Back to the streets of New York

Last night I came back to New York a week later than expected. In fact I wished for an extra week back home in London. How was I to know that time would come in the form of Hurricane Sandy.

An extra week meant seeing more friends, eating more fish and chips and getting my British Citizenship.

Even with this blessed week, my eyes were on my new home. New York. I stayed up late in the night, eyes glued to the news. Waters flowing into subways, friends without power, some still without homes. It's a mess.

Flying in I strain to see past people to the window. Was that water there before? Was that supposed to be a river? I can't tell.

At the airport, the immigration queues are long as are the ones for the taxis but even that doesn't seem too extraordinary. I half expect to be walking home from JFK, or at least half way. I'm glad that never comes to pass.

I enter my house expecting dripping water and broken windows. But it's all as I left it, dirty laundry and all. Half nervous about long travel times, unsure of what to expect, I work from home today, eating my cupboard bare of pasta. Stuck in my little cocoon of house and Internet and the troubles of Downton Abbey.

Tonight, however, I take a ride in. The streets of Manhattan are only half filled, Union Square blocked off and I don't need to even queue for my coffee at The Bean (which is usual heaves to bursting). We go to Cloud Atlas and less than 40 people are there. The ticket taker thanks me for coming. I've never had that before.

My friend and I talk about work and life, boys and the future. We don't talk about receding waters, food shortages and people who won't have homes for 8 months.

My house was 3 blocks from flood waters. An oasis in the centre of evacuation zones. I'm so very very lucky. Tomorrow I will go to a shelter to see what they need and the weekend I'll help clean up whatever is left to clean.

There is a comradary amongst strangers but it'll begin to ebb as they slip back into their routine. Lights on and subways running. People are heading back to half empty bars and cinemas and coffee shops. They'll donate their $10 and go to some Hurricane Sandy charity event where they'll pay extra for over priced meat as they gossip over cocktails. All in the name of those still in the wreckage. People who need hands and smiles and a someone who will understand when they scream "why me?"

Not that I'm not guilty. It's easy to slip back into your cocoon. It's warm. It's lovely. It makes the world feel normal again.

But it's not.

(PS if you want to help check out here: http://interoccupy.net/occupysandy/ or here for LES: http://interoccupy.net/occupysandy/volunteer-update-11-5/)

Collecting donations for NYC shelters

This Sunday I'm traveling back to New York and I want to bring
back donations to help as much as possible. Let's show New Yorkers how supportive and giving the Brits are. They need us!

I'm looking for donations to bring back with me. These include:

Toys: Non-fabric kids toys, books and Clothes would be SUPER! Shelters have a ton of kids. Crayons, markers, coloring paper and construction paper are particularly helpful. We don't want to stress the school's resources.

Adult stuff: clothes and books, particularly ones in other languages, would be helpful for adults.

There's lots more that's needed especially from us New Yorkers. I'll be volunteering as soon as I touch down. More here: http://www.wnyc.org/articles/wnyc-news/2012/oct/30/how-help-hurricane-sandy/

What I'm going to see at the London Screenwriter's Festival

So I'm going to London on Saturday night for 9 days and I'm so excited. Not only do I get to see all of my amazing friends, read through Raptured with the cast, and go to a Woman of the Year luncheon for my work with the riot cleanup in Clapham Junction, but I also get to be part of this year's London Screenwriters Festival.

I'm reaching out to some of the writers/ producers/ directors who are going so I can hopefully meet up with them (as it's a brilliant thing to do when you are at a festival). I'll also be writing up many of the sessions over on the Red on Black Productions blog.

I thought I'd give you a heads up on what I'm thinking of seeing. Let me know if you are going to any of the sessions I am (we can sit together!) or if you want to go for a coffee on the breaks. So here goes...

F*** you Vegas

So I've travelled nine hours to get to you and I've stood in queues for taxis and for hotel rooms and yet I'm wary but hopeful that everything will work out fine. I change into (what I call) a rah rah dress. I'm not sure of it, I like it, it's fun but it's not the nicest dress I've brought with me. I'll save the nicer ones for networking and talking and strangers I don't know but should do business with, or just someone who'll help.

