Ladybird

When I had one of my several hospital appointments, I nipped into my local charity shop on the way home and saw this on the mannequin.  I found a good old fashioned walking stick for my Treasure Island production but ended up just trying this on!  I ended up buying it, for a very reasonable £3.75 and promptly wore it to go and watch Voces 8. I decided to add this stretchy petal belt to cinch the waist and the cashmere cardigan for warm. Knee high boots and a beret completed the look. 

All my scans and things came back negative so I've been discharged.  Hopefully all is fine so I am very grateful for that...but not sure what caused my pains/issues.  Thank you for all your positive thoughts.

Last night I went to watch CBC's school evening of song. It was beautiful.  The choirs and singing at his school is excellent!  I'm going to be doing some singing of my own on Bank Holiday Monday as I am returning to my old sixth form school to record 3 Christmas cantatas that were composed by the wonderful Head of Music.  I loved the 2 that I sang when I was at the school for two years and I am very excited to sing them again and see my teacher and many old friends I haven't seen for 20-25 years!!

Today, I have had a headache all day. I had one yesterday and was hoping, after my late night at CBC's concert, I would be able to sleep it off. Sadly, CBC was up at 6am (or possibly earlier) rampaging around the bedroom and house packing for the Duke of Edinburgh expedition he's leading on this weekend. He is incapable of doing it quietly or without asking me where X,Y, or Z are so I was fully awake and exceedingly cross that I was woken early as my headache was still very much pounding and present and has remained so all day.

I went to town to scour the charity shops for items needed for Treasure Island. Sadly, the only one I managed to locate was a vintage Parasol (buying the vintage one was cheaper and more eco-friendly than buying online from eBay.  I hope to find some more items at some point soon!

We had a polling day at school on Thursday so I was working from home. I had to join in for 2 Microsoft Teams sessions with Nursery and ended up doing lots of work though never as much as I wanted to.   It was so nice not to have to take the trains into work and back and for once, I didn't have any rehearsals to go up to London for which is what usually happens when I have a polling day at school!

Since I'm teaching a short cantata telling the story of Persephone (to link to the Year 5 Greeks topic), I'm playing the year 5-6 children Gustav Holst's The Planets in Singing Assembly this half term and I've been enjoying sharing little details with them to look out for.

For instance, in the final movement, Neptune, listen and watch out for the larger and lower versions of instruments- at the start of it, together with the regular C-flute, Holst uses the Alto Flute playing a parallel harmony (which plays 4 notes lower than the regular flute and has a wonderful smoky timbre) plus the Bass Oboe (bigger, lower oboe) and he even employs an off-stage female chorus at the ending which really does give the name Neptune, the Mystic, its due.  The piece ends with this otherworldly sound.  In addition, he uses 2 harps, instruments associate with magic and mythology in music and the Celesta, a keyboard instrument that hits a glockenspiel type instrument inside when you press the keys.

I really recommend watching the video below. I have made it start from Neptune but if it hasn't worked, scroll forward to 44:30.

The previous week, I played them Mars, the Bringer of War and in Drumming Club, we have been learning some of the repetitive rhythms used in the piece.  Next, week, we'll be listening to Mercury, the winged Messenger (AKA Hermes!) 

Style Imitating Art- Woman who flatly refuses a coffee pot!

 Daenel chose Paul Cezanne's Woman With a Coffee Pot for this week's inspiration piece for Style Imitating Art.

The premise of this challenge, if you have not ever seen a post from me about it before, is that one of our 3 curators chooses a piece of art and posts it. We, the blog readers can then submit an outfit to them that we feel reflects some aspect of the painting of is our sartorial response to it, no matter how tenuous.  For me, I always like to hear the person's choices of why they chose garments- that's what I find the most interesting so I love reading posts where people write about their decisions.  There's no wrong or right answer and flatlays and pet outfits are also accepted, props are optional.  If you think this is something you'd find fun, then pop an email to Daenel at livingoutsidethestacks@gmail.com by Tuesday night and then visit Daenel's blog on Wednesday to see the round up of everyone's outfits.

The piece is pretty powerful.  She doesn't look too happy to me about her coffee but maybe she just burnt her tongue and it's slight grimace, coupled with a yearning for coffee NOW!

