when on a budget, it's good when something can do more than one thing...

multi-purpose american apparel. shot straight to the top of my summer wish list.

this is what i do when i'm bored

home alone, jesmond has become some sort of ghost town, so i decided to cook.

salmon fillets oven baked in foil parcels with cherry tomatoes and sweet red peppers. coated in a cream cheese, spring onion, garlic and ginger paste served with a light side of rice. fit.

eating this whilst watching cook yourself thin makes me think perhaps the cream cheese wasn't the most healthy of options. especially when also consuming stolen left over fridge beer - corona tonight, thanks to which ever flatmate isn't as much of a stingy alcoholic as me to drink everything possible before leaving. i will continue to consumer your strongbow, vodka and becks whilst consuming your left over lamb, chicken and chips.

chin chin.

previously mentioned cake.

re-discovered how to upload pictures from my camera.

Sketch, London

You find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.

I am currently down in London, visiting friends and doing some various productive things, and was taken by said friend to her newest and most favourite discovery.

Sketch is a parlour cafe, come members club come restaurant proper come nightclub.

http://www.sketch.uk.com/

i merely sampled the cafe section but that was enough to wow me. the decor is like something out of a grand stately home on acid, my table consisting of velvet arm chairs, and a large old fashioned writing bureau. others were large lounging sofas in decadent fabrics which matched perfectly to the bone china floral tea cups by 4POUND cup of tea came in. never have i ever wanted to steal crockery more, i feel it would probably have been completely justified as well, alas however my bag was too small.

on the wall behind my head was a large glass deer head illuminated by the soft glow of a naked lamp bulb, but the main feature of the room was the kitchen sink work top featurette of cakes and drinks.

the cakes and pastries are something else entirely, sculpted artistic creations- the eclairs looked precision made, square cut finely layered chocolate parcels and my friend sampled some heavenly blackberry cream chocolate sponge oyster shaped delight.

whilst this is all fine and well, and too amazing for words, i couldn't help but try and surpress a feeling that this was a world that wasn't quite mine yet. I am broke. this isn't really a point that needs to be expanded on because it depresses me too much to bear - hiya beautiful silver silk harem pants that amazingly actually fit my recently inflated curves, oh hiya 45 pound price tag that i cannot afford. etc etc. you get the idea.

so when i go to an establishment where it is 4 pounds for a cup of (although refreshing) really just tea served in aesthetically pleasing surroundings, i feel i may be overstepping my monetary bounds somewhat. the money aside, i do not on any level exude an impression of hidden wealth, as some people are able to carry off, i am left feeling in establishments like this a tad out of place. one day i have aims to be able to go to somewhere like this, order whatever i want without a consideration to money, and it not even have to be a treat. i want this everyday.

for the mean time, i can please my senses with less expensive pleasures. night time adventures in clapham had be stumble ( more realistically lead by a knowing hand) to the pepper tree http://thepeppertree.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=30- also understood to be clapham's most affordable thai restaurant. busy, fast paced, and simple basics make up somewhere i feel much more comfortable. and my overly loud vocal chords meant i could still be heard over the restaurants echoing noise levels. pad thai for 6.50 in the capital should never be frowned upon. as well as tasty fattening prawn filled filo pastry parcels to start (still in a deep pastry rut). whilst it was not me footing the bill at this outing, it was still nice to be reminded that the big smoke isn't all too much for me. drinks in an agreeably cheap bar after proved to be the north isn't as good value as i first thought - head of steam, you are more expensive than London!

Possibly my favourite discovery of the weekend was Borough Market, a foodies heaven. every possible bourg food you can imagine in one place, with free tasters a plenty. foie gras, chicken liver mousse, as many terrine's, jams and condiments as you could shake a large meaty stick at.a free lunch of things i may never have got to try before, like the most incredible serrano ham, my lord, those Spanish know how to cure some hams. and sell it for 20 pounds for 100g. again, one day, not today that is for sure. all i could afford was a goats cheese and red onion foccacia. too middle class for words.

