JoeyJoJo

SNOW

2010-01-07T20:07:00.002Z

It has been snowing an amazing amount here in the UK. Here are a few pictures to show you that it's real. This is the view out our window early this morand the apple tree outside our back door.
I've been house bound for a week and a half with a truly dreadful cold and have been going slightly Shack Wacky so I rugged up nice and warm and stepped out into a magic land this afternoon. Everywhere is like Narnia. Everywhere beautiful.

Paper moon

2010-01-05T09:27:00.000Z

Here's something that may cheer your New workaday year.

NYE

2010-01-01T19:17:00.007Z

Well, well, well it's New Years Eve already, gosh before we know it, it will be Christmas again.
We had a great time this New years eve. We had a party to go to at friends nearby and the theme was a Space Oddity. I was coming down with a cold and lacked enthusiasm of any sort, but Ricardo the Magnificent had ideas of going as Flash Gordon! How could I let him out do me? So we spent the day making pairs of matching yellow velvet hot pants and mantle things for our super powered shoulders. Richard even bleached his hair but it ended up looking a little reddish rather than the platinum it said on the box. We had such fun making those outfits. As you can see by the photos my shorts were a lot tighter than his! When he tried his on over the top of his long underwear, all I could think of was some sort of cartoon character, maybe Winnie the Pooh or Mickey Mouse. I thought even if the party is a dud, we will have had a ball anyway.

I've got no idea how I got my hair to stay so poofy! Here we are ready for anything.

The party was great. At 11.30 we ditched it though and raced along quiet country roads to a Church nearby to join our more sober friends for midnight bell-ringing activities.

Jeremy made sure we did the whole thing according to bellringing protocol. At first we rang for 10 or 15 minutes with bells half muffled (Muffles are leather pads fitted to a bell's clapper to reduce the volume. They attenuate the bell's strike note whilst retaining the hum. By only muffling the clapper on one side you get an 'echo' effect as blows are alternately loud and soft. Bells fitted with muffles in this way are said to be half-muffled). Then as 12 midnight approached Jeremy raced up the stone spiral stairs and took off the muffles. Richard then rang the heaviest bell (the Tenor) for 12 strokes before we all kicked in to ring out that glorious sound all through the quiet village of Great Ellingham. Here we are flushed with success and a little bubbly. If you look closely you can see my yellow shorts! Hair slightly less poofy now though.

Happy New Year to you all, my blogger Buddies.

Winter wonderland

2009-12-26T12:46:00.008Z

Here are just a few photos to let you know it's not all doom and gloom 'round here.
It's been the most amazingly thick (for round here Kelly) snow. Everything looks beautiful, even the most suburban houses in Harling.
The hedge outside was turned into a cartoon plum pudding with cream on top.
We went to the Supper club that Clarissa & Yusuf put on once a month. Here are the oyster boys, shuckin' their little hearts out.
The Super supper club queen herself Clarribelle
The Salmon en croute before it became the salmon du mess.
We also attended the most wonderful carol concert at the nearby Bridgham Church.
The most perfect snowy day.
Here's out friend Gracie, preparing to become a sheep in the play.
Sally & Ricardo & Janet getting ready for their big concert performance
Two angels who also attended

Then it was Christmas day and we spent it with the Zebedoodle. He's just at that lovely age where it's ll incredibly exciting and there are PRESENTS.
Luckily for his musical little brain he got a ukulele. Here he is mesmerised by Richard tuning it.
Finally after a huge feast of rib of beef and plum pudding we all relaxed as Zebbie did his nudie dance.

Caroline Forbes

2009-12-23T07:29:00.006Z

Dearest blog readers I must apologise for the lack of posts lately.

I've been so incredibly busy and now all I've got is a sad post about my dear friend Caroline who died a couple of weeks ago.

I had to tell you though about the funeral. The likes of which I've never seen before.

It's been snowing here for days and days and the roads are icy and hard to get through, I hadn't left enough time so I was running late. As I came into the town of Eye in Suffolk the traffic had slowed to a crawl and I was cursing stupid English drivers who grind to a halt when there's even the tiniest hint of snow. As we turned a corner though I realised why the traffic was so slow. We were following a horse and cart with four figures at its corners all dressed in black with top hats. We were following Caroline on her final journey. I parked the car and ran to catch up as the bier wound its way to the cemetery accompanied by drums and bells and maybe a hundred people.

