The Amazing Backwards Rossetti

Well friends....Rossetti has moulted.

Other spiders do a lot of preparation before hand to let you know a moult is coming.

But not Rossetti.

Other spiders stop eating and seem almost fearful of food so that you have to awkwardly fish a live cricket out of their tank because it is scaring your sweetums.

But not Rossetti.

Other spiders do "spider yoga" for several days where they stretch up against the glass to loosen their carapace.

But not Rossetti.

Other spiders lay a web mat down so they have a soft place to moult. When you see that happening you know they will "do their thang" in a couple of hours.

But not Rossetti.

Other spiders moult on a regular schedule at three months, then six months, then once a year when they reach adulthood.

But not Rossetti.

To be fair, some of that one is her species. She is a Chilean Rose and they don't always follow the once a year schedule.

It's been over three years since her last moult.

And we have no idea how old she is as she is a rescue and she hasn't followed the moulting schedule which helps you to determine the age of a spider.

We just woke up today and she had done it. Just like that. Boom.

Rossetti is our special needs spider.

She seems a bit dyspraxic (like dyslexic only with coordination and movement). As she is stalking her prey (and if you have ever seen a spider hunt, they really stalk like lions) she creeps toward the cricket and then.......pounces in the wrong direction!

Every time.

She also really hates plastic trees.

I mean *really* hates. I didn't even know spiders could have emotions like this. But hers are strong ones.

We put a small plastic tree in her tank. She worked for days to wrap it up in spider silk which pulled all the sticky-out branches flat. then she bulldozed the tree, carried to her hidey (which was like a hollowed out log) and spent two days shoving the tree under the log and then buried the ends of the tree in substrate so she didn't have to look at them. Not like she could really look at them because despite having eight eyes, tarantulas are virtually blind and rely on other senses like touch to get around.

But you know what I mean.

And for the last two years she has had a bit of web hanging off her butt like toilet paper on the bottom of your shoe.

Um...excuse me...you've got something...right there. No other side.....

But we love our little bundle of contradictions.

Well done Rossetti.

What We Ate Wednesday--Mushroom, Potato and Kale Curry

Hello lovelies. Curry. Delicious curry. The sort of thing you can throw together by cleaning out your fridge and still come up with a delicious meal.

I prefer curry paste to curry powder, but it's all good. We like to buy Pataks Balti Curry Paste which contains:

Water, Rapeseed Oil (20%), Ground Spices (16%) [Cumin (3.5%), Paprika (3.5%), Turmeric, Coriander, Spices, Fennel], Maize Flour, Salt, Acids (Acetic Acid, Citric Acid), Tamarind, Cracked Black Pepper, Garlic Powder (0.5%), Cracked Coriander Seed, Dried Crushed Red Chilli, Black Kalonji Seed, Died Coriander Leaf

This curry was made from stuff we already had:

onions and garlic

potatoes

mushrooms

kale (could sub spinach but kale rocks our socks)

coconut milk

curry paste

If I had had frozen peas I would thrown them in as well. 

It was really saucy so I would suggest serving it with naan bread so you can sop up the juices. 

Sop being a technical term for soak up all the goodness with yo' bread  if you are from the American South. 

Mushroom, Potato and Kale Curry

You need:

one onion, chopped

3-4 cloves garlic, crushed

200g button mushrooms (about 10?) 

2 large white potatoes, diced

125ml (half a cup) vegetable broth

1 tin coconut milk

3 TB curry paste or curry powder

100g kale or spinach (about 4-5 cups) 

squeeze of lemon (I used bottled and it it was fine)

1. Cook the onion in a TB of water until softened then add the garlic and the mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms start to release their water and soften.

2. Add the potato, vegetable broth, coconut milk and curry paste/powder. Bring to the boil and then simmer 25 minutes.

3. Meanwhile prepare your naan bread. If you can't find a vegan or gluten free one, fear not. Use my 5 minute flatbread found {HERE} 

4. When the 25 minutes are done and the naan is hot, then add your spinach or kale and stir and let it wilt. Then add a squeeze of lemon juice to brighten it. I like to twist on several grinds of pepper at this point, but that's just me. 

If you have frozen peas throw them in for the last 5 minutes to defrost. 

All done within a half an hour.

If you have always have curry paste or powder and a tin of coconut milk or a tin of tomatoes, then you can just throw them together with all the veg in your fridge and call it a curry. 

