Nice weather

Dorking Rain
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

I decided to walk along Ashcombe Road in Dorking on Friday in my lunch break. I could see it was raining out of the window before I set off, but it didn't look too bad.. little did I know I should have taken my flippers..

It turns out this was just the start of a weekend of lovely weather! We got woken up at about 8am on Saturday by the howling wind and rain bashing the house, which turned into a bit of a scary thunderstorm! There was a crack of thunder right above us at one point that actually cut off the phone conversation James was having, and then we had this crazy hailstorm! The balls of hail were about the size of peas, and settled all over the patio and all over the car windscreen for about half an hour..

The high winds kept up pretty much all day, to the extent that our sky dish has been blown wonky, and now we don't have any signal at all!! Just in time for 3-D week on Channel 4, boo! Apparently loads of people had the same trouble over the weekend, so we can't get the engineer out until the week after next, noooo!

Hail in Horsham
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Sometimes postsecret does come up with some gems..

Here are a couple that I liked from today's post:

1. The story behind the Thomson Reuters logo

2. The story behind the new Pepsi logo

-----Email Message (pic)-----

"A designer friend told me that the secret inspiration for the new Pepsi logo was the Simpson's Comic Book Guy."

I hope this is some kind of joke

I just got this text from a random number I don't know:

"Do you have the package? Once you have it meet at designated coordinates. Bring the girl."

What?! I feel like I'm a participant in a Bond film or something here..

I know one thing for sure, I won't be calling them up!

Parliament Hill, Hampstead Heath

Parliament Hill, Hampstead Heath
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

We went up to London on Saturday, fancied a bit of exploring, so we headed over to Chelsea (never been there before!), seems very nice, it's amazing how quiet it is considering how close it is to London Victoria, but I do find all of the identical houses rather annoying! I'd have an unbearable urge to paint mine all stripey or something if I lived there! =) Too much time in Brighton..

Then we hopped on the Northern Line up to Hampstead, walked through the Heath, and used James' magical iPhone to find Parliament Hill. This has got to be one of the best views over London! I just love the contrast, you're standing in beautiful fields looking over at the whole of London, just at the bottom of the hill! The photo doesn't really do it justice. You can see Canary Wharf, the BT tower, the London Eye.. it's very cool! Understandably, there were quite a few tourists up there, and also a couple who just got engaged! We walked past the bathing ponds on the way through the Heath, nobody swimming this time though (thank goodness, I think they would have frozen!).

Hampstead Heath
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

On the way home, we decided to stop off at Leicester Square - I wanted to pop into Tokyo Toys in the Trocadero to see a man about a bag.. I actually struck lucky because the guy in the shop was the very same guy who I bought my handbag from at ComicCon a couple of years back, and he was also the same guy who designed and made it! It was a one-off design with CoCo monkey (the shop logo) on a Union Jack design. I love it! He was very pleased to be reunited with CoCo, and said he was actually trying to find someone to manufacture more of them, and will hopefully be stocking them after Christmas, woo! I really want a new one because mine is getting very faded now! Here's what it looked like when it was new..

Brighton Beach
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Finally, we stopped off at Chinatown to grab some snacks and dinner! yum.

Chinatown
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

I just love the cakes in Wonderful Patisserie, I think we may have to make a trip up here for birthday cakeage! I couldn't believe this amazing dragon cake..

Wonderful Patiserrie, Chinatown
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Wonderful Patiserrie, Chinatown
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Wonderful Patiserrie, Chinatown
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

We picked up some takeaway noodles to eat on the train home, and a yummy tiger roll! Very nice it was too!

Tiger Roll
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

It's time for a Star Trek post..

Here are a few things that may be of interest..

1. Wil Wheaton was the voice actor for the Romulans in Star Trek (2009)! I had no idea..

2. Ooh.. Star Trek cereal =) Why America only?! Punks..

3. Family Guy episode featuring all the TNG actors - "Not all dogs go to heaven" - watch it here.. I haven't seen it yet, but it sounds promising!

