kaveypie

http://shoppinglistcollection.blogspot.com/

Tickled my fancy.

Because we have a number of small plane internal transfer flights during our trip, our luggage allowance is limited to the lowest allowance of all the various flights.

33lbs per person, which I am translating to 14 kilos.

Whilst it doesn't officially include hand luggage we've been told that, where one's hand luggage is clearly pretty heavy rather than the normal day pack consisting of a few personal items, a book and maybe a hat, it may be weighed and counted as part of one's allowance.

Our hand luggage often weighs in, because of all the camera stuff, at 7 to 8 kilos each.

So I was worrying about how to keep our main cargo luggage as light as possible to counter the heavy hand luggage.

Thus far, our 2 main cargo bags weigh 8 and 9 kilos respectively. We have very, very little left to add into them. Maybe another kilo at most.

We haven't packed the hand luggage yet, that's going to be a killer.

Camera bodies including a back up body.
Spare batteries and chargers for the cameras (different models, unfortunately).
Variety of lenses, including a large 400mm prime.
PSDs x 2 plus charger unit.
Various filters and small items.
Monopod.
Tripod.
Beanbag.

Medical kit consisting of a whole pile of medications, most of which we hope not to need but which come in darn useful on rare occasions. This is not light.

Sunglasses, expensive and as they are prescription, not possible to replace if cargo luggage gets lost.

Various paper work, tickets, passports, vaccination certificate booklets, foreign currency (in small denominations, so a large wad), wallets and so on.

Not to mention books to read on the flight, a personal journal for me to take trip notes.

Ha, I reckon our hand luggage bags may weigh more than our cargo ones!!!!

A new halal butcher has just opened up in Central Finchley, not too far from us. We just drove past it on the way home from Brentcross.

Something about the name just appeals; it's so retro it's kind of cool.

And I'm quite pleased. We don't have a regular local butcher near us so having a halal one is handy. I don't care whether the meat is halal or not but, given that it will presumably cater to local Asian muslims, it will hopefully have some meats/ cuts that are harder to find in regular Brit butchers.

I'm listening to Bill Bailey on youtube, with Mattick_Goth, and am reminded of HOW much I want one of those, have wanted one since the first moment I saw Monsieur Bailey's.

I was reminded just now, in conversation with Gothick_Matt, of the Eddie Izzard Deathstar Canteen youtube clip, with lego video footage made to accompany his vocal from his show...

Incase anyone hasn't seen it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv5iEK-IEzw

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.

( The list )

I think that's 74 or so out of 100 that I have tried, sometimes just once!

Had a lovely dinner at La Lotta on Friday evening with Andre and Bexxi.

I think Bob and Eva liked the portrait photos I took of them and had framed. The photo session was really short, they were knackered/ slightly hung over and had had an argument an hour or so earlier, so they were better than expected, I think though I've said I'll take more at some point if they like! I couldn't choose so printed two at 8x10 (one in colour and one sort of sepia toned) and framed them.

Still no news on exact closure date, they are still getting completely messed about by owners - the sale has still not been finalised as contracts have not yet been exchanged and I think the owners go on holiday soon so it may not happen for another few weeks.

In the meantime they know they will need to find new jobs/ home but can't really look until they know the closure date. It's worth them hanging on as a) the owners have promised them redundancy pay and b) there's a chance the sale will fall through and the owners will finally consider their own offer to buy.

On Saturday spent a lovely day bird watching at Rye Meads Nature Reserve with Bob Dave and Dave Dave. They have lovely hides (the RSPB, not the Daves) and we spotted and identified a fair few species. And I took a picnic along. A lovely day.

We stopped at Krispy Kreme on the way home but I hereby donate my remaining 2 donuts to Pete.

Yesterday we went shopping for a few more minor items for the holiday (toiletries and so on) and gathered more stuff onto the spare room bed. Really need to start packing it so we can see where we're at against our weight allowance.

And then had a lazy afternoon. Pete pulled up about 2/3rds of our carrots, which came to around a kilo and a bit, we didn't weigh them until after he'd peeled, topped and chopped them, they came to under a kilo at that point. And he made some thick and gorgeous carrot and coriander soup from them, half of which we'll have tonight and half of which we'll freeze.

