The Friday Photo: Mad Uncle Ali goes on his holidays:
**SWEAR ALERT! DON’T SCROLL DOWN IF YOU’RE IN THE COMPANY OF SMALLS**
This tickled me so much, though, I had to share…
The Gallery: a million paper butterflies
My buddy Taralara runs an online gallery with a different theme every week. Not being much of a photographer, I tend to dip in and out a bit, but this week, the theme is ‘travel’ – how could I not join in!
This picture is the ceiling of the Dubai Mall, which took me by surprise when I looked up to see it filled with thousands of delicate paper butterflies. It took my breath away.
For more entries to this week’s gallery, just click here.
The Friday photo(s): The spice market at the Bastakiya, Dubai
I so wish there was some wizardy technology that could have captured the smell of this place: utterly intoxicating… smoky frankincense… dried roses… spicy dried limes… I bought as much as I could possibly fit in my suitcase from the baskets and sacks of mysterious, scented and dried goodies…
There were a few surprises too…
but mostly the produce was traditional. There are those dried limes again:
and can you see the cinnamon sticks at the back of this cart?
The bright yellow ‘fingers’ here are turmeric – then clockwise there’s dried hibiscus, dried camomile, little tiny dried rosebuds, star anise and dried ginger:
I can’t even imagine how much that basket of saffron (top right) is worth…
And here’s that lovely frankincense again. I brought some back for Poppy’s Mum (well, if it’s good enough for Jesus…):
Here’s the lovely dried limes (loomi) up close:
I’ll need to go back and stock up. Really soon.
Plains, trains and automobiles
Well, we’re finally home. Our total journey went something like this:
Car from Cavan to Dublin Airport
Flight from Dublin Airport to London Heathrow (we couldn’t get a flight to Gatwick)
Drive to London Gatwick
Stay overnight
Flight from London Gatwick to Cancun, Mexico
Flight back from Cancun, Mexico to London Gatwick (delayed 10 hours)
Miss flight back to Ireland and argue with unhelpful Ryanair about why I won’t pay £1000 to get on next flight.
*pause for hissy bout of hysteria*
Drive to English Grandma’s house in Hertfordshire
Stay there two days panicking about how to get home.
Get saved by wonderful friend who suggests sailrail.co.uk
Train to Milton Keynes, then Chester, then Holyhead
Ferry from Holyhead to Dublin Port
Taxi from Dublin Port to incredibly understanding Long Stay Car Park (who didn’t charge me extra).
But I’m back!
And oh, the wonderful things I have to show and tell.
For instance, we saw this:
And we ate this:
And we did this:
… saw lots of this:
And even shed a tear at this:
Much, much more to come. Once I’ve conquered the EU washing mountain and cleaned out the Nutties.
My 2011 mood board and my 1000th post
My lovely friend Not Supermum has challenged me to create a ‘mood board’ to show all my hopes and aspirations for 2011. So much nicer than all those boring resolutions – a gaggle of pictures that will be my inspiration for life in 2011.
And what better way to celebrate my 1000th blog post! Thank you for sticking with me for all these years (or, indeed, for just dropping by today).
Wishing you a wonderful 2011. Here’s to cherishing our friends and family, being open to new friendships, giving people the benefit of the doubt and loving the skin we’re in eh?
Mwah xx
English Mum’s Great Big Autumn Bakeoff
So, the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness is once again upon us. Down the boat road, the blackberries are just about finished, but there are still elderberries, rosehips and sloes – all around here I can see flashes of orange in pumpkin patches, and trees heavy with big ol’ Bramleys.
The Big Autumn Bakeoff
So it’s time for another bakeoff, don’t you think? A proper, wholesome autumn bakeoff. What does autumn mean to you? Is it pumpkin pie? A rich, berry crumble? Or maybe it’s a big, dense slab of brownie, to be eaten in front of the fire with a decadent mug of hot chocolate?
The Kids’ Hallowe’en Bakeoff
This time, there’s a proper theme to encourage your kids into the kitchen. Their own special theme is Hallowe’en, so let the spider fairy cakes and ghostly meringues abound! The winning entry will win this gorgeous Chef Curly from the very generous Build-a-Bear Factory.
The Rules
As usual, there are very few rules (the one about having to send me a sample of each entry has sadly been scrapped due to the possibility of lots of soggy Jiffy bags turning up on my doorstep):
1. You’ve actually got to bake something (although see below re: waffly theme wavering)
2. Take a picture
3. Email it to me at: english [dot] towers [at] gmail [dot] com, or via the contact form at the top of the page, telling me what it is and who you are. Entries must be received by midnight on 12th November.
Cheating
Here at English Towers we like to embrace a bit of healthy skullduggery, hence a little wavering from the theme will be acceptable as long as there’s a suitably waffly and entertaining reason why.
The Techy Stuff
If you’re a blogger, please link back to this post, and if you’re a tweeter, please use the hashtag #autumnbakeoff,. If you’re neither, then just ignore this bit completely.
