Thursday 19 November 2015

A little slice of Italy in Herne Hill | Day 10/100

All pizza is not created equal. You will only understand this if you have visited a proper pizzeria and managed to distance yourself from both a) the mundane, tasteless supermarket options and b) over greasy, throw-any-shit-topping-on take away variety*. 

No. A proper pizza means you enjoy the dough, the simple yet wonderfully blended flavours and that extra drizzle of quality olive oil which you choose to put on only after your pizza has been served to you. Opposed to the dousing it gets before arriving at your door on the back of a scooter. 

A proper pizza is what you'll get if you visit Herne Hill's newest eatery: Pizzeria Pellone. Boasting a traditional Neapolitan wood oven, clearly whatever was cooking was working on the locals, because every time the husband and I walked past not a table was left empty. So it was time to try it for ourselves. 


Are we really still in South London?

Stepping inside it was easy to see and feel why Pizzeria Pellone has become such a hit. It felt like a little bit of Italy had arrived in Herne Hill. From the white and pebble stone walls, to the large pizza oven at the back and the friendly Italian chatter between the chefs and their happy - but very busy - wait staff, it was easy to imagine yourself not in South London, but in a bustling back street of Naples (the only area of Italy I have ever actually visited).

Look at him go!
The menu consisted of 10 pizza options and side salads. A specials board offered starters that ranged from a bowl of olives to mozzarella hidden under a layer of cured meat. Tempting, but not quite hungry enough for a first course and pizza, we instead went straight to the main event opting for an Ortolana (For di latte cheese, peppers, aubergine and basil) and Capricciosa (For di latte cheese, artichokes, mushroom, ham, olives, basil and tomato) pizza with a Pecorino side salad. All topped off with a bottle of red wine. Naturally. 

Our table was positioned parallel to the open plan kitchen, so we got a great view of the chef (who we assumed to be Pellone) creating the pizzas. We sat mesmerised as he worked each piece of dough into a uniformed pizza. Casually tossing it back and forth, decorating it with the required toppings and sliding into the wood oven. Each pizza took a matter of minutes or create, but then I suppose if you've been doing it for over 40 years you'd have picked up a trick or two along the way on how to save time.

It was fascinating to watch. As well as catering to all of the orders of the seated customers, there were also people popping in for a take away. I asked our waitress how many pizza's must Pellone make in an evening. She could only hazard a guess at "hundreds". Certainly not an exaggeration, as in the time we sat waiting he got through a whole rack of dough which we roughly calculated must have made around 70 pizzas. Just in the time we were waiting. Which was only, like, 20 minutes. If that!


A big pizza pie!

When the food arrived I was glad I held off on a starter. Forgetting my tape measure, I can only hazard a guess that it was at least 15 inches. Thin base, nice fluffy crust and so much topping: Pellone's pizza did not disappoint!

As we ate, we "Ooh-d" at the sight of the calzone being brought out for another soon-to-be satisfied customer. Definitely on my radar to try next time.

In true Italian dining style we talked lots and ate slowly. Good job too, as the pizza was so big we needed time to digest and try to find space for that little bit more. Too tasty to leave, we managed to finish both pizzas and the salad.

To top it all off, the price at Pizzeria Pellone is extremely reasonable. Our total bill came to just £35, including the wine.

Feeling fully satisfied we managed to roll ourselves home in a mild pizza food coma.

If you want a mid-week, good feed outdoors, then definitely pay a visit to Pizzeria Pellone in either Herne Hill and now Croydon.

*Its been recommended (by my husband) that I clarify my overall dislike for crap, cheap take away pizza. He calls it "a vendetta", whereas I simply call it a willing refusal to put shit in my mouth. 

Also, sorry for not getting a photo of the actual pizza. I was too busy eating and enjoying it to remember to take a snap!

Wednesday 18 November 2015

Speed Scrabble | 9/100

I bloody love Scrabble. I'm pretty average at it, but I love it. Sad thing is, it's so rare that I get to play. Mostly the husband gets frustrated with me putting low score words on Triple Word squares, or blocking them off entirely. I swear to geez, it's only because I don't have anywhere else to go. But because of that, he's reluctant to play that often. Also, games do end up lasting for hours, because we're so competitive and neither of us wants to lose to the other.

Granted, when you're playing for hours on end it can get a bit tedious. So I set myself a challenge. To play a game of Speed Scrabble during my lunch break.

