Panini all’olio

A while ago I dug out my Italian Home Baking book by Gino D’Acampo for what (I think) was the first time, having picked it up for a bargainous £1 at a book fair in University of Nottingham’s Students’ Union building a couple of years ago.

I tried something reasonably simple – pane tuscano – and you can read here about how that worked out. It’d been a really long time since I’d even attempted to bake bread, and I was keen to try it again – so I did!

I like baking bread. Mainly because, so long as you’ve got a bag of strong white flour and some dried yeast in your pantry, you don’t need to pop out for many – if any – extra ingredients.

It’s an inexpensive way of practising different baking techniques, and if it goes wrong, you’ve only wasted like 50p (although is it really a waste when you’ve learnt so much? Jury’s still out on that one). As someone who tends to muck these things up, that’s pretty important to me!

Anyway. Yesterday I had a go at Gino’s panini all’olio. As he explains in his book, while we associate the word ‘panini’ with delicious toasted sandwiches it’s actually used in Italy to refer to any kind of bread roll. This recipe is flavoured a little with extra virgin olive oil, but overall only contained five ingredients: flour, yeast, oil, milk, and water. Oh, and a little salt – six!

After my previous bread baking attempt I made sure to knead the dough really thoroughly and give it plenty of time to prove. It still didn’t seem to quite double in size, but still grew a lot – hopefully I did it right!

I’m pretty pleased with the results, particularly the colour of the crust (which was a happy accident). After spending the day by myself cleaning, planning my meals for the week and doing a big grocery shop, there was no more satisfying way to round off the weekend than by filling my flat with the yummy smell of baked bread.

Pane toscano (Tuscan bread)

Is there any smell more welcoming than freshly baked bread? I wonder how many baking related posts open with that exact phrase. Well, here’s one more.

Baking is something that comes from the same place as crafting. Crafts, whether you’re knitting jumpers or sewing cushions, aren’t something you necessarily do for the end product; you can pick up a jumper, or cushions, or whatever you’re making anywhere.

The real reason you do it is for the sheer love of it. For that little (or sometimes, pretty huge) glow of pride you get when you look at something you’ve made, with your hands.

And the same goes for baking. You can grab a loaf of bread from your local shop – in fact, I only have to walk for about 2 and a half minutes to my nearest Sainsburys – but truly, it’s not about the bread.

And after spending my Bank Holiday Sunday at the Great Food and Drink Festival at Nottingham Castle I felt quite inspired – and er, to be honest, more than a little tipsy. So, the next day I rolled up my sleeves and dug out Gino D’Acampo’s Italian Home Baking.

Despite having owned it for years, I’d never cooked anything from this book – so I chose one of the first, and simplest, recipes: pane toscano, a traditional Tuscan bread. When it comes to food I like to get the basics right before I get cocky, so this seemed like a good place to start.

I was so pleased with how it turned out. I think I should have kneaded it a little better, but otherwise it looked, and tasted, great!

I was especially chuffed with the crust. Gino recommended spritzing the sides of the oven with water to create steam, but lacking a spray bottle I had a search around online for other ideas.  I found you could get the same effect by placing a metal pan in the bottom of the oven while it heats up and, when putting in the bread to bake, pouring a glass of hot tap water into the pan. It worked a treat!

I’ve a lot to learn when it comes to bread baking, but after proudly slicing into my very first loaf (and slathering a chunk in butter) I know I’ll be back for more. Hope everyone else enjoyed their Bank Holiday weekend!

10 things to love this weekend

Round off your weekend with a little clicking! Here are 10 links to things you’ll love, from cute crochet patterns to quirky jewellery. Have a great week! 🙂

Sophie

Fall in love with the Autumn edition of Pom Pom Quarterly. It’s full of stunning, cosy-looking knits; I’m particularly obsessed with the gorgeous Maude funnel-neck sweater. And, if you’re a member of Ravelry (which you ought to be – it’s free!) you can find images of all the patterns here.

Get a little prehistoric in the jewellery department. I’m a huge fan of Brighton-based etsy sellers designosaur, and if you love all things dino then their awesome laser-cut styles are definitely for you. They’ve just reached 2,000 sales, too – well done, them!

Sign up for postal happiness! Lucky Dip Club sends out boxes of themed, personalised crafts and goodies each month. I finally signed up for my first box, which is slumber party themed (!), at the beginning of September. Sign ups open again next month and they sell out fast, so follow on Instagram to stay up to date.

