sunday snippets.

a couple of photos from my week this week...
courtesy of instagram :D




click on the picture to play along!
it's not too late to join in the blogtoberfest fun either!

a wee finish.

a few weeks ago, actually more like months, my boss asked me if i could whip up a little something for his wife, a tea cosy!
now i'd never made one before, so it needed a little thinking over...

fast forward a month or so, and ta-da!



it's done! and ravelled.

i just hope it fits their tea pot!


have you finished any thing up recently?
or had your boss ask you to make anything?

a recipe.

i thought i might share the recipe for the chicken dish i made wednesday night for dinner.

as i mentioned on wednesday, the recipe is a pete evan's one. and he calls it butter chicken.
i call it tandoori chicken as it's not like any butter chicken i've ever eaten!
i also only use his recipe as a guide because i frankly can't be bothered doing it the way he does it!



ingredients:
800g chicken thighs, sliced into halves/quarters
1 small tub of greek yoghurt (i think they're about 200g?)
3 heaped tablespoons of tandoori paste (i use store bought, but you could definitely make your own!)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 large onion, thinly sliced
piece of ginger, finely chopped, optional (thumb sized)
1/2 cup almond meal, optional

the ginger and almond meal i made optional, they're not things i would normally have in the pantry, so they generally only go in if i've got them!

method:
preheat your oven to about 170 degrees celsius (probably a bit less for fan-forced)
then pop the onions in a frying pan with a little bit of oil on a medium heat to soften up
combine the yoghurt, tandoori paste, garlic, ginger and almond meal in a bowl.
the original recipe calls for a food processor for this step, but i find washing my food processor to be a bit of a pain. crushing my garlic and finely chopping the ginger (or even crushing it in the garlic crusher too!) is much more therapeutic for me :D
take the onions off the heat and put them into a nice oven dish, something ceramic works well...
dip your chicken bits in the mixture and then pop them into the fry pan to seal up nicely. they'll only need turning once.
once they're nicely sealed, pop them into the oven dish too and then pour the extra mixture on top.
give it a bit of a swish around then wrap the top up with some alfoil (or pop on a lid if you have one!) and then your dish can go into the oven.

the original recipe says to cook the chicken in the fry pan and then just grill the chicken in the dish for five minutes or so but what i like to do is to keep it in the oven for at least an hour.
that way the flavours really intensify and the chicken is soft and delicious!

serve it up in a bowl with some fluffy rice, some coriander sprigs and maybe even some steamed greens or a big whack of salad leaves!


bon appetit!

what are your favourite things to cook at the moment?

my creative space.

despite the weather, my creative space today is heavy on the wool. let's be honest, when is it NOT!?!

i started a new commuter project tuesday night, so i had something to do while taking the bus this morning...



it's another farmer beanie and taking from the lessons i learnt from the last one i made, i've cast on 72 stitches this time :D

and for tonight, when i've gotten home from work...



there's a big ball of wool waiting, with my trusty 4.00mm hook, for the new bamcal squares for october.

my reversible wrap is currently out of wool, so while i wait for it to arrive, i thought i'd better make a start on the new squares :D

what are you creating today in your space? join in over here!

quality time.

i had today off from work, and with the weather being fabulous, i thought it'd be a good idea spending some quality time...

first, i caught up with my brother. i helped him out with some filming he needed done for a uni project.

when we were done, we jumped in my car and went and visited my grandma!
our great aunt and uncle were there when we arrived so we got to catch up with them too :D

i then got home, and after quickly throwing together some dinner (a heavily modified pete evans recipe for butter chicken) i spent some quality time in my backyard!



boy does it need a lot of work, but i kept it nice and simple and got some spring seeds planted!
beans and corn and snow peas and rocket and basil and a lettuce mix

can't wait for them to start poking their little heads up!
and more importantly, i can't wait to serve these up for dinner!!

what did you get up to today in the lovely sunshine?

getting ready...

this morning, i set out some stuff to do when i got home from work...



i see a looooooooot of cutting in my future!

what are you up to today?

october blogtober

september (where did it go?) was the month of getting things done.

and i got a few things done!
i got my bamcal squares caught up and joined.
i also got knitting some more on my reversible wrap...



and then i ran out of wool... time for a(nother) visit over here...

i also knitted a scarf, and a tea cosy, and made a start on my super secret hen's party sewing

but now, for october blogtober (see what i did there?)



happy blogtoberfest! a festival of bloggy goodness, this year hosted by the lovely kat!
you can pop over and sign up any time! the more the merrier!

today, day one, kat has suggested setting an intention...
my intention is to get my blog on, every day, for 31 days :D and to discover some new to me blogs :D

cheers to that!



i do of course have some other goals for october...

i want to get some seedies planted. beans and corn and basil need to start happening i think!
i also want to try this. i looooooove sweet potato!

i've also got some painting to get done, the remaining kitchen cupboards... and some unfinished pine side tables we bought recently from ikea...

i intend to make a start on the long promised jumper for bb, and maybe even get my reversible wrap finished finally!
oh and my bamcal squares, can't forget about them!

phew! that'll do for now i think!!

what are you up to this month?
are you joining in with blogtoberfest this year?