More Ghormeh Sabzi

I haven't been able to get the dish Ghormeh Sabzi out of my mind since I had it at Perspolis last week, and after having looked the dish up online and found loads of recepies to make it, I decided to give it a go. :-)

Here is the result! :-) It was pretty yummy if I may say so myself! You can make the dish with fresh, dry or canned, rehydrated herbs, and I believe there are some variations to the herb mixture used. However, the herb mixture I was able to locate in a Iranian food import shop on Manchester Road here in Swindon was the canned, rehydrated kind. The herbs it contained was chives, coriander, parsley and fenungreek and the aroma when I took the lid off the can was amazing! The other ingredients of the dish is lamb, onion, dried limes or lemons and seasoning of salt and pepper. I added a couple lