Sunny Sunday and the highest sunflower

An outdoor living as long as the weather let us :-)

So what we were doing? Collecting melissa for calming drinks, fixing the gate, knitting with a very fine wool [I bought some Debbie Bliss Rialto Lace from Deramores, lovely but ultra thin].

We also split our first coconut... Not the first which we have grown, because that would be some sort of miracle in the UK, but the very first we ever bought! Honestly. Always though that opening a coconut is an impossible job to do at home. Clearly I was wrong. We did it and, it was simple and the coconut was delicious.

I also had to bake a plum cake to take it to my work on Monday, just as promised.

Celery and Cucumber Green Juice recipe here.

And this is the highest sunflower in our village [or even in the WORLD!] and we are the very proud owners of it :-).
Have a sunny rest of the day!

Summer, spring and backpacks

Quickly before I get to bed :-)

On my holiday [tomorrow I am going back to work and sadly I may not have too much time for sewing and crafting] I managed to make couple of backpacks. One fancy, made of leatherette and the other... of old J's trousers!

I even managed to keep the original back pocket which was originally in his trousers [the image on the right]. The trousers I also made many years ago and the fabric was still very good... the size of the trousers was not.

Some accidental crops in our garden - they grow in the pot which was under the bird-feeder. 

And I even got some flax seeds for myself. OK, so it is not a vast amount, but still, out of couple of seeds not a bad turnover?!

Food-wise- a lot of updates at ricewithapples. And here something which is not yet there - beef burgers on home-baked rye and walnut buns. J, holding the plate, was so keen on eating it, that his hand was a bit shaky... bless...

And one more thing- spring or summer?
Primula is flowering already/again?!

 And who said the the strawberry season was over?

And just to remind ourselves that it actually is August and just because I can not get enough of them -sunflowers

and some dill...

Still enjoying summer?

Because we do :-)

My holiday is about to end, but the summer continues. Good - I need more sun for my tomatoes.

In the meantime we enjoyed long days [couple of them really] on the beach. The temperature of the water was just right and the sound of screeching above our heads seagulls did not leave us in doubt where we were. What a divine way of spending your leisure time...

Best food- baked potatoes with green sauce full of something=everything!
I recently discovered this simple food and we are more then happy to eat it more often. I blend to a paste any herbs and greens I can find in my garden, as long, as they are edible  [sage, rosemary, lot of dill, garlic, leaves of nasturtium - lovely peppery taste, we eat it in all sort of ways- as a salad, in stews, in the sandwich...- dandelion leaves...] with some olive oil, couple of spoons of water and some salt. Then coat some sliced potatoes and baked them in about 200°C [gas mark 6] for about 35 minutes or 45 for more crispy look. After that what you need it either only cold buttermilk as a drink with this dish or some baked/grilled chicken with it - it is your choice :-)

After that something sweet of course!
Banana and Honey Oatcake - some sort of healthy snack - no dairy, no wheat, no fat... And despite all of that - YUM!

Because we do :-)

Colours of the summer

Tastes of the summer

I mean, how much food can two people in one household produce and eat during a day? And the answer is- a lot! I am [we both are] obsessed with food, but, I hope, in a good way. I like making, experimenting, tasting and looking at it if it looks interesting and edible. 

And diet does not mean hunger.

One weekend, lot of sunbathing, cycling and...

slicing...

grilling...

baking  [chocolate shortbread [non-dairy, and no eggs or wheat] ]...

melting [non-dairy chocolate]...

kneading...

tasting and... teasing [!]. 

 

 PS. all coconut croissant vanished almost at one go, so ignore the face, it was yummy! Recipe soon...

Some time ago...in May...

There was a day in May when we went on a holiday! Very short, so to remember it here it is:

...and now...

 And now we have some strawberries:

flowers are getting bushier:

tomatoes started flowering [better late then never, but I do not expect juicy crops this year]:

and the neighbours' cat makes herself even more comfortable in our garden:

O, and Andy Murray just [finally] won Wimbledon!

Up to now...

I am not going to moan about not having time for updating my blog anymore, instead I will try to enjoy having time to update it right.
Up to now...
Life happened, work happened and... J's allergy intolerance test arrived. As his extreme eczema was not under our control anymore [ never really was, but it took us about 10 years to realise that] he decided to do quite pricey but, hopefully stating clearly any food intolerance, test. J loves food and deciding too do that was a big step, because what if he had to resign from chocolate? And, for some time at least he has to. No dairy, no eggs and no wheat on top of other offenders.
So, new challenge for myself- to cook and bake without all of the above. It is going to be fun, as we are cake, pasta, scrambled eggs and any milky-cheese-food lovers.
Because of that today I baked some New-Diet Biscuits [recipe] and had to taste it even before baking them:

Before that I had my birthday and got a lovely creamy Kmix blender which were used straight away:

...we had visitors:

our 2-years-ago Christmas tree started to grow like crazy:

and J painted the whole garden in some calming colours :-)

Cat bag and something special before Lent

There was  my mum's nameday this week. It is like a birthday but it is on the day when your name is in the calendar [for anyone who does not know, of course]. It is a Polish tradition to rather celebrate a nameday then birthday. 

My mum reads a lot and goes often to the library. She always brings plenty of books, so I thought she needed a big bag for it! A special bag with a portrait of her beloved cat Misza [read: meesha]. The cat is slightly on a fat side, I would say, but my mum says it is the way Misza always looked like. She is a wild cat and it took my mum over six months to somehow domesticate Misza. She [the cat is a girl] still, after two years at home, finds it hard to face new people. Any guest in the house and she goes into hiding for the entire visit.  Hard life, but other then that she is pretty spoiled :-D

 o, and I think, it is always good to have a black can at home ;-D.

Below- Faworki, as we call it. It is something special to be eaten just before Lent. Very traditional in Poland.
We also eat doughnuts, but Faworki are far more easier and quicker to make at home. It is a similar tradition to eating pancakes on Tuesday just before Ash Wednesday in England.
So, if anyone fancy to try it I promise to add recipe to my cooking blog shortly...

First post in 2013!

Hello to Everybody and hello to myself. I am a guest lately on my own blog... It is a bit pity that with very demanding work outside my crafty life I do not have much time to update my diary.
Anyway... It is about to snow again but not later then last weekend I mowed the grass in our garden!
That seemed to sound hilariously to my mum, who, living in Poland, had her garden completely covered with snow [about 40 cm of it] and the ground frozen.
but here is the proof:

There is also a lovely addition in our tiny front "garden" [if a space few tiles wide can be called this way?]:

we also have Camellia, which has been trying to blossom since November. Honestly I do not know what is wrong with that bush. It is supposed to flower around March- May. Why, on Earth, it is having buds already in November? They mostly can not survive a bit cooler winter. They get brown and die. 

Anyway, this is how it looks now:

Still pretty :-)