April 23, 2010
wordpress
My blogs mainly at WordPress now...please come and see me there. Not to diss blogger, but wordpress tells you your traffic and there seems to be more of it, so I feel less lonely over there.
Happy Sant Jordi Day
Happy St George's Day- Ah yes, the day of the dragon, slaying, armour and flags. Sadly no longer a feast and national patriotic holiday. There was a brief resurgence of encouraging fellow Britons to try to embrace St George's Day. It didn't seem to work.
St George isn't just England's patron saint but also that of Germany, parts of Spain, Portugal, Russia. The list continues. I think the Catalans have got it right making it a modern-day Valentine's Day. On La Diada de Sant Jordi, traditionally the men give a rose to a woman and the women give a book to a man. A rose for Love and a book forever. Bookstalls are set up around the catalan cities in honour of the great Sant Jordi. These days books are the traditional fare, exchanges between lovers, admirers, and friends. And there's cake.
Slightly less romantically, UNESCO have taken it upon itself to make the 23rd April World book and Copyright Day. Even less romantic, unless you're into gothic romance, is Bram Stoker's Dracula predicting that evil things would occur on St George's Day.
Well, Happy Friday.
St George isn't just England's patron saint but also that of Germany, parts of Spain, Portugal, Russia. The list continues. I think the Catalans have got it right making it a modern-day Valentine's Day. On La Diada de Sant Jordi, traditionally the men give a rose to a woman and the women give a book to a man. A rose for Love and a book forever. Bookstalls are set up around the catalan cities in honour of the great Sant Jordi. These days books are the traditional fare, exchanges between lovers, admirers, and friends. And there's cake.
- St George's Day...Catalan Style
Well, Happy Friday.
April 21, 2010
The Delicious Miss Dahl on Escapism
It'd be rude not to review this episode of the Delicious Miss Dahl. Initial, one week, scepticism on the series was promptly washed away by episode two. Now we're over half way so may as well see it to the end. This week's escapism theme may seem a little bit ironic as it coincides so neatly with the abrupt standstill of all airline traffic. But what I find so many of the Delicious Miss Dahl episodes about are dreamscapes and ignoring real life for thirty minutes. The food this week is pushing me to the brink of having to buy the book. I can see myself having far too many cookery books which I mainly look at the pictures in so hopefully I will be fairly rational as to whether or not it would be a good buy.
Sophie Dahl is good egg. I think the food comes from good meaning and she can't help having travelled the world. Probably a few times over. Fortunate enough to be able to try and fail/quit/nonchalantly-move-on from many a glamorous endeavour like acting, modelling, writing etc. I've said it before, and probably will say it again, I like the kitchen of the delicious miss Dahl. It's kitchen aid and le creuset, sure, gastro porn enough, but it's also trinckets and treasures like retro floral stove-top espresso makers and tin bowls. Ebay here I come.
Yes, I realise it's probably a studio or not really hers, but like I say little details and reality don't fathom much with the delicious miss Dahl.
The music in the Delicious Miss Dahl on Escapism was true to form. Very apt. This week took on something of an ethereal theme in keeping with escapism, and mainly featured airy female singer-songwriter. I think this week wasn't as good as the past, and she missed a trick a bit but I still enjoyed it.
My favourite choice was Far Away by Ingrid Michaelson, perfectly summarising East Coast america as I'd imagine it. Yes a little bit Dawson's Creek, but guilty pleasures are surely what escapism is for. Escapism for me is as much the dreaming as the actual doing.
"I will live my life as a lobsterman's wife on an island in the blue bay.
He will take care of me, he will smell like the sea,
And close to my heart he'll always stay.
Far away far away, I want to go far away.
To a new life on a new shore line.
Where the water is blue and the people are new.
To another island, in another life."
Sophie Dahl talked about Martha's Vineyard, quite probably the most bizarre place-name, but somehow it's a part of the world I'd like to go to along with Cape Cod, ever since my Grandma went and brought back pictures of auburn topped trees and rows upon rows of pumpkins.
Sophie cooked up some awesome looking New England-style clam chowder with crunchy thyme breadcrumbs.
