Afterlight photos

I have an obsession with Instagram (as you can probably tell!) so imagine my delight when I found Afterlight for iPhone. It has many of the same features as Instagram but takes it a bit further, enabling you to shape photos, change the contrast, brightness, clarity, etc. 

Here's something I made from photos shaped into letters.

It also has film 'textures' which is a feature I really like - here's some photos I've put through on the app. Photographers may be shaking their heads in despair on 'adding' 'film textures' but I think it's good fun. I particularly like the filter applied to the daffodils as it's a bit more subtle but the one of the right hand side with the red streak looks good too.

For £0.69 it's a bargain and a must for those who love to put photos through Instagram's filters as it gives you more control over the effects and how much you want to apply them. A feature I really like is being able to put the photos through Afterlight and immediately open them in Instagram to upload as the two programmes can be linked. The two work well together and give you more control. Can you recommend any other photo apps for the iPhone? 

Crumpets with Paul

I made some crumpets recently from Paul Hollywood's new book 'Bread' - it's worth getting hold of for a tenner on Amazon (rather than the usual £20 in shops) as the book is full of lots of easy to follow recipes with pictures showing you step by step what to do (here's an example 
below).

I like that he shows you how to make one type of bread through step-by-step photo instructions and then gives you 1-2 recipes to make with that certain type of bread afterwards - this is great to get bread more into everyday meals (not that I need help with that as I absolutely love bread). 

The recipe to follow for crumpets is quite a long one so leave plenty of time - I started making them for a lazy Sunday breakfast at 9.30am and they weren't finished until lunch! Here's the recipe below:

Makes 10-12 crumpets

• 175g strong white bread flour
• 175g plain flour
• 14g fast-action yeast
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 350ml warm milk
• 150-200ml tepid water
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp salt
• Oil for cooking - I used olive oil as it's all I had in
• Crumpet rings - these are crucial and you can't make the crumpets without them. I got mine from Lakeland and they're very good and non-stick. They're quite expensive at over £10 a set - do you know anyone who wants to split a pack? I shared mine with my Mum as you only need to keep the crumpets in the rings until they're set and you can use the rings again and again.

Put the flours in a bowl and mix in the yeast evenly. 

In a jug dissolve the sugar in the warm milk, then pour in the flour mixture.

Beat the mixture with a wooden spoon for about 3-4 mins until you have a 'smooth batter' - this was incredibly difficult to do as the mixture is so thick it feels like you're fighting with in, not making it 'smooth' - I managed it in the end but it helps to have someone with a strong arm around! You need to do this to make sure the crumpets develop the holes that we all know and love. 

Cover the bowl with clingfilm (or a tea towel) and leave for 1 hour. The batter rises a lot and it needs to be left alone to do this or else the crumpets won't turn out. I left mine on a warm windowsill which worked a treat. 

In a jug, mix 150ml of the tepid water with the bicarb of soda and salt. Stir this liquid into the batter until evenly combined - use more water if you need to to make a thick dropping consistency. When I first did this step I thought I had done something very wrong as it looked like a big soggy mess sitting in a bowl of water - I persevered though and made it through. 

Cover the bowl and leave the batter to rise for 20 minutes. You'll see little holes start to appear.

Heat up a frying pan on a medium-low heat. Grease the inside of the crumpet rings with oil and the pan. 

As Paul says, it's a good idea to start with a trial crumpet. The books says that like with pancakes the first one is never the best - this was definitely the case for me! So give the pan chance to heat up by running a trial crumpet first. 

Keep the cooking 'low and slow' - my biggest mistake was heating up to quickly and I ended up with some burnt bottoms! 

Now you're ready with your crumpet rings - add in the batter and leave to cook for 6-8 minutes. You'll see the bubbles start to rise in the mixture after a while (you can speed up cooking by gently popping these bubbles with a sharp knife). To further speed up the whole process, take the crumpets out of the rings when they're set and get ready for the next batch whilst they're still cooking (see the pan photo below). 

Once the tops have set, turn the crumpets over to lightly cook the top for a further couple of minutes. I made mine thicker than expected I think so needed to add a further 5 minutes on to the cooking time.

Once they're cooked re-grease your crumpet rings and repeat. Then serve warm with butter or re-toast later on. I enjoyed mine with butter and egg and later on with golden syrup (I have a particularly sweet tooth and this just seems to go). 

