Great ideas
Sometimes they seem to come from nowhere. The picture is reblogged and has been seen over 30,000 times.
When it comes to great thoughts, they can come from surprising sources: here are three, from an actor, a statesman and a football manager. I hope they will make you smile, or stop and think:
“Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators.” - Stephen Fry.
“I am easily satisfied with the very best.” Winston Churchill.
“The great barrier to success is the fear of failure.” Sven Goren Eriksson.
The picture is “Rainborough II” by Aakash Nihalani
Pastry - not just for pies
One of the joys of working at home is that I have time to play. All you need for this is:
- some pastry (home-made or rolled out bought pastry is fine)
- then, unless you’re very handy with a sharp knife, a set of metal alphabet cutters.
Click on the picture to find the details. They’ll cost you the same price as a novel, or two tickets on the London Underground, or a few coffees at Starbucks.
Once you have the letters you can use them to cut out ready-to-use icing or even pieces of carrot or apple. The pastry letters were baked at 190C/380F for about 10 minutes on a sheet of baking paper.
Reaching for the stars
Pictures pop up on the internet and we have little idea where they come from or who created them. The photo of this magnificent staircase in Versailles, France, is an example. This is on the blog of one one of my followers www.danielsolivenphotography.tumblr.com. Searching back it seems it was reblogged from Ganymede2009. Apologies if I haven’t got the photographer’s correct name.
While we spend a lot of time looking backwards, it’s not a bad idea to think about where we want to be going.
Here’s a conversation from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland:
”Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” said Alice
”That depends a good deal on where you want to get to” said the Cat
”I don’t much care where” said Alice
”Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.” said the Cat
In other words “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.”
A better bouquet
Have you ever thought of arranging vegetables, as you would flowers? I was inspired to try when I saw a woman pushing a supermarket trolley full of… nothing but flowers. There were at least fifteen bunches at £10 each. I couldn’t resist asking her what they were for, a wedding, a birthday? She scowled at me and replied: ‘they’re for my kitchen’.
So I decided that my kitchen could do with a treat - so here it is - an arrangement of sweetcorn, broccoli, lettuce and beans.
The photo was taken in the garden in the summer and is one of the images I use for my business cards (mentioned a little while ago).
A golden glow
Carrots are the most ordinary of vegetables. Yet ordinariness is not a bad thing. Everyone loves them. They’re good raw or cooked. They’re cheap. They keep well and yet…..
Here they are transformed by a fancy cutter into leaves.
What has this got to do with Valentine’s Day? Scroll down for the answer.
900
Nine hundred posts. The Armchair Kitchen began two years ago with a thought about food. At the time I was concerned that the government initiative to make us all eat Five-a-Day was counter-productive. So I wanted to put forward a more exciting view of food - especially for children. Since then it’s expanded to include thoughts that feed the mind. There are quotes that I hope will make you stop and think. To broaden the scope I’ve included some book reviews - after all there is an armchair in the kitchen! But basically it’s a blog for anyone who enjoys looking at food, reading about food.
To celebrate the 900 milestone, this week I’m putting up some of my favourite photos: not necessarily those that got the most notes, but pictures to make you smile.
Thank you to everyone who has been following. I love to hear your comments, so remember you can click on the Ask me Anything button to send me a message.
Draw your dinner
A brilliant idea from America: paper place mats which are elegant enough to use for ‘ladies who lunch’ or for any gathering that includes children. The adults can make tasteful designs on the plates - the younger ones can draw and colour what they hope will be for dinner.
A designer home
This house is owned by an artist in Newton, a suburb of Boston, USA. In some towns planning authorities won’t allow such individuality. In a historically ‘listed building’ the owners are forbidden to move a door or extend a kitchen. The outside has to be painted (white or cream) every few years.
When it comes to decoration, what seems like an embellishment to the owner may not be so appealing to the neighbours. A flashing light display of Santa’s sleigh draped across the roof will bring joy to visiting children. But those who have to sleep in a bedroom opposite may not appreciate the nightly illuminations.
If we own a house, should we be allowed to express our artistic talent - and, most likely, brighten the days of those who pass by?
The sweetness of perfection
If you follow my blog, you’ll know that writing is my first skill, with photography rather lower down on the scale. I’ve worked with specialist food photographers on some of my cookbooks, though one publisher told me definitely not to come to the photoshoot, saying: “Don’t worry, we’ll just guess from the recipe what the food should look like.”
Now I’ve discovered someone whose work is inspiring - exactly what pictures of food should look like: alive, fresh and glowing. His name is Ilian and the photo of the two spoons with honey is an example of his work, taking food to a higher sphere. Not only do his raspberries look more luscious than anyone else’s; he has photographed water cascading through a head of broccoli and captured the light in spun sugar. His arrangements of asparagus and seafood show he is also a skilled designer. To see his photos and to bring a smile to your day, please click on the picture.
Mechanical forms
15-year old Sam Jackson took about two hours to produce this work. He tells us here how it was done:
“First you do a life drawing of some mechanical forms: screws, nuts bolts.Make sure it looks mildly 3 dimensional because that looks more interesting. Once your drawing has got to a reasonable standard, scan it into a computer. Open your friendly paint tools like photoshop and colour accordingly but leave the background the shade of grey it originally was. Then print it out and enjoy.”
Not what it seems
A glass of whisky? You might be disappointed to discover that these bottles and glasses are not what you would expect. They are miniatures for a doll’s house (as you can see if you look closer at the normal size glass in the centre.)
At a recent fair selling small scale collectors’ items, I was tempted by a Georgian dinner service for 12 which cost £373 ($604), an engraved silver teapot at £87 ($140) and a Persian carpet for £1050 (I won’t bother to convert this, since we’re not talking about something to enhance your home, but an indulgence to look at once in a while.)
Some of the furniture on show made more sense. If you can’t afford a real Barcelona chair (click on the picture to see what it looks like and find out about it’s secret history) you can buy a tiny one for £15 ($24).
Happy Holidays
If you are celebrating Passover, enjoy the Festival, wherever you are.
(This is Primrose Hill, London - delicious looking houses that remind me of the seaside).
For those about to celebrate Easter, why not let me know where you are? Click the Ask my Anything button, but you needn’t ask, just tell me something.
A melon basket
I’ve cut the melon into balls. It may not taste any different from serving the fruit cut into segments….. but life is all about design, and fun.
To see how it’s done, click on the picture and go to Today’s Recipe.
Jerusalem Diary
This is a tribute to Jerusalem - where this week a bomb attack killed a British Christian woman and injured dozens of innocent Israelis.
The photo shows the stones of the Western Wall in the Old City. The pale limestone has been used in construction since ancient times. There are municipal laws in Jerusalem which require all buildings to be faced with local Jerusalem stone. This dates back to a plan drawn up in 1918 during the British Mandate. The result is that modern structures sit beside old buildings in a warm harmony.
(Photo by Gila Brand (from Wikipedia)
Shoes
“I didn’t have 3000 pairs of shoes. I had 1060.” Imelda Marcos.
That’s not so many. She’d only have to change about three times a day to get through her whole collection in a year.
The picture is from Christian Louboutin. Of course the price is $$$$. If you are passionate about shoes you might like to find out about Shoes the Musical.
