Baby knitting

While I am an avid knitter, I have never really understood the hype surrounding knitted baby clothes. Yes, they're cute and small, but some of them are also just hideous. Not to mention, a LOT of the knitting market seems to be aimed at those with babies in mind. But mostly, I have just found "baby knits" kind of dull - I don't really have any babies around me at all in my day-to-day life, the colours are always boring pastels (don't get me wrong, I love pastels, but in moderation people) and often the patterns themselves are really dated or just plain boring. However, perhaps due to the fact that several people I know are all pregnant at the same time (congrats Louise, Amelia, Helen and Alice!) I have become more interested in baby knits... particularly when I spotted these books on amazon...

 How sweet are they? I love the teeny tiny baby feet in the little striped socks ^^
Might need to get one of these (although perhaps "need" is a strong word) to make cute little socks and suchlike for all the bairns that will no doubt be running about soon!

House-sitting

Ahoy hoy!
So this week, Will and I are house-sitting for our old choirmaster (who is visiting his daughter in Australia) in his beautiful (and rather large) house in Fenham! Here are some of my favourite things about staying here...

• The house is so big that we can both shout a lot and it doesn't matter! (strangely enough, living in a small flat with grumpy neighbors really instills a need to shout sometimes)
• The garden is beautiful
• We feed wild birds and then watch them from the kitchen :)
• There are 86 framed pictures on the walls around the house (yes, I counted)
• There are HUNDREDS of books
• They have about 15 monopoly boards from different countries including anti-monopoly: anti-monopolists vs. the capitalists 

So basically it's the sort of house I want to live in when I'm all grown up - all intellectually stimulating and creative and slightly eccentric. Not to mention the bus into uni only takes 5 minutes. Starting back at uni tomorrow - not really looking forward to the two class presentations we have in the first week, or the exam we have in the second week, but other than that it should be fine...
House-sitting is an interesting prospect - in my experience, people who want house-sitters tend to have really nice houses! Will and I did some house-sitting while we were traveling around Australia a few years ago, but it was rather a different game there. We got to feed chickens (or "chooks" in oz) and eat all their eggs, which I loved. I wish I could have chickens! (Although in central Newcastle, I don't think they'd be very happy)
So we're here 'til the end of the week, planning on playing some board games (maybe even anti-monopoly) and jaunting about in the garden :)

Health, wealth and happiness - spinach and nutmeg soup

This is what I hope to be the first of many "Health, wealth and happiness Thursdays". I intend to cook a different meal each week that encompasses all of these qualities: health - it has to include healthy ingredients (vegetables, fruit, complex carbs, low-fat protein, healthy fats). Wealth - cheap to make: each portion has to cost under £4, and happiness - the food has to be tasty! So basically, that's it. Hopefully making something new each week will encourage me to find healthy, cheap and tasty things to eat, and get me clued up on how to alter recipes to make them healthier. So without further ado, this week's offering is
Spinach and nutmeg soup

I got the recipe from the New Covent Garden soup book, but altered it a little, so below is my version of their recipe:
Serves 3
Ingredients
Olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
teaspoon of plain flour
400ml vegetable stock
good splash of lemon juice
300g fresh spinach
nutmeg
100ml milk
salt & pepper
Heat the oil and cook the onions over a low heat in a covered saucepan for 10 mins, then add the flour and cook for another two mins. Add the spinach, nutmeg, lemon juice and stock, cover, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 mins until the spinach has wilted. Let the soup cool a little, then blend using a liquidiser or a hand blender. Pour in the milk and reheat gently (you can also add cream at this point, but I left it out), then serve, topped with fresh herbs or a swirl of cream.
Health - spinach is REALLY good for you - high in vitamin C and has been shown to help prevent prostate cancer. Also the recipe was easily adapted to leave out the butter and the cream.
Wealth - I already had most of the ingredients, but the bits I has to buy were the spinach and onions which cost about £2 altogether, so I'd say it was a success on that front!
Happiness - super-tasty! The nutmeg and lemon juice add a bit of interest, and even without the cream it was lovely and smooth. It's not a great colour (sort of murky green). Will's input: "It were dead good!"
So generally the first health, wealth and happiness Thursday was a success!

New year's resolutions

Happy new year! While not hoping to take on too much, I have decided to make a resolution for every part of my life - family, friendships, love, money, health and career/education. Talking about this with my friend Anna, she pointed out that it was very much like a horoscope... doh. But anyway, here are my resolutions for 2012...

• Family - make more effort to see my parents and brother
• Friendships - visit and keep in touch! It's pretty similar to my family resolution but I feel as though I need to keep links with the people I care about
• Love - keep appreciating my honey and letting him know how much I do
• Money - save 10% of my salary every month
• Health - lose a pound a week over the year = 52lb over the year
• Education - achieve a 2:1 overall for the academic year

So those are the plans! Looking forward to the year of much improved life, health and happiness