Why are you being romantic? what of mine did you break?!

What do you wear to a medieval themed wedding?!

some of our friends are getting married in August this year and they're having a very cool medieval/lord of the rings themed wedding.
they will be Arwen and Aaragon and the person marrying them will be Gandalf, all at the beautiful Caerphilly castle! follwed by a hog roast!

I love the idea of themed weddings- I'm excited to see how this will work! ee! but the tricky bit now will be finding something to wear....

So far I really love this;


but I'm a bit worried it's too unconventional. but the, the wedding is in summer, so maybe I'll be grateful for a shorter dress and short sleeves.

I also found something a bit more traditional:


Ideas greatly appreciated...
I have to remember I'll have short hair by then though- I won't be very lord of the rings looking!

I want to make this! (because I can't afford to buy it!)

£65 pounds/ $95 on etsy.


I love the colours but where do you even get crazy fabrics like that?!


I really want to try to make a patchwork quilt, but I'm really worried I'll cut up some awesome fabrics and then make a mess of the blanket! I need some support! eeek!
sewing back up please!


maybe I'll go charity shop shopping and get some things to cut up to have a go..hmm.. If I make the squares big and back onto a duvet cover there isn't much that can go wrong with that plan.. right?!


stop me getting carried away with my colours please!
ALL THE COLOURS ALL AT ONCE.
like my normal crafty projects.
:S


Supervision please. I need an adult.

my first flowers in 3 2/3 years

Traff bought me flowers. for the first time. ever.
:D
how romantic..he made me carry them round lidals.

"you can have a posy for £1"

see- they're pretty :) and they smell nice too!

whilst we were in town we also got some jugsaw puzzles. Traff insisted we have the one with kittens on. that'll keep us quietly amused until payday (also £1).

We're turning into old people.

although the re-cycle charity shop is pretty cool- we also got some DVDs and Traff got a Hendrix t-shirt- not quite the islamic relief shop, but it'll do for now!

In all seriousness- thank you very much for my flowers. they're beautiful! xxxxx

Please look after this bear, Thank you.

Does anyone want to re-home him?
I found him- so I've washed him and dried him and now he's all fluffy and new!

Isn't he sweet looking?

someone has even gone to the trouble of making him a little cardigan, he needs to be loved!

Tagine recipe

Traff brought me back a Tagine from spain about a year and a half ago (IN HIS HAND LUGGAGE! but thats another story of lapse airport security..surely you could hijack a plane with a stone based tagine? even if it shifted in the overhead locker you might accidentally kill a stewardess...)

anyway, he keeps promising to cook a tagine in it and so far we haven't tried it out. this will all change now! this recipe looks amazing!

I really love moroccan cooking- I think it's 2nd place in my top 5:

1)Thai

2)Moroccan

3) italian

4) mexican

5) american diner style food :D melty cheese!

I hope our home cooking can match the amazingness of Borj al Arab in cardiff- or even better the street market in Marrakech!

Serves 4
Preparation time: At least 4 hours
Cooking time: 21/2 hours

Ingredients

• 1kg diced lamb shoulder
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tbsp sweet paprika
• 1 tsp hot paprika
• 2 tbsp olive oil (for the tagine)
• 2 onions, roughly chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 60g sultanas
• 1 tsp saffron
• 750ml vegetable, lamb or chicken stock
• 2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
• 120g dried apricots, halved
• 3 tbsp flaked almonds
• a handful of coriander, chopped
• a handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 450g couscous
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 450ml boiling water
• 25g butter
• 2 tbsp olive oil (for the couscous)

You’ll also need a tagine or a deep casserole dish with a lid.

Method

1. Placed the cubed lamb in a deep bowl and sprinkle over half of the dried spices, tossing the meat so that each piece is coated in the aromatics. Cover the bowl with a tea-towel and leave to rest for at least four hours (although overnight would be best).
2. When you’re ready to start cooking, place the Tagine on top of your cooker, with a diffuser between the tagine and the heat to spread the heat around the dish and to prevent cracking. If you’re using a casserole dish instead of the clay pot, heat the oven to 160°C/gas mark 3.
3. Pour the olive oil into the Tagine or your dish and place the dish on a cooking ring, over a medium heat. When the oil has heated up you can add the spice-covered lamb pieces in small batches, browning them on all sides before scooping them out and placing them to one side.
4. Add the onions and garlic to the pan with the remaining dried spices and stir them through, allowing the vegetables to soften and colour lightly.
5. Add the sultanas, saffron, and apricots, stirring them through the softened onions and spices, then return the meat to the pan.
6. Pour the chopped tomatoes and stock into the dish and increase the heat, bringing the contents to the boil.
7. Season the stew with salt and black pepper, then cover the dish with a lid – if you’re using a casserole dish you should place the dish in the oven – if you’re using a tagine, reduce the heat – and leave for 21/hours or so.
8. Ten minutes before the tagine is cooked, put the couscous and salt into a large bowl and add the boiling water.
9. Cover with a tea towel and leave to soak for five minutes.
10. Uncover the couscous and fluff up into separate grains with a fork.
11. In a separate saucepan, pour in some olive oil and add the butter, melting the butter over a low heat.
12. Pour the fluffy couscous into the saucepan and toss in the melted butter, so that the grains are lightly coated.
13. Leave the couscous over a low heat fora couple of minutes until its heated through.
14. Pour the couscous into a bowl, ready to be served.
15. Take the tagine off the heat (or remove from the oven).
16. To serve, scatter the chopped coriander and parsley over the top and place the dish on a heat-proof table-mat in the centre of the dining table.

