being jules

Grateful Friday

2009-02-06T19:11:00.002Z

It really is winter in London. This week saw the worst snow for two decades, transport chaos, wartime camaraderie and even igloos being built in London parks. The snow is almost gone, a few slushy piles of ice are all that remain, and I am grateful for:

1. The excitement of awaking to a snow-covered street outside, and the gentle trudge in wellies through fresh, powdery snow on Monday.

2. Cycling over sheets of ice covering the road that break and splinter as my tyres move over it.

3. Eating winter food. Pies and roast chicken and soup and wedges of cheese. Yum.

Grateful Friday

2009-01-30T16:25:00.002Z

I haven't posted for a while. Sometimes life gets busy; sometimes I have little to say. Both are true this week, but I am still grateful for:

1. Pu'erh tea recommended by a friend and quite possibly a new favourite. Pu'erh is fermented tea that improves with age. I'm currently drinking organic five-year-old pu'erh from China (obviously!) and it's delicious. It makes a reddish liquid and tastes a bit smoky.

2. A morning cycling through West London tomorrow. I have promised myself a good two hours in a bookshop, long overdue, and I can't wait.

3. A good start to 2009. The end of 2008 was a little rocky and best forgotten. Fingers crossed, apart from one trip to A&E (not for me I hasten to add), the start to this year has been calm and full of quiet reflection.

4. Finding Happiness by Abbot Christopher Jamison. I would never usually pick up a book with such a title, believer as I am in the subjective nature of happiness. But, that's what this book is about, using the monastic traditions to explore the true nature of happiness - in the internal world, rather than looking to external circumstances to dictate contentment. It's one to savour and digest, rather than devour.

5. Dinner tomorrow evening with ten lovely people. I can't wait.

Liberty Covered Moleskine Diary

2009-01-03T17:34:00.004Z

I love my Moleskine diaries - they're just the right size. This year I was fed up of black though, and decided to cover my new one with Liberty fabric. This is an old Tana Lawn fabric that I really love. It was easy enough to do with textile glue, and I left it overnight between two books to make sure it had stuck properly.

Excuse the blurry photos - I hope you like it as much as I do.

To see what other (far more creative people than I) have done with their moleskines, click here.

Grateful Friday

2009-01-02T15:34:00.002Z

The first Grateful Friday of 2009! It's toasty warm, if horrendously dusty (building work) in my flat, so I have no idea of the weather outside... it looks cold though, cold enough to stay indoors and be grateful for:

1. The start of 2009 - for the first time in my life I was actually relieved that a year was over. Instead of being glad about the end of one year, I'm going to be pleasantly anticipating this new one. Here's to a better 2009!

2. A surprise trip this weekend - to visit a friend whom I haven't seen for too long. It's her birthday and I'm going to make her a Santiago Lemon Torte, lush!

3. A whole wheel of cheese! Two extremely kind friends donated half of their Stilton to my NYE dinner party. Three days and a lot of digging and eating later, it still looks the same size as it did when I opened it... It's about as big as a dinner plate and about four inches tall, that's a lot of cheese. I don't even like Stilton, it's too rich for me, but this one is organic and creamy and rich and tangy. I love it, especially with a glass of Port.

4. The satisfaction I know will be mine when I finally finish my tax return... I hate these things. Why oh why can't I start it earlier and avoid the nightmares?

5. Cycling 2009 - I'm going to cycle lots this year, even if it's cold, I have neglected Mabel of late and she is sad and pathetic chained outside to a railing, I promise to get her out more this year.

2009 - The Simple Life

2008-12-31T12:45:00.003Z

I don't know about you, but simplicity is not something that I manage to experience very often in the way I live my life. I came across this poster from Ready Made and it made me think. The dynamo lights on the bike in the drawing are almost the same as those on my Dutch bike. They never need batteries and I am always able to cycle home in the dark, even if I have forgotten my LED lights. Maybe living simply is about removing the need to remember so many things, like bike lights, and just getting on with living. If there were more room in my head for the importan things in life, perhaps I would be happier. I'll give it a go and let you know how I get on.

Christmas

2008-12-29T13:27:00.004Z

Christmas came and went this year in a frenzied blur. I was out of the country until mid-December and didn't feel remotely Christmasy at all, even after mulled wine and minced pies the last week in December. The lack of Christmas cheer made me feel sad, I used to love Christmas - the magical promise of life in twinkly lights against the darkness. Maybe next year will be different. It's hard to feel Christmasy walking along the top of the Andes in 18 degree sunshine in December, or while filling in a tax return at the kitchen table, or while the house is full of builders' dust and the Christmas tree is coating in a fine grey powder and the lights are only half visible. Next year there will be baking and trees and cinnamon muffins and presents and lights, lots of lights, and I will try to stop to take it all in.

