Nudity/Similarity

There was always one tree I admired.
Each year, before Autumn had even hinted at its approach, it burnt itself a mask. Rich crimson red.
As soon as the others would attempt to copy the vibrant tones, it would shed its coat, preferring nudity, to similarity.

Fishing tackle photo hooks

Sick of having my carefully considered, very expensive film photographs shoved into drawers, and being particularly lacking in wall space, I was a little stuck for how I was to display my masterpieces...
Here's how I solved that problem. It hurt. But it looks super pretty.

Our new desk space fills us with unease...

The repeated tapping of keyboard keys reverberate against my eardrums, at increasing speed and intensity. The less chatter that permeates the air, the more I can hear the lamentation of hard work from across the office. The harder they work, the less I concentrate, til all I can hear is the hum of a thousand tapping keys.

I procrastinate.

Escaping London - To London

The sun came out! THE SUN CAME OUT! On a bank holiday too!
So we explored.
I live fairly close to central London, so the grey drag of the city can start to suffocate at times, regardless of how pretty the locality of my house is.
This is a little post of the discoveries we made on a wander up to Hampstead Heath, to cure our hangovers this bank holiday monday.

I've often said that the best hangover cure is to not get hungover in the first place.
That being said, when you're presented with a night of live blues music, dancing and rum, with a couple of free hats thrown in for good measure, it's not going to be that easy to avoid.
So this bank holiday weekend, we headed to Blues Kitchen in Shoreditch, and had a generally bloody brilliant night.

See, free hats! And live blues! Also the drinks weren't too expensive, with a double coming in at £7 - not expensive by London standards at all. I'd recommend it as a night for those who aren't into going out clubbing to music that'll leave your ears ringing with phantom bass for days after. We will definitely be back there.

But that isn't what this post is about. Here are all the lovely places we found on Hampstead Heath, there was a zoo to ogle at animals in, some giant metal dinosaurs for no apparent reason, and lots of sunshine and beautiful green open space. And mud. And a pergola... which was a great find.

By the end of our adventure we'd soaked up enough sunshine and consumed enough ice cream (sorbet for me, so refreshing) to feel like normal human beings again and really enjoy our day!

Not having a map and just strolling up there really felt like the best way to approach it, we didn't have a clue where anything was and it made everything we stumbled across feel like such a discovery.

There are so many places in London that are just so beautiful, that people don't even give the time of day to. You don't need to go far to find something new - just go for a wander!

Pub lunch - via the bakery

Life of late seems to be an alcohol fuelled maelstrom of nights out and foggy-headed mornings.
I am setting about to change this... So finding reasons to avoid the pub at lunch is starting to become my favourite pastime. Here's my favourite one of late:

They don't sell Biskies in the pub.

These things are biskies. They're the brainchild of the founders of 'Cutter and Squidge', lovers of natural ingredients and new owners of a pop up in Soho. Dangerous. 

They come in a smorgasbord of different flavours, from the classic chocolate cookie, to the more inventive - pistachio and berry, and apple crumble to name just a couple. 

But what are they?! Delicious, is one answer. But what they're made of, is sort of a sugar cookie style biscuit, sandwiching a light, airy flavoured buttercream centre - made with half the amount of sugar as normal buttercream.

The result, all in all, is pretty mind blowing. I had the salted caramel one, and the facial expressions I was giving off whilst eating it were just expressive enough of my pleasure that HR nearly got involved. The natural ingredients and reduced sugar in the cream make them a much less decadent treat than they would first appear, which is good, as baked goods often leave a furry mouth and a sad stomach for me. 

The Cutter and Squidge pop up in Soho doesn't look like it'll be leaving any time soon, so I do recommend anyone passing to have a look, if not a try. Not only do they sell biskies, but a whole host of other cakes too, each of them a work of art in their own right. I'm sorry I don't have any photos of them, I was too excited by my own purchases.
The cafe looks like a very cute place to sit and have coffee and cake too, so give it a go, it's probably less damaging than a pint!

Plan your paint before it's permanent.

Decisions, decisions.

Wayuls.