Then we watched Oceans 13 and Cars, both of which I really enjoyed. Oh and on the Saturday we'd watched 5 pixar shorts including one which was essentially an extra scene from Cars, the ghostlight story. I wasn't sure if Oceans 13 would be a sequel too far (it wasn't, for me) or if Cars would be particularly enthralling (I really liked it).

:)

Long time no hear, hope you are doing OK.

The packing list has long been written. And we're starting to get things together, putting things on the spare room bed.

My mum updated our medical kit when we went to visit on Friday and we went shopping for a few clothing and equipment items we were missing.

I've just ordered two new PSDs as our existing ones simply aren't big enough. We went for NextoID Nexto Supreme ND2700 models, 160GB each.

And I've added those to my photoguard insurance and also updated replacement values for some of the existing items.

Wooeee! Just one more week to go!

One's current fitness levels really do have an impact on how well one's body fights off a lurgy. Having already been feeling pretty rundown, albeit rested by the group holiday, I really could have done without this bloody lurgy.

Yesterday I went to work, desperately wanted to stay at home but a new version of the system was being released so one of the key days for me to be there. And it all went wrong with lots of fatal error and many problems. Had hoped I could go in for morning and home in afternoon but stuck it out feeling crappy.

Even my buds said I looked rather rough. Thanks.

After work I went into town to meet a friend for dinner. She lives in Canada and has been working in SA and last time we were due to meet (on her way from SA, through London, home to Canada) she missed her flight from Jo'burg and was so upset. She's resigned from her job and I know she really wanted to meet up and talk. So I didn't want to cancel, especially as, once she's finished the job, she may not get to London as often. (The HO is in Guildford).

I managed just under 1.5 hours before I had to call it a night and left for home just after 7. Within 10 minutes of getting home Pete had given me a vicks steam inhalation and I went to bed. Before 8pm! Sheesh!

But this morning, whilst still very bunged up I'm feeling much better than yesterday and am not working today.

And am excited by the news of baby Aled's birth! WELCOME TO THE WORLD, ALED!

Hope you enjoy your day and that you are able to enjoy some of your cakes yourself!

Having managed to avoid picking up that horrible lurgy someone bought with them to the group holiday (thanks for sharing ;) I now finally have it. Pete started showing symptoms just as we left and I finally came down with sore throat part way through the week. Since then have been feeling nauseous, bunged up and blurghy. Bleh!

Still, on Friday night Pete and I went to my parents for the evening. My dad wanted to ensure I understood the family finances, which banks we have accounts with and so on. This was arranged before that recent death of one of his good friends on Monday, but that served to make him even more anxious that things were all sorted out! Once that was done, we caught up and chatted, which was nice.

Despite being tired, I could not go to sleep on Friday, after we got home. Evena after watching TV till past 1 am I could not sleep. Woke up at 8.30 having had only 2 or 3 hours sleep but felt OK at first, so we set off to buy a few things we still need for the upcoming trip. By mid-morning I was fading fast but we completed the shopping. During which time my sister called and suggested we get together.

In the end, she came up to us and we first went to the cinema to see Wall-E, which we all enjoyed. I missed a few short bits towards the beginning as some of the motion in the adverts really made the nausea worse and I had to close my eyes, and it was hard to open them up again, but mostly I stayed awake. I found the film mostly amusing/ charming.

I liked the Presto short by Pixar too.

For dinner we went to La Lotta, which was very nice.

This morning my sister headed off. I popped over to La Lotta just before they opened for lunch to take some portraits of Bob and Eva, as I've decided to get them a framed print of themselves as our goodbye gift - they are already being inundated with flowers, cards and chocolates and I thought this would be something they could keep. Whilst there, gossiped a bit more with them about the sale situation and they insisted I take some garlic bread and pizza back home for lunch for Pete and I. Tasty!

I've processed two of the photos up and ordered prints. They aren't stellar photos. They were both a bit tired, having been up till 4 am at a party last night, after work and they'd had an argument that morning too so weren't too lovey-dovey but I think they'll do and I can always take some better ones in the future.

Portrait photography is NOT a strong point of mine!