Here's my outfit!

I knew that I had two outfits that I would do for this picture and I would go down the more literal route than abstract.  

The first thing I did was to go down my 'clothes to cull' bag to take this dress out.  It's a vintage 70's one I bought about 8 years ago and I haven't worn for about 2 years or more but it was always a bit too big on me and sometimes I felt it was a bit too 'kitsch' and dress up for me. It's been in a cull pile under my bed for a while.  However, I thought the shape of the dress plus its style, neckline and colour made it suitable for the challenge and, actually, having tried it on again, it actually fits me better now, so perhaps it might keep its place for now.

Black leggings for warmth and my men's brown brogues plus my Mum's vintage belt were a nod to the table cloth and that's about all I have to say for my outfit- I think it speaks for itself.

On the subject of coffee, from my nomenclature of this post, you can perhaps hypothesize that I am none too fond of this popular beverage.  Funnily enough though, I ended up talking to my Year 6 children about coffee today as we were listening to J.S. Bach's Hunt Cantata and whilst I was explaining what a cantata is* and talking about Bach and what the subject of some of his cantatas were, I told them that he loved coffee so he wrote a cantata about it.  Here's a link to the lyrics translated from German. Do have a look as they are really funny! It's all about a coffee addiction!   Here's an aria from the cantata below sung by the coffee addict! Do listen as it is beautiful!

By the way, in case you aren't sure, a cantata is a medium-scale piece of music from the Baroque era that is narrative (e.g. tells a story) told through the medium of singing and instrumental accompaniment.  It can be a secular or sacred subject matter.  Some people may think they are listening to opera when they hear it but cantatas are not acted out, they are told purely through singing, not on a stage or in costumes usually.  They are shorter too.

The story can be sung by soloists, duets or the whole chorus as well as there being orchestral instrumental sections.

One boy who was sitting in front of me was really getting into Bach's Hunt Cantata and I heard him telling his friend he really liked it! Love it when they really groove to something unexpected.

I've never liked coffee and perhaps you think I should just try it again and see if I like it BUT, I can confirm that it won't happen.  When I was studying in Indonesia, I frequently visited people's houses.  The tradition there is not that you ask your guests if they would like and drink and therefore what they might like.  Instead, you are brought a drink and a snack as a matter of course and it is the expected and polite thing that you drink it.

So I had a year of drinking both sugary tea AND coffee and I would have to finish that glass (always in a glass) and I STILL don't like either!

You can take your coffee and leave me the UNSUGARED tea in exchange.

How do you feel about coffee?  Love it enough to write an entire cantata about it?

Hope all is well with you.

Take care

xx

Can't Sing

There is a curious phenomenon I call the  'Can't sing' phenomenon.  There are some things that people can do well and others they can't do so well and people tend to say, "I'm not so good at that,".

BUT, when it comes to singing, people say to me, "I can't sing."  I have encountered this in so many different spheres of life.  Teachers tell me this, people I meet at churches, random friends of people, you name it.  Especially when they find out I am a music teacher.

But, of course, they can sing (a lady at the Baptist church said this to me and then sang quite nicely next to me) but what they mean is, "I am not a professional sounding singer," or "I can't totally hold my tune," or "I find it hard to sing high notes." or "I think my voice sounds a bit nasal." I have taught children who find it hard to follow a tune but the majority of them, will have developed their voice by the time they've left me so there are differences in pitch at a certain register.  I've only ever had one child who left me without any of timing or singing in tune (curiously, a very clever child, was in Drumming Club and choir and somehow was still very, very a-rhythmic and sang in a monotone- I could never understand it- he was so enthusiastic! The point was- even though he sang quite loudly completely at a monotone and played his drums out of time, I never asked him to leave, made him feel uncomfortable or like he couldn't do it- I would just offer advice where I could and position him with strong singers.  And he was there, doing it and that was the main thing- he loved music and kept doing it.

The thing I always say to my classes at school is that I thank them for their singing- I say, as long as you are trying to sing, that is the most important thing for me.  And they do improve gradually, some more than others, but still they progress.

