Wednesday music

What about a new category on this blog? Music? I love music! Who doesn't? 

So I thought I'll share some random musical facts about Sophie ;-) and a song or two.

My favorite music of all times is Country, mostly Johnny Cash, June Carter and the Carter Family, but also other artists.

I listen to Gold 945 and Juice 107.2. Every now and then it is also BBC Scottland - cause of their lovely accents - or German radio station SWR3.

The last song I bought was "I can't decide" by the Scissor Sisters.

My best friend and I do have "our song" which is "Griechischer Wein" by German singer Udo Jürgens. We heard the piano version of it in a restaurant and it took us ages to figure out which song it was. Ever since we call it "our song"

I associate books with the music I listened to when I read it. "Saving Ceecee Honeycutt" belongs to the Puppini Sisters, "City of New Orleans" belongs to my favorite book of all times and whenever I hear "Call me manãna" by Scooter I have to think of Valencia and Jacqueline Auriol cause I read about these topics when I heard this song.

My first CD was from Kelly family... I'm ashamed... The second was Spice Girls.

I love the soundtrack of "Amelie" and "Mrs Dalloway"

A piece from the "Mrs Dalloway" soundtrack is my all time earworm, together with Manamana.

Can't get them out of my mind at the moment.

Always great! I do love Travis.

Sophies week

*film* Mrs Dalloway

*book* My Policeman (Bethan Roberts)

*song* A lot Johnny Cash stuff.

*craft* Nothing....

*food* Mash. M&Ms. Sandwiches. Chips. Lemon Cake. Pasta with my favourite sauce.

*drink* Beer. My favorite tea.

*done* Been very tired and unmotivated. Worked on our town fair. Been annoyed by some people there. Surfed a lot. Did some shopping.

*met* My parents. Some friends.

*bought* Flowers. Ordered a dress.
*thought* That some people can go on my nerves so hard!

Things I miss from the UK

I guess all of you know that. On holiday or while living abroad you discover nice food and when you're back home you miss it. I have this problem with quite some things from the UK. For example I miss Pret-à-manger. Really miss it, though I guess I found a way to substitute some of their sandwiches. I miss cookies, the chocolate chips one from Sainsburys, the Lemon-Merengue from M&S and many others. I would be so happy to walk into a shop and get some Cornish Pastry or a cheese swirl thingie - don't know how they're called, these pastry-thingies with cheese.
And I miss quite some baking or cooking ingredients like golden syrup or custard powder.
So I tend to stock up on some of these things when in the UK and always travel with a decent stock of tea too. But luckily there is Britshop.ch, which delivers some UK food thingies. Of course I can't get everything I want from there - no Pret... - but it is a good supplier for the small bits and bobs on misses.

So last Sunday I ordered some things and got them on Thursday which I think is quite quick.  I also stocked up on my favourite tea, though in the days between I ordered and got it delivered I found both of them in our local supermarket!

The two teas and the Eclairs are things I really miss here. Then I thought some real British vinegar would be nice as I'm really into chips with vinegar at the moment. Golden syrup for baking and
Ploughman pickles for cheese-and-pickles sandwiches. The poridge will hopefully help me cope with our cold office during fall as I could just stuff them into the microwave and have something war for breakfast.

Random facts about Sophie

I love baking! My current favourite is Lilly Cake, a plain, a bit old fashioned chocolate cake which is a family favourite.

At home, my mum is the cook while dad does the baking. He makes the best Lemon drizzle cake. 

I read a book that is set in Brighton this week. It was so nice to read and know where all the places are.

I love local colour in books anyway. So I try to put as much as possible into my own writing.

In most of my short stories somebody dies. So my mum said I should try to publish them under the name: "Of death cases and other cases of (bad) luck."

My granny once told us that she prays that  people she doesn't like will go to heaven soon. When we told her off her answer was: "I'm praying for them to go to heaven. What's bad about that? I could also pray for them to go to hell!"

Am almost off to our town fair today. It is no big business, but there are so many people i know. Will meet my mum an sister, first deliver some Lilly Cake - what else? - to the stall of Mums knitting group, then walk over the fair, chat and maybe have lunch somewhere. Tonight I'll have to work two shifts at a stall which is always very good fun.

