London Calling

Hello lovelies! Through the miracle of technology I am able to write about our recent holiday to the big city via my phone on the Megabus. Amazing.

This was a combination business and pleasure trip as we had to renew our American passports at the US embassy, but also planned lots of interesting cultural and geeky things do do while we were there.

Let me just begin by saying after the fresh air of the Welsh countryside, you really notice how dirty London is. We have coughed through all the pollution and I will undoubtedly be blowing black smuts from my nose for a week.

We left Carmarthen at 2.30 in the morning on Sunday which really is an ungodly hour.  But it only costs £10 each to get to London by bus (think Greyhound my American peeps) so is worth leaving at silly o'clock as the train is over £100. It takes about 6 hours to get there as Wales is far from London and they have to stop in Swansea, Cardiff and Bristol and probably somewhere else I've forgotten before you get to London.

We arrived in the big city about an hour later than planned as our bus got a flat tyre outside Bristol so we had to get rescued by another bus. We dropped our luggage off at the Celtic Hotel (St Margarets for all our LC/MC friends) and toddled over the V&A  museum for the Frida Kahlo exhibit.
  
It was a fascinating look at the artist through her personal effects such as her clothing and even her artificial leg.

There was this interesting ironwork sculpture/flower pot in the courtyard in the shape of Frida complete with unibrow.

Then we went to Yorica where you could get vegan ice cream.  We had 3 scoops each. Mine was chocolate hazelnut, coffee (caffeine free!) And salted caramel.

The next day we wandered on over to the Tate and saw the Edward Burne-Jones retrospective. As we are big fans of the Pre-Raphaelite movement this was a huge treat.

One of the characteristics of the Pre-Raphaelite  style is attention to detail. Her dress is not merely red but there were thousands  of little golden circles painted on giving the fabric a luminous sense of movement.

 I also bought a fascinating book entitled Bitten by Witch Fever: Wallpaper and Arsenic in the Victorian Home.  It comes with 275 arsenic free replicas of Victorian wallpaper. After the exhibit we went back to Yorica for ice cream  because we are two greedy vegans.  We had the same flavours as before because why mess with perfection? So between us over 2 days we ate a total of 12 scoops of ice cream. Judge not lest ye be judged, ya get me?

click on it to read all the letters

After our second trip to Yorica we waddled along to GOSH! Comics. There we bought a signed Tom Gauld print of the Dickensian Alphabet. I know what you are thinking.  How many Tom Gauld signatures does a greedy person need? Well in our case it's five. We own two pieces of original artwork and two signed books and now the print.

That night we ventured out to see Martin McDonagh's new play entitled A Very Very Very Dark Matter.


And it was. It started Jim Broadbent as Hans Christian Andersen and was about the fact that he kept a time travelling Congolese pygmy imprisoned  in his attic in a 3 foot square box and it is she who writes his stories not him. Yes. It was that weird. But we bloody loved it. It was narrated by gravelly voiced singer Tom Waits which helped increase both its surreal and sinister factor.

After the show we waited for Mr Broadbent at the stage door and got him to sign our copy of the graphic novel he wrote entitled  Dull Margaret. It is a retelling of Dulle Griet from the Bruegel painting and feature many of the themes from the play including false Imprisonment and torture.  He was a lovely bloke and was pleasantly surprised to see the book (and that we already had it signed by the illustrator) because most people want him to sign Harry Potter stuff since he played Professor Slughorn.

The next day we went to Highgate Cemetery for the tour. Old cemeteries are fascinating in general but this one held special interest for us.

The first grave we visited was Douglas Adams who truly understood the meaning of life, the universe and everything.

