£7 Food Challenge Day 3: M R Fish... CDBDIs (Think of Two Ronnies...)

Day 3 and I thought I'd blown the bank already for a minute.

Because I'm an idiot who rounded down from £7 to £5.

Yesterday, I went through the cupboard (lots of beans), the fridge (hellooooo!!! A bit sparse...) and the chest freezer. (Lumps of probably beef. Check. Lumps of probably bacon. Check.) Then I went and made a meal plan, taking into consideration what I could make from what I've got. Meal plan was checked and approved by OH. Good.

Then I went to Aldi with a shopping list, having consulted this week's Super 6 offers (now 89p per pack. I could have sworn they were 39p a month ago?). The bus into town was half an hour late, so I thought sod making bread tonight and used all my contingency pennies in buying a loaf.

So: semi-skimmed milk, 2 pints - 79p
canned garden peas - 20p (processed were 19p, but, for the sake of a penny...)
1kg carrots - 79p
6 medium free range eggs - 95p
Conference pears (Super 6) - 89p
wholemeal bread - 45p

Total spend today: £4.15. Add that to 94p. Total spend so far £5.09 - leaving £1.91 in the kitty. That's £1.91 I didn't think I had. That's £1.91 I'm probably going to spend on spuds, as I had to cut a load of bruise out of some of the potatoes I used for tonight's tea, which would have left Sunday's chicken dinner looking a bit mean as there are now only three remaining in the bag.

My Day 3 food went like this:

Breakfast: wheat biscuits, milk and sugar
Lunch: fish paste and cucumber sandwiches; plum
Treat: More leftover party snacks in the office.
Dinner: Sprattus Sprattus. Vino Tinto (the 50p one - very nice)

Tonight's make do from what we've got meal was sprats - very cheap fish; the sort of thing most people use to catch other fish. Sprats are high in Omega 3, though. Latin for the sprat, according to the tray they came in, is Sprattus Sprattus. I don't know why I am amused by that, but I am.

Anyway, they are sweet little fish, of a convenient size for waving at cats to annoy them.

To prepare, wash the whole fish, pat dry, then add to seasoned flour and play 'hide the eyes'.

Oi - Oi've got moi eye on you.

Then they can be fried in a shallow pan, with a generous glug of oil. Cook until they go brown and crispy - about 5-8 minutes in total, 2-3 minutes each side . Season with lemon juice and parsley.

Just like whiting, they can be eaten whole. I mean, try biting them first. Don't swallow the entire fish at once, you'll choke. I mean you can eat the whole fish - bones and eyes and tails and all.

I served mine with mushy peas which had been soaking with bicarbonate of soda for 13 hours, and were then cooked for 20 minutes. Also with potato wedges seasoned with smoked paprika.

Mushy peas: so much nicer than they look

That was a huge dinner, and we have 2 very happy cats tonight who got left a fish each, and a very happy OH too. Why do cats think all the fish belong to them? It's weird.

Secret £7 Food Challenge. Challenge Within a Challenge.

Yesterday I blogged about a weekend of decadence... and here's a photo of the stash of bought and blagged books and things from Brighton and World Fantasy Convention. Unfortunately all the red velvet cupcakes are in my belly already...

...which reminds me, there was a sweet moment at the launch of Colder, Greyer Stones, when Tannith Lee asked me what my "Cake Pigeon" tee-shirt was about, and I explained it was a Sarah Millican joke. It involved me doing some cooing.

Anyway... the cupcakes are gone. Life has returned to post-convention mundanity. I have paid for a cinema treat at the end of the month, and am building savings up by making cutbacks. We've gone a bit off-plan and need to get back on track with big, scary bills of the present and future. But I want to make sure OH doesn't feel deprived. He's got to have an operation and take time off work. He has plenty of books to get through while he is recuperating, at least.

So, when I say I am taking on Stacey at Mortgage Free Journey's £7 food challenge, my challenge will not be including OH. He can wander off the plan with impunity. However, I will be budgeting his meals into the plan and hoping it's satisfactory for him. I'll be using up some of the things from our chest freezer to make the budget stretch. Bear in mind, we have lots of tins and things in, but hardly any fresh stuff left at all!

Anyway, I'm 2 days in, so here's what I've managed so far.

