One of my most wanted fonts, by Ricky Richards.
Friday, 12 April 2013
>>Font Friday - Suave by Ricky Richards
I have been aching to show off this beauty. It's so wonderful how this font just screams 1920's glamour, softly:-) Perfectly subtle, yet full of character.
One of my most wanted fonts, by Ricky Richards.
One of my most wanted fonts, by Ricky Richards.
Thursday, 11 April 2013
>>Recipe - Paella on the fire
Last weekend, our friends Heather and Marius came over and we made Paella. This was a first for me, and I won't lie, I was very happy to be in the company of people that actually knew what they were doing. My first attempt at adding rice, turned into rice crispies.....yup. As much as I love cooking, I have a lot to learn:-)
So what is Paella? Paella is a rice dish that originated in the mid-19th century on the east coast of Spain. Paella mixta (mixed paella) is a free-style combination of chicken/rabbit, seafood, vegetables, and sometimes beans. Other core ingredients include olive oil and saffron, but since saffron is friggen expensive, we used turmeric and it's still amazing. Paella is a seriously attractive dish, and actually much easier to prepare than I thought. The most important thing to consider is probably timing and you also need the correct pan. The word Paella is actually derived from the old french word for pan, which in turn comes from the Latin patella, which means pan as well. The pan is big but shallow, and we put it straight on the webber.
This is a recipy I got from my mother in law (she is the most amazing cook), and its been tried and tested many times. Try it, it's great to share between friends:-) However, if you're afraid of creepy crawlies, then look away now!
Ingredients
15 ml butter
30 ml oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 chicken, cut into pieces
5 ml chicken stock (use ina paarman's powder stock, it's good)
2 cups raw rice (tastic)
2 big leeks
1 green and 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
2-3 gloves of garlic
1 can (400 g) whole peeled tomatoes
10 ml tomato paste
2.5 ml sugar
pinch cayenne pepper
2.5 ml tumeric, or a pinch of saffron...
500 ml chicken stock
250 ml dry white wine
200 g fresh fish
200 g calamari
500 g mussels
500 g prawns
125 ml black olives
dash of olive oil
125 ml chopped parsley
some frozen peas
Method
Heat the butter and oil in your paella pan over the fire. Season the chicken with the powder stock, salt and pepper, and then brown the chicken in the oil and butter. Cover and braise for 20 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
Add the rice to the pan (make sure it is not too hot, or your rice will turn to rice crispies like mine), and stir fry until golden. Add the leeks, pepper and garlic, and stir-fry until limp. Add the tomatoes, paste, sugar, cayenne pepper, turmeric, stock and wine. Return the chicken to the pan, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked. You can add more boiling water to the mix if it becomes too dry.
Once the chicken looks cooked, add the fish, calamari, prawns and mussels, cover and cook until all the seafood is ready. Add the peas and wait until defrosted and warm. Toss to blend, add the olives and oil, and top with fresh parsley.
Serve with good country-style bread and a green salad.
Delicioso!
So what is Paella? Paella is a rice dish that originated in the mid-19th century on the east coast of Spain. Paella mixta (mixed paella) is a free-style combination of chicken/rabbit, seafood, vegetables, and sometimes beans. Other core ingredients include olive oil and saffron, but since saffron is friggen expensive, we used turmeric and it's still amazing. Paella is a seriously attractive dish, and actually much easier to prepare than I thought. The most important thing to consider is probably timing and you also need the correct pan. The word Paella is actually derived from the old french word for pan, which in turn comes from the Latin patella, which means pan as well. The pan is big but shallow, and we put it straight on the webber.
This is a recipy I got from my mother in law (she is the most amazing cook), and its been tried and tested many times. Try it, it's great to share between friends:-) However, if you're afraid of creepy crawlies, then look away now!
Ingredients
15 ml butter
30 ml oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 chicken, cut into pieces
5 ml chicken stock (use ina paarman's powder stock, it's good)
2 cups raw rice (tastic)
2 big leeks
1 green and 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
2-3 gloves of garlic
1 can (400 g) whole peeled tomatoes
10 ml tomato paste
2.5 ml sugar
pinch cayenne pepper
2.5 ml tumeric, or a pinch of saffron...
