Monday, 22 August 2011

Bringing Collective Kitchens to England

[caption id="attachment_1463" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Picture by Kusine: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kusine/5901784343/"]Collective Kitchen - picture by http://www.flickr.com/photos/kusine/5901784343/[/caption]

Today I noticed Dominic Campbell mention Murtaza Abidi's Community Kitchens project. Basically it's a new take on Meals on Wheels (which is being stopped in a lot of boroughs it seems). Its purpose is to connect those who need help with people in their local community who can provide it. On a daily, weekly or monthly basis, a designated helper might cook a meal for an elderly person down the road, or do an errand, or just visit. It really reminded me of the Collective Kitchen program we developed with Community Services when I worked for Pride through Play in the late 90s.

Tuesday, 9 August 2011

Friday, 5 August 2011

The best love spam ever

I wouldn't normally post a spam email but this one was so full of awesome, that I had to share it with the world. Or the 7 people who clicked on the link to get here. So this email is from "Sweet Irina" (though the email address says Kathleen Medford which may or may not be this lady on Facebook. I'm assuming it isn't)

Anyhow...long story short, here is the email:

Knock Knock Knock..? Is the door of your heart open...? Perhaps you let me come in?

Oh sorry.. I forgot to introduce myself..My name is Irina.   I also love cooking and some other things. My free time depends on my mood, sometimes I like being alone  reading some book or listening to the music, sometimes in a gym or in a small caffee with my friends. But no matter how I feel, no matter what time of the year it is, I always love to be in the nature. Sometimes I think that when all is bad, just look at the sky, at the river, at the trees and I understand that life is beautiful and is not over.

If you got interested in me, write on my mail...

Do you have an email that rivals that? Please stick it on here! If you want to get in contact with Sweet Irina after being wooed by her lovely words, I'll happily give you her email address.

Tuesday, 2 August 2011

My love of cookery (and how Nigel Slater won my heart)

Cover of the "The Kitchen Diaries" by Nigel Slater
On the weekend, I spend a lovely time away with my girlfriends in Leicester. We play badminton on the back lawn, go out for brightly coloured curry and play a game or two sardines. We even watch Simon Pegg's Paul - the only downside to our weekend away (I'll have to blog about that another time - I think I still may be too traumatised).

As we are washing mugs after copious cups of tea on Sunday, I spot a copy of Nigel Slater's "The Kitchen Diaries." Hmm. What's this?