Peapods

sunshine

This is the 'behind the scenes' of the photo of the tea tins :) It was so sunny! Just like it was July or something. That thing on the plate is an attempt at making flapjacks with my broken oven. It didn't really work so I may break them up and convert them into granola instead.

Later as the sun was going down this hot air balloon came over the garden. So peaceful.

Then, because it was such a nice day (and also because maybe we are a little nuts), in the evening we decided to do a barbeque! In March. It is amazing I know! It was totally warm enough though. We did vegetable kebabs with lots of garlic on them, and some skewers of large prawns. I find it a good idea to cook more vegetable kebabs than we will eat as they are so delicious the next day as leftovers.

We puffed up some flat breads on the barbeque to have with the kebabs. It was like a little peek into what there is to look forward to in the summer.

Postcard Teas

I first heard about Postcard Teas from my father who really likes fine green and black teas. As I had just run out of the sencha that I was using at work I placed an order for a green tea and a black tea to try it out. I chose Wazuka Sencha and Yunnan Red Cloud:

Wazuka Sencha is the epitome of a fine Japanese Sencha. From Wazuka in Uji where the imperial Sencha is grown, this sweet grassy green tea is blended by Hidekazu whose family have been in the tea business for over 100 years. Brew with water cooled to 70˚C and a teaspoon of tea per cup.

Yunnan Red Cloud is a hand made Yunnan black tea made from ancient wild tea trees up to 800 years old. This sweet fruity tasting black tea is best brewed with water just off the boil (95˚C) and a large teaspoon of tea per cup.

They are both completely delicious and I could keep sniffing the tins all day. They are like the descriptions, the sencha is a lovely sweet fresh tea, and you really get the fruity scent from the black tea. It is not cheap but I consider it a reasonable cost as I will enjoy these several times a day every day. The packaging is great too. I am looking forward to trying out some of their other teas.

animated

I have been trying out making animated gifs in Photoshop CS3. It is really easy and quite fun :)

Five Senses Friday

So Five Senses Friday returns! My contribution:

Taste:
- Homemade hummus eaten with an oatcake
- Tomato soup

Sight:
- The sun in the morning
- The last ever episode of The Wire

Touch:
- Crisp new trousers
- Knitted blankets

Smell:
- Fresh streets after the rain.
- The inside of a new magazine

Hear:
- The Moth most recent episode 'what I lost in Africa'
- Planet Japan

choosing garden plants

This picture of the kitchen window is apropos of nothing apart from that soon the windowsills will be hosting trays of seeds and seedlings because YES! I have finally placed the last of my plant and seed orders. Phew!

I feel I have been MIA for a few days as I have been spending hours out of work time planning and sourcing. Lots of juggling vouchers and offers. I have even placed some seed orders for winter squash and salads for next winter.

As last year it was 99% annual vegetables I am effectively re-stocking the garden from scratch this year bar a few saved seeds and some perennial herbs. This year I made the decision to move away from pure veg because, although I really loved having all that veg straight from the garden, our outside space is fairly small and it is such a big part of our downstairs living that it was not great that from November onwards the garden was basically bald earth as the annuals ended. I am hoping to have some evergreen perennials providing structure and winter green with the more transient veg planted around them. Well that's the plan anyway..!

To decide what we needed I drew out a rough plan of the garden noting where has sun and shade, then compiled a list in Google Docs of all the sources and costs. Then finally yesterday I placed the last orders.

This year I am trying out...

Climbing roses
Black bamboo
Chrysanthems
Lavender -Hidcote
Strawberries - Alice/Florence/Honeoye
Fig
Rhubarb
Lupins
Courgettes
Dahlia - Royal Sea, Lagoon, Prospero, Fiesta and Ventura
Cosmos - Choca Mocha
Ivy - 'Sulphur Heart'
Japanese - Tassel Fern
Winter Buttercup Squash
Vine Tomato - Costoluto Fiorentino
'Mild' Rocket
Endive
Pak Choi
Winter salad
Butter Oak Salad
Finissimo Basil
Salad onion
Climbing French Bean

Should be fun huh! :)

gluten free brownie

More gluten free deserts! I made this gluten free brownie (using my father's kitchen) for a family celebration and it turned out well. I was a bit clumsy taking it out of the tin so it broke apart a little but no matter. The only unusual ingredient is the gluten free baking powder but I found it in the local wholefoods store (Uhuru Wholefoods). We had it hot from the oven with vanilla ice cream and hot chocolate sauce - really is there any other way to have a hot brownie? :)

oranges + blood oranges = juice

A favourite weekend ritual. I think the pictures tell the story :) The Lego ice tray was given to Simon at Christmas, I think it is just the coolest thing. There are lots of other fun Lego housewares in the Lego webshop.

paper clouds

Thanks for the nice comments on the flower, I am looking forward to trying out more with that project. This cloud is what I have decided to go with as the birthday 'card'. I like the idea of handing over just one sheet of paper that looks like nothing until you press the sides together and a cloud appears. I have written the birthday message really small in pencil on the back.

My thought process behind this was that often it is best to either go really really complicated or really really simple. So I went with simple. This is a page from an old book of Greek Myths that I had already used some pages to print on. I chose this particular page because of the subject matter.

I made this while listening to Dark Was The Night which I am giving as the birthday gift with this card. It is a great compilation and the money goes towards a good cause. It would be good summer listening, highly recommended.

Nettle-leaved Bellflower

Here are a couple of work-in-progress pictures. Today I got up quite early so I had time to work on some things before I had to start the business of the day. I was mulling on some ideas for a birthday card. My family love the pop-up type cards and I had recently been thinking about the amazing work of Su Blackwell so I decided to cut out and stand up this 'Nettle-leaved Bellflower' from an old book of British wildflowers. I am not sure yet how it will become a card but it was pretty fun to do while listening to the radio in my dressing gown and drinking tea :) I need to get a proper sharp craft knife as mine is broken - for this I had to use an old rusty DIY type knife from our tool box.

choices

Choices choices. Today I had a choice to go straight home or take a walk in the sun :)