I played on Facebook using the Scrabble app thing on there and fortunately got paired with someone (a randomer) who seemed keen to play fast too. 'Dots' followed 'Drag' followed by 'It'; we were steaming through the words, maybe not always with the highest point score, but the pace of the game kept it interesting.

'Squaw', 'Rex' and 'Brows' all made an appearance as we chewed through the digital tiles, me keeping one eye on the clock chasing a 222 point score. A passed turn and exchange of tiles meant I got to edge a bit closer.

Then BOOM! We were down to the last tiles and the score was 232 to my 227. It got to that stage of needing to get rid of all the higher point tiles, but we were both so limited to where we could put them. I managed 'Vogue', before she pipped me to the post by getting rid of her last few tiles in one hit.

Final score: 270 to my 263. Defeat, but fun. An interesting way to spend a lunch hour for sure.

Monday 16 November 2015

The Infinite Jukebox | Day 8/100


You know that thing you get when you're listening to your favourite song and you think, 'Damn, I love this song so much, I wish it never had to end,' well the Infinite Jukebox is the answer to your I-need-more-than-repeat-button prayers.

When I said to a couple of friends that work in IT that I would love to discover some more fun and interesting websites - because there must be more to the Internet than Twitter and Facebook, right? - this was the first site they both suggested.

In a nutshell, the Infinite Jukebox lets you stream a song of your choice and it will find a way to continually loop it. It works by breaking songs down into beats, then matches up rhythm patterns in the song, so as it's playing it will jump and take different pathways to (hopefully) seamlessly move to different point in the song.

Once you've picked a track, the beats and paths are put into a visual diagram, so you can watch to see how it's all linked. Very clever and even more is explained about how it works on the site's FAQ's. There are controls too, so you can play a part in dictating the movement of the song, but I'm not sure I've played with it enough to appreciate what the benefit of these controls are.

As a music lover Infinite Jukebox totally appealed, so I sat picking songs and watching the tracks on my lunch break. It's pretty addictive.  

I tried a few of my fave tracks out on it. First up, Nirvana's Lithium. Love this song so much I even walked down the aisle to it. Works well, but you do kind of get caught in a 'Yeah, yeah, yeeeeaaaah, yeaaaah' Kurt loop.

Gnarls Barkley Crazy worked really well and I ended up listening that to a full nine minutes before it started to drive me a bit nuts. But it's a good example of how the app works.

For a challenge, I thought I'd stick in Korn's Twist. Yeah, it doesn't cut it. If you're able to listen to it for more than a minute and a half without wanting to punch the screen then you've done well. Infinite Jukebox manages to turn it into a little bit of torture as John Davis gets stuck on one bit. It's the same with Scatman John. Just don't do it to yourself.

Heaps of fun though and very mesmerising to watch. Play with the Infinite Jukebox here.

Sunday 15 November 2015

Crime drama done the Italian way | Day 7/100


Today's original plans got thrown out of the window early on. This was due to an ill husband that needed a day indoors and, to be honest, I wasn't adverse to the idea of having a lazy stay-inside Sunday either.


Between the snoozing, chocolate eating and sticking the washing on, we watched Montalbano, an Italian crime series about a detective called Montalbano. It's a bit like Midsommer Murders, but sexier because it's Italian.


Commissario-Montalbano
Montalbano. Not to be mistaken for a Mitchell brother.
The hubby came across the series after spotting it on iPlayer months ago, so he's been slowly working his way through it. I tune in now and then, but it's not totally my cup of tea. I can't look at Inspector Montalbano without thinking that he looks like the third Mitchell brother that never was. There's a lot of sex in it and gratuitous scenes of hot Italian women undressing for one reason or another. I'm 90 percent sure that's not why my husband watches it and he does, in fact, enjoy the entertaining storylines.

Still, if you're looking for something a bit different to watch, don't mind subtitles and crime dramas are your thing, then check it out. Mostly I enjoy trying to pick up new dramatic Italian phrases.   

James Bond 'Spectre', was it any good? | Day 6/100

I don't feel that there are enough James Bond Spectre reviews out there, so I'm adding my own. Sticking it on here is also a quick way to answer all of my friends at once that have asked, "Is it actually any good?".

The only way to watch a James Bond film, IMHO, is at the cinema. It's one of the few film franchises that can actually convince me to pay money to go to and see it. I'm a sucker for seeing an action film on a big screen and full sound. So, in that sense Spectre ticked all of the boxes and it's totally worth going to see.