The Ropewalk, Barton - paradise over the bridge.

Having been to The Ropewalk a few months ago to do a glass-work day course I went back recently to check out the print exhibition and catch up with my Mum and Dad over a cup of tea in the cafe. The Ropewalk, just over the bridge from Hull in Barton, is a mini paradise filled with prints (I can't help myself - I just love anything etched or lino-printed), a cafe, a gallery, a sculpture garden, a museum, a shop and on a strange offshoot in the cafe they also sell Mr Huda's sauces which I can't find anywhere in Leeds.

The Ropewalk is a breath of fresh air in this part of the world and just makes me feel, well, better, when I walk in. I've taken a few pics below to give you more of a feel for the place but it's well worth a visit if you're in the area (and even if you're not!) as there's plenty of art on display and there's a nice cafe to get some lunch. 

Having dabbled with a bit printmaking in the past it's nice to see what other people are doing and it inspired me to come home and work on my own lino block (admittedly, this is still just a thought... watch this space).

Salt and Pepper Squid

Tonight I decided on a special treat of squid for tea after seeing a tasty looking recipe in a copy Good Food magazine that's been hanging around for ages. The original recipe is here and I tweaked it a little to match what I had in. It's a quick recipe (apart from preparing the squid!) that looks impressive and tastes delicious and here it is.

• 1 tbsp of black peppercorns (whole)
• 1 tsp of chilli powder
• 1/2 tbsp crushed sea salt (this was originalyl 1 tbsp in the recipe but trying to reduce my salt intake - it was still very salty!)
• 8 tbsp plain flour
• 400g squid, cleaned
• Groundnut oil for deep frying
• Lemon wedges to serve

Firstly - crush together the peppercorns, chilli flakes and sea salt in a pestle and mortar. Then mix this mixture with the flour. 

Cut the squid hoods up (they must have been prepared at this point, I asked the fish monger at Leeds Market to do this for me which is the easiest (and best!) way to make sure it's done properly). Slit down and across the squid to score (this makes the squid curl up when cooked which looks nice) and cut into bite sized strips. The original recipe doesn't include the tentacles but I did and they were well worth adding (I cut off the heads for good measure). 

Coat the squid pieces in the mixture and fry in the groundnut oil and fry for 4-5 minutes until golden. Make sure the oil is nice and hot before you put the squid in - it needs to be almost spitting at you so you get the best result for crispiness. The original recipe says 1-2 minutes but I left it in for a bit longer so they went crispy and golden brown. 

Serve with lemon (and salad, and olives, and bread and anything else you like!). 

Lomo experiments

I have a beautiful lomography fish eye camera that I bought about 8 years ago on Ebay for a steal and I've finally found it again after being parted for all these years. Just like the one above. I love lomos, I love everything about them - from their shiny casings, to the photos they take, to the little communities online worshiping lomos.

I'd have loved this post to be all about my first adventures with my fisheye and how wonderful it was - it was very wonderful taking the photos - sadly, the results didn't agree with me. But... I have learnt for next time. Here's a few things I discovered along the way.

Always take the photos in bright light - the flash isn't very strong and you'll feel let down that the lovely photos of Leeds Market didn't come out.

Don't open your camera too early - it lets the light in! I honestly thought the film was ready to come out. It wasn't. Saying that thought I quite like the second one of the sculpture at The Ropewalk, Barton. 

Taking photos of food makes you happy. Especially when it involves Leeds Market. 

And above all else - some photos will turn out whether you take them inside or not so just shoot and hope for the best!

Next I want a La Sardina and a Coloursplash! 

Noz World Tour

Noz Monsters like to tour the world - here are a few trips they've been on lately!

Where's my matching beach hut? 

Taking in some culture at The Alhambra, Spain

Overlooking Granada, Spain

 Scarborough - enjoying the view

Soaking up some sunshine in Chania, Crete

 Visiting The Angel of The North

 Contemplating a swim in Paleochora, Crete

Amazing Graze

Yesterday I went to Amazing Graze at the Left Bank Centre in Leeds - the sun came out and it was the perfect weather for eating ice cream (that's my excuse anyway!). Amazing Graze is a small 2 day food/art/music festival run by Manjit's Kitchen. I've visited Manjit's Kitchen many a time at events across Leeds and knew I was going to be in for a treat when I heard they were organising the event.

