cluck · 2 days ago
Chicken is a big favourite in the McLynn household, amongst both humans and hairies. I even tried a great chicken soup midday on a play reading recently that was v good indeed (it just might have been from a place with Pret in the title). And, reading a Janet Evanovich novel just now, I was reminded that the kookier inhabitants of Trenton New Jersey love Cluck in a Bucket. So, chooks have been featuring heavily. So much so that when I opened the ‘big’ oven in McLynn Mansion some days ago and found a long forgotten chicken I was overcome with several conflicting emotions – the greatest of which was how to blame Richard for abandoning the carcass there, whether he had or not.
It was quite a sight. The whole thing was like a mohair rendition of a cooked chicken – same shape but incredibly hirsute, in subtle shades of bluey greeny greys. It was, in its awful way, very lovely. And almost alive with penicillin, I thought – don’t know if I remember my science properly but wasn’t that discovered in mould? Struck me too that I was probably looking at my Turner Prize entry, or part thereof. It would comprise a kitchen and in every cupboard, pot and covered cooking spot there would be a living thing created by man’s neglect (superbusy modern lifestyle denying time for cleanliness etc) like my hairy chicken – mirroring life but with a twist. And an adventure for all attending the exhibit as the guest would have to open all pots etc to find the artistic statement. Now! I’m already at work on my acceptance speech.
I was also reminded of my pal’s Jonathan and Anne when they moved into their house many years ago and began to renovate it. One of the elderly sellers had thoughtfully left a partially eaten dinner in a cupboard (lamb chops and veg, if I am not mistaken) perhaps as sustenance for the young family about to move in. Mm hmm HMM!
thumbs · 7 days ago
alright, alright – time was when i would attack you every day with vacuous tales of canned goods, opposable thumbs and mohair!
now, it’s just getting by-ish – BUT i feel a SURGE coming on, including a quite interesting incident with chicken – so, see you tomorrow!
AND i went through a phase of flashing me boobs* like Denise Welsh, winner of the UK Celeb Big Brother, so i’ll not be pointing the finger there but to say that her breasticles looked v good to me…
*Devon, Jam and Jerusalem, a fair few peeps will be able to back me up on that – had to start wearing clothage that wouldn’t allow said flashing in the end – le sigh…
waving... · 12 days ago
One of the things I DON’T like about getting older (and there are quite a few) is that mortality loves to wave at you and attract attention more often than you might like. This is usually in the form of removing someone lovely from the world – used to be parents, now, as the years move on, it’s more and more likely to be an even closer generation age-wise. But when you’re up close to such a wave, in person as it were, it can get annoying. Take last night, when the plane I was travelling in aborted its landing quite close to the ground, revved up noisily and headed back high into the sky for another go-around. Reason? A rather calm pilot eventually told us there was still another plane on the runway on our first approach…that’ll do for the year now, thanks very much.
goanches · 19 days ago
Right, as of today I have decided to acknowledge 2012 as The New Year. Until now denial has suited me better and I rolled with it. In fact I extended Christmas by going to Tenerife where I hooked up with my Mum, brother (Ian) and sis in law (Curly). We ate far too many Canarian potatoes (oh so delicious – little balls of floury starch with v salty skins – v moreish…and then some more too) and made a custom of drinking at least one bottle of Cava a night. Curly emerged as a dab hand at popping the cork into the tree over the fence from the apartment (now full of corks and surely officially a cork tree?) without spilling a drop from within – top skill and should be recognised as such. We went on some adventures throughout the island and had great family rows in the car – Curly took her Guide’s Certificate while on our last journey to the volcano and when she reined in her ‘attitude’ she was most helpful, pointing out the ‘interesting rock formations’ right and left and the ‘pointy trees’ in the area. Very informative, I felt. We came across lots of sculptures of the GUanches who were the first warrior types to inhabit the island and a fine bunch of giants they looked too – we called them the GoWan-ches in honour of Mrs Doyle.
Plans are afoot here at McLynn Mansions to make plans and have them further afoot for 2012. For the moment I can report that the teen novel is in the copy-edit and will appear early June in book stores etc – it’s called ‘Jenny Q – Stitched Up!’ Before that I’ll tread the boards in Dublin at the Gaiety Theatre in Fiona Looney’s new play GREENER and then it’s back to London to film the second series of THREESOME for Comedy Central. Oh and I’m to be heard as Jason Byrne’s Mammy in his radio sitcom FATHER FIGURE on BBC Radio 2 from Feb 4…ENJOY!
Miss Alice got her teeth cleaned today – cost a fortune. I need the dentist BADLY but wouldn’t dream of spending such lavish sums on myself…le sigh! I am a fool for those cats.
seaonal carryon · 39 days ago
Now then, the feeding of the hordes went well, perhaps even very well…
the handmade gifts seemed appreciated too, though i do think that if people haven;t seen you toil over them they sometimes don’t realise just how many hours go into the whole effort and think ‘ah yeah, sure he/she’s good at that’. still, lovely smiles all round.
i had the great pleasure of dinner with actress and goddess Fionnuala Flanagan last night, along with her adorable husband Garrett.
