yet another gf bbq has been and gone and as usual – was good times! on the cooking side, i’d wrestled with the idea of making a pavlova for aages but was always afraid something would go wrong… it somehow seems too easy to mess it up. but, i’d been eating lovely peaches for a few weeks (they’re in season and super sweet!) and i saw a recipe for a peach melba pav and decided. it was time. check out the photo – it was gorgeous!

Peach melba pavlova

GF BBQ peeps

And finally, i just wanted to share this recipe that’s been on high rotation lately. i love it because it takes about 10 minutes to prepare, it makes you feel good ‘cos it’s healthy, and even my little brother liked it (after saying it would taste better with meat).

Chickpea curry

Chickpea curry

ingredients
- chana masala spice mix (buy from asian supermarket)
- 1 brown onion
- 1 can chickpeas
- 1 clove garlic
- green beans
- mushrooms
- shallots
- red chilli
- cous cous

directions

this is assembled in three parts – the chickpea curry, the side of beans and the cous cous.
chickpea curry
- chop onion roughly, brown in butter in a medium saucepan
- once soft and brown, take out half of the onion and put aside for the cous cous
- add the can of chickpeas to the pan along with one and a bit cans of water
- let chickpea mixture come to the boil, lower heat and add spice mix (to taste, usually 1-2 tablespoons)
- simmer for anything between 30 mins to a few hours – however long you’ve got – stir occasionally and mash some of the chickpeas to thicken sauce

green beans
- slice 2 shallots, one red chilli & the garlic clove
- add to frying pan with butter or oil
- add green beans roughly chopped into thirds
- toss about on a medium heat until brown, the lower heat and let brown for about 10mins
- slice mushrooms thickly – about the same width as the green beans, leave whole or halved if small ones
- when about 10 mins away from finish, add mushrooms to beans along with some more butter if needed

cous cous
- if feeding 2 people, it’s about 150g couscous to 300ml water
- boil kettle
- add 1/2 tablespoon of oil to boiling water in a glass pyrex bowl
- add couscous, cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 5 minutes
- take off plastic wrap, fluff with a fork and mix in the cooked onion from before

serve in a bowl – cous cous in the middle, curry on one side and beans & mushrooms on the other

here’s a similar recipe if you want to make on your own.

Street Art - The Graffiti Revolution

CultureLabel.com is a new web shop that brings together all of the shop products from over 60 galleries, artists, museums and so forth. That’s pretty wonderful, considering how many times I’ve made an effort to visit the V&A or Tate just to get birthday presents, postcards and lovely things for my home.

So, just to make my lazy weekends at home even more expensive, this great website is on my radar (anyone else thought staying in over the weekend would be a good idea because you’d save money? these days I always end up spending way more on Amazon & eBay… eek!).

And they have a blog. And they seem like nice people, in their team photo. So go forth my friends, and spend!

A friend’s response to my statement “I’ve sworn off idiots”.

Chaka Khan – I Feel For You

I didn’t mean ALL food. for eating, that is. I also now have an appreciation for sandwich art.

The Racecar

i’d be in serious debt to my credit card from purchasing all the gorgeous “mendress” (or so says mr t) at this lovely online store, Ibson Menswear. in case you weren’t aware, the quickest way to a girls heart is through excellent footwear, and what girl would turn down a boy wearing Happy Socks and some nice Shofolk shoes? get into it fellas.