In a Pot

Styling by Comfy & Cosy. Apron by Two Pink Possums

Gee, that's such an unappetising photo! I hope you can see past it and imagine the yummy soup.

This is my all-in-one chicken and vegetable soup. I used to get hung up on cutting up everything the same size, sweating the onions/carrot/celery, etc, etc. (I'm completely over carrots in soup, too, by the way.) But now I'm into one in, all in.

As the weather is still quite mild in this neighbourhood, I think it's still OK for soup. So, just want you wanted, another soup recipe.

Not Another Chicken Soup Recipe

Makes about 10 serves

2 chicken breasts, cubed
1 onion
1/2 cauliflower
1 head of broccoli
3 potatoes
1/4 pumpkin
1 sweet potato*
2 corn cobs (cut off kernels)
1 litre chicken stock (I use the package stuff)
1 litre water

Cut up the vegetables. Peel nothing, 'cept the pumpkin! Don't make anything the right size. Just get it into the soup pot with the chopped chicken and pour in the stock and water.

Bring to a simmer and pop on the lid. My lid balances precariously on top of the mountain of vegetables. Don't worry, once everything cooks down a bit the lid will sit flush.

Cook until cooked. Then give everything a bit of a mush with the potato masher. Yum!

*I forgot sweet potato in this batch. I knew I forgot something!

Over Eager

This morning I made banana bread in my pyjamas.*

I like to make banana bread from time to time, of course, to use up the squishy bananas. However, I'm rarely happy with the result. I usually decide that I don’t actually like banana bread/cake/muffins and take it into work, leave it in the kitchen where it is inhaled by my workmates. So there isn’t actually anything wrong with what I make but I just don’t love it like I do other sorts of cake.

Anyhoo, today's attempt was from this recipe from Starashan via Owlet and is an absolute prodigious, marvellous success!

Banana Bread

125 gm butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs beaten
½ cup sour milk (= ½ cup milk + 1 tsp vinegar)
1 tsp bicarb
2 cups plain flour
pinch salt
2 bananas, ripe, mashed

Cream butter and sugar, stir in eggs. Mix milk and bicarb, add to mixture and fold through. Stir in flour, salt and bananas and mix thoroughly. Pour into a lined cake tin and bake at 180C for 1 hour.

*I usually quite like step-by-step photos but, as I said, I was in my pyjamas and no one wants to see that! So a one-step photo today: the eating step! Delicious!

Google Me Up

grandmother goose

Joining in the whacky 'how they googled me up'. Here is a selection of the keywords used to get to my blog:

design your own netball uniform

brownie smoking badge (yes!)

tunisian orange cake (the most popular keywords)

how to make my house look nice n cosy (I get heaps of 'cosy' - sorry to disappoint)

hyena costume pattern (OK...?)

patternity (I was being cute with the title - I don't think my searcher was)

I took off my top (nice)

What's the news?

I'm watching the first season of Dexter. I think Michael C Hall is my new celebrity crush in a weird kind of way.

And I'm reading a book. (I know!) Actually, I've just finished reading a book. I have to start somewhere having not read anything for about a year. Also I've joined Good Reads which is a huge resource of information, reviews and general book chat. But I have to get into the practice of reading. My first book was Sushi For Beginners (chic/lit, rom/com): unchallenging and a bit of fun.

At the moment I'm reading The Gobbler by Adrian Edmondson. Also not very challenging but easy to get into and engaging: a soulless TV actor (think Hugh Grant) playing Richard III (think Black Adder) whose real life is a trainwreck. So far, so funny.

Grandmother Goose came from my grandmother. It hangs on the back of my door. I'm not sure if she made it. She was a great dressmaker and this looks a little like a school sewing project. So maybe one of my aunts did.

Blogging Malarkey

Op-shopped this fab pink apron today. (Is it me or are aprons becoming like hen's teeth?) It has some nice ric-rac and braid trim.

And a nice green and pink tablecloth in fantastic condition. Both from the Salvos, my friends.

A recent arrival from Hancock's. Très cheap too! Maybe a peg bag or peg apron?

And the best chocolate biscuits; definitely my biscuit of the week! Pictured is the dark chocolate and extra dark chocolate. A biscuit with a slab of chocolate on top. Need I say more!

My birthday month is well and truly over so maybe the present giving (from me to me!) should draw to a close.

Cinti at My Poppet is proposing a stash clearance sale so go make a suggestion and she might pick you for a big giveaway.

