I finished reading Daisy Garnett's Cooking Lessons last night - a combination of cooking and memoir which appealed to me. The book itself was a huge let down as far as I was concerned. It's beautifully produced - about A5 size - has a substantial feel to it and is printed on good quality paper. The illustrations are charming and in the style of water colours. I can't identify with her lifestyle which is sort of luxurious Bohemian though not the sort of Bohemian life I'd want to lead if I was rich. That is not a criticism as I enjoy reading about other people's lifestyles.
My main criticism is that the recipes are in general complicated, in many cases adaptations of someone else's - though the source is identified - take too long to make for an ordinary individual with a life to lead apart from food and many of the ingredients are hard to source unless you live in a city or want to buy much of your food by mail order. There are many spelling mistakes which should have been picked up by the editor or the proof reader and there are far too many instances of the f word in my opinion. Is there really a need for swearing in a cookery book - unless you happen to be Gordon Ramsay?
When I came to a recipe for Shepherd's Pie containing 19 separate ingredients I rather lost patience with the whole thing. Shepherd's Pie is meant to be something comforting which you sling together when you want to eat something simple with a minimum amount of preparation.
No ordinary person buys a special Tarte Tatin pan - a snip at only £25 - unless they are determined to make that particular dessert every day of the week! Likewise if you're making Tiramasiu you're probably going to use Tia Maria in it rather than a special Italian liqueur called Caffe Borghetti which is probably unobtainable outside Italy, or a particular type of biscuit - easily obtainable from your local Italian grocer. Hello? I live in darkest Lincolnshire. I could probably get anything Polish from our local Polish grocers - but Italian - now that's another matter.
I could go on - but you get the picture. I'm just glad I didn't pay for it otherwise I'd have been extremely disappointed.
Wednesday, 7 January 2009
Tuesday, 6 January 2009
Cold weather
We have had a tragedy locally which made it to the national news I believe. A lady was killed in her car which got stuck on a level crossing as a train approached. Most of our country level crossings have those automatic barriers which come down less than a minute before the train is due. Unfortunately - as I understand it - her car got shunted onto the crossing by a van behind which hadn't realised she'd stopped. Because of the weather - icy roads - she couldn't manage to get herself or her car off the track in time. This must have been horrific for those who witnessed it and were unable to help as well of course for the lady's family.
Apart from events like this - why does the country grind to a halt in a bit of cold weather? I can never understand this. Round here we seem to be functioning reasonably well in a general sort of way - partly because we've got ice and not snow I think.
No book news today as I'm still in the process of reading Barchester Towers and a sort of cookery memoir by Daisy Garnett called Cooking Lessons. I'm not too sure about this as I'm finding it a shade patronising and also many of the recipes belong to other cookery writers - which she has acknowledged. Lists of ingerdients in other recipes seem incredibly long to me as well. She doesn't seem to take into account the fact that cookery is not an exact science and you only find out what you like by experimenting. More of this when I've finished it. The 4 letter words spoil it as well for me.
Apart from events like this - why does the country grind to a halt in a bit of cold weather? I can never understand this. Round here we seem to be functioning reasonably well in a general sort of way - partly because we've got ice and not snow I think.
No book news today as I'm still in the process of reading Barchester Towers and a sort of cookery memoir by Daisy Garnett called Cooking Lessons. I'm not too sure about this as I'm finding it a shade patronising and also many of the recipes belong to other cookery writers - which she has acknowledged. Lists of ingerdients in other recipes seem incredibly long to me as well. She doesn't seem to take into account the fact that cookery is not an exact science and you only find out what you like by experimenting. More of this when I've finished it. The 4 letter words spoil it as well for me.
Monday, 5 January 2009
Work and books
I suppose it could have been worse. Our manager's still off today and won't be in our office until Friday so it was peaceful. One more person has decided to take the money on the table and go so she leaves at the end of February. When she's gone there will be less than 20 people in the office altogether. We're starting to feel a bit like rats on a sinking ship. Certainly on my floor we're all feeling very demotivated. There's been nothing much happening while I've been off but maybe things will get moving now we've got the festivities over.
Books: I finished another Jane Austen 'sequel' The True Darcy Spirit by Elizabeth Aston last night and found it enjoyable and well written. This one was about the grand daughter of the formidable Lady Catherine of Pride and Prejudice fame. She was cast out by her family after eloping with a handsome sailor and then not marrying him and finds herself having to make her living in London without 'coming upon the town' as becoming a prostitute was called in the 19th century.