Pillow case to peg bag

At the moment I'm very much into crafting and DIY and into upcycling. The upcycling, however, has more to do with the fact that I have an idea and want to do it right then, than with upcycling itself. When I just want to get something done that moment and  can't run around for supplies I have to make the best out of what I have at home.

I do own a peg bag. A very simple, boring, store bought one. Nothing special. But I actually need two as I hang a part of my laundry downstairs and the rest on my balcony. The peg bag I had in my flat was so far just a bag; a paper bag from Lush to be precise.
I was thinking about making a peg bag for a while. So on Saturday when I finally dealt with the last messy place from my moving I found a pillow case from Cath Kidston. It is pretty cute with roses, but I won't going to use it as a pillow case anymore as it is for a 35cm pillow which I find too small. Later that day, I gave the peg bag project another thought and remembered the case. In my wardrobe I found a matching clothes hanger and there we go.

All you need is a pillow case (best not bigger than 35 or 40 cm unless you want a really big peg bag) with an opening at the front and a hanger for a skirt, one like these. Plus scissors, a scale and a pen.

Find the middle of the pillow case and make a tiny cut. Just as big to get the clothes hanger into it. Insert the hanger into the pillow case, making sure to stretch the case neatly with it and then move the hanging part of the hanger - don't know how this thing is called, don't even know if it has a name - through the hole. Fill with your pegs and enjoy hanging up the laundry.

Lemon-thyme chicken

I love lemon and thyme. They're my favourite seasoning. There is hardly nothing I cook without thyme or bake without lemon. In fact, whenever a recipe requires vanilla sugar I use a decent amount of lemon zest instead. So when I came across a recipe for a lemon-thyme sauce for chicken I knew that this is the right thing for me. As I lost the recipe before I could try it, this is my own version of it. I'm quite sure that there was no wine in the original one, though I think it just adds a little bit more taste. As if there isn't enough from the lemon.... I have to warn you; if you're not seriously into lemon, don't cook it. It is very lemony and quite sour. But soooo tasty.

For two servings:

300 g chicken breast, sliced

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 natural lemon (1/2 teaspoon zest and half of the juice)

100 ml sour cream

50 ml white wine

50 ml water

1 teaspoon vegetable stock powder

Ca. 5 gr thyme

pepper, salt

Fry the chicken in the olive oil, season with a bit salt. Mix lemon juice, sour cream, wine, water, stock powder and lemon zest and add to the chicken. Simmer for two or three minutes and allow to reduce. Season with thyme (I used about 5 grams fresh thyme) and pepper.

Serve with rice or Ebly.

Sophies week

*film* The Gathering Storm (well, parts of it. Which is ok as I know half of the movie by heart anyway)

*book* Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban. My Policeman (Bethan Roberts)

*song* Hard Rock Candy Mountains by Pete Seeger

*craft* Peg bag. Some mini-diy (picture, camera strap). Worked on my deckchair cross stitching.

*food* Cheese cake. Ice. Potato salad. Chicken with lemon and thyme. Sandwich. And other rubbish.

*drink* Lemonade. My favorite tea.

*done* Crafted. Went for a tour on the lake with friends. Took photographs. Cleaned out my make up. Enjoyed the cooler weather. Went crazy on the Brithshop homepage.

*met* My parents. My sister. A lot of my frinds.

*bought* Hair colour. Cards.
*thought* That the week wasn't as bad as expected... 

 

Picture-frame tray

I while ago I saw a lovely tutorial for a tray out of a picture frame. So I decided to get a tray for my coffee table. I won't need it to carry heavy stuff around, so I don't know how stury it will be in the end. But I'm sure it is pretty useful on a coffee table as a nice "underground" for all my stuff. And when I get tired of the colour, I can just change it.

I decided to not add the glass back into the frame as I fear that it might get scratched. So I might just have to take the fabric out every now and then to wash it, but as it is so quick and easy to assemble it back together it isn't too bad.

