Today I was sorting out some boxes of stuff that had accumulated in my room, and I found this pack of seeds, which I have no recollection of buying! It reminded me that I’d like to do more gardening type things after I graduate. I love the process of growing stuff and the sense of achievement when it survives. I have an Aerogarden hydroponic grower which I used to grow tomatoes and chilis with which could be put back into good use, and last year I had a bonsai tree which unfortunately didn’t make it but I’d love to have another one. This pack of seeds seems to be for some random vegetables, I’m not too sure how to grow them as we have poor quality clay soil, but it’s got me thinking. I also have a Fynbos plant set of seeds which I bought from South Africa. I find the whole process of growing things peaceful, and the sense of wonder I had as a child when we grew beanstalks or sunflowers for a competition at school, is definitely still there!

I would love to know what the most fun thing you’ve ever grown is, and any gardening disasters you’ve had! Is there something fun to grow that you think I should try? Just click ‘Comment’ at the top of the post and I’ll make sure I let you know if I try one of your recommendations.

This is something I’d actually like to start doing before I graduate. I’ve never been very good at playing sports, mainly due to the lack of balance, hand-eye coordination, general skill, but I’ve always enjoyed watching them on TV. Things I’d like to see live in the near future are:

• Ice Hockey
• Rugby
• Football
• Formula 1

While sauntering around doing this, I’d also like to expand my ‘Sportswear of the World’ collection. Which so far comprises of Scottish and Irish football shirts, Ireland and South African rugby tops, and an Ateneo (University in the Philippines) volleyball top. Top of the wish list are an ice hockey top and an Arsenal football shirt.

And so I carry on daydreaming about my life post-university, please feel free to comment if you have similar ambitions. As always, subscribe so you don’t miss part 4!

2. Do more Cooking

Click here to buy this Recipe Journal by Kikki K.

It’s only in the last few years that I’ve started to enjoy cooking, but I haven’t had time to do it as much as I want to. That’s why the second installment of my to-do list for after graduation is dedicated to doing more cooking. I’ve wanted a recipe journal for a while and already have a nice collection of some pictures and recipes from the last few years, but after I graduate I’d really like to do more. When I was at school we did ‘Home Economics’, where we wrote down a recipe, then brought the ingredients in and cooked it, but on reflection we really didn’t learn much about how food works, or some of the really basic stuff which would be useful, like how to use knives properly! I’ve just used a gift card which my Grandparents gave me, to buy a cookbook, Heston Blumenthal At Home, so working through some of those will be a nice start. The only problem will be finding people willing to eat stuff that I make!

Next installment to follow soon, if you’re finishing university soon it’d be great if you comment with things you want to do when you graduate =)

Buy this beautiful Journal by Gorjuss

For the last few months I’ve said the following phrase far too many times,

“I’d really like to do x after I graduate”

What started off as a few thoughts have now turned into quite an epic to-do list, and now there are just 10 weeks of lectures left, a dissertation to hand in, then I’ll graduate in July. This list isn’t about the serious things like getting an internship or volunteering at the olympics, but the little pleasures which I’ve lost since starting my degree.

The top of this list is Write More. When I started my Creative Writing degree, I never thought time to write would be eliminated from my life. However, when I handed in 2000 words of Poetry this week I suddenly realised that  I don’t write for pleasure anymore, and everything I do write has limitations, a word count, considering who I’ll be writing for, trying to fit categories to get a good grade. So top of my to-do list is to write more. Freely. Without restriction I also want to enter at least one writing competition, it’d be nice to get some appreciation which isn’t grade-related!

Stay tuned for more updates to the list =)

I’ve written this recipe down in various places for the last few years,  and every year I forgot where I wrote it. So here it is in cyberspace forever! This is a great recipe for ham that my family swears by, in our house it’s tradition that Dad makes it for Christmas (and doesn’t cook anything else for the rest of the year). Follow these steps and you’ll have something relatively easy to make and delicious to eat! Merry Christmas!

What you need:

• A ham/bacon/gammon joint
• A large onion, or a few smaller ones
• Peppercorns
• A carrot
• Some bay leaves (fresh or dried)
• Cloves
• A tin of pineapples (or some Coke if you don’t like pineapple!

