cooking up a storm

I've made a bit of time to cook today. I enjoy cooking but wasn't do it only for pleasure today - I was adamant to use the remainder of my first fruit and veg box from abel&cole (my next delivery is tomorrow!).
I flirted with an organic veg box from Riverford a few years back, but found I just wasn't using everything, resulting in a waste of food and money.
A few years have passed and I thought it was worth giving it another go. I've become a bit better at not wasting food. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that I have been growing some of my own this year?

So today, I made:
some fruit salad - I know, its not exactly cooking but the fruit needed using:a potato, cheese and onion pie, using the last few potatoes and onions from the veg box and some courgette chutney - using courgettes, onions and apples from the veg box and some tomatoes which were just going a bit soft in the fridgeThe Courgette Chutney was so simple to make - you can find the recipe here

I also used one of my cucumbers from my greenhouse in the salad we had with our pie. In a way, I'm amazed that I have managed to grow things that we have been able to eat. This year I've grown and eaten radishes, peas, potatoes, herbs, rocket, cucumbers, strawberries, and tomatoes. At the moment I have a LOT of green tomatoes in my greenhouse - waiting to ripen in the sun (ever the optimist).

I also did a little bit of sewing today - just playing with sewing onto paper again. I might get around to sharing the results with you later in the week.

the weekend blogger strikes again

I'm going through a phase of blogging only at weekends again (I think it happened this time last year too). I feel like I have a split personality at the moment - the weekday me, and the weekend me. Needless to say, I much prefer the weekend me - I'm happier, more relaxed (read less stressed!) and get time to do this things that I enjoy - like pottering in the garden/greenhouse, reading, catching up from the week, being creative, cooking, and spending time my boy - Mr Monda. Mr Monda has been absent this weekend, visiting his parents so I have been home alone with my moggies. It's a strange feeling, almost like I don't know what to do with myself, by myself. This said, I have got quite a lot done this weekend.

One thing I wanted to do this weekend was try out my newly fixed and serviced sewing machine.
These interesting specimens were removed and replaced: A capacitor from the foot pedal (which caused the machine to work by itself!) and a new bobbin winder piece - apparently, this one was quite worn out.
It seems to be sewing well and seems a bit smoother too - such a relief. It cost £60 to be fixed and serviced by a nice man who came to the house (massively convenient) - a recommendation from a local fellow blogger - thanks Helen!
I think considering I've never had it serviced it was a good deal - especially if it means I can get years more sewing out of it.
During the week I also received some 'treasure' I purchased on ebay recently. In a moment of self indulgence, I bought a tin of old buttons - for my stash of course: The same seller had various other vintage items, so I indulged a bit more and bought a couple of old sewing/knitting books, and an old bridge set - mainly so I could cut them up and use them in some of my stitched paper collages:This last couple of days I've been working on some stitched postcards. I've made 8 different designs - so just need to photograph them and get them into my shop. Here is the first couple:


Back here next weekend then? :o)

This into that

Why is it that you can never sleep in at the weekend, even though you really want to? My body just woke up early this morning and didn't allow me to go back to sleep. So I got up and started reading my new copy of Olive Magazine Olive is a great food magazine - its a mixture of reviews of restaurants/eateries/places to eat out, ideas for eating in and entertaining, topical foodie subjects (this month is about British meat), recipes and ideas, where to buy, and generally quite inspirational mouthwatering photography.
Then checked my emails which let to a spot of indulgent online browsing - clicking links from page to page, site to site - I love doing this because you never know what you're going to find.
Today I came across a site called 'this into that' where the maker creates functional furniture and art from old books and tools. The book/wood shelf with the random hooks is my fave.
Take a look:
I've used the random number generator to pick a few recipients for my card giveaway. The lucky punters are: Jennyflower, Gina and Cat.
Ladies please email me your addresses (you can use the 'contact me' button on my profile page) and I'll pop them in the post for you.

In sewing machine news, the fixer man is coming to diagnose on Wednesday next week. I hope it's nothing too serious. I don't need an excuse to buy a new bernina, but I like my solid old one and would like to think it will work for many more years to come. Fingers crossed.