Those of you who know me know that I very much wear my heart on my sleeve. Those I love…I tell. I care for my friends and family beyond words and making sure that they know is of utmost importance to me.

I was never ‘the cool kid’ in school. Far from it. But I was dependable and I would always be the one helping out the scapegoat, befriending the lonely, handing out the tissues, holding the hand and helping with the homework. Because I care and I am not afraid to show it.

So now, I have a handful of good friends now and I treasure each and every one of them. Wonderful to me in their own special ways, quirky, fun and amazing. There’s the girl who busted out Britney moves with me at university – we walked to lectures screaming our anger at the wind. There’s the girl who obsessed with me over a certain male vocalist and cried over the phone watching youtube videos in unison…ready set play (PS as much as I love you, if Jason wanted me, I wouldnt say no). The girl who sang I Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues at 3am and slept in the same bed until we woke up to Shakira at full blast! There’s the girl who will always call me from the bath – we have put the world to rights many a time and I am missing our gossiping! There’s the insanely positive influence on me in whom found an instant soul mate, a kindred spirit, an absolute treasure – we too share a love of showing off our dancing skills whenever MJ songs come on. There’s the one who I befriended early in school because neither one of us were the cool kids and we’ve been close ever since, her unwavering loyalty and support are a blessing I count more than once. There’s my guitar hero buddy who loves sparkles as much as I do – WHAMMY!!!!. There’s the newlywed who loves the limoncello as much as I do, and isnt afraid to SingStar it up – next stop on your travels…St. Thomas! And last but not least, the stunning actress who I very rarely see, once in a blue moon when our schedules collide we pick up exactly where we left off – perfect!

I just had an emotional moment today where things got overwhelming…what i wouldnt have given for a hug from one of you guys. I’m far from many of you now but only in person. In spirit I am there and I think of you often. When you need anything I will always be here. You have all touched my heart at some point in my time and for that I am eternally grateful. If one of you hadnt been a part of my life I wouldnt be who I am today and who knows whether I actually would still be here.

Friendships are so important I agree with Miss Cummins, tell everyone how you feel about them – if a problem shared is a problem halved, a happy thought shared is a happy thought multiplied.

I love you all guys…

Now Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is back at a time where it’s passionate cry for hope and change is just as relevant and inspiring as before.

In a nutshell: Hair is the story of the “tribe”, a group of politically active, hairy hippies of the living a bohemian ‘Age of Aquarius’ life in New York actively fighting against conscription into the Vietnam War. It depicts the dichotomy of youth: their want to promote their philosophy of “peace, love, freedom, happiness” in all their eccentric, ecstatic wonder versus their anger, their hostility and their fear of the war and the future. Pivotal tribe member Claude has to decide whether to obey his conservative parents and sign up for war thus compromising his pacifistic principles or to resist the draft as his tribe friends have. His confusion is illustrated when he leads the show’s most stirring songs of affirmation “I Got Life” and then the helpless “Where Do I Go”.

Hair is an artifact of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 60s and several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement. With lyrics like “how dare they try to end this beauty?” “then peace will guide the planets, and love will steer the stars” you can see why. It features some of the greatest songs ever written for the stage, including some we know, but don’t know where from: ‘Let The Sun Shine In’, ‘I Got Life’, ‘Hair’ and ‘Aquarius’. Sasha Allen’s Dionne absolutely nailed the famous opening song ‘Aquarius’ with such effortless, mesmerizing vocals, which unwittingly set the pace for the entire performance.

The cast was engaging. I was completely sucked in. They inhabited their roles with such conviction and passion that it I lost all sense of what was real and what wasn’t! They weren’t ‘working,’ they weren’t playing characters; they WERE the living, breathing bohemians. They were fighting for peace and they were having a blast. It showed. Not only that, their enthusiasm and energy was contagious. The audience was more than happy to catch the bug – I was first in line!

Nowadays there is rarely a musical cast without a weak link, saved only by being fronted by the latest nobody-turned-TV-turned-musical star from the X-Factor of the theatre. Hair’s cast is as strong and clear as its message without the gimmicky buildup we are regretfully growing accustomed to today.

