PigPog

Recipe: Sweet Spicy Bacon

pigpogm — Sat, 05 May 2012 19:34:32 +0000

Make a kind of bacon weave, alternating rashers to completely cover with plenty of overlap, in a sealed tray, letting the rashers go up the sides, forming a kind of dish. Squirt honey over it – drizzling enough that every rasher gets a decent amount. Sprinkle on smoked paprika. Plenty of it. I then used a grinder we got from M&S, with smoked paprika and chipotle chilli. Just chilli will probably do fine, as long as you used plenty of smoked paprika above. A chilli sauce like Lingham’s or Sriracha would probably work nicely too.

Grill until nicely crispy.

There’s bacon, with its own saltiness, playing off against the sweetness of the honey, which always works well. The smoked paprika, though, adds an element of chorizo to it, to delicious effect, and that and the chilli adds a bit of bite. Nom.

Say Hello To My Little Friends

Sam — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:01:46 +0000

Now I’m back home in my little creative paradise, I have been re-acquainting myself with some long lost friends. Allow me to re-introduce them to you.

Acrylic Paint

My bold, brash chum. Beautiful, bright and bubbly, and if I’m honest, ever so slightly intimidating. I want to dive in and play but the sheer intensity of the colour makes me a little nervous about making any marks with the stuff. In Art Therapy recently I was invited to have a go at finger painting, and that seemed easier than being all artisty with a brush. So acrylic paint to me is a friend who wants to take me on and adventure but I’m not quite brave enough to let them. One day…

Charcoal

Charcoal’s a cheeky monkey. Unpredictable and a bit loopy. When I’m with them I’m guaranteed to be up to my elbows in dark dust within five minutes of using the stuff. It’s the friend who gets me into trouble whenever we’re together, but I love every minute of it.

Oil Pastel

Bright, happy and childlike. A friend I should spend more time with because I’m sure there is more to explore.

Ink

Another bold, brash and rather frightening friend. Apparently knows all my secrets and tells the world in blot patterns. One to be careful with.

Watercolour

My artistic BFF. It’s soft and subtle when I want to be soft and subtle. It’s bold when I want to be bold. It’s easy to work with (especially with Aquash brushes), and doesn’t leave a mess.

Good to be back with you, friends.

Homecoming

Sam — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:24:25 +0000

Last year, when I began treatment for my mental health difficulties and various other fun and games, I expressed an interest in Art Therapy. Regular readers (if we have any left) will remember that not too long ago I was a big fan of just playing with art materials, making marks and generally having fun with the process and ignoring the results. Somewhere along the line my interest faded, and by the time I was looking for help the idea of Art Therapy came up as a possible way to rekindle some of that joy and help me deal with my often malfunctioning mind.

I started a ten-week course on January 18th, and as soon as walked into the art room and picked up an oil pastel, I felt like I’d come home. Something was connecting in a corner of my mind that had been neglected and left to gather dust. Even when the therapist was talking and we weren’t “doing”, I was fiddling, just remembering how it felt to have a stick of colour in my hand and the freeing sensation of applying it to paper.

When I returned home that afternoon I dusted out my old watercolour set. It had certainly been well-used back in 2005 and 2006, but there was plenty of life left in it yet. I opened up the massive Archie Grand notebook Michael had given me a few months before, and threw colour and images at it like a woman possessed. I was home.

The following session, last Wednesday, re-introduced me to the joy of painting (Bob Ross was with us in spirit). Just playing with colours, mixing different shades and seeing the images that came out of them. The therapist commented that I “went to another place” when I had a paintbrush in my hand. Indeed I did. And I like it there. When the challenge came for finger painting I launched straight into the bright blue in front of me and by the time I’d smeared, rubbed, daubed and splatted, I had filthy hands, an unshakeable grin and a rather nice picture of some very lively surf.

So, out of the sessions, I’m now re-connecting with a part of my life that I had neglected for so long. Geeking out over art materials, reacquainting myself with the ones I have, and catching up with the creative people I admired years ago when this here place was my own little world of art.

It’s good to be home. More soon.

Scription: Scription’s Perfect System 2011-2012

pigpogm — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 17:56:02 +0000

Patrick Ng shows us what he carries, and how he carries it. I watch his blog and his Flickr photos for some of the most beautiful leatherwork and stationery stuff around, and his combination of home-made pen holder and Traveler’s Notebook is as pretty as ever in his photos here:

Scription: Scription’s Perfect System 2011-2012

First try at a Status post

pigpogm — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 18:11:31 +0000

I’m busy fiddling with PigPog again. Mostly, switching back to using a custom theme, with a new theme I’m working on. Not there yet, so it’s a bit basic, but it’s mostly usable. I’m also adding support for WordPress’ new Formats feature, too, with ‘link’ and ‘quote’ done already – this will be my first try with a ‘status’ post.

Douglas Adams

pigpogm — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 18:00:32 +0000

The difference between something that can go wrong and something that can’t possibly go wrong is that when something that can’t possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair.

Glitch Earthshaker

pigpogm — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 16:07:10 +0000

In the game of Glitch, mining uses a lot of energy, but you can mine energy-free after drinking an Earthshaker. Today was my birthday, so Sam attempted to make real Earthshakers.

I’m not sure I’d have been up for much mining after, but it was delicious.

Instapaper 4: Deciding to Read

pigpogm — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 09:10:28 +0000

Merlin describes beautifully the great splendour of Instapaper. I use it a lot, and, as usual, Merlin gets it spot on.

100% Chance Of Disaster

pigpogm — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 21:55:40 +0000

Yep, that’s definitely a fire risk.

Does Instagram Make You a Better Photographer?

pigpogm — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 19:33:24 +0000

Chris asks if sharing your photos online makes you a better photographer. I think it’s a qualified ‘yes’. It can make you better, but perhaps mostly better at taking the sort of photos that fit in on that site. Facebook wants photos of people I know. Instagram is happy with a rough snap of my lunch and pics of our cat. Flickr is ok with most things, but tends towards ‘real’ photography. 500px demands quality.