My last year in my ‘late 20s’…funny I feel closer to 23 than 30. Waiting for bacon to bake me a cake..and I’ve taken a day off work the first time ever on my birthday. I usually go to work on my birthday, but figured that I needed an extra day off work to recover from Glastonbury - hope you’ve been following my twitter feed to have an inkling of what I’ve been up to..

Cards from the outlaws, and a card from the Gohs in AU with a ott drawing from the little one…hehehe…

Twilight stalker starter pack from drey…lols. Hilariously mad

My self-chosen present from bacon…we actually bought this in Malaysia in March. So romantic NOT

This sucks!! I am currently sick…and leaving for the mudfeast of the year tomorrow. I was planning to do some good blogging before I leave, but seeing that it’s now 1pm and I’m in bed preparing to go back to zzz….don’t think so.

Will be tweeting from Glastonbury though…if you’re not following me yet, do it NOW HERE! I plan to catch Tom Jones (lols) , The Boss, Lady Gaga, The Tingtings, David Guetta, a slice of silent disco and Neil Young. I know, I feel so old, I can barely remember Bruce Springsteen, so definately have no idea about Neil Young, but going to go for it anyway. Nothing like a slice of the old timers. That is if I am well enough by Friday to walk the 3 miles to the Pyramid Stage.

Hmm..are there any more acts you reckon I should definately not miss? Lineup’s here

Remember - follow me on twitter for the ultimate summer festival experience! Now that I’ve said that, I’ll probably be too sick to tweet..ugh.

My fortune cookie told me today:
‘Get lost (how very rude, I thought). You may just find yourself’

How very apt. I once made bacon tap on the app whilst he was falling asleep. It said:
‘Get some rest, you deserve it’

Loveit! If you’re on the iphone/touch, download it now!

Hmmmmm……..

The EU elections were held last week - this is where citizens of EU countries come together and vote for their MEP (Member of European Parliament). These MEP then gets to attend European Parliament discussions in Brussels so they can pass mostly silly regulations, i.e. bananas cannot curve above a certain degree. As a citizen of a commonwealth country, I have been on the electrol roll for some time now - I feel strongly that all citizens should vote, legislation permitting. I always ensure that I cast my vote, irregardless of whether I actually know the candidates.

So it is with trepidation that this morning I woke up to the news that the BNP has won one seat out of Yorkshire’s 6; not because more people voted for them, but due to the proportionate voting practise. What this means that even though the people who voted for them are actually LESS compared to previously, they are getting seats due to the fragmanted voting stemming from Labour’s absolute failure in keeping it together.

What will this now mean to me?

The British National Party (BNP) is a far-right white nationalism political party. According to its constitution, the BNP is “committed to stemming and reversing the tide of non-white immigration and to restoring, by legal changes, negotiation and consent the overwhelmingly white makeup of the British population that existed in Britain prior to 1948 (there was a large influx of Jamaican & Indian immigrants post-1948) .” The BNP also proposes “firm but voluntary incentives for immigrants and their descendants to return home.”

Get the drift?

What was even scarier was in the last elections, the BNP came within FIVE votes of winning the local councillor seat of where I am. And the BNP is actually in power in Morley, where we lived when I first moved to the UK. I am now questioning my voting practices - should I vote for the party that I believe in, or should I just vote for the party that is most likely to win, as long as it keeps those racist out of the main seat? Is it due to me (and others with my mindset) that the BNP are now being sent to the European Parliament to represent the UK? Should I even vote for a party that I do not agree with, just so another party that I dislike even more is prevented from representing the people?

I think it’s now come to a point where I wonder why I even vote, as every step I take seems to be pushing the country closer to being run by a triumphant band of facists. Should I just not bother, that way it wouldn’t be my fault when the racists comes into power? Are we doomed anyway, irregardless of who we vote?

And bacon wonders why I want to move. Why I will never feel 100% comfortable in the area that we live in. I have managed to bury my slight distaste for the people of where I live with overwhelming enthusiasm on discovering new things…but for how long more? Bacon denies that we are living in one of the most racist area in the whole county - but that is probably out of love for the place that he grew up in rather than with his eyes wide open. He always says its ok, ‘they mean no harm’ . No it’s not funny, and it’s really not ok. It is easy to ignore things when you look like a poster boy for the aryans.

I honestly don’t know how long more can I continue to ignore the blatantly sneering racist politics of where I live.

Disclaimer: I must add that I do not experience racism on a daily basis (i.e. not being served in shops ect) and people that I work with and communicate with on a daily basis are not racist as far as I’m aware. Most of the people in Leeds are very nice actually, if sometimes slightly grumpy :).

I write about Kasa Rosa on an annual basis…I say it’s my favourite restaurant but in reality I don’t actually go there very often at all. It’s because it’s not open on Sundays, and it’s usually on Sundays that we go in search of lunch. Shame really. Not to mention that I kinda fell out with them after they stopped making the world’s best tiramisu…preferring to stick to their horrible chocolate fudge cake instead. eew. Tastes like they bought the choc fudge cake from the supermarket or something. And oh, when I went on my birthday last year and ordered scallops, that was all I got….five scallops on a huge plate, and two silvers of grilled pepper. For £15.95, that was extremely poor - at least give me abit of a side dish, damnit! Even some side salad or chips won’t go amiss…but just five scallops on top of two silvers of grilled pepper…thats just plain blah.

Anyway, on bacon’s birthday we eventually made it there for lunch. I’ve noticed that they’ve revamped their menu online, and was intruiged to find that they have started offering lunchtime deals. Seeing that their pizzas & pastas are between £6.50 - £9.50, their lunchtime deal of £5.90 for any pizzas or pastas with 1/2 pint of beer is an absolute bargin. I love it when restaurants do lunch deals - there are not many people here who eats out for lunch anyway, and the chefs had to be there to prepare for dinner.

I had my regular Pasta Tarantino. Hmm. When I said regular, I mean that’s what I usually have, but it definately did not taste the same. Gone was the light, wine infused tomato concasse flavoured with fresh basil. It was replaced by a heavier tomato pasty like sauce, with only a very slight hint of wine. The spaghetti had also been replaced by linguine, I must say I don’t think that works very well. However, instead of pre-cooked mini shirmps, this pasta dish now contains humungous bits of seafood.

Just look at the prawn. Definately a step up from the former pathetic looking pre-cooked shrimps. Not too sure about the sauce - both version are nice, but the lighter wine-infused sauce of its earlier days was just too special to pass up. Now it just tastes like a good pasta dish, not special like it used to be. Also, there seems to be a tad more chillies than what I remembered - and that’s a good thing. Gives it the fiery kick and brings out the flavours better methinks.

Bacon went for the Pizza “Augustea” . This comprised of tomatatoes, mozzarella and Gorgonzola cheese, oven baked and garnished with Serrano ham and rocket lettuce. We’ve only ever tried their Pepperoni pizza, which is ghastly - overly salty and oily. This pizza was a very refreshing change - light in flavours and yummy in taste. The crisp base contrasts nicely with the fresh leaves and melted cheese…rounded off by the super thin slices of serrano ham.

At £5.95 per person, this meal even came with freshly baked bread and a 1/2 pint of beer. How fab is that? The only problem is that this had put me off from patronising them at night, where pastas go for £9 instead of £5.95 plus drink!

Kasa Rosa
2 Queens Place
Morley, Leeds
LS27 8HG

Need directions? It is opposite from the Bargin Mart in Morley, hidden behind some bushes.