Flora Graham

My Kind of Town!

The clocks going back last Sunday seems to be the signal for endless, freezing rain. I am still on the bike, which makes me feel dead tough (since it's unavoidable).

Here are some photos taken mere minutes ago! God, isn't technology great!

Two Years Left Till I Can Go On the Dole

October 15 was the one year anniversary of my arrival on this

This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle,
blah blah blah
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm,
this England.

It's getting darker with time (go figure) and I am seeing beautiful sunrises and sunsets over the countryside every day on the train. I will start taking photographs tomorrow; until then, just for you, I have created this

Guide to Cooking the Best Food Item in the World: the Baked Potato.

Go down the market and buy a bunch of potatoes. Buy lots; once you have one you will craving them like heroin. Buy them with dirt all over them or you will regret it. Buy local, support the farmers and the environment. Buy big ones, obviously.

Oven to 200.

Wash a couple of potatoes. More than one; chances are by bedtime it will be time for another, or tomorrow when you get home from work you will be loving yourself because there is already a baked potato in the fridge, or you can invite your neighbour who doesn't have an oven and needs potato love.

Dry the potatoes. Paper towel works good if you have karma to spare (and I do).

Get some olive oil on your hands and manhandle those potatoes like you're checking them for a hernia. This is the magic step: forget all that tinfoil malarkey; sheer bolloks.

Sprinkle 'em all over with salt.

Stick 'em on a potato baker rack if you have one. This bad boy costs peanuts and is the best thing ever invented. Get one, it will change your life. You will want to buy one for all your friends. In fact, you're all getting one for Xmas. (Forget what I just said about them costing peanuts.)

In the oven for an hour.

ABSOLUTE MAGIC.

Rule of thumb: if it's savoury and it tastes good, it will taste better on a baked potato. Curry, chili, pasta sauce; all your leftovers get a new life as glamourous gourmet toppings.

The easiest, best, tastiest thing in the world and can keep you alive for weeks, trust the (60%) Irish (ancestry) girl.

Birthday Photos

Here they are! Twenty-six, and I don't look a day over twenty-eight.

I am finally getting to putting up some birthday party photos, and while I'm at it, here are some photos from Sara and Niclas's wedding in July. Eek, left those a bit long. I think I'd forgotten I'd taken them.

See them here.

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Thursday, October 30, 2003

Monday, October 20, 2003

Sunday, October 05, 2003