It had been Caroline's wish to be buried without any plastic or metal or anything that left a footprint, so she was wrapped in a beautiful shroud of felt with leaves and acorns on it and buttoned with toggles of wood. The last stage of the journey was too slippery for the horse to carry her because of the snow, so her lovers and friends carried her the last bit of the way.
Her brother Michael officiated and read out a beautiful American Indian prayer and there was silence as she was lowered into the grave. Suddenly there appeared a tiny robin redbreast, hopping around in the snow, and it seemed it was greeting everone there, it hopped around the entire circle of people. Finally after we had all thrown a handful of dirt into the grave, it hopped right into the grave and came back out again with a worm. Caroline had red hair as you can see by her picture, exactly the same colour as a robyn's breast.

Until I met Caroline, I'd always had difficulty with authority figures but she was the most fantastic boss I could ever have wished for. She saw a potential in me that I never knew was there and encouraged me to be more than I'd ever been before. It seemed she was the same for hundreds of people.
Thank you Carolina.

(Wo) Man overboard

2009-11-29T21:30:00.010Z

Phew, it's been a weekend and a half. A tidal wave of effort that paid off hugely in the end. I spent all day Friday making tray after tray of macarons.
This time they all worked after a dismal effort of three batches on Thursday that flopped without rhyme or reason just when I was getting cocky. I've been a major pain in the arse to live with lately too as it got closer and closer to Saturday and my cushion sale at Brondie's house in Norwich.
I always make it a policy to wear the same colour as the things I'm baking.. (It can be a nightmare rushing upstairs to change between batches though!)
Whose idea was it anyway to make 5 different flavours of macarons? Caramel fleur de sel, blackcurrant, pistachio with chestnut filling, tangerine and saffron. Making them was fine but filling them all and packaging them all took me about 9 hours in the end. Cute boxes though eh?
At 6 am on Saturday morning I decided that we needed more cake for people to eat as they sipped tea on the couches so what else but eclairs?
Then we finally made it to Brondie's where the gorgeous Clarissa titivated it all to look really posh. Warm and welcoming on a rainy day in Norwich.

Billy, the perfect doorman in suit and tie.
His Mumma Brondie looking like a complete bombshell.
The star team Clarry & Zebedee

And my darling Ricardo who had remained resolutely optimistic and an absolute darling that I will never be able to live without. Here he is making Lobster Thermidor for our dinner when I was at my lowest ebb on Friday night.

Mugwumps, love bumps

2009-11-25T08:40:00.003Z

This is my earworm at the moment thanks to Kelly. I love the way these girls make it look so easy to sing such perfect harmony. Ricardo and I are going to do our own rendition as soon as I can figure out all the words. I'll put it up here when we do. As Wikipedia says..."The song is notable as a hit single where the title is not in the lyrics".

Velvet luxury

2009-11-23T15:50:00.006Z

Last week I went with my friend Heather to a (secret destination) fabric place in North London. We had a ball as usual. It's so nice to spend time with someone who loves fabric as much as I do. There were mountains of materials and lots of random bolts of velvet in mostly really cack flesh tone colours but right up the top at the back of a huge stack were some truly gorgeous colours. Colours I've been looking for my whole life.
I know you're not as obsessed by fabric as I am but I've truly been searching for pumpkin coloured velvet my whole life. I wish they had had more, I would have bought it all but I only managed to get a couple of metres of each colour.
This Granny Smith apple is as good as it looks in this photo. Don't you just want to bight it.

Blackcurrant ones!

2009-11-18T07:35:00.004Z

I've been so obsessed with these little pillows of joy lately that I had to get up early yesterday morning and see if I could improve my technique. With a few twiddles of difference I managed to get the best batch yet.
I've still got to figure out how to do a liquorice filling for the next flavour and try to find some boxes for them.

Truly exotic cushions this time

2009-11-13T11:07:00.008Z

My buddy Clarissa came round yesterday and helped me photograph some new cushions for the exotic cushions website. Phew, I rang her in distress as I'd run out of ideas and my photos were looking really boring. As soon as Clarry came though there was an explosion of crushed velvet and the room looked like a Sultan's harem. Just wish I had time to lie back sip mint tea, eat pomegranates and gossip with Richard's other wives.

More Food porn

2009-11-07T13:26:00.004Z

Here are some photos of my latest baking attempt, chocolate and coffee eclairs. They were much harder to make than expected , you have to have a really steady hand and the icing started to set before I could get them all iced. I've left the kitchen in a dreadful state and am thinking about making another macaron attempt!! Look out, at this rate I'll end up with diabetes.

Here's a little bit of cushion porn too.

Here are the latest cushions. This colour of crushed velvet is called Heather! It's my new favouritest of all time and the citrusy lemony green ribbon trim is the one I bought on Wednesday at the Cloth House, really expensive but oh so worth it. Need to find a wholesaler that would sell me small amounts. Does anyone out there know of one that has this kind of quality?

