Inspired by the brave and awesome Barry Church-Woods - creamy smooth Fringe icon and self-declared cunt - who recently had his "Dear Me" letter published, I have decided to give it a go myself.
Incredibly cathartic and in some ways a little tricky to write. I considered an edited version but then what would be the point in that? If you're going to say it, say what you mean. Besides, I would TOTES know if I was bullshitting myself.
Anyway...here it is...
Dear Me,
What the shiz is up?! Don’t worry; you don’t actually talk like that...well, not without the required amount of irony anyway.
So you’re 16, eh? I know, it really blows but my biggest piece of advice to you, direct from the land of being 26 (and turning 27 in a matter of days) is to enjoy what few benefits there are of being that tender and innocent age. You are in such a rush to grow up, cut it out. Growing up will happen all of sudden and you’ll wonder what the hell happened to the intervening years.
Don’t make yourself ill with worry over petty, insignificant school yard stuff. Worrying too much is a trait you will carry with you into adulthood and you will always struggle with it, you might as well realise early on that sweating the small stuff is exhausting and pointless.
I know you feel awkward and desperate to be liked, to the point where you will do and say some pretty stupid stuff; if you can’t be comfortable in your skin now and avoid doing the stupid stuff at least try not to freak out about it a few years later. The reality is everyone is an idiot when they are young. One of those aforementioned benefits is that the foolish stuff you do as a kid really doesn’t matter and no one cares.
In less than a year you will head to university and you will be overwhelmed by the connections you will make there. You will finally start to feel like you belong. But for the love of Pete, focus on your studies a little harder because you are capable of more.
Having said that, whatever you do, don’t completely neglect your acting and please go ahead with auditioning again for the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama when you turn 18, as planned. It will be your biggest regret if you don’t, regardless of the outcome. And in case you hadn’t noticed, your University has a drama club, JOIN IT!
And this I cannot stress enough, do not drop out of that production of My Fair Lady you were involved in because you are distracted by a boy. That distraction does not end well.
That distraction is probably best avoided entirely, if at all possible. The hurt and humiliation that ensue is really not worth the few and fleeting moments of happiness. Options are always good so here’s one, the day of your first Theatre Studies tutorial don’t go to the pub afterwards. Just head home. You will circumvent a chance encounter with someone who will fundamentally change you.
Your ambition is your greatest asset; you will end up somewhere great no matter what. The arts will always surround you and despite some minor setbacks you will end up working somewhere fantastic that will open so many doors. If you don’t go to your audition after all, at 27, your path is still extremely bright and promising. Try and be content.
Apply that in general. Things will get really, really hard because of grown-up stuff (again, why it’s good to hold onto to being young). You realise that your parents are so much more and less than Mum and Dad, they are people. Your Dad will seriously let you down and this will really shake you up. You might as well know now, he doesn’t know everything and he’s not strong.
You will go through a period where you are angry all the time and this will affect your relationships. This is because people can never meet the expectations you have for them. People are flawed, they will let you down. That’s life. But it’s not the end of the world.
You will end up with some amazing people in your life who care about you a lot. It’s important that you remember that.
And signing off, here a few basic dos and don’ts...
Do get into Buffy the Vampire Slayer much earlier; it will be your favourite thing ever!
Don’t help out a rock band with a major project.
Do spend more time with your brother.
Don’t be afraid to admit to yourself that you are unhappy.
Do accept the offer to go to that strip club with Lemmy from Motorhead
Don’t blow the savings your Gran left you on renting a stupid flat
Do learn to be better with money in general
Don’t surround yourself with toxic people
Do try and like yourself a little bit more. You will never be the alabaster-skinned, blue-eyed, skinny blonde but you know what, you’re a foxy red head dammit and that’s pretty awesome too.
Five by five good buddy...
Lou x
Tuesday, 20 December 2011
Saturday, 17 December 2011
Diary of a Wannabe Cook - Part 2
So the festive season is upon us and, with it, has brought its usual gifts of chaos, stress and financial trauma.
Growing up, Christmas was an overblown, ridiculously material affair. With the reflective perspective of age, I suspect the need my parents had to lavish us with an embarrassing amount of...well..stuff, was my Father's way of alleviating some kind of guilt.
The result has been that in future years when it became the responsibility of my Brother and I to return the gifts we had been buried in, we emerged gasping for air, bearing the bruises of too many Transformer figures and ahead of the race Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toys that we were reminded could only be bought in the States at that point (my Father travelled a lot for business during my formative years), and feeling an immense amount of pressure to equal the amount of money spent on us.