Red onion & goats' cheese tart

2008-12-27T19:33:00.001Z

This is really easy and totally yummy... if your hands are cold enough to make pastry, then go for it, but if you can't be bothered to get flour everywhere then jus-rol is good enough I think!

1 roll puff pastry
3 large red onions, sliced
3 tbsps good balsamic vinegar
3 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
big knob of butter
150g soft goats cheese
1 egg, beaten with a dollop of cream
Two springs of fresh rosemary (optional)

Put the vinegar, oil, butter and onions into a thick-bottomed frying pan and leave on a low heat for half an hour. Stir every so often. The onions should caramalise and look a bit sticky... don't worry if some have a tinge of black around the edges. While they are cooking, prepare the pastry...

Roll out the pastry and then score a border around the edge about an inch from each side. Then prick the rest of it with a fork and bake at 200C for 10 minutes. Take it out and act all surprised that it has swelled up like a balloon and hit the top of the oven (optional). Bash down the pastry in the middle gently with a fish slice. Brush the edges with the egg/cream mixture and then put the rest in the middle of the pastry square.

When the onions are ready put them into the centre of the tart and spread over evenly. Then break up the goats' cheese and dollop it all over. If you are using the rosemary break it up and sprinkle on top of the tart before seasoning with salt and pepper and baking in the oven at the same temperature for another 25 minutes or so.

It's great as a starter with some mild leaves and a basic dressing.

I did actually get around to making one of these over Christmas, but the photos didn't come out, so you'll have to take my word for it that it looks and tastes delicious.

An attempt to not be like the town mouse

2008-12-23T13:49:00.003Z

When I was a child one of my favourite books was The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, which is based on one of Aesop's Fables. In the story the two mice are cousins and they go to visit each other in the town and country respectively. Each struggles to understand the way the other lives his life - the town mouse turns up his nose at the country mouse's simple food, and the country mouse is scared to be in a big house with the 'music' of barking dogs accompanying quince jelly at dinner. My childhood version of the story ends with the mice resolving their difficulties, understanding each other and living happily ever after, but Aesop's is (unsurprisingly) less cheery - the country mouse runs out of his cousin's town house shouting, 'Better beans and bacon in peace than cakes and ale in fear', and that is the end of that.

As I arrived at a cold, damp station platform today I could see mist blowing through the darkness alongside the train. The night sky was so much darker than I remembered, there is dark in the city and dark in the country, and they are so different as to be almost unrelated. As we sped through windy lanes towards my parents' house the trees stood black against the pink-black sky, and I thought I had come to the end of the earth. I'm a city girl and the country always shocks me at first. A pine cone splutters to light in the fireplace and the fusty smell of woodsmoke engulfs the air around us, I reach for a glass of port and try to relax, I'm not doing a good job of it so far, but unlike the country mouse I hope to settle in and not run out in fear, shouting 'Get me to the city!' I can try anyway.

The Modern Restaurant, New York - A Lesson In Perspective

2008-12-21T15:45:00.001Z

On a trip to NYC earlier this month we were lucky enough to have dinner at The Modern, one of the restaurants at the Museum of Modern Art. Everything about it basks in glorious modern design, jst as the museum does, without being overdone. The chef, Gabriel Kreuther, is 'Alsatian-born' (I didn't realise one could be), and the food is 'French-American', which makes sense of the carbonara with escargots... I loved everything about it, we ate the Bar Room, the informal side of the restaurant with square leather seating and precariously small tables on which to balance crisp Sauvignon Blanc.

Inspired by the Bauhaus movement, the building design is elegant enough to raise an eyebrow, yet understated as not to overpower. It took a good half an hour for me to notice that the ceiling in each side of the restaurant was a different height. Not only that, but the furnishings were perfectly in scale to the height of the ceiling in each room - higher chair backs, tables and tablewear in the taller restaurant side. The Bauhaus was a serious influence, a lesson in perspective over wine and escargot was a welcome break from the frenzied, freezing streets outside.

Sometimes

2008-12-02T23:06:00.001Z

Sometimes I wonder if I'm strong enough; if I have enough faith, will, truth, love to do the things that I believe in. To get on a plane to Asia and never come back. To make my home in a land of tones, where words are sounds and incomprehension reigns. I wonder if I'd make it. If my heart would bear the excitement; my eyes the standing out, my ears the strange sounds... Yet I am not at home here, now. This city, this ordinariness, bacon and eggs and toast and coffee on a crisp winter morning, the loneliness. Sometimes I wonder...

