Sewing Project #13

I'm so excited this will be my third weekend off in a row! First it was because we were in Copenhagen, then last weekend I took off mainly because of the Queen's Jubilee. I am so sick of Union Jacks and everything to do with queenie.

Instead of working Billy and I went to a music festival in London called Field Day. It was an amazing line-up and I got to see Andrew Bird (swoon) and Beirut, and I found I really like The Savages, an all girl, intense quartet. Also the in-laws were in London so Sunday was spent entertaining.

Today is Billy's last day at his job at a law firm in London and next week he starts a job for the council so we are going into London tomorrow to do a celebratory wine tasting (Billy's birthday gift from December!), a good curry on Brick Lane and some record and vintage shopping. Yay.

With all that's been going on, I forgot to post a photo of a dress I made for Copenhagen. It's a simple pattern from Burda called Anda and some stripy fabric, but I used elastic at the waist instead of a drawstring. It was the first piece of clothing I've sewn in ages! I am being crafty now too. I'm crocheting a colourful rug and I am going to do my first quilt for our bedroom (more on that one later).

I'm really enjoying my quiet Friday night with some wine, Nina Simone and my crocheting until my husband gets home from his after work drinks!

We got back from Copenhagen yesterday with sunburned skin, full tummies and two souvenirs, a pen and a card. Copenhagen, or Kopenhavn as it is called in Denmark, is a city very similar to Amsterdam with bicycles outnumbering cars almost 3-1 but without the charming Dutch architecture (though it can be found here and there).

Copenhagen is also the birthplace of my great-grandfather Johan Petersen, or George Petersen as he changed it after immigrated to the US in 1900, who incidentally invented the Petersen flusher, which can be found in most toilets!

The highlights of our holiday were the Carlsberg brewery, the Vesterbro Music Festival and renting bikes and cycling across the city. Our hotel, the Axel, was pretty great as well. It was a completely organic operation and the only bad thing was the less than fluffy yet eco-friendly towels.

Vesterbro was an amazing neighborhood to stay in, only a block from the central station and really close to hip restaurants and the aforementioned music festival, which we just happened upon. It is also the Copenhagen’s red light district so there was an area called the Erotic Triangle with shady people.

I think if you had to go to Amsterdam or Copenhagen I would pick Amsterdam for its sheer beauty, but I definitely have a soft spot for Copenhagen now.

My new font

I'm really excited about my new font. I made it by printing a template, writing all my letters with my favorite pen, scanning it high-res, massively photoshopping and hours worth of scaling and sizing each character in font creating software. Was it worth it? YES!! Its pretty weird seeing your handwriting as a font. Its not quite the same as when I write because I connect most of my letters but its pretty darn close. I am using it as my header on my professional site and its nice knowing that no one else is using the same font. If anyone else whats to make their own, here's the tutorial I used. You do need basic photoshop skills and the font software.

Adventures in Polaroid...

I've been playing around with my new landcamera and here are some of the photos from this weekend. Billy and I went for a walk in the countryside (which is about five minutes from where we live). We saw cows, a tree with a hole in it where I'm sure fairytale creatures lurk, a dog belly flopping into the river (Billy has those photos), and the gorgeous rapeseed fields. I can not express how incredibly beautiful rapeseed is when its blooming. I know it doesn't have the best name but it is such a vibrant yellow and its also our oil of choice being far better than olive oil.

Chair Makeovers

I meant to post this ages ago but well I forgot. Oops. My friend Debbie came last weekend for a visit form Edinburgh and in our fervor to prepare for her royal visit Billy and I needed to tick a few boxes on our to do lists.

At one of my first assignments at my job last year I bought two chairs from a community centre for £2. It was a score as I only had an air mattress at that point. Then a few months ago, my work was having a clear out and I found two orange school chairs by the skip. So we neglected these ugly chairs for ages despite the fact we even purchased paint for them at Homebase.

So Eek Dib Dob was coming and we went into super drive and painted all four, plus our balcony table, and even covered the seats of the wood chairs. Success! Except, well, we used spray paint inside due to the weather and even though we put down a drop cloth we sufficiently coated out laminate floor in a thin sheen of red. Uh. Yeah, we have been mopping with mineral spirits and most of it is coming up but I fear we will be finding red for months.