I was immediately smitten with Will Swenson who plays the devilishly sexy and charismatic tribe leader, Berger. Then came Gavin Creel with his pure, silky smooth voice combined with innocence and humorous quirks to boot. Kacie Sheik was adorable as pregnant pothead Jeannie, who is hopelessly in love with the otherwise engaged Claude. Caissie Levy is compellingly passionate as politico Shelia and Allison Case is such a sweetheart as fretful love-struck Chrissy! With each individually stunning voice combined in one powerful mass of melody, the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck were permanently on end.

Karole Armitage’s happy hippie choreography encompassed mass writhing, group gropes and nudity. The seeming formlessness and spontaneous movement not only reflected the attitude of the characters but also paid true testament to the intelligence and vision behind it. Continuing the freedom theme, the stage was not the usual barrier between performers and audience. The cast took pleasure in mingling with the audience, involving them in song, dance, embrace and love. Magical.

Hair’s young zestfulness has touched my heart and soul. I was moved beside myself, crying happy tears throughout. Hearing such spirited passion from a group of people singing the world their morals with unerring honesty revived my motivation to change the world. I was swept up in the feel-good jollity, to the point that nothing could stop me accepting the invitation jump onstage to join the buoyant party in the be-in finale. Hair is a party. It’s a celebration of love, peace, freedom and life. Now, it’s a celebration of the return of real musical theatre to the West End. If you were around in the 60s, you will enjoy reminiscing. If you weren’t, you’ll wish you were but at least you have gained an insight!

Many ppl associate myspace w/ music & facebook w/ teenage students but actually, the role of ths websites is changing. 2day they R increasingly being used by businesses & ppl as a tool 4 public relations, promotion & marketing.

Marketing methods have 2 evolve w/ the times. As technology develops & audiences mature marketing professionals have 2 adapt their approach. 4 example, TV & radio moved marketers away from print b/c audiences couldnt avoid the sight & noise or msgs being yelled from the new intrusive media.

2day, TV & radio R not considered as valuable 4 marketing b/c the modern audience is savvy & discerning. They wnt 2 forage 4 information, research products & uncover services themselves rather than have them forced dn their throats! Interestingly, ths year, R use of the internet is due 2 ovr take R use of the TV.

I used 2 work at a marketing agency & we always told clients that wrd of mouth is the best form of marketing & PR. E.g. the old adage “a happy customer tells 1 friend, but an unhappy customer tells 10 friends”. w/ social networking sites, ths is literally multiplied by thousands & ive even hrd twttr referred 2 as ‘word of mouth on steroids’ & it rlly is!

If u hav a business, 1 point 2 make is that ppl R def discussing yr brand, yr products, service & yr industry online & being ‘online’ urself allows U 2 become part of the conversation & 2 manage yr reputation w/ immediate (or at least faster) action than evr before. U cn C wht ppl R saying abt U, gd & bad. U cn bookmark the gd & look forward 2 the wrd spreading & any bad, U cn consider, take on board & respond accordingly.

Online, U R able 2 listen 2 potential & existing customers lk nevr before. The platforms aren’t meant 2 giv U a stage 2 preach from, rather they promote & even nurture 2-way interaction & in that way facilitates customer service.

The fact is that 88% of businesses R actively employing social media 4 marketing purposes & 81% of all marketers have indicated that their social media efforts have generated exposure 4 their business.

Businesses no longer need 2 spend mountains of cash on advertising or marketing paraphernalia. They just aren’t as cost effective anymore. Online marketing is low cost w/ high returns. ppl throw fliers away, they channel surf when the ads come on & they R frustrated w/ radio jingles. My main msg is stay in the game! The role of social networks is only set 2 grow ovr the nxt decade, so its increasingly imperative 2 get involved now & manage yr online personal brand effectively.

But how cn U find the time 2 tweet, 2 retweet, 2 follow rss feeds or 2 digg? U have a business 2 maintain, run & work at! That’s whr I come in. I luv tweeting arnd. I luv listening 2 tweets from yr customers & responding. So while U get back 2 business, let me tweet 4 U!

Let me worry abt how 2 fit yr messages in2 140 characters & still getting the msg across effectively! Get in touch! U cn find me on twttr @hayley_andrews, on facebook, myspace, wordpress & linkedIn. I look forward 2 tweeting-up w/ U somewhere online!

