sashinka | observation orientated, with a twist of lime | a blog

So it was...

2012-01-17T11:29:00.000Z

I had a great day yesterday. People from all over the internet popped by (although through very many more channels than in 2002) and said hello, or congrats, or whatever, and it was very lovely.

And my husband sent me this great card (which makes me wonder whether (a) he and Janice are in regular conversation, or (b) I only have two main things.)

But anyway.

Thing is, when I wrote a lot, I was unencumbered. Writing with the door closed, as writers say. Whereas now, I have more responsibilities, more... consequences if I say the wrong thing, and it bothers me. Although, over the years, I've had some practice at saying the wrong thing and how to deal with it, and also, you get the hang of it and do it less.

I've often grappled with the idea of the "public life" of ordinary people. When I started blogging ten years ago, people were often asking me, "don't you mind, people reading all your secrets?" And I used to say that I choose what to publish, so I don't mind. And of course now, what with blogging being an early/ramblier Facebook status/twitter update, most people lives their lives in public to some degree, and don't mind.

Of course, some people are better at it than others. Like, I try really hard not to do the "thanks for a great party, xxx was hilarious" type Facebook comment because I think, while clearly you can't invite everyone you know to everything you do, lots of people are sensitive, and why make life more stressful for the sensitive people. And then I don't like to gossip, obviously. And lots of things are personal. And.. well, it doesn't leave much, frankly.

But I intend to write more. Promise.

Ten years

2012-01-15T22:45:00.004Z

Tomorrow's kinda... big. I mean, big in a small way: big to me, but just a regular day to everyone else.

10 years ago tomorrow I decided to do something that would change my life.

Not, of course, that I knew that then. I'd met a guy, we hung out, and he introduced me to blogging. I went home, looked on the interweb, and thought, hey, wow, this is me. This is what I want to do. I want to write cr*p on the interweb and have other people read it (little did I know what hot water it might occasionally get me into, but that's another story.)

I'd been working on the (late lamented) Industry Standard (with some web-literati who've gone on to do great stuff), we'd closed in a puffball of glittery dot-com-bust, leaving me with a strangely friendly payoff, a laptop, and more than a little time on my hands.

Of course, as is the way with these things, my free time didn't last long: I was approached by former colleagues to do all kinds of consulting work, and I was briefly feted as someone who'd carried on making money as the ship went down (I was on the commercial side), so I'd already started working, but from home, doing my own thing, my own time, my own...

I checked out Luke's sidebar, read some other people's stuff, realised I had something to say (although in a fairly ad hoc and later-non-marketable way, but hey).

So I started blogging. I knew nothing about HTML or CSS, but did a bunch of web tutorials, asked the nice people on the internet to help me out, and make a retro-Edwardian-green website - strangely prescient of a Farrow & Ball colour we painted our front door ten years later - where my identity was truly hidden (oh, how times have changed) and my thoughts were out there for all.

And I met people. And I hung out online. And I hung out in person. I met really interesting, educated people who could write, some hilariously, and were smart, and because it was still pretty early blogging (although not as early as some, of course), it was kinda intimate.

I went to blogmeets. I went to Xcom aka the Festival of Extreme Computing. I went to Party in the Park and although I didn't know it then, I met my future (now present) husband.

On a summer's day (at Xcom) in the Camden Centre, a man who likes to be known as LMG on the internet bought me a drink and... ten years down the line we're married and we have a lovely little boy (whose first word was "batman") and... we've been on a long journey. But together.

It wasn't love at first sight (although it was like-at-first-sight). D became an acquaintance and then a friend, then a boyfriend, and now.. the love of my life. The bloke who knows that my idea of perfect blogiversary gift is a handcarved trivet in the shape of a seventies knife and fork, and that the (Edwardian green) kitchen is the most important room in the house, and is a great father and amazing husband and... ok. He offers great technical support. Which my family is very happy to have married into.

So this is a long way round of saying hey, it's been ten years. I'm kinda full circle because at the beginning I wrote loads but no one read me, and then for a while a lot of people read me. But now I think it's kinda back to no-one, which is fine (apart from you, of course). And I've waxed and waned, been prolific and not. I guess I've written well over a million words on this blog, and it's made me a better writer, for sure. And for a while it was a photo blog, and then this year it was mostly a property blog and now... it's just me. And D, and J.

Wow.

Ten years. I've come a long way. I do a lot of things (I work, and I'm a mummy and I try and keep on top of the domestic stuff, and I volunteer in my local community and... ) but the biggest thing I've ever done is get up one sunday morning, go to Kings Cross, meet some geeks, have an orange juice with a bloke from Kings Lynn and... well, the rest is history.

Thanks for reading (I'm not leaving, although I can't promise to be here as often as when my life was less complex, I just think it's nice to thank people every ten years), but thanks... most of all to D. You saved my life. I love you.

Everything I know...

2011-11-15T22:29:00.011Z

... I learned from the World's Strictest Parents.

I am totally addicted to this programme. I have dozens of them stacked up on the PVR, and can sometimes mainline 2 or 3 in a row.

And here's what I've learned:

teach your child discipline by making them sweep outside your house with a handcrafted broom.

kids - people in general - need boundaries, and often their (UK) parents are not up for enforcing them.

everyone wants to be listened to and understood: even though they say "my parents don't listen/understand me", they eventually say "I was really really selfish and now I see what my parents do/did for me".

you just don't get something for nothing - all the "world's" parents are very focused on working for long term rewards - and the UK teenagers seem to be very "I want it now".

those very annoying TV voiceovers do my head in: I'm really happy to unpack the meaning of the TV show myself, I really don't need an ingratiating and largely male voice narrating every moment to me like I'm two years old.

finished front 1

2011-10-10T17:06:00.002+01:00

So we finally have a "front", after much debate about stone / finishing / edges etc.... here it is.

The house is, largely, done. Inevitably there's a long list of snagging stuff, but it's done. We live here.

Six months of planning, hard graft, site meetings, discussion and debate.

I love it when people say to me - who was the architect? (me). And the interior designer? (me). And the lighting designer? (me).

And other people have said, are you going to do this for a living now? And I say... no, of course not. I recognise the difference between a talented amateur and a professional, and I see what a huge chasm of skill and knowledge there is.

But I had a lovely time. And if you're looking to do a sensitive restoration of an older property (and like my taste) and want some advice....

dining room

2011-09-26T16:35:00.003+01:00

dining room, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

view from the lounge...

the lounge...

