New Computer!

This week has been a bit exciting for me as I finally have my new laptop computer! I bribed my way through a difficult week at work with the promise of this purchase, and now have it in my hot little hands. Thanks to some sound advice from a Twitter friend, I plumped for the Lenovo G550 with 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive and a decent speed processor. I'm getting used to Windows 7, and have found that it actually solves a few problems that have prevented me going paperless in the past. I am a scribbler and habitual list-maker, and this allows me to indulge these habits easily with the new 'Sticky Notes' app and screen capture. The 'Snap' funcion has been rather useful too when doing my accounts. I feel bored just thinking about that. Most importantly, I've been able to make my desktop look pretty as well as functional. This is the inaugural blog from the very machine. Ta da!

Pootle2 appears to appreciate it too, although not overly helpfully. Cats are renowned for their love of spreadsheets, I imagine.

In the name of balance, here is a recent snap of Tilly. She was a real troublemaker last night, making a run out of the front door and hiding under the neighbours car. They refuse to keep collars on (and ganged up repeatedly to remove them) and I haven't got around to microchipping them yet as they ordinarily are unable to leave the boundary of the house and back garden. After last night, an appointment at the vets is nigh. I should make it clear at this point that it was M's heroism that finally restored the kittens safely indoors.

We've had a couple of days out recently, one of which was shopping in Bath. Until a few weeks ago, I had not been to Bath for about a decade. I enjoyed it so much, I went twice is as many weeks! One of my favourite shops is All Saints, although my recent drift into wearing bright colours all the time meant that I do stand out a bit when I go in. My attention was caught by their adorable childrens range. You too can dress your daughter like Helena Bonham-Carter, or your son like an extra from 'The Road'. I have a few items of knitwear from All Saints that are perennial favourites, but can't say I've ever bought anything not on the sale rail.

I also discovered the Apricot clothing store. I already had at least five Apricot dresses, but purchased from other stores, not realising they had a whole shop all to themselves. Needless to say I spent a long time in there and bought six more dresses. They are mainly printed knitted dresses that are bright with interesting patterns and embellishments, and very flattering too. Paired with leggings, they make for a very comfy outfit which hides the bulge on a fat day (day..huh!).

It is also that exciting time again that is not only the few weeks between M and my birthdays (excuse for making all sorts of purchases and going out lots), but also when Wetherspoons thoughtfully mark the occasion with a beer festival. We are lucky that our house practically backs onto the pub in question, and they always have a good selection of real ales on. We particulary enjoy the beer festivals for their 'Try 3 Ales' offer, where you can but three different 1/3 pint glasses of ale for the price of a regular pint. Our favourite so far this year is the Double Espresso Wild Oat Stout, although it is quite rich, and I'm not sure I'd manage more than a half pint of it.

In crafting news, I appear to solved the problem of work sliding off dpn's whilst in transport. I have sliced up a plastic cork, skewered holes in each one and am using them as shown in the photo. One thing I learnt this week - it is surprisingly hard to find a wine with a cork these days. I knew screwcaps were becoming more popular now (even with the French!), but hadn't quite realised to what extent. The Observer had an interesting article a few months back about the future of the cork growing industry. Highly recommended.

I finally managed to finish the wallchart for a Christmas present. The initial idea was to make felt pictures with velcro backing to stick to the chart but several attempts to make them durable enough for repeated use were unsuccessful. It was with much frustration that I resorted to printed card with sticky plastic covering and stick-on velcro backs. With hindsight this was much simpler, and allows more labels to be made by the recipient in a matching style. I liked my pictures though. These were the four seasons.

Here's the finished project, with big pockets at the bottom for unused labels, and I've supplied a couple of round hooks to hang the chart on the wall by. Let's hope they like it!

Foodie Day

What better way to enjoy lunch than this? Pasty from up the road, quality ale, and my favourite paper in the seclusion of our back yard on one of the hottest days this year. We have had a bit of a foodie day today, having got up early to harvest our first potato crop of the year at the allotment. I can take very little credit for the produce from our plot. That is M's domain, and I have to say he works incredibly hard. He chronicles these adventures on his own site here. We are very fortunate with our plot, being in a beautiful location next to the river. I went down there this week to be greated by a majestic family of swans.

Here are a couple of pics of the plot itself. I am always pleased to see the broad beans come up, not only due to my love of the vegetable, but because the flowers are so pretty. Much underrated in my opinion.



We had a rather successful dinner today. We go to the End of the Road festival in North Dorset every year, and last year tucked into a cheesy lamb bourek. I thought I'd attempt to develop my own recipe, and have to say it went rather well. So lucky readers, here it is....

Lamb and Mozzarella Boureks (makes 2)

1 red onion, chopped
2 red chillis, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
250g minced lamb
1/2tsp coriander seeds
1/2tsp caraway seeds
1/2tsp cumin seeds
3/4tsp sea salt
1/2tbsp tomato puree
2tbsp lemon juice
2 tinned chargrilled red peppers, chopped
1 ball mozzarella, grated
1tsp dried coriander leaves
6 sheets filo pastry (pre-prepared)
butter for brushing

Preheat oven Gas Mark 6/200C

Dry fry the spices and grind in a pestle and mortar with the salt.
Fry the onion, garlic, chilli until soft, add the meat and brown. Add the spices, cook for 2 min and stir in the tomato puree, lemon juice and chopped peppers. Once cooked, leave mixture to cool whilst you prepare the pastry.
Layer 3 sheets of filo, brushing with butter between layers, laying them directly on top of one another. Spoon half the meat mixture in the middle, approx 2in from one end. Top with half the cheese and half the coriander leaves. Brush the exposed pastry with butter, fold the sides into the middle and brush them with butter. Roll up the pastry into a parcel and place on a greased baking tray. Repeat to make the other bourek. You can scatter them with caraway/cumin to decorate if you like.
Bake for 25 min and serve with salad and a dollop of houmous. Enjoy!

All the time I am typing these blog posts, I am doing so with a kitten on my lap. The lovely Tilly was new to us at new year with her friend Pootle2 (M named her after our first, sadly departed cat as an homage to the Simpsons). They are pictured below on my Marmite quilt, crafted for me by my Mum when I was away at uni. Tilly in particular seems to have become rather attached to me over the past few months, and it is no exaggeration to say that she either sits on or watches me for the most of my time at home. Slightly oddly, she has adopted the printer as a bed, and seems to sleep quite deeply even when falling off...


Friends of mine will no doubt be surprised that it has taken me this long to blog about the kittens, and I haven't even mentioned my car yet (Fiat 500, i love love love it). Maybe another day.


I said I'd show you how the christening card went, so here it is. I mounted the fabric using spray adhesive 3M Display Mount. At more than £13 a pop it isn't cheap, but really can't be beaten for things like this. It's particularly good to mount fabrics or skeleton leaves on paper and card, avoiding ugly blobs of glue. Also stabilises the fabric at the same time as mounting it. I sprayed a piece of card and applied it to the back of the work whilst still taut in the frame, and cut to size once dry. I then sprayed the back of the cut card and applied to the main card.


I'm really pleased, and hopefully it will make a nice keepsake.