Problem solved. Need to feed more? Serve over rice to extend it. Or a tin of chickpeas. Sorted. 

Murder Ballad Monday--Polly Vaughan by Tony Rose

Hello and welcome to Murder Ballad Monday. I am continuing to explore different versions of the Irish folk song Polly Vaughan classified as number 166 in the Roud Folk song index. This version is entitled Polly Vaughan and was sung by Tony Rose in 1976 on his album On Banks of Green Willow.

This version is unusual in that the hunter is named Willy as he is always referred to as Jimmy or Jimmy Randall or by no name in the other versions. This one is also unusual in that his father seems to be indicating he will bring money to the trial (a hundred bright guineas) to help his son go free. Is this a bribe? Or just settling fine? Who knows. Thankfully, Polly’s ghost appears to say it was an accident, so Willy’s dad can save his money.

You can listen to this version here:

One midsummer's evening, the sun being gone down,
Young Polly went walking by the side of a pond.
She sat under the shady trees, the showers for to shun,
With her apron wrapped around her, as white as a swan.

Young Willy went hunting with his dog and his gun,
Young Willy went hunting as the evening came on.
Down among those green rushes, as the evening came on,
He shot his own true love in the room of a swan.

And when he'd seen what he'd done away he did run
Crying, “Father, dear father, do you see what I've done?
Down among those green rushes, as the evening came on,
I shot my own true love in the room of a swan.”

“Stay at home, dear Willy, till your trial do come on,
That you may not be banished to some far land.
On the day of your trial your father will appear
With a hundred bright guineas if that will you clear.”

On the day of the trial young Polly did appear,
Crying, “People, oh people, let Willy go clear,
Down among those green rushes, as the evening came on,
He shot his own true love in the room of a swan.”

That’s all for this week’s Murder Ballad Monday. Stay tuned for another look at this ballad when I look at a bluegrass version by the Dillards. 

What We Ate Wednesday--Roasted Parsnips, Carrots, and Chickpeas with Kale

Hello lovelies. This week’s meal was a “clean out the fridge” meal which was so gorgeous, it deserves a blogpost.

I looked in my fridge. I had parsnips and carrots and kale. I had chickpeas. I had brown rice. I had one tiny onion and a sorry half of a green pepper. I could do something with that.

I often roast parsnips and carrots and I often roast chickpeas, so I figured why not roast them together?

I decided to combine how I roast both of these and do my standard sautéed kale and serve it over rice.

This totally worked.

Roasted Parsnips, Carrots, and Chickpeas with Kale

Preheat your oven to 220C/ 425F and put your roasting tin in the oven to heat up.

In a bowl combine:

2 large or 4 small parsnips, cut into strips

1 large or 2 small carrots, cut into strips

1 tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 TB oil

1 TB tamari or soy sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

1 TB liquid sweetener like maple syrup, agave or golden syrup (don’t add this yet!)

1. When the oven is preheated, take your hot pan out and add the above into it. It will sizzle! Turn the heat down to 200C/400F and put back in the hot oven for 20 minutes.

On the hob:

When the countdown on your timer is about 5 minutes then sauté the following in a large pan in a splash of water or oil.

1 onion, sliced into rainbows

Half a pepper, chopped

2. When the timer beeps, stir and put back in the oven for 5 minutes. When the timer beeps again, take out the roasting tin and add your TB liquid sweetener and put it back in the hot oven for 5 more minutes.

3.Add 100g of kale (destemmed and torn up)—about 4-5 cups to the pan on the hob and cook with a splash of water until reduced and bright green. Then add:

A good glug of tamari or soy sauce

1 drizzle of toasted sesame oil

A good squidge of liquid sweetener like golden syrup

(I realise these measurements are imprecise, but that is how I do it.)

Serve the greens with the roasted veg (which are soft and caramelised) and the roasted chickpeas (which are crunchy) over brown rice.

 I use easy cook brown rice. I started boiling my water first, so that I put the roasting tin in the oven when the rice started to cook so they would come out round the same time.  Make sense?

This was super healthy and super delicious. It made enough for 4 servings or two greedy people servings. 

The Sad Story With The Happy Ending

Once upon a time, in a land far away there lived a man and a woman. They lived in a funny house that was pink on the outside and much bigger than it appeared on the inside. They called it the TARDIS house.

