Inspiration this Bank Holiday Monday

He actually thinks he's helping.

I spoke too soon about all this sunshine and summer and eating al fresco business.... Man, what a crappy long holiday weekend. Giving me time for this bit of quilting - dueling quilt projects- that is. The blue one was started with my Mama, the quilt master, while I was in Tucson. I pulled it out when I got home and decided it was probably too hard for me - since I've never really sewn before and there's a lot of folding and circles involved. It's from the book Quiltagami! Origami inspired quilts. Fun.
Did I mention that my Mom gave me a sewing machine while I was visiting and I actually brought it back on the plane with us? Feeling a little guilty for not using the sewing machine that I hauled 6,000 miles yet, I started this little lap quilt instead that is inspired by the one in Doodle Stitching and will be embroidered with fun little birds and swirls. Looking out the window today and listening to my teeth chattering in the cold, I bought some down batting to keep my lap warm.

Project 52 (15 of 52)

Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night.
~Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke

Postcards from Tucson

Springing

Languorous Lazy Summer Sunday Opulence (and a recipe for Lazygirl Luxury Linguini)

One thing I love about these lazy summer Sundays is how late it stays light at night. We've got a sunset at around 9:00 these days, it's almost takes me back to those endless summer nights of my Alaskan childhood where it never got dark. Wait a second.... Summer? What's with all this glorious weather we've been having? England? Is that you?

We managed somehow to bring the sunshine home with us from Tucson. Record temperatures in the high 20's (80's to you and me) and in May! It seems England lusciously burst into full spring regalia while we were away. Mix one part torrential rains with one part unseasonably warm weather and Voila! Summer comes early. To celebrate I spoiled my husband with his favorite pasta dish for our patio dinner.
Have I mentioned how lazy I am when it comes to cooking in the summer? It's too hot to be in the kitchen, so this one's quick and easy enough for a weeknight. What you need:
Lazygirl Luxury Linguini

Your favorite pasta - I like Tagliatelle or Fetuccine with this one (but linguini sounded better in the title)
1 bunch asparagus
2 portabello mushrooms
1 zucchini (courgette)
2 cloves garlic (tsp pre-minced stuff)
1 tin crab meat
1 tbsp low fat cream cheese
splash white wine
olive oil

Turn on Alison Krauss' Lonely Runs Both Ways and prepare your veg. With lines like 'you're at your best with that ache in your chest and that worn out song that you play' or 'the people who love me ask me when I'm coming back to town and I say, quite frankly, when they stop building roads' you'll be singing along while your heart is quietly breaking. Anyway, back to preparing your veg:

My mom showed me this trick with asparagus to get the best out of it. That's right, make your asparagus work for you. If you hold a spear with an end in each hand and lightly bend it until it breaks, it will always separate at the toughest point - throw the tough, chewy ends in the compost heap and enjoy the tender tip bits with your pasta. (I prefer to steam my asparagus separately for this recipe, only because I find it gets too soft if I sautee it with the rest of the veg. Your choice.) Scrape out the gills of the mushrooms with a teaspoon - I find that if you scrape gently sideways, against the grain, the gills just peel easily away.


So you've got asparagus steaming and you're chopping the zucchini and mushrooms into bite size pieces. Meanwhile heat a bit of olive oil in a pan and add the garlic as soon as the oil starts to pop. Bring water to a boil, add the pasta. See why this is a weeknight special?


My Dad taught me this trick with pasta to keep the pot from overflowing. You just leave your grandmother's wooden spoon in the pot as it boils - the water's surface tension on the spoon prevents it from overflowing somehow. I don't really get it, but it seems to work. Wise old Dad.

Sautee the veg in the olive oil until the zucchini starts to brown and the mushrooms soften. For the sauce - add the entire tin of crab, including the juice to the pan. Then a glob of cream cheese and a splash of white wine. Mix well as the cream cheese starts to melt and bring to a slight bubble. Drain the pasta and mix it in, adding a little olive oil if it sticks. Add the asparagus and serve immediately.This recipe is best enjoyed on the patio on a hot summer's day with a nice glass of pinot grigio and fur shark looming in the background.


And for dessert..... Raspberry Love.

Add to the blender: fresh raspberries, a banana, plain fat free yogurt, a splash of milk, a splash of vanilla essence, and about a tbsp of cinnamon. Blend and enjoy!

Did you notice how low fat this meal is? The crab is what makes the pasta sauce taste so luxurious, the cream cheese is just there to turn it white so it looks like an alfredo or other decadent pasta sauce. (For even more decadence add extra cream cheese or sour cream/creme fraische and loads of yummy parmesan. ) This makes a good meal for those of you who've just had your gallbladder out and aren't able to tolerate any fats. Or those of you with IBS. And those of you trying to diet. And for the rest of you too. Enjoy.

Project 52 (14 of 52)

Okay, now I can see a difference in our friend the oak tree. How spring has sprung. Do you see that Warwickshire Gold in the background?
Here's a better view. The whole of our county is a patchwork of gold and green. Beautiful.