London fun

2009-11-06T12:55:00.010Z

I went to London with my friend Heather on Wednesday and had such a great time. When you're not from the UK you see it much more as a tourist and it's such a beautiful city. Arriving at Liverpool St Station always gives me a buzz for a start as it's so huge and airy.
Heather says people are much nicer in London these days too. A few people stopped and asked if we needed help while we were spinning the map hopelessly around. The tube was really clean with new moving image advertising (that you can't actually see moving here but I'm sure you get the general idea) that reminded me of Blade runner as the ones on the actual stations are HUGE.
It's always amazing popping out at Piccadilly Circus and seeing Eros. Small but perfectly formed.
Our main reason for going was to see an exhibition at the Royal Academy. Sculptures by three English Artists who were around just before the 1st world war. It was called 'Wild thing' from a quote by Ezra Pound who, upon meeting one of the sculptors, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska for the first time called him "a well-made young wolf or some soft-moving, bright-eyed wild thing". The exhibition was good but lacking somehow. I thought there would be more drawings of the reliefs Epstein did for the controversial British medical association . Much was made of his work called 'The rock drill'. A huge macabre figure which must have inspired Ridley Scott for his Alien with it's foetus inside the monster's chest.
Most of his work was rounded and sensual and I really wanted to touch it. It's given me a taste for Epstein's work and I want to see more.
Another reason for going to London was to do some 'Market Research' on the elusive,fashionable and fragile Macaron. There is a rash of them in London. Here they are mounted up like a marvelous summer umbrella in Laduree in the Burlington arcade. The gold stalactite drip castle effect on the walls of the shop left something to be desired though. I was too self conscious to go in though and kicked myself for the rest of the afternoon.
Here are some more in a very groovy Japanese patisserie just down from Laduree in Piccadilly.
I did however summon up the courage to go into Fortnum and Mason across the road. It really is spectacular in there.
This gorgeous purple was every where inside.
Purple and turquoise with swans and feathers. Wow, check out the feather chandelier.
and this towering display of boxes of truffles.
There were more macarons but I didn't take any photos (this one is from a blog called 'The girl who ate everything')
This is is the stunning sculpture outside the Royal Academy my Anish Kapoor. If you click on it and blow it up really big you might see Heather and I waving at you.
This is a detail of the gates at the R A.
After the exhibition we wandered down Carnaby St where they had these funky blow up Christmas decorations, I need to get some.
Another reason we went to London was to look at the fabric shops in Berwick Street in Soho and I was not disappointed. Every colour of Thai silk you can imagine.
Some incredible fabrics including this one with strange beaded blisters. There was one with peacock feathers sewn all over it, reminding me of a dress I made at Art school that was covered with overlapping peacock feathers (a complete nightmare when you wanted to sit down).
Look at this for fabric heaven.....
The best of the lot was the Cloth house at number 98. I managed to find the exact shade of Heather coloured purple silk satin that Fortnum and Mason had used in their window display as well as some purple ribbed silk and a beautiful citrus yellow flower trim , all of which I've already made into a couple of cushions. Will take some photokoes tomorrow.
We had to have a lie down and a cup of tea after all that so we headed off to Liberty for some Earl Grey (well we managed the cuppa) and yep you guessed it a trio of Macarons!! Then an inspiring wander around the shop. We still had some time up our sleeves so we headed over to Harrods to check out the Laduree shop there and this time at great expense to the management, I pushed the boat out and bought 6 macarons for Ricardo the Magnificent. The best I've ever tasted, especially the Bergamot flavour...how DO they do it.
Phew that's it for now. Enjoy the visuals and go forth & make yourself some of those most fashionable of treats this weekend....

Greenwich meal time

2009-11-03T09:55:00.009Z

On the weekend we went to Greenwich to see Ricardo's nice niece Louisa who is over here from Australia for 4 days looking for work. She was staying with a friend who lived there. It took us a few hours to get there as the traffic was down to a crawl because of the weather. We went early though so that was alright so we could get to the observatory for a good look 'round. It was a perfect example for Louisa of a typical rainy London day although the longer we were there the more it brightened up.
The observatory was sensational and I wish we'd set aside a lot more time. Here is Ricardo standing where time begins at 0 degrees.
There is a spectacular view, we're not used to such vertiginous drops living here in Norfolk.
Here are a couple of views of the elegant Georgian interior too.