I've known people at church keep quiet when they are singing because they think there voice is no good.  But it reminds me of a story I heard a vicar tell once. There was a monk/priest who used to sing quite out of tune.  He used to really enjoy singing all the hymns in church until one day someone told him not to sing because he was out of tune.  He was very sad and never sang up in the hymns again.
When he went to heaven and he finally met God, he said to him, "I missed you! I always used to look out for your voice- I could always hear it above everyone.
Or something of that ilk.  The point I am trying to make is that we can all sing, but as long as we enjoy it, that is the main thing.  When I go to church or a carol concert,  I always sing my heart out (unless I have a sore throat in which case I croak as best I can!). Even if I get the notes wrong.  I am always sad when I go somewhere and people don't sing.

Remember, when you sing with joy, that's a wonderful thing!

xx

Gingham, my deer and a word on singing.

I expect, for many a UK-based girl, the sight of Gingham takes us back to Primary school summers and wearing our Gingham sun dresses. It certainly does for me and when I see our girls in their pale-blue and white numbers, I feel rather nostalgic.

 A charity-shopped red gingham-top from two years ago, is one that I chose to wear on a cool Summer's day (not Autumn yet) and it worked well. I was at a choir rehearsal which is being run by the lady who used to run my Primary school choir in year 6. In fact, she used to be the music teacher also at my current school, so I essentially am her now. Funny eh?  It was really good fun to be singing in a choir again. I love singing in female voice choirs and the music is challenging and I really relish sight-singing.   It is very satisfying. I am lucky that I can look at a piece of music written down and sing it straight off without hearing a piano note or anything. The only thing that bamboozles me is occasionally if there are awkward lyrics, although I get the notes right, I may muddle my words. I have often taken this skill for granted but I am aware, being a music teacher, of just what a useful and valuable skill this is. If I am busy and haven't had time to prepare for a choir practice, I know I can just teach the kids straight off.  I realise how much harder I would find my job otherwise, so I am thankful for it, truly thankful.

I don't think I've mentioned it before on here before, and I thought it might be interesting to mention.

It's a funny thing, I have often wondered how it came about. I don't necessarily feel that I have true 'Perfect pitch' which is the ability to just be able to name a note, although I can do that, I do believe it has come about through my continual exposure to singing and playing throughout my life.

My Mum used to take me to church choir practice as a 4 year old and I would sit there listening as she practised and then went through arias with our friend Norma and the choir master. Apparently after a while, this precocious brat used to inform Auntie Norma that she was singing flat and Mummy was singing sharp. It was, apparently true what I was saying.

I began singing in the church choir from around aged 5 and then sang in school choirs, music school choirs, individual singing lessons, and multiple instrumental groups. I don't remember when I started being able to just sing from the music although I could name notes in primary school. I think the sight-singing ability was there from about aged 13, but as I say, it just developed. I wish I could analyse it better and know what it was, as I would love to be able to impart it to my children.

I think, perhaps, my ability to sing music easily, may make me a bit impatient when it comes to singing in choirs, when things don't move as quickly as I would like,  although this is inward, I hope, rather than being overt.   The majority of choirs I sing in are fast-moving which is good anyway.

If I were to offer anyone any advice on developing their singing or indeed playing, I would say, just try to sing and play in ensembles as much as possible, be it school groups, community, church, other.  Just try to take all the opportunities you can,even if they aren't with your immediate peer group.

I'm looking forward to the choir concert on the 1st October.  It is good to enjoy challenging music again.

Hope all is well with you.

xxx

#A pause for Advent 2013: 13

Tonight was my Carols by Candlelight service at my home church. It is always a beautiful occasion but tonight, I was overwhelmed by a sense of holiness, beauty, warmth, love and generosity from God and from those He brought there.

We sang a variety of different Christmas songs and carols with traditional congregational hymns, interspersed between the 9 readings with a prayers and a short address. It was as I sat there listening to one of the readings, that it struck me that this was my real pause for Advent, a pause for Jesus, giving this time for him alone.

The service struck me as soaring between two things:

Peace and praise.

We, the choir, raised our voices (around about 16 of us) so that we raised the rafters, our hearts bursting with joy.

