My Sunday Photo

You can't appreciate nature and the countryside behind a computer or laptop you've got to get out and be interactive! So this morning I had had enough and went out into the wide world like I did before the depression and anxiety had a firmer grip of me . I'll not lie there are times I do struggle and I've had people try and point out if I should be blogging as it might be fuelling my insecurities .

Quite basically knickers to that . If you don't  understand what I do just ask plain and simply just ask .

Any way back to searching out the countryside and seeking the Hawk soar on the breeze ( alas no photos ) but you can imagine if you will . The Hawk was soaring as the peel of the village bells came across in a sound wave .

I'm back in my photography vibe and this week I'll be getting the Nikon out and taking some countryside shot s , I really wish I had worn my wellingtons as I nearly fell into a huge mound of frog spawn .

 

Easy Tomato Pasta Sauce

Pasta sauce is one of those sauces I'd rather not have from a jar and to make my own as its a brilliant emergency rescue tea or tea / dinner anytime . And I am readying my son for university even though he has cookery GCSE grade A 

Ingredients 

2 cans of tinned tomatoes 

or in my case 1 can of tinned tomatoes and a bottle of passata.This will make for a lot of sauce which you can obviously freeze .

1 medium onion thinly sliced 

1 tablespoon of mixed herbs / Italian herbs 

Salt and pepper seasonings 

2 cloves of garlic crushed

150 Ml of vegetable stock 

1 tablespoon of plain flour to thicken 

Couple knobs of butter 

Method 

1. Melt the butter in a pan and soften the sliced onion,  then add the crushed garlic , herbs. Next add the vegetable stock bringing to the boil seasoning with salt and pepper.

2 next add the tomatoes cover and simmer for 20 minutes. You could blend and make smooth if you so wish or leave it rustic which is cookery speak for leave it just as it is ! 

3 Simmer until thick adding in the tablespoon of flour then stir in the rest of the butter .

Use the sauce with spaghetti or smooth out over a pizza base 

Finding Your Spring Style Quirk

Bowl of light, prefect for that Spring style quirk.

With Spring approaching I felt the need to jazz up the front room a little and my budget to be honest isn't huge , there is little hope of DIY Sos coming to my rescue , don't even think of asking 60 minute make over to come over. Today it was the trip to the mighty mega that is Ikea all roads lead to the wardrobe department where Narnia awaits. I have always had a style quirk a homely feel and not a style where I am afraid to use my objects and furnishings around me.

SOLVINDEN covers on Ikea lED lights

I do think you can combine products from two companies , in this instance I 've combined a metal dish from Next which is a poppy flower  design and the lights are from trusty IKEA . The bowl itself was the most expensive purchase as £24.99 and I adore the light reflecting of it and it's definitely a statement piece and is a focal talking point .

The LED lights themselves which as mentioned are from IKEA were £8 and then £4 for the SOLVINDEN covers . Not all the lights are covered as I like to see some twinkly contrast this is my Spring style quirk .

The Joy Of Expect

The joy of expect

I'm turning my thinking on its head , whilst the odd adage of it can go wrong it will go wrong ( is probably true )

 I'm going to expect joy which for an over thinker this is quite revolutionary , if I implode and then eat my own weight in cake is yet to be seen.

The joy of seeing the catkins upon the trees within the churchyard as the clock just goes past 3.

Church clock strikes just past 3 

Also joy in updating a lighting feature in my front room say hello to when IKEA meets Next , the twigs with lights on have gone that was so 2015! Just a little change in say a light decoration can add a whole new dimension to a room . Ps I do also have some bunches of twigs as well that have little paper flowers on , I think this is an idea that people could develop and add to like paper butterflies , fairies etc.

Bowl of light

Getting my shop soup maker was an utter joy , I'm in love with it ( and yes it's easy to clean and no it's not a device consigned to the cupboard )

Pea and ham soup

Joy of going out for a meal in the vibrant of Nottingam a city going through a real visual hip transform a nod of modern merging with the old .

Old buildings in Nottingham 

Ohhh get me having a cocktail ~ rhubarb cocktail to be exact> joy .

Rhubarb cocktail

We were in Nottingham waiting for our son J after he had been to Holocaust orientation . The week previous he had been to Aushwitz and another concentration camp within the day . So it has been a pretty intense couple of weeks. So it's a joy to see him smile as he sees the biggest burger he's even seen in his life .

The biggest chicken burger in the world

Joy has been looking at new sinks and taps as the kitchen sink is in the 

middle of its death throws . It will of course be a new kitchen next year but that joy is yet to come .

Morphy Richards Sauté and Soup

I've always wanted a soup maker , people tried to say you don't need one and that you can just use a blender . I say to those people 

"No "

I tried it once when trying to make a tomato soup and quite frankly it looked like a murder scene ~

I think the most searched for phrase that year was 

" how to remove tomato off ceilings "

 Obviously if I had access to google in 1991 it would have been 

" how to remove potato off a ceiling after using a pressure cooker "

 The first soup I've tried is pea and ham following the recipe within the instruction booklet , granted it doesn't have a creme fraishe swirl but a cracking effort for a first go.

The soup maker has a sauté function hence the name sauté and soup but I haven't tried this yet but I will as soup needs croutons every now and then . The soup maker also makes smoothies and milkshakes and I've had a few people see this as weird , not really you're not using your saucepan fur just one item unless you're my Nan who had a carrot pan.

I just love my Morphy Richards Sauté and Soup  RRP £54 It will not be a piece of kit consigned to the I'll never use again pile ~ like the juicer I once had.

PS It is very easy to clean and takes no time at all ! 

This to me is a bargain as someone sold me theirs half price ( it was new )

I'll be popping by with some soup recipes : aren't you lucky !!!!

Disclosure : The Soup maker has been living with me for 4 days now and long may the honeymoon period continue , my own review / declaration of love .