The atmosphere was great- helped by lots of people and lots of different food on offer. Outside the sun was shinning and the tables full of people enjoying good food, drink and music. Here's a pic of the outside area. It helps that I love Left Bank - I've been here at night time for Bettakultcha before and loved it then and it's even better in the day time! Left Bank is an old church (not sure if it's in use any more) that's used for a range of events - mainly arty ones. 

After soaking up the atmosphere and sun outside we headed inside to see what was on offer. Firstly we headed to Chinampas for a drink - the bags of drink people were carrying around caught my eye and we had to try one out. Opting for something I've never tried before paid off as the tamarind flavoured drink was really nice - the perfect combination of sweet and a little sour. Drinking from the bag was different and a great way to save on waste. 

Moving on to something a little more savoury we shared a mixed meze of tabbouleh, hommous, lamb and tzatziki with a wrap and some Persian breads from Afsaneh Kaviani. This was very tasty and I only wish I had tried the Persian candy floss on offer! 

To finish and the icing on the cake after all the nice food we'd eaten was a Plum Crumble ice-cream from Ginger's Comfort Emporium. Ginger's Comfort Emporium, normally based in Manchester, describes itself as 'an ice cream van for grown ups' and is lovely to look at. The menu is written out in coloured chalks and even the inside is decorated with colourful posters and russian dolls. The ice cream was delicious, with chunks of crumble and plum, I only wish I was hungry enough to try one of the ice cream brioche sandwiches - shown here on the Feast and Glory Blog they look delicious! 

Worth a mention too is the screen prints that were on offer from Hope House Prints and Simon on the Streets. Being a fan of screen printing I love the idea of getting people involved in making their own print for a donation - sadly we had to dash off so I didn't have time to do one - hopefully there will be a next time!

This was the first Amazing Graze and I hope there will be another one in the not so distant future as I would definitely visit again.

The Northern Art Prize at Leeds Art Gallery

Last Wednesday I helped out on the door at The Northern Art Prize at Leeds City Art Gallery – even though it was snowing and really cold there was a good turn out and a good buzz around the art on display. All the artists have produced new, never exhibited work for the exhibition which made it all the more interesting.

Rosalind Nashashibi

The four artists nominated for the competition are Margaret Harrison, Emily Speed, Rosalind 

Nashashibi and Joanne Tatham & Tom O’Sullivan (collaboration). The artists, all selected by curators and arts specialists, must all be practicing in the North and interestingly there are no boundaries around age or medium making the exhibition very varied - as Pippa Hale, the Director of the Northern Art Prize said 'a variety of mediums with artists ranging from 33 to 72'. Apparently many prizes relating to contemporary art put boundaries around age and medium, excluding those who don't fit into the specific boxes which is what makes the Northern Art Prize so nice. The winner will be announced on 23^rd May and will receive £16,500 as prize money. 

Of the four artists my favourites were Margaret and Joanne & Tim. I was lucky to receive a tour from Sarah Brown, curator of Leeds Art Gallery, before the masses of people arrived as I was helping out – unfortunately I was a little late and missed the talks on Rosalind and Emily so I may be a little biased as I learnt more about Margaret and Joanne & Tim’s pieces from the start!

'The Reiterative Grimace' - Joanne Tatham & Tom O’Sullivan

Joanne & Tim’s pieces are not only fun to look at – they also use the gallery space well to divide up the new and the old (as you can see from the pic above). As well as 'The Reiterative Grimace' above, there are some photos of past pieces showing the range of work they've done in the past - Looking in their work a bit more I particularly like 'Direct serious action is therefore necessary' - I like it so much I've added it below!

Direct serious action is therefore necessary - Joanne Tatham & Tom O’Sullivan

Common Reflections - Margaret Harrison

Margaret’s work fits in well with the kind of work I’m growing to like more and more with feminist meaning behind the work. I particularly like her piece 'Common Reflections' (above) - it's an interpretation of the fence from RAF Greenham Common that represents the site outside the base where in the 1980s women set up a peace camp to protest about nuclear weapons kept there - the mirrors are a clever twist as the women held up mirrors to the guards to hold them to account. I also liked the use of mixed media in her work. 

I still need to go back and look at Rosalind and Emily's work in more detail as I soon got swept away from the galleries when guests started to arrive. All in all a good exhibition- looking forward to seeing who the winner is in May!