Just noticed this is my 103rd post. Crikey! I haven't stuck at anything for this long that didn't involve payment! Significant only because I've kept with the blogging malarkey. The frequency and quality of the posts is questionable so I felt prouder of the first year anniversary and not too fussed about missing the 100th post.

This quilt happened to be on the line with the rest of the washing today. I made it about 15 years ago; mistakenly quilted with big stitches using quilting thread (should have used something like purl cotton); flannel with wool batting; washed to death, frayed seams, and some fabric has fallen apart. But still it is warm and cosy and known as the Woogey.

Lemon Icing

There is no doubt about the blogging community. There are commonalties and links everywhere between us. Thankfully we don't have to fall into a heap. I'm so grateful to all the wonderful comments and emails that have come my way after my last post. I'm not falling in a heap. I'm keeping going. It's been like thinking through custard but it gets better.

Blogging hasn't been on the top of the list of things that must get down but I'm slowly trying to reintroduce it. Work is taking up a lot of energy. On the weekend I cooked a meal for the first time in weeks (apart from cold meat and salad!). We've been eating out a lot! And I must say the old chicken schnitzel and roast potatoes tasted fantastic! I think my appetite is returning and too my desire to cook a little.*

I made some cupcakes in these cool brown cases that I saw on Hop Skip Jump and bought them from the General Trader. I made the All Together Cake from Frankie magaine (why haven't I known about Frankie before? It's such a good magagine! Cool and hipper than I am but just daggy enough that I can relate and aspire a little!)

The recipe called for beating the mixture for 6 minutes. I thought that sounded a bit over enthusiastic and 3 1/2 minutes seemed to suffice. They came out just fine and topped with lemon icing (really simple icing sugar and lemon juice - yum!). The texture is like an old fashion plain cake: moist but coarse and crumbly. Delicious!

*I made delicious crumbed garfish for tea tonight. With roast potatoes. Double yum!

Act Surprised

If you haven't already read Angry Chicken's blog, download the Christmas tags she has as a free download. They are my sort of tags particularly 'don't get too excited, this box was something else' and 'please act surprised when you open this, okay'. (Sorry about the bad photo!) Go on, download them. It's the nearest I'm getting to a handmade Christmas!

I am officially on holidays and still in my pyjamas. I have wracked up two afternoon sleeps (Sat and Sun) and intend to continue the habit to the end of the holidays.

Gift buying has extended as far as a couple of toys and books for some little friends... apart from that, nothing! Luckily some of the bigger kids in the family are getting money (hahzah!) but there's still my side of the family. Oh and J, but he's easy: a store voucher (that's what he wants hence the tag above!). So I'm going to head into town tomorrow at the crack-o-dawn and buy everything. I'm usually far more organised.

Schmoozing

I wrote another nice long post at work. Of course I forgot to email it home. God forbid I should post it on the blog at work. I was schmoozing Mr IT to suss out if he’s checked my internet usages lately. I think he’s bogged down by the crazy children we work for who are oh-so techo that they don’t think anyone over 25 reads their My Space posts nor that their internet usage is monitored, tracked, recorded and disciplined! I think I’m the least of his worries. But now the moment has passed, the impetus is lost…

I’ll show a picture of this rocking tablecloth I found* this week instead: 100% rayon (important). Made in West Germany (exotic). Vinnies. Perfect!

*If you're in Adelaide go to the Prospect Road Vinnies. It's tiny but it's the neatest, cleanest, most perfect op-shop. Everything is neatly tagged and no matter what, I always seem to find something.

Feel It. Felt.

I actually have a project to show today: a needlecase made from wool felt, hand stitched. Being sewing-machine-less (in case I failed to mention it before!), anything made needs to be hand-made.
The size and shape is rather random and the front cover decorations are like a sampler. I'm experimenting with stitching without looking too finely embroidered.

Please forgive the photos taken in a very classy way, on a creasy, stripey quilt on my bed. The first photo gives the appearance of felted-felt but it is really smooth and not as it appears.

My first idea was to use shapes punched out with paper punches like Moonstitches but it is bloody hard! I can only get a tiny punch to work as the felt is too thick even between a piece of confining paper. So all the circles are cut by hand and eye!

I will try to make another covered in tiny flowers using the only punch that will work. I've seen Sizzix punches used to cut felt so I'm just keeping an eye on eBay for any suitable shapes.

