...cooking things I've Pinned!(Betty Crocker's Cheesy Potato Soup)

I've been debating with myself about getting a slow cooker. I have concerns about food being too mushy, but when I asked on twitter, rather a lot of people felt quite strongly that slow cookers are very good and if you are careful, you can avoid mush.

I mostly want to get one because if we continue to live here, and therefore I continue to nanny, I don't really want to be cooking when I get home not much shy of nine pm  when it's freezing cold in the middle of winter. When you have an almost unheatable flat, standing at the cooker is quite pleasant, but doing so that late and not eating 'till close to ten isn't(at least not on a regular basis). It will result is us living on pizzas from the supermarket, and we all know they don't taste as good as they look. They taste of cardboard and disappointment.

Since I started think about it, I have been occasionally Pinning slow cooker recipes. This one, for Betty Crocker's Slow Cooker Cheesy Potato Soup, with it's picture reminiscent of macaroni cheese, is one of those ones that could either be ace or really, really bad. Pushed on by my cold addled, carb-obsessed brain I decided to find out. My current lack of slow cooker wasn't going to get in the way.

The original recipe calls for various ingredients from Betty Crocker frozen packs. I substituted fresh, and added more fluid (I assume the frozen ones have been at least partly cooked). I also substituted a leek for half a stick of celery and half an onion. And added bacon to the soup base. Extra bacon is never a bad thing.


Slow Cooker Cheesy Potato Soup (without a slow cooker)
(adapted from the recipe by Betty Crocker)
Serves 4, or makes two lots of dinner for two people

1 large leek, diced
2 rashers of bacon, diced
675g potatoes, diced (i didn't peel them, but if you are not keen on skin, do)
950ml chicken stock
1cup water
180g white mature cheddar
2/3 cup milk (I used a mug. I am not that precise clearly)
2tbsp plain flour

optional topping
3 rashers bacon, chopped small
4 small potatoes diced.
tsp flour
pinch of salt and pepper
20g cheese
pepper to taste

• if you are doing toppings, pre-heat oven to 180c
• In a big soup pot, put a little oil, leeks and the two rashers of bacon, and cook till bacon is cooked and leeks have softened
• add all of potatoes (inc ones for topping), give a quick swish round, and add stock and water.
• bring to the boil and simmer for 10 mins with the lid on
• remove 20 of your potato cubes, which should now be par boiled.
• stick lid back on pot and continue to boil
• pat your cubes dry, shake in a little flour, salt and pepper
• put a little oil on a baking tray(is used a small cake pan) and chuck on coated potatoes
• cook in the oven for 25 mins, turning occasionally
• at this point, remove tray and add your chopped up bacon for toppings and return to oven
• Remove when bacon bits are crisp (was 15 mins for me, but keep an eye out) and potatoes are golden
• stir your flour into milk and add to the soup
• cook till soup thickens a bit, about 20 mins
• chuck in cheese, stir till it melts
• serve with a quarter of  toppings sprinkled on each bowl (if you are keeping two portions back, keep in fridge and stick potatoes/bacon under the grill for a bit when you re-heat your soup)

This maybe isn't soup to have every day. It's filled with carbs and cheese, so not the healthiest option. But when you are filled with the cold, it's tipping it down and windy outside and you spent the whole day at the Fringe the day before, walking around and getting soaked, it's very comforting. The bacon and cheese make it a bit like macaroni cheese, but the saltiness of the stock and the texture of the potatoes make it a bit like boulangere potatoes too. I was worried it would be a bit too thick and cheesy, but the additional stock balances out both the thickness and the cheesiness. It definitely came out on the ace side of could be good or bad.

I have actually decided to buy a slow cooker. Sainsbury's have them for £20. It's not an awful lot to lose if I end up not using it.

...'s 30 before 30 (and some birthday photos)

The satchel of beauty. And my trusty, unbreakable camera.

Fair warning fellow bloggers and friends, this is a LOOOOONG post. Probably not a lunch break read. Tea and nibbles required. Maybe a blanket.

Birthday breakfast - boiled eggs and toast with anchovy butter. mmmm.

 So, I'm 29. So far being 29 has included a shiny new red Oxford satchel (thanks Dave!), being given a party at work by the children (I was still 28 technically), birthday lunch out, walking around in the sun and playing with my camera, and Dave's dad and step-mum travelling 100 or so miles to bring us a homemade lunch today, so I'm ok with it. I have been sent cards and given gifts and had lots of messages and things, and even a wee blog post from a very lovely friend, and I feel very lucky. And I'll have some birthday fun next weekend too.

