Supper in a bag?

American friends know my penchant for ZipLoc bags, which have a multitude of uses in this household.  Last night, though, they really came into their own when our Three Peaks Challenge friends reunited for supper to bring the project to an end.

I thought it would be fun to revisit some of the culinary adventures they had too, so our supper began with noodles in a bag – really Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s Tomato and Chorizo Pot Noodle made in a ziploc, which magically withstands a cup of just-off-boiling water being poured into it.

Thinking our friends deserved something different for their main course, I cooked Gordon Ramsay’s Chicken Biryani from his Indian Escapades book rather than the plain old beef in beer or meatballs they had on their challenge weekend.  This biryani has become a firm favourite here and is a great reason to get out the tiffin tin, bought in Cochin last April.

With gluten-free and dairy-free friends at the table, desserts can be a challenge.  These foil packets contain baked bananas with brown sugar and cointreau – not that we had much more than a KitKat for dessert on the challenge weekend, however.

And the most popular thing on the menu last night?  The basket of 200kcal snacks, handed round to stave off hunger or to stash into pockets for the next adventure.  After all, you never know when you’re going to need an emergency jelly baby…

Incidentally, the final total raised, including the giftaid, for NASS was £3500 or thereabouts.  A pretty amazing sum, don’t you think?

A Force to be Reckoned with

My copy arrived this morning and I’m looking forward to settling down later for a good read.  I understand the last few paragraphs might be particularly interesting…

New additions to the toolbox

I mentioned two purchases in that last minute shopping trip to Paper Source and now I’m home I can offer a few more details.

First up is the PickMeUp.  Originally intended to be used with the Silhouette/CraftRobo machine, my first thought was “I wish I’d thought of that”.  Well, I guess I have, because for a while now, I’ve been using little pieces of blu-tak to pick up beads and other small things too fiddly to handle in my fingers and that’s really what this is

One end – the “pen” end, is actually a narrow piece of a tacky substance not a million miles away from blu-tak.  That tip can be used to pick up tiny pieces of card, paper, beads or sequins to place them precisely and I’m thinking immediately how I struggle to get tiny gemstones in place when I’m embellishing a page or card and usually resort to that bit of blu-tak. I think this is going to be the answer – a better, more controllable point which appears to be reshapeable – though I’ll have to let you know on that one.

The other end has a clear plastic double ended insert – one sharp point

the other is chisel shaped, the idea being that this end can be used to poke out small bits of cut out paper or, I’m thinking, to apply glue precisely to a point.  Yes, I’m sure I’ve got something I already use for that purpose but I guess a second pointy-chisely thing might come in handy.

The other new tool is the Slice Ceramic Cutter which claims to be sharper than your average knife and to never need sharpening or replacement.

There in the plastic housing is a tiny blade, appropriately sized for this “precision cutter”.  As I’m bad at replacing the (very cheap) blades in the scalpels I usually use, I thought this one would be great.  However, I’m not so sure that tiny blade is going to be large enough to run alongside the ruler I usually use on my cutting mat.  Add that to the fairly critical comments I’ve now read about this product online and I think the jury’s out until I give it a good workout.  Maybe it’s going to be the answer for more free-form cutting, curves and detailed shapes rather than the straight cuts which will be better made using either my guillotine or my usual craft knife.  Watch this space and see if it finds a way into my heart.

Last but not least, a little canister containing a roll of film.  Not a tool at all but a cute little way of highlighting photos on an art journal page and a very apt purchase in Studio City, don’t you think? 

Bye bye sunshine

Overcast skies today and rain in the forecast for the next couple of days, which must mean it’s time for home.

Well, that was the idea – we sat for an age this morning waiting for our car and wondering if we were really meant to stay a while longer!

After breakfast in Studio City with Mary, I stood on the pavement and waved goodbye as they left me standing on the pavement.  My hero was going to wave a magic wifi wand over there chez Valentine and in the meantime, I was left standing with an hour to spend on a street with not only one great bookshop but a Paper Source too – how difficult could that be?

Purchases will be revealed in due course, but I was sufficiently intrigued by this and this that they found their way into my basket immediately and subsequently squeezed into my check in bag.

In the meantime, partial success was reported in the wifi zone.  Phew!

Then, finally, it was time to head for the airport to return our rental car and make our way home again.  And because a journey in LA is never dull, here’s one or two sights along the way.

A cute number plate, don’t you think?

Shortly followed by another interesting one.

