Doctor Who Exhibition - what a swizz

I wanted to go to the Doctor Who exhibition before it finished next January. I'm not a major fan or anything, in fact as a child the theme tune and the daleks used to scare me, but I like going to the Kelvingrove and the last two exhibitions were good. Kylie's wardrobe and Harry Benson's photographs. So we went today, wandered down to the basement and were met by a barrier. You need a ticket to go in. Okay...that's a bit weird. Museums in Glasgow are free but sure, I'll go into the museum shop to see what price the tickets are (expecting them to be about a pound, I'd pay a pound, a pound is alright)...... £7.50. SEVEN POUNDS FIFTY. And if you use your card to pay instead of reddies, they charge you an extra £1. It's absolutely disgraceful. There's magnificent works of art all around in the Kelvingrove for free but they're charging £7.50 for some mdf and fibreglass. It's a piece of nonsense. Ultimate Exhibition my backside.

Autumn in Overtoun Park

We were out and about today and happened upon Overtoun Park; the park that was round the corner from me when I was growing up. It really is a lovely space with some good, old trees in it. As you can see from these photies and vid. It was a lovely day today. About time we had a nice, dry, sunny, cold, leaf-kicking day.

Cloverfield

It's on sky movies tonight and I pointed this bit out to Jason when it was on last week (Sky movies shows the same movie to death!)........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILzutBHnhzw&feature=PlayList&p=7A12DBD885D230DD&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=11

It is easier to see on telly. I pointed it out to him and he missed it, went into the bedroom and watched it on the burned computer copy that we have. It's definitely discernible. If you have it on dvd or the computer, go to the last 30 seconds of the movie when they are at the Coney Island fair and you see the monster fall from the sky and splash into the water. I love stuff like this. Hidden secrets in movies.

New Jumper

New jumper. I got it at Granny would be Proud and have worn it about 4 times already. I just love it. And everyone comments on the beautiful button detail. I think it's an old school jumper. It's very warm and feels like it's from the 80s. I think if you look at school jumpers now, they're not built to last. All clothes these days are a bit temporary and disposable but there's something vigorous and enduring about my wee button jumper.

Beeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Nitid Nicola has started a new short contract on tour as a set design assistant for a show made for little people. Yesterday I made some bees for the performers to use. Check them out. Sweet, eh? Zzzzzzzzz. They put their fingers up the bees' bums and make them buzz about and land on different places. It's great seeing them in action. More makes to follow.

Scotty Boy's Birthday - Hooray!

Happy Birthday Scotty. Hope you have a good one. Love your sis, Nitidnicola xxx

Coffee and a Danish

There is nothing to beat a coffee and a cinnamon swirl. It's an amazing combination. Thanks to Jason's kindness this morning, I had one to go with my mid-morning caffeine fix. Yuuummmmm.

PS. Other good hot drink and food combos:- 1)Morton roll with lorne sausage and a cup of tea. 2) Bacon on soft white buttered bread and a cup of tea. 3) Coffee and mintolas/after eights. There are others. What's yours?

The Tea Room at Granny would be Proud

The tea-room at GWBP did an awesome trade on Sunday. It was just the ticket to warm the cockles after the horrid weather outside. And with lovely little teacups, saucers and tablecloths, it looked absolutely darling! I hope it's there for the next one at the start of December!

Granny would definitely be Proud

The fourth Granny would be Proud was another roaring success, despite the dreich weather. The weather was absolutely dreadful but that didn't stop lots of eager shoppers from popping in for some bargains and a cup of tea. It was a great day for the traders and for the shoppers. Two floors of stalls and a tea-room. What more could you want from a Sunday afternoon?

Jason on the Telly!

Here we have my boyfriend Jason on the telly advertising Waterloo Road. We went down to the BBC studios one lunchtime and twenty minutes later he was finished. Not a bad day's work. I got to hang out at the BBC cafe while I waited for him and had the best carrot cake EVER. It was half cake, half icing. Seriously. Urgh, so delicious.

So Jason had to do, "Tonight on Waterloo Road." "Later this evening on Waterloo Road." "In an hour, Waterloo Road." etc, etc. The versions through the week, like the one in the video, are a slightly squashed, slightly speeded up version of his voice, the reason being that he was overdubbing an English advert and had only a certain amount of seconds to squash it all in. I am loking forward to hearing him on Sunday as those ones will be at a more normal pace. It's hilarious hearing him on the telly though. I love it. More, please. Whatever keeps Mama in shoes. Oh yeah.

Scott & Elton up a tree

At Katie's wedding we found out that Scott has been getting into Elton John as of late. Yeah, I know, I know.

So what with his penchant for kissing things/people, it was very easy to photoshop him with his new idol. Happy Birthday for Monday, muppet.

Nic&Jasonxx

Christmas Stars

It was my wee cousin Katie's wedding on the 11th October and I didn't have her wedding present ready, I know, I know, shame on me. I knew that I was going to make her something but I didn't know what - she liked the bags for life that I made David in the summer so I'm going to give her a couple of those, but I wanted to give her something else so I made these wee Christmas stars for her first Christmas as a wife! Au Naturale have lovely shoe boxes with a photo of Christmas decorations on the front and I'm going to get her that to put them in. Awww, nice. I love presents, I do.

Kim Chi & Gyoza

Followers of my Japanarama blog will know that one of my favourite meals in Japan was from a Korean restaurant in Kyoto. http://jasonandnicoladojapan.blogspot.com/2009/04/bargains-in-kyoto.html It was Korean soup with an accompaniement of gyoza. Absolutely delicious. Hot, spicy, warming, hearty. Just what you want after a day in the rain (the only day that it rained the whole holiday!)

Since we came back, we've talked about recreating that soup and those dumplings. Those lovely little treasures. We finally did it the other day. We checked out gyoza recipes on youtube - this one is my favourite for two reasons 1) the dog, obviously and 2) the voiceover man. http://www.youtube.com/user/cookingwithdog?blend=1&ob=4#p/u/5/r8MBX-SXnmg I don't think Jason used this recipe in the end, we kept it simpler and used less salt. You can put what you like in those wee wrappers. We did cook them the way the video explained.

So we went to the chinese supermarket, found all the lovely ingredients and made the gyozas. The blurry picture is the little circular dumpling wrappers. They're great fun to work with. The soup and the dumplings were outstanding. They totally took me back to Japan. Ahhhh. Japan. It's now made it on to our autumn/winter menu.

One pattern piece wearables

Look at this adorable little skirt. I just love it. It's from the book that Michelle and Gregor got me for my birthday. It's a puffball skirt - not entirely obvious from the pictures - but it's really gorgeous. I love wearing it, it feels very feminine. I am going to take it on tour with me, it's a lovely little ensemble and I'd make it again in a minute. The material is from Ikea (£1.99 per metre), bargain! And the best part is, get this, it's not from a pattern! Yip, it's made entirely from measurements and drawn straight onto the fabric. A wonderful way to make clothes. For all you sewers out there, I made the bias binding at the top of the skirt with 3 inch black satin ribbon. It feels great and makes a super bow. Yowzers!

Belated birthday presents

So, Scott Currie was going to get me dollars for my birthday but as we're not going to America anymore :-( he decided to get me something else. I pointed him in the right direction and he got me this fabulous sewing machine bag. I ell you vee it. It will prove very useful on tour next month.

Autumn

Autumn leaves at St. George's X underground. I know everyone says this but I just love the colours of autumn.