10.  Lebanon – Falafel

9. Palestine – Muhummara dip

8. Papua New Guinea – Stuffed Papaya

7. Norway – Sour Cream and Raisin Pie

6. Haiti – Haitian Beef

5. Zimbabwe – Dovi…the peanut butter stew

4. Germany – Black Forrest Gateau

3. New Zealand – Ginger Lamb

2. Kenya – Coupe Mount Kenya, the mango ice cream with pineapple sauce

1. Ghana – Peanut Butter Soup

Although, I should tell you that just yesterday when I made the German Chocolate Gateau, it meant that the Vietnamese Avocado smoothie or ‘solid air’ as Dad called it, just hours ago, got bumped.

What I find really interesting is that there is no sight of the familiar European cuisine (except for my exquisite gateau!), not a sniff of South America and not a whiff of anything we might get from a take away. All of the dishes which have made it to the top ten so far, are unusual and very foreign, so-to-speak!

I don’t think that these are things that we would find exciting to try just the once either. These are not dishes with which the novelty will wear off. Already, my parents have had a dinner party featuring 3 of my recipes and one of the guests is waiting for me to send her a sneaky preview of two of them too!

Mum is desperate to recreate the Stuffed Papaya, but until we have reached the finish line I am reluctant to start revisiting places. I’m sure Christopher Columbus was eager to go forward and discover more after he had discovered South America. I am the same, explorers (A.K.A geeks) are not often satisfied – there are more things out there that they want to see, find, experience, live. Curse or blessing? Who knows!

At this point I want to divulge that when I showed my beautiful, amazing, matter-of-fact, tell-it-as-it-is friend Candi the page of dishes on my blog, she was not OVERLY enthusiastic. A few things she said looked nice, and I believe that she thinks as weird a challenge as it is to set myself, she admires me for it (correct me if I’m wrong hun, I know you will!) but she was less than complimentary about the appearance of some of the dishes. With equal candour, I wish to explain my annoyance at this statement for reasons twofold.

Firstly, I don’t think any of them look bad, some may not look like something that might get served up in a meticulous English poncy restaurant but I still think they look good and at least, as they should/would look in their country of origin…

Secondly, we are taught not to judge a book by it’s cover! The one I think she thought looked worst was the Hungarian sour cherry soup. Now, I have to say, it does look a little strange, Gordon Ramsay wouldn’t serve it, Jamie probably wouldn’t either, but Heston may well…who knows! The important thing is that it tasted amazing! And who can turn their nose up at something pink?!

Haha. I am loving the adventure, loving the experiments and loving the experience. We have had some amazing dishes and its not even over yet. Onwards and upwards before I leave in April. I will be finished easily and then get your orders in for the cookbook that will change your taste buds forever. It might also make you appreciate the humble beans on toast that little bit more!! I have had a couple of shameless cravings for ‘something normal’!!

Have a look at the pictures, I am interested to know what you think of them! They are on this page:

http://hayleyandrews.wordpress.com/blog/around-the-world

Candi I love you xxx

In my new year reading challenge (see book reviews 2010) I read James Allen’s ‘As a Man Thinketh’ in which he said:

The dreamers are the saviours of the world

and that

Dreams are the seedlings of reality.

So true! Thomas Edison dreamt up light bulbs and where would be without them now? Saviour indeed! Similarly, if Willis Carrier hadn’t dreamt of comfortable climates indoors no matter what the outside was doing then we wouldn’t have air con now – all you guys in the Carib…would be melted into puddle form before noon today! Ruth Handler dreamt of a perfectly proportioned role model of a woman (arguable nowadays) and so she invented the Barbie doll. Two Frenchmen named Jacques Heim and Louis Reard had a guilty pleasure in seeing women scantily clad which lead them to create the now hugely popular summertime necessity, the bikini.

Dreams. Ideas. We all have them, some of us act on them and some of us let them drift away as if they were a balloon floating in the sky – which by the way wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for Professor Michael Faraday who had a dream…his dream? Yup, you guessed it! Balloons!

