September 5, 2013

Where Are They Now? An interview with Merialc

Are you living in the same place as in 2004/05?

wpid-IMAG1200.jpgNope. Back then I was living in Leamington Spa, having recently split from my ex. Have moved house 4? times since then. The house I’m in now is the longest I’ve been in one place since before I went off to university.

Would we recognise you if we passed you in the street?

I expect so, apart from varying lengths of hair, nothing else much has changed about me. That I’ve noticed at least.

What predictions do you have for the future of social media/the internet?

I suspect that it will become more private again, as people get fed up of trolls and celebrities. The celebs and trolls aren’t going to go away, but I think people will interact with them less and stay within their own huddles more.

We all had a blog back then. Do you still have one, or are you mainly present somewhere else?

The blog’s mostly defunct, not that I was ever the most verbose even at the height of blogging. I’ve posted a few times recently, but generally have a feeling that if it’s not running to at least 5 paragraphs, it’s not worth doing. I’m mostly blaming it on lack of thinking time.

Also a little while ago I went through my old blog archives to see what was worth importing into a new site, and was fairly unimpressed with most of it – it was useful then, but not something that withstood the test of time.

Tell us one goal you would like to achieve before your next birthday?

Before my next birthday? That’s only two weeks! OK, I’d like to start running again. I’m really disappointed in myself that I’ve let the running drop, and really need to get back in the swing of things again.

Asta’s questions are:

1: You’ve been married for a few months now. Can you detect any difference, either on you part, or from others?

I still get startled when Neil refers to his “Wife” and I look around to see who he’s talking about. We’re changing our names at the weekend, and I wonder if that will make things feel more different?

I love the fact that we’re married now, but on a day to day basis it doesn’t really feel different. Basically we’ve been like an old married couple since quite soon after we met!

2. When you first started blogging, what was your intent? Is it the same now?

I think my thoughts were, ooh, what is this shiny thing that all these tech savvy people are doing, I like to be a techy person, I should do it to.

Now it’s more about conversation for me, which is probably why twitter has taken over from blogging so much.

3. Think back to your first blogmeet. Would it be more or less the same today and why?

Terrified of meeting new people? Tick. Get terribly drunk? Tick. Some things stay the same.

But, the little blogmeet group feels a bit like family now. Like the weird cousins that you only see occasionally at funerals and weddings but always have a good time with and promise to meet more often. In a good way.

Who would you like us to interview next, and what shall we ask them?

It would be good to interview Lori next and I’d like to ask her:

  • If you could go back and tell a 16 year old you something, what would you tell her?
  • What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned through your fashion MA?
  • You’ve got a quite a lot of twitter followers, does that change the way that you use twitter?
Karen
  • Comments: 8
  • Great questions, Clair! Took me way longer to answer them than I thought it would. - Lori Smith
  • I like being weird. - Gordon
  • I have a vast number of cousins and second cousins. Of all of them, there is only one that... - graybo
  • You need to get out more, asta - Lyle
  • Interesting. D and I celebrated our 26th anniversary today. When anyone ever calls me Mrs.... - asta
September 4, 2013

Au Courant

While in France, I had some interesting running adventures. On the first morning I headed out to do W5D1, which is 3×5 minutes running. Pete’s mum walked with me for the first five minutes, to point me in the right direction. We took a grassy path around the ruined chateau, and she said if you carry on this way you come to the arc de triomphe, then turn left on to the road, and take the next left which will bring you back down to the house. That sounded perfect, and you can see a picture of the arc de triomphe in Pete’s France Diary.

Continue reading

Karen
  • Comments: 12
  • Bookmarking this: custom running shirts... - Karen
  • I hope the male members of the group (Heh, "members") will have to carry cucumbers upon th... - Lyle
  • How many members of the Uborka running club would be interested in this on 13th October? A... - Karen
  • "a mere 2.5 miles" is what I manage on a good day. - Karen
  • Well done all on being so persistent with your holiday exercise. I'm somewhat in awe. We... - swisslet
September 3, 2013

Great Uborka BakeAlong

photoIn the first of our Great Uborka BakeAlong posts, K reports that he made a sandwich cake, coffee and walnut.  “Probably my best sponge to date – no sinkage. I used the “all in one” method in the stand mixer beating slowly for the shortest possible time until all the ingredients were just combined into a smooth batter. Afraid of sinkage I cooked it for about 30 minutes which seemed fine.

