Make, Bake, Sew, Grow

{ Make }

I'm making a concerted effort to read more, and during the day or in the evenings, rather than for ten minutes before falling asleep in bed at night. What happened to the English graduate bookworm who devoured book after book, who read adventuoursly and widely, who spent her twenties working in a book shop, reading and recommending and knowing exactly what was coming by which author...oh yes, that's right. She had children. 

Recent purchases include Sense and Sensibility, bought purely for the beauty of the cover. (I do have a paperback copy somewhere but it's covered in my own earnest undergraduate scribbles and underlinings which annoy me), The Wonderful Weekend Book (thank you Mimi for the suggestion) and Lost in Translation, a lovely, funny little coffee table book about words that do not have a direct translation into English. A particular favourite of mine is the German "kummerspeck", literally "grief bacon", ie the excess flab gained from emotional overeating. I've gained and lost a fair amount of kummerspeck in my time I reckon.

I've begun re-reading Sense and Sensibility and am loving it. I forgot how readable Austen is, and how funny.

I don't know about you but I always match my cake to my books. It's how I retain my figure. 

We are failing to make any kind of decision about ceiling lights in the hall and continue to embrace bare bulb chic. It annoys me that we decorated the hall last autumn and it's still not finished. Particular hatred is always aimed at that stupid, pewter, slightly wonky single plug socket you see in the wallpaper. I would like it to be changed to a white one, and level at that. John says it will "be a bugger" to do. It remains unchanged. 

{ Bake }

Lighter, greener eating continues to go well and I am really enjoying it. This green smoothie of banana, pineapple and kale was delicious. I've worked out that kale is nice in smoothies is you use a really small amount and then blitz the hell out of it.

I recently saw a recipe in The Guardian magazine for Prawn Bun Cha, little spicy Thai flavoured prawn balls served with rice noodles and salad.

As a rule, if a recipe contains things like ginger, lemongrass and chilli, I will want to eat it, and eat a lot of it. 

This did not disappoint. It was totally delicious. The only thing I would say is it's more of a salad than a dinner and I had a hard time convincing John that it was, in fact, a Proper Dinner. I'll definitely be making it again but in the summer, perhaps to be eaten outside with a cold beer...(Hayfever and insects do not feature in my fantasy.)

And although I am not eating cake, I was big enough to make a batch of chocolate covered flapjacks for everyone else. These are always satisfying baking as they take about five minute to make and they are very popular. 

{ Sew }

It's all about the finish here, as two projects I started last summer finally reach completion. 

My Cedar River Blanket is so nearly finished. I'm currently darning in the ends then it's one quick border, possibly a blocking, and done!

And, (I'm on fire here), my Midsummer Sprigs cross stitch sampler is ready to be ironed and sent to the framers. Yay! I have a renewed passion for cross stitch at the moment and have all sorts of plans and ideas for things I want to make this year. 

{ Grow }

Out there, in the wasteland, some stuff that I planted last autumn is coming up! I'd kind of forgotten about it. The grass needs cutting so badly, the borders need tidying, the earth all needs weeding and turning over. But, if you look carefully, you can see little pops of yellow and purple here and there.

I feel a gardening day coming on, perhaps in the Easter holidays.

I have such a long list of things I want to do around the house this Easter. Nothing exciting, just everyday things; sorting, cleaning, tidying, washing, clearing out, chucking out. It's going to feel good.

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{Make } Something for our home, or for me.

{ Bake } Something from the kitchen.

{ Sew } Something crafty.

{ Grow } Something in the garden.