Soothing

First of all I want to say that I hate computers, external drives, file formats and wireless gateway units. They make me grind my teeth with frustration and kick things. If you could plant a computer in the ground and make it grow it would be fine, but as it is I can only stare at the growing pile of useless hardware and cords that don't fit in helpless anger.

Anyway. Deep breath...

That's why I grow flowers. They don't need formatting or upgrading, just some soil, water, sunlight and love.

And they reward you with this.

The gorgeous scent of a hyacinth does go a long way towards helping me forget my worries and it cheers up a cold winter's day. Bring on spring... only 3 months to go...

Now I think I'll go curl up in my nice warm bed, with a good, old fashioned, non electronic book to keep me company.

Simple pleasures #7

Simple pleasures #7 - making new things from old. Okay, it's not always that simple a task, but the satisfaction is immense! Actually I also like making new things from new things, so maybe this should just be called making things? Anyway.

These cushions are my most recent example of new things from old. The barkcloth is vintage and the striped fabric is from a curtain. I crocheted the edging using crochet thread from Trade Me and lovely vintage buttons.

Here we are, it's not perfect but it was an experiment and I learned heaps! The back side was tidier so next time I'll do it the other way round. There are 2 more cushions to make fastenings for, so there will be a next time. Probably.

Hope you noticed my little planter. This former utensil holder from the Sallies now holds some hyacinth bulbs. Don't you love the strawberry design? Seriously cute.

Righto, that's it for my week of simple pleasures. Hope you enjoyed, and please feel free to share some of your simple pleasures. Life is all about making the world how you like it, right?

Simple pleasures #6

Simple pleasures #6 - pansies! My favourite little garden flower. I love them in all shades but especially pink.

So I dug a little bed around the washing line and planted it up. Hopefully when the sun comes out again they will turn their little faces the right way... then hanging out the washing will be a little bit brighter.

Simple pleasures #5 (and a recipe)

Afternoon tea.

Cranberry white chocolate cookies

1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or marg, softened
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup flour
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cups dried cranberries
170g white chocolate, chopped

Preheat oven to 190C.

Cream sugars and butter/marg, then add egg and vanilla and mix till well combined. Add cinnamon, baking soda, salt and flour and mix well. Fold in rolled oats, cranberries and chocolate chips.

With wet hands, roll dough into small balls, place on greased baking tray and flatten. Bake 10-12 minutes.

Simple pleasures #4

Using vintage crockery. In the above photo, the enamel canister holds baking soda (great for cleaning the oven among other things), the teacup holds dried chillis and the salt shaker holds... salt (it's not actually vintage, but Greengate! and I was lucky enough to get it for my birthday).

There are pros and cons of course...

The pros: each piece in my collection is unique, there is the fun of searching through markets and second hand shops, they are often very cheap to buy, I love eating off a different patterned plate each day.

The cons: they aren't dishwasher or microwave safe, they need to be handwashed, and if I break one I can't easily replace it. However... they are so pretty I don't mind washing them, and if I break them at least I'll have pieces for that wonderful mosaic something I'll create one day!

Simple pleasures #3 (and a simple vase idea)

Simple pleasure #3... blooming bulbs. Even more of a pleasure when it's only May! These are paperwhite bulbs, the easiest and quickest to force. I didn't even do anything special - just put them in some jam jars with some gravel at the bottom for drainage, then a bit of potting mix, then a layer of gravel for the bulb to sit on. You can put them in a hyacinth vase with water too, but I'm hoping to get some more blooms out of them next year if I use potting mix (and put them in the garden when they've finished flowering).

They smell g o r g e o u s.

To cover the jars, I cut a length of white calico long enough to wrap around with a bit of overlap. I used double sided tape to hold the ends down (my preferred brand is Xpress-It). Then I folded the ends underneath the jar and held them down with a bit of sellotape. I added some lovely lace, also held with double sided tape.

You could of course whip out your sewing maching and stitch up some proper jar covers. I was in a hurry because the speed of that flower took me by surprise! I like these a lot though, so when flowering is over I just might consider making them a little less transient.

Simple pleasures #2

Simple pleasures #2 - a cozy nest.

This is my cozy nest. A good nest should include some or all of the following: blankets, cushions, candles, hot water bottle, a novel, some magazines, gardening books, cookbooks, crochet project, MP3 player with podcasts or audio books, TV and DVD remotes or laptop with episodes of Buffy, afternoon tea, a cat, and fluffy slippers. As soon as I get my wireless modem correctly installed I'll be adding the intranets to that equation, and then I shall never get up!

Simple pleasures #1

Hi, here I am again. I seem to have lost my blogging mojo for the past couple of months, but I'm going to try and fix that. Starting with a week of simple pleasures... you know, the small things in life that don't sound like much, but without them your daily activities would be just that little bit more dull.

Today's simple pleasure is watching the rain. Instead of being annoyed that I couldn't go outside and keep working in the garden, I took it as an excuse to have a day off.

After I gathered up some books and movies and lit the fire, I spent some time at the window just looking. A wet drizzly afternoon is that much nicer if you have something cozy inside to look forward to.

The birds don't know this little feeder exists... it would probably help if I actually put some food on it. Then I'll have even more entertainment when I'm cozied up inside.

See how great rainy days are? (yeah right!) I'm off back to the fireside now... see you here tomorrow for #2.

Cider

Tonight we decided to try some of the homemade cider. This was after hearing a "thump" from the cupboard, opening it and finding a bottle lying on its side because the bottom was so distended. So I figured it was probably fizzy.


Jon did the honours while I stood well back while zooming in with the camera. Thar she blows! It's almost as good as a volcanic eruption!

The verdict: surprisingly good! From the smell I thought it was going to be quite sweet and sickly, but it's a little tart and very refreshing. Also mildly alcoholic. I guess the rest in the cupboard will only improve with age (as long as the bottles don't burst...)

In other kitchen news I got a rice cooker. I've been searching out recipes and I'm quite keen to try making a cake in it! Last night I made pumpkin and sage risotto which was delicious and really easy. The recipe is here. A list of recipes at Recipezaar is here.

Crochet baby vest

I finished this off recently. It was a gift for my new nephew Ronan, to go with the little ugg boots. The pattern is Vest Friend from Candy Babies. It was simple enough to work up, being all in sc, you just had to measure as you go because instead of "work 20 rows" it would tell you to work until it measured 20 cm. Also, the pattern had no fastening at the front, so I improvised the buttonholes... and even managed to get them to line up! The white yarn is the softest fleece you can imagine. I got it at a little yarn shop on the north shore while I was up there in February. Perfect for baby clothes!

I'm still listening to Podiobooks while I work, if there's nothing good on TV (ie most of the time). I listened to Shadow Falls, which I enjoyed. It was highly dramatic and a few of the actors were way OTT (one totally sounded like Stan from American Dad), but most were good and the story moved along well. Now I'm listening to Heaven - I'm one episode in and it's looking promising.

In kitchen news, I used up another batch of tomatoes tonight by making tomato paste. I roughly chopped them, added garlic, onion and some herbs (savoury and basil mint) and reduced it over medium heat for about an hour. I whizzed it with the stick blender and put it in the freezer in some muffin tins - when it's frozen I'll pop it out of the tins and put the chunks in a plastic bag. It will make a great base for a pizza.