Just Pootling: Cooking

Showing posts with label Cooking. Show all posts

Tuesday, 4 November 2014

Let the hibernating begin ...

♥

Yup, I'm ready !

I enjoyed soaking up the last few warm sunny rays last week

whilst sitting drinking tea in the garden,

and thinking how many leaves there will be fluttering down from our huge

horse chestnut tree

( husband not at all happy about this )

but I am ready now to snuggle up inside and hibernate for a bit.

My sun levels are full after such a lovely, long lasting summer

and I am looking forward to the change that will come with the winter months ahead.

Life will gravitate from outdoorsy to indoorsy

and that's absolutely fine by me.

After all there's so much fun to be had inside....

.... teeny pumpkins have been made

thank you Emma @ My Red Wellies for the pattern

... and have decorated our table across the Halloween weekend

... with a candle lit in the evenings.

Toffee apples have been made

... Halloween tights have been put on

and the day itself was well and truly celebrated

way in to the small hours.

♥

Last bits of garden tidying have been done,

with a lot of help from Otto,

... Homemade bread has been eaten with hot bowls of vegetable soup

and the Autumn blanket has grown so much it

no longer fits in the basket it is being stored in.

The kitchen has been a hive of activity with Beth and Matt

making THE most delicious chicken pie

and the weekend was finished off in pretty much the best possible way.

♥

Yes, there may have been coughs and colds and chest infections :(

but it doesn't matter,

I am indoors and staying indoors.

Happy Hibernating Everyone.

♥

Monday, 13 October 2014

Ticking off those things on the list ...

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Isn't it always pleasing when things that have been on your to do list for some time finally get done ?

It has to be said that none of the things on my list were likely to save the planet or make the National newspapers, but nevertheless they are jobs well done.

I have been making a blanket for some time now that has just been rumbling along in the background whenever I have had a bit of time. I'm sure it has taken longer than it should as with puppy Otto stopping all play, crochet on this scale has only been able to take place with me tucked away on my bed, in my room.

And talking of scale this has to be the biggest blanket I have made so far. Its the same pattern as my super quick blanket but this one has been made to King size measurements and is truly humongous !

A friend had asked me to make it for her and it has been my first ever paid commission.

I remember Annie from Knitsofacto discussing the pros and cons of this once and as much as I love crocheting the hours away I'm not sure I would do it again.

It puts a completely different slant on things and I have found myself feeling under pressure to get it finished promptly, and that was after much troublesome worry and thought over costings and so on. In the end my friend bought all the wool and we just agreed a price for labour between us.

The best bit, as always, was the border. I love the way this suddenly turns a great big bit of non-descript crochet into a neatly finished blanket.

Nothing complicated, just a ruffle made by working three trebles into the back loop of

each stitch, all the way around.

Now that it is done I am very pleased with how it has turned out

and once tied up in a ribbon it was safely delivered to its new owner.

♥

The other good job done was a spot of extreme chutney making, from 30lbs of apples !
Each time I went out into the garden the apples seemed to be staring at me, quietly reminding me that if I didn't get a wiggle on they'd all end up either pecked away by the birds or bruised and battered as windfalls.

Fortunately there were two extra pairs of hands to help with the peeling, coring and chopping and
for an entire day our house was full of the smell of pickling spice and sweet apples. It quietly bubbled away for several hours, getting darker and thicker until it looked well, chutneyish !

Lots of jars were filled and I have been made to promise to not give it all away this year.
Last years chutney lasted us exactly one week, over Christmas, and it was only then we realised every single other jar had been dispatched as presents to friends and family.

We managed to let this years batch mature for ooh, at least 2 hours before the first jar was
opened for a sneaky taste.

♥
The other job that had been niggling away at the back of my mind was what I was going to do for the five table arrangements that I had been asked to do for our village Harvest Lunch.
I really wanted to something that incorporated some Autumn leaves

and my first idea was to use PVA glue to paste some on the outside of jam jars.

That sounds so simple doesn't it ?

But, half an hour later after battling with some very unbendable leaves and lots of very sticky, slimy jam jars I gave up on that idea.

So, moving swiftly on to Plan B ...

Leaves, a hole punch and some string.

Definitely a whole lot quicker and much less messy,

but still suitably autumnal.

♥

Of course, the only problem with coming to the end of a list of jobs is that another one is bound to have already started - but ooh, have I got some exciting things ticking away ....

How are all of your to do lists coming along ?

♥

Monday, 11 August 2014

Teething problems !

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So ... further to last weeks post I can now say quite definitely that puppies and crochet do not mix.

I'm not sure if it's that the blanket I'm working on is Weimeraner colour and that Otto therefore thinks its a mass of puppies waiting for a giant bundle - but that certainly seems to me to be his thought process as he just kind of leaps at me whenever I try and sneak on to the sofa,

blanket and hook in hand.

There then follows quite a bit of tussling with me hanging on dearly to the last stitch so as not to see my work unravelling before my eyes whilst a fair amount of yelling follows to attract the attention of anyone near enough to unlock one small puppy jaw from the wool

- so much easier said than done !

I am tantalisingly close to finishing it now so it's all a little frustrating really.

I have to admit to having sneaked upstairs a couple of times this weekend when no one was looking, taking my crochet with me, and very quietly closing the bedroom door behind me.

