…had so much fun playing live at the official store opening of Quiksilver in Bath last weekend- many thanks to Carmen and Chris for their hospitality!! Hope you enjoy the footage!

xx

This is me (Ellie), Anna and Charlotte filming with the very funny Big Balls Films.com at Gibson studios yesterday. We recorded a song each and the video will be up in a week! This is to advertise our gig on the 12th March at Bush Hall in London. Cant wait!!!

Charlotte O'Connor, Anna Leddra Chapman, Ellie Lawson

Come to see Ellie performing at Dublin Castle (Camden), 4th February 09 !

(Ellie's Photo : Juan Fernandez)

Howdy

Just to let you know that I performed on The Cordless show the week before last and have been meaning to let everyone know! Thanks to Anna for hooking me up! We are both going to be promoting their University tour in London in March 09 - see our Myspace pages for details on which universities! 

The footage of my performance should be ready in about a month so I will be sure to post it here first! Here’s some pics from the day. Thanks to everyone that worked on the show in that big old castle. 

We had a right laugh and really enjoyed performing! Check out Annas performance and the other amazing artists that have performed at www.cordless-show.com

This is my one of my favourite dinners and is sooo good for you! This is for Charlotte as she has a bad cold. Get some one to make it for you! xxx

‘Dave’s spicy rice’ aka M E D I C I N E.

ingredients/ Serving for 2:

1 tin of tuna steak in olive oil preferably 

1 mug-ful of brown rice.

1 big fresh juicy lump of brocolli.

1 medium sized red onion.

a decent sized lump of root ginger, up to about a ping-pong ball size!

some nice frozen peas.

“1 teaspoon” of cayenne chili pepper

“1 teaspoon” of turmeric.

a large pinch of himalayan crystal salt,  and a touch of black pepper.

“3-4 capfuls” of extra virgin olive oil.

“3-4 capfuls” of organic apple cider vinegar (aspall’s)

optional extras:    these will help bring out the flavour a bit more if u can live with it!

a few dashes of garam masala spice.

1 clove of garlic.

half a lemon.

dried chili flakes (aka ‘pizza bits’ like you get in the shaker at pizza hut).

side salad:

a couple of inches of cucumber sliced up.

some fresh spinach leaves.  don’t cook them. eat them raw.

OK,  so directions…  er this will be a bit haphazzaaaaard as ive never written it down before– i kind of make it up as i go along each time… but you’ll get the picture.

>   Boil up some water in kettle (say 4 cups), chuck in a biggish pan with the brown rice,  on medium-to-high heat.  This will take about 12-15 minutes to get cooked nicely, and in that time you have to rush around like a mentalist getting everything else ready!!

> Add most of the turmeric into the boiling/simmering pan, along with the salt and some cayenne pepper.   This will get soaked up by the rice as it cookes and expands.

>  Chop up the the ginger (and peel it), and the garlic in to little bits and the red onions into smallish bits.   Chop up  the brocolli into small bite size chunks.

> Prepare the side salad/ cucumber slices.  If you get fresh spinach leaves from sainsbury’s you get twice as much for your money if there not called ’salad’ spinach- but they are exactly the same-  just wash them well; them have them raw (much more health benefits uncooked).

>  Rice will be mostly cooked by now;  pick a bit out with a fork and chew it- you will get a feel for the consistency you like. 

>>  If you have a pan with a steamer on top, then do the brocolli (and peas) like this,  but you will need to allow about 5-7 minutes for them to cook on top of the simmering rice pan.

>> If you don’t have a separate steamer, you can literally steam the brocolli in the rice pan, which is a bit quicker.   First of all put the peas straight in with the boiling rice.  It will take a minute or so to get back to the boil. (May need a top up of boiling water to cover).    Then place your brocolli bits on the top of the cooking rice and peas, spread out, semi-submerged on the surface.  Turn them over after a while so theyre steamed/cooked through properly-  but dont let them get soggy.

> Test a bit of rice, brocolli and pea, for you own satisfaction of being cooked,  and then take the pan off the hob and drain the excess water away,  but not so its bone dry- leave it nice and moist.

>  Make a bit of space at the side of the pan with a wooden spoon,  add the entire tuna steak with its olive oil, which will lightly fry everything off in this last stage.   Add extra olive oil now, or towards end of cooking as neccessary.  Add the ginger, garlic, onions, remaining spices, to this oil and tuna, mixing it up well, and then mix it all up in the pan back on the heat for a couple of minutes. Also now add the apple cider vinegar, a squeeze of lemon juice if you have it.  At this final stage of cooking keep stirring well to blend everything in carefully.

>  If of course you have used a separate steamer,  you have the slightly more civilised option of having the brocolli and peas served separately, as they dont particularly need mixing up with all the spices,  but it doesnt really matter.   Remember, this is medicine!

