Chroma.

Ray's silhouette in the lift, the record player on the floor.

Saturday evening Ray performed in a concert piece, Chroma, by Rebecca Saunders. The concert was held in the Town Hall, which is a beautiful building. The musicians were placed at various spots in the hall, some of them moved around carrying their instruments to play in different designated spots throughout the piece. The audience members were encouraged to walk around the space and experience the music at different spots in the hall. With the antique lighting, the elaborate organ, the instrumentalists perched in high in architectural coves, pockets of light, or found at the turn of a corner, in a stairwell, and with the array of music boxes on the stage, the folksy record playng in the lift, it felt a bit like living in one of Joseph Cornell's pieces. I really enjoyed it. Ray took a turn playing the organ and was also spotted in the lift (the elevator) playing a record of what sounded like an old Norwegian folk song. 

Thanksgiving and the French Market We Found.

We had a pretty successful Thanksgiving across the pond. We roasted a whole chicken! (Marking the first time I've ever cleaned and roasted a whole bird before, well, Mom and I did have a practice run over the summer. . . ) Tim also chipped in and made mashed sweet potatoes and creamed peas.

I've been thinking a bit about Christmas gifts now, and I'm wishing I could send food home! There's been a lovely open-air French market in town with stands selling all sorts of delicious food! Ray and I both had a lamb sausage and baguette sandwich, and passing the baker's stand of baguettes and fruits tarts, croissants, I picked a piece of decadently rich chocolate pie. There was a stand selling French cheeses, a stand with a variety of sausages; duck, stag, bull, goat, pepper, paprika, red wine, a stand selling dried fruit, one with the most beautiful garlic bulbs, one selling sweet treats: Turkish Delight, fudge and toffee, and of course one with French cookies where I had a fantastic madeleine and coconut macaroon.

our first snow!

A photo of a "gingerbread house" I made a few years ago,
designed mostly in an effort to have a truly delicious  gingerbread house, not just a decorative piece.
If I recall, it worked. 

We woke this morning to a thin layer of snow on the ground. . . Is it time to hang the Christmas stockings and decorations? 

hcmf + happy thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's been a busy week for us in Huddersfield as the contemporary music festival is in full swing. We've heard some great pieces performed by some fantastic musicians and it's been wonderful to meet new people and spend time with Ray's friends, everyone's been lovely. 
The week started off well on Monday when Ray's piano piece; Diagrams of Drawings Not Meant to Correspond, was given a stunning performance by Kate Ledger, an amazing pianist and friend who also attended the University but has since graduated. Also in the concert was a piano piece by Ben Isaacs and one by Timothy McCormack. The pieces were united in their interest in the physicality of music and performance. It was a great concert and well attended. . . hooray!
Today we're not going to any concerts, but are taking the day to do some work and to have a Thanksgiving feast. We don't have a turkey, but we do have a whole chicken to roast with some carrots and potatoes. This morning I started dough for a loaf of rosemary wheat bread, and I baked a pumpkin spice bread with cream cheese frosting for dessert. I think we'll also have a spinach and pear salad.
Oh, and this morning we had snow flurries!?

the pub life.

It's been a nice week. The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival has begun and Ray and I are attending some crazycool concerts starting this evening with a performance of John Cage's music by pianist Phillip Thomas. He'll be playing in an art gallery exhibiting some of Cage's drawings, which I've never seen and am quite looking forward to. 

On Thursday I went along with Ray to a lecture by an American composer, Evan Johnson, who's in town for the festival. It was a great lecture, well delivered and I was intrigued by the sounds of his music as well as the perspective he takes towards work and notating scores. There are many overlaps between music composition and writing, perhaps all of the arts, really, and it's nice expanding horizons like this. 

Afterwards, we walked over to the Rat and Ratchet, a pub nearby. My first English pub experience! I had a half pint of pale gold, an English brew. The atmosphere is somewhat like a hotel lobby, or a den-ish lounge, but a cozy one with low ceilings, stone (or were they wooden) floors, ornamented red carpet in some areas, lots of wooden pillars, wrought iron banisters along raised and sectioned seating areas, small upholstered chairs and little round tables, curtains, framed posters and a pinball machine in the corner of the place. Plus they have what are called beer gardens, which is essentially a patio, but even someone's backyard patio is referred to as a beer garden, unusual isn't it? I will get some pictures next time, in fact, I may make it a project to take photos of pub signs in town. (Starting with the Olde Hatte from a week or so ago.)

oyster shells and my two feet.


