So what did YOU do at work today?
Mood:  mischievious
Now Playing: Cat Power
Topic: Stephen Says

Elisabeth says I look like a cancer patient. It was very difficult to stand like a woman and don't get me started on how hard it is to hold a cigarette like a transvestite. Because, of course, all transvestites smoke, don'tcha know?

Send in the Clowns
Mood:  incredulous
Now Playing: Barbara Streisand (Because Stephen's Not Here)
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries

My face got so red my co-worker asked me if I was ok. Having been roped into emergency reception cover since I started, I learned today that I'm now scheduled to do this once a week for the company's receptionist while she has her lunch break. This has made me very angry.

Why? Because I'm a selfish workaholic? Because I hate answering phones? Or is it because not one single man has to do this? It's only women who are fit to have their own work interupted.

My emotions out of control, I got all into a huff and told my manager how sexist it is and how I can't accept it...Then he proceeded to talk about how funny it would be for the office to play men vs. women 5-a-side in football and what a laugh it would be like the last time the men beat the woman 36 to 1.

What do you say? What can you say? Lad culture prevails.

Food news? I'm continuing to pack my lunches, and even made chocolate chip cookies, which I'm trying not to scarf down all at once.

But healthy persuits don't always agree...such as the raspberry/banana smoothie I made today with mouldy rasperries. I only noticed afterwards!! And let me just say, it's a good thing Stephen's working a late shift. I'll keep the windows just slightly ajar.

I finished reading Susan Sontag's "Death Kit" a very trippy existential ending.

If I can stop being lazy, I might attempt a wholemeal bread loaf from scratch. Otherwise, I'll just be lazy.

Now you see him, now you don't!
Mood:  sad
Now Playing: Cat Power (You are Free)
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries

We had a lovely goats cheese/leek quiche for dinner (thanks Delia), enjoyed some wine/cider and engaging conversation and were just embarking on the rest of the evening and then, ring ring...

Stephen had to go back to work! He's gone already...let's see thats four hours total I'll have seen him today. Sob.

Whats worse is when will the poor man get some time off between shifts to relax? Sob (on S's behalf).

To change the subject: my food campaign: I've made a carrot, sundried tomato, pepper, beans, scallion and cashew salad to take into work for lunch. I've decided to bypass the on-site canteen because this way I can monitor where my food is coming from, save money and reduce waste. So it takes some elbow grease, but when you like to eat as much as I do, it really does not seem like a burden...yet.

Can't think of a title
Topic: Stephen Says
Man, I hate this time change. Walking to work this monrning, the streets were even more empty than usual. It seems that the church-goers that I usually pass couldn't be bothered. The only life forms I saw (And I use 'life forms' lightly) were poor saps (Read: yobs with jobs) hosing out the tunnel from the Friday & Saturday's barf-fest and ritual kebab chucking contests, making the tunnel take on a surrealy musky smell. Like when you get back from vacation and open up the tupperware container in your fridge that you probably should have thrown out before you left and at very least should never have opened in the first place.

Typically, I thought I was going to be able to leave work on time but then I didn't. Ah well, no loss really as it just felt like I was leaving at the usual time and I've happily adjusted to working mad hours for the conceivable future. It's just crappy that, as a result, I find myself doing less practical work and spending more time socializing. At the same time, when I'm bogged under like this, it's the socializing that I fall behond on so it all balances out, no?
Feh, I'm just rambling.

E&I watched Charlie Chaplin's The Kid last night and I've got to say, I really, really enjoyed it. I don't know, I must be mellowing out in my old age... Or it could have been the quietly Brechtian overtones & subtle (Or not so subtle) commie overtones to it. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it. Or maybe not.

I've got the day off tomorrow and I'm going to clean the bathroom and fix the toilet seat. Oh the glamorous life I lead.

Yet more stuff
Mood:  mischievious
Now Playing: Primus - sailing the seas of Cheese
Topic: Stephen Says
1 year ago today, E got her new glasses.
1 year and 1 day ago, I linked to Get Your war On. If you're not reading it regularly, why don't you just click on the link and get yo'self re-aquainted with it.

Just Stuff
Mood:  spacey
Now Playing: Pigment Vehicule - Murder's Only Foreplay When You're Hot For Revenge (Stephen's is here)
Topic: Stephen Says
I swear to God, I'm not blogging just so that I can type in what should be considered one one the best names for a rock album ever. The wonderful thing is that they followed it up with their next album called 'Independent Women Are So Damn Good.'

There's another album out there called 'Perfect Cop Moustache' but I haven't listened to that one.

This week I'll have logged 50+ hours plus 2 sleep-ins so I'm a tad tired but, as they say in England, 'woteva, minga'.

I'm also into a new British TV show called the Green Wing.
I also had a nose bleed on the way home.
I also have to work for tomorrow.

But at least I've gotten into this mental stte of mind where I just accept that I'll be working all the time and so it's not bad at all. In fact, it's quite pleasant.
It's just a shame that it leaves me nothing that I can blog about.

Ok, I WAS going to end there and not mention E's insane obsession about not upstaging each others blog entries BUT since's she's just griped at me about it, here I am upstaging her blog entry:

Back-flip, summersault, cartwheel, double-inverse summersault, back-flip, front-flip, double-back-flip, treble-front-double-back-summer-flip-sault-with-a-double-axel-cartwheel.

And a perfect landing.
sucka.

The First Saturday of Spring
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: Manhattan Transfer (because Stephen's not here)
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries

What a funny day so far, but only because this is Woking, and one just can never seem to get used that fact.