Add a few more years of cynicism and this year I outright reject this ideal. I have convinced the remaining few family participants to engage in Secret Santa and I completely refuse to be drawn into a spending frenzy (to be honest, I couldn't even if I wanted to!)
Now, before you write me off as a total Ebeneezer, I am not turning Christmas away at the door entirely. Rather, I feel more determined than ever to imbue myself with a bit of festive cheer (which I intend to do with more than just copious amounts of gin).
Taking the advice of my favourite Domestic Goddess, Nigella Lawson, I am getting busy in the kitchen and spreading a little merriment and good will to all men that way.
I started with my take on the Liddibit Slurtle - a chocolate turtle that is both drunk and very slutty.
My version involves a salted pretzel base, homemade beer caramel using Guinness Stout and lashings of dark chocolate.
Reducing dark brown muscavado sugar with butter, cream and a bottle of stout I made a sticky, wonderfully dark caramel that was sweet with a streak bitterness brought by the stout.
Using sheets of baking parchment, I made little nests of pretzels using one whole pretzel as the foundation before breaking up others to fill the gaps.
When your caramel is ready but still gooey enough to pour, ladle it onto your pretzel beds.
Allow it to cool and get quite firm. Melt your dark chocolate and then cover your drunk turtles to make them slutty. And because I am total skank, I finished them off with a sprinkling of white chocolate chips.
Transfer them onto a tray and leave them in the fridge to set. Be warned, these are sticky little beauties and take some tugging to free them from the parchment. Oh my!
I also conquered Nigella's Chilli Jam, which was actually so easy it's criminal. I managed to score some gorgeously robust kilner jars for a quid a go from Poundland. One handsome jarful went to friends as a Christmas gift and I kept the other one. I can't get enough of it, it's being lavishly spread on everything and I am pretty sure it will make this winter bearable. Plus, it totally glams up my fridge to see a scarlet, glowing jar resting in there every time I open the door. Sexy!
One of my favourite things in the world is a roast chicken and I tried something a bit fruity with it recently. I buttered up a good bird with thyme and salted butter and, after buying it a few drinks, was allowed to shove quarters of lemon, clementine, onion and garlic up its bum. I lined my roasting tray with the remaining fruit quarters but also some very chunky quarters of carrot and parsnip. After seasoning in the normal way, and to temper the citrus, my little twist on all of this was maple syrup. I know that sounds mad but it gave the whole thing a bit of caramelised flavour and really tarted up the carrots and parsnips.
To accompany this (alongside the standard roast potatoes because I couldn't go without) I attempted another little Nigella number - Double Potato and Halloumi Bake.
This is so stupidly simple and gives the traditional roast dinner a bit of a Mediterranean kick. All you do is chop up the following into healthy chunks; sweet potato (bigger chunks for this bitch because she is a total whore and cooks quicker than everything else), regular white potato, red pepper, red onion and a couple of cloves of garlic. Bathe the whole lot in around 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil and a bit of pepper and bung in a hot oven for about 45 minutes.
Meanwhile (at the legion of doom!) very thinly slice some bits of halloumi. For the final 10 minutes of the bake, layer on the cheese and then turn up the oven to full blast and grill it until golden.
This makes a great alternative to bog standard vegetables and it is amazing for lunch the next day, cold, on salad with a generous dollop of chilli jam. Cash back!
Coming up next (and for Christmas) Oreo Truffles, Chicken Stew with homemade savoury biscuits, Salmon Devilled Eggs and Bacon Brownies (and some Brownies without Bacon since my ball and chain isn't convinced...yet). In. Face. Now!
Five by five and seasons greetings... x
Growing up, Christmas was an overblown, ridiculously material affair. With the reflective perspective of age, I suspect the need my parents had to lavish us with an embarrassing amount of...well..stuff, was my Father's way of alleviating some kind of guilt.
The result has been that in future years when it became the responsibility of my Brother and I to return the gifts we had been buried in, we emerged gasping for air, bearing the bruises of too many Transformer figures and ahead of the race Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toys that we were reminded could only be bought in the States at that point (my Father travelled a lot for business during my formative years), and feeling an immense amount of pressure to equal the amount of money spent on us.
Add a few more years of cynicism and this year I outright reject this ideal. I have convinced the remaining few family participants to engage in Secret Santa and I completely refuse to be drawn into a spending frenzy (to be honest, I couldn't even if I wanted to!)
Now, before you write me off as a total Ebeneezer, I am not turning Christmas away at the door entirely. Rather, I feel more determined than ever to imbue myself with a bit of festive cheer (which I intend to do with more than just copious amounts of gin).
Taking the advice of my favourite Domestic Goddess, Nigella Lawson, I am getting busy in the kitchen and spreading a little merriment and good will to all men that way.
