Thank you!

I do love the lull between Christmas and New Year. The shopping and cooking is over and I'm afforded the luxury of forgetting all about work for at least a week in the safe knowledge that no one else is working or, most importantly, sending me emails! Instead, I can turn my mind to thinking about new creative projects for the year ahead and enjoying presents I have been lucky enough to receive. And, of course, thanking the people who gave me the presents.

Today I finally had the time to assemble a birthday present I received last month - a set of Scrabble piece rubber stamps. What better than to combine creativity with a favourite game! The box contained the labelled wooden blocks, rubber stamps with self-adhesive backing, and mini red and black ink blocks.

The first task was to fix each rubber stamp to the correct wooden block, making sure it was the right way around - not exactly taxing, so perfect for a lazy Sunday! I then set about working out a few appropriate words that fitted together, Scrabble-style. The set also includes the star from the centre of the board as well as the double and triple letter and word score markings. Moments later I had created a few cards, exploring spacing and testing out the results. Nothing earth shattering but hopefully the family members who gave me the stamp set will appreciate getting a thank you card for their Christmas present made using the stamps.

And to you...

...for reading.

I look forward to sharing lots more creative projects with you in 2015.

Happy New Year!

Last Minute Christmas Treats

I have just finished making the last handmade Christmas gifts and am sitting down with a well-earned cup of tea before embarking on preparations for the feast that will be Christmas dinner. What a whirlwind – so much for this year's preparations being ‘stress-free’!

Oh well, if I didn’t enjoy it, I guess I wouldn’t do it…

Why have I left it so late? Well, the last gifts are perishable so need to be made as close to the time of giving as possible. [At this point I would ask my Christmas Day guests to stop reading and only resume on Boxing Day if you want your presents to be a surprise!]

I have two edible treats to share with you today; one sweet, one savoury, and both are gluten and dairy-free with the potential to also be vegan, so there should be something for everyone.

This first recipe is for chocolate truffles which are remarkably healthy (if a truffle can be healthy?!) It was hastily scribbled down from a library book some years ago and has been a firm favourite ever since. I think the book was called ‘Zest for Life’ and it offered loads of interesting, healthy, generally gluten and dairy-free recipes. If you tell people what they contain before they try them, they have a tendency to look a bit wary so I recommend they try them first and then let them guess the ingredients. The quantities here make 20-25 truffles.

Prune and Chocolate Truffles (Pruffles)

150g pitted, ready to eat prunes

100g dark chocolate (70% minimum)

50g hazelnut or almond butter

2 tbsp honey (or use agave nectar for vegans)

1 tsp vanilla essence (or paste)

Your choice of cocoa powder, finely chopped nuts or grated coconut to coat

Melt the chocolate with the nut butter – you can do this in a glass bowl set over a bowl or saucepan of boiling water or in a microwave.  Mix together to form a velvety cream and set aside to cool slightly.

Drop the prunes one by one into a food processor with the blade spinning and blend to a smooth paste. Add the honey or agave nectar, vanilla essence or paste and pulse again until smooth.  If it is too sticky or clumps together into a large ball, add a few drops of water to soften it up.

Add the prune mixture to the melted chocolate and mix thoroughly.  Cover and chill for 2-4 hours.

Once it has chilled and set, take out teaspoons of mixture and form into small balls with your hands.  Toss in the cocoa powder, or whatever you have chosen to coat the truffles in.  Pop back in the fridge for another hour before serving.  They will keep in the fridge for up to a week.

Pruffles

The next recipe is from the December 2014 Sainsbury’s Magazine and is a new one for me. It’s from the Hairy Bikers and is for spiced nuts. Let’s hope they’re as tasty as the description (the nuts, not the Hairy Bikers!)

Spiced Macadamia Nuts

1 tbsp sunflower oil

1 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice

½ tsp caster sugar

½ tsp garam masala

½ tsp hot chilli powder

½ tsp sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

150g macadamia nuts

1 tbsp clear honey (or use agave nectar for vegans)

Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4, and line a baking tray with baking paper.

