Back from India

I got back from India today -- what an experience! You'll have to hear all about it over the next few days.

This is the Gateway to India -- the British built it when they had the Empire to commemorate the visit of King George and Queen Mary in 1911.

It's ironic because the British had to go through this same gateway to leave India when the country gained independence in 1947.

I am so tired today so will tell you more about my trip tomorrow.

I went to my friend Hemel's wedding. The family was so nice that they bought me a sari and dressed me for the wedding. Here I am:

I need to work less

Really, I'm kidding. I'd never work a 10-hour day if I could help it. I live in England now where people don't have to kill themselves for their jobs. But still, I'd better take it easy....

"Working 10 hours or more a day may harm the heart, according to a study of more than 10,000 British civil servants.

People who added three or more hours to a seven-hour day had a 60 percent greater risk of heart attack, angina and death from cardiovascular disease than those with no overtime work, researchers from the U.K., Finland and France reported today in the European Heart Journal. The findings are from the Whitehall II study, which has tracked British civil servants since 1985.

The results bolster evidence that suggests working overtime is linked to poor health and may play a greater role in heart disease than previously thought, wrote Gordon McInnes, a professor of clinical pharmacology at the University of Glasgow, in an editorial accompanying the study. Physicians should consider working hours when patients experience chest pain or show symptoms of heart disease, he said."

Value Brands

Anyone here buy value brands?

Like a good American, I always head for the leading, highly advertised brands, but my husband claims the value brands are often the same as the mainstream supermarket own labels. Tim Harford in "The Undercover Economist" claims the supermarkets are trying to get consumers to select themselves to pay more:

"In the supermarkets we see...products that seem to be packaged for the express purpose of conveying awful quality. Supermarkets will often produce an own-brand 'value' range, displaying crude designs that don't vary whether the product is lemonade, bread or baked beans. It wouldn't cost much to hire a good designer and print more attractive logos. But that would defeat the object: the packaging is carefully designed to put off customers who are willing to pay more...the ugly packaging of 'value' products is designed to make sure that snooty customers self-target price increases on themselves."

So that's what I am - a snooty customer!

Indian advice

I'm going to a wedding in India this weekend, and I'm so nervous that I'll do something wrong. My friend Derry sent me some advice, then I checked it with an Indian friend at work, and I'm pretty sure she thought I was a dumbo for not knowing that it's offensive to use your left hand in India. But how could I know?

Derry's advice:

"My sister-in-law has a friend who went to a wedding in India and came back with the following stories: Wealthy family, but the wedding was in a large building with a dirt floor and folding chairs scattered everywhere (as opposed to neat rows like we’d have). The festivities lasted 3 days. She was laughed at for her pre-purchased sari, and was dressed by the bride’s family! Good thing that’s taken care of for you!

The restroom had a hole in the floor, and a shower head on a flexible hose. No toilet paper. Left hand for bathroom activities, right hand for eating, so do NOT touch someone with your left hand! Not clear if there were towels of some sort for after the rinse off…

Another friend has traveled in India quite a bit and suggests that you eat only cooked foods and use bottled water (to brush your teeth, too). Take lomotil or immodium along just in case. Even if the food’s been handled properly, the local microbes can get you, just as folk from there would have to adjust to UK or US food. But boy I love Indian food! My friend is a picky eater and would eat nothing but rice from the wedding food, what a shame!

Hope you have a wonderful time, and have too much fun to worry about the heat. We spend a lot of time at 105-115 temperatures, so you’ll have something to compare with good olde England."

BBQ New Orleans shrimp

Jodi Kasten just won an award over on the Salon website for coming up with the best recipe for shrimp. It looks so good that I'm going to post it so I can try later. Basically the theme is celebrate eating Louisiana shrimp because you might not have it much longer with the oil spill.



New Orleans Barbequed Shrimp

Ingredients

1 pound of butter (4 sticks)
1 tablespoon Tony Chachere’s Cajun seasoning
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
3 ounces of beer
5 cloves of garlic, finely minced or pressed
1 medium onion, finely minced
2 ribs celery, finely minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice
2 pounds shrimp, heads and shells left on

1. Melt a stick of the butter in a skillet. Saute the garlic, onions, celery, parsley, rosemary and seasoning blend for about 2-3 minutes. Melt the rest of the butter.
2. Add the beer (drink the rest of it, of course).
3. Add the vegetables, Worcestershire and lemon juice. Pour the butter mixture over your shrimp in a baking dish. Bake in a 350 degree oven until the shrimp turn pink, about 15 minutes.
4. Serve in big bowls with plenty of the butter sauce and some good French bread to soak up the sauce. If you have a coronary, remember you died happy.

She writes:
A giant slick of oil is closing in on the destiny the Gulf states share. Shrimping is being shut down. My hometown outside of Pensacola is bracing for the apocalypse. We’re all used to it. The hurricanes come and wipe us off the map every few years. We all know what to grab when we have to decide which objects can define our lives and fit in the trunk in case there’s nothing left when we come home again. This time it’s different, though. It’s a long, slow Bataan death march toward the unthinkable. The oil is coming and it’s still leaking.

I have roughly 20 pounds of wild Louisiana shrimp in my freezer. If you have some at your grocery store, you should buy it now. Everything that New Orleans was is now covered for me in a fine patina of pain, grief, loss and soon … oil. Just as we thought things were getting better. You may not know what it means to miss New Orleans, but you’re about to find out what it means to miss shrimp not raised in Asia.

Indian wedding

A pal at work invited me to his wedding. I was reading the invite thinking the wedding was in London then when I got to the end of it, I saw it was in Mumbai (Bombay). Then a crazy idea formed in my mind that I would go. Imagine flying nine hours to India for a wedding then flying home. But what chance would I have to see India if I didn't go now?

So I am. I'm going to spend three nights in Mumbai then home again. The groom is the nicest guy -- I would say he wouldn't hurt a fly, and I would be absolutely right because his religion is Jainism, a form of Hinduism, where they don't harm any other living creature, not even squashing a mosquito.

Here's a pic of the couple and some info they sent the guests. The family is going to get a sari made up for me so I will look authentic on the wedding day.

It's been usual or rather unusual story as we have stayed as neighbours for around 20 years in Mumbai. Since all those early childhood days we have been good friends all along just to realise our relationship is much beyond friendship. As true for almost all Indian marriages, both family consent and involvement makes our bond stronger.

