That's Dinner Sorted!

It seems a bit light-hearted to write about dinner, while here in New Zealand we all seem to be in a state of shock and helplessness following yesterday's terrible earthquake in Christchurch. But to me, the shock of this earthquake has reinforced the importance of appreciating everything in life, no matter how small. Today for me that is the time spent with my daughter, hearing her squeals of delight as she found each vege in our garden and baking biscuits together.

Miss 3 and I have just picked this gorgeous basket of goodies from our very tiny vege patch. I managed to remove the basket from her clutches before she ate all the butter beans! So courgette stuffed with rice and veges is on the menu tonight. Yum.

With some yummy homemade bread - I think dinner is well and truly sorted.

We also made some double chocolate chip biscuits (wearing our matching spotty aprons!) - again most of the mixture survived to make it into the oven although quite a bit made it into her tummy.

Just what my new/old plate was waiting for don't you think?

The rest are now in my favourite biscuit tin. This tin has been dropped so many times by the children that it is covered in scratches, dings and dents but to me it just looks well loved. And talk about cheerful - I do so love dots!

Sometimes it takes a tragic event for us to put things into perspective and to realise just how lucky we are. Sadly the death toll from yesterday has risen to 75 according to the latest report with many people still missing, buried under collapsed buildings. I am struggling to write about it without crying - this is such a tragedy for our beautiful little country. My love and best wishes are with everyone in Christchurch. xx

Inspiration and a bit of crochet recycling!

I didn't have to go far for a bit of inspiration today. I was wearing my current fave skirt which is amazingly colourful and realised I had wool in almost the exact shades. These are just a couple of the squares which will become a fabulous retro cushion. My mind is thinking too many projects ahead so I am going to have to get a wriggle on and finish some of my current projects - and try and not keep starting new ones!

This wee pink hat was the very, very first thing I ever crocheted. It was originally edged in lime green with three little flowers on the front. Miss 3 was going through my new crochet flower book and requested a new look for her favourite hat - hence the recycled crochet title. That's the beauty of crochet - you can easily change things by undoing a few rows - unlike knitting which (to me anyway) seems so much trickier. It's also fantastic to be able to add crochet rows to knitted hats as kids grow when they are particularly attached to certain items in their wardrobe! I had a few spare minutes while Miss 3 was at creche and quickly stitched the flower and leaves on and changed the edging to red. When she got home and saw it, she was adamant that it must be worn immediately - even though it is a very HOT 26+ degrees here today. Now that's crochet love huh.

Our tomato plants have finally started to ripen and they're all doing it at the same time so with an overwhelming amount of tomatoes I had a session in the kitchen whipping up this delicious arrabiata. It is a recipe from a woman I admire hugely, Wendyl Nissen who has a fabulous website (and weekly newsletter) about living like a nana, homemade lotions and potions and lots of natural alternatives. I adore her books and have made many changes in my life since reading them. I have been making my own soap for ages but with her recipes I have branched out and made lovely hand wash and air freshener.

I have just started making dinner using this arrabiata and it smells amazing. Along with some gorgeous homemade french bread - I think it will be gorgeous.

And just to end things today, I have to show you this very old but very pretty plate I found at my favourite op shop (charity store). It was only $8 which I thought was fantastic considering it's all gold and sparkly and gorgeous! I can't bring myself to put it away so it's living on my bench for now. I think it's screaming out for a batch of scones to be piled on top!

High tea and a bit of crochet!

I finished my gorgeous scarf last night - and I absolutely adore it. Roll on winter I say! It was remarkably simple to make (once I got my head around the pattern) and looks much trickier than it was. As mentioned previously, this was a pattern on Ravelry by Kathryn Nunes called the Van Ness scarf. I have decided that I can be a bit blonde when it comes to following patterns. I don't just look at them and get it immediately - but then again I am fairly new to this crochet thing! I always get there in the end which is the important thing.

I tweaked the pattern slightly by leaving off the final few rows. I did them originally but I decided I didn't want the ends to flare out so much so I undid it and love the result. I think it looks fab. I'm off to buy more wool tomorrow to make one for a friend of mine. It was such a lovely pattern to work with - I highly recommend it. In total it probably took about 3 hours to complete. A brilliant last minute gift project perhaps?

Apologies to anyone who is currently in the middle of winter ... but this was just the most blissful hour on Friday. Sitting in the sun on Oriental Parade, looking like a bit of a nana with my crochet hook, but it really was just perfect.

It's now Sunday here and I'm trying my best to ignore the fact that today is officially my last day in my 30's - eeek - but I'm slowly embracing this momentous point in my life. As a bit of an early birthday celebration it seemed only right to leave my 30's with a nice nana-y high tea. Surrounded by wonderful family and friends, we ate and drank until we could hardly move. We had tea at the James Cook Hotel, on the 17th floor so the views were fabulous. The food was gorgeous and I secretly wish no one wanted their chocolate mousse as I really, really wanted to have more than just the one!! I am told that calories don't count when it's your birthday so phew, that's just as well. I will definitely go back there again with girlfriends - it was gorgeous. I've been to a few high teas around town, but the food, huge tea list and adorable staff made this just the perfect morning.