Bento!

As a thank you for me proof reading her essay my lovely Japanese friend made us a wonderful Bento for lunch yesterday; Onigiri (rice balls) were so nice, and the carrots were cut in a cute flower shape, and there was a wonderful black sesame sauce stuff on the green beans. I will have to learn that one and tell you how to make it. YUM!

  And so I was inspired this morning to make a very speedy quick Bento lunch for Rick; I used the smallest heart cookie cutter I have (did you give me those?) and cut the ham and bread&butter, cress grass and some other veg for salad.






                 The blue&white encrusted cake thing is a leftover cornflake chocolate nest that I made for the party.

I hope he enjoys it; its not going to be the most filling of lunches, but its cute!


Enjoy the sunshine Jo-Bags. Love to little William and to Chris too. xxx

The Owl & The Badger

 So, as you know Jo, I have been chained to the computer and/or library writing my essay that is due in on Wednesday. So I have been having alot of tea!

I finished the first draft on Friday evening and so let myself have the whole of Saturday as a essay-free zone. Which is lucky because I had an animal themed fancy dress party to get ready for that night. I woke up not knowing what on earth I was going to be and ended the day with a costume to be proud of.



Here are some photos of the making process; it was great fun. I give you the owl (& the Badger):

 

So I raided the fabric stash and made 3 sizes of feather template and got cutting


                 and then started on the mask, I knew I had a pair of those cinema 3D glasses lying around so punched out the plastic lenses and drew around them on some cardboard.
        Then drew an owl face shape and cut out.

                                 After that I got sticking!

                  Rick helped me superglue the glasses on the card ( I hate superglue, it still scares me!)

            And hey presto, I had an owl mask!

       I knew I HAD to have a mouse hanging from my beak/mouth and so I made one!

    I used the leftover feathers to create my wings on an old brown cardigan; I could have done more feathers if I had had more time, but I think it worked ok as it was.

I wore brown tights, a mottled grey top under the wing cardi, that black layered skirt I have had for years and some super yellow socks for my yellow owly feet.










And so Rick was the Badger and I was the Owl:

bread

put some of mum's dried rosemary in my wholemeal bread dough this morning :)
how's the essay-writing going?
xxx

Veggie Bake

This is the 'in progress' shot of the bake, but I didn't manage to take the photo of the finished bake as it was eaten so quickly! All I got was this terrible shot below of it half eaten on my plate....




So anyway, I made it up and it was yum; try it.


>>roast half a butternut squash (cubed)
>>add half a tin of kidney beans,
>> and some cherry plum tomatoes (cut in half) and put back in oven
>>while that cooks, boil two medium sized potatoes and make mash
>>add some wilted spinach to the dish and put the mash on top
>>using fork spread the mash out and add grated cheese
>>cook for another 15mins on high oven to crisp up the top

I served it with some sausages, but could do well on its own to be honest.

Sorry for the bad photos; night-time lighting is not good for photo taking!

pretty

did you see these on etsy? *drool*
http://www.etsy.com/listing/85337090/boxed-set-of-six-butter-knives-with-aqua?ref=fp_treasury_9&favorite_listing_id=85337090&show_panel=true

watch your postbox

Dundee Cake

brian has some new trousers

found a mothercare pillowcase in a charity shop. i think it was destined to find me. it must be as old as i am.
it's brian :)
made it into trousers for wee one, will upload pics later :) xxx

Herman Cake & Dundee

Herman

Day2

 So Herman is a friendship cake; he was given to me and I kept him alive and growing for 10 days before dividing him into four, giving three away to friends and then I baked him with raspberries and walnuts. Yum. Wish you were nearer Jo so I could have shared him with you and given you a jar of goo to keep and grow and give away.

Day 6

Day 9

Day 10

Day 11 - eaten

Dundee Cake

So the Dundee cake is in the oven, seems to be taking an age to cook! And I need to go round a friend's for dinner!! 

[pictures to come soon]

Pumpkin

It turned to Autumn overnight. Red and yellow leaves everywhere now. So my friend Natalie and I had an afternoon of Pumpkin. We made pumpkin and gorgonzola lasagne and pumpkin cake. I then helped her carve a halloween pumpkin to put outside her front door.

Pretty huh?

~Pinks and Greys~

sorry Jo; no red leaves in London yet, at least not on the floor! but here is a mix of old and new photos for you instead.

inspiration board

{muted grey and gold}
i took a detour on the way home yesterday, in the rain, looking for red leaves. i didn't find any, but everywhere i looked i saw the greys and golds that are also out at home. if you have any red leaves in london yet, please capture them!

parcel!!!

Thankyou abi!!! lovely baby clothes, i want them to be the first thing he wears :)
love the prints and the style of them, and fairtrade organic cotton just makes them the best!
i love the little bee on the trousers...

this kimono type top looks so cool, much better than a boring t-shirt!
and the birds are so sweet. not too girly either! nice one.
xxxxxxxxx

what i've been up to this weekend

here is the fabric i got from the lovely lady on berwick market. i'm going to make a patchwork bath mat with this and an old white towel, probably this week!
this is a sweet little antique baby vest from france. it's incredibly soft with 2 tiny buttons. i couldn't resist!
this is my big stack of washable baby wipes. i've also made some towelling ones, so it will soon be a question of finding which ones suit me and baby best, before i make any more...if i need them!
and i got given a pile of new white bibs which i have been embroidering...

photos of those are a bit dark as its so overcast today....grey and cold. stay indoors day with stitching and soup!
xxx