Remote Working AntoinetteO

An advantage of working from home is that I frequently have the time to prepare a nice dinner. However, since my prime phone time is 6-9pm (9-12 noon Pacific Time), and dinner time here is 8pm, I am often working when it comes to cooking or putting out the meal.

So the recipes I use on week days are ones I can prepare in advance or that can cook autonomously while I am on the phone.

During the summer, many of these recipes use what our grows in our garden.

Here is such a recipe:

Baked Risotto with Lemon, Courgette and Basil
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1 onion, diced
1 garlic clove, chopped
500g courgette sliced or diced
500g risotto rice (e.g. arboria)
2 lemon, juiced and zested
1 small bunch of basil
1.2l hot vegatable stock
100g Parmesan, grated

Heat oven to 180C or gas4.
Microwave the chopped onion for 2 mins in an ovenproof disk, then add garlic and microwave for 1 min. Add courgettes and microwave for a few minutes.
Add the rice, juice, hot stock, and cheese - put in preheated over for 30 mins.
Serve sprinkled with basil and lemon zest.

As we are all into writing and reading blogs then we have all taken at least one step into the world of social networking. And social networking becomes particularly important when you are working remotely.

I recently had an unpleasant surprise on my linkedin network. I invited an old friend and university colleague to join my network. On the email telling me that she had accepted my invitation I clicked on See X's Profile. However, I discovered not my friend's profile but that of her husband!

The people on my network are people I would recommend for something from a professional perspective. I am told that I met my friend's husband 20 odd years ago at parties but do not have any distinct memory of this person. And so I certainly would not be able to recommend him for anything.

There has been lots written on social networking etiquette, for example: - http://radar.oreilly.com/2007/09/social-networking-invitation-e.html

http://www.disruptiveconversations.com/2007/07/updating-netiqu.html

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article2039665.ece

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article2039665.ece

Most of these articles speak about whether to accept an invitation but now I have someone on my network I did not even invite.

Should it be possible for someone to impersonate someone else to get invitations?

I presume this guy has added his wife's email address to his profile as an additional address. Does this seem appropriate?

We all have to define our own idea of what is appropriate behaviour in our social networking but as with any sort of personal interaction - we are not in it on our own!

Recently when visiting friends in their new house, they made the comment that they had bought a garden with a house rather than a house with a garden.

It is true that the garden can be the focus of a living space and can be particularly important when you work from home and so need need to learn to prioritise professional and personal life.

It is all about quality of life - I work in a very nice setting, not only because I live in the foothills of the French Alps and can see them out my office window but because I can take a few minutes off now and then to spot the latest arrivals in the garden.

This morning I got an email from a friend who is off to the hospital today to get the prognosis on a brain tumour; not an easy situation. But her email was to order jam, she had a list of jam she wanted me to put aside for her over the coming months. This email filled me with an unexpected happy feeling - my little garden was a source of future planning for someone who had decided to continue no matter what.

Our garden is not only a source of relaxation for me when I take a few minutes away from the computer but helps put everything into perspective. The joy I get as I wander around on my daily inspection is just renewed every day. Today I picked the first round courgette of the season. In fact the first round courgette I have ever held in my hand. I spotted the first little green beans which have magically appeared overnight.  I picked and podded some peas and dug up some new potatoes for dinner to be served with mint and chives.

And in fact the jam is underway. I made gooseberry jam yesterday, and with nearly 10kg of red and white currants picked, jelly and sorbet making are probably for later this week. However, what all our friends are waiting for is the blackberries that should start weighing heavily off their natural green arches any week now. And so life continues, and renews itself and gives us all these little moments of joy.