25 Before 24 - December Update

Snowdrops in Royal Fort Gardens

Late again - but I'm all moved in with Boy now. We got all our stuff into the house pretty quickly and unpacked but have been rather exhausted by keeping all the normal things together on top of that. We were both rather looking forward to some quiet time together in the house to enjoy each other's company but busyness has held that off 'til after Christmas. Boy's birthday is just before Christmas too so I was gearing up for that.
We've not made any new year plans so hopefully it'll be a quiet one spent with some good friends, some wine, and the contents of our salad cheese drawer.
As ever I'd like to blog more regularly - I think reminding myself that I do make and do interesting "blog-worthy" things is part of the struggle. Now I have a craft room I shall hopefully be more organised in my making and not have unfinished projects lying about.

25 Things

1. Cycle to Bath - Now have a garage but it's full of car things so no space for bike yet...
2. Visit K at RHUL
3. Go to a sewing meet
4. Make 5 items of clothing - Craft room is set up & I have some lovely soft teal cord for another Simplicity 2451. It'll need lining though - new frontiers :s
5. Go to Cornwall and/or somewhere warm - we've talked about a week in the warm in Jan/Feb
6. Learn some Perl/Ruby/C++/SQL- Hmm
7. Keep a list of things to cook and make 2 new ones per month - Made a very fruity/vegetably cake twice over - once carrot, banana, apple, coconut & walnuts and once apple, banana, hazelnut & chocolate
8. Read twelve or more books  - Nope. All mine & boy's books are cohabiting merrily on proper bookshelves now
9. Cut down my photo-uploading backlog - On roll 4 of K1000 photos
10. Scrapbook - Did a little concerted scrapbooking just before I moved, currently just keeping bits together
11. Visit 5 new towns or cities - Visited different parts of London to previously... Bethnal Green, Dalston & Goldhawk Road
12. Keep job/get good/become independent - Finished the annoying thing. Now doing lots of copying & pasting. Have taken over scrum master duties which is more responsibility -> good
13. Go to a pop-up restaurant or supper club
14. Finish things - UFOs are now dwelling in a box of shame
15. Mend/alter - Did a little of this before moving, got a couple of things back into circulation
16. See cousins - Failed to see any
17. Go to a gig/film/... every month - Saw Cate Le Bon at Rise for free and Darren Hayman at The Vortex Jazz club in London. Both very good.
18. Walk lots - Now closer to *a* bus stop, but a little way from a reliable one so walking there is a better option
19. Visit new cafés/things - Went to The Breakfast Club in Shoreditch and Tap Coffee on Wardour Street in London. Both very good - I had bacon & banana french toast in the former, and good coffee and some kind of tasty cake in the latter.
20. Do something creative every week - This got rather lost in all the moving and I've been feeling the want of some craft time
21. Make an effort to go to things - Went to London! Saw a few friends who now live there
22. Learn to knit properly - I have a pattern recommended and some wool in mind for arm-warmers
23. Listen to the radio regularly - Boy's digital radio is often on in the evening
24. Use stashes
25. Find a dentist & get teeth fixed 

25 Before 24 - November Update

Edit: This was written quite a while ago but got stuck on my phone. For the sake of completeness I've not edited it.
October was the month that boy & I found a house to move to together. We've been together almost four years now and with both of us having finished all the degrees we have planned and settled into jobs, now really did seem like the time.
One of the hard parts of adapting to full time working and commuting has been not seeing him half as much as I had been used to. When I was a student, and then when I was unemployed, it was very easy to come past his office at lunch time and get a quick cuddle, or bring him lunch when he'd forgotten. Now I work a full day far outside the city centre that just isn't possible: I'm often too tired in the evening to think of going out again and too late to join him in the pub for long before we start wanting dinner and whatever else we had planned goes out of the window. We've joked that going out for dinner has replaced Photography as our shared hobby but it is rather too close to the truth.
We've payed our Subject To Contract fees and deposits and all we have left to do now is to sign the contract and get the keys. It'll be nice to be together by default, and be able to take short breaks from our respective activities for a cuddle and a coffee instead of having to choose between getting stuff done and being together. Hopefully too we'll be able to get the domestic stuff out of the way and go for days out. We both do the majority of the housework in our current houses so that should only get easier!