Things i have learnt -

1. if you get the mega bus to london from newcastle which is just over 6 hours of your life you will never get back, make sure the driver isn't INSANE and turns the heating off otherwise you will feel like your dying.

2.oyster cards are great. but travel is still dear. walking is underrated.

3. too finally resist topshop and it's overpriced garmets.

PRADA PRINT COLLECTION

found this on because website. almost identical (minus the buttons) to the 15 pound bargain sale dress i can't stop wearing from topshop.

other good things recently - lemon drizzle cake, tasty. amazing that someone can be known for a cake they have only made once. although i am rather known for my diabetes inducing brownies.

other bad things recently - tie dye clothing. get out of my face. seen recently on a night out, it makes me want to be sick. is it the late 1960s? no. is it Manchester in the 1990s? no. then why wear it?

answer, please don't.

Angry phone women, the inability to cook rice and other recent mishaps.

too long. etc.

exams, done, free time, plenty.

things not to do when you have just finished exams - agree to work a very long day at a race course, decide you don't want to do it, cancel and receive the wrath of an angry woman. i wouldn't appreciate this at most times in the day but first thing in the morning made it even worse. these actions do mean i, in no way, can complain about being broke for a while as i have just turned down a day of paid labour. yawn.

on the plus of things i will forever want in the morning, was new arcade fire.

all pleasing to my ears. please them further by touring as Leeds festival is not an option. 1. because of money. 2. because it will be full of shit heads 3. because i will be on my European adventure! argh.

yes, in august i will be saying a big hello to the sights of Europe.

currently on my list of things to do,

1. run away from a restaurant without paying.

that may be it so far.

on my list of things not to do,

1. get mugged

2. get raped

3. fall in a canal

the general idea of this list is just to bad things happening.

other bad things which have occurred recently would be my 2 (failed) exams, i shall for a long time not be wanting to buy the flowers myself, as well as my recurring inability to produce rice which does not consist of stodge.

one day i shall learn this skill. and given that for a while all i had in my cupboard was rice, thus being all i ate for about a week was rice, i should really have mastered this by now.

on the culinary plus recently, my free time means i have time to cook, cheese tartlets yesterday, today i am feeling some sort of meat pie.

(not exactly weather appropriate, hiya sun, i've missed you)

Currently Wearing: nothing too excessive, recently the weather has made clothes a hassle (how i am going to cope in Europe is being to worry me - should probably add this to one of my lists)

Recent Purchases - NOTHING. I HAVE NO MONEY.

Grovesner Terrace, 19.45, Sunday Night

i spot
two guys, 'modern men' in their liberal use of product and fake tan. identically styled brunette hair, flopping sige fringe, spiked back.
the uniform - plimsolls come deck shoes, one pair navy, one pair white. trousers turned up to mid shin, one pair denim skinny fit with low waist, one matt black silk harem style. two loose fitting, low + wide v-neck tops, mixed cotton one cream one navy, slightly turned up sleave to reveal a bulging tanned bicep. each in possession of a loose fitting hooded top.

i look down.

me - cream plimsolls, loose skinny jeans turned up to mid shin, sitting low on the waist, baggy low + wide v - neck mixed cotton white tee, one roll in each sleave (not to expose my bulging biceps), grey hooded top, undone, hood up.

so, apparently it took less than a year for me to become fully acclimitised to male, jesmond semi rah culture.
still on the upside, it's preferable to uggs, gilets and fake tan.

i miss yorkshire (tea)

anyone for a tea party?

that time of year again, when all i can do is procrastinate by making continual cups of tea to distract myself from the tedium of revision - yes i have started the aforementioned essay, 1600 words down and i have decided to start again. a strong whiskey may do me better right now than milky tea. if i had someone to share with that would be delightful, im currently de moulding my tea pot (sadly not as impressive as the above orange beauty). aware of the cliched quaintness of tea parties, with delicate hand painted china, triangle sandwiches and cupcakes, something like this...