2011-09-26T16:35:00.001+01:00

IMG_3634, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

...with a view to the garden

all the way up

2011-09-26T16:34:00.001+01:00

IMG_3638, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

stairs, bannisters, windows...

down the stairs

2011-09-26T16:33:00.001+01:00

down the stairs, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

Finally got some carpet....

Finchley, power cut.

2011-09-09T07:26:00.003+01:00

Powercuts are noisy. All the beeping of monitors, the burglar alarm, consumer items woke us up at 2am. We wandered round the house, trying to turn things off, called the alarm people so it wouldn't wake small child. Talked a bit. Went back to bed. Went back to sleep. 3am - things turning back on make even *more* noise - the whirr and beep of all the computers, kitchen stuff, the boiler firing up.

I feel like we have a baby - up in the middle of the night, feel crap in the morning.

About the internet....

2011-09-08T13:55:00.003+01:00

Because I am the number one search on the internet for humous (at least, spelled the way I spell it), it's surprising but then again, maybe not so, that I get a half dozen or so emails a month from people who've tried my humous recipe, and wanted to say thank you.

So from Lebanese restaurants (I kid you not), to people just trying it out in Deptford, I sit here in my soho (small office home office) looking out at the garden and the apple tree (and half thinking, apple cake) and people from all over the show drop into my inbox.

It's personal. It's real. It's a nice warm feeling. It's what the internet was invented for.

cinema chairs

2011-08-24T05:29:00.001+01:00

IMG_3371, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

... for the cinema:) no, for the kitchen table (or possibly the lounge, as I didn't measure under the table including the plywood, and I think they might make the table stick out too much...)

the family room

2011-08-24T05:28:00.001+01:00

IMG_3369, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

this is where the TV will go (in the middle) and all small child's toys in the storage-y bit. the timetable is from the North London Line (where I used to live) and I have toy crates which will go underneath....

we will have carpet runners one day...

2011-08-21T22:43:00.001+01:00

IMG_3283, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

view all the way up the top...

2011-08-21T22:42:00.001+01:00

view all the way up the top..., a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

those balustrades were worth the hassle, methinks

view from the kitchen to the family room

2011-08-21T22:41:00.003+01:00

IMG_3328, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

so we have a kitchen...

2011-08-21T22:41:00.001+01:00

IMG_3329, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

although some of the (internal) shelves are yet to arrive

A night in Golders Green...

2011-08-18T23:08:00.003+01:00

So, I'm on my way to meet an old friend on her whistlestop-tour-of-London, and I've just parked my car in Golders Green (under the bridge).

A guy parked in front of me, in a Rover 75, is slowly reversing... into me. There's an older woman gesticulating wildly on the pavement for him to stop. She bangs the boot of his car to get him to stop, looks at me, eyebrows raised, and shouts, "don't hit her car." I get worried, get out, he's about 5mm away, but there's no damage.

I say to her something along the lines of "no harm no foul", to which she replies, "my son, he's a terrible driver." "It's OK," I say. "No, he's a terrible driver." Said son gets out of the car - frum in a BT way - and she shouts "apologise to the lady, you nearly hit her car." He looked... well, how one would in such circumstances.

He's about forty. I say to her, "you know, a time comes in your life when you can't really tell your children what to do." She says, "but he should apologise, he nearly drove into you." I say "are you a Jewish mother?" She says, "my son, he just made a film, with Honor Blackman" (who google tells me is 86 and still here, which was news to me). I kid you not.

Son looks at me, I can't read his face. Embarassed? Proud? Nervous about being out with his mother? I say, "oh" and realise I (a) am late and (b) have my own tsorres and just can't get into someone else's story right now, even if it does involved a once-fabulous now-D-list celebrity.

"Mazaltov," I say, as I walk off. Son is looking at parking restriction signage (it's 8.45pm, even in Golders Green that's legal and free), "can you park here?" he asks. "I - ". I'm about to get drawn into another conversational vortex.

"Dunno," I say as I walk off into the night, imagining Honor Blackman in a movie with Carlebachy-type frummers, shouty Jewish mothers and double-parking in Golders Green.

The night is middle-aged. The conversationally-challenged are out and about. Novellino's is milchig but overpriced, and the service is.. chilled, to say the least.

our new floor

2011-08-11T21:56:00.001+01:00

IMG_3070, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

and the cubby hole is where the bench and pull out shelf will be...

kitchen tiles

2011-08-11T21:55:00.001+01:00

IMG_3134, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

above the range is going to be tiled in the reclaimed (ie taken off the wall by me) original kitchen tiles... although after much thought, I think just the cream, the green will have to go with something else

dressing room (wardrobes)

2011-08-11T21:54:00.003+01:00

dressing room (wardrobes), a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

the wardrobes in the dressing room - that arts and crafts motif, again

balustrades

2011-08-11T21:54:00.001+01:00

IMG_3121, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

We copied the arts and crafts balustrades from our old house.. turned out pretty good, I think

en suite finished

2011-08-11T21:43:00.001+01:00

en suite finished, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

So the upstairs bathroom is pretty finished - waddya think?

shelves in the kitchen - might just go for two?

2011-08-11T21:41:00.001+01:00

shelves in the kitchen - might just go for two?, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

what do you think?

Fireplace hearth nearly done

2011-08-01T09:11:00.005+01:00

hearth tiles nearly done... looking pretty fabulous, even if I say so myself. My three best bits about the house? Hand-dipped fireplaces, kitchen and wooden floors.

The range is in

2011-08-01T09:11:00.004+01:00

The range has arrived, been fitted, and the mantlepiece has been built, and it's all starting to look... rather like a kitchen :)

kitchen day one

2011-07-25T22:51:00.003+01:00

the kitchen has arrived:) this is day one, pre-made oak cupboards fitted... appliances, doors, paint etc to come

the fireplace inserts are in

2011-07-25T13:45:00.002+01:00

The fireplace inserts are finally fitted. This one is inside the fire suround that was already in the house (I'm guessing 1911) in the dining room, the other one is an eBay bargain, in the lounge. The hall one, red, I bought the fireplace and surround on eBay together, for like nothing.

kitchen being fitted

2011-07-25T13:43:00.002+01:00

kitchen has arrived - being fitted as I type...

dimity big bedroom

2011-07-22T07:27:00.005+01:00

Well, we finally have some final-colour-not-undercoat paint.... dimity in the front bedroom. It looks really good with the fireplace....

en suite floor, shower

2011-07-18T10:16:00.002+01:00

walk in shower

en-suite tiles

2011-07-18T10:15:00.002+01:00

Bathroom tiling in the walk-in shower...

dining room floor (unsanded)

2011-07-18T10:14:00.002+01:00

Floor's laid, back in two weeks to sand and seal...

laying the floor

2011-07-14T23:14:00.003+01:00

We have (the first stage) of a reclaimed oak parquet floor.. yet to be sanded and sealed but layed in the old-fashioned craftsman way (and super speedy) by Jim and his team.

