Every Day Is A New Year

A new year for many is a time for that big fresh start, for a better you whether “better” means smarter, sexier or happier. January is awash with determined gym membership sign ups and bright eyed faces in evening classes.  Inevitably, by mid-January, many plans for a “better you” are almost entirely abandoned just as you had started to grasp how to order a coffee in French or complete a single press up.

A radical suggestion perhaps but maybe it is time we started treating January like the other months of the year. If you fail to follow through your goals in January then fret not and pick up where you left off in February. Cut out the panic and disappointment at the start and spread a little effort across the twelve months and beyond.

And while we’re on the subject of spreading it about, be realistic about how much time and energy you can give to each ambition. You may want to be a multi-lingual martial artist and scientist like 80s muscle man Dolph Lundgren, but chances are that finances and the day job restrict how much you can actually do if you want to do it well. Carefully decide what future achievements are most important and give it your all like the world’s most attentive mind-blowing lover.

To make things even easier and more achievable, start small and build up from there. Want to get fitter but haven’t exercised in an age? Start with a walk in the park or an improvised dance in your living room to your favourite upbeat tunes. Want to venture into writing? Start a journal to get practicing and brainstorming your ideas. Keep up small regular actions and eventually you will have the desire to challenge yourself further.

Finally, remember that this is not a competition and be kind to yourself. If you have friends or colleagues with similar goals to you, don’t compare your progress to theirs. Also, every once in awhile we all have the need for a bit of down time for reflection and physical restoration. A weekend under the duvet can be an essential pleasure.  

So not Happy New Year but Happy All-Year-Round!

The Return of The Bookworm

Books were everywhere in my childhood - in the classroom, the primary school book shop (a regular pop up long before “pop up” became a retail trend), BBC’s Jackanory, and at home. For birthdays and Christmases, relatives and family friends gave me books ranging from classic fiction to encyclopaedias. If it wasn't a book it was a WHSmith voucher (vouchers are always a safe bet and said retailer stocked items considered “useful” or “educational” by adults) which nearly always paid for another book. I read extensively on train journeys, family holidays and in the dinner queue at school. 

My highlight of my first trip to the Lake District was visiting Beatrix Potter’s home, illustrations of which appeared in her works - the first trip to a historical site that I clearly remember being thrilled to see and it was all because of a love of a book collection. The first autograph I obtained was by David McKee in a copy of The Sad Story of Veronica Who played The Violin and included a personalised drawing (a cat standing on a plinth with a violin). I regretted not having met Roald Dahl before he passed away. Authors were my first favourite celebrities.  

As I entered my teens I started to read my parents’ novels from the living room bookshelves while also acquiring more books for my own bookcase, the contents of which had started to spill onto the floor and under my bed. The fantasy of C.S. Lewis gave way to that of the sensual Isabelle Allende and Milan Kundera. Venturing into adult fiction opened up more new worlds to me  - narratives from a wider scope, flawed and therefore more believable characters, historical viewpoints from lands that existed in reality and not just mythology. At this point I had not travelled to many places beyond Europe but the likes of Arundhati Roy and Gabriel Garcia Marquez transported me there and gave me experiences that no tour guide could match.

English literature was one of my best subjects at school and it formed half of my degree at university (history being the other half) - I thrived not just on the act of reading but exploring the background and all possible ideas behind works of fiction. It helped me to understand society with all its complexities, and the world in general, better.

Something happened after I graduated - I started to read less. There could be a number of reasons for this - long working hours, social distractions, the internet to count a few. On morning commutes novels were replaced by free newspapers with bite-sized articles which I would usually forget about straight after reading. A book that previously would have taken me a week to finish now took a month and that is if I ever completed it.  Even though I still undertook the act of reading daily - news outlets and social media posts - I scarcely felt the same feeling of satisfaction as with a book. I binged on the reading equivalent of processed fast food - quick and convenient yet the hunger remained. Ironically, I still bought and borrowed books so the desire to read was still there but daily adult life appeared to drain out the motivation.

There are many books on my to-read list and inevitably there are countless incredible works out there yet to be even heard of. This year I made a more conscious effort to get back into the regular habit of reading and turn that passion into a greater part of my life again. The easiest opportunities to read are free weekends at home. Like with developing any new habit, I had to make steps to break down another one - the internet. The internet is a wonderful tool that connects you to other people and helps you to make new discoveries (thanks to the internet yesterday I discovered John Grant’s music and historian Emmanuel Todd). But it can also be incredibly addictive and, used unwisely, create the fast food effect I mentioned earlier.