Day 1: Breakfast: me, wheat biscuits, maple syrup, milk - already bought. Him - nothing, he rarely eats breakfast.
Lunch: both of us, egg and salad cream sandwiches, Satsuma/plum. already bought.
Treats: me, someone brought in leftover Halloween chocolate.  OH made himself a fried egg sandwich in the afternoon.
Dinner: Smoked Salmon spaghetti. This was made with smoked salmon trimmings from the freezer, a small onion, clove of garlic, half a small tin of sweetcorn and some Elmlea single we had to use up, slightly thickened with cornflour, seasoned with nutmeg and parsley, and served with spaghetti.Yum!
Shopping: cucumber 40p and fish paste 25p

I didn't buy any bread. Made my own, nur!

I made this. Mmm. Arg.

 Day 2:

Breakfast: porridge and maple syrup. I make my porridge with water and just add a splash of milk at the end.

Lunch: fish paste and cucumber sandwiches - with homemade bread!

Treats: a handful of chilli crisps and more sweets left over from someone's party

Dinner: Pork steaks marinaded in maple syrup, lemon juice, garlic and rosemary, grilled. Served with potato and swede mash, with a bit of nutmeg, gravy made from stock/cornflour and veg juices, steamed carrots and leeks (I steam the veg above the potatoes - saves energy as well as retaining the flavour better). Sorry, the brown nature of my kitchen gives everything a sheen of the 70s. It was very tasty. However, OH wanted pudding so I made pancakes, served with homemade blackberry jam.

Shopping: Poor pickings in my local Asda. I only bought onions, 29p. Off to Aldi tomorrow.

 

 

Total spend this week: 94p.

Anyone else tempted to join in?

 

World Fantasy Convention and Brighton - Part Two

I hope you enjoyed part one of Things that Should Have Stayed in Brighton. I'm sad that some of the books we bought and had signed ended up staying in Brighton... there's a very, very slight chance that they will turn up and the hotel's Lost Property will call today... but, of course, with so many free books lying around the most likely scenario is that they were collected up and donated to raise funds for a cancer charity. At least I can console myself that they were lost in a good cause.

 

And so, we begin part deux. Readers of the previous blog may recall there was mention of booze and people and we finished on Sunday night, sometime around 4ish. Actually, I think I'd sobered up by then... my conversations with Lavie Tidhar, Neil Williamson, Jetse de Vries and Simon Bestwick happened at some point; Ian Sales, Liam Proven and David Tallerman were giggling at me like schoolboys; Hal Duncan was singing "Born Free"  and talking about Dunoon to me... I can't remember when I arm-wrestled Ruth Booth...

 

At more sober times during the con, I kept saying "hello" to Liz Williams en route to places, and was often walking behind the fabulous coat of Emma Newman. I chatted a fair bit to Jonathon Oliver, especially at the Solaris desk, when he was there with Guy Adams.

 

But I cannot capture anywhere near all the good times that were had and all the lovely people I spoke to... I had a great time. My only downside was that with all the stairs my knee started hurting, so I decided to avoid joining Parkrun in Preston Park on Saturday. Next week I go unfit and unprepared into my 10km. Can't be helped.

 

Is it any surprise then that on Sunday, not having any tickets for the Banquet and subsequent World Fantasy Awards, and being a little, erm, tired, we didn't go back to the con hotel? Instead we wandered around the famous Lanes and down the seafront.

 

And the London-Brighton Vintage car rally was on. There were some beautiful cars:







 



 

It's clearly a rich man's hobby, though... every person interviewed when they finished their run sounded like a BBC/Pathé news broadcaster.

 



 

 

 

And could this be my favourite shop in Brighton? Choccywoccydoodah sells chocolate - expensive, arty chocolate. I liked the chocolate mugs - mugs made out of chocolate - with a silver spoon melted to the side. The impressive window display was full of skulls, cobwebs and giant displays of phantasmagoria. No, I didn't buy any... OH only had eyes for cycle shops, and other people's cycles.