Other music featured included Goldfrapp's Little Bird and Aimee Mann's Great Beyond:
"Go, honey go -
Into the ocean
Go, honey go -
Into the great beyond
Til you're good and gone
And you can hide away for
When everything goes wrong
Honey - go"
Aimee Mann, Great Beyond.
Obviously the featured poem excerpt could not be without a mention, Leisure by William Henry Davies. It's a beautiful poem which just takes you away for few blissful moments.
"What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this is if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare."
Leisure, William Henry Davies
Accompanying this audio indulgence is a sensory assault. The Mexican breakfast is fairly safe but looks great. I in fact am going to buy some tortillas right after this. I'm not sure what the mexican's would make of putting Tofu in your quesadillas. Not a lot I should think.
With black beans, an arsenal of spices and roasted pepper alongside a good smultz of guacamole it's pretty damned hot. She also made a veritable panacea for cold drizzly day with spiced hot chocolate and extolled the virtues of chocolate not difficult but also the Mexican's unabashed use of chocolate in savoury meals in a dark and mysterious manner.
I'll skip over the Greek calamari and Chicory Salad to the Indian Supper of Dahl's Dhal. She was obviously born to make this. Or so named. Anyhoo, the rice was the star attraction for me, delicately fragranced with star anise, cinnamon, saffron and cardamom and cooked together with a good knob of butter. Butter and rice is actually a great thing as a Slovakian flat mate once taught me. I don't agree that rice should not be gloopy, sticky or lumpy. That is just how I like it. How Sophie Dahl cooks the lentils quite as eloquently as she does is beyond me, mine always look like congealed brown goo akin to Dickensian slops but maybe the recipe will hold the key. And you literally cannot go wrong with sweet potato charred wedges. Distraction enough for any congealed goo.
Ahhh, 'til next time.
Sophie Dahl is good egg. I think the food comes from good meaning and she can't help having travelled the world. Probably a few times over. Fortunate enough to be able to try and fail/quit/nonchalantly-move-on from many a glamorous endeavour like acting, modelling, writing etc. I've said it before, and probably will say it again, I like the kitchen of the delicious miss Dahl. It's kitchen aid and le creuset, sure, gastro porn enough, but it's also trinckets and treasures like retro floral stove-top espresso makers and tin bowls. Ebay here I come.
Yes, I realise it's probably a studio or not really hers, but like I say little details and reality don't fathom much with the delicious miss Dahl.
The music in the Delicious Miss Dahl on Escapism was true to form. Very apt. This week took on something of an ethereal theme in keeping with escapism, and mainly featured airy female singer-songwriter. I think this week wasn't as good as the past, and she missed a trick a bit but I still enjoyed it.
My favourite choice was Far Away by Ingrid Michaelson, perfectly summarising East Coast america as I'd imagine it. Yes a little bit Dawson's Creek, but guilty pleasures are surely what escapism is for. Escapism for me is as much the dreaming as the actual doing.
"I will live my life as a lobsterman's wife on an island in the blue bay.
He will take care of me, he will smell like the sea,
And close to my heart he'll always stay.
Far away far away, I want to go far away.
To a new life on a new shore line.
Where the water is blue and the people are new.
To another island, in another life."
Sophie Dahl talked about Martha's Vineyard, quite probably the most bizarre place-name, but somehow it's a part of the world I'd like to go to along with Cape Cod, ever since my Grandma went and brought back pictures of auburn topped trees and rows upon rows of pumpkins.
Sophie cooked up some awesome looking New England-style clam chowder with crunchy thyme breadcrumbs.
Other music featured included Goldfrapp's Little Bird and Aimee Mann's Great Beyond:
"Go, honey go -
Into the ocean
Go, honey go -
Into the great beyond
Til you're good and gone
And you can hide away for
When everything goes wrong
Honey - go"
Aimee Mann, Great Beyond.
Obviously the featured poem excerpt could not be without a mention, Leisure by William Henry Davies. It's a beautiful poem which just takes you away for few blissful moments.
"What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this is if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare."
Leisure, William Henry Davies
Accompanying this audio indulgence is a sensory assault. The Mexican breakfast is fairly safe but looks great. I in fact am going to buy some tortillas right after this. I'm not sure what the mexican's would make of putting Tofu in your quesadillas. Not a lot I should think.
