Monday 31 October 2011

What do you mean, that's NOT Gillian Anderson?

OOOOOOOoooooooOOOOOooooh! It's Halloween.

This year has been quite fun really, we made fooooood :) We also had people round to help us eat it as well though. This was nice :)

For Saturday night's tea, we nommed on Pulled lamb which had been roasted with camomile tea leaves, rosemary, honey and other ...stuff, herbs and such. Roast purple carrots, beetroot, sweet potato, parsnips...red onion and baby corn...there may have been other veg...There was also potatoes, which were fried with lemon and...other things, I didn't make the food, I was working... Martha (JAF) Stewart controlled the kitchen wonderfully, and did, pure dead brullyantly.

For pudding, Martha made a strudel, and I made iced gingerbread cupcakes, and a haloweeny rocky road type thing, Sho brought cinder toffee, it was all rather lovely tbh. Well done all, and thank you for eating the nom :)

While eating we watched Evil Dead, The Candyman (who apparently doesn't star Gillian Anderson...sure it doesn't...*sigh* Chris still had a quiet fapp in the corner though...WE ALSO watched Beetlejuice aaand people left, which led to Crai and I watching the end of Halloween and the (new (crap)) Friday 13th.

Woke to leftovers, big cup of tea and a bacon roll, woooo!

I have not been posting bento enough, and I have been making a few recently, I shall start with the latest and work back...
Riiiight, we have Iberico ham and choritzo carbonara with scrambled egg skull and crossbones. Raw purple carrots, baby tomato and carrot. Iced gingerbread cupcake.
A selection of smoked salmon and pepperoni sushis with general raw veggies. Dried bananas and nuts.

Mainly rice and tuna, pudding is dark chocolate and the same fruit and nut combo as the one above.

Egg noodles with sweet chilli and hoi sin sauce with caramelized pork. Edamame and a pumpkin shaped onigiri with carrot, spring onion and avocado.

That is it. So far :)

CIAO!

Tuesday 27 September 2011

...Sooometiiimes...

...When I look in your eyes, I can see your soul...

Well, today is the last day of the holiday, WOO...this time it's been great! I think that it helps if you like the work place you are going back to. It's just been a bit of fresh air really, good to have a proper break, and time spent with JAF. It's been swell, light, fluffy, sunny, warming, glowing. There have been days where the smell of the air has just made me smile, others when I've been weepy and tired, and cranky and full of childish frustration where I can't describe the fear and misunderstandings I am feeling. But. Today, though the last, is unburdened, happy, lighter and warm...a bit fuzzy...though there seems to be the signs of bemusement to be closely followed by slight irritation as there is someone patting me on the head, skritching my side, ruffling my hair, bringing me a banarnar right to my nose...(for my breakfast)...etc...

Oh, and I'm reading Ray Bradbury's 'Dandelion Wine'...which would account for all the verbs...

I'll post some other time, ciao xx


I also found this, it's an article about the Afgan Girl from Nat Geo, quite interesting as the photographer found her years after, to see what became of her, though no mention of giving her any of the royalties they have gained from her face and eyes was mentioned...

Friday 16 September 2011

Busy not Packing




I have been up tp a little crafting, firstly, it's crafting that I can stuff my face with, wooo, gingerbread cookies, with the dough left over from a birthday gift. They were iced with psychedelic colours, thanks to the gel colours I have, w
ooo!

I should have been tidyi
ng, and packing etc, but the dough needed to be used, you know...wouldn't want it to stink up the fridge...plus, I did some washing up before and after making them, so it kinda counted, riiiiight?!?

The photo makes it look like I live in the 1970s, there is somethign about that that I quite like, reminds me of a load of my mum's cookbooks, which ar
e brilliant, but the pictures look horrid, and there is that weird yellow tint to them...is that really the best that they could do back then? It's a wonder that anyone was into cooking at all back then, then...but yes, I like that they look pretty retro, ROFL!

Was paid today, this is actually a BAD thing, it means that I go out and I buy things...silly really...I shouldn't be allowed money...but, some of the things, I did need, like the dress that I'll never wear, the sandles that I'm wearing right now and the massively wide legged trousers...that I'm sure I'll wear at least once, stand on and trip up in! WOOO! I also went to John Lewis, also quite bad, though fun...
bought some more wool, pins & needles, felt and, and...and array of coloured threads...which change colour as you sew (jaw - to - floor stuf eh!). The important part is the felt though as, I made my first ever (since primary school) feltie!