(an old photo from Yscloskey.) 

grapefruit.

a photo of uncle jr.'s grapefruit tree from a year or so ago.
makes me think of home.

(will write more soon!)

crisp day

a loaf of rosemary wheat bread. 

This is the second loaf of bread I've made recently, and it is delicious. I learned the hard way that convection ovens take less time to cook than what I'm used to. . . the last one was a bit charred. . . but still edible!

It's been a nice weekend across the pond. Besides our usual work, we went out on Saturday to do a bit of shopping, and we really lucked out with a beautifully crisp day. After all of the rain last week, most of the leaves have dropped from the trees, and coat the sidewalks yellow and orangey red.  

baking.

I think this cold, wet weather has me inside wanting to bake. . . 

white chocolate raspberry scones. 

And I baked a whole wheat bread. 

(Here's one with frosting and a glass of milk, ers!)

the weekend.

Guy Fawkes Day:
November fifth is Guy Fawkes Day here in England. Guy Fawkes was in charge of protecting the explosives that were to be used in the Gunpowder Plot set out by Robert Catesby, in his plan to assassinate King James I and restore a Catholic monarch. However, authorities were tipped off that there might be something suspicious in Westminster Palace, so on November fifth 1605, they searched and found Guy Fawkes guarding the explosives in a storage room beneath the House of Lords. He was then questioned and tortured the following days and finally gave the details about the plot. Before his scheduled execution on January 31, he jumped from the platform where he was to be hanged, breaking his neck, and avoiding the drawing and quartering that was to come.  So in remembrance of him, people shoot off fireworks and have bonfires. (I think it might help to get an insider's take on this one. . .) 


Saturday evening we took a walk to the Victorian Christmas Fair in town! which looked promising, except that vendors were packing up early. There were stands with knitted items, spices, cheese, Harry Potter treasures, stones and gems, nuts and dried fruit, Turkish Delight, cookies and breads, jewelry, hot chocolate and cider, AND the vendors were dressed in Victorian attire. Quite lovely, really. We picked up a very tasty cupcake along the way. 


Fantasy Football took off on Sunday evening, and so far my team is looking pretty good, Ray is also winning. Plus, I saw the Saints won, LSU won, and the Hornets won. Nicely done!


Yesterday I decided we needed a treat, so I baked cinnamon rolls. And they are delicious.

Ray gives them a thumbs up. 

Here is a picture I've been meaning to post, of the new scarf I found at a vintage clothing store in the arcade.

pizza: trial one.

Two delicious pizzas.

(When I look at this one I keep thinking, "I'm a little teapot. . ." you know the song.)

Last night we made homemade pizza with whole-wheat pizza dough. To dress the pizzas, we used a basil pesto I made from scratch, spinach, mozzarella cheese, mushrooms cooked with a bit of garlic and shallots on one, and bacon on the other.  

Thanks to Ray for taking the lovely photos. 

november!

Yay, it's November! That means it's Dad's birthday and Ray and I's anniversary month; five years! (We can't remember the exact day, so we have the whole month.) 
Other highlights for the month include the showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part I in the theaters, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, a visit from Tim, and Thanksgiving! 
It's been a busy last few days and I haven't blogged in while; as Ray says, "Two whole days and nary a blog post." So here are some pictures from recent adventures. 

On a dreary Sunday, we set out with our umbrellas for a walk in the town. . . 

(Foggy Halloween morning.)

The Olde Hatte; a local pub.

Mail can be dropped off in these Royal Mailboxes. 

We aren't entirely certain what "Franked" mail is but I think it's metered mail. 

A nice tree we passed on the way home. . . 

And some little berries Ray picked for me.

(In the background, an old picture of Blaine and I in Yscloskey.)

Halloween night we walked from our house over to Kate and Iain's to watch scary movies and eat sweet treats. There were zombie gingerbread men, zombie guts cupcakes, pumpkin pie and Haribo chewies. We watched what I think was my first Zombie movie ever? called Flesh-Eating Zombies. And we watched an older film, The Haunting (1963) with Julie Harris, Claire Bloom and Richard Johnson. Both were great picks. By the end of the night we all agreed that Ray would be a very good person to have around should any Zombies creep out of the ground. It was a dandy night hanging out with some new friends.