The action sequences were immense. No doubt about it. One thing Spectre did especially well was explosions. I mean, Sam Mendes blew some serious shit up on epic proportions. While some of them were obviously CGI'd (well, you can't actually destroy MI6 for the sake of a film!), one of the key scenes used 33kg of powder explosives and 8,418 litres of fuel and was awarded the Guinness World Record for being the largest explosion in film history. It lasted over seven seconds! (See, interesting.) Definitely worth going to see it just for that, because you will sit there and be like, 'Holy crap. That was massive and so very cool.' I bet whoever got to push the button will forever remember that as their best day at work. Ever.

In terms of plot line, yeah I'll roll with pretty much what ever other film reviewer has said. It's not as good as Skyfall. In places, Spectre's story was a bit weak. The main twist, which is revealed kind of early on and then repeated several times just to make sure you understood it, seemed rather far-fetched and unnecessary. I liked that Skyfall revealed a bit about Bond's largely unknown family past, but they should have left it there rather than trying to dig further, the result feeling like it's clutching at straws to reveal this big family secret. Honestly, it felt desperate and is a plot line more suited to a  TV soap. It didn't need it.

Apart from that, it was good. Plenty more cliche, cheesy Bond stuff in Spectre, compared to the last three, that will keep you smiling. Lea Seydoux, who I'd only recently seen for the first time in The Lobster (highly recommend), was brilliant. As was Ralph Finnes, as the new M. Didn't know how I'd feel about that, because Judi Dench was a legend, so replacing her would be tough. However, I loved Finnes in the role. Great fit.

Only other gripe with Spectre was the theme tune. The radio stations I listen to don't have it on their playlist, so seeing it at the cinema was my first time of hearing it. Sorry Sam Smith, I thought you did a bad job with this one. If someone was to ask me to sing it to them, I wouldn't be able to. It's not stuck at all.

So there you go. Definitely worth a watch at the cinema, but enjoy it for the action rather than any big Bond plot and you'll leave the cinema feeling satisfied that you've seen a good film.

Saturday 14 November 2015

Kinky crafting | Day 5/100

During this challenge, I'll try and keep sex stuff to a minimum. Main reason: because it's practically work for me and the idea of #100DaysOfInteresting if to find cool stuff to do outside of work. However, I was lucky enough to head to the Sexpo UK exhibition and came across a fab company called Kink Craft. It is exactly as it sounds. Crafting to create kinky items.

With crafting being totally trendy right now, why shouldn't there be a kinky version of it? The Kink Craft leaders invited me to take a seat and make my own mini flogger (that's a type of bondage whip for anyone that's not in the know). I thought, 'why the hell not?! I've never made my own flogger before, so lets find out how!'

With a sprinkling of BDSM magic, by the time I unblindfold you these bits of rope will transform into a flogger!


I was given a bundle of rope and told that using simply this, some tape and a craft knife, it will become a flogger. Andrew from Kink Craft got me started and then I was away.

Like with any crafting, it was wonderfully therapeutic. I sat around a table, with several other crafters and we chatted and helped each other as we snipped the tendrils and wove our flogger handles. So very civilised.

Weaving the handle was the most therapeutic part.
I was super impressed with the end result! The colour will match my other bondage kit nicely (ahem). Also, there's still get that proud feeling like when you craft anything. But the funny thing is, it's not the kind of crafting item you'd whip out at your next family do and say, "Oh yes, I've taken up the hobby of creating bondage accessories in my spare time." Then again, that's what made me love it more. It totally appealed to my naughty side.

Ta-da! Remove the blindfold and the rope has been transformed!
If you fancy doing some crafting with a kinkier edge, then you can actually buy the kits, with full instruction video, here and make mini and large floggers, or your own pair of cuff restraints!

Follow me on Twitter and use the hashtag #100DaysOfInteresting to keep up with my challenge and activities.    

Thursday 12 November 2015

How it feels to look at your own wedding photos for the first time | Day 4/100

I love looking at photos. I'm a great fan of actually getting photos printed, organising them into an album or frame and then revisiting them a month or two down the line. I like the feeling of happiness you get when you remember a particular occasion. And while the instant that's caught in the photo is one thing, it's all of the other little memories about that moment, day or complete period of time that it prompts which is more fun or interesting to remember.

So when my husband and I got to see the photos from our wedding we were fascinated and enthused to relive the day. It was interesting to see the result of what our wedding day looked like to someone that wasn't a friend or part of the family, but from the perspective of our photographer and we're glad to say that the vision he caught was exactly as we remembered and experienced it.