I started with my take on the Liddibit Slurtle - a chocolate turtle that is both drunk and very slutty.
My version involves a salted pretzel base, homemade beer caramel using Guinness Stout and lashings of dark chocolate.
Reducing dark brown muscavado sugar with butter, cream and a bottle of stout I made a sticky, wonderfully dark caramel that was sweet with a streak bitterness brought by the stout.
Using sheets of baking parchment, I made little nests of pretzels using one whole pretzel as the foundation before breaking up others to fill the gaps.
When your caramel is ready but still gooey enough to pour, ladle it onto your pretzel beds.
Allow it to cool and get quite firm. Melt your dark chocolate and then cover your drunk turtles to make them slutty. And because I am total skank, I finished them off with a sprinkling of white chocolate chips.
Transfer them onto a tray and leave them in the fridge to set. Be warned, these are sticky little beauties and take some tugging to free them from the parchment. Oh my!
I also conquered Nigella's Chilli Jam, which was actually so easy it's criminal. I managed to score some gorgeously robust kilner jars for a quid a go from Poundland. One handsome jarful went to friends as a Christmas gift and I kept the other one. I can't get enough of it, it's being lavishly spread on everything and I am pretty sure it will make this winter bearable. Plus, it totally glams up my fridge to see a scarlet, glowing jar resting in there every time I open the door. Sexy!
One of my favourite things in the world is a roast chicken and I tried something a bit fruity with it recently. I buttered up a good bird with thyme and salted butter and, after buying it a few drinks, was allowed to shove quarters of lemon, clementine, onion and garlic up its bum. I lined my roasting tray with the remaining fruit quarters but also some very chunky quarters of carrot and parsnip. After seasoning in the normal way, and to temper the citrus, my little twist on all of this was maple syrup. I know that sounds mad but it gave the whole thing a bit of caramelised flavour and really tarted up the carrots and parsnips.
To accompany this (alongside the standard roast potatoes because I couldn't go without) I attempted another little Nigella number - Double Potato and Halloumi Bake.
This is so stupidly simple and gives the traditional roast dinner a bit of a Mediterranean kick. All you do is chop up the following into healthy chunks; sweet potato (bigger chunks for this bitch because she is a total whore and cooks quicker than everything else), regular white potato, red pepper, red onion and a couple of cloves of garlic. Bathe the whole lot in around 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil and a bit of pepper and bung in a hot oven for about 45 minutes.
Meanwhile (at the legion of doom!) very thinly slice some bits of halloumi. For the final 10 minutes of the bake, layer on the cheese and then turn up the oven to full blast and grill it until golden.
This makes a great alternative to bog standard vegetables and it is amazing for lunch the next day, cold, on salad with a generous dollop of chilli jam. Cash back!
Coming up next (and for Christmas) Oreo Truffles, Chicken Stew with homemade savoury biscuits, Salmon Devilled Eggs and Bacon Brownies (and some Brownies without Bacon since my ball and chain isn't convinced...yet). In. Face. Now!
Five by five and seasons greetings... x
Sunday, 4 December 2011
Diary of a Wannabe Cook - Part 1
At 26 (dangerously near 27) years young I hosted and cooked my very first full-on Christmas Dinner, just this Friday past.
Despite the assistance I received from my comrades, I still have renewed respect and admiration for my Mum and my Aunt who for many years have been alternating on taking responsibility for this task for quite often twice as many people! Ladies, I doff my chefs hat to you, seriously.
The first medal of recognition has to go to my cousin Liz who was on Ham and Stuffing duty - you cannot beat a roast ham under any circumstances and Christmas or not it really should be a staple. Not least for all the amazing sandwiches you can get out of it during the following weeks.
During the Festive season, with family, I think it's fair to say that remaining relatively neutral with how you jazz up your ham is a safe bet. Friday's ham was a tasty, simply roast little beauty with the salty meat doing all the work but as I am becoming something of a show off in the kitchen there are two different types of glaze I am desperate to introduce to a ham and serve up to willing participants.
The first is a Nigella special - a ginger-ale glazed ham. I think my favourite thing about this recipe is how much Ginger Ale is required, the ridiculous volume of 7 litres of dry ginger ale just makes me giggle a little bit. There's something about using that much fizzy drink in something that feels daring and fun.
Basically you launch your ham joint in a pot with your niagara of Ginger Ale and bring to the boil before lowering the heat and allowing to simmer away for 4 1/2 hours (yes, this is an all day affair!)