i like my tea from mugs. large mugs, builder style. with grim looking stains inside and chips outside.

i'd currently be ashamed to have anyone over for a cup however, given the presence of sainsburys basics tea bags. i purchased these in a climate of extreme economic anxiety presuming that tea was tea no matter what. honestly, i don't understand why my food snobbery in other instances didn't come into play here. tea is never just tea. and this tea barely makes the grade, i should have listened to my flatmates skepticism when i produced said box from our junk/large food items cupboard. (contence includes a whipped cream dispenser and hideous vase left from the previous occupants, many many bags of potatoes and some sort of sky box)

if i were a better blogger, i guess i would understand how to embedded vidoes and other such things. no such luck here, strictly minimal amatuer attempts only but ......ignore such statements, the score now stands at polly 2 - technology 0. (the previous score having come from the momentous occasion of fixing my infected laptop with my own bare hands, like a doctor would tend to a sick child.)




as much as this advert is brilliant, and frankly featured actor could come for tea whenever he wished, twinings just cannot cut it against the superiority of yorkshire tea. my homelands do me proud. i crave a good cup yorkshire's finest.

As an end note I will forever be wishing for one of these:

precise pastles

not a fan of watches, i still can't fail to be attracted by these cute baby coloured digital time pieces, oasis for £15. my fave being the nude pink.
combining two of the main looks for this season, pastle shades and sophisticated sports wear, it's hardly a bank breaking accessory. i'll be wearing mine with polo shirts and white pumps.

comfort food

normally something i associate with the colder months given their truely heart breaking cruetly at lowering my morale, i was unable to resist a lazy comfort fueled dinner tonight as my mood has been erratic of late to say the least. i'd say this mood has a direct correlation towards the impending exams and deadlines that are approaching, and my current vastly empty future.

the remedy, breaded fish, mash potato and beans. i think beans must be the essential factor here, as they really form an essential part of any of my quick-and-easy comfort meals, for example jacket potatoe and beans, beans on toast...okey that's it but i guess i don't eat very much comfort food apart from the previously mentioned fetish for heniz tomato soup.
come to think about it, i must be one of the main factors keeping heinz in business, given that both my favourite lazy foods are produced by them. if i were to suddenly turn my life around, have a revelation and be content with existence then there sales would be sure to take a massive turn for the worst.
as this is unlikely to happen any time soon, heniz can sleep peacefully in their beds at night knowing their vast empire of canned goods isn't going to fall to its knees any time soon.

shopping again today. sales so thats acceptable.
pastle pink and brown polka dot dress made out of some fabric akin to cheap 70s swimwear. (not sure i'm selling this purchase well.) floral satin bra with lace trim. fit.

what im currently doing:
1.overheating, the sun is out, my house is not acustomed to this rare occurence.
2. spending far too much time inside mr robinson. the library,not an old man.
3. not writing my essay, still.not.writing.my.essay. trainspotting can wait for another day, choose life and all that.

topshop and treading water.

I have once again returned to my more favoured climate, and life has resumed its more natural routine of missed lectures, afternoon pints, far too many trips to topshop and general inactivity inbetween in my blissful double bed. all of this i approve of heavily.

what i do not approve of is not having any shitting money, the inability to adaquately look after myself, and not enough coathangers. is this really going to be the bane of my life forever?
i arrived with my summer wardrobe packed away, cue prim and proper for this season, (currently sporting as i write this, a polo with a hair waisted a line pleated pink skirt, and vintage grey cardi.) my problems arise when i try and store away these lovely items. i just don't have room for any more clothes.
this problem could be solved in numerous ways, each of which i have deliberated.
1. throw away some of my clothes.
2. stop buying clothes i don't need and can't afford.
3. triple hang every item in my wardrobe.

clearly, and sensibly, i went for the latter option. and then followed this by buying more clothes.
the latest purchases are however, of course, very necessary including an acid wash blue body, white slip on pumps which haven't left my feet since i bought them, white and black peep toe flats with a bow, and a black and white cardigan chanel style front with bow. very prim, very proper. i obviously have a monochrome thing going on.

i guess if i were a proper blogger and not without my self concious hangups i would take pictures of myself modeling said clothes, but the previous two statements mustn't be true because i cannot bring myself to do this.

here however is something much more interesting, coathanger art. what i could do if only i had this many.