The wool felt is from Winterwood Toys which has the most amazing range of hand dyed felt, plus doll making and craft supplies. The felt is 100% wool and is the most wonderful fabric to sew with. It's soft and gorgeous and nothing like the acrylic stuff. Originally I bought acrylic felt from Spotlight but for some reason it wasn't until I got home that I realised it was crappy. Then I discovered this felt and rang and spoke to the Sandra who was so helpful it was unbelievable. I asked for a range of colours. She suggested I name the colours I wanted. So I said something like 'deep red but not too pink' or 'light ferny green but not too yellow', etc and she then chose it for me. Sandra dyes all the felt herself so it has lovely undulating colours. *Edited to say: Coincidentally, a Winterwood Toys catalogue arrived in the mail today but you can download it from the website and order online.

Now that I'm back at work after 4 days off (crikey!) I spent the first few minutes of the day setting up a reminder task to log on to Mix Tape Zine at 9.30am exactly to cadge a copy of the Special Edition. Then the next 1 1/2 hours were spent idly doing not much, hovering over my keyboard ready to pounce on a copy. (How unprofessional!) And now, I'm typing this post at work. Hopefully Mr IT is completely ignoring my Internet usage at work.

Home Again Home Again

I'm home from work today, having a mental-health day. And doing this: tea and toast.

Here's a picture of the recipe posted previously. Trust me, it is yummy despite the photo. The big chunks are potato and pumpkin. Maybe I shouldn't use the word chunks in a food post...

Thanks to Joanne for commenting on my ability to eat 2/3 of the recipe (with a 600ml Coke). Noice. I want to clarify that I ate 2/3 of the small casserole dish = 1/4 of the total recipe = 1 egg, 1/8 cup cream... yeah, yeah, yeah. Sounds like a total justification, doesn't it?

I've been trawling through Leah's renamed blog today. Read the old one from start to finish, now that's the way to spend a day off work! She a clever, creative and fabric-addicted girl. You've got to love it!

Talking of work, I wish I could blog about it. It would never end, trust me! But I kinda don't want to be sacked citing blog-abuse. (Just deleted an anti-work statement... it's a slippery slope!) Like, what are the chances of anyone I know let alone work with reading this? Yeah, I know...

Do you ever look at your Bloglines and think, 'Where did I find all this stuff? And why do I have 222 Bloglines?' I love-love-love new posts but sometimes find the number of blogs I've subbed to is just crazy. Unfortunately, I do the same with web pages that I ‘Favourite’ for later reference.

I have a big exception and that's Aus-NZ blogs and favourite crafty ones. Sometimes, on the others I'll click 'all read' and ignore them for another day. I must have seen something in them to subscribe in the first place but now I wonder what? I'm going to seriously cull these non-core blogs.

Cooking Mojo

I want to clarify that I do like to cook. However, I think I'm suffering from cooking anxiety at the moment. I just don't know what to cook: I think I'm losing my cooking mojo.

Today, however, I have hit on a winner. I only wish I could take a photo but the sun went down way before I even contemplated it.

Based on this recipe All-in-one quiche, which is like an Impossible Pie, I'm going to call it Frittata because I don't have a quiche dish. I used ingredients that I had (just happened to have a little bit of cream but it's not necessary) so the quantities are a little random.

Frittata
2 teaspoons butter
1 leak, finely chopped
broccoli, cut into small florets
200g bacon, finely diced
425g canned corn
2 potatoes (cooked and diced)
chunk of pumpkin (cooked and diced)
1 tomato, peeled, deseeded, chopped
3/4 cup of pastry mix
1 cup grated cheese
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup milk

Melt 1 teaspoon of butter and add leek and broccoli and lightly saute. Remove from pan, add bacon and lightly saute. Combine leek and broccoli with corn, potato, pumpkin, tomato and bacon.

Mix together pastry mix, cheese, 1 teaspoon butter, eggs, milk and cream. Add to vegetables and bacon and mix well.

Pour into buttered oven dish. (I used two casserole dishes: one smallish and the other largish.) Place in pre-heated 180C oven and cook until firm and golden (approximately 50 minutes).

I demolished 2/3 on my own. Delicious!

A Little Care

The vintage Actil boxed sheet I bought a couple of weeks ago has given up these wonderful illustrations about linen care. Everything from blueing to ironing. A little care means extra wear.

Plus a guarantee and a test certificate. Exceptionally fine, strong and serviceable... A boon for the thrifty housewife! I thought Mrs Washalot might like to see this leaflet.

