Spot The Difference

Pictures: Leona Edmiston - here and here

So, I have a bit of a thing about Leona Edmiston's frocks*. And, maybe, a bit of a collection as well. They always seem to be the answer to those "Gah! Feel like a hedgehog and don't know what to wear" days. And lots of other, better, days as well.

The two above are from the current diffusion collection, and are currently calling my name. Both of them. Not sure which one is preferable, though (and while buying things in every colour has its reasons, buying two minutely different dresses in the same print will lead to one that gets lived in, and one that is just not quite as good as the other one. And a bigger hole in the bank balance).

While I'm quite used to various items of clothing calling (occasionally whispering, every so often positively shrieking) my name, I'm a little less accustomed to two pieces competing with one another for my affections**. It makes me think of those cartoons where there is an angel on one of the character's shoulders, and a devil on the other one. Except with dresses. Perhaps I should prepare for the inevitable, and start going round with a wardrobe on each shoulder. Heavy and inconvenient, certainly, but it would do wonders for posture...

Update: Of course, occasionally waiting for a vaguely reasonable justification before buying new frocks leads to shopping karma. Otherwise known as, if-it-was-meant-to-be-it-would-still-be-available. Harrumph.

* Leona always has frocks, rather than dresses. Not sure why, but it's one of those Unquestioned Things.
** There are, of course, two pretty simple solutions to this dilemma - willpower, or a changing room. Usually it takes the form of the former, followed eventually by the latter...

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I Know Mices Come In Different Sizes

Panda: Fred Flare via She's Dreaming

I had sworn that I wasn’t going to have a blog where I posted things that I’d seen on other blogs (ha! Surely that is part of the point of having a blog, as I am finding out...). But then, I came across this. And for somebody with a bit of a thing about (a) homewares and (secondly) animals, this was just too good to resist...

It reminds me of tare panda, which I also think is ridiculously cute. Like a cross between a panda and a drop scone...

Picture: Eru Or Loron on Flickr

I love the look on tare panda's face - a sort of perplexed resignation. "Well, I'm in a heap. Not much doing about that, now."

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If You Can't Look Good, Be Tasty

Picture: Sifu Renka on Flickr

I reached a small, if insignificant, conclusion yesterday. The only thing that looks good in yellow is custard.

Well, this might not be strictly true. On reflection, other things do suit yellow and, indeed, might look quite peculiar in other colours. Daffodils. Lemons. Canaries. There must certainly be others, albeit they might be few and far between.

As a general rule of thumb, things that suit yellow seem to be things that naturally occur in that awkward shade.

Picture: Then When via PRZ Services

Where this is leading to is that I am not naturally yellow. And so do not suit it whatsoever. But it does attract attention* and, from time to time, it is a necessary evil.

* Of course it does - hardly anybody wears it (especially voluntarily).

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Fudging It

Picture: Seesaw

There are some things that it doesn’t seem worth it to make. Bread. Clothes. The bed, on days when running out the door in a hurry. But, you know, labour-intensive fidgeting things that other people do better, cheaper or far more conveniently (and if it’s all of the above, it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that it will avoid being done myself!).

One thing that probably should fall into this category is fudge. It requires fidgeting. With very hot sugar. And a sugar thermometer. Which I do not have, hence requiring being organised, getting one, or guessing and hissing when it doesn’t work without one. And, perhaps most significantly (seeing as a challenge or unreasonable expectations tend not to be a deterrent), somebody else already makes one so good that I’m not sure it’s sensible to try, given anything else is likely to be a pale (and sticky) imitation.

But I keep coming across delicious-sounding recipes for homemade sweets and things. And I have fond memories of making highly temperamental toffees and fudges with my dad when I was young (and sometimes the difference between the toffees and fudges was a bit of a technicality). And then I came across this the other day. A recipe for fudge without a sugar thermometer. And it looked so pretty too (although not like fudge. More like something that could be bounced across the lazy susan at yum cha...).

Picture: Natalie Jost

I am wondering if it works with light condensed milk? Or if that goes in the same (disappointing, non-tasty) bag as any sort of sugar-free or dairy-free chocolate...

The options for condensed milk in baking are multiplying, too, after finding this one...

Picture: Tracey's Culinary Adventures

Perhaps both in quick succession, to use up the leftover condensed milk? This, too, might be a distinct childhood flashback to the occasional huge indulgence of being allowed (at about six or so) to have a spoonful of condensed milk as a treat. Think it might be the only sort of milk I willingly consume without having to disguise it first (the best disguise of milk, I find, is in cheese or ice cream...).

Alternatively, I could just... leave it to somebody else...

Picture: Grab Your Fork

And then, there was this - I just thought it was great... love vintage graphics....

Picture: Seesaw again

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Pricking The Balloon

What was it about pops of colour? Maybe it just set me off thinking, or maybe it was the novelty of a new camera* and a house with interesting bits and pieces at every turn, but I just loved the colours of these two photos together. Also, the triangle shapes in both shots in different ways. The chillis are the first ones from my mum and dad's chilli plant.

