Cherry Tomato and Sweet Chilli Jam (with cheese sables!)

While at Faron's house over the holiday I had a lot of this amazing cherry tomato and sweet chilli jam his mum Wendy made with EVERYTHING. When I got home I was delighted to find my mum had also made it! Before I left I made a batch for myself to take back to uni as it was so delicious and my chef of a mum whipped up some amazing cheesy biscuits to go with it. It's a match made in heaven. 

Check out the recipe for the jam here (from the delicious magazine that both mums and my nan subscribe to). The recipe for the "cheese sables"/biscuits is also from the magazine! They are almost like savoury shortbread. I hugely recommend both of these recipes! Together they would be a great gift.

Italian Travels

Faron and I had a wonderful road trip from Luxembourg to Rimini, with Basel, Como, Lake Garda and Verona in between. We ate in abundance of all the good Italian things and drank in abundance of coffee and a drink that's really grown on me; aperol spritz.

As promised here is a showcase of my best pictures from Italy. Like Helter Skelter, all can be purchased on my etsy shop (as well as two from Italy a year or so back).

Flowers in Bellagio, Bellagio, Lake Como

Bellagio Alley, Bellagio, Lake Como

Shoreline, Lake Garda

Garda Sunset, Lake Garda

Locks of love, Juliet's House, Verona

River View, Verona

New Fabric and First Dress!

Faron's mum Wendy is an experienced and highly talented knitter and seamstress (and I'm just waiting for her to start her own blog!) This year she has a resolution to make all her clothes (apart from the obvious like sports wear). While I was in Luxembourg we went to a huge fabric fair and I learnt/was taught how to use patterns, and made my first dress!

The fabric fair was amazing. In the past I have bought fabric online or in a shop in Brighton and compared to the fair there really isn't much choice. As I am not very experienced I don't know where to look or what to look for. I really recommend going to a fabric fair if you are an amateur (or even if you're not) as you can touch and feel all you want and really browse around until you find something perfect. 

In the end I bought 6 different fabrics, most with an intended use, which is more than I can say for my other fabrics!

The plain grey linen will hopefully in time become a summer shirt. The colourful patterned cotton is destined for some sort of bag or craft. The red doll fabric is actually oilcloth which I am quite excited about using in a bag or cosmetic bag, although I am regretting not getting another matching oilcloth as they had some really nice green and pink ones in polka dot/same pattern that matched perfectly. I hope to turn the light grey striped fabric in the middle into pyjama pants, and the orange/white circled fabric is intended for this shirt. Finally the beautiful grey fabric with the flowers is intended for a simple skirt with an elasticated waistband - I just have to find the perfect pattern!

The four rolled up fabrics at the bottom were kindly given to me by Wendy as she has no more use for them. I have no intended use for them at the moment but they are lovely!

The beautiful silk below that was half price (!!) will hopefully be a maxi-dress, but I don't trust myself to make it alone so I am waiting until I am back in Luxembourg with some knowledgeable eyes to oversee.

The dress I made was from a pattern given to me by Wendy. We made it with some of her leftover fabric for a practice dress but it's it's quite nice in this fabric with a belt, almost farmer-esque :) I do plan to make the dress again in a different fabric. 

Pictures from the Italy trip will follow shortly!

Sweet and Salty Roasted Chickpeas

I have really failed on my New Year's resolution now. With all the work before the end of term then a four week break in which I was away the whole time.. I haven't posted anything for.. weeks! During the break I was in Luxembourg, Switzerland and Italy. Pictures will be coming soon from Italy as it was my first holiday with my new camera and I was very snap-happy.

I made this snack last term and it was very nice. Unfortunately I didn't have cinnamon and instead used ginger, but t worked too. I definitely want to try it with cinnamon too though as that's one my favourite flavours.