Meenzer

Thought I'd dip my toe into the Silver Spoon with an unfuckable-uppable classic, namely spaghetti carbonara. Worked a treat, simple as you like and not too creamy and rich. Better quality pancetta than what Lewisham Sainsbury's has to offer would have helped, too - there's an Italian deli opposite the shopping centre that I really must get to know. Obviously greater challenges lie ahead on the aforementioned 1500 pages, but at least it seems to have the basics right.

Oops! Is a day late OK? The Christmas decorations only came down this afternoon too. Well, except I brought an advent candelabra back from Newcastle (my one died in the house move and my mother is Swedish so she has about a dozen of the buggers), so I've just put it up and am renaming it a "winter candelabra" and keeping it there till March because the soft light it gives out is simply lurvely to work to.

I do love how that's still the sub-title of that thread. Old skool.

No regime as such - I'm so out of shape the first priority is just to generally shed a few pounds and get back into the habit of exercising at all. Heading to the gym after work, having been shamed into action yesterday by a friend who's five foot nothing and can bench the side of a house despite being in the middle of hormone therapy for gender reassignment. There's no excuse really.

a p birthday

Really need to get back home more often. Quick fire trip, family, friends, Biscuit Factory, Bacchus, Head of Steam, Cafe Royal, belated Swedish Christmas dinner, knackered but in such a good mood I'm not even going to moan about what I just paid for a beer on the train.

This is mental like, I mention the book in passing then head to Newcastle for a quick trip and in that time you've tracked it down, tried half the recipes and even found it a dedicated shelf. Magnificent devotion to the cause.

Could be the most effective diet plan yet!

You were warned! Well, to a certain extent. Mine arrived this morning just as I was leaving for Kings Cross, the postie did not look amused.

Aye, likewise. There's a decent fishmonger locally too, I'm just a bit squeamish about the preparation.

Tired but happy. Train out of Kings Cross at 10:30 for a quick overnighter in town as it's my old man's birthday. The Biscuit Factory awaits!

Bloody hell First thing I thought of, before you even said it

Aye, not being a southern softy or owt but I imagine it'd be a lot easier to get the ingredients from the Canary Wharf Waitrose than the Boldon ASDA. Not that I intend to realise most of the recipes concerned to the letter, I'm more looking forward to learning the general basic cooking techniques.

Holiday plans for 2013 depend entirely on whether we go to Eurovision or not. Two weeks in Malmö. Fucking w00t. Other than that, a sneaky weekender in Hamburg in mid-Feb is all that's lined up so far.

San Sebastian's meant to be lurvely. Great food and a nice urban beach.

Retroclique!

That'd be Tatty Water

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2256227/Convicted-killer-Phillip-Westwater-known-Black-Dog-Strangler-run-escaping-secure-mental-hospital-asking-use-toilet.html So there we go...

Watched the derby in Alicante the other month with an ex-pat Mackem lad who was recommending me all the gay bars in the Chueca barrio in Madrid. Bit surreal.

I wouldn't worry, nobody ever comes out of threads like this particularly well. Which is why they're brilliant.

http://versusio.com/en/hamburg-vs-berlin (I realise this doesn't help much.) Can recommend specifics in Hamburg if that ends up being the choice, though Parky's knowledge will be more current. For all I love the city to bits, I don't think it's a must-see by any stretch of the imagination compared with some of what Europe has to offer in terms of weekend breaks, just a canny enough place to spend a bit of time eating, drinking and making merry.

Now be honest, you didn't expect Everest to be doing that today, did you?

"It’s like that friend you’ve got who loves something you don’t understand and one day you ask about it and as soon as they start speaking you realise you could not give one iota of a fuck. Oh, and your friend is the ugliest person in the world." http://viagroar.tumblr.com/post/39601707133/so-basically-its-about-a-bunch-of-dwarfs-who-want

Used to get played all the bloody time during the original Keegan era