B is for Beautiful

I often like to pretend that no one I know actually reads this blog thing and that it is more of anonymous bit of whinging and reminiscing. Though more and more I'm realizing that most everyone who knows me in the real world has tracked this blog down (though you never comment! eh hem!) and I thought it was time I actually acknowledged that you're probably interested in what I've really been up to. Not all this making this and baking that mumbo jumbo.

So here's a photo my sister sent me recently that has knocked my socks off. How gorgeous are they?! Does anyone else find it a little strange that Zoe looks more like me than my sister does?

What else can I tell you? I'm leaving tomorrow for Tucson - Woo Hoo! I'll be there through the 1st and then head off to Seattle to catch up in a long overdue trip to my old stomping grounds. There's an old school BBQ revival planned, so if anyone got missed in the e-vites, please contact me and get yerself over there on Friday night!!

My surgery went well, I'm recuperating for the most part though a bit achy breaky here and there and, quite frankly, amazed by the amount of sunshine poo one girl can produce. That's right, I'm talking about my bowel movements online. AGAIN. Geesh. Sunshine poo, I mean it, it's bright yellow. It's amazing. I guess that's where all the bile goes without a gallbladder to store it in anymore....? I'm finding that I can eat foods that I haven't been able to eat in years. Tomatoes? Oh yeah! Cheese? Yum. Carrots, peas, pineapple and grapes? So far so good! It's a liberation of sorts. Can't wait to hit the mexicana cucinas in Tucson and have salsa and guacamole for the first time in years! Yee Haw!

Bisbee is also making a strong recovery. Crazy Legs has begun joining us in bed at night again and is stretching out in front of the fire in the evenings instead of hiding under beds or refusing to leave the safety his cage. We hope to let him back out to freedom when we return from our trip. A big thanks to Zoe next door for looking out for him while we're gone.

Things will probably be quiet on the blog for a couple of weeks, though I will try to post a postcard or two. And I'm afraid I've sort of fallen behind with project 52. The week in the hospital and the last week of house-arrest have kept me away from our dear oak tree. Now that I'll be abroad for the next couple of weeks I'm afraid I'll completely miss out the spring time exuberance of the oilseed rape fields in the background. But I'll make an effort to get a photo at least once a month from here on out......

So long. xx Bee

The Road To Recovery

After spending a week in the hospital, an emergency gallbladder surgery and an 'interesting' national health service experience, I cannot begin to tell you how grateful I am to be laying prone on my sofa in my own sunny living room with a whole day of George Clooney to look forward to on Film4 this afternoon. Wow, what a week! I had a 4 mm stone blocking my bile duct and causing all manner of chaos in my body. They say gallstones are as painful as child birth - I appreciate you mamas out there all the more now. It's absolutely astonishing how something so small, merely 4 mm, not even a 1/4 inch, not even a garden pea, maybe a lentil? can cause so much trouble! I really appreciate the way my body works in harmony with itself most of the time, it really doesn't take much to throw it off track. Geno said this morning that seeing me in hospital has made him vow to himself to get his body back into tip top shape, so at least there's a positive out of all this suffering.

My road to recovery is paved with Arizona red rock. We've been planning a trip to see my family in Tucson next week and it's been most worrysome that this little stone might have put our holiday in jeopardy. But, I think if I can manage the flight - thankfully it's direct! - I'll recover poolside in the Arizona sunshine and leave the miserable English April showers behind! See ya later, alligators!

'My Baby's Gonna Make A Mint' Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

He did it! He passed his final exam! For the past three years, the G has spent all manner of spare time studying for his accountancy exams. CIMA to be exact, which is international management accounting which is different, er... somehow. I'm no expert, but my baby's got letters after his name now! Woo Hoo!

To celebrate, what else but cupcakes!

'My Baby's Gonna Make A Mint' Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

for the cupcakes
2 cups / 225 g cake/self-raising flour
4 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups / 225 g sugar
1 cup / 225 g butter
4 eggs
3 1/2 oz (100g) chocolate chips

for the icing
1/2 cup / 115 g butter
2 cups/ 225 g confectioners/icing sugar
1/2 tsp peppermint essence
green food coloring
3 1/2 oz chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 F/ 160 C. Place paper baking cases in muffin tins. In a medium bowl sieve the flour, cocoa, and baking powder. Set aside. Beat the sugar and butter together in a large bowl until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition until the mixture light and glossy. Add the flour mixture gradually, stirring until well combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Spoon the mixture into the cases and fill about 3/4 of the way. Bake for 20 minutes or until a poker comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool in the tin for about 5 minutes before removing to a rack.

Meanwhile, get started on the icing. Mmmm, icing. Beat the butter and icing sugar in a small bowl until smooth and the sugar is no longer lumpy. Stir in the peppermint and just enough food coloring to turn the icing a mint green. Decorate with chocolate chips or other implements of chocolate destruction.

Store without icing in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months!

For variations try these....

For Superbad Super Minty cupcakes, try using crumbled chocolate mints in the cake batter, like After Eights or Andes, those hotel pillow mints.

For something really crazy, how about chocolate orange minty cupcakes? Break a chocolate orange and crumble it into the cake batter or on top of the icing.

