A garden harvest

A visit to the farmer's market yesterday morning and I was sold by the yellow butter beans and broad beans. I looked forward to a light Sunday evening meal with butter and a sprinkling of salt...yum yum. Then a visit to a friend's house had us leaving with more goodies: scarlet runner beans, apples and golden drop (we think) plums.

I usually consider myself fairly adept at using a knife but today my thumb came out a little worse for wear (perhaps I should play it safer and "cut onto a board")!

Even so, my meal of beans was delicious and I utilised the striking scarlet runner bean flowers. They are such a brilliant red and are an edible garnish. When using flowers in cooking, remove any stamens as they are bitter. A few petals of edible varieties add a splash of colour but generally whole flowers aren't renowned for depth of flavour! Whole buds can be bitter and are more likely to house an insect or two. 

 

The plums were oh so delicious, especially with the yoghurt, meringue shards and toffeed granola bites. Mm mmm....

A personalised gift

A toiletry or makeup bag or even a pencil case - personalised for a friend having a special birthday...

...and so the idea developed as I had a packet of "Miracle Fabric Sheets" which are pre-treated fabric sheets (for printing on) which are attached to backing paper so they'll go through the printer...

12 Days of Christmas - Days 6 - 11

Another week of Christmas outfits! 
♩♪♫♬ 5 en-sem-bles, 4 sets of pearls, 3 festive frocks, 2 shimmery shoes and a bonus evening party dress (sung to the tune of "On the first day of Christmas")♩♪♫♬ 

Hmmm...that makes 11 days of Christmas gear...but no plan for a 12th...(yet)...

Happy Christmas!

12 Days of Christmas - Days 1 - 5

Last year I dressed for the Christmas season for a week, and found I had Christmas clothes to spare! So this year I decided to build up the with the festive feeling for the last two weeks of school.

Happy Christmas and roll on next week!

Another caramelised white chocolate dessert

Caramelised white chocolate mousse, served with a coffee crumble, banana ice cream and fresh passionfruit. I wondered how good each of those elements would be, but

Re-modelling: a skirt from a dress!

Not having posted anything textiles-related in a while, I thought I'd highlight a little project from last year. My sister was kind enough to buy a vintage dress for me but it just didn't look right, especially the bodice section but we both loved the sun-ray pleated skirt.

After deliberation and discussion, we hit on the idea of chopping the top off altogether and using the bottom section to make a skirt. And I'm so lucky - Sister C, such a clever sewer, did the hard work for me. It was decided it would be simplest to cut it above the waist seam to make use of the elasticated waist. So the raw edge was then overlocked and hand stitched to the elastic on the wrong side. The tie was already there so C made some rouleau loops (and if making them is not an old skill, it's an advanced one and I have never done them) to attach the tie to the skirt. 

 

In cooler weather I've worn it with cardies and boots, and in summer with a T-shirt and white "fashion sneakers" or sandals. It's been so easy to wear - a really successful example of upcycling/remodelling/transformation! What continues to amaze me are the lovely comments I get every time I wear it - thanks C! 

Raspberry, rhubarb and vanilla

(Sounds like a good name for a blog).
With family visiting, inspiration hit to make a nice dessert (it doesn't take much).

Vanilla icecream (made in my new icecream maker - yay), vanilla panna cotta, fresh raspberries in fresh raspberry sauce, raspberry jelly, poached rhubarb, toffee with freeze dried raspberry, and rhubarb jelly (made from the rhubarb poaching stock - just sugar, water and a dash of grenadine, but it was too good not to use!).

Plated up in the "spoon of this spoon of that" method that seems to be the thing of the moment.
Crunchy toffee, creamy panna cotta, cold smooth icecream, fresh raspberries, slightly tart rhubarb, the interesting texture of jelly, in fact quite the plate of contrasting textures and complementary flavours (well I think so...).