Attention Deficits and Exam Revision: Looking for a distraction?

I'm revising for exams right now and that means that anything and everything distracts me. It seems that when revision time rolls around everything in the world appears more interesting than what I happen to be studying. Let's see; revision time is the only time when tidying up, washing my husband's sweaty gym clothes, and emptying the dishwasher seem extremely exciting and appealing activities.  Even worse, my attention span seems to lie somewhere between that of an amoeba and a goldfish. Speaking of goldfish; I remember hearing once that goldfish have a memory span of something like seven seconds. Apparently it's so bad that  if there is something inedible floating in their tank they will repeatedly try to eat it, for the simple reason that seven seconds has elapsed and they forgot.

So when it comes to remembering all the ligaments in the larynx, I am that goldfish, except not only is my memory span seven seconds, so are my attention capabilities. Here is my studying routine (I strongly advise against following my lead); I read one sentence then surf the internet, read one sentence, look out the window, read one sentence, decide to squat down in front of my fridge and see if something enticing jumps out at me and so on and so forth. This cycle repeats itself until I look at the clock and it's time to cook dinner...or send Samuel to Chilango's for a Burrito (trust me when I say burritos have become my security blanket and only source of excitement over the past few weeks...we just had one for dinner by the way).

Revision has caused me to look for plenty of distractions in all kinds of places, so much so that yesterday afternoon I decided I needed to take some photos of my husband because the light was just so nice on the balcony, and well I couldn't face reading about cranial nerves anymore. So here is the photographic evidence of my distractions.

Did I mention that I am simply writing this blog as a means of putting off revision?

I know he's my husband so I have to say this but I really think he looks pretty darn good...

At least Samuel has something to smile about right now!

Here is a recipe for a snack I've eaten during my revision; maybe it will help you with yours! It's a really simple and healthy dip (the last thing I need right now is extra calories) made with non fat Greek yogurt. You could use regular yogurt as well. Just beware if you plan on getting lucky or having a conversation with someone who is within ten feet of you then be warned, the raw garlic ain't so sexy. I really like this with raw carrots but it's just as good with celery or peppers. Be creative with your vegetables, it makes for a great distraction. In fact, you can make your vegetables super distracting and time consuming (so great for putting off revision) if you think of really crazy ways of cutting them up; I mean have you tried cutting a piece of carrot into the shape of a heart? You'll be there till January.

Garlic Dip

Serves 1 depressed student or two normal people

150g Greek yogurt or regular natural yogurt, not the sweetened variety please. I always use non-fat as I'm depressed enough.

1 fat clove of garlic or 2 smaller ones-this is really to taste.

1 mild red chilli-again to taste.

A small handful or chopped coriander or chives depending on what you prefer.

Tiny tiny pinch of salt.

Raw veggies chopped into fingery sized chunks; carrots, celery, peppers etc..

If you are revising right now I wish you all the best of luck! 

xx

Sunny Shoot in Epping Forest

Firstly, I have done some changes to my good old blog; the pictures are now quite massive! So feel free to take a look around at some of the old pics which are much bigger now.

On Sunday I met up with my cousin's wife Sophie (she informs me that as they are now married she is officially my cousin) for a photo session! Sophie is an aspiring photographer as well and was keen to both practice together and I was more than happy to do so. Sophie also wanted some photos of her for her new website and in particular she wanted some photos with her camera in the frame!

We were blessed with the weather on Sunday; the sun was shining and it was blissfully warm. Sophie is a really outgoing, bubbly and fun girl and so this shoot was a bit different to the one I did with Damien; we wanted it to be fun, easy going and playful, and so we tried ever so hard to channel this with our poses, props and photos.

After learning about light on my photography course, I am always on the look out for open shade and gorgeous back light. Sophie did make fun of me as I was constantly looking for this beautiful back light coming through the trees! I have learned that when photographing people you always need to lose the top light to avoid shadows and contrast on the face and back light is the most stunning light which leaves a lovely rim effect, almost like a glow on your subject, I hope so anyway!

Sophie was an absolute pleasure to be around and so natural and creative with her poses! I loved being in her company for the day and can't wait for our next shoot!

After my photoshop course I finally know how to make the black and whites I really like. I have worked quite hard to figure out how to get a look that I like, so hopefully you like them too. You would be amazed at how different black and white images can look, as it very much depends on how different photographers want them to look.

Here is the lovely Sophie.

So here are the photos of Sophie and her camera, especially for her website! It was hard to think of poses which involved a camera.

I really like this next series, so much so that I included one of the photos in both colour and black and white because I couldn't decide!

I love the playful feel of these.

This next shot is one my favourite shots of the day. 

I love Sophie's beautiful ring and scarf. They look extra nice next to her camera!

For the next few shots we found the most beautiful stream of light coming through the trees which gave an almost misty, romantic feel. Shame we didn't have our husbands with us!

Love these next two.