We went to Tonic, a nice coffee place in Dundee for lunch

Nachos and lattice fries. I had nachos on our anniversary too. I LOVE THEM.

 I don't have the fear people seem to exhibit over being 30. It's my next 'big birthday' but I'm happy enough in my life and have had so many good experiences in my twenties that turning 30 an starting another decade of cool stuff doesn't seem bad. Ask me again in 9 months though! After a chat with the other one about her 30 before 30 list, I thought it might be a good idea for me to do one too. Some of these are things in my intentions for this year, since I only have 4 months left to try to make a dent in them and have done little about them! Some are big things and some are small,  some are close to impossible in the next year, but all are important to me. My plan is to update on here as and when things happen, and do quarterly reports.

My satchel again. I LOVE IT SO.

1. Learn to crochet - this is from my intentions list. It's August and I haven't started. But, my present from the paternal parents-in-law (along with a nice bottle of fizz) was a crochet set, and I am bloody determined to do it.

2.  Learn a language - this is also from my intentions list. I'm going to learn German. Theoretically, I know some French, but my accent is coarse and I can't make French sound like French. I reckon German will suit more, and it's an excuse to go there when I've learned a bit.

3. Go to a gig outside the UK - it's be interesting to see how audiences in different places respond to bands. 

4. Learn to take good, interesting photos with a anologue camera - spools are expensive, so I want to get to the stage where almost every shot is a good one. If anyone has any tips about books for this then I'd love to know, I've been searching the internet and it is very confusing.

5. By then end of the year, be buying most of  my clothes second-hand and altering things to fit properly (I'm excluding jeans from this, it's hard enough to find new ones that fit, and a top from New Look I am coveting).

6. Following from that, get myself back into a size 14 -16. The biggest problem I have buying second hand is that I am too chubby and tall. I figure if I remove one of those, I'll have a better chance. Also, it's the best size and the most in shape I have been as an adult. Time to get back there.

7. Volunteer for a charity. I'm giving myself Christmas as a deadline for this, so hope to have volunteered for at least 8 months by my next birthday.

8. Get the Paisley flat in order - the stairs look exactly as the did in my last post about them. Summer has been busy, and everything else has taken precedent. I need to spend less time Pinning things for the flat and more actually doing stuff to it. we have to - finish the stairs, strip and paint the hall floor, repaint the walls, hang pictures, redo the bathroom, re-floor and shuffle about the kitchen and mend the plumbing, paint the livingroom and cover the sofa, paint the bedroom and make me a craft area in it, and paint and sort out the spare room/office. I also have to make the fabric items for all rooms. We might paint some furniture too. Even if we don't end up living there, it's ours for the foreseeable future. It might as well be ours and be nice. 

9. Be more solvent and more in control of money. Dave and I are collectively bad at money. We always muddle through, but it would be pleasant not to spend half the month worrying about paying our rent -  we must make and stick to a budget.

10. Make every gift I give for the whole year (or buy second hand/handmade where the person will appreciate it) - this is always my aim but I never quite get there. This begins with making Christmas presents.

11. Re-learn to screenprint - When I studied graphic design, I gained so many skills that I don't use, and screen printing is one that would be handy for band merch and things, so I'm going to re-learn. First i'm going to do the DIY embroidery hoop and glue method, and then I'm going to properly learn to build screens.

12. As of Monday 22nd of August, have a small drawing for every day. I tried to do this last year and failed miserably. Time to try again. The small sketchbook Dave gave me for our anniversary is easy to carry around and I spend a lot of time sitting about waiting for buses, so I have plenty of time. I'm going to get my skills back.

13. Cook one new thing per week. I own 24 cookbooks. Just in those, there are enough things for me to cook a new thing a week for most of my life probably. Time to use them.

14. Paint or draw and accurate portrait. I've been 'doing' art, in a learning sense since I was eight. I still can't draw people. At least not ones that look like the person I'm trying to draw. On my 30th birthday I want to have at least one picture of a person that looks like the person. *grits teeth*

15. Hoard less - Have a clear out 3 times is the year. the first between Christmas and new year, one in April, and one in August, before the next birthday year starts. Get rid of things that can't be re-used, clothes I don't wear, and sort through and file bills. I know we should do this as and when I get them, but I'm being realistic.

16. Make curtains for the Dundee flat before winter. It's already getting colder, and we freezed our arses of last year. I can sew, and I can buy cheap fabric and make curtains. And yet I haven't. If we end up back in Paisley, this with change to 'Make better curtains for the Paisley flat'. The ones there are unlined and unhemmed. I essentially hand-sewed a channel on the top of them and stuck them on a pole.