But none of what I brought is Vegas. I'M not Vegas. I think Vegas is tacky and cheap but fun and slick and for people who don't know any better. I know better. Or at least I think I do. But I still go out tonight.

So I'm out and at first it's like I'm in my Dad's version of Vegas (not my words but they're good ones) and then...there's a comment about my hair. I've got roots. Blonde with dark roots. I was hoping no one would notice. But they do. I'm waiting to go home to England next week. They'll sort my hair and I've had no luck in New York despite me paying the cost of a couch for someone to fry my hair. It's just not the same. It's just not home.

Then somehow we move and there is money exchanging hands and we are on a roof terrace and we are seeing the full Vegas strip in front of us. It is beautiful.

Breathtaking.

But then somehow everyone's talking and it seems to be about me and a woman who wants to shag anyone she can see is saying "oh she's pretty and smart but that's why no one wants to date her" and colleagues turn to whisper "I know someone" or "I'll set you up" or "It's Vegas, just go for it" and I just want to get through the next six days just doing my job and getting back home to my friends and that no one here thinks I'm the loser that I feel like right now.

And that no one will answer "It's cause she's a lot of woman to handle"  with " Is that cause of her weight?" like that stranger did. That man I didn't know before one hour ago.

And that I won't tear up and want the floor to open beneath me.
And that I won't have to smile like brittle glass and just take it.
And grit my teeth to stop my screaming
And that I won't have to see everyone just look around awkwardly and make small talk and not defend me.
And that I won't feel like that f***ing 14 year old in ill fitting sweaters that wished I looked different and wished people noticed me and wished one guy out there would want to kiss me.

I thought I was over that.

I'm an adult.

F**k you Vegas. It's not your fault. I don't really mean it. But neither do the people who should know better. Though it feels like they do.

So f**k you Vegas.

F**ck you.

Covering Social Media Week Chicago

Last week I was in Chicago covering Social Media week there. It was the first time to the windy city and not only did I enjoy a great time with a friend from back home who came out to Chicago cause she heard I was coming but I got to eat some great food, take the spectacular Architectural boat tour, see some public art, go to a Second City show and make new friends. Oh yes. And I wrote a couple of articles (and I have a few more coming...)

How to "Not Drink" my way to Brazil

When I was home this month, my cousin and her husband decided they were going to visit a friend who lived in Brazil next year. I teased them about wanting to come (well it wasn't really teasing as I've always wanted to go to South America) so after a bit of planning, we've decided to go for it!

Our trip will include Rio, Sao Paulo, Lima, Machu Picchu and Easter Island. Eeee. Very exciting...and very expensive.

So I've decided to save money by not drinking (New York is expensive!). Every night of no drinks, I get $10 in the pot. Every night I do drink, I take $10 out of the pot. Yikes!

How to change your Twitter header image

The last few days I've been pursuing Twitter and seeing some users have headers! Say wha?? I want one of those! So I did a little searching and found out that this is a new feature that rolled out with the Twitter iPad app.

Never fear, you don't need to have the iPad app to add a header but you can access it from your friendly browser (mine is called Chrome). I've included pictures to show you just what to do - they are a bit tiny so click on them to get a size that you can see without your glasses ;)

First off go to edit your profile:



Then go to Design (it's a tab on the left hand side)



Scroll down and add a photo from your computer



And then you have a pretty header! Hoorah!



If you have the iPad app, you can take a picture and add it to your header but you can't seem to be able to do that on your phone yet.

Done something cool and inventive with your new Twitter header? I'd love to see it! Please put a URL below and I'll post my favorite ones!

Riot Cleanup: a year on

One year ago today, I found myself on the couch of This Morning sitting beside Kate Nash and talking about what we did in the efforts to clean up London after the riots.

It was a very different and unexpected place then where I was 24 hours previously when I grabbed a pair of yellow marigolds and my kitchen broom and a handful of bin bags and marched down to the Nandos in Clapham Junction to see if anyone would come to help clean up my neighborhood. They were there. And they kept coming and coming and coming until we were, as the press named us, the broom army.



A year on and I still can't believe that it even happened. I can't believe that people ransacked their own town, their high streets, their home and I can't believe the massive support of everyone involved in the riot cleanup.