They lived in that big house, just the two of them for many years. The lady, who was a teacher, spent all day with small children. They were not able to have children of their own so she spent her days being mother to the munchkins in her class. Her life was good. Sometimes she was sad, but all she had to do was look into the face of her 30 bright-eyed first graders and she was happy again.

One day, a little girl came into their lives. She was one of the lady’s favourite students and she needed a home. She lived with the man and the woman for a year and it was a good year. The lady was a mother. The little girl had parents who loved her. They were hoping to adopt the little girl and give her the forever home she deserved.

But it was not to be.

For reasons too complicated to explain, the adoption could not go through and the little girl had to be sent back to live with her family.

The lady was devastated. The man was sad. The little girl was heartbroken.

The lady lost touch with the little girl and never knew what had happened to her. Was she happy? Were they treating her well? Was she loved? Did she remember the man and woman who had loved her so much?

The woman was so sad inside that she tucked away her sadness and rarely spoke about her daughter. It hurt too much to remember.  It was too complicated to explain how it all fell apart, but she thought of her daughter every day. She prayed that she was OK and that she would remember the lady with love.

Years went by and the man and woman decided to leave their past behind and move far, far away. The sailed the ocean to their new home and made a life for themselves on distant shores.

But still, sometimes, the woman was woken up at night with thoughts of her little girl. “Does she hate me because we had to give her back?” she wondered. “Does she know that it was not our choice?”

              

Recently, the little girl (who was all grown up) found the lady and they are a family again. They never forgot each other. They never stopped loving each other.

Through the miracle of modern technology, they “skype” and talk to each other and try to make sense of the past and catch up on the missing years.

The woman cries when she thinks of all the birthdays and milestones she missed. She cries when she hears the life that her daughter had-- which is not the life that she (or any child) deserves. She cries when she thinks of the life they could have given her. She laughs when she sees her grandbabies.

                                 

Yes…the woman went from childless to mother and grandmother all in one go.

It is overwhelming, but wonderful.

It does not matter what is the colour of their skin, but what is in their heart.

It does not matter if they are blood kin or not. Family is who loves you and supports you unconditionally.

They are a family.

I love you my baby girl, Monjae.

Welcome home. 

Murder Ballad Monday--Molly Bawn (Alison Kraus and the Chieftans)

Hello and welcome to Murder Ballad Monday. Last we looked at a very traditional Irish version of Molly Bawn by the Dubliners. This week, a more ethereal version of this song by Alison Kraus with the Chieftans from the album Down the Old Plank Road: The Nashville Sessions which was released in 2002.

                      

It is a strange mash-up that begins like the Dubliners’ version and ends like Peter, Paul and Mary’s one.  

You can listen to Alison Kraus and the Chieftans here:

I have included the lyrics below if you’d like to follow along.

Come all ye young fellas
That handle a gun
Beware of night rambling
By the setting of the sun
And beware of an accident
That happened of late
To young Molly Bawn
And sad was her fate

She was going to her uncles
When a shower came on
She went under a green bush
The shower to shun

Her white apron wrapped around her
He took her for a swan
But a hush and sigh
Was his own Molly Bawn

He quickly ran to her
And found she was dead
And there on her bosom
Where he soaked, tears he shed

He ran home to his father
With his gun in his hand
Saying "Father dear father
I have shot Molly Bawn"

Her white apron wrapped around her
He took her for a swan
But a hush and a sigh
'Twas his own Molly Bawn

He roamed near the place
Where his true love was slain
He wept bitter tears
But his cries were in vain
As he look on the lake
A swan glided by
And the sun slowly sank
In the gray of the sky

That’s all for this week. Stay tuned next week for a version entitled Polly Vaughan by Tony Rose.

Reconnecting to the Disconnect

It has been a day.

A day for connection.

A day for reflection.

A day to remind me why I chose compassion over cruelty.

A day that reminded me that for many years I did not.

A day for atonement.

The Carmarthen and Pembrokeshire Vegans spent the afternoon at GREENACRES ANIMAL RESCUE in the freezing Welsh rain. Our tour guide Mikey led us around, showed us the animals and told us their stories. He kindly took this picture of us in one of the rare moments when the rain had stopped.
                          
There were cats and dogs waiting to be find their forever home. I did not tour their quarters due to my allergies. But i am told that most of the cats that are left are black or black and white because cats with colour are chosen first. A ginger cat would be snatched up in a heartbeat, but a black moggy has to wait to be re-homed.