Whisk the sunflower oil, lime juice and caster sugar until pale then add the garam masala, chilli powder, sea salt and a grinding or two of black pepper. Drop in the nuts, stir in the honey (or agave nectar) and toss together until the nuts are evenly coated.

Scatter them onto the baking tray in an even layer and roast for 5 minutes, then turn over the nuts and roast for another 8-10 minutes. Keep a beady eye on them for the last few minutes so that they don’t burn.

The nuts should end up with a golden, shiny, non-sticky coating.

Cool for a few minutes so that the coating can harden and then serve hot or store in an airtight container and enjoy cold.

Spiced Macadamia Nuts

Now that the nuts and truffles have been added to the other foodie items and placed under the tree, there's nothing for it but to start peeling potatoes ready for tomorrow.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Tree – with added sparkle!

I do like to have a real Christmas tree but, without access to a car, they can be a challenging thing to purchase. In previous years the main criteria for where to buy a tree has been that it had to be close enough to the house for a decent size tree to be carried home. However, the luxury of a car this year meant that I could work a bit more meaningfully on ‘shopping local’.

I had discovered that the Frenchay Christmas Tree Farm on the outskirts of Bristol, was owned by someone I used to go to school with (and his Dad), so that is where I headed. I got a great reception and found a beautiful tree at a really reasonable price (and that was before I was given ‘mates rates’ – thanks Simon!)  Anyway, if a Christmas tree doesn’t already give you a warm glow, supporting a local business who has lovingly hand tended each tree was the icing on the cake – or should I say angel on the top?!

The next step was to decorate the tree. Last year I felt the tree needed a bit more sparkle. Although I love all the decorations, many are handmade from fabric and so are less than shiny. I was therefore inspired watching Kirstie’s Homemade Christmas when she made some glittery baubles – just what I needed.

Fortunately, this weekend was Craft Club so what better way to spend an afternoon with friends than to apply glue and glitter to polystyrene balls, whilst catching up on all the gossip. It was even a task that I thought I could achieve under the influence of a glass of mulled wine! Kirstie insists that the balls are left to dry for 24 hours before applying hairspray (as a final fix for the glitter) so it was great that we were all staying the night (thanks Jo!) to gorge ourselves on home cooked food and perhaps another glass or two of wine.

If you want to have a go at these baubles yourself just get a load of polystyrene balls, some bamboo kebab skewers, some PVA glue and a brush, glitter, hairspray, some loose cover pins, and some ribbon to hang them with. Oh and an upturned box with holes poked in it or florists foam for the skewers to stand in whilst the glue dries.

As for the instructions, I don’t think it could be simpler. Stick the sharp end of the skewer into the polystyrene ball, paint with PVA glue but not so much that it will drip or run (I found this out to my cost!), then mix up your glitter and sprinkle liberally over the gluey ball. Stand the skewer in the box or foam and leave to dry for 24 hours.  Repeat until your run out of balls, glue or glitter! I even made a bauble with all the left-over glitter colours mixed in together, which turned out surprisingly well.

The next day give each ball a liberal coating of hairspray and, once dry, carefully remove the skewer and hide the hole by fixing a ribbon loop to this part of the bauble using a loose cover pin. Kirstie simply fixed the centre of the ribbon to the bauble and tied a bow at the top to hang over the tree branch but I went for the slightly more fiddly option. I crossed and overlapped the ribbon at the bauble end before fixing with the pin and then hid the pin with a simple knot.

Over tea and mince pies the previous day the Crafters had discussed which ribbon looked best with which bauble. I decided to try all options – matching the colours as well as mismatching them. I’ll let you decided which you prefer.

I'm really pleased with the results, which are even more sparkly in real life!

