Ginger

So I have been on a wee kick of wanting to make new things, because always eating the same food its a bit boring and so even if you eat something new and don't like it, at least you aren't having the same old same old over and over again. So I found a new soup recipe online for Curried Carrot and Coconut soup, which sounded really good and all I need to buy extra was the ginger and the coconut milk, which was on offer so it was even cheaper! How brilliant, its like it was meant to be. As it turns out £0.61 worth of ginger, is actually a heck of a lot of ginger! About half a pound to be exact! So what do I do with this new found ginger windfall?

I found out that candying something is actually relatively easy, who would of though! So I made a whole bunch of candied ginger and it is excellent! I am hoping to make cookies with it later this week!

Now if I was a good food blogger I would have a picture of the soup, the process the whole shebang, but I am not very good at this. Perhaps next time with the cookies I will do better! But here is the ginger in all of its candied glory!

So for the candied ginger, there are loads of different recipes for it so the one I followed went a bit like this,

I peeled the ginger, apparently if your use a teaspoon it is way easier to get in all the wee nooks and crannies, unfortunately I didn't find that out til after I peeled all of it. Once peeled I weighed it as most recipes call for a pound of thinly sliced ginger I had about half a pound. so I used two cups of water to boil for 35 minutes. after boiled drain and reserve 1/4 of a cup of the boiled water. Rinse the ginger and add equal amounts of sugar to the ginger and boil in the reserved water until a thick syrup forms, stirring occasionally. Once satisfied with the consistency you can either drain and toss in sugar or pour it into a jar and leave to cool in its syrup. Though if you do drain it, the syrup is lovely for cocktails, pancakes and loads of other things. Its pretty easy.

Now the soup, the soup was lovely so I will be making it again, so fear not I will get around to pictures and sharing cause it is also super easy too!

First Roll From the Automagic

I got my first roll of 35mm film back from the printers a couple days ago, however i forgot that I didn't have a computer to access the pictures I had put on disc so I could share them here. So I had to wait until Dixon and I went down to his parents to get them onto a computer! Oh technology! 

I am pretty pleased with the results of this film, though the digital photos are not as sharp as the printed ones. Even still they aren't as sharp as I am used to, now I don't know if that is down to the camera, the film, or me.  We will have to see when I try the film in another camera or different film in the same camera.

Here are some photos of Culzean Castle, when Darren, Mhairi, their daughter Brody and I went there a couple weeks ago.

This is at the Electric Brae that I posted about a wee bit ago, you could see the Isle of Arran in the background but it is not as clear in the photos here, still beautiful.

This is in Troon with Mhairi and Brody at the Seaside.

And back in Edinburgh again where it was snowing.

You can see how old this film is cause this is my  Christmas tree! I really need to take more photos and not be so shy with the camera!

I forgot that it was only 24 exposures, so I though that the camera was jammed when in fact it was the end of the roll, so I kept rewinding and taking more pictures, this has to be about 10 photos on top of eachother!

So of the pieces of the shot I really liked so I will need to go out and do them again!

The Fruitmarket Gallery

The Fruitmarket Gallery is a wee shop/cafe/gallery all in one and I thoroughly enjoy its shop. It had all kinds of interesting books by students and interesting and obscure publications, as well as bric-a-brac and all manner of lo-if cameras and accessories. I usually can find a card or magazine that I can't leave the shop without. But the other day On my lunch I popped into the exhibition, it was a feature on Massimo Bartolini. I only got a chance to see the bottom floor but it was an interesting and perhaps even exciting experience. The lights kept changing and the longer you were there you wanted to see more of the impact of them. I took a photo as well with my Halina, I hope it turns out! 

Also I have almost had it with mobile blogging.. it took ages to post this post and make it look normal!

Christmas Cameras

I haven't blogged too much about the camera's Dixon got me for Christmas, and when I say "cameras" what I mean is so many amazing, beautiful, different, exciting, cameras I don't know what to do with myself. And so, I am starting now, I have mentioned the wonderful Fugica 35 Automagic a few times in a couple posts now, and I have just brought some film over to the printers so it should be done on Wednesday! So excited to get it back. I have a whole bunch of Black and White rolls so that is what is being developed just now. I accidentally bought them off of ebay when I was looking for 120 rolls and looking back at the description it didn't say anywhere that they weren't 35 mm rolls, so I suppose I could have complained, but in the end it has all seemed to work out.

