Cookbook Challenge #4

Another cookbook post - I'm quite impressed that I've kept this up! This one is once again from the James Martin book...

Braised Lamb Shank Pies. Definitely a weekend meal, due to the hours of cooking time. Perhaps I should try some quicker meals, as the point of the challenge was partly to expand my repertoire of recipes so that boyfriend and I have a bit more variety *laughs* At least it fulfils the second part of the challenge - actually using the cookbooks I have lying around ;)

Here's a shot of the ingredients (something Mooncalf has done on her posts, which I've stolen because I like it *grins*).

Instead of making a large pie, I made a medium pie in a 2-person sized dish and 2 tiny pies in my adorable Le Creuset casserole-style pots. I like a fair amount of pastry and I figured smaller pies would increase the pastry to filling ratio ;)

Yes, that is a heart on the top - who said you had to have leaf shapes anyway?!

Please excuse the angled shots, I was feeling a little arty ;)

So, verdict... It was tasty, but there were a few things that I would change if I made it again...

• I don't really think it was necessary to use lamb shanks, any braising lamb would do. It makes it sound fancy, and the flavour of the lamb is great by having the bones in, but not great enough to warrant the cost of shanks and the extra faffing around!
• The redcurrant jelly gives the sauce a lovely taste, but I'd use less as it also makes it a little sweeter than I would like. 
• I'd put the onions in later in the cooking process - having them in from the start means they soften so much that they're barely there by the end!
• The sauce wasn't as rich as those I usually make for stews/pies, so I'd probably tweak the flavours and add some other bits to give it a little more depth.

So, although we both really enjoyed it, I'd make so many changes that it would be a fairly different recipe by the time I got through with it *laughs*

W is for...

Writing

I love writing. I got out of the habit for a long time so, when I started this blog, part of my enjoyment of it was to do with the simple fact that I was writing again. Not a lot, and not anything earth shattering, but putting my thoughts down into a coherent form and enjoying the process.

I have ideas and rough notes for 2 novels (although I am sure that everyone has their dream novel in their head, so until I actually write them they really don't count!) They're both utterly different, one is a fantasy novel with a heaven/hell theme and one is based on politics... Not quite sure how that works *laughs*

I've also written 3 children's stories. They do count, because I have actually written them ;) Boyfriend would love for me to get them illustrated and then attempt to get them published. I really enjoyed writing them, I have a very different style depending on what I am writing and the one that comes most naturally is the one where I feel more like I am talking to the reader than setting out a story. It just so happens that both my blog and the children's stories are written in that sort of style (albeit with fairly significant differences).

One thing I found with these stories is that I can't force them, I don't decide on a subject or character or storyline  Inspiration strikes randomly and I write. The last story I wrote was actually inspired by a post on this blog. My "R is for" post...

I mentioned the word "reremouse" meaning bat, which I read as ra-ra mouse. I ended up writing about a slightly odd bat, a little bit flamboyant and playful, who saves the day through his eccentricities *laughs*

Unfortunately, the adult sized stories I want to tell don't flow as quickly and easily as those for children, so I struggle to force the words out. One day I would love to have a writing area with a huge whiteboard where I could plot out the details/timelines/characters/relationships, so that I could just get on with the writing part.

Until then, I shall continue to seek inspiration in the unexpected and enjoy writing at all.

Swift Enough*

I think you may know what this is *laughs*

Yep, the long-awaited blanket *grins* Now, I feel that I may have hyped this up so much that it'll only be a disappointment! If it is, please don't tell me ;)Incidentally, that first picture is the most accurate in terms of the colour.

I started it in July, even though my subsequent posts may have confused the issue and made it appear as though it has only been a couple of weeks since I started. Ooops, sorry about that! I wish I did knit that quickly.

It was a surprisingly enjoyable knit, given that it is all garter stitch and the yarn was acrylic that was given to me by a colleague. Somehow that all added up to a relaxing, mindless project that gave as much comfort during the knitting as I hope it will as a blanket *smiles*

So, finished blanket, in all its glory...

I know it looks a little wrinkled around the edges. This is probably because I crocheted the border and my tension in crochet does not match my tension in knitting *laughs* A bit of steaming will probably help that.

Another full size picture, this time with DVD sized case for scale (see mum, I remembered!)

It's probably not as big as it should be, which may become a little annoying, but I used up most of the yarn that I was using for it. As the aim of making it was to use up some yarn, I didn't want to buy any more for it.

As I mentioned, I crocheted the border and was very pleased that I had learned crochet recently so that I could! It's 3 rows of single crochet, which certainly went more quickly than picking up stitches along the edges and then knitting them!

Here it is on the back of the sofa for which it was designed:

*grins* Cool, huh? Well, I think so anyway ;)

Details:
Pattern: Moderne Blanket
Yarn: King Cole, Stylecraft and Something Else acrylic DK
Modifications: I didn't follow the dimensions in the pattern, choosing to end the sections when I liked their shape and size. Added 2 rows at one end and 1 at the other to lengthen it. Crocheted the border instead of knitting it. 
Happy? Yep *grins* I love it.

And, because I love the fall/autumn colours of my blanket, I am entering it into the Stitched in Colour, Celebrate Colour competition *gins*

* "Wanted: a needle swift enough to sew this poem into a blanket" - Charles Simic

Interesting...

Anyone who has seen some of my Monday posts will know that I am a big fan of words. I find them fascinating. I love finding out where words come from and how they have developed.

Well, thanks to a link on twitter, I discovered this Mental Floss article, about words that do not have an English language equivalent. The most well known word of this sort is "schadenfreude", meaning taking pleasure in someone else's misfortune (as evidenced by reality TV's popularity I think *laughs*)

The list I linked shows some different ones, so I've picked out a couple that I particularly like. Check out the link for more because some of them are really quite funny.