Add some crafty inspiration to your Instagram feed. Maker mikodesign is one of my favourite people on Instagram – her fabric dolls are so cute, and the Miko surprise breakfasts she makes for her daughters will warm your heart on chilly mornings. If you want to try her DIY kits, don’t forget to check out her shop.

Cook up some comfort food. Now Autumn’s steadfastly rolling in, warm up your belly with this tasty recipe for macaroni and cheese with bacon and pine nuts. I’ve cooked it (well, I’ve watched Alex cook it) a couple of times and it is really good – especially with a side salad and a generous portion of garlic bread. Yum.

Kate

Add some understated loveliness to your jewellery collection. With colours to suit every taste, I love the simplicity of the necklaces, bracelets and earrings from Wanderlust. Maybe it’s time to treat yourself?

In need of a new crochet project? I’m loving these cute little chaps by Edward Menagerie. With a basket load of birds, animals and dinosaurs to choose from I know it’s only a matter of time before I delve head first into the world of amigurumi.

Buy a card just to say hello. There’s always a need for a card, whether it’s to say happy birthday, good luck or even ‘You’re my favourite blanket stealer‘. Julie Ann Art has a host of hilariously honest cards and when her Etsy shop opens again mid September I’m going to be stocking up. Bookmark it now!

Winter is coming (and I’m not saying that just because I’ve been watching a lot of Game of Thrones recently!). It’s time to pick up those knitting needles/crochet hooks and whip up a scarf and gloves ready for the winter season. Erika Knight offers some really modern and easy to follow patterns (and I say that from experience).

Order a lovely latte at The Glorious Art House in Exeter. I went there today and I’ve already fallen in love. With gorgeous mugs and crockery, quirky interior and super tasty menu what’s not to adore about this place? If you’re local get over there ASAP and enjoy a nice hot drink as autumn sets in.

Home alone

A couple of weeks ago I was left … home alone. Now although I don’t usually get up to the kind of antics Kevin McCallister would get up to when left to my own devices, I don’t usually fair well. Usual home alone activities involve sitting, eating lots of cereal, moping around and more sitting. I don’t know why I do it but there’s something about James not being around (don’t get big-headed about this James!) that makes me feel a bit glum and like there’s not much point in doing … well, anything.

The other week was different though. The other week I managed to buck the trend. Ok, it didn’t start well – I decided to bike to work thinking it was sunny only to turn up to work drenched, grouchy and late – I vouched to pick myself up though and get on with stuff and that’s exactly what I did. Most notably, I made some progress with my crochet blanket, so much so that I now have six complete squares! Six! Yes … there’s still a fair few more to go before I can make my lovely throw … but every single square feels like a mini achievement so imagine what I’m going to feel like at the end!

Oh and the productiveness didn’t stop there (that’s right, hold on to your hats guys!), I also managed to get started on painting the living room door! At the moment, all the doors in the house are looking rather sad, having been unsuccessfully stripped of their previously painted exterior. And if the remaining specks of paint are anything to go by these doors have been through some rough times. Greens, purples and blues (and not nice ones at that) – we’ve decided a classic white might make them feel a bit happier. So, sand paper and paint brush at the ready I made a start and they are already looking much more classy!

So all in all I had a pretty productive week despite the fact that I was home alone (yay!). Fingers crossed, my new productive attitude is here to stay – with James off again next week to do a couple more lovely wall murals we’ll soon find out …

The perfect excuse

Buying your first home is a cocktail of stress, confusion and pure elation. Although, at times, you feel like you’re blindlessly stumbling over hurdle after hurdle getting more confused and disheartened with each step, once the keys are in your hand it’s so exciting you feel like you might just pop.

James and I got to the ‘popping’ stage in November, when we became the proud owners of a small two bed terrace house (!) and, aside from plaster falling off the walls, rotting skirting boards and an electrical system that basically means having a shower is dangerous, it’s perfect.

We’ve wanted our own place for a while now so as soon as we got in, we began giving our little new home the attention it deserved! We’ve been super busy sanding, demolishing, plastering and painting so much so that, although I am now officially a DIY goddess in the making (please, no need for applause), I’ve had hardly any time to do anything else (hence my radio silence!)!

However, now that the plaster dust is beginning to settle and each room is becoming more usable my attention is beginning to turn back to all things craft. How do I make a pair of curtains? Should I make my own rug? How many handmade cushions can I fit on our new sofa?! Our new home is the perfect excuse for so many crafting projects, it’s so exciting it’s almost unbearable!

Posts about room transformations and attempted home craft projects here I come!

Needle felting – a form of stress relief?

