Food, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Jeffery Deaver

On cloud 9 … but slowly returning to earth

Anne S

I just had to post again while I’m on this ridiculous high that I’m currently on!  I’ve just returned home after spending the afternoon at Jeffery Deaver’s book launch/signing … and oh what an exceptional day it’s been!  I can’t tell you just how amazing it was – I signed up for this day on a whim, as I only found out about it on Friday morning and only just barely managed to gain a spot at a table, I think because I was going on my own.  Anyway, I’m so very glad that I did!

I used to do so many things on my own when I was in Auckland, and to some extent in Melbourne – I was always on the go out and about seeing new sights and experiencing new wonders, and really appreciating my surroundings.  The last 12-18 months, however, I’ve been in a bit of an emotional bubble for many reasons that I won’t go into here.  Today, though, it reminded me of the days that I used to hop in the car and go out and do things that were new … and oh my goodness did I love it!  Perhaps it’s been the kick in the pants that I’ve really needed, a reminder that I shouldn’t hold myself back from doing things I enjoy just because other people don’t share the same interests – I actually enjoy my own company, and am finding my self-confidence once again … watch out world, I think she just may be back again!!

Today I dropped my car off at our work car park so I could avoid at least one bus trip, then hopped on a train into the city – on arrival I popped quickly up to the nearest Dymocks bookstore to pick up a new copy of The Bone Collector, and also picked up a copy of Jeffery’s new 007 novel (Carte Blanche) as it was on sale (yippee!).  I then wandered back to the awfully swanky Four Seasons Hotel at Circular Quay and immediately jumped into the queue to have my two books signed by Jeffery.  What a true gentleman he is – he spent quite a lot of time chatting to each person while signing books for us all – I felt like a little schoolgirl at her first concert, and was quite awe-struck to be in such a literary great’s presence!

After the books were signed, I grabbed a glass of champagne and watched the crowds for a few minutes before heading into the ballroom to my table.  I sat next to a lovely older (retired) lady called Pam (I actually may have been a good candidate for the youngest member of the audience in my middle-aged ‘youth’) and we chatted throughout the whole meal.  Lunch was delectable, and the main course consisted of pan-fried barramundi (fish) on a bed of roasted kipfler potatoes with green beans and fresh tomato salsa, followed by dessert of cognac white chocolate log with raspberry coulis, and finished off with freshly brewed coffee and hand-made chocolates, and washed down with a further glass of McWilliams Semillon Sauvignon Blanc … ah bliss, I do love me a good gourmet meal!!  Sadly I hadn’t learnt how to use my iPhone camera yet, and totally screwed up my mains photo … oh well, c’est la vie!

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While dessert was being served Jeffery was introduced then spent the next 50 minutes enthralling us with his wonderful tales on how he writes his books, and the joy of bringing James Bond’s character to life in his latest book.  He really is a very witty presenter, as you would expect from such a literary genius, and we were kept entertained the entire time.  At the end of his speech he returned to the foyer for more book signings, and I decided to purchase one final book and have it signed (greedy little git that I am!), and asked if I could be awfully rude and have a photo taken with him.  He was a real sport and found one of the assistants to help us out, then I crouched down next to him for a quick photo – and that was the final touch to an already exceptional day, with photographic proof of this historic event.

Jeffery-Deaver-and-me-at-hi

In my teens I used to read the old Mills & Boons romance novels and other such books (mainly because I could read an entire book during a good soaking in the bathtub), but as I matured I very quickly moved away from the ‘girlie’ books and became a fan of such authors as Wilbur Smith (mainly the Courtenay family novels), Stephen King, and the like, before finding a love for Patricia D Cornwell novels … since then I’ve never looked back and often pick up a thriller or forensic book ahead of other genres.  A work colleague and friend loaned me The Bone Collector about 11-12 years ago to try reading, and I was hooked!  The Lincoln Rhyme series of books are second to none in terms of fast pace, wonderful characters, and multiple twists at the end of the book that leave you guessing right up until the last chapter, and often the last pages – if you haven’t tried one yet, and enjoy thrillers, I can certainly recommend this series … mind you, I have some of  his Kathryn Dance novels as audiobooks to try those out too … and of course I now have two standalone (ie non-series) books to read too – “The Edge” and “007 Carte Blanche” 😀

Wow, I think it’s been a long time since I’ve written on here with a feeling of such enthusiasm – let’s hope it remains … even if I’m not stitching 😉

Blue Monday, Canada, Cross Stitch, Jeffery Deaver, pinkeeps, Stitching Smalls

Blue Monday and off to see Jeffery Deaver

Anne S

It’s been a while since I contributed to the weekly Blue Monday photo meme … seeing as there’s no stitching happening over here, I figure I might as well try and post ‘something’! Here is my choice for this week’s Blue Monday – a blue-filled boat at Niagara Falls, Canada.