> Serve immediately, with the side salad,  and probably a cool glass of water,  as you might find this all a bit hot!! 

Hello everyone,

Yippee Its 2009!! I love this time of year-new goals and plans and a whole year to get it all done!! I am so happy at the moment and life seems to be rolling…green lights all the way….! Got a very long to-do list and merrily ticking away! Meeting lots of new people and getting these 15 tracks of mine mixed mastered and on itunes feels good to me.

Wrote this:

Now I’ve stopped drinking I’ve got my brain cells back

I’ve Stopped smoking and got my senses back

I’ve Stopped worrying and got my life back

I’ve Stopped moaning and got all my friends back

I’ve Stopped eating for comfort and got my skinny jeans back!!

I’ve stopped doubting and got my faith back

I’ve Stopped arguing and got my smile back

I’ve stopped watching TV and got my Peace of mind back

I’ve stopped shopping for things I don’t need and got my Boyfriend back (!)

I’ve stopped being ungrateful…. 

and the world is a beautiful place.

Speak soon

Ellie xxx

Sitting here with a glass of Mulled Wine and my Quiksilver catalogue- choosing clothes for Fall/winter09!!!! My Boyf is making my dinner (do hurry up love, ha, ha) and getting over the packed shopping centre where I successfully did all my Christmas shopping last minute! Well, ok, my brother did a lot of it last week, but all the other stuff I got today …and some! We took some pics of me and my brother which I got developed, and we are giving these to my nan and my great  Aunt. I’m sporting  a stripy number from the spring collection in the pics-my new favourite jumper. Thanks for the lovely surprise suitcase full of clothes Quiksilver. Ahhhhhh!!! Georgous silks and wools. So AMAZING!!           

Spending Christmas day at my nan’s house in Hammersmith, by the River Thames. Love it there, all the childhood memories. She will be 80 next year! My brother will be cooking the Christmas meal, as always, the chef. The only thing is that my nana is insisting on frozen sprouts this year and my brother has turned his nose up and has brought some fresh ones. Hope they don’t have a row, ha ha.  They have a big Turkey, but I will be sitting pretty with my Quorn sausages!! In the morning we will be at my partners house with his family and will have smoked salmon, scrambled eggs and champagne!  Looks like lots of Wallace and Gromitt on the telly tomorrow and my mum and nan will be watching the coronation street special- the addicts! 

On boxing day we will go to my dad and Pam’s -his partner and on Saturday and Sunday I was planning to go to the gym, but its shut, so I guess I will carry on eating mince pies and drinking wine! On Monday  we are recording in west London, yeeharr!

Have a lovely Christmas with your family’s, or how ever you are spending the Christmas holiday. Hope you have a  relaxing time and have lots of fun and yummy food!

Ellie xxx

Hello there ! This is my first post as a Quiksilver woman! yeay. Things are great at the moment. I am about to release my album The Philosophy Tree on itunes in the UK, USA, Australia and France. It will be on itunes by the end of January! Its really strange and exciting as yesterday I was singing Nelly Furtado’s song ‘try’ and I thought I would go and look for her on itunes and buy the song as I realised I don’t have it. Then I saw her ‘itunes essentials’ album and checked out her biography…and it has me listed as one of her ‘contempories’ alongside Dido, Amy Winehouse, Jem! Mad and unexpected!

I am putting together another album called ‘Lost songs’ to be released at the same time which will be 12 of my many many songs that I have written (well over 100) that didnt get to see the light of day as they didn’t fit on my first album soundwise. These will be songs that are very special to me. Im so excited to be releasing another album even though this isn’t strictly my second album- that is still in the making! I spoke to Yoad, who recorded the whole of Jem’s first album and he likes a song that I have written to a track he sent over to me. We have written a few together and he is sooo talented and comes up with the most crazy keyboard sounds and scales! Love him!!

Looking forward to my band getting back as well..some of them are travelling at the moment. We will get together and Jam and do some more writing and recording in Jan/Feb with a great new engineer and producer called Clive Martin! If you haven’t seen the links We have a gig this week in Camden Town by the Canal so I am practicing some new songs on my beloved Hummingbird (thanks Gibson for the free guitar!!) and Dave Harewood is accompanying me on Djembe, which Is my favourite drum of all drums, (and Dave is my favourite companion, ha ha!) and Hils has been round my house going through new songs and harmonising with me..sweeeet!

Spk soon

Ellie xxx

Ellie’s last (official) gig of 2008, should be a corker!! Playing lots of new songs and arrangements acoustically, with guitar keys and percussion… this is a show not to be missed. The Constitution is a great pub 5 minutes from camden tube station, renowned for its great mix of live music performances, and there are several other great performances lined up on the bill that night.

Come and join Ellie and her band in an acoustic christmas extravaganza party, in a great venue in Camden, and forget about the boring christmas shopping nonsense once and for all!

5 english pounds on the door, 4 if youre a concession.