YAY!

It's all this blogs fault! The kwoozy blog! Mainly for the effort and honesty...and generally because of the way she writes etc....
I made a zombie, he is called Marcus...for no reason other than he told me that's what his name was...can't do anything about it...

So there, now my toes are freezing and I don't know if I can be bothered packing, though, it is FREEZING in town, and RAINING, and tomorrow is about going where it is warm, SO, I should get on, but really...the effort!

Thursday 15 September 2011

Once Again

It has been an AGE since I last posted something here...tsk!

To be frank, I havn't even been that busy, and the new job is more suited to me, doesn't drain me, therefore, I really should have more up here...

sorry if this post doesn't flow, its just that I will be coming and going from it as I'm meant to be tidying as we're going away for a couple of days, and, it's always nicer to come back to a place that's like, PROPER clean...so, that's kinda what I'm up to.

I have a few paintings in finished mode, and one that I need to learn how to paint fleshy colours with...other than that it's done, need to frame something for a friend, that I said I'd give to her for her birthday LAST year...ooooops, yup, it's a bit of poor show...oh well... :s

...

...OK, It is FINALLY framed, just need to add loopy bits for string, and wrap it...and say another sorry, and she can have it, a year too late...better late than never though, isn't it?...Back to tidying I suppose!

...Pfffft! I've stopped cleaning...cba! Plus reading blogs is sooo much more fun! You also get in the habit of going from blog to blog and reading for hours, and ending up with about 15 different tabs in one window...and filling the taskbar up with YET MORE tiny web icons to go back to...

...Today it's mainly Japanese craft type blogs, and the general japanesey theme..MY GODS I wouldn't mind living there for a good while!

Bored of writing now...ciao xx


Sunday 14 August 2011

New Project

I have started a new project, while also (slowly) completing the quilt I had started a good 6 years ago now...

this new one will probs take me around the same length of time, as its made up of 589467495867945867 hexagons which I'll crochet together...uhm, it'll take me years...

xx

Tuesday 9 August 2011

NEW JOB!

I have started my new job, in fact, I had applied for a new job, and then they took me on!! YAY!

I just feel lucky to be there right now, and yes it has only been the first week, but OMG, I'm loving it there!

Uhm, in this role, I'm able to work with the group and I know that things I suggest will actually see the light, there are not so many rules, as it isn't a corporate setting...it's empowering for the villagers, and for the enablers, I'm thinking I'll like it here at Camphill!

Monday 27 June 2011

Kendal Mint Cake

Tonight, I have worked out that ALL, not just a couple, of my problems are stress related.

This is not just because of work, and all the things that comprise the whole of one of my days, but because of everything that has lead up to today, this second, and the next. I carry A LOT of weight on my shoulders, and have an elephantine memory for things that I can relate to other moments in my daily life, and for things out of the norm.

It is strange, I have just mentioned that I have an elephantine memory, yet, horrible things happening to me I don't remember so well...like being pushed down the stairs when leaving chemistry with everyone which is, as Sho pointed out, probably why I have a feeling of nervousness and general uneasiness about anyone following me up or down the stairs...this was a horrible feeling I had, but could not fathom the reason for it. It wasn't until I was reminded that I relived the horrifying embarrassment, I did, however, feel some form of relief...it was like, I'm weird about many things, but for the stairs thing, I have a reason, yay!

I also can't remember the pain of breaking my arm, though am constantly worried that my hand will fall off if I carry heavy things, unless it is trays of plates etc, then, it is my back that seizes and the pain of sneezing at the wrong moment is imminent. Yes, be careful how you sneeze my pretties!

YES, anyway! I am stressed...my back hurts, no, aches. I am THE most moody person in the whole world, I feel like crap aaaalll of the time, until I leave work... then I remember I have to go back to work...and turn into that there mental shebitch again...

I have worked out that I am proper stressed, and now I can work on making myself, less...stressed, and more...caaaaalllllllmmm...

SIMPLE!

Friday 17 June 2011

HOLIDAY

I have been on holiday and, should, have lots of updates and news...but, I don't, not really...

Have been bike riding, and being reminded of parts of my bum I never knew I had...darn saddle...

Have managed to do loads of like... money spending, but, as per, I'm not sure where it's all gone... oh well!! Uhm, planning on finishing some or the bird things soon... need to finish off the framed thing for someone... and sort out the Day of the Dead inspired bird thing for that too...

have worked out that armature is REALLY important to things with arms and legs and tails and stuff...whether I remember this next time I start something, I don't know...