My half marathon adventures on the Great Wall of China

So we did it. Marianne and I completed the half marathon on the Great Wall of China on May 19th, 2012. It was the hardest thing I've had to do but also the most rewarding.

I'm so excited that we have embarked on this journey. I hope you enjoy the video we made of our run. We didn't get the village we ran through on the video but we got the wall which was amazing and I'm sure what you all wanted to see!

If you want to donate to Cancer Research UK (who we are doing all this crazy running for), you can do it here: http://justgiving.com/c242k

Woohoo!

I'm speaking at Transmedia London 5 in May!

I'm really excited. I have to fly through London on the way to China for our half marathon. When I'm on the way back I get to speak at Transmedia London 5 on 29 May, 2012 at BAFTA.

I'll be talking about my web series Raptured, what I learned from making the first series and what I'm going to do with the second series (eek!). I really want to put more of a transmedia element to it to tell the story of the new Raptured world. Anyone interested in helping, do let me know. (No seriously. I mean it. Email me.)

The event is organized by Adrian Hon and Rachel Clarke in conjunction with BAFTA and Women in Film and TV. Adrian is the co-founder and CEO at the award-winning Six to Start where he created Perplex City, Smokescreen, and We Tell Stories while Rachel Clarke is a social media and digital comms strategist at Momentum Worldwide.

Also speaking on the night is Hilary Perkins, Multiplatform Commissioning Editor for Drama and Film at Channel 4, whose work includes the BAFTA-nominated Misfits and www.dreamsofyourlife.com, and Louise Downe, a service designer & thinker who is a senior consultant at Seren Partners.

Come down and say hi!

Don't look the celebrity in the eyes

[caption id="attachment_1629" align="aligncenter" width="199" caption="Yep. She musta just seen a celeb. Photo by K Kendall"][/caption]

Yesterday I saw my first celebrity in New York. Felicia Day (creator of the Guild and one of the stars of Eureka) came in looking for a seat at one of my favorite coffee places, Think Coffee, near Union Square.

I'm not one for going up to people I've seen on TV. Unless they are at a book signing or at an event where they are being carted out for publicity purposes, I try not to bother them. I guess if we were standing in a queue together, I may say "I really liked you in X. Good work." But that's about it.

On the path to curing cancer

[caption id="attachment_1626" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Me posing after 7 miles"][/caption]Ok. I'm not curing cancer myself. I'm a writer not a scientist. But I am running for Cancer Research.

Yesterday I ran 7 miles, my longest race ever, and I'm back out there again tomorrow to take Prospect Park by storm....at 13 miles an hour.

My friend Marianne and I came up with the idea a year ago to run all the races up to a marathon. Not only would we run 5K, 10K, a half marathon and a marathon but we'd do it in four continents as well. We called it Couch to 42K (or #c242k on Twitter) as we non-runners were going to get off the couch and run a marathon!



So far we've run in London and Morocco and in less than a month, we'll be winging our way to China to run a half marathon on the Great Wall of China.

Moving is stressful!

Though this isn't a shock to most people (except me it seems), moving is STRESSFUL. As I take everything in stride, I thought a move across an entire ocean would be a walk in the park. Not only a move mind you, but a new job, waiting for a visa, a feature film to entirely rewrite and a half marathon to train for. Yikes. Stress city.

Somehow, I thought I was hiding it well. I was totally fine. But how could all of those things not do something to you. It took going back to London a couple weeks ago to realize I wasn't happy these past three months. It wasn't the job - everyone is great. It wasn't always the script (though there were a number of weeks that I thought I was a horrible writer and I'd never be able to write again).

I missed my friends. I missed understanding social norms. Sometimes I stayed out way longer with people I didn't want to be with just cause I wanted to go out. On top of that, I ate and drank for England and stopped training altogether. It made me feel fuller, even if I was eating my way to a heart attack.

Facebook launches new brand pages

Today, at the first Facebook Marketing Talks Live event, Facebook introduced new products and showed case studies from businesses who are finding success through marketing on Facebook.

Facebook's Product Designer, Blaise DiPersia, and Product Manager, Jeff Kanter, spoke about the philosophy behind the new design of Facebook pages and how you can use your page to the fullest.