You'll need (I used my picture frame as a guidline, but of course you can take any size you want and just add 2.5 cm seam allowance to all sides)
picture frame for a 30*40cm picture. Fabric 35*45 cm.
Tools: Iron, scissors, stapler, maybe yarn and neadle

Cut the fabric to the right size and iron it. Lay the part of the frame that will be behind the picture on the backside of the fabric. Fold the seam allowance over the edge and iron flat (as seen on the photograph)
When you want to go the extra mile and will add the glass you can stitch the edges together. If you won't add the glass and might have to take the fabric out and wash it every now and then, you might just want to staple the edges together.
Now assembly everything. Glass inside the frame if you like, fabric part inside the frame and just close it up. If you won't add the  glass, iron over the fabric again once everything is done to make it lay flat.

There you go. Ten minutes of work - or even less - and you'll have the perfect tray.

 

Thats how it sould look when you sew/staple

Sophies week

*film* Die harte Schule der 50iger, the German version of "That'll teach em"

*book* Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban

*song* some Elvis-songs

*craft* an elephant picture. A very quick picture-frame-tray. Started on a pillow.

*food* Pastry with pork, apples and ham. Ice, cream and original meringue. Mars ice cream. Baked potato with tuna. Salad.

*drink* Beer. Red wine. Peppermint tea.

*done* Crafted. Slept a lot. Been lazy. Did a lot office stuff. Been glad about some nice, cool weather.

*met* My parents. My sister. Granny.

*bought* Some stuff for my flat at IKEA.
*thought* That I'm not looking forward to next week...

Random facts about Sophies cats

Somewhen this week - Thursday? - was Cat-day so I decided that this weeks random facts aren't about me but about the two furballs living with me.

They're a bit older than a year - I don't know who is older, but I always think of him being kind of the older brotehr - and live with me since December last year. They're from an animal shelter where they grew up together (they're no siblings, just good friends)

He is named after a character from a childrens series and got that name before he moved in with me. She was called Falballa, which I didn't liked, so I renamed her after a song my sister and I were listening when we went to pick them up.

She is normally called all sorts of "mouse" and "mousy" and "little mouse" or also "owl" as she has big, yellow eyes. He is "Kosebamse" which is the Norwegian word for teddybear, but most of the time shortened to "Bamse"

He loves water and hangs out in the bathing tub when there is still some water in there after I had a shower. He also loves cuddling - hence the name Kosebamse. Oh and he likes thundersturms, sitting on the balcony watching them! Well, this might just have to do with the fact that he loves to be on the balcony so much that a little noise can't put him off.

She loves her pink ball, being brushed and food. She seriousely purrs when she is eating! She also has her favorite pillow, which she drags around the flat so that she has a comfy place to sleep wherever she wants to. And she gets crazy when I eat cheese and cries till she gets some as well.

Ramdom facts about Sophie

Hi everyone!

I decided to change Sophies Friday to Random facts about Sophie. Like that, I can also post them at any other day during the week whenever I feel like it. Due to events out of my control - well, almost... - I wasn't able to post yesterday, so there they are on Saturday under their new name.

Well, let's start.

I have settled in my new flat, like it very much and it feels like I have been living here for ages. Gave back the keys to my old flat this week and not felt sad or so. There are still some things to be done in the new flat, but for the moment it is ok and I'll take my time find the missing pieces of furniture and decoration.

My cat managed to escape from the balcony yesterday. That was the thing that kept me off blogging... Suddenly he was gone and I found him sitting downstairs, scared to death. Somehow he managed to slip out of the catnet and jumped.... Took me ages to get him back inside but I guess he wasn't too sad that his adventure in the wildernes was over.

Due to the hot weather I'm only eating cold things. I guess I haven't used the hob in my flat for more than five times in the last three weeks. And four of these times were just cooking pasta or rice for a salad. But the oven is in use quite often and I'm baking like crazy.

After almost three months without a single book I'm reading like crazy since the beginning of July. The next book on my reading list is My Policeman by Bethan Roberts. The book was featured in a book review in the newspaper we have in our office. One of my colleagues called me and told me that this is THE book for me as it is set in Brighton.

While on holiday I bought a jar full of buttons in various colours and can't wait  to do some cute-as-a-button projects with them.

Whenever the weather is hot and sunny for some days I long for a rainy day or two.