Promises...

Following on from my pancake post, we're obviously now in Lent, and whilst I am in no way religious, I must admit a certain puritan streak in me relishes opportunities to abstain, refrain etc.

I decided that I should give up packaging on vegetables for Lent. Every time I put out a bag of rubbish I feel a gulp of guilt, knowing that it doesn't just disappear when I drop it down the chute. And the main culprit in my rubbish bags must be packaging. Cutting out all packaging seems a little impossible so I thought I'd start with something I can do - packaging on vegetables. There are actually a wealth of places near me where I can buy loose veggies and put them straight in the carrier I bring along. So there we go, that's what I'll be doing. And how about you???

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Incidentally, I read in one of the free papers the other day that my local council is running a green promises campaign this year. You go to their website - http://www.camden.gov.uk/ccm/themes/green-camden/green-promise/ - and sign up to a small step promise to make your life greener. Buying loose fruit and veg was on there, so I'm all signed up to that! Normally I think I would be sceptical about this kind of thing, but actually I think it's quite good. Promising something 'out loud' as it were does I think have much more of a hold over you than just taking a mental note of something you mean to do. And although most of their suggestions are quite standard (taking your own bags to the shops; changing to low energy bulbs) there's a few other little things you might not have considered. There'll be new promises introduced each month so you can go back and add another one, and they're encouraging people to send in reports and videos of how it's going. I, of course, will be reporting back here on my lenten promise...

Picture from http://myzerowaste.com/ , a family blog about trying to achieve zero waste

Der fliegende Holländer

I went to see Der fliegende Holländer last night at the Royal Opera House. I will admit to being a bit of both an opera and Wagner fan and so the combination of the two had me excited yesterday. This was a Wagner Opera I was yet to see, I saw the entire ring cycle in a week in 2007 which I enjoyed. But I had a few hang ups with Wagner, one being that a lot of the ring cycle is one person singing at a time and I find this can get rather boring. It's the big choral pieces which chill and excite me. But there is a beauty to his work, the haunting motifs which stay with you and the driving force of the music is truly wonderful.

So last night I had high hopes, it was only 2 hours 20 minutes, I had heard the overture on the radio before and enjoyed it and I thought it could be good. And boy was it good, not just good actually but superb. The singers were fabulous, the lead female Senta, was played by Anja Kampe whose voice has a wonderful quality. But not only is her voice good her acting was also believable. The story is a simple one and is easy to follow from the subtitles. It is a story of hope and redemption, love and faithfulness and is a heartlifting story.

I was also impressed by the production, it was a new one and I have seen new productions before which risk being too modernist and dull. However this production captured the feeling of the music, the characters and balanced different locations without huge scenery changes.

I would absolutely recommend this to anyone who is interested in opera. It drives on and captures you and the music is really magical. It doesn't play often so grab your chance now while you can!

Happy Pancake Day!

Rye pancakes with honey, ricotta and nuts (For your delectation, in honour of Shrove Tuesday)

So, 100g rye flour goes in a bowl with 1 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp sugar.

Into a well in the mixed dry ingredients goes 1 egg, 20 g of melted butter and about 100ml milk.

You beat it til it's smooth and about the thickness of double cream (these are little fatties, not those skinny crepes).

You heat some butter and oil in a frying pan til its hot.

And drop in a ladle-full of batter.

And then stand there impatient and wait til it's browned on the underside.

Flip

Cook until browned on the other side.

And on to the next one...

And so on. It takes ages, doesn't it, but I think it's worth it.

The filling is a couple of tbsps ricotta with a couple of tbsps yoghurt, and loads of honey, beaten til smooth. One pancake, a smear of honeyricotturt, a sprinkle of chopped nuts (pecans, hazelnuts, almonds, whatever), the same again to create a little stack.

It was crying out for some sliced banana but even without pretty good! AND I just had a cold one left over, and it was surprisingly delicious.

Webstuff - Walkit!

One of our favourite websites, useful and fun is the fabulous Walkit website. Not only does it give you the most direct walking route between two points, complete with a map and narrative, but it also gives you estimated times, calories burned, co2 saved and alternative routes which avoid too much traffic or go past specific places. At the moment it covers 12 UK cities and if you are lucky enough to use any of these then we thoroughly recommend it!

Bangladesh 2

There were plans to go to the Garo Hills, to the north of Dhaka, for a short trip on my first weekend, but the second biggest meeting of Muslims in the world after Mecca coincided with the planned dates and all roads out of Dhaka to the North were blocked. So, L's tour guide and tour book writer friend swiftly reorganised us in to the Padma Resort instead. We hopped in a car and drove out of the big bustling city into a calm, green countryside, past a ferry port, and down a little road to a long, tropical beach (top centre right in above pic).

A boat materialised to transport us across the Padma river to the island resort (that's our boat on the right of the picture on the bottom left corner there) and we arrived at a small fenced off area of land full of little wooden huts on stilts (for the rainy season) - see picture top left above.

When we arrived several Bangldeshi picnics and days out were in full swing, but gradually the crowds departed and we were the only inhabitees for the night. We sat on our balcony and played games and drunk wine (allowed for foreign nationals, though not Bangladeshis, which is a little weird). The proprietor set up a little barbecue for us and a bonfire, around which we gnawed on chargrilled chicken (the chickens had come over on the boat a few hours earlier with the tour guide friend when he returned from moving his motorbike). Then we feasted on more Bangladeshi food in the canteen, before retiring with paraffin lamps to sparse wood rooms. Over the other side of the river a carnival was in full swing and the music didn't stop til dawn...

