Turning twenty-nine

It's happened.  I've entered the final year of my twenties.  To say that I'm massively freaking out about this would be quite a sizeable understatement (and mentioned in this post last month) and I am really very bothered about the state of my life at this juncture.  I am, however, taking steps to counteract this freak out by filling my days with making, blogging, playing (the 'cello), gigging, planning, secretary-ing, youth working, trying to grow the business... and writing a list of 30 things to do before I am 30:

Hmmmm....still quite a way to go with that one then.

Tuesday (my birthday, in case you hadn't noticed) dawned bright and The Mothership and I decided to go to the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford.  I'd been before once or twice at school, but The Mothership swore blind she'd never been before.  Actually, I don't think it matters whether you've been before or not, there's so much to see that I doubt you'd remember everything anyway.

Who knew that's why kirby grips are called kirby grips?!

We had great fun wondering about and looking in all the cabinets - the museum is chock-a-block full of interesting things that have either been collected by the museum or donated by people, and everything is sorted into little collections; weapons, textiles or jewellery for example.  I of course made a beeline for the shrunken heads, which are one of the exhibits which make the Pitt Rivers such an enticing place for the little people (and me) to go to.  They (and me) find the shrunken heads both gruesome and fascinating in equal measure.

There is so much to see in the museum that I think visits are best kept short and sweet to avoid brain overload.  The Mothership and I spent about an hour and a half in there, and didn't even make it off the ground floor. (There are two more levels on balconies which overlook the main floor, a bit like my all time favourite shop Liberty.)  I will definitely be back there soon to complete the other two floors.

It being half term this week, the museum was crammed full of children who just wanted to play and their parents who just wanted them to learn something (no rest even in half term, hey kids?!) and how can you fail to learn something when the hall of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History has a honking great dinosaur skeleton in the hallway?!  You see, Pitt Rivers can only be entered via the Natural History Museum, so essentially you get two museums for the price of one (they're both free, but you know what I mean) so I had a good old time looking at the many animal skeletons on display, the fossils and the semi-precious stones and minerals.

As soon as you step outside the doors, the museum and the billions of small children seem a whole world away, as stretching out before you is something of a tree graveyard.  Ten huge tree stumps lie on their sides in an art installation entitled "Ghost Forest" by the artist Angela Palmer.  The stumps were brought to Europe from a commercially logged forest in Western Africa, and are intended to highlight the rate of deforestation and the effect that it is having on the planet.  To see these tree stumps, some with enormous tangles of roots still attached, and to imagine how big the entire tree must have been is quite awe-inspiring.  Truly thought-provoking.

In the afternoon, the birthday treats continued, and soon it was time for tea and cake.  The tradition in the Blackie household is to open cards at breakfast time, and to wait until 4pm to open presents and to eat a delicious cake (usually chocolate) baked by the Mothership.  Many people find this act of extreme self-restraint frankly mind-boggling, but I enjoy stretching out the excitement throughout the whole day.  Where's the fun in opening all your presents by 8am and having nothing to look forward to for the rest of the day?!

Anyway, I received some amazing presents and thoroughly enjoyed eeking out the opening by taking over an hour to get through them all!  Another act of extreme self-restraint.  I'm quite good at it.  Give me a chocolate bar and I'll not wolf it down all in one go, but eat it slowly, one well-chewed bite at a time, sometimes even saving half for later.  I have actually, no word of a lie, just finished half a Snickers bar that I started yesterday morning, carefully re-wrapped and stowed away for an opportune moment.  Does anyone else do this?  ...Anyone?

I digress.

The final treat of the day was to put on our gladrags and head out en famille to a restaurant carefully chosen by The Parents.  The destination is usually a closely-guarded secret, and this was no exception, although I had an inkling that we'd be going to The Fishes, as it's one of my favourite restaurants.  And as usual, the food was delicious (I had a game stew and roasted roots, followed by raspberry jelly, Italian meringue and a chocolate chip cookie) and we all had a jolly good time.

So there we have it.  My twenty-ninth birthday.  There are now precisely 360 days left until I'm 30.  I'd best go and finish my "30 before I'm 30" list!

Thanks for visiting, lovely people.  I look forward to your comments on your own birthday traditions and whether you have the same need for restraint as I do....

Much love,

emmalemonade x x x

An atomic burger-fest

The Brothership and his lovely fiancée hopped over the channel for a little visit this week.  Mostly so that Claire could attend some Very Important Meetings in deepest darkest Wales, but also so that they could visit various branches of their respective families for some serious engagement ring flashing.

So on Monday night, The Brothership organised a get together for some of his friends who wanted a piece of the ring flashing action, and decided upon Atomic Burger on Oxford's Cowley Road as the perfect venue.

The bright lights beckon us in.

On their website,  Atomic Burger proclaim that "great burgers ain't rocket science" and describe themselves as "the best blinking burger joint you will ever visit."  That's a pretty confident boast, so I was interested to see if they lived up to it, and my burgeoning expectations.

Great burgers ain't rocket science.

We arrived a little early but were warmly greeted at the door by a cheerful curly-haired chap who told us that our table was just being made ready for us and the previous occupants were just leaving.  A jolly Aussie lady also came along to invite us to sit down at an empty table near the door for two minutes whilst we were waiting.  I took the opportunity to have a good old look around at my supper-time surroundings and get accustomed to the large numbers of toys, models and pictures that decorated the premises.  A toy / cartoon / sci-fi themed eatery?  Winner!  A good start...