Uhm, other than that...

NOTHING

oh...the end of Debenhams is on the horizon...

Ionagail xx

Tuesday 10 May 2011

Bento 1. - Owl (but no gravy)


Banana chillies in the pot
Egg fried rice with chorizo and Mexican spices
Mini fajitas, with the usual chicken and pepper suspects
Spiced cashews

Thought I'd go typically Mexican, for the bento, rofl...nah, just didn't have any sushi rice, AND it's been crappy weather, so went for something easy, but pleasing, and hopefully a little warming!

May update later...

ciao for now xxx

Saturday 7 May 2011

The post FINALLY arrived

...In my arms, at the depo... *SIGH* BUT IT'S ALL HERE!!! YAY!

I was gonna do a great video unveil, BUT I can't be bothered and look really haggard right now anyway!

'Box Appetit' - Rectangle
It is DINKY! But in the good way, very durable feeling, with a satisfying 'click' and 'thunk' when you open and close it.
There is a dimple for sauce, a sauce tub, a fork, and a divider. The sauce pot has this weird hinge, but seems that it'll be fine, just a little quirky. It is all smooth and quite clunky, and streamline... if that makes any sense at all? Should be able to get a medium meal in here, so long as its well packed, with all the divider and sauce pot in it, it'll be a smaller meal, but the box is still about 2" deep...soo...should be adiquate for a lunch, also depends what you put in it! :)
Oh, there is also this wee bit for the fork, or chopsticks to slot in to the top of the tub, its handy,
as they wont fit in the box, but it also means that it wont be flush, for packing in bags.
3/5
'Box Appetit' - Square

This is sorta exaclty the same as the other one, but...different....same materials used, and the same type of sauce container, fork and the same dimple in the lid. The difference is that it is square *laffs* and that it has a triangle tub as a separator instead of the spacer that the other had. I kinda prefer it as the idea of arranging food in it is more appealing, hence this being mine, the other was El Ginge's choice, and though the more classic shape, I'll possibly find it harder to pack. Ehm, this box also has the same loop for the fork, but I think it'll be easier to pack the fork into the box, therefore making it more streamline.
4/5
With both of these boxes, however, there has been a problem with the hinges for the lids breaking. If this happens let Black & Blum know, they seem more than happy to replace the lid for you!


BOOOOKS!

'The Just Bento Cookbook'
This is the 'boring' one of the two that I bought! Mainly cause I have been looking at it for a good two years or so, and finally decided that I would spend money, and I am glad! It is pretty darn good! Many ideas and lots of information. Having only flicked through it, I can only say that I noticed that it repeats how to make rice more than twice, BUT a great advantage is the timeline, which sets out when to defrost things, cook things, for the Bento that you have chosen to copy, think Jamie's 30 min Meals, without the lisp and the poncey pretentiousness...
4/5

'Yum-Yum Bento Box'
The one that El G chose...cause he sees silly things and likes them...*SIGH*
It is, however, VERY CUTE, and will deffo be opened more than once in it's lifetime. It seems to be in the mondset of 'add eyes and a smile' and the lunch will taste nicer, lol! They have a great section on bento boxes and accessories, as well as a fun section on the anatomy of things Bento, with suggestions of what makes heads, ears etc, and ideas to make things like veg more interesting...often by adding ears and a smile... :) It is more fun! It is more childish though, and it gives me a bit of a kick thinking that a grown-up solicitor will be eating a little elf head for his lunch...El G is my practice for when I have children to make lunches for... I think this is the only thing that would make me a little broody tbh. It has wee bits for getting kids involved, and using their pics as ideas...but that is something for the DISTANT future ;)
As well asit being kinda for kids, it is also full of actual cooking tips, and skills needed for the creation of the CUTEST things you'd ever see in a lunchbox... yes, I like this book! It fills me with GLEE! The good kind, not the TV 'show'!
4.5/5

There rmay be more pics of inside the books, but there you go for now! I have to leave for work, BOO!

ciao xx

Wednesday 4 May 2011

THERE IS A GIRL ON MY COUCH

...WHY AM I ON THE COUCH...?


WAAAAIT! I KNEW ABOUT THIS...it's *drumroll* ... KAAAATY!