Internal view of our bay window

2011-06-30T22:29:00.008+01:00

The inside track, so to speak...

bay window - one day there'll be patio under the threshold...

2011-06-30T22:29:00.005+01:00

We have (bay) windows:) After a lot of planning, drawing and waiting, we have replicated, but subtly improved - now french doors rather than just one - the bay window, and it's even double glazed.

Maggie Thatcher in da house

2011-06-27T08:54:00.004+01:00

So, as you know, I'm all about reclaim-recycle-renew (viz: our dining room is stacked high with French apple crates which will one day become a bookcase), and in the house, I've been keeping as much as possible to put back. In fact, it's something that my builder has teased me about royally.

But this, is something special. Scrunched under the floorboards in the front bedroom (making up the gap where carpet had been laid sometime before 1959 and the floorboards were not quite level) is Margaret Thatcher's 1959 Finchley election campaign leaflet.

A quite spooky example of print electioneering from a bygone era, and, frankly, very Finchley.

faux wheat in Tesco

2011-06-22T23:41:00.003+01:00

So, when I'm in the huge Tescos in Finchley, which is a large commercial building under some offices, full of city people buying... their shopping, I see a vista of wheat fields ahead of me.

In front, "freshly baked" bread, wrapped like your grandma had just prepared it for you.

Like, who are you kidding? This image does not make me come over all Hovis and transport me to a time when people went out to the fields and then milled their own wheat and kneaded their own brad.

It makes me think: huge international multiple food retailer which has in probability put many artisan bakers out of business wanting me to **think** they're the corner store in the country.

P-u-leese.

In the words of a famous ad man: the customer's not a moron, she's your wife.

Tesco - you can do better than this.

back of the house - pebbledash painted

2011-06-16T06:26:00.001+01:00

back of the house - pebbledash painted, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

You can really see how it's going to look now the scaffolding's down....

we have stairs...

2011-06-14T21:53:00.001+01:00

we have stairs..., a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

obviously in their early stages, but hey, I don't have to climb up a ladder on every site visit.

Progress indeed.

Side of house, painted

2011-06-12T23:37:00.001+01:00

Side of house, painted, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

And for the purists: a side view. I think the painted side makes our neighbour's kitchen much lighter and brighter - who knows, maybe they'll return the compliment:)

House, painted

2011-06-12T23:26:00.004+01:00

So, our scaffolding came down on shabbes (on the way to shul, it was there, but loads of blokes were dismantling it, and on the way home, it had gone).

You can finally see our hip-to-gable roof, and the velux in the dressing room, and our newly painted house.

Boy, did I agonise over the paint.

First off, I felt I (we) wanted to be true to the original house, which is our guiding principle. Much as most people "gut" a place, we've worked very hard to keep as much original as possible (skirting / coving / ceilings / doors / fireplaces) and are even reinstating some things in the original style of the house. We're not looking for a period piece, as I've said before, but at the same time, I feel like things should be "in keeping". And I'm very committed to the idea that Edwardian architecture worked - we've only knocked down one wall, and all the other rooms are staying pretty much the same.

So to some degree I felt that the "original" pebbeldash (thankfully only on the upper floor, there is some red brick), while to me tasteless, was a reflection of the hundred-year-oldness of the house, and we shouldn't mess with it. Re-painting or re-rendering was in and out of the builder's contract half a dozen times.

Eventually, we realised that it just looks dirty. There's something about hundred year old poorly maintained pebbeldash that's just - ugly. So we painted it on the front and back first floor, and re-rendered the side (where it had mostly come off anyway) and are rendering the back extension.

I think we made the right decision. But what do you think?

fireplace insert...

2011-06-06T23:35:00.001+01:00

fireplace insert..., a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

we're putting two of these inside the oak fireplace surrounds in the lounge and dining rooms (although our hearth will be flush to the floor...). This is the thing in the house I am most excited about. Hand-dipped Edwardian fireplace tiles are my middle name.

hall lightfiting?

2011-06-06T23:34:00.001+01:00

IMG_2345, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

waddya think of one of these as a light fitting in the hall?

small child's bedroom....

2011-06-06T23:33:00.001+01:00

small child's bedroom...., a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

with real ceiling back ...

kitchen...

2011-06-06T23:32:00.003+01:00

IMG_2316, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

through the kitchen to the family room...

our hall, will one day be tidier than this...

2011-06-06T23:32:00.001+01:00

our hall, will one day be tidier than this..., a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

the two doors on the right are the dining room and lounge, and the white light coming towards you is the kitchen and family room.

completed office ceiling... looking for 1m drop lights

2011-06-06T23:31:00.001+01:00

completed office ceiling... looking for 1m drop lights, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

So I'm looking for some kinda interesting, slightly industrial hanging light for my office...

House Renovation - half way point?

2011-06-06T00:55:00.004+01:00

So as you can see, I'm spread pretty thin with this house renovation lark, but for anyone interested, here's where we're at...

ground floor extensions (family room / utility) - built, roofed, waiting for concertina glass doors
ground floor lounge extension (moving bay) - just getting the ceiling the right height
kitchen - specified, beautiful bespoke solid oak (Plain English, but better) kitchen painted an (undecided, possibly Clunch, Farrow & Ball colour), with kashmir white granite and faux-limestoneish porcelain tiles, and the reclaimed original kitchen tiles in the fireplace behind the range
family bathroom specified - timeless white suite with carrera marble (60 x 60 on the floor, 30 x 60 on the walls, possibly in a metro pattern)
master bathroom specified - off-white crackle glaze metro tiles (in walk-in wet-room-style shower and waist height everywhere else), slipper bath with chrome feet, traditional pedestal basin and toilet, CP Hart Empire fittings...
all electric points and radiators decided
reclaimed oak parquet floor sourced

Currently all about light fittings. Keep changing my mind. I obviously don't want the house to look like a period piece: I'm always slightly drawn to the occasional Sunday magazine article about someone living the total 50s/20s/whatever lifestyle, down to the clothes and the kitchen, but it always feels a little... odd. Sure, I like deco/20s stuff, and I'm a sucker for period (minimal) oak, but I don't want our house to be a museum, I want it to reflect the history of the (Edwardian) house, while having a light, contemporary feel, and being liveable. So though I'm going for quite a few period light fittings - not least because I have lots of my grandma's - I'm seeking something quite modern in the hall to make the statement that it's a real house, not a BBC drama setting.

