Monkeyshines

Author: James

  • Chestnut Hash

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    Not exactly sure if this qualifies as a ‘hash’, but it’s close enough. Very nice with wholegrain rice, since the nuttiness complements the chestnuts. Serves two. Ingredients (Core) 15 (sweet) chestnuts 2 small(ish) carrots, grated ½ can green lentils A small handful of sprouts, sliced ½ a normal-sized onion, diced A vegetable stock cube Ingredients…

  • Present Tense Book Review – Lady Audley’s Secret: Part 3

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    (Part Two of this Present Tense Book Review.) Lumme, the third quarter of this ‘ere book ain’t ‘alf draggin’ guvnor, and no mistake. It’s even caused me to lapse into the argot of my youth for no good reason. The book was originally published serially in magazines, and it feels like the author is stringing…

  • Present Tense Book Review – Lady Audley’s Secret: Part 2

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    (Part One of this Present Tense Book Review.) Robert Audley is still assiduously trying to uncover the eponymous secret, and entertaining me while he does so. He’s a bit of an odd character, and he reminds me of myself, sometimes. He likes his idle pleasures, is phlegmatic (in a good sense), and looks after any…

  • Cats I Have Known – Fluff

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    Fluff turned up on our doorstep, with the unerring instinct that some stray cats have of finding a soft touch for a saucer of milk and a stroke. At the time we still had Heidi, so we had some food to offer this rather scruffy tabby and white cat, who had at some point lost…

  • Present Tense Book Review – Akira

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    I was a big fan of the majestic film of the same name, directed by the author of the books (Katsuhiro Otomo), when I was a pimply youth. And if I’d ever been bored (boring?) enough to write a list of “X things to do before I’m Y”, reading the original comic books would certainly…

  • Present Tense Book Review – Lady Audley’s Secret

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    This week I’ve been continuing my classic crime kick with Lady Audley’s Secret, by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. Written in 1862, it’s getting on for 150 years old. Which is one of those incredible things that seem perfectly reasonable on the face of it, but really, it’s sort of crazy that I’m sat here in my…

  • A Mundane Mystery

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    Here’s a strange thing. Myself and Mrs. Monkeyshines returned on Sunday from a night away, and found a medium-sized cardboard box balanced on the small wall at the front of our house. It was spitting with rain, and the box was already a bit damp, so I brought it inside. It was not filled with…

  • Present Tense Book Review – Case Histories: Part 2

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    (Part One of this Present Tense Book Review.) I’ve rattled through this book, a testament to both the writing and the degree of traffic on Oxford Road this week (I do a lot of my reading on the bus…) On the whole it was enjoyable, and any book with a character called Binky is worth…

  • Present Tense Book Review – Case Histories

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    One of the quiet pleasures of moving in with Mrs. Monkeyshines was the appearance of a bunch of new books on the bookcase. I’m halfway through one of these now, Case Histories, by Kate Atkinson. According to the cover it’s an international bestseller, but I started it with no idea what it was about –…

  • Present Tense Book Review – The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Part 4

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    (Part Three of this Present Tense Book Review.) The last quarter of the book flags somewhat, and although it has some very funny isolated scenes, it’s nowhere near as good as the rest of the book. For me, this has a lot to do with the appearance of Tom Sawyer, who is supposed to provide…