4. More Wil Wheaton (this is what happens when you subscribe to the WWdN blog, sorry!) - here are a series of podcasts that he's doing, one for each episode in TNG - lots of behind the scenes anecdotes, funny memories and what he thinks about the episodes having re-watched them recently (e.g. how he starts to sympathise with the Wesley haters aka Yahoo group alt.wesley.crusher.die.die.die) - they're quite funny!

That's all folks.. oh apart from this cool thing, which is what sent me off on this Star Trek tangent in the first place!

How amazing

Check out this stunt that was pulled in Antwerp station to promote the Belgian version of 'How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?', I love it! =)

Moon in the morning

Moon in the morning
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

You can tell Winter is coming when you can still see the moon in the morning! This is what it looked like at about 7am..

I caught the train back this evening and picked up a Metro, only to see a story about a mini tornado in Crawley yesterday lunchtime?! How alarming!

Learn Japanese Numbers

This is a brilliant video if you ever feel compelled to learn your numbers in Japanese! I think it's actually impossible to forget them after watching this thing..

Weird UK Laws

Well, we had the Horsham Challenger come through the letterbox today, and I was pleasantly surprised to find this useful list of strange but true, UK laws:

1. It is illegal for a cab in the City of London to carry rabid dogs or corpses.

2. It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament.

3. It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British monarch upside down.

4. Royal Navy ships that enter the Port of London must provide a barrel of rum to the Constable of the Tower of London.

5. Under the UK's Tax Avoidance Schemes Regulations 2006, it is illegal not to tell the taxman anything you don't want him to know, though you don't have to tell him anything you don't mind him knowing.

6. In the UK, a pregnant woman can legally relive herself anywhere she wants - even, if she so requests, in a policeman's helmet.

7. In Lancashire, no person is permitted, after being asked to stop by a constable on the seashore, to incite a dog to bark.

8. In London, Freemen are allowed to take a flock of sheep across London Bridge without being charged a toll; they are also allowed to drive geese down Cheapside.

9. In the UK, a man who feels compelled to urinate in public can do so only if he aims for his rear wheel and keeps his right hand on his vehicle.

10. In Chester, Welshmen are banned from entering the city before sunrise and from staying after sunset.

Happy Halloween!

Tulley's Farm Halloween Festival
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

We just got back from Lilly's first birthday party, and what a day to have as your birthday, brilliant! Birthday pumpkins, everyone dressed up as witches and spiders and skeletons, treasure hunt in the dark with torches, jelly with sweets in, fireworks and a bouncy castle, followed by trick or treating! I forgot how fun bouncy castles are!! I don't think I'm quite as fit as I used to be though!!

The pictures are from Tulley's Farm Halloween Festival, in Turners Hill. We saw signs for it on the way back from Wakehurst Place last Sunday, it was excellent! There's a really big farm shop there, a bit like Priory Farm in Nutfield, selling all kinds of local produce, lovely food, and beers from local breweries like the Hog's Back. We were thinking ahead and stocked up on Sussex honey to build up our hayfever immunity for the summer!

Anyway, outside they had loads going on for halloween, lots geared towards kids, like scary entertainers*, rides, spooky corn mazes, pumpkin firing guns, and all sorts, they also had loads of different catering trucks outside, doing hog roast and lots of other sorts of foods to warm you up! I think the entertainment went on into the evening too because they were selling tickets for the evening. We just walked in for free during the day though, result!

*when I say scary, I mean scary! There was one that made me lose a tenner I'd just got as cashback! I was holding it one second, then this guy started making some really freaky screaming noises and convulsing around which made me jump, and the next thing I knew I'd completely lost my money! I must have chucked it somewhere in surprise!

Tulley's Farm Halloween Festival
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Tulley's Farm Halloween Festival
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Tulley's Farm Halloween Festival
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Tulley's Farm Halloween Festival
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Tulley's Farm Halloween Festival
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Pumpkin Pie!

Pumpkin Pie
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Ooh, yummy smelling pumpkin pie! It's just come out of the oven, the smell is amazing, now the whole house smells of cinnamon.. mmm..

We're just waiting for it to cool down in the fridge before we try it!