Our reactions to some of the photos were interesting to say the least. Especially any shots taken before the service as we'd not seen each other, so the photos really did speak a thousand words, prompting each of us to relive what was going through our respective minds at that point.

I could have easily poured over every photo for long periods of time, but with over 300 of them to look at and the sheer excitement of seeing what was there, what was next and what had been immortalised from the day in image, was so exciting that it was tough to linger on each one for more than a minute or so. Looking through your own wedding photos is easily as thrilling as experiencing the day unfold first hand.

Apologies that this was a bit of a sentimental #100DaysOfInteresting challenge, but you only get that feeling of seeing your wedding photos for the first time, once. So I wanted to put it down in words as best I could.


Wednesday 11 November 2015

A swift batch of bats | Day 3/100


Behold the amazing result of what happens when I spend half an hour in the kitchen! That's right. I baked those bat-shaped biscuits which is, I appreciate, hard to believe since they look so damn professional.

Ok, I'll stop kidding myself now. Really though, I'm pretty proud of them. Despite getting an A* in my GCSE food tech, I rarely ever cook or bake, so this is an achievement for me. It's also only the second time I have ever attempted to make bat-shaped biscuits. My lovely Aunt, who likes to send me funky things in the post, found these bat biscuit cutters. For those that don't know, bats are totally my most favourite animal in the world, so this gift was much "Ooh-d" at when it arrived through my door.

My first attempt at cooking a batch of bat biscuits was a bit of a failure. I used self-raising flour (as per Paul Hollywood's Mum's recipe), but they all came out of the oven looking fat and over-weight. This time I took my husband's advice (as he's the better cook) and used plain flour. Think the definition is much improved and they look more like what they're supposed to.

In case you're wondering, they're ginger biscuits and they taste fabulous....as you would expect from an A* food tech student.

The chosen few: the bats that turned out the best. 


 

Tuesday 10 November 2015

Gazing at Gargoyles | Day 2/100

I cycle past this ugly brute every day on my way to and from work. When stopped at the lights, he is by far the most interesting thing to look at. I like the way he sits on top of his tower, glowering at the thousands of impatient, ashen-faced London city workers. Almost like he feeds off their bad moods. Mostly, his hellish, sinister look very much appeals to the goth in me.

Curious to know who he is and why he's there, I thought I'd make getting a snap and doing a bit of research my challenge for Day 2 of #100DaysOfInteresting.

The Cornhill Gargoyles

Turns out that the chap sitting ominously on the roof isn't alone. He's got two mates and collectively they're known as The Cornhill Gargoyles, or The Cornhill Devils, aptly called because they are found in Cornhill in London. Whether it's because I have bad eyes, or only have time enough to glance at the obvious, I can honestly say I never noticed the other two before.

How they got there and why seems somewhat murky. Starting with the actual, solid facts, I can tell you that they're made of terracotta and they are dated to the late 19th century. The story of why they are there is much harder to pin down, but if the most popular theory is to be believed then it's a story of religion, anger and revenge...

From whence the Devils came

Look closely when on Cornhill and you'll spot a spire. It's matched in size by surrounding buildings and dwarfed by London's many tower blocks, but it's there and it's the spire of St Peter's Church. Before modern London took over, St Peter's stood proud on top of Cornhill, one of only two natural crests within the city. The other is Ludgate, where you'll find St Paul's.

As the need for more offices in The City increased during the 19th Centuary, any tiny area of land was pounced upon and redeveloped. The result was that St Peter's became engulfed by commercial buildings and the church, much to the Rector's dismay, was vanishing from sight. 

He was, however, eventually rewarded with a small win over the developers. As they tried to build closer and closer to the church, the rector eventually spotted that one architect had gone a step too far as his design infringed upon church property. Kicking up a stink, the rector was found to be right and it was demanded that the architect redesign the whole building. 

Devil images, taken from lookingforghosts.wordpress.com
It's said that redrawing his plans cost the architect dearly in both time and money. Furious at this, he added to his new plans the inclusion of three devils as a mark of revenge. They were placed on top and at the edges of the building so they'd be a constant reminder to the rector of his meddling as he walked to enter the church. It's even thought that one of the devils was modelled to look like the rector. Public mockery in its most scathing form. 

So there you have it. The urban myth and as much actual fact as I could dig up on an evening. They are well worth a look though as they are (just about) the most terrifying gargoyles I've ever seen. 

