Brussels Sprout Bubble and Squeak

It has been a long time since I did a food post , and now it is time that I rectified this and I bet you are glad aren't you after the excesses of Christmas ?! When it comes to Christmas dinner we only ever use 3 sprouts ( for Mr T) as I detest them if I am honest but January is a long month and I have to tighten the shopping budget then using up what we have is a must.


Ingredients


Enough mash potato for 4 people


Left over sprouts chopped

Half to a full onion chopped

Garlic jam ( or you could add a tablespoon of brown sugar instead)

Vegetable stock cube


Method

Chop the Brussel sprouts quite roughly.

Chop an onion.

Place in a bowl together and mix.

Add a tablespoon of garlic jam .

Crumble in a vegetable stock cube.

Heat some oil in a frying pan.

Fry the chopped Brussel sprout and onion for about 5 minutes

Mix with the mashed potato.

Add some more oil to the pan if needed.

Next put the mixture in to pan , divide into four. Fry on each side for about 5 minutes on each side.

I served mine with some pasta but the bubble and squeak would go with anything just don't tell the children it has sprouts in , I didn't ( insert evil laugh)

Preparing For Sweden On A Photography Front

One of the places I would love to go to is Sweden, odd I know as I crave the warmth really but my sense of adventure prevails all other worries like cold tootsies and do they serve tea . I admit I get jittery if I can't have tea abroad  very often to have to take my own tea bags with me as time away from tea I believe is a crime punishable by being hit by a tea spoon.

I have wanderlust and my feet just won't stay still , later this year I am off to Washington DC August in fact but for now it is 800 miles north of Sweden that beckons. I love my photography and I have been wondering about how my cameras would stand up to the cold and when I say cold the temperature out there is blooming cold  . I shall be stopping in the legendary Ice Hotel and I couldn't be more excited how often does an opportunity to stop in such an amazing location happen.


No stranger to the cold am I , having done the Lapland Santa with an emphasis on seeing Finland as well such as playing ice football, sledging with huskies and going on a snow mobile. James Bond has nothing on me except I don't ski or jump of aeroplanes or not yet I don't anyway ( imagines me jumping out of an aeroplane)


One of the cameras I have been looking at that can withstand the frozen wasteland is from Fuji and it is less that £140 , can you recommend anything else that fits within the budget range?

Berry Breakfast Quinoa Porridge

I have / had quinoa hiding in my cupboard not sure exactly how quinoa can hide but it was , this was British grown quinoa from Hodmedod's. I'd never have thought to make porridge with it though , shame I don't have any fancy kilner jars for ultimate breakfast styling.

Ingredients

2 cups of milk

1 cup of quinoa

Blackberries or any other berries (fresh or frozen)

Sugar to taste 

Vanilla essence

Method

Simmer the 2 cups of milk

Then add the cup of quinoa

Do watch !!

Bring to the boil

Then let shimmer for 15 minutes 

Then add the berries 

and warm through adding a few drops of vanilla essence .

The Advancement Of The Inner Self

The title of this reads like one of those mind numbing self help e books or bargain books doesn't it ( makes mental note  to look into this for possible career change) I just thought I would alter how I am a complete 360 on my behaviour and outlook , bare with me it is not a New Year , New Year bull frog piece of carp.

I am still holding into my inner 'teddy bear'

I am not however going to accept being bullied in any shape in real life or on line.

I'm still going to talk to people but I am not going to spread myself thin ( I would love to think myself thin though), I am going to let people come to me for a change. I think quite frankly that some peoples ego don't need any more puffing up, bring loud and brazen doesn't mean you get further though for some folk they will always be sanctimonious.

I still might get sad and woeful and write about depression but hay I'm not trendy enough and my musings do  not resonate ~ well they might for  someone and that is what I'm going to run with.

So what have I noticed since I haven't been so much a go to person on Twitter ~ it reveals I was the conversation chaser , some obviously don't want to interact , yes the world is a busy place but I have my suspicions on what some think of me ( and now I don't care).

I am going to carry on in my way , be as ever random my randomness allows me to discover so many things for my photography,food and recipe development, like minded people and humour, history , acrhictecture archaeology. So I have many strings to my bows , I can and will swap talking form one thing to another this is nervous energy and I won't ever change from this but have learnt to slow down my though process.

I have strength of conviction and won't worry too much much what folk think now , hell the other day I even took gentle ribbing ( all in good taste and it was a good giggle) so where do I go from here , well I make lists now of what i would like to do . Having depression and likely to alway have this is is essential that I have purpose structed in my day , some people are 'it' people and can effortlessly do everything I however am not one of these and will not be part of this pretence.

Changing my appearance I am going to grown my hair , not in an Elsa or Anna type of way though when it stopped I wished I had built a snowmen, no the hair going comes from the delivery man encounter the other day. I answer the door to a delivery man and it was "hello sir" so I think I need to grow my hair , yes you would have though that upper lady bits would have given this away but I guess that day I was channelling my inn 'Tootsie'

So there you have it for now the advancement of my inner self of which I will add to revaluate over the coming weeks and years.

Oh and if you want to talk to me I am @needaphone on twitter.

Crafting In The New Year

Imagine if I didn't go with the flow , yet sometimes I go against it and why not ?

I blog as mentioned before on a whim and a prayer , I don't have a word for  this year , for the more I would think about it , then January would be well and truely over.

Having scone and tea in a field .

Monday for me will be going to see the little Shetland ponies ( I'm allergic to horses and once stayed on a horse farm by mistake ended up in A & E )

Tuesday will be a picnic and hot chocolate in the woods ( last year I could last in the woods and my husband had to come home for the Tesco delivery , I was lost in the woods for 3 hours.)

Wednesday I may hum along to a one direction song , I repeat you tell no one of this .

Thursday trying to explain to the cat for the umpteenth that it can sleep in the new bed without the cardboard box , it's ok Binky Bear will protect you.

Friday I may attempt my nemesis: the Victoria Sponge cake, I've no idea why it feels me with dread but it does. I think it is in the baking matrix do you dare go down that rabbit hole?

Also pencils in looking at YouTube crochet videos ~ non nanna mode.

Recycling old Christmas cards not into gift tags but into new cards.