SAT 05:02:2011

SAVE OUR LIBRARIES DAY

This coming Saturday, I will be reading OUR BIG BLUE SOFA at OUR BIG READ-IN DAY at Easingwold Library, North Yorkshire. This is part of a national campaign to support libraries under threat of closure. Check your local press to find out about SAVE OUR LIBRARIES DAY events, taking place near you.

Number of libraries currently under threat of closure nationwide.

TAKE 5

Less Meat, More Veg

This week's coffee chat is with Rachel de Thample, Food Editor at Abel & Cole (the organic food box company) and author of 'Less Meat, More Veg' published by Kyle Cathie Limited. (see LEFTOVERS 06/01/11) Rachel grew up in Texas eating steak for breakfast! She has been writing on food issues for over a decade and has worked in the kitchens of Marco Pierre White, Heston Blumenthal and Peter Gordon. 

Q1. What did you dislike to eat as a child?


I was a bit like my four-year-old son is now: odd and completely out of kilter with the likes of most children in the respect that I ate absolutely anything and everything. My mother made food an adventure. I remember her encouraging us to try frog's legs, snails, crab, cow testicles (called 'calf fries' in Texas)... My son's just like I was. He's always looking for something new and exciting to try. He's into castles and my husband told him that knights feast on wild boar so he keeps asking me to get some.




Q2. What was the first thing you learnt to cook, and who if anyone showed you how?


The first thing I remember cooking (and totally messing up) is a classic American cookie: a little shortbread round that has a little chocolate (Hershey) kiss nestled on top. I was four and I suppose I hadn't mastered reading as I muddled the sugar and salt up. The cookie's got 1 tsp of sugar and about 1 cup of salt! They were inedible.

Q3. Of all the facts and figures on food unearthed in your book 'Less Meat, More Veg', which do think is the most surprising?


What shocks me most is how much meat we're producing now compared to 50 years ago. In 1950, 1 million chickens were reared for food. We're now getting through more than 860 million chickens each year. That is really shocking to me, and upsetting because the only way that many chickens can be produced is to do it quickly (i.e. force them to grow at unnatural rates) and in cramped conditions. Worse, is that that all this extra meat we're producing has lower nutritional value. Well-reared meat offers so much more and that's the key message of my book.

Q4. Is it true that full-fat is where it's at?


Certainly. It makes sense if you think about it: whole, full-fat milk is a wholefood. Just like a wholegrain - it hasn't had anything removed from it, therefore you're getting the balance that nature intended.

click to order

Q5. Do you have plans for any more books?


Yes! I'm playing with a few ideas at the moment and have a few proposals on the go. I'm also working on a few blogs: one about breadmaking and one about urban gardening. My goals for this year are to make all my own bread and to grow/rear my entire Christmas dinner.

UnPOPpable_1

Elevenses

Ideas are funny things - they have a habit of popping into your head when you least expect it. Which is exactly what happened with ‘UnPOPpable’. 


Last summer, I was walking past York Minster when I heard someone shout, ‘It’s unPOPpable!’ It was the word that grabbed my attention at first and then I saw a man struggling to keep hold of a bright orange balloon. Seeing an adult get so excited about a balloon made me laugh and started me thinking: if a balloon could be unPOPpable, then would that make it unstoppable? And if a balloon were unstoppable, how far would it go?

I didn’t have a notebook or a pen, so I kept that orange balloon in my head by thinking over the ideas that would make up the story. I started to think about how to show in pictures that a balloon was unPOPpable. What would make a balloon go pop? I then began to put these thoughts in order - starting with a boy standing on his unPOPpable balloon, then seeing it in a rose bush and then watching it float up into a holly tree and up towards the sky.

By the time I got home I had the text pretty much worked out in my head. But there was no way I was going to risk ‘UnPOPpable’ escaping now. So instead of unpacking my shopping, I sat down and wrote out my idea on paper. 

Later that evening, I did a couple of drawings of a small boy standing on his big yellow unPOPpable!

I'll be posting more on 'UnPOPpable' over the next few weeks. 

This week's coffee break drawing is a glass BUNN coffee pot. Drip proof, fast, clean pouring to assure convenient serving.

Coffee Pot 3

Now sit back and enjoy this clip of Sarah Vaughan singing 'I Got Rhythm'. More coffee anyone?

OUT OF THE BLUE

Last week Jenny Dalton over at LittleBig Magazine asked if I would do a short Q&A piece on COLOUR, CHILDHOOD and BOOKS. You can read the whole article here.

This Is What I Do_1

HOWZAT?

HOWZAT?

A local library run by librarians? For many in North Yorkshire, that will be a thing of the past. This short video by John Harris (part of the Anywhere but Westminster series) is well worth watching! CLICK HERE

ELEVENSES

This week's coffee break drawing is a Mikasa Cera-Stone Coffee Pot.

Coffee Pot 2

And here's a track FULL of flavour by Tony Alvon & The Belairs. 

I Coffee Pot Funky Music

ELEVENSES

Wednesday again! I haven't been able to get The Coffee Pot song out of my head all week. One line in particular really made me laugh 'I COFFEE POT YOUR HAPPY DISPOSITION'.  

Back in July, I was invited to the National Portrait Gallery 
to take part in Children's Art Day. The workshop was titled 'Moving Portraits' and was open to anyone over 5. I started the session by showing how you can have fun with faces and expressions just by using cut paper, crayons and an ink splodge!

Everyone then had a go at animating their pictures, by moving the cut out parts of their image by hand under a fixed camera. 

This was thanks to the wonderful help of top animators Elizabeth Hobbs and Wendy Scott who guided us through the stop-frame animation process. The results were fantastic.

We finished the day by showing all the work on a BIG screen in the Gallery's main lecture theatre. Keep your eye out for more FREE family events at the National Portrait Gallery in 2011.

And for those of you who missed last week's song here it is again!

LEFTOVERS

Just been having a January CLEAROUT and came across these drawings that I did last summer for the BP Portrait Award Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Tom. National Portrait Gallery, London

I was commissioned to create twin characters, Tom and Lily, who appeared on selected exhibition labels to explain and explore various aspects of the work on show.

Lily. National Portrait Gallery, London

Tom and Lily also featured in a Family Trail given out at the entrance to the show and on merchandise sold in the gallery's shop.

Cat. National Portait Gallery, London

UnPOPpable

I'm reliably informed (Waterstones.com) that there are just 50 popping days to go before UnPOPpable is published.

ELEVENSES

Wednesday already! This week's coffee break drawing is of a vintage enamel coffee pot designed by Grete Prytz Kittelsen.

Coffee Pot 1

Take a break and have a little listen to Winifred Atwell singing THE COFFEE POT SONG.

I Coffee Pot North Yorkshire

11.15 Back to work!

VITAMIN BRIGHTS

Weather here shows no sign of improving, so here's some more homemade sunshine for you.

Now all we need is some Bill Withers!

VITAMIN BRIGHTS

Here in North Yorkshire it's a dull, damp, wet Monday. So I thought I'd brighten things up by sharing a few favourite colours with you (all full of sunshine goodness!).

And while we're on the subject of COLOUR, great to find another colour enthusiast (Jenny Dalton) over at LittleBig Magazine  www.littlebigmagazine.com/design-decoration/colour-springsummer-palette Big thanks for the little mention!

Here are some more of my drawings from Less meat, More Veg by Rachel de Thample which is out today.

Less Meat, More Veg by Rachel de Thample. OUT NOW!