1. Put the ham in a large pan, cover with fresh cold water and soak for 1-3 hours
2. Calculate the overall cooking time. Most hams will now have the weight usefully written on the label. The cooking time formula is: 25 minutes for each lb or 1/2 kg + 20 minutes extra. You will be boiling the ham for half the cooking time, and putting it in the oven for the other half.
3. Drain the water the ham was soaking in and re-cover with fresh cold water. Roughly cut the carrot and onion, break up the bay leaves and add all to the water with a sprinkling on peppercorns. Slowly bring to the boil and leave it for half of the calculated cooking time. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 177 degrees celsius or Gas Mark 4, (350 degrees farenheit).
4. Drain the joint well, wrap it completely in foil and put it in a roasting tin.
5. Leave it until half an hour before the end of the cooking time, (if it’s a small joint sometimes this might mean only 10 minutes after you put it in the oven!). Put the oven temperature up to 218 degrees celsius or Gas Mark 7. Undo the foil and cut the skin off.
6. Score the fat into diamonds with a sharp knife and press a clove into the middle of each diamond, sprinkle the surface with brown sugar, if you’re a pineapple fan brush with the pineapple juice from the tin, or you can use Coke to baste it.
7. Leave until the end of the cooking time, can be served hot or cold.
8. As a twist you can use beer or cider to boil the joint in. You can also make crackling using the rind, cover it with oil and salt then put it under a grill.

Enjoy and let me know if you try it!

However, my Mum is from the Philippines, and we were in Cagayan De Oro just over a year ago. It’s a place where we have many friends and treasured memories, and although I feel somewhat helpless being so far away, this is the best I can do.

Christmas is a time where we spend a lot of money, but anything you can spare will help towards the relief effort. If you follow the link below, you only need to fill in 5 boxes before you can make a real difference to many people, who desperately need basic supplies.

1. Click here to go straight to the Phlippine Red Cross Donation Page: http://www.greenpeso.com/pay/donate_redcrossph.html
2. In the top right corner select ‘Sendong Appeal’ for your donation to go directly to the relief of this disaster
3. As a guide, 340 PHP (Philippine Pesos) is around £5, 680 PHP is around £10
4. If you really can’t afford a small donation, please just share this page as someone you know may be able to help.

This is the fabulous Urie, creator of Little Apple Dolls, beautiful art dolls which all come with their own story of how they came to be in ‘The Inbetween’.  The dolls would make an awesome present for anyone who appreciates something a bit different, and the new Chibi Chibi Kooma woolen figures are a perfect stocking filler or secret santa present, and great value for just £8! There’s also a great selection of t-shirts, prints and other goodies. Plus her link is worth a click just because she’s also amazing enough to be helping me with my dissertation! Here’s the link to her main site (the previous one is for the shop) Click Me!

Next up we have Jess Bradley,  whose deliciously colourful and cute stuff, as well as her great conversational skills have kept me coming back to her stall for the last few times I’ve been at Expo! Click Here to check out her store =) Her work is perfect for the quirky, fun people in your lives. As a gift to yourself you should also have a browse around Jess’s website, pure eye candy Jess Bradley Illustration

This is the charming Rufus Dayglo whose art you can buy HERE. He’s the artist of Tank Girl fame and there are plenty of his original sketches and gorgeous limited edition Glycee Prints available to buy.  A perfect gift for anyone interested in art, comic books,  or just generally cool stuff! This is a great chance to pick up some truly unique art at an affordable price (alliteration win!), suiting even those people who are difficult to buy for (you know who you are!). He’ll even sign and personalise orders. Click here to see his great range of work.

This not very good picture is of  Dylan Scotcher at the Raging Zombie  stand. They sell beautifully presented promotional mounted cult film artwork, set into gorgeous acrylic mounts. They would look stunning on any wall, and are particularly effective if you buy a set. Plus the more you buy, the more you save! They make something for everyone and offer a truly different product that anyone would love to unwrap as a present. Click Here to see the full range, you won’t regret it.

