Friday 27 February 2009

The pictures of time and space are rearranged

Way back when the next round of Fourth Plinth works were up for selection, I was really enthused about Antony Gormley's 'living statue' plan. Now One and Other been chosen as one of the two pieces to go forward, I still am. I've already registered, in hopes of being picked to stand my hour on the plinth. How about you?

Tuesday 24 February 2009

Pancake day!

Today is Shrove Tuesday, which in the UK is pancake day.

'Shrove' comes from 'shrive', which means to give or gain absolution through confession and absolution, as preparation for the religious season of Lent. My housemate is actually giving up dairy for Lent this year, so the traditional feast to use up the milk and eggs has particular relevance.

Londonist has a good round up of the public events going on in London today, but even if you don't make it to any of them, you can still celebrate a very authentic Pancake Day at home.

20th Feb 2007 Having spent some time looking up recipies for American-style pancakes, I'm starting to see the point of using Bisquick, but regular English pancakes are simple enough that there's no real purpose to all the kits and mixes the supermarkets are trying to flog.

For ten or twelve pancakes you need

4oz / 110g plain flour.
2 large eggs.
10fl oz / 275ml semi skimmed milk. (Delia Smith, original source of this recipie, faffs about with whole milk and water, but really - life's too short!)
+
butter or oil for cooking. (Delia says butter, I use oil, which gets hotter without burning, but in any case she's right about the amount - you only need the slightest sugestion of either - the pan needs to be greased, but the pancakes must not fry in fat.)

Break eggs into flour, beat, and then gradually add the milk, whisking all along, until your batter is smooth. You can make up the batter several hours in advance if that's more convenient, or when you're ready to cook, if that's more convenient.

It you don't feel confident about flipping your pancake (loosen it all around with a spatula first), you can slide the half cooked pancake onto a plate, put the pan upsie down over it, and flip it back that way.

Just accept that your first pancake will probably be a mess, and make sure the pan's hotter and you use less batter for the second, and then - away you go!

The traditional topping is sugar and lemon juice, but so many things are tasty on pancakes, so why limit yourself?



Monday 16 February 2009

burning bright

The Monument ; re-opens today - right about now, in fact.

The Great Fire had such a huge impact on the city's architecture and social history, and the monument itself is such an iconic mark of the city, even now that it's surrounded by so many tall buildings (the history of the anti-Catholic coda added and then removed from the north inscription tells its own story.)

It's my second-favourite historic thing to climb in London (#1 being, of course, the dome of St Paul's)  and I'm glad that folks once again have the opportunity to do so.

Thursday 12 February 2009

Darwin Bicentanial

Happy 200th Birthday, Charles Darwin!

There's a whole bunch of events and exhibitions going on around the city today and over the coming weeks , and, of course, you can visit darwin-online.org.uk for his complete works online, plus lots of other Darwin related resources.

Tuesday 10 February 2009

something for nothing

Under 26? Want to go out to the theatre for free? Then you're in luck - A Night Less Ordinary is offering you exactly that, with free tickets for productions at over thirty venues in London, and hundreds around the UK. It doesn't get cheaper than free!

Monday 9 February 2009

Let is snow, let it snow, let it snow

(Oops - wrote this in the middle of last week and managed not to post it - the silver lining would be that I've had more photos from our students, so now they're all in one post.)

Snow! Well, it's mostly slush and grit right now, but Monday was my first ever official snow day, as so much of the transport network was down, none of us were getting into work. This is a really interesting post on why, from the point of view of a tube driver.

Meanwhile, our students made good use of the day - there were some excellent Britain-related snow-creations:
This snowman is well travelled around central London. This tea-drinking snowman is a temporary inhabitant for a traditional red phone box while this Snow Queen graciously receives her courtiers and creators .

Moving beyond mere royalty, there's a snow houses of parliament and a Snowhenge of substantial size and occupation (complete with snow druid ).

Thank you so much to all the students who shared photos - if you have more, link in the comments, or send me an email!

(Meanwhile, out in east London, my neighbours were adding to the ranks of supporters for our local football team.)

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In other news, the thing I intended to post today:

Thing I had no idea you could do: take a free tour of Freemason's Hall

Thing I have been meaning to get around to for ages but have only just looked up the dates for: taking a free tour of City Hall

Thing that is a little sad but a lot interesting: the changing face of the Charing Cross Road area

Thing that I find funny because I have been to this gig so many times ...: five reasons why no one sees amateur music any more