As this blog is also about my love of food and cooking, I thought I would incorporate one of my old recipe books. I love collecting recipe books, particularly old ones as I can never have too many recipes to try. I saw this light on our way back to the car and knew we had to get some shots here.

Sophie's beautiful engagement and wedding rings.

Thanks for reading and if you fancy you can leave a comment by clicking on the comments link below.

xx

Eye Spy: A Collection of Random Thoughts and Photos

Okay so I'm going with the flow, albeit a random flow for this post.

Yesterday our toilet broke right before I had to head off for my first day at a new job. Now it's been playing up for a few weeks and Samuel believes that he magically learned the art of plumbing simply by being a toilet user for the past 25 years of his life. Can I just say that cellotape does not technically fix a toilet, and maybe just maybe, this is why plumbers don't tend to keep cellotape in their arsenal. Similarly, "moving the tank lid back and forth" (yes these are Samuel's words) to allow the tank to refill also does not successfully resolve the root of our plumbing difficulty. However, we have refrained from enlisting the help of a 'real' plumber because, in Samuel's words, "why pay someone to do something you can do yourself". Fair enough, but can I just repeat the word "cellotape" please. Suffice to say, Samuel and I did have a fairly agitated conversation while he was at work and he came home and sort of fixed it during his lunch hour. The moral of the story...not quite sure, still working on that one, maybe it reaffirms the theory that men never want to ask for directions or ask for help...or perhaps if toilet problems really get me fired up, I should think about getting out more.

On another note I have a shoot planned for Sunday. The shoot is with my cousin's wife who is also an aspiring photographer and she had the genius suggestion of practicing our shooting skills on each other. We've planned to do the shoot in Epping Forest; I've never been there but she assures me it's a beautiful location and I'm very much looking forward to it. Samuel has also been roped in, not sure how he feels about this but as I've mentioned before, he's always the supportive husband. I will hopefully blog the photos next week!

Now onto a tastier thought; there are some great food programs back on the television! Last night we watched "Jamie Does Marrakech". Now I know people have mixed feelings about Jamie Oliver but I happen to love him. I particularly like his no nonsense approach to cooking and I think he is unbelievably creative when it comes to his own style of cooking. I also like his cheeky nature! The way he puts his own spin on dishes, eats with his hands, and leaves his food looking like real grub, warms my heart. His "spicy butternut squash" recipe in one of my earlier posts is eaten almost bi-weekly in our household, so I owe him for many of the recipes in my repertoire. Have a watch of his shows; he really advocates the fact that anyone can cook and I feel he makes yummy recipes accessible to the average population with his easy to find ingredients and straight forward cooking methods. All in all, a guy after my own heart. It's on Channel 4 on Wednesday nights at 9pm.

Samuel has become quite hooked on Sophie Dahl's new cooking show "The Delicious Miss Dahl". Now she's not a chef or even a food writer, in fact she's an ex-model but she has somehow landed a cooking show. I haven't decided exactly what my thoughts are on the show but if I'm honest, I do actually enjoy it. She's most definitely passionate about her cooking and so I can't really knock her for it, especially with my obsessive foodie nature. So last weekend we tried her recipe for "Twice Baked Potatoes" and they were scrumptious. The recipe is included at the end of this post.

As this post is a collection of random thoughts I decided to include some somewhat random photos I took on my last trip home to France. I went for a bit of an "Oldie" feel (if that's a word) on some of them. The purpose of these photos was really to start challenging myself to "see" things all around me (hence the "Eye Spy" title), whether I was successful or not I don't know, but I enjoyed myself in the process!

So here it goes. This first shot is of the thirteenth century village up the road from our home, it's called St. Paul de Vence and well worth it visit. It's where we had our wedding photos taken so I have an extra soft spot for it now. If you're ever there the restaurant "Le Tilleul" is well worth a spot of lunch. You can click on the photos to enlarge.

I liked the features of this gate!

A slightly moody shot!

The walk up to the village has lots of lovely little streets.

An old water wheel near the entrance to the village. 

A father and son playing boules on the boules patch of the village cafe. 

The village has these great statues!

A statue on someone's gate I saw on the walk home.

Here is Sophie Dahl's recipe for the potatoes. I suppose a simpler name for them would be stuffed potato skins, but it doesn't sound as fancy! You can use any kind of cheese; we stuck with her suggestion of soft goat's cheese for one half of the potatoes and cheddar for the other half. Thus we made two mixtures; one with goats cheese and one with cheddar. Both were delicious but I favoured the goat's cheese. We also used low fat creme fraiche which worked really well. We had these with grilled steaks and a tomato and mixed leaf salad. All in all a lovely meal that would be great for a summer BBQ. You can catch Sophie's show "Delicious Miss Dahl" on Tuesdays at 8:30 pm on BBC2.

Here is the link: Double Baked Cheese and Chive Potatoes. Sophie serves them with a tomato soup, which might also be worth a try.

Have a lovely weekend everyone. Feel free to comment by clicking on the Comments link below.

xx