I set this photo up specifically for Instagram. My big mistake was probably to have drunk all the coffee before taking the shot – leftover dried foam isn’t particularly attractive – but still, the colours are nice. And the coffee wouldn’t have tasted as good once it got cold.
I want to start writing here again, and this is a bit of a test run…
When I was in school I was always known for being ‘the girl who draws cats’. I thought that was a bit limiting, and tried to draw other things. Recently, though, I have begun to embrace the fact that when my hand and my pencil are on autopilot, it is typically a cat who emerges onto the page, wearing an expression of feline disdain or sleepfulness. I can hardly help it, having never lived without at least one cat to call home.
My own personal cat was named Jake, and passed away in December at the age of 15. He was a large and unkempt creature, prone to bouts of nervousness, and with a penchant for lying his head on discarded shoes.
It was a beautiful day; I’d finished work on time for once and had anyway forgotten to bring my yoga clothes with me. With a sense of freedom not unlike that experienced on a Friday, I took the bus home, changed into my weekend clothes, and then walked to the shops in the afternoon sunlight.
The guacamole recipe I use is a lemony-basil guacamole: not spicy, but fresh and citrussy and incredibly green. It’s from Nigella Lawson‘s book Feast, where she suggests that it could be served to six people accompanied by crudités. I could probably eat the full amount single-handedly, and would still feel quite virtuous about it due to its being Made Of Vegetables and therefore – probably – healthy. Healthy-ish.
This guacamole is excellent with plain tortilla chips, but perhaps even nicer on toast. I ate it at the bottom of the garden, on the aforementioned toast and in the evening sunlight, which was golden and ebbing away. Cats came and posed attractively for my sketchbook. The effect was slightly spoiled by the next-door-neighbour’s over-zealous sprinkler system, but all in all, it was a pleasant way to spend an evening.
You can find the recipe under its correct name of ‘Italianified Guacamole‘, in Feast.
Self portrait in sepia Pitt Pen, based on my Year 11 yearbook photo
Other posts may or may not be as dull as this one, but will probably be longer.
Here be dragons.
(note to self: insert dragon here).