Yes, I have a Katy in the flat, she had a (sort of) surprise visit. It is a good day today. A day of watching films and eating omnom...like popcorn and egg fried rice...aaaaand for drinknign Cider :)

The only bad thing about today is, NONE OF MY MAILS CAME!!! *cries*

Ah well...am expecting a bloody red note or 45694690 in the next couple of days, would have been GREAT if something came today though!! I am NOT good at waiting...!

But it has also let me think about other things, and gives me time for more ideas for BENTO boxes!! WOOP!

ciao

xx

Tuesday 3 May 2011

20min til half an hour before I leave for work...

Hey there!!

This weekend has been GREAT! FINALY Jaf and I had the weekend off together!

Friday night we had the 'Tron' Night! Much food was made, many people came, and by most, if not all, a splendid night was had :) The theme was Meze, kinda. There was Two bowls of different cous cous, A rather nice Duck thing, Lamb done twice, Lentils with Butternut Squash AND Roast Chicken...everything spiced and nice! Oh, and Hummus doen 986745628974 different ways by Drew! Pudding was Fruit Salad and Ice-cream :)!

Saturday and Sunday were just...nice, sleepy and sunny, apparently I was cat-like as I KO'd on the floor while playing Pokemon, haahaa *SIGH*

"Thought about taking a photo"...thank the lord he didn't!

We have a small garden on the windowsill, mainly Jaf's doing, well done him, he's nurturing tomatoes and basils aaaand salad leaves :) They are getting quite big now...well, compared to when they were baby seeds anyway!

The latest thing I did (which happened to start on Friday) was to start planning Bento lunches for two days of our week...ordered things from the Amaaaahzon on Fri, and have planned the first lunch for when everything arrives!! AM EXCITED! VERY!

Yum-Yum Bento Box: Fresh Recipes for Adorable LunchesLunch Box, Black and Red

Yes, we are goths...everything is cooler when it is black and red...

ciao for now!

xx

Thursday 28 April 2011

Now we have chairs!

The other half and I made chairs last night. They are purple and they live in the kitchen. This means that I can sit at the table and use the laptop there, and feel mucho importance... I can also look at more interesting things online while listening to the, afore mentioned, other half makes tea for us... I like these chairs. =]

While living in Aberdeen, for the second time round, I have found time and space to be more creative than I was in the past two resi...three, residents I have been in. This becomes quite apparent if you open the door to the living room...most of the time. There are a few projects that I have been working on, NONE of them are complete...as per...BUT I have great plans and they will be completed...at such times that I come home from work and don't feel like keeling over and sleeping...till such a time I will continue to increase the ever growing pile of work that I already have. This means that I will never have nothing to do, and given that they are all in different media, it means that I (hopefully) won't get bored of them...and that when they are finished, they will be immensely cool as JellyBelly Beans!

Yes, I seem to be (finally) quite happy, and pretty grounded, though, work will ALWAYS be the bane of my life, as will ElGingero...as he is a complete pain in the backside quite often...in the nicest possible way...of course!...Dearest...

RIGHT!

Art blog needs...art in it I suppose;

1) The cross stitch (thought I'd go with the boring first).


2) The quilting, an ongoing 4/5 year project


3) On a more sinister note...a watercolour skull


4) More twisted, and better than some before are the weird beings that I make...


Sorry for the poor quality, but I was impatient and couldn't be bothered with uploading the right size...as I am tired, and shall be going now...

much love, Iona xx

Saturday 12 March 2011

It has been a long time!

Well, hello!

I haven't been on the laptop for a good while, until today!

I have moved, yay! I did finish tidying my room, and then I took stuff away from it, for moving into town!
So, yeah, I moved and now I am thinking of finding a new job, Debenhams was never meant to be a long term thing anyway, and I need to move on before I hate making food altogether... and, before it puts me off opening my own place :)

I have been arting about, but not that much really! Just thought I'd post some thing from a whiley ago...

Right, I am now gonna go and play with watercolour...badly...

xx

Thursday 10 February 2011

Today is, let's see, ah, Thursday

It has just dawned on me that I am not going be in my room for much longer...February seems to be running away with me, some what too quickly. Mainly due to sleeping late and working everyday... then staying up, sleeping in and...you guessed it...going to work! It's not great for an artistic type. *SIGH*

As for the whole room thing, right now it looks like a bomb has hit it... part of my tidying thing is to pull everything out so that I can give it a RIGHT GOOD TIDY... exhausting, but worth it for the couple of days I remember to keep it tidy...
Oh, just remembered that I'll be in town on Friday night...hopefully going home on Sat after work though...meaning that I need to (hide) tidy one thing away if the ginger one is taking me home... *sigh*

There is one main problem to this tidying lark... I am TIRED, and after not eating all day, then eating a plate of Pheasant fricasay (?), I'm also a bitty too full... also, I HATE tidying...it's boring and more tiring than it feels like it's worth... but, tidy room, tidy mind? *shrugs*

Need another holiday...only just came back from a WHOLE week off...doesn't feel like I had any time at all... Feel like I'm getting old, all I do is complain, heh!