 Up close:

The last grave we visited was not on the tour but our friendly guide kindly offered to take us there at the end.

click on it to see the writing up close

This time we went to the Rossetti family tomb. Founder of the Pre-Raphaelite movement Dante Gabrielle Rossetti was not buried there but his brother William Michael was. More importantly his sister the poet Christina Rossetti is there, though her name was weathered away. But for me, the most important person buried in the Rossetti tomb is Dante's wife Elizabeth Eleanor Siddal.  Lizzie was his muse and a painter in her own right and he was a bad boy and did not treat her very well.  It took him ages to marry her making her status on par with prostitute as she was also a model. When Lizzie died of a laudanum overdose after having a stillborn baby he was so distraught he buried his book of unpublished poetry with her dramatically declaring he would never write again. Eight years later he was short on cash and had her exhumed to collect the poems for publication.  The  public were not amused.

click to enlarge

 You can just about make out the name Elizabeth Eleanor at the top and Christina is right below her. Though her name is so weathered away you can hardly see it, sadly. If you have never read her poem Goblin Market then go right now and read it HERE.

Lizzie was the model for Millais' Ophelia

We also binge watched all the new episodes of Jodie Whitaker as the new Doctor in Doctor Who.


The last day was a bit squeaky bum time as we needed to get over the river to the US embassy to renew our American passports.  A tube strike on one line and an unexpected closure on another made it really hard to get there.  It was a bit Around the World in 80 Days minus a hot air balloon. But we made it there with 3 minutes to spare before our appointment times. Whew!


It was a brilliant time full of culture and geekiness as well as delicious food (I swear we ate more than ice cream.)


Over the course of four days no less than six different sensor taps failed to acknowledge me as a human being. This is normal for me. Things with sensor lights often cannot find me. Other people have to start my water flowing. I imagine this happened to Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense quite a lot. But other than that we had a smashing time.

But we are quite glad to be on the way back to the green and pleasant land of Cymru.

What We Ate Wednesday--How Not To Die Red Bean and Quinoa Soup

Hello lovelies! Last week we took a break from healthy dinners and showed you something for afters, but this week i am looking at another recipe from the How Not To Die Cookbook. 

The original recipe called for black beans, but they cost 55p a tin and you needed two of them (making it £1.10) whereas kidney beans are between 29p a tin to 33p a tin depending on where i get them from, so I went with red beans. I suspect the original recipe might have used spinach, but i used my trusty kale. . How Not To Die always goes for sweet potatoes and they have more colour, so therefore more nutrients. I did go with sweet potatoes as i had one left over from making the Sweet Potato and White Bean Curry. But white potatoes would be fine too. Go with what you got, I always say

This is another of the nutrient dense recipes we have been eating of late. They are healthy and filling and just chock full o' goodness. It also uses quinoa which is a superfood pseudo-grain. Quinoa can be pricey, but this soup only uses 1/3 cup of it so gives you the goodness, but keeps it budget friendly.

How Not to Die (HNTD) has a spice blend that appears in several recipes. It was mostly things I had on hand, I just had to buy some mustard powder. I will share another recipe next week that uses the spice blend, so you feel like you have other places to use it. But to be fair, it's a flavourful no salt blend that you could put in anything you wanted to pep up.

HNTD Spice Blend
2 TB nutritional yeast flakes
1 TB onion powder
1 TB dried parsley
1 TB dried basil
2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp mustard powder
2 tsp (smoked) paprika
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp celery seeds

Whizz up in a spice grinder to make a powder.

How Not To Die Red Bean and Quinoa Soup
1 onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 carrot, chopped
1/2 a pepper, diced
1 sweet potato (or white potato)
2 tsp HNTD spice blend
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
1/3 cup (55g) quinoa, rinsed well in a sieve
2 tins kidney or black beans, drained and rinsed
4 cups vegetable broth
1 tin tomatoes
100g kale, de-stemmed and torn into bits (about 4 cups)

1. Cook the onion, carrot, pepper, garlic and sweet potato in a splash of water until softened.
2. Add the spices and stir to coat. Add the broth, tomatoes, beans and quinoa and bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer until quinoa is soft. About 15 minutes.
3. Add kale and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the kale has softened. About 5 minutes.
4. Serve.

This was my first time making the recipe. It made a huge amount and was very filling, so we packed away the other half and had it a second day. Sometimes we are greedy vegans and go back for seconds, but this time we were full up.