But in between that, a quiet intimacy between God and us opened as we all listened in silence to the Bible readings. It was as if time stood still. Peace, true peace.

The service emcompassed those two things overwhelmingly. But also, it struck me, often people talk about Christmas 'doing the same old things'. Though, many of those things we did tonight, I have done for over 30 years of my life, they are never the 'same old'. God makes all things new and fresh, he can open our eyes in new ways, make them afresh, rejuventate our hearts so we come 'like a child' to that place and those traditions again, in awe and wonder, never monotony and overfamiliarity.

Old some things might be, but always new and fresh.

Tonight, I was asked to sing the first verse solo for Once in royal David's City , a tradition I have known for years. Believe it or not, I have never been asked to do this in church before. For me, this was a special honour (one I have always longed to do) and I longed to give God my all as I sang alone. He has given me the gift of perfect pitch, so I can pitch the notes and keep true to it without accompaniment and I was glad to use what he has given me and to experience that song I know, oh so well, but in a new way- to sing alone to Him (and a packed church).

We sang John Rutter's 'Candlelight Carol' which we sang last year but as we sang 'Gloria, gloria, in excelsis deo', my heart filled with love and joy, not tedium of something already known.

How can such beauty inspired by God and given by God not fail to touch me with its beauty

I sang for Christmas with my Mum and sister in church choirs for years but this year, I asked her if she would like to come and sing with us at church (she joined for the Centenary when I asked her) and she came. Being there with my mother- new and wonderful though I've done it many times in the past, it felt familiar but new. It meant so much to me that she was part of that praise.

My pause for Advent today finishes thinking about applying those four things I thought tonight to life.

Peace and Praise, Old but fresh and new.
Peace: Prayer time, listening to God's word spoken, spending more quiet time with God.
Praise: Using my skills to praise God. For a time, I wrote lots of songs for church. Why had I stopped that? I must again.
Old but fresh and new: Enjoy each experience and look at it with fresh new eyes like God when he surveys the new day and sees what is good.

Today I am joining Floss and other bloggers in a Pause for Advent

Magic Penny

Over at the Two-birds today, it has been Inspiration Monday- not heard of this one called Dianna Agron



Here's my none-too-similar rendition but here it has served as a stimulus for the outfit!
In my defence, I do have a sweater dress on with some stripes, a Khaki-ish coloured coat and black boots! (Funny leg position due to discovering a hole in my leggings!!!!! You can see it with my thermal white leggings underneath shining through!!! Hello Granny!)
I just felt the outfit was a little bland and a bit of a vibrant colour scheme on a Monday does no end of perking me up!  Linking up to Patti's Visible Monday with my symphony in turquoise!



Yesterday, I TIDIED my old bedroom (now my spare).  For anyone who knows me or the room (so that's Mum, Clo, CBC) here, this is a serious undertaking.  It is by no means finished (e.g. book shelves and dressing table are a mess), but it is oh so much better!!! I felt better for doing it even though it took aaaaaaaaaages!!!  I'd started off the day with a dreadful headache so finally getting up at 3ish (!), I still could not bring myself to stare at a computer screen so tidying stuff seemed a good use of my time! I found lots of things I had forgotten I still had, I put together a bag of things to cull and put some stuff away! Floor and bed are visible!

It was all rather mushy, slushy horrid grey snow round here today- a shame- I did live in hope of something beautiful!

A lot of times in singing assembly, people like to put on all singing and dancing new songs for the children to learn, it's all about new and to be fair, there are some amazing new songs, many of which I like using!
However, with the KS1 children (including all of reception classes now, so 4-7 years), for this half-term, I have been using an old, long-published book called Alleluia, which has all sorts of really nice songs in it which the children just adore.  We're singing them a cappella, so no relying on technology, which is refreshing! One in particular, Magic Penny is a firm favourite:
Love is something if you give it away, give it away, give it away.
Love is something if you give it away, you end up having more.
Love is like a magic penny, hold it tight and you wont have any
Lend it, spend it and you'll have so many, they'll roll all over the floor.
So let's go dancing till the break of day
And it there's a piper, we can pay
For love is like a magic penny,
You'll end up having more.