Lastly but not leastly we have Terratag where the generous designer Paul Nicholson was selling off his designs (and had a box of women’s clothes that I raided and haven’t stopped wearing since). If you Click Here you’ll find a delightful range of clothing that you won’t find on the high street, as well as art prints. Even though there’s no Terratag clothes specifically for women anymore, the mens ones should fit, and are well worth buying for the great designs. Great for anyone that needs re-clothing in something that not everyone else is wearing! Why not pick some up for yourself while you’re there?

If you buy anything from my Christmas Gift guide with a twist, or receive anything, then please comment below, I always like hearing from my readers =)

I’ve never been good at playing sports, but I’ve always supported them. One of my first memories is watching rugby with my Dad. I was about 3, dressed as a princess with my hair in curlers and completely fascinated by the rugby. I’ve continued to be a strange combination of a sports loving girly girl, although never quite overcame my fear of playing them.

As those of you who read my blog regularly will know, I recently spent nearly a month in South Africa, where the whole country was excited by the start of the World Cup in New Zealand. I was proud of the replica shirt I bought over there, and impressed with how their shops stock women’s shirts nearly everywhere that men’s shirts are stocked. I always knew that women’s shirts are hard to find in London, but what I found when we returned home was shocking.

One thing I always look forward to when England are knocked out of whichever competition, is the way prices for replica shirts drop afterwards. In anticipation of this, I started looking around at possible retailers online. However, I found myself frustratingly unable to find anything resembling a Women’s Replica Rugby Shirt. When I couldn’t find anything on the official RFU website I started to worry. I sent Customer Services an email,  here was the reply I received:

“Thank you for your email.

After looking into your query, I can tell you that all the items we stock can be found on our online store.

Unfortunately if the items you require can not be found online we do not stock this item and do not have any dates available for when we will be getting it in, in the near future.

As our website is being updated regularly all we can advise is that you keep checking the website for any new products which may feature on there.”

After another hour or so of frantic Googling, I accepted the truth. There is no such thing as a Women’s England Rugby Replica shirt. I know that I could fit comfortably into a small men’s shirt, but why should I have to? Why should I need to pay the same price as other countries, when women there get a well-tailored, curve hugging shirt with a flattering neckline? Furthermore, why would sportswear manufacturers choose to alienate all women? That’s a large part of the market to ignore.

The problem is, this isn’t the first time I’ve felt like I have no place being a sports fan as a woman. Without even scraping the surface of how women who like or play sports are labelled as Lesbians. Last year, during the football World Cup in South Africa, I was trying to find a Women’s football shirt in big sports shops in London. It was a nightmare. Many shops told me that they didn’t stock the shirts in women’s sizes, and those that did only had one or two in each size and so sold out within hours. More recently I found myself wondering why one of the big sports shops had put out an advert where Men’s and Kids football shirts were reduced, but no mention of  Women’s.

During this mission I also found myself overwhelmed by the quantity of merchandise aimed at women, with slogans such as ‘Mrs Beckham’, or ‘Future WAG’ on them. It seems that if you’re a woman, your place in supporting sports is if you fancy the players, as some sort of wannabe WAG. As if that wasn’t enough, you can now dress your baby girl in t-shirt expressing her wish to be nothing more than a footballer’s girlfriend, before she can even talk.

The view that only men enjoy sports is just not true, and yet that seems to be the message that retailers are trying to put across. But is that only the case because women feel like they aren’t supposed to like sports? This is something I’ll continue to wonder about for a while, especially as other teams such as Scotland and Wales seem perfectly able to release a women’s replica rugby shirt.

If anyone has any answers about this I’d like to hear from you, please comment below!

As I was writing my portfolio for my Journalism coursework last year, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to interview Daniel Sloss and submit the write-up. Apart from being a fun chat, it was a great way to test my self-editing skills (and my tolerance for listening to my own annoying voice). It would’ve been a far more interesting  write-up if I hadn’t been so limited on what my ‘target publication’ had to be, there’s nothing I hate more than censorship but it worked (the mark sheet is still on my fridge as one of my proudest academic moments ever).

Special thanks to Daniel and his agent, I hope I get another chance to interview him in the future where I’ll be writing for something far cooler. It’s taken me a shameful amount of time to get this interview posted, while you read it you should definitely open this link up in a new tab for Daniel’s new tour, ‘The Joker’,  find the nearest gig to you and purchase tickets immediately! You won’t regret it, I promise: CLICK HERE!