If you haven't read How Not To Die, it is an interesting read. The idea that nutrient rich foods can prevent diseases and in some cases reverse them like heart disease or diabetes is fascinating to me. Maybe you want to clean up your eating and improve your health? Then check out this book.

Fairy Tale Friday--What makes something a Cinderella story?

Hello and welcome to Fairy Tale Friday. Are you sitting comfortably? Good. Then I’ll begin.

For the last 35 weeks we looked at Little Red Riding Hood. Our next traditional tale that we will be exploring is Cinderella. If you want a review the elements of a fairy tale then go HERE.

What do you think of when you think about the story of Cinderella? I bet I can tell you. Let me guess: pumpkins, glass slippers, a fairy godmother and a midnight curfew am I right? Well, that version was actually published by Charles Perrault in 1697 and became the most well known of all the versions. The Disney film picked up many of its elements and so is likely to be the version you are most familiar with. Unfortunately, Disney also chose a version where the heroine is extremely passive, as we will see later. However, despite being the most well known version,  it is far from the first. The earliest recorded version we can find dates back to 7 BC.

So, if pumpkins, glass slippers, a fairy godmother and a midnight curfew don’t define what makes a story a Cinderella story, then what does? Why do films or book that have a poor heroine who marries rich (e.g. Pretty Woman) call themselves a Cinderella story? 

Because ultimately, the story of Cinderella is about class warfare and social standing. Ella starts off the daughter of a rich father with prospects to marry well when she comes of age. Her mother dies as so many women did throughout history. Stepmothers and their children were a common occurrence of the day not due to divorce but to the huge likelihood of dying in childbirth. Step families changed the family dynamic because not only were they vying for the love of the husband/father, but also for an inheritance that would decide their social standing after his death.The "wicked" stepmother wasn't just mean for no reason.  By making Ella work in the cinders and ash (earning her the name Cinder Ella) the stepmother ensured that she protected her future and that of her own offspring. These stories were written at a time when all a poor girl could do to raise her standing in the world was to marry well. It really is all about money. 

To understand more about this type of tale, we need to remember that fairy tales and folk tales are classified under the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Tale Type Classification (ATU) and given a distinct number. There are two numbers for Cinderella --510a and 510b.

510a is entitled persecuted heroine. We can certainly see this in the versions we know. Our young and beautiful protagonist is mistreated by her stepmother and/or stepsisters. Her father is suspiciously absent or uncaring. She is made to work in slave-like conditions. She is often presented with what appears to be an insurmountable challenge that she solves with her own ingenuity or the help of her dead mother/ fairy godmother/ other magical companion. Despite the persecution, she cannot hide her true beauty (both inside and out) and eventually gets the Prince. But not before she leaves a vital clue (in the form of a shoe or other article of clothing) that the Prince must use to track her down. 

510b is entitled unnatural love. There is a subcategory of persecuted heroines where our young and beautiful protagonist is pursued sexually by her own father. She must disguise herself as ugly to ward off unwanted sexual advances and travel far and wide on her own to another kingdom. These disguises often involve the skin or feathers of animals (e.g. Donkeyskin or Thousand Furs).  There the story often merges with the 510a motifs. She sheds her animalistic appearance, goes to a ball and wins the hand of the Prince.

There is a third classification that bears some resemblance to a Cinderella story. ATU 480 is entitled the kind and the unkind girls. These stories feature siblings (sometimes natural/sometimes step siblings) where one girl is kind and virtuous and the other cruel and lazy. The unkind girl (and often her mother) treat the kind girl badly, forcing her to work like a slave which makes her a form of persecuted heroine. Despite this, the kind girl continues to do what is right and is rewarded with riches or a successful marriage while the unkind girl is given what she deserves. For example, in some versions magic causes diamonds and jewels to fall out of the mouth of the kind girl while toads and snakes slither out of the mouth of the unkind sister. These are not really Cinderella stories despite often being categorised together as they do not feature disguises or an identifying object like a lost slipper. But they do share similar traits and so we will look at versions of this type of tale as well.  