INTRODUCTION
Jainism advocates the peaceful co-existence and interaction of two different living organisms in mutual beneficence or mutual dependence. Life is regarded as a gift to be shared together, helping each other to exist and grow. Jains have this wonderful prayer in their hearts always for forgiveness for all living beings also seeking and receiving the forgiveness of all beings. Also prayer craving for the friendship of all beings. Jains regard marriage as more or less a worldly affair. Marriage and family raising are recommended to all the Jain Shravakas.

MARRIAGE THROUGH THE AGES
The Jain marriage custom is governed by the traditional practices which of course vary from community to community. Some rituals are of course common to all Jain marriage. For the Jains, marriage means a public declaration of a man and a woman's intention to be together for the entire life. The community gives support to the couple by being a part of it. The Jain community assemblies on various occasions have condemned the practice of negotiating a dowry before marriage. Jains believe that there should be no waste of money or time. Nevertheless, marriage is an once-in-lifetime occasion that has to be celebrated properly and grandly.

Postscript

Air India is having strike action this week so now I don't even know if my flight will leave. After all my anguish over whether I should go or not, I might not be able to. Now it makes me desperate to go! Funny how feelings change as circumstances do.

England's first abortion ad

England has its first abortion ad running tonight on TV. Can you imagine that happening in the United States? People can be against abortion over here, but there is never any serious discussion about taking away the right of women to choose.

I remember one of my medical friends telling me that she was getting angry phone calls because she was in charge of the department that funded abortions on the NHS. They'd run out of money in December so no one could get an abortion until the next funding period began, and people were furious. I remember listening to her talking and marvelling at a country that gave women such freedom.

Here's the ad:

Son sues mother over childhood beatings by father

Check this story out below. This reminds me of my own experiences in childhood. My father would hit us with a belt, and my mother didn't do anything but say 'Please stop' in a way that fueled his rage further. When I think about it now, I think she should have stood up for her kids but that was the '60s and '70s in southern America where men ruled. But it does make the memories of a childhood a bit bitter....

"She should not have allowed her volatile husband to remain in the same house and beat his children - she should have obtained an injunction or divorced him."

Son, 32, sues mother over childhood beatings by father | News

The common sunscreen ingredient vitamin A may speed the development of cancer

Oh great news! Not only are sunscreens not very helpful in protecting you from sunburn, they can give you cancer too. And I use a prescription Vitamin A cream to keep wrinkles at bay so I'm probably going to have one big melanoma where my face used to be.

Read on:

Recently available data from an FDA study indicate that a form of vitamin A, retinyl palmitate, when applied to the skin in the presence of sunlight, may speed the development of skin tumors and lesions (NTP 2009). This evidence is troubling because the sunscreen industry adds vitamin A to 41 percent of all sunscreens.

The industry puts vitamin A in its formulations because it is an anti-oxidant that slows skin aging. That may be true for lotions and night creams used indoors, but FDA recently conducted a study of vitamin A’s photocarcinogenic properties, the possibility that it results in cancerous tumors when used on skin exposed to sunlight. Scientists have known for some time that vitamin A can spur excess skin growth (hyperplasia), and that in sunlight it can form free radicals that damage DNA (NTP 2000).

In FDA’s one-year study, tumors and lesions developed up to 21 percent sooner in lab animals coated in a vitamin A-laced cream (at a concentration of 0.5%) than animals treated with a vitamin-free cream. Both groups were exposed to the equivalent of just nine minutes of maximum intensity sunlight each day.

It’s an ironic twist for an industry already battling studies on whether their products protect against skin cancer. The FDA data are preliminary, but if they hold up in the final assessment, the sunscreen industry has a big problem. In the meantime, EWG recommends that consumers avoid sunscreens with vitamin A (look for “retinyl palmitate” or “retinol” on the label).

Website for the whole report is: www.ewg.org
Environmental Working Group

Depression strikes again

Someone who is very dear to me called me this morning and simply said, "It's back."

I knew what she was talking about immediately from the way she sounded. That's the way depression is -- it leaps out at you just when you think you have it conquered.

The way she said 'it's back' as if it had sprung out and enveloped her during the night so when she woke up she was coated in hopelessness...

I try not to write about depression too much as it's been done to death by celebrities in profiles in magazines, and I've been fighting it for most of my life.

But it can kill you. People should take it more seriously.

Chicken tamale casserole

We American expats in the UK miss Mexican food. One of the most important food items you can't get over here is tamales. Here is a recipe that comes close to tasting like a tamale without all the work.

Ingredients

1 cup (4 ounces) preshredded 4-cheese Mexican blend cheese, divided
1/3 cup fat-free milk
1/4 cup egg substitute
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 (14 3/4-ounce) can cream-style corn
1 (8.5-ounce) box corn muffin mix (such as Martha White)
1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained
Cooking spray
1 (10-ounce) can red enchilada sauce (such as Old El Paso)
2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast
1/2 cup fat-free sour cream

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 400°.

2. Combine 1/4 cup cheese and next 7 ingredients (through chiles) in a large bowl, stirring just until moist. Pour mixture into a 13 x 9–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.

3. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until set. Pierce entire surface liberally with a fork; pour enchilada sauce over top. Top with chicken; sprinkle with remaining 3/4 cup cheese. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until cheese melts. Remove from oven; let stand 5 minutes. Cut into 8 pieces; top each serving with 1 tablespoon sour cream.

Me again: I made this and boy is it good! The family RAVED about this one (in a good way). I made it over the weekend and had it in the fridge so I could just heat it up at the end of a long day at the office.

Not expecting it

“And then, not expecting it, you become middle-aged and anonymous. No one notices you. You achieve a wonderful freedom.” Doris Lessing

Hot Sunday

It's going to be hot in England today. What a rare thing. I'm going out walking with two of my girlfriends -- got sunblock on, sensible shoes, etc.

I've already been out this morning to water the drying-up plants -- so glorious in the early morning in the garden. As I was watering under the apple tree, a bird landed on the branch right over my head and began to sing. It was so close to me that I could see it breathing.