“It turned out very light with a good crumb. Overall I’m very pleased.”

@miketd said “the cake was rendered 100% tastier by the fact you did your own washing up.”  Cheeky bugger.

2013-09-01 19.06.54Here at Casa Uborka, we have caught up with the first two episodes, thrown together some ficelles, which are not breadsticks anyway, and certainly don’t *snap*. The less said about my victoria sponge, the better. [Even covered in chocolate spread, two seven year old boys rejected it]. I’ll be out working this evening but hope to catch up with the programme later. Get watching, get baking!

Karen
  • Comments: 8
  • I _am_ going to conquer my fear of sponge this weekend! Hold me to it, Uborkites. - Pigwotflies
  • Shouldn't Neil be being the dishwasher? - Lyle
  • I keep trying to encourage Neil to buy me a Kitchen Aid. And a dishwasher. Then there will... - Clair
  • I gave my wife a kitchen aid for christmas a couple of years ago. Truly that is the gift ... - swisslet
  • Here is the walnut & coffee cake recipe.... - Karen
August 13, 2013

Gone Fishing

Casa Uborka is closed down, the shutters are shut, the alarm clocks are unplugged, the cat has been left in charge.

Get baking, keep running, and we’ll see you in September.

Karen
  • Comments: 12
  • They're not BLUE sausages what is this, it's clearly a wardrobe. Current theory is the cat... - Stuart B
  • Yes ... hello? *knocks politely* I've come to collect a husband. Mine, hopefully. I wa... - Krissa
  • I vote that once we find the cat we mutiny against it as politely as possible. - Stuart B
  • I mean...I know you guys SAID the cat was in charge...but I dunno. I haven't seen a ... - Stuart B
  • By myself. - Stuart B
August 12, 2013

Great Uborka Bake-Along

Here at Casa Uborka we have been longing for the next series of Great British Bake Off, which is what inspired the current baking frenzy in the house. And what do you know, it starts next Tuesday while we’re on holiday in France. Thank goodness for iPlayer.

We have been planning a Bake-Along, the general rules for which would be as follows:

  • Join in as much or as little as you want to: every week, some weeks, never.
  • Watch the Great British Bake Off.
  • Choose one of the tasks from that week and bake your own.
  • Photograph it.
  • Eat it.
  • Rate and review it.
  • Submit your photo and review to Uborka.

We will be missing the first two episodes, but that doesn’t mean that you have to; we’ll have a big round-up of your bakes so far when we get back, ready to launch into week three of the series.

What do you think? Is anyone up for it? And shall we formalise the ‘rate and review’ part of the project, or leave it up to individuals?

Karen
  • Comments: 9
  • We've had our first GUBA submission from K, and will be publishing it along with anything ... - Karen
  • I'm in (if slow on the uptake)! Might not manage every week though.... - Helen
  • In! I mean, I'm planning a wedding, a house renovation and an intercontinental move, but f... - anna
  • That's it K, you get your excuses lined up now... - Karen
  • I'm in. Currently have a very limited repertoire, so the challenge should be useful. O... - K
August 10, 2013

Garage… done!

A few weeks ago we tidied out the garage. Well, we did half of it – we didn’t get round to tidying out the shelves, which were groaning under the weight of years and years of accrued miscellany. This afternoon, we managed to finish the job off in less than two hours.

garage

We’ve managed to vacate three whole shelves which gives us room for future junkcumulation. We’ve got a few piles of things that we no longer want, which we’re going to take to a car boot sale tomorrow at silly o’clock.

Now what to do for the rest of the afternoon?

Pete