25 Things
1. Cycle to Bath
2. Visit K at RHUL
3. Go to a sewing meet
4. Make 5 items of clothing - I seem to have started another instead of finishing anything
5.Go to Cornwall and/or somewhere warm
6. Learn some Perl/Ruby/C++/SQL- Writing teats & exercising my Perl skills again
7. Keep a list of things to cook and make 2 new ones per month - stir fry broccoli noodles, marinated pork & slaw, apple upside down cake
8. Read twelve or more books  - Inherited lots of books
9. Cut down my photo-uploading backlog - Started on K1000 photos
10. Scrapbook - Keep scraps with book but otherwise no progress
11. Visit 5 new towns or cities - Had an evening drive to Portishead but didn't make it out of the car
12. Keep job/get good/become independent - Been stuck on one thing for ages which is quite a downer, but also got pulled off it to help with an emergency
13. Go to a pop-up restaurant or supper club
14. Finish things - Oops
15. Mend/alter
16. See cousins - going to London next week & will hopefully see some
17. Go to a gig/film/... every month
18. Walk lots
19. Visit new cafés/things - Tried the little café near work and was pleasantly surprised
20. Do something creative every week - Finished my bus crochet
21. Make an effort to go to things - Been for dinner with friends after work, to a Photosoc social
22. Learn to knit properly
23. Listen to the radio regularly - Occasionally pop it on while cooking
24. Use stashes - I have plans
25. Find a dentist & get teeth fixed

25 Before 24 - October Update

 Where did September go?! After our week in Cornwall I felt like I'd been away for ages which was lovely, but going back to getting up early wasn't so nice...
I'm struggling to remember what I did during the rest of the month! The weekend we came back from Cornwall it seemed that everyone we know was in Bristol, including those who aren't usually. We both had a pretty busy weekend of coffees, dinners, and pub visits, both together and separately; I took a day trip and marvelled at the stock in my hometown's charity shops and had coffee with friends.
Later in the month I visited my Grandmother with my sister, drove for the first time in six months, and got stuck into some gardening and cleaning. I think my remaining weekends were mostly spent resting and being domestic.

25 Things

1. Cycle to Bath
2. Visit K at RHUL
3. Go to a sewing meet
4. Make 5 items of clothing - All but skirt still half-made.
5. Go to Cornwall and/or somewhere warm
6. Learn some Perl/Ruby/C++/SQL- I should find out more about C++ as we could be doing more of it at work in the future
7. Keep a list of things to cook and make 2 new ones per month - Made lemon & rocket risotto with baked salmon, tried a new way of making coffee, improvised a rather good apple tart.
8. Read twelve or more books  - Only got non-fiction from the library
9. Cut down my photo-uploading backlog - Digital 2012 is done! And ME Super film completely done
10. Scrapbook - Stalled. Seems like a good rainy afternoon activity
11. Visit 5 new towns or cities - Stopped off at Sainsbury's in Warwick but I don't think that counts...
12. Keep job/get good/become independent - Started "tracking" i.e. taking a turn at fielding support e-mails
13. Go to a pop-up restaurant or supper club
14. Finish things - Still quite a few projects on the go but no more started...
15. Mend/alter - Had a sewing & Big Fat Quiz evening with flatmate and mended a couple of things :)
16. See cousins
17. Go to a gig/film/... every month - The Wave Pictures at The Louisiana and This Is The Kit at The Folk House, plus Rush (F1 film) at The Watershed
18. Walk lots - Got off the bus a stop early several times
19. Visit new cafés/things - 4500 Miles From Delhi which was alright if a little more expensive than other curries, The Stable which was great fun - so many ciders!
20. Do something creative every week - Lots more bus crochet
21. Make an effort to go to things - Took my day trip home
22. Learn to knit properly
    
23. Listen to the radio regularly
24. Use stashes - Gained some more crafty things from a friend's Great Aunt. Oops.
25. Find a dentist & get teeth fixed - Apparently the one near work is alright, may investigate that

25 Before 24 - September Update

At Prior Park Landscape Garden in Bath last November

Oops. I've been meaning to write this post for weeks but somehow it's fallen by the wayside. Here it is anyway.
Over the last month or so I've been on holiday, seen many different friends, watched the Balloon Fiesta Night Glow had a day on the Exmoor coast, caught the last day of the Laura Ashley exhibition with my Mum, been visited by my sister, and (joint-)won the charity bake-off at work!

