Peapods

Father's Day

For Father's Day my dad came over for dinner. I cooked fish coated in polenta, with fresh pasta I made, and a pesto with basil from the garden. For desert I made tiramisu as it is one of his favourites. Homely cooking :)

Pesto.

Making pasta. I like best the bit when you cut it into ribbons with the tagliatelli cutter. 6 eggs + 600g flour makes loads and loads with enough left for the next day. Maybe 6 portions total?

It was quite hard to get Vin Santo for the tiramisu so I spoke to the wine man who suggested this dessert wine. It worked in the recipe and is nice on its own too if you like fruity dessert wines.

My dad brought over a peony from his garden! So nice!

The meal. I wasn't going to bother to take any pictures but my dad said I should :)

The tiramisu. This picture is of the leftovers today. Delicious! I used this recipe from Jamie's Italian. Really easy to do. My notes to myself are to next time make the coffee a little stronger.

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Ps. The peony is still going strong the next day :)

bright

One more burst of flowers to brighten up the day. These are the chrysanthemums that I have in a pot on our dining table. I associate this kind of bright fushia pink with my mother who wears colours like that :)

herbs and elections

 

 

I grow most of my basil inside on the window sill and when it is getting dark as I lower the blind it brushes past the plants making a lovely smell.

I also keep in the window some of the seedlings I am keeping a particular eye on - such as these baby spring onions which are like reverse exclamation marks.

It is our European Parliament and Country Council elections here soon, for some reason where we live is quite the hotbed of local politics. We get bombarded with leaflets and visits from all the parties. When I lived elsewhere in this same city I don't think I ever got even a quarter as much attention from the candidates! Anyway I am quite looking forward to it, I like voting.

day 12: a day of flowers

10:02am I think I am suppressing some kind of cold. Reading the David Austin rose catalogue in bed makes me feel much better though.

3:05pm Waiting for Simon. The first blossom I have seen this year.

day 5: wear

10:29am First washing that was able to be put out to dry on the line this year. YEAH! And look at all the steam rising.

10:05pm Balancing on my toes to try not to make dents with my heels in our wooden floors.

day 3: cranberry

4:37pm cranberry juice at home after work

february resolution

7:30am Just before I leave the house.

I was planning on doing a February resolution of talking about Photoshop things but now I don't think I have the where-with-all for that this month somehow? It is already 11th February too, what with the excitement of Paris and snow I got side tracked. So I have decided that my February resolution is to take a daily picture about my daily life, noting the time and what it is about. Also as I seem to be doing two resolutions per month this year my second one is to do a post about the garden last year and get all my seed orders sorted out. I need to do that anyway and having a deadline will really help! :)

simplicity is the key to successful living

New inspiration on the doors by my desk. Via Inchmark I came across this free to download poster by Nick Dewar. Isn't it nice.

desk

Brinja has tagged me to show my desk. Well here it is "warts and all" as they say. My desk is a little utilitarian at the moment as it is set up for full on computer work as I am trying out some more advanced things in Photoshop. This old Mac equipment, while nicer looking than most computer stuff, is not so pretty as paint and things.

Some explaination of what is on my desk... The white flat thing is my Bamboo graphics tablet that I use instead of a mouse. There are two screens as the laptop is the 'brain' for the big screen. I use the big screen as it is better than my laptop screen. All the equipment is many years old now which makes it ancient in computer years.

I have a few cheerful small things on the windowsill. I try not to have things living on the desktop as my desk gets messy very quickly. In the right corner is my giant one pint 'I heart NY' mug. I was drinking camomile tea while watching this rather sweet interview with two designers on Mrs. O (ps. this coat is great).

There we go. Maybe too much information :)

Would anyone else like to play along with this? Go on, show your desk!

tea and seed catalogues

I have been reading my new seed catalogues, so exciting! I am imagining myself sitting in the sun eating a herb salad picked from the garden :) Choosing the seeds is really long-term meal planning, I need to think what we will want to eat in 6 months. Last year was my first time owning a garden, I think this year I will hopefully know a bit more. I must do some kind of round-up about my gardening last year at some point, it has been quite the adventure.

Like my new cup? I bought it in a Charity shop at the weekend. The cup and saucer do not actually match, the cup is some kind of English scene and the saucer has Dutch windmills. I rather suspect that the saucer is the 'real deal' and the cup (while still old) is not quite as old. Well I like them together. A new addition to my mis-matched crockery collection.

Should anyone care I am drinking Lady Grey tea :) I always take my tea black. Normally I drink green tea so the milk issue does not arise.

Mmmm tea.