Many toys hang from the pipes.

After a teeny tiny wait we were ushered over to our table, beneath a large TV screen painted onto the wall, which was showing snippets of films and cartoons via a projector.  This proved to be a great talking point during the evening and we had fun reminiscing about Thundercats, The Clangers and those small green crime-fighting machines the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, amongst many others.

Catching up.

The brightly coloured menus were designed in a comic book style, using the card game Top Trumps as inspiration for laying out the burger choices.  The menu was very ably explained by the cheerful curly-haired chap who told us that we could choose any burger from the menu, with beef, chicken or veggie, but we could chop and change it's other contents if we wished.  For example, you could choose "The Big Kahuna" (swiss cheese, pineapple and teriyaki sauce) with chicken, but without the pineapple.  Oh, and add any side order for free.  I plumped for the "Messy Jessie", a vegetarian  burger containing goat's cheese, red onion marmalade and rocket, with beef.  Beef?!  Ha!  Take that Miss Messy Jessie and your vegetarian-ness!  I just thought it would taste so much nicer with beef, and I believe that's exactly what Atomic Burger are hoping to get their customers to do.  Challenge their options and create your own!  Love it.

The boys get to grips with the menu...

We also ordered a starter to share of "Speedy Gonzales Nachos" which unfortunately weren't that speedy in getting to our table.  I should point out though that by this time (around 8.30pm I guess) the restaurant was packed full and people were queuing out of the door to get a table, so I shall let Messrs Atomic off this minor hiccup.  A full-to-the-brim restaurant on a Monday night in the current economic climate is something to be very proud of, and illustrates very nicely what Atomic Burger are achieving here.

Nachos.

Our burgers were quite delicious, the ingredients were fresh and well-prepared, everyone was very happy with their choice and we munched away happily until our plates were clean.

Messy Jessie and a (free) side of coleslaw.

Tucking in.

I was having a sneaky look around at the other tables in between the eat and the chat, taking sneaky photos as I went.  Everyone looked like they were having a great time.  Then out of the corner of my eye, I spotted something a little strange.  There was a man in the corner, wearing protective blue plastic gloves, sweating as he devoured a ginormous burger.  Ah.  This must be the "Godzilla Challenge."  The "Godzilla Challenge" is basically a burger-eating time trial, where you get an hour to polish off a triple burger, triple chilli fries, and godzilla sauce.  Easy, you might think?  Look again.  Godzilla sauce is made from ghost chillies - or using their proper name, the Bhut Jolokia chilli pepper - the hottest chillies in the world.  Put that in your pipe!  I gather that the sweating man completed his challenge, as towards the end of our time in the restaurant, loud whoops and cheers were heard from the other end of the room.  Sweating man's prize?  An "I beat godzilla" t-shirt, and a place on the Atomic Burger wall of fame.  And a pat on the back from me.  Well done sweating man.

The supper time rush subsides.

So what a great place to eat!  Their boasting is well-founded.  I guess primarily geared towards students, (you wouldn't catch The Parents in there!) Atomic Burger certainly seem to have their target market firmly in the front of their minds.  It's bright, fun, cheap and laid-back and the staff are super-friendly.  The fact that it's clearly such a popular place to go, even on a Monday night, just proves that this kind of establishment and level of service is exactly what people want right now.

Next stop:  Atomic Pizza.....

To Autumn

Autumn is my favourite time of year.  I admit that does have quite a lot to do with it being my birthday at the end of October, but it's also my favourite time of year because of the remarkable things that Mother Nature does with colour.  It is absolutely GLORIOUS!  I love it!  All those greens and yellows and oranges and reds and browns - it's like living inside a kaleidoscope!

I also love Autumn because of Harvest.  I still vividly remember the Harvest Festival at school (both Primary and Secondary) and the special assemblies we used to have to celebrate the multitude of fruits, vegetables, flowers and grains that ripen and are harvested at this time of year.  I seem to have the hymn "We plough the fields and scatter" permanently stuck in my head for about two months!

Anyway, I took The Parents and my camera for a walk yesterday afternoon and took some photos that for me, sum up what this time of year is all about.

Enjoy:

That little selection of photos was actually taken on Saturday afternoon in my back garden.  Just look at all that colour!  And the perfect unbroken blueness of the sky was just sublime.

Crisp, curled brown leaves just asking to be kicked up in the air....

I love how some trees are still steadfastly hanging on to their green leaves! 

Rays of golden sunshine flooding through the trees.

The Parents walking on ahead.  The Fathership actually texted me to tell me to hurry up!  Ha!  It's like emailing the person sitting next to you at school!  You did that too, right?!

The leaves only just starting to change colour there.

The Parents stopped and waited for me...

Berries.

If you look reeeeally closely, you can just about make out the apples on the tree in the centre.

Oh!  The sky!  Look at the colour and the contrast with the green of the leaves!  I would bottle it if I could.

Dahlias.  My absolute all-time favourite flowers.

Someone left their mug on the wall, nestled between some brambles.

Quinces for the taking.  When we returned home from our walk, The Fathership went straight back out again on his bike to go and get the quinces.  He'll be making jelly out of it in the next few days, which'll be my cue to vacate the house whilst he does it.

More berries.

I hope you enjoyed that little collection of Autumn-ness?  I know I did.  I shall come back and look at those photos again during the long, dark winter months when I've all but forgotten what it's like to have colour and warmth outside, and when Spring is just around the corner....

Enjoy your week,

emmalemonade x x