As part of the Handmade Fair, we got the option to sign up to a skills workshop. Now, let’s be honest, Soph and I aren’t great at making decisions at the best of times (unless it involves whether or not we should order more wine), so when faced with whether we should attend a cake decorating workshop, a paper cutting workshop or a soap making workshop it was pretty tough to decide! In the end though, we went for needle felting…and we weren’t disappointed.

The workshop started at 11am and, given that neither of us knew anything about needle felting (part of the reason we decided to do it!), we weren’t sure what to expect. Hoping it would all become clear as we entered the tent, we went in and sat down only for confusion and slight bewilderment to set in as we found a three-pointed needle and sponge in front of us! What on earth???

Luckily, Jayne Emerson (check out her website for needle felting inspiration and goods!) appeared in a timely fashion and began to take us through the motions of how to use these foreign tools to create a festive robin decoration (in my case)/a tropical multicoloured feathered friend (in Soph’s case!). If we had been left unattended for much longer I am not sure what would have happened!

Making our new little creatures involved cutting out a pre-made bird pattern using craft felt and then stabbing (sorry, no better word for it!) different coloured carded wool onto this felt to layer up the texture and colours. We then had to stab the two sides of the bird together after stuffing it with felt to make its tummy nice and round and attaching a ribbon and feather.

All the stabbing sounds harsh, I know, but it was actually quite refreshing and as for the results? … well there’s definitely room for improvement but as a first attempt I’d say it went pretty well.

I definitely can’t wait to hang up mine this christmas!

So, lessons learnt? – needle felting is fun, relatively easy when using the ‘cheats’ method of using craft felt as a base (usually I think you have to use all carded wool but correct me if I’m wrong!) and also serves as a nice form of stress relief. You just have to watch out for your fingers!

Handmade Fair at Hampton Court Palace

There aren’t many people I’d get up at 4:30am for. But Kirstie Allsopp is most definitely one of them.

Last Saturday Kate and I met up at Hampton Court Palace for Handmade Fair, where we found talks, workshops and craft stalls galore – as well as the best hoisin duck wraps we’ve ever tasted.

Fangirl moment ensues ❤

We bought tickets pretty much the second they came out, having spotted an advert for the Fair in a copy of Mollie Makes and figuring that something as glorious as an Allsopp-led craft festival would sell out straight away. As it happens, it didn’t actually sell out at all – but from looking at the rivers of excited ladies we followed from the train station to the Palace, you’d be forgiven for thinking it had.

After witnessing the grand opening by Kirstie Allsopp herself, who was sporting a glorious headpiece I totally wanted to steal, we grabbed a program and launched ourselves into the Fair. We started by scoping out the food stalls – important stuff to know, seeing as we’re both prone to mega bouts of hanger. The scrummies on offer ranged from cakes sold by The Cake Bar to churros, Indian snack boxes and French cuisine; it was a really nice touch for all the food on offer to be sold by independent businesses.

Before our needle-felting workshop – which Kate wrote about here – we had time to mooch around the East Shopping Tent. With the amount of stuff on offer we had to work out a tent-exploration strategy (we lost our bearings about twenty times) and we met loads of lovely sellers including the lovely ladies from Alice’s Bear Shop, The Homemakery, Jessalli and Warm Pixie.

 

Once needle-felting was out the way, we had chance to check out the West Tent – but it was completely packed! We’d been lucky enough to walk around the East Tent much earlier than most people had bothered to arrive, but as soon as everyone turned up things got seriously busy, so we decided to bail and hit the food stands.

After half-heartedly considering a couple of other options we gave in and hit The Duck Truck for huge hoisin duck wraps and chips cooked in duck fat. They were a little pricey at £7.50 each (and £3 for chips) but, unlike festival food, this completely reflected the quality. Seriously. They were glorious wraps of ducky deliciousness. 10/10, would eat again.

We finally plucked up courage to brave the busy West Tent, which was lucky as it was here that we found some of our favourite sellers of the weekend as well as some seriously beautiful stalls. The cake on display at the Blossom Sugar Art stand was unbelievable, and we really struggled to tear ourselves away from the beautiful hare jewellery by Shark Alley. Oh, and don’t even get me started on the stunning branding over at Stitch and Story.

Having checked out all the stalls we headed for our #worldpomination Grand Makes Session where we tried out pompom makers for the first time. One word. Addicted. Shout out goes to instructor Rosy Nicholas for being generally hilarious, awesomely stylish and my official hairspiration. Check out her website for shoes that’ll remind you of ice cream and glass all at once, and in a really great way.