Now when I read at home, I usually make sure my mobile is in another room and my laptop is switched off in order to give a book my undivided attention. At lunchtimes in the office I move away from my desk, keep my mobile in my bag and find a quiet part of the building to sit or go to the nearby canal or churchyard if the weather suits. On commutes to work, I still occasionally play games on my mobile or browse my Facebook feed but balance it out with book reading - if I’m on my mobile during the morning trip to work then I read a book on the way back home. As for the effect of working hours, I confess that being in a 9-to-5 job makes it easier to read more than in an intensive one with longer hours (prior to the office job I worked in film and TV production). If your job is closer to the latter description, pleasure reading is best on a free day in the schedule or on holiday.

Since making small alterations to my daily life in order to accommodate greater reading, I have more energy and motivation for the day ahead thanks to the variety and inspiration I encounter on the pages. Last week I completed Hermione Eyre’s Viper Wine and started Bapsi Sidhwa’s The Crow Eaters - time travelling from 17th century England to India at the start of the 20th century in just a few short days. Already I'm looking forward to the next literary adventure!   

La Vie en Rose - A Celebration of Pink

There are many colours to choose from when there’s the desire or need to make something stand out and demand attention - red lipstick to contrast with a monochrome outfit, a neon yellow highlighter to make an important point on a page stand out. My expressive colour of choice is pink - a slab of fuchsia here and a splattering of cerise there. Pink is what I’m automatically drawn to for an uplift but its complexity, which I’ll draw upon here, ensures that I seldom tire of it.  

My adoration for rosy hues comes from their contradictions. There’s the pastel variety that evoke sentimental visions of sugarplum fairies and marshmallows. Though contrast lighter shades with black, such as erotic lingerie firm Agent Provocateur’s branding, and the colour becomes seductively adult. Then there are tones like revolutionary fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli’s Shocking Pink which declare boldness, confidence and overall fierceness - shades that refuse to blend into the background. Yet strong darker pinks don’t feel as aggressive as reds potentially can and although it contains the latter colour it can be calming.  

The most striking and uplifting colours found in nature include pink. Cherry blossom is emblematic of the beauty of spring and is uplifting after the dark winter months even though its flowering is very brief. Many visitors to Japan book their trip in the hope of catching the breathtaking views of sakura in time. Sunrises and sunsets glow warm salmon pinks such as those seen over the Annapurna mountain range in Nepal with brilliant snow white peaks momentarily transformed into a seemingly supernatural view. Joyful natural pink, whether you’re snorkelling over coral reef or going for a walk in your local park, can be found pretty much everywhere and beautifully contrasts or compliments its surroundings.

Pink in architecture is used in incredibly diverse ways. There’s the “Pink City” Jaipur with its majestic buildings in soft terracotta pinks, such as the striking Hawa Mahal, Built in 1799, the Hawa Mahal boasts a staggering elaborately decorated front of 953 jharokhas windows so women of the household could look out onto the street without being seen in an innovatively air conditioned space. Moving from a home for Indian royalty to that for a Hollywood queen, one of the greatest masterpieces of kitsch history has got to be the late blonde bombshell Jayne Mansfield’s pink palace on Sunset Boulevard. Bought by Mansfield in 1957, the mediterranean style mansion was transformed with baby pink and white and boasted, amongst many other Valentine-esque delights, a heart shaped swimming pool and a fountain spurting pink Champagne. Wherever pink appears in architecture, on a grand palatial structure or a small cosy terraced house, it is always an uncompromising statement that refuses to be ignored.

Fashion’s relationship with pink is a wild and diverse affair. Depending on the combination of garment and wearer, pink can whisper grace and elegance or let out a rebel war cry. Whether the pink in question is deemed refined or anarchic it still often challenges perceptions. In 1957 in a Roman villa Norman Parkinson took one of his most iconic photographs - Audrey Hepburn  encased in a pale pink circle cocktail dress by Givenchy while posing with a magnificent cascade of bright bougainvillea. With hair neatly tied back and swept aside and a soft lip colour complimenting the flowers, Hepburn exudes an ultra fashionable elegance combined with a fresh natural beauty brought out by the pinkishness of the image.  In 1977 Zandra Rhodes picked up where Elsa Schiaparelli and her surrealist friends left off and used pink for a new shocking movement - punk - and the new designer was hailed as its so-called princess. Rhodes’ Conceptual Chic collection consisted of torn up jersey fabric dresses of bright pink and black strategically held together with safety pins - it embodied anarchy with a touch of romanticism through the drapes of long fabrics in sharp pink.