Any feedback gratefully received. I don't actually have anyone to discuss this with, so I really mean it....

Roses are red

2011-05-15T19:33:00.003+01:00

photo.JPG, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

I dont know what these roses are called, but they have double flowers... they look strangely old fashioned and velvety.

peace rose, in our front garden

2011-05-15T19:33:00.001+01:00

peace rose, in our front garden, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

unbelievable roses in our front garden.

this is our patio - family room the right, lounge bay in front of you

2011-05-15T19:32:00.003+01:00

this is our patio - family room the right, lounge bay in front of you, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

One day, this will be our patio...

back of the house.. the window in the extension is the utility room

2011-05-15T19:32:00.001+01:00

back of the house.. the window in the extension is the utility room, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

Here you can see the new family room and utility room extension (using all existing windows), and the bay extension, moving out towards you...

all the way through the kitchen to the family room and the utility room

2011-05-15T19:31:00.001+01:00

all the way through the kitchen to the family room and the utility room, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

So the original end of the house has gone and now the kitchen opens seamlessly into the vaulted family room (with utility / laundry room door at the far left)

Family Room view to utility

2011-04-29T11:37:00.001+01:00

Family Room view to utility, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

Standing at the end of the kitchen, looking through the family room to the utility room.. right hand side will be glass concertina doors. Ceiling will be vaulted.

Family room has a roof

2011-04-29T11:36:00.001+01:00

Family room has a roof, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

Our family room has a roof, and will have a large velux in the gap you see on the left hand side... walls, obviously, we will keep breezeblock...

Faux crocs

2011-04-29T11:35:00.001+01:00

Faux crocs, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

J was so happy that his cousin gave him two Micky Mousim (or is that one Micky and one Minnie?)

hello opening between lounge and dining room which will have lovely wooden doors with glass windows in a seamlessly period style

2011-04-07T23:51:00.003+01:00

hello opening between lounge and dining room which will have lovely wooden doors with glass windows in a seamlessly period style, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

Methinks this will be lovely, when we have real doors.. it certainly makes both rooms, somehow brighter

goodbye, tiny larder, hello, micro-eco-toilet under the stairs

2011-04-07T23:51:00.001+01:00

goodbye, tiny larder, hello, micro-eco-toilet under the stairs, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

Small, but perfectly formed...

Roofless

2011-03-29T08:14:00.001+01:00

Roofless, a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

As in, you can see the sky through our roof.

Is this the way to Amarillo....

2011-03-29T08:02:00.003+01:00

At a kid's party on Sunday - amazing, 40 kids, old-fashioned magician, tea followed by a disco - dancing to Is this the way to Amarillo (not this version), I realised that, probably, I was the only person in the room who remembered the 1970 original by Neil Sedaka.

Sure, now there are ironic remakes - Peter Kay / Comic Relief and all subsequent spin-offs, as far as I can tell from Wikipedia - but if you had middle-class Jewish parents in the 1970s, then you were totally up with all Neil Sedaka albums, and this was, practically our theme tune.

Seeing my little boy dancing it felt like it was only twenty minutes ago that my parents were putting all their 45s in their hired juke box, taking up the carpet, preparing ironic seventies food (OK, cocktail sticks with pineapple and cheese cubes didn't get ironic till afterwards) and throwing the most amazing parties.

Of course we were kids, and had to (rightly) go to bed, but the best thing about the parties was that for a few days or weeks later, we still had a jukebox (which was kinda like a 1970s precursor - except no-one had one - to an iPod), and we'd all dance and sing. I learned all my best dance moves, which I'm still using, then, and used to love jiving with my Dad and my brother, and watching my parents dance (pretty amazingly), as we swirled about the purple furniture (we had a purple, rather than brown seventies, which I think I've mentioned before). Now that I'm renovating our own house, I see how influenced I was by the purple seventies thing.

All this... nostalgia brought to you by kids' parties, YouTube and a sunny day.

Our house, since you ask, is doing fine. The structural engineer is back today to advise on (much reduced) additional underpinning of one internal wall. We are properly roofless. Things moving on apace. Meanwhile, I am seeking out retro lightfittings on eBay.

Seven years...

2011-03-22T23:45:00.003Z

Seven years ago tonight D and I went on our first (proper) date. We were young, free, and single, so obviously chose to live on the edge and meet at Bond Street Tube shopping centre, and then went on to Carluccios round the corner, followed by a local pub and...

Seven years on, we've got a child and house and quite a lot of (collective) books and comics and a ... life together.

It's quite amazing.

So of course, we celebrated at the Hampstead Carluccios (who has time to go into town when you're paying a babysitter by the hour), where they were thoroughly charming to us - a complimentary glass of prosecco when we sat down, and limoncellos with desert (although one of us was driving). I had mentioned it was our anniversary when I booked.

D had even checked out an appropriate Hampstead-place to recreate our first kiss.

I don't get soppy that often (ok, I *do*), but I really thank the all the planetary doodars for helping me meet the loveliest bloke in the universe. Planetary doodars being the internet, bloggers, thedavegreen (organiser of xcom 2002 where we first met) and, in a strange way, a certain no-longer anonymous celebrity blogger. Happy Anniversary.

Purim greetings

2011-03-19T22:06:00.003Z

a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

So it's Purim - season's greetings. I've made semi-traditional hamentashen (triangular pastries in the shape of the Purim villain Haman's hat). Half are made with eingemachts (beetroot jam) and half with pear ginger and chilli jam. Not all have stayed triangular, but hey, that's homemade for you.

Strange Sighting In Finchley...

2011-03-17T22:25:00.001Z

Last week, I walked to the tube behind a rather dapper young(ish) man, carrying a rolled up umbrella in one hand, and what was apparently a dirty tea-towel in the other. I thought about it all that day. I even posted it to Facebook on an ask the audience basis, to find out what the hive brain thought. And I *still* don't know.

Do you?

scaffolding

2011-03-15T19:42:00.001Z

scaffolding a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

We have scaffolding. Things are moving ahead apace.

House Renovation - Day Nine (our foundations)

2011-03-09T15:03:00.003Z

So work's moved on apace, with the foundations for our extension pretty dug out, and the whole of the ceiling on the first floor removed.

One thing about this kind of project - that I struggle with - is that you can't pin everything down in advance. There are going to be things that happen as you go along.