Enjoy!

I have also commandeered a metal teapot to make my mint tea in- it belonged to my grandfather on my fathers side from his travels to syria or tunisia in the 60s. its got his initials stamped on the bottom too! 

Well, I Think we brought your birthday in in style...

Yesterday we managed to fit a a weeks worth of activities I think!

We played darts- I played for the first time and it was awesome! I'm good at darts! :D we made friends with a local in the pub who was in his 70s and he was giving us tips- which was helpful since the boys were too buys laughing at lis and I to be of any use "haha..you missed the board completely.."

He was telling us when he first started playing darts they used an orange box stuck on the wall with the board drawn on it in chalk.
He liked our darts too "when I was your age darts were like a foot long with a paper flight- I'm pretty sure the flight didn't make any difference."

Dinner in the sizzling wok. oh yeah!
Skipped (genuinely..too much gin) home to get dressed up for our night on the tiles.

Headed out to the ship (fashionably late) and sat in the coach house- very classy, please may I have a black plastic chandelier for my house?
we met up with Karl and Si and carried on.

Moved onto the Rose till 2:30. Karl got felt up by some bloke but still held is ground in the bar Queue- and they had a very cool marquee with a heater and blue lights .. then tried to get into the pad- sarah was all for scaling the fence.

We ended up in some weird sports bar called escorts till 4am..dancing to really awful music.. interesting characters in that bar.
Perhaps it needs to remain a one time adventure.
(traff, you may not know it, but you're a poof, apparently)

Subway. Home. Bed.

Woke up to kebab all over the sofa.

We're going out for dinner with Dan's family (Sah's inlaws to be) for lunch at 4pm..its at a pub about 30 min away down the M1. :S
I still don't know my way around here at all. we may get very lost.

Traff still won't look at food either..this could be interesting.. (and Dan's mum thinks his name is "Travis").

When the Welsh came...

They came bearing gifts! they brought traff "the hottest take away curry we've ever had!".

Had some drinks with Dan, Sah,Lis & james- it was lush to catch up and hear all the news! (and have a practice round for tomorrow..)

We had a bit of a brithdir throwback and played guitar hero. turns out james is a natural, and that sarah and I haven't improved at all.

the discovery of the night though is that there is a take away here that does milkshakes- the ones with chocolate bars in them!
Dan had milkybar, Sah had oreo and I had fererro rocher! oh yeah! we must find this place in "real" life so that we can get things from there! milkshake type things... yessssss

Marrakech 2010 retrospective.. I wish we were here!

haha, my housemate Jay nicked these to wear as slippers- when I bought them my shoe had actually fallen apart (the yellow ones I decorated with glow in the dark paint when we were camping..) so haggling for a good deal was out of the question- the market seller asked "shoes for house or shoes for market?" clearly, I chose market.

Jay remembered this when he slipped over on the landing and fell one flight of stairs.

"shoes for market, not for house".

I don't know which of us was more confused.

Drying dyed wools in the market.

Crazy house!

I was mooching on rightmove looking for something sensible in the cardiff area- I'll be staying here for a while, but there is no harm it looking- and getting a feel for price- basicly very much cheaper than the south of england!

This is a CF11 postcode (Grangetown) and its a bit pricey (You can have 3 bedrooms for that in splott, trafforest, tremorfa or the rubbish end of roath!) but it certainly has a quirky charm.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-34573310.html?premiumA=true



Cute from the outside, reasonable looking one bedroom house- or so I thought...



Kitchen..compact, homely..


Adorable sitting room..or is it?



no, its a DEATH DEFYING bedroom. WHAT?!
that's mental.
I had to look at the picture twice to fully register it..I was not expecting that.

it's awesome..but just a tiny bit impractical..what do you do if you need the loo in the night?! what if you've had one too many? I guess you just sleep on the sofa or something... and is there a max weight limit?

and yes, I know it's impractical..,and in the wrong country.. but I kinda want it..anyone want to give me  £85,000?

I hope whoever buys this loves it very much and is a tee total model sized person with excellent balance.