Allotment gifts

Whilst I was fannying around in Sardinia, my allotment has been busy growing food. All this in just 1 week. There's plenty more to pick and the winter squashes are doing well. We have a runner bean glut, so again I have to be creative in using up all the beans before they go bad, and I am not keen on freezing. Here's a photo of freshly picked fruit and veg about 3 hours after I got off a plane at East Midlands Airport.







Earlier today for lunch I whipped up a spicy runner bean soup. It's pretty simple, you just de-string the beans on both sides, chop them and boil them in some water. When the beans are tender, add some stock powder, salt, cumin, coriander and cayenne pepper and blitz with a stick blender. Use a vegetable peeler to de-string the beans instead of a knife, much quicker. To decorate, I've peeled thin bean curls and put on top.



Later on I am planning to make runner bean and chilli chutney. I'll update this post with pics :) x

Creative juices flowing in Sardinia

Have just been to Sardinia for a week. Italy is weird. It's very Catholic which reminds me of my very odd Polish upbringing. Italians really, really like their dogs which is good but the downside is that there are a lot of stray dogs and cats wondering around the streets. They actually look fairly well kept for strays so I reckon they must be fed by people occasionally.

Annoyingly, Italians do siestas which is a big problem for tourists because after getting up (late!), showering and breakfasting you want to go around all the shops and museums. That's precisely the time when everything closes until 4-5pm. Seriously!

The other thing I found difficult is that they have no concept of vegetarianism/veganism. I ordered a veggie sandwich which had tuna in it! Apparently that's as close as it gets. They are also very wasteful. Bottled water is as common as tap water in Sardinia. Just think of all that plastic! On the plus side many of their carrier bags seem to be biodegradable which is a step ahead of Britain. We just re-use our bags. Which is better I wonder, use fewer bags or continue using just as many but most are biodegradable. Hmmmm.... I have serious doubts whether the biodegradable bags are actually composted by the user. I suspect they're probably thrown away with normal rubbish. I think we should all be using less.

But, enough of the moaning because the weather was perfect, the beaches were amazing and the little sightseeing I did was all good fun, including a speed boat trip on the Mediterranean sea. And, to top it all off, much of my trip was sponsored by my fiancé's grant and his parent's spare euros.

Anyway, every city I go to I am always on the lookout for new craft ideas. I also bring back something natural I can craft with. It's always something I find, rather than buy. This time I brought back some palm tree bark and beach stones. Thankfully customs didn't stop me! I shall put up photos of the final creations later but for now here's what I did with my finds. I used them to decorate our table at a fish restaurant in Alghero. Very tasteful I think.

Here are some of my favourite craft ideas from Sardinia:

Hessian (burlap) figures. I have lots of spare hessian fabric so will give this a little try. They also had animal figures.

Owl bag. These were really cute. I've been meaning to make a fabric owl bag for ages. No excuses now!

Shell mice. I collect shells found on various beaches so I have tons of them in different sizes. Shell animals seems like a fun craft project.

 Another owl, this time made from shells. Cute.

 I have been working with wood for about 10 years and have lots of scraps. I am sure I could construct an owl from bits and bobs.  I also have lots of tin lids, perfect for eyes.

Perfect example of upcycling tins into plant pots. Cute with buttons.

 A gourd shaped bottle made from cork board shavings. Italians like their cork board ornaments. I think I'll have to start working with cork board. Until this trip, I didn't know that cork board comes from cork oak. I thought it was mashed up and re-constituted bits of tree!

 My friend was wearing this lovely necklace made from recycled tin. Brilliant! I have tons of scrap metal mainly from tin lids.

Zip stud earrings, another upcycling idea.

Glorious food, the self-sufficient way

I'm a huge foodie. Having been veggie for about 15 years, last year I dabbled with veganism. I sort of dipped in and out of it, mainly because of cheese. I found it hard to give up cheese completely, especially when faced with stilton after a glass of port! 

Anyway, on my journey to being vegan I've picked up a few good recipes, hint and tips, and I am now able to use ingredients that I've never even heard of before like nutritional yeast flakes, tapioca flour and vital wheat gluten. I am able to make Setain (no, not like the devil!) which is basically the vegan version of quorn (yup, quorn's not vegan because it uses egg white).

I've also found out some surprising facts like some granulated sugars may not be vegan because in the manufacturing process bone char is used to decolourize the sugar (always ask or read the label). Also some wines may not be vegan. Blood powder or egg white is occasionally used to clear the wine, so always read the label.   

In my quest to give up cheese for good I've done some research. It turns out that dairy cheese and milk contains quite a lot of udder pus. Because cows get pumped with hormones and all sorts of crap to over-produce milk, they end up all inflamed and much of the pus ends up in the milk and cheese we eat. I wonder if that's enough to put me off cheese... I hope so! Also, quite contrary to popular belief, milk may be damaging to bone health as well as increasing your risk of breast, colon and prostate cancer, Epstein, S. S. Potential public health hazards of biosynthetic milk hormones. International Journal of Health Services, 20:73-84, 1990.

