Things I have eyes for..

I love knowing a holiday is just around the corner, and for me its only 5 more whole days before I am walking down that beach in Devon. I am soooo excited. But what to take with me? The weather in England has been awful for like a month now but in my mind its going to be hot and sunny, which may go badly wrong, but my packing is all set for a day at the beach. Ive got a cute swimsuit and headband to wear on the beach, a beautiful dress and sandals for when I start to go a little pink, and a picnic blanket and basket filled with scrummy foods for us to munch on all day :) Ahhh want to be there now!

Snapshot of my week

This week has been a busy with work, but I did manage to squeeze a few things in. I went to see is i cinema at the Victoria in Birmingham. They are a Birmingham based band who I have seen a few times and they play some really good music, worth a listen if you can find them. I started an embroidery project to liven up a basic bag. I will show more of this when I get around to finishing it. Me and my man made a Chicken Ramen, its easy peasy, just boil some chicken in chicken stock, after about 20 minutes add some noodles and you are done, a brothy soup with noodles. We added sweetcorn but next time maybe we will add more vegetables. Just the right thing to keep me warm on a chilly evening. :)

Sunday Drive

Ladyhawke is a singer-songwriter from New Zealand. She has already had one self-titled album out in 2008 which was good but her song, My Delirium, was too overplayed in my books. But this new single from her album due out in May 2012 I really love! Upsettingly I always look up gigs that I want to go to like the day after they have been on, and its the same in this case :( Oh well I will just listen to this over and over again :)

Things I have eyes for...

This week I have been thinking about my holidays. Knowing I am going away in only 2 weeks is super exciting, and my head is racing with all the things I need to take with me. I am staying in England and seeing the weather recently, I know I'm going to need coats and jumpers, but looking at new exciting summer goodies doesn't hurt!

These new Converse are great! I remember my first pair, in fact I still have whats left of them, and I am looking at getting a new pair, so these might be them! The second is this cute little bag, I like to take a bag out when I go walking along the beach and it only needs to fit my essentials so this is perfect. The crochet cardigan is gorgeous. I wanted to make one myself, but I don't think I am going to have time so I bought this one, it fits so nicely and it's great as a small layer! This snood is perfect for those chilly times, and it's spotty too! Gorgeous. I saw these shorts and jumped for joy, they are beautiful and will cuten up any outfit, I love the embroidery. And this ring is definitely something I am going to have a go at making. Why have I not done it before?

Ahh, I can't wait to be walking down that beach again...

Snapshot of my week

 

This week I have had some good times, I got a promotion at work so my lovely man took me out for dinner at a nice restaurant called The Farm. The food was lovely, and so was he.

Then the rest of the week included a really nice day out with a friend doing some shopping, we found an American diner in Selfridges in Birmingham and had burgers. I saw the Bullring bull's new spandex outfit, this poor girl was gluing on many many sequins, and all for the Olympics hey! I found some bracelets made from knitting needles on folksy.com, and when they came they were so lovely. I love a handmade item!!

I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has been there for me recently, helping me to get my job, you know who you are and you are all fabulous!! :) THANK YOUUU!!!

Mac and Cheese

Sundays should always be a lazy day, and when I am not working I love nothing more than relaxing, watching a film and eating lots of nice food :) Ever since I found out a couple of months ago that I was lactose intolerant I have really missed all my favourite foods. So today I decided to try a lactose free mac and cheese using lactose free milk, margarine and goats cheese, but to be honest you can use any cheese that you love, the tastier the better!!
Here's how I did it...

In a pan melt 40g butter or margarine.

Add 420ml of Milk.

Add 25g Plain flour, salt and pepper to taste and whisk until lump free. Simmer, whisking occasionally, until thick.

While the white sauce is thickening put some pasta on the boil, it doesn't have to be macaroni if you don't have any, I went for some crazy pasta I have not had before. Penne is really good for this, its like giant macaroni.

In a food processor pop a couple of small slices of nice bread and some fresh herbs. I went for rosemary this time just because it is one of my favourites and my cheese is quite a creamy one, but it depends on which cheeses you are using.

Whizz until you get herby breadcrumbs :)
Then I fried up some panchetta cubes (you could use bacon) just as a quick extra. When the pasta was cooked I drained it and put it back into the pan. I added the white sauce and mixed in my cheese and panchetta. Its best to do it when its still warm because then the cheese starts to melt. Yummy.

Sprinkle your breadcrumb mix on top of your pasta/cheese. What it great is also sprinkling some Parmesan cheese on top of this :)

Pop it under the grill for a few minutes until your breadcrumb crust is a lovely golden brown. Serve!!

Nice cold weather comfort food to keep me happy on a rainy day :)
Happy Eating..

Friendship

Today I was looking at all the friendship bracelets that shops are charging silly prices for and thought I would just have a go myself.
I purchased four colours of embroidery thread and cut around 60cm of thread in each colour, and then cut in half so I have 8 strands of colour in total. I left a gap (enough to use to tie) and then tied a knot. I used this knot to put a safety pin through and then attached that to something stable and yet something I am not going to be upset about ripping if I accidentally pull too hard.

This bracelet is one of the simplest and easiest bracelets that can be made, it looks difficult but it really isn't.

You take a strand (maybe think in advance if you want a definite pattern) and from left to right wrap it around the front of the rest of the strands, around the back and through the centre. Move this knot up to the top and pull tightly. Basically repeat this until you have finished with that colour and then swap for the next colour. Easy peasy!! You will notice that the little knots spiral around the bracelet giving a cute little detail .

When you have made it to the length that you require, tie another knot and that's that! Tie it onto the wrist of a friend, or just keep it for yourself. The great thing is that they are cheap to make and you can make many different designs and colour combinations.
There is quite a good tutorial on more complicated designs here. That's my next step, I was never great at doing them as a child, I just did simple plaits or the above design, but I am gonna attempt something harder I think!
Happy Crafting x