Landlocked Mermaid

Final Friday Top Five Books Set At Sea How is it the end of February already? When did that happen? Well, we could get lost down the spiral of discussing time and how quickly it passes or we could look at a top five. I'm going to vote for the top five! I've recently read a really good nautical book so I thought I'd have a look at it and a few others which I have read. 5. Pirates! by Celia Rees Yes, with that level of enthusiasm. I believe this book was given to me for my birthday by my good friend Chloe. Or her sister. Or both. (Sorry Norman ladies!) In any case, I was about fifteen, so please forgive the foggy memory. It's a story of two girls, Nancy and Minerva, who - while coming from two very different standings in society - find common ground and common disgust with the way they are treated as property. Nancy is a daughter of a plantation owner whose brother is planning to marry her off and Minerva is slave from said plantation. Rather than le...

Recently, I've been feeling like my efforts to reduce plastic consumption have plateaued. Is this a good thing? Have I found my threshold or am I just getting lazy and complacent? Honestly, it is more likely the latter. Hence why I have made it a goal of mine this year to get back into action! Now, I have reduced a lot of plastic use across my life: I have more reusable cups than one person needs, I use shampoo bars, I buy loose fruit and veg, etc etc etc. So I had to look at what plastic I am still using. There are still items in my food shop which contain plastic - pasta, rice, bread, etc - I recycle what I can but I honestly feel like I cannot change this until the alternative is readily available. Our closest packaging free store is in Shrewsbury and it feels counter intuitive to drive forty minutes each way for our weekly food shop. All the good I'd do with no packaging would be undone by our carbon footprint! So that is another mission for another time, I feel. (Unle...

Marine Creature of the Month Famous Fish Piranha 3D (2010). Photo from Syfy Red Bellied Piranha: Piranha Ok, so not technically "marine" but these Amazonian toothy delights are iconic, don't you agree? Kingdom: Animalia Class: Actinopterygii Conservation Status: Not Evaluated (NE) WHAT ARE THEY? To put it bluntly, they are a fish. A freshwater fish with a laterally compressed body. They grow up to 50cm (20in) in length, but the average is closer to 35cm (14in). As the name would suggest, the adults sport a lovely red tinged belly. As juveniles, they are grey with dark spots which develop into a more silvery colour as they mature. Like with a lot of fish, they show sexual dimorphism - the ladies have redder bellies than the men. Their fins are black or red to orange across both genders. Of course, when we think of piranhas we think of lots of razor sharp teeth! (And that it's a difficult word to spell!) They do have a mouthful of teet...

A few weeks ago, my favourite YouTube channel SortedFood posted a video where two of the presenters cooked a Swiss roll without a recipe. As usual, it was all very hilarious and sparked an idea which had been mooching around my head for a while. I love Arctic roll. It was always a treat my grandparents would have in the freezer for when we visited. While living on my own I definitely demolished an entire roll to myself on more than one occasion. (Don't judge, you'd do it too!) Presently, it is a treat I deny myself because of the unnecessary plastic packaging and it is so rarely on offer. But watching the Sorted boys flail about the kitchen gave me an idea. I can make ice cream. They just provided me with a recipe for Swiss roll. Why not put the two together?! That's a good looking forkful! Was it genius or just plain crazy? Well, after the fact, I can tell you it was a mix of the two! I used this recipe as a base for my sponge and the ice cre...