CK’s Random Ruminations

the inner mumblings of a busy girl

Battle of the Christmas Chefs December 19, 2008

Much to The Boy’s disgust, this week I have been watching cookery programmes in the evening, whilst waiting for my fake tan to dry (can’t move when fake tanned, so consigned to watch telly whilst holding arms out in air).  I’ve taken in Nigella, Hugh and Jamie and here’s my thoughts on the three of them:

Nigella

I hate her.  She does good recipes, as evidenced by my Cherry+Chocolate pie I cooked from her ‘How to Eat’ book at the weekend.  But the woman is a pain in the arse.  Her smug face is made less tolerant by what comes out of her mouth.  “Plumptious beauties” is not the way I would refer to cranberries.  Plumptious isn’t even a word woman!!  The Boy was driven to absolute distraction by her drivel, even wailing out at times because he couldn’t bear it any more.  Recipes = good.  Nigella = only good as form of torture for boys.  I can’t bear to watch her again, with her ethnically balanced dinner table guests (production crew), her lickety lips and her overembellished wordage – she’s like Russell Brand on that front, but with better hair and fatter hips.

Hugh

I like Hugh. I’ve always liked his style of killing, cooking and eating.  In his programme he shot venison which immediately got The Boy’s interest.  I liked watching him butcher it up as well and exude delight that he could use the suet in his Chrimble pudding – which was a roly poly – what’s that all about?  A good attempt to be different but not my idea of a Christmas pud, Hugh.  Having said that, his staff at River Cottage looked like they were having a really good time, especially the mushrooming/vodka duo who took delight in winding each other up.  Boy and I agreed that Hugh would be a good boss, we reckon, although I would have permanent envy of his veg patch.

Jamie

Jamie was on last night and this was my last fake-tan-cooking-programme combo.  I like Jamie, a friend bought me his cookbook and I’ve done loads from it – it’s my kinda food.  The Jerk ham he did looked really fantastic and something I’d like to try, and the turkey and leek pie? I was saying out loud that I wanted to eat it now and Jamie said in the next instance “You wanna eat that, don’t ya?”.  I also liked the addition of the slightly bonkers Italian man – he looked familiar but I couldn’t think who he was, but the combo of him and Jamie worked.  Despite this positivity, Jamie still irks with me as he’s another one who makes up words which don’t exist, in the hope of making his food sound more delectable.

Hugh’s the winner for me.

Oh, and the fake tan worked out well – streak free.  I am now what I consider to be a plumptious beauty.

 

Last day at work before Nose Job. Do I post pics? December 5, 2008

Filed under: musings — ck @ 4:09 pm
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Last day in the office today before I head off for a couple of days of leave and then my nose operation (long awaited). It’s already been cancelled once and I’ll be dead cross if they pull the plug again on me. I have SATC DVDs lined up, Mum has booked time off to pop over with Pride and Prejudice on video, and there’ll be good Christmas telly on so I’m pretty sorted for amusement. Trouble is, I’ll look like shit – so best to stay holed up at home with the box on.

I’m debating whether to put a picture up of how i look after my operation. It’ll probably be gruesome, but in the interests of sharing (good sharing?) I’m willing to go public. Question is, do you folks wanna see it?

Vote now, and I’ll be guided by you:

This is my first poll btw, so I’m excited – so vote, please!

Gotta dash, bits to tie up and things to sort before I scoot off until January from work…

 

It’s all over. Now what will I watch? June 12, 2008

Filed under: random — ck @ 2:16 pm
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Well, would you believe that barrow-boy Lee only went and won it?  Although I favoured Claire (as did everyone else), there is something very likeable about Lee’s geezer type persona. I even like the way he has a slight speech impediment not unlike Jonathan Ross (“Pwoduct”).  But, I have to say, I think Claire performed better in the task on the night, she really held it together.

Suralan did justify himself well on the Adrian Chiles show (why does no-one in my office watch that – it’s GREAT), saying that he went for Lee’s consistent performance, and the fact he was clearly a team player. Both of these are true – but Claire’s still ace.  One colleague suggested she wasn’t hired purely cos she was a woman and might get preggers, like Michelle Dewberry did the other year (I rooted for the Badger that year, anyway). Controversial! That didn’t cross my mind, natch.   On another note, I LOVED that fact Lucinda and Helen were still narking each other, across a studio audience. Love the beret-ed-one!

It was good to see last year’s Apprentice, Simon in the audience – who really really reminds me of a friend I have who, if in the same situation, would definitely screw on a trampette leg in an inappropriate way.  I’d love to have heard from him about how he’s finding it all. He still looked like a slightly bewildered posh school boy, which was cute.

But now it’s all over, what the heck am I going to watch?  There’s no Waking the Dead, no Apprentice and no Gok Wan.  I may have to resort to finally cleaning out the cupboard under the stairs, and filing away all the crap that’s been building up in the study…

 

Gah! I’m Alex!! June 11, 2008

Filed under: random — ck @ 11:46 am
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Just done the ‘Which Apprentice are you’ quiz, thanks to the tip from this blog, only to find I’m blinking Alex.  The one I reeeeally can’t stand!

On the plus side, the results show I’m “dashing and smart” (of course!) and “the female readership of Heat want to sleep with you”. Errrr, no thanks!

Oof!! I can’t blinking wait for tonight!