The Fugica seems really easy to use, sort of point and shoot sort of camera that I quickly became familiar with, I had a jamming problem if you remember but that was sorted quickly with a bit of know how from some experts. So all in all I really like though a bit big for carrying around everyday. The Halina should be a bit smaller so i would imagine a bit more portable.

Just check all of these out.

Now I've managed to get my Halina Rolls open, which before I though would be impossible, it seemed truly stuck in its case! I decided to get some colour film for this one, even with the amount of black and white I have at home. Spring seems to be springing so I want to make sure I get a bunch of the blue skies that are so rare in Scotland, mostly just to prove it isn't always raining. I think I should be able to get this film developed as a one hour photo type thing, so hopefully I fill up the roll quick with excellent images!

See, its a beautiful morning here, even if its a bit frosty!

Sunny Sunday

Its a beautiful sunny Sunday today in Edinburgh, and I had a few errands to run so I took my lunch break a bit early and headed over to Boots to see if I could get my film developed. When I got  there, they had removed almost all of the photo department and only had the self serve kiosks left. But I was told I could get it developed at the Princes Street one, so I headed that way too. See, I needed to go to the post office too, so it wasn't really out of my way. Apparently the film I have needs to be sent away for three weeks if I want it developed by Boots! Considering Trumps where I usually go can do it for me in less than a week I wasn't very keen. So defeated in the film department, I wandered over to the post office and as most people probably know, the post office is closed on a Sunday. Feeling mostly silly for thinking it would be open and wandering about with two parcels under my arm, I headed back to the shop. Fortunately it really wasn't a complete loss of an hour, I got amazing noodles from Yokoko and some of the comics I wanted to all in all walking about for an hour in the sunshine can't be beat!

Some new sneak peaks from Counting at the Zoo

My film thats finished with the Fugica 35 Automagic and my two parcels of paintings waiting for the post office to be open to send off. James and Tina, as well as Amber, get ready cause they are on their way tomorrow!

Annnd my camera is working! My pal got her pal to give me a hand, so if it happens again I know what to do!

Goodbye Computer

So it looks like my laptop has officially died, though I am trying the tried and true Courtenay method of Leaving It Alone. That usually works to fix my electronics, at least it has with my iPod and I've had that for like five years, and is still on perfect working condition.

So should the LIA method not work in the coming weeks, I suppose I will need a new one.

As such this post is coming at ya via mobile blogging so I'm not sure it will look right but here it goes!

I did something a bit different in comparison to what I have done lately in the painting world. And you know it was nice to change it up! These are for Amber cause she asked. Can you dot the Harry Potter reference? They were a lot of fun to do!

A Mixed Bag

This post is going to be a bit of a jumble of things to say as I haven't posted in a bit and its been a pretty busy sort of week, so enjoy!

So Dixon left for Brazil on the 30th, so that means he has been away for six days already, and yesterday was the first time I got to speak to him, which makes it officially the longest we have gone without speaking ever. I know, a bit of a sappy start for the post, but it was hard! He said he was doing really well though, its really hot, even when its raining and I am really excited to hopefully see some photos and stuff when they get back. He was busy most of the time though so I don't know if he has seen anything other than the back of another seat on a bus.

So since Dixon was away I have holiday time I needed to use up at work so I took some days off and visited my pal in Ayrshire, and we went out to the coast to see The Electric Brae and Culzean Castle. Even if you don't believe in The Electric Brae's super powers, the views are beautiful, where you can see the Isle of Arran across the Firth of the Clyde, which I did take a photo of, but with my film camera so it might be a wee while before we see it. The tiny island you see in the second photo is Ailsa Craig, which I only just found out is inhabited with a number of gannets and puffins, I would mostly like to see the puffins. Hopefully I can make out for a sea life tour and see them all first hand.

We were a bit late to see the interior of the Castle, and even though it was a a bit cold and windy, the skies were clear and made for some excellent photos, Scotland is really a beautiful country and hopefully this year I will get to see more and more of it. 

I took a bunch of photos, with this camera, the Fujica 35 Automagic, but in the process I seem to have jammed the film, or just as possible I don't know what I am doing and can't rewind it, so if anyone has a manual for it or any ideas. I know there is a bit at the bottom that should rewind it but it is just as stuck as the mechanism to advance the film. So if anyone has any ideas they would be much appreciated. 

And on another slightly related note, I have a new project, similar to the previous one, but not quite the same. In any case here are some hints and see if you can work out whats happening. And hopefully there are more to come soon, I have a bit more time off next week. Productivity will be the theme!