Over the next several months we will be looking at examples of both types of ATU 510 as well as ATU 480.

I look forward to sharing it with you.

What We Ate Wednesday--Healthy Butterfingers

Hello lovelies! Lately we have been looking at healthy nutrient dense recipes, but as Halloween is today, I thought I would share a sweet recipe that we have fallen in love with. When I was in the US visiting my lovely daughter in February, we made a recipe that involved peanut butter, lots of sugar and lots of corn syrup and rice krispies cereal. It was so good that we made it twice. But it was crazy high in sugar. Or maybe I was just crazy high after eating two batches. Who knows. Anyway, I saw this recipe on CHOCOLATE COVERED KATIE’s blog for Healthy Butterfingers and knew I had to try it.

We were not disappointed. It is not ridiculously easy like PEANUT BUTTER CUPS as it involves 1 extra step but they are still super easy to make. Last night Spiderman says—all casual like—“Did you say these were easy to make? “ I replied, “Yes, quite easy. Why?” To which he just shoved the remainder of the Healthy Butterfingers into his mouth and made puppy eyes at me. So I know that’s a vote for having them again.  

It does have three kinds of sweetener but all of them together only add up to about 7 TB rather than a cup of sugar and a cup of corn syrup. Plus 1 TB is molasses (Blackstrap if you can get it) which is very high in both iron and calcium. Perhaps this makes them "Betterfingers"? The chocolate coating is completely optional. I used it this time as I had a 100g chocolate bar to melt, but it would be equally delicious without it.

you can even use them as building blocks 

Healthy Butterfingers

Ingredients

1/4 cup liquid sweetener like agave or maple syrup or golden syrup (I used the last one as it has a butterscotch sort of taste)

1 tbsp regular or blackstrap molasses 

3 TB demerara sugar (I used 1.5 TB demerara sugar with stevia)

1 cup peanut butter, or allergy-friendly sub

1 1/2 cups bran flakes, or corn flakes, or another flake cereal (56g)

1/8 tsp salt, plus a little extra if using unsalted PB

Optional: 100g chocolate bar, melted or 1/4 cup virgin coconut oil mixed with 1/4 cup cocoa powder and liquid sweetener to taste

Instructions

1. Combine first three ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil on medium heat. Boil about a minute, stirring constantly, then remove from heat.

2.Add the peanut butter and salt to the melted sugary syrup and stir until it makes a paste. Add the cereal and stir very well to coat, partially crushing the cereal flakes as you stir. Make sure the flakes are very evenly coated. 

3.Press into an 8×8 pan lined with wax or parchment paper (careful as it is warm) and freeze for about 10 minutes then cut into bars and pop back in the freezer until completely frozen. If you want to add the chocolate, then just freeze and don't cut yet. 

4. If you wish to cover in chocolate then simply melt the chocolate chips over low heat, stirring constantly until smooth, or mix the melted coconut oil with the sweetener and cocoa. Then spread over the bars with a spatula, cut your bars and pop back in the freezer to harden.

5. When solid, carefully remove from pan and store in an airtight container. Store in the fridge. Or freezer if you like a bit more “snap.”

Now Chocolate Covered Katie says it makes 12 to 16 bars. LOL and ROTFL and all those cliché internet acronyms, We cut it into 8 as we are greedy vegans.

Enjoy And have a spook-tacular Halloween

Fairy Tale Friday--A Girl in Perrault Is A Temporary Thing (2003)

Hello and welcome to our last Red Riding Hood Fairy Tale Friday. Are you sitting comfortably? Good. Then I'll begin.

For the the past 34 weeks we have looked at variations on the story Little Red Riding Hood. Today is our last look at this classic story before we begin looking at Cinderella next week. 

click to enlarge to see our stamps of LRRH from around the world

This week is different because the final story we look at is written by me. I wrote this story in 2003, the year before we emigrated to the UK. We owned a bookshop called Books, Etc and I was devouring the short story collections of fairy tales  edited and compiled by Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow. These were inspired by the darker children's fairy tales, but these were definitely not for children. This story was the first in a series of what my mother calls my "creepy" tales. 