Recipe courtesy of Antony Worrell Thompson:

Serves 8
Preparation time less than 30 mins
Cooking time 30 mins to 1 hour

Ingredients

For the pastry:
Sweet short crust pastry case
or a packet of ready made sweet short crust pastry with 40g/1½oz crushed pecans mixed in.
For the filling:
450 g/1lb prepared weight pumpkin flesh, cut into 1in/2.5 cm chunks
2 large eggs plus 1 yolk (use the white for another dish)
3 oz/75g soft dark brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ level teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
½ tsp ground allspice
½ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp ground ginger
10 fl oz/275 ml double cream

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. Use a shop bought sweet crust pastry case, about 9 inch/23 cm diameter and 1½ inches/4 cm deep.
3. To make the filling, steam the pumpkin then place in a coarse sieve and press lightly to extract any excess water.
4. Then lightly whisk the eggs and extra yolk together in a large bowl.
5. Place the sugar, spices and the cream in a pan, bring to simmering point, giving it a whisk to mix everything together. Then pour it over the eggs and whisk it again briefly.
6. Now add the pumpkin pureé, still whisking to combine everything thoroughly. 7. Then pour the filling into your pastry case and bake for 35-40 minutes, by which time it will puff up round the edges but still feel slightly wobbly in the centre.
8. Then remove it from the oven and place the tin on a wire cooling rack. Serve chilled (stored loosely covered in foil in the fridge) with some equally chilled créme fraïche, but warm or at room temperature would be fine.

Yarnbombing

Well I just don't know whether I'd be pleased or annoyed if someone did this to my bike! The concept is a bit like tagging/grafitti, but kinda cuter! Just love the pom-poms dangling from the handlebars! You can check out the blog of a yarnbomber here, it's worth a read..

Here are some of my favourites:

I Started early Took my Goat

I was looking through one of my old files today, and I found the most hilarious thing I'd forgotten about..

Back in 2002 when I was studying English Literature, for one of the exams we had to study and memorise a whole load of poems by the American poet Emily Dickinson - if you've never heard of her, she was an eccentric, death-obsessed, white-dress-wearing poet, with terrible grammar, born in 1830's Massachusetts, only appreciated (by some) after her death. No, I shouldn't be too mean, she did give me quite a lot of entertainment at the time!

Anyway, one day, when I was probably supposed to be writing an essay, I was browsing on poetry.com, and I saw an advert for the International Open Poetry Contest. Well, I don't like to turn down a challenge. If Emily could do it with her crazy non-sensical poetry, then so could I!

I decided to compile a new poem, inspired by lines from various Emily Dickinson poems, but slightly modified for my own entertainment. It also includes random capitalisation in true Dickinson style! Truly terrible, but it made me laugh. Anyway, I mailed it in, and was wondering how long it would be before I got a slapped wrist for plagiarising and piss-taking one of America's most famous poets. Being judged by poetry.com, an American site, I thought it wouldn't be too long! So a few weeks passed, and then what comes through the post? None other than this..

Poetry.com
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

"After carefully reading and discussing your poem, our selection committee has certified your poem as a semi-finalist in our International Open Poetry Contest."

They then went on to say that they wanted to publish my work in an anthology called "Letters from the Soul", and wanted to ask me to provide them with the story behind my poem, and my personal philosophical point of view to be included in the biographical section of the book! Furthermore, I was invited to the International Society of Poet's Fall Symposium in Hollywood. Oh no!! How embarrassing, it was meant to be a joke, and now it is going to appear in a book, so hundreds of Emily Dickinson fans could read it and be angry at me! Definitely couldn't go to the symposium, I'd be lynched, or at least sued by the Emily Dickinson society! Haha..

Anyway, here is the poem:

The fire drew Chill

by kipperfrog

I Started early - Took my Goat

We passed the Gazing Grain

And then I wanted to get out

Faith to regulate

The summer lapsed away

Or rather He passed us

Restraining rampant Squirrels

Sent us of the Air

Shadows held their breath

Extended Hempen Hands

Impatient of no child

I just love the things you find when you're routing through old files!