 

Going to a convention like WFC is, admittedly, a bit of a jolly, but few of us would go to so many if there were nothing to be gained but an opportunity to meet friends and have a good time (I have a house, and a kettle, and nice  pubs nearby, thanks). It's an investment of time and resources to get your face known within the industry. Because it's an outlay, you need to carefully consider whether a convention is worth going to, and consider your budget even more carefully. And spending will happen - so belts must be tightened before and after... see my next blog about that grim reality. As with every investment, there is a risk that the return will not be as good as you hoped. But if that's the case, at least you still get a nice break from it. And see your friends, too!

 

Here are my financial yays and woahs for a con like WFC:

 

Books

 

Most of the books we picked up were free. Some of those are gorgeous publications, too. Books are treasures that I love to read... and give. We also supported the industry by buying some books we really wanted, and saved money by buying direct. Shame we lost some books, though. 

 

Booze

 

The bar in the hotel was expensive, but most of what we drank was free, given away at signings and launch parties. Trouble is, when the free stuff runs out, so do your financial inhibitions! We also took along some decent red wine acquired for 50p, but didn't get round to cracking that open. Ah well, it'll last.

 

Food

 

If I were a novelist, perhaps I'd have an agent whisk me off for an expenses-paid meal somewhere nice, but I'm not... yet. We got by on bargain express lunches, sandwiches, free cake and bar snacks from the parties and launches, and food we'd brought with us, and just got ripped off that once hunting for breakfast. I wish we'd stuck to Wetherspoons. I know it's not terribly exciting, but it's decent fodder, tea and beer at a reasonable price.

 

Freebies

 

Bags, wallets, promotional shot glasses... and I'm unlikely to run out of pens for a while!

 

Another time, I will try to stock up on soft drinks at the supermarket (time/organization) and will be a bit more insistent on going to Spoons. Probably go to more panels too, but then I think everyone says that...



 

 



World Fantasy Convention and Brighton - Part One

This is the tale of how OH and I travelled to Brighton and went to a World Fantasy Convention, spent rather a lot of money (but not as much as we could have) and had an excellent time.

What is a World Fantasy Convention? In summary: a huge professional convention attended by hundreds of writers, artists, booksellers, publishers, editors, bloggers and enthusiastic readers from all over the world. There is a great emphasis on appreciation of fantasy, so all the honoured guests, the networkers and the fans can get down to the grass roots of why we all do what we do. It's an enormous celebration of genre, a weekend-long party and/or business catch-up. Famous faces are gawped at, red wine is quaffed with abandon, promises are made - and broken - to not buy books, bad, blurry photos are taken, new bookmarks and giveaways grabbed off tables, reasonable bedtimes are missed (and often breakfast) and business cards swapped.

For a frugal wench with a decidedly unfrugal hubby, temptations and pitfalls abound. Take the dealer's room for example... As soon as you arrive and register, you get to pick up a dozen free books. That doesn't stop you getting all big-eyed when you see more of the things to buy. Waterstones won't stock a twentieth of these! And they are cheaper, too... bargain books! Bargain lovely things... but oh, so very many of them...

And sometimes swords, the like of which a Tolkien elf might wield. 

OH can't afford any of these. Sad face.



I was very pleased at managing to find cheaper hotel accommodation very near the convention hotel. On recommendation, I tried the Premier Inn - actually from a friend who got confused and was staying in the Travelodge. In fact, most of our friends were staying in the Travelodge... (no, I don't think they told us a different hotel on purpose). But the hotel room we had was spacious, comfy and quiet. And Lenny was no trouble.

I also used my Network Rail card and Train Genius to get a bargain train price. We had to take a specific train from Northampton (which was unfortunately very crowded), change twice (seats - hooray!) and could reverse the journey back on Sunday at any time before 18.25. Total 3 nights' accommodation and transport for the pair of us: £277.00.

Having been to a World Horror Convention before, we knew there were bound to be a lot of things to cart home, so I took our shopping trolley. This turned out to be very useful indeed. I also prepared for the journey by making giant spicy veggie pasties - just the thing for replacing energy lost through lugging -  and the Bite card for cheaper drinks.

Warning: lots of linked names now occur as I name-drop like crazy!

Greeting us at registration was the lovely Pixie Puddin'  handing out badges. We also saw our friends Andrew Reid, and Dave Lally, already run off their feet as red-coated volunteers. Some of the volunteering people were barely a blur, we hardly saw them. Some appeared to us only in the form of an avatar, sending a tweet every now and then. Every time we bumped into Andrew and Alasdair, though, they seemed remarkably cheerful, even though bits of Andrew were dropping off (toenail - ouchie).