Our minds are such powerful tools, the chainsaw and the machete aint got nothing on my brain power, or yours, or Dave next doors. Whatever we perceive, we can achieve. I have proved that many a time, I have set my mind to things and I have done them: how? By believing!

I can’t say that life isn’t hard work sometimes. Of course it is and as Disneyfied as I would like things, they aren’t! However, recently there have been a million different messages coming at me from all sorts of directions with one main theme. Dream!

Just a miniscule example. I lost a ring of mine a couple of weeks ago. It was really beginning to get me down. I thought it was gone forever and I had bought it from the Virgin Islands the second time that I went…a monumental trip for one reason or another – and the ring reminds me of the adventure, of the place and the people every time I wear it. It was gone because I had looked everywhere for it. I started to try to come to terms with it and tell myself that I will have to get a replacement next time I go. However. Two nights ago, I had a dream. I was with Kait in the Virgin Islands and I had lost about ten rings but I was leaving to catch a plane and didn’t have time to find them. Miraculously (in the dream) I fell over – so like me! – and landed next to a floorboard which was kind of ajar. I looked underneath and there were all ten rings, including the one that I had lost in reality.  I woke up sort of believing that it had been real and I was happy that I had found the things I had lost. Then when I came to I realised it was a dream and said to myself “oh yeah…damn!” But then, an hour or so later I found the ring I had lost…woopee!

I’m not saying that all dreams you have while you are asleep come true, but for the time that I was awake I believed something and made it happen! Seem simple? It is! And little examples like that show me that it can happen, it will take a bit more mind power to bring in the yacht, but it will happen! Why are you laughing? I’m serious!

No dream is too big. When we’re young we are told “don’t get your hopes up” “don’t be silly you can’t do that”…well I say, dream BIG!! And when you get there dream BIGGER!! What is the point of aiming for mediocre? Get mediocre and you wont be satisfied. Dream huge, you might not get to the top of the mountain, but you’ll get further than if you aimed for halfway! Makes sense huh?

I had a new year dream of virtually visiting 80 different countries in the world by cooking their traditional dishes. I didn’t really think too much about it, just saw what I wanted to achieve and got to it…now, it isn’t even February and I am over a quarter of the way through…see for yourselves at around the world.

I am so glad that I have dreams. They show me what I want to have  and give me the motivation to get there. It is for me to work out the path to take to reach the goal, but with my eye on the prize I’m part way there already. I don’t look at the obstacles in my way, eye on the prize, eye on the prize. Because I believe that I will get there, I know that I WILL!

I am a dreamer…and I am proud to be!

“a commitment that an individual makes to a project or the reforming of a habit often a lifestyle change that is generally interpreted as advantageous. The name comes from the fact that these commitments normally go into effect on New Year’s Day.”

The basic concept is to reflect upon self-improvement annually and therefore set a goal to achieve as of the first day of each year.

The most popular ones are, lose weight, quit smoking, quit drinking, quit unhealthy eating, get out of debt. All these examples are focus on a negative. I don’t want this WEIGHT, get rid of it…I don’t want to SMOKE, stop it…I don’t want to DRINK, stop it…I don’t want this DEBT, end it.

Focusing on what you don’t want sets up to fail from the outset. I want to be healthy, I want to maintain only healthy habits, I want more money and to live within my means…those are positive and are easier to keep. Whatever you have IN YOUR MIND, comes to you. So to hold the positives that you want in your mind is better than holding the negatives that you don’t want. That is a whole other topic though…I may come back to it another day, I may not!

My point today is that only an estimated 20% of people manage to keep their new years resolution. I have no interest in those odds. I like to keep a check on myself and improve myself as and when the occasion arises throughout a year, continuously. I needn’t make a mark of it by labeling 1st January the day to make a change, because come 2nd January if I buckle under the pressure and smoke a cigarette, have a glass of wine, a packet of crisps, a chocolate biscuit or God forbid I bite my nails…then I have already failed and for the rest of the year I will know I failed and will wait for next 1st January to try again. Dumb.

This year, or I should say next year, I have decided to set myself 2 challenges. The deadline is a years time, so if I don’t work at the challenge on 2nd January, it really doesn’t matter! Plenty of time!

So, the challenges are…

1) I am a keen reader and never really allow myself time to do so. It can seem easier to switch the TV on rather than put on the reading glasses and turn some pages.