Did you notice our new kitchen fish? Introducing Moby Snoop Fish!! He's got his mind on his money and his money on his mind.

Sorry he's so blurry, but he's really fast. Really.

Ice Ice Baby

(He has snow on his head) We woke up at 4 am. I had a tummy ache, but couldn't get back to sleep because there was 6 inches on snow on the ground! Exciting! We went for an early morning walk when everything is still so quiet and the snow has dampened all sound. We wrote secret messages in the snow, we threw snowballs and trees, road signs and each other, we followed animal tracks and imagined ourselves antarctic explorers. We got back to the house by 7:30, G watched match of the day and we promptly fell asleep in front of the tv until noon. Afterall, that's what Sundays are made for.

Project 52 (13 of 52)

What's all this about April showers then? What's with the snow?

Notes from a kitty prison and a recipe for cheeky monkey banana bread

Bisbee's always been a little bit rock n roll. He lives fast and he lives large, climbing trees, walking narrow fencelines, hunting mice and birds, opening doors and cupboards around the house and helping himself to the fridge any chance he gets to sneak in under the radar, and racing up and down the stairs like he's the fastest cat in the world. So it was not unexpected that kitty cat lock down would bring with it a little bit of depression.

Week 2 from kitty prison and Bisbee's lost nearly a kilo! That's 10% if his body weight! We expected a little bit of weight loss with the not being as active and losing some muscle tone, but he's really becoming a bag of bones and turning his kitty nose up at everything we offer. So the two of us are trying all manner of temptation to get the little bugger to eat. We sing songs, we get him to purr and purr with brushing and stroking his golden locks, we give him a room with a view and keep the bird feeder topped up so he has lots to see, we play with string and feathers toys, we offer cheese and butter and tuna juice and chicken broth. We heat food in the microwave, we give him the dregs from our cereal bowl (a former favorite), we boil chicken, we bake salmon, we make a pate' of a/d and catlax (because, oddly, he loves cat lax) and that, so far, seems to be the only thing that works, but one can't survive on catlax alone. Do you have any kitty cat temptation ideas? Recipes?

Vets and vet nurses on the other hand are a bit easier to please. And as a token of appreciation and thanksgiving, I whipped up a bit banana bread on behalf of our cheeky monkey, Bisbee. The vets were especially great considering that we weren't registered with them and we came in at 5:30 as they were closing with a cat with a broken leg. They didn't even bat an eye, got us in at the first opportunity and treated us with kindness. It makes all the difference in the world to be treated kindly and openly when you experience a stressful event like a kitty cat emergency.

This recipe is a favorite since we're constantly running up a glut of bananas that need eating. It takes one weekend away (or attack of choleangitis and the accompanying inappetence) and you have more browning bananas than you can shake a stick at. This recipe is so easy, you don't even need a mixer for it, it's a one bowl wonder!

Cheeky Monkey Banana Bread

3 or 4 over-ripe bananas - smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp mixed spice
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup all-purpose/plain flour

Preheat the oven to 350F (175 C), butter a 4 x8 inch loaf pan.

In a large mixing bowl, add the melted butter to the mashed bananas and mix well with a wooden spoon. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and mixed spice over the mixture and stir in. Add the flour last, a spoonful at a time, and mix in. Pour batter into a loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool on a rack and enjoy with a steaming cup of morning coffee.

Want to see other recipes from the Queen Bee? Click here, or here, and here, or here and even here.

K is for Karma

Something my dad said once has always stuck. I was having a particularly unlucky day and called him up with tales of radiator leaks and of locking myself out of the house in my bathrobe. He said that whenever you feel a bit of bad karma coming on it was time to pull the covers up over your head and lay low for a couple of days until things blow over. Man, I should've listened.

First, Bisbee had a mishap and ended up with a broken pelvis. We're not sure if he was hit by a car or fell from a tree or rooftop or what. He didn't have as much as a scratch on him, other than a small puncture wound on his left hip. The x-rays showed he has a fracture on the right side of his pelvis, so maybe he fell and got hung up on a nail or a branch on the way down. So that means 8 weeks of cage rest for the Bisbee.The very next day, I ended up in hospital with....wait for it..... gall stones. Can you believe it? I thought that was only for the elderly or somebody other than me. It's a bit miserable, truth be told. I'm not sick enough to have an emergency operation, but I'm sick enough to be off work for a week. People say it's as painful as labor pains, I wouldn't know for sure but I can't say that it's pleasant to wake up at 3am with a woodpecker boring out your liver. On the bright side, it means I may finally have an answer to why I've had so many digestive problems over the past year. And I've had some time to work on this new doodle and get my hands dirty in the garden.

Project 52 (12 of 52)

Can you see that first glimpse of spring in the background? There's just a blaze of yellow starting up in the rapeseed field in the distance. Disgusting name, but pretty flowers. The whole county will be overflowing with golden rolling hills in a week or two and it always makes me want to dress up in a bumblebee costume and sing Blind Melon songs.

P.S. Did you know that's where canola oil comes from? Rapeseed oil was first marketed in the States from Canada - Can-ola, get it?