Want to turn everyone’s heads the moment you walk into a room? Wear pink. Jay Gatsby caused a stir in his pink suit in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. On the one hand this pastel three-piece was a possible giveaway that Gatsby did not come from a privileged class he pretended to be (“An Oxford Man!....Like hell he is! He wears a pink suit!”) yet on the other it gave him a image of effortless confidence that couldn’t be matched. Away from fiction in 1984 Duran Duran’s keyboardist Nick Rhodes (no relation to Zandra) married American model and heiress Julie Anne Friedman with a lavish art deco pink-themed wedding. Rhodes wore a pink satin morning suit fitted to emphasise a narrow waist while his bride squeezed into a pale pink lace fishtail dress full of ruffles at the base. Both wore Yves Saint Laurent pink lipstick shade No.32. The Rhodes-Friedman wedding was 1980s decadence at its finest with New Romantic sensibilities. No wedding guest could possibly steal the show.   

Pink - it’s adored, it’s embraced, it’s feared and it’s spat at. But best to be talked about than not at all. Pink is natural and fake, beautiful and ugly - it will never compromise and that’s the wonder of it. A diverse colour which always makes a statement intentional or not. Go on, be brave - I dare you to stand out in tomorrow morning’s commute in a bright pink tie or dress. Life’s too short to stay safe in blacks and greys - come out and play.

Fitness without Trying

We spend a lot of time sitting down - on the work commute, in the office and back home slumped in front of the TV or games console. With the constant sitting and lack of physical movement, energy levels slump and come 4pm it’s Snickers O'Clock for that quick fix boost that fizzles out by 6pm. Time is limited with the 9-5, travelling, social engagements and family commitments. So where is the time to get exercise and reap the physical and mental health benefits (according to the NHS, exercise has proven to decrease the risk of type 2 diabetes by up to 50% and depression by up to 30%)?  

If you can’t afford the gym or the treadmill just bores you, here are 5 little ways to get exercise into your daily routine which takes little to no effort and often costs nothing:

Running

This is one of the most popular free exercises around. For those who are not inclined to dedicate much time to running, do daily little sprints at intervals of your commute - run rather than walk to the bus stop or train station and feel the endorphins rush!

Walking

A Sunday afternoon favourite of mine. Also a great lunch break activity that will help you to feel more refreshed when you return to your desk. Walking also offers the opportunity to make the most of your nearest park or woodland and take time to appreciate nature and its calming effect away from the urban noise and chaos.

Grocery Shopping

I don’t do online grocery orders. A trip to my local Lidl involves a 15 minute walk there followed by the same journey back but with the added weight of shopping bags laden with tins and bottles. With a particularly heavy load (but avoid overdoing it and risking a back injury - know your limits), set yourself challenges such as carrying the bags to the nearest lamp post before stopping for a moment and moving again. A great toning up and strength building exercise without a personal trainer.

Dance

There is a great choice of drop-in dance classes, from classical ballet to breakdance, in dance studios and community centres. Classes are ideal if you want to learn a particular style and drop-ins make it easier for time-pressured students to commit when they can.This is also a great opportunity to meet new people (classes can be full of a diverse range of ages and backgrounds) or something to do with like-minded friends.

If classes are too intimidating, dance is something you can do for absolutely free. Put your favourite upbeat tune on and dance around the living room like you’re Beyoncé (or insert preferred pop diva here) when nobody’s around or learn a routine from a youtube video. Games such as Dance Central Spotlight are great dance-based cardio workouts, as well as a bit of a giggle, which you can do from as little as 10 minutes to an hour.     

Sex

Even if you’re not particularly acrobatic in the sack (or on the sofa, in the shower, etc), NHS studies have shown that sex in general is a great stress buster. That cheerful person who skips into the office on a miserable Monday morning? Yep, they’re getting some.

Everyone’s different and tension relieving pleasure can be sought with or without penetration. For those who enjoy penetration, some women may find that it’s also a pretty effective abdominal workout - My former belly dance teacher would compare some stomach moves to those used during intercourse.  

Sex can also make the skin glow and the cheeks blush by improving the blood circulation - Beats a makeover at a cosmetics counter any day.

How I Popped My Twin Peaks Cherry

The following is mainly for those of you who have not watched Twin Peaks. This is one of my new passions and I’d like to spread the love. I’ll try to avoid big spoilers!

