Cute Rabbit Toy

Happy Wednesday bloggers!

This morning I wanted to tell you about my latest knitting project. It’s a toughie!

I’ve got a christening coming up. I haven’t been to a christening in over 10 years, and I have no idea what the protocol is! I know you’re supposed to give presents, but what to give? We ended up painting her a plate, but I decided to knit her something from us both as well! This also has the advantage that she has something for now, and something for when she grows up  a bit.

So there we go, the reason behind the present. I should probably tell you what it is now!

I fancied a soft toy, so I searched Ravelry. For those of you that don’t know, Ravelry is a really awesome online community where you can search hundreds of patterns, both free and paid for! Having searched the free ones for ideas, I decided I fancied making a rabbit, so I opened up my search to include paid for patterns to find the perfect one.

And I found it. Like I said, I paid for it, so I can’t give you the full pattern, but for those of you that are interested, I found it here.
And here’s a picture for the people who aren’t interested in going to a knitting community, but wanna see what awesomely cute thing I’m knitting:

Isn’t he gorgeous? I love his little piebald patch and his cheeky face! I’m contemplating making him into a girl with a pink dress taken from one of the many other patterns online, but I haven’t decided yet!

So, it’s time for some piccies! I’ve completed the head:

Yes, I’m aware his eyes are different sizes, but I’m just a beginner… and it gives him character! His body is also complete, but not yet stuffed, and he has two unstuffed legs! It’s a half day at uni so i’ll probably get legs sewn on tonight and then you can have a couple more piccies!

He is such fun to knit! The pattern said that it takes her around 14 hours to get it done. Due to the fact I’ve started 7 legs to correctly complete 2, it’s probably going to take me a little longer than that, but it’s so worth it!

Great gifts come from the heart, and it’s all about the effort put into them, not the money.

SO GO ON, BE FRUGAL!

Summer Berry Booze

So since I’ve spent the weekend alone (boohoo) it wasn’t just the pasta I’ve been working on! I’m beginning a knitted rabbit (I’ll do another post later!) and I also started a tea-based homebrew!

On Saturday I put 10 teabags in a bucket with some sugar and some yeast. Yesterday (Monday) I put it into a demijohn (it was looking very frothy!), and it is now bubbling away at 120 bubbles per minute! Wow! 😀 I’ll post the recipe to my homebrew page in a few days, but just to keep you going….

Here are some piccies of the brew so far:

Day 1:

Day 2:

Once again we’ve been counting the bubbles produced! It reached a high of 219 bubbles per minute! 😮

Nettle Pasta

I know, I know, it’s time for an update. Don’t worry, in my opinion it’s well worth the wait!

Yesterday I made nettle pasta!! It was a really fun way to spend an afternoon! I made a double batch, testing two recipes I found on the internet, and it took me a good few hours to get it all done. However, if you have to entertain small children, this is a fantastic way to do it, and they get a healthy meal at the end of it!

Wait, did I say healthy? A little bit of research on the internet told me that one cup of boiled nettles (which is what’s in one of these recipes) provides 36% of your RDA of vitamin A, 43% of calcium and 8% of your iron (http://skipthepie.org/ethnic-foods/stinging-nettles-blanched-northern-plains-indians/). This, however, varies depending on where the nettles came from. Nettles are known to hoard vitamins and minerals, and can contain up to 50% of your RDA of most minerals!

Told you- very healthy!

I made 3 flavours of tortelloni to freeze, and 6 or 7 ‘nests’ of tagliatelli as well. The tortelloni was definitely a money-saver. Tortelloni from Tesco is in the region of £1.90 for 2 servings. Assuming that I made about 5 servings- worth (it might probably more), mine worked out at an astonishing 5-20p a portion, depending on the fillings!

Totally aside from the savings, it was really good fun, tastes good, and makes the kitchen smell amazing!

The recipe will be posted over at my foraging page with lots of piccies- go have a look! For now I’ll leave you with this:

Go frugal!

 

Almost finished Brown Bear!