Later:
I just got back from 1.5 hours of walking in the heat. I am a wreck. Here are my friends Mad and Di walking along the river near Sonning. I was the slowest walker -- they had to keep slowing down for me.

It was so hot and the sun was so strong.

I want to be an intellectual
I was reading some articles about 'American intellectuals' and what they are thinking these days. "I want to be an intellectual," I said to my husband. "Maybe I'll have more time to read when I don't have to work at an office full time and I can become an intellectual too." (I sort of sound like the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz.)

Commuting stress takes two years of your life

My husband could have told the writers of an article in the Sunday Times that commuting takes years off of your life. He has a horrible trip to work every day in London and back. When he gets home, he feels dead. It takes him three hours each day to get to the office then back home to Reading.

He is counting the days until he can give up the commute.

The article says:

New research has found that commuters with stressful journeys can expect to die 1.8 years earlier than the national average.

One of the towns on the list where life expectancy has dropped due to commuting is Reading, Berkshire.

(That's where we live! EEK.)

Physics and weight

Here is my son outside now studying for a physics exam sitting under the apple tree.

I went out for a cycle earlier then came back to see my husband bought a new bathroom scale. What it revealed was tragic. Diet tomorrow or maybe Monday.

Sasural Genda Phool

My son and I watch silly Indian TV soap operas and have such fun. This our new favorite one. This one has English subtitles so we can follow the plot.

I just heard that Air India had a terrible plan crash and 159 people are dead. I'm flying them in a few days -- should I be worried?

Crash and roots

Just took a pic to show you what my hair looks like at this very moment. Am getting my roots done.

I walked to the hairdresser just now in the beautiful morning sunlight. Am sitting in the chair now debating how to spend my day. Lazing in deckchair? Cycling in sunshine? Playing croquet in backyard?

One bit of bad news. An Air India flight crashed today and killed 158 people. I am flying them in a few days.

Stoopid Fox blonde interviews a physicist

I turned on Fox to see what the American stock market is doing (I was expecting it to crash today but it hasn't so far). As I have explained before, I can't get any other direct American newsfeed so have to watch Fox.

Today a young blonde (are there any other types on Fox news?) was interviewing a physicist about the creation of artificial life. He was telling her how amazing it was when she brought up the possible ethical implications. Well you never know, he was saying, what can happen when we interfere with nature. Take for example the killer bees introduced from Africa to South America in the 1950s....

"They were artifically tampered with?" she said, hot on a story. No no no, the scientist said. They were brought over and introduced -- gawd, how stupid can she be? He said it was the 1950s after all -- that was a big clue.

She was embarrassed then said brightly, "Well, do you give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down?" and did her thumb accordingly.

Really, how can you dumb-down a scientific advance of this scale and make it seem like a Friday-night movie choice?

Turkish craze on the wane

I was on a Turkish craze after my recent trip to Istanbul. I was reading a bio of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk. I was doing OK on the books but now they have become so difficult to read. It's hard for a modern reader to have to wade through every battle, every officer and every permutation in the run-up to the establishment of modern Turkey. I keep wanting to yell at Ataturk to get on with it already. I can't spend all my life on this book (it's 700 pages).

And my Turkish novel -- it's good but hard. Here's what wiki says:

"The main characters in the novel are miniaturists in the Ottoman Empire. The events revolve around the murder of one of the painters, as related in the first chapter. From then on, Pamuk — in a postmodern style reminiscent of Jorge Luis Borges — plays with the reader and with literary conventions in general. The last paragraph of the English translation is particularly playful in its implications about the artistic process in general and delves into metafiction."

See what I mean? Thank goodness my husband brought home a National Enquirer the other day so I could briefly immerse myself in trash.

Anyway, now I have to think about India instead of Turkey. I'm leaving on Thursday for a friend's wedding. To prepare, my son and I have been watching Indian TV on satellite. Fortunately, Mikey found a channel with English subtitles so we can groove on the plots and characters. It sort of reminds me of the times when my mother and I used to watch the soap opera The Young and the Restless on summer afternoons.

Here's a sample of one we've been watching:

Free Sex With Fill-Up

A petrol station owner in Dublin was trying to increase his sales. So, he put up a sign that read, 'Free Sex with Fill-Up.'

Soon Paddy pulled in, filled his tank and asked for his free sex. The owner told him to pick a number from 1 to 10. If he guessed correctly, he would get his free sex.

Paddy guessed 8, and the proprietor said, 'You were close. The number was 7. Sorry. No sex this time.'

A week later, Paddy, along with his friend Mick, pulled in for another Fill-up. Again he asked for his free sex.

The proprietor gave him the same story and asked him to guess the correct number Paddy guessed 2 this time. The proprietor said, 'Sorry, it was 3. You were close, but no free sex this time.'

As they were driving away, Mick said to Paddy, 'I think that game is rigged and he doesn't really give away free sex.'

Paddy replied, 'No it ain't, Mick. It's not rigged at all. My wife won twice last week.'

The Secret of Life

I read a good poem this morning. Hope you like it too:

I grabbed the streetcar from Fisherman's Wharf
to the Ferry Building to save my feet for later.
My dollar bill, wrinkled and worn, resisted disappearing
into the slot. I stuffed the transfer
in my pocket without looking.

As the streetcar rounded the Embarcadero,
I called my mother-in-law with mother's day wishes,
imagined the conversation
I'd have with mine, were she alive.
On exiting, I asked the conductor
how long the transfer would last.
I gave you extra time, he said.
Just show it. Hardly anyone looks.
It's good until it's taken away.

"The Secret of Life" by Ellen Goldsmith from Such Distances

Things to Ponder

How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?

Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze these dangly things here, and drink whatever comes out?"

Who was the first person to say, "See that chicken there? I'm gonna eat the next thing that comes outta its butt."

Speaking of processed meats (yesterday)....

Mmm, this looks good -- a log cabin made of sausages and waffles. We don't have breakfast like that in England:

Shrimp and Pine Nut Spaghetti

This looks good -- going to try it this weekend. Looks like it would taste similar to pesto but without the work (using a food processor and having to clean up the mess, I mean).

Ingredients
8 ounces uncooked spaghetti
12 ounces peeled and deveined medium shrimp
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1 cup 1% low-fat milk, divided
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup torn fresh basil leaves

Preparation
1. Bring 4 quarts water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add pasta; cook 7 minutes. Add shrimp to pan; cook 3 minutes or until shrimp are done and pasta is al dente. Drain; keep warm.