Since its UK broadcast in 1990, I had always been aware of Twin Peaks - the cult TV series created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. I was aware of the references to cherry pie and the eerie theme tune. But I didn’t see the actual show  - I was just 9 years old.

Twin Peaks never got repeated on the small screen so the fragments I knew of it became vague memories. Not long after my burlesque debut as Honey Schnapps in 2009, I was asked to perform at Lynchian cabaret night The Double R Club after the producers had seen me perform a femme fatale number at a competition. Shamefully, and something I never confessed to until now, I still didn’t get around to watching any David Lynch productions let alone Twin Peaks. I do wonder if I would have created a new and very different act, rather than my 50s bad girl one (annoyingly there’s no video), if I had seen any Lynch back then. The Double R Club itself, however, gave me a tremendous insight into the mysterious and nightmarish world conjured up by Lynch.

Honey Schnapps as Bad Girl in 2009

Fast forward to 2015 and a night in going through Amazon Instant Video’s countless hits and misses when I stumble upon seasons 1 and 2 of Twin Peaks. Without hesitation play is selected. Twin Peaks starts off like any other murder drama - a body is found by the shore of a small town and the authorities are alerted - but very quickly it stops being any other murder drama. With elements of horror, comedy, melodrama and surrealism Twin Peaks transcends genre and this is one crucial reason why the show has such a passionate following and still attracts new fans like myself 25 years after its first broadcast.  

Following Agent Dale Cooper run an investigation into the murder of popular local teenager Laura Palmer, the viewer is drawn into the lives of the residents of Twin Peaks - a small and apparently simple town where dark secrets are hidden. It’s the characters that keep you hooked - the eccentric Log Lady with cryptic knowledge, the alluring and scheming Audrey Horne and highly strung drape runner-obsessed Nadine Hurley (Nadine’s amnesia phase is a television classic by the way) are but a few favourites who entertain and intrigue.

And, of course, there’s Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) who has got to have a special place in the hearts of anybody who has even briefly seen Twin Peaks. Cooper’s innocent joy and enthusiasm in everyday life as well as his good nature is just delightful. The world would be lovelier if there were more Dale Coopers around.

If you’re giggling at one scene, then prepare to shit yourself at the next. Twin Peaks has genuinely terrifying moments. BOB is a demonic being from another realm called The Black Lodge and just a flash of his feral eyes peering from the end of a bed will give unsettling dreams. Twin Peaks gets creepy when the supernatural takes over and also highlights its stunning visuals - the design of the Red Room at the Black Lodge, with its monochrome zig zag floors and red satin curtains, could pass for a cheesy entertainment venue but the starkness of it is too unsettling. Dwellers of the Red Room speak in a otherwordly disjointed pattern which was created by rerecording sentences turned backwards forwards again.   

Twin Peaks was cancelled after the 2nd season due to falling viewing figures despite a huge fanbase. In 1992, feature length Fire Walk With Me was released which follows the ill-fated Laura Palmer in the final week of her short yet complex life. After completing the second season, of which there are many infuriating cliffhangers, I wasted no time in ordering a Blu-ray copy of Fire Walk With Me. With visual treats such as the Twin Peaks series I strongly advise avoiding dodgy websites offering free viewing (and of course it’s also on principle). Fire Walk With Me takes the dark and seedy underbelly of Twin Peaks to the very forefront and doesn’t hold back. This is the ultimate nightmare. And a must-see after viewing the TV show which will shed a little more light on the characters’ backgrounds. Plus David Bowie is in it.

The freshly arrived Blu-ray 

In October 2014 it was announced that there was a new season of Twin Peaks in the pipeline and original cast such as MacLachlan had been confirmed. Joy led to despair when Lynch pulled out of Twin Peaks after what appeared to be a breakdown in financial negotiations with Showtime. Protests included the hashtag #savetwinpeaks and a video from original cast members entitled ‘Twin Peaks without David Lynch is Like……..’. Last week, Lynch posted an unexpected tweet announcing that he was back on board for the third season. This is thrilling news for Twin Peaks cast, crew and fans alike. No broadcast date has been confirmed yet - the suspense is not just all on screen! 

Dear Twitter Friends, the rumors are not what they seem ..... It is !!! Happening again. #TwinPeaks returns on @SHO_Network

— David Lynch (@DAVID_LYNCH) May 16, 2015

To get a taste of how far fans will go in their love for the TV classic, there is currently a Kickstarter campaign to create a documentary about a teenage gay outsider, Travis Blue, whose Twin Peaks obsession takes him on a wild and very dangerous journey. Directed by Adam Batan, who is also a friend of Travis,  this looks like a project that is not just for Twin Peaks fans but anyone who is interested in general fandom and a human story.