17. Have a regular weekly feature on the blog. I think it's probably be the 'Recipes I've Pinned' one I started this week. I really want to be a better writer, and the practice and routine should help.

18. Find and procure a pair of well made, properly fitted knee high boots. I am a size 8 shoe and have fat calves. It makes buying boots a nightmare. I would quite like to go through winter with warm, dry feet. Even if it's next winter.

19. Make a dress in it's entirety. Then keep making my own dresses. I can already do this, but I'm rusty. And bad at zips.

20. Do crockery painting. Even if it's just a paint a mug day or something. I've always wanted to do it.

21. Start an art collection. This sounds grandiose,  but really I just want to add to and hang the few prints/embroideries/paintings we have.

22. Organise my books. They got all jumbled when we moved, and have been so since. I keep putting it off because we might move back, but we might not. The ones in Paisley are all alphabetical now, and I need to do the ones here. It's about a day's work. That day should be soon.

23. Go to another continent.  This is one of the long shot items on the list. I'd like to at least be aiming for it though.

24. Learn to drive (and conquer the fear I have of it). Again, long shot.

25. Tidy and maintain our garden. It is a mature garden and was hard work when we were there all the time, and now we avoid it. It has the potential to be a really nice space again. Even mowing the grass every couple of weeks and weeding would do a lot of good.  This year, autumn and early winter will be used to get it under control. Along with this goes collecting all the fruit it produces and using it.

26. Find a trilby style hat that fits my big head (really, it's too big even for men's ones) and obtain it. I tried one on in a shop in France four years ago - grey cord, beautiful - and didn't buy it. I've been kicking myself ever since.

27. Have my hair cut by a hairdresser. This sounds so basic, but the last time I had a proper haircut was before I went to uni. So at least 7 years. I've cut my own since then, and it always looks fine, but a professional haircut seems like a big luxury. I'm letting my hair grow long again, so when it gets longish, I want to have it cut into choppy layers and have a thick fringe cut in (like Anne Hathaway's hair in The Devil Wears Prada). My hair was like that (self-cut) when I met Dave, and it has been my favourite hairstyle.

28. Another long shot, but I'd like to have laser eye surgery. At the moment, having an astigmatism in each eye means it wouldn't be wholly effective, but if at any point the can work around that, I'd do it. I'm happy enough wearing glasses, but to see without help would be lovely.

29. Do a first aid course. I last did one nine years ago, I can only remember the basics, and as I work with children I'd like to be qualified again.

30.Write something, not a book exactly, but something about my mum and my memories of her (and those of the family). If I do have children, I'd like to have stuff written down so that when I can't remember, the stories are still there. I might occasionally add things in the blog, as I intend it to be a record of my life generally. I don't know. Ideas?

So, these 30 things are things I aim to do. I'd better start soon!

...cooking things I've Pinned! (Bill Granger's Baked Porridge)

I've been squirreling away recipes in Pinterest like there is no tomorrow, but I realised last week that I haven't cooked any of them. As of Sunday, I am aiming to cook one or two of them a week, and I'll share my successes here!

In our Dundee flat, we have two pots -a big soup one and a normal sized one, and a few baking trays and dishes. Since we also have pots and things in Paisley, and the kitchen here is minuscule, I don't want to get more as I'd only have to store them. I generally clean up as soon as I've cooked, but just occasionally I don't want to wash a pot straight away. On Sunday, one in use and one soaking, I found myself searching for another way to cook porridge and came across Bill Granger's Baked Porridge. It is MARVELLOUS stuff. Baked rice pudding like in texture, fruit and spicy, it hits the spot when what you need is comfort. It is a bit of a luxury - anything that uses cream is, but with a few substitutions/omissions, other than some cheap(er) single cream (Granger uses double) I made it from stuff we always have in the cupboard. I don't think it suffered much for it. There are loads of things that could be added - Granger suggests stewed fruit, apples would be delicious, and we though a few chocolate chips sprinkled through might be nice. It is quite thick, so the addition of some hot milk would take it closer to boiled porridge texture if you don't like stodge(it's the GOOD kind of stodge). The recipe says it serves six, but I halved all of the ingredients and we got two decent portions each. I've linked to the original recipe below if anyone wants to try the real thing rather than my cobbled together version!

