Songs: L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.

This week's offering comes from Noah and the Whale and features moving lyrics and beautiful harmonies:

Tattoos: Turtle!

So about a year ago I got my first tattoo.   I'd known I wanted one for ages, but I didn't know what to get, and I wanted to be really sure first.   Eventually I went for a turtle, of course.   I love turtles!   I had a vague idea of what I wanted, but as I can't draw to save my life I was happy to take suggestions.   I did some googling and found a place where I liked the look of their stuff and went off to get an appointment.   My tattoo artist was a lovely Italian lady and very helpful.   Together we came up with a design.   It was quite different to what I'd been picturing, but I love it!   I got it done on my foot, which is possibly not the best idea for a first tattoo, cos it's quite sore there, but nevermind.   I was fine.  It really was not that bad.   More just irritating than painful, though some spots were really sore.   And as soon as it was finished it was fine!   Just felt like a bit of sunburn.   Tattoos are way easier than piercings.   They hurt for days and take forever to heal.   I'd get another tattoo tomorrow, but now I'd think hard before getting another piercing.   The only problem was that it really is addictive.   As soon as it was done I started wanting more.   To anyone thinking about getting a tattoo I'd say think long and hard about what you want, and if at all possible, draw it first.

Anway, here's my tattoo:

 It's pretty simple.  That's what I wanted.  Just simple lines and no garish colours.   That wouldn't be very me.

Here's my favorite photo of it so far, taken by my friend Gavin at our Christmas party this year:

Here it is looking red and new and surrounded by all the other turtle stuff in my room, including my earrings.

 Another advantage of it being simple black lines is that I can always keep children entertained with a colouring book with a difference:

 by Ell

by Emily

There are some more of those photos somewhere, but I can't find them.   Ah well.   I'm sure they'll be more to come!

       

Stuff on Youtube: How to be Gorgeous

Ah, Stephen

Apps: Swiftkey

So here's a fun thing:  If you press space when using Swiftkey it predicts the next word you'll type.  And you keep on pressing space I get: "I am a beautiful person who is the best way to get the best way to get the best way....".   Cute.   :)

Songs: The Downeaster Alexa

Can't argue with a bit of Billy Joel.   I really like this.   It's smooth and sad and reminds me a bit of Chris de Burgh.

Photography: Rome, Day 2

There's a town outside Rome called Tivoli, and it's well-worth going there for two or three days if you're in the area.   Getting there on Italian public transport was...interesting, but we made it, and spent a happy day going round Hadrien's Villa.   It was his summer palace, and was a shrine to decadence.   It's an absolutely enormous site, and does pretty much take a day to explore fully.   You'll find pools, baths, barracks, complete with mosaic floors, massive storehouses, Hadrien's private study, surrounded by his own moat, and his incredible outdoor banqueting area.   It's a fascinating place.   I'm very pleased with some of my photos from the day, but to honest, most of them aren't of the ruins themselves.  

 Poppies, poppies, poppies, poppies!

  This statue is part of the outdoor party area.   This pool would have been surrounded by columns and statues and the whole thing would have been draped with vines and candles.   At the far end you can see a covered area where the feast itself would have taken place.  Can you see it?  The rich food, the wine, the musicians, the peace of a warm Italian summer night, the candles, the slaves, the Roman nobles in their togas and gold and the emperor Hadrien himself?

Songs: The Princess Who Saved Herself

This week I have mostly been singing this:

I love Jonathan Coulton.   He's so funny, and this song is no exception.  It's also catchy and happy and it makes my inner feminist very happy too.  

Projects/Cooking:Home-Cured Ham

So recently I decided to start experimenting with curing my own ham.   Turns out it's actually a pretty simple process and the results are well-worth the time.   All you need is some curing salt.   I just got a bag off amazon.   It's amazing stuff.   It magically transforms plain old pork into magical tasty hammy goodness!   The instructions told me to use it at 5%, so 50g for 1kg of meat, and so on.   I started off small.   Just a modest-sized piece of pork... (Fillet.   Ham is traditionally leg, but anything works)  

...with simple flavourings added to the cure.

This was just brown sugar and cloves mixed in.   Then you take your cure and rub it into the meat, like so...

Then you put it in a sealed plastic bag in the fridge for the week and leave the cure to do its stuff!   All you need to do is drain off any fluid.  Miraculously the cure gets all the way inside the meat, even if it's a large piece, and turns it delicious and hammy!

Then after a week, remove the meat from the fridge and boil it for 1 hour per kilo, then rub it with a glaze (I used soy sauce and maple syrup) and roast it for the same time again.   Job done!   

   Ham post-boiling.   Yes, I know it looks a bit rude...

Ham, glazed and roasted.

And deliciously pink and tasty!

I've found it keeps for about a week in the fridge once it's cooked.   

Soon I got bolder (or maybe greedier) and started using larger bigger pieces of meat...

...and more flavours.

I think this one was garlic, nutmeg, coriander seeds and thyme.   Do be creative, cos it's really amazing how the flavours get into the meat.   The taste is much stronger than with roasts. 

  

Post-curing

And post-roasting!   Sorry about the bad quality phone photo.

So that describes my curing adventures thus far.   I've also tried to do some prosciutto crudo-type stuff, but it hasn't worked very well so far.   I'll keep experimenting and keep you posted.   Also tempted to try bacon in the future too.