Monthly Archives: November 2009

An Open Letter to… Ugg Boots

November 25, 2009 3 comments

Dear Ugg Boots,

I thought it was time we cleared a few things up, I mean, the air between us hasn’t been good for a while now… and I feel like I owe you an explanation. Where should I begin? …

5825 Ugg Classic Short Chestnut An Open Letter to... Ugg Boots

I remember when I first saw you, wow, that was a long time ago. You weren’t as popular back then, or as colourful! heh… You were cute in that short and dumpy way, I’ll give you that — I guess in your own little way you still are. I remember those stories you told me about how you used to hang out with the surfers and swimmers, I’m sure you fitted right in there! I don’t know whether it was your homesickness from leaving Australia and your attempt to fit in, or some wish to be thought of as ‘cool’, but ever since you started hanging around with that Paris girl, well, you changed — you never used to wear pink for a start. Then I started seeing you with all her friends too, that crowd of people… why did you do that? I guess I can’t lay all the blame with you for that, they knew you were different… paraded you as some kind of new toy. Even when they dropped you that time for Mukluks? when they came running back to you I watched on as you greeted them with open arms.

Yes, looking back that’s when things started to change. I think it got worse when I saw you hanging out in those cheap high-street shops, you’d really let your standards drop… you’d turned so synthetic, half the time you went by some weird pseudonym or something, too. What happened? I think you might have started to spread yourself too thin, wanting to be ‘in’ with as many people as you could.

And now? Now I don’t even know who you are anymore, one day you’ll be wearing wool, the next you’re covered in laces…and some of the colours… oof. I see you more than ever now, sometimes I think you look like you’re doing ok, other times I really wonder what went wrong. Like the other day, you were hanging out with this girl who was wearing baggy sweat pants and a baggy pink hooded sweater, and she wasn’t even at the gym. Wow. I thought you had a bit more class than that. When I saw you in Australia last year you looked so well! Like your old self again! You’d got your colour back and looked homely again.

Anyway, I’m babbling, I just wanted to let you know my reasons. I hope you can understand. Don’t get me wrong, I still think you’re so lovely, warm and cosy… I just can’t be seen with you anymore. I hope we can still hang out around the house, though.

Yours,

Kim

PS. I don’t know if you’ve been in touch with Crocs lately, but I’ll be writing to him at some point. We also have a few things to clear up.

Halloween 2009

November 3, 2009 2 comments

yayyy Halloween was the most fun! We went as Harry and Hermoine this year, which meant I had a wand and a cape. Amazing. We also had fun carving pumpkins, putting up decorations and answering the door to around 50 trick or treaters (we only had 1 in our last place, so this was a novelty!). Anyway, pictures words louder and all that.

Adam ruins a perfectly nice photo by looking at a kitten. WTF boy!

He had to shave his beard, wasn’t pleased.

I was so pleased with my pumpkin!!!

Adam’s brother, Schicken, came out with us as apparently some really rough stoned panda? uh…whut? Looks like a character from the boosh >.<

More photos on flickr, how were your halloweekends?

Recipe time! : Green tomato chutney

November 1, 2009 Leave a comment

Nights are drawing in, it’s time to start preserving! Yep, we’re making loads of homemade presents again this year and started a week or so ago with the chutneys.

This is a recipe we’ve not tried before, but since our garden produced a huge amount of green tomatoes that weren’t about to ripen any time soon, we decided to use them up this way. This recipe is incredibly simple, and a great induction to the world of chutney making.

4044329786 8fcf3e6651 Recipe time! : Green tomato chutney

You will need

Plenty of jars - we ended up using about 12 180ml jars and a couple of random large ones we had hanging around, too. You’ll need to sterilise these before you put the chutney in (generally, a dishwasher will suffice.. you can also heat them in the oven… google it).
2-3 dried chillis. I’d say add these to taste. Chop them up finely! If you’d prefer it none spicey, just don’t add them.
1 litre malt vinegar
1.5-2kg green tomatoes, chopped up.
250g of raisins
10-15g of fresh ginger, grated.
400-500g of chopped, peeled and cored apple
1 large onion, chopped finely
450g of shallots chopped finely
500g brown sugar (I used a really sticky brown muscovado for this, I just think it adds extra flavour and colour).
2tsp salt

You’ll find the most taxing part of this recipe is chopping everything.

Right, now you have all your ingredients prepared, put them all in a huge preserving pan (ie. the biggest, heaviest bottomed pan you have.. we have an amazing pan that we use for soup, home brews and preserving).

Turn up the heat and simmer until it’s reached the consistency you like, ours took little over 1 hour, but so long as it looks like a chutney and everything is softened then it’ll be great.

Let it cool for a little while until it’s the same temp as the jars, if you’ve put the jars in the oven this is just a few minutes after turning the heat off. Put the lids on and store them in a cool dark cupboard.

You should leave the chutney at least a month before eating it (this lets the flavours mature), and an unopened jar will last around 6 months to a year (if you can resist eating it for that long!).

EAT IT WITH CHEESE!