Now pass the donuts and pour me some damn fine coffee…..  

From Russia with Yum!

As an Anglo Russian, I started 2015 with the excuse to prolong the festive period by observing Orthodox Christmas - 7th January -  in my own unorthodox style.This is a great opportunity to gather loved ones together to savour the culinary delights of the land where east meets west.

Like many other eastern cultures, vegetarianism is not a popular concept (‘You don’t eat meat? No problem, we have chicken!’) in many Russian households but I made sure that my celebratory spread had plenty of options for non-meat eaters. The following menu, that I created for my evening, shows the diversity of Russian cuisine and caters for a variety of tastes and dietary requirements with no compromise on deliciousness. It’s also a menu that works well for busy lifestyles - who has time for endless dicing and chopping?

A popular salad that can be found in food markets in Russia, but can easily be recreated at home, is Korean Carrot. Graters designed especially for this salad are available to create the perfect rounded carrot strips but a regular grater is fine to use. The grated carrot is mixed with oil (I used vegetable oil), white vinegar, ground or crushed coriander seeds, black pepper, cayenne pepper and sugar or honey to balance the sharp ingredients. Ready made spice mix for Korean Carrot is available in some eastern European shops (such as Kalinka on Queensway, London) if you’re in a hurry. Korean Carrot tastes best after a day of marinating and makes a refreshing left over for the day after the night before and is a great addition to a packed lunch.

Another favourite salad that is always a success at parties is Olivier, known in the west as Russian Salad. All super finely chopped (a skill I’m still learning to master) are boiled potatoes, gherkins, hard boiled eggs and meat such as ham or beef (traditional but entirely optional - I usually make mine veggie) mixed with mayonnaise and petit pois.

One of the most filling, versatile and healthiest ingredients in the Russian diet is buckwheat  which can be found in health food shops as well as eastern European ones. As a child I often had this with hot milk and dried fruit for breakfast. Buckwheat is cooked, like rice, with boiling water. For a side dish I mixed in fried onion and plenty of mixed fresh mushrooms into the buckwheat. Dried mushrooms including porcini work beautifully but when you don’t have time for soaking then a combination of fresh chestnut, white and shitaake are equally effective.

Pelmeni, meat dumplings usually with a combination of pork and beef, are the ultimate in easy comfort food. Straight from the freezer, into boiling water and ready in approx 7 minutes after the dumplings have risen to the top. This is my go-to meal when I have a lazy evening. There are different types of pelmeni to choose from in shops and my personal favourite is Sibirskie. In contrast to my convenience approach, my grandmother used to make pelmeni from scratch using a mincer and a specialist cutting mould for the pastry which would pop out dozens of dumplings ready to store in the freezer. Pelmeni is usually served with sour cream and/or vinegar.

No Russian feast would be complete without herring. Usually a starter to accompany the first of many vodkas, I broke with tradition and served the herring with the rest of the dishes. Herring can be bought pre-packed and marinaded in oil from all good eastern European shops. I usually serve herring in a long serving dish garnished with sliced red onion.

The ultimate bread for a Russian feast is dark rye. Borodinsky is a favourite with it’s lightly spiced topping of coriander seeds but other bread such as Lithuanian is highly recommended. UK-based Amber Bakery produce some of the finest dark rye breads using traditional methods. Butter is unnecessary with dark rye bread but a layer of hot horseradish on top works a treat.

And, of course, there’s vodka. A decent vodka (unlike the only-barely-drinkable-in-cocktails Smirnoff) does not need to cost a fortune - try Lidl’s Putinoff. With all my celebrations, eastern or western, sparkling wine is a must. As a student in the Soviet Union my mother drank “Northern Lights” - vodka topped with sparkling wine, most likely Sovetskoye Shampanskoye (Soviet Champagne). Now that’s a cocktail to suit all special occasions! На здоровье!*

*Cheers!

Here's to the Fuchsia!

Welcome to Paint it Fuchsia.

Some of you may be familiar with my arts and culture blog Culture Tiger which is still very much up and running but I've found that a few recent topics I've covered didn't completely fit in.

Paint it Fuchsia will have some art-related content but will also cover general musings. This new blog is a work in progress and I'm excited to see how this develops.

I chose this particular title because fuchsia is bold, uplifting, loud, proud and celebratory. Fuchsia makes the ordinary more extraordinary.

Enjoy!