I want this blender!

I soooo want a Blendtec now! Will it blend???

Resolution Recipe Watch

Hmm... should've waited until Feb to try another new recipe - but a chilly Sunday was perfect for Moroccan Chickpea Soup... Super easy if you use canned chickpeas (2) and lentils (1) -- not sure why you would go for dried?? Makes a great lunch the next day too.

Not meant for westerns...

SO - we rented yet another highly regarded 'modern' western... and once again, were a little, well, bored. This time it was The Proposition (no need for me to recap, you can read about it here!) While I could appreciate its "hauntingly beautiful" look, I did find myself thinking "umm... so is something going to happen?" That's a bit unfair, however, at least it wasn't too long, and more happened in this movie than the even more critically acclaimed Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada... another DVD adventure we almost fell asleep through...

Maybe I need to stick to Clint if I want a Western I can stay awake for. Or maybe I'm just part of the low-attention-span Sesame Street/MTV generation...

low blogging frequency

Apologies - the loss of home laptop has definitely limited my blogging frequency... will have to either a) bring my work laptop home more often and/or b) get into work earlier and spend a few minutes on updates!

Biggest news today: SNOW BRINGS LONDON TO A HALT... Yes, a whopping 2cm fell last night, enough to cause major disruptions to most tube lines, and traffic jams / accidents on all the major thoroughfares... Ah - the joy of snow in a city that rarely sees it. I fully expect headlines all across the papers tomorrow lambasting the cities for not being prepared, despite snow being forecast for, oh, about 2 days.

I didn't mind it - bus worked fine, and this was the most snow I've seen here in 10 years -- certainly made a pretty picture or two - will upload soon...

UPDATE: photo added!

Look - we're stars

I am *loving* this Levi's ad... hee hee hee

Resolution watch

OK - enough of this holiday break, looking back at the year... time to get back to blogging, starting with making my new years resolutions public and then tracking against them... So - here goes:

1) Get married
On track so far... 15 weeks, 5 days to go... see PlanetWulfagar for more!

2) Read all of the books I've bought already, before buying any more
Two weeks in, have just finished A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian... very good, definitely recommend it, quick, amusing, and original read, and definitely made me want to learn more about the history of the Ukraine. And don't worry - it's not too tractor-heavy!

3) Run the Paris 1/2 marathon in under 2:30.
Umm... no. It's become clear in only about 2 weeks that I'd be fooling myself - so looking more realistically at time / willingness to train - I've already modified this to
NEW 3) Run the British 10k in under 60 mins...

4) Do a minimum of 1 London cultural activity per month.
So far, not so good - but a few weeks left in January still

5) Try one new recipe per month.
Mmm... tried a modified chorizo-prawn jambalaya... was yum! I just wish I'd written down the recipe!

Ok, think that's enough for now - let's see how it goes!