There were a variety of ducks and chickens, many ex-battery hens. Many with missing feathers, spindly legs and no beaks.

There were alpaca, sheep, horses, ferrets and bunnies and pigs. Beautiful pigs. Enormous pigs that looked you right in the eyes with a cheeky expression and were happy to be scritched behind the ears like a dog.

But I could not take my eyes off of the turkeys.

I have never seen a live turkey before. Only dead ones on a plate. There were three females in one pen and I watched them closely. I saw one who had had her beak burned off with a hot wire to prevent her from pecking other birds who had been closely confined. I saw her difficulty eating grain. It made me want to cry.

In another part of the barn was a gorgeous tom turkey named Mr T who looked like this:
                           
He was magnificent. There is no other word for it. And I felt hot tears of shame welling in my eyes because of the indoctrination I had as a child.

Thanksgiving.

Sometimes people called it Turkey-day.

You didn't just eat some sliced meat on a sandwich at Thanksgiving, you murdered a whole bird and put it as a centrepiece on your table.

I looked forward to Thanksgiving all year because I loved turkey. But I did not love turkeys.

Seriously, turkey was my favourite meat. I never saw the animal, even when it was animal shaped sitting on my grandmother's table. I was blinded by my taste buds.

We got a special kind of turkey every year. A Greenberg Smoked Turkey. They injected the birds with this pepper solution which made them taste *amazing*. They were "grown locally" near my grandmother's house in Tyler, Texas. We always felt like we were doing something good by getting a bird that was local. Not some anonymous bird with dubious origins from the local supermarket freezer, but a Greenberg. I visited their website to see if they were still going. It read:

Greenberg smoked turkey is a treat that is not to be missed, so much so that around 200,000 customers make us part of their holiday season each year. 

200,000. Each year. That's 200,000 lives lost every year.

I ate Greenberg turkey every Thanksgiving and Christmas for 34 years. That is 68 lives that I am personally responsible for taking.

It got me thinking about how we objectify and glorify turkeys in school. I did this all through my school career and I am guilty of doing this as a teacher.

The month of November is all about turkeys. And Pilgrims with buckles on their hats which would NOT have been there (a pet peeve of mine, but that's a tale for another day.)

As teachers we make work fun by doing things like this:
              

We all thought turkeys were fun.

And then we do art like this:


We all thought turkeys were beautiful.

And finally, we read books like this:



This fantastic tale is all about a group of kids on a school trip to a farm who find out that that turkeys are going to be killed and stage an act of animal liberation by hiding the turkeys under their coats and take them home and have a vegetarian meal instead with the turkeys as guests.

I read this every year to my class. I read it and we all cheered because no one (and I mean NO ONE) wanted to see those animals die.

Then we all went to the cafeteria and ate this:
    

I couldn't see it.

I didn't want to see it.

But now I do.

Seeing those turkeys today made me realise how glad I am that we are vegan. How important it seems to choose compassion.

Many people ask me "Don't you miss meat?" I hold my hand up and admit that I used to LOVE the taste of meat. Especially turkey. Especially Greenberg turkey. But somehow, it stopped being about me and what I wanted. It started being about what is RIGHT and what is FAIR.

For years, there was this disconnect between the lives of sentient beings and my plate. These days, we are connected to life and all the living beings that inhabit this blue-green planet.  All the food we eat is delicious and cruelty free.

Today reminded me of the connection.

I let that turkey nuzzle my hand and I said a 68 apologies to him and his brethren for the lives I wilfully took.

It is good to reconnect with animals to help remind us they are beings in their own right who feel pain as well as joy, just as we do. If you have an animal sanctuary near you, I urge you visit and meet your meat if you are not vegan.

I would also say if you have spare cash and want to do something nice for animals please send some donations to Greenacres which you can do {HERE}

Be veg, go green to save the animals, yourself and the planet.

What We Ate Wednesday--Breakfast for Dinner

Hello lovelies! We were visited recently by a friend and her lovely granddaughters where we did some baking and then watched the film version of Watership Down. No, we're not crying..(sniff) there's just a bit of dust in our eyes...(sniff)

 We were gifted  with some smoked tofu from our friends (thanks Lizzie and Co!) Some of it was the kind you can eat straight from the package, so we did. but the other sort was quite soft, so we thought...tofu scramble! 

