domestic bliss

Dinner twist

Posted on September 11, 2012September 11, 2012 by bekswhoknits

I must admit I was intrigued.
The concept is a box of groceries with all the ingredients for three mystery recipes.

I was a bit concerned that they wouldn’t really be ‘our style’. We can both be picky eaters about certain things. We both don’t like spicy food, I hate bananas, he doesn’t like rice. Sure the rice thing knocks out a whole heap of dishes, but pasta is an easy substitute.

So we got a box of mystery groceries and three recipes. All three were things I wouldn’t usually think to cook.
One was salmon with mustard baked carrots, a pork curry, and a salami, cottage cheese pasta.

All three meals where delicious in their own way.
But the best thing about it is being able to choose how you want to cook them.

Given that the Mister doesn’t like rice we had the curry with pasta instead. We got spicy Hungarian salami so we swapped it (with a work mate) for some less spicy salami.

Let’s see what we get this week!

Etsy love

Posted on September 3, 2012September 3, 2012 by bekswhoknits

So another knittingless weekend meant I spent a lot of time browsing etsy.

And I put together some treasury lists.

yarn in a tea cup

and this one

all things doctor who and knitting

I am totally into rings at the moment, even though they really don’t suit me.

This shiny one is my favorite

So many pretty yarns

I like a man in a tool belt

Posted on June 14, 2012June 14, 2012 by bekswhoknits

It’s just all there in a row. Sex and mending things.

I like a man who can say ‘I can fix your cistern, and I can fix your cistern‘

Of course it’s a little hard to write the intonation there, but that’s a fantastic quote from Coupling.
Which is one of my most favourite shows ever.

And I do like a man in a tool belt.

Another thing I like? Books.

So a man that builds me a bookshelf, in my bathroom (and wears a toolbelt whilst doing it), is a man to keep hold of.

And guess which lucky lady now has a book shelf in her bathroom.

Below is the photo I took when it first went up.
And a few more photos down you’ll see it now.
A slightly different calibre of books, but that’s us.

Cozy stews and Nanna blankets.

Posted on June 12, 2012June 11, 2012 by bekswhoknits

If there’s on theme that has kept cropping up in the last week it’s cozy.

I have an appreciation for all the seasons. Sometimes I think that we should have 1 month of each and that would solve all my problems.

The first month of every season is the best. In summer you start to wear pretty floral dresses without tights, and the heat is warm and inviting. By the time February comes round, the 40 degree days seem longer and the nights aren’t balmy they’re just exhaustingly hot.
We’re just beginning winter and so the jackets and hoodies are out of the cupboard. And everything is cozy. In two months time my bones will be cold and no amount of wooly socks, hot casseroles or squishy cowls will warm me up.

Well maybe this casserole might.

I really was impressed with myself.

the ingredients
500gm diced lamb
1/4 cup flour
1 diced onion
400gm tin chopped tomatoes
1 cup beef stock
1 cup beer
1 cup diced mushrooms
1 tbl spoon gravy powder
Dash worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper

the recipe
Fry the onions and garlic in olive oil. Once cooked put in casserole dish. (note: if your casserole dish doesn’t fit in the oven with other trays in, take them out now)

Brown the lamb in the same pot. Add flour and cook the flour a bit.
Once that’s brown, add the beer and beef stock. Bring to the boil.

Chop the mushrooms and put in the casserole dish.
Add the tin of tomatoes, worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper.
Add the boiling lamb mixture and stir.
Add some herbs if you like (I added dried oregano and fresh rosemary)

Put in a 220 degree oven with the lid on.

Cook for 1 hour 30. While this is cooking make the dumplings.
Put the dumplings in the casserole at 1hr30 and cook for another 30 minutes with the lid off.

the dumplings
1 cup self raising flour
60gms cubed butter
1/2 cup grated cheese (Mmm Colby)
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup milk

Rub the butter and flour together to make breadcrumbs. Then add the cheese and oats. Slowly add the milk until the mixture just combines.

Roll into even balls and place on top of casserole.

Wait for casserole to heat up the entire house and make it smell delicious.

Serve with potato bake and fresh green beans.

Await praise from boyfriend who helps himself to seconds.
Try and not lick the plate in front of said boyfriend.

Ahh the beginning of winter when the casseroles are cozy and the Nanna blankets are just warm enough.

(my 10 stitch blanket is coming along nicely btw)

Sport, movies, rain

Posted on June 11, 2012June 11, 2012 by bekswhoknits

It was definitely a weekend to stay inside and keep cozy.

Apart from going to my local to watch my boys lose and wait for a non-existent roast, which only in hindsight wasn’t worth leaving the house for.

So inside I stayed and knitted. I finished off my Riff socks (but more on those on Friday) and immediately cast on anothe pair with the same needles and yarn and basic pattern (without the riff part).

I then wore said socks for the rest of the weekend.

I finished watching firefly. Cried at the appropriate points during Serenity. And wished that there was more.

Then needing more Joss Whedon (I finally got around to seeing The Avengers last Tuesday so I’m in a Joss mood) I started watching Angel.

It might take me a while to get into it.

So my weekend wasn’t spent with my nose in a book as I originally intended, but I did keep my (warm and cozy) feet up.

Lesson learnt.

Posted on June 4, 2012June 4, 2012 by bekswhoknits

Always, always write down why projects you’re working on.

Particularly when you run out of yarn and don’t know when you’ll buy more.
Particularly when it ends up being about 6 months between shopping trips.

Because you’ll probably forget what pattern you were working too. There’s a lot of lacy baktus scarf patterns around.

Lesson number 2? When you don’t know what pattern you’re using, put a lifeline in place so when you have to frog back it’s a bit easier.

And frog back I did. 4 times.

I really was ready to thrown the damn thing out the window. Perhaps use it as a mop, or leave it in a draw with velcro.
But I persevered and ended up finding this photo still on my phone.

So apologies to whoever created the pattern because I’ve lost all other evidence.

But I’ve finished the damn thing and now I don’t know what to do with it.
I really don’t like it.
It’s not something I would ever wear, and dear ol Mumsi took one look at it and declared it not to be her either.

So it will sit in the gift bin until someone deserving comes along.

It’s such a pretty yarn too (Moda Vera Beauvardia) and fortunately I have a lot left to make something that’s actually pretty.

Cooking with lavender – pancakes

Posted on May 22, 2012June 4, 2012 by bekswhoknits

I have a lovely lavender plant in my garden. It’s one of the few plants that survived me.
We don’t get many hours of sunlight, but it thrives in the shade.

But after visiting Bridgetown and all the lavender inspired soaps, and oils I’ve been thinking about how I can get more use out of it.

Currently we use it as a mosquito repellant, there’s always some hanging on our outside light.
I’m a mosquito magnet and I notice the difference.
I’ve tried those yellow mosquito lights but they don’t do anything.

Unfortunately I really don’t like the smell of lavender. My hay fever reacts badly to it, and it reminds me of old lady potpourri. So I’m not likely to have it inside the house.
I enjoy citrus fragrances a lot more and the only time my house smells of flowers it’s not by my choice.
But I did a bit of research which is opening my eyes to cooking with lavender.

There’s a chocolate lavender cake which I really want to try, but unfortunately couldn’t get the oven to light.
So instead I made the lavender sugar syrup by itself. Then Instead of putting it on an invisible chocolate cake, I put it on pancakes.

Inspired by that I made a lavender compound butter to go with it as well.
Absolutely delicious.

bek’s pantry pancakes

This is the ‘day before the food shopping’ pancakes, when you have run out of milk, eggs, and can’t be bothered popping to the shops just for that.
So I always have powdered eggs and powdered milk in the pantry. They don’t get used that often, but they’re good to take camping, and for when laziness strikes. Of course you can use 1 egg and 1 cup of milk but it really tastes pretty good for powder. I find it also makes it easier to get all the lumps out.

the ingredients
1 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tablespoon egg powder
1/2 cup milk powder
Pinch of salt
1 cup water

the method
Mix all the dry ingredients together.
Add the water and mix until there are no lumps.
Add more water if necessary.

I always make it in a Pyrex jug, just because that way I can save on washing up.

lavender sugar syrup
the ingredients
1 cup of water
1 cup of sugar
1 sprig of lavender

the method
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan.
Bring to the boil.
Keep boiling until the sauce thickens.
Take off the heat and once it has cooled slightly (because it will be very hot), pour it through a sieve, and serve.

lavender compound butter
This was a whim. But melted on the pancakes it was a whim that payed off.

the ingredients
butter
Lavender (cut into small pieces)
Lemon zest
Lemon juice

the method
Mix it all together.

It really comes down to eyeballing it, particularly when you only want a little bit.

I’m really not an authority on cooking pancakes. In fact I’m shocking at it. So bad that I’ve bought a crepe maker into my arsenal. It always heats to the right temperature and because it’s non-stick I don’t get those first pancake blues, where the first pancake is soaked in butter.
I do love my crepe maker.

I’m now going to be looking for more ways to use lavender in my cooking.

A slice of organic life

Posted on May 21, 2012May 20, 2012 by bekswhoknits

I was given this book a few years ago now, and it’s since become a constant companion.

It’s quite light on, but it does give a nice overview about living organically.

It makes me day dream about keeping pigs, and making jam, and living more sustainable.

I’m quite glad that my Mister shares these dreams and aspirations (even if he day dreams of chickens, ducks, geese, and weiros, which would be slightly more useful, but not quite as relaxing for this bird-fearing girl).

Last Christmas I started a trend of all handmade gifts. This year I intend on continuing that, but I do want to diversify. I also want to have those ‘last minute gifts’ handy in the cupboard.

So I spent most of this weekend knitting up dishcloths.
I felt very proud of myself as they were wish homespun yarn from our recent Bridgetown Adventure.

At the time I felt a little disappointed with this yarn, because I just didn’t know what to do with it. It is quite coarse and doesn’t feel nice on your skin; it wouldn’t be good for clothing.
But it is knitting up into dishcloths quite nicely, and I can see them being quite good for exfoliating cloths.

This is why I started looking through that book. I think these would be lovely presents with a home made lavender soap.
I have a lovely lavendar plant in my garden, which is very underused.
Unfortunately this book didn’t have a recipe for soap, but I will make a carrot soup tonight.

what’s in my wallet

Posted on May 17, 2012 by bekswhoknits

Well I don’t carry a handbag. I’m a bit of a minimalist when it comes to going places.
I have a collection of totes from various gigs or online purchases, but if I’m just going to the pub, or out for an evening all I want is cash, cards, phone, keys, and lipbalm.

I’ve spend ages trying to find the perfect way to do this, and I think I’m pretty close.

Kitsch Devine make this gorgeous wallet.

It’s a fabric wallet, and I really want this cat print one!

But I am so happy with mine.

So here’s what I carry everywhere…
Obviously my phone is conspicuously absent – but it fits in their perfectly, even with a case on. So many iphone wallets fit an iphone but only if they dont have a case.
This one fits my phone whether it’s wearing polka-dots, flowers, or the little mermaid (I have a mild iphone case obsession).

Lip balm is essential. Chapstick is always on sale so I usually have dozens of them but can never find one when I need one.

Endless receipts. I don’t know why I keep receipts as I tend to do my account keeping using my bank statements, but I still always end up with receipts.

Emergency panty liner. Learnt from experience.

Cards. The usual drivers licence, bank card, medicare card.
Special cards include my RTR fm subscribers card, spotlight card, and entertainment book card. Yay for discounts!

Business cards. Does anyone else have business cards for their blog? I find they’re really useful when I want to give someone my details, but I don’t want to give them my mobile number. Instead they have my url, email, and twitter handle. I always have a few handy.

Post It Notes. Because they’re really useful.

The heart shaped carabina is there because I sometimes attach my keys to it. It’s not the best solution, but it works.

Noticeably absent –
Bobby pins, usually I have a few tucked away in my wallet.
Money, I’m hopeless when it comes to keeping cash
Pen, I’m probably being optimistic, but I think having a pen tucked in there would be really useful.

So there you go. A little insight into my essentials.
(And check out Kitsch Designs – there’s so many cute things)

I made cushions!!

Posted on May 10, 2012May 1, 2012 by bekswhoknits

I can make cushion covers.
I can sew straight seams. Ok well it took me a little while and a I had to unpick a couple, but I got there in the end.

When Spotlight recently had a 30% off everything sale I picked up some quilting flats. They’re 40×40 cm squares and pretty much made for cushion making.

Its all straight seams with an opening to put the inserts in.
Pretty easy and ended up less than $10 for two.

(I know that there’s a pretty black polka-dot fabric in there, but I don’t want to talk about it – there was a cushion disaster)

Totally cute and I can’t wait to make more to shake things up. Maybe next time I’ll get a little more adventurous like these gorgeous ones by .

And here’s me trying out spin cam…
http://spincam.net/s/ghpu/i