:)

God, how much snot can ONE human produce, anyway?

In this post gothick_matt launches a plan to lose weight.

( My response and call for help )

The friend that died yesterday, I have found out, was Zoroastrian. I had known it was an old religion from Persia but not much else about it and had forgotten what it was called until my mum reminded me.
Knowing little about it I googled and found this, which is interesting.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/zoroastrian/

( Looooooong )

( Dreams )

( Why did I sleep 13 hours? )

I love oddness like this:

http://jalopnik.com/399761/when-youre-not-in-your-car-the-stereoscopic-parking-garage-will-freak-you-out

A close family friend, Uncle Philly, died this morning. He was one of my dad's best friends and lived quite close to them in Luton. I haven't known him since I was a kid but have known him (and his wife) for many years. He was only 68. He'd had problems with his heart and had bypass surgeries but I don't think there was any indication of imminent problems. His wife realised he was dead after she'd woken up, got ready, told him she would be off out shortly, and then noticed he didn't react when the phone rang a moment later... she touched him and he was cold. :( Poor Aunty Banu.

And my dad is now feeling paranoid about his mortality again and is making a fuss about my sister and I ensuring we know about the family finances and so on as he could go at any time... He's lost so many of his contemporaries over the last 10 years, which is odd as they aren't even what I consider old yet. :( That must be pretty darn hard.

I am hoping I will be able to go to the service, though I realise I don't know what religion or church Phil's family are in.

Edit: correcting entry lock

Shortly after getting home from Wales on Friday we checked out our plants in garden and greenhouse. All had been kindly watered by our neighbour John. We found the first three ripe tomatoes on one of the three tomato plants in the greenhouse and ate them surrounded by that wonderful smell of tomato plants!

Every meal bar one this weekend included produce from our garden.

For Saturday lunch we had scrambled eggs on toast with finely diced raw red onion sprinkled over. Pete pulled about 3 bulbs which were all quite small but we’re hoping those we’ve left in will be much larger.
We also harvested the first two green peppers (which weighed in at 156 grams between them), roasted them with olive oil and had them with some ragu and pasta on Sunday evening.

And we had our home-grown spuds with our dinner on Friday and Saturday evenings. These were Red Duke of York variety.

The yield from 12 or 13 Red Duke of York plants was only 6.5 kilos in total which is a bit disappointing compared to the yield from last year’s Edzell Blues (which we’ve also enjoyed some of this year having some rogue plants pop up from tubers we obviously failed to harvest last year) although a few of the individual potatoes were much larger. I am hoping for more from our main crop which are still in the ground.

The sweetcorn had finally had a growth spurt and is finally showing the tufty flower bits at the top that mean cobs are being created. Judging from the foliage the carrots are growing well too. Leeks are looking great. Oh and my chocolate peppermint plant is doing well too. I took some cuttings from it just before we left for Wales and shoved them directly into the soil in small windowsill pots. They have taken root and tripled in size so I’d better find a recipe for mint sauce ASAP!

Just thought I'd share a very simple sauce I made on Saturday night ... didn't have a recipe so made it up as I went but it came out very well.

Used a flat-bottomed and heavy-based cast aluminium pan that I allowed to get good and hot to cook the rump steaks (oiled the meat not the pan) until medium-rare (which was pure guess work but spot on).

Put the steaks aside in covered dish to rest.

Turned the heat down to low.

With pan still hot from the higher heat I'd been using for the steaks, I sloshed in generous glug of sweet red port which bubbled fiercely and immediately reduced. Within 30 seconds I had a thick, sticky reduction. To that I added a very generous glug of double cream and stirred the two together to create a beautiful pink sauce. And into that I threw a generous handful of crumbled Shropshire Blue (had been thinking of Stilton when deciding what to eat a few hours earlier but remembered I had a chunk of this that I bought back from Wales with me). Stirred again until the cheese melted in. Pete was, in the meantime, making a creamy mash (with home-grown potatoes) which he served onto the plate along with the steaks. I took the juices that had come out during resting and mixed those into the sauce before serving.

It was GORGEOUS! Far better than I expected having so completely made it up! And we've not had steaks come out so well before either!