Crafty bits galore!

 It's been a busy couple of weeks what with the easter holidays and all. I've taken a trip to the farm, made a few bits of jewellery, and went for a very long day out in London. It was lots of fun despite the early start and not getting back until 2am.

 I took my cousin's daughter on a trip around Manor Farm. She loved feeding the ducks and the chickens but didn't seem so sure on the sheep. My favourite were the little piglets. There was a bundle of about 7 or 8 of them and it was too squee for words. 

 Next was the very busy day in London for my friend's birthday. We started at Camden Lock market. It didn't really live up to the hype for me. I expected it to be a larger version of the stalls and shops in Brighton but it seemed to be a lot of the same stuff over and over. That said, I loved Cybercandy and one of the vintage shops we went in was awesome. I could have spent all day in there. We also went to see spamalot which was very funny, Westfields shopping centre which was absolutely massive and the Japan Centre which had brilliant prices on genmai-cha tea and some quite strange looking food for sale.

 We then went for dinner at Mushu. It was quite possibly the best salt and pepper squid I have ever eaten and the panko covered king prawns with sweet curry sauce was delicious. We also had chicken katsu curry with rice and miso soup, duck spring rolls and crispy chicken wings.

I managed to find a groupon voucher for a place called adventure bar in covent garden which gave you 4 cocktails for £15 and if you signed up to their mailing list you got another free cocktail. We chose pina coladas, cookie monsters and I then had a flaming zombie (no bonus points for guessing which one that is). It also turns out there are 193 steps up to the surface from the covent garden underground station (That's the equivelent of a 15 story building) all up a spiral staircase. Once I was half way up even I, who really really doesn't like lifts was thinking we should have got the elevator.

 I make Lauren a birthday cake every year and this year was no different. She had been talking about a giant french fancy for a couple of years and this time I decided to actually make it. Three tiers of sponge sandwhiched together with jam and topped with a cereal bowls worth of buttercream on the top. It turned out really well except it didn't quite fit in the cake box without squishing it a little. I think we worked it out that its about the equivelent of 64 normal sized french fancies.

 Now the crafty bits. I found this bracelet kit on ebay and I thought it looked awesome. Just make a loop at one end of the wire and thread your beads on alternating every so often between the smaller beads and the larger ones. Then just keep going until you almost reach the end of the wire then make another loop to stop the beads falling off. It was quite a nice way to spend the afternoon.

 I found some scraps of fabric while I was bored last night so decided to sew something. After much deliberation and not being able to find anything I wanted to sew that I had enough fabric for I decided to make little fabric roses with button centres. Simply cut out a long strip of fabric, hem the two short sides, fold it in half, then use a running stitch to join the two long sides. Pull it tight to make it spiral up. Then just make a couple of small stitchese to join the layers together and add your button centre. The pink rose is now on a hairclip. I can't decide what to put the blue one on so any ideas are welcome.

 And finally I made these earrings. I found the earrings and small lengths of chain in a shop in Southampton called the Market Gallery. They have lots of jewellery making stuff and it's a lot cheaper than hobbycraft. All you have to do with this one is attatch small buttons to the chain with jump rings and then slide the chains onto the earrings adding another button over the top to cover the join. Simple!

With any luck in my next post I will have made a full circle skirt or at least thats my hope. I want to have made it by the time my parents are back from holiday in 2 weeks provided I can get my hands on a sewing machine. I think a trip to fabric land is definitely needed.

'Til next time- Steph x

The long wait

 It's been a little while but here's the next update. A while ago I promised Sculpey and knitting and I will not fail you. Recently I've made a couple of bits with Sculpey (a polymer clay you put in the oven to harden) and here they are. (Please excuse the poor picture quality :s for some reason the camera wasn't working properly.)

 I made an ice-cream charm bracelet with a twister and fab style icelollies, a mr whippy and an strawberry spilt. Cutting up all those individual sprinkles took near forever and they still wern't quite small enough.

 Next up is the owl necklace. This was suprisingly easy to make actually just a big blob of brown sculpey with pink triangles for wings and an oval for his stomach. Add a beak, a couple of ovals for feet and a pair of white discs for eyes and your done. Just add your findings then pop into the oven for half an hour.

Now this charming fellow is Humphrey. I found the pattern for this guy at http://www.womansday.com/home/craft-ideas/craft-project-knitted-toy-elephant-112798 and he did take around 2 months to make if you add it all up. I made it for a friend who is pregnant and almost didn't want to give it to her once I was done because he is just so adorable.

Some food successes:

 It's almost the time of year again for watercress. I love it and it makes excellent soup. Simply fry an onion and a potato over a low heat until softened then add 600ml of stock. Leave to simmer for around 15-20 minutes then add a bag of watercress. Let bubble for 5 mins more and then blend. Serve with a drizzle of single cream and some warm crusty bread. 