25 Things

1. Cycle to Bath
2. Visit K at RHUL
3. Go to a sewing meet
4. Make 5 items of clothing - skirt, half-made Sonja, half-made Strawbetto
5. Go to Cornwall and/or somewhere warm - Cornwall again
6. Learn some Perl/Ruby/C++/SQL - I'm picking up fragments of Perl as I go along
7. Keep a list of things to cook and make 2 new ones per month - Cooked my first artichoke, made up patatas bravas, re-created itame, and experimented with overnight oats (meh)
8. Read twelve or more books  - Finished "Toast". Borrowed various non-fiction library books
9. Cut down my photo-uploading backlog - Almost finished with digital 2012! See above :)
10. Scrapbook - Almost up-to-date
11. Visit 5 new towns or cities
12. Keep job/get good/become independent - Started doing more complex code reviews
13. Go to a pop-up restaurant or supper club
14. Finish things - I've ripped the Sonja muslin apart again... it just needs re-cutting & constructing
15. Mend/alter
16. See cousins
17. Go to a gig/film/... every month - No gigs but I saw the night glow at the balloon fiesta :)
18. Walk lots
19. Visit new cafés/things - Two new cafés in Bath (Same Same But Different and one nearby whose name I don't remember), Topping & Co bookshop.
20. Do something creative every week - I've been crocheting on the bus, productive commutes are pleasing
21. Make an effort to go to things - walked to the balloon fiesta!
22. Learn to knit properly - made a moss stitch headband... and stalled
23. Listen to the radio regularly - listened at work some more
24. Use stashes - started a baby blanket for a colleague
25. Find a dentist & get teeth fixed

Lytes Cary

Lytes Cary is a lovely old National Trust property in South Somerset, just near the A370 & Somerton. Boy & I went last October when he came down to visit me. It was a very cold day but lovely and clear with sunny intervals and we were snug-ly wrapped up in coats & scarves. Of course we took full advantage of the sunshine and photographed the garden to within an inch of its life.
We walked down to the River Cary too and through a really picturesque little wood - that might appear in a later post - but didn't make it into the house. I'd like to go back and see inside, and to see the garden in another season. I love autumn for its low warm sunshine, orangey brown leaves, and crisp edge, but most  gardens really should be seen in May or so too :)

Finished: New Look 6154

I look like I'm about to jump

I made another skirt! A better one! After my Simplicity 2451 turned out too big I knew I should go down at least one size. This is New Look 6154, which I reasoned probably had the same sizing as the Simplicity skirt and in fact every pattern piece apart from the skirt front is suspiciously similar, although I haven't overlaid them to check yet. I added the first review on Pattern Review which surprised me, but then I suppose it's quite a basic pattern.
I wanted to make a couple of adjustments, namely moving the centre back zip to the side, cutting the back on the fold, and lengthening the whole thing a couple of inches. I muslined it using a second-hand Ikea bedsheet and it was a good thing I did; I added extra seam allowance at the sides but forgot to take it off the back and ended up with a seam there anyway and a foldy mess on the yoke. Lesson learned.

I don't know if the zip is this obvious without flash...

I sewed the skirt over the course of several evenings, but saved the zip insertion and hemming for the bus to work - time I can easily lose to gazing sleepily out of the window. This was intended as a very cake-y and work-appropriate garment - the summer equivalent to my favourite navy cord skirt.
The final version is made of some medium-weight navy cotton from Fabricland which leeched an incredible amount of dye in the wash (even my very bleed-y pink & red bedsheets fell victim) and shrank a little. This, I thought, was fair enough - one is meant to pre-wash - what annoyed me though is that on the first wash after wearing as a completed garment it leeched still more (thankfully I remembered the colour catcher) and shrank more! The fit is no longer what you see above, instead it sits a bit higher and moves around annoyingly. I only washed it on 40! Boo and hiss. It also wrinkles a fair bit - these photos were taken after one day of office wear and half a bottle of cider.

Failing to show off my bias binding'd hem. Why yes, that is a mop

Before the aforementioned laundry incident the skirt was very comfortable and just what I needed for work. I was even happy with my shirt tucked in. Next time (and there will be one, possibly with more of this fabric and the pockets from Simplicity 2451) I'll re-pre-wash the fabric and attempt a full bottom adjustment as I think I have a combination of that and sway-back. It's hard to tell from these exuberant photos but I don't think the side seam is quite vertical - at least it isn't now that the skirt has shrunk. Hmm.

Productive commuting

For the yoke facing I used a scrap of fabric leftover from the time a misunderstanding led my Mum to shorten a new skirt of mine, thus ruining it  - childhood trauma made good -  and a scrap of purple bias binding from her collection at the hem. I didn't attempt any levelling on the hem, just turned it up a roughly even amount all the way around. The zip is one of my 10 for £1 from the Rag Market at the Birmingham Sewists' meet, put in by hand as I don't have a zip foot and find it reasonably simple to do. It's centred as that also seems like an easy option, but perhaps not so good for a side seam? I don't know if the light blue zip is so obvious in real life. I decided that laziness could be euphemised into stash busting and didn't bother buying a navy one.
I had to re-sew the yoke facing around the top of the zip a few times as I'd got it caught up in various places which was annoying but not the end of the world. With a little more care it should be easier next time. I'm still not sure what the pattern instructions wanted me to do with the bottom of the yoke facing - it seemed to be telling me to zig-zag the edge and leave it - but I turned it under before stitching in the ditch, as you can see above.

