It’s snowing on the blog again
Less that a month to xmas, hooray!
For Bean:
For Katy:
Muppet t-shirts… SO MUCH WANT!
Threadless is holding a design contest to promote the new Muppet movie. Some of the t-shirt designs are kick-ass. I’ll be keeping an eye out for the winners :)
Holiday Political Correctness Gone Mad
An almost-Scottsdales :)
We found a garden center that is alllllmost perfect. It’s >this< close. It's called Schilliger, and it's only about 20 minutes from our place. Katy said that on some points, it's better than Scottsdales (!) so you know that has to say something. The only problem is that it doesn't have a cafeteria, only vending machines :( Still, the xmas display is impressive!!! And they have parrots!!! and hamsters!!! and toys!!! AND THEY HAVE LEMAX CHRISTMAS VILLAGE GOODIES!!!!
All pictures here: https://www.flubu.com/blog/pictures/schilliger_nov_2013
Setting priorities
Action Bean!
Trying to take a picture while the subject is being difficult and doesn’t want to stand still.
Bean gets a tiger from the market
The clown in the market was in full form this morning, making balloon animals and telling dirty jokes in innocuous language :-)
[recipe] Indian spinach and potato pie
For the filling
1.25 kg large waxy potatoes, halved
85g butter
2 onions, chopped
1 tbsp black mustard seed
2 tbsp finely chopped ginger
2 red chilies, halved, deseeded and sliced
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander seed
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp garam masala
400g bag fresh spinach
4 tomatoes, chopped
small bunch coriander, chopped
For the pastry
270g pack filo pastry (6 large sheets)
50g melted butter
1/2 tsp poppy seeds seed
Method
Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5.
To make the filling, heat a pan of salted water. When boiling, add potatoes and boil for 15 mins until tender.
Melt the butter then fry the onions for a few mins. Combine tomato paste, spices and some water. Add spice paste, mustard seeds, ginger and chilies and fry, stirring occasionally, for about 7 mins until soft.
Wilt the spinach by immersing in boiling water. Drain and squeeze out as much liquid as you can, then chop it.
Drain the potatoes and crush lightly to break them up into chunks rather than mash. Toss in the spice mixture with plenty of salt to coat them, then add the spinach, tomatoes and coriander.
Carefully unroll the pastry and brush 2 x 20cm loose-bottomed sandwich tins with some butter. Brush the first sheet of pastry and lay it in and across the tin so that it hangs over the side. Do the same with another sheet of pastry to cover the other side of the tin (so the two form a cross), butter and fold the final sheet in half and lay it in the base of the tin to create a firm base. Do the same with the other tin and remaining pastry.
Spoon the filling into the tin and fold up the pastry that is overhanging so that it covers the filling. Brush generously with the remaining butter and sprinkle with seeds. Bake for 35 mins until golden and crisp.
A manifesto for a simple life
