Thursday, October 25, 2007

I've been to a conference for work

...and I have just one thing to say:

'Evidence' is NOT a verb.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Gaaargh! Annoying knitting!

I've made some stupid mistakes and I'm very annoyed with myself.

Stupid mistake number 1: I cast on too few stitches for the front of my Notre Dame de Grace jumper. I only noticed my mistake when I held the front up against the back to check I was starting the armholes in the right place. Grrr.

Stupid mistake number two: I made my Clapotis too wide and have run out of yarn before the end. I'll have to frog it completely and make it narrower because there is no more of the yarn. Grrr again.

And what's more, I think I've got a knitting-related pain in my upper arm. So I cast on a very simple sock to make me feel better. So far it seems to be working.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Some messages for my fellow commuters

1. To the man sitting opposite me on the train: your subconscious mating ritual is wasted on me. I’m already married, so I don’t need to know that your bollocks are so big you can’t sit with your legs any closer together than 130 degrees. Put ‘em away, there’s a good boy.

2. To the person sitting next to me: yes, I’m knitting. Get over it. And if you wanted to have the armrest, you should’ve got on at the first stop, like I did.

3. To the people who are surprised to find there’s a ticket barrier: it was there yesterday, and it’ll be there tomorrow. Here’s a tip for dealing with it: have your ticket ready to stick in the slot, or your Oyster card ready to swipe. That’ll save you having to stand in front of the barrier rummaging in your gigantic bag for your ticket whilst other commuters tut at you.

4. To the people wearing Bluetooth headsets: you think you look like something out of Star Trek. You don’t. You look like a cock. Furthermore, speaking out loud to an invisible companion should be reserved for people who can’t help it.

5. To pedestrians: get a fucking move on crossing the road, OK? Especially if you’re walking in front of me. I don’t want to get squashed by a bendy bus because you were too slow to get across before the lights changed.

6. To people pushing kids in pushchairs during the rush hour: why? Just why?

Oh, and finally, to Southern Railway: it’s October. We don’t need the air-con set to ‘march of the fucking penguins’.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

The Safetyfox veggie curry recipe

The Fresh Princess came round for dinner last night (without Jazzy Jaff -- she's in Australia). I made veggie curry. She really enjoyed it so I typed up my recipe. Here it is, for everyone else to enjoy as well.

1 medium onion chopped small
2 large cloves of garlic
about 2 tablespoons of mild curry powder (I used Sainsbury's Goan Blend)
2 carrots diced small
a slosh of passata (you could use a small tin of chopped toms)
4 small spuds cut into bite-sized pieces
1 large sweet potato
veg stock (or hot water and a cube)
a large handful of fresh spinach, shredded
a few spare broccoli and cauliflower florets I had lying around
1 small carton of coconut cream

First of all I heated up some vegetable oil (not much) in a large saucepan. I sweated the onions with the lid on til they were soft and transparent. Then I added the garlic and the curry powder, gave them a good stir and cooked them gently for another minute or two. Then I added the carrots and enough passata to cover everything. I put the lid back on and cooked it on a low heat til the carrots were soft, which took about 20mins. Then I used the hand blender to whizz it to a puree. You can skip that stage if you like, but if you do, you won't need as much stock.

Next I added the spuds and sweet spuds and enough hot veg stock to cover everything. I gave it a good stir and cooked it on a low heat without too much stirring til the spuds were cooked through (another 20-25 mins). Then I added the remaining veg and gave it another 10 mins, but that was probably a bit too long because they seemed to have dissolved.

Finally I added the coconut cream. You only need to let it warm though -- don't let it boil or it can separate. Five mins should be plenty.

You can use any veg you have for this (peas, beans, chickpeas, sweetcorn, squash, cabbage, mushrooms etc) but some veg e.g courgettes just don't work in a curry.

Check the seasoning and serve with rice and/or naan. Yummers.