Currently listening to: High Violet the sublime new album from the National. debateably better than alligator or boxer, but then i side with boxer on the prestanding debate so it's all up in the air now.

Currently doing: all the work i have been denying i have looming over me, but really when did work consist of watching trainspotting and this is england. the essay is not going well. my snack consumption however is at an all time high.

we went to manchester and it was nice.

I sometimes wonder how my life would have been different if i had put a 1 instead of a 2 in the little box next to Manchester University on my ucas application. that tiny little mark on a page effecting the next three years of my life, if not my whole future. Would I have found love in laundrette's in fallowfield rather than admiration amongst the ancient arches that give Newcastle's campus its traditional red brick feel? my nights out in 5th ave and Sankeys, sweaty affairs no doubt fueled from the Glens wouldn't really be that far apart from Stone Love and Cosmic?
the voyage into the great unknown for me were not pastures so new if i had ventured westwards to discover myself between the sheets - of both books and beds. a city i had some bearing of, i prefered to take the road less travelled, (and apparently the phrase most used) and headed North and have never looked back (down the A1).
But, luckily, manchester is not all but a distant memory given my good friend Emily's inhabitance there meaning i have bed and board whenever i so wish. and we did wish. a holiday to sunnier climates was called for to say farewell to our easter break. the enticement of Laura Marling in the Lowry was also too much to turn down, alongside the vegetarian delights which would be offered to me (cheese, tomato sauce, pasta, (burnt) onion - hmm.) i joke, vegetarian food can suck my proverbial balls.

Number One Manchester delight (aside from emily herself of course) - The Northern Quarter.
how many second hand clothes shops can you fit into a square mile?
a lot.
no, i am not carrying on the tedious theme of awful jokes, but honestly i didn't realise there were enough dead old people in the north west with wardrobes stuffed with relics from the 1930s onwards for kids to buy so they too could look like old people from the 1930s. there are a lot of vintage shops.
i have no money
= torturous situation.
basic shopping math there.
whilst vintage shops were ruling this area of the high street, the quirky cafes were not to be ignored either, a pound cup of tea from what has to surely have been the most handsome bearded cafe worker in the surrounding 50 mile area enjoyed on a sun bathed pavement brought a bit of munich to milan on this monday afternoon. or, like somewhere else dead cultural like. Oklahoma cafe. nice shop too.
again shame i couldn't buy anything- this is definately a developing theme in my life right now.

Second Manchester Delight - Trofs Special Lager.
I regarded my closing and only pint of the night with a suspicious glance, 'special lager you say, and why is it, *cough* special?'
Trofs is a quaint bar on a side street off the main fallowfield parade of take aways and drinking emporiums, with wooden decked walls, an enclosed balcony smoking area and quirky decoration, it's safe to say it is a student favourite. as is there special lager/cider - an unknown liquid sold at 2.50 (hardly that cheap by newcastle standards). the taste is debateable, the source is probabaly more so.

Lessons learnt - don't let certain friends try and organise public transport. don't get off the tram 2 stops before you are meant to. twice.

Big brothers have more use than beating up school bullies.

not that mine ever did this for me, he was my sole tormentor during our childhood years. and, it's true, kids are cruel, sibiligs crueler. After countless trips to A&E suffered at his hand, he is now making it up to me by rewriting my cv and making me sound vaugely employable. just a pity i had already emailed my awful cv to just about every person I could think of, massive fml but nothing can be done now unfortunately.

as the days draw to a close on my easter employment, I am increasingly looking toward summer and thinking ' shit the likelyhood of working here again is well, really really likely'. another fml. it would perhaps give me vast opportunity to practice my 'smartcasual' work look however.
'smart-cas' as im sure those in the know call it, seems to me a ludicrous statement. it says, please both be smart and casual at the same time. sorry, WHAT? you want me to dress it two opposite ways at the same time. right. i apologise but woman to my sadness, can only wear so many clothes at the same time, and as great as conceptual fashion is, i don't really feel this is the appropriate place to be experimenting with dual use clothes. DO YOU? tomorrow, i may rock up wearing shorts with an optional tail coat for those smarter occasions. or heels made from pencils, from when i need to take down all my important 'business' notes.
ha. i just laughed to myself at the mere conception of me having important business notes.