Richard had read the book called Longitude by David Sobel and had told me the stories about how long it took to make the time pieces that eventually solved the problem of how to find longitude when aboard ship including the hilarious wounded dog theory. The 'H4' timepiece that eventually won the prize is an amazingly elegant and contemporary looking watch whereas his first trial called 'H1' was as big as a small table.
So we had had a great time already by the time we got to see Louisa but we had even more fun with her and her lovely friend Owen at a nearby pub called the Gypsy moth, great food and really nice atmosphere, we stayed yacking there until about 5 or 6 pm. Lousia is a geneticist and both brainy & beautiful but also completely down to earth and great at explaining things like Sex Determination & Gonadal Development! Really nice to see her.

More new cushions!

2009-10-30T18:34:00.009Z

I know, I know, it's been ages but I've been really busy honest I have. Look here's the proof of my slaving away. These little beauties have burst into life from my sewing machine.
Remember ages ago I bought an Uchikake or wedding kimono? That was way back in June last year. Well it's taken me this long to get the courage to cut. Now I have to have the courage to sell. I hope they go to good homes.

My new career

2009-10-19T09:15:00.004Z

The fair I did on the weekend went well. At first people were highly suspicious of the macarons and couldn't believe 1: that they were edible and 2: that I'd actually made them. I sold almost all of them in the end.
I sold 8 cushions which is better than most other fairs I've done. It was sad though that my cushion stand was the only one where the goods were actually made by someone in the room, someone in the county even.

Macaron Mama

2009-10-15T18:07:00.007Z

When I came downstairs this morning, Ricardo the magnificent had done all the dishes and unearthed all the bits and pieces for me to start filling the macarons for my big weekend craft fair at Riddlesworth school.
This is what it said on the note So I set to work smiling.
Busy, busy making blackcurrant flavour ganache for the purple ones
chestnut filling for the pistachio ones
....... and saffron filling for the saffron coloured ones. These worked out the best so I gilded them with edible gold dust too. They REALLY taste like saffron as I put a whole packet in both the biscuits and the ganache.

So far so good. Let's just hope I sell a bucket load of these little edible cushions.

Riddlesworth Autumn Fair

2009-10-12T08:09:00.007Z

Come and visit me at the Ridlesworth Autumn Fair this weekend from 12 noon on Friday to 7pm and then Saturday from 10am til 4pm. I'll be the one trying to look rich amongst the Russian Oligarchs. I'll be selling these cushions......
and these edible cushions....I've been in a frenzy of Macaron making (you could say a macaron-a-thon really). The most successful being the SAFFRON ones which really, really taste like saffron. I've bought ribbons and boxes and all sorts of frippery and I just hope to God I sell some, otherwise we'll have to eat them all!
If you do manage to come be warned that it costs a fiver to get in but you do get sandwiches and cakes AND you get to rub shoulders with the rich and famous.

From the sublime to the incredibly frivolous

2009-10-07T10:14:00.005Z

First the sublime.......here are some incredible images for your perusal photographed by my friend Mardi. She has an exhibition coming up at 69 Smith St gallery in Melbourne Australia 11 - 28 November. Get on down if you can.
These photos were taken at Wilsons Promontory National Park. One of my favourite places in the whole world. They are of Xantheria or grass trees after the recent bushfires there.
It seems grass trees bloom profusely after such a traumatic event. A brilliant metaphor for hope after trauma.
Now for the frivolous. My darling friend Sally WJ went to Paris on a school excursion and despite the fact that she had 20 small girls to look after managed to hotfoot it down to the Laduree pattisserie and buy me a small yet stylish bag of heaven.
In descending order; raspberry, pistachio, orange flower and rose. Now I know the benchmark I need to achieve..... the packaging is sublime as were the biscuits.
(As you can see Sally there are only 4 of the eight left for me to photograph). What a star.

Zeb's sick

2009-10-06T07:45:00.008Z

Sorry I haven't blogged for a while, I've been busy: our beautiful Boy Zebedee has been in hospital and Mumma has the same dreadful virus, so it's Granny and Joey to the rescue. It's so heartbreaking to see him just lying there in a big bed wimpering. I'm off again to do the day shift and take over from Granny who drove five hours from Devon and then did the night shift with him on Sunday night and again last night.

Do the macaron(a)

2009-09-27T19:44:00.005Z

Well my macaron attempts are getting better. I managed to scrape together a bit of time to make these little beauties. Pistachio and lime. They worked fairly well although after I lashed out on another silicone baking mat, half of them still stuck. How come the ones on the green mat didn't stick?
and the ones on the pink mat did?
Here is the ganache for the filling made with a LOT of white chocolate. It's lucky any got into the bowl really. It's my favourite Green and Blacks flavour with speckles of vanilla seed in it.
Boiling the cream and adding the ground pistachios and lime rind.
The terrifying moment of amalgamation, will it separate at this late stage?
So far, so good. Sandwiching the two halves together has to be a very careful operation as they are extremely fragile at this stage. You can see on the pink mat the remains of a lot of them.
Finally the finished product looking pretty professional I think. Next time I'm trying coffee with chocolate filling. Mmmmm.
By the way, Richard found a very cute matching caterpiller for you all on our shopping list.