Advent Garland

We are well and truly in the countdown to Christmas, and what better way to do this than with an advent calendar. There must be a million versions of this simple tradition, some consist of opening a perforated card 'door' to reveal a picture (or more commonly these days a small chocolate); others are more elaborate involving 24 containers, each bearing a small gift.

Up until last year I was a true traditionalist about this and stuck to the simple illustration with 24 doors. In fact, I still have this in card form as my friend in Germany sends me one of these as a birthday card each year, which I love!

This year's birthday advent calendar

However, inspired by Design Sponge's Falling Stars Advent Calendar I set about creating my own version - making it with felt rather than brown paper so that it could be used for years to come. I started by cutting out 24 different shaped stars from white felt and then made backs for each star by cutting out two overlapping halves. Using silver embroidery thread and a simple chain stitch I sewed numbers to the front of each and then used whip stitch to join the front to the back. Various lengths of narrow silver ribbon for hanging the stars finished each one.

My next challenge was to find a suitable branch to hang all my stars from. Living in the middle of a city with only a small garden, this proved rather difficult. However, I enlisted the help of my Dad who appeared in the last week of November with half a holly tree sticking out of the top of his car (I thought it best not to ask too many questions - he lives in a flat so it certainly didn't come from anything he had readily to hand!) As for things to go in the stars, my lovely friend Ce set about filling them all as my Christmas present. This resulted in a wonderful haul of chocolates, craft accessories, lip balm and jewellery appearing daily throughout December.

2013's advent branch

This year, not wishing to risk having my Dad arrested, I felt I needed to come up with a better solution for hanging the stars. A trip to my local high street resulted in me hauling home a 2.5m festive garland. I say 'hauling' but it did fit into a carrier bag so there was no chance of being pulled over by the Transport Police!

This year the stars are filled with chocolate coins. Not nearly as lavish as last year but certainly a nod to my childhood Christmases.

 The next task is to source a Christmas tree. A job for Friday I think!

Party Food

It has been a busy few weeks with lots of birthdays to celebrate, including my own, and a few days ago I invited some friends over for an informal gathering. I wanted to serve some simple tapas-style food that involved fresh ingredients and some interesting flavours. It was all very well received (devoured!) and so I thought I’d share some of the recipes with you, in case you have your own party - birthday, Christmas or other - planned.

First up (since everyone asked for the recipe) is a Citrusy Green Quinoa Salad. The secret here is in the dressing. Place about 200g of cooked quinoa in a large bowl (these quantities serve 6-8) and to it add: 75g chopped watercress; 100g chopped fresh spinach; a small, finely chopped onion; 100g toasted, chopped pistachios; 3 tablespoons each of chopped mint and chopped parsley; half a deseeded and diced cucumber; and 1 diced avocado. Mix well. In a separate bowl or jug mix up the following ingredients for the dressing: 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon; 1 teaspoon of ground ginger; 2 teaspoons of sumac; the juice of a lemon; 3 tablespoons of olive oil; and 2 tablespoons of pomegranate molasses.  Just before serving, mix the dressing into the salad ingredients.

Next come a couple of dips: Red Pepper Hummus and Spicy Broad Bean Dip. Both are so simple I almost feel that they are cheating, but if catering for large numbers I think you are allowed some easy dishes and it’s definitely better than buying a tub of dip from the supermarket. I promise, even if you profess to not being able to cook, you will be able to make these.

For the Red Pepper Hummus simply blend the following ingredients up in your food processor: a 400g tin of chickpeas (drained); a couple of roasted red peppers from a jar (drained); a teaspoon of lime juice; a teaspoon of paprika (or smoked paprika if you prefer); a sprinkling of salt and pepper; tahini paste to taste (optional).  I served this with some falafel but toasted pitta would work just as well.