What nice lyrics!
It just proves, that you don't always have to reinvent the wheel, there's usually a perfectly lovely wheel waiting to be found!

Caped crusader!

Hello there!  How are you?  Well, I hope!  It's rather chilly over here in the South East! Have you had any of the white stuff yet?  I was at CBC's yesterday morning and when I looked out the window massive snowflakes were coming down onto an already thick carpet of snow.  I looked with instant dismay at my blue desert boots (the ones worn with the tartan dress) as they have zero grip (literally smooth as an ice-rink!) and the polka dot mini-dress, red knee-length socks and black leggings I had brought to wear (although along with parka-coat, velvet hat and thin scarf) . 

CBC and I set off at 7.15 in his car for him to drop me at the station.  We had a horrid near-miss when his brakes failed to stop him and we carried on skidding and just missed the BMW in front of us by scraping the lamp-post.  The traffic was at total grid-lock and as we nervously advanced, the car seemed autonomous to the steering wheel.  After a huge yellow double decker bus skidded by us rather like Nemo being passed by a Tanker, we decided to park up and walked the rest of the way, very gingerly.  I persuaded CBC to put on his very unflattering wellies from the bootand I held his brown shoes in my hand whilst he took my trolley-bag. As we climbed the hill to the station, a car stalled on the hill and as it miraculously, though laboriously made its way up the hill (CBC took a photo of the pathof its tires which looked as meandering as the River Thames on aerial maps).  Luckily, there were only minor delays on the train but by that time, both CBC and I were late for school.  However, when I reached school, there was NOT a drop of snow to be seen!!!! I felt like a complete fraud! How could it be so thick further out in Essex and yet none where school is?!

The outfit in the above photos features a few favourite items- I adore this Art-deco looking dress (from Miss Selfridge an age ago) and thought to team it with my lovely cape that CBC bought me from Spitalfields last birthday.  Silver-sequinned ballet pumps and a pearl-studded beret (H&M).   The pearl collar necklace was a vintage find in a St Frances Hospice charity shop! (Black turtle neck and cardie for warmth added! School sale and Tescos respectively)

This afternoon the choir and I made our way to a residential care home for elderly (and some younger citizens) with severe care needs at the local hospital.  This is something that was begun before I went to the school.  Every year, I never fail to be humbled by the reaction that a group of beautiful children's voices singing Christmas carols, can produce in these worthy, humble people.  And the children too.  They never fail to be affected by their experience.  I watched one girl (she's sweet but she's a bit lairy) watching delightedly as she saw any reaction whatsoever from the residents.  As we proceeded from one communal bay to another, she told me, "That man named Ron, he was singing along with The First Nowell and then he laughed and clapped and waved to us,".  Her eyes were sparkling and I could sense the compassion and affection for these people she had just met.  We have one lovely little Polish girl who had a chat to a Polish old man.  He was so delighted.  As she left, she had tears in her eyes, since talking to him, she told me, reminded me of her Grandma back in Poland who was also in a residential home.   All of them buzzed with tales, excitement and appreciation of the experience as we returned.  Not a moan in sight as we marched the mile and 3/4 back in the bitter cold back to school but excited chatter! I am so thankful for the legacy of my predecessors, that I get to experience this joy and sense of humility as we share the gift of singing. 
Next Thursday, I am taking my little singing army of 30 children back to another Senior citizens care home and  I look forward to it with a lightness of heart.  I feel the heart of Christmas in these places- sharing, giving love and giving what gift we can.  It's not about a big flamboyant gesture, but about caring and giving of our hearts.

Friday letters 4

Dear 77 people on my followers list,
I appreciate you- thank you, new and old (Hello Harlow vintage!!!).  But don't be shy, come and say HI!  I promise to say Hi back!

Dear Postal delivery office,
Why oh why wont you open till 8 EVERY night? It would provide more jobs for people and help me to not have to be tempted by shops on a Saturday when I have to trek to town to pick a parcel up!

Dear women of combined churches centenary choir,
Really me as ONE alto versus 14 sopranos???? (FYI soprano: high voice part, sings the tune.  Alto: low voice part: sings a counter-melody) Isthat fair???? I have a soprano voice but I made the sacrifice!!!!

