"I've seen my darkest days - you gave each one to me."

"This record is of silence, of burials, and the burials that result from that silence. It’s of betrayal, cruelty, weakness, anxiety, panic - deep and slow - despair, injury and loss. And in this it is shamefully honest and resolutely unforgiving.”  - Davey Havok

I am already so excited for the new AFI album coming at the end of October. 

This is a band that keeps growing and changing - as I learn more about life, people, and myself, I consistently find these lessons reflected in Davey Havok's lyrics (which have always been one of the main draws of this band for me). I missed them on their last tour. I won't miss them on this one. 

The latest song is just so bitter. I can't wait to hear more tracks from "Burials." 

Self-awareness.

Mono No Aware, Marco Mazzoni. 

“Remember: the time you feel lonely is the time you most need to be by yourself. Life's cruelest irony.” 


Douglas Coupland, Shampoo Planet

"Well if you breathe in, I'll breathe in, Slowly let go."

Still making my mind up about this band; but this song has snaked it's way into the curls of my brain.

Crunchy Peanut Butter Cookies.

Something else I've never done on this blog before: share recipes. 

But whatever, these cookies are too good to keep to myself. They're adapted from a recipe I found in a really retro vegetarian cookbook here at my Grandad's (Rose Elliot's "Vegetarian Cookery", which you can buy on Amazon for a mere penny should you wish to try out some kind of - very - outdated veggie recipes). But hey, I won't criticise the original source too much, cause these cookies are amazing.

Preheat the oven to 180°c and cream together 65g of butter, 65g of soft brown sugar and 65g of caster sugar, with a dash of vanilla extract. 

Add an egg and 50g (a large spoonful) of crunchy peanut butter, and beat again until light.

Sift in 100g of plain flour (or wholewheat if you want to up the health factor), a teaspoon of baking powder and a pinch of salt and mix thoroughly. Here I'd normally also add about 50g of chopped roasted peanuts (if you can only find salted, just don't add the pinch of salt at this stage). Chopped good quality dark chocolate also works well, or carob chips if you're into that. The only reason I didn't add anything today is because there wasn't anything in, I have a guest coming in a couple of hours, and living in a tiny North Yorkshire village means by nearby options to buy such things are non-existent. But enough excuses, they're good without the extras too.

Put teaspoons of the dough on a greased baking sheet, and give them plenty of room to spread out. Bake them for 12-15 minutes...  

... and they should turn out something like this.

Cool on a wire rack, and enjoy with a strong cup of coffee and your book, preferably outside in the sunshine.

(I've said it before, and I'll say it again: food photography is really tricky).

Transitions.

"Untitled film still #48", Cindy Sherman

London is calling me back again. New job, totally different part of the city, and new phase in my life. These transitional phases are always a little scary. 

I'm going to try and embrace it as exciting. 

Product Review: LUSH solid shampoo & conditioner.

Horrible Photobooth picture as per usual, but the paler one with the chammomile flower in is Karma Komba solid shampoo, and the blue-ish one at the back is Jungle solid conditioner. 

I never review products - let alone beauty products - because I have very little sense of authority over such things and because I don't really go in for that kind of promo thing. But I'm so enthusiastic about these that I can't really help myself.

I was always put off going into LUSH shops because they are always really strong smelling, but two things about these products impressed me: the fact that they are vegan, and that they have no packaging whatsoever. They are strongly scented, but smell amazing, and when you use them the smell isn't quite as concentrated - plus, they're basically made with entirely natural ingredients. I subsequently learned that the solid shampoo should last as long as three plastic bottles worth - saving three plastic bottles is pretty sweet! I was a little sceptical that it would lather up as well as I was told, but it's excellent (and did I mention it smells amazing?) The conditioner is a little more tricky because it contains cocoa butter so you need to make sure it's warm before you use it, but that's easy to get around by placing in on the base of the shower while you use your shampoo. Another bonus which comes to mind: they'll be so easy to get around airport security "no liquids" rules. At £2.95 for Jungle and £5.25 for Karma Komba they won't exactly break the bank either.

Animal friendly & environmentally friendly makes these winners for me. I think I'm pretty much a solid shampoo convert. Also, it's probably pretty clear from my (poor quality) photo, but I cut both bars in half - easier to use and your product will last longer. Keep the other half in a resealable (resuseable!) plastic bag til the first lot in the shower runs out.

I now have my eye on these:

Karma solid perfume. That smell. Patchouli, orange oil & pine to be precise.

Catastrophe Cosmetic fresh face mask. I've never used a face mask. I want this one all over my face.

Therapy massage bar. Cocoa butter, lavender, orange, neroli. Yes please. 

Burkina Faso, tu me manques tellement.

Ouagadougou.

Ziniaré. 

Bobo-Dioulasso. 

I can't wait to go back to West Africa.