Hilarious 1

2009-09-26T09:09:00.004Z

The most hilarious clip courtesy of the BBC series Walk on the wild side. Via the absolutely wonderful Antonia at Whoopee

Hilarious 2

2009-09-26T09:05:00.002Z

Once you've watched this, turn the sound off and concentrate on the ticker tape announcements running underneath.

Home again, home again.

2009-09-19T21:06:00.007Z

Yep, we're back from sunny France and things have been a bit flat. Ricardo has been doing his books with much swearing and I have been re-hemming curtains endlessly. I did however manage to rouse myself to make one new cushion.
However being in a small workroom with one small window looking out onto a courtyard/carpark just isn't the same as a pale lavender coloured one that smells of seagrass with a view on the same level as the swallows.
In the mean time I have become slightly obsessed with trying to make Macarons. it's well worth salivating over the pictures and descriptions of the flavours at Laduree
I made my first attempt today with a pale pink variety. Sifting...Piping...and cooking. They worked out just OK...a bit soft in the middle though.Now I've purchased a silicon baking mat and some coloured paste instead of liquid food dye. I'm raring to go on the next batch.Which will be pistachio flavoured.
Who knows, I may even get them to look like this...

Saumur market

2009-09-12T17:09:00.008Z

We went to the market in Saumur on Saturday with Liz and Laure. Sensational.
It's in a lovely small square planted with tall shady trees. I know it's a cliché but boy, French markets are so good.I must admit I'm a complete foodie so to see people who care so much about their produce brings me close to tears. The gorgeous cheese man with the giant gallic nose selling 'Tomme du vache fumé', the sweet little blonde girl selling fresh milk, butter, fromage frais battu and fresh cheese all from her own cows. The handsome man selling only stawberries and what strawberries. Like Chanel number 5 in chunk form the Maras des bois are a sensation that must be experienced.Liz and Laure are best friends. As they walk through the market at Saumur, laughing and joking everyone smiles and nods; those girls have good karma. They are true to French form (even though Liz is actually an Aussie) and do that very French thing of talking about the next meal even before you've finished the last one. Here they are trying out the plums from the Very-French-Dude near the fountain. You'de never even see plums this ripe in the supermarket...too soft to transport.Here they are with their favourite bloke. Ricado the magnificent. (Just don't mention roses and thorns!)Here are a few French doggies to keep you amused too...
We sat at a wonderful café and ate lunch watching the passing parade and I had that feeling that if I died now, that would be just fine, I would have had a great life.

Bouchemaine brocante

2009-09-07T19:43:00.005Z

On the weekend we made a pilgrimage to a place called Bouchemaine. It's on the river Maine very near where it joins the Loire (thus this department we are in is called the Maine et Loire). Here's me looking like a prig out swinging my French shopping basket and matching my surrounds.
There was to be a 'vide grenier' which translates into 'empty your attic'. In Australia it would be a garage sale, in England a boot sale. It's one of our favourite things to do here and is a good reason to get up early on a Sunday. We knew it was going to be big and boy was it ever. Over 700 stalls and everyone from miles around had come for a bargain.
And yes we DID. A wonderously thick and huge linen sheet, a bike rack to take Jaques Anquetil home and a fabulously tacky cork picture of a palm tree. We spread the linen sheet out under a poplar tree, ate moules (well Ricardo did, I just ate the) frites and watched the amazing passing parade. It was fascinating observing what different people had bought. From the huge green soft toy crocodile that a little girl lugged along which was as big as she was, to two men wheeling a very large birdcage. It was a perfect day and everyone was happy to be out in it. There was a great air of holiday and these guys helped with their slightly off key songs played on hunting horns.
Just in case you thought their pants were tight....here's a back view.Oh and by the way. I HAVE been working too.
I've never really uphlstered anything before but Liz's friends Mirjam and Franc asked me could I re-cover some dining chairs for them. I had no idea whether they would work and I'm always incredibly nervous about delivering these things to people but with a hot glue gun and a bit of a hand from Ricardo, the first one worked out a treat so hey..... now I'm the Queen of double piping.
So at last I can sit under the Lime tree with a glass of wine and take a big deep breath.
Now for the next five chairs....