I am still progressing with Barchester Towers with all its misunderstandings and misapprehensions. Long winded though he may be at times Trollope still knew how to tell a good story and I love the way even his villains have that redeeming grain of something about them. I am up to the 300 page mark with nearly 200 more to go.
Books: I finished another Jane Austen 'sequel' The True Darcy Spirit by Elizabeth Aston last night and found it enjoyable and well written. This one was about the grand daughter of the formidable Lady Catherine of Pride and Prejudice fame. She was cast out by her family after eloping with a handsome sailor and then not marrying him and finds herself having to make her living in London without 'coming upon the town' as becoming a prostitute was called in the 19th century.
I am still progressing with Barchester Towers with all its misunderstandings and misapprehensions. Long winded though he may be at times Trollope still knew how to tell a good story and I love the way even his villains have that redeeming grain of something about them. I am up to the 300 page mark with nearly 200 more to go.
Sunday, 4 January 2009
Back to work tomorrow
I have not missed work at all over the last 3 weeks and I shan't enjoy going back tomorrow. I'm sure nothing of any interest will have happened while I've been off - as nothing very much usually happens over the Christmas period.
I have spent today being domestic - not my strong suit - but at least the house is reasonably clean and tidy and the washing is up to date. The shopping was delivered on Saturday so I shan't need to go out and get anything tomorrow.
I'm half way to success on one of my resolutions in that I've been through all my books currently listed for sale on Amazon and weeded out all those which will never sell as there are already several dozen other copies of the title on there for 1p each. I have made a stack - well three stacks actually - of those and they will be gradually taken to the charity shops in Spalding . There are 6 shops that I can think of so I shall be able to scatter largess amongst them for the next few weeks.
Off to remake the beds with clean sheets, have a shower and curl up with a book.
I have spent today being domestic - not my strong suit - but at least the house is reasonably clean and tidy and the washing is up to date. The shopping was delivered on Saturday so I shan't need to go out and get anything tomorrow.
I'm half way to success on one of my resolutions in that I've been through all my books currently listed for sale on Amazon and weeded out all those which will never sell as there are already several dozen other copies of the title on there for 1p each. I have made a stack - well three stacks actually - of those and they will be gradually taken to the charity shops in Spalding . There are 6 shops that I can think of so I shall be able to scatter largess amongst them for the next few weeks.
Off to remake the beds with clean sheets, have a shower and curl up with a book.
Saturday, 3 January 2009
Fat V Thin
Two contrasting articles in the online papers today - this from the Telegraph about Ricky Gervais and his views on plastic surgery and fat people:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/4076644/Comedian-Ricky-Gervais-in-attack-on-the-overweight.html
The second is from the Mail about a young woman who is seriously anorexic and glories in weighing under 6st at the age of 23 and having the body of 'a 12 year old':
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1104511/The-female-Peter-Pan-How-woman-23-terrified-growing-taken-extreme-dieting-body-12-year-old.html
The comments on the anorexia story make interesting reading. The majority are sympathetic and feel the girl needs help because she obviously has serious mental problems - with which I agree as regards her current situation.
But then I went on to think about the public reaction if she'd been grossly obese. There'd have been a lot of comments about fat slobs and it's her own fault and she needs to diet and exercise etc. So being obese is always self-inflicted according to popular opinion but anorexia nervosa is an illness and people can't help it and are more to be pitied than blamed?
From all I've read about anorexia it seems to start off - and in many cases continues to be - a lifestyle choice. You don't suddenly wake up one morning and you're anorexic any more than you wake up one morning and your eating is out of control.
The point I'm trying to make - not very coherently - is about the double standards at work here. Fat=stupid, own fault etc; Anorexic=poor you. need help, illness. Why the difference?
Ricky Gervais I find offensive and the 'humour' is on a par with the Johnathan Ross and Russell Brand affair - just appallingly bad taste. Not all fat people eat unhealthy food and not all fat people fail to exercise - you can't generalise any more than you can over people' cholesterol level by looking at them.
What also seems to be overlooked is the fact that extreme diets - less than 1000 calories - are seriously damaging to your health regardless of your weight.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/4076644/Comedian-Ricky-Gervais-in-attack-on-the-overweight.html
The second is from the Mail about a young woman who is seriously anorexic and glories in weighing under 6st at the age of 23 and having the body of 'a 12 year old':
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1104511/The-female-Peter-Pan-How-woman-23-terrified-growing-taken-extreme-dieting-body-12-year-old.html
The comments on the anorexia story make interesting reading. The majority are sympathetic and feel the girl needs help because she obviously has serious mental problems - with which I agree as regards her current situation.