The end of the working day does also mean an end to my packed lunches, a novelty from the age of 6 that hasn't ceased just yet. except now the creation powers are all mine, smoked salmon and cream cheese with salad today. the side orders now wain however, crisps, chocolate are out. apples and bananas are in in in and around my mouth. diet fail today with a plethora of cheese on offer in my fridge, which would be to the delight of my friends who are currently all suffering from the quite bizarre craze of continually telling cheese themed jokes. and let me tell you, there is nothing cheesy about these jokes, they are just utterly terrible, cringingly awful.

The latest awful one: why did the cheese do worse than everyone else in her exams? she red-less-duh

exactly.

Currently listening to: Goldfrapp - very 80s, very madonna. i don't think either of these things are bad.
Currently looking forward to: NCL. I have missed you too much.

too little time to say too much.

after just perusing the sunday papers, my morning tradition with 2 slices of marmite and butter and a steaming cup of tea, I came upon endless articles which i had an opinion to write upon - the over thinking of image, re-emergence of the full english breakfast, tailored trousers and rolled up bottoms as well as the saturation of party politics in the coming month of decision. I also came to the realisation there were endless journalists in stock to write these flicked over colunms in obscure supplements. so, in later life, if i'm lucky, i shall be able to consign myself to being one amongst many in the infinite stock of struggling journalists.

To my previous topics in hand I had meant to be writing about, to begin with i bring you the curse of the dodgy £8.95 steak. without appearing libelous, i have some certainty that steak of said price and quality has brought me to my knees over the last few days, gasping for breath whilst i clutch the white porceline of my bathroom sink. food posioning. the absolute horror of it i had yet to experience before, and i hope never again. all food sold at these good-value prices i am sure, and know from experience does not result in stomach churning hell, but where very rare meat is concerned I now know that paying a premium is for the best.

Which brings me onto the other end of the food spectrum and the visual delight that was the final of masterchef. the idea of food as art never having been more appropriate than in the three 3 michelin stared restaurants they got to serve at. holy moly, i don't think my eyes have ever laid their sights on food so exquiste.

this was never more the case that the culinary spectacles offered at De Librije, on first glance i wouldn't even have recognised this as food. if sometimes i think a lindt bunny looks too cute to eat, i have no idea who would win in a fight between my stomach and my eyes in this case.

I'm not even 100% sure what this meal is, something with very delicately shaped prawns, or crab. watching the creation process gives a whole other meaning to the term merticulous cooking.

With all this fantising about food and its luxurious possibilties, it was reassuring to be reminded semi-recently about the allowance for this in fashion.

Who said reality sucked?

definately not Prada's recent ready to wear fall '10 lines, thats for sure. real figures. women who looked real. on a runway. refreshing somewhat after all these years of homogeneous blondes with slightly gappy teeth and scary bone structures. the clothes were an absolute triumph as well, again real clothes for women with breasts and hips, that preppy look sculpted from tweed and the new demure longer skirt lengtht

image from style.com

In the mean time however, i won't be eating or wearing clothes like this as i am fully resigned to a weekend in my bed, an application form or two my only escape from sick-induced boredom. and to make matters worse, it is g-l-o-r-i-o-u-s outside, i can hear the birds tweeting, for once it really feels like spring, and i want to find my walking boots and hike.

tzatziz induced insomnia.