Follow my challenges on Twitter using #100DaysOfInteresting and tag @RoseC_Leic. If you're keen to try it yourself, or simply want to share something interesting you've done, get in touch. 

Monday 9 November 2015

Interesting paper that flies | Day 1/100

Until this evening I had never made a paper aeroplane. Sounds like such a simple thing I know, but for Day 1 of my #100DaysOfInteresting I wanted to do something that I never achieved as a kid.

At school I remember we did an afternoon of origami with a supply teacher. I was terrible at it. My ability to patiently fold paper with accurate edges and keep up with the teacher's instructions, was poor to say the least. We were trying to do something slightly more complex than an aeroplane, but not quite at the level of a swan. Maybe it was a frog? Either way, I was useless at it and resorted to concertinaing my paper into a small fan, because that was about all I could manage.

Skip a few years and now aged 29 I thought it was about time I faced my origami demons and at least give it another go. Start simple, so a paper aeroplane was the challenge.

Find a style

Ok, so I had no idea that there were so many different styles of paper aeroplane. I assumed there was just the one standard model and they all kinda flew the same. Well, the things you learn! So I started with this one...


And my attempt turned out like this...



Looks wise, not a total disaster for a first attempt. But on flying, it seemed to want to keep veering right. Maybe only any good to fly on roundabouts. 

My husband then piped up with, "Ah, I'll show you how to make one," (had a feeling this interesting thing would pique the interest of my male housemates!) so followed his instructions and it turned out like this...



We'll call it the 'Tucker Tornado' and flying wise it was impressive, managing to go the full length of the corridor. 

There was time to try one more, so I picked The Dart. Apparently it's the 'fastest paper airplane'. Well, how could a gal resist making such a high-tech piece of aerodynamic paper on a Monday night?! Here's how to make it...


And here's how mine turned out. Not a bad resemblance, huh? Flying wise, it went well. It was fast, but didn't go quite as far as I hoped it would.



I could have quite easily have kept going as there were some cool looking designs, but I think I would have been rushing my origami skills with some of them. 

Interesting Paper Aeroplane Facts

To round off the first challenge of my #100DaysOfInteresting, here are 3 interesting facts about paper aircraft...
  • The longest flight time a paper aeroplane has achieved is 29.2 seconds. For those readers that reckon they can beat it, you can actually upload videos of your attempt here
  • According to this site, the smallest paper aircraft measured just 2.5mm x 1mm. That's tiny. How could you even launch it?! With tweezers?
  • According to one news source, the oldest paper aeroplanes are over 100 years old and were discovered in the eaves of St Anne's Chapel, Barnstaple. 

Saturday 7 November 2015

100 Days of Interesting: the idea


I've been in a right slump lately. There are a few reasons for this, the main one being a continued bad case of post-wedding/post-holiday blues. Naff weather, long commutes, a heavy workload and the general week-to-week routine that consists of get up, go to work, come home, eat dinner, wash dishes, go to bed have also contributed.

I know, I know. That's just life and sometimes you can't avoid routine, but I think there is certainly more I could be doing to make the weekly grind a little less....structured. 

I suppose until recently I've been totally preoccupied with wedding planning. Or in the summer months it's easy to find fun things to do. Simply sitting in the park with a book for half an hour qualifies as having successfully done something that's a little bit interesting, a little bit different. And while me and the husband enjoy lots of interesting things at the weekends (dinners out, cinema, theatre, gigs, catching friends, visiting family), we sort of just settle that not much happens during the rest of the week. 

Thinking about all this the other night I concluded that I all too easily waste hours of my own time sitting in a funk doing very little, and decided I needed to do something about it. Something fun. Something achievable... 

So I am setting myself a challenge: 100 Days of Interesting.

The premise is simple. Each day I will do something a little bit different. Something out of routine. It could be as small as discovering a new website, snapping a photo of something that interests me or taking a different route to work. Or it could be something bigger like attending a free lecture, trying a new cooking recipe or visiting a different city. 

While I'm dedicated in getting all the mandatory daily routine stuff done, I should also be proving to myself that I can be just as proactive with my downtime. And who knows what new stuff I might discover along the way?

I'll be starting the challenge on Monday 9th November and finish it (funnily enough) a hundred days later on Tuesday 16th February 2016. I'll be blogging and tweeting (@RoseC_Leic) all the stuff I do, using the hashtag #100DaysOfInteresting. 

I can't promise everyone will find every little thing I do massively fascinating, but at least I'll be doing something.

Until Monday. 

RoseC