April 16, 2010
Jamie does Marrakesh
Yes, wouldn't it be nice if you were draped in dappled sunlight. I strongly hope that little peep at the great british summer time at the weekend was not it for this year. Although arguably it would already be a step up from last year's limp attempt. Nonetheless, I'll swim in the waters of ignorant bliss and dream about a joyous ice-lolly-requiring long summer. If I had a job that paid me a proper wage I'd buy the above. Oh yes. Unadulterated primary colours a go-go. Totally scrummy I think. By the way People Tree is a new-ish label offering fairly traded ethical clothing. The best type of clothing. Find stuff here.....
So I have a lot of time on my hands at the moment, ergo I'm watching a lot of TV cooking programmes. I try to keep it high-brow and stay away from Saturday Kitchen. Foodie snobbery is just the best. The highest form of intelligence and acceptable tv viewing. Anyway, I saw Jaime does... This week Jamie does Marrakesh. Let's get a few things straight, (i) I don't like Jamie Oliver that much (ii)....actually that's sufficient. He's a little too brash for me and annoying. But I admit his food is pretty good. I have to say the food in Jamie does Marrakech was really good-looking. In particular the Mechoui lamb with carrot and orange salad recipe I'm thinking carrot and orange salad is a massive yes. I'm glad something new was offered to us about Moroccan cuisine not just oodles and oodles of tagine and cous cous. Cous cous isn't even normally eaten with tagine.
- Armorica Tagine
The tagine Jamie made looked like a damned good tagine, all too often I find they're too rich or too watery. What's more the dishes were really accessible in the english kitchen as well as in a Riad in the spiralling alleys of Marrakech. The tangier looked like a really good idea. I'm not sure what to make of Jamie Oliver's style. Part of me thinks it's far too in your face and quite insulting to the people he was meeting. At the same time, maybe it's time I lightened up a bit, he was trying to engage with the people and be himself and in a way it seemed to work. He wouldn't perhaps have shown us the things he did, like the pastry making and home-food, without being a little bit upfront. I think of Morocco as somewhere especially as a girl would be quite harassing, but Jamie seems to play them at their own game. They probably did wonder who the hell he was. He seemed to have gone back to his roots on the scooter. It's a funny juxtaposition to see it in the winding streets of morocco rather than Essex though.
As always, seeing the souks, medinas and mosques of Morocco inspired me to go there. Along with the hubbub and glittering lights I think it must make a great experience. I'd like to go to Fez to see the Tanners, the music and the dancing.
I think next week's Jamie does Andalusia will be well worth a watch too.
April 14, 2010
The Delicious Miss Dahl on Melancholy
Yesterday was a really rather nostalgic day. I realised that only when I watched Sophie Dahl describe it on the Delicious Miss Dahl on nostalgia and nostalgic food. 'A longing...You don't need to be 1000 miles away from home to be nostalgic'. What she maybe forgot is that it doesn't have to be home you miss, just a state of mind. Sadly, that's where my affinity for the episode ended. I for one, am not a fan of 80's pop-music, so it didn't really appeal to me. I did enjoy a relistening of Golden Brown by the Stranglers. Who doesn't? It was a good chance for Sophie Dahl to embrace all things british such as, 'hurrah', on making a victoria sponge cake for a homecoming, 'what more to remind them of home and england'.
Episode 4 of the Delicious Miss Dahl was on Melancholy. Something I think Sophie Dahl was born to make. Not in a bad way. It was wonderfully over-indulgent and captured the self-deprecating and lackadaisical nature we find ourselves in at times of all-consuming melancholy. Dahl describes it as 'Somewhere between the cross-roads of sadness and suffering. ..But also a slightly ridiculous, old-fashioned affliction.' She knows it. That's for sure. There's no pull-youself-togetherness.
What I liked about the Nostalgia episode was that as well as some good music I can pretentiously do a slow nod of my head to in a well-done-you-know-good-music to, I also heard some new music I liked. I really liked Melody Gardot's Who Will Comfort Me which has a parisienne lilt to it, surely the city of wallowing and self-pitying indulgence. I have heard of Melody Gardot before and her story, she had a near-fatal car accident at 19, using music as her therapy she was reborn and produced some insightful music. But it's nice to hear it in an apt setting, i.e. the delicious miss dahl on melancholy, to appreciate it. Old school favorites included Jose Gonzalez's Heartbeats I will never tire of this track, KT Tunstall Under The Weather, Adele's Right as Rain.