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And here’s a crafty item for Blue Monday 🙂

Morning Glory pinkeep 1

Blue Monday

Blue Monday certainly doesn’t reflect my mood today, as I am nowhere near ‘blue’ … today I’m off to my very first book launch by one of my favourite authors, Jeffery Deaver. After reading The Bone Collector I was hooked by his twisted tales of crime, and he’s now been commissioned by the Ian Fleming Estate to write the latest James Bond novel (Carte Blanche) – while my heart will always remain with his Lincoln Rhyme series, perhaps it’s time to branch out and try something new … and what better way to do it than to have a lovely lunch and drinks, then pick up a copy and have it signed … in fact I think perhaps I should call into a book store on the way and pick up a copy of The Bone Collector and ask for that one to be signed, seeing as it was my first Jeffery Deaver experience 🙂

Cross Stitch

Cross Stitch Poetry

Anne S

I found this in a magazine years and years ago, and just came across the scrap of paper this weekend and thought I’d share:

CROSS STITCH

I’m completely addicted, to this I confess,
The ironing needs doing
and the house is a mess
The windows need cleaning
but what do I care
as I sit here and stitch
in my cosy armchair?

In a world of my own
I could cross stitch all day,
and that’s what I’d do
if I had my own way.
But I’ve got to get cracking
I’ve a dinner to cook
(for a husband who sits there
just reading a book).

There are pictures I’ve done,
all over the walls.
A few minutes to spare
and my cross stitching calls.
An obsession some say
and maybe they’re right
‘cos I could easily sit here
cross stitching all night!

by Janet Boor, Penzance

Food, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, recipes

Practising the art of Procrastination

Anne S

 

Today I heard from the recruitment coordinator that I have passed the first culling stage of applicants for the job I applied for a few weeks ago.  I also heard today that I have to complete my interview either today or tomorrow – considering I have to travel into the city for it, I opted for tomorrow … a bit crappy that they give an entire 24 hours notice, me thinks.  Oh well, tonight I’ve decided to fine-tune my understanding of the word “procrastination” and trying not to think about it, because I know when I do I’m going to get myself into a tangled stressed little knot and stuff up the interview tomorrow … the best interview I’ve ever done is one I went totally unprepared for and did everything off the cuff.  Not that I’ll be quite that bad tomorrow, but I’m seriously not going to do much prep whatsoever – I’d like the job, but I’m quite happy where I am on the whole, so I’m not stressing out if I don’t get it (and actually doubt that I will get it – perhaps another reason I’m not tying myself into knots!).  I guess one thing is that if they’re in a rush to complete all the interviews this week, that perhaps we’ll be put out of our miseries quickly too and get the results promptly … one thing I do know, though is … “que sera sera … whatever will be will be …” 😀

In the meantime I’ve been chasing away the wintry weather blues with a nice big pot of home-made Minestrone Soup … especially warming and inviting with 1 1/2 cups of red wine poured into it haha.  It is truly very rich, and truly very delicious, and a recipe I ended up having to copy for Mum ‘cos she loved it so much when she was here … I have to admit with all the cold weather we’ve been having this week it was perfect to come home to a pan of soup that just needed heating through, and will continue to keep me happy for the rest of the week! 😀

If anyone’s interested, here’s the recipe – along with a piccie of tonight’s dinner bowl:

MINESTRONE SOUP

Minestrone-Soup

1 cup dried kidney beans (I actually use tinned kidney beans instead)
3 rashers bacon (I sometimes omit totally and use a bit of olive oil instead – and sometimes I chop the bacon up and add to the soup after it’s cooked)
2 large onions, coarsely chopped
7 cups beef stock
2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup olive oil
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
2 small carrots, scraped and diced
½ cup courgettes, sliced
½ cup celery, chopped (including some of the leaves)
1 tablespoon dried basil
4 large tomatoes, peeled and seeded (this batch I cheated for the first time and used a tin of crushed tomatoes)
1 cup shredded cabbage
1½ cups red or white wine
½ cup macaroni or star pasta
salt and pepper
grated lemon rind
parsley
grated parmesan cheese

Soak the dried kidney beans in 2 cups water overnight.  In a large saucepan fry the bacon until crisp.  Remove the cracklings and reserve them (this is actually in the recipe, but nowhere in the recipe does it state what to do with them after they’ve been reserved … in fact it doesn’t say what to do with ANY of the bacon, so sometimes I plop them into a sandwich to make an old-fashioned British “Bacon Sarnie” and at other times I chop it up and leave it in the soup for some added goodness).  In the fat remaining in the saucepan gently fry the onions, coarsely chopped, until they are golden.  Add the beef stock to the onions, add the soaked and drained beans together with the crushed cloves of garlic.  Simmer beans gently for about an hour or until cooked (or obviously less if you’re using tinned kidney beans).

