Absinthe back from bohemia

Absinthe is coming back to Europe after a very long absenthe (ce) It might even become an established tipple, as nostalgia for another era forces it back into bars old enough to remember its aniseed taste. Rimbaud would have been proud.

Spot Carla

Catch a glimpse of Carla Bruni showing off in her hometown in Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen's new film...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYRWfS2s2v4

Things I would prefer to a monday morning

a big brunch  (including mozarella balls) at that exceptional italian deli on Lauderdale Road in Maida Vale
a game of tennis
Watching How I met your Mother
driving through London in the sun
a Thai green chicken curry
Paris

Monsieur on picnics

Monsieur tells the story of a very memorable picnic, in which he remembers a a lot of preparation for the occasion:

"Everyone else was doing a picnic, I was doing nothing"

Monsieur on other people playing tennis

As winter turns to spring and the lighter evenings see Monsieur and a friend playing a spot of tennis, the following conversation ensues,

Nice intermediate player: " Why aren't you running for the ball? That was a perfectly decent shot?"

 Monsieur: " You think I am going to run for a ball that trickles that slowly over the net?"

Birth of the boring brownie

Last night, I ran out of cocoa, sugar and all the essential ingredients to lead me to an early grave, so with whatever I had at home (yawn), I baked brownies which, for those afflicted by the killer brownie habit, would have been cast to the bottom of the ever-disappearing brownie pile. My total inexperience in brownie baking has left me an incy wincy bit proud of my tasteless creations- so much so that I've eaten all of them. And now I am back to square one, immense boredom. So, to the few of you interested in avoiding essential ingredients, here is the recipe to use at your own peril:

The Hale and Hearty Pancake mix (gluten free)

whatever cocoa powder you have left in the kitchen (try the spices section in your cupboards and if you ran out during SAD season, just look for brown powder)

sugar (again, any form will do- anything that doesn't ressemble salty, even jam)

oil and water (sorry, these have no replacements and if I found them, I would be rich enough to feed my brownies to the whole of Dubai)

Mix it all up, put in a baking tray and .... wait..... TEN WHOLE MINUTES and then...... EAT one, or two....



and then find a proper recipe...

Mine looked nothing like this...

if you are in an afternoon slump...

 watch and listen to this video by Lykke Li and Bon Iver