Maybe new to you was the Go! Team's Feel Good By Numbers. If you're melancholic and ready not to be, The Go! Team are so uplifting and woo-hoo. I so strongly recommend their first album. Listen at volume. With a smile on your face and dance in your step. The Delicious Miss Dahl also played I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl, by Bessie Smith I think, here played by Nina Simone. And woah. What a cool version. Inform me of the artist in the show if you know. I'd like to know.
"I want a little sugar in my bowl
I want a little sweetness down in my soul"
There was a lovely lovely excerpt from English Writer Sydney Smith to Lady Morpeth. Nearly 200 years old it may be but sadly it is still relevent to today as melancholy lives in. Maybe not 'sadly' actually, as I think many of us actually quite enjoy a bit of melancholy from time to time.
"Dear Georgiana,
Nobody has suffered more from low spirits than I have
so I feel for you. Here are my prescriptions.
1st. Live as well as you dare.
2nd. Go into the shower-bath with a small quantity of water at a temperature low enough to give you a slight sensation of cold, 75 or 80 degrees.
3rd. Amusing books.
4th. Short views of human life—not further than dinner or tea.
5th. Be as busy as you can.
6th. See as much as you can of those friends who respect and like you.
7th. And of those acquaintances who amuse you.
8th. Make no secret of low spirits to your friends, but talk of them freely—they are always worse for dignified concealment.
9th. Attend to the effects tea and coffee produce upon you.
10th. Compare your lot with that of other people.
11th. Don’t expect too much from human life—a sorry business at the best.
12th. Avoid poetry, dramatic representations (except comedy), music, serious novels, melancholy, sentimental people, and everything likely to excite feeling or emotion, not ending in active benevolence.
13th. Do good, and endeavour to please everybody of every degree.
14th Be as much as you can in the open air without fatigue.
15th. Make the room where you commonly sit gay and pleasant.
16th. Struggle by little and little against idleness.
17th. Don’t be too severe upon yourself, or underrate yourself, but do yourself justice.
18th. Keep good blazing fires.
19th. Be firm and constant in the exercise of rational religion.
20th. Believe me, dear Lady Georgiana."
How truly yummy. Mantra for the days. Absolutely.
As Dahl said though, it's missing food. Damn straight. As she said, 'It's difficult for the smell of hot red wine and onions not to cheer you up'. Her recipe for Bubble and squeak cakes with a fried egg and red onion gravy. Yes. Please.Including a 'blue egg for a blue day'. That made me smile.
And anything with orange chocolate in it shows she has deep understanding of sadness and wrap-me-in-tenderness food. I think she had it right in the set to from open fires to her comforting baggy shirt. She sums it up with 'In a state of melancholy all you notice is the sludge in the river, children falling over in the snow, the unfairness of it all'. She also managed to hail star anise, my new favorite spice too, compared mushrooms to little old men in berets, think that prawns could be like roughians in cashmere cardies and decidedly cheery and muse about calling up Eeyore and inviting him for tea.
Sophie Dahl you washed away my last cloud of melancholy. Ahhh, foodie crush heaven.
I leave you with this quote from Dorothy Parker, american writer and poet,
“Razors pain you; rivers are damp; acids stain you; and drugs cause cramp. Guns aren't lawful; nooses give; gas smells awful; you might as well live."
Episode 4 of the Delicious Miss Dahl was on Melancholy. Something I think Sophie Dahl was born to make. Not in a bad way. It was wonderfully over-indulgent and captured the self-deprecating and lackadaisical nature we find ourselves in at times of all-consuming melancholy. Dahl describes it as 'Somewhere between the cross-roads of sadness and suffering. ..But also a slightly ridiculous, old-fashioned affliction.' She knows it. That's for sure. There's no pull-youself-togetherness.