There is likely to be a serious glut of photos from the visit south over the next few weeks...

* A new camera? A camera that isn't attached to a phone at all... Woo hoo!

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It's Great - But What Is It For?

Picture: Judy Horacek via NMA

So, what do the penguins that take up 90% of your mind do? Do they have to do anything? (Have you ever tried making a penguin do something it doesn’t want to...?).

I’m not at all convinced that the penguins line up neatly stacked in their packing cases and quietly chat or play scrabble in an unobtrusive fashion. The amount of times a thought gets away just as you were about to grab hold of it occasionally makes me think that the penguins waddle out from their packing cases and pootle about moving things capriciously around. Or, even if they’re slightly less evil (and never underestimate the capacity of a penguin to be evil, after a certain Feathers McGraw), with that many inhabitants, things are going to get mislaid from time to time. Or eaten*.

But perhaps I’m a cynic (really?). The idea has been suggested that actually the penguins are entirely benevolent, and act as de facto librarians, tidying things up and organising them into some semblance of order. And I really do love this idea. But there is a feeling that the penguins vary from person to person and, much as I’ve ended up with the gene for unruly hair, I’ve also ended up with the gene for unruly penguins...

* Hmmm – maybe it’s not so much the dog that eats homework as the penguins that eat thoughts. No, that would have to be the madness hamsters...

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Keep Calm And Be Kind To Aardvarks

The Keep Calm trend phenomenon(?) seems to have a somewhat polarising effect. It grew on me at first, and now the original has, I think, passed me by. Albeit some of the derivative versions can be quite funny (in a good-in-somebody-else's-house-but-hopelessly-twee-in-mine sort of way).

But then I came across this:

Picture: Lesley & Pea via Black Eiffel

And, while random instructions, however admirable, always strike me as a pile of annoying nonsense (bolshie cow alert... moooo), this one caught my eye because of the Aardvark. And it made me wonder what sort of instruction "aardvark" might be. How do you aardvark if you wanted to try?* This was then somewhat diminished by finding that "aardvark" isn't part of the instructions, but is the title of the instructions - the Aardvark Manifesto, specifically. Think this might be another instance of trying to live up to the hype created by the name...

Of course, having opened the Pandora's box of Keeping Calm, it now seems only fitting to include some of the general foolishness...

This last one is about to the point that it almost veers into Chuck Norris joke territory...

* There is a slippery slope here in relation to turning nouns into verbs (the Olympics seems to be the all-time master of this), but when the mental picture of the verb is quite so entertaining, perhaps it could be let off...

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Just Because

Some things don't need to be done for any reason than general amusement... including, maybe, that of the fox...

After the last post, it occurred that this should be Pow! So then there would be Boom! Boom! Pow! Except I think it would be more like Boom! Boom! Splat!*

* And it really is a Splat! that even Mrs Polar Bear would be proud of. Even without a rolling pin.

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Boom! Boom!*

It might have been the thoughts about feather icing. Or the foxes. Or it might just have been the usual penchant for anything tasty, pretty or difficult to obtain – so imagine the appeal of all three combined...

Fox’s party rings. Tasty. Pretty. And, at least in my neck of the woods, not exactly growing on trees. I remember these from when they first came out; the pink, yellow and purple ones were devoured in considerable preference to the orange ones. (A bit like the way with fondant fancies, there are always the brown ones left... That probably applies to m&ms for a lot of people, too).

In the absence of a party ring, it might just be necessary to make do with honey jumbles. Or, heaven forbid, Stop Thinking About Food.

Picture: Hey Bubbles on Flickr

(Although these ones look like they would trample all over the packet sort... think a recipe hunt is on the cards... And a bit more baking – there are so many things to put off doing that there must be some baking about due by now!).

* I have really got to stop using dad-joke-like references as post titles. Soon. Really. But once you get to foxes (or is that Fox's?), there is just too much potential for going downhill fast (now there's a thought - foxes on a sledge...). But there are foxtrots, and foxes in boxes, and so many other ridiculously silly sorts of images and bad puns (and yes, there are good puns. There have to be. Somewhere.)

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Pop Goes The Weasel

Picture: Tarifa77 on Flickr*

You know those songs that, the first time you hear them, are kind of catchy and not too bad? And then, the more you hear them, the more annoying they gradually become, until they’re being played in the supermarket and you’re there trying very hard not to listen? Well, this doesn’t just seem to be limited to songs. Or advertisements. Or even cupcakes. It’s words as well.

The first time I read about a “pop of colour”, I thought it was a really good way to put it – so visually descriptive and so apt. And I do tend to like words that go for onomatopoeia**. But then, it suddenly seemed like pops of colour were popping up everywhere... the descriptive equivalent of whack-a-mole... I still think they look beautiful. I just wish there was as much variety in how to describe beautiful design as there was in the design itself...

* Because once I start getting on my high horse, only a pile of soap boxes will do (and maybe also a clutter of mixed metaphors for good measure...)
** This is only too apparent when looking back at the titles of recent posts...

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