i'm hungry. and when i'm hungry i cannot sleep. i know there is a pot of my favourite greek dip down stairs and i am just longing to go and eat it with a toasted pitta. perhaps not food appropriate at 1 in the morning. so i am restricting myself to bed and to keeping to my diet.

why is it that sometimes the simplest foods are the best? yoghurt, mint, cumcumber, garlic and hello beautiful partner for a variety of dishes. same as you can't beat a sunday roast. as it is easter sunday this weekend, i am hoping for a little baby lamb to be served up on my plate. probably my favourite meat, one because when alive it is the cutest, when dead it is the tastiest.

to this

the latter picture is honestly the more appealing to me. combined with some rosemary and garlic, some crispy roast potatoes, carmalised parsnip and lashings of gravy (still haven't got over my current obsession) and i would be happier than if the easter bunny brought me the CEO of thorntons instead of their mediocre chocolate products (also have a bit of an obbsession for rich men at the moment apparently).

With fashion, it is also true a lot of the time that the simplest outfits can be the most effective. yes its all well and good for high concept fashion, and the this-outfit-took-three-days-to-plan-look so i could fully utilise my quirky eccentricities, but really theres nothing wrong with an american apparel jersey skirt, white t-shirt and a pair of tennis shoes. hiya comfort, your my favourite.

speaking of american apparel, i heard on the grapevine that they are set to open a store in leeds. i have already resigned myself to the fact i shall never have money again. but a fully stocked range of american sportswear. you win some you lose some.

Currently watching - 90210. hmmm. this doesn't sound right. when was it i lost my mind and my taste?

Currently eating - Nothing! but awaiting a bacon and cream cheese bagel for breakfast. i'll just imagine its new york outside my door instead of a dreary rain soaked yorkshire.

Laura Marling - i Speak because i can.

i decided to write a review, one because i love this album, but frankly because i need the practice.

Having quietly created one of 2008’s great albums, with the same unpretentious nature Marling now at the grand age of 20 returns with a darker collection of songs which imply she is recollecting on a new found maturity. Attention is likely to be brought to the effect her split from fellow folk up-start Charlie Fink of Noah and the Whale fame has had on the record, but this would be to under value the scope of emotion that Marling is able to create in such simple structures.
Whilst Alas I cannot Swim had its successes in its natural tone of first discovering heart ache and break, here the melancholy is given an urgent passion evoked in the building crescendos of opener Devil’s Spoke that mix raw guitar chords with a whirling atmosphere of banjo’s that only relents to hear Marling crow out from the depths of her heart ‘and I hold your face away from mine’. Maybe that heart break isn’t too far from the surface of some tracks.
The arrangement on Goodbye England has a gentler tone, departing from the rough desperate anger that emerges elsewhere, Marling here is at her most picturesque- like the English countryside she is describing, the melody is quaint and conjures up images of idyllic walks on frosty mornings in mitten gloves. Hope in the Air is a selection of rich piano chords which combine effortlessly with the passion in her voice to give honesty to the yearning that is describing.


Whilst her musical depth may have developed, it is still the delicate touch she has with her song writing that allows much of her seemingly easy brilliance to show. This is a record that tells of experience past her years, both in content and structure, a truly great emerging folk talent.


the dress she is wearing on the cover also reminds me of this beauty i found on the because magazine website the other day. Rick Owens Silk Print Dress. image from because magazine website

The beautiful simplicity of this dress is similar to the beauty of Marling's record, but she probably just beats him there.


Currently Listening to: as well as the above, still XX. i think i need to get a temporary ban from this record, it's unhealthy how many times i have listened to it. it is however, perfect depressed bath music.

Currently Fretting over: what to do with my summer. to go to leeds festival? my 14,15,16,17 and 18 year old selves would hate me right now for not buying a friday day ticket for the libertines. actually, scrap that,my currently 19 year old self hates me for not being in the country for it.