Right, bored now, take care, I'll update with some other creepy thing later...when I have finished the almighty bomb site that is my room. *cries*

xx


Wednesday 9 February 2011

For Tuesday...

Right! HOME! Finally! Today I had it in my head that I started at 930am… Got the 7am bus so that I would get in town for the right time, went to Starbucks for some Joe and a brownie. Then walked into to work, got changed and started.

Karen: “Are you supposed to be here? I didn’t think you were in.”,
Me: “Ehm, I think so, I’ll go check…”,
“Ah, 12pm til 5pm, damn, must have looked at next weeks rota, oh well, want me to stay anyway?”,
Karen: “Ah, oops, Yeah, if you can, that’ll be a big help, I’ll just put you down for overtime then.”, she smiled.

So, yep, been up since 615am…silly Iona!

On to the arts!

Well, right this second I am boiling a hare head…so that I can use the skull for…something… might see about the same with a pheasant, though I think dad may have already dealt with all of those, but yes, macabre as it may be, that is (among other things) what I am doing tonight! Mwaahaahaahaa!

Aside from that, and the grumbling at my Dad, who seems to think that I do NOTHING around the place, and that when I work I do NOTHING (probably true) *clears throat* Yes, a
side from the boiling to a second death of a wee head, I’ll be working on my ‘Egg to Fairy’. I started this last night, and it has been fun. The body work is done, and some base paint has been applied, it is, as you can see, pretty small, and fiddly, but was still fun to do. It is one of those things that I have though about doing for a while, as it would seem have created my own race of ‘fairies’.
These are not fairies in the ‘true’ sense of the word, they seem to be more like tiny gods of passing time, and of the passing over. Usually they are warriors, or watchers (for example the birthday gift I gave to a colleague would be considered as a watcher, rather than a warrior) protecting us from the harm that may come, or just watching us, learning our behaviours, making sure we are all fine and well.

They are humanoid, and they do have wings, but they have what is like a birds head, their feet and legs aren’t always normal in the sense of fingers and toes. It is also apparent th
at they often have limbs designed on the task that they are to fall into within their long (they live for a good few decades) lives.

I can hear you now, no, I lie, I heard you when I was talking about the head, “OH MY GOD IONA, you are soooo WEIRD!”, Gah, no I am not!

Regarding the Head

Many chefs use the head in the same way, often finding the cheeks of animals wonderful, sucking out the brains with glee, and you know, using them in the making of stock, regarding every bit of the carcass useful. They then discard of it and it is binned, or at the most, used in animal feed. At least I am recycling. Woop!

We have lost our sense of actually who we are in the world. If we were still wild, and able to hunt a hare, we would do as the animals do. Eat it all, including crunching satisfyingly on the bones and sucking every single bit of the nourishment out of it. Humans being the only anim
al on earth that has a complex about its body, the only animal that seems to feel the need to cover up would (and still do) use the skin for clothing and the skull as some part of a headdress, or as part of voodoo magick, also known as, religion.

Plus, it is all part of my charm.

Regarding the Fairies

They may be a bit dark, some would say creepy, but that is the way I am. How many of you who judge can say that you have created another race!

They are not there to harm us, well, not yet anyway, they may go all 'Small Soldiers' on our faces, but for the now, they are for good. I liken them to the Native Americans, the 'fairies' watch us, learn from us, try to make the world a better place. At least they aren't destroying the planet, the most harm they do is the occasional breaking of a cup, or pulling out a cat's whisker as it hoists its self on for a lazy ride. Hardly noticeable, but we would miss them if they weren't here!

Plus, so what if I'm weird, I'm creative, and not harming you. I could run at you while eating worms making stabby motions with knives under my fingernails.

Now which do you prefer?

Ciao for now! xx


Tuesday 8 February 2011

It All Starts At The Beginning

This would be my art page, where I will put up any information about any creations I am doing, any exhibitions I may be part of and a general blog about arty things in my day or week etc.

Ciao for now :)
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