Grateful Friday

2008-11-28T18:53:00.002Z

The air is thick with drizzle, sparkling as the street light catches the drops as they meander to the ground. A damp hat sits next to me as I type, and I'm glad to be indoors on this rainy Friday in November. I've lost my voice and a rasping sound leaves my chest very few minutes or so, but nonetheless, I'm grateful for:

1. Friends - brunch this Sunday with four of my best girl friends... I'm thinking Mexican, but I'm not sure if they're up for lime and coriander at that time in the morning... could be fun.

2. The Christmas lights at Sloane Square - tasteful and joyous on a cold day. I almost felt Christmasy for five minutes as I walked towards the Royal Court.

3. A new bathroom - in progress... it may be a dream but I live for the day that it appears, all shiny and gleaming and warm, one morning soon-ish.

4. Hope - This life is a mystery to me... the older I get the more confusion I feel, my sight failing as I blunder my way through the ether. I see so much sadness, so much struggle, some my own, some that of dear friends, and we have no answers apart from hope in the one who knows all things. In the words of Julian of Norwich, "All shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well."

Grateful Friday

2008-10-31T20:25:00.002Z

Winter seems to be here. The cold hasn't crept in unnoticed as usual, but turned up unexpected one wintery day. I don't mind and quite enjoyed digging out thermals, scarf, hat and legwarmers in one day... my hands were cold on the cycle yesterday morning so I'd better hunt for some gloves soon too. So, on this blistery Friday I am grateful for:

1. Autumn fashion - layering is made for me! I adore nothing more than leaving the house in six layers all wrapped up like origami away from the biting wind. And I get to wear legwarmers all the time, what more could a girl want?

2. Potato and bacon gratin - real comfort food. I made up a recipe and cooked this for H and I this week, it was delicious!

3. A surprise day tomorrow - I don't know where I'm going but I know I'll be too excited to sleep tonight :-)

4. Remembering what matters in life, and forgetting the rest. Chaos has visited me too many times to count over the last month. And while there have been times of sadness, of fear, of truth, of loneliness, of despair and of helplessness, there have also been flickers of love and joy and reality and truth and openness - gorgeously beautiful moments with those whom I am honoured to share this life with. You know who you are, and this week it's you whom I'm most grateful for, a thousand thank yous.

What unites us

2008-10-20T20:35:00.001+01:00

We are all human, a fact I rarely ponder or reflect upon. Within our humanity the world is divided into a plethora of sub-groups, we gravitate to our own kind, to those we feel a sense of affinity with... those who 'get' us in some way. Yet I wonder if we would be richer if we stepped outside ourselves for a while and looked at the 'other' a little more. I am middle-class, I live in a 'nice' neighbourhood. People pick up litter, children play outside and I feel safe walking home at midnight from the tube... yet this week I found myself witness to an attack on a man outside my house who wasn't like me. He didn't look like anyone I would hang around with, or even speak to, yet he allowed me to put my arm around him and looked me in the eye as blood fell in sheets down his face and splashed onto the tarmac. I wished him well as the ambulance took him away and wondered why I had found him, and not someone else, someone stronger, someone who would have known what to do. I wonder at the dispirate nature of life, how divided we are from those outside our front doors and how diferent my life is from the man I found that night. I am troubled by the memories. His eye with the gash, his mumbling, the way his glasses were contorted and twisted on top of the car bonnet where he banged his head. I try to forget, but the images come back to me on the waves of sleep, and I wake up sweating.

Two days later I am in A&E with another attack of an illness I'm fighting. My face is hot and shiny, the room warm and my throat dry. I lie in pain waiting for someone to come, while the canula in my arm drips blood onto the stiff sheets. Half-naked and alone I am helpless. I cannot leave, bound as I am with needles to this room of sickness. As another red spot of blood bulges through the pink plastic tap on my wrist, I am reminded of the man on the road and the gash in his eye, of the blood that poured from his face, and of the way we are united by our humanity. We may not look the same, sound the same, think the same, but undeneath we are blood... and that is never going to change.

The weeping willow

2008-10-18T22:03:00.000+01:00

The willow weeps openly for all to see.
The branches hide not shame, nor guilt,
Nor sadness, nor lack of love,
Nor difficultly, nor indifference...
They weep openly for all to see,
And if you care to look closely
The tears are falling, falling,
Falling, for you.