2. While pasta cooks, heat a small nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add nuts to pan; cook 2 minutes or until lightly browned.

3. Combine 1/2 cup milk and flour in a large saucepan, stirring with a whisk until well blended. Place pan over medium heat; gradually stir in remaining 1/2 cup milk. Stir in mustard and nutmeg. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium-low, and cook 5 minutes or until mixture begins to thicken, stirring constantly. Stir in salt and pepper; cook 1 minute. Add drained pasta mixture, cheese, and chopped basil, tossing gently to combine. Sprinkle with nuts and torn basil.

Do you have Friezeitstresse?

This was interesting reading. I definitely have 'friezeitstresse.' I can't stand having nothing to do. Read on:

"The Germans have always been good at coming up with words for these emotions we all feel but don't have a name for: schadenfreude, for example, or angst. Freizeitstresse is the latest, a term that literally means 'free-time stress.'

Millions of us worryabout whether we spend our spare time wisely. Do you feel you have to achieve something even in your leisure time?

'Figures show that about 75 percent of people are incapable of relaxing, even on holiday as they experience high levels of stress and feel more overburdened than anything else,' says Professor Allmer, a psychologist in Cologne. 'One of the reasons for this is because people take too much on. In Germany, the idea of doing nothing has negative connotations. A 'nichtstuer' (a do-nothing) is a derogatory term. So there are people who fill their free time with a very busy schedule.'

I don't eat much bacon anyway....

A new study from the Harvard School of Public Health claims that eating processed meats can increase the risk of heart disease by 42%, and type 2 diabetes by 19%. The main culprit here? Salt.

Losing friends due to Botox

I've just read an interesting article about how you can lose friends through Botox use. "Women who use Botox are sending the wrong social signals because their frozen facial muscles make it difficult for them to express the normal range of emotions."

Guess that's why I talk so much and touch people on the arms and hug, etc., because my facial expressions have been frozen by Botox. But my Botox only seems to last a month, and then I'm back to making a myriad of socially acceptable facial movements to let my friends know I care....

At the end of the day, the most overused cliches

An Australian journalist investigated and found the seven most overused cliches in journalism are:

1. At the end of the day

2. Split second

3. About face

4. Unsung heroes

5. Outpouring of support

6. Last-ditch effort

7. Concerned residents

Do you use any of these cliches in your writing or speaking? If so, please stop.

Misplaced culinary nostalgia

I read an interesting article in Salon -- about how our nostalgia for old-fashioned cooking is misplaced. Note below a recipe for Vinegar Pieand Toast Water.

"My husband's mother ..lived among Sasquatch and crotchety miners in a hamlet called Sawyers Bar, and she recently gave me an antique piece of her culinary repertoire: a nearly century-old Department of Agriculture cookbook from her mother's side of the family -- part cookbook, part history book, part family Bible, the old pages keeping me company while I'm in bed with a pulled back and floating on Flexeril.

So it makes sense that the first recipe that jumped out at me was on a page titled "Preparations for the Sick." At the top of the page, we have: "Toast Water: Place several pieces of stale toasted bread in a cup, cover with ice water, and serve to your patient." They must've been pioneers in incentivized medicine: If you do not get well soon this is what we will be giving you to eat all the time. Bon appétit."

Here's another recipe you might want to try:

Beef a la Mode: Boil a roast until half done then bake in the oven until tender. Make a paste of 1 ½ cup sour cream, ½ tsp soda, and 2 egg yelks [yes, yelks] and spread it over and around the beef, bake until browned. Lay the beef in a serving dish and cover with the following sauce: 1 ounce of butter cooked with 1 tbsp flour, add 1 cup each stock and cream and boil with minced onion then stir in two more yelks and a tbsp catsup.

Sunday stuff

We drove up to London today to meet my sis-in-law and her family at a Turkish restaurant. I decided to drive it without any help from Mel using the Maps application on my new Nokia phone. My driving makes him go white and clinch his fists but he has to let me drive sometimes.

I got there OK but then my phone battery started to go flat so I couldn't have navigated back home so let him take over. Those Nokia phones with their poor battery life are so frustrating.

Here we are at the restaurant:


On the way out of London, Mel stopped at the Barbican. He wants to move there after Mikey finishes school. It's a concrete city built in the '70s so the architecture looks distasteful but there are loads of cultural things there and you are right in the middle of London. I will think about it. (Laurence Olivier chose to live there so it must not be so bad.) Here's a pic:

Back home and it's started raining and is chilly. This is mid-May for goodness sake. It should be warmer by now.

May Day prayers stopped the Times Square bomber

This made me laugh. A dumbo woman had a prayer day that she expected 8,000 to attend but only a few hundred did. She was desperate for results so she announced that God had stopped the Times Square bomber DUE to her efforts!

Wonder why the bomber got as far as he did then?

Saturday activities

Woke up to a sunny Saturday so my husband and I went off to cycle in the woods at the University of Reading near our house. We had a great time but disturbed several families of geese near the lake there. The mother geese had loads of new kids just learning to walk. We cycled through three families and the mothers hissed at us, just in case we were thinking of scooping up of their kids. (I did think of it -- thought Mikey would like a gosling to go with our rescue cat.)

Speaking of our rescue cat -- Mikey has finally tamed it. It hates human contact usually but Mikey has broken through:

(aren't they cute)

After our ride, I made Chinese for lunch. This is a fave recipe -- it's from a cookbook in the 1930s that my grandmother had:

You need chicken, raw cashews and veggies (I use onion, mushrooms and peppers). Heat up some chicken stock too. I boil water and put a chicken Oxo cube in it to make stock. Cook some rice beforehand.

Mix soy sauce & sherry (thickened w/ corn flour) in a bowl. Cut chicken up into pieces and put in sauce in bowl. Chop up onion, mushroom, red pepper.

Heat oil in a wok (I use toasted sesame seed oil to give it wonderful flavor) and toast raw cashews. Take that out and put into a bowl. Then cook veggies. Take those out. (I salt and pepper during this time too.) Cook chicken in wok. Then pour the rest of the sauce in and let that come to a boil. Then throw everything else back in the wok along with the chicken stock, and mix it all together. Serve over rice. MMMMM

While I was cooking this, I was eyeing the Pommery champagne that Mel and his office team won in the annual work quiz night on Thursday. Can't wait to get a few sips of that.


