Don’t panic! Simone’s button famine is over. I ordered some off Trade me. I now have one shoe box FULL of buttons! I had some of them spread out on the ironing board for a couple of days just so i could look at them and feel that weird satisfaction that comes with finally owning something you have needed for quite awhile.
Well its getting late and I need to sleep, but before I do here are some images of my snowflake fest. I basically had $0 budget for decorating the flat. So here is what I came up with, I also got the people sitting on the sofa to help… they mocked me until I got them involved, then they understood! (I’m always harping on:”its the process …. maaaan”.)
The Next Image is of the snowflakes pretty much not leaving me until I had spread a little Christmas fun to work aswell.
Then I found this gem.. OMG how cool! Its a snowflake maker you can export the flakes.. already using it to decorate the desktop.. mmm maybe a new blog banner???
I went to see the court theaters production “The producers” this week. I had recently seen the movie and enjoyed it, so was looking forward to seeing it on stage. It did occur to me it was a very small setting and stage to have such a flamboyant loud fun musical preformed on.
The conductor conducted from his piano (my old music teacher at high school.. one of the best musical producers in chch) to a camera (i think) The set was REALLY clever, half the time I was grinning ear to ear on the sheer coolness of it. I overheard an attendant showing off to someone in the foyer on how the cast did everything from lighting to moving around sets. The costumes were fab, some clearly inspired by the movie, others probably limited by time and budget, but still wonderful enough that you probably couldn’t tell.
Now as for the overall play, it was a full blown extravaganza in a small space. I enjoyed myself from the back, thought it was a blast, I do like feeling in the thick of things. Some friends of mine thought it was “ambitious” and quite full on for a small stage. So if you like to watch from a distance perhaps this isn’t for you. But if you want to feel like your IN the play not just watching it… this came pretty close.
For more see:
I was introduced to the Artichoke by a past boy friends mother. We sat around a huge wooden table with fresh vege and meat pilled into the middle. One of the white ceramic bowls was filled with some big flower looking things. No-one was surprised by this (it looked a little odd to me) but everyone grabbed one and started peeling off the petals one by one, sucking them, scraping them with their teeth then discarding the rest. I was shown how to do this and dutifully gave it a go. I didn’t really have an opinion at first, it was all rather tasteless, but as I went on I became a pleasantly engaged in the taste. It was fresh, more-ish, and quite pleasant, especially when I got to the heart. When I moved into the house I am in now, the previous tenants had planted artichoke plants. Yay!
The only way I ever knew how to cook them was chucking the whole flower plus some stalk, in a pot of boiling water with some extra virgin olive oil, rosemary, sage, thyme and a clove of garlic. Boy are they YUM. We had some tonight my “house mate” and I. She was very impressed, quite skeptical at first, but towards the end when she bit into the heart.. she said “mmmmm… thankyou.” All sounds very carnivorous (heart), but there you go.
But thats not the only way to cook or eat artichoke. Since I have some in the garden I must begin experimenting! I have found a link on how to prepare them at Becks and Posh with some LOVELY photos (by Sam Breach..thankyou!), next I will find some recipes.
I have been spending alot of time in my garden lately. Its satisfying to see some seeds sprouting, flowers blossoming. For my first vege garden I am pretty happy with myself!
See more of my garden photos here >> (will open a flickr page)
