Tuesday, January 17, 2006

You wouldn't eat me! (Part III)

But before I go to bed, I forgot to tell you about avocadoes! I had one for the first time the other day, and it's one of the best things. Thanks to Abel and Cole for making me try it. Another good breakfast...

Make scrambled eggs with milk, butter and cheese, and place on plate
Mix slices of avocado with slices of kiwi fruit and add to side of plate
Eat.

Today's breakfast was a salad - cucumber, tomatoes, celery and mixed seeds - mixed in with scrambled eggs. I'm feeling so healthy. (Especially since H and F helped me out with the last of my Christmas chocolate last night - friends indeed!)

The sun of the East (Part II)

The view from my kitchen window in Oxford this evening:














Thanks to S for making me take my eyes off my computer for five minutes to notice it!

I should be asleep, to be honest, as I'm teaching for the very first time tomorrow. But I really did have to finish watching Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace. J told me the prequels are awful, but I confess I enjoyed it. Then, I will enjoy anything that looks pretty and has shooting in it. I started watching yesterday, but was forced out to the pub by F, who bought me Belgian beer and Irish whisky (though I snuck in a Scotch at last orders to revitalise my tastebuds). Returned to the house to find myself deputed to make hot chocolate for four, as S and H joined us and we discussed... erm... I probably can't say rude things on here, can I?

Another picture, for your pleasure, dear Reader:
















And goodnight for now.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

You wouldn't eat me! (Part II)

This may sound disgusting but try it...

poach two eggs until relatively well done
cut up two different fruits of your choice - best if they're not too acidic (I used papaya and banana)
mix fruits with yoghurt in a bowl
put eggs on top of fruit and yoghurt
squeeze passionfruit/lemon/lime over the top.

Makes a great breakfast.

Monday, January 09, 2006

Last season's fruit is eaten

A reckoning for the New Year - things that are new...


Good Things in life:

Having learned to cook;
Doing yoga;
David Daniels (website's a bit poncy, but he sings like an angel);
Teaching;
Growing cress on the windowsill;
Joining Jacari;
My mum's learning how to do email;
Getting organic vegetables delivered;
Steve McCurry's Portraits;
Learning to draw even more;
Moisturising;
Lots of points on my Boots card so toiletries are all free (kind of);
Joining Human Writes (if they'll have me!);
The pasta sauce I dropped on my laptop didn't get into the inside of it.


Bad Things in life:

I dropped pasta sauce on my laptop;
I had to pay my termly accommodation bill today;
Errrrm...;
That's it.

Hmmm. I'm a bit smug now.

That's what life is


A couple more Swansea pictures for your delight and edification, Reader.

I was going to tell you all about my train journey home at the end of last term, but I'm not sure that I can bring myself to relive the emotional upheaval... Skimming over the stranger moments, however, I met some very interesting people, including Gina, who was on her way to Swindon and had never heard of Didcot, Mike who kept on being asked where the trains were just because he was wearing a suit, and Rob from Newport who not only left me his Sudoku puzzles, but also his biro - thanks Rob! A train is a strange thing, because you often end up with someone's whole life story and then never see them again. I want to know how the vaguely inebriated lady from London got on with her ex and his pub, for example, but now I never shall. So it goes.

Friday, January 06, 2006

The wall, the wainscot, and the mouse

Well, the big highlight of the Christmas break was The Mouse. We have named him "Titus Pullo" for reasons that any afficionado of BBC2's "Rome" will probably understand. My mother swore she saw him in the kitchen, scuttling behind the worksurfaces, and so all-out war was declared. The kitchen door was fortified with draft excluders to stop Titus escaping and carrying out a marauding mission into the rest of the house; all edible items were placed on top of the refrigerator (for fear a mouse can walk off with an entire banana); the kitchen floor was swept at least three times a day in case of stray crumbs. This being my mother's house, of course, stray crumbs were not much in evidence. But you can never be too careful, especially when you have a messy student living with you. So, anyway, the Council Ratcatcher came out to visit and, thankfully, found no trace of Titus Pullo's existence. Likelihood is, he says, that Titus was merely an advance scout and, finding no free food for the taking, informed his raiding party not to bother with us. The kitchen is now equipped with a sonic mouse-repellant, which should keep us safe from any further attacks. Let us hope.

Otherwise, the holiday was pretty quiet. I managed to catch up with some reading for the course I'm teaching this term, as well as watching some of the classic films which graced our TV screens this holiday - Jaws is still great, but can anything surpass Spartacus?

My friend R was home from London for the holiday, and we went for a lovely walk by the sea, whence the photographs - Swansea is actually quite beautiful from the right angle.

Christmas day was good fun (though I did sleep for a lot of it) - my favourite moment was being swung by the vicar in church - nobody's done that to me since I was about 5! My second favourite was when a nameless person exclaimed at me and my godfather "That's enough theology - it is Christmas Day!"