Red food poster up on Etsy

10th Feb 2012 | In: etsy | 1 Comment
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Just a quickie to say my Food poster is now available in a lovely Heinz-tomato-soup red. Mmm, I feel warmer just looking at it. Pick one up here!

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Mid-century hotel style in London Bridge

8th Feb 2012 | In: design | 3 Comments
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Hilton Hotels just got in touch (you know, as you do) to let me know that last year they formed a merger with 8 Mint Hotels, and are rebranding 8 Mint’s properties under Hilton’s DoubleTree and Garden Inn groups. The hotels in question include the DoubleTree London Westminster and Tower of London, Glasgow, Bristol, Birmingham and Amsterdam; and Garden Inn Leeds and Manchester. The Doubletree Tower Bridge caught my eye for its rather dashing mid-century inspired rooms, and check that restaurant with a view…

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The hotel’s in a great spot, in the shadow of Tower Bridge and a short walk from the foody treats of Borough Market and Maltby Street. There’s also Bermondsey Village just to the south which I’ve been meaning to visit for ages – it has a Friday antiques market plus a Saturday Farmers’ Market. Eating-wise there’s wonderful tapas institution Brindisa and its founder’s own new venture José, and The Rake is great for craft beers.

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If you happen to have friends visiting or are planning a trip to the capital yourself, it’d be a great base to explore from. More details here.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post from Hilton Hotels

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Owl sketch screencast

7th Feb 2012 | In: drawings, illustration | 8 Comments
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I think it’s always fun to see people’s work in progress, so I took this screencast while I doodled an owl in Illustrator the other night. It’s speeded up 20x! Here’s the finished chappy:

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Snow Sunday

5th Feb 2012 | In: cat, photos | 15 Comments
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I’m not a cold weather lover, but a thick dusting of pretty snow definitely takes the edge off, hmm? Especially on a Sunday when there’s no need to go anywhere except a walk around the village for a coffee and to snap some photos.

It’s the first time Yoni’s seen snow since he’s been going outside, so it was pretty fun seeing his reaction. He had a nose around but has spent most of the day curled up inside – sensible kitty.

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A little room rearrange

3rd Feb 2012 | In: my house | 16 Comments
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I gave my little home study-come-craft room a much-needed tidy up and rearrange recently. The space works so much better now!

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I ditched my old desk (it found a new home thanks to Gumtree) which was much too big for the room, and instead made my own with an Unto This Last custom-cut top and Ikea base unit and legs. I also got some rather sleek Ikea plan-chest type drawers to store all my prints for my shop.

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My big wall o’ kitsch has expanded somewhat. I finally splurged on some String shelves (they’re on sale at Haus) to house my little camera collection. I was pleased to find that this DIY newb was able to install them quite easily in less than an hour. They’re even straight (thanks iPhone spirit level app), and feel pretty solid – good investment.

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In the future I might replace the day bed with a more space-efficient one – it holds a ton of stuff in the drawers underneath but it’s really bulky. Having said that, now that the room is organised better I love just hanging out in here with the cat watching TV on my iMac. It’s also the warmest room in the house right now!

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The crochet blanket is one of Yoni’s favourite nap spots

The next house jobs/purchases include replacing some light sockets, repainting the bathroom, a new bed and bedside tables, and getting the garden sorted out in time for warm weather. We’re doing a skill swap with a garden designer – website in exchange for garden design – and I’m really excited to have a lovely outdoor space for this summer. Is anyone else doing any new year home improvements?

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Cooking with Tim Anderson

27th Jan 2012 | In: cooking, food | 2 Comments
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I’m kind of a Masterchef fangirl – in fact, I love any cookery show on TV – so when Handpicked Media extended an invite to a cookery demo night with last year’s champ Tim Anderson I jumped at it. I loved Tim’s cooking on the show – a modern fusion-y take on Japanese – and was pleased to see the menu for the night was of the same ilk.

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The event was sponsored by Oral B, for whom Tim is a new ambassador, and throughout the night they highlighted the kind of damage that everyday foods can do to your teeth – not just the sugary treats you might expect, but acidic foods, from tomatoes to tea, can erode away enamel and leave your teeth sensitive, stained and generally unhappy. But back to the food for a sec…

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Tim demonstrated both of the dishes for us, then we had a go recreating them in teams of two. First up, sashimi (or tofu for the veggies) with various seaweeds, a passion fruit foam, and dashi granita. Despite looking super fancy, this dish was really easy to put together – the main ingredient needs no cooking and the foam is simply whizzed with a stick blender to give it texture. The eating was a lovely blend of temperatures and textures, and the sweet foam really lifted the tofu.

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The main dish was tea-marinated egg on a crispy leek nest with chana puree – most definitely the kind of thing that’d jump out at me on a restaurant menu. Despite looking exquisite and complex it was again really quite simple and cooked almost in real-time (apart from the egg, which needs 24 hours to soak up the chai tea broth). I’d definitely cook it at home again; the flavours and textures were fantastic. If you’d like to try it too, the recipe’s at the bottom of this blog post!

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These crispy leeks would make an awesome accompaniment to loads of dishes, I reckon

While we ate, one of Oral B’s scientists, Adam, told us about their new toothpaste, Pro-expert, which addresses the problems food can cause to your tooth enamel by creating an effective barrier as you brush. I’m generally skeptical of such claims (and I don’t think these ads that smack of pseudo-science do any favours) but Adam really knew his stuff, and I came away quite convinced that it’s worth investing in a good toothpaste. I’ve been using the sample tube we were given and I swear my teeth feel cleaner already. You get a free sample too right here.

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One of Tim’s next projects is running a cookery tour holiday to Japan, yours for just £5k. Hey Handpicked, I’d happily go to this too in the name of blog-journalism, k? CALL ME!

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Print
Hen’s Nest of Tea-Stained Egg, Leek Bhaji, and Chana Masala Puree

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Ingredients

    For the eggs:
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 tsp chai tea
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 thread of saffron
  • For the leek bhaji:
  • 2 leeks
  • 30g plain flour
  • 1 tspn garam masala
  • ½ tspn chilli powder
  • vegetable oil, for frying
  • For the chana masala:
  • 1 onion
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • ½ tsp chilli powder (or more if you like more heat)
  • 200g tinned tomatoes
  • 150ml water, tomato juice or stock
  • 250g chickpeas (tinned or cooked dried)
  • 6g tamarind paste
  • ½ tsp paprika
  • 1g garam masala
  • 50g butter
  • 1 tsp peaty whisky

Method

    The day before:
  1. Boil the eggs for 5 minutes (add the eggs when the water is already boiling and keep at a rapid boil) then submerge in cold water. Steep the tea, soy sauce, and saffron in 240ml hot water. Allow to cool, then shell the eggs and marinate in the liquid for 24 hours.
  2. For the leeks:
  3. Cut the leeks into 2 inch chunks, then slice into a fine julienne. Combine the spices and flour and toss with the leeks, shaking off any excess. Fry in 180ºC oil until golden brown and crispy. Drain on kitchen paper and season with salt.
  4. For the chana:
  5. Chop the onions and garlic and saute in vegetable oil along with the coriander, cumin, and chilli until soft. Add the tomatoes, water/juice/stock, saffron, chickpeas, tamarind paste, other spices and a pinch of salt and cook until the liquid has reduced. Add the butter and whisky and blend with a hand blender to a smooth puree. Pass through a fine sieve.
  6. To serve:
  7. Place a dollop of chana puree onto each plate, spreading out artily if you lik. Make the leeks into a little nest in the middle of the plate on top of the chana and place an egg in the centre. Garnish with pea shoots, fresh coriander and a squeeze of lime, if you have them to hand.

Notes

Serves 4, recipe adapted from Tim Anderson for Oral B.

Google Recipe View Microformatting by ZipList Recipe Plugin
1.4
www.whatkatiedoes.net/2012/01/cooking-with-tm-anderson.html

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Exploratorium and Musee Mecanique, San Francisco

26th Jan 2012 | In: san fran | 2 Comments
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Yes, my holiday to San Fran was officially LIGHT YEARS ago but this is the very last batch of photos. Josh insisted we go to the Exploratorium – a museum squarely aimed at children, with tons of interactive displays about science, perception, illusions and so on. OK, I admit it, it was actually pretty fun for grown-ups too. (But wow, it was busy, I think we accidentally managed to go on some kind of public holiday.)

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Another must-see for Josh was the Musee Mecanique, a huge collection of vintage and retro arcade games housed in a warehouse at Fisherman’s Wharf. I mostly watched and took photos :)

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More photos on Flickr

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Letterpress workshop at Turnbull Grey

23rd Jan 2012 | In: craft class | 4 Comments
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Lucky me – I mentioned to Josh months ago that I’d love to do a letterpress workshop, and he remembered and bought me a class for my birthday. It was held at Turnbull Grey in Clerkenwell, who are primarily a graphic design studio but also run letterpress workshops on the side.

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The class was small (just three people and two tutors, the eponymous Angela and Chris) and informal: a quick history of letterpress was given along with a rundown of the process, then we were left to dream up a design and get printing.

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Dealing with the minutiae of setting 12px Baskerville with perfect tracking and leading this class ain’t: it’s more of a fun open workshop using big wooden type to create a graphic poster or postcards. The huge chest of wooden movable type was a treat to rummage through.

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After a practice run with a single character, I decided to print a poster with a short quotation: “Great design is transparent”. The process is pretty easy. Pick your letters and arrange in a pleasing formation inside the metal frame. Remember the words will print backwards (like I did not first time around).

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Plug the gaps so it’s all secure and align on the base of the letterpress machine. Turnbull Grey have two tabletop Adana machines along with this flatbed one. The Adana is easier to use and more mechanised, but the flatbed provides a better finish and can handle larger designs.

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Ink up a roller and roll over your type – a little ink goes a long way. For a sexy gradient effect, just roll two colours together. Align the paper on top and pull the rollers to press.

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Here’s my final poster! I love the gradient effect, but it’s a shame you can’t really read the type behind it as I planned. Given another chance I’d definitely plan my design better.

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The 3-hour class at Turnbull Grey was so much fun, I highly recommend it as a brilliant introduction to letterpress printing in which you can muck around and have a try without splashing out on all the kit yourself. Check their site for the latest dates.

Blog photo editing for lazy types

20th Jan 2012 | In: photos, tutorial | 2 Comments
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I thought it’d be interesting to share how I edit and grade photos for my blog, since I get a lot of nice comments on my photos. The secret is I’m really quite lazy with editing – I don’t shoot RAW and spend ages manually fiddling with exposure levels or anything, but a couple of minutes in Photoshop can make an average photo look a bit more special.

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I’ll demonstrate on this snap I took while I was doing a letterpress class on Tuesday (about which more later…). Nice subject matter, but needs some work to make it pretty.