The next step is the glaze which is ideally done with ginger preserves but marmalade with ginger through it will work just as well. Into your ginger preserves should go 2 tablespoons of hot english mustard, 1/2 cup of dark brown sugar and 1/2 a teaspoon of ground cloves. Wheech all of that together in a bowl and when your ham is done with its ginger ale bath, whack it into a foil lined baking tray. Leave a little layer of flat on the top and then slather on your glaze. Throw it in a hot oven for 20 minutes and you're done.
My friend George and I are working on a version of this that involves coca-cola. I know that sounds revolting but actually reducing coca-cola with meat is quite an old fashioned American thing that used to happen a lot in the fifties. The reduced result is quite a sticky, sweet almost barbeque flavoured glaze. I will keep you posted in forthcoming diary entries on how our version turns out.
My second, and probably favourite ham glaze is maple and cider. Cook your ham however you please but for this glaze you need 4 tablespoons of maple syrup, 4 tablespoons of wholegrain mustard, 160ml of cider, a pinch of ground cloves and salt and pepper.
Another wheech round a bowl and then slap it on the ham. The key to this is to make sure you baste the ham regularly as it cooks.
I was pretty pleased about how everything turned out on Friday but I think the stars of the show were my melt roast potatoes, maple and orange baked carrots and homemade sage & onion bread rolls.
This was the first time I have ever made my own bread and I am now wondering why I ever bothered buying it! It was so easy and tasted amazing. Admittedly, I am still a total amateur so I don't have a loaf tin so it's just rolls I can manage at the moment. But when I get my hands on one, watch out Warbutons!
The Melt Roast potatoes must be enjoyed by everyone. Seriously, once you have made them like this you will never go back.
Maris Pipers work really well for this but any spud that scores pretty high on the waxy/floury scale will do. You can peel them if you like but so long as they are washed I don't tend to bother, I like the skin. Cut the little blighters in half, length ways, which actually results in something a bit like a wedge but that's ok.
Melt three large tablespoons of butter into a shallow roasting tray and then add a slug of olive oil. Once your butter is melted lay your potatoes into the tray, do this so there is only one layer of tatties. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Your oven needs to be crazy hot - preheat at 220 - and then you play a strategic game of roast, flip, add and roast again.
1. Once they are in, roast for 15 minutes, then remove and flip them round.
2. Roast for a further 10 minutes, remove and flip again. This time, before you put them back in, add two cups of chicken stock.
3. Roast for 15 minutes, remove and then add a little bit more melted butter (about another tablespoons worth...no diet allowed when these are around).
4. Roast for a further five minutes and then they should be ready to serve.
The thing about these guys is their flavour. Crisp on the outside, fluffy and melting on the inside, they have soaked up the stock and butter and taste fantastic.
So those were the highlights of my first Christmas dinner hosted outside of the nest and I think it was a success.
Thanks to Frodo for keeping me under control when it comes to my suspect ability to judge timings and for taking charge of the Broccoli and Cauliflower Cheese bake (super simple recipe for this, Tweet me @LucilleBurn if you fancy it).
As money is tight, an across the board issue I think, Festive gifts this year will be homemade and tasty. This week is dedicated to creating treats in the kitchen.
Including but not limited to chilli jam and spiced brandy peaches that will go really well with that left over ham we've been talking about.
One task I have set myself that I am really excited about is beer caramel, required for one particular homemade sweet. A tricky and dangerous experiment, not least because for each time I mess it up I will have wasted a six pack of beer. Not going to happen!
Will keep you posted.
Lx
Despite the assistance I received from my comrades, I still have renewed respect and admiration for my Mum and my Aunt who for many years have been alternating on taking responsibility for this task for quite often twice as many people! Ladies, I doff my chefs hat to you, seriously.
The first medal of recognition has to go to my cousin Liz who was on Ham and Stuffing duty - you cannot beat a roast ham under any circumstances and Christmas or not it really should be a staple. Not least for all the amazing sandwiches you can get out of it during the following weeks.
During the Festive season, with family, I think it's fair to say that remaining relatively neutral with how you jazz up your ham is a safe bet. Friday's ham was a tasty, simply roast little beauty with the salty meat doing all the work but as I am becoming something of a show off in the kitchen there are two different types of glaze I am desperate to introduce to a ham and serve up to willing participants.
The first is a Nigella special - a ginger-ale glazed ham. I think my favourite thing about this recipe is how much Ginger Ale is required, the ridiculous volume of 7 litres of dry ginger ale just makes me giggle a little bit. There's something about using that much fizzy drink in something that feels daring and fun.
Basically you launch your ham joint in a pot with your niagara of Ginger Ale and bring to the boil before lowering the heat and allowing to simmer away for 4 1/2 hours (yes, this is an all day affair!)
