Why does Channel 4 seem to be waging a war against the greens?

Comments?

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So if you are interested, do get in touch with the artist! It looks an interesting project and I know that I have boxes of UFOs......

Knitter

Nobody who uses heating oil - up 88% in the past 12 months - is going to come within hailing distance of a 3.8% inflation rate. Only those who can spend the summer months knitting enough jumpers to insulate all family members and leave enough to barter for lemonade and the occasional lamb chop will survive.

And just so's you know- you'll also be ok if you like lentils, walk every where, don't go out, buy a lot of furniture or live with your parents....

All photos copyrighted to Skitten.

From the top right, going clockwise, we have: flowers at Mawgan Porth; the south end of Perranporth, taken from Droskyn Head; Skitten staring down into the azure sea from Cligga Head; a garden tiger moth having a sunbath on Skitten's sunnies, at St Agnes beach; summer heather and ling; Glitter looking back northwards towards 'green island'.

That was a *good* weekend. We took a train ride to Penzance, went to a party down on the Tamar Estury, which had more sausages than we knew what to do with, a camoflage-tent bar and chinese paper lanterns that were filled with hot air and sent sailing in to the twilight. Their glow was made all the more lovely by the potential of a nuclear-fuelled 'military misunderstanding', what with the submarine naval base just around the corner...

Can recommend the walk from Droskyn to St Agnes. Easy walking and good food half way round. Really wanted a swim too, but too many people on the beach.

There are a few more on their website and they all sound lovely!

Greetings from Chez Purlpower, in Orgiva, Spain. Once more I have left the camera at home, so have no pictures to share, and Purlpower's camera seems to be on its last legs, but if we can get some life into it, I will post some with her permission.

Anyway, as you might expect, the weather here is marvelous, and a drastic change from the damp British summer I have experienced so far. It is a real pleasure to be so hot I can't do anything in the afternoon.... and the locally grown fruit and veg have so much flavour I feel as though my taste buds are having a sensory overload! Tomatoes, avocados, peaches, nectarines and cherries are absolutely delicious!

More soon ......

More on my return!

A three-day international interdisciplinary conference

In the loop is a collaborative event involving three distinct divisions of the University of Southampton: Winchester School of Art, the Textile Conservation Centre and the University of Southampton Library.

The programme looks packed and really interesting. If only I lived nearer, I would have taken time off work to go to this ..... Imagine three whole days of knitting intellectualism and academe .......

Forward to the 24th June, 2008. A light and solicitous evening. Swallows flying around the courtyard, Wimbledon on the TV. The need for cake for the next day to celebrate a colleague's birthday. And yet another attempt to recreate 'the muffaroon' started.

Previous attempts had failed. Too boingy. Too spongy. Tasted 'sour'. This time I decided to start from scratch. Threw away the idea of that serendipitous almond/muffin/roasting tin triumvate. This time I decided to go fully muffiny, but with a MACAROON TOPPING!

This is partly based on the many lemony muffins I have made recently- including lemon drizzle muffins- on the number of citrus almond-based sponges I have eaten in cafes over the last two weeks, on the macaroon biscuit frenzy a few months ago, caused by DJ Mikey's sudden professed love of macaroons, and a 'macaroon cake' recipe produced by Tamsin Day-Lewis that I noticed somewhere.

Genius. I always thought I could rule the world if I could be bothered. I can't, by the way. Be bothered.

Still Life: Muffaroon on junk shop china

Oven: at 180 C/gas 4

Makes 12 muffins. Use muffin cases, as the macaroon topping is very fragile and doesn't do well with too much handling.

Ingredients

Sponge base:
175 g butter
150 g caster sugar
pinch of salt
zest of 1 lemon
4 tbsp plain yoghurt
2 eggs
150 g self-raising flour
85 g ground almonds

Macaroon hat:

2 egg whites
115 g caster sugar
85 g ground almonds

Method

Preheat the oven. Put your muffin cases in your muffin tin. Gird your loins. Cream butter, sugar and salt until as light and fluffy as you can be arsed with. I tend to warm the butter slightly to make it easier. Mix in the lemon zest and yoghurt. Beat in the eggs, then the flour, then the ground almonds. If you are vigorous and no-nonsense, like me, then you'll end up with a vigorous, no-nonsense sponge base. If you are more sensitive and light handed, and don't beat, but fold these ingredients in, then you might get a lighter sponge. Just sayin'.

Spoon the mixture equally into your 12 muffin cases. Put in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.

Whilst the muffins are baking, make the macaroon 'hat' mixture:

Whisk the egg whites until you have soft peaks. Whisk in the caster sugar, then fold in the almonds.

Check the muffins (they are not yet muffaroons)- they should be just about 'set', but still with a bit of a wobble to them. Take them out, and spoon equal amounts of macaroon hat mixture onto the top. Spread a little. Don't worry that it is globby or mixes with a bit of the sponge batter. It all evens out in the end, a bit like life really. Put back in the oven and bake for another 10-15 minutes until the macaroon hat is set and has a slight colour to it.

Allow to cool. Hide from friends and family.

NB- there are, of course, many possible alterations: lessen or remove the lemon, add almond essence. Use orange peel instead. If the yoghurt makes it too sour for you, then use creme fraiche.