Tuesday 29 April 2014
Sunday 27 April 2014
Picnic on the balcony - with recipes
The weather was really nice today, and I really felt like picnic, but have too much shit to do at home (my get shit done list is long due to procrastination), so I wound up making picnicky food and eating on the balcony with a book for company (though I would actually have enjoyed more social company today).
It's barely warm enough to sit out there without a sweater and warm socks now that the sun went around the corner - in the morning it was too hot to sit for long with the sun straight on and no wind. But it was nice: I closed my eyes and listened to the seagulls, and being baked by the sun. If I imagined a salty tang on the air it was like being back on my childhood islands on a summer day.
I ate pasta sallad and homemade lemonade. I had planned to post the recipes but I already got questions about them so I will do it RIGHT NOW.
Lemonade with ginger
1.5 liter finished lemonade
130-150g fresh ginger
3 large lemons
3 tbl sp sugar
water
Peel and slice the ginger, place in a pot
Slice the lemons in thin slices and place in pot (if you are making pasta sallad at the same time: Save one lemon from the pot, it can be added later)
Cover with water and boil up
Add sugar if you want it, about 1 table spoon per large lemon, add or subtract to taste
Mash down the lemons to get all the juice up, leave at a boil until the lemons are mostly dissolved.
Strain into a jug
Add the juice from the last lemon if you went that route
Add cold water until it is 1.5 litres - I poured it all into an empty bottle, shook it up, and put it in the fridge.
Serve chilled and probably over ice. The flavour is slightly more adult due to the spicyness of the ginger, and it is an excellent booster for your immune system if you have caught that late spring cold that seems to be doing the rounds.
Pasta sallad/Chicken sallad
Note: 1 cup is 237ml, but exact measures aren't needed - just roughly that amount.
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup creme fraiche or sourcream
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tblsp lemon juice
1 tblsp lemon zest (I zested the last lemon for the lemonade and squeezed some juice from it)
1 tsp sugar
A little salt
A little white pepper
1 cup diced bellpeppers or celery (according to preference - other vegetables can be substituted if you like)
1/2 cup green onions, sliced (spring onions, sallad onions, in Scandiland)
2 cups of cooked diced chicken or 4 cups of cooked pasta
Combine the ingredients in the first section in a bowl, add the vegetables.
If you are making chicken sallad, add cooled cooked chicken now, and put in fridge for 1-2 h before serving, though it sits well overnight.
For pasta sallad, cook the pasta al dente and rinse in cold water, mix it with the goop just before serving.
Add a sprinkling of blue cheese, some dried cranberries, or sunflower seeds if you like.
Saturday 26 April 2014
Friday 25 April 2014
Industrial Valentine
I can't find that I posted these back in February, but here they are. Since it was a friday I was going to a synth event - so hearts and cog wheels!
Wednesday 23 April 2014
Holo!
Saturday 19 April 2014
Friday 18 April 2014
One of those days
It'll soon be too warm to wear this for a few months, but today is a grey drizzly somehow chilly morning and I will totally wear my eeyore onesie until I have to get ready to leave the house!
Wednesday 16 April 2014
Trapped inside looking out
Tuesday 15 April 2014
Monday 14 April 2014
Colour changers
I can't help it, I love polish that change colours depending on angle and how the light falls, socalled duo or multichromes. Here are a few - all of them over black.
Sunday 13 April 2014
Green thumb
I just started my balcony garden for the year; sowing a miniature wildflower meadow in a big pot. I'll add more as inspiration strikes, and once I have cleaned out there.
Saturday 12 April 2014
Vivid Lacquer!
Plate VL019 with Nails Inc Old Park Lane over VL Black creme |
Plate VL017 over a grey VL from the Buffy line (I asked for an anthracite holo and I got one and I am so in love!) with two coats of Theoretical Rockstar on the accent finger. |
Friday 11 April 2014
Sunday 6 April 2014
Purry snuggles
I got "help" packing my bag, from both cats - here's Alasdair. We got lots of snuggles in while I took a cat-decreed break from packing!
Thursday 3 April 2014
Squirreled away
I made this necklace as a birthday gift for a friend who likes squirrels. I had been hoarding the squirrel for ages waiting to find out when her birthday was :)
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