The next step is the glaze which is ideally done with ginger preserves but marmalade with ginger through it will work just as well. Into your ginger preserves should go 2 tablespoons of hot english mustard, 1/2 cup of dark brown sugar and 1/2 a teaspoon of ground cloves. Wheech all of that together in a bowl and when your ham is done with its ginger ale bath, whack it into a foil lined baking tray. Leave a little layer of flat on the top and then slather on your glaze. Throw it in a hot oven for 20 minutes and you're done.
My friend George and I are working on a version of this that involves coca-cola. I know that sounds revolting but actually reducing coca-cola with meat is quite an old fashioned American thing that used to happen a lot in the fifties. The reduced result is quite a sticky, sweet almost barbeque flavoured glaze. I will keep you posted in forthcoming diary entries on how our version turns out.
My second, and probably favourite ham glaze is maple and cider. Cook your ham however you please but for this glaze you need 4 tablespoons of maple syrup, 4 tablespoons of wholegrain mustard, 160ml of cider, a pinch of ground cloves and salt and pepper.
Another wheech round a bowl and then slap it on the ham. The key to this is to make sure you baste the ham regularly as it cooks.
I was pretty pleased about how everything turned out on Friday but I think the stars of the show were my melt roast potatoes, maple and orange baked carrots and homemade sage & onion bread rolls.
This was the first time I have ever made my own bread and I am now wondering why I ever bothered buying it! It was so easy and tasted amazing. Admittedly, I am still a total amateur so I don't have a loaf tin so it's just rolls I can manage at the moment. But when I get my hands on one, watch out Warbutons!
The Melt Roast potatoes must be enjoyed by everyone. Seriously, once you have made them like this you will never go back.
Maris Pipers work really well for this but any spud that scores pretty high on the waxy/floury scale will do. You can peel them if you like but so long as they are washed I don't tend to bother, I like the skin. Cut the little blighters in half, length ways, which actually results in something a bit like a wedge but that's ok.
Melt three large tablespoons of butter into a shallow roasting tray and then add a slug of olive oil. Once your butter is melted lay your potatoes into the tray, do this so there is only one layer of tatties. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Your oven needs to be crazy hot - preheat at 220 - and then you play a strategic game of roast, flip, add and roast again.
1. Once they are in, roast for 15 minutes, then remove and flip them round.
2. Roast for a further 10 minutes, remove and flip again. This time, before you put them back in, add two cups of chicken stock.
3. Roast for 15 minutes, remove and then add a little bit more melted butter (about another tablespoons worth...no diet allowed when these are around).
4. Roast for a further five minutes and then they should be ready to serve.
The thing about these guys is their flavour. Crisp on the outside, fluffy and melting on the inside, they have soaked up the stock and butter and taste fantastic.
So those were the highlights of my first Christmas dinner hosted outside of the nest and I think it was a success.
Thanks to Frodo for keeping me under control when it comes to my suspect ability to judge timings and for taking charge of the Broccoli and Cauliflower Cheese bake (super simple recipe for this, Tweet me @LucilleBurn if you fancy it).
As money is tight, an across the board issue I think, Festive gifts this year will be homemade and tasty. This week is dedicated to creating treats in the kitchen.
Including but not limited to chilli jam and spiced brandy peaches that will go really well with that left over ham we've been talking about.
One task I have set myself that I am really excited about is beer caramel, required for one particular homemade sweet. A tricky and dangerous experiment, not least because for each time I mess it up I will have wasted a six pack of beer. Not going to happen!
Will keep you posted.
Lx
Friday, 18 November 2011
Occupy the Blogosphere
I think I need to stop reading The Metro on the train in the morning; it is just bumming me out. Although I am aware that the climate of “we are all fucking doomed” in which we find ourselves at present is not the fault of The Metro I just don’t think I can cope with another story about debt, unemployment, cuts and futile protests.
Having said that, the article that irked me the most was the one about people camping overnight to queue outside H&M in Glasgow in order to be the first in line to spend, in one case, over £1K on items from the new Versace for H&M line. Now I have been known in the past to indulge the odd fashion related fantasy and far be it from me to dictate to you what you can do with (what I hope) is your disposable income but come on! Camping out overnight? Spending upwards of a grand? Really?!
The part that annoyed me the most was that I couldn’t get past the notion that this was probably just a brand obsessed frenzy that involved very little assessment of the garments these people were spending their money on. We’re talking about a crowd that has formed over night, which according to the article required management through a wristband system. This doesn’t sound to me like a group of people who when the doors finally opened calmly browsed what was on offer, gave consideration to personal taste or regard for whether or not it was going to suit them. Rather, I picture a kill or be killed environment in which the purpose of the mission is “it’s Versace, it’s cheap, fucking buy it”! I assume the sales assistants will be having Vietnam style flashbacks until next winter, at least.