My brown bear for my Noah’s Ark is almost finished! He now has a head, and is a little bit more in proportion. He is also very soft, due to the fact I’ve spent a good few hours sanding his every corner!

 

Obviously He still needs some eyes of some sort (ideas appreciated!) and a bit more expression in his face, but all in all I think he’s looking pretty good for my first attempt at an animal!

Garlic-y Mushroom-y Pasta….foraged and almost free!

A genius of a recipe for the broke, this is a delicious mix of cheap stuff and foraged foods!!

Here’s how to make it:

– Handful of mushrooms (St. Georges Mushrooms are great!)
– Few sprigs of garlic-mustard, leaves finely chopped
– A couple of shallots, finely chopped.
– Double cream
– One egg for every two people
– Spaghetti

1. Put the pasta on to cook.
2. Fry the shallots and mushrooms in butter. Add 2/3 of the chopped garlic-mustard
3. Add the cooked pasta to the pan and stir. Take off the heat
4. Beat the egg and a splash of double cream together carbonara-style. Then pour over the pasta and stir in.
5. Add the final 1/3 of the garlic-mustard and ENJOY!

Delicious, super-easy, and super-cheap! By my reckoning, it cost about 30p for the pasta, cream and egg- perfect!

GO FRUGAL!

St George’s Mushrooms

VERY exciting weekend for our foraging skills.

Walking through a little wood in Bristol, I spotted a little shiny white thing. Yes, it was a mushroom! Trying to contain our excitement, we used our knowledge of mushrooms to find the circle. Despite not finding the WHOLE ring, the bit we did find suggested it was at least a couple of metres in diameter! Woop woop! Despite this, all the mushrooms we could see were very little.

Half an hour further on our little walk, we spotted a few more! This ring was nearly 4m in diameter and centred on a gorgeous Lime tree!

We got them home and looked them up- sure enough, we had ourselves what looked a lot like a handful of St George’s. Just to be sure, we did a spore print- and yes- it was white!

What a find! This is the first time we’ve found St George’s, so we were very excited! I fried a couple, and they were really, really delicious! Tonight they’re going to form the basis for a creamy garlic mushroom pasta dish- Yum!!

A Brown Bear for Noah’s Ark

So I have this dream.

When I have kids, I will have enough hand-carved wooden toys to make a whole ark for them to play with. Or they can pretend to farm them, or whatever, I won’t dictate their play… but I DO want to provide some proper solid wooden toys… carved by me!

Anyway, luckily I’ve got a good few years before I’m going to need these toys, because I’ve only just started. Here is my first attempt- a brown bear. I’m not quite sure why he came to me first, but the wood was just calling for a bear!

Check him out:

I’m not sure what the wood is, but it feels like pine to me. It is NOT a joy to carve. It’s a pain in the bum and splinters a lot. It’s also my first attempt at making anything more difficult than a spoon, so so far he’s a bit disproportionate. But I’ll get there!

Fishy Sunday Lunch

Ok, so check this one out:

Pan-fried grey mullet on a potato and courgette sautee, roasted cherry toms, steamed asparagus, and a delicious fennel sauce.

How much did it cost? £1.50 per portion.

I know. No way.

Ok so we cheated- the fish was caught, once again, by my wonderful little brother. Buuut all that beautiful veg was just £2.90 on the Saturday market, including some Pak Choy which we didn’t get around to using.

A filling summery Sunday lunch for hardly anything! 😀

Homemade sushi hits the spot!

We do love a bit of sushi, but it’s so expensive! This is our attempt at making our own. From an approximation of prices at Yo! Sushi, we decided this was worth about £50. We spent about £10, and it fed two of us with loads of leftovers!

 

 

On the menu was:
– Nettle and salmon skin maki
– Salmon and avocado maki
– Salmon nigiri
– Beef nigiri
– Salmon sashimi
– Beef nigiri
– Battered squid with a lime and chilli sauce
– Miso soup with tofu and seaweed.

Sound good? Try it for yourself! We went to the local market to get cheap salmon and beef, and an asian food shop for the rest!