbury Ballroom for CocoRosie. The venue is weird, but somehow beautiful. The mirrorballs make me sick. The weird kitchen / diner makes me happy. Bump into lanarak and friends.

Rio en Mendio or something similar is all girlish voice and quiet noise and pretty fey. Enjoy muchly.

Tez is a human beatbox. He’s good, but I’ve seen Beardyman….

CocoRosie are entrancing and mesmerising and weirdly vocalled. Tez comes into his own as their ‘percussion’ for the evening. I want to learn the harp. It’s dancy and ethereal and absolutely marvellous. Well done there.

Hipsters, however, appear to get dirtier, and more stupid-haired every day. Cuh.

***

Monday
Ah, I’m in a shockingly good mood today dear livejournal. (Well, I was....)

♥ Perhaps the recent woe was rooted in hormones. (I should check these things really but I’m far too lazy…)
♥ Perhaps I’m happy due to a decent nights sleep?
♥ Perhaps it has something to do with the fact I’m currently sleeping in this.
♥ Perhaps it’s due to my copy of yiskah’s book arriving, new read for the commute that doesn’t make me angry!
♥ Perhaps it’s due to some moocards arriving, though eh, they didn’t quite do what I told them to, and I have no idea what to use them for!
♥ Perhaps it’s due to Republic of Loose English tour dates I can actually get to! If you’re at a loose end 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th July, you should go see them. I think I can do the 3rd.
♥ Perhaps it’s due to my face popping up all over facebook, how entertaining. (Actually, normally this would make me cry…)

What’s keeping you cheery today, dear internet?