Call me cynical but when an article like this is adjacent to others describing aggressive removal tactics towards people protesting corporate greed, cynicism would appear to be the order of the day.
On a slightly less ranty note the Versace article was very well written...it was written by Jen Lavery. Click to read her blog. You’ll see this lass alongside Charlie Brooker in the Guardian one day, mark my words.
In the list of other things being occupied is my mind, or at the very least I am trying to keep it occupied. What am I working on? Things at Fringe HQ are pretty quiet at the moment; I am experiencing what is a seasonal lull in my particular department. What this does do is free up some time for heavy research into industry trends, politics, policy and opportunities all of which will prove useful moving forward. This research will also aid me in my planning of new artist resources. I have some ideas up my sleeve with regard to international exchange and supporting emerging producers, both of which I can’t really discuss in great detail at this early stage. Fingers crossed all will go well.
The Made in Scotland 2012 deadline is fast approaching. This is actually my favourite bit of the whole process, discovering what new artistic plans are bubbling away across Scotland’s creative landscape. It’s very exciting and I enjoy being privy to the debate and discussion that follows.
In other Fringe news, I will be heading out to Australia for the Adelaide Fringe in March 2012, which is super cool. My colleague Barry and I will be leading on a Fringe Roadshow and a networking event as well as meeting with artists, companies, venues and promoters about their plans for the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe. The Adelaide Fringe is the sister to Edinburgh and the second largest Fringe in the world; a vast amount of work transfers from Adelaide to Edinburgh so I am really looking forward to exploring what is on offer and getting the jump on seeing the shows I will inevitably miss during August! But most importantly, I am looking forward to seeing my pal Jen Mackie whose face I sorely miss.
Following Adelaide, given that I am on the other side of the world and should take advantage of the opportunity, I am planning on dossing about South East Asia. Kicking off in Singapore I am then hopping over to Japan for a few days to explore the arts scene out there and potentially spread the good Edinburgh Fringe word.
Other travel plans for 2012 that don’t necessarily involve the Fringe will concern NYC but more on that at a later date.
Never one to be satisfied with one project to occupy my brain I am keeping myself creatively satisfied with a new idea entitled Project Memory Box. All the information about this wee project is available via its own online platform so I shan’t waste word count on repeating it here (as this is already looking to be a longer blog than I can expect your attention for). Needless to say, I am in the very early stages of development for this so haven’t accurately mapped out it’s trajectory but what I do know is that however the research develops the end result will be a performance. When? I don’t know. Where? I don’t know.
It was inspired by the need to get some closure on some and to find a way with dealing with other things in my personal life. At some point in the near future I am going to start a conversation with the Neuroscience department of Glasgow University to flesh out the sciency bit of understanding memory. The way the brain works, I think, is at the core of this process.
I am looking for friends, strangers, confidantes and acquaintances to get involved so please have a look at Project Memory Box online and find out how you can contribute. The thoughts, memories and stories of real people is what will drive things forward. You can tweet me about it too (crazy, modern bint that I am) @lucilleburn but please remember to include the hash tag #projectmemorybox
At some point I will be on the lookout for any clever creative types to collaborate with me on creating the performance element of the whole thing so feel free to Tweet me about that too.
I think that will do from me for now. Before I sign off, here a few things I recommend to make the coming winter months a little bit nicer...
Pass the Spoon. Me Selling Some Pretty Things. 1770 House Meatloaf. Franks Wild Band. Fringe (not the Festival). Dr Sketchy Glasgow Goes Tiki.
Five by Five Y’all x
Saturday, 5 November 2011
1770 House Meatloaf and Saturday Night Blogging
Am feeling pretty horrendous…I thought I had managed to avoid getting the cold while everyone around me was dropping like flies. Sadly, when my ball and chain succumbed at the start of the week it was only a matter of time before I were to spiral after him.
Naturally, given my trend with luck, it made its presence known in full with the arrival of Saturday. Despite feeling like my head was swallowed whole by a deep-sea cotton wool monster I have decided to make the most it by indulging my recently developed obsession with cooking.
There was a time when I had myself convinced that I couldn’t cook for shit, save for the family recipe for chicken soup which I think is part of my DNA so doesn’t really count. With an entirely relative degree of accuracy I think I can trace back the point when things changed to when I started visiting my mother, as standard, every Sunday. She has an abundance of cookery books, in particular those penned by that deviant food diva and personal heroine, Nigella Lawson. In time I found myself rifling through them, out of idle interest more than anything else because I don’t recall there being a self-motivated decision around the subject of cooking for oneself.