It being early in the con, we gravitated towards the most expensive bar of the hotel, fools that we were. Here I was elbow-twisted by OH into acquiring a golden ticket to stop my Go Sober campaign a day early. Paul Cornell couldn't believe my defeatism! I accepted a delicious lemon drizzle cup cake from Kari Sperring, and said hello to the lovely Chaz Brenchley, who I haven't seen for ages, and who's now based in LA with his wife, K L Williams - who I also met. Then there was Sue Boulton and daughter, Kathy, and Del and Kim Lakin-Smith, Ian Whates and Helen Sansum, Neil and Gemma Beynon, Nick and Ellie, Gareth L. Powell, Ruth Booth Adam Osbourne and loads of other peeps.

It was all so very exciting, OH had to have a little lie down, so he didn't accompany me to go to the David Gemmel Awards. These awards were founded in honour of the legendary David Gemmel by the just as legendary, I think, Debs Miller - or Miller Lau. Debs passed away earlier this year, and tribute was made to her in the awards ceremony.

Ian Whates announces the book launch for Legends

After the ceremony, we attended a very lavish reception with lots of wine and nibbles on offer. I went to get a copy of the book, having completely forgotten I had one for helping out with it - brilliant!

And so, the wine flowed (free and freely). Quite tipsy, I used up all my bravery in chatting to artist Jim Burns. He was great fun to talk to. as were Ann Lyle and James Barclay...

Friday: might have missed a bit. Breakfast was a speedy Subway as we failed to make a reading. So the first panel-type-thing of the day was Gillian Redfearn's Guest of Honour interview with Joe Hill.  At noon. Gillian was witty, Joe was funny - it was really very good.

Neil and I then grabbed a Thai lunch and came back for the Terry Pratchett interview, which we watched in the company of Farah Mendlesohn. It was great to see Terry receive such tremendous support and to hear about his latest creative projects. It was also heartbreaking... PCA is such a cruel disease.

After Terry Pratchett's interview, it was very difficult to leave as there were so many people there to watch him. So, we waited things out and chatted with fellow Northampton Science Fiction Writers Group member, Mark West, and his friend Sue Moorcroft, who we thanked profusely for recommending the hotel for our honeymoon in Malta. We then went along to see Danie Ware at her book launch for Ecko Burning, and also picked up some books by Francis Knight, as they had a bit of a deal on together - and they had Pimms and chocolate cake which was jolly nice, and we chatted to Peter Hamilton and Charles Rudkin.

Ian Whates and Tannith Lee

I've been a fan of Tannith Lee's work for years - though she has written so many books, I've a lot to catch up with. It was lovely seeing her interviewed by my friend Ian as she was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

I then lost OH for hours as he went to the mass signing to get two books signed by Michael Marshall Smith (for whom I once narrated a short story for Pseudopod), and my copy of The Doll's House signed by Neil Gaiman. However, he didn't have anything for Joe Hill to sign, so asked for some in-jokes from his GoH interview to be daubed on his body. Neil Gaiman then couldn't help but add a little dalek...

Ruth looked after OH at the signing.

It then went crazy, as OH got written on by a lot of people including Paul Cornell, Ellen Kushner, Frances Hardinge and everyone we were drinking with in Bar 106.

Vinnie Chong tried not to look...

Dominic Harman - possibly being indecently proposed to...

Photo snaffled off WFC C/o them

Meantime, I was downstairs in bar 106 consoling myself at the Tor UK party with several red velvet cupcakes. He was gone ages - sniffle. But he did it for me! Pity then, that we seem to have lost the books somewhere. Sad face.We had fun later though and met lots of new peeps and I had squiffy conversations with James Worrad, Damien G Walter, James A. Moore, A J Dalton, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Simon Gilmartin  and Sammy Smith.

On Saturday, a valiant attempt was made to find a proper full English breakfast in Brighton. You'd think this was possible? If only we'd gone to Wetherspoons! But we tried to find a nice caf' or something and ended up in faux-rustic place with benches and dried chillies and chalkboards everywhere. Baked beans were an extra pound!  Normal beans!!! Nothing fancy. Also, the staff seemed a bit put out to have us there, and when it turned out service wasn't included, we decided it was. I think I left 35p change.

We went to a panel when we got back - about the sorts of things editors don't want to see, moderated by bossman Lee Harris, then picked a party to go to. We picked Amazon's... they had beer on offer and people to answer questions about self-publishing. And that's about all I'll say on that...

We managed to find a jolly decent pub for a jolly decent tea, then I did a quick change ready for my poetry performance that night. It was brilliant to have Sue, Kathy, Neil and Gemma come in to watch me, and I was in some really god poetical company. Joe Haldeman was there!!! and Roz Kaveney, Amanda Hemingway, Andrew Hook, Sophia Wessex, Cardinal Cox, Roy Gray...

...and the night continued merrily and ended with a good idea. And more will be said, but for now, part one is done.

Part two here.



World Fantasy Convention 2013 - Are We Nearly There Yet?

Only a few days to go until World Fantasy Convention in Brighton - I'm looking forward to it immensely.

OH and I have had stern words with ourselves about not buying any books. Okay... maybe just one...

The convention budget is set and we have prepared in advance by making sure our transport and accommodation is covered. The convention have issued stern warnings concerning seemly attire, imbibing of excess quantities of booze and lost passes. I'm afraid there's nothing in the kitty to cover any 'replacement fee' so I'd better not lose mine, or I'll need to spend the whole time in the bar instead - which would be more expensive, and liable to lead to the imbibing of excess quantities of booze. I've said that as it is Brighton, and they sound a bit like grumpy teachers telling the kids off, maybe they should have a 'forgotten pass - go to panels in the nuddy' rule.

I don't have any panels, but will be performing some spoken word on Saturday.

I'm looking forward to seeing lots of friends, and some of my favourite writers are going, too. Joanne Harris, Terry Pratchett, Tannith Lee, and loads of others.

I'm working tonight and have been hearing the whizz-bang of rockets going off nearby - it's that time of year. time for pumpkin and spice... samosas and jalebis!

There was a Diwali celebration in the market square on Saturday, and I took my nephew along.

Lots of people watching the dancing

Nephew likes the dancing... even though it's not Strictly.

Karom boards to play with

Happy Diwali!

In Frugal news this week:

• I've eaten a lot of 30p chocolate. It's been stressful.
• ...this despite a lot of homemade cake on offer at work as well!
• Nephew thinks going to town on the bus is an adventure and a treat!
• Picked up some bargain Christmas presents.
• A bit slow on the news front, really... ah well, bound to be more exciting next week.

Currently reading: Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter's The Long Earth. Sourced from the library - enjoying very much so far.

The Best Things in Life and Other Pretty Wish Ponies

We all know that the best things in life are free.

Of course, if you get stuff for free (air/education/unconditional love), these tend to be the things that you vastly under-appreciate. It does take a moment of centring to properly reflect on just how lucky we are. I've got a lovely life, and though I do get sad at not being able to share my news with my mom, or incredibly frustrated at the crappy news on the telly, I'm still pretty jammy.

But let's keep all the philosophical rainbows for the end when you've stopped reading.

I want to tell you about all the good free stuff I've enjoyed this week. Stuff you could probably put a monetary value to. But if you are hoping I am going to start rubbishing free stuff that is beyond price, please do stick around for the philosophical rainbows. You need them.

First of all, I would like to recommend a listening thing to you: a rather wonderful podcast by the fantasy writer Emma Newman called Tea and Jeopardy in which she interviews different writers each week in her secret tea lair, offers them cake, and then puts them in a spot of mild peril while her slightly psychotic 'butler' makes amusing quips. With a rather busy and stressful week, I tell you this podcast has kept me sane. It's interesting and funny and well worth a listen.

Secondly, a thing to go and see...

You can go and see Richard III - A Facial Reconstruction at Northampton Museum and Art Gallery. It's there on loan until 5th January 2014. OH and I went to the private view, which had a grand unveiling and an introduction by Dr Phillip stone, Chairman of Richard III Society. There was free wine, which OH enjoyed (I had a lovely orange juice) and while we gathered downstairs, a lady played some Michael Nyman tunes on a baby grand. We bumped into current Bard of Northampton, Peter James Norman, who was telling us about his Northampton Castle film project, which sounds really exciting.

