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Thursday, May 11th 2017

PINS!

You know what I don’t do much of? Live music, that’s what! And for no good reason, I like music and what not. So when a friend offered me a spare ticket to see PINS a few weeks ago, I took it! It came with the instruction ‘Don’t Google them!’ which I took to be because my friend feared that if I Googled them I wouldn’t like them and wouldn’t go, which was silly because they were really rather good!

There were two other bands playing too – Kyogen and Baby In Vain.

We missed a lot of Kyogen due to twatting about, but I loved what I did hear!

And Baby In Vain were fantastic!

They were playing at Headrow House, which is a bar and not an office block, despite that being what the name suggests. There’s a space upstairs for music which smelt vaguely of spunk and farts, though the latter dispersed so I think I’d just chosen an unfortunate moment to stand in that particular spot. The spunk, well, the audience was mostly middle aged men and the bands mostly attractive young women… maybe they’d really been looking forward to the gig?

Musical kisses, Stephanie xxx

Wednesday, April 5th 2017

Films I’ve Been Watching – Get Out

Oooh! This is a good one! Creepy! Creepy! Creepy!

It starts out totally uncreepy – young black guy going to meet his white girlfriend’s parents, cute dog, scary bit on the way, family (too?) friendly, black gardener and housekeeper veeeery weird, wankerish brother, big party, much oddness, funny friend, weird weird weird, Whaaaaattt??!! Oh Gosh!! Oh Gosh!! Get Out!!

Yeah, go and see this. Have two wees before it starts, not because it’s particularly long but the jumpy bits might lead to leakage if you’re a bit full.

Snack was rubbish though, Ashley’s Classic Fruit Jellies from Poundland, meh, not so good, odd texture. Spend a bit more and buy York Fruits (only £1.49 in Home Bargains!) No animal bits in either, so that’s good.

Creepy Kisses, Stephanie xxx

Sunday, March 12th 2017

Films I've Been Watching - Logan

This week’s Meerkat Movie was Logan! And the nibble was Nakd Cherry Raisins!

I’ve seen some of the other X-Men films and quite enjoyed them, so when Cinema Buddy suggested Logan I was up for that!

Logan was pretty good – I preferred the second half when things really got going, but Cinema Buddy liked the first half and found the second part slower. It was a long film which wouldn’t have suffered from shorter fight scenes. Have a wee first.

The film has a lot of gory fight scenes with people getting slashed and clawed in the head. I looked away for those bits; I’m not keen on gory bits.

There are also sad bits, you probably won’t cry but you might have an ‘awww’ moment.

And the film is a total set up for ‘X-Men TNG’!

I do recommend Logan, if you don’t mind gory stuff. Cherry flavoured raisins though are a bit pointless, just get raisin flavoured raisins, they’re fine.

Steph x

Monday, February 27th 2017

Everyday Adventures - Films I've Been Watching.

I don't often go to the cinema, well, I didn't until I got Meerkat Movies and those little meerkats started getting me and my cinema buddy in for half price and now I go every couple of weeks!

So far I have seen:

Manchester By The Sea - which is not about that Manchester which isn't by the sea, but some guy and his nephew, and it is really quite a lovely film with sad bits and sweet bits. It is loooong though, and quite slow moving, so make sure you go for a wee first.

Trainspotting 2 - good, but probably only if you've seen and enjoyed Trainspotting. I did so I enjoyed this sequel and now I want to hug Spud.

Hidden Figures - this was a hugely frustrating film, not because of the film itself, but because of the stuff in the film - how could such intelligent people think treating people like that was in any way logical? But it is also a great film, with humour, warmth and drama breaking up the sad bits. You go, those ladies!

What do you think I should see next?

Kisses and popcorn, Steph x

Saturday, February 18th 2017

Everyday Adventures - Smelly Sculpture

Finally! I made it to ‘City Sculpture Projects 1972‘ just before it closes! I’d not gone out of my way to visit as I’d been reliably informed that it was a bit rubbish, but yesterday I was running some errands and in no great rush so I popped into the Henry Moore Institute for a look. It was a bit rubbish, but it smelled wonderful!

