Photos

I haven't managed to make Flickr work yet, but you can view my best/funniest photos from the holiday at Facebook using the link below, even if you're not registered.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=88288&l=83dfc&id=860775531

I wish you were all in Oxford.

the salad i forgot to make on saturday night

its a coleslaw alternative for those of us who aint keen on mayo. and has chillies too, bonus!

salad
half a red cabbage, shredded
about 4 carrots, grated
tablespoon of linseeds (also good with hempseeds)

dressing:
olive oil
lemon
small clove of garlic
an inch of ginger
piece of mild red chilli
handful offresh corainder leaves
dash of soy sauce if you think it needs it

make a paste in a mortar and pestle with garlic and a wee bit olive oil.
add ginger and paste that too.
(as you go along you'll need to add dashes of oil)
chop chilli finely,add to mixture in mortar, and paste.
roughly chop coriander leaves and press them in with pestle to release a bit of flavour.
add more oil and juice of a lemon, until the dressing has a good vinaigrette-style viscosity. you can add a wee bit soy sauce here if you like.

mix up the cabbage and carrot. pour dressing over, toss salad then sprinkle linseeds on top.

an excellent lunch accompanied with smoked fish of choice and squeeze of lemon on toast/oatcake. obviously.

...and the lemon polenta cake

Lemon Polenta Cake
250 g soft butter
250 g caster sugar (granulated)*
Zest of 2 lemons
250 g ground almonds*
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 eggs
Juice of 1 lemon
125 g polenta*
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt

*I used dark brown sugar instead of caster, and 100g almonds/250g polenta instead of the specified quantities

Beat butter, sugar and zest until fluffy (and almost white). Stir in almonds and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, beating each before adding the next. Fold in lemon juice, polenta, baking powder and salt. Spoon the mixture into a buttered cake tin.Bake in a 160 c oven until sides pull slightly from the edges of the tin. This should take approximately 50 minutes. The cake is cooked when it feels firm and springs back from placing your hand on it.

Mama Wasabian's world class coleslaw

There are supposed to be actual measured quantities in this, but what the hell, it's just coleslaw. This makes loads but it all got eaten pretty darned fast.
Half a white or green cabbage, shredded
Half a red cabbage, shredded
About 4-5 carrots, grated
1 onion (red ideally, but I used white), finely chopped
Handful of sultanas
Cumin seeds (ground if you can be bothered)
Brown sugar, just half a teaspoon or so
Squeeze of lemon juice
Mayonnaise - probably about 4 spoonfuls for the amount of veg above but use your noggin.
Mix it all together. That's it! With special thanks to my mum.

for future holidays

AA AD AE AH AI AM AN AR AS AT AW AX AY
BA BE BI BO BY
CH
DA DI DO
EA EE EF EH EL EM EN ER ES EX
FA FY
GI GO GU
HA HE HI HO
ID IF IN IO IS IT
JO
KA KO KY
LA LI LO
MA ME MI MO MU MY
NA NE NO NU NY
OB OD OE OF OH OI OM ON OO OP OR OS OU OW OX OY PA PH PI PO QI RE SH SI SO ST TA TE TI TO UG UM UN UP UR US UT WE WO XI XU YE YO YU ZO

the general synopsis at 530 on monday 4th february

forth
(birthday) sprizz, spreading in slowly from the north west. with more gin expected to arrive from the north tomorrow.
gintake: soon.
thames
(unfortunately) no squally showers tonight or early tomorrow, leading to the return of normal conditions by mid-morning.
gintake: later.

Mr Kipperling's exceedingly good G and 'T'

the secret is not in the tonic water, but in the small quantity of it.

(kipperling overheard 5 mins ago corrupting the young wasabian)