So if you pair our chairs with our £4 Edwardian pub table, we spent a whopping £6 on our dining room furniture. I'm pretty chuffed.

Veg Box Recipes 7, 8 & 9

Its been 3 weeks without meat and I haven’t missed one bite of it. Billy is hankering for some pork or beef but I think his Scottish Highlander genes aren’t programmed for a veggie diet. Up north where he’s from, chips (French fries) are considered a vegetable and green things are just for garnish.

It’s a really funny contrast from Billy’s side of the family to my mom. Not only is my mom not a fan of meat, she recently went vegan. I guess living in the sun and sand of South Florida leads for better lifestyle food wise as she eats quinoa and spelt and loads of veg. She grows mangoes and bananas and mulberries, which are blooming right now. I actually eat my breakfast by going in her back yard and picking the freshest items. Yum.

Last week’s veg box was a bit super sized as we’re aren’t getting one this week. Boo! We’ve used up quite a bit but we are finding loads of carrots and leeks leftover. These recipes are from the second week’s box and we’ve already made one recipe twice as it was super good.

That was the roasted tomato, halloumi and quinoa salad { 7}. I love halloumi but have never tried to make something with it at home. The second time Billy made it and roasted the peppers as well as the tomatoes for a different taste.

I made another stir fry { 8 } to use up carrots, spinach, broccoli and onions from the box. We usually get big udon noodles that come already cooked and only need heating, but I found wholewheat organic udons at Waitrose and I really prefer them to the old kind.

I needed to use up our cabbage on Tuesday night, so I made a stuffed cabbage recipe { 9 } from the Veg book that had a spelt filling and a tomato sauce topping. I really liked the stuffed leaves until the next morning when I felt really nauseous and now even looking at them make me a little sick. I’m pretty sure the nausea is unrelated to the cabbage but when I opened the fridge and saw the leftovers my stomach turned so who knows.

I woke up this morning to see my new camera waiting for me on the kitchen table! Yay! I have been wanting a Polaroid land camera for ages and I've occasionally bid on one on EBay always losing out as the price went up too much for my wallet. To my surprise, I won the camera which happens to be the same amount of money I won in the office raffle so I think it was fate.

Now, when I buy a camera, Billy usually asks "Don't you already have that camera," or "Do you really need another camera?". Well the answers are no and yes. Yeah, I do have a lot of film cameras (far more than what is pictured in the photo above). It started by picking up cameras at garage sells and thrift stores regardless of whether they work or not. Now I try and get specific cameras that must work.

My new Polaroid Land Camera 104 circa 1965 was the first land camera produced for retail as it is made of plastic lenses rather than glass which made it much lighter and far more economical.

I shoot digital everyday and it can become really boring. I love shooting film and not knowing how the image will turn out. I love Polaroid even more. I think a lot of Polaroid cameras are selling cheaper these days as people think you can't get film for it. Where some older models are completely obsolete, most cameras take modern Fuji instant film (or the Impossible Project instant film).

I'm super excited about my new camera!

Veg Box Recipes 3,4,5 & 6

Another week and another veg box. We used up everything from our last one except one leek and a couple of mushrooms. This week we have celeriac which I used tonight in a lentil salad with apple and raisins { 6 } from the veg book. We also have spinach and rocket, as well as massive courgettes.

On Monday I looked in the fridge surprisingly I found I had everything I needed to make an amazing sweet potato salad with spinach and feta { 3 }. Its amazing to go in the ice box and have such interesting food to use that doesn't include a trip to the grocery store. On Tuesday, we needed to use up what we had left so I made a beetroot coleslaw with walnuts left over from Christmas that were still good in their shells { 5 } with refried beans (made from scratch) on a flatbread (also made from scratch) { 4 }. Yummy. The flatbread recipe from the veg book is super tasty.

The consensus is that the sweet potato recipe, which is not from the book, was the best! Tomorrow I'm going to experiment with Halloumi and the tomatoes from our box.

I haven't missed meat at all and I am really enjoying making dinner. I am finding that since I'm investing so much time with organic veg that I really should include more organic ingredients into my life. I usually try to buy organic when I can, but the price tag tends to put me off.