What I liked about the Nostalgia episode was that as well as some good music I can pretentiously do a slow nod of my head to in a well-done-you-know-good-music to, I also heard some new music I liked. I really liked Melody Gardot's Who Will Comfort Me which has a parisienne lilt to it, surely the city of wallowing and self-pitying indulgence. I have heard of Melody Gardot before and her story, she had a near-fatal car accident at 19, using music as her therapy she was reborn and produced some insightful music. But it's nice to hear it in an apt setting, i.e. the delicious miss dahl on melancholy, to appreciate it. Old school favorites included Jose Gonzalez's Heartbeats I will never tire of this track, KT Tunstall Under The Weather, Adele's Right as Rain.
Maybe new to you was the Go! Team's Feel Good By Numbers. If you're melancholic and ready not to be, The Go! Team are so uplifting and woo-hoo. I so strongly recommend their first album. Listen at volume. With a smile on your face and dance in your step. The Delicious Miss Dahl also played I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl, by Bessie Smith I think, here played by Nina Simone. And woah. What a cool version. Inform me of the artist in the show if you know. I'd like to know.
"I want a little sugar in my bowl
I want a little sweetness down in my soul"
There was a lovely lovely excerpt from English Writer Sydney Smith to Lady Morpeth. Nearly 200 years old it may be but sadly it is still relevent to today as melancholy lives in. Maybe not 'sadly' actually, as I think many of us actually quite enjoy a bit of melancholy from time to time.
"Dear Georgiana,
Nobody has suffered more from low spirits than I have
so I feel for you. Here are my prescriptions.1st. Live as well as you dare.
2nd. Go into the shower-bath with a small quantity of water at a temperature low enough to give you a slight sensation of cold, 75 or 80 degrees.
3rd. Amusing books.
4th. Short views of human life—not further than dinner or tea.
5th. Be as busy as you can.
6th. See as much as you can of those friends who respect and like you.
7th. And of those acquaintances who amuse you.
8th. Make no secret of low spirits to your friends, but talk of them freely—they are always worse for dignified concealment.
9th. Attend to the effects tea and coffee produce upon you.
10th. Compare your lot with that of other people.
11th. Don’t expect too much from human life—a sorry business at the best.
12th. Avoid poetry, dramatic representations (except comedy), music, serious novels, melancholy, sentimental people, and everything likely to excite feeling or emotion, not ending in active benevolence.
13th. Do good, and endeavour to please everybody of every degree.
14th Be as much as you can in the open air without fatigue.
15th. Make the room where you commonly sit gay and pleasant.
16th. Struggle by little and little against idleness.
17th. Don’t be too severe upon yourself, or underrate yourself, but do yourself justice.
18th. Keep good blazing fires.
19th. Be firm and constant in the exercise of rational religion.
20th. Believe me, dear Lady Georgiana."
How truly yummy. Mantra for the days. Absolutely.
As Dahl said though, it's missing food. Damn straight. As she said, 'It's difficult for the smell of hot red wine and onions not to cheer you up'. Her recipe for Bubble and squeak cakes with a fried egg and red onion gravy. Yes. Please.Including a 'blue egg for a blue day'. That made me smile.
And anything with orange chocolate in it shows she has deep understanding of sadness and wrap-me-in-tenderness food. I think she had it right in the set to from open fires to her comforting baggy shirt. She sums it up with 'In a state of melancholy all you notice is the sludge in the river, children falling over in the snow, the unfairness of it all'. She also managed to hail star anise, my new favorite spice too, compared mushrooms to little old men in berets, think that prawns could be like roughians in cashmere cardies and decidedly cheery and muse about calling up Eeyore and inviting him for tea.
Sophie Dahl you washed away my last cloud of melancholy. Ahhh, foodie crush heaven.
I leave you with this quote from Dorothy Parker, american writer and poet,
“Razors pain you; rivers are damp; acids stain you; and drugs cause cramp. Guns aren't lawful; nooses give; gas smells awful; you might as well live."
April 07, 2010
Nancy Mitford: I salute you
I'm still musing over the Nancy Mitford quote in The Delicious Miss Dahl episode on Romance. A glorious week later.
"Twice in her life she had mistaken something else for it; it was like seeing somebody in the street who you think is a friend, you whistle and wave and run after him, and it is not only not the friend, but not even very like him. A few minutes later the real friend appears in view, and then you can't imagine how you ever mistook that other person for him. Linda was now looking upon the authentic face of love, and she knew it, but it frightened her. That it should come so casually, so much by a series of accidents, was frightening." ~ Nancy Mitford, The Pursuit of Love
How perfectly sumptuous. And bob on. Hot dang, as our american cousins might say, I love it when you hear something so simply wonderful like that.
If you like that, you'll love this.....
"Always either on a peak of happiness or drowning in black waters of despair they loved or they loathed, they lived in a world of superlatives" ~ Nancy Mitford, The Pursuit of Love
"Life itself, she thought, as she went upstairs to dress for dinner, was stranger than dreams and far, far more disordered." ~Nancy Mitford, Christmas Pudding
"I love children, especially when they cry, for then someone takes them away."
Nancy Mitford was one of the famous Mitford clan of sisters. Nancy was one of 6 Mitford sisters. She lived in 'sin' in Paris writing comic novels set in upper-class society seeking meaning from love and life and coming to the general conclusion of, "To fall in love you have to be in the state of mind for it to take, like a disease." Recently a number of biographical books have been released exploring their infamous legacy, including Decca: The letters of Jessica Mitford. about the Fifth Mitford sister, and often thought of as the rebel of the pack. And The Mitfords: Letters between sisters what comes out is not just their privilege and luxurious upbringing but their intelligence in life, politics and feminism.
I think Sophie Dahl bringing together Nancy Mitford and Wendy Cope is a wonderful complementation, and these excerpts must tell us a bit about Sophie Dahl's personality, she's not a little-house-wife-coy-lady-in-the-kitchen as many reviews would have us believe. (p.s. Sophie's dress in The Delicious Miss Dahl, Romance?)
When Nancy Mitford said, "If I had a girl I should say to her, 'Marry for love if you can, it won't last, but it is a very interesting experience and makes a good beginning in life. Later on, when you marry for money, for heaven's sake let it be big money. There are no other possible reasons for marrying at all.'"
I think Wendy Cope's reply is, the poem Two cures for love
1 Don’t see him. Don’t phone or write a letter.
2 The easy way: get to know him better
More Wendy Cope? OK, how delicious, 2 poems before breakfast.
At lunchtime I bought a huge orange —
The size of it made us all laugh.
I peeled and shared it with Robert and Dave —
They got quarters and I had a half.
And that orange, it made me so happy,
As ordinary things often do
Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park.
This is peace and contentment. It’s new.
The rest of the day was quite easy.
I did all the jobs on my list
And enjoyed them and had some time over.
I love you. I’m glad I exist.
~ The Orange, Wendy Cope
- nancy mitford
How perfectly sumptuous. And bob on. Hot dang, as our american cousins might say, I love it when you hear something so simply wonderful like that.
If you like that, you'll love this.....
"Always either on a peak of happiness or drowning in black waters of despair they loved or they loathed, they lived in a world of superlatives" ~ Nancy Mitford, The Pursuit of Love
"Life itself, she thought, as she went upstairs to dress for dinner, was stranger than dreams and far, far more disordered." ~Nancy Mitford, Christmas Pudding
"I love children, especially when they cry, for then someone takes them away."
Nancy Mitford was one of the famous Mitford clan of sisters. Nancy was one of 6 Mitford sisters. She lived in 'sin' in Paris writing comic novels set in upper-class society seeking meaning from love and life and coming to the general conclusion of, "To fall in love you have to be in the state of mind for it to take, like a disease." Recently a number of biographical books have been released exploring their infamous legacy, including Decca: The letters of Jessica Mitford. about the Fifth Mitford sister, and often thought of as the rebel of the pack. And The Mitfords: Letters between sisters what comes out is not just their privilege and luxurious upbringing but their intelligence in life, politics and feminism.
I think Sophie Dahl bringing together Nancy Mitford and Wendy Cope is a wonderful complementation, and these excerpts must tell us a bit about Sophie Dahl's personality, she's not a little-house-wife-coy-lady-in-the-kitchen as many reviews would have us believe. (p.s. Sophie's dress in The Delicious Miss Dahl, Romance?)
When Nancy Mitford said, "If I had a girl I should say to her, 'Marry for love if you can, it won't last, but it is a very interesting experience and makes a good beginning in life. Later on, when you marry for money, for heaven's sake let it be big money. There are no other possible reasons for marrying at all.'"