In either case, it began with a Belgian beer-braised beef stew and went from there. Now I can’t get enough and am now gathering my own little collection of recipe books…on semi-permanent loan from my Mother if I am being honest…have you seen the price of celebrity chef cook books?!
Well they were my jumping off point, now I collect recipes from the ether and transfer them to my own notebook. Recent favourites include a Swiss Cheese and Smoked Ham Bake, inspired by what one might eat after coming in from a day’s skiing in the Alps. Indian Butter Chicken Curry, ideally enjoyed with friends because it’s freaking amazing! And I also perfected the classic Grilled Cheese Sandwich; not a recipe in the traditional sense I grant you but still a snack worthy of the book. Ideally made with two different kinds of cheese - I recommend Emmental or Raclette and just a little bit of really strong cheddar. Also, make sure you use really good bread; chunky slices of a bloomer or something equally rustic. The perfect post-pub midnight snack, I guarantee it will keep your hangover at bay.
Nursing the first stage of my crappy cold, I stayed in bed for most of the afternoon watching the Food Network and harvested recipes. The result of which is a menu plan for a Festive Dinner Party I intend to throw (four glorious words, Ginger Ale Baked Ham). And also tonight’s activity; to combat the “I’m ill on a Saturday night” blues I whipped up my classic Ice-Cream Cake (a ridiculous hit with my friends) to be enjoyed later but have also indulged in a new recipe. It’s a posh take on a very standard dish, Meatloaf. I have never made Meatloaf before but the version I am undertaking is a pork and steak mince version with a garlic and butter sauce. Entitled 1770 House meatloaf, after the East Hamptons (NY) restaurant where it was created, it’s actually meant to be a three meat kind of loaf. The third being ground veal, however I find myself too lacking in funds to be frivolously buying ground veal. That and the Maryhill Tesco to which I am adjacent doesn’t have it.
Anyway…it’s in the oven now…smelling and looking (as much as meatloaf can) amazing. I will let you know how I get on.
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
Autumn Stroll
A seven month gap between blog posts is acceptable, right? I have just read through four half finished blogs which were all attempted at moments where I thought that my brain was working enough to write and that I wouldn’t fall asleep or become distracted. Ridiculous!
What this says to me is that my year is bookended by quiet, reflective moments and everything in between is an absolute riot...which is a tad depressing. Posting now is also indicative of the influence the change of season has on me. A lazier writer would bore you at this point with clichés about enjoying the crispness of the air, the change of colour and smell around you, shorter days and all that Autumn jazz. And I do enjoy all those things but mostly Autumn feels like breathing space to me, which is the main reason I like it.
In between sentences I am creating a playlist called Autumn Stroll, which you can enjoy here, if you are so inclined. Creating playlists is a recent habit, I quite like it.
So what am I thinking about at the moment? Recently I read a blog by Pony Pie entitled Art, Money and Reasons We Do It Our Damn Selves and the way it resonated with me was almost like a physical sensation. Akin to being shaken vigorously and told no, really, you are not the only one who has thought and worried about this. I was particularly affected by the paragraph on the “DIY practitioner”, because of the stark and profound truth of it. When you are an unfunded artist or theatre-maker just trying to make work and forge a path for yourself, fighting against becoming downhearted, upstaged, exhausted and ready to quit is half the battle.
When I started Rhymes with Purple it was in response to knowing something that I didn’t need to be told. That ultimately not being a genius, a graduate of a certain institution or lucky enough to find oneself in with the worthy crowd were serious barriers, potentially insurmountable ones. If I wanted to create and stage my ideas then I had to do it myself. And nothing has been harder, more soul destroying and painful than the result of that decision.
Being deemed “worthy” has been a five year long argument and even after all that time we still haven’t reached maturity for the very reason that holding down other jobs to pay the bills and laying the foundations of a theatre company, even a tiny little one, requires a vast amount of work and energy. Don’t get me wrong, I am proud of what we have achieved, but we aren’t setting any creative fires yet because after the needs of the day are met fatigue begins to leech on the desire to experiment and create. I used to worry that this was making excuses, that in fact I wasn’t very prolific even though sometimes it felt like I was having a hundred ideas a second. Ideas that called on me to grab and anchor them but the weight of getting by prevented me from being quick enough before they flashed by.
