Vegetable Soup...

I made vegetable soup the other day and it was a success! I'm especially pleased with it as I don't really like vegetables. I grimace when I eat a salad and I only like carrots, potatoes and sweetcorn apart from that. Cucumbers and lettuce are quite nice.

So I'm thrilled I like a soup that includes:
Leeks
Carrots
Turnip
Red Onion
Celery

ALSO I'm also really happy because I'm on the Weight Watchers diet and the soup is zero points and very filling. I think I will just live on it now

Recipe:
Chunkily chop all of the vegetables up(peel the carrots, and the top layer of the leek, and red onion, cut the purple stuff off of the turnip) put them in a pan, cover with water, add vegetable stock, bring it to the boil and then let it simmer for 1.5 hours. Then whizz it all up with a blender.

How Exciting!

19 Million Hens in the UK live in cages...

I posted about carrier bags the other day and commented that to live without damaging the world around us seems an uphill struggle. I wish there was a "for dummies" guide on it all. I'm a vegetarian and I also try and eat free range eggs (which a lot of people do), but it took a short while to realise how many products I buy, have non-free range eggs used in them...

I've been researching online and found this useful information on the Battery Hen Welfare Trust charity website:

"

A staggering 65% of UK battery eggs are used by food manufacturers.

If you buy any of the following you could inadvertently be purchasing eggs laid by battery hens:

• Cake
• Pasta
• Chocolates (fondant filled)
• Quiche
• Ready made Yorkshire Puddings
• Ready made Pancakes
• Biscuits
• Ready meals
• Noodles"

Informative Websites

• The Vegetarian Society lists their approved products on their site
• The RSPCA also has an online leaflet explaining about free-range foods and approved products and manufacturers

I don't preach to people who eat meat, but for me in the past, the reason I happily ate any egg I ever saw or any sort of meat was because I didn't really engage with the suffering involved. To be honest even now it's so easy to buy, for example, an egg sandwich, and it's an afterthought, the life of suffering the chicken will have. I suppose unless it was a life or death situation, I couldn't end the life of a chicken or a pig myself, the only reason I ever ate it is because it comes in a little packaged box and says "sausages". A friendly little word really. In conclusion, it is a lot to take in..but I am going to do my best and buy ethical foods.

Writing is hard work.

Reusable Bags

In the supermarket that I work in we have recently stopped giving people plastic carrier bags. This has annoyed many customers as they have to either buy bags or bring their own. We have Bags For Life at five pence each, which are made with recycled plastic - and if you keep bringing them back each time you shop and they suffer wear and tear, we give you another one for free! I keep trying to emphasize this point to angry customers.

I have had these responses many times:
-That's ridiculous.
-I'm not buying your bags and I'm not putting it in my trolley without bags, so what do you expect me to do?
-I'm not buying bags..I'm leaving my shopping.
-I'm not shopping here again. I'm going to Tesco.
-I can't believe you can spend £100 but still have to buy bags.. but that's okay cos I'll just nick your trolley.

:|

I sort-of understand why people are annoyed as I turned upto work and asked where the bags were, and then was informed that we no longer had any! I can understand that it might be a bit of a shock to some people..and since there is a "recession" spending extra money isn't what you want to do. But then again, at our supermarket (and I presume many others) asking you to buy reusable bags or bring your own has been going on for ages.

People probably hear in the news, and shops, that you should bring your bags and they know it's to do with the environment but I don't think people have been properly educated to make them care enough. I know I haven't..not until I've been browsing about them online. And I still don't feel I really know enough - since the government are trying to ban carrier bags I think they should make a leaflet explaining all the reasons why this is a good thing - at least to ease people's anger.


One reason that I think is very important and makes me want to be more conscious environmentally is the fact that Leatherback Turtles are mistaking plastic bags for jellyfish and eating them, the plastic gets twisted up in their organs and kills them... "Many of our plastic bags travel along rivers and streams and end up out at sea. Leatherback Turtles coming to UK waters for jelly fish are increasingly mistaking our plastic bags for jellyfish." - www.turtlebags.co.uk

Since our lives have been made so easy and quick, it actually seems an uphill struggle trying to live without causing some sort of damage to the world around us. But I feel more motivated to try and be more "green".