I think Wendy Cope's reply is, the poem Two cures for love
1 Don’t see him. Don’t phone or write a letter.
2 The easy way: get to know him better
More Wendy Cope? OK, how delicious, 2 poems before breakfast.
At lunchtime I bought a huge orange —
The size of it made us all laugh.
I peeled and shared it with Robert and Dave —
They got quarters and I had a half.
And that orange, it made me so happy,
As ordinary things often do
Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park.
This is peace and contentment. It’s new.
The rest of the day was quite easy.
I did all the jobs on my list
And enjoyed them and had some time over.
I love you. I’m glad I exist.
~ The Orange, Wendy Cope
April 01, 2010
Easter Treat for your Ears: Sia Album Preview
First impressions are that it's more experimental and electronic that Some People have Real Problems. But I think ol' school fans will also be pleased. I'm really enjoying I'm In Here.
Easter is definitely in the air, and good vibes good times are to be had and shared by all. Hoorah. So far I like the tracks, but it took me a while to find nuances in Some people have real problems, so I think I will probably grow to love this album too. And trying to live up to tracks like, Lentil and Breathe Me, will always me a mammoth task. Sia, I know you can do it. If you love Sia she's also playing Camden's the Roundhouse in May as part of her The We Meaning You tour. It's a tip-top venue, and I hope you are luckier than I am, and have tickets.
The Delicious Miss Dahl on Romance
I'm a fair and rational person. And I cannot ignore The Delicious Miss Dahl, I.II. I think it only fair to review episode two of the Delicious Miss Dahl series to give you good foodie friends a further insight and hopefully a gentle push in the direction of iPlayer. Romance was the theme of this week's programme and that, granted, is unlikely to fail with me. From the outset, one knows this will do all the right things and lull us into that false sense of idealised romanticism, however in love and romance I am certainly not a fair and rational person, and I always succumb.
I liked Sophie Dahl in this episode of the Delicious Miss Dahl. From it I'd say she's definitely had her fair share of heart ache and is therefore educated sufficiently in the subject matter to woo us with her food. I have to say Buckwheat Blinis are on now firmly my cookery-based to-do list. I liked her twists in the classic Shepard's pie, and cooking scallops. In their shells. On the barbecue. Oh come on, it oozes over-the-top-excesses of romantic liason. Being a bit overly curious, I did wonder when and where she filmed this episode, because I certainly missed the barbecue-summer that warranted outdoor cooking in a halterneck dress.
Again the programme reawakened my hibernating music muses including Sia's I go to sleep and Regina Spektor's Eet. And she included a poem by Wendy Cope, After the Lunch, which I heart muchly, and an excerpt from the Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford. I also newly discovered, He Loved Three Things by Anna Akhmatova.
On Waterloo Bridge, where we said our goodbyes,
the weather conditions bring tears to my eyes.
I wipe them away with a black woolly glove
And try not to notice I've fallen in love."
~ Wendy Cope, After the Lunch
What I liked about this programme was that it wasn't too obvious. It didn't go down the gushy pulp road. Graveyards and old bookshops was a refreshingly new look at love. And she almost hit that, 'I thought only I thought that' button. I think, in a way, this style is quite 'cool' these days. But when you're throwing rationality and fairness out of the window, I'll let the Delicious Miss Dahl off.
Food as an expression of decadent love. I wholeheartedly concur.
- my ode to love
Again the programme reawakened my hibernating music muses including Sia's I go to sleep and Regina Spektor's Eet. And she included a poem by Wendy Cope, After the Lunch, which I heart muchly, and an excerpt from the Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford. I also newly discovered, He Loved Three Things by Anna Akhmatova.
On Waterloo Bridge, where we said our goodbyes,
the weather conditions bring tears to my eyes.
I wipe them away with a black woolly glove
And try not to notice I've fallen in love."
~ Wendy Cope, After the Lunch
What I liked about this programme was that it wasn't too obvious. It didn't go down the gushy pulp road. Graveyards and old bookshops was a refreshingly new look at love. And she almost hit that, 'I thought only I thought that' button. I think, in a way, this style is quite 'cool' these days. But when you're throwing rationality and fairness out of the window, I'll let the Delicious Miss Dahl off.
Food as an expression of decadent love. I wholeheartedly concur.
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