 

The Apprentice Countdown June 10, 2008

Filed under: random — ck @ 3:18 pm
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I’m already looking ahead to tomorrow’s final with vast amounts of excitement. It was a bit of a cop out that Suralan took four of them through though, don’t you think?

Frankly Helen could have gone last week. The ‘hard childhood’ story got her some mileage with a few of the interviewees but Suralan was correct to say that this shouldn’t sway his vote on who’d be best working for him. But did it in the end? After all, she survived the boardroom…again.

My money’s on Claire to win. She annoyed me at first but I’ve grown to like her. I can imagine having a beer and a good laugh with her and being gobby isn’t all bad – she’s proved she gets the job done. I think she’d get on with Suralan as well – I can’t really see Alex or Lee rubbing along as well with the great man as Claire would.

Having said that, I do like Lee (“That’s What I’m talking about!!”) – he’s a good bloke, easy to get on with, motivated and honest. Apart from the CV lie. And the spelling was a shocker too. What a dufus! Somehow, he scraped his way back from that and survived. Good on him.

Oof I just can’t wait! Especially for the You’re Fired special, which I love…

Plans for tomorrow then:
- pop to shops on way home from work to get dinner stuff, nibbles and beers
- get home, get changed, quickly water the greenhouse and do a few jobs round the house
- start the dinner – possibly a prawn Laksa (Weightwatchers recipe, allowing for calories in beer – all part of the B2B efforts)
- settle down with nibbles and beer, then dinner
- watch the main event, followed by Adrian Chiles’s programme
- post-mortem with the Boy
- After all that excitement, Bedfordshire

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The Apprentice: You’re Vile! April 3, 2008

Filed under: media, random — ck @ 2:55 pm
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big_jennycelerier.jpgThe Apprentice seems to bring out the very worst in awful people . What a beeeatch Jenny is proving to be, although I did laugh throughout at her truly rank neckerchief fashion statements.  Brilliant telly.

But, if I was Lucinda, I’d have slapped the cow.  Imagine what a cat fight would do for the ratings!

 

Number 1 is number 1 March 25, 2008

Filed under: musings, random — ck @ 11:28 am
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Number One Ladies’ Detective AgencyThe Number One Ladies’ Detective Agency was by far the best thing on the box this Easter.  The BBC production captured the essence of the books with its vibrant portrayal of Precious Ramotswe and her Botswanian community.

I’ve read about three books in the series and they all have a great balance of very serious, criminal issues (witchcraft, for one) counterpointed with light-hearted moments.  You can’t help but love Precious and her associates and the TV programme painted the characters brilliantly.  Especially the hairdresser, who I hadn’t really noticed so much in the books. 

All in all, it was ace – more please!!

 

My Week in Media January 8, 2008

Filed under: media, musings — ck @ 5:21 pm
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Inspired by this blog and finding it interesting to see what people are consuming, media wise, I thought I’d have a stab at detailing what I’m taking in:

 What I’ve Read:

  • The Blair Years – extracts from Alistair Campbell’s diary
  • Dipping into The Thunderbolt Kid by the utterly ace Bill Bryson
  • The Times, irregularly, but particularly for the sports coverage and T2 features
  • Times Higher Education Supplement
  • Brides magazine (did you know there are no less than 835 gorgeous wedding looks?)
  • The apple tree pruning section in my gardening book, with the hope I won’t kill off the thing when it comes to hacking time

What I’ve listened to

  • Radio 2 and Five Live on the way to work (flicking between the two according to how interested I am).  Always Radio 2, Chris Evans, on the way home
  • On the MP3 – some Amy Winehouse, Fratellis and Human League
  • The Idlewild album
  • Random tunes on YouTube, which the boy has picked out as potential wedding bash dancefloor tunes – including Egyptian Reggae, Teardrop Explodes and Julian Cope

What I’ve watched

  • A bit of light hearted GMTV if I have time in the mornings
  • Sense and Sensibility – proving to be a great watch
  • How to Look Good Naked with the loveable genius that is Gok Wan
  • Gloucester being well and truly (and deservedly, worse luck) beaten by Bath on Sky Sports – down the pub, I hasten to add

What I’ve surfed

  • Most news websites, on a daily basis! Particularly liking Google News at the mo
  • People’s pics and status updates on Facebook
  • Rugby websites: namely Gloucester RFC, the RFU and Olney RFC
  • The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music’s forums, for advice on how to teach a pretty difficult piano piece to my student – very useful, if you’re interested

Boo, just realised I have already broken my NY resolution for less lists….

 

Car crash dancing should not be encouraged! December 13, 2007

Filed under: rants — ck @ 1:44 pm
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Following on from Matt Di Angelo’s disaster on Strictly Come Dancing on Saturday, and the criminal fact that he wasn’t in the dance-off, I was aghast last night when a friend confessed she’d voted for him.

She’d justified this saying: “…awwww, he looked so sweet and lost. He just forgot it, aaah bless..”

Why do we like losers?  Call me harsh but he forgot 2 dances – he shouldn’t have been encouraged back in by maternal sympathy voting. It’s not fair on everyone else!  So now we have the prospect of another car-crash dancing moment this week with the semi-finals.  I don’t think Matt’s nerves will be calmed by the prospect and I’m not expecting a great come back.  In fact, I’ve turned against him because of his ‘get out of jail’ card, and now I positively WANT him to be rubbish!