500 ml chicken stock
250 ml dry white wine
200 g fresh fish
200 g calamari
500 g mussels
500 g prawns
125 ml black olives
dash of olive oil
125 ml chopped parsley
some frozen peas
Method
Heat the butter and oil in your paella pan over the fire. Season the chicken with the powder stock, salt and pepper, and then brown the chicken in the oil and butter. Cover and braise for 20 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
Add the rice to the pan (make sure it is not too hot, or your rice will turn to rice crispies like mine), and stir fry until golden. Add the leeks, pepper and garlic, and stir-fry until limp. Add the tomatoes, paste, sugar, cayenne pepper, turmeric, stock and wine. Return the chicken to the pan, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked. You can add more boiling water to the mix if it becomes too dry.
Once the chicken looks cooked, add the fish, calamari, prawns and mussels, cover and cook until all the seafood is ready. Add the peas and wait until defrosted and warm. Toss to blend, add the olives and oil, and top with fresh parsley.
Serve with good country-style bread and a green salad.
Delicioso!
Tuesday, 9 April 2013
>>Lauren Fowler amazingness
Lauren Fowler is a fellow thing-maker, and I love the things she makes! I have been following her work for about a year now, and I greatly admire her sense of design and unique illustrations. She has a studio called lost is a place too, which is also the name of her blog. Her studio at the Woodstock Foundry Cape Town, is open to the public and functions as a workspace but also as a gallery where people can just walk in and buy some of her gorgeous creations. I really want a studio like that too one day:-)
I am a big lover of illustration art, and Lauren is for sure at the top of my list of favourites at the moment. I have been particularly in love with this set of 3 "dapper men" as she calls them. I can just picture them on our bedroom wall, aha, swoon. She is also famous for doing beautiful hand drawn type, and a couple of "people as animals" commissions. I wonder what she would draw Johan and I as if she had the chance...
Do yourself a favour and check out her lovely website, which is where I got these images from.
You will be in love too.
I am a big lover of illustration art, and Lauren is for sure at the top of my list of favourites at the moment. I have been particularly in love with this set of 3 "dapper men" as she calls them. I can just picture them on our bedroom wall, aha, swoon. She is also famous for doing beautiful hand drawn type, and a couple of "people as animals" commissions. I wonder what she would draw Johan and I as if she had the chance...
Do yourself a favour and check out her lovely website, which is where I got these images from.
You will be in love too.
Monday, 8 April 2013
>>My pride and joy
Hello again:-)
So this week, I thought I could give you a tour of my pride and joy...our stoep garden.
Most big city dwellers my age live in tiny houses, and if you have a garden you are really lucky. When we first moved into our place, the only thing we used our stoep for was braaing, and we never went out there unless we had to. So, I decided to start something like a hobby out there. Growing plants in pots is easy, and very rewarding. I started with herbs, then we bought a little cypress tree (which was also our Christmas tree), and now I am planting flowers. I love cooking with my herbs, and it is so sweet to watch the little seeds stick out their cute baby leaves for the first time. The best thing to have is a couple of edible flowers like nasturtiums and violas. They put some lovely colours in the garden, plus they can fab up a salad. I planted sweetpea and poppy seeds about 3 weeks ago, and just look how big they are already! The best thing is that I will have the most amazing flowers growing on my stoep right in the middle of the dreary Jo'burg winter.
I got a wooden pot thingy (see the picture below) at first and filled it with potting soil. In that one pot I managed to plant 6 different herbs, and they all grow together. I love going outside now, and it looks a lot more like home. So no matter how small you stoep, or even if you only have a nice spot of sun indoors, a little garden is never too big a task.
So this week, I thought I could give you a tour of my pride and joy...our stoep garden.
Most big city dwellers my age live in tiny houses, and if you have a garden you are really lucky. When we first moved into our place, the only thing we used our stoep for was braaing, and we never went out there unless we had to. So, I decided to start something like a hobby out there. Growing plants in pots is easy, and very rewarding. I started with herbs, then we bought a little cypress tree (which was also our Christmas tree), and now I am planting flowers. I love cooking with my herbs, and it is so sweet to watch the little seeds stick out their cute baby leaves for the first time. The best thing to have is a couple of edible flowers like nasturtiums and violas. They put some lovely colours in the garden, plus they can fab up a salad. I planted sweetpea and poppy seeds about 3 weeks ago, and just look how big they are already! The best thing is that I will have the most amazing flowers growing on my stoep right in the middle of the dreary Jo'burg winter.
I got a wooden pot thingy (see the picture below) at first and filled it with potting soil. In that one pot I managed to plant 6 different herbs, and they all grow together. I love going outside now, and it looks a lot more like home. So no matter how small you stoep, or even if you only have a nice spot of sun indoors, a little garden is never too big a task.
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