Taken on the Sony Xperia Z3 compact.

Word of the day

Boondogge
Work of little or no value, done to appear busy.

Onomatopoeic in this post.

Ikea hack: Picture Board

Recently I moved home, and in doing so, realised that I'm a hoarder. I have stupendous amounts of pretty things squirrelled away in drawers and cupboards - It was time to do something about this.
So, I constructed a... thing?... that would display them in all their emotional glory.
Okay, so only emotional to me. But still glorious to anyone else.

This is super simple - The frame is from IKEA, as is the material on the back of the frame. The fabric dept in IKEA sell offcuts of their materials for about five quid for a huge sheet, I chose this one as the colours go with my room brilliantly, and I enjoyed that it made the frame look like a little indoor window. The supports across the frame are simply branches, it was nice to bring a little nature inside.

To construct I just removed the back of the frame, and the glass, sealed in the treated branches with black silicon sealant, glued the material to the back of the frame and nailed it in for security. It didn't feel that simple when I was doing it, and I definitely nearly glued the whole thing to the floor, but the actual process as a whole wasn't too arduous. It helped having the moral support and unmatched logical advice of my two housemates, sat in my bed in their pyjamas watching me as I constructed it, of course... 

The patterned clips I used to attach my images are from Tiger - If you've never experienced a Tiger store, find one. They're full of pointless items that you'll never need, but you'll want all of it, and it's super cheap.

So there you have it - My Sunday afternoon activity... Not difficult, but highly rewarding, creating something unique for my wall with nothing but an old frame and some cheap material!

Keeping an eye out for other IKEA hacks to try out, as this was actually really enjoyable to see completed. Watch this space!

Word of the day

Petrichor
A smell that you notice after the rain.
Particularly notable on a hot day.

Somebody get me one of these bags.

Fashion designer Lemaire had these leather boob bags as a not-so-subtle little touch at Paris Fashion Week... I definitely want one. They're totally ridiculous, and may fill me with feelings of inadequacy every single day.

Ping [App Review]

‘You’re going to like me.’

Now, when I read that sentence, I don’t know what me is. But me holds a lot of promise, so I’ll probably give it a go. This statement is the only explanation we’re given by app developers ‘Secret, Inc.’ – About their new(ish) app Ping. So with my intrigue piqued, I give it a download.

Upon launch, I’m immediately impressed by the monochromatic, minimalist style of it. 

Although, simplicity on the eye doesn’t always translate to simplicity of use, and it takes some wild thumb stabbing before I realise that I should probably press the dot in the middle of the screen.

Maybe I’m just a bit slow.

I’m instructed on the following screen (that I’m led to through the slightly disarming instruction of ‘touch me’) to jab at the things that interest me. 

To the joy of the designer in me, each of the options I choose light up a pretty colour, and every time I touch the screen, the colours change. Very exciting. It’s little touches (pun not intended) like this that amaze me in an app, it doesn’t have to be all singing all dancing… just nice. Oh, and I still don’t know what me is.

Once I’ve told it what I like in life, I hope that I’m presented with something that blows my tiny mind… What actually follows is this:

Oh.

But, you know what, it’s right. I do like this, but I don’t really know why. It slowly feeds me content to engage my brain and amuse my eyes throughout the day, in a really sweet, friendly manner. It really is just a bit of what I like. It doesn’t bombard you, and the slow trickle of information provided is just enough to make having a phone that bit more interesting.

So if you’ve got a spare bit of space on your phone, and want casual distractions throughout the day for no particular purpose other than to amuse you, this is one to download. Oh, and one of the options is to get occasional anonymous secrets from their original app ‘Secrets’, which are generally pretty amusing… Review on that one to follow...

Plenty more fish in the Tinder

What you are about to witness is a rant about dating, from somebody who is pretty new to the game, and already pretty bitter and twisted about it.