Sounds of Us: Museum of Broken Relationship commission now live

Last summer Michelle Tsen and I made a film for the Museum of Broken Relationships. We crowd sourced "relationship" sounds from Twitter and Facebook and made a stop motion video of one of the objects donated to the Museum of Broken relationships.

It was shown at the museum in London and has finally gone live online. Have a look for yourself and tell us what you think!

Sounds of Us by Heather Taylor and Michelle Tsen from Laura Kriefman on Vimeo.

Commissioned Film for the Museum of Broken Relationships UK.

Using a donated object and story.

Conceived, and made by Heather Taylor and Michelle Tsen

My (not so) exhastive list of things to do in New York

As I am halfway to completely moving to New York, I thought I'd reach out to you all to see what I should do here (especially as I love crowdsourcing so much). As in, if you were here, what would you go eat or see or do. I originally thought I'd do the top 100 things to do in Timeout but it's all done by season or type of thing to do. I want a real mix.

So this is my to-do list thanks to you. I've put the person's name beside the item they suggested and I'll add a link when I write about my adventure there. I'm also blogging 50 walks of New York so make sure to keep an eye on that as well.

Anything I'm missing? Leave a comment and I'll add it to the list.

My first whoopie pie

I watch a lot of cooking shows and most of those are competitions. Masterchef, Top Chef, The Next Iron Chef. You get my drift. I'd say most of those dishes I've heard of or tried but whenever there is a dessert challenge in the US, there is inevitably a whoopie pie.

Blogging the walks of New York

At my leaving drinks, my lovely friend Alice gave this set of "50 New York walk" cards. Each card has one short tour set in different areas of New York. What genius. You take one card out with you - there's a map, a few points for you to stop at and then you're done.

Alice's charge to me? Blog about them. So I am.

Come dine with Pipsdish

I fully recommend following any hand painted sign (unless it says “Free Candy. Kids only.”) Sophie and I followed one down an alley in Islington and came across the glorious Pipsdish at the Islington Barn, a pop-up restaurant in a converted garage. It’s there in partnership with a farm shop so not only can you eat great food there, you can buy something to take home.

Now I should have written this a week ago. My last post here says I’ll be writing once a day. Guess what? I haven’t. I like to think I can do everything, but packing house to move to another country and trying to see friends, work US hours-ish (and maybe even go on a date) takes its toll. Mostly my blog gets the brunt of this, along with my sleep, and any friends who I’ve meant to see this week but ran out of time. But let's get back to Pipsdish shall we?

Get your mango fix at MADD

As a middle of January resolution, I decided to write a daily blog post. Most people want to hear about coffee and food they can get in New York - the non-touristy places. Since I'm not in New York until next week, I'll start with MADD (Mango Addiction), a new dessert lounge just off Shaftsbury Avenue.

[caption id="attachment_1575" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Jonathan really loves mangos."][/caption]

Dessert lounge you ask? Yes. A dessert lounge. A concept mostly known in Singapore and Thailand, this is the perfect place for someone with a sweet tooth. It's theme, as you can tell by the name, is mangos. Mango puddings, cakes, dessert bowls, cocktails and smoothies. The front of the shop glows with it's yellowy-orange flesh.

My first week in New York - food, food, food!

As I sit in Newark International Airport on my way to London, I thought I’d reflect on my first week in New York.

It’s been a strange trip for me as this is going to be one week of many in New York. By March, I should be fully settled into New York as a Brooklyn resident working in Manhattan. So I didn’t go nuts on the touristy stuff and instead just enjoyed myself (in a slightly jet-lagged state). I did make it to MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) and am now officially a member. At $25 a visit, the $70 annual membership (including free films) seemed cheap.

On the way to New York (and new beginnings)

[caption id="attachment_1562" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Hallelujah moment."][/caption]

As we approached New York, the sun broke through the clouds Very new beginnings-esque. I have to admit I was teary as I watched the water sparkle under us. I was arriving in the place I'll soon call home. This is step one. I've come over to meet my US colleagues and will spend the first week in my new home.

