girl anachronism

Jeez Matt, I wish you were left handed!

I didn't have coconut powder either. Luckily I had a Bounty bar, a grater and some icing sugar, so I managed to rescue it, phew. YoungA, should I add coriander or not? I am undecided, what do usually base your decision on? If you could answer quickly please- I added my nine chicken pieces about 3 minutes ago, I don't want to over cook it. Thanks.

Okay. I have all this, so now what do I do?

On Delta Airlines' website, they offer a selection of meal types for long-haul flights (including "bland", which I thought was quite odd), but there wasn't a vegan option listed. I called through instead and was assured that I could have a vegan meal. Got on the flight, was given pasta with cheese, said I'd asked for vegan food and that it stated so on my ticket. I was told that this couldn't possibly be the case as it wasn't an option on the website, even though I explained that I'd called well in advance and had been assured by a rep in their call centre that it'd be fine and pointed out that it quite clearly stated vegan meal on my ticket too. They shrugged it off and said there was nothing they could do about it. One of the cabin crew took pity and reappeared with one of the meals from first class, a tasty carrot and walnut salad, some nice bread and some fruit salad. Real cutlery and everything. Proper gent.

That's pretty much it. Unfortunately all comments like Oliver's do are serve to sweepingly and indiscriminately demonise poor people for their apparent lack of prioritising. It's not constructive and it's not a solution.

This was part of what I didn't get about it either. It would be lovely if we could all eat fresh produce from farmers markets or freshly caught seafood, but it just doesn't seem to be a realistic solution. I also was a little confused about the supermarket vitriol seeing as he's poster boy for Sainsbury's? I'm actually quite interested in watching the series and see what he comes up with, I'm genuinely a fan of most of his time saving, money saving healthy eating attitude, as I said before, I think his heart's in the right place, I just think he needs to be a little more careful with his public outbursts. Of course, luckily, his supposed target audience will all be able to tune in I'm sure, thanks to their "fucking massive TVs". How fortunate.

Edit: The link didn't post: http://agirlcalledjack.com/tag/jack-monroe/ and half my post has disappeared. It's an affecting and sobering read, particularly this post on the merits of tinned veg (should anyone really have to think like this in this day and age) http://agirlcalledjack.com/2013/07/23/viva-la-tinned-potato/ The blog also addresses the emotional issues associated with food poverty, such as pride and staying strong for a dependent, and wider socio-economic issues such as jobhunting and minimum wage.

Food poverty is unfortunately very widespread issue (I think something like 18% of the UK population is affected?) and whilst it might be easy for those of us who don't suffer to sneer and adopt a "you're doing it wrong" attitude, many of the guidance and fixes offered do not address the underlying issues and although doubtlessly well-intentioned will always fall well short of solving the problem. The price of food is very high at the moment and aside from the mortgage, I would honestly say that the food shop is consistently the second largest monthly expenditure for us (I'm including monthly essentials such as cleaning products, basic toiletries and food for the cat in this). We don't buy anything particularly expensive or flash (no meat, no dairy), but even things like cans of chickpeas are about three or four times the price they were a few years ago. Fresh fruit and veg is very expensive, sometimes there are savings to be made by buying loose items, rather than pre-packed, but I'd say such savings are becoming less noticeable now. I tend to try to buy fresh veg at places like the Chinese supermarket where it's invariably far cheaper, but with not having a car, the convenience of just picking it up on our monthly supermarket trip often over-rules. When I did my postgrad in Glasgow, I'd taken the prior year out to work and save to pay my tuition fees and accommodation fees for my Masters year and a little bit left over as a cushion to help when I first moved. Initially, I'd assumed that I could search for a job when I moved, but it soon became apparent that with the nature of the research I was doing, that I'd be in the lab at odd hours and I quickly found that I couldn't hold down a steady job. Although there were a lot of reasonably priced fruit and veg shops (both local and international) where I lived, in the end I was eventually priced out of those and supermarkets like Iceland became a godsend. I'd buy 50p veg packs and make massive pots of soup that I could freeze portions of for later. Or, if I was feeling particularly adventurous, I could buy huge bags of cheap pasta, tomato sauce and bags of pre-cut frozen veg and chuck in a handful of that. Fortunately I'd already covered my accommodation costs for that year and I got some help from the uni's hardship fund. The next year, I tried to survive off a small stipend for my PhD. It didn't work out and I had to move home- I simply couldn't afford to stay. I wasn't in poverty but I certainly learned to live incredibly thriftily, and at the end of the day, I had a way out and a plan B, which isn't the case for a lot of people. Been following this blog for a while; http://agirlcalledjack.com/tag/jack-monroe/%C2'> I think what's gotten peoples' backs up about what Oliver said is that he's over-simplified and totally trivialised a massively difficult and complex problem. His heart is definitely in the right place and he's at least raising awareness of the issue if nothing else.

I used a gun and cartridge. I think the problem (aside from me just being terrible at DIY) is that even with opening the nozzle close to the tip, it's still letting out a bead of around 5mm, which seems just a wee bit too big for this space.

Managed the bath last year, but the sink has been a nightmare. Think it's because I need a really thin bead and it's just not happening.

That's a good tip. If in the incredibly likely event I have to scrape it off and re-apply, I'll definitely be trying that.

Silicone sealant. Trying to re-do round my bathroom sink. Such a mess. Perhaps the one substance on Earth that's actually more difficult to apply than liquid eyeliner. Plus it seems to be giving off acetic acid? My whole bathroom stinks of vinegar now. Lovely.

God, that makes me so angry. Glad to see there was a favourable outcome for a change though. Bastards.

Enjoying the new Julia Holter, Laura Veirs and Alela Diane. Still need to hear the new White Hills and looking forward to the RM Hubbert one.

A broken one. Interested?

Thank you! :-)

Alright, Paulie Walnuts, are you waiting for them to "fall off a truck" or something?

(could a mod edit the thread title to include the above please? Thanks!)

***An addition to the lineup: GODZILLA BLUES Spacey ambient drones with an eerie 80's sci-fi/horror vibe. FFO: ARP, Stars of the Lid, Blade Runner Very enjoyable. Have a listen and come along! https://soundcloud.com/godzillablues

There are definitely rules when there's a girl in the band, because it's a completely different situation and totally different chemistry to when there isn't a girl in the band. For example, I massively crush on all the men in the bands that I'm in, because they're all dreamy rock studs and as a girl, I have no concept of self control. We've set out the rule that if we play well, I get to pick one of them to go home with for the night. But only if we all play really well. It's important to establish boundaries and to have an incentive to actually practice.