As the afternoon went on, we finally splashed our cash (we’d wanted to have a look at everything on offer first) and then treated ourselves to some cheeky glasses of bubbly before sitting down to our Super Theatre talk featuring Kirstie and Annie Sloan. The talk was interesting, but not at all what we’d expected; Annie is funny and quirky but looked like she’d be more at home crafting than stuck on a stage.

As we wound down at the end of the day, Kate and I chatted about the event itself and what we’d change. The ticket price was £29, which left us probably with too-high expectations; considering the stuff on sale and the food on the stalls themselves was pricey, it seemed like most of the ticket price went on the talks and workshops which although fun and interesting didn’t quite feel like value for money.

Considering we’d both spent upwards of £30 to get there alongside the ticket price, it was a bit of a shame that the things for sale were so expensive – though from what we did buy, we definitely got what we paid for (if not more!). For next year, though, we reckon things like a free program (it cost £5 extra for just one) or perhaps another workshop as part of the ticket price would make the event feel a little more value for money.

That said, the venue was stunning – neither of us had been to Hampton Court Palace before – and, at the end of the day, the Fair gave us a perfect opportunity to hang together, craft and chill out which, when you live as far apart as we do, is in itself worth every penny.

Queen of the lampshades

A couple of months ago, in a fit of excitement, I booked myself on to a lampshade making workshop at one of Exeter’s craft shops, Arrietty. I’ve always fantasised about owning a wonderful array of lampshades and always despair when I realise that those in the shop are a) not quite how I want them to look and b) come with a fairly hefty price tag! (Why is this always the case?!). So I was cock-a-hoot when I finally went on the worksho and discovered how extremely easy and rewarding making your own lampshades can be!

During the workshop, the lovely Laurel (co-owner of Arrietty) took a small group of us through all the steps needed to make a simple drum lampshade. This involved pressing our fabric, backing the fabric to a fire resistant sheet, sticking the fabric to the skeleton of the lampshade (which involves a lot of rolling) and neatening all the edges. The result was pretty good, if I don’t say so myself, and we had time at the end to admire each others shades in turn.

After the session I was so enthused that I’ve come away with two extra lampshade making kits (which include everything you need to make your own bar the fabric) with the idea that I will begin to populate every room of our new house with a one-of-a-kind lampshade. James doesn’t know about this yet… 🙂

Anyway, if you haven’t given this a go yet – sign up to one of Arrietty’s workshops or pick up a kit and give it a try! There is so much fun to be had.

Personalised map heart print

Ok, so I know this isn’t technically hook, knit or stitch related but I really wanted to share this with you anyway!

Not that long ago, our friends decided to get married! With the wedding day impending, James (my boyfriend) and I were wracking our brains trying to figure out what we could get them. We didn’t want to conform to the ‘gift list’ they had created or get them the standard ‘we couldn’t think of anything’ gift voucher, we  wanted to give them something more personal, something that made them think of us everytime they saw it…

So, after some considerable thought and several days later, we came up with the idea of making them a personalised map heart print. Now I know what you are thinking, these are available everywhere(!), but by making it ourselves not only was it nice because we had taken the time and energy to make it together but it was also loads cheaper (bonus!)!

In our print we decided to use three map hearts. The one on the left is where the bride grew up, the one on the right the groom and the one in the middle where they met (which in this case was Paris – how romantic!). It was so simple to make and we were really chuffed with how it turned out and with the couple now wed, I can also report that the bride and groom loved it too (yay!).

To make a lovely map heart print like ours, all you need is:

– Cheap frame (we got ours from Wilkos for £4.99)
– A nice bit of card for the background
– Photocopied sections of map that relate to where the bride and groom grew up and where they met (this will save you cutting up and ruining expensive maps you may have purchased)
– Scraps of card which you can cut into heart shapes
– Glue (we used mod podge matt)
– Scissors!

1. Cut your cream card to size so that it fits neatly into your frame. This will provide a background for your map hearts so make sure you choose a colour that works well with your maps.

2. Draw and cut out three heart shapes around the sections of map you have chosen. Make sure all the hearts are the same shape and size by using a template to draw around – this makes it so much easier, trust me!

3. Mount your three map hearts onto the scrap bits of card and cut out so you end up with three map hearts backed with card.

4. Carefully measure out where you want each of your map hearts to go on the background you cut out earlier and then, stick them into place.

5. Give it time to dry and then pop it into your frame and you’re done! Now all you have to do is wrap it up nicely and remember to take it with you on the wedding day!!