When I read Pony Pie’s blog I felt relieved, reassured and a little less like an outsider. I’ve been at this since I was 19 and at 26 it has made me feel old and I am not going to pretend the thought of quitting hasn’t entered my head. But then, I’ve come pretty far; the job that pays my bills is in the arts and provides me the flexibility to be creative and thoughtful even though it’s extremely hard work. Despite always having a day job of some kind I have carried on producing, creating and making because for me failure is not an option. I can’t let being a DIY practitioner exhaust me because I have come too far to quit now. I believe what I am doing is worthy, the artists that I collaborate with and the audiences that come to the shows all appear to agree so stopping because it’s hard just seems like doing myself and my peers a disservice.
Reading Pony Pie’s blog on this debate, which does encompass and cast a critical and informed eye on all the wider issues facing DIY and subsidised artists, came at exactly the right time for me. Because although I know there is a wider discussion to be addressed, that it’s hard for everyone and that a solution is not rapidly forthcoming it inspired me. Like Pony Pie, I’ve always known that I am doing it all myself because no one will give me any money but now rather than seeing that as the catalyst for “artistic death”, I feel more than ever it’s a call to arms, the motivation to continue and fight because I value my artistic output, even if those handing out the “worthy badges” do not. And with that value I can survive. Pony Pie passed onto me her sense of knowing where I stand in relationship to “worthy” community oriented practice and practitioners, which is firmly on my own two feet right alongside them.
What this says to me is that my year is bookended by quiet, reflective moments and everything in between is an absolute riot...which is a tad depressing. Posting now is also indicative of the influence the change of season has on me. A lazier writer would bore you at this point with clichés about enjoying the crispness of the air, the change of colour and smell around you, shorter days and all that Autumn jazz. And I do enjoy all those things but mostly Autumn feels like breathing space to me, which is the main reason I like it.
In between sentences I am creating a playlist called Autumn Stroll, which you can enjoy here, if you are so inclined. Creating playlists is a recent habit, I quite like it.
So what am I thinking about at the moment? Recently I read a blog by Pony Pie entitled Art, Money and Reasons We Do It Our Damn Selves and the way it resonated with me was almost like a physical sensation. Akin to being shaken vigorously and told no, really, you are not the only one who has thought and worried about this. I was particularly affected by the paragraph on the “DIY practitioner”, because of the stark and profound truth of it. When you are an unfunded artist or theatre-maker just trying to make work and forge a path for yourself, fighting against becoming downhearted, upstaged, exhausted and ready to quit is half the battle.
When I started Rhymes with Purple it was in response to knowing something that I didn’t need to be told. That ultimately not being a genius, a graduate of a certain institution or lucky enough to find oneself in with the worthy crowd were serious barriers, potentially insurmountable ones. If I wanted to create and stage my ideas then I had to do it myself. And nothing has been harder, more soul destroying and painful than the result of that decision.
Being deemed “worthy” has been a five year long argument and even after all that time we still haven’t reached maturity for the very reason that holding down other jobs to pay the bills and laying the foundations of a theatre company, even a tiny little one, requires a vast amount of work and energy. Don’t get me wrong, I am proud of what we have achieved, but we aren’t setting any creative fires yet because after the needs of the day are met fatigue begins to leech on the desire to experiment and create. I used to worry that this was making excuses, that in fact I wasn’t very prolific even though sometimes it felt like I was having a hundred ideas a second. Ideas that called on me to grab and anchor them but the weight of getting by prevented me from being quick enough before they flashed by.
When I read Pony Pie’s blog I felt relieved, reassured and a little less like an outsider. I’ve been at this since I was 19 and at 26 it has made me feel old and I am not going to pretend the thought of quitting hasn’t entered my head. But then, I’ve come pretty far; the job that pays my bills is in the arts and provides me the flexibility to be creative and thoughtful even though it’s extremely hard work. Despite always having a day job of some kind I have carried on producing, creating and making because for me failure is not an option. I can’t let being a DIY practitioner exhaust me because I have come too far to quit now. I believe what I am doing is worthy, the artists that I collaborate with and the audiences that come to the shows all appear to agree so stopping because it’s hard just seems like doing myself and my peers a disservice.
Reading Pony Pie’s blog on this debate, which does encompass and cast a critical and informed eye on all the wider issues facing DIY and subsidised artists, came at exactly the right time for me. Because although I know there is a wider discussion to be addressed, that it’s hard for everyone and that a solution is not rapidly forthcoming it inspired me. Like Pony Pie, I’ve always known that I am doing it all myself because no one will give me any money but now rather than seeing that as the catalyst for “artistic death”, I feel more than ever it’s a call to arms, the motivation to continue and fight because I value my artistic output, even if those handing out the “worthy badges” do not. And with that value I can survive. Pony Pie passed onto me her sense of knowing where I stand in relationship to “worthy” community oriented practice and practitioners, which is firmly on my own two feet right alongside them.
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