I even have the wool for the border all ready and waiting.

I decided to go with Sirdar's Snuggly Baby Bamboo, as I think this will add a good contrast in

texture to the slightly fluffy grey wool.

Its a really lovely yarn, smooth to work with and giving a very slight sheen to the end product.

I have linked the wool to Blacksheep Wools as that is where I bought it from with a very lovely £25.00 voucher sent to me for being their July Blogger of The Month !

I was so happy to have been chosen - a bit of a squeal moment really.

If you get a chance pop over and take a peek.

♥

In light of the fact that sitting down activities have pretty much gone out of the window for

the time being I have had no excuse but to get some much needed jobs done instead.

I'm sure I'm not alone in this ... but we have soooo many apples this year !

And as the birds have been merrily knocking them off the tree and pecking away

at them it would seem they are ripe and good to pick already.

We don't have many trees,

just a sort of trellis of 2 or 3 outside our back door, but the boughs are full to bursting,

so Saturday morning was spent peeling, chopping and slicing.

I decided to freeze the slices uncooked as I figured this way I can still use them for

lots of different things.

I read a top tip about spreading them on a tray and freezing the slices for a couple of

hours before putting them in bags as this allows the slices to all stay separate and

not clump together in a great big solid mass.

Needless to say not all of the apples made it to the freezer - as having had the help of my

other half in all of the peeling, chopping and slicing work a very nasty crime may

have been committed had I not delivered an apple crumble at the end of the day.

♥

Obviously it has been quite essential that in between all boring jobs lots of time is spent puppy hugging, and as this little spot outside the kitchen seems to be one of his favourite places a fair amount of time has been spent here.

Its certainly been very interesting to see the house from lots of down on the floor angles,

and I have to say I'm really quite liking my kitchen from here !

♥

I'm thinking that my next little crafty make might just be a crate cover.

Lilou absolutely loved her crate when she was little and seemed to love it being

enclosed and a bit hidden away.

We are working with Otto to get him to love his crate as much ( least said on that the better ! )

and as his is a little open and exposed maybe a cover is just what's needed.

I made this one for Megs dog Minky a few months ago,

and now I'm wishing I'd taken the trouble to write down what I did !

Oh well, I shall just have to go and sit and think about it for a bit ...

... whilst puppy cuddling at the same time of course !

♥

Friday, 25 April 2014

Things - some random, some not..

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And so, look who got the Spring blanket .

She stayed tucked up in it all morning on her bed at Nursery.

Mostly just her nose was poking out but every now and again she would look

up at one of the children passing and she looked as though she was wearing a

little bonnet with a bobbly edge ... very funny.

Whilst things have been super busy at work after the long weekend,

on the crafty front all is calm and restful.

Spring blanket and egg cosies finished, I have returned to the lovely sea of green bobbles

that is my second JuJu Loops bobbly wrap, and I am very nearly there.

I just cannot tell you enough how much easier and how much more pleasurable

this one has been to make simply because of my stitch markers.

I really was such a plonker to not have read the pattern properly first time round.

But .. lesson now learnt.

♥

I so enjoyed reading Annies post earlier this week that was about nothing other than random facts.

Check it out if you haven't already seen it, and all the comments that followed.

It made me laugh aloud, and so following her lead, here are 6 bits of

Friday randomness from me ..

1.This week I discovered that little Lindt bunnies fit perfectly into the egg tray in my fridge.

2. When I was 13 my Dad, being the local clergyman, came to my school to do school assemblies.

One time he turned up and in his briefcase was my Guinea Pig, Nutty.

He then proceeded to ask me to come down to the stage - INFRONT OF ALL THE SCHOOL

and help him .. I know ! I WAS 13 FOR GOODNESS SAKE !

I can't actually remember what the assembly was about or quite why he felt the need to bring my guinea pig with him - but there you go. It stays with me !

But that was not all ...when the time came to sing the hymn obviously nobody sang it

except MY DAD !

Very loudly , and very happily.

Good times, love you Dad x

3. We have sticky buds all over our house.

The sticky bud season is back.

Now I love a conker tree as much as everyone else - but man, do those sticky buds get everywhere !

They are in the hall, on the bottom of our shoes, on the bottom of our socks, on the dogs and cats paws, on our bed, in the laundry basket, on the sofa .. you get the picture.

Bring on the conkers.

4. Twenty five minutes on the Cross Trainer burns approximately 250 calories, which equates to one medium sized Lindt bunny.

5. Cliff Richard came to tea at our house.

It was when I was about 12 and he had come to give a concert at my Dads church, so naturally, what with being British and all , he came for tea first.

Mum made some biscuits for tea and to this day they are known in our family as Cliff Richard biscuits. They are extremely yummy - and have their rightful place in Beths My Own Bake Off Blog.

He was very nice, wore a full length fur coat and asked for Sweetex in his tea.

6. When we were selling our last house Channel 4 rang up and asked if our house

could go on Location, Location, Location.

Lots of cleaning followed but it was all very exciting and I met the lovely Phil Spencer who smelt quite gorgeous. He wore a bright pink knitted waistcoat.

Its quite odd sitting in your lounge watching your lounge on the telly , with your cat asleep on the sofa.

♥

Have a lovely , if maybe a bit wet, weekend.