So, this year I am going to allow myself time and I will read 50 books in 2010 (minimum). I will do a review of each one and post it on this blog. The review, for no other reason than to have something to look back on and see what I thought of each book at the time and how I related at whatever time in my life it might be. I mean, I look back a the books I read in school and I have no recollection of them or how I felt about them. This time I will!

2) This is my favourite! I am, despite my previous issues, a food enthusiast. I find it fascinating and wonderful. I have constructed a list of dishes from around the world, all traditional or as pertinent to the country and culture as I could find. I intend to go on a journey “Around the World in 80 Meals” and explore the diversity that world cuisine encompasses.

Again, I intend to document how the hunt for the ingredients, the preparation, the cooking, the serving and the eating goes. As a vegetarian, I will miss out on some of the delights but will be tasting every dish at it’s vegetarian level and leaving

the meat eating and evaluation to those who will appreciate it!

So, 2010 here we go, 50 books and 80 different dishes, no cheating! Feel free to tune in to my progress.

Click here for the book reviews!

Click here for the meals!

Here’s to a HAPPY and HEALTHY 2010…

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!
Hugs….xxxx

Christmas is supposed to be a time of peace, of happiness, of entertaining, eating lots, drinking lots and being merry. The family all meet up, you see people that you haven’t seen in ages and the questions start flying…”so what are you up to now?” “What have you been up to this year?” “What are your plans for the new year?”. It is depressing when all you have to say is that you are trying desperately to stay on top of an eating disorder; you have been for the past year and your plans for your future remain simply to stay alive and not get suffocated by the demon in your head who continues to prevent you from enjoying peace, happiness, entertaining, eating, drinking and being merry.

Christmas for an eating disorder sufferer is one of the most difficult and challenging times of the year. There is so much wonderful food and drink around that you would love to partake in and enjoy like everyone else is around you. You would love to relax and experience the pleasure that everyone else experiences. Instead you are still ruled by rituals, rules, allowances and more gut wrenchingly the prohibitions. While everyone else tucks in, you sit detached from the scene with your measly flee sized portions because that is all your mind will allow. You watch as people merrily drink and laugh while still sober as a judge you sit rigid, depressed that you are not having the fun they are and on top of that are beating yourself up over the small amount of sprouts, stuffing, custard or Christmas pud that you did allow yourself on this special occasion. There are more people who around who’s eyes you feel are focused on the space between your plate and your mouth, they are analyzing and judging every bite you take and everything that’s left. They are appalled that you cannot eat anymore and are angered by the lack of effort you are making. Even upon reflection it sounds ridiculous and tragic to me but this is the reality of my life.

What is worse is the knowledge of what is to follow in January. It is barely past the hurdle of Christmas and Boxing Day when the media begin their quest to “HELP YOU BURN THE CHRISTMAS BULGE” “SHAPE UP AFTER CHRISTMAS” and “BEAT THE FESTIVE BELLY”. Fabulous! The magazine covers, the television programmes, the radio stations and even the shops are all geared to help you lose the extra weight that you have gained over XXLmas. I am all for helping the general public to eat healthily, exercise more and lead healthier lifestyles but all this talk of office work-outs, indoor workouts, calories, cabbage diets, post-Christmas detox and whatever else acts as a feast of ammunition which only feed the eating disorder which is the devil controlling my mind. It beats me up for eating, it punishes me for not exercising and entices me to join the masses in the quest to obtain the perfect body. However hard I try to avoid the advice which I know is not meant for people like me, the voices I hear become ingrained in my head. My disorder feeds habitually on the snippets I hear, the brief sentence I may hear while my hand reaches to turn the page or change the channel. I hear people walking in the town, congratulating each other for the effort they have made in not eating anything except one mince pie for a whole 2 days. I feel I have failed because I have stuck to my routine and eaten what I should eat in order to keep me alive.

So I am not looking forward to this January-March period of shape-up-after-Christmas talk. It is going to be hideous. Then in April it will be Eat Enormous Amounts of Easter Eggs without Expanding and Inch with this Eggstremely Easy Easter Eggsercise Program. Then guess what’s next….”Shape up for Summer” “get a beautiful beach bum” “how to look Hot on Holiday” followed by more looking good for Christmas and then back to “Gained a few pounds over Christmas?…here, buy this amazing miracle DVD which will help you shifty 2 stone in a week”.