D, the builder told me that the worst-case stuff happens in the first couple of weeks. So no suprise, then, that when we sat down yesterday, turns out that the middle (internal) walls of the house don't have deep foundations. The exterior of the house, on the otherhand, has apparently fabulous foundations for a house this age.

What this means is that to carry the weight of our loft conversion, we may have to dig deeper foundations. Possible alternative routes are redesigning the steels to spread the weight differently, which I'm hoping is do-able, otherwise we have to dig into our pockets quite a bit deeper than we planned.

Oh well. Nice house when we're finished. We hope.

This used to be the toilet

2011-03-04T09:49:00.003Z

This used to be the toilet a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

But hey, things change.

The spare room...

2011-03-04T09:49:00.001Z

The spare room... a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

This is the spare room / aupair room / whoknows room... a little dusty, now the ceiling has come down.

Keeping the fireplace. Selling the radiators, if anyone wants apparently working probably 1930s radiators... I have five.

Back of the house, largely gone...

2011-03-04T09:47:00.001Z

back of the house, largely gone... a photo by sashinka-uk on Flickr.

People have asked for pics - so, here's one. We used to have a an extra bit on the right with an (ancient) downstairs loo and a larder, and on the right we had a bay (which is moving out, rather than disappearing).

The knocking down, apparently, is much quicker than the building...

House Renovation - Day Four (about the flood)

2011-03-03T08:39:00.002Z

Day four - it's quite amazing how little of some parts of our house are left, but I gather it's much quicker to demolish than rebuild.

Some backstory.

We saw this house back in the spring of last year. It was a probate sale; a very old lady had died, and the executors had all the local agents round to value it. At the time, a well-known-national-chain were opening up in our area and offering a 0% fees promotion, to get properties on their books.

Now, this well-known-national-chain already have a reputation for over-valuing, and were pretty clueless about the area anyway, as they had no local knowledge, and this was actually buggering up our property search because (a) loads of people thought they would get 30% more for their house because well-known-national-chain had told them and (b) the 0% deal brought out of the woodwork dozens of not-serious sellers who were having a punt. I cannot tell you about the energy we wasted on a (not as nice house on a main road) because the guy kept saying he was moving to Scotland tomorrow but actually, still lives there and I suspect never intended to sell.

So no surprise that the well-known-national-chain got the property, and promptly put it on the market at 35% more than its true value. A local agent, K, who is honest and lovely, actually called me and told me this was "our house" - he wouldn't get it because of the 0% deal, but we should definitely go and have a look.

We ummed and ahhed, because it was a major project. Round plugs, no kitchen save for a fifties enamel sink, loads of period detail, sure, but way more work than we'd thought we might do. We were in a move-in-and-do-it-up-as-you-go-along mode - and this house you couldn't live in, and certainly not with a two year old, as the electrics sizzled when you turned them on.

But we needed to buy a house, and while it wasn't perfect it was in the totally right place - location, location, location, as they always say - so I talked to a couple of builders, found out quite how much it would cost to get it back to a family home, and we put in an offer reflecting that. Our plan was a sensitive renovation - keeping all the walls bar one (knocking the kitchen into the back kitchen to make one long narrow kitchen rather than two short narrow ones).

I remember the micro-estate-agent who was honestly about seventeen who showed me round the first time. He screeched up in his faux-cool-car and walked up the steps in his shiny shoes, and opened the front door, stood in the hall, expansively waved his hands around and said "I'd just knock down all the walls, and make it into one big room. Very modern, very now. And the light." The house is north facing.

But I humoured him, and we agreed a price after a bit of toing and froing, and we were kinda excited but not totally sure, and then the agent started pushing up the price because a developer was interested, and eventually we had to walk away.

Some months later, it's back on the market. The day before exchange, the develop apparently tried to chip the price by £50k and the whole thing fell apart.

We looked at it again, and this time were slightly more desparate to find a house after nearly three years of looking, and agreed a new (slightly lower) price. We actually had our offer accepted, ironically, the day we moved into our rented house (or as Zaphod calls it, our current house) and somehow, already moving to a rental made it easier to make the decision to take on a mammoth renovation. We were happy. We might even exchange before we got married.

In the end, we exchanged the week after the wedding, with completion scheduled for three weeks later. Exchange was delayed because I was totally anal about the insurance, and carrying on with the same insurer. The agent had mentioned that the water was off (the house had been empty for a year by then, so it should be), but I booked my plumber to come and check and drain the water tank the day we were completing. I mean, it wasn't ours at exchange, so we couldn't do that. Oh, how I wish I'd asked my lawyer to double-check the water was off, but hey, you always know more in hindsight.

AND IF THERE'S ANY LESSON TO THIS - if you're buying an empty house, make sure the water tank is drained before contract exchange.

A week after exchange I got a call from a neighbour who told me she'd heard there'd been a flood in our house. Except, it wasn't quite ours, and it wasn't quite theirs.

iNew...

2011-03-02T21:37:00.000Z

Oh no, the promo video for the new iPad actually says "new innovation". Oh dear.

House Renovation - Day Three (render)

2011-03-02T13:55:00.003Z

Today, I am mostly about what to do with the render on the front of our house.

When I say render, I (sadly) mean pebble-dash.

It was always my dream to live in a red-brick house, but hey, dreams are then to change / mutate. Our pebbledash is a dirty hundred-year-old brown, with, er, pebbles. It's just the top storey, the bottom storey - thank the gods - is red brick, but the question is, when we re-render the side (which we have to, as it needs serious maintenance) and the back extension, do we do it the same dirty-brown or an off-white colour?

Apparently render nowadays can have colour, so once it's done it's relatively maintenance free, but then I feel we should do the front to match.

I briefly thought about having pebble-less dash, if you see what I mean (lengthy conversation with the builder about the various English / Polish ways to dash pebble and texture render, which was quite enlightening), as I'd like to stay true to the original house, as much as I can.

As long as it doesn't look, y'know, crappy. Or - to most people - like we haven't done a renovation.

I dunno, what do you think?

House Renovation - Day Two (dreaming)

2011-03-01T06:45:00.002Z

I suppose you should realise that you're taking your house renovation fairly (possibly too) seriously when you dream about kitchens.

A proper, rather detailed dream with kitchen brands and model numbers and a rather annoying (Dream) saleswoman in the (dream) kitchen shop (Bulthaup, where I would never shop).

We (that's the Royal We - D is delightedly happy for me to do my house thing as long as (a) he gets a decent shower and (b) he gets a good office (including affoementioned comics storage)) are going for a painted old-fashioned kitchen, and since November I have visited about six kitchen shops, sat down with three kitchen designers, bored many of my friends stupid (to which I'm sure they will atest) about my kitchen plan, and I'm currently on version 9.

My thinking, however, has progressed.

We have a narrow kitchen (galley, as my Mum keeps reminding me, and I always get an image of slaves rowing boats), so the planning is pretty crucial to maximise the storage space.

Kitchens are more complicated than bathrooms. That's what my project manager told me, and that's what I keep reminding myself when I spend even more time measuring cupboards and gaps in other people's kitchens. Let's face it, I'm only going to do one kitchen, and in the future my kid'll laugh and say "oh, so 2011, that kitchen, with it's painted grey cupboards and honed marble worktops" just as I smiled wryly at 70s orange Hygena kitchens.

So in the dream, the dream kitchen I wanted, which I would never want, it was all stainless steel and angled and dark wood, although Very Now, was £2,500 over our budget, but two salespeople had to get comission and they couldn't do anything on the price.

What I've realised is, buying a kitchen is kinda a little like buying clothes, but way more expensive and permanent. You say something about yourself. And I guess I want to say "I have a period sensibility and a serious storage habit, and I like plain things (John Book)." So I'm hoping to be all worktop kitchen appliances in cupboards with plugs, and just shelves showing off my (plain) white china and lemon drizzle cakes. Like I'm only a homemaker.

That's it. I'd like my kitchen to say: we have a simple life. I stay home and cook (in cupboards) and have a freshly-made-cake-would-you-like-a-cup-of-tea. And I make fresh food for my kid. And I like the simple things.

And the reality is I'm running this house renovation like a work project, because I'm juggling it with client-work, a new project I'm rather stupidly starting now because the time is right, looking after my two year old (his comment on the New House: mummy, there are no toys), and running a home (which covers the whole gamut of cooking / shopping / washing) where I feel that I have to offer all the Cheadle-in-the-70s services that my Mum offered.

But I like the "idea" that my life is simple.

I feel like I've been waist deep in house plans / engineer's drawings / dust / damp (we had a flood, long story) faded edwardian architectural details for six months, and that I've become slightly less interesting. So, if you know me personally, apologies, I am briefly one-dimensional, but I'm sure I'll come out a better person the other side (and one with all her storage needs met, too).

The House Renovation - Day One (catchup)

2011-02-28T14:09:00.005Z

It's day one of our major house rennovation.

I've been quiet - some say very-quiet, verging on dead - here for some time, and I'm sorry. While excuses don't hold for much and everyone's busy - especially people with children - I've been busy.

So here's a little update on the last six months:

-sold my flat, which I'd lived in like-forever. Contract exchange was tough (I cried for about three days), but not as tough as having to keep the place tidy and brightly-coloured-plastic-toy free for the viewings so that the childless funky couples of West Hampstead could imagine themselves in a Party Flat

- moved house - to a rented house. Which means we have to do it all again, at some point, but hey. Truth is, once there were three of us we'd totally grown out of the Party Flat, stylish as it was. Not to mention the comics. The comics, frankly, need their own special room. And all those things that you swear you'll never do, you do, like move house to be near a school. Not so much that, but that the school options in Party Flat zone 2 were limited, whereas in Suburban Zone 4, there are options. So we figured we'll move, have more space, let the comics breath, work out where to live later

- househunting. That's a lie - my laptop records tell me I started househunting in 2008 (when D and I finally got our collective acts together)and I guess I have to learn something from the fact that I couldn't find the perfect house in three years. Househunting is time-consuming, especially when you're really anal like me and have to know what every comparable house in the street is like before you can even go see the one that's on offer. Not that it'll ever be a useful skill, but I can value a house anywhere in North London at thirty paces

- got married (again). We didn't make a huge song-and-dance, just a medium one, and I'm kinda an event planner as well as all the other things I don't quite do, but, it took a little time. Although it was amazing. Weddings make me cry; my tip - waterproof mascara

- Actually found a house to buy, perversely, on the day we moved in our rental house (Zaphod - small child - asked me about our house and I called it our current house and now he calls it our current house). Offer accepted in September, quite a lot of hassle till eventual completion in January

- Which brings us to today - the start of a rennovation project / extension that is scheduled for six months. Which it has to be, as the lease is up on our house at exactly the same time, so we'd have nowhere to live. ALthough, we could go to our storage container on the North Circular and hang out with our furniture

So, today the builder turned up with his crew of charming Polish blokes, and they are gradually dismantling all the things from the house I want to keep ("anything over fifty years old, we keep for you, Sasha") he eventually said to me yesterday when I turned up with an itemised spreadsheet of 28 period features I wanted to make sure we retain.

Pictures. That's what you need, right? The before and after is always so compelling.

I will tell you more about the house plans later, but rest assured, the comics have their own special resting place (including their own personal structural steels).

Seasonal musings..

2010-12-22T15:33:00.004Z

So there's a few things I've noticed recently:

- Zara Philips: shouldn't she have had a manicure before the big engagement-ring-showy-offy photos? They've been living together for ages, it can hardly have been a suprise

- do you hate it as much as I do when the little widgets from other sites you've been to (DIY stores, property websites) pop up in other places WITH THE STUFF YOU LOOKED AT. It feels almost like being stalked. Personalised web experience? Sure. Freaky feeling that makes me never want to visit them again? Fersure.

- I am experimenting with faux-mincemeat (ie vegetarian beef-suet-free) - it is currently doing its thing and I will attempt mince pies tomorrow. As well as challah:)

- I am totally in love with my ice-gripper stabilicer type things. I actually feel secure when on snowy/icy ground: I recommend them to you all. (Although I notice they have put the price up by £5 - £10 since I bought them six weeks ago: I guess it's supply and demand, but even so.)

wedding shoes

2010-11-28T10:05:00.001Z

wedding shoes
Originally uploaded by sashinka-uk

My wedding shoes... because why wear white when you don't want to. They were Wizard of Oz (just click your heels) meets some kind of Victo-Edwardiana that totally floats my boat.

Aaaaaargh

2010-11-28T10:03:00.001Z

Aaaaaargh
Originally uploaded by sashinka-uk

What a relief that less than a week into the engagement, some publishing company is already (allegedly) raking it in with the royal wedding love story memorial dead-tree magazine.

They look so happy. But then so did Charles and Di. I'm not getting all Bishop of Willesden over this, I just think... enough already. Or, don't even start. Do we care? I think not...

http

2010-11-28T10:01:00.002Z

http
Originally uploaded by sashinka-uk

Start 'em young, I say...

Sadly, the polystyrene bath letters don't have colons, but, hey, you're never to young to learn what will doubtless become an old-fashioned internet protocol...

Powercut breakfast

2010-10-28T09:24:00.001+01:00

Powercut breakfast
Originally uploaded by sashinka-uk

Milk's probably gone off in the fridge, it's hour 11 of the power cut and I'm charging everything in a downtown finchley cafe

No one knows anything

2010-10-17T16:20:00.001+01:00

No one knows anything
Originally uploaded by sashinka-uk

Downtown Citta di Castella, seeking the "retro" market in a thunderstorm. Finally found it - Camden circa 1990 in a beautiful medieval square.

Welcome to suburbia

2010-09-21T16:33:00.001+01:00

Welcome to suburbia
Originally uploaded by sashinka-uk

So, I've arrived. And I have broadband (and wifi) after five days in the literal **wilderness**. It's so quiet here... I can't sleep.

But hey. We have our own front door. And a suburban street. And neighbours who pop in. And a big eat-in kitchen. And an office for D.

All in all, nice, even if it does take a little getting used to.

A sign of my own stupidity...

2010-08-25T07:09:00.001+01:00

trolley
Originally uploaded by sashinka-uk

See, this is one of those things you have in your car, which REPLICATES a pound coin. So when you get to a supermarket if you don't have a pound you can put this handy item in the trolley and shop.

It's slightly naff, so obviously I don't put it on my keyring. And anway, my keyring is full of... many keys I cannot entirely indentify.

This ... faux pound makes me feel stupid everytime I use it. Because? Because it cost me two pounds.

It's a cipher - a sign - of everything I get wrong in my life. At some point, I can't remember, I was clearly in a shop where I thought, hey, two pounds for a thing that does the job of a pound. That's a bargain. Or, hey, why don't I buy an unecesary item where I only have one of them, to replicate pound coins, of which I have many. That'll be smart.

And in having an additional belonging, I have to **do** stuff with it. I have to keep it somewhere. I have to remember where I kept it. I have to remember to get it back (rather than trading pound coins with a randomer in the supermarket). If I'm in a massive hurry and it's pouring and Zaphod (small child) is screaming, I don't think "oh, it's only a pound, leave it for someone else to find and have a nice day" abandaning my trolley with free cash in it. I think - that would be wasting two pounds, go get it.

So, short fom: my faux-pound makes me feel actually-stupid.

And also, the more expensive the supermarket, the less it works. Lidl - fine. Tesco - no. Sainsbury - no. Waitrose - I didn't even try.

Learn from me, people.

The Self-Storage Self

2010-08-17T13:34:00.000+01:00

Somehow, as I recycle, declutter, unecumber myself of five years of tax records / phone bills etc, this article my beloved sent to me last year seems a little resonant: The Self-Storage Self - Storing All the Stuff We Accumulate.

Of course, I'm getting rid, as they say in Manchester, so hopefully it doesn't apply to me...

Oh, and now I can recycle the printout. Stuff. It's all about being able to find something again, and then you have so much stuff you can't. Aaah: the internet.

Current Status

2010-08-14T21:21:00.003+01:00

Decluttering. Containerising. Selling flat (after a *very* long time living here). Moving (temporarily). Househunting. Redundancy (not mine). Working. Holidaying. Househunting. New job (not mine). All the yomtavim (Jewish New Year). Getting married (ok, to the same guy, long story). Busy. :)

Hack Things Better

2010-08-11T22:55:00.000+01:00

Just discovered sugru - sounds like playdough for grownups (not that I'm complaining)... can't wait to get my hands on some.

Oh, and sorry I didn't blog in like, forever. You wouldn't believe what's been going on.

Overheard at a cocktail party:

2010-06-27T22:13:00.001+01:00

People get divorced for three things - sex, money and untidiness. (Apparently).

Apple cake

2010-06-21T10:01:00.001+01:00

Apple cake
Originally uploaded by sashinka-uk

My latest culinary experiment - dead easy apple cake (although you should do it in a bundt tin, according to the recipe, and this one was a little.. undercooked in the middle).

William Morris Quote

2010-05-31T14:17:00.003+01:00

Craft project?

2010-04-19T21:34:00.000+01:00

In other news, I feel I could save myself £79 and make a Floral Velvet Pouffe.

Doublethink – The Digital Economy Bill against the digital economy

2010-04-09T10:31:00.000+01:00

As ever, Mike Butcher hits the nail on the head with an incisive analysis of the the Digital Economy Bill, now at its third reading and likely to change the face of the previously start-up friendly UK.

Ohdear.

British Gas Years (chorus)

2010-04-09T05:19:00.002+01:00

So Ken, the bloke they sent round yesterday had real "grey hair" (experience) as they say in business, as well as real grey hair, and I felt strangely comforted by his appearance of knowing what he was doing. He sat on the countertop leaning in towards the boiler like an old-fashioned doctor sitting on a sick kid's bed, stethescope-in-ear.

"It looks like you need an inexplicable-part-A, and your inexplicable-part-B is pitted. Of course they never replace inexplicable-part-B, they'd rather just give you £600 towards a new boiler."

I asked if he carried parts. He raised an eyebrow in a just-in-time way. I asked if he could arrange for a first-thing visit tomorrow (now today) and he practically laughed in my face. I settled for an 8 till 12, silently plotting how to get someone to sit in as I have a big meeting in the afternoon.

(Sidenote: I find the logistics of running a metaphorical house (flat) strangely comforting; bizarrely enjoying the delicate balancing of grocery orders, childcare, shirt service, household maintenance, online banking, dry cleaning, green-lightbulb-sourcing, recycling and list making. It's as if I'm running a very large (and very long) project in the background to all the other projects I'm doing, and I was already working out where we could shower and who I could get to wait in. I bought my Mum a Chief Household Officer mug because she trained me well in the art of executive fridge management and listmaking, although I quite like the Messenger / Nappy bag too.)

Ken maintains his "I have a British Gas script, we can't get even the Queen a timed apppointment. A Technical Services Manager will not attend without three days notice (I'd asked for someone more knowledgable after the same guy came three times but I still had a problem). The first appointments go at three weeks notice. Rules-is-rules" stance.

He leaves, and tells me someone else will come tomorrow. I can't tell if he's got the day off or he's marked me as a difficult customer with whom he doesn't want to get involved, professionally speaking.

My conversation with NAM happened just after Ken's visit, and I felt like, hey, this'll get sorted.

About two hours later, I get a blocked call from Ken.