 

Sour cherry and white chocolate biscotti courtesy of "The Great British Bake Off. How To Turn Everyday Bakes Into Showstoppers." This was the first thing I've made from this book since I got it in the new years sales but it didn't disappoint. Only problem for me was I didn't realise quite how expensive dried cherries were so had to replace some with cranberries but it still tasted brilliant.

And a few fails:

  

I attempted to make brandy snaps. Could have done with a little longer in the oven and once out were too hot to actually form into the tuilles I was going to put whipped cream in but they still tasted good even in their slightly deconstructed form. 

  

Next was a trip to Sprinkles Gelato. Have a look here --> http://www.sprinklesgelato.co.uk/ This was a fail but for all the right reasons. They make some awesome sundaes, waffles and crepes and you definately get your moneys worth as my friend Lauren will attest to (check out her blog the suspicious owl here --> http://thesuspiciousowl.blogspot.co.uk/). She had a waffle smothered in half a tub of nutella and a packet of oreos and only manage around a third of it. 

 Some days you just cannot be bothered to make something yourself and today was definitly one of those days. So for luch my sister and myself decided to take advantage of the tapas range available at Tesco. With 3 dishes for £5 or 5 for £9 you can be full up before you know it. We had spanish meatballs, a prawn and chicken paella, potatoes with smokey garlic mayo, spanish omlette and mushroom and mozzerella rice balls and were so stuffed by the end of it. All in all not a bad lunch.

Swirl Crazy

So I had a little bit of a break over half term and now I'm back to baking. Today's offerings are: Toffee apple cinnamon rolls and cheesy marmite swirls. I may have got a bit carried away with making whirls today. I had planned on making a swiss roll but I have work this evening and haven't got the time.

First up are the toffee apple cinnamon rolls.

 This recipe came from the bbc good food website and can be found here. http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1993668/toffee-apple-cinnamon-buns

These tasted absolutely amazing and also used up some of the apple that were just about to turn. You can't see it in the picture but the bottom has a layer of butterscotchy toffee sauce.

Next up is the cheesy marmite swirls. Simply roll out a pack of puff pastry to around 2-3mm thick. I did this in two batches making each rectangle around 30cm x 50cm. Next spread a thinish layer of marmite  over the pastry. Cover the marmite with grated mature cheddar and then roll it up. Pop in the oven at 200C and cook for 15 to 20 minutes until golden. They are very morish and make an excellent afternoon snack.

'Til next time- Steph x

Baking Mondays

Another monday and another baking day! Todays bounty includes banana bread, chubby breadsticks and pea and ham soup.

 

 These are big fat salt and pepper breadsticks and are so moreish that I had to bake double so they could last more than one day around my house. This recipe was taken from Lorraine Pascale's Baking made Easy book which has loads of brilliant ideas include the "I can't believe you made that"cake that lookes awesome and as the book title suggests is actually quite simple to make.

 

This pea and ham soup is a variation on a recipe for pea soup by Sophie Dahl. Simply chop and fry 3 spring onions in a little olive oil for around 3 minutes. Next add 450g of frozen peas and coat them in the oil before adding 1 litre of vegetable stock and either some mixed herbs or some mint (or even both) and leave to simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Blitz it up in a blender and serve in bowls with some chopped ham and a dollop of creme fraiche. Miss Dahl suggests her version cold for the summer but as there has been a surprise snow shower today I kept it hot and served with the breadsticks to dip.

  

This banana bread is also taken from Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights and is by no means a disappointment. My sister and me grew up on banana and chocolate chip cakes and this is a little bit of an adult version albeit without the chocolate. Next time I think a few chocolate chunks thrown into the mix or a melted chocolate frosting on the top might make it even better. Served warm with a swipe of butter and a pot of tea.

The first post!

Today is the start of my blog and it has been a proper making and baking day. A feast of flapjacks, gooey lemon bars, cheddar, bacon and leek sandwhich loaf and mexican chicken tortilla soup.

 

 Golden syrup flapjacks: 250g of porridge oats, 125g of butter, 125g of brown sugar and 3 tablespoons of golden syrup (or a spoon or two more if you like them gooey!). Just blitz it all together in a mixer until it forms a loose dough and press into a ready greased baking tin and pop in the oven for 20 minutes or so.

 The cheddar, bacon and leek sandwhich loaf was a great recipe from good food magazine and can be found here http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2540640/leek-cheddar-and-bacon-loaf-sandwich 

It tastes awesome and isn't nearly as difficult as it sounds. Best eaten pretty much straight out the oven!

This is my first attempt at the lemon bar recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook and they are awesome. An almost shortbready biscuit with a creamy lemon curd type topping then dusted with icing sugar. Perfect with a nice cup of tea in the afternoon.

This may not looked like much but this mexican chicken tortilla soup is packed full of hot and sour flavours. Chilli, garlic, sweetcorn, tomatoes and pulled poached chicken in a delicious broth and topped with fried tortilla strips. I will definately be making this again!

Next post I will hopefully be adding in some crafty things including some knitting and sculpey. So stay tuned for next time- Steph x