H&M, Garden Collection

Being a store that i had currently lost faith in due its incredibly high hit and miss nature, things that are just too european to bear, i was pleasantly surprised by the well, very pleasant, pretty selection of clothes on offer in this environmentally aware collection for spring (although it is now nearly april and snow is predicted!!). teaming of bold floral prints in brash colours alongside natural shades forming ladylike silhouette's, the lack of focus on the floral prints is particularly pleasing to me - so bored of this look espeically in its smock format. the neutral pastle pinks imply a more feminine fall collection as previewed in many of the rtw fall shows - celine a massive highlight. my personal favourite and latest purchase is these elegant high waisted shorts.

worn with a classic white shirt with an open neck line or polo shirt for day time attire, it cries out summer in the 1920's in the West egg. i don't think i'll ever get enough of Gatsby chic.

ode to a can of soup

when living in a shared house there cannot help but be issues with cleanliness. my house is the height of student slum chic. in a really awful way. washing up is an activity apparently too challenging for any of us to carry out, this leads to some strange eating habits, cereal out of a mug, stew out of the tray meant for the scales. people of course never admit to washing up being theres (honestly, i swear NONE of it is mine!) but there is a tell tale trace that leads dirty plates back to my door. orange soup stains.

i simply cannot get enough heinz tomato soup in and more often than not around my mouth. yes, it is a frighteningly unnatural colour for food, yes a whole can in one go does make me feel slightly nauseous (i have MAJOR beef with whoever designed the standard can size. this issue also involves my current love of baked beans.) and yes, im aware its sickly smell permeates through the whole of my house much to my flatmates disgust (not so much soup fans). but it is my one and only, tried and tested hangover cure. perhaps not so much cure, but the only thing i can and want to stomach after one my own special brand of gut wrenching, head-in-vice type hangovers where i truly feel sometimes the world is torturing me and it is enjoying doing so. i get horrendous hangovers. the actual worst. heniz tomato soup is my one saviour, and for that, i thank them.
but it is quite apparent thats it's my dirty mess that is left to congeal on the coffee table, a sign to each of my housemates that i am 1. suffering profusely and 2.will no doubt complain about it to them in a bid to aquire pity for my own disgustingly self inflicted situation. and that washing up, is frankly as likely as me sticking to the vow of 'only going out for quiet drinks'. the forever present silver lining i find in these situations is that i know just how much i will enjoy my creamy liquid dinner.

Currently Listening to: Foals - This Orient. I think i have just listened to this song for the 10th time in a row. a more mature sound than Antidotes, and progressive in it's sense of arrangement. i like. 'it's your heart that gives you, this western feeling'.

Currently Dreading: the return of monday morning. filing and losing an hours sleep.

carriages, almost claridge's

to celebrate the 53rd year of my dear father's birthday we tried something new. venturing out to knasborough restaurant Carriages brought for me a variety of culinary surprises, on with differing appeals it has to be said. Dressed with washer woman hair, in my favourite thrown-on-if-ever-lost-for-what-to-wear-top after a hard days graft i was more than ready for a meal out which didn't mean scraping the linings of my pockets at the end of the night and considering the prices instead of the food.
for starter, i chose the mouthwatering combination of lambchops coated in cajun flavouring with a delicious mint and cumin yoghurt dressing. as tzatziz is my current favourite thing ever this dish had its obvious appeal, and i was so pleased it in no way disappointed. 2 juicy lamb chops in my belly and i was a happy chappy.
enticed into my main course by the rare opportunity for duck, i took the dressing of kumquats and redcurrents in my stride. i learnt however, there was only so much of this sickly combination ones stridge can wade through. although lovely, i think i got more than my fare share of my kumquat five a day. five a month would be enough for me.
passing on pudding after snacking on a decadent chocolate cake after work whilst watching glee (actually mine and my dads favourite activity between the hours of 5-6 - he just loved the neil diamond cover) i chose a sample of the cheese board. 2 massive errors occured in this decision. one being a very very dodgy scottish cheese which tasted of vineger, and a mustard cheese which, strangely tasted of mustard. definatelylearnt i still hate mustard.
but overall,it was a delightful meal, in a cosy setting of wooden beams and warm red rustic walls. apparently also, when going out with the parents who should fit into that bracket of middle class middle aged alcoholic it was i instead who drank 3/4 of the wine. they are doing nothing to surpress the image they have of me.