Dear Altos who haven't come to rehearsal yet,
Get theee hither forthwith! (It's almost Christmas.  'Hither' is therefore a legitimate word to use in common parlance!)

Dear bloggers,
How come so many of you have been rather sparse in your posting this week?  Some of you who ALWAYS blog missed a day or too together!  Why?!

Dear Miss Simmonds Says!
Yay!!!! Another hat fanatic!!!!!!


Dear colds, flu-bugs, nasty lurgies and other wild beasties,
YOU are not welcome here.  Do you hear me?  You are ugly and your mother smells of elderberries so spack off!*

Dear Chris of the Chrlog,
Tee hee, I do hope you join in this week! I look forward to more text-speech Friday letters!

Dear Commenters on the Tom Baker post,
HA!!! You fell for my hypnotism!!!!! Honestly  I opened my e-mail inbox and it was all KezzieAG comments! Hmmmm, let's try this again.  Look into my eyes..... You are feeling sleepy.... now send me all your worldly goods!

*(a phrase coined by  Tom Baker in Destiny of the Daleks. Did you see my Tom Baker inspiration outfit here? I do hope so!)

For more Friday letters go to Adventures of newly weds

The joy of sound and vegan Thai red tofu!

Today was our second visit to an elderly home.  It was not attached to a hospital but was a residential home for those with early dementia.  Another freezing walk ensued to reach there but once again my young charges were in good spirits.  We arrived at the entrance and came into a wonderful central atrium with cockatoos, lovely comfy wing back arm chairs and sofas and an gallery above where people could watch from above.  Unlike yesterday, the people came to us so it was more like a concert to them this time as we could sing our entire programme to them.   Slowly but slowly, they came to sit and we began our performance.  The children took in lines in between 2 pillars and I was in the background playing the keyboard (near to the required plug socket that would not trip anyone up!)  As we sang our first item, Once in Royal David's city, and 3 sweet-voiced girls sang the solo, I heard a lovely voice coming from behind me.  Unable to turn around just in case I made any Les Dawson-type mistakes, I couldn't see until a gentle lady slowly shuffling along with a zimmer-frame went past and smiled sweetly at me whilst joining in.

A very appreciative audience listened to each and every performance of traditional carols, The Holly and the ivy, Good King Wenceslas, Deck the Hall, O Come All ye faithful, Silent Night, Away in a manger,  and our special choir items, See the star of Bethlehem and The little road to Bethlehem  and said how much they'd loved it.  A lady said she hoped we'd come again (I replied in the hopeful affirmative!)

Some of my Year 6 girls were enchanted by the old gentleman in the GI jacket who came and sang 2 World war 2 classic songs to me at the end and asked him if he'd been in World War 2 and were most excited when he said he was (they're studying it at the moment).  I just thought how wonderful it would be for their year to come down to the home and just be able to ask questions, and listen to the amazing reminiscences of these 80 something year olds - they'd really appreciate the benefit of oral history from ordinary, local individuals.   I really hope to teach the children in KS2 some more World War 1 music hall songs (I taught them It's a long way to Tipperary last year) so we can come and sing in the Spring term again.

Again, it was an honour to be there to sing and share with these older people who have worked hard all their life and now find it difficult.  I thought how nice it would be to go and sing songs from the musicals to them
I can take no credit for going to sing there apart from jumping at the chance as we sang there due to teachers and staff at the school who had links there- I just am delighted for any opportunity to serve our community, give my choir experience of singing to real people and sharing the love of music.  It's about them, the old people and the choir, not me.

When I got home tonight, I made a great Vegetarian/Vegan dinner which I thought I'd share with you all.  I am not either of those diets though 80% of people I meet think I am for some bizarre reason!!! Do I look vegan to you? 

It is Thai Green tofu and vegetable curry (not made the proper way but the cheap and easy way!)
 

