Since the last post, I've watched a double-bill of western musicals with Sarah (Seven Brides and Calamity Jane) - we pretended we were being very intellectual and deconstructing them along both historical how-the-west-was-won and gender/sexuality lines, but really we were just enjoying the camp and the lyrics. Hey, a man can't sleep when he sleeps with sheep. Also had a day out in Cambridge, did a few more interviews about the book, had a busy week at work, and on Saturday it was my cousin Kay's wedding. A chance to see the extended family - I did take some photos but my camera was playing up slightly - as indicated in this picture Dad took....
PS He has just created a blog of his own, and an album of wedding photos can be viewed there.

Well, The Scotsman called me Christine, and the Daily Telegraph called me 'Miss' (and got the wrong end of the stick about it being some kind of secret training manual, previously available internally but only now released), but still, it's all good publicity for the book! We even made the Trib... We'd planned for a little of this next week, when it's actually released (and had arranged leave and a training course respectively for this week, which adds to the frenzy). On Wed I only spoke to the Scotsman and a press agency guy, but on Thursday I had an inkling when I saw Metro on the Tube to my course, and then apparently Lena was swamped. I spoke to BBC London just now, and it's BBC Ulster in a few minutes, then on Monday BBC Scotland, BBC Oxford and South Today.

Postscript - oh goodness, we made The News Quiz!
Still, the favourite headline so far is the Daily Record - "Learn to talk like wot Beeb toffs do".

Here's my friend Jen's family, visiting from Canada - her partner Shana, their son Leandre and Glennys (not pictured) - who came for dinner on Wednesday. Lovely to meet them all. I made a pretty successful vegetarian lasagne, not so successful tarte tatin (my 8" cake tin had a detachable base, so all the caramel flowed out the bottom leaving some rather dried out cinnamony apples and some sorry looking pastry). Pretty busy week at work, also making plans to travel to Kay's wedding in a fortnight and up to Liverpool to visit Nana in early Nov.

Things I Have Learned This Week vol 1: How Not To Make Garlic Paste.
I bought several heads of garlic the other day, intending to do like it says in my curry recipe book and mince it up in the blender, then freeze in teaspoon-sized portions. Hours later (after 11pm) all the cloves were peeled, but after I'd turned on the blender experimentally, I decided the noise might disturb Harry, our affable downstairs neighbour, so I'd be better off finishing in the morning.
Well, turns out that when you cut garlic about with a metal blade then leave it to oxidise overnight it (a) turns turquoise, and (b) putrefys very quickly. (So that's why the garlic icecream Picul used to favour in Germany was blue...)

The book is being published in a fortnight, and it's already appearing online... here's the official OUP details. we got our complementary copies yesterday, it's very exciting to see it.

M is very busy working on his book, so he's not going out much at the moment (and nor am I), but I went to Swallowfield at the weekend to see the family and also to see the Sixteen singing Victoria at the Reading Town Hall, which was a lovely birthday treat (despite dad's suppressed coughing fit and AJ struggling to get in and out of the seats on his crutches - the result of a slight motorbike spill).

100th birthday party this Saturday (31 + 33 + 36) at the Bang Bar in St Katharine's Dock. Here are the three cakes (mine was carrot, Rob's chocolate, and Marc's madeira!) being lit...