I'm going to a friend's wedding in Mumbai (Bombay) India in two weeks. Mel brought home my visa and some rupees yesterday. Just have to show you. I am so excited about going.


Friend update

Spent some time on the phone yesterday to see how a few friends are doing. Here's the summary:

Jeanne is back in Paris after a trip to Louisiana (her home state) and Texas. She's working on a documentary and recently had interest from an attendee at Cannes. Meg is busy at the Foreign Office but found time to tell me about William Hague's speech to their department. I thought Hillary came off a lot better than he did in their recent press conference but then again he's only been the Foreign Secretary for a day or so. Brenda has landed herself an exciting copywriter's job in Jackson and will spend next week getting ready for her new gig (by buying cute new office clothes).

Unanswerable questions

Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?

Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are flat?

Why do banks charge a fee on 'insufficient funds' when they know there is not enough?

Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?

Whose idea was it to put an 'S' in the word 'lisp'?

Why is it that people say they 'slept like a baby' when babies wake up every two hours?

Are there specially reserved parking spaces for 'normal' people at the Special Olympics?

Do married people live longer than single ones or does it only seem longer?

How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?

Mexican Dinner Casserole

Just have to put this recipe up so I can find it later this weekend when I want to make it. I try to make Monday dinner on Sunday so I don't have to come in and cook after the first weekday at the office. Casseroles are good to make ahead.

This weekend I'm going to make my first pesto of the summer. It would be nice if it felt like summer outside, but we are wearing coats and it's mid-May. English weather...*&^%$.

Here's the Mexican Dinner Casserole recipe:

1 pound ground beef
1 (16 oz.) can kidney beans
1 (16 oz.) can tomato sauce
1 jar taco or enchilada sauce
1 tablespoon minced dried onion
1 tablespoon Mexican style or regular chili powder
A few sprinkles of hot pepper flakes
1/2 bag cheese flavored nacho chips
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, grated

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Brown hamburger meat in 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When beef is browned, add kidney beans with liquid, tomato sauce, taco sauce, chili powder, and dried onion.

Add nacho chips and grated cheese; mix well. Pour all into a greased casserole dish and bake 30-40 minutes, until hot and bubbly.

Mississippi girl says memorable thing

The actress Ruth Ford was in the news recently. She died in 2009 and cut her family out of the will, leaving everything to her butler. She was born in Mississippi but after visiting her brother in New York, she decided to leave Mississippi.

Here's her memorable quote:

"My brother had all these strange, wonderful people around him," she told After Dark magazine in 1974. "And once I had seen them, once I had seen New York, well, what the hell was I going to do in Mississippi? Marry a shoe salesman?"

Today's 'this is why you're fat'

A huge pizza complete with meatballs! Two meals in one. This makes me want to throw up just from looking at it....

No one will remember Churchill

My friend Elizabeth in Detroit won't like this news. Churchill is one of her favorite historical figures. One time I sent her a scary hologram of his face, and she told me she put the box in her front window because she admired him so.

By 2090 future generations will no longer recognise Winston Churchill, new research revealed today.

It seems hard to believe amid the current political storm, but research commissioned by the Royal Mint found that, in 80 years' time, people will not recognise the former Prime Minister.

As part of the survey, carried out to mark this week's 70th anniversary of Churchill's prime ministerial tenure, more than 1,136 people were asked to identify three prominent 20th century PMs including Churchill, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair.

One in five (19%) adults failed to name Churchill, with the figure rising to 32% of 25 to 34-year-olds and 44% of those aged 16 to 24.

Following the pattern, researchers projected the rough date when the leaders would no longer be recognised, with Churchill's demise predicted in 80 years' time.

They said the vast majority of those questioned could identify both Mr Blair (97%) and Baroness Thatcher (98%).

But recognition dropped significantly in the 16 to 24-year-old range - 16% failed to identify Baroness Thatcher and more than a quarter (27%) were unable to recognise Mr Blair.

If this downward trend were to continue, Gordon Brown's predecessor would be "extinct" in the public consciousness by 2075, followed by the Iron Lady in 2115, they said.

A boobquake

In mid-April, senior Iranian cleric Ayatollah Kazem Sedighi issued a warning that recent earthquakes in Haiti, Chile, and elsewhere were caused by women's loose sex and immodest dress.

Immediately, Jennifer McCreight responded on Facebook by urging women worldwide to dress provocatively on April 26 to create "boobquake" and test the cleric's theory, and at least 90,000 women promised they would reveal serious cleavage on that date.

On April 26, following a several-day drought of earthquakes, a Richter-scale measuring 6.5 quake hit just south of Taiwan. (Slight advantage to the ayatollah, since a Purdue University seismologist observed that a 6.5 quake was not uncommon for that region.) [Courier-Mail (Brisbane)-AFP, 4-17-10; Indianapolis Star, 4-28-10]

Interesting idea

The fading enemy

I'm reading a biography of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey. He is revered there -- his picture is everywhere, on flags, in buildings. Even the restaurant we ate lunch at every day had a room where his visage dominates:

It's interesting to read a book that's on the Turkish side of history and not the British/American. I was reading about the last days of the Ottoman Empire during World War I and remembered that Lawrence of Arabia was in there too -- but how were they linked?

A quick dash to the computer -- search results revealed that Ataturk and Lawrence of Arabia were secretly gay Jewish people! (well, those were the first five sites after I Googled it) I sort of discounted that and went on to a more reputable site.

There was so much violence during the fighting between the Turks and Arabs/British. In the Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Lawrence describes the sight of what the Ottomans had done to villagers:

"I looked close and saw the body of a woman [...] bottom upwards, nailed there by a saw bayonet whose haft stuck hideously into the air from between her naked legs. She had been pregnant, and about her lay others, perhaps twenty in all, variously killed, but set out in accord with an obscene taste. [...] I said, "The best of you brings the most Turkish dead," and we turned after the fading enemy, on our way shooting down those who had fallen out by..."

I get the impression from my reading that the Ottoman Empire exhausted itself from too many military adventures -- they went broke and were unable to defend themselves in the end. Wonder if that has any lessons for us today?

