Roast #1

My hubby always say "..don't spend too much time in the kitchen." That's why most of my cooking is as simple as it gets,especially when it comes to roast. I will usually marinade the meats before I put them in the freezer...if I'm not too lazy,that is ;~D

My freezer is always well stocked with basil, thyme, oregano, parsley, bay leaf and any other herb I can find on the shelves at the supermarket.

For this roast, rub in some salt and pepper. Sometimes I rub in some corn flour to 'soften' the meat. Give it a good massage.
Using the tip of your sharp knife, stab the meat to make small slits.( Keep the children away when you are doing this !) Stuff into the slits slivers of garlic. It gives the roast a nice aroma.
Then sprinkle basil and thyme.Don't be stingy, use plenty.
Keep the meat in an airtight container and stuff it into your freezer! Best left to marinade for one or more days. The longer the tastier.
Works everytime with any meats. If you're using a whole chicken, stuff some bay leaves and lemon/lime in the cavity.Use some toothpicks to close the opening before roasting.When it's cooked use the yummy juices to make some gravy. Simply scrumptious!

(When roasting belly, you have a choice to keep the skin or not. I kept the skin for the above roast. Should have sliced it off. You see, I can never make the skin crispy.So, if you're removing the skin, score the top (layer of fat) before you start the seasoning.)

Serve your roast with some healthy salads / boiled vegetables like cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, bok choy (use the water you boil the vege in to make some gravy) and buttered rice/mashed potato/homebaked bread!

Roast is great in sandwiches too :)

ENJOY!

P.S. >>gerber : Enjoy your roast!

A Cozy for Bamboo Fun

My hubby spoils his children. Over the weekend, he bought my son a new desktop pc and my daughter a Wacom Bamboo Fun graphic tablet! To 'protect' his investment, I stitched a cozy for the tablet.

It's sort of an envelope with pockets for the tablet, stylus and USB cable.
Isn't it neat?

It closes neatly...and safely with velcro on the flap.And it's fully padded!

....Now, I've gotta think of a way to 'wrap up' the desktop pc ..hahaha! :~D

 

Penny joined these  parties

 

 

 

 

Thank you Aoileann

Aoileann..she's my daughter's Irish riding instructor.And she's going back home :`( .
To thank her for all she's done for my girl, I made her a bag [of course!] Hope she likes it. Bought the fabric this morning and spent the afternoon stitching it. Will be giving it to her soon.

It's the Margaret Bag by Rebeka. It's easy to make. Get the free pattern here.

I Want To Make This!

Found two beautiful patchwork bags that I simply LOVE! Will definitely give it a try.







Click here for the tutorial to the first bag.

Now I know...........

............... *_*

Amazing :~D

Hexagon Coasters and Placemat

I've always loved English Paper Piecing. It's portable and it keeps my hands busy ...anywhere and anytime.

According to the Illinois State Museum , English Paper Piecing is often used in the making of hexagon, diamond, baby-block, and star patterns. Each piece in the quilt is pinned to its own paper pattern piece. The paper serves as a guide for sewing and a support for the pieces.
Read more here.

There is a great site where you can generate .pdf versions of graph paper in all sorts of shapes and sizes for designing your own quilts.Click http://www.incompetech.com/graphpaper/

Here's a video from YouTube that may interest you.

This is Grandmother's Flower Garden appliqued on a hexagon .

These are two of my embroidery pieces I made long ago stitched onto a hexagon using some piecing method I can't remember what it's called :~D

Pincushion

Everyone loves a cute pincushion. If you were to just google 'pincushions', you'll get tonnes of images and tutorials. Here are a few.

..the classic square....................round..................even a handbag!..

....tiny one on your finger.................or if you need more,make five !

This is how I made mine.

Just a regular mooncake box that you get every year.....

Mine flips open. I keep my scissors, some thread,bobbins and seam ripper in the box so that I can put it away when not in use. I 'hot glue' the round pincushion cover ,that came with the pins I bought, on one cover of the box.