Ta da!

More straight-up details can be found over on pattern review.

These photos come courtesy of my friend Alice who invited various of our friends around for dinner that evening and cooked us tasty bruschetta, then goats cheese, polenta & spinach parcels with roasted veg, followed by an enormous banoffee pie. There was good food, good company, a cat, a garden, and beer, wine, & cider aplenty. It was a very good evening.

Chicken Itame, or Spicy Coconutty Soupy Noodles

 One of my favourite things to eat at Wagamama is chicken itame - it's a very comforting hot, slightly spicy, yet refreshing bowl of noodles, vegetables and chicken in a spicy coconutty soup. You have to be quite careful while eating it that you don't drop noodles back into the bowl and splatter yourself with soup!
Yesterday I borrowed the original Wagamama cookbook from the library. It didn't have the recipe for itame in but it inspired me to try and replicate it anyway. I googled a bit and found a couple of other replications (here, here and here) but, as usual, when it came to making I went off-road and improvised my own version. I ended up making it with roasted pork loin (also easy - I followed the packet instructions) as I couldn't work out where Morrison's had hidden the chicken section! My life is so hard.

While googling I noticed that itame doesn't necessarily mean what you get in Wagamama - it seems to mean something like "stir" or "sauté" - and in fact it's something different in Australian Wagamama to in the UK.
In the UK it's:
"rice noodles in a spicy green coconut and lemongrass soup topped with stir-fried chicken, beansprouts, chillies, red and spring onions, bok choi, peppers and mushrooms. garnished with coriander and lime"
While down under it's:
"succulent strips of chicken marinated in ginger, garlic and lemongrass, stir-fried with red chillies, zucchini, broccoli, red onions, mint, basil, coriander, ginger, garlic and chilli oil. served on steamed jasmine rice and garnished with a wedge of lime"
There are definitely some elements the same, but it's interesting to see the difference -  and good to know that looking for "chicken itame"won't necessarily get me what I expect. Now I've got my own recipe I don't have to worry about Wagamama taking it off the menu and never being able to have it again either :-)

Anyway, here's my version:

Itame - or Spicy Coconutty Soupy Noodles - for 2+

I'm leaving this general (and almost veggie) as the way I made it the elements are assembled at the end, so any protein-y element isn't cooked along with the rest anyway. I think this is a fairly authentic (whatever that means) method, and has the effect of keeping all the different parts fresh and distinct rather than becoming a homogenous mush.
There are lots of ingredients here but it's not complex at all. You can even prepare your protein beforehand and let the soup heat it up at the end.
To go veggie, omit the fish sauce and check the packet of anything that has >1 ingredient. Dried mushrooms might help the depth of flavour in that case (do let me know if you try it).

You will need:

Noodles - fresh ones that don't require much cooking
Mild-flavoured oil (or something that goes, like sesame, just not strong olive)

LOTS of coriander, chopped
1 can coconut milk - I used low fat
Half a stock cube - you could use a whole one but it doesn't need it
Fish sauce - 4 tsp
Soy sauce - 2 tsp
Ginger - a small lump, grated
Lemongrass - 2tsp of paste or equivalent (remove the sticks before eating if you have those!)
Half a red chilli, chopped - or more if you like things spicy
A pinch of basil and/or mint - I used dry but fresh would be far better
One small red pepper, chopped
Chinese greens, beansprouts, mange tout would all be good - I used green beans as that's what I had

Spring onion, chopped
More coriander, chopped
Juice of one lime

Method:

Boil the kettle. Empty your can of coconut milk into a pan, add another canful of boiled water (careful, it'll get hot), and the half stock cube, fish sauce, soy sauce, ginger, lemongrass, herbs, and chilli. Bring to the boil and simmer for ...a while. Maybe 15 minutes, you can't go too wrong here, just make sure the liquid doesn't boil off too much - you want enough for 2+ decent bowls.

After that, heat some oil in a frying pan and stir fry your noodles (as it says on the packet). While heating your pan, add your pepper and other vegetables (but not the spring onion) to the soup. Leave any leaves quite late as they'll cook very quickly.

When you're ready to assemble it all, take the soup off the heat and stir in the lime juice. Put some noodles into your serving bowls, add the protein and spring onion, and pour over the soup. Garnish with coriander and enjoy.