Support / Pre-order your copy of The Strumpet volume 3 featuring me!

If you do and you are able to attend the London launch party in November I'll sign your copy and give you a big thank you hug! If you come dressed as Edward Nygma I'll even give you a thank you kiss ;) ;)

Here is a sneaky preview of my featured short comic Pest!

2013 Whitstable Oyster Festival

Yesterday I attended the first day of the 2013 Whitstable Oyster Festival. Whitstable is a fishing town on the Kent coast. The festival is inspired by ceremonies held back in Norman times when the folk of Whitstable gave thanks for the sea and everything they were able to harvest from it.

The festival lasts all week however the best days to attend are the Saturday and Sunday as that is when the food festival at the harbour is. The food festival is a showcase of traditional Kentish food including preserves, cheese, fudge, cider, beer, strawberries and of course oysters! There is also a separate beer festival.

Whitstable

 



(Right click and select 'open link (in new tab / window)' to see this panoramic in its full glory)

 

The Oysters - yum!

 

 

 

The students of Chaucer College

 

Chaucer College is part of Japan's Shumei University based in Canterbury. It allows Japanese students the chance to experience life in the UK (Kent in particular) for five months. There is a heavy influence in volunteering and getting to know the local community. It is a wonderful school as it teaches the students about traditional English life and also brings the magic of Japan to Kent. When I move to the coast I would very much like to help at Chaucer College.

 

The students performed traditional drumming and a soran bushi (traditional fisherman's dance).

 

 

The Landing of the Oysters parade

This man is great XD I hope he's a minor royal lol

 

Dead Horse Morris - Morris dancing is the most famous traditional folk dance of Britain. It is rooted both is Moorish dancing as well as British folklore. There are very traditional Morris dancing 'sides' (groups) who wear white, ribbons and bells as well as modern variations that mix Morris dancing with subculture fashion and music such as gothic Morris dancers. There are also sometimes characters dancers such as a green man, a giant crow, a 'molly' (man dressed as a woman) and a demon horse. British folklore is highly underrated but I think it's great! 

 

Captain Sam and his wife are giants created especially for Whitstable! Giants are also part of British folklore however recreating them in papier mache is a recent thing. I think they look great! His wife in particular is beautiful and reminds me of Toyah Willcox! 

Recipe: Pimms / Mojito / Chai ice cubes

What a summer, eh? Fruit seems to go off the moment you buy / pick it and everything's all hot and sticky! So here are my solutions:

Pimms ice cubes

Pimms No. 1 is a gin based 'fruit cup' liqueur which is very popular in the summer in the UK when mixed with lemonade and fruit. It is great to share at a party / picnic / BBQ but not so fun to have on your own because you usually end up omitting the iconic fruit (you don't want to buy a whole punnet of strawberries just to use one / a whole lemon just for one wedge etc) however if you have these cubes waiting in the fridge / freezer you can still enjoy the full Pimms experience whenever you want!

These cubes also go nicely in almost any other fruit cocktail. If you don't drink alcohol a good alternative to Pimms is Schweppes' Summer Punch. I've also been drinking them in non-alcoholic grape juice and my morning fruit juice.

You will need:

• An ice cube tray
• Ripe Pimms fruit (I used one strawberry and one grape per cube section but the other Pimms fruits such as one orange slice, lemon slice, apple slice, cucumber slice, mint leaf will also do)
• Water
• A fridge / freezer

Make sure your fruit fits the centre of each ice cube section. You will probably have to cut your strawberries in half (these were the last of my home grown strawberries so were small enough to go in whole). If your fruit is too big and touches both walls of the ice cube section it will make it really difficult to get your ice cube out when frozen! Trust me!

If you are using lots of different types of fruit don't squeeze too much in or the cubes will never come out! I'd say three pieces of fruit is the most you should put into each cube section.

Top up the cube sections with water (though not completely to the top as that will also make them hard to get out) and put into the fridge / freezer to freeze.

When set break into a glass, add Pimms (about 1/3 Pimms to 2/3 lemonade) and enjoy!

 

Mojito ice cubes

 

A variation on the Pimms cube is the 'mojito' cube. These ice cubes also go nicely in other fruity cocktails and non-alcohol fruit drinks.

 



You will need:

• An ice cube tray
• One half slice of cucumber per cube section
• One half slice of lime per cube section
• One sprig of mint per cube section
• Water
• A fridge / freezer

Follow the same method as for the Pimms cubes.

Chai ice cubes

My final variation is designed to go into iced coffees, iced teas (milk or herbal) or plain milk to add an extra twist of spice. I wouldn't recommend adding them to chai tea itself as they will make it too strong.

You will need:

• An ice cube tray
• Water / milk
• Your favourite chai tea mix (here are some good suggestions)
• A fridge / freezer

Fill the ice cube tray with water or milk (water will dilute your drink whereas milk will make it taste creamy). Obviously if your drink was not milk based to begin with don't use milk for the cubes or it will make your drink go all cloudy and weird.

Stir into each ice cube section 1/2 - 1 teaspoon of chai tea mix (if you want a subtle flavour use less, if you want a fuller flavour add more). Powdered tea mix works better as it will infuse better with a cool liquid. If you wanted to be really sure the tea flavour infused you could heat your milk / water with the chai tea mix first.

Put into the fridge / freezer to freeze then when the cubes are set break on top of your favourite iced coffee / tea and watch the little particles of chai mix with your drink as the cubes melt.

 

What's in your handbag?

Lovely Blythe from Blue Roses invited me to enter Money Supermarket's competition to show the contents of my handbag satchel for the chance to win lots of nice prizes (including a real handbag).