And today, as if my gifts could be extended..erm…daniel o’donnell looked at me in the airport (and quickly looked away again, it must be said)
with all that in mind I am debunking to Tenerife for a week, leaving Himself in charge of the livestock and empire…
tis till the season to be jolly!
more anon x
jingles · 43 days ago
I am just about done upholsterying Christmas, so cushion covers and slippers are at the ready to go and sundry other gifts are also wrapped. Next up is cooking and I have all of the ingredients I need to make a fine lunch on the 25th (for 12, I thank you for enquiring). Any mishaps will be mine and then, probably, because I’ll have taken on way too much to actually cook. Last time I ‘did the dinner’ was 3 (4?) years ago and the kitchen was an unfinished nightmare, complete with new oven that I wasn’t used to, though lucky to have connected to the power the way things were going at the time. This year, I know that wretch and although we’re still not truly decanted back into the house it’s less of a builders’ bombsite.
So, all would be fine but for the jingles going on in my poor noggin. It’s like every bad seasonal song ever written has joined a loop in my head to provide my very own, private, festive musak…especially when I am trying to go to sleep…I am now officially fed up of such joy and good tidings to my brain, thanks all the same. However, there was warning on the radio today that 2 LITTLE BOYS was about to be played so I spared myself listening to that. Mind you, it is still lurking as an idea simply because it was invoked…and now I hope I have shared it with you all too – call it sharing, yes, but I think we all know I mean you all to suffer if I have to…(snigger)
Have a happy and safe holiday, y’all
DICKENS · 48 days ago
The knitting of Christmas by P McLynn (of the parishes of Soho and Phibsboro) continues apace with 3 cushions and a pair of slippers ‘in the bag’. Moving on to lavender bags and suchlike and so on now…The turkey and trimmings will be my greatest test but I AM READY!
I cannot recommend highly enough the show upon BBC2 tomorrow night at 8.30, called The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff. I saw a screening of it during the week and I am still laughing my socks off. It is brilliantly written, designed, made, acted and EVERYTHING and I am thrilled to be a part of it. You will truly hate yourself if you don’t catch this one – tuck yourself into the sofa with some hot n spicy dodo wings and some chicken brandy and ENJOY!
domestic · 54 days ago
Ah, the auld domestication has led to a terrible silence altogether, hasn’t it. I was overcome with the putting up of the clothes rail – which is still standing having listed and fallen only once (I put a bit of ballast, ie a suitcase, upon the base and as long as that stays put so will the rail..is the theory…) – and the encounter with the double-yolked eggs near;y finished me off (till I discovered you can buy boxes of them in the UK, which is cheating and not to be encouraged, and therefore I felt somewhat in danger of settling down so I took a trip to New York, as you do when these events threaten to take over. This time I was there, briefly, to see my friend Cillian Murphy in MISTERMAN (totally brilliant) at St Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn. I stayed off ‘the island’ in said borough of Brooklyn in the Smith Street area and am now totally take with it. And, wouldn’t you know it, domestication (by way of creativity) followed me (stalked me, actually, truth be told) – I found 2 great knitting shops and purchased various inspirations and am now returned and hard at work on handmade items for friends and relatives for the festives. And I am as happy as the proverbial pig in sewage. Well, that and HRT have made sense of the year – hurrah!
More on the HRT anon…
excitement · 67 days ago
I live a sheltered life, it seems to me, and therefore a whole range of simple things delight me – witness the double-yolked eggs incident reported here recently. So, as you can imagine, I nearly passed out with excitement tonight as I reserved a digibox and a clothes rail on-line, to be collected tomorrow. It should also be noted that I’m not quite sure what a digibox is or what it does, just that a pal told me that I’d get much better reception on my London tv (and perhaps even more than 2 fuzzily delivered channels) if I purchased such a thing. I THINK I have done that now…tho who knows as I went by price alone – I seemed to think she said ‘it’s only 17.99’ so that’s the one I asked for…hey, it’s all part of the tumbling adventure that is this old gal dragging herself into the 21st century (mind you I am only 38 these days, so perhaps I shouldn’t be too hard on myself). Only one sleep till I go collect my booty – I may not be able to sleep with the thrill of it all!
mincemeat · 70 days ago
I got all domestic and tried my hand at making mincemeat. I think it turned out very well and now I’m the proud owner of several jars and one big bowl of the stuff. It was remarkably easy and even as I write I assume the concoction is fermenting nicely and the sugar and alcohol are having a lovely time and getting ever more flavourful as the days go by. And therein lies one of the other pleasures of the festive cookery – the hooch that goes into the various mixes. I’m thinking that for most cooks the delight of a tot of the hard tack as they go about their endeavours is part of the lure of festive preparations. I had the half can of cider left over from the recipe as well as a delicious glass of brandy and felt great…now to plan some more, and similar, activities (hic!)