As Ataturk himself said:

A nation must be strong in spirit, knowledge, science and morals. Military strength comes last...Today it is not enough to have arms in hand in order to take ones place in the world as a human being.

It's Helatorstai today

Of all the lame excuses to cancel meetings :) -- Finns at Nokia (where I work) say it's Helatorstai (Ascension of Jesus) and it is a public holiday in Finland. I'm going to try excuse myself (sorry family, can't cook dinner, it's Helatorstai). What do they do to celebrate it, I wonder?

Churches and mosques of Istanbul

Istanbul used to be the center of Christianity -- then Islam came. When we were in Istanbul last week, we toured both a church and a mosque.

I wrote a post earlier about how exotic and foreign the pictures from inside Santa Sophia seemed to me when I saw them in a college textbook -- and now I know why. Islam forbids the representation of Allah as a picture so I guess they just go with writing his name for decoration in a religious place:

My brother-in-law Louis had his knees exposed so he couldn't go into the Blue Mosque. Luckily the mosque attendants gave him a nice skirt to wear:

I like his new look.

new prime minister

live blogging from book club. We have a new prime minister. Very exciting. Here we are watching it on TV.

Religion's demise

I read this opinion on religion's demise and realized that I never even thought about the church having a say about capitalism as part of their leadership:

"It is hard to muster much sympathy over the implosion of the Catholic Church, traditional Protestant denominations or Jewish synagogues. These institutions were passive as the Christian right, which peddles magical thinking and a Jesus-as-warrior philosophy, hijacked the language and iconography of traditional Christianity.

They have busied themselves with the boutique activism of the culture wars. They have failed to unequivocally denounce unfettered capitalism, globalization and pre-emptive war. The obsession with personal piety and “How-is-it-with-me?” spirituality that permeates most congregations is narcissism.

And while the Protestant church and reformed Judaism have not replicated the perfidiousness of the Catholic bishops, who protect child-molesting priests, they have little to say in an age when we desperately need moral guidance."

Say sorry to your wife. It might help her live longer.

Husbands! Apologize to your partner right now so she'll live longer. I was reading this article today:

Sorry may be the hardest word - but scientists claim it could be one of the healthiest.

Researchers have discovered that women who receive an apology for hurtful behaviour suffer less stress and potential damage to their heart than those who don't.

It may be of little comfort to Tiger Woods' wife Elin, who received several fulsome apologies from the golfer for his serial infidelity, but it is claimed that the pulse of a wronged woman returns to normal 20 per cent quicker after a well-timed 'sorry' than without it.

Unfortunately for men, a male heartbeat takes longer to recover after an apology than without, according to the research, suggesting that men become irritated when there is an admission of guilt.

One of the researchers said: 'Results indicate that there are potentially healthy benefits to forgiveness and apology.'

Lilacs in the air

I was walking to my door after work and the wind shifted and blew a waft of lilac-scented air over. Here is a pic of my beautiful lilacs.

(I tried to do this blog post on my new N900 phone but I messed it up so had to come on to my pc anyway. Our Prime Minister just resigned so we are all glued to the television tonight.)

A man makes chocolate-chip cookies (amazing news)

It's incredible but there's a guy at work who bakes very well and brings what he's made in for us to enjoy. I've never gotten over his delicious brownies but today he brought in some chocolate chip cookies that were to die for.

I begged for the recipe. Here it is with his comments.

100g condensed milk
350g self raising flour (sifted)
225g unsalted butter (softened)
225g caster sugar
175g good quality chocolate (cut into chunks)

Makes about 20 cookies.

Cream the butter and sugar together. Softening the butter really helps here, it's a right pain otherwise.

Now add the flour, condensed milk and chocolate. You'll need a big mixing bowl for this as it makes quite a lot of mixture. It also takes a surprising amount of effort but it's worth it. I'm not sure if the dough is supposed to be eaten but it tastes almost as good as the finished cookies.

Roll the mixture into a thick sausage shape, about 12 inches long, and wrap it in clingfilm. Store it in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill. Alternatively you can keep it in the freezer and have cookies whenever you like.

To bake, cut slices and pop them onto a greaseproof baking tray (I cover mine in baking paper as the chocolate gets everywhere) and put them in a pre heated oven at about 180 degrees (160 for a fan oven). They take 12 to 14 minutes apparently but generally take them out when they've just started to brown.

Once finished leave them to cool before moving them as they tend to be very soft and fall apart easily. The recipe reckons they keep for about a week in an air-tight container. I've had cookies made from frozen dough and they're still really good.

Eliz again: Americans! If the European measurements confuse you, here's a converter tool to see what the amount is in ounces:
Grams to Ounces

Alabama closes in on Mississippi as most obese state

I guess this is good news for Mississippi?

WASHINGTON — Mississippi's still king of cellulite, but an ominous tide is rolling toward the Medicare doctors in neighboring Alabama: obese baby boomers.

It's time for the nation's annual obesity rankings and, outside of fairly lean Colorado, there's little good news. Obesity rates among adults rose in 23 states over the past year and didn't decline anywhere, says a new report from the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

And while the nation has long been bracing for a surge in Medicare as the boomers start turning 65, the new report makes clear that fat, not just age, will fuel much of those bills. In every state, the rate of obesity is higher among 55- to 64-year-olds — the oldest boomers — than among today's 65-and-beyond.

That translates into a coming jump of obese Medicare patients that ranges from 5.2% in New York to a high of 16.3% in Alabama, the report concluded. In Alabama, nearly 39% of the oldest boomers are obese.

Health economists once made the harsh financial calculation that the obese would save money by dying sooner, notes Jeff Levi, executive director of the Trust, a nonprofit public health group. But more recent research instead suggests they live nearly as long but are much sicker for longer, requiring such costly interventions as knee replacements and diabetes care and dialysis. Studies show Medicare spends anywhere from $1,400 to $6,000 more annually on health care for an obese senior than for the non-obese.

Facebook points to the truth

People make fun of the superficial nature of Facebook but if you can look closely, Facebook reveals truth.

For some reason, there have been a string of deaths of people I know. Friends from childhood put up Facebook statuses about someone from my parent's generation who have recently died. Friends pile in with their memories and the string ends up being sweet and poignant.

