What A Bunch!

Some of you might recognise this one. Thought it was only polite to join our motley crew ; )
No one's safe! #schoolrundads

Dad #7

You can't go wrong with a bit of high vis.

A Rare Night Out

Went to see The Delines again last night. Back on tour and playing just down the road from us in Bexhill at the De La Warr pavilion. Amazing band. Had my parents down for the weekend, good to see them and have my Dad as resident handyman for a weekend...then the house goes to shit until the next visit!
Anyway, it meant that me and Jakki got a rare night out together. Had a chat with Cory (keyboard and trumpet) after and you might like to check out his other cool music project on bandcamp.

The Dads Are Back

My Morning Commute

The Sea was very still this morning and the sun shining, so i did a loop down and along the seafront and back up to the studio. You forget what you've got somedays.

Happy Bonfire Night *!% *.....*!

From the archive. Bonfire Night, 5th November, Guy Fawkes, fireworks etc etc.

Original Parallel Universe, created for The Sunday Independent's Review section.
I really miss having that weekly spot, wish i could find another one.

You can see more of my revised range of Parallel Universe at Yellowhouse

Got My Ferment On!

The Fermenting class was great, it took all the mythology out of making kraut and lacto-fermenting food. Made it normal, human and even gave it a political edge, which i liked. Taking back control of your food. Forgetting the big boys of food production. Grow a cabbage, use some salt… that's all it takes. Anyway, both me and Mark are now solidly into the idea of fermenting. To not fear bacteria and over rely on the fridge. It's ok to store food outside of a fridge and promote bacterial growth, good little microbes working away for the benefit of your body. I'm ready to make my next batch and mix it up a bit, while i wait for this one to ferment sufficiently. Then i think i'm going to explore Kimchi. I'm going to need Sandor's help for that one. Sandor Katz is the guru of fermenting foods and has a great book, which is seen as something of a fermenting bible. I'm going to have a good read and see what else i can make (well, once i borrow it from Marky!). I'm that little bit more inspired to get growing my own produce next year now, but that has it's own set of obstacles to overcome… small plot, lots of shade and walls on all sides, which seems to have created a snail/slug haven. Shit!

the green is lettuce leaves that i used to stop the cabbage rising to the surface
and it's weighted with a small glass jar filled with water.
I should have just used the outer cabbage leaves, but they got discarded earlier. 

.... and i did make another batch! I wanted to keep the ball rolling. This one has white cabbage, carrot, red onion, garlic, ginger, coriander seeds and dried chilli. One head of cabbage makes about a litre of kraut, once you pack it all down. I'll leave this one for about 3 weeks. The red one i'm going to start eating this weekend and see how it is.