Grateful Friday

2008-09-12T23:14:00.002+01:00

The autumnal weather is bright and cheerful. The nights are drawing in, but instead of feeling forlorn there's a resigned acceptance. A thought of Christmas and winter evenings curled up with a friend and a glass of wine. So, on this autumnal Friday in September I am grateful for:

1. Our party this Saturday. The first one with H as an official resident, and therefore, host. We'll be making our W14-famous canapes and cocktails. Hope you can come!

2. My bike - the cycling weather is (dare I say it) perfect. A cool breeze, a slight nip in the air and not much rain. Long may it continue.

3. Cinnamon porridge with sultanas and brown sugar, made with soy milk. It keeps me going til after lunchtime.

4. The return of my social life. I was purposely 'not around' much in August, choosing instead to fill up my introvert's energy quietly at home. September is still a new term for me, though I left formal education years ago. I still feel the need for new shoes and a pencil case.

Have a gorgeous weekend everyone.

Raspberry Jam

2008-09-06T13:26:00.004+01:00

We finally got round to making the raspberry jam I alluded to earlier. The raspberries have been ready for weeks and time was ticking on! I have to say I really enjoyed this foray into preserving this time. I have been known to get stressed about all kinds of jam-related things, such as if it's really set or not, but the jam thermometer and previous experience is making it all a much happier activity.

The morning started with a trip to the market for 4kg of berries. That's quite a lot... especially when you have to carry them home on a bicycle with 4kg of sugar as well. We managed and they got back in one piece. Then the fun began!

22 jars of ruby-red properly set jam goodness. Yum.

Grateful Friday

2008-09-05T18:08:00.001+01:00

On this rainy day, the first Friday in September, I am glad to be grateful for:

1. The gocco postcard swap I'm taking part in next month. Thanks to Lisa for organising! I just have to think of an idea for my card.

2. The Sunday Cycle Picnic (scroll down for more info) this Sunday at London Fields. We have been getting ready this week and I'm praying the weather stays dry... Please come along, you'll be most welcome.

3. Listening to Rosie Thomas this week. I love all her music, especially her album 'When we were small'. It's quiet and dreamy and blends extremely well with the pitter patter of rain on the window.

4. Homemade raspberry jam on toast.... ooooo it's the best jam I've ever tasted!

5. Visits from old friends from Asia this week. We met up last night and ate kao ya (roast duck) at Four Seasons in Bayswater. It still makes me laugh that they come all the way to London and want to eat Chinese food, but it was a good chance for me to eat some real Chinese for a change.

Have a fabulous weekend!

The Sunday Cycle Picnic: Please Come!

2008-08-30T18:43:00.003+01:00

I will be at The Sunday Cycle Picnic next week at London Fields with these lovely ladies. Please stop by if you can for fun, games, cakes, jam, cycling accessories and the chance to win a Bobbin Playbike... Hope to see you then!

Bobbin Bicycles, Cyclechic.co.uk and Sawako Furuno invite you to an afternoon of fun, frolics and bicycles!

Put on your Sunday Best, pack yourself a picnic and come on down to London Fields for the very first Sunday Cycle Picnic.
The Magnificent Revolution's pedal-powered cinema tent will play host to Ray Pascoe's beautiful vintage cycling films,
alongside contemporary shorts. There will also be garden games, stalls and prizes for stylish bikes and their riders.

So saddle up and we'll see you there!

What you need to bring:
Your bike and a lock (secure cycle parking provided)
A picnic
Your friends

For one special lady a Red Bobbin Playbike is up for grabs. Just turn up on the day in a fetching outfit and sit on the bike for
your chance to cycle it away into sunset. For style inspiration visit bobbinbicycles.co.uk. May the best outfit win!

The Sunday Cycle Picnic, Sunday 7th Sept, 12-5pm
London Fields, Hackney

Grateful Friday

2008-08-29T10:42:00.003+01:00

It's a dull, humid late-August day, the last of the summer creeping away gently as the promise of Autumn blows in on a cool breeze. The lilies on the kitchen table where I'm typing give off a fierce perfume which would be enjoyable were it not competing with the paint stripper fumes from the hallway. So, this Friday I am grateful for:

1. Perfect cycling weather - cool enough to not get too sweaty and warm enough to cycle in a t-shirt. There's a slight breeze and I've been loving ambling along slowly on my bike this week.

2. Dinner at Buono Sera last night - with my lovely sis. I had a tagliatelle dish with spinach, lamb and pecorino cheese, just perfect.

3. More gocco experiments - including some cards for two dear friends. I was nervous, the gold ink went everywhere, but they loved them!