Since we don't really buy tofu these days, when we want to have Breakfast for Dinner we normally do {THIS} but because we had some yummy tofu to use up, we did it this way. If you are soy free then just use the above recipe.

We thought, what goes well with scramble? Cowboy Beans of course! I have talked previously about my feelings about British Baked Beans. That red, runny sauce just doesn't cut it with me. I have to "pimp" my beans. If you are British and grew up with flavourless beans and that is how you like them, then by all means just plunk them in a pan and heat them up. If you are American, then just buy something like Bush's vegetarian baked beans and save you the trouble. But if you are British like us, but need good ole smoky Southern style beans then go {HERE} to learn how.

So what goes with tofu scramble and cowboy beans? I know! GRITS! If you are from the American South you know what I am talking about here. If you are British, you are out of luck I am afraid. You cannot get grits here. Well, you can. If you are lucky enough to have family who take pity on you and pays to send you boxes once a year or fill their suitcase half full with boxes when they visit.

I have got one of those caring families. You probably do not. We ration our grits to make them last, but eventually there comes a time when they run out. *SOB*. When this happens, we substitute frozen hash browns. Nothing wrong with hash brows. you can get 750g for £1 at Tesco.

But they ain't grits.

Anyway, this came together super quick. I made it after work and wasn't at all HANGRY doing it.

Breakfast for Dinner
For the beans:
1 white onion, chopped (divided--3/4 to the beans, 1/4 to the scramble)
tin of baked beans
(optional) BBQ sauce, molasses, liquid smoke (see recipe link above)

for the scramble:
1 packet of soft tofu or the recipe above to make it soy free
onion from above
garlic to taste
6 button mushrooms, sliced
6 sun dried tomatoes, snipped into bits
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp sea salt flakes
Pepper, to taste

For the Grits or the hash browns:
Make according to package directions.

1. Cook 3/4 of your onion in a TB of water until soft and then add the beans and the pimped fixin's and simmer.
2. Meanwhile, in a drizzle of oil, cook the onion in  a skillet until softened, then throw in the mushrooms and garlic and sun dried tomatoes. When they are softened, crumble in the tofu and add everything else.
3. Keep stirring the scramble to get it coated and cook the tofu. When the tofu is hot, remove and serve.

That's it.

Quick and dirty.

A bit like the American South.

Murder Ballad Monday--Molly Bawn (The Dubliners)

 Hello and welcome to Murder Ballad Monday. This week a version of this folk song entitled Molly Bawn. According to "The Fiddlers companion" website, the title "Molly Bawn" is an Anglicised corruption of the Gaelic "Mailí Bhán," or Fair Mary (Fairhaired Mary, White Haired Mary).

                  

This version is more traditional and is by the Dubliners (as you would expect from them) from their album At It Again from 1968.  We have the explanation of why she had her apron about her (she was hiding under a green bush to avoid a sudden shower of rain) and her ghost does appear, not at Jimmy’s trial, but as her wake. We also have a hint of the mean girl attitude that we saw in the previous version with all the other girls secretly glad she’s dead as she was so beautiful, but as in the previous song—none could hold a candle to her beauty.

Interestingly, Molly is on her way to see her uncle when the tragedy occurs. Usually, the male character (unnamed or called Jim or Jimmy) goes to see his father or his uncle after the shooting, but here is the only version I know where she is visiting an uncle. 

He also goes to see his uncle in this version (there are a lot of uncles in this tale), but it interesting that she does too. It gives her a good reason to be out and about during a storm.

You can listen to the Dubliners version here:

I have included the lyrics below if you’d like to follow along.

Oh come all you young fellows
That follows the gun
Beware of night's rambling
By the setting of the sun
Beware of an accident
As happened of late
To young Molly Bawn
And sad was her fate

She'd been goin' to her uncle's
When a storm it came on
She drew under a green bush
The shower for to shun
With her white apron wrapped around her
He took her for a swan
Took aim and alas
It was his own Molly Bawn

Oh young Jimmy ran homewards
With his gun and his dog
Saying: 'Uncle, oh uncle
I have shot Molly Bawn
I have killed that fair female
The joy of my life
For I'd always intended
That she would be my wife'

Oh young Jimmy rambling
Do not run away
Stay in your old country
Till your trial it comes on
For you'll never be convicted
For the shooting of a swan
Well the night before Molly's funeral
Her ghost it did appear
Saying: 'Uncle, dearest uncle
Oh let young Jimmy run clear'

'It'd been late of an evening
Well he took me for a swan
Took aim and alas
He killed his own Molly Bawn'
Now all the girls of this country
They seem to be glad
Now the flower of Glen Arra
Molly Bawn she lies dead

Get all the girls of this country
And stand them into a row
Molly Bawn would shine among them
Like a mountain of snow

That’s all for this week. Stay tuned next week for a version of Molly Bawn by Alison Kraus and the Chieftans.