First of all, dating is everything rubbish about conversation.  You're forced to sit across from somebody in a desperate sort of interview situation, trying to sell a version of yourselves you think the self assured creature sat opposite you will find sexually appealing, or at least want to spend time with.
You know nothing about this person. If it isn't somebody you're already familiar with, the night must begin with a lubrication of the social skills through alcohol, until you both feel none-awkward enough to discuss some actual interests you have put the feelers out on, that they might share.  Quick Game of Thrones reference. Confession to a Battle.Net account. Commonly, they don't, and they're judging you. Or you're judging them. The first drink, it's always, all about the judgement.
They can sense your nerves, They can tell that you're not being yourself, you grasp at conversation with sweaty palms that just slip away at the threads of something that they might have deemed interesting, but you never paid enough attention to know the details, or understand the underlying jokes. They're learning that you're easily bored, lack commitment and aren't really as interesting as your friends, or Tinder, or whatever app or channel might have suggested.  

You make your excuses about needing an early night, even though your stories and attitude scream out 'irresponsible school night drinker', the lie fixes and you head home, five drinks later. Somewhere in the darkness of an almost drunken haze, they'll always make a lunge for your face, or offer for you to come back to theirs - That's a joke right? The awkward dodge into a hug, and the polite decline have become an artform in a world full of beautiful, disinteresting creatures.

Men fear the friendzone - Trust me. It's the least dangerous place to be. Friends, are awesome, and enjoyable people that girls love spending time with. Dates, are boring, and eventually you realise that nobody is really as unique as they think they are, and they all have the same goals, dreams and 'interests'. You don't travel - You've been on holidays. Yes, you cook, so do I, we all have to cook or we'll starve to death.

Stop trying to impress each other world. Let's be honest and tell each other how truly dull and human we all are, and stop trying to sell each other sexual caricatures of our actual selves.

Bloglovin'

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Apparently this is how I activate my blog on a pretty decent website that Lisa told me about. It's mostly so that I can peruse other people's blogs and see what's going down in blogland. But it's nice to be on there. It's called Bloglovin', if that helps. Sorry that this is a very pointless post.

Today's finds

Two things that I found whilst perusing the internet today, that I feel the world should see:

Excellent little video of the most beautiful, precise projection mapping I've ever seen.



And a brilliantly crafted animation, done to some kick-ass music, of some really innovative typography. Lots of my favourite things rolled into one.


Textures from We are Maniacs on Vimeo.

A meander through beaten tracks

Our mission for the morning for new year's eve was to find our way to Somerset House, and the Guy Bourdin exhibition. For those of you unfamiliar with his name, Guy Bourdin 'Image maker' was a film fashion and advertising photographer, for Vogue etc in the late 70s and 80s.

He strayed away from traditional imagery and created obscure, challenging pictures that disturbed and delighted the viewer by breaking down visual expectations.
He was also the only photographer, besides Helmut Newton, that had total creative control of his images when they went to print at Vogue, right down to the crop dimensions.
But that's enough about the feller, if you want to find out more, there's a whole exhibition of his work just dying to be seen by you. It's one of the better value exhibitions I've been to, at £9 for adults and £7 for concessions, with a large range of his work and background information, giving a greater context to his images. Otherwise, I would've thought he was a bit more raw than he was, as is the style of his photography. You have no idea how much work went into his images, it's all incredibly carefully planned out.

Here are my favourite bits and pieces from there, I was careful not to take too many photos as I wanted to actually take in the information in front of me. Also it really aggravates me when people gaze at what's in front of them through their smartphones, it all gets a bit Black Mirror for my liking.

This one in particular caught my attention, as at first I thought it was an image of burns victims - so naturally it drew my darker interests in, as I wanted to know why... On further inspection of the image, I discovered that this, on first appearances destructive bit of imagery, was in fact two people totally encrusted in black and red gems. It's actually quite beautiful. You can also see through the annotations above and the image below, the difference a crop can make. Bourdin was into the square frame before the world had even thought the word Instagram.

The below image is just great, I love it. Alongside this one was a whole range of contact sheets and different shots, actually dozens of different processes and compositions of exactly the same thing. Guy Bourdin's perfectionism was admirable.

However, as with all great adventures, the most exciting parts came when we strayed from our original path. 