Today, I found myself opting for the organic apples, raisins and even organic udon noodles! This is probably the most socially conscious my tum tum has ever been! And speaking of the tum tum, lets just say lots of veg = lots of flatulence and Frebreeze is being used in abundance! But I have lost a few pounds since going meatless so I'm not going to complain.

*I was informed by my other half that he used up the last of our first box on Wednesday night while I was working so we did get through everything in the box in a week.*

Veg Box Recipes 1 and 2

We got our organic veg box on Wednesday, but didn't get to make a meal together til Thursday. After a trip to Waitrose (a posh grocery store in the UK) for special ingredients, I made Kale Speltotto with goat's cheese { 1 } from the River Cottage Veg book. I had never heard of Pearled Spelt before last night but it is cooked like you would cook risotto. In fact you could substitute goat's cheese with Parmesan to end up with something really similar to risotto. The thing is, I dislike risotto. Billy's made it several times in the past but no matter the ingredients, I find it difficult to get down.

But the spelt didn't taste like risotto. I used an onion, garlic and leeks from the veg box and added it to the cheese, spelt and kale. It was my first time cooking with kale, though I've been meaning to add it to my cooking repertoire for awhile as it is supposed to be super healthy.

I think I'd give it a 5/10 if I were grading it. I don't think I'll make this exact recipe again, but I definitely think spelt will be on my menu again.

Tonight I used up carrots, a pepper, mushrooms, garlic, and pak choi from the box and added ginger, white wine vinegar, soy sauce and egg noodles for a quick stir fry { 2 }. Billy is out in London tonight with work mates so I didn't want to get too fancy with my din din. It was quick and simple but oh so nice having a fridge full of nice ingredients. I feel like half my time is spent in grocery stores picking up this and that for each night's meals.

I also was asked today if I had lost weight by a coworker. Yay! That will spur me on. I think lots of veg + ballet + riding bikes with Billy = a much healthier Su!

Meatless Month

I cannot detach myself from things that I see. This is why I made for a terrible Forensic Photographer. This is also why I haven’t eaten pork since August when I photographed a story on a pig farm. So when I photographed a dairy farm on Friday, my future with beef was becoming tenuous. I tried not to stare into the big brown eyes of the calf that I know in 18 months will be on somebody’s plate.

I made sure to order a steak on Saturday when Billy and I went out for a nice meal on his company’s dime (a reward for being employee of the month) and it was as perfect a steak as I’ve ever had. It was char grilled, not too pink and very tender. Okay I thought to myself, if I can eat this steak than all is well on the meat front. Billy won’t be upset with me for further restricting our diet.

So you can understand my surprise when he suggested post steak that we try and cut meat out for a month. Really!?! Yes! I love the taste of meat but I hate the constant repressing of thoughts while eating it. So we watched Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Veg program and bought the book of the same name. We are not after recipes that just substitute meat for tofu or quorn. We want meals that are so good you don’t miss meat.

I am actually really excited about this. I like food adventures that make us come out of our comfort zone. We love talking about what we eat, breaking it down to figure out the ingredients and spices.

Yesterday was Day One. Unfortunately I picked the first recipe, a balsamic leek and goats cheese tart in filo pastry. Sounds good, but I didn’t realize I needed small tart pans, which I don’t have, and was forced to make two large tarts. Blah was the outcome. Maybe if I had done it to the recipe it would have been better but alas I don’t know if I’ll bother again.

All the recipes in the veg book excite us and to further our meatless cause we ordered our first Veg Box. We have been wanting to join a scheme since our Edinburgh days but couldn’t due to where we lived. We wanted one super close to keep our food miles down but the closest one is in the next county over. We should hopefully get our first box on Wednesday and we have big plans to use everything in the box no matter what.

I think I could easily cut meat out all together but only in the UK. When I go home my favorite restaurant is a redneck bbq joint with loose meat bbq sandwiches. I actually moan when I eat it because it is well amazing. I actually had them cater my wedding and it was a huge hit (except to my lovely friend Arielle- a from birth vegetarian).

So wish us luck!!