The smelly sculpture is ‘Angle‘ by William Turnbull, a large steel piece of, well, angles. It smells of steel, the smell fills the whole room and it’s divine – if you like the smell of steel, which I do.

‘City Sculpture Projects 1972’ is only on until Sunday 19th February, so if you want to smell ‘Angle’ get there quick!

But… there is another exhibition in gallery 4 until 23rd April – ‘Form Has Behaviour’ by Roy Ascott, which has that delightful old wood smell, being mostly made of old wood. It is in a small gallery with a door so the scent envelopes you as you look at the pieces (you can also lean in close to get a sniff, I did and didn’t get chucked out and banned forever.)

That is what I did with my day off yesterday – lunch with friends, errands around town, sniffing art, touched up my roots. A productive day.

Sniffs and kisses, Stephanie xxx

Saturday, February 18th 2017

Dick is Dead – I Loved Dick :(

This is a sad blog, the frowny face should’ve been a clue that this is a sad blog.

Dick Bruna, the creator of Miffy and therefore the reason I am literate, has died. This has made me very sad. I got all teary. I love Miffy, Miffy books were my favourite when I was little, I have fond memories of searching through the children’s books at the library and the delight at finding a Miffy book.

Thank you, Dick, for Miffy, for making me smile, for helping me learn to read, and for giving me my love of books.

Sad bunny kisses, Stephanie xxx

Friday, September 25th 2015

Spanish Word Of The Day

I need to remember today’s word because today’s word is one of my favourite fruits:

frambuesa raspberry

Oh yeah! Gonna go to Spain and gonna eat all those frambuesas! Aaaall the frambuesas!

Spanish eating is gooood! Eating anywhere is pretty good, but Spanish eating is particularly good. Here are the things I like to eat in Spain:

frambuesas
aceitunas
aguacates
tomates
pepinos
plátanos… todo tipo de frutas y verduras, soy vegana!

Sitting outside, eating delicious salads and gazpacho, watching the world go by while sipping a refreshing tinto de verano (red wine and some sort of fizzy stuff, like a red wine spritzer, only Spanish)... what a lovely life!

Besos, Stephanie xxx

Thursday, September 10th 2015

Spanish Word Of The Day

Today's Spanish word is

tecolote owl

but that's only in Mexico and thereabouts.

Elsewhere, owls are lechuza (barn owl), mochuelo (little owl), búho (long-eared owl) or cárabo (tawny owl). The Spanish are very precise with their owls. I like owls. They are both vicious killers and cuddly cute squishy things I want to pet and love. Sort of like cats that fly.

These are not only words for owls though! Búho can also be used to describe a reclusive person, and tecalote is a slang term for a police officer!

That's a lot of words and a lot of ways to use those words!

Besos, Stephanie xxx

Wednesday, September 9th 2015

Word Of The Day - Spanish Edition!

Know how I learn Spanish for a bit, then stop, forget most of what I learnt, then start all over again? Yeah, let’s do that again! And to help, we'll do Word Of The Day in Spanish!

So, I've chosen a random page of my Spanish dictionary, and we are on the ‘y’ page. There’s only one page for ‘y’, not a lot of Spanish words begin with ‘y’.

yacer to lie

Hm, now is that to lie down, or to tell a lie? How about I look up a synonym of ‘lie’ in the English section of the dictionary and see if it translates as ‘yacer’…

fib mentirilla

Oh, that hasn’t helped, maybe ‘yacer’ is ‘to lie down’…

lie (rest) estar echado, estar acostado; (of an object:be situated) estar, encontrarse; (tell lies) mentir, n mentira…

So what the frick does yacer mean?! Surely the internet can tell me?

Yup, ‘lie’ as in lie, lying all around, not the telling of untruths type of ‘lie’… so why not tell me that, Collins Pocket Spanish Dictionary?? Can I believe anything you tell me now? No digas mentiras!

Besos, Stephanie xxx

Friday, August 21st 2015

Don't Panic!

Look what I bought me! A Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy 'Don't Panic' bracelet! Isn't it great?

