tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35773121731441722572024-02-20T16:54:00.795-08:00Solar OvenSolar Ovenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01228785364575023983noreply@blogger.comBlogger165125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577312173144172257.post-24550477341189980472019-01-21T08:08:00.000-08:002019-01-21T08:08:46.880-08:002018 Christmas goodies…
A different kind of
Christmas gifting this year. I’d been influenced by the extreme simplicity of
the picture below, chanced upon earlier in the year, and chose to extend this
to exercise equipment. I bypassed many of my regular Christmas favourites in
favour of a ‘biggie’: a walnut rowing machine (wood sustainably sourced, and no
connection required to a power-source) by WaterRower.
Solar Ovenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01228785364575023983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577312173144172257.post-60881407787845100442019-01-20T07:30:00.000-08:002019-01-20T07:30:32.408-08:00Looking ahead...
Some years I luxuriate in winter. Other years I don't. This year is the latter. Whilst I am still scrolling through ebay snapping up holey jumpers to visibly mend for chilly days, truth be told, the real focus for my next crafting project is to start knitting up this beauty. Roll on summer...Solar Ovenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01228785364575023983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577312173144172257.post-65272912069569242272019-01-06T11:19:00.000-08:002019-01-06T12:51:20.292-08:002019: Setting the Scene…
Earlier last year, I spent
more than a few hours flicking through early pictures of Zen Buddhist
communities in the US. This was followed (not intentionally), by reading Olivia
Laing’s The Lonely City where a few
pages about hoarding had a huge emotional impact on me (pp. 167-170).
It’s perhaps no surprise
then that the above pic from Donald Judd’s kitchen, master of minimalism
(whilst Solar Ovenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01228785364575023983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577312173144172257.post-77605760285922967682018-09-17T06:54:00.000-07:002019-01-06T11:25:25.019-08:00I want ... #6
It's been a while. The "I want..." series continues. Always stripped down, always about the basics. Happy to settle down here for life...Solar Ovenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01228785364575023983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577312173144172257.post-83264092397967302202018-02-01T03:01:00.001-08:002018-02-01T03:02:49.599-08:00Plants Taste Better
I'm always looking forward to the publication of one book
or another. This is the one that’s currently at the top of my list (due out
in March)…
Solar Ovenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01228785364575023983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577312173144172257.post-20974201138801024652018-01-30T03:15:00.000-08:002019-01-06T11:26:18.434-08:00Christmas 2017
My annual excursion to blogger … I am clearly, judging by
this picture, as old-fashioned as blogger is for bloggers. The ‘granny gifts’
of soap, socks, and books made Christmas 2017 for me, and have sustained me
through this dreary (weather-wise at least) January. Good smells and beautifully
crafted (deadstock) socks have done a much-needed job in starting the day off on
a fine note. In termsSolar Ovenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01228785364575023983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577312173144172257.post-40454461559492636242018-01-28T04:14:00.000-08:002018-01-28T04:14:13.618-08:00I want ... #5/Lisette
It’s been a long time, blog.
My ‘what I want #’ listings and Lisette postings combine.
100% English Shepley wool sweater, with the spinning manufacturer producing this yarn celebrating more than 200 years in business…
Photo via envelope.
