Simply on a roll

You know that moment?

You see something and straightaway it reminds you of something else.
There I was in a little coffee shop when I spotted a clever and so simple means of showing what the day's food offerings were.  The menu was presented on a large roll of brown wrapping paper attached to one of the walls making it easily visible and yet well out of the way.  All that's needed each time the menu changes is for someone to tear off the previous choices; pull down a clean portion and add the new.   Clever and so simple.

And that reminded me of a proponent of Simplicity - Dr Edward de Bono - who in 1998 provided us a book of the same name.  He gave us many other ways to think of course, including his ground-breaking Six Thinking Hats.  In a post some years back on decision-making I mentioned his PMI technique which you might like to come back to here.

Why did it remind me of Dr de Bono?

I had the great good fortune to be present at one of his seminars.  He had been invited along to the educational organisation I worked for at the time and all staff were invited.  He had asked only for an Overhead Projector (an OHP remember those? I loved them!) and a roll of transparency film - Getting the connection?

Sitting at the projector with a handful of OHP pens, he spoke and wrote at the same time, mesmerising us with his ideas.  And those ideas kept flowing and as they did so too did the acetate roll; clearing the bright write on platform at the speed of creativity.  It was an experience that I shall never forget.  Clever and so simple.

I've since seen and applied variations of thinking on a roll.  In workshops when we needed to generate loads of ideas we would sometimes get participants to write their thoughts onto a roll of cheap, plain wallpaper.  Strips would then be torn off and left on the table, the floor and obviously attached to any available wall.  At the end of the session the roll would be rolled, ready for recap or reuse at another session.

Rather like our workshop wallpaper, Dr de Bono also left with his roll.

I wonder how the menu has changed at the coffee shop.

Using Apple Pencil and GoodNotes app

A quiet time to doodle with the Apple Pencil and the GoodNotes app brought this result. I'm happy with that; not only with the ease of writing, pen and paper styles but also the export facility. It took only a few moments to paste the finished map into this blog post.

Ambition and ability

For the past while when reading books I've been making notes and sometimes even marking the pages. The first time I did this apart from texts studied at school was on the advice of an author who said it was his habit and since I was reading his book at the time thought there was a good place to start. Reading apps on my tablet device make mark-up very straightforward and because the highlighting is easy to remove doesn't leave the physical damage that marginal notes and underlines do.

From time to time I revisit books and its nice to come across hand written notecards drawing attention to interesting anecdotes or quotes.  That happened earlier today when I came across an interesting observation by acting veteran, June Brown who plays Dot Cotton in the BBC's Eastenders.

June recalls in her autobiography, Before the year Dot, advice given on acting by Sir Laurence Olivier at the New Vic. The advice which she says that she has never forgotten was:  "We must be careful not to let our ambition outgrow our ability."  p165

Good advice that.
I can think of some very able people who lacked that spark of ambition, and sadly other people whose ambition flattered their ability. It seems to me that the two go hand in hand.

Ambition and ability.  What do you think?



More?
Before the year Dot -the autobiography (2013) Brown, June. Simon and Schuster. London

Just a minute

Ever hurried back to the car park but not fast enough to avoid the charge for an extra hour?  Me too and I've noticed from previous tickets that this has been happening quite often. Just a minute! I thought, time to quicken that pace and get there sixty seconds earlier next time. And if it looks as if the extra hour charge is unavoidable then rather than paying for an empty space I let the car sit on for a while and take time out, parking myself somewhere nice for a tea or coffee and some light reading.
Now that's just the ticket.

Locked out and in. Honest.

Upcoming post on my recent experience of being locked out of a house but locked in its backyard.....
And some thoughts on why locks only serve to keep honest people out.

Wellbeing: Take 5

I came across this little fold-up advice leaflet and thought that its 5 key points were worth sharing.  Produced by the Public Health Agency, the five steps to wellbeing that it recommends are:

1. Give
2. Be active
3. Take notice
4. Keep learning and
5. Connect.

Each of the steps has an associated symbol and explanatory comment. And they make sense.

Take 5 minutes and check out an online version of the leaflet and other mental health related material at the links below.  I'm glad I did as there is plenty of stuff to think about both for ones own health and for others.

The next step is to build the 5 steps into daily habits so that they become second nature. This is where the discreet portability of the fold-up is useful. Slipped into a purse, wallet or pocket it can prompt us to action each time we notice it.

Follow up
Read online version of the 5 Steps leaflet here and see other health related advice at www.mindingyourhead.info

Books for Cooks

It only took a second to go back twenty years.

There I was settling down with March 2016's Observer Food Monthly and a little blurb on the cover of the magazine caught my eye.  It read, The Food Lover's Ultimate Book Shop (it also serves lunch).  

Could it be? 

In that instant I knew what my ultimate food lover's bookshop would be but could it be the same one?  A quick scan to page 52 confirmed that it was indeed Books for Cooks a place that to my shame I had last visited in the mid-nineties when my professional life took me occasionally from Belfast to London and more exactly, Notting Hill Gate.  It was at a meeting that a colleague hearing of my interest in culinary matters suggested I visit this unique bookshop at Blenheim Crescent.  I had time; I did; and immediately fell in love with the place. That was twenty years ago!

In my memory its shelves were (of course) packed with cookery books but what I remember was how special the place was, how different and how welcoming.  I recall whiling away a pleasant time on an old sofa browsing recipes.  I also remember a small but busy kitchen with a cookbook on a stand opened at the recipe which was being served that day.  That's the deal you see, it's a niche bookshop that practises what it sells and does a recipe a day from its thousands of books.

What a great idea!

I couldn't leave that day without buying a book and having read Tim Lott's piece in the Food Monthly I was transported back and easily remembered the book that I bought.  Yes, I was able to go straight to my bookshelf and locate it.  Among the hundreds we have at home it was the first one I picked out. How among all of our books could I be so sure that this was the one bought at Books for Cooks?

Guess what?

There inside was a postcard from the shop and a little bookmark in the shape of a rolling pin.  The book I bought was Great British Chefs by Kit Chapman Vol 2. 

The selection has biopics of many now household names including Belfast's own Paul Rankin. It was published in 1995 and being new then provides a chronological coordinate for my visit.

Tim Lott's article has brought me right up to date and I am definitely heading back to the shop on my next visit to London.  I am also recommending friends who live there to check it out for themselves. 

I think it's still a brilliant idea, I wonder what they're cooking today.

Over to you

For more on Books for Cooks visit this article in the Guardian.

Do you have a collection of cookery books? Do you just read them or do you follow the recipes?