I frequently tell myself ‘Don’t Panic’ when things seem to be going a little awry – panicking fixes nothing – but now I don’t have to tell myself anything! It’s right there on my wrist! ‘Don’t Panic’. Ok, I won’t. I am calm Stephie who can deal with all situations. Mostly by walking away from them. What? Ignoring is a form of dealing…

Not panicking, even if the planet has just been destroyed and I'm about to be thrown out of an airlock by Vogons, Stephanie xxx

Wednesday, August 19th 2015

Souper blog!

Points if you got the Dwarf reference, but this isn’t gazpacho, I can’t make a decent gazpacho, I’ve tried but it comes out as wet salad…

Today’s soup is Creamy Pea! Creamy pea soup is lovely and this is how I make it:

Chop up an onion and a little garlic (I use the frozen garlic puree, just a smidgen).

Sautee the onion and smidgen of garlic in a big pan with a teeny bit of margarine and oil.

Add a tablespoon of flour (I use gluten free and it’s fine), stir and cook for another minute or so.

Make up 1 litre of veg stock and add it sloooowly to the floury onions, stirring as you do so.

Add 200g of frozen peas, bring to the boil and then simmer for five minutesish.

Put a teaspoon of cornflour into a measuring jug, mix with a little soya milk and make up to 100ml.

Add the cornflour soya milk mix to the soup and reheat.

Remove from the heat, season, blend, and scoff!

That’s creamy pea soup and it’s rather delicious. I use non dairy margarine and milk because vegan but it may well work with dairy, can’t see why not. The measurements I’ve used give two me sized portions – I eat a lot. The original recipe was probably ‘serves four’ but stuff that.

But, wait! That’s not all I ate for lunch, no! I also made cashew cheese! Chashew cheese? What’s cashew cheese? Well, it’s a thing that I’ve been seeing on various vegan recipe blogs recently and I decided to try making it today, but I didn’t follow any recipe, I did stuff I remembered from various recipes and then I made it Much Better. Here’s how:

Overnight I soaked all the cashews I had – I don’t know how many, 100g, about a cup… maybe? Some cashews.

This morning I drained them and kept the liquid.

To the cashews I added a big scoop of nutritional yeast flakes, a bit of mustard powder, a little lemon juice, a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, a smidgen of garlic puree and some black pepper.

I whizzed all this up with some of the cashew liquid until it was something like cream cheese.

Then I ate it on corncakes with my soup. Corncakes are like ricecakes but made of corn not rice. They are crunchier and less like polystyrene than ricecakes.

It was ok, quite nice, but it could be better…. so I made it better… I FIXED IT WITH MARMITE!! I added a little bit of Marmite to the remaining cashew cheese and blended it again. Then I scoffed it on more corncakes and it was Much Better. Marmite fixes everything.

Marmite Cashew Cheese is good, but it’s not cheese. This is where many people have problems with cheese substitutes – they expect them to be very much like cheese, which they are not. They are more things which can be used where cheese could be used. So, a soft spread on a crunchy thing is nice. Cashew cheese on corncakes is nice, cream cheese on corncakes would also be nice if you eat that sort of thing, they are both nice but different things, see? The benefit of something like this over shop bought cheese substitutes is that the shop bought is full of strange things that aim to make it cheese like, and fail to do so. I’m trying to eat less of such things, so I’ll be making more of this!

Creamy cashew kisses, Stephanie xxx

Tuesday, August 18th 2015

Everyday Adventures - Edible Sculpture

Adventures! Adventures! I went on an adventure! A sculptural adventure to see the Paul Neagu: Palpable Sculpture exhibit at the Henry Moore Institute (on until 8th November ’15).

I was a little unsure about this at first. Lots of sketches, mostly of people, and a video of the artist doing something I wasn’t sure what with people sitting around. But then I realised that the thing the artist was doing was making a man from bits of cake! A cake man! A! Cake! Man! And the people sitting around were waiting to eat bits of the cake man! I liked the cake man, mostly the idea of a cake man, the original cake man was made in 1971 so he’ll have gone stale by now.

After cake man the exhibit descended into stuff in boxes, Mr Neagu has a thing for boxes, boxes and pockets. I liked some of the boxes: Human Gamba, Palpable Object -which looks like a spine; and Untitled – which is a box with panels like a tryptych, the middle one all divided up into tiny boxes each with gold mosaic tiles in them. There was also a piece that smelled musty and old in a comforting sort of way, I think that was Platform for Duchamp.