The title was suggested by Spiderman as a reference to both Charles Perrault and the 1984 song A Girl in Trouble (Is a Temporary Thing) by new wave/post punk band Romeo Void. 

I hope you enjoy it. 

A Girl in Perrault Is A Temporary Thing

By Heather Elizabeth Tisdale

            The moon rose over the canopy of trees like a silver orb. It was dark in the forest below; the trees were too thick to allow more than a sliver of light from the circle of the moon. The huntsman put down his axe. He could feel the pull of the moon pricking at the back of his neck. The hairs on his arms stood on end. It would not be long before the change. He locked the axe in the cabinet then took off his clothes and folded them neatly and placed them on a chair at the far corner of the room. He then lay down on the bare floor and waited for the inevitable. He could hear his blood pounding in his ears and he knew it had begun. He felt the terrible rip of muscles as they tore and reformed into his lupine limbs. He twisted in agony as bones broke and stretched into that all too familiar shape. He cried out as teeth ripped through his gums and wiry hair covered his naked body.  The ground was covered with sweat and faeces from the transformation. He leapt onto the bed, flexing his hind legs, and growled at his reflection in the mirror. In one swift movement, he jumped through the open window and into the night. He called out to the moon to send him blood to sustain himself for another cycle and give him the courage to kill when he found it. His terrible howl could be heard for miles.           

           

            In a little cabin beside the woods a mother worked quickly. The mother was packing a basket full of food while the daughter lay in her bed and looked out of the window into the darkness. She heard the howl and shivered. Her mother, sensing her fear, came and put her hand on her daughter's shoulder. She turned to look at her mother's face which was pale and lined with worry.  The mother took hold of her hands and whispered, “This is the only way, my child. Your grandmother cannot feed herself any longer and so we must provide for her.  It is time for you to learn to go by yourself. I must stay here and feed your brothers and sisters for they are as helpless as Grandmother and cannot fend for themselves yet.”

The daughter knew it was so, but she could not help but be a little afraid. She climbed out of the bed; her nakedness was as pale as the moonlight itself. Silently she dressed herself. She wrapped herself in her cape, the same blood red cape that her grandmother had given her when she was confirmed into the faith. Her mother handed her the basket of goodies. It had an odd smell that made her want to retch. As she pulled the hood up over her head she could hear the snapping of neck bones. She looked over to see her mother leaning over the rabbit hutch, softly cradling the dead animal in her arms. The little ones will have rabbit tonight, she thought. How I wish I could stay here and not have to go all alone. Her mother pointed to the door, her lips pressed together as if she might cry. The girl pulled the velvet cape around her body and slipped out the door into the blackness of the night.   

           

            The wolf prowled through the darkness trying to feel the heat from some hapless animal that would be his prey. He crouched silently behind a tree, listening, smelling and tasting the air. His golden eyes glimmered in the darkness. He could faintly hear footsteps coming toward him in the darkness. He rolled his ears back so that could hear more clearly in the frozen air. This was no animal on four legs approaching. He could only hear the sound of two feet. A human being. What would a human be doing in the woods in the dead of night? He growled to himself and hunched low to be ready to attack.