I used:
One garlic marinated tofu steak, cut up into pieces.  A carrot, some French beans, A courgette, vermicelli (rice noodles), Thai Green curry paste, creamed coconut (dried), olive oil. 
Here's what you do:

1.  Chop up and quarter-slice a courgette, use a vegetable peeler to create carrot strips from one carrot.  break up French beans with hands into small pieces (quantities entirely dependent on wim)

2.  Heat a little dollop of olive oil in a saucepan with a dollop of Thai-red curry paste (I've had this tub for years- it's still going strong!) -dependant on how spicy you like it (mine was the size of tablespoon probably).
Mix them together as they heat.

3.  Hurl your chopped veg (I would've used pak-choi too if it hadn't gone moudly...) into the heated saucepan after 2mins or so (I have electric hob so need to wait for it to heat).  Mix it around with a wooden spatula for some 3 minutes.

4.  Suddenly remember that you need to boil the kettle.  Do so and break off a small block of creamed coconut (cheapy alternative to coconut milk) into a you-sized quantity of hot water and mix until it's sort of white liquid. 

5.  Chuck in the coconut milk into the veg mixture.

6.  Break up tofu (I used some pre-marinated garlic tofu which didn't take long to cook.  Check your tofu's instructions) into pieces and leave the lot to simmer for a couple of minutes.

 7.  Break off some dried vermicelli from the block and leave to swim in a bowl with boiling hot water for 5 minutes under a lid. 

 8.  Drain your vermicelli and serve into a bowl.

 9.  Pour your Thai red tofu and veg curry on top of it.

10.  For added decoration, flavour and fun, add some dried onion (like the salad crunchies) on top as you serve it.  This is what they did in Bali with dishes and I kept the habit!

I've done variations of this with tempe, puy lentils, chick peas and just an assortment of veg (and chicken of course).  It's really easy.  (I like the meat version as much as the vegan one- I just happen to love vegetarian substitutes except Quorn which is SPAWN!)

Voila- tasty, cheap, quick! All a bit disorganised!
Clear as mud???

Oh and soon, for your delectation, I have some Christmas entertainment activities you could try with your family which I'd quite like guinea pigs for!

Surreal evening!

Singing at the Glee concert at the O2?

Do you ever just have those totally spontaneous evenings where craziness and wonder ensues!
As I left school, CBC phoned me to say he was going to a choir rehearsal which he went to last week (to observe) and did I want to go along as he Redchurch street in Shoreditch! Somehow, I said yes and found myself going along to the rehearsal which was held at the headquarters of amazing London advertising agency Mother.

Firstly, it was housed in the most amazing quirky building. it is a sort of converted warehouse! An amazingly quirky interior! A grand high ceiling in the entrance- quirky portraits in a rogue's gallery style set up, an electric organ, shelves full of penguin classics, red benches and tables. and an open galley kitchen to just come and help yourself to cereal, tea, toast etc. The quirky vintage style loos-unisex have William Morris style bird wallpaper and Cowshed products. Go up the stairs past the wooden lecturn. Go past meeting tables surrounded by perspex surgical-type curtains where animated VC meetings ensue, a wire mesh enclosed office area, look up and see quirky large lamp shades in funky patterns and then up to an area surrounded by long red curtains. Go in and see a gargantuan polished wood boardroom table, surrounded by leather vintage swivel chairs.

This was where we rehearsed. Totally not my type of singing I usually do. It was Glee, poppy, massive harmony sounding. Singing from words only, with Laura, leader at a keyboard, no music (notes) just the basic skeleton of words For me, someone who can sightsing from notes in an instant, relying only on my ears and some words, it was quite difficult at first! We sang a U2 song arrangement and another one which started, Father, father. Singing in harmony and going round and round, I soon picked it up! I had to assume a different vocal quality than I am used to- a harder, crying, sort of sound. After feeling very self-conscious at first, I really started to enjoy it!

There had been talk of the 'gigs' that were coming up- Laura asked if CBC and I were able to do them. The gigs turned out to be singing at the O2 for the Glee concerts- singing in the VIP area, singing around the O2. Wow, to be even part of a cool Glee event! Alas, I don't think I can (not least learning 15 songs from ear in 2weeks!) But cool!

As we walked back to Liverpool Street Station, we passed all sorts of quirky buildings in the city. funky glass scrapers, a curious lego-building, a massive triangular glass building that looked flat from the side! Truly surreal!