In another saucepan heat the olive oil and add the potatoes, peeled and diced, the carrots, scraped and diced, the courgettes, sliced, the celery including some of the leaves, chopped, and the dried basil.  Cook the vegetables for a few minutes, stir in the tomatoes, peeled and seeded, and the shredded cabbage.  Mix well.

Add the vegetables to the beans and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes.  Stir in the wine and the macaroni or star-shaped pasta and cook a further 15 minutes.  Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle it with a mixture of grated lemon rind and chopped parsley.  Serve with grated parmesan cheese (truthfully I never bother with the lemon rind, parsley or parmesan cheese, as it’s rich enough without it).

Serves 10-12

Autumn, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010, Halloween, peacocks, Piece and Plenty, pillows, Quilting, scissor fobs, Stitching Smalls, valentines

Weekend finishing frenzy

Anne S

I had planned to get acquainted with my sewing machine over the weekend, but the end results weren’t actually what I’d planned … for some reason I got a serious urge to get some of my finished projects sewn up into pillows etc – it ended up being an exceptionally productive weekend on that score, with 9 pillows and a scissor fob completed, along with a little mini-quilt that just needs the binding to be hand-stitched … plus I also made some minor amendments to a lovely wall-hanging that Sylvia gave me years ago.  Anyway, here are the end results – I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves:

The Stitcherhood-Autumn LizzieKate-Fall Nathalie-Chatrouille freebie
Erica Michaels-Random Hearts LizzieKate-Boo Squared
Peacock pillow Plum Pudding Needleart-Love freebie Heart in Hand Needleart-Wee Valentine Bird Mosey 'n Me-Love February freebie
Pumpkin scissor fob Pumpkin scissor fob

This one just needs the binding to be stitched down 🙂

halloween-mini-quilt

Sadly Sylvia’s lovely wall-hanging was folding up due to the high humidity, so I chopped up the hanger into pieces and stitched it in 4 places directly onto a pretty wee wire hanger 🙂

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This is what first got me into “sewing machine mode” – the first month’s BOTM fabrics and instructions for my Piece and Plenty quilt … sadly it doesn’t come with any specific instructions for each block, and I’ve ended up spending a fair bit of time rummaging through my quilting books and online tutorials trying to work out how to do paper piecing – once I’ve got a bit more comfortable with my sewing machine I’ll be ready to start this one 😀

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Cross Stitch, Stash

My sidebar is fixed!!!!

Anne S

A HUGE vote of thanks goes to my darling friend Carl who managed to fix up my sidebar issues for me – after not being able to work it out months ago I’d given up on finding a fix (and the support forums were of no help whatsoever) … within minutes of jumping into my template code it was all sorted … Carl ROCKS!!! 😀  Of course that also means now that I want to play again some more and twiddle with a couple more settings, but that’ll have to wait until another day …

Since I last posted I have managed to do absolutely NO stitching once again … my Sunday afternoon housework session got seriously sidetracked when I was putting my newly bought stash purchases (from the recent craft show) away. As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t do too much damage to my credit card or wallet (but thanks anyway to my employer for a whole 12 months worth of back-pay, you rock!), but I did buy a few little lovelies to bring home with me.

First of all I did go a little bit nuts over some different ribbons/embellishments:

Stash-Craft-Show-Jun-2011a

Then of course there were the few pieces of 36/40ct fabric, some ground walnut shells, bead embellishments, a small jelly roll in scrummy blues and some hand-dyed pearl cotton that was on sale – plus another pair of scissors, because a girl just can never have enough scissors! (and yes, Margaret, they’re green too haha!! – I think green, red and purple have always been my secondary fave colours behind blue, and often have a green jacket or top somewhere in my wardrobe):

Stash-Craft-Show-Jun-2011b

And lucky last the charts and quilting book I just couldn’t live without (and which hopefully will not sit in the depths of my stash closet before seeing the light of day again!):

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In particular my latest ribbon/embellishment purchases started an organising frenzy for the evening when I opened the wee storage drawers to find the following mess looking at me:

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After considering briefly whether to continue my normal housework plans or sitting curled up on my bed to watch Spartacus and ‘play’ … my non-sensible side opted for a few hours of fondling and organising those piles of ribbons and mess into little bundles.  With the help of some cut up strips of photocopy paper and double-sided sellotape, I ended up with a pile looking something like this:

Ribbon-tidy-up2

Doesn’t that burst of colour just fill you with joy – I know it certainly did that to me!  Even more so that seeing Spartacus half naked on the TV screen LOL 😀

Ribbon-tidy-up3

It now means that all these little bundles fit into one of those plastic drawers, and my pinkeep pins and ribbon reels are back to having drawer space to themselves and no longer have piles of ribbon and embellishments hiding them from view and easy access … I may not have achieved much else this weekend, but it sure feels damn good to get those tidied up once and for all!  Plus stash fondling is almost as good as stitching … in fact, sometimes even more therapeutic than the act of stitching itself 😀