Easter time is here!

I know I have been a bit keen on my house-blogging recently... Please forgive me for yet another post. Just wanted to show you a couple of things! Yesterday I finally finished the bedroom, and we could sleep in peace in there (except I was washing the linen, so we ended up in sleeping bags. note to self: save up for some more linen.).

Exhibit 1:
Bedroom





















Exhibit 2:
The man's new herb garden

(He has decided to start a better life which he rightly thinks involves fresh herbs on anything. I mean fresh basil on EVERYTHING. He would probably put it on porridge if it wasn't for the fact that he doesn't like porridge.)


Exhibit 3
Neverending Decemberists Love

I got these posters last summer at End of the Road Festival, a wonderful folk festival in Dorset. The Decemberists were unfortunately not playing there (but several other of our favourites were, including the Mountain Goats), but for some reason they were selling these great hand printed posters. They are now adorning the wall above our tiny dining table.


Exhibit 4
Going on holiday!

Finally, I am going to Italy! I am very excited because I've never been there before, and also because it is kind of mandatory for an architect to go to Florence at some point. We leave on Friday and I can't wait! (Our last holiday was more than a year and a half ago, so about time!)


I hope you all have wonderful easter holidays!
Much love from sunny London

Recent Things of Interest

Finally a little sign of life from me on the blog.
Seeing as I have been quite caught up in holidaying, reading for exams and trying to finish various academic tasks, I haven't really had time to do very much else of interest. However, I am a big believer in the need for a little break now and then, so one day I ventured down to a second hand bookshop just off Otago Street in Glasgow, and snapped up these books for an impressively tiny price:



Not only do I look forward to reading these books, but also I can't wait to put them up in mine and Anthony's flat in London! We have struck a deal: he makes shelves and I put books on them. I love books! Good both for the mind and the eye, I'd say.
Also good on the eye is this lovely hook (hook??? help me out here, Shane) that Anthony gave me one day:



I haven't put it on the wall here in Glasgow; I am saving it for London, seeing as I only have about 2 months left here.
I can't wait to get down there! Our hope is to get a flat close to Broadway Market in Hackney - which brings me neatly to my next point: I picked up this book one day before easter, from a bookshop in said market, because it was a sunny day, Ant was at work, and I wanted to sit in the sun with a book:



I picked it up not really knowing what it was, but it turned out to be a delightfully insightful novel about people, how they interact, why they act the way they do, what they think, what MAKES them. I found it very thought provoking, and it is hereby recommended to all of you readers.

The sun doesn't only shine on London though, even Glasgow has been blessed with some uplifting sunshine lately. My next post might just be a little photographic story from sunny G. Till then, au revoir!

One Hundred and One Cookbooks

Friends,

I wanted to write a quick post to introduce you to a great source of joy in my life these days, 101cookbooks.com. After our beautiful night of stuffed peppers back in Glasgow in June, I know you will appreciate it! I'm starting to worry that I'm going to fail school because I like cooking so much. I just can't stop! Today I made chili, cornbread, and eggplant hummus. Yummy. I also went on a bike ride, and read the newspaper. Now, I guess it is time for homework.

But first, here are a few recent favorites from 101 cookbooks!

Beluga Lentil Crostini
Now, I don't know what the heck a beluga lentil is, but I did have the tail end of a batch of French blue lentils that I'd originally cooked up with onions, garlic, tomatoes, and cardamom sitting bored in the fridge, bemoaning me to do something with it. My friend Annie was having a last-night-in-America potluck, so I bought a loaf of bread, cut it into little slices which I then burned terribly, scraped the burnt bits off and put goat cheese and lentils on top, as inspired by this recipe. Both delicious and portable!

Curried Pumpkin Seeds
Okay, so I shouldn't need a website to tell me to toast pumpkin seeds. But it had never occurred to me to do it with curry, and it turned out deliciously! I actually used the seeds of butternut and acorn squash, but it's all in the same family.

Farro and Roasted Butternut Squash
I used whole wheat instead of farro, and, for lack of time, cooked the butternut squash, garlic, and onions in the wok instead of in the oven, and I was thoroughly pleased with the results! Raia and I often have huge containers of things in the fridge, and you've never seen us go through one so quickly. This is quite possibly my favorite recipe out of all of them, which is saying a lot!

Cabbage Soup
The thought of cabbage in soup made me shudder, too, but I'd had such luck with the last recipe that I thought I'd just try it. Plus, I had a huge cabbage from my CSA and I didn't know what to do with it! It turned out to be quite yummy and nourishing, perfect for the sicky I was last week. I think the most important thing is to not put the cabbage in until the very end, and the texture is actually very nice!

Thai Spiced Pumpkin Soup
My christening of my blender, just the other day! I don't have any of this Thai red curry paste, but I put in chilli paste, chilli powder, and paprika-seasoned salt instead, and I thought it was extremely good. Raia and our friend Brett and I ate this along with apple-radish salad and spiced cider, and then we really knew that fall was here!

Well, today I was cooking from imagination, but my next plan is Pepita Salad. 'Tis the season! What are you guys cooking these days?

Book

I decided to write a book, mostly for therapeutic reasons, but maybe one day it'll be a book.
Much love

Travel Guides for the Lost!

Once upon a time, Sofie and I dreamed of creating our own guide to India. We wrote it on notebook paper in Varanasi, beginning, most logically, with Paud.
Now, as I have told Else on Skype today, a friend of my dear friend Emily is going to spend next year in Pune! So I have excitedly scribbled this out for her:

pune - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: pune

It's a little unclear, because such is my spatial awareness and memory, but it was so fun and I thought maybe it would be fun for you guys to see it! Additions? Corrections?

Book Club?

Hello dear girls, I cannot believe I am only 20 days from seeing the two of you.
I was just browsing through the blog and I came across a blog post where Else suggested reading the same books, and I was wondering if we should start it now, and what books you guys suggest...

I hand in my project on monday, cannot wait.
More pictures will come, although most of my drawings are done by hand, so the ones uploaded will inevitably be slightly more lacking in personality, feel and tactility.

the glory of the story

I think most of us in the prosess of growing older gradually uncounsciously supress the creative part of our intellect. Meaning that we don't use the ability to make up stories as much as we did as children. I've started working as a substitute kindergarden assistent! It's stressful and tiresome but gives so much energy at the same time. And the other day when I was there I became aware of how the children constantly made up random little stories with no connection to reality. Do you make up stories? Should we write some stories on the blog?