Baked Porridge (serves 3-4)
(Adapted from recipe by Bill Granger, found on Muesli Lover)

70g porridge oats
10g chopped nuts
50g Dorset Cereals High Fibre Muesli (figured this would replace the nuts and dates I was short of)
40g Sultanas
325ml milk
100ml single cream (if you use double,could you let me know how it is?)
2tbsp caster sugar
1tbsp cinnamon (this is quadruple the quantity suggested. I like cinnamon, and it tasted ace)
1tbsp demerara

• preheat oven to 150c
• put all your dry ingredients (except the demerara, 1/2tbsp of the caster and 1/4 of cinnamon)) in a deep baking dish (worked fine in my silicone one)
• give them good stir to spread ingredients evenly, then flatten it out
• pour on milk and cream and stir again
• bake for 45 mins
• if you think it needs it, add a splash more milk
• sprinkle on rest of sugar and cinnamon
• bake for further 15 mins, till sugar have caramelised a bit

You should end up with it being thickly creamy (Dave says it's like the rice pudding his gran used to make), and with a slight chewy crunch to the 'crust'. Add a little milk or some fruit or jam if you like. Enjoy your pudding-like breakfast :)

This isn't something I could eat every day, but it's lovely and filling and rich. It's not so very much more expensive that normal porridge (if you tend to make it with milk and have jam with it), and I think it will be something to savour on very cold winter mornings. It might be used as a pudding occasionally too.

...enjoying simple pleasures

I know it isn't for everyone else, but this is 'the end of the month' for Dave and I. Money is tight and we are living very plainly. This coupled with a busy, stressful week, a tummy bug (thankfully retreating) and some not great personal news has made me seek comfort, and I'm practically hibernating. Doing this, I remember that lots of the things that make me feel better, happy and safe are very small things.

• Dinner in good company. Siobhan and her M came for tea on Wednesday. there was comforting food, lots of chat, tea, debate, and getting to know each other a wee bit more. Lovely.
• Emails from friends. they have cheered me up over the pass few days. Thank you my lovely girls.
• Having a bowl of baked chips late at night, and savouring the really vinegary ones at the bottom.
• Buttered toast. Oh how I LOVE buttered toast. Butter is a luxury I won't do without. I have been having just a wee scrape because of the tummy issues, but my it is good.
• Planning cooking and crafts for autumn. my Pinterest has seen a lot of action!
• Proper cooking. So much of what Dave and I eat, while mostly home-made is basic stuff I can chuck together in 15 mins or so. Have the time to spend a couple hours making a meal and listening to the radio is rare and I miss it. (there should be some recipes up in theweek)
• Cups of tea of course, particularly when made by Dave. :) 
• My new lovely handmade, recycled, eco-friendly leather bound sketch/notebook. It was my anniversary gift from Dave and I adore it. I gave him a leather bound notebook for writing his songs in. Similar thoughts it seems.
• Sleeping in,the tummy bug has meant I slept late Friday and Saturday which I never do, and had an afternoon sleep on Friday.
• Music. It is an almost constant in our flat(and lives). We have the privilege of calling many of the people we listen to friends, which means the music means even more. The familiarly of songs and the memories around them are lovely when you feel a bit unsettled.
• Blankets. After a week of clammy, too warm sogginess, it has gotten comparatively cold and soggy. Staying in and bundling up while it rains outside is lovely.
• Jimjam days; Often the best days are ones where you get to wear your jimjams all day. Even if they do need the addition of a cardigan because it's cold. It is an absolutely free luxury!
• Finding a really good book! Just now I'm reading 'How to Feed Your Friends with Relish' and it's brilliant - a mixture of advice, personal stories and recipes for all occasions. 

These, along with chat and laughs and hugs with Dave are what keep me functioning.

I am aware I haven't written about the riots in London. It is heartbreaking and people I love were scared, places I love badly damaged. The communal cleaning up was heartening - clearly Britain isn't quite so broken as people want to make out. I can't write much more than that at the moment, I don't have the words and I don't know the answers, and I don't want to be another person pointing fingers and blaming this thing or that thing without having had much time to think about it. I am thinking of you all though Londoners, and hope as a society we can fix this.

... three years married!

The best person in the world.

Today is our third wedding anniversary. Dave has just got back from tour, and we are spending a quiet day together.

This year has brought ups and downs, lovely things and big problems to get through. You realise how solid as a unit you are when things in life aren't good. And you realise that even if they are bloody awful, it's a bit less awful if you have someone else to work through it with. It makes the good things pretty spectacular too, and this year has had it's share of the spectacular. If I were Dave, I'd write a carefully crafted, beautiful song about it, but I'm me, so these few words and some pictures will have to do.