This was the crowd gathered about the unveiled head.

OH had a whale of a time discussing sword fighting and conspiracy theories. I was fascinated by how the head was made using a 3D printer, and by finding an angle to stand at for his eyes to look normal (you have to be below him; he's then looking down his nose at you, rather aptly).

On further examination, Richard III does not appear to be related to my husband.

My friend Tamsyn commented, "A sword up the backside, wasn't it?"

And it would have been a very frugal and free evening, but the night was young and the pubs were still open when we left the museum... damn!

To enjoy free, fun things going on does involve a bit of organisation. My Saturday was a brilliant day of pampering frugalness.

First of all, I headed to town to enjoy a wonderful Clarins Spa "Face and Eyes Refresher" facial. It was absolutely wonderful! I felt sooo chilled out at the end of it. It was a 45 minute session targeting "signs of tiredness and stress", and oh boy did it work. I won that session from a competition in a brochure at the centre that I completed earlier in the year (- it's well worth doing these competitions, so long as it doesn't cost you to enter. You have to be in it to win it! I was organised in that I made sure I didn't have to use any postage and handed my entry in at the centre office). The session would normally have cost £38, and now I know what it can do, I would say save up for a special treat for one of those as they are great. I also got a lot of free samples of the products used so I can replicate some of what they did at home. Yippee!

Then I had to undo a bit of the work by getting back on the bus and trying to find the Royal Mail depot in the back of beyond where they'd sent a parcel. I could have paid £1.50 to have it delivered more locally, but I'm glad I didn't as it was only my Cokezone Rewards gift (there was a football in the pack so it didn't fit through the letterbox). I'd have been annoyed at paying for something free to be delivered. The only thing was, I didn't realise the depot didn't sell postage, and I had a manuscript with me to send off. So that missed last post as I then had to travel back to Northampton. Grr!

Good thing then, that I had a voucher on me for a free Sprite from Subway - I jolly well needed it by then!

Good job, too, that I decided to replace my makeup that I broke while I was back in town, as I'd forgotten I'd arranged to go to a charity dinner in the evening. There I was in my walking boots and thick jumper, when OH said, "You'd better start getting ready, we're being picked up in ten minutes. Why am I wearing a suit? It's black tie!" Eeek!

But I have been going au naturel and wasn't bothered at all. I had just chosen then to replace my makeup to take advantage of a promotion to get extra makeup stuff that was on offer. So I got twice the makeup for my money, and didn't buy anything that I wouldn't have intended to. It's stuff that suits me, doesn't make my skin flare up, and is low-market price, so all good.

...and on the bus, I was reading my free book, Dream London by Tony Ballantyne. Jolly good it is too.

And as we are about to have another huge financial obligation (not a bad thing) impose on our budgetary  plans, it's going to be all the more important to enjoy ourselves and appreciate the time we have together, without reaching into our pockets too deeply to fund it. For example, tomorrow, we intend to see World War Z for 'free' at the Picturedrome. It will be necessary to buy a drink, but we don't have to go mad. Let's not do a Richard IV...

Of course, being frugal can mean different things to lots of people, but essentially it's about not being wasteful with resources, time, and especially money. I don't see anything wrong with 'supporting' local businesses, especially independent ones. They keep your local economy going. And it's worth investing time -  your bum on a seat - to keep the cool things you love happening in your town going. Sometimes, it's worth balancing what you can get for your buck, with the investment that buck is making into creating more stuff. and that's why I am not totally averse to spending money if I have it on things that I don't necessarily 'need'. Heck, a lot of the time, that's just not possible.

Books are a prime example. I have access to a lot of free books through my work, and through the library. I've been thinking more lately about how I support the creators when I do spend money on books. And I have been thinking about it more since my discussion with writer Juliet E. Mckenna on her blog. Because of that discussion, I have decided to remove my Amazon Associates widget from this blog. It doesn't seem right to have any click-throughs support a selling behemoth that is not really helping readers to discover the fantastic writers out there. However, I am hoping to do my bit to help with a 'bums on seats' initiative that I am thinking through at the moment, and will hopefully be able to shout about soon.

EDIT: the best things in life really are free though. Like the time to write this blog! I'm having such a chilled Sunday - it's wonderful! Going to spend some time with my hubby later watching films, eating roast chicken, maybe make some scones to be consumed with blackberry jam. What could be better than that?