When parents die, as my grandmother used to tell me (she wasn't a very nice person), "YOU'RE NEXT!" (This she said to my husband on the very day his mother killed herself.)

So Facebook serves to remind us of the shortness and fragility of life.

As if I needed a reminder -- recently a friend's teen son killed himself. I felt so terrible for her but then I rushed up to my son, put my arms around him, and said: "Thank goodness you're alive." I couldn't bear it if such a thing had happened to me.

There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. Einstein

A wintery spring fair

I spent some of Saturday working at my son's school. They had their annual spring fair, and I was in charge of the rolling horse.

Kids get on it and try to cross to the other side; the problem is, the middle part of the horse rolls and they can't stay on so fall off in an embarrassingly and funny way.

(I loved the sign by the horse -- so British: 50p a go)


Here's a kid who just fell off:


I did that post last year when it was sunny and warm for the spring fair. This year it was like a winter's day -- freezing cold and rainy. There were so few people who were even willing to be outside, much less get on a wet rolling horse.

I hung around for a while, getting rained on, then my husband and son came along and we visited the BBQ stand for lunch. I had my first Pimm's on the way to lunch -- Pimm's signals the beginning of summer -- but there I was in my winter coat.

In the meantime, we don't have a government in the UK. It's very interesting to see the country in this state -- all three leaders of the main parties laid a wreath for the 65th anniversary of VE day because we don't really have our new prime minister yet.

I can't enjoy my flowers

This is what annoys me about living in England. My garden is beautiful but it is too cold and rainy to enjoy it.

Belated Birthday lunch

I went for a quick lunch with two of my friends just now. It was Melissa Hardwick's birthday last week, so Karen Firbank picked me up and we went to a pub near Nokia (where I work) for lunch.

We went to the Crab and Anchor near Farnborough, and the food was fantastic. I had crab ravioli:

This dish only cost a fiver too. If you live in Hampshire, you should check this place out.

Here's Melissa with one of her presents:

Can't quite get the hang of the camera on my new Nokia phone. It's an N900 and has kept me perplexed for almost a week as I try and figure out how to use it.

In the meantime, Britain has a hung parliament and the three guys who wanted to be prime minister are making deals today and tomorrow to see who gets to govern:

I stayed up until 2:00 last night watching the election results so I am so tired today.

Voting in the UK

I was so pleased to be able to vote in the general election in the UK yesterday. I got up early and walked to the polling station at 7:15. I was worried it would be a complicated process like it has been in some states I've voted in when living in the US but no. There was a slip of paper with about six names on it, and you put a check by the one you wanted to vote for. I was out in five minutes.

Even postal voting in the United States is more complicated than that. There are a million people to vote for and obscure admendments to laws or state constitutions. I get completely befuddled trying to fill in my postal vote form for Florida, the US state where I'm registered to vote.

Election Update
The candidate whom my son and I were working to get elected didn't make it last night. He came in second to the Tory candidate. A disappointment.

I stayed up until 2:00 watching the election results. It's a hung parliament so we don't know who will end up governing. Very exciting.

Elvis in Frimley

I went to an Indian restaurant last night with a group of girlfriends to see an Elvis impersonator perform. Even stranger than seeing Elvis sing while curries were being served all around him was his British accent in between songs.

It was a lot of fun but such an unusual experience for a Mississippi girl like me to experience while living in England. One couple there was moving to 'Kansas' from Frimley, Hampshire.

"They are moving to Kansas," Elvis announced in his regional accent that I couldn't place. Turns out they were moving to Kansas City, we discovered. The state of Kansas -- Kansas City -- it was all the same to the Brits there last night.

Here is Elvis with Karen Blakeley's mother.


Then the Elvis impersonator sang a song that he had composed himself. He told us about his pilgrimage to "Tipelo Mississippi" where Elvis was born in a shack. There is no place called Tipelo -- it's Tupelo -- but now Tipelo is immortalized in his song.

Fake Elvis explained "Tipelo" to us -- "nothing much there," he said, "but a few black people." Then he told his British audience about Mississippi cotton fields and other features of life in the South. It was surreal to me as it was all wildly inaccurate, but it was an interesting experience to be the only person in the room who was from Elvis' home state.

White Woman's Workout

This vid is hysterical! Thanks to Brenda for sending it in:

General Election in the UK today

Today will be the first time I've ever voted in the UK. I had never registered before (I thought I should only be voting in America) - I didn't know I could have two votes.

I'm voting for atheist cutie-pie Nick Clegg's party, the Liberal Democrats.



Immigration is a big issue in this election. One of my colleagues was talking about how there were too many immigrants in this country, and I pointed out that without immigrants, there would only be one person working in my department, and he seemed a bit shocked. See, he wasn't thinking about me and other blue-eyed white people as being immigrants -- but I was just as much an immigrant as anyone else. (I'm a citizen now though.)

Elvis at the curry house

Tonight I'm meeting some friends at the Ancient Raj curry house to see Elvis. That should be an interesting experience to see an Elvis impersonator at an Indian restaurant, singing among the curries.

My friend Karen Firbank saw it advertised and thought it would be fun to go. I hope she's right.

It says on the leaflet that 'he loves to mingle with the ladies.'

Don't know if that is good or bad - will let you know.

Dressing like a Nazi

This guy in the photo below wants to succeed Gordon Brown as head of the Labour Party after Brown is defeated in the UK election tomorrow. But look how he enjoyed partying as a Nazi in his university days:

What is it about British students and dressing up as a Nazi? Prince Harry did it too.

Facelift not good enough anymore

Oh great! I thought a facelift in the future would solve some of my jawline problems but now they tell me that the jaw bone itself changes so I'll have to have that fixed too. Thanks guys -- and be sure and check out the depressing photo that accompanies the article:


ScienceDaily (Apr. 19, 2010) — Facelifts and other wrinkle-reducing procedures have long been sought by people wanting to ward off the signs of aging, but new research suggests that it takes more than tightening loose skin to restore a youthful look. A study by physicians at the University of Rochester Medical Center indicates that significant changes in facial bones -- particularly the jaw bone -- occur as people age and contribute to an aging appearance.

Presented at the American Association of Plastic Surgeons annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas on March 23, and published in the Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the study suggests that the future approach to facial rejuvenation may be two-fold, first restoring structure underneath before performing skin-tightening procedures.