It’s always interesting to look at the billboards in this city of visual media, if only to catch a glimpse of what we’re likely to watching in the next few months.  Johnny Depp’s latest is heavily hyped here, alongside the remake of Footloose, which premiered last night, I read.

I’m not sure if the central character adorning both seats on the pavement and the billboards is the same one as we saw in Shrek, but the clever personality conveyed by the images of Puss in Boots rings a bell for sure.

Of course, as soon as I saw Antonio Banderas’ name, I knew it will be fun.

Further fun in the form of many ads for Newcastle Brown Ale – good old Newcie Brown seems to be having a publicity drive over here and each of the series of billboards provokes a smile!

Last but not least, one for Mary, whose reaction to any form of slight suggestion that we might call into a Chuck-E-Cheese’s is worth watching.  Suffice to say that I can picture the scene right now, provoked by the mere sight of the place.

So I offer reassurance that we accept her advice and didn’t go anywhere near the place today.  Especially since, having completed the wifi magic herself, she’ll now kindly come to my aid and rescue my camera battery charger, accidentally left plugged into the hotel room wall socket this morning.  What a star!

For one minute I thought I was going to have to come back to get it

An LA kind of day

Might begin on the patio, waiting for our car to arrive and wondering what this strange little area of the hotel is really for – until someone comes along and lights his cigarette and it all becomes clear.

Today it will start with turning right, not left into Santa Monica Boulevard, heading for the ocean for a short time before turning towards downtown.  At this hour on a Monday morning, many of the locals are out power walking, jogging or doing their taichi under the palm trees.

As we turn right into San Vicente, we drive past the smart and spacious homes which suggest wealthy inhabitants.  Their gardeners are out trimming the hedges, watering the lawns and tidying the driveways.  The joggers are out on the road in the cycle lane, because curiously, the cyclists appear to prefer riding on the pavement.  Funny, that.

 

We’ve decided to join the smart set at the Brentwood Country Mart for breakfast at the FarmShop, recommended by the Los Angeles Magazine as one of the best breakfasts in town right now.  In just a few short minutes we’re sitting in between the ladies with their egg-white omelettes and the guy reading a screenplay.  Some are sitting reading ipads or behind their laptops in spite of the note on the menu

We too are in breach of the recommendation as we’re still trying to contact our friend Kristy, texting her to arrange a meeting tonight.  We’ve each left voicemail messages here and there but somehow haven’t managed to speak to one another yet.

Meanwhile there are important decisions to make.  Aren’t American menus great?  Our breakfast tastes as good as it sounds, believe me.

After an hour on the freeway, we visit an old haunt in Burbank from years ago when Edward was young.  Can you imagine a small boy’s reaction to a shop entrance like this?  Fry’s Electronics have several outlets, each one themed differently.

More mundane shopping in Glendale then, armed with a short list of fairly dull items more easily/cheaply/effectively bought here than at home.  

We resist the temptation to equip ourselves for Halloween, however.

After a quick zip into Michaels Arts and Crafts armed with my 40% off one item coupon (I saved $2 – didn’t buy much!) we drove back through a variety of rich and poor suburbs to meet Mary.  As we drove along Beverly Boulevard, we spotted these two beauties catching the attention of passing traffic.

Looking more closely, they were heading to join a queue of other smartly dressed people waiting by a gate.

A bit of reasoning now: this is the entrance to CBS studios…the crowd are dressed well…it’s late Monday afternoon…hmmm, didn’t we see Dancing with the Stars trailed on TV this morning?  Sure enough, that’s what they’re waiting for!

We’re meeting Mary in Larchmont Village, a delightful small community with a row of interesting, individual shops set out village style.  This one was having a “trunk sale”.

After an hour or so with Mary, who arrived fresh from her day’s teaching, we headed off back to Santa Monica along Wilshire Boulevard.

Past the La Brea Tar Pits – I always think of the Beverly Hillbillies when I pass by here!

Past the lighting installation outside the LA Art Museum.  Amazing.

Finally, stop – start through all the traffic lights all the way to the end of this road where the sun is setting over the ocean.

We’ve made contact with Kristy and are thrilled to meet up with her, catching up on the news and hearing all about her work.  As we sit chatting, the party people in the hotel are just heading out, there are people celebrating a birthday (rather noisily!) and we reflect on our good fortune to be here in the company of such a delightful young woman.

It’s also now past our bedtime, so after catching ten minutes or so of Dancing with the Stars in the comfort of our hotel room, we turn in for the night after another marvellous LA day.