We chose not to navigate our way to Somerset house too accurately, opting instead for our built in senses of direction. As it turns out this is a sense that is as lacking in both of us. We did, whilst lightly lost, manage to find quite an interesting exhibition in Korean silversmithing. Yeah. You read that right.
It would've been pretty average. It would've been pretty tame, and filled with pretty, slightly interesting stuff like this:

Double sided drinking goblets.

The fake smile scarf 'To symbolise the oppression of the minimum wage worker'... Heavy.

But the Koreans are an oppressed race so naturally there had to be one letting out years of severe emotional beating, and trauma. Thankfully, we gave the exhibition our full attention, and look how delighted Lisa was when we discovered the final hidden cabinet in a little alcove where nobody should ever have found it:

This was twisted, and brilliant, and I want it all.

This girl's whole deal was that she sliced up children's toys and reformed them into hybrids, casting some parts in silver. There's more images on Lisa's blog, I was too transfixed by the insanity of it all to properly hold my camera without shaking from laughing. Oh, and the exhibition was free. Look for it, just for this, they're so good.

This blog post has not been in chronological order, so I'll tell you briefly about the last visit we made after the Guy Bourdin, to another exhibition in Somerset house called 'The Unseen Emporium'. It was very hidden away, and difficult to find (hardly ironic, but almost there), and it was a small shop selling products that had been treated to react to light, heat, air pressure... So there were quills that turned from black to vivid green the more elaborately you wrote, and clothing that would absorb light throughout the day so that at the end of the day you'd be wearing a totally different colour to the one you started the day in. 

I think the word amazing is completely overused. But this was, truly, amazing. I recommend it highly. It's just a shame all their branding and messaging is so full of meaningless drivel. Seriously. What does this even mean:

I am pretty resistant to bullshit at the best of times and this really did rub me up the wrong way. But if you can see past this rubbish... It really is worth having a look at. 

And if anyone wants to buy me one of their candles, it's pretty high up on the wish list right now...

So there you have it. There's plenty to discover in London if you don't know where to look.

After this point we went to the pub. It was new year's eve. We're not that civilised. 

Smokin'

These bad boys made their way into my life over the Christmas period, thanks to my family being fully aware of my leanings towards intense flavours and alternative cooking methods.  I'd never cooked smoked food before, so being the risk taker I am (I do live life on the edge. Entertaining people at dinner without first trialling the recipe is completely insane), the decision was made to smoke up some meats on Saturday night.  One of the friends I had over used to work in an American style smokehouse with me, so it only seemed right.

I won't bother giving you a full on recipe breakdown, as you can literally throw anything into these and it'll taste delicious. My personal choice was chicken thighs wrapped in bacon - I find that chicken thighs are a tastier, more tender cut than breast, and bacon just makes everything better.

The smoking wraps were actually incredibly easy to use, if a little alarming. They were essentially just very thin strips of wood that you wrapped your food in, after soaking them for five minutes or so. I assume the moisture is key to unlocking the flavours within the oven.  It was a little disconcerting that the instructions on the pack told you to keep a spray bottle on hand though... I did spend the full 40 minutes of cooking time very on edge, aware that my oven could combust at any second. It gave my guests great pleasure to see me so concerned.

I served it all up with roast carrots, butternut squash and sweet potato. A delectable orange feast. The key to crispy sweet potato fries by the way, is to soak the fries for half an hour or so before you roast them. Cheeky little tip for you that might just help you in life. Also, if that fails, chuck a little dusting of parmesan on for the last ten minutes of cooking, and let them cool slightly before you serve them. Perfect.

Oh and one last thing. The smoking wraps are very exciting on a plate. Clearly my vegetables aren't, 'cause they were just a side thought really... Just remember to leave a really sharp knife on the table.

If you do want to give these a bash, they can be found at Whole Foods, or if you're not as posh in your location, give a Google to the brand on the picture above and I'm sure you'll find a stockist.

Next on my mission list is earl grey smoked fish, 'cause apparently it'll ruin all other food for me forever. I do feel like that one will just burst into flames though. Wish me luck.