Flower Power

Hello, me again!

This post isn't about one of my recipes though I am hoping to do another soon. I love the outdoors and living on an Island I pretty much spend most of my time at the beach. When it comes to decorating your home I know people will flick through endless catalogues and roam around the high street for hours. However I love creating my own things, no matter how easy and simple they are. Sometimes the least difficult things can really make something homely.

First of all in my house we love our flowers! I prefer the ones taken straight from the garden, looking as natural and wild as possible. I very rarely use vases for flowers.

It's nice finding odd quirky bits and bobs to put your own flowers in. Jam jars are brilliant, but I always find myself wandering around car boots and charity shops finding unique things. In the 3rd picture (seen above) are old bottles that I was lucky enough to find washed up on the beach, don't get me wrong they took a lot of scrubbing but they turned out fantastic! (You can always find bottles like this in charity shops for at the most a few pounds). The great thing with these "vases" is that they are original and  its very unlikely that someone else will have the same.

One of the other great things to decorate your house with in the summer is not only fresh flowers but dried ones as well. When some flowers have past there bloom people tend to just bin them or chuck them in the compost. But plants like poppy head and alliums can look just as nice dried out after their prime.

Alliums create a lovely, delicate form that look great all year round, (we use them to decorate at Christmas along with other natural decorations). In the top picture you can see the gorgeous pale pinks as the colour changes over time. They look great in a tall jar, especially if you manage to keep the long stalks on them. If not the seeded heads are just as nice placed along a windowsill or fire place.

Let me know what you think and if you do anything similar or completely different!

Oodles of Noodles!

At uni I found that most students lived off of oodles of noodles, but they were always the instant, dull and flavourless kind so I thought I'd give it a go at making it a bit more appetizing.

This is one of my favourite recipes, its quick,easy, cheap and pretty healthy. It was one of the main dishes I lived off of at uni and I have made it for a few people who love it. I have been asked for a step by step recipe, so here it is!

Feeds 4 people.

Ingredients: 

• 1 red and 1 yellow pepper (I tend to use both as it makes the dish more colourful).
• 2 onions.
• 3-4 Spring onions.
• 1 stick of lemon grass.
• 1 chilli
• Pak Choi
• 2 handfuls of bean sprouts.
• Fresh and ground ginger.
• 2 cloves of garlic.
• Sesame seeds and/or Sesame seed oil.
• Dark and light soy sauce.
• 1 teaspoon of sugar.
• 2 chicken breasts.
• Straight to wok noodles.

First of all put 2 tablespoons of the dark soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of the light soy sauce and the sugar in the wok. Mix it slowly over a very low heat. This helps to make the basis of your sauce sweet and sticky (at least that's how I like it). Add the chicken which will be cut into rough pieces. Let the chicken brown off making sure every piece gets completely coated in the sauce.

Whilst the chicken is cooking; dice the spring onion, garlic and lemon grass and add to the wok. When preparing the lemon, I tend to peel the first layer off and leave the top and end as it can be quite tough and woody. 

Then chop the onion and pepper, I tend to chop the onion into half moon shapes and the pepper into strips rather than dicing. I prefer a bit of a crunch to them, if you would rather your peppers soft, cut them small and they will cook faster. Once all of these are added to the wok turn up the heat up and keep mixing everything. It is very important to keep it all moving else it will burn and stick.

At this point add the ground ginger, you don't need too much otherwise it will blow your head off! Then, whilst still keeping it moving, dee-seed and very finely chop the chilly and mix in well, making sure it is evenly distributed. Add a quick drizzle of the sesame seed oil whilst doing so.

Note: After chopping up a chilly don't be a Muppet like me and rub your eyes, I some how manage to do it every single time and it burns!

Once everything is mixed in and the onions and peppers have softened slightly (and eyes have stopped burning) add the bean sprouts and the noodles. I use straight to wok noodles as its much quicker and easier when you are in full time work/student. Then add the Pak Choi, which adds a much more peppery flavour overall, (cut in to long strips, not too thin as they will shrink as they cook). Stir for a further few minutes until the pak choi is soft. Mix thoroughly until the noodles are heated through, then serve straight away whilst its still piping hot! 

When dishing up I love to use these bowls (see below). The fish bowl (left) was a birthday present from one of my good friends. The ones on the right used to belong to my great grand mother who brought them back from China and left them to us. I think its only right that we keep using them, I'd hate to see them un-used. 

Finish off the dish with a few fine ribbons of fresh ginger on top and a sprinkle of sesame seed, not only does it taste good, it looks pretty good to!! Grab a pair of chopsticks (or fork if you would prefer) and enjoy!

Other ideas for the dish: 

1. Add some fresh large prawns just after the chicken has browned to add a bit of extra flavour.  
2. You can always add a broth to the dish, whether if be a normal vegetable stock or a Miso soup (something my boyfriend loves), it makes it very warming in the winter and a tasty alternative to chicken soup if you have a cold. Plus its a pretty healthy meal in general.
3. And obviously to make this a veggie dish just take out the chicken, add as much veg as you want and experiment. 
4. As a student you can always use frozen veg which is cheaper, however its always a good idea to look around in your area for any farmers markets. You will have to get up pretty early as they tend to end around 9am but it is so worth it as its the freshest veg and pretty cheap. 

 I'd love to hear back from anyone who tries this, any feedback is greatly appreciated! 

Enjoy!!