What We Ate Wednesday--One Pot (really and truly) Pasta

Hello lovelies! If you hang around social media long enough, eventually *someone* will be talking about One Pot Pasta. This idea is everywhere! You cook everything in one pot. One pot, people!

I put it to the test to see if this was too good to be true.

It is NOT too good to be true.

It is gorgeous and quick and easy. And did I mention delicious???

Most recipes I saw folks talking about used spaghetti and we just don’t roll that way. 

We like pasta shapes (shells in particular) and didn’t want a recipe that fed a crowd.

There are only two of us. Two’s company and three’s a crowd.

Although technically this recipe could have fed three people. Perhaps that should read Two greedy people are company and three people can sod off so there is more for the greedy pair.

So, I looked on google until I found recipes that fed 2-3 people and used pasta shapes so I would know how much liquid to add to make the ratio correct. Then I ignored their choice of ingredients and used vegan ones I know we like.

I also put it to the timed test. I had been on a video call with my daughter Monjae and we got off the phone late. I had 15 minutes before Spiderman would be home from work. Could I get it together by the time he got home?

Yes, I could!

Amazing One Pot (really and truly) Pasta

In a big pot put the following:

1 chopped onion

Half a chopped pepper

1 small carrot, diced small

3-4 cloves chopped garlic (or to taste)

5 button mushrooms, sliced

6 sun dried tomatoes, snipped into bits

Punnet cherry tomatoes, cut in half (mine cost 69p and was 330g)

Splash of water to keep it from sticking

1.Start to heat the pan with everything in it whilst you boil your kettle.

2. In your kettle boil 2.5 cups water.

3. Add the following to the pot:

2 to 2.5 cups pasta shapes (we used 2 cups)

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp basil

1 tsp salt

½ tsp red pepper flakes

1 crumbled stock cube (I used 2 tsp broth powder plus 1 tsp marmite to make the stock richer tasting)

Glug of olive oil (optional, but good)

4. Pour over the boiling water and bring to the boil. Boil as long as it takes for your pasta to cook (my Gluten Free pasta takes 8 minutes). Make sure you keep stirring so it doesn’t stick.

5. When your pasta is cooked, the sauce will be done. The tomatoes will have burst and made a delicious sauce. Ours seemed a wee bit runny so I added a slurry of 1 TB starch (like corn starch/cornflour to my British peeps) whisked with ¼ cold water. I added this and kept stirring until the sauce thickened slightly.

How long did it take? Probably 15 minutes start to finish.

Was it tasty? Oh yeah. We topped ours with some vegan Parmesan. It was quite saucy (oo-er, Mrs!) so we ate it with a spoon. 

It could easily be doubled if you have more than two greedy people to feed.

This will definitely be in our rotation of meals we need super-duper quick because we have both just gotten in from work and are tired.

We were discussing that you could make variations on a theme. We were thinking of a Mexican version keeping the same veg and cherry tomatoes, but subbing Chili powder for the oregano and basil and adding black beans and sweetcorn and topping with a squeeze of lime juice and a drizzle of cashew cheese sauce.

We shall report back if we give this one a go.

But seriously….one pot…minimal clean up…whole food….real food…nutritious food…cruelty free. Compassion tastes good. 

Murder Ballad Monday--Polly Vaughan (Martha Tilson)

Hello and welcome to Murder Ballad Monday. I continue my journey into various forms of the murder ballad Polly Von.

This version, entitled Polly Vaughan, is sung by English folk-based singer Martha Tilson on her 2006 CD Of Milkmaids and Architects. The only version I could find was of her singing it live in 2008.

                        

I like the simplicity of it-- just her voice with a bit of simple percussion-- with parts of it a-cappella. There is a sinister quality to it (almost a slipperiness to it) that harks back to the version by the Oysterband. There is also a bit of a “mean girls” element to it. Polly was so beautiful and every girl in the country was after Jimmy, so they are all glad to see her laid so low, but even in death they pale in comparison to her.