4. My nespresso coffee machine - it's had a lot of use of late and I'm loving it.

5. The updated flat - our flat has had a wee makeover - new chairs in the sitting room, new paint in the hallway, a bit of a clear out and new carpet to come. Lush.

Whatever you are up to enjoy the late-summer weekend!

- The Nectarine -

2008-08-27T19:03:00.003+01:00

At breakfast we slice a second nectarine
Because you are here.
The flesh is soft and you are
Surprised how red and textured
The sweet fruit is on your plate.
We eat crumpets, washed down with tea
And talk about the day ahead.
Work, email, supper and a show later...
Nothing strange, nothing out of the ordinary
Except for the red flesh of the
Extra nectarine at breakfast.

Gocco At Last (Part 1)

2008-08-17T10:53:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was Gocco Day! I've been waiting for a free afternoon to try out my new Gocco (a small screenprinting device from Japan that I bought a few weeks ago), and yesterday was the day. Here it is:

First of all I needed to choose an image to print. I have heaps of ideas but wasn't really sure where to start. After much deliberation I decided to print a small image of a Japanese temple/pagoda and write 'Ni Hao', or 'Hello' in Chinese next to it. The gocco works by exposing the carbon on your image onto a screen, so I wandered down to a local shop where I paid the grand total of 14p to photocopy my images! This bit was cheap, just as well as the rest of the process uses screens and bulbs that are quite hard to come by in the UK and cost quite a bit.

So, here's the image I chose, it's sitting on the grey pad on the bottom of the gocco:

The next part is to put a screen and a blue filter into the top part of the machine, press it down and check that the image can be seen, like this:

Next is the exciting bit - exposing the screen. You have to use two single-use bulbs (like the old camera flash bulbs), that are screwed into a flash unit that sits on top of the blue filter you see above.

I'm gutted I didn't get a picture of the flashing part, but it's quite dramatic, a big flash filled the room and there was the unmistakable smell of burning...

Next I peeled back the cellophane on the screen and applied the special gocco ink to the screen. I choose silver for the temple, red for the sun and black for the writing.

The next part was the printing... I was kind of nervous at this point!

Gocco At Last (Part 2)

2008-08-17T09:08:00.000+01:00

You can see the screen which has been put back into the top of the gocco.

All you need to do to print, is place your card or paper on to the grey pad (which is slightly sticky) and press down.

I really thought it wouldn't work, but imagine my surprise when this happened!

Isn't it amazing! I was so pleased. I kept on printing until I ran out of paper. I knew that you could print a lot from one screen, but I really wasn't expecting to be able to do so many prints.

I made about 70 notecards to send to friends.

Here's a close-up. I like the texture of the red sun and the clarity of the black on the Chinese characters.

So, it's official. I love gocco! Can't wait to print some different screens soon. Watch this space!

Grateful Friday

2008-08-08T16:38:00.001+01:00

On this blustery, humid August day I am grateful for:

1. Getting out of the city this weekend. It's my dad's 60th birthday and I'm taking a little trip back home to share the birthday love. I hope the sun shines!

2. Finding the Flickr Gocco group - I am addicted! There is so much inspiration, I am overwhelmed with excitement and can't wait for my Gocco to arrive.

3. Spending yesterday in Hyde Park with this amazing photographer. We were doing a photo shoot for the project I alluded to recently - I still can't talk about it and it's almost killing me! Let's just say we had a ball yesterday and I can't wait to show you the results.

4. Paper packages tied up with string - I came home today to find the lovely H had made me this beautiful necklace. I shall be wearing it a lot, I can tell you.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Marimekko Purse with Zip

2008-08-06T22:41:00.002+01:00

I had a piece of lovely blue Marimekko fabric left over from another project, and Sian from Bobbin suggested I could make it into a purse. It only took about ten minutes and I was really pleased with the result. I like how the pattern fits onto the sides. I've got my make-up in it!

Two Things That Made Me Happy This Week

2008-08-04T17:24:00.000+01:00

1. Getting a personally signed copy of James Frey's new book Bright Shiny Morning.

I don't care that he thought I was called 'July', it's kinda cute and shows he has enough literary imagination to think I could have been called such a fun name! He even wrote the sweetest inscription (considering he doesn't know me from Eve):

I am so looking forward to reading it. I loved his other two books and the debate over their truth is kinda boring now, so I'm pleased to get his new book in time for a good read on the train home this weekend.

2. My lovely Japanese bag book arriving from this shop on Etsy.

The bag patterns are gorgeous and surprisingly easy to follow even though the instructions are in Japanese. I hope to post some bags made from these patterns soon!