"Hi Mzzzz Froooz, it's Ken."

I say hi.

"You must know someone really important in British Gas. I've just had my earholes bent off by the NAM (who he implies his quite a bundle of rungs up the foodchain). I dunno who you know, but they've arranged two engineers to come at 8.30 tomorrow after they've got the parts, and they're booked out all day. They're replacing two inexplicable-part-As and also inexplicable-part-B, which is tricky to fit. They're bringing in a [boiler brand] specialist who knows your boiler inside out. My boss Tony'll come and oversee it. We've been told to fix this, and keep the customer happy. I don't know who you are, no-one gets this. Anyway, I'm off tomorrow, but hope it all goes well."

I thank him, and mention that I'd sung his praises in relation to his experience. I hope he has a good day off. I say this vaguely realising days off are as much for funerals and queing at banks as they are for nice things.

Moral of the story: (a) Top-Down customer service chasing clearly gets better results than Bottom-Up. If you can get out of the customer contact centre loop. (b) Keep everyone's mobile number, even if it's for 5 years and you can't imagine why you'd ever call them again.

Proof of the pudding: let's see if we have lift-off when I get back from my big meeting this afternoon. Otherwise, we'll be entering our second heating/hot-water free week. Least we have nice neighbours. Least it's Spring(ish).

The British Gas Years (reprise)

2010-04-08T12:19:00.000+01:00

So it's happened to us all... your boiler breaks down, your service supplier is inefficient, you have an intermittent fault, blahblahblah.

Back in 2002, I had some serious hassle (referred to as The British Gas Years.

Then, in 2004/5, I had some similar problems, which in my mind I wrote about extensively, but my archive tells me not.

In the end, I had the mobile phone number for Paul F*******, the British Gas area manager for North London, who lit a few tapers under people's behinds and got it fixed.

In desperation, I called him this morning. No surprise that he's still not in the same job, but he's still with British Gas (moved even higher up the foodchain) and was charming and lovely and got the new area manager to call me back within an hour.

So I've had my fourth engineer visit this morning - finally, at 11.15, after waiting since 8am) and they need more parts. But New Area Manager (NAM) has (a) left me his mobile no, (b) promised that a senior enginner will attend tomorrow morning, and (c) promised that I can get seen at 8.30 after they collect the parts from the Post Office (who knew, they used the Post Office for deliveries).

So, the moral of the tale? Always work down, not up, in a customer service sense.

My husband has just asked me if I'd like to phone his manager's manager's manager (who I think must run the whole shebang) to complain about him, but I don't have any complaints:)

Vote Matcher?

2010-04-08T09:22:00.000+01:00

Quite, quite taken with the Telegraph's Vote Matcher - what's your score?

My month of being Jewish

2010-04-08T09:19:00.000+01:00

Rather entertaining (and typo-laden) piece in today's Guardian - Sarfraz Manzoor's month of being Jewish.

He managed to hang out with some fair frummers (including going to a Tzivos Hashem activity), but the thing that really got me?

A Pesach Seder is like christmas dinner - feels to me like everyone's heard of it / knows about it. At least, yer educated-journo types. So how that managed to get in print as "Cedar" I have no idea. But boy, did I laugh...

Challenging Rabbinic Misogyny — With Paper Cuts

2010-03-31T23:08:00.004+01:00

Just (finally) listened to my friend Jacqueline Nicholl's podcast on the Sisterhood blog at Foward.com about her "Ladies Guild Collection" - a truly, truly amazing collection of work, based on papercuts as doilies .

Jaq insightfully - and cleverly / deftly - brings together misogynist quotes from Jewish tradition, and places them in the context of both a beautiful craft (papercuts) and a depth of knowledge of Jewish tradition, combined with a creativity that straddles all of this.

Amazing, inspiring work. Totally loving it.

My grandma's Seder plate

2010-03-29T16:31:00.001+01:00

My grandma's Seder plate
Originally uploaded by sashinka-uk

Most seder plates have six sections, but for some reason, my grandma's has seven - we've often debated the extras.

I think that the top middle one is something in yiddish that might mean either salt water or egg, and the one to its left (kotzech?) I'm always meaning to look up the root of..

Anyway: tomorrow night (second night) is the first seder I'm making in my house.

It's a big deal.

I mean, it's a small seder: we've decided to be just the three of us, and start early with the plush seder plate so that Zaphod can.. do whatever 17 month old toddlers do at seder. But I hope he... enjoys the vibe and the matzah (his new word for the day) and the songs and the food...

But it's big because, well, making your own seder. We're the grown ups. We're a family, doing the things that families do.

Anyway, gut yomtov:)

Eingemachts 2010 finished product

2010-03-28T18:12:00.001+01:00

Eingemachts 2010 finished product
Originally uploaded by sashinka-uk

With correct Yiddish spelling (I have consulted with specialists to ensure this).

Largely delivered: roll on Pesach.

Making eingemach, 2010

2010-03-27T23:54:00.002Z

Making eingemach, 2010
Originally uploaded by sashinka-uk

So I have chopped 6lb of beetroots, blanched almonds, and I'm off to bed to start the earnest work of making eingemach (beetroot jam) at the crack of dawn.

Charedei milk

2010-03-25T18:52:00.001Z

Charedei milk
Originally uploaded by sashinka-uk

See, there's milk, and then there's kosher milk, and then there's fresh kosher milk, and then there's fresh, kosher, charedi milk.

Welcome to the Jewish season of silliness.

Glee Club

2010-03-10T23:20:00.001Z

Just caught up on 2 weeks of Glee - loving it.

For me, it's more about the writing than the music (never been a musical kinda gal) although I do find myself feeling - in a slightly Grange Hill way - that they're all rather professional. Love the uber-ironic characters, how everyone has their own meta-narrator.

Can't help wondering if in real American High Schools girls truly walk around in their cheerleader outfits all day (a la Heroes' Claire Bennett). In fact, now I think about it - almost all high-school related stuff is living in the shadow of John Hughes' (RIP) Breakfast Club.

Reminds me: great piece in Vanity Fair about John.

Do you want a FLAP?

2010-03-04T19:21:00.000Z

I love Timbuk2 bags (and kinda hate that it costs too much postage to get a bespoke one in the UK), and I'm dead excited about their FLAP bag in development.

Basically - I shouldn't say that, should I - it's a solar powered LED light that's disguised as a messenger bag.

Dontcha love it?

And perfect for your cool-green credentials and the coming energy crisis. You read it here first(ish, I mean, it's the interwebs, ferchrissakes, there is no first anymore).