            She walked down the uneven path that cut through the heart of the forest. Her breathing came at ragged intervals. She didn't know if it was from fear or excitement. After all, this was her first trip alone through the woods. She quickened her pace, swinging the little basket by her side. The odour from the contents made her feel queasy, but she kept on at a steady pace. Almost there, she thought to herself, Not much longer now. You can do it. The smell drifted ahead of her, carried on the cool night air to where the wolf lay in wait. His mouth began to water as he waited for her to pass by.  Almost here, he thought to himself, Not much longer now. You can do it. His breath came at ragged intervals at the thought of devouring the girl and the basket she held in her hand. Suddenly, he saw her. She was like no human he had ever seen. Her skin was as pale as the moon itself and her green eyes glimmered in the blackness around her. She was walking quickly now and mumbling to herself. He leapt out of the shadows and crouched before her on the path. Her eyes grew wide and her teeth chattered with fear or cold, he could not tell which. He hoped it was cold; it was so hard for him to kill when they were afraid. She burst into tears right there on the spot, wiping her nose on the red sleeve of her cape. He couldn't kill her now. He would have to wait until she was without fear. He looked at the pale, weeping figure and managed to growl a few words at her. He inquired as to where she was going in the middle of the night all alone in the dark, dark woods. She sniffled and replied that her grandmother was very ill. She could feed herself no longer and someone in the family must bring her food. She must get to the little house on the far side of the woods before dawn or her grandmother would surely die. He knew he could not eat her now. She was terrified. But at her grandmother's house she will be calm, he thought. I will eat the grandmother and then when she comes, I shall consume her as well. He howled one last howl at the moon a thank you for sending him prey and dashed off through the trees.     

            The girl stood as still as a marble statue there in the darkness until the creature was out of sight. She breathed a heavy sigh. She had done it. She had talked to a wolf and she was still alive to tell about it. With renewed strength, she skipped through the forest. How clever that I have outsmarted that wolf!  she whispered to herself and she went on about her mission.

            In the meantime, the wolf had reached the little house on the far side of the woods. It was just as the blubbering girl had said. This was going to be so easy. How clever that I have outsmarted this girl, he whispered to himself. He lifted the latch on the door with his hairy paw and slunk into the house. When he saw the grandmother, it was worse than the girl had let on. The woman was as pale as death and lay like skin and bones in the bed. The faint smell of decay rose from her body. He decided not to eat her after all. What if she had some contagious disease? He might be poisoned by the ingestion of her flesh. He picked her up by the scruff of the neck and dragged her to the wardrobe. He left her there in a heap and closed the door. There was no need to lock her in; the woman would not have enough strength to try to escape.     

            She arrived on the porch of the little house. She laid the little basket down outside the door and tiptoed in. She entered the old woman's bedroom and saw a dark figure lying in the bed. Her heart skipped a beat, but she continued. “Grandmother!” She called out, “Just wait until you hear! I was stopped in the woods by a humongous wolf, but I cried and pretended to be a baby so that he would not eat me! And it worked! He ran off into the night and here I am safe and sound.”

The wolf made a low guttural noise under the blankets, but the girl took no notice as she neatly folded up her red cape and placed it on a chair at the far corner of the room. He saw that she was naked. No wonder she had been cold. She climbed right up in the bed with the wolf, pressing her soft body into his. “Mmmmm,” she said. “You feel warm.” The wolf's heart started to pound. She was without fear; he would be able to tear into her pieces and glut himself until her was sick. Suddenly, she sat up in the bed and looked at him quizzically. 

“Grandmother, what big eyes you have!” she whispered.

“The better to see you with, my dear!” he growled. She continued to stare at him.

“But Grandmother, what big ears you have!” she murmured.

            “The better to hear you with, my dear!” he rasped. He saw a flash of white in the dark. His eyes grew wide as he stammered,

“Little girl, what big teeth you have!”  She bared her fangs and laughed,

“The better to eat you with, my dear!” Then she sank her teeth into his neck and cut the vein until the blood flowed freely. She sucked on his neck until he was too weak to move. She sat up, her lips and teeth stained scarlet and said, “Grandmother, come out! Look and see what I have brought you for supper!” The wardrobe door creaked, and the grandmother stepped out. She was pale and thin, but her eyes still glimmered in the darkness. She climbed up in the bed and licked the punctures in his neck that her granddaughter had so thoughtfully provided. “They taste so much better when they're afraid, don't you think?” said the grandmother as she slurped away at his neck.

“Mmmm,” said the little girl. A thin trickle of blood fell from the corner of her mouth as she stared into the terrified eyes of the beast, “Wouldn't you agree, Mr. Wolf?”

 That's all for this week. Join me next week as we begin to look at Cinderella. 

