Happy St Paddy's

To celebrate our favourite Irish holiday, we devised a three course dinner menu that would tempt any leprechaun (or Englishman, as it were). We knew immediately that the main would be steak and Guinness pie but had trouble agreeing the starter and dessert, so we each took one and devised our secret recipes. Adam got the starter and made an amazing chowder with potatoes, leeks, salmon, and a few other bits when I wasn't looking. For dessert, I decided to create a chocolate Guinness lava cake with whiskey-infused cream. As we were buying the ingredients, we voted that we didn't actually need the pie given how filling the other two dishes were (and the Guinness we were drinking was a meal in itself!)

The chowder starter/main turned out amazing thanks to the smoky flavour of the salmon. The chocolate cake was a bit of an adventure...i don't think I added enough flour to compensate for the extra liquid so the dessert was about 70% lava and 40% cake! Coupled with the fact that I baked it in muffin cups vs ramekins, we had to eat it straight out of the baking dish. Luckily this wasn't a problem but note to self for next time. I would definitely eat both of these dishes again!

Edgar Allan Poe in London

Friday night at my house usually involves some sort of pizza making. More often than not, we revert to the traditional toppings which is everything but the kitchen sink. However, this week, I was craving something special. A quick Google check confirmed the ingredients, Adam whipped up the dough, and not long after, we had our very own Edgar Allan Poe pizza. The olives weren't kalamata and fontina cheese doesn't exist at Tesco, but I think we got pretty darn close. It was the perfect blend of salty (olive oil and plain olives) and sweet (roasted garlic and tomatoes). Needless to say, I ate too much. Will need to run it off in the am...

Studio Saturday (and Sunday)

Crappy weather meant spending Saturday in the flat having studio time! Ads played with his screen printing kit and I started cutting the weird parallelogram shapes for my quilt. We made a right mess...but...i made good progress! Just need to quilt the top layer to the back and add the binding....

Next project...

Adam's parents got me a fab craft book for Christmas, which had a really cute quilting pattern. Since the John Lewis fabric department was completely pillaged in the post-holiday sales, I ventured up to Beyond Fabrics on Columbia Road. The shop was tiny but had loads of pre-cut fat quarters to choose from. Still debating whether I got too pattern happy but I have learned with quilting that I do better if I dont overthink my fabrix choices...

As an added bonus, I finally got to see the Columbia Rd flower market since the shop is right in the middle of it AND I had a.nice afternoon tea with my friend Nat. Oh, and the sun was shining. :) At Adam's next weekend so I will be able to start my stack and whack quilt soon!

First banjo class = awesome!

I finally broke down and admitted I might need a banjo lesson or two. So glad I did! I met some great people, learned I have been wearing my picks backwards (not embarassing at all :s), amd learned how to fret. My banjo now sounds like, well, a banjo! There are four weeks left in the course, can't wait to see what I learn next Tuesday :)

Best donut in the entire world

Under the railway arches, where I never venture because, well, its kind of damp and creepy, lies st johns bakery. We ventured there this morning and were rewarded with the best, deep fried, sugar coated, vanilla custard filled goodness I have ever tasted.  Their main bakery is in ec1 I think but nevertheless, the place was stacked high with fresh bread, pastries, and homemade granola.

You can bet I will be wandering under the bridge a lot more often...

Fashionista

I have been feeling the urge to sew lately and decided to wander on over to the john lewis haberdashery and see what patterns struck my fancy. I really wanted to make a dress (Actually I really wanted to take a dressmaking workshop since I have not made anything this complicated before, but the workshop sold out! Nevermind.)

I settled on a pattern from vogue - it was from the 'very easy dress' collection :) After a quick check I decided on grey jersey for the fabric, since I liked the colour and it was soft. Two sunday afternoons, one call to Grandma, and fewer ripped out seams than I thought, I had made my first dress! I pimped it out with a new belt and scarf and wore it to work, even though it borders on the short side :)