The Actil factory used to be across the road from my mum's high school. Until the last few years you could still go there and buy seconds and off cuts. The old factory shops have now become the outlet stores and are quite upmarket in comparison. Mum remembers doing a project on Actil in the 1950s. There was also an armaments factory nearby, a remnant of WWI, another story that intrigued me as a child.

Shopping and Eating

I had a great day today op-shopping (Salvos, Quakers and Red Cross). I found these Actil sheets in their original box.
I found the little brochure in another pile of sheets. I might make it into a new blog header.
Pyrex, more knitting needles, ricrac and hooks and eyes Don't you love Madame Weigel's?

8 balls of 4 ply cotton (hope it's good and not a dud because I really like cotton) Making these

while eating thisWarm Apple Crumble (from mum's Pryex) with custard. Mmm

More Tins

The last of the tin stash
An English biscuit tin
Pascall toffees from Tasmania

Another English biscuit tin with a great picture on the bottom

The reason for the tins: my button stash

Tin Two

I'm so excited! The lovely Retro Mummy has the best Japanese crafty books, fabric and trims for sale and my parcel has just arrived. I'm a sucker for Hello Kitty from way back so had to buy a little bit of fabric. For a bag I think. I know some people despise Hello Kitty. But I find that a twee Kitty or Wooya notebook makes work just a little bit easier. I always have a notebook with me - no scraps of paper for me! And Retro Mummy included a little notepad.

Plus I got a lovely piece of lamb and chickie linen and some wicked trims. I wish I could get trims like this around these parts. I guess if I'm not going to Japan anytime soon, Retro Mummy can do the shopping for me.

I've picked up another tin. It has had a long and happy life I think. It's quite worn and dented but it's the base I love.

I think it's gorgeous that it was made in Tasmania. That's all really...

Tin Tin

I know a fantastic woman who runs our local jumble sale. She is keeping an eye out for old tins (vintage tins sounds so much more romantic but old tins it is).

Recently, she found these two for me and would barely accept a couple of dollars for them. One is MacRobertson chocolates and the other is Cadbury’s biscuits. I’m not sure why I’ve decided to collect them: something old and useful, a special present that has a domestic use afterwards maybe.

Dear Reader

I’m not reading like I used to (curse you, Internet!) so I’m having a little reading festival with these books I picked up recently. Starting with a lovely picture book of a Shaker sampler.
This is my favourite page: washing and a quilt on the line, a Durer-like rhinoceros plus a dear little kangaroo.I don’t remember ever reading Heidi so I'm starting here. I love the randy goats in the background; I’m sure they are just being friendly. I’m pretty sure I read Tom’ Midnight Garden when I was young but don’t remember the plot at all: Tom discovers something magical and adventurous when he is sent away from his sick brother. I love stories about children having to leave their families (during the war, because of illness) and the magical and strange people they discover (Carrie's War, Bedknobs and Broomsticks).
Rosemary Takes to Teaching, bought purely for the scary Rosemary on the cover. She doesn’t look like any teacher I know! No-one could have a waistline like that without drugs either. This is from a series called ‘Career Books’ for girls to give ‘a glimpse into the life of a school teacher'. Books in the series include Linda Learns to Type, Ann Hudson Apprentice Hairdresser, and Susan Kendall Qualifies (I'm not sure what Susan qualifies at, hopefully something like Assassin or Kickboxer).I love that Penny goes home again. Crikey, we send her away but the little blighter keeps finding her way home.

Mixed

My local paper featured a great story about a couple who collect Sunbeam Mixmasters; they have 120! Now that’s a collection. They started with two found on the side of the road (love that hard waste!) and took it from there. I didn’t realise the old models in Australia came in such beautiful colours.

Keeping me going:

• The Eagle (yep, the site's in Danish but with pretty pictures)


• Big Love (where would I be without SBS?)


• Currently watching Veronica Mars Season 1

The Retro Atomic Pie House

As much I crave a Kitchenaid mixer I think the Sunbeam Mixmaster are still as good as ever. I used mum's 1960s mixer until it died in blue smoke and now think I'll buy a grand Mixmaster of the retro variety that look exactly like the old ads.
This Pyrex ad is great: I'm a Pyrex hoarder from way back and is so easy to buy new and used. I'd could nearly razor the picture out of the book and frame it. Plus the apron is for all those apronites out there. It's good to see hubbie taking an interest in kitchenware.

Atomic Homes has great collection of home ads and magazine articles. 'Specially love the laminex kitchen setting.

We have a '70s laminex table and fluoro green chairs which are fab but my dream is to discover an old '50s chrome and laminex table in our local hard waste collection.