I liked the pockets too, sort of. The pocket thing is a sort of overall covered in tiny pockets, each with a piece if paper in it. It amused me to imagine someone getting on a bus wearing the pocket thing and then trying to find their ticket. Other passengers may have been less amused.

So, that is Palpable (and occasionally edible) Sculpture. Overall, I enjoyed it, not the wow most mind blowing sculpture ever, but there were pieces I enjoyed and it made me think, if only of annoying people on buses and how great cake is. I’ll give it a four out of ten and think that’s a bit harsh but it wasn’t a five because that’s almost a six and it definitely wasn’t a six so four it will have to be. And then I went to the pub.

Palpable kisses, Stephanie xxx

Saturday, February 14th 2015

Everyday Adventures - Trains!

Having some time to kill in York recently I popped into the Tourist Information to find something to do that isn’t walking around the Shambles, because that is nice but it’s been done every time I’ve been to York ever. Now, York Tourist Information is so packed with leaflets you could spend an afternoon in there reading them all, or you could ask the nice lady what there is is to do for a couple of hours that isn’t too expensive because you’ve just spent all your money on cake, and she will tell you that the National Railway Museum is free and you can’t get much cheaper than that so off you toddle to look at some trains.

It should be quite clear that I am not a small boy (if it is not clear I suggest you have a look at my profile, that lady in her underwear, that’s me) and so have no particular interest in trains. But, the Railway Museum is great! There are lots of trains, as you would expect, many of them quite fancy, like the Queen’s old trains fancy. These trains have sitting rooms and bedrooms and toilets that you’d happily use without even first considering if wetting yourself would really be all that bad, and not only toilets but actual baths! That’s fancy.

There is an arty bit too, and I like arty bits. It’s about train spotting and there are films of trains and one train is really long and very peaceful to sit and watch; I can understand why people like to watch trains.

And there are some very old trains, and some not so old trains, and a Chinese train, and a Japanese bullet train that I know all about from a conversation I once had with a small boy. And I saw the turntable work turning an engine right around.

There are model railways too, which I like not so much for the trains but for the tiny towns they run through, tiny stuff is great.

Weirdly there are also stacks and stacks of not exhibits which you can wander through – signs and crockery and models of things and a surprise horse, I was not expecting to find a horse, and badges and hats and stuff.

I think that’s it, apart from the gift shop and the Thomas The Tank Engine which I think was one of those you put money in and it amuses a child for two minutes then you have to put your life savings in or the child will cry for the rest of the day which you don’t want if you are the person looking after the child that day. The gift shop is not the best bit of the museum which shows how good the museum is.

So, in conclusion, the National Railway Museum is fantastic, even if you aren’t all that into trains! It is very close to York railway station and entry is free (£3 donation suggested, which is well earned!). A totally Stephie Approved day out.

‘Stephie Approved’ is now a thing.

Stephie x

Tuesday, May 6th 2014

All Change - New Location And A Whole Year Older!

Moving to my new apartment took a lot longer than I had expected, but it is all sorted now! I’m based a little further out of the city centre, though still within walking distance – about 15 minutes to the bus station and 25 minutes to the railway station. There is some on street parking, though spaces are limited, but I’m only a ten minute walk from the large multi-storey at Clarence Dock.

My new apartment is much more pleasant than the old one, which had been totally taken over by the mould and damp by the time I left! This apartment is a little smaller, but in a far nicer block. I’ve been able to personalise it too, so be warned – it is rather girly! The building is still discreet; it’s a large apartment block so no one will be taking much notice of who you are visiting as long as you behave discreetly yourself.

And I’m older! I’ve had a birthday – the big one – I’m 40! Being 40 feels a lot like being 39, which feels a lot like being 19, though, sadly, somewhat less perky. I had a lovely birthday with friends, much wine was drunk and much silliness was had. And I’m looking forward to meeting all those gentlemen who only look for ladies aged 40+… here I am, guys!

Now, time to epilate my legs, give myself a pedicure, manicure my nails, and generally do some prettification ready to get back in action!

Birthday Kisses, Stephanie xxx