But then I went on to think about the public reaction if she'd been grossly obese. There'd have been a lot of comments about fat slobs and it's her own fault and she needs to diet and exercise etc. So being obese is always self-inflicted according to popular opinion but anorexia nervosa is an illness and people can't help it and are more to be pitied than blamed?
From all I've read about anorexia it seems to start off - and in many cases continues to be - a lifestyle choice. You don't suddenly wake up one morning and you're anorexic any more than you wake up one morning and your eating is out of control.
The point I'm trying to make - not very coherently - is about the double standards at work here. Fat=stupid, own fault etc; Anorexic=poor you. need help, illness. Why the difference?
Ricky Gervais I find offensive and the 'humour' is on a par with the Johnathan Ross and Russell Brand affair - just appallingly bad taste. Not all fat people eat unhealthy food and not all fat people fail to exercise - you can't generalise any more than you can over people' cholesterol level by looking at them.
What also seems to be overlooked is the fact that extreme diets - less than 1000 calories - are seriously damaging to your health regardless of your weight.
Friday, 2 January 2009
Dancing with the Dead
I finished reading Deborah Gregory's Dancing with the Dead last night and good though the plot and the writing were it has left a nasty taste. I'm not a maternal person at all and have no particular interest in children in general but I was horrified at the way the main character - Gill - treated her children. This was not something just brought on by living in an isolated and very strange house as there is a scene at the beginning where she loses her temper with her youngest child, Rosie and her husband steps in and calms the situation - obviously not for the first time.
The sheer spookiness of the whole thing with the letters coming apparently from the dead and later the ghosts at her elbow all the time is excellent. But I could have done without her ill treatment of her children. At times she went out of her way to be cruel to them even when they had done nothing wrong. Yes it gave evidence of her character and was similar to the treatment of her ancestors but the book would have been even better without it. To have shown her struggling with her urges but overcoming them would have been more telling in my opinion. There were times when I just wanted to get hold of her and shake her and tell her to get a grip and tidy and clean up the house instead of moping around, neglecting the children and regretting giving up her photography career.
It is a good book and I thought much of it excellently well done but the child abuse was just a step too far. I had thought it was set in the present when I first started reading it but about two thirds of the way through it became clear it was set in 1980 - this is actually crucial to the plot as mobile phones weren't around then.
I am still progressing with Barchester Towers, which is excellent, as well as a couple of other books which I will write about on here when I have got a bit further into them.
The sheer spookiness of the whole thing with the letters coming apparently from the dead and later the ghosts at her elbow all the time is excellent. But I could have done without her ill treatment of her children. At times she went out of her way to be cruel to them even when they had done nothing wrong. Yes it gave evidence of her character and was similar to the treatment of her ancestors but the book would have been even better without it. To have shown her struggling with her urges but overcoming them would have been more telling in my opinion. There were times when I just wanted to get hold of her and shake her and tell her to get a grip and tidy and clean up the house instead of moping around, neglecting the children and regretting giving up her photography career.
It is a good book and I thought much of it excellently well done but the child abuse was just a step too far. I had thought it was set in the present when I first started reading it but about two thirds of the way through it became clear it was set in 1980 - this is actually crucial to the plot as mobile phones weren't around then.
I am still progressing with Barchester Towers, which is excellent, as well as a couple of other books which I will write about on here when I have got a bit further into them.
Thursday, 1 January 2009
It's 2009
The start of a New Year. It always feels a hopeful time to me. Whatever sort of mess I made of 2008 I can now move on and do better.
What do I want to achieve this year?
What do I want to achieve this year?
- A resolution to the job situation - the uncertainty has gone on long enough now (sine November 2006)
- Read lots more books
- Continue reading Anthony Trollope - over 100 pages into Barchester Towers now and thoroughly enjoying it
- Write more
- Try and update jillysheep every day
- Give the books to charity which I no longer want and which have not sold so far on eBay or Amazon. Things will feel less cluttered then.
- Enjoy life
Not really resolutions as such but things to bear in mind.
PS - Kilian, if you're reading this - I have joined the Trollope group on Yahoo but have not yet posted anything - thanks for the information and a Happy New Year
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