Behind the Comedy- Daniel Sloss

 Walking through the crowd going towards the Soho Theatre, Daniel Sloss seems like any other average young man. He is laid back in both attitude and dress sense, and speaks honestly and eloquently with a melodious Scottish accent. His show, which he is currently touring, is called My Generation. During our conversation, as well as talking about his secret to success, he reflects on his views of his generation and older generations. It becomes easy to see how the 20-year-old comedian has risen in popularity over the last couple of years. This increase in fame is reflected by the weekend he’s just had:

“It’s been insane. I filmed Mock the Week on Saturday, I did the Apollo yesterday. It was amazing, my first time at the Apollo, it was a charity gig with 3500 people, it was lovely.”

As part of a generation that craves fame, you may expect Sloss to be somewhat inflated by this popularity. However, he remains remarkably grounded and modest about his success so far:

“I started by doing open spots. I’d been working on my set for ages before I had the courage to get into it. I had jokes and my Mum [who is an editor]. She was able to get rid of all the unnecessary bits, so I had a really tight punchy set. Since I was young, people weren’t expecting me to be funny, and then I was so they laughed harder. Then it was a matter of just really sticking with it. I’d say 70% of my career is down to luck, and the other 29% is my agent, then 1% me.”

During the course of our conversation Daniel often mentions his family, particularly his parents, who have been vital in supporting his career as a comedian. Unusual in that they encouraged him to take a gap year rather than pursue his place at university:

“When I started I was still at high school so I was just doing it after school. My Mum was like ‘Still revise, still get to university.’ I did manage to get into university, but over the Edinburgh festival that year I got to the finals of ‘So You Think You’re Funny’ [an annual stand-up comedy competition held at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe]. I wasn’t the one that wanted to take a gap year but my parents said, ‘If you’re on a roll, don’t get off it.’ My Mum made it very clear that I’d be working; treat it like a real job. She sat me down, forced me to write jokes and I just never went to university.”

This decision seems to have benefited Daniel, whose set holds audiences captive for over an hour; a length of time which some comedians would struggle to fill. However, Sloss does so naturally, with such flair and hilarity that the audience is left feeling light-headed, having laughed so hard for so long. Sloss’ success lies in how comedy appears to be intrinsic within his personality; he peppers our conversation with humour. He reveals that his comic ability dates back to his school days:

“I was always the funny one at school. I was never the sporty one, I was never really the attractive one, I was never the smart one. I was the one that could make everyone laugh. The funny kids are always more popular because they take the piss out of themselves. I wasn’t the most popular but no one particularly hated me so I thought maybe something along the lines of comedy might be a good idea [for a career].”

Daniel seems to be thoroughly grateful for the success the last few years has brought him, describing it as, “Absolutely mental! I can’t believe how lucky I’ve been, I’m very happy with how it’s gone.” However, he also identifies the drawbacks that come with having a career as a comedian, especially when it comes to travelling:

“It’s annoying to be honest with you. It’s why hopefully one day they’ll finally invent teleporters. The worst thing about travelling is that you just miss your own bed, and not seeing people as much as you want to. I’m away for weeks at a time so when I go home I need to spend time with my parents, and I go see my girlfriend, so those are the two things I have to juggle. My best and closest friends get pushed back, I don’t see them as much as I’d like to, then I rarely get to see my other friends. It’s horrible but it comes with the job.  The travelling can also be good, I get to go to some amazing places, meet new friends on the road, but it’s the actual travelling that sucks, like physically being on the train.”

One of the few regrets Sloss has about not attending university, is missing out on the social aspect of student life:

“I would’ve been terrible at university. I’m just too much of a lazy bastard. I wouldn’t have gone, I wouldn’t have done anything. The only bit I missed about university was that I was meant to go to Dundee and that’s where all my mates are. I don’t go out as much as I would like to. My mates don’t give a shit about what telly I’ve done, as soon as I get up there it’s like, ‘On television you’re Daniel Sloss comedian, here you’re dickhead, and we’ll refer to you as dickhead for the rest of the night’, that’s what I love about it.”

