Jewish Penicillin

I am rather into making this. Trouble is, I am eating it as fast as I am making it. Did a brief sketch yesterday at Cafe Nova, then another, and today I did a short lunchtime one at Mamuska. My kitchen floor is a nightmare, but have improved it a bit with undiluted polish rubbed in to make it a bit more shiny. No interest in my Air Bnb reduction so looked up Southwark to discover they are letting student accommodation rooms with parking and all sorts of facilities for £30, so I now have the cheapest room in Southwark at only £25 per night. Looks as though I may well have to have a lodger instead unless things look up considerably very soon. Tomorrow I shall be babysitting the gallery, and the following week is the last week of the current exhibition. On Friday I am due to join the Cafe Sketchers at the Landmark Hotel in Marylebone.

Cooking again..............

Well. I did have five zested lemons so forced to make lemon curd. Then had some left over nuts and choc so made chocolate walnut brownies. Fortunately I only ate one small one before freezing the rest. Despite my intentions of stopping cooking. Dear me. Very lazy day yesterday and had a healthy lunch at Mamuska. Rang Victorine for a report on La Traviata which is going down very well apparently: excellent news. There are only eight more performances, and Victorine seems very energised by being in a West End production, and enjoying it a great deal. I should have gone to the dress rehearsal. Curses. I am trying to decide whether to go to the jam session at Toulouse Lautrec tonight. I shall see how I feel later. Was talking to Nibby today about her cottage at Sharplaw. Jo said on Sunday that she thought it was where her brother was living. Sally doubted it, but you never know. Apparently someone bought it who turned it back into one cottage, adding bits on top and a tennis court. No doubt I shall hear. Sal is currently up at Mount Ulston babysitting the place, which will be great fun for her. If I were rich and catless I could go and join her for a few days, but it looks as though snow is setting in here. The guy who asked to stay on Air BnB did not get back to me, so I missed a one night lodger for nothing, dammit. Dorothy says this is par for the course, and I should book anyone in who wants to come and not negotiate on price etc. Francesca has a friend who has a poky room with a mattress on the floor somewhere miles out and inaccessible to transport and she is always getting people. Mind you she is charging only £20 per night so it is not surprising. Last night I put my charges down to £30 a night, which considering all the local hotels are charging over £100 does not seem too bad for central London. Oh well, we shall see. If nothing happens soon I shall have to go down the five nights a week route, though after my last lodger experience I am quite nervous about having anyone for a long stay. The Air BnB idea seemed a good one, but if there is too much competition, probably a waste of time. I will leave it for another week and see what happens.

Fat and Tired Old Bat

Another ghastly moment on the scales - now gained 11lb since Christmas. Was hoping I might have dropped a pound or so last week, but am now carrying another extra. Must try harder. Stopping cooking might help. Anyway went to Luke's Drink & Draw yesterday. We met and started sketching at the National Gallery until 1.30 then walked across Hungerford Bridge to South Bank. We had a quick lunch at EAT before going to the top of the National theatre to sketch. I was a bit tired by this time. Texted Dorothy but no reply. At four we intended to compare work and have a drink at Doggett's but it was absolutely full, so I suggested we walk inland to find a less crowded pub, which we did in the Mad Hatter, which was a great relief. I was so tired by this time that I was forced to order a Bailey's which did make me feel a little better. At this point Dorothy texted and was at Borough Market. I really wanted to meet Dorothy but was too tired to move. Fabi then joined us and showed me the huge red painting she was currently working on. Quite impressive. She is so funny. 'You know how you are feeling good while you are drawing?' she said. "And when it is finished you feel fantastic?' 'Yes' I replied. 'Well" she said "it is just like sex, no?". I had to agree.

Wall Filling, Kooky Biting and Courgette recipe

Here's a French recipe from The Times, apparently served with tomato coulis to children. It is good hot or cold and I am chopping it up and sprinkling over a salad with balsamic dressing. Basically you boil four courgettes for ten minutes, having turned the oven to 180. While the courgettes boil, you break four eggs into a large bowl and add a quarter teaspoonful of nutmeg and some salt. you fry two finely chopped shallots and put aside. You add 200g of creme fraiche to the eggs and beat in then add the fried shallots. By the error of not doing this properly resulting in a rather wet result, what you should then do, after draining the courgettes, is to slice finely using a food processor and lay the slices to drain on kitchen paper for a bit. Then line a dish with baking parchment and layer the courgettes until they reach the top. Then pour the egg mix over and grate 60g of gruyere over the top. I used cheddar. Then stick in the oven for 30-40 minutes. It is a bit of bother, but I quite liked it. I should mention that Kooky is developing quite an appetite for my right arm. And I put filler into the blown plaster hole, only to discover a further hole to fill today. Dear me. I have also been invited to the annual party by my former employers, and wrote a card accepting but got the date wrong having mislaid the invitation. Tragic. Fortunately I have now found this and will put the date in my diary. Probably just as well I retired when I did. Drawing tomorrow at the National Gallery and then National Theatre in the afternoon. Hope I remember to go!

