~If you missed the fab hats at Ascot last week, take a butcher’s, here, here and here. ~And while we’re on the subject of the Royals, there’s perfection and then there’s taking an hour to iron a sheet. ~This review of Trader Joe’s new products, courtesy of Bon Appetit, is laugh out loud hilarious. ~There really are no words for this craziness. ~And this craziness? Wow. Plenty of words. None of them good. ~How is this even possible? ~Why a teacher quits. ~Pulled by the allure of great packaging I recently bought these chips. Fabulous chips, amazing flavours. Bubbly and…
Pudding&Mess Posts
~The Night Tiger Yangsze Choo In 1930’s Malaysia, smart and ambitious Ji Lin works as a dressmaker’s apprentice but dreams of becoming a nurse. At night she moonlights as a dance hall girl in order to pay off her mother’s mahjong debts. One evening, while dancing with a rather unsavory character, she accidentally comes into possession of a severed finger in a jar. Meanwhile, eleven year old Chinese houseboy, Ren is tasked by Dr. McFarlane, who is on his deathbed, with finding his masters severed finger so it can be buried with him, thus preventing his soul from eternally wandering the…
During a summertime trip to France a couple of years ago, I was able to visit the village of Oradour-sur-Glane, 15 miles outside of Limoges. It was here, on the warm sunny afternoon of Saturday, June 10th in 1944, at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, 75 years ago today, that the Nazis murdered 642 villagers. Only seven people were lucky enough to survive. The villagers were brought together in the main square, believing that this was yet another routine identity check. Instead, the men were separated out and taken to six barns. Here, they were machine gunned and the bodies,…
~Continually decreasing levels of play have coincided with increases in depression and anxiety among young people. ~Someone’s having a whole lot of googly eyed fun in Bulgaria. ~Several years ago my local store was out of helium when I needed balloons. I was a little shocked to hear there was a helium shortage but the issue hasn’t come up since. Apparently, it’s very real. ~Religion is for everyone who wants it. ~A soldier faints from the heat at a crucial moment during the Trooping the Colour in 1970. ~And while we’re on the subject of royalty, Princess Diana’s most iconic…
By Its Cover is a series of posts wherein I read a book based solely on my love of the cover. No reading the jacket, no checking reviews! I have no idea why, but I initially assumed the figure on the cover of this book was a satyr, half-man, half-goat, because I thought it had hooves. It wasn’t until I really paid attention that I realised that they were simply shoes and this was just a man. Having read the book, I’m no wiser as to what the cover represents but the quirkiness energy of the man with his umbrella, set…
~Apparently black dogs and cats get a bad rap. This article hopes to change that. Beautiful photographs, hilarious commentary. ~The New York Times posted this little gem of heresy. Rebuttals here. Recipe here. ~Fun video from the Hong Kong Ballet. Unfortunately, I can never hear Ravel’s Bolero without playing the entirety of Torvill and Dean’s mesmerizing ice dance in my head. Just me? ~I struggle to find decent yogurt at the supermarket, but these two have proven to be winners. Noosa is dessert worthy. ~Equity vs Equality. A small but mighty subtlety. ~Two shows on Sundance: The Split Nicola Walker…
~Once Upon a River Diane Setterfield On the banks of the river Thames is a pub, The Swan, where the locals have turned storytelling into something of a sport, meeting up to while away the long, cold winter nights with the promise of a good tale. But you know what they say, truth is stranger than fiction and so on the evening of the winters solstice, a real story starts to unfurl before their very eyes. A large man, dripping blood and river water, walks through the door of the pub carrying what turns out to be the body of a dead…
Oh pork belly, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee in fried rice, I love thee in tacos, I love thee straight out of the pan (although please don’t tell anyone) and now I love thee over grits, served up with an egg for breakfast. I actually had no idea I was such a fan of pork belly until I had pork belly tacos at a restaurant one day. So incredibly delicious. And to boot the tacos were accompanied by crackling… freshly made and still hot when it arrived at the table. I had…
While in life I generally enjoy things that have a natural, more organic feel to them, on the big screen I have something of a fondness for the highly stylised movie. It’s theatre meets film in all of its over the top grandeur and opulence. I recently watched the 2012 version of Anna Karenina with Kiera Knightly, more because I was in the mood for extravagant costumes than anything else. I had a vague recollection of the movie not garnering the best of reviews and, let’s face it, Anna Karenina isn’t the lightest, most uplifting of tales, so imagine my…
~Food for thought this Earth Day. ~The awkwardness of families and politics. ~I’ll be making this again this week, just in time for summer. ~I’m a complete sucker for good branding so when I saw this cat food at the supermarket and it made me laugh, I knew it was coming home with me. It’s not cheap but it is real. My cat seemed to love it and she’s finicky. Then again, she’s a cat. ~What 39 celebrities wore to meet the Queen. ~Black Earth Rising on Netflix. Kate Ashby is a thirty something Rwandan Tutsi rescued as a little…