7th Day of Christmas – #12DCP

Day 7 of the sensory journey; the last, but in my view the best of the taste days.  This also marks the time of year where we look back and then forwards in the style of Janus.  what have we achieved, what do we hope for next year? I was pleased with my achievements of my personal challenges for last year, the Great East Swim and the Dunwich Dynamo both went well but boy oh boy did I drop off the throttle afterwards.  So, yet again I’m approaching 2012 in the officially overweight category.  To that end I have signed up for the 2012 Great East Swim at 2 miles, as the Dynamo is earlier I doubt I will do it this time, too close to the swim.  Instead I will attempt to learn to run, I’ll use Janathon 2012 as my start point and sign up to a plan possibly with Take to the Streets which has served me well in the past or if anyone can recommend an iPhone app that takes you from not running to a 10K distance that would suit me very well.

Back to the 12 Days – today’s theme is:

Taste – Umami

Today I am in search of savouriness, regular readers will know that I am a proud member of the Marmarati which pre-declares me as a fan of all things savoury from Marmite, to rare meat and strong cheese.  Umami has only relatively recently been added to the list of taste senses how did we manage before?  I wonder what your favourite savoury things are, any strong memories, things you hope to achieve in a savoury style in 2012?

 

To keep you thinking here is today’s Spotify playlist

Savour – Illustration Friday – Caught with sticky fingers?

The topic for Illustration Friday this week is ‘savour’.  As many regular readers of this blog will know I have a penchant for a certain savoury spread called Marmite.  I was sure that there was too much savouring of the spread going on when I learned this week of the theft from a warehouse of £60,000 of Marmite and Marmite Christmas products including their Peculiar Milk Chocolate.  I haven’t time to turn this into a proper picture, so just my rough sketch for now of someone sneaking a jar of Marmite out from a hole in the fence.

I know that a lot of people come to these pages via Illustration Friday from all over the world where Marmite is not found.  It is difficult stuff to explain; a brown yeast extract goo.  Notoriously people either love it or hate it.

Marmite XO will be released into the wild on Monday

Sadly, due to the computer failure here we never did have a Marmite picnic at Framlingham Castle, which was the original plan.  However, in the spirit of the thing, here is my Marmite XO video.  Of course if you would still like to join me drop me an e-mail and one sunny spring weekend we will picnic.  In the meantime which of the soft toys would you have been?

Marmite XO goes on sale on Monday.  I am pleased to be one of the Marmarati, many thanks to all those who voted for me.

I’m in the Marmarati – thank you, thank you, thank you!

You ARE beautiful in my eyes Marmite

……..thank you, thank you, thank you, to everyone who voted for my mad makeover back in December.  I have been accepted to be in the Marmarati and am looking forward to receiving my limited edition Marmite post haste!

Illustration Friday – Hatched – #12DCP invite to the dfaolbilts

You ARE beautiful in my eyes Marmite

The topic for illustration Friday this week is ‘hatched’. You will see from some of my other posts that I am also touting for votes so that I can win one of a limited number of special edition jars of marmite, if you are willing please vote for me here; I have not entered this picture separately so the item in the marmite gallery is my adapted avatar.

I am also adding to my list of invitees to my virtual #12DCP; 12 days of Christmas party; the latest addition is my twitter list called dfaolbilts – it stands for ‘don’t fit any other lists but I like their style’. By definition these are bound to be some peoples marmites, love ’em or hate ’em; a mix of comedians, potty mouths, ‘Indians’ (some of who do live in India) people who send fab links or quotes, some bots like the Big Ben clock; basically all sorts of everything. The only thing they have in common is that I rate them highly.

So dear dfaolbilts, if by chance you come here visiting, what will you bring to the party and what song should I add to the playlist to get you up and dancing?

The playlist for this post is here and for those without Spotify the complete listing as it is so far will be in the first comment.

To any illustrators, designers, artists etc I would still love some designs for perfect party rooms.

Something Completely Different – Party Girl tags

The theme for this week’s something completely different is ‘Party Girl’ in the form of tags. Strange how things come together sometimes; first, I’ve let myself get sidetracked by a campaign marmite are running with the lure of one of their limited edition marmites as a reward. I haven’t entered this tag as a separate entry but you can vote for me here. Years ago in Norwich there used to be a clothes shop called ‘Your Granny Wouldn’t Like It’; I quite like the idea of a party where the invite is that your ‘ma might not like it’; everyone knows that you either love or hate marmite. Actually stop there; people may come here who haven’t come across the stuff before. When someone asked me what it was I described it as black goo that you spread on toast. They sent me this link for marmite and road kill sarnies, which made me laugh, as people often assume my foraging includes road kill.

Secondly, I need to invite some more of my twitter lists to my imaginary 12 days of Christmas party [#12DCP]. This time I have added all those on my A-Z list. They are all in the public eye to some extent, but many of them are also on my other lists because the write, cycle, love food or whatever. Most of them are also great twitterers, which makes following them amusing. But how to get the tag to the A-Z listers, now there is a problem. I happened to have been listening to @markglennmurphy on Radio Suffolk when he read out a message from a listener who shared a cat with her neighbour. The cat had arrived at the listeners house today with a tag around its neck saying happy birthday. I also spent part of today at the hairdressers reading that auspicious academic journal ‘OK’ in which Victoria Beckham had two small pigs in her handbag; apparently the latest designer accessory (I won’t comment on the virtue of small pigs as pets other than to say the bacon rashers would be very small and don’t ask me to clean her handbag).

Here is the plan; I will hire a small team of fluffy kittens, little dogs and handbag sized pigs; attach the tags to their collars and put them through my A-Z listers cat flaps. I wonder if anyone of them will come. If you are an A-Z lister (or someone masquerading as one), what would you have me add to the playlist for the #12DCP, a track that will make you get up and boogie; also what little treasure will you bring along to amuse the guests?

Any crafters who are up for a challenge, I would still love some party invitation designs for a virtual 12 Days of Christmas Party.

Your Spotify playlist for this post is here and for non Spotify users I will put the details, as the list currently stands in the first comment to this post.

Can I join the Marmarati ?- Please

My credentials?

I’ve changed my whole image. Regular followers will know I change my avatar and Spotify play list to fit what is going on around me. So, my avatar has had a marmite make-over. The Spotify playlist to go with explains my love of marmite. Oh and I’ve taken a name change just for the Marmarati – there I am known as Globus.

So that should be everything for a secret society – plastic surgery, name change and complete change of aural environment.

Not sure what this is all about? Go to http://marmarati.org./galleria/view/425