[caption id="attachment_1562" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="So many cabs, so little time."][/caption]

I'm in a New York cab and I'm trying to sound like I know where I'm going. My landlord and new flatmate gave me directions so hopefully I'll make it there all OK.

I'm not sure how I'm supposed to be feeling. I'm in the in-between place. I had my leaving do where I cried too much, packed bags to come to NY for a week and then I'm back again to the UK as I sort my visa. But it's exciting to have a bed and a roof and new shops and coffee haunts to try out.

I know this isn't going to be easy nor is it going to be the same. I've moved continents before and though I do see some people from back home still, it's mostly my family and a few good friends. There are so many amazing people in my life in the UK, I don't want to lose that connection to them. I love that I can go out in London and run into someone I know.

But maybe now that we're in a different age, I'll keep those connections. Facebook, Twitter, Skype, etc, etc, will make those people closer than they would have been even 5 years ago. It's just about making the time. And having space to be with new friends and old. Hello New York. Pleased to meet you.

[caption id="attachment_1562" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="A view from my office - how more New York can you get?"][/caption]

No bought noodles New Years resolution

So as we wandered Paris yesterday we discussed my Kryptonite - cheap noodles. You know the kind. 35p noodle packs that come from the newsagent. I've been addicted since I was a kid and they truly hit the spot. I've had them for breakfast, lunch and dinner - they go good with any kind of day.

But they are oh so bad for you. So bad.

As I start toward my half-marathon/ marathon training, I'm quite aware that I need to eat better. My cousin and I have made a "lose 25 pounds by 16th April" pact, I'm determined to drink the right amount of water every day and I am running 3 times a week starting this week. WITHOUT FAIL. So this means the days of the quick and unhealthy snack of empty calorie, MSG filled noodles, are over. (as are crisps but that's a given)

Instead, I'm going to make my own.

In preparation for this mission, I headed over to Recipease in Clapham to take their Pasta Making course.



All you need are eggs and '00' grade flour. Though often recipes call for a larger quantity, we made a small batch of pasta (as in, could feed 3-4 people) using 2 eggs and 200g of flour.


First you put the flour in a largish bowl, then add the eggs in the centre. Poke the yolks with a fork and stir the egg in by stirring around the outside and pulling the flour into the middle where the eggs are. Keep stirring until the mixture resembles scrambled eggs.  You then tilt the bowl a bit to the side, drag your fork through the mixture and pull it into the side of the bowl. This will get the lumps out and mix the flour into the egg better.

Don't worry if all the flour doesn't make it into the dough.  It all depends on the moisture in the air. The more moist it is, the more flour the dough will take, and the less moisture, the less flour it will take. Get me?

Once it's mixed enough, it's time to kneed. A great way to get some aggression out.

Place the ball of dough on the table, hold the side closest to you and stretch it out with the heel of your hand. fold it back over towards you, turn 90 degrees and do it again. Keep doing that until you can't see a divot when you poke the ball of dough. It should just bounce right back.

Wrap that sweet ball of goodness with plastic wrap (get out all the air) and put it in the fridge. This can be for 5 minutes or a few hours but don't leave it too long or it will dry out.

This is the perfect time to start making your sauce and to get your water on to boil.

Your sauce is now simmering, so it's now time to roll the dough out into pasta. First thing first. You got to silkify the dough.*


Using your pasta maker on setting 6, you roll half your ball of dough through the machine, fold in half and roll it through again. If it's sticky, add a bit of flour before you fold but ONLY if it's sticky. Remember, we don't want to dry it out. Another tip is to never feed in the dough with the fold at the top. This will trap air in your pasta dough which will burst your pasta when you cook it. Kaboom.

Once the dough feels silky smooth to the touch, you've silkified it! Tadah! Now you need to run it through the machine once at each setting from 6 down to 2 (if you are making ravioli, then go to setting one as you double the pasta).

At this point, you can run the long, flat dough through the cutter. It's 500 times easier if you cut the pasta dough in half first.


As you cut the pasta into noodles, flour it so it doesn't stick together. You can either freeze it (lasts for months), dry it (lasts for a couple weeks) or cook it (only takes a couple of minutes).

Tasty! And so begins the year of homemade pasta.

*Yes. Silkify is not a word. But I don't know what else to call it.