Then I wrapped a piece of sponge with some fabric and 'hot glue' it on the other side of the box cover. Not a cute pincushion but it holds plenty of pins !

Pleated Shoulder Bag

Finished another bag last night. My sister was puzzled."What are you going to do with all those bags?" Well, I read somewhere...' a girl can never have too many bags' ;D Besides, I may give some away :)

I used the Pleated Tote pattern by Rebeka Lambert of artsycraftybabe. You can get the free pattern here (Look for the free pattern on the right column).She's also the designer of the Phoebe bag.

I tweaked it a bit to make it my version.

Silver Pleated Shoulder Bag

It has a flap with magnetic button closure.Made lots of pockets, as usual, so that my belongings don't go swimming in the bag!

I didn't use interfacing or batting but added a layer of cotton flannel to give it body. I like it soft and slouchy!

My First Cooking Post.

No..it's not the first time I cooked. Been cooking ever since schooldays. I remember during long school holidays, I will help mum to cook while she sews (she's a seamstress). She'll guide me, step by step, all the way from her sewing room. Thanks mum..love you!

Here are a few goodies my daughter ( she has two cameras) managed to capture.

Roast Belly

Roast Chicken with Garden Salad and Homebake Bread

Lamb Shank ... with carrots and celery.

Today, I cooked beef curry.

If you love any of the above, just leave me a message and e-mail in my message box and I'll mail you the recipes ;)

Silver Noriko for Sweet Michelle

Here it is....a silver Noriko for Michelle,my childhood friend's daughter.Michelle's mum and I were schoolmates since Primary One! We go back a looooong way. Though we parted ways after school,we reunited not too long ago.Welcome back :)

Silver..perfect for evening.
(Can I borrow it when I have a date?..with my hubby,of course!)

Found just the right button from the haberdashery.

Michelle I hope you like your Noriko ....p.s. good excuse to go on a date now :) Remember to ask mum first,ok?

I Baked My Buns Today!

Let me run thru' what I did. First of all...I cheated ! I used the breadmaker to do all the hardwork for me :)

Here it is in an oiled bowl to be left to proof and pooof.

After an hour it has risen to more than double its volume.Punch it down.

Hey, I did do some kneading ! Divide into 50grams balls.(I wanted my buns to be roughly the same size)

Shape it with whatever filling you like.I did two varieties- egg and cheese mayo and parsley crabstick ( got to think of better names!)

Cover it again for it to rest and rise. Remember to put it into the oven!

Ta da!
(Go ahead..click on the picture for a closer look..you'll almost want to eat it ! )

Itching to stitch another bag...

Everytime I land myself into Rebeka Lambert's blog, my hands start to itch to make another bag. I envy her bags! So far I have made the Phoebe bag from her free pattern. Thanks again.

I totally love this bag!

But I desprately need to finish up the patchwork quilt I started last year.You see, the new bed for the guest room/sewing room arrived last week. And I need to give the room a makeover before my mum or mum-in-law comes visiting!

See the raw edges? Got to quickly finish the other side to make up the quilt.

Close up of the little squares.
It's totally hand stitched! Yup, all 1.5inch squares.Crazy huh?

This is going to the other side of the quilt.

You see, I like to keep my hands busy when I'm watching tv or while waiting to fetch my children from school.Did this for my daughter years ago when I had to wait and watched over my children during their swimming lessons.

It's the Grandmother's Flower Garden using the English paper piecing method.

Then I made this for my son. Went a little crazy using 1 inch hexagons!

Confession

I have a confession to make.....have some stalled knitting projects :p

So,while waiting for me to get my needles clicking again,let me share what I have knitted.

My son wearing the cabled vest.

Pullover with seed stitch sleeves.

Cable scarf and rib edged cap.No,the gloves is store bought.
(It was very cold!)

Will post more pics when I have the time to take my whole collection out from the cupboard.