Shedmomedjamo (Georgian word) - literal meaning is "I accidentally ate the whole thing"... you know, when something is so tasty you keep eating even though you're feeling sick and full.

Pelinti (Ghanaian word) - "to move hot food around in your mouth"... and I think we've all done that when taking an impatient bite of something *laughs*

Rhwe (Tsonga, South African) - "to sleep on the floor without a mat while drunk and naked"... I don't think I need to say anything about this one!

But my favourite is a word that I think we should have in English (and isn't food related, as I realise the other two are!)...

Zeg (Georgian again) - "the day after tomorrow"

Now wouldn't that be a helpful word *laughs*

Work In Progress Wednesday Number 22

Good morning and welcome to another post in Tami's Work in Progress Wednesday and Ginny's Yarn Along memes *smiles*

One thing may strike you about this picture... My blanket is conspicuously absent *grins* Come back on Friday to see the (finally!) finished item in all its glory ;)

So, that brought me down to two WIPS - my Cria and my sock. The sock hasn't seen much action in the last week, I've just not been in a sock knitting mood. Cria however, despite appearances, is slightly longer than the last time I showed it. It doesn't look much longer, but there has been progress. Just slow progress, as I am really not enjoying this knit. The yarn is lovely but, whilst it is very soft, it is 50% cotton which I don't love knitting with.

Eagle eyed readers may now point out that there are 3 projects on the needles in the first picture *cheeky grin* And you would be correct. At the bottom of the picture is the start of this cute wraparound shrug/crop ballet jumper top.

What can I say, I need more than 2 projects on the go or I get bored (and super secret knitting projects at this time of year don't count!)

The book in the picture is Z for Zachariah, a book I loved as a teenager. I tracked it down and have been enjoying it again. I love re-reading childhood favourites, although they can sometimes disappoint as an adult!

Cookbook Challenge #3

This weekend I felt like baking. Instead of going for my usual recipes, I thought it would be a good opportunity to cook from a cookbook. It doesn't all have to be savoury food *grins* The point is to cook from books that are on my shelf that haven't been touched, so I picked up a cupcake book that I hadn't used before:

Now, whilst boyfriend and I often like the same things, we are fairly incompatible when it comes to cake *sigh* I prefer chocolate cake, he likes Victoria Sponge. So this generally means I either make 2 cakes/batches of cupcakes or one of us goes without.

However, this book presented a compromise... Marble cupcakes *grins*

As you can see, my marbling was more effective on some cakes than others ;)

Of course, cupcakes must be decorated, so I broke out my cake decorating supplies. I have an antique oxo tin with icing tips from my granddad - who was a baker - and lots of colourings and powders from my mum.

OK, so they don't look quite like the ones in the posh bakeries, but that's mostly because I am far too impatient *laughs* I particularly liked these 2 though:

The creamy coloured one actually has gold and silver dusting powder on it, and I tried to replicate the marble effect with the icing on the other one.

They were pretty good - although I found the chocolate cake a little flavourless... The recipe makes a batch of regular cake batter, then you split the batter between two bowls and add a tablespoon of cocoa to one of the bowls... It doesn't make for a particularly chocolatey cake. So, although they were enjoyable, and it is quicker than making 2 completely separate cake batters, I don't think I'd choose this recipe again.

V is for...

Vastness.

The vastness of space specifically. I absolutely love looking up at the stars, which is something that is unfortunately not very satisfying where I live (near a city and an airport!) due to the light pollution :( Visiting my mum's house has the added benefit of a brilliant night sky where I can see hundreds of stars.

But the best view of the night sky I have ever had was in Australia. I spent about 10 weeks backpacking there some years ago, and one of my favourite memories (and I have a lot of great memories from that time) is the night I spent on a boat around the Whitsunday Islands.

The boat's skipper was a trained Celestial Navigator, and after sunset he offered to give a little talk at the back of the boat. Only a few of us joined him, most of the other passengers were more interested in the bar *laughs*

They really missed out. The sky was so clear, I've never seen anything like it at all. The skipper (whose name sadly escapes me) had a pair of incredibly powerful binoculars and let me use them - on the basis that I hadn't had any alcohol and the binoculars cost thousands and thousands of pounds ;)

As I looked, he talked about how the stars on the horizon seem to twinkle more than the stars higher in the sky, due to the way their gases interact with our atmosphere. He pointed me to the stars he was talking about and... Wow. They flashed red and green, like disco lights.

The skipper pointed out all the constellations that we could see, and told us the legends of how they came to be. We saw Scorpio (my favourite constellation) and he told us the story that one of the Gods had decided that Orion was getting too big for his boots, so he sent a crab to kill him. The crab, Cancer, failed so the Gods sent a scorpion. Scorpio succeeded, but one of the other Gods brought Orion back in the stars. For this reason, Orion and Scorpio are never in the same hemisphere and cannot be seen in the same sky. I love this sort of story, and I will restrain myself from telling all of them here, because I could go on for hours *laughs*

Amongst the star gazing and moon gazing (very bright through powerful binoculars by the way!) one of the other people who had come to listen to the talk said something like, "it's so clear, apart from that one weird cloud" and pointed to a smudge across the sky. The skipper laughed and told her, "no, that's the milky way".

It was completely breathtaking. I honestly don't have the words to describe what it was like, sitting on the back of a boat, on the other side of the world from my home, looking up at this incredible sight that I never expected to see.

This isn't my picture, but it's the closest I can find to what it looked like - although, really, it doesn't come close!