Friday, March 23, 2012

Stuffed GARBAGE Leaves

Today I'm linking up with Crunchy catholic momma for a meat-less friday.  My dish includes fish so I think this is ok,  I remember learning when I was younger that catholics can eat fish on fridays, right?  If I'm wrong, please delete me, well my post anyway.

Stuffed GARBAGE leaves taste far better than they sound!! in-fact the title is just rubbish, as they are actually stuffed CABAGE leaves.  But that's one of the joys of being married to a foreigner; one small substitute of a G in place of a C, add a R and my healthy, well-balanced, lovingly prepared meal turns into a joke!

So you will need:-
6 cabbage leaves blanched in boiling salted water for no more than 3 minutes.
300g of fish (I used salmon)
1 small onion
herbs (tarragon or dill work great)
2 tbsp of cream
400g tinned tomatoes
S & P

Chop the onion and herbs.  Take off the skin and any bones from the salmon and mix (in a mixer), add onions, herbs, cream and S & P.
Share this mixture among the 6 cabbage leaves, and secure them closed with tooth picks.
Poach  for approx 45 mins in the tinned tomatoes.

We had ours with rice.  And the kids will now hence-forth know this meal as Garbage leaves! - Merci mon amour!
Bon appétit

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Yarn along - So far so good.

Yey, the illusive yarn along button has agreed to join me again this week, so this means I'm linking up with Ginny.
A few days ago I cast on an 'aestlight' shawl, and believe it or not, this is a stash buster!  A friend of mine, who knitted for a shop in Paris for many years, recently came to stay and brought me a big bag of stash.  In amongst the lone balls was enough yarn to make myself a shawl.  We've been invited to a wedding in June so I though that a shawl would be just the order of the day, now all I have to do is to find a dress to put under it!

So far so good, it starts from a point and increases by making a stitch with a yarn over at the beginning of each row, which causes a loop.  I have read ahead slightly and am thus seeking a little advice before proceeding. The pattern states to 'pick up from front to back, 60 loops down to the point of the triangle and then another 60 loops up the other side (do not knit any of these sts yet)'  does this 'pick up' mean just sliding the needle through the loops, front to back?  It sounds pretty self explanatory but I'd just like to be sure.  The shawl edging looks so fancy that I'm sort of expecting it to be complicated.
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As you can see I'm reading the Bible.  I'm reading it as one would a book - cover to cover.  'The MacArthur Daily Bible' was gifted to me from Linda over at Prairie Flower Farm, and recommends reading 1 chapter of the Old Testament, 1 chapter of the New Testament, a Psalm and a Proverb daily to read the entire book in one year.  So far so good; I have many many questions and queries, which I am duly noting with a hope that they will be explained later, on further reading!  Although I don't particularly want to ask these questions to anyone, I am finding 'The Reason for God' quite helpful.  Written by Timothy Keller, who is a pastor, it none the less offers objective arguments to many of my questions, and tackles them from angles that I might not have considered through my own reasoning.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Yarn along - Milo and Mother Bear

Linking up with Ginny this weeks Yarn Along, but for some reason the 'yarn along' button doesn't want to join me!

I haven't been getting much knitting or crochet done lately, stuff keeps coming up! I keep planning on some craft time of an evening but Tino, has of late, been unable to get to sleep due to 'nightmares' involving monsters and the fridge-freezer (?).  So I have to snuggle down with him and then, inevitably, end-up falling asleep early, but still  I wake at the usual time next morning, guess I must need the rest!!
I have at least managed to finish his Milo vest, which he's likes very much and he has requested another "with owls this time please".
To try out the owl and the OX motif I made these little book marks.
I've also made two more bears for the Mother Bear project  but have run out of stuffing,  here they are anyway, looking a little flat.
Amy, from the Mother bear project, very kindly sent me these two pictures of one of my bears in Sudan! She also asked me to mention that if should anyone be interested in knitting for the project, the pattern is available on the web site.


Still reading my way through the Little House series and have just recently added two books to my library, 'Peintures végétales avec les enfant' - fun ideas for making home made paint dyes with petals, mushrooms, wood bark etc, and Je fabrique mes produits ménagers - creating home made cleaning products using mainly baking soda, vinegar and essential oils.
 Also dug out my 'How to grow herbs' book as I want to try growing soapwart  -"It is of a somewhat an ungratful taste, and therefore it must be reserved for the poorer sort" (John Gerarde, The Herball 1633). - I don't care what it tastes like, I'm planning on making shampoo with it!