Apart from work the last few weeks I have spend a lot of time tidying up and re-doing my wild monstrosity of a garden. We spent nearly a whole day cutting only half of the grass! In which every time we did a strip of it, we had to empty the lawn mower. We ended up with a pile getting on for halfway between my ankle and knee of grass cuttings. We also tried getting ridding of the thorn bushes that were in a tangled mess too, we only managed half though. I have never much enjoyed gardening but have always loved having a nice garden. So, the garden looks like a slow moving project that requires a lot of time, energy as well as a bit of money. But I have brought some lovely plants to go in it , I have Pansies, Asiatic Lilies, Sweet Peas, as well as some Lavender and Mint and a Butternut Squash Plant. I am really hope someday I can get round to creating my own vegetable patch, it's finding the perfect location first!
As well as my the ongoing project of my garden, I have started cross stitching again! I have started a Disney Winnie the Pooh pattern which consists of Tigger and Winnie eating Honey. This has been really enjoyable going back to do something I use to do, however I have not got very far yet. I have managed to start doing just one of Tigger's arms.
Then again it, at least its not as slow as my 10 year piece of knitting that consisted of about 10 rows of knitting....
In addition to my cross stitching I have also decided to rekindle my love of sewing. After almost 4 years since I left secondary school and Textiles GCSE, I had began to miss the sewing world. So I have decided to go back to it, but not alone! My fellow friend Catherine, also wanted to rekindle her enjoyment of sewing. I am starting first with a simple skirt pattern with a zip along the back. I thought this would be best to get me back into the swing of things. Today I went fabric shopping to probably one of the most heavenly fabric places I know -FabricLand-. Now choosing fabric for a simple skirt, seems like a simple task doesn't it? But once I have entered that door I am in another world, hypnotised by the sight and feel of thousands of different types of fabric. I couldn't choose between owls, flowers, elephants, butterflies, bows... there was too many designs. And I was adamant that the dress would not be plain haha. After a while choosing and changing my mind way too often (much to the annoyance of my boyfriend, mum and sister) I decided on a blue floral or butterfly fabric.... I am really not so sure. I think I was in such a daze that I can't quite remember what I eventually decided on! My plan is to be making the skirt at my mums house as there is much more room for my Nan's sewing machine (which she is kindly letting me borrow), as well as my mum can be there to aid me in events of disasters! So it may be a slow project that will only get an input of a few hours of week, but I will do a blog post on the final result and the process once I have finished.
Away from crafts and projects I may have foolishly begun, I have also done a few bakes. Nothing outlandish, just really variations on previous blog posts recipes.
After talking to my friend Belinda, who told me she used my pizza recipe to make a calzone pizza, I decided I would try doing that. Me and Andrew have made Calzone pizza one before, so it was going to be a great idea to try it again. With this, we basically used the same pizza recipe, but instead of placing in the oven before hand we put the sauce and cheese on one half and then folded the other half over. We crimped the sides together much like a cornish pasty as well. Before putting the sauce on I attempted to create a guide line for where I thought it would be best to place or not place the toppings and sauce. this worked effectively in some ways as it prevented over spillage in most places. However, for next time I know to be a bit more lenient with folding allowance, as I did have one spillage. This recipe did require also a lot more time in the oven. But the end result was a delicious doughy, cheesy gooey mmmmm mmmmmm. Link to my pizza recipe from BBC : Everyone Loves Pizza
As well as adapting the pizza recipe a bit, I ended up making another Ice Cream Bread today. I certainly did not plan on this, but Andrew promptly placed a bowl, ice cream and flour next to me and gave me a pleading puppy dog look. So I ended up doing so. This time I added cinnamon to the recipe, which made for more flavour. I think this time I needed to cook the bread a bit longer as it did not retain the crumbly texture which was really effective last time. As well I think I worked to slow with the ice cream and this affected the process and end product. Therefore, with this recipe I think you need to work quickly as to not let the ice cream melt too much. Link to original post: Ice Cream + Flour = Bread!
Just before I finish this blog post, I almost forgot. I am in the midst of setting up two more blogs, one devoted to all things books and another for my creative writing. In future I may look into adding more blogs, but I also want to develop the current ones as well :)
I hope you are all well, and yet again any recipes or makes you think I should try let me know. I love to experiment :D
P.S Does anyone know how to sort out my photo layout issues, it's infuriating me!
No comments:
Post a Comment