I tag Miss Jojangles, Jessthetics, Yummy Like Cake and you guys - anyone can enter as long as they have a blog! Let me know if you do - I bet you have some cool stuff! The deadline is the 1st of July 2013.

And now...what's in my handbag (or maybe...what isn't in my handbag?)

My beloved H! by Henry Holland satchel (£35)

 1) fox tails (handmade), 2) Buddhist happiness charm (¥1000 / £6.63), 3) steampunk goggles (£18) and 4) reusable shopping bag (£4.50)

 

 1) iPod touch, headphones and USB wire (around £200), 2) purple leather fingerless gloves (£18), 3) anti-viral tissues (£1.99), 4) an emergency Snickers bar (45p), 5) Radley purse (£42), 6) charm (¥600 / £3.98) 7) sugar-free rhubarb and custard drops (79p) and hipster-ish lemon mints (£2.49), 8) spork (free), 9) Japanese hotel combs (free), 10) funny looking bits of nature (free), 11) Oyster card (£20 per top up) and useless Network Rail card (£28 I'll never get back), 12) body spray (£1), 13) pen (stolen from mum), 14) cherry chapstick (£1.05) and my favourite lipstick (£1.99), 15) 'that time of the month' stuff (£7.50), 16) business cards (£9.00), 17) keys (heaven knows), 18) 'excellent' Shinto shrine fortune (¥100 / 66p) and piece of lucky Buddhist fir tree (priceless), 19) coupons (free), 20) serviettes (free) 

 

Are you surprised not to see my phone? That always stays in my pocket unless I'm wearing a dress.

A Selection of Japanese Craft

Whilst in Japan I was very lucky to not only learn about wasabi but also take part in various traditional crafts.

Washi Paper

Wa means Japanese and shi means paper. It is a traditional paper made completely by hand (as you can see in the picture below). It is made by stripping, drying and pulping together the fibre from the gampi tree, the mitsumata shrub, the paper mulberry and the tororo plant. The pulp is put into a big vat and the paper maker dips screens into the vat to produce the sheets of paper. The sheets are then pressed and dried.

Here are the sheets of paper my mum and I made:

 

 

Calligraphy

 

There are five styles of Japanese calligraphy. The character I produced is in the kaisho / regular script style (a formal style). Japanese calligraphy generally involves black ink, a brush, washi paper, a weight to hold the paper down with and a name seal. There are three main types of brush strokes (all of which you can see in my character). The first stroke is one where you press down at the beginning and the end of the stroke, the second is one where you press down at the beginning and trail off the pressure as you reach the end and the third is where you press down at the beginning and flick at the end (but not too much). Unlike writing you must have a rigid arm and hand. You must hold the brush 90 degrees to the paper. To generate the variety in strokes you have to be very confident - pressing lightly will produce thin lines which are not very aesthetic.

 

This character is wa which we now know means Japanese. It also means harmony. (I don't think the photo could be any more unflattering if it tried).

Tea Ceremony

Traditional tea ceremonies last up to six hours and not only include tea but a whole meal. They are very formal affairs with many rules. The green tea used is the bitter matcha tea. The matcha is whisked into the hot water rather than infused. To make the tea more palatable it is served with very sugary sweets. Sweets, bowls and kimonos are all carefully chosen to reflect the season the ceremony is taking place in eg in spring petal patterns in pink are preferred. People are allowed to talk during the ceremony at certain points however subjects must be peaceful ones such as the weather rather than ones that could cause arguments such as politics. If you are given a bowl to drink from with a pattern on which has an obvious front and back you much turn the bowl so that the pattern faces away from you to honour the pattern, your host's decision to pick it and the person who made it.

Here is an example of a spring tea ceremony sweet on a traditional pottery plate:

I also took part in an origami lesson (I made a box and samurai hat) and an ikebana (flower arranging) demonstration.

Origami is paper folding. Proper origami does not use tears or scissors and uses only one piece of paper. Here are some simple origami patterns for you to try.

Ikebana is incredibly complicated and takes years to master. The two main differences between Japanese and Western flower arranging are: 1) whereas Western arrangements are meant to be viewed from all angles ikebana has a back and front, 2) ikebana is as much about the negative space between the plants as the placement of the plants themselves - less plants are used and therefore much more importance is placed on the individual plants that are used in ikebana compared to Western flower arranging.

Here is a video that explains the basics of ikebana:

Wasabi Farm

Whilst in Japan I was lucky enough to visit a wasabi farm. Here is what I discovered:

Wasabi is a root and is grown in water (like horseradish). The way the wasabi plants wind through the valley makes it looks like this farm was once a river.

 

There is even a bridge so that you can cross the river of wasabi to get to the Shinto shrines on the other side.

 

Here is a shrine from one side of the river...

 

 ...and here is the inside of another on the other side of the river.

 

People harvesting the wasabi.

 

Here are just some of the products that the farm puts wasabi into including that very green drink which is wasabi beer!

 

This is a meal you can have at the wasabi farm. All aspects of it contain wasabi! The two little wrapped things are sweet wasabi buns filled with red bean paste, below them is a fried fish fillet and at the bottom are wasabi noodles and spring onion in a dashi broth.

The black lacquer box is a bento box! Top row (left to right): savoury potato jelly, sweet omelette, fried prawn ball. Middle row: broccoli with wasabi mayonnaise, fried fish (I think it was eel), cucumber with a very hot wasabi pickle. Bottom: tofu and bamboo root, chicken salad, mountain vegetables in a sesame dressing.

 

We then got taught how to make wasabi pickle. Wasabi pickle uses both the wasabi root and the wasabi stem. You chop it up then mix it with miso paste and leave it to ferment.

 Chopping so finely with such a big knife was scary!