You can listen to it here:

I have included the lyrics below if you would like to follow along.

Then home ran young Jimmy
With his dog and his gun
Crying uncle oh uncle
Have you heard what I've done
I met my own true love
Mistook her for a swan
And now I've shot her and killed her
By the setting of the sun

So out runs Jimmy's uncle
With his locks hanging gray
Crying Jimmy oh dear Jimmy
Don't you run away
Don't leave your own country
Till the trial do come on
Sure they never will hang you
For the shooting of a swan

All the girls of this country
Are glad we know
To see young Polly Vaughan
Brought down so low
And you can take all them cruel girls
And set them in a row
And her beauty would outshine 'em
Like a fountain of snow
And her beauty would outshine 'em
Like a fountain of snow

That’s all for this week, stay tuned next week for a version entitled Molly Bawn. 

Dancing Queen

There is thing about me.

A weird thing.

Maybe it is a weird thing about you too.

I am musical and by that, I mean I have hundreds of CDs and listen to music nearly all the time. I *always* have my i-pod when I am on the go by myself. I like to listen to music while I work, sew, cook. I like to sing along (rather loudly) when I am at home. When there is not music playing, I am making music all on my own. I hum and sing to myself and often don’t know I am doing it until Spiderman points it out. I get this from my dad.

When we lived in the US, I was the sort of mad person you could see sitting behind the wheel of their car singing and possibly dancing to some private music that others could not hear. All they could do was sit at the traffic light and look over at the woman making a spectacle of herself.

Uh huh. That’s me.

When you are ensconced in your car or your home you can sing your heart out and no one can hear you. This does not work when you are wearing an i-pod.

It is considered bad manners to be singing along loudly out in public where everyone can hear you.

Ask me how I know this.

So, I have to work *really* hard to reign it in. I mean *really* hard.

In order to stop myself from singing, I have channel that energy elsewhere.

Which means that I am often dancing when I don’t know it. Out in public.

Certain music has that effect on me. I’m trying hard to just discreetly tap my foot or just drum my hand surreptitiously on my thigh….but suddenly I realise I am like Mary Tyler Moore spinning around all full of wonder in the big city while I throw my beret into the air like I’m going to make it after all.

                               

This seems to happen all the time. I don’t know I am doing it. It is only when a see stranger hold me at the corner of their eyes and snigger, that I realise I am at it again.

Certain songs have choreography that MUST be done as I listen. Do you know the song Tainted Love by Soft Cell? There is a THUMP THUMP at the end of several lines that is just *begging* for a sort of fist-raised-in defiance-pump to go with it. This has been a long-standing habit with me. I used to pound on the ceiling of my first car in time to the beat as I listened and eventually the light fixture fell off from repeated listening of Soft Cell.

And any song with a bell means I have to shake my booty in time with the chimes. Maria by Blondie springs to mind. There is a lovely BONG BONG BONG on the line Maria, you’ve got to see her (bong bong bong) go insane and out of your mind. She also has this slippery way have making the oo sound like in lines like Fool for love and full of fire that makes me do this slippery hip slide.  Don't even get me started about listening to Shakira.

A few months ago, I was in the queue at Lidl and listening to Love at the Disco  by Tom and Olly and I am not only drumming, but clapping. Listen to it here and you will see what I mean. There is a clapping bit right at the start. It was only when the lady in front of me turned around, did I realise I had done it.

Last month, I was coming out of Tesco listening to the theme from the cartoon Hong Kong Phooey (I have rather eclectic tastes) when I realised I was doing a karate kick. A karate kick with a chop! I only realised it because a group of men were laughing.

I cannot allow myself to listen to the theme from H.R Pufinstuf (off the same CD as Hong Kong Phooey—all Saturday morning cartoons covered by cool punk bands) because there is a bit at the end where they sound like a cheerleader and I find I unexpectedly have invisible pompoms.

Listen here and you’ll see what I mean:

Last Wednesday, I was meeting Spiderman at the library when he got off the bus from work so we could walk home together and I was listening to Why Can’t I be You? By The Cure. I could see him coming down the street towards me and I thought I had it under control, but clearly not because he said, “Why are you bopping up and down like you need to wee?” Some music makes me do a wee-wee dance. FACT.