Stephen first of all was doing a sleep-in at work, so I spent Fri. night getting my hair cut, and shopping for groceries. If you check back a few posts, you'll know that I'm currently reading a book about what we don't know about our food. Now that I'm starting to know just a few things, it's literally paralyzing me (much to the annoyance of the other shoppers of course) whenever I'm in a grocery store now.

Last night I was going to have a girly night & buy a ready-made meal, drink chardonnay etc...but no dice ma'am. I ended up having fried zucchini over fettuchini, which was delicious and filling. Of course I still had the wine.

I slept in an extra 45 min. and started my quest on how to source the most ethically produced food within the confines of Woking. So I made a list, decided to make two trips into town, and set off for the "farmers market" in town. I used those quotation marks because I'm sure upon further investigation over half their produce is from other countries. So why are they there? Again, as I was fingering the celery from Spain at the market, I was paralyzed, and yes, getting in people's way.

But I looked at the people jostling to get their produce from the markets, and concluded the following:

-Although the produce is probably not British, it looks like better quality produce than that which you find in the supermarkets, as well, it's cheaper. Plus, your money is not going to the supermarket chains, which are responsible for so many ills to society, individuals and the planet.

Since there was still room in my backpack, I legged it to Holland and Barrett, the national health food chain. I tried to find ethical alternatives to what I would usually have bought from Sainsburys. I was hoping to find plain flour (perhaps organically produced even), but only found potato and rice flour. At the end of it, I came away with English honey (if the label is truthful, that means we've saved thousands of transport miles as our last brand of honey was from Austrialia), and English strawberry spread with all natural ingredients.

With still more room available, I decided to check out Heater's bakery to see how good their baguettes were. First I stopped at Blockbusters and rented The Kid (Charlie Chaplin), Dr. Zhivago (never seen it...), and Baise-Moi (if you don't know, you don't want to know probably). Then into Heater's bakery where everything looked terrible! It didn't even smell of bread! No baguettes of course, so I ended up getting this because the man behind the counter kept asking me what I wanted:

Finally, with spring having arrived, I was hell bent on buying flowers. But I wanted to see how ethically I could do it. I was all prepared to talk to the Interflora florists, but with tomorrow being Mother's Day (in the UK only-don't panic!) it was packed with fathers pushing baby strollers, so I went back to market & decided to let my nose decide which flowers were best. For a flower stall, it was surprisingly unfragrent. So I chose the nicest smelling thing: carnations & of course I had to have some daffodils as well:

Oddly, as I was heading back past the trainstation, more and more squad cars and vans packed with neon-yellow jacketed policemen were pulling up to the station. What now? Bomb threats? As I walked through the stinking tunnel under the train tracks, I though, how horrible would it be if a bomb went up and I was trapped, or killed in this stinking tunnel.

With flowers in one hand, my other on the bicycle handle-bar and hovering over the brake, I wound my way back to the apartment, sound as a pound.

As I made a raspberry/banada smoothie & checked my shopping list, I saw a helicopter hovering over the town center. What's going on?! Is it just rowdy FC Woking fans?

Heading back into town for the second time, I first went to the butchers, where I found my most ethical purchase: free-range eggs, laid yesterday, and from a farm actually in Surrey. The two men in Vincent's butcher were extremely friendly and I will hopefully now continue to buy our eggs there.

Then to Sainsbury's where I had to stop shopping because I couldn't hold the weight of the basket anymore. I jumped on my bike again and finally home (again.)

The fruits of my labours:

And even though the potted basil plant is more than I need for my recipe, and a bit more expensive than the washed & trimmed basil, I now realize that many illegal immigrants working under gangmasters problably have prepared that basil, so I tried to get the least-labour intensive product. And look how beautiful:

Stephen's getting off work in 2 min. and I haven't cleaning anything! But I did get him cider so should be ok. But I should go and manically tidy up...

And if you think you're feeling jealous that spring's hit us already, here's a window into what spring looks like in Woking:

Bonus Thursday Night blogging
Topic: Stephen Says
An amusing & interesting article. So why not click it and see if you agree.

By the way, we're over 400 entries over here; slowly working our way to 500. Only 97 to go.

Tired
Mood:  spacey
Now Playing: Some mix tape
Topic: Stephen Says
So very, very tired.
Nothing to say - I work & I eat & I sleep.
But spring is here. You can smell it in the air. And unlike Montreal, springtime in Woking doesn't smell like melting dog poop.

The prodigal returns?
Mood:  lazy
Now Playing: piano lessons upstairs
Topic: Stephen Says
Jeeze, it’s been a while. I don’t know, I think I’ve been needing a blogging respite. It’s started to feel like work updating things. Anyway, what’s been going on with me?

Mom’s visit was very nice and relaxing. It was also (deserved) time off for myself as I was starting to burn out/ reach the limits of my tether. I suppose the rambling & repetitive rants that preceded my disappearance from Stephen & Elisabeth Land were enough of a signifier of my mental state. Anyhow, all is good now & I’m all chilled out and ready to resume stressing myself out.

The recipe du jour is baked gnocchi. I got this recipe via a colleague via her boyfriend: fry up a red onion, add chopped tomatoes & lots of oregano. Boil & simmer. Add to a casserole dish with fresh gnocchi (Not yet cooked) and mix together. Top with fresh mozzarella and bake until it starts to go golden on top. Just delish! I tweaked it a bit but that was the basic recipe and there are enough Italians reading this that I’m sure you’ve all got fantastic ideas on how to make this sucker taste even better.

We saw V for Vendetta on the weekend – a relatively faithful adaptation of the comic. Think of the movie version to American Psycho – sure it wasn’t verbatim but the spirit of the thing was there. Of course, the comic was better.