Tasty Broccoli and Egg Tart

Food! This broccoli and egg tart was a really easy and tasty dinner for this week, and as I used pre-rolled pasty, super-lazy! Loosely inspired by the recipe here, This is an infinitely adaptable recipe, and a nice alternative to pizza, although much the same concept.

I'll give you a basic recipe, but you can put on any topping really!

Ingredients for mine:
pack of pre-rolled puff pastry
1 head of broccoli
1 avocado
1 yellow pepper
1 medium red onion
roughly 100g goats cheese
3 eggs
Wholegrain mustard

Spread out the pastry on to a baking sheet, prick with a fork and blind bake for 10 mins.

Meanwhile, boil the broccoli until cooked to how you like it.

Fry the onions until softened and add the yellow pepper and cook for a couple of mins, then stir in a teaspoon of mustard.

Once everything is cooked, spread the onion mix onto the pastry, then pile of the broccoli, avocado and cheese. Try to leave wells for the eggs. Crack the eggs into the gaps, then bake the whole thing for another 10 mins or so, until the eggs are cooked to your liking.

I had it with salad and yoghurt on the first day, then baked beans the next!

What would you put on yours? :)

A Wintertime Dorset

I had a lovely Christmas in Dorset, doing the rounds visiting lots of my family. The rain did its level-best to interrupt the festivities, but at least the sun shone a little, and we even had a bit of frost. I would rather snow or sunshine than rain, but I think beauty can be found in anything, if you look hard enough. I am looking forward to the days getting longer though so I can get out and get some more pictures!

The Moronic Cushions

Hope everyone had a good new year! I just wanted to tell you about a Christmas present project that rescued my ego, after I had a moment of idiocy when making the wedding quilt! I managed to cut the strips for the star at the wrong angle, so the every single one was the wrong size and shape! Luckily I just had enough fabric to redo the quilt, but it left me with a big pile of misshapen strips. I didn't want to waste the lovely expensive quilting cotton, so I sewed the strips together and hey presto, made some cushion covers!

I added some extra fabric to the edges of the diamond strips, then quilted as normal. I then used the quilted square for the front of the cushions, with a simple overlapped back out of some striped stash fabric. I think they came out pretty well, out of disaster can come success :)

A Year in Photos

So here we are, in the dying moments of 2013. It has been a year of adventures, some travel and thankfully a fair bit of sunshine! I hope that 2014 has more of the same, and perhaps the broadening of my horizons to take in some new parts of the world. Here are my favourite photos from each month of 2013, links to the original posts are below each image. Fittingly, this is my 150th blog post, I can't believe I have kept it up for so long!

January - More fun in the snow in Morzine with my fabulous family

February - Unseasonally fine weather, flying high with the birds

March - Getting out there for an early-morning ride, taking time to enjoy the view

April - All the yellows as spring sprang

May - Bath showing her better side

June - Garden helper

July - Bright Spanish sun in gorgeous (and boiling!) Valencia

August - Delightful and delicate supermodels showing their colours

September - Autumn is coming!

October - riding out to meet the sunrise

November - Back in France for some autumn magic

December - Winter light touches Bath


Happy new year!

Merry Christmas!

Only rain this year, but I can dream :) Hope you all have a very merry Christmas, see you on the other side!

2013 Sewing Adventures

This year I have really made a stab (pun intended!) at sewing, partly inspired by The Great British Sewing Bee BBC programme, and all the brilliant sewing bloggers I subsequently discovered (Tilly, Karen, Gertie, Rochelle to name just a few). Here is a summary of the few things I have made this year, hopefully the learning curve is evident!

This is the first garment I have made, or at least that is wearable! A simple gathered skirt, using the tutorial on Tilly's blog. I made the front as one piece and put a zip in the side seam, and put a pocket on the other side - all clothes should have pockets! I also lined it as the white was a bit see-through. I have worn this lots so I call that a success.

I then gave my first proper pattern a go, the Hawthorn dress by Colette, following the sewalong that followed the pattern release. I made a dress version using this fun floral print, then later made the plaid/tartan shirt (below).

Cuff with proper sleeve placket, the learning curve continues!

After starting my sewing career on a hand-crank Singer 99k from 1946, I got this beast after sewing up the Hawthorn dress. It is a Singer 401G, made in 1965, and it is brilliant machine! An ebay purchase, including shipping and a service cost less than £100, much less than a new machine that is so well built. As it has lived for this long I hope it will last for many more years. It is an all-metal construction, and does lots of fancy stitches. It also came in the original case with most of the original accessories, so I think it has been well looked after. I love it!

Next up, I made a bridesmaid's dress for my sister's wedding. That is me on the left of the pic! It is based on the Elisalex dress by By Hand London. I braved some expensive silk, which unfortunately my camera does not like photographing! I made a circle skirt and an underskirt, to fit with the style of my sister's dress. I also added lace sleeves. I am fairly pleased with the outcome, although the silk stretched a bit during sewing so the fit wasn't as good as it could have been.

More wedding fun!

As an aside, my beautiful sister runs a catering business in the French Alps, if you ever find yourself there and in need of delicious food. Have a look here if you need convincing of whether you should visit!

And this is my Christmas party dress! This is a proper Elisalex with the tulip skirt. The construction of this dress is a joy, the bodice is really clean in the inside, and the princess seams give a lovely fit. I love the fabric, found in Cardiff on sale, supposed to be for curtains I think, but the weight works well with this pattern.

As well as attempting dress-making, I also thought I'd give quilting a go, I have loads of clothes anyway! I like quilting, it is a little less stressful than dressmaking as it can be quite repetitive, which is good when I only have evenings to sew, after using my brain for science all day.

My first quilting adventure, blogged in more detail here. Purely self-indulgent, now has a permanent spot on my bed :)

This was a wedding present for my sister, more details here. I think it was liked!

So, I am quite pleased with everything I have made this year, I feel that I have learnt a lot and pushed myself, and I know that everything I have made will be worn. I think it is safe to say that I am addicted; next up, Grainline Archer shirt! Lots of fabric to work through...

Winter Blues... and Pinks and Purples

It is that time of year again, I really don't seem to be seeing much sunlight except sunrises and sunsets, although that isn't the worst thing in the world. I think I am more excited about the winter solstice and the days getting longer again than I am about Christmas! Lots of pretty skies for you anyway, to break the blogging lull.

Magritte painting

Squirrel!!!