Sunday 30 August 2009

the world is my oyster... and chicken?


i went to marylebone farmers market this morning to visit the mushroom man (no, not those mushrooms, these mushrooms!) in addition to regular oyster mushrooms, today he also had pink oyster mushrooms. they looked very pretty. so i bought some. and in addition to those he had this massive mushroom called chicken of the woods. i was like, word? why are they called that good sir? well curious young lady with hungry eyes, because their texture is like that of chicken breast! so i bought some. see the chunk on the plate, and below is how they look in the wild:


my grandfather in-law was a mushroom farmer. i never knew him but i wish he was around to share these 'shrooms with. i bet he would've schooled me on their medicinal benefits but google will have to do. apparently, this bunch is good for muscle aches & the immune system. tasty & healthy? what a rare combo for me. bon appetit!

Wednesday 26 August 2009

somewhereshire

we went to the country to get some fresh air and shoot at things (milk carton) & joust (with homemade lances). our country cousins are the best! 

sasson & james (thanks iphone for the dark image. click to view larger.)

me & co (hard to keep steady on a trampoline!) 

hello stranger


last week i opened up TimeOut london for a quick view of what's happening round town and one of the recommended events was a birthday party for philosopher, historian and author Theodore Zeldin in Regents Park. i was just re-reading his book 'Conversation' so this was exciting news.

this wasn't your normal birthday bash. while most of us celebrate with our homies & fam, zeldin likes to celebrate with complete strangers. together with social enterprise limina, he invited anyone and everyone in the world to join 'the feast of strangers'. instead of a menu of food, there was to be a menu of topics for conversation. (all were invited to bring real food & share.)

i had a nervous feeling the shindig was going to be very philosophical, intimidating and completely over my head. but as i approached the location the butterflies in my tummy went away because it looked like an Evergreen party. hippies all over dotted with a few london 'suits' free arty activities, guitar sounds in the background and fresh treehouses courtesy The Treehouse Gallery.


a friendly boy who smelled very much like Evergreen introduced me to 'my stranger'--a bright, bubbly woman who also found the event via TimeOut. what a coinky-dink, we said. we looked over the 'menu' and found the questions to be very difficult, deep and personal. we both gravitated to the same question: 'what have you learned about yourself through traveling?' and so we conversed amidst a hundred other strangers under the warm afternoon sun.

then we shook hands and went our separate ways. it was fun.

oh, and i got to talk to zeldin who is a very nice and thought-provoking gentleman with an amazing hair style.


Tuesday 11 August 2009

on the up & up


we went to bristol via picturesque train ride to visit the fam & see these sweet hot air balloons take off for the annual festival. aren't they cute? they were worth waking up at 6am to watch, mos def. there were even some wacky shaped ones like a turtle, a box, a spaceship looking thing, and a chicken. they also dropped down quite low, almost touching my aunt's rooftop!

first pic from my darling diana lomo, second from the iphone. which one do you think looks better? long live film!