 Jan 2008 - Engaged

August 7th 2008 - happily married

Almost a kiss

Happiness, Love and Cake

Christmas 2009 (first shot with a new camera)

October 2010 - Lexapalooza

July 2011 -2000 Trees - tipsy, soaked, happy.

Dave, thank you for being my someone to work through the bad things with, for being the one who sticks by me and looks after me, for being the one I share the epic adventures and lovely times with. I love you more than toast. xxx

...all partied out.

I've just gotten back to Dundee, having left for Glasgow early on Thursday morning. In those few days, I've done more stuff and seen more people than I'd normally managed in 3 weekends.

On Thursday, I got the train down to meet my SIL, to have lunch and chat, and to spend time with her an the wee smasher (AKA my nephew). From there, we went to Dave's dad and stepmum's house, where there was food, many cups of tea, lots of chat, and some telly watching(it's such a treat now!). I stayed over, and in the morning helped then with the task of cutting their at least three ft taller than me at leas 40ft long mature hedge, and then they helped me being to sort out the abyss our garden has become. From this I have come to the conclusion that helping other people with their garden is infinitely more satisfying than doing your own.

Raking and being methodical - the leaf piles are my work!

One of the rather good things sorting out the garden brought was the discovery that our small raspberry bush had spread among the plants all along one side of the garden. There are hundreds of them, and after about 20 minutes of picking, I had easily a punnet of then and had barely made a dent in the number of them. Our brambles have spread a lot this year too, so jam making is on the cards for the next couple of weekends. In the evening, I stayed with my SIL and BIL, and got to help out with the wee smasher's bathtime, which was really fun. In the morning I spent a wee bit of time with him too, which is great as the time we get to spend with family is so fragmented, and Dave and I really want to be a solid part of his life as he grows up. I realise I am a bit biased, but he is so clever and charming it's a pleasure being with him.

our garden is the path and small lawn square/bushes on the left - it
may not look that tidy, but it previously looked like the back right
section and the bushes had all blended together. And yes that is my finger.

RASPBERRIES!

Now, the main reason (as well as garden taming) for my being back home at the weekend was that Dave's grandpa on his mum's side was 90 on Saturday(he isn't your average 90 year old mind. He swims at 7am every morning and when I first started seeing Dave he was frequently to be found - at the age of 85 - abseiling down large structures for various charities). Dave's mum and her partner held a party for him, and it was brilliant. An epic spread laid on by Dave's mum, his grandpa's whole family - siblings, children, grandchildren, spouses and great-grandchild (as he put it) - gathered. I met family members I'd never met before, had conversations with everyone, laughed a lot, drank wine, ate, almost cried when Dave's grandpa gave a very touching speech about what he would have loved his late wife to have experienced with him in the last ten years. I was saved from crying only by his perfect comic timing, and bits of humour thrown in. There was cake and more chatting, and as the oldest generation left, a small celebratory drink for my MIL's partner who shares the birthday, and had dutifully and very graciously spent the day making things lovely for everyone else. As it got dark, we ate leftovers from the buffet, sitting outside and talking about an ever increasing range of things late into the night. There might even have been a few rousing political songs (we all have broadly the same socialist politics, so political songs don't cause issues as they might at another party), and when it got too cold to sit out, more chat inside, people going to bed one by one. I think it's safe to say that as parties go, this one reached it's full potential.

Sunday was a more relaxed affair - people waking up a little at a time, more nibbling leftovers, strong cups of tea and chats, going over the events of the previous day and being ever so pleased for Dave's grandpa that he'd had a lovely party with his 'full cohort' of family(and please for Dave's mum who had been very worried and nervous about the party in the run up). A wander to Afternoon Twee Vintage Market a little up the road to see my friend Rachael and browse through the vintage and handmade goods, a relaxed dinner, and a tea or two with the other Lisa-Marie and her Jay, who happened to be in the South Side at the time. A wee drink in the a local pub, and then into Glasgow for Dave to get the overnight bus to London, and me the train to Paisley. While I had a lovely time over the weekend, I have to say it felt very nice to be on the flat, on my own with my book.

This morning I stayed in bed till nine reading my book, woke up slowly and went into town to get a few gifts and to met my sister and her lovely fiancée for lunch. Tea, food, and chat about life plans and dreams, hugs goodbye, and I was on the train, headed home and ready for a bit more quiet time, and a few hours to acclimatise to being here before I go back to work tomorrow. I think looking at pretty stuff on the internet and drinking tea is about all I am good for today!

I am exhausted, but this weekend truly was epic. :)