The Prize
Entries will be displayed in one enormous blog post (hopefully without the descent into hysteria which accompanied the last bakeoff) and the winner will be paraded through the streets of Cavan while we all throw rotten apples at them. Ahaha fooled you again, the best entry will win a copy of the fabulous new book by Diana Henry: Food from Plenty: Good Food Made from the Plentiful, the Seasonal and the Leftover with Over 300 Recipes, None of Them Extravagant
The Judge
The wondrous and gorgeous winner of the last bakeoff, Amy Lane, has foolishly generously agreed to be the judge. All bribes and dodgy approaches to be made directly and not via this blog. The judge’s decision is final.
So that’s it, then. You’ve got loads of time, plenty of inspiration, and some very ambiguous rules. Let’s get baking!
Lloyds TSB Weather Competition
So it’s been a pretty mixed summer. We had plenty of sunshine early on (in fact, nearly melting in my conservatory/oven became such a regular feature that I abandoned it for good for a while), but lately it’s been rainy and a bit miserable. Typical British weather.
Still, I managed to take this snap of #1 bowling at a cricket match (note his Grandad, my Disreputable Dad, complete with ancient baggy shorts, taking his umpire role very seriously). This was the annual parents vs kids end of season cricket match. Myself and Madame Turtle, my impossibly glamorous niece, were the scorers. Needless to say between chatting and comparing manicures, we probably missed a few balls. The sun did come out, but later the clouds rolled over and hid it away. Still, it didn’t spoil the fun, as you can tell.
I’ve decided to enter it in the Lloyds TSB British weather photographer of the year competition. I doubt it has a chance (although please do vote for me!), but I reckon boiling grey clouds above a beautiful green cricket pitch is probably about as English as it gets, don’t you?
You can vote for me (and enter your own shots) here:
http://www.lloydstsbweathercompetition.co.uk
About the competition:
The competition runs from 13th April to 20th September 2010. 12 finalists will be chosen in November. You can enter as many photographs as you wish, although they must be taken in the United Kingdom and you must be a UK resident aged 18 or over. There’s also a £100 weekly prize for the photograph with the most ‘favourite’ votes. The 12 finalists will have their photographs displayed at a public exhibition for a week and the overall winner wins £10,000! What have you got to lose?
The Friday Photo: Busch’s new baby
I thought you’d like this. My lovely mates at Busch Gardens are celebrating a new arrival:
The as yet unnamed little girly was born at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay on Tuesday 13 July, weighing an estimated 10 stone (ouch!). Isn’t she cute?
SeaWorld and NCOD’s Kitty Yoga
So I’m off to SeaWorld today (yeeee-ha!). While I and my five amigos are there, we will be meeting rescued manatee, screaming on roller coasters and getting drenched by Shamu at SeaWorld, swimming with dolphins at Discovery Cove, trying out our skills as elephant keepers at Busch Gardens and whizzing down water slides at Aquatica! But just so you don’t feel left out, I thought while I’m away I’d pamper you a little – calm the senses and treat you to a little soothing gentle exercise.
Without further ado, then, I’d like to hand you over to Ninja Cat of Death, who’s going to take you through a few gentle stretches. Ready?
Okay then, lying on your side, arms down, feet facing forwards… gently roll your head and look at the ceiling…
Now bend your back so that the top of your head is facing your feet. Point those toes up! Keeping up?
Now simply flip over to the other side in one fluid movement, keeping your head still whilst twisting your whole body…
Now touch those toes, keeping your arms forward and nose touching your forearms. Really stretch those abs. No falling asleep now!
Aaaaaand…relax.
Good job everyone. Next time we’re really going to be working on those toes…
Same time next week then?
‘No naughty words on mugs – promise?’ A trip to Emma Bridgewater
So the Tuesday of half term saw us take a rather wonderful trip. Now the Brethren are 12 and 15 it’s getting more and more unusual that everyone wants to go out together. A shopping trip mostly ends up with one ‘ohhhh okay then’ and one ‘nope, I’m playing Xbox, seeya later’, so to take a trip ‘en famille’ was rather a pleasant change.
We were whooshed to Stoke on Trent in less than an hour from Milton Keynes on the rather swish Virgin ‘leany train’ (yes, I’m sure it has a proper name too), and met up with fellow bloggers Jen, Rachael and Josie, plus Dan and Kate from Kitchen Critic.
During the journey, we established ground rules for the trip. These included:
- No smutty jokes – there will be small children present
- No wrestling amongst the crockery
- No naughty words on mugs. Yes, a drawing of a willy is considered naughty.
Here’s our fabulous day in pictures:
I am pleased to report that not only did we have a lovely family day out, but there was no smut, no wrestling, and I think no willies, but when our mugs arrived from Emma Bridgewater I’ll have to check.
If you’re ever in Stoke I’d thoroughly recommend a free factory tour (book in advance!) and a trip to the Potteries Museum where you’ll find a fascinating retrospective of Emma Bridgewater products stretching back the full 25 years (on now until 26th September, entry is free).
And now the thank yous:
Thanks to the lovely Jamie, and all the staff at Emma Bridgewater for a fabulous day out (sorry about all the sniggering – it’s Josie’s fault). Thanks to the lovely Eb for organising the day, lovely chats and listening to me panicking about train times.
And finally, special thanks to the Death Wish Child and his new camera for all the wonderful pictures (I rent him out y’know…weddings, christenings…).