pockets full of paperclips

when often considering fashion, i rarely like to think of its practical side. this i have come to realise, is a mistake in my current situation. today, i wore a pleasant mix of countryside folk chic, with brown workman boots, a twee plaid navy check skirt and simple black v neck jumper. an unremarkable outfit. the issue however lied in the mere fact of the lack of pockets i possessed. and no pockets meant no where to keep things (paper clips, irritating scraps of sticky paper, my mind because i obviously wasn't using it to do filing), funny that. a second unpractical fact is the existence of the clothes themselves when i was having to work somewhere hotter than the sun. really, even a thin jumper is unbearable at times. tights become a friend of the devil, creating a clammy second skin to encase my aching calves. the idea of scrubs has never been so appealing.

this got me thinking, that when it comes to fashion, if it's are only wanted for there practical necessity, does this mean they simply become clothes again? i see people wearing there hideous nhs regulation shoes, and wonder if that can really be consituted fashion, when in reality it is merely moulded plastic. i would love to say i never consider the practicality of the clothes i buy, but this would simply be a lie. i am forced into this against my will, well perhaps on the will of my bank manager and who ever it is who controls my overdraft limit. In topshop recently i was confronted by a very attractive cream silk (or imitation silk knowning topshop) smock shirt with a bow neck. attractive to say the least. for circa 50 pounds i had however to assess the situation.

1. where would i wear something that was cream.

2. what is the likelyhood of me spilling something on said cream top.

3. when something is more than 50% see-thru where is it socially acceptable to wear it?

the above 3 criteria instantaneously made my possible purchase void. i may be somewhat idiotic at times, but i am aware i am enough of a klutz to ruin that top within an hour of wearing it, and probably expose myself while doing so. this would consitute a social fail.

it would seem i should in the future, the only length my practical conceptions of fashion will reach is to take into account my desperate need for pockets. and my need to stay within my overdraft limit. in my head both as important as each other.



Currently eating: anything with gravy, i am currently under the influences of cravings for home comfort food.



Currently doing: working, eating, sleeping. repeat.

White Blank Page

a first.

on returning home, experiencing an existential crisis and deleting my facebook i have decided to take up this form of 21st century diary.Since most of the musing in my heads revolve around the two f's, i cannot think of a better thing to write about. both sumptuous, essential and BEAUTIFUL.

I started my full time job again, to pay for my taste for the finer things in life. In my head, i would dress something like Maggie Gyllenhaal in this:

Alas, as ever in my life reality does little to correspond to fantasy. A pencil skirt more tired than I am by the end of a day moving items out of alphabetical order into numerical does not flatter so well as it did when purchased 4 years ago. No enticing voluptuous curves, and heels would frankly kill me. must.try.harder. preppy chic tomorrow in the form of a high waisted belted soft grey silk skirt.

Food, on the other hand has seen a major turn up for the books as of late, and i won't lie to you, i feel that may have something to do with the lack of involvement i have had in cooking it. returning home to a somewhat dry chicken meal did lower my expectations, however the arrival of a meat pie on my table after a hard days work almost made me regress back to some earlier form of womanhood and feel it should have been my place in the kitchen making such delights. o father, how i admire your ability to make pastry that crispy yet not dry,melt in my mouth succulent meat and lashing of gravy. AND then a banoffe pie (with strawberries!). incredible. just a shame i'm on a diet. although that didn't stop me fridge raiding in my insomnia induced hunger. apparently after 3 months of not sleeping till 2, my body doesn't agree with school night bed times.

Currently Listening to: Zane Lowe (getting back into the radio this holiday)/I Speak because I can - Laura Marling (more on this later)

Currently reading: The Road - Cormac Mccarthy (my life, how i love.)/Reading in the Dark - Seamus Deane