Bonjour tristesse......

I'm cold. I have a sore throat. It won't turn into a cold and it won't go away. It fades in and out. Some mornings it's gone and then it comes back. Outside it's trying to snow but only managing to turn the world wet. Oh god I hate February......

And so, lest we forget.....

 I give you this.....

And this...... 

And this......

Top tip: Get out of the cold and into the warm, go see the Manet show at the Royal Academy and pretend you're in France.....

We need to talk about .....Jane

Jane Birkin that is. Now 66, she took the stage by storm at the Cadogan Hall last night, a fab venue incidentally, and sang Serge. Again. This time with a Japanese band of four: piano, violin, trumpet and drums, that she'd picked up a couple of years ago while doing a concert there in aid of the tsunami. And it worked a treat. Jane looked fabulous, hands deep in the pockets of her men's black trousers, a simple white shirt unbuttoned low, sleeves rolled up for the job in hand, a tousled bob and red lipstick ....tres chic. And as luck would have it, I got to get up close and personal after the show and I can report that pillowy pout is all her own, Jane is devoid of Botox and fillers and far more beautiful for it.

To say that Gainsbourg is a god in France is an understatement. According to Jane he is now considered the greatest poet living, dead, or ever likely to be born. And so this tour was to  commemorate ...... the 20 years since Serge's death ..... any excuse it would seem. Some of his songs do rather effuse the boombangabang ever popular in foreign pop, with some interesting lyrics, but Jane brings a certain je ne sais quoi to the ditties, most of which come in around two and half minutes. If you get the chance go see her and have an excellent evening. As Serge might have said, SHEBAM ! POW ! BLOP ! WIZZ !

Top tip: we should all move to Paris where women of a certain age seem to be more appreciated.... if it's good enough for Birkin, Rampling and Faithfull.....

Blonde ambition.......

I’ve been thinking, it must be quite nice when you’re old and grey, to be blonde. Now, I do realise I’m in the lucky position of being a bit old but not having any grey hair …….. well about 5 around the temples at the last count. My father’s hair was practically black until the day he died …..some kind of legacy from the Spanish Armada that washed up on the Dorset coast so I’m told…… and there is barely a fistful of grey hair on my Mum’s head or amongst her sisters, so I don’t think it’s likely to happen any day soon. However, I met a brilliant woman who is in her 60s and wears her thick, wavy hair long and in 50 shades of blonde. She dresses in white and cream and lives in a white and cream house with blonde wood floorboards. And looks fabulous. Everywhere is clean and sweet scented. And clean. Very clean. It’s like being in a White Company advert.

 

I was blonde once. It took five hours to strip my hair of its natural colour, with chemicals that are probably illegal now. Halfway through the procedure my hair had turned neon orange, I looked like the man who fell to earth, there was no turning back. Eventually, I materialised from the salon with my bleached blonde mop. Being of an olive complexion with very dark eyebrows it was definitely a look. What can I say …. I was young. As it grew out I often wore a faux-fur, Davy Crockett style hat with a tail…… it was the 80s…… you couldn’t tell where the salt ‘n’ pepper hat finished and my salt ‘n’ pepper hair started.

“Darling, coffee?” my elderly blonde friend asks in her husky voice, reaching for white mugs kept in a cream cupboard, big blue eyes peeping out from beneath her long, stripy-blonde fringe. Perhaps I don’t want to be blonde when I get older, perhaps I just want to be her.

Top tip:go Caribbean in the snow with Lindt dark chocolate with coconut.....Bounty grows up.

Spice Girl......

OK……… traditionally this is a frugal time of year. I don’t much like January and I really don’t like February. I just want to stay in, stay warm, stay on the sofa and watch movies. And eat delicious food. However, with money and my jeans now too tight to mention, filling the fridge is not an option and a take away is out of the question. So, imagine my delight when I discovered Legend In His On Lunchtime’s recipe for Vegetable Pakoras with minted yogurt. http://thecookinyourkitchen.blogspot.com/2012/12/tis-season-to-empty-fridge.html

And as luck would have it, for Christmas I was given a whole bunch of spices a friend had brought back from his trip to Kerala.

I followed the instructions and grated a selection of things at the bottom of the fridge……… in my case carrot, cabbage, celeriac and onion….. mixed them with the spices and chickpea flour (also known as Gram flour if you have trouble finding it) and unbelievably they worked! 

So easy and so delicious, I made them three days running……. So much for the post Christmas diet.

Top tip: to combat cold weather, spice it up in the kitchen…….

Brought to book........

I hope you all had a happy Christmas or at least got through it in one piece. I spent most of it on the sofa with Rupert Everett. Having enjoyed his first biography, Red Carpets And Other Banana Skins, I'd requested his second, Vanished Years, from Santa this year. As it was a presi it was perfectly acceptable to read continuously through meals and movies, thus avoiding all opportunities for fighting and fretting. It helped that it was very funny and poignant and most enjoyable.

Having made read Dickens one of my New Year resolutions last year, and having successfully enjoyed Great Expectations, this year I've decided to extend my literary pursuits to George Eliot. No, I've never read him, or her, but when I checked my library....... the shelf of books that circumnavigates my hallway........ I discovered I had copies of Mill On The Floss, Middlemarch and Silas Marner, I'm spoilt for choice it would seem. So it's back to the sofa for 2013......Happy New Year!!

Top tip: festive food goes on sale now....go fill the freezer!!