Another drawback that Daniel has found whilst doing his show is the sense of disapproval that members of older generations seem to have for some of his material:

“At one of my show’s there was an old man, I was on stage and I [swore]. He stood up, anyone else would’ve left, but he stood there and had a go at me for 15 minutes. After everything we’re told about learning manners I just thought you’re in an audience of 300 people, 298 are enjoying themselves, so you stand up and ruin it for everyone. I just can’t stand it.”

The frequency of complaints from older members of the audience has made Sloss consider extreme measures for future shows:

“We’re considering putting an age limit on the tickets, but not down the lower end of the spectrum but at the upper end. Not saying that it isn’t suitable for under the age of 15, because those aren’t the ones who are upset by it. If you show 12 year olds someone on stage swearing and talking about sex, they love it! They’re not going to complain. It’s someone over 60 that I worry about. Kids know more than people give them credit for, I learned about sex when I was 8 years old, like most kids. Kids are smarter than old people, maybe not intellectually on a degree basis but all in all…”

However, Sloss makes it very clear that his attitudes are in no way ageist:

“Age isn’t a number, it’s an attitude. When I was at the Soho Theatre, a 91-year-old man in the audience laughed the entire way through. When I did smut he loved it, that’s what it should be about! Then the next day a 55-year-old didn’t approve of anything. Age isn’t a number, its how you are. I would never be ageist, because I wouldn’t refer to someone as old because of their age, I would refer to someone as old because of the way they act.”

So what does he attribute this change in attitude to?

“There’s an age you get to, an age which I intend to die by, or if I don’t, kill myself by, where the world changes. Especially now, the rate the world changes is astonishing, and they don’t like that. They think everything should stay the same, and that ‘It wasn’t like that back in my day’, and its like ‘yeah that’s because your day was shit, in your day people only lived till 50.’ If a normal person isn’t enjoying comedy, rarely will they say, they’ll just sit there going ‘not enjoying this, I’ll go and tweet or Facebook about it’. An old person will say something then and there, ruining something for everyone else.”

Rather than sounding bitter about difficult audience members, Daniel remains optimistic about how his generation:

“Every generation before us has had trends and fads, like in the 80s with the stupid hair and stupid clothes, but there’s no such thing as fads now, there’s ‘oh that exists but now that’s a culture’. Emos are a culture, Goths are a culture. We don’t have fads we don’t have trends, we’re more universal. We’re not saying you have to be like this, you can be anything you want to be. It’s why stand-up has become so successful, because we’re the generation that accepts everything. I reckon when my generation gets older, we’ll be more tolerant. We’re very diverse and I think we’re also the most politically correct. Homophobia doesn’t exist in our generation, among certain groups it’ll always exist but normal decent people will go on to achieve something from this generation. Racism obviously still exists because you still have ignorant people but it’s not the kids, you have to blame the parents because you can’t get a racist kid without racist parents.”

As our conversation draws to a close, I feel sorry that we didn’t have more time. There is far more to Daniel Sloss than a label of ‘young comedian’, he has fascinating and intelligent insights into the world around him; a talent which I hope he’ll continue to use to inspire his comedy for many years to come.

Did you spot the bird in the picture? Even I didn’t know it was there until I just loaded it up on the laptop. There’s another one below as well. (10 points to whoever spots it first).  Our last 24 hours of the trip started of beautifully, walking around the gardens at Kirstenbosch. Immediately we realised we should have done this at the start of the trip and spent more time there, it looks like an awesome place to picnic.

Below is a selection of pictures from the gardens, enough to produce my own ‘Protea of Africa’ Calendar. There were some truly beautiful things in that garden, including the King Protea which there’s a picture of below (it’s the really massive one), and the raspberry coloured Protea which is so rare it doesn’t have a name and could only be found on this one path we went down. At the gift shop I bought an egg box full of indigenous South African seeds and soil to grow them in, so hopefully some of them will survive at home.

Here’s me in my new rugby top, I’m sure you can all see the sense of relief that I’ve survived this epic journey. I’m not going to lie, it doesn’t feel like it’s flown past it feels like I’ve been away from home for an age. But now I’m excited to get back and see what lies ahead on my return. For one thing there’s the 800 page Mandela book to get on with!