A bike for me

Sorry for the long absence.  Things have been a bit crazy round these parts and there hasnt been much time for crafting, blogging, or much of anything really but thats a story for another day.

Today I want to tell you about me new toy!

A while ago I got this bike as payment for some work I did. t has taken a while for me to get organised and get the seat for Master L attached but finally it's done.

Last weekend while Alfie and C were away Lukas and I went for a ride to the playground by the beach.



He was a little bit upset that he wasn't going away too.

It didn't take long for his wee smile to come back though



He had such a good time and tired himself out so much he fell asleep in the bike seat on the way home. I wish I had thought to take a picture of that.

This was the view on our ride home.  It was slightly terrifying riding on such a busy road with a toddler on the back of the bike.



now all we need to do is get one of these to go on Callums bike for Alfie and we will all be able to ride together.



I love the idea of using the car less and biking more.

We are pretty lucky in Nelson, it is fairly easy and safe to bike anywhere





a tartare recipe

We were fortunate enough today to be given some snapper for our dinner so I made some tartare sauce to go with it

Here is how I did it

Tartare Sauce

1 clove of garlic

1 egg (most recipes call for egg yolks only but I have

always found it fine to use the whole egg)

juice of 1 or 2 lemons depending on how lemony you like it

pinch of salt

approx 1 cup of oil (I use grapeseed, you dont want anything too strong tasting)

Put everything except the oil into a food processor. Whizz for a few seconds.  With the food processor going very slowly start adding the oil one drop at a time.  If you add it too quickly it will speperate.  Once you have added about 1/8 of the oil you can start adding it a bit faster, but keep it to a steady stream and make sure its all being blended in as you go.  Keep going until it reaches the right consistency.

Add to this some finely chopped gherkin and capers.  I like to add some dill to mine usually but didnt have any today.

And this is what we did with ours tonight, some coleslaw, panfired snapper and homemade buns using this recipe which I can honestly say is the best and easiest bread recipe I have ever tried

Wardrobe Wednesaday

My outfit is a little bit of a repeat, well the skirt is anyway.  Its the skirt I was wearing in the very first wardrobe wednesday. 

skirt - made by me

top - farmers

pasty white legs (the reason I rarely show them) - all mine

shoes - #1 shoes

This skirt is starting to fall to pieces now.  I am very tempted to make another better version. This one could fit better. Is it weird to want to make another the same rather than something new and exciting?

For more lovely outfits head over to Clares

Puppy Fostering

This weekend we are fostering two wee puppies from the Nelson SPCA.  The boys are loving having them around to play with.  They are cute wee black lab x's a boy, and a girl.  The wee boy has the sweetest nature ever and just wants to follow you aroud and have cuddles.  The wee girl is a lot more boisterous and scares the kid's sometimes but it's only becasue she is desperate to play.



The wee boy pup

the wee girl

I think my heart may just break a little come Monday when these two have to go back.  Still it's totally worth it.

The week (and a bit) that was

Its over. What a long, exhausting, 10 days it's been.  The arts festival has been a  lot of work but also it has been a lot of fun.  I have seen many amazing shows and very talented groups and individuals perform. I got to hear authors talk about their work and attend the book launch for Peter Butlers first book 'gravel road'.  I have been lucky enough to go and see apollo 13: mission control twice  and honestly if you ever get the opportunity to go and see this show then do.  It was amazing! 

My neice turned five last weekend and somehow I managed to get this finished for her using this tutorial.  It was super fast and easy and whats best is she just loved it.

Masked

Few words today. Am too tired to think

Here are some pics of the Nelson Masked Parade (well the section we were in)

The theme for this year was "on the move"

Have a good weekend.  I will hopefully be back next week with a bit more enthusiasm.  Just 4 more days/nights of work to go, hooray!!!!!

Purples

I don't know what has happened to me, I used to loathe purple, all purple.  I would avoid it at all costs and if someone dare suggested I wear purple....... Now I find myself drawn to purple, purple of all shades.  I wonder why this happens?  I am slowly changing my tune regarding yellows and oranges too although I'm not sure I would ever be brave enough to wear either of those.

Here are some pics of some of some purple, just for fun

Have a good weekend all!