tired and whingy

I'm working on things honest i have abandoned my blog and crafting, but this 6 week summer holiday with out a holiday is tough stuff, Matt is so busy working and H is busy being crabby and waking at stupid o' clock every damn morning. Today I have been busy tidying the house sugarsoaping the walls, touching up paint and arguing over the darkness of the shade of grey (something called Smoulder) that I want to paint a wall in our bedroom and Matt thinks is way too dark. But its my craft room and my choice unless he wants to give up the office to me. And I don't think that will happen anytime soon.

The doll above is named Iris, I'm working on her story and I won't put her in my shop till she has a story to go with her. She is made from a vintage embroidered linen tea towel that I found at a charity shop that was badly stained and torn but I managed to rescue some of the embroidery. I have enough tea towel fabric saved to make another doll or possibly two. I really like how Iris turned out I think she is a bit of a dreamer.

Right I best go make dinner, chicken enchiladas (left over from last night but the sauce always tastes better the next day) and settle down for the night and watch a bit more of V the mini series... the original one, we haven't seen the new one yet.

I will be posting a few recipes in the next day/week/whenever and having a giveaway too!

really really gone now... I'm starving.

Pumpkins, Pancakes, and Peach Cake Oh My!

Today nothing much has happened I had good intentions to finish off winterising the garden but that didn't happen, I planned to make a Lemon Drizzle Cake for MNWI ( mumsnet womens institute) and take a picture of it in a lovely outdoorsy setting of natural and historical significance, but we didn't really go anywhere except Asda and that is neither historical or natural, or even remotely pretty in anyway.

So what did I do aside from the usual round of dishes, laundry, and scrubbing? Well for breakfast I made chocolate chip pancakes, they were going to be fruit pancakes but as I had no fruit aside from some canned pineapple rings rusting quietly at the back of a shelf, they became chocolate chip ones. Because if you haven't got fruit you should at least have chocolate!





Later armed with some nearly over ripe, but not quite, nectarines I made an peach upside-down cake to go along with dinner. It turned out gorgeous and M says its much better than the apple version, Which I'm not quite sure about but it did turn out lovely. And for once I turned an upside-down cake over before the bottom/top stuck to the pan. The recipe I used was the same as the apple one but slightly modified, I'll write it all down tomorrow when I have more time. http://meridianariel.blogspot.com/2007/06/apple-upside-down-cake.html


Oh and the pumpkins are what H and I grew in the garden now residing on the mantle. Its nearly October after all..

Lemon and Mascarpone Cheesecake

Lemon and Mascarpone Cheesecake

2 pkg. (8 oz. each) Cream Cheese, softened
1 pkg. mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. grated lemon zest (3 lemon)
juice of 3 lemons
for the base:
12 biscuits (makes roughly 1½ cups crumbs)2 tablespoons melted butter
Crush the biscuits and add the melted butter. Mix well and press firmly into a 8-inch pie pan. Pat down using the base of a glass. Place in fridge for 30mins to set.
While base is setting. Mix together cream cheese, mascarpone, lemon zest, lemon juice (I normally put the lemon juice in to taste roughly about 2 lemons worth but in this instance i used all three for a very lemony cheesecake) sugar, using a wooden spoon or electric mixer. Pour the cheese mixture over the base and spread evenly. Put cheesecake in the fridge for at least 4 hours to set, preferably overnight.

cooks notes:

as I had a lot of lemons to use up i used three lemons in the recipe which made for a very tangy refreshing cheesecake but if you don't like lemon quite that much you can just use the juice and zest of two unwaxed lemons.

Cinnamon and Blueberry Pancakes

Cinnamon and Blueberry Pancakes


2 cups Self-raising flour
¼ cup Sugar
¼ cup sour cream
¾ cup Milk
1 Egg
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup fresh or frozen Blueberries

.Beat together flour, sugar, sour cream, milk, egg, cinnamon until smooth. Gently fold in blueberries. pour approximately 1/4 cups batter on hot griddle. Though I make small pancakes for my son.
On occasion I have made blueberry syrup as well, when the are going cheap that is

BLUEBERRY SYRUP

2 cups blueberries
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon lemon juice (optional it just helps it to keep longer if not used right away)
combine the ingredients and simmer about 10 minutes. Serve as is for rustic treat or sieve for a smoother consistency.

cooks notes: ok to be honest i have only made the syrup once as normally pancakes are a sunday ritual and i'm just not a morning person so whatever is quickest and makes H and M happy works for me, and the quicker i make breakfast the quicker i get the next cup of coffee! The pancakes are lovely and one of my favorite pancake recipes. I'll sort out a picture next time

Thai Chicken with Basil Leaves on Sticky Rice

Chicken With Fresh Basil Leaves

3 tablespoons vegtable oil
2-3 tablespoons crushed garlic
3 red chilies chopped
1 lb chicken (ground/minced) or turkey
1 tbl oyster sauce
2 tbl thai fish sauce
1 tbl soy sauce
1 tbl sugar (white/caster)
2 red chilies cut large
1 cup chicken stock or water
1 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
1-2 tbl lemongrass ( I used the squeezie kind but you can use fresh stalks and chop it)
2 tbl fresh lime juice optional


Heat the oil in a wok or a large frying pan, add the garlic and chopped chilies and lemongrass. Stirfry until the garlic begins to brown.

add the chicken mince stirring vigorously to break it is. Cook the chicken for two minutes before adding the oyster sauce, fish sauce, soy sauce, and sugar. Stir well before adding the large chilies. Add the cup of chicken broth, or water and bring it to the boil.

add the basil and cook for a further 1 minute. just before serving add a squeeze of fresh lime juice.

cooks notes:
the dish turned out lovely, I served it with some tom yum soup that was from a paste that I bought at the little thai stall at the Eagle Centre Market in Derby. I also cheated with the rice and use some readymade thai sticky rice. Although last week I expiremented with making coconut rice which had mixed results of tasting nice but strangly not very coconutty.

Devil With a Blue Apron On

Tales of a Semi-Domestic Diva

Perhaps it’s the knitting that did it, or the baking or even the gardening. I think I’m being turned into a semi-domestic diva! I did always like to cook though so that doesn’t count towards my emanate domesticity or does it? My father is to blame for my cooking, He is one of the best cooks I have ever known and I was always in the kitchen with him from before I could talk, and probably walk for that matter. My mother does not cook, she does seasonal baking, the reheating of leftovers, and the ordering of pizza. As my dad’s galley slave I learned more than just how to boil water, I learned the real basics of cooking, not the measuring and fussy things, just real good food and ingredients, a bit of this a lot of that, usually in vast quantities. The art of cooking with a wooden spoon.
Being in the kitchen makes me happy. I love to bake and cook and fiddle about with recipes to make them my own. I keep thinking about writing a cook book, but that would take some doing as aside from all my recipes for cookies and cakes which I do write down, the majority of the things I do cook are a bit more organic that that and I tend to just throw things together from vague recipes and they mostly seem to work out. Does a cook book constitute as writing a book though? Would that still be creative? Could even rope my other half into taking the pictures for it, he will easily take payment in cakes!

I have also been toying with idea of taking some cupcakes around to one of the local cafes in town. Not sure about that, a friend things it’s a good idea, well actually it was her idea, but it smacks of being out going and I have never been good at selling myself just good at making cakes apparently. That would take an awful lot of mulling over, and a lot more guts than I think I have. But it would be something that is my own, my kitchen, my cupcakes, my life sort of thing. To bake or not to bake that is the question. Or vacuum my floors, maybe I'm not so domestic after all.