Rainy First Night

Invited by Madeleine to the first night of The Captain of Kopenick at the National. The weather was truly vile, wet and windy. Anthony Sher was playing the lead and was particularly good in the second half during the period of his brief transformation into the Captain. The sets I liked, but the introductory choir sang so loud you could not hear the asides spoken by the prisoners. There was an awful lot of marching and singing and banging of percussion of various kinds, despite which I found myself almost nodding off, as the production did seem very long drawn out, and the jokes were so feeble, but this may have been some kind of commentary on the German sense of humour for all I know. Anyway the second half perked up a bit, but the message did seem a bit laboured and muddled. Again this may be due to incipient dementia on my part. There was a huge crush afterwards but we moved with a certain alacrity to obtain plates of food and a glass of wine, after which Madeleine very kindly dropped me home. I really enjoyed the opportunity to go to a first night, which is always fun, and very different from my usual quiet life. Today I babysat the exhibition at the Waterloo Gallery with Del. I put another painting in the exhibition, Waterloo Zeitgeist, which makes four now, and one hopefully sold. Our nemesis, a woman who had previously spent some considerable time wandering around the exhibition on another rainy day, fortunately hovered just outside. This was lucky, as on her previous visitation she had proudly and loudly announced that she had been evicted from her flat in Peckham and was staying at a nearby hostel. Rather unwisely, as it turned out, Del asked her why she had been evicted, and she replied that she had been awarded an ASBO for selling crack cocaine and prostitution. Waxing rather voluble on the subject of prostitution: 'We've all been there' she announced - our one thought was to get her out of the gallery before she ruined the prospect of any more sales, having already accosted a rather nervous young man. We do see life in SE1. We have had quite a number of visitors, a few sales and some very positive comments from the visitors. The eclectic nature of the works ensure that there is 'something for every one' which I see as quite positive, and yet somehow all of the work manages to look OK together. Found a fist sized hole in the plaster downstairs where it has blown, so may purchase some Polyfilla tomorrow. The painted trunk is looking good. When the weather and finances improve I must get the fence pole fixed or replaced. Did a sketch or two today in the gallery.

Windy Weather

Yesterday had roast chicken at Mamuska and did a short sketch. Had an enquiry for my room through Airbnb from a business man in Argentina coming to London to work for a few days asking for a special price. Knocked it down to £30 a night as it was my first possible booking, then had a reply saying he was thinking about it. Then re read his original enquiry, in which he referred to renting the flat! Sent a rapid reply saying it was just a room, then emailed Airbnb to change the title to make this clear. Mind you it would be pretty amazing to find a flat in London for £30 a night. Things must be much cheaper in Argentina. Oh well. This galvanised me into a certain amount of action, in that I partially cleared the dumping ground under the kitchen counter , and also the top of the counter, so now three people could sit there and eat or drink. I shall start to remove the picnic hampers from the living room and store them on top of my wardrobe upstairs. I shall then paint the pine trunk, which always looks a bit sordid,and hopefully improve the living room a bit. I may forego Toulouse Lautrec tonight as I am going to the National Theatre tomorrow night.

Drink and Draw at Old Operating Theatre

I had not realised there were about 35 narrow spiral steps to this place in St. Thomas street, and with no rail but only a rope going up the inside to grab. Bit of a nightmare, but I could not have done it at all a couple of years ago. Did a sketch of some shelves with various potions and herbal remedies. Strolled to Hays Galleria, where I purchased a small rucksack, which will be easier to carry my stuff and had lunch at Cote, which was very pleasant. There I met two women, one of whom worked at the Visitor Experience at the Shard, and had been admiring my rucksack. Since she was quite young and very smart I took this as a compliment. We had a brief chat and I left to find the others who were in a local coffee place. As the Horniman was packed, we found another pub where we sat and sketched each other for a further hour or two. Very enjoyable.