More pumpkin flowers!

Pumpkin flowers
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Ooh, look at it this morning.. it's definitely trying its very best!

Pumpkin flowers

The pumpkin plant has flowers! =) Hooray!

Pumpkin flowers
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Good grief..

Check out this video of a boy's reaction to having his World of Warcraft account cancelled by his Mum..

Custom Kidrobot DUNNYs

Custom Kidrobot DUNNYs
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

He's Bam Margera, he loves to skate, he also likes to shake things up a little..

I don't know why they call them DUNNYs, I'm guessing Kidrobot is not an Australian company.. It's a bit like Nintendo calling their console Wii.. nice! Anyway, this is my DUNNY.. I got it as a blank glow in the dark one a couple of years ago, when we were watching way too much Viva La Bam on MTV! Each one comes with some random extras - mine came with a skateboard and a giant crayon, so I thought it had to be turned into Bam really! James' one is the biker in the middle.. he's still waiting for his trousers! I think 2 years is a little harsh..

I think I'd like one this size for our house! =) Soo cool! Maybe it could go on the roof!

pintando en vivo 2
Originally uploaded by -FELIPE BEDOYA-

Woo.. check out the pumpkin plants..

We nearly have flowers, and after flowers come pumpkins! They've grown loads in the last 10 days, check out this photo for comparison.. now, 10 days left til Halloween.. go, pumpkins, go!!

James May's Toy Stories..

James May Lego House, Denbies
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

starts next Tuesday! 8pm, on BBC2.. I can't wait! What's the betting I'll miss it after writing this..

I've heard about the plasticine garden at the Chelsea Flower Show, seen the lego house in Denbies, and it looks like he's also completed a full scale Airfix Spitfire, the world's longest Scalextric track - at Brooklands, a lifesize bridge made out of Meccano in Liverpool, and attempted to create the world's longest model railway - from Banstaple to Bideford! I love it! It sounds like a brilliant series..

Gulab Jamun

At work I get to sample lots of interesting goodies from around the world, thanks to my colleagues! =) On Friday, in celebration of Diwali - the Indian festival of lights, I got to try Gulab Jamun for the first time! The ones I had were about the size of Maltesers.. they a like tiny little doughnuts, sitting in a lovely sweet syrup - absolutely delicious, I can see why these are a popular dessert in India! I found a recipe here, and check out the video below too (if only for the hilarious filming effort..)

Looks like a good book..

Looks like a good book..
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

I picked up a Metro on the way back from London on Thursday, and spotted an article about a very promising sounding book. This young Californian guy who was having trouble finding a job as a financial analyst -out of work for 3 years, decided to travel across America and try out a different job in each of the 50 states! I think it could make quite a good TV series actually.. someone should do it for the 86 counties of the UK! It wouldn't take that long..

Police cars of Britain..

So, the Met get Lamborghini Murciélagos..

and Kent police get..

a Smart car adventure!! What are they trying to catch?!

Eurotrip 2009: Day 1

Here are a few photos from the first day! We set off bright and early and headed for Dover..

..in time for our 6am sailing! We stopped off at Pease Pottage in the dark to stock up on millions of English snacks for the trip, and then headed off! The roads were nice and empty, so we got there pretty fast! I happened to spot this parked up next to us at Dover while we were waiting for the ferry.. Pampers and Relentless.. someone was in for a fun-packed holiday!

It was quite good timing actually because the sun was just coming up properly when we got on the ferry, so we got to see the sunrise over the channel! I don't remember too much after that.. I seem to have lost a couple of hours of my memory, but there are lots of photos of James laughing hysterically with tears streaming down his face, so I think we must have been a bit tired!!

The next thing I remember was waking up on the ferry, just as it was arriving in Dunkerque! Nice and fresh for a day in Bruges..

We climbed up the 366 steps of the Belfry before breakfast..

..and then went for a boat trip before our lunch! Frites and mayo in the square, it had to be done! I nearly took a photo but we were being plagued by wasps..

