Six Smiles on a Sunny September Sunday

After my "Woe is Me" post of yesterday (thanks for your kind words peeps xx) normal service is now resumed and I am once again SHOUTING (with) LOVE (from Peapods (tee hee) ) AT THE WORLD!

Things that I have loved about this last week:-

1.  Fabulous Fashionistas

I caught this brilliant look into 'the art of ageing' by a complete fluke earlier in the week but I'm so glad I did.  This Channel 4 documentary (SEE HERE ) follows the lives of a group of women old enough to know better but feisty enough not to care. It was like watching the visual depiction of Jenny Joseph's 'Warning' poem - "When I am an old woman I shall wear purple...." ...and how! From the frightfully posh and terrifying Lady Trumpington with her endearing passion for catalogue shopping to the 87 year old dancing queen who is more bendy than a rubber paperclip, I watched the whole programme with a ridiculous grin on my face.  Quote of the show, however, came from Sue Kreitzman who lives her life in colour these days and refuses to simply fade into the background.  She says:   "Everybody should be living in colour.  You know what I really hate? I hate beige. Beige is the colour of death and it just leeches all the life out of you- my motto is - don't wear beige,  it might kill you."   We have been warned!!

Watch it if you can.   I want to be one of those dear ladies when I grow up!

2.  The Fried Chicken Shop

Believe it or not I don't watch much telly.  But I do love documentaries about every day life, particularly British every day life.  The Fried Chicken Shop is filmed in a fast food takeaway in Sarf Lahhndon which showcases the comings and goings of their very cosmopolitan clientele.  Quote of the show came from cross dressing regular, Jessie, who rocked up in a fetching purple shrug over a bare belly and a green micro short skirt which barely covered his modesty (or his grey undertrollies for that matter!!).  Eyeballing a student couple at the table across from him, he asked the girl disdainfully "when (she) was going to wear something interesting? Look how boring your clothes are.  All covered up in black and grey you couldn't look more boring if you tried"  Hilarious!  Perhaps she needed to take fashion tips from the Fashionistas aforementioned?!

3.  Harvest Gifts

Remember the sad little pepper plant I rescued from Aldi a few weeks ago?  I picked the fruit today - all teeny but will be fine roasted in a little oil and seasoning.

There was a knock on the door earlier and our lovely neighbour delivered a bag full of late runner beans.  Mum came up for tea later on this evening bearing gifts of an allotment grown cabbage from her and a pot of apple chutney from my brother!  Yay!

4.  Alternative Sunday Dinner

Cos we am punk as wossname, we sometimes **looks furtively over shoulder**  don't have a roast on Sunday!  Today, we had a home cooked Indian feast of onion bhajis, chicken pakora, sweetcorn fritters,  onion salad and poppadums, and a beautiful chick peak and chicken jalfrezi.   A dear friend of mine sent me a fab book for my birthday called "Miss Masala" which is a modern take on Indian cooking for busy people!  Amazon link is here  It has some great recipes with a humorous commentary and lots of  barking mad tips such as to test that the temperature of shallow frying oil has reached optimum temperature, small bubbles will appear around a wooden spoon (obviously you have to put it into the oil first *rolls eyes*)  - well it works for me and I always use it now!

Onions in their batter awaiting the pan!

Clusters of bhajis frying away merrily

Lovely crisp, little morsels, draining on kitchen paper ready to be reheated 

in the oven later.  (better eaten straight away though!!)

Recipe - 

Sliced Onions - recipe states 2 but I use more

100g Gram Flour

1 teasp bakimg powder

1 teasp garam masala

1 teasp ground chilli

1 teasp ground cumin

1 teasp turmeric

Salt

Mix all the dry ingredients together with a fork, to ensure all the spices are well mixed into the flour. 

Gradually add some cold water a little at a time, stirring quickly until a thick yoghurty type

consistency is reached.    Add sliced onions and stir together until coated.  

Drop a couple of tablespoons full of the mixture into little dollops in frying pan of hot oil, press down a little and shallow fry for a couple of minutes each side.  Don't be tempted to shove them around  - simply let them cook 

on their own until crispy and golden brown. 

Simply divine dahhhling!

Chicken and chick pea jalfrezi - Yum!

5.  The Moon

Yes - the moon - pictures take by yours truly.  I am very, very proud!   I worked out how to alter some manual settings on the camera (more by luck than judgement I have to say!) - thanks Mr T'interwebnet! - earlier in the week in time for full moon.  Sod's law dictated however as soon as I had done this, the batteries failed and so I've had to wait until tonight to test it.  Not too shabby - although these were the best of a bunch of twenty snaps! Hahah.

6.  Arty Fartyness!

The nights are drawing in and I need distractions.  New collages will do!  I've found a lovely little book with lots of tutorials and am currently playing with this effort - far from completed but just a quick peek.

That's enough smiling for one day - me face is starting to ache!

Love Love!

xxx