What we Ate Wednesday--Indian Style Kale with Chickpeas

Hello lovelies! Here's another quick and easy recipe that's healthy. As promised in last week's food post it also uses curry paste. Here are  some other  recipes that use curry paste to help you use up your jar:
TASTE OF INDIA PIZZA
MUSHROOM, POTATO AND KALE CURRY
DAL SOUP
QUICK FROZEN VEG CURRY

This recipe is loosely based on one I read in the How Not To Die Cookbook. His recipe used spinach, mine uses kale, but put in whatever greens you have on hand. His uses all mushrooms and mine uses a few mushrooms and chickpeas. Because chickpeas. I added garlic (of course) and instead of a TB of miso paste i used a TB curry paste and a TB lemon juice to brighten it at the end.

I also threw in some boiled potatoes instead of rice.

It came together surprisingly quickly and was mega-delicious. Plus if you have read How Not To Die (and I highly recommend you do as it shows you all the diseases that can be prevented or reversed through diet) this contains several of your daily dozen: Beans, spices, leafy greens, mushrooms and other vegetables.

Indian Style Kale With Chickpeas

200-300g potatoes, chopped (this was about 5 new potatoes ranging from a walnut size to an egg size)
1 onion, chopped
4-5 button mushrooms
1 tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
a few cloves of garlic, crushed
heaping TB peeled and chopped fresh ginger root
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 to 1/2 tsp red chilli flakes
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 TB Balti curry paste
1 tin tomatoes
100g kale (about 4 cups) de-stemmed and torn into bits.
1 TB lemon juice (bottled is fine)

1.In a medium pot, cover the chopped potatoes with water or vegetable broth and bring to the boil. Boil until easily pierced by a fork---about 5-7 minutes. Then drain and wait.

2.Meanwhile, once the potatoes are coming to the boil, in a larger pot cook the onion and garlic, ginger and mushrooms in a splash of water or oil until softened.

3. Add the dry spices and stir to coat.

4. Add the chickpeas, curry paste and tomatoes and bring to the boil. Simmer for about ten minutes.

5. Add in the kale and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the kale softens and reduces. Toss in the cooked potatoes when you add the kale.

6. Add the lemon juice. Serve.

This was quick and really tasty as well as very nutritious. Enjoy!

Fairy Tale Friday--Red Riding Hood (2011 film)

Hello and welcome to Fairy Tale Friday. Are you sitting comfortably? Good. Then I'll begin.

This week is the penultimate week of looking at Little Red Riding Hood. It's also a bonus week and this post will have two interconnected Red Riding Hood versions to explore. We start with a 2011 film starring Amanda Seyfried. It features many allusions to classic versions of our story such as the underlying sexuality of the tale (Valerie and Peter have many sexy romps in the soft hay or on the white snow, all with her blood red cape spilling around her as they make the "beast with two backs." In earlier tales, red symbolised menstrual blood which was to show that the female protagonist was ripe and ready for marriage, but was warned not to stray from the path of virginity. Clearly, this doesn't apply to Amanda Seyfried's character.

It also features filling the wolf's belly with stones to prevent it from escaping which sometimes appears in the versions of our tale for children as well as the musical Into the Woods where Granny suggests they cut the wolf open and fill him with stones and then laugh as they "watch him try to run away!" 

 You can watch the trailer here:

According to Wikipedia:

Valerie is a young woman who lives in the village of Daggerhorn with her parents and older sister Lucie. They live on the edge of the forest which is plagued by a werewolf which has so far been appeased by livestock offerings.  She is in love with the town woodcutter Peter, but her parents have arranged for her to marry the son of the wealthy blacksmith. Valerie and Peter plan to run away together, only to learn that the Wolf has broken its truce not to prey on the townspeople and has murdered her sister Lucie.

The townspeople send out a search party to kill the wolf consisting of Peter, the blacksmith and his son Henry. Peter separates from them moments before the Wolf attacks and murders the blacksmith. They corner the wolf and slaughter it, but as it doesn’t return to its human form after death then it was just a common grey wolf.