Solar Ovenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01228785364575023983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577312173144172257.post-35905231041028193682017-01-30T11:47:00.000-08:002017-01-30T11:57:11.629-08:00Christmas 2016I promised myself that I’d post something celebratory in this grey month. My Christmas presents for 2016 seemed a good place to start. Essentially, things that will last forever, pared down and beautiful, and keeping to the tradition of a few chosen categories … clothes, unguents, a single cooking utensil, something to do with yoga, and of course, books. Thus, as pictured, a Cocon Commerz Solar Ovenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01228785364575023983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577312173144172257.post-7625179584203273322016-03-07T12:03:00.000-08:002016-03-07T12:05:13.910-08:00The Moon Juice Cookbook, Superfoods, iHerb and Ayurvedic ToothpasteOne of the books I’m looking forward to reading this year is Amanda Chantal Bacon’s The Moon Juice Cookbook out in the autumn. Not because I’m a huge fan of superfoods, powders and supplements with often vastly inflated price tags (my vote is always to prioritise eating the best local organic or biodynamic fruit or veg you can find) but I recognise the place that minute spoonfuls of pretty Solar Ovenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01228785364575023983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577312173144172257.post-15767769357255003092016-02-18T02:07:00.000-08:002016-02-18T06:41:46.725-08:00Yoga GlowIt has taken until mid-February to truly feel that the year has started. There was a point in January when I wondered whether I would ever stop contemplating the year and actually start moving ahead and living it. The shift came and yoga started (or was it the other way around)? I had to laugh on hearing Kia Miller, via yogaglo, speak about how her yoga practice started with Raquel Welch. I was Solar Ovenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01228785364575023983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577312173144172257.post-29252285821087961962016-02-03T01:30:00.000-08:002016-02-03T01:30:32.149-08:00Hard monthsLots of people refer to January and February as ‘hard months’. However, I love their hibernating nature and edging myself into the New Year gently. I treat myself by doing all the things I rarely do during the rest of the year. For example, getting my hair cut (thankfully I have long hair, an understanding hairdresser and hair that doesn’t tend to split), lunching out (a very rare occurrence), Solar Ovenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01228785364575023983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577312173144172257.post-32161020946439804272016-02-02T01:27:00.000-08:002016-02-02T09:43:06.418-08:00Fashion for thoughtFood for thought? Fashion for thought is equally important. The clothing industry is, after all, the world’s second most polluting industry.
As a postscript to yesterday’s post it’s not just about how much (or how little) we each spend, but about the number of items too. Spending less doesn’t necessarily mean consuming less.*
*In full disclosure mode, my eight years of accounting show years Solar Ovenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01228785364575023983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577312173144172257.post-81585169672962577352016-02-01T11:02:00.000-08:002016-02-01T14:43:10.059-08:00£££ and clothesI stumbled across Becky Earley’s website last year and really enjoyed reading her personal blog. In a similar way, for the last eight years, like some kind of early modern housewife (I’ve read numerous numbers of their seventeenth-century wills and inventories…) I’ve kept a detailed account of the money I spend on clothes, including shoes, bags and underwear, in the tiniest of notebooks.
I buy aSolar Ovenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01228785364575023983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577312173144172257.post-54051658844023089632016-01-30T10:30:00.000-08:002016-01-30T10:31:45.318-08:00Just wait...I had been ‘on the hunt’ all last year looking for a vegan bag. It had to be big enough to hold all my junk (books, lunches and an umbrella), nothing precious (I am not known for being particularly delicate) and be easy to keep clean (I have lots of those eco cotton bags from various emporiums but they always seem to need washing and ironing after a couple of uses).
I’d heard about a trader, Solar Ovenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01228785364575023983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577312173144172257.post-47725411842641193912016-01-29T06:27:00.000-08:002016-01-29T06:27:43.991-08:00'Later' presents‘Later’ presents often set the tone for the year. Arriving after the hullaballoo of the festive season itself they sometimes seem to impart more meaning than those appearing in the scrum that is Christmas.
For me, the year never feels it truly starts until I have a calendar and a diary, and it’s always an Oxfam diary, although alas, its monthly pages to helpfully track expenses appear to have Solar Ovenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01228785364575023983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577312173144172257.post-9756195963017896392016-01-26T08:23:00.000-08:002016-01-26T08:23:50.715-08:002016: Setting the Scene...A single image often sets the tone for my year. Last year it was a magazine cover of denim and navy (and the interior featured within, pictured, inspiring me to keep paring things down) and my year turned out to be pretty much dominated by the same. This year it’s an old image of jeweller Pippa Small (found whilst tidying up) that’s seeped into my consciousness. Not a huge departure from last Solar Ovenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01228785364575023983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577312173144172257.post-23771586815582374942016-01-20T02:35:00.000-08:002016-01-20T02:39:40.066-08:00Life Itself is the Proper BingeI’ve written before about how I draw as much inspiration from non-vegan cookbooks as vegan ones. It remains the case, but last year, my two favourite cookbooks both just happened to be vegan.