So enough of this. Now for the food. Here's my typical, lovely breakfast! Chopped fruit sprinkled with organic flaxseed, topped with a dollop of fresh homemade live soy yogurt and homemade jam (made with homegrown berries). Delicious and nutritious! 

Since we have grown lots of fruit and veg on our allotment, we've been trying to eat as much of it as possible. I've become incredibly good at making stuff from potatoes, sweet and savoury. Later on I'll put up a pic of my lunchtime potato and cucumber soup. For this evening I'm planning Gnocchi with tomato sauce (all homemade and home grown!). Can't wait. Must get on with crafts now!

4 hours later...

Right, break from crafting means lunchtime. Daniel and I have grown enough potatoes and cucumbers to last us for a year or so! So for the past few weeks, since we've dug them up and picked the cucumbers, we (mainly me) have been inventing recipes that will allow us to eat everything we've grown before it goes bad. 

I've always loved making and eating thick vegetable soups because they're so easy to make and so delicious. So far this one is my favourite one: Spiced potato and cucumber soup with natural soy yogurt and mint. 

It's pretty simple. You just boil some potatoes and cucumber until tender. Add a tablespoon of vegetable broth powder (I use the vegan version of Marigold Swiss bouillon powder) and a good pinch of salt, cayenne pepper, ground cumin and ground coriander. Blitz it with a stick blender and top with a dollop of yogurt, and a mint leaf (optional). Eat!

This soup reminds me of when I was a Polish kid, living in Poland. Two of my favourite soups were zupa ogórkowa and zupa ziemniakowa. In this recipe I just combined the two and it's heavenly :) From what I remember, zupa ogórkowa recipe used gherkins and dill, and just the thought of it makes me salivate madly. Being a Pole, I love all pickled and sour things like gherkins, sauerkraut, curdled milk, pickled beetroot, and before my vegan days pickled eggs. My recipe used fresh garden cucumber, like the ones you buy from a supermarket for salads, and it still imparts a lovely cucumber taste so use whatever you have :) 

Ooh, I should also point out that if you have a cucumber in your fridge that's gone a bit soggy and you don't fancy it in our salad or sandwich anymore, this soup is the perfect place for it! You should always aim to waste as little as possible :)

Later on I'll post pics of my Gnocchi with tomato sauce.

Today's craft hour during The Great British Bake Off

So, after a busy day in the lab I got home and crafted this lovely sun-dried tomato wreath. I'm obsessed with hearts. I haven't counted exactly, but at a guess I must have about 30 hearts scattered around my house. Each one is made of a different material ranging from wood, to metal, to clay, to peanuts!

This one is quite simple but ever so pretty and very aromatic. It looks lovely in my kitchen and makes it smell heavenly too.

For this heart I used strong but pliable piece of wire and bent it into the shape of a heart, and threaded tomato pieces onto it. I twisted the ends with pliers to stop the heart from coming apart and attached twine for hanging and presto! In the time it took me to watch the latest episode of The Great British Bake Off I had made a lovely heart. I can never just sit there and watch telly. I always have to have something else on the go like knitting, crocheting, crafting, baking, sanding, varnishing, painting, etc... Lovely :) x

My craft room heaven

Well, here it is. My craft room looking unusually neat and tidy! In about 2 hours time it'll look like a bomb site. There's a tendency for my crafting to get out of hand and my fiance frequently refers to it as 'craft explosion'.

On occasions I have been told to clear up the craft explosion or else! I start clearing things when I see Daniel reach for the black bin bag. This is an old trick my mum used to use to get me to tidy my room. I am ever so slightly ashamed to admit that at the age of 31 someone still has to use this tactic to get me to shift! Ah well, I suppose I shall never change now and I wouldn't even like to change. I love my organised creative mess.

I always have work in progress. There are paintings that have been waiting to be finished for years, knitting that has sat there for decades and other crafts that will one day be finished, just not sure when. You can also see there's lots of 'junk' on the floor. Yup, I am a bit of a hoarder. I keep just about everything to use in my upcycling projects. Today I recycled a whole bag of cardboard I have been storing for projects that never came to fruition. It sometime surprises me what I keep!


I am currently working on bottle caps/tops art/sculpture type thing. It's in early stage (i.e. in my imagination!). Watch this space. Back to the craft room for now :) xxx

Bank holiday weekend bonanza

Possumology has had an awesome bank holiday weekend. Not only did we win lots of awards at the Allotment show, we have also sold three of our favourite items from our Folksy shop! Here, they are. Now that I've tidied my craft room , it'll be a pleasure to spend this Monday bank holiday making lovely things :) A photo of my craft room is coming up x

Scroll saw

Since I received a scroll saw for my birthday, I have been making bunting for sale on Folksy http://folksy.com/shops/Possumology. I have always been obsessed with making things from wood. This obsession started when I built my own dolls house from a 6x6ft piece of plywood. The new saw makes intricate pattern cutting really easy. I adore it! Massive thanks to my lovely fiance, Dr Daniel Hart Baker. Over the next few months I have many projects planned and will be uploading lots to Folksy. If you love pretty things make from wood, be sure to check back every now and then :)