Secret Diary

I was cleaning out my room when I came across a diary I had written in when I was 11 and 12. It was interesting reading it as I seem so..young. At the time I thought I was the height of maturity. It's not very in-depth or well written, and I've included all the entries I've written in the diary I just didn't write in it very often! There are quite a few spelling mistakes and at the time I liked to use the word "bitch" a lot and liked to rate each day out of ten....


12th April 2002
Kate didn't come
I hanged about with Mouna
I did PE - netball.

7/10

15th April

Didnt walk up to school with amy she was late i think. ignored and shouted at me - bitch.
Kate didnt come
got moved down a set in maths
ITS BETTER i think
NOT AS MANY PEOPLE
Amy wen walking from school said hello only to kirsty
I think she likes her better than me

8/10

17th April
went in the car to school with amy
bitch in science copied my work so i was bored
walked home Kate said 'coming out' to Luke "N" Kirsty and
coming to skool 2morro Jen

5/10

9th of May
amy is always late - told her she said
"God you always yoused to be late you look like you are going to cry" bitch!
Sat next to Jonny in humanities
was ok
My hamster didnet come out yesterday

4/10

10th of may
Did rounders it was ok.

23rd of May
Did P.E
Sarah keeps errgnoring me and going off with Donna, she dosnt want to hang out with me after skool.
She asked Laura if she was cumin out - bitch
Sarah R, Kirsty & Hailie kept makin fun of me cus i had greasy hair and yesterday Sarah knicked my nice pen. i hate her.
Sarah is my only real m8 and she dosnt want to hang out

5/10

24th of May
big brother starts today at 9 i am exited
i had P.E today i am trying not to do very well in P.E cus i dont want to get moved up next year.
Sarah ignores me she says she did cus i ignored her but she was the one ignoring me.
i am on the internet now seeya
Jenny

7/10

4th September
I start school 2morroe "Oh No"
I started my period August 29th Yey
Dont wanna go 2 school
"HATE IT"

2nd December 2002
hello since i wrote life has gone down hill.
i have no friends . i thought since kate goes to the shops she would treat me better.
she treats me worse. i feel so lonley. I miss Leo. Im not at school. I am dreading it tommorow.
Only as Kate will be saying 'I am aloud days off" bitch! Oh well
I am missing english "oh know"
gotta go by by

9/10 (no school 4 me)

April 2003
It was okay since I didnt go to school
Easter holidays -
watched "Thats so Raven"
My sister said i may b depressed

Snow

Yesterday, snow was everywhere. It was like a winter wonderland. It seems it was a "snow day" as everything had stopped but I didn't have any plans anyway! I did venture outside to take some photographs though...

Everywhere is still covered in snow but it has turned icy and hard as rock.








It's also interesting to see a cat's footprints in the snow, as you never usually get to see where they are going!

Films

I went to the Cinema with Mum to see the film “Australia”, Mum thought it was really good and starting crying at points…but I was a bit bored and left unmoved. It was too predictable. I felt like the makers of this film had read “Epic Films For Dummies” before filming it and made sure they included all the essential bits such as:
> Emotive orchestral music
> A few dramatic deaths
> A few dramatic near-deaths
> Romance
> Sexy protagonists
> A love scene
> Walking out of a smokey haze after a dramatic bit
> Impressive stunts and action
> Bad guys
> Kisses in the rain

I watched a film called “Sweet Sixteen” the other day. It was about a boy who had grown up in a rough area of Scotland and also had a rough and poor upbringing and his Mum was going to leave prison the day before his sixteenth birthday. Despite this he was determined to make things right for him and his Mum. He had very noble and honest intentions even though he probably didn’t go about it in the most honest way, it seemed the be the only way he knew how at the time…

I found the film a lot more moving and engaging than “Australia”. It made me think it doesn't need to be a star studded cast, or be a complex story and include compelling music for it to be a good film.

I included the trailers of both films: