real life

The weekend where Bek is clumsy

Posted on August 27, 2012August 27, 2012 by bekswhoknits

I’m clumsy. In my 27 years on earth I’ve broken my arm once (falling off a desk), had staples in my leg (a rogue nutella jar), and have various scars from hair lackys, baking equipment, and cereal boxes.

So I’m clumsy, my best friend is accident prone, and my Mister, well between getting old diseases like scurvy and gout, gets bitten by spiders quite a lot.
We are in Australia I guess.

So this weekend it was my turn to be clumsy.
At some point on Friday night, whilst the three of us were quietly watching a game of football with a few quiet beers I’ve fallen over pretty hard and sprained (possibly broken) my elbow.

Clumsy.

So the rest of the weekend was spent not knitting. Including a trip to the doctors which is usually prime knitting time.

I’m also discovering just how much I use my left arm (I’m right handed which is lucky), but this blog post has taken me twice as long to type as it usually would.

So I’ve tripled my favourite list on Ravelry. Ordered some yarn from etsy. Watched some football (without falling over). And am now waiting to have an X-ray this afternoon.

I’m pretty sure it’s not broken. But I am rocking a very sexy sling.

So there are no knitting pictures from the weekend.
But this is the sunset on Friday night.

And please excuse any typos. This one handed thing is hard.

Oh I made sausage rolls pre-clumsiness.

~~~
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I hate bananas (but these passion fruit and banana muffins are good. Apparently.)

Posted on August 14, 2012August 18, 2012 by bekswhoknits

It’s horrible baking something that you can’t eat.

I really don’t like bananas. I dislike the smell of them so much that I have been known to throw up.

So while my boyfriend was away for the weekend, the bananas we had in the house got smellier and smellier. They were getting to the end of their life.
I detest throwing out food. So I decided to be brave and make it into something.

So I found a recipe for banana muffins. which looked relatively straight forward.

So I made one variation to the recipe which was to use passion fruit Greek yoghurt.
Apparently this was a welcome addition.

It does feel really weird blogging about a recipe that I haven’t tasted myself.

But I am assured that it worked.

the ingredients
1 banana (mushed)
1/2 cup passion fruit flavoured natural yoghurt
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup olive oil
1 egg
1 & 1/4 cup self raising flour

the recipe
Mush the banana.
Add the yoghurt, sugar, olive oil, and egg and mix together.

Add the flour and mix gently (try just 1 cup to begin, but add the extra 1/4 cup if necessary).

Spoon into a muffin tray and bake for 25 minutes in a 180 degree oven.
Or until they look cooked. They should spring to the touch.

I never thought I would feature a banana based recipe on my blog. And I would love to have a non biased opinion on these banana and passion fruit muffins.

It was a privilege. The wonderful Sir David Attenborough

Posted on August 6, 2012August 11, 2012 by bekswhoknits

Well I’m not going to talk about football.

Instead I shall recount the wonderful evening that was a night with David Attenborough

I only found out about the event as a Perth twitter friend was talking about the countdown to tickets being sold. I immediately jumped on board and bought two. And lucky I did because it sold out in a flash. Thank you Madradish!!

Jealously was high amongst our friends who had missed out.

I didn’t quite know what to expect but I knew that listening to Sir David for 2 hours was always going to be an enjoyable experience.
Like a lot of people I grew up watching David Attenborough. And although I was never particularly sciencey I liked how his films looked.

But it’s my partner who has the real love for Sir David.
He has the box sets and rewatches them regularly. So this was really a treat for him.

Sir David came onto the stage to a standing ovation.

The stage was simply set with two leather chairs, with coffee tables and a cozy rug.

And then Ray Martin came out as the interviewer.
Ray did a great job of hosting the evening. An iconic voice himself, he had certainly done his research and knew what stories to draw out.

The most special moments came when the screen behind them illustrated some of Attenborough’s finest moments.

If you ever get a chance to see David Attenborough live – Do It!!

The quality of the photos is definitely not indicative of the quality of the night.

~~~
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Some of the places we shopped – Melbourne (3)

Posted on July 31, 2012July 29, 2012 by bekswhoknits

Well if Saturday was about football, Sunday and Monday were about shopping.

We headed out to Brunswick to meet up with some friends. On our way we had some crepes, before leaving the boys at the pub and going for a wander.

I was a bit uninspired by the shops, but we did stumble across a gorgeous nick-nack shop.
But after walking around for a while we ended up at the pub too.

We headed on to the St Kilda markets where we wandered around but apparently we got there too late as we had missed the yarn stall. Had a couple of jugs at The Espy until the sun went down and we went in search of some food.

We ended up at trunk as it was close to our hotel and we had been there for a drink on Friday. It was such a pretty location, and I was happy with my seafood risotto. I was the lucky one. The Mr’s pasta came out in a paper bag, and was bland and cold. His sister’s boyfriends pizza came out and was impossible to eat without a knife and fork and although the base was hot, the topping was all cold.
When we asked about it we were told, that was just the way it was. Needless to say we weren’t impressed and complained to the manager.
So that meal ended on a sour note.

We ended up at our hotel bar for a couple of quiet drinks where my Mr got his converse shined by the complimentary shoe shining machine.

It was a pretty disappointing ending to the day, which could have been avoided by some decent customer service. Maybe we’re uncultured Perth people but we expect a pizza to be hot unless stated otherwise.

But Monday was Shinsday!!!

Oh and we saw a police car that was stuck on the tramline. It two 8 burly gentleman to lift it off.
We were in a taxi taking photos.

~~~
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Some of the places we went – Melbourne (2)

Posted on July 30, 2012July 29, 2012 by bekswhoknits

This is the second post where I try and make you all jealous about my Melbourne holiday.
We flew in on the red eye getting into Melbourne at 6am on Friday morning.
After leaving out luggage at the hotel (we stayed at the Marriott Hotel where we had an excellent stay), we went out in search of breakfast, whilst awaiting a txt to say our room was ready.

In the end we upgraded to a king size room and we caught up on some sleep having not got any on the plane.

After we were rested we went wandering.

We caught up with some friends over some awesome dumplings, but bland honey chicken fromEmpress of China.

We had a drink at Coopers Inn, trunk,and watched the football at Young and Jackson .

Saturday was all about football.
We went to the MCG to watch Hawthorn play Collingwood. We wanted Hawthorn to win, and they put on a very impressive display. Our hangovers made walking up 36 stairs to get to our seats a little harrowing, I had visions of falling and plummeting to my death but I’m still here. After the football we walked around the MCG, taking photos with The great Shane Warne and Dennis Lillee and promising to be back for the finals.

While we were watching a game live, the Gentleman friend’s team was also putting on a commanding display, so the group had 2 wins under their belt. Unfortunately Port vs Melbourne was going to mean someone in the group was disappointed (but it wasn’t me!) By the end of the day me, my boy, and my bestie’s teams had all won!

We also won $360 at Crown Casino. After going there to watch the Port v Melbourne game, finding out that the sports bar was closed and watching the game in a cafe, we ended up at a jazz bar.
After the music stopped, we migrated to a tv so the Mr could watch the golf. As we were on our way out he put one bet on Roulette. Well 17 (Stewart Dew or Bernie Vince depending on who you talk to) came up and we walked away amazed at our good luck.

Once our taxi driver got us home safely (after nearly colliding with an ambulance, getting lost, having a hysterical phone conversation, and singing Beyonce’s All The Single Ladies), we ordered cheesecake, pizza, and beer.

~~~
lets talk!
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The first post where I brag about my holiday

Posted on July 27, 2012July 27, 2012 by bekswhoknits

Well I though I was going to be a good blogger and update with photos and anecdotes while I was in Melbourne.

Instead I spent all my time stepping away from social media. Except to check-in using yelp wherever I went.
Last time I was in Melbourne I got home and didn’t know where I went, and wasn’t going to let that happen this time.

Particularly as we went to a few places, but one in particular (Trunk I’m looking at you) where the service was so horrible and we all left absolutely disappointed and sharing some Buscopan tablets.

But all in all it was a good weekend, way too short, and we’re now planning the next one (if you’re listening AFL- we want to see Adelaide at the MCG).

My knitting went on the plane with me and met no hassles. Not that I had any knitting time actually in Melbourne, but between the two flights I managed to get some uninterrupted knitting done.

I will spend more time on Melbourne and post some photos when I transfer them, but I didn’t take half as many photos as I wanted.

But thanks Melbourne and see you again soon.

This was the view from our hotel room.

~~~
lets talk!
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My eyes are dim

Posted on June 29, 2012July 8, 2012 by bekswhoknits

I cannot see.

Well I can see but my eyes are giving me a lot of trouble.
And when you’re feeling downtrodden, everything else treads on you.

So I’ve been saving my eyes for work and not knitting in the evenings.
But I’ve been asleep by 7:30 so I haven’t missed it too much.

If you don’t see me around much it’s because I’m saving my eyes for seeing.

All I have to show is an update on my ten stitch blanket.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

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.

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.

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