The first, Vegan Secret Supper by Merida Anderson (pictured) stands out for featuring zero vegan ‘junk’ additions and the second, Coconut Kitchen, features the rather wonderful slogan heading this blog postSolar Ovenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01228785364575023983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577312173144172257.post-88345289479227965192016-01-19T08:38:00.000-08:002016-01-19T08:42:10.290-08:00Christmas goodies...2015 Christmas goodies. Always … books, organic chocolate (my current favourite is this), a magazine subscription (fashion magazines bore me, but the World of Interiors always has something to inspire me with), ethical wares (from Kuyichi and more yoga vests from Aura Que), something for the kitchen (this year a cast iron pan for flatbreads etc.), something vintage (a ‘hot-air balloon’ 1970s Solar Ovenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01228785364575023983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577312173144172257.post-45867253373210515062016-01-18T03:10:00.000-08:002016-01-18T03:11:13.584-08:00I read that in Iceland you exchange books and then take them to bed (with chocolate) to read on Christmas Eve. I thought this sounded so cosy and wonderful that I resolved to extend the tradition by doing the very same for as long as possible over the Christmas period. Let’s just say that Christmas 2015 was pretty blissful and I probably ate my way through a kilogram of festive chocolate coins Solar Ovenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01228785364575023983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577312173144172257.post-39515209975052965342015-01-18T04:42:00.000-08:002015-01-18T04:42:45.867-08:00Yoga for Life
Cannot wait for the release of this ... 2nd June 2015. Solar Ovenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01228785364575023983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577312173144172257.post-60855697876816015552014-08-04T07:12:00.000-07:002014-08-04T07:12:20.789-07:00Tolhurst OrganicI’ve been wanting to visit Tolhurst Organic, nestled near the Thames, on the Hardwick Estate, for a long time. I remember looking up their open day last year and realising that I’d missed it by a matter of days. This year I was more attentive to my calendar …
Tolhurst Organic isn’t just an organic farm but a stockfree organic farm, producing and distributing around 120 tonnes of vegetables everySolar Ovenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01228785364575023983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577312173144172257.post-41353735856250480692014-07-25T07:30:00.000-07:002014-08-05T01:41:01.551-07:00Same old, same old ... Little has changed since 2008 when I started this erratic space. I am still on a quest to refine rather than add to my wardrobe. I am still keen to make any additions to the said wardrobe organic and ethically produced and I still err from this quest every so often, seduced, as in the past, by offerings from Stella McCartney for Adidas (which works on a sustainable requirement percentage) and Solar Ovenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01228785364575023983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577312173144172257.post-63909632226445111582014-07-25T07:24:00.000-07:002014-08-05T01:40:05.012-07:00Lisette S/S 2014
All photographs © Lisette.
Solar Ovenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01228785364575023983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577312173144172257.post-13711975543291971742014-07-23T07:31:00.000-07:002014-07-23T08:37:48.436-07:00SantaverdeI bought my first ‘new’ item of clothing this year in the Liv sale … an organic cotton tabard. With my parcel came some freebies, including samples from the skincare company Santaverde and their beautiful catalogue (above) which features their land in Andalusia where they grow and process (by hand) their organic aloe vera – the cornerstone of their range. A huge bonus, to me, is that the productsSolar Ovenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01228785364575023983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577312173144172257.post-41977713236250491422014-04-27T10:13:00.000-07:002014-04-27T10:13:24.983-07:00Lent, sugar, wholefoods and obsessionsI go through these funny minor obsessions. Sometimes they last for mere hours, triggered by a smell or a passing glance at something online. Sometimes they last a little longer. Lent is a good example. I’m a Buddhist but live in a society where Christianity looms as a significant undercurrent – Easter and Christmas are widely celebrated and I go along with their seasonal flows. Something of Solar Ovenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01228785364575023983noreply@blogger.com0