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Cultural flotsam: Thoughts on Christmas

The time has finally come for me to write the obilgatory ‘about me’ page of my blog - I don’t know why it has taken me so long to do this… I guess for a long time I thought it would be obvious from my categories list what I’m interested in. I’m now a lot more web savvy and know that not having an about me page is a major faux pas, not to mention that it is the 2nd page I look for on every website I stumble upon.
So until I can be bothered to re-instate the default wordpress ‘about me’ area I’m posting it here.

All about me

I am a (count years from 1978 until today) years young female living in east London, UK. I’ve been blogging since 2003, though this website documents only my posts since 2005 (I was doing it by hand before then - don’t ask me why?). I was born and bred in London but before settling here as an adult I lived in Glasgow and Montreal for 3 years each. They are both absolutely fantastic cities that I wish I could live in both at the same time. Instead I’m in neither, so I miss many things, that perhaps I should post about separately.

Art

I am/was an artist (depending on my state of mind) who started designing websites for a living and now I do a lot more web work and spend a lot more time online than I do in the studio or at art galleries. Still, art is always of interest to me and I post about it whenever I see some art worth mentioning.

Music

I also like music - currently on a big electro-folk kick, but my Last.fm profile will give you a better picture, though it does lack the ability to feed in the music I listen to live or on CD only. That will be Leafcutter John, Martha Tilston and Mishka Adams - check these experimental-melancholic-electro, modern-folk and nu-jazz (respectively) stars out.

Food

I love to cook. Everyday. I agree with Nadine Abensur of Cranks, that there is something incredibly grounding about cooking, so that after a busy day at work it is the perfect segue into the evening, to spend some time preparing food. I’m also just into food porn of every kind, so from cookery books (with illustrations or not) to the local grocery store, I’m all over it. Actually, raw ingredients of any kind are gorgeous to me - jars of dried pulses and spices decorate my kitchen shelves and cupboards as a constant comfort and aesthetic pleasure.

…the rest, is all around you. Browse happy.

I just have to sing the praises of this fantastic north London family bakers, Grodzinski. For a year I lived a short walk from this wonderful bakery’s Stamford Hill branch and I’m not sure I appreciated just how good it was, but now I’m a little further away in Lower Clapton I’ve started to make a point of cycling up there once a week.

My usual shop includes sesame seed bagels, a handful of doughnut balls and a big loaf of granary bread. I only just noticed that it has Hot Bread Shop written on the sign - I’m not quite sure if that is some confused translation of baking or what it means exactly, but it does add to the charm!

Fresh or toasted bagels are probably the best lunch ever, in my mind, and there are just so many different things to do with them. One of the more elaborate ways I like to eat them is toasted, spread with hummus, thin slices of feta cheese, lots of crispy fried onions and a good sprinkling of parsley. You might also throw a slice of tomato into the mix but this idea was quashed when we made them at home this week.
Find your nearest J Grodzinski and Daughters store!