I am not blaming the media as such. No eating disorder is caused by one thing alone, if this were the case they would be easily cured…any they most definitely are not. Myself along with a number of my previous fellow Priory ‘inmates’ can vouch for that! However, in society today there is still way too much emphasis on the way we look, the way we dress, the she looks good, she looks bad, she’s too thin, now she’s too fat nonsense. The media can only be guilty for providing the readers with what they demand. Magazines have to sell and the public have some weird voyeuristic interest in image. It is completely unhealthy. Why must people read about how to lose weight? It’s easy, don’t eat too much of the bad stuff, eat lots of the good stuff and exercise regularly. Why the persistent diet tricks and training programs. People in older generations did not concentrate so much on it, they still lived healthy and happy lives. Common sense on this matter goes a long way and any emphasis on these hideous diets and workout plans will only support the existing eating disorders inside sufferers’ minds and feed even the smallest seed that may be growing in younger peoples’ minds.

Stop reading such articles and people will stop writing them! Stop watching the programmes and people will stop making them! You don’t need reassurance of what you already know. If you really need help because you are overweight then your doctor will be able to offer better advice than the stuff you read or see which is formulated by unqualified people who more than anything want to make a living. Fair enough to want to earn a living but perhaps even they would be happier providing the public with different information. Maybe they want to use their talents more effectively. Demand something different and take responsibility for your own well-being! It is suffocating for sufferers like me. I’m happy for you to fight your flab but I urge you to think of the other people like me who are just desperately fighting to ignore the advice, fighting to close our ears and eyes to what is going on around us so that we can continue to fight for our lives against a killer disease. Anymore advice which is forced upon me or them can contribute to our deaths. Just think about it. Please.

I do not normally go to the theatre to see straight plays or drama. The lure of the theatre for me has always been the music, the song and the dance. However, I read ‘War Horse’ a book by children’s author Michael Morpurgo and loved the story so much that when I heard it was on the stage I was both interested to see it and intrigued as to exactly how it would be done.

War Horse is an emotive tale of human-horse relations, set against the backdrop of World War 1. The book is written from the point of view of Joey, a young farm horse who having been bought by a farmer becomes best friends with the famer’s son, Albert, only to be sold when the war breaks out. Albert makes a promise to Joey and to himself that they will meet again but it is Joey’s adventures that the readers follow from his horse-eye view.

You can view the book on Amazon here War Horse

Michael Morpurgo has wonderful ability of making the characters come to life. This lifelike quality has been beautifully captured and amplified with the transfer to the stage.

South Africa’s Handspring Puppet Company devised the show with National Theatre directors Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris and with the aid of bamboo and gauze, somehow manage to create life-sized quadrupeds that are almost more believable than the real thing.

The horses movements are so intricate and precise that only after a few pricking up of ears, flicks of the tail, stomps, snorts and starts, the audience are sucked in…in the best possible way. One completely forgets that that there are three puppeteers hard at work inside the frames (one in the head, one in the heart and one in the hind). The horses are just as living and breathing as the human actors. It’s incredible, magical and completely compelling.

Mere humans such as Kit Harington’s affectionate and passionate Albert and Colin Mace’s brusque father are dwarfed by the immense technical ingenuity on display. The visual spectacle does not stop with the horses, but they are the major part of it. There are terrifying incursion of the artillery and rolling battle tanks, and a heart-stopping moment when Joey is entangled in barbed wire at which point my face literally exploded with tears followed by the final reunion touches the soul in ways deeper than mere words can when among the chaos of war as Joey’s ears prick up to the familiar sound of Albert’s whistle.
Tim van Eyken played a wonderful ‘music man’ who entered at pivotal scenes with apt and atmospheric folk music which only added to the emotive feel of the play.

War Horse had a recipe for success and it was, without question, the most dramatic, moving, thought provoking and technically dazzling piece of theatre I have ever seen. It has definitely shown me that there is more to the West End than musical theatre.

Any of you who go to see it will not be disappointed!