Beautiful and Wonderful Things in the Post -BSFA magazines

I felt a huge surge of pride when I opened the post on Monday and saw I had received copies of Vector and Focus  - the magazines of the British Science Fiction Association, of which I have been Chair since June. 

Fantastic cover art by Kev Rooney

Of course, I've always thought the magazines were pretty ace; Vector is the association's critical journal and features some great articles and critical analysis concerning contemporary and classic science fiction - mainly in literature. I sometimes write reviews for it, but haven't got anything in this issue (in the next one I have). I'm particularly looking forward to reading the features on Adam Roberts' and Stephen Baxter's work... picture me later with my feet up and a pot of Lady Grey on the go and some Elizabeth Shaw mints to nibble (rescued from a party... nobody wanted them. Nobody wanted delicious minty chocolate!!! What is the world coming to?).

I've popped Focus foremost in the piccie though because I'm particularly proud to have had the chance to be involved with the editorial work. Guest editor this issue was the fantastic writer Kim Lakin-Smith (my Matron of Honour at my wedding this year!) and the cover features a plate illustration for a new edition of her gorgeous first novel Tourniquet. The artist, Kev Rooney, is from Northampton and is a creator of beautiful gothic artwork and stories. I quite honestly think it's one of the best writing magazines out there, and the current issue focuses on writing groups.



My byline! Mostly Kim's...

Kim, Kev, Shana, Alex, Steve, Clive and all the contributors to the magazines... awesome job!

In frugal news:

• I went to my brother and sister in law's house to deliver a birthday present and came home with two courgettes from their allotment and boxes of raspberry and chilli tea. OH and I are now fighting over who can grab the most tea. We love this tea! Thanks, bro!
• I made an amazing pie from the free apples I got from said same allotment the other day. I used a Good Housekeeping Dutch apple pie recipe, but used almond essence instead of vanilla as I'd run out of vanilla. Looked ugly as it exploded from the glut of apple filling, but was very yummy.
• Getting ready for Christmas... used my Cokezone points which were going to expire on 15th to grab a sporty present suitable for a young nephew. I had been going to get makeup, but they'd stopped the offers already. Too bad as I smashed my foundation and blusher on Saturday by accidentally dropping them. I endeavoured to rescue as much foundation as I could, only to realise I was smearing tiny little particles of glass onto my face. Not recommended. Best thing about the Cokezone points - they were mostly gained through picking up litter in my messy street. I am a litter-picking hero! You threw money away fools! Almost as good as  the time I saw a guy deliberately throw an unwanted receipt on the floor of a petrol station - only it wasn't a receipt, it was his tenner change! You didn't want it, I'm having it, foolish man!
• Number of homemade birthday cards made this week so far - two.
• After a discussion about blogs at the weekend, I promise never to waste time or resources on bunting. Sorry if you like bunting.
• Trigger warning! Also, apparently people can become enraged at the sight pictures of food, so sorry for the below, which is indeed of my lunch. But I made it myself out of very cheap ingredients: olive oil bread was made using Carrs breadmaker (I don't have a machine; I am my own breadmaker) brown bread flour - currently on offer in Sainsbury's at 80p for 2kg, which works out at around 15p for a 1lb loaf. Quite yummy too - just switch olive oil for your fat in a regular quick wholemeal bread recipe, and knead in oil instead of dry flour, and it picks up the lovely, rich olive oil flavour. That's served with carrots and a yummy mushroom and bean pate. This is using up beans left over from another recipe. I know brown sludgy stuff isn't everyone's idea of yummy, but I like it. It's basically half a tin of black-eyed peas, drained (currently on offer 4 for £1 at Sainsbury's), plus about 1/4 pack basic mushrooms, chopped in large chunks and cooked down in a pan (97p punnet), 28g of cheddar (offer 800g for £5.00), and salt, pepper, sage and parsley to taste. Whizz together in a food processor until slightly coarse. This makes 4 good portions for 35p. Whole lunch here cost around 16p!
  
  

Paper plates make lunchtime feel like a party - yay!



Ooh - and I may be able to do a bit of copywriting using Textbroker as I've been accepted as a 4* writer. Cool!