The following morning we spend some relaxing hours reading on reclining chairs perched in the middle of an arid 'lawn' whilst Bangladeshi daytrippers blasted out Bangla music and played football, and three small children outside crouched down to watch the action through the barbed wire fence which surrounded us.

Back on the mainland, (our boat operator top right above), we witnessed the unloading of jute from another boat (bottom left above) and walked through a colourful village where all sorts of activity and commerce went on from the roadside and people followed us through the streets, introducing themselves and practising their English.

It was lovely, and quite quite surreal at times...

Turkmenistan 3

Ashgabat has some amazing buildings in it, huge marble clad things which are sort of beautiful. Although if I'm honest also kind of soulless... Below are some of the best ones:


Top row L-R: Turkmenbashy's mausoleum, President Hotel (where we stayed), Ministry of Oil and Gas
Bottom row L-R: Rotating gold statue of Saparmut Niyazov (the old President, also known as Turkmenbashy), not 100% sure what this one was but it looked good, the mosque next to the Mausoleum

The mosque was interesting because unlike a normal mosque there were Ruhnama quotes all around the dome. The Ruhnama is the book which Turkmenbashy wrote and which I was unable to get my hands on. There were so many of these huge buildings with no real purpose and which had plenty of gold on, you sort of get sucked in by this idea of these wonderful impressive buildings but after a while hanker for something more human and historic. It certainly made me appreciate London architecture when we got back!

Little S&B

Timewaster! - Wardrobe Remix

Taking a quick break from recounting travellers' tales to bring you a timewasting site of the week (although don't quote me on the 'of the week' bit - I'm notoriously bad at keeping things up!)...

Technically not a website, this is a flickr group I can't remember how I came across. You know how various women's magazines at various times make a big thing out of being for real women, but the fashion stories are still all uber-model types prancing around in outfits that cost more than your monthly rent? Wardrobe remix is like the antidote to that - it's just real girls (and boys) and (mostly) affordable clothes - with an emphasis on thrifted (charity shop) bits and pieces.

So it's fun just to wade through the photos and think, 'hmm, maybe I could use that old cardi I never wear like that', or just marvel at the cool colour combos or accessorising and get ideas for what you could do differently with your own wardrobe...

And of course, some will be more kind of 'what not to wear' depending on your tastes, but that's kind of fun too!

Interesting bits and pieces I spotted today....

Loving this handmade hat and all round cool outfit- http://www.flickr.com/photos/verypurpleperson/3157860241/in/pool-wardrobe_remix/
Cute coat, good charity shop find - http://www.flickr.com/photos/kittytown/3268170684/in/pool-wardrobe_remix/
This really inspires me to learn how to sew! - http://www.flickr.com/photos/softspoken/3267178997/in/pool-wardrobe_remix/
I like the sweater over dress and dark tights in this one - http://www.flickr.com/photos/anna-in-chicago/3267011799/in/pool-wardrobe_remix/

Enjoy!

Middle S&B x

Turkmenistan 2

We arrived at 5 in the morning in dark Ashgabat. One of the things which struck me was the darkness, it's amazing that even with so much of the city lit up it's still much darker than London ever is. And the air tastes sweet and clean. You feel really like you can breathe. The drive from the airport was filled with a lot of oohing and aahing, I was there with colleagues who have also never been and we were all amazed at the new buildings everywhere lit up in changing multicolour. Then we slept the sweet sleep of tired travellers. Mmmmm.

We woke up to glorious sunshine, bright clear and blue skies and these views from my hotel room balcony.Hopefully you're beginning to get a sense of the sheer size of this place coupled with the emptiness. To compare to middle S&B's bustling Dhaka streets this was the opposite. No-one was outside, there was perhaps 5 cars an hour and it was quiet, no sirens, no planes, nothing really.

Lovely!

Little S&B x

Bangladesh 1

Meanwhile, in Bangladesh...

Whilst SandB younger was preparing to fly off to the euphoniously named Ashgabat, I was landing in the 'desh, an Asia virgin, excited but not quite sure what to expect.

In as few words as I can? Green. Warm. Poor. Crazy. Colourful. Wild. Lovely

I won't tell you too much about the poverty, because of course it makes you think about the luck of being born where you were and the blinding inequality of the world, but you don't need me to tell you about that, I think those kinds of reflections are best made by oneself. Suffice it to say it was eye-opening and at times heart-wrenching.

And there's something very strange about sitting on the 23rd floor of the one posh hotel in Dhaka, paying the same amount for a colourful mocktail that most of the people several hundred metres below you would earn in a week...

Let me tell you instead about the cool, lush greenery that lined the roads we drove on - early morning mist that floats in the fields, glistening fields full of rice that change magically from green to silver as you pass and the perspective changes, tall elegant palm trees, tranquil lakes where people wash and fish...

And the crazy roads - the Dhaka roads where horns beep all day long and rickshaws, CNGs, cars, buses and trucks all jostle for position as people wander in and out of the traffic - and the country roads where the buses swervingly overtake regardless of what may be on the other side of the road, and where the trucks are beautifully decorated and every other vehicle has people perched on top, or hanging off the back.

It's fun, if a little bit hair-raising! And when I walked through Victoria station this morning, where the people all walk with purpose towards their offices with set grumpy faces, I missed the crazy meandering of the Dhaka streets, the cacophony of car horns and people, the colour...

And finally, for this instalment, an example of some of the faces you can't help smiling at...


More to follow soon...

Middle SandB x

Turkmenistan 1

Got back this evening from Ashgabat, about 17 hours of travelling to get home so I am exhausted! So here is the my first view of Ashgabat from my hotel room. It's an amazing place and I am looking forward to telling you all about it!

Little S&B x