The priest reveals that they've entered the Blood Moon Week, an event that happens every thirteen years, in which whoever is bitten by the Wolf is cursed to become one as well. Father Solomon's men isolate the town and begin to investigate its people in search of the Wolf. That night, the Wolf attacks and, while the townspeople rush to the Church (as the Wolf is unable to step onto holy ground), Valerie and her friend Roxanne venture into the village to search for Roxanne's autistic brother, Claude. They are cornered by the creature and Valerie discovers that she is able to understand the Wolf's sounds. It threatens to kill Roxanne and destroy the village if Valerie doesn't leave with it. The Wolf then escapes, vowing to return to learn Valerie's decision.

Watch Valerie's startled response here:

Following the wolf attack, the village descends into a witch hunt with Claude captured and accused of witchcraft because he can do a card trick which is considered magic.Clause is locked up in a Brazen bull ( a box made of metal that has a fire burning under it to roast the accused to death.)  In exchange for her brother's release, Roxanne reveals that Valerie is able to communicate with the Wolf but Claude is already dead by the time the Captain opens the box.  Believing Valerie to be a witch, Father Solomon has her captured and displayed at the town's square in order to lure the Wolf out so he can kill it. Henry and Peter join forces and help Valerie to escape.

Henry takes Valerie to the church, but they are attacked by the Wolf, who bites off Father Solomon's hand, which contains silver-coated fingernails. The townspeople shield Valerie from the Wolf, who is once again forced to flee, but not before burning a paw by touching holy land. The now cursed Father Solomon is subsequently killed by the Captain.

Valerie dreams that the Wolf is her grandmother, who lives in a cabin in the nearby woods, so she goes to check on her. After retrieving Father Solomon's hand on the way, Valerie rushes to her grandmother's cabin, but is confronted on the way by Peter. She then notices that he is wearing a glove on his right hand, the same paw that the Wolf burned trying to enter the church, Valerie assumes Peter is the Wolf and stabs him.

Watch this scene here:

 Arriving at Grandmother's house, Valerie is horrified to find her dead, and learns that the Wolf is her father. . He reveals that the curse was passed to him by his own father, and he intended to leave the village but wanted to take his children with him. He sent a note to Lucie  to meet him at night so he could ask her to accept her "gift". However, when he confronted her, she couldn't understand him. Realising Lucie was not his daughter, he murdered her in a fit of rage. He then took revenge against the blacksmith, his wife's lover, and now wants Valerie to accept the curse.

Watch the above scene: 

Valerie refuses, just as Peter appears and confronts her father, who bites Peter (thus giving him the curse) and tosses him aside. Peter is able to throw an axe into the fathers back, distracting him. Valerie stabs her father to death with Father Solomon's hand. Valerie and Peter fill the father's body with rocks so he can never be found and dumps the body in the lake. Peter departs in order to learn how to control his curse, vowing to return only when he's able to ensure Valerie's safety. Valerie narrates that Henry found his courage and joins the ranks of the Captain's monster hunters. Valerie's mother finally accepts that her husband will never come home, and the village continues to live in fear even though the wolf never returned. Valerie then moves to her grandmother's house, leaving her old life behind as she can't go back to the village because she is married to the wolf (Peter) and wants to keep that a secret.

Watch the scene above: 

The last scene shows Valerie outside the cabin on a full moon. She hears a slight growl, turns around and sees Peter in wolf form as she begins to smile. In an alternate ending, Valerie is seen holding a baby, which is her baby with Peter.

This film captures much of the sensuality of the earlier tales, but also with the warnings that come with sexuality. 

As a bonus, I would like to share Amanda Seyfried playing the guitar and singing the song  Li'l Red Riding Hood that we explored earlier. There are many versions of this song, but by far the best that captures the complete animal nature and sexiness of the song is the one by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs which you can listen to HERE. Of all the other versions, this comes the closest.

This was released on YouTube as a tie-in to the film. Enjoy.

That's it for this week. Stay tuned next week for our last version of Little Red Riding Hood.