Nick Clegg, atheist hero

Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats in the UK, is doing very well in the polls -- he's usually in a distant third and ignored. He's a fresh face in politics here. An American journalist came to the UK to see what the fuss was about. He wrote:

"At the level of style, Nick Clegg and Barack Obama have a good deal in common: a natural ease, a facility with lagnuage and an unapologetic intellectualism. But even Obama would never dare acknowledge weeping while listening to Schubert or reading Waiting for Godot a hundred times.

I was just about won over when Clegg declared, in response to a question about the Pope in the second debate: "I'm not a man of faith -- my wife is." No American presidential candidate would ever admit either atheism or spiritual differences with his wife."

51 ways to cope with stress

1. Get up 15 minutes earlier.
2. Prepare for the morning the night before.
3. Watch a sunrise.
4. Watch a sunset.
5. Avoid tight fitting clothes.
6. Set priorities in your life.
7. Avoid negative people.
8. Tell someone to have a good day in pig latin.
9. Throw a paper airplane.
10. Clean out one closet.
11. Take a walk.
12. Try yoga.
13. Get enough sleep.
14. Freely praise others.
15. Get to work early.
16. Clean your car.
17. Strive for excellence not perfection.
18. Be cheerful and optimistic.
19. Smile-it’s contagious.
20. Look at a work of art.
21. Go watch the monkeys at the zoo.
22. Teach a child to fly a kite.
23. Look at problems as challenges.
24. Be prepared for rain.
25. Tickle a baby.
26. Pet a friendly dog/cat.
27. Look for the silver lining.
28. Always have a plan “B.”
29. Quit trying to fix other people.
30. Talk less and listen more.
31. Watch a movie and eat popcorn.
32. Plant a tree.
33. Feed the birds.
34. Don’t know all the answers.
35. Don’t rely on your memory-make a list.
36. Read a poem.
37. Stop a bad habit.
38. Buy flowers.
39. Do it today.
40. Stand up and stretch.
41. Take a different route to work.
42. Go on a picnic.
43. Be a tourist in your own town.
44. Keep a journal.
45. Believe in you.
46. Visualize yourself winning.
47. Dance a jig.
48. Watch a ballet.
49. Listen to a symphony.
50. Go to a comedy club.
51. Relax and take each day as it comes…you have the rest of your life.

Embarrassing weekend

I'm an early morning person and work hard during the day. By the time the sun sets, I've usually had it and want a hot bath and to change into my jammies.

Yesterday, I was already in my Winnie-the-Pooh pink flannel pajamas at 8:30 when the doorbell rang. I ran and hid in the bathroom while my husband answered the door. It was our soon-to-be-elected Member of Parliament, Gareth Epps, bringing some leaflets for me to distribute through the neighbourhood.

I was sorry I missed a chance to speak with him, but there was no way I was coming out in my Winnie-the-Pooh flannels.

Another embarrassment
Today I was still looking like a slob, no makeup, crappy clothes, and the house is a wreck. I was bringing down loads of toilet paper rolls to the downstairs bathroom when my husband came in with a guest. The National Enquirer was sitting open on a table and an Ipod was blasting Les Miserables songs (I'd been singing along.)

I don't think he could have come at a worse time -- unless maybe I was sitting on the toilet.

Bilking us over obituaries

When my mother died two years ago, my friend Brenda tried to put a notice in the local paper, the Clarion-Ledger, but they wanted to charge her hundreds of dollars. For just a death notice! We were appalled -- even getting it down to the tiniest of paragraphs was going to cost far too much. It was disappointing to think that people who remembered her would be deprived of the information that she had died.

Now I read there is an alternative to print obituaries -- places like Legacy.com -- but it's too late for us. But maybe this info will come in handy for someone else.

"Alan D. Mutter writes in his journalism blog 'Relections of a Newsosaur' that some newspapers exploit bereaved families with exorbitantly priced death notices — a distasteful and strategically inept way for them to try to make ends meet.

'I stumbled across the problem this week when I tried to buy a death notice in... the San Francisco Chronicle, which proposed charging $450 for the one-day run of a crappy-looking, 182-word death notice,' writes Mutter. But lose the death notice business, and newspapers risk losing a huge audience driver as well.

The solution may be partnering with websites like Legacy.com, a site that already publishes death notices for about two-thirds of the people who die each day in the US. 'It may not be easy to figure out the terms of a broader collaboration, writes Rich Gordon on Poynter.org, 'partly because some newspaper executives are wary of Legacy and feel the company could become a competitive threat for audiences and revenue. But this is exactly the reaction many newspaper executives had to collaborating with Internet companies in other classified advertising categories. I'd hate to see newspapers make the same mistake with death notices and obituaries.'"

Unlocked doors in Natchez

When we stayed in an antebellum home in Natchez recently, I was suprised to see there was no lock on the door of our suite, nor was there (I later saw) any locks on the doors of the mansion itself!


I was charmed by that immediately. Where I live in Reading England, you can't even put a plant in a pot outside your front door as it will be stolen by the next day.

I put a Christmas card out on the shelf by my front door last year for a friend to pick up -- it was behind a little glass on the porch away from the street -- but it was stolen too.

Anyway, I was remarking to my friend Casey Ann Hughes who runs The Natchez Blog about the doors all being unlocked and how wonderful that was. I also noticed when I sat on the front porch of the house in Natchez during the 'rush hour' there was very little traffic and you could find a parking place anywhere.

Casey Ann laughed and said, "You'll be suprised to hear that Natchez people still complain about crime, traffic and parking problems."

You have to love a place like that.

L'autre pied

Twenty one years ago today I went into labor, and the next day produced a feisty little baby who bit the finger of the doctor who delivered her. She's been pretty feisty ever since so when she said she wanted to go to a Michelin-starred restaurant for her birthday dinner, what could we do but agree and wave bye-bye to a few hundred dollars...

Here's Katie in front of L'autre Pied in London last night:

We had the seven-course menu where you get little dishes to try and a glass of a different wine for each course chosen to complement the food. I was sozzled by the end of the night.


Katie's birthday is tomorrow but she's gone to Nottingham to row in a race there so we'll celebrate more on Monday, a Bank Holiday over here. Her big present is a weekend in Paris in the summer.