Crafts and Life

Two quick bits of news :- I have a cleaner starting tomorrow! Okay this could push my debt free date back a bit but I will feel better about the house, which means I will feel better about me (might lose some weight!), and if I feel better about me…

Ingredients 3 tbsp olive oil 10 shallots, peeled and left whole 3 bay leaves 350g/¾lb dry-cured bacon lardons handful fresh thyme sprigs, on the branch, washed, tied together tightly with string 5 garlic cloves, peeled, chopped 750ml/1¼ pints red wine 2.5kg/5½lb chuck steak or braising steak, cut into 4cm/1½in cubes…

I've not posted on my diary for a while, things have been off and odd for a while but I aim (with an on-line buddy) to get me and everything about me back on track! So that is my house, my crafting and most importantly my health/weight, starting with food…

In case you are wondering this means he hopefully no longer needs to wear his muzzle as we have had a new fence put in down the side of the garden he was escaping from on a regular basis! In other news my first part of The Art of Crochet…

I am doing a PIF as I won one :-), if you wish to be in with a chance of winning please post your email address in the comments section and remember if you win to Pay It Forward as well! Send no less than 5 stitching/knitting/craft related items per…

One miffed Cairn Terrier, well we had to stop him eating the mesh fence somehow! Hopefully the new fence will mean he won't need to wear this for too long – because trust me it is not the easiest thing to get onto him!

The beer section of the title come from the beer bottles 🙂 Ota and J very kindly gave Dr Tempe some beer for Yule in a flip top bottle, seeing as Dr Tempe a) enjoyed the beer very much (thank you Ota!) and b) is brewing his own he thought…

Ingredients 30g/1oz unsalted butter ½ tsp caraway seeds 30g/1oz plain flour 500ml/17fl oz full-fat milk 100g/3½oz cream cheese salt and freshly ground black pepper ½ onion, peeled, finely chopped 130g/4½oz canned dolphin-friendly tuna, drained, flaked 160g/5½oz pasta (such as macaroni, penne or fusilli), cooked according to packet instructions, drained 60-80g…

Ingredients 2 onions 300 g/10 oz carrots 1 kg/2 lb 4 oz potatoes 450 /1 lb lean minced beef 2 beef stock cubes 400g baked beans splash of Worcestershire sauce handful of roughly chopped parsley Method Cut each onion into 8 wedges. Roughly chop the carrots and cut the potatoes…

Ingredients 2 large eggs 0.5 cup unbleached all-purpose flour 2 tbs vegetable oil salt to taste Method Stir together the eggs, flour, vegetable oil and salt. Drop them, 0.5 teaspoon at a time, into salted boiling water and cook for 3 minutes. Taken from Real Stew bu Clifford A Wright