Next stop.. Luxembourg City.. a very promising bridge..

but not too much else! We did have some very interesting sandwiches though.. sugary bread?! It went OK with my salmon, but I'm not too sure about James' chicken! Anyway, we read in our guidebook about this amazing castle in Vianden, about 40 minutes away, it was a little out of our way, but we couldn't pass it up! I'm glad we didn't.. it's a lovely little village in the middle of loads of wooded hills, dominated by this amazing Dracula's castle type thing.. you'd never know it was there!

Well it was pretty much sunset when we left Vianden, and set off for Strasbourg.. for some reason we decided to tell our SatNav to avoid all toll roads and motorways.. great idea I must say! Haha.. 3 hours later we were running out of petrol, going down some neverending country lane in the middle of nowhere, with no street lights or cats eyes.. either in Luxembourg, Germany or France, we weren't quite sure! We eventually made it into a town, to our relief, only to be greeted by a row of cones with flashing lights on top, blocking the road ahead! Uh-oh.. we sat there for a while, but with no way of telling SatNav, we finally decided the best thing to do would be to play ignorant foreigners and drive around the road block and carry on down the road anyway! Don't you just love tight suspension and pot-holes.. what a combo.. we had about a mile of driving past diggers and hoping not to fall into any precipices, and then we finally made it out and into a service station, phew!! Petrol and sleep.. and to think that our original plan was to stay in Bruges on the first night?! We got a little ahead of schedule there!

Eurotrip 2009 aka Honeymoon!

Eurotrip 2009 aka Honeymoon!
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Horsham to Italy and back again..

2,396 miles – 37 hours total driving time

OK, so it's about time I blogged this! Here's the map of the route we took across Europe on our honeymoon in the summer.. click on the picture to see it bigger..

Here's how it went:

Day 1:

Horsham -> Dover -> Dunkerque, France -> Bruges, Belgium -> Luxembourg City -> Vianden, Luxembourg -> Strasbourg, France

Day 2:

Strasbourg, France -> Stuttgart, Germany

Day 3:

Stuttgart, Germany -> Salzburg, Austria -> Garda, Italy

Day 4:

Garda, Italy -> Venice, Italy -> Garda, Italy

Day 5:

Garda, Italy -> Maranello, Italy -> Verona, Italy -> Garda, Italy

Day 6:

Garda, Italy -> Lucerne, Switzerland -> Dunkerque, France -> Dover -> Horsham

That last day was a little crazy! We were originally going to take two days getting back in a more leisurely fashion, but the weather was super duper bad in Switzerland so we thought we'd see how far we could get all in one day.. it seems the answer was.. all the way home! We didn't even get back that late, I think it was around midnight!

Look what the guitar did to my handspans!

Handspans
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

It's quite funny, they used to be the same, but now my left handspan is much bigger than my right! =S Who would have thought that you could increase it so much just by trying to reach notes on the fretboard.. I can only really play one song too! Goodness knows what would happen if I actually practiced, it would get even more freaky!

New Michael Jackson single - "This Is It"

Classic Michael Jackson style, I like it! Apparently it was actually written at least 19 years ago, which probably accounts for that. Although it was written by Michael Jackson and Paul Anka, it was originally recorded by Sa-Fire as a track called "I Never Heard" on her 1990 album "I Wasn't Born Yesterday".

This newly released version was created from a demo tape featuring just Jackson's vocals and a piano, and then more instrumentation and backing vocals by Jackson's brothers were added after his death. I think they've done a great job!

By the way, I've just booked us up some tickets to go and see "This Is It" in the cinema during the limited 2 week run at the end of October.. we were just going to show up on the day, but it seems that tickets are selling out fast for this too! Incredible..

Amazing cakes..

On the topic of amazing cakes, check Yochana's Cake Delight! out! I think I know what I'd like for my next birthday cake.. I wonder how much it costs to import from Singapore?! Hehe..

Here are some of my favourites:

Chrysanthemum layered agar agar

Swan agar agar

Stained glass cookies

Sarawak lapis

and some random ones I spotted:

Purple sweet potato cheesecake

Green tea yoghurt cake

Green tea red bean cheesecake