The Spicy Broad Bean Dip involved a bit more cooking, but not much, but its simplicity does rely on being able to buy a jar of Belazu’s Coriander and Cumin Paste.  If you can’t get this, just look to see what else may be available – coriander pesto, ordinary pesto, sundried tomato pesto all would add great flavour or just add chopped fresh coriander and some ground coriander and cumin until you get a flavour you like.  However, for the simple version, start by finely chopping half an onion (or a shallot) and sauté in a bit of olive oil over a low heat until soft. Meanwhile, cook 250g frozen broad beans in boiling water for about 4 minutes and then drain. If you want, reserve a few of the cooked broad beans to decorate, otherwise tip the cooked beans, onion and garlic into a food processor, add 60g of the Belazu paste (or whatever you’re using as a substitute), a 400g tin of butter beans (drained), 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, and a large handful of mint leaves. Blitz to a paste and tip into a serving dish. Top with the reserved broad beans, popped out of their shells, a sprig of mint and a swirl of olive oil. This I served with crudités.

The next dish was a Pea, Feta and Basil Frittata.  I found this recipe on the Sainsbury’s Magazine Blog – delicious! They serve it with a tomato salsa but because I had so much else going on, including a tomato sauce, I didn’t bother.

I was very lucky to be given River Cottage Veg Everyday book for my birthday so I couldn’t get away without making something from it.  I chose the Chilli, Cheese and Rosemary Polenta with Tomato Sauce.  I know one of my guests is not partial to chillies so I replaced the chilli flakes with a small pinch of mild chilli powder. I think it was enough to add depth of flavour but not so much that she knew it was in there!

Although perhaps not the most feted dish on the table but my own personal favourite for effort put in and enjoyment received, was the Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil Skewers. This is simply cherry tomatoes, mini mozzarella balls and basil leaves threaded onto cocktail skewers. However, the fun bit for me was making the mozzarella. For Christmas last year, friends had given me a cheese-making kit (mozzarella and ricotta).  It contains all you need (except for 8 pints of whole milk and a pair of rubber gloves!) to make both types of cheese. It may initially seem like a bit of a faff but it only takes about an hour and is hugely satisfying. A great present for anyone who likes cooking!

A plate of Parma ham and some sliced Milano salami completed the feast.

Fabric Wall Hangings & the Holiday Project (finally!)

When talking about my new duvet cover the other week, I mentioned that I had bought some other similarly smile-inducing fabric and have it as a wall hanging. What I don't think I mentioned was that I had also mounted an off-cut in an embroidery hoop as a picture.

Earlier in the week I found myself at home in daylight hours so grabbed the camera to take some photos to share. For anyone struggling to grasp what I was on about I'm hoping this blog's photos will result in some 'lightbulb' moments when you can actually see what I was blathering on about.

The fabric hanging is about a metre wide and over 2 metres long and, I think, really cheers up a hard-to-reach and very dull wall on the staircase.

You even get little glimpses as you walk up the stairs thanks to the mirrors on the opposite wall.

And, if you didn't already spot it in photo two, here's the off-cut that I mounted in an embroidery hoop.

I liked this effect so much, I managed to salvage a bee and a bug from duvet cover off-cuts and am in the process of making a further two embroidery hoop pictures. It's really easy - just clamp the fabric in the hoop, trim off the excess fabric, and then place some really strong double-sided tape, preferably as wide as the wooden hoop is deep, to anchor it all in place (although I'm currently out of double-sided tape, hence this is still a work in progress).  However, the finished hoops will hang on the wall adjacent to the blackbird.

The back view - the red shows where the double-sided tape goes.

The (incomplete) pair

There, surely that was easier than me trying to describe the various wall-hangings ... and if a picture speaks a thousand words, I've just saved you reading a extra 6,000 words!

Oh yes, and also taking advantage of being home in daylight (December days in the UK have me leaving for work just as it is getting light and getting home well after sunset - bleurghhh!) here's a quick photo to show you how my holiday project turned out.  I did finish it months ago and it has been much worn!