Yesterday, I was standing in the rain by the green man crossing waiting for a signal to cross while listening to Fight (for your right to party) by The Beastie Boys. Only when a cyclist nearly fell off her bike laughing did I realise I was throwing rapper hand shapes. /oh the shame/

Some songs have a spiral effect on me. They make me want to spin. I don’t realise I am doing it until my bag flies off my shoulder as I pirouette on the pavement. Many songs have this effect on me, but this one in particular has a strong effect on me. It’s a cover of London Calling by The Clash sung by the amazing folk band The Bad Shepherds who folk up this punk song. The urge to spin is especially powerful on the last word of the line London is drowning and I live by the river. It is followed by a compelling violin solo that just increases the likelihood of me spinning like a top.  

Listen and enjoy and see if you don’t want to twirl too.

I have tried to not embarrass myself in public, but clearly, this isn’t working. The only alternative is to not listen to music when I am out and about, but this is just not an option.

I think I will just have to go on being my exuberant self by letting the music sweep me away while pretending not to notice the way other people are laughing. 

Does this ever happen to you?

What We Ate Wednesday--Umami Pizza and Greekish Salad

Hello Lovelies! This week (and next week!) will feature some of the best umami recipes out there.

Umami? You-mommy? What are you talking about, Spidergrrl?

Umami (in case you don’t know) is a Japanese word describing one of the five basic tastes along with sweetness, sourness, bitterness, and saltiness. It is described as a “meaty or brothy” taste. It is definitely a savoury taste. It is the thing that makes a dish have that extra *wow* factor. It is found in foods that are high in glutamates. This is why  MSG (monosodium glutamate) is often added to food to give it that umami factor.

People think that you can only get that wow factor from aged meats or cheeses, but there are lots of vegan ways to get that yum factor.

Foods that naturally high in glutamates are

·        Caramelised food (like onions)

·        Fermented foods (balsamic vinegar, soy sauce or tamari, miso, wine, beer, kombucha, sauerkraut, etc)

·        Marmite or vegemite

·        Nutritional yeast flakes

·        Sea vegetables like kombu, kelp and nori (good news for sushi lovers)

·        Mushrooms (especially porcini and shitake) and tomatoes

·        Smoked spices or condiments like Liquid Smoke and smoked paprika

·        Dried foods that concentrate flavour (like sun dried tomatoes or olives in brine)

This dish was FULL of umami.

Caramelised onion hummus

Balsamic vinegar

Marmite

Nutritional yeast flakes

Mushrooms and tomatoes

Sun dried tomatoes

Olives

Now, I make my own pizza crust (it is super easy to do and you can freeze it) but you can do what you like. Buy a premade pizza crust to make this easy or make your own. I don’t care. Just do it.

Umami pizza and Greekish Salad

Make your Greekish salad first to let it be marinating and increasing its yum factor.

Greekish Salad

*normally* Greek Salad has feta cheese to give it that salty, umami taste. There are lots of recipes on line for making tofu feta but I wanted to use a similar marinade, but with button mushrooms.

Mushroom feta

4 button mushrooms, diced small

2 TB lemon juice

2 TB apple cider vinegar

1.5 TB nutritional yeast flakes

¼ tsp marmite

¼ tsp garlic powder

1 tsp (smoked) sea salt

1 tsp oregano

Marinate together in a small dish. Then make the rest.

The Rest

Half a cucumber, diced

8 small on-the-vine tomatoes, chopped

1 TB sun dried tomatoes, chopped

1/3 cup olives

1 tsp olive oil

1 TB red wine vinegar

Right before you eat, pour the mushrooms and their marinade over The Rest and stir to combine. If you have any caramelised red onions that don't fit on the pizza, throw them in the salad. 

While that’s marinating, make the pizza.

Cook the crust as the directions tell you to. Mine is cooked for 5 minutes then add the toppings, then cook 12 more minutes.

The Toppings

Caramelised onion hummus

Oil packed sun dried tomatoes

Red onion cooked down in balsamic vinegar until caramelised

Olives

This was *AMAZING*. And the next day (see next week!) I used up the rest of these umami ingredients in an amazing pasta recipe with my favourite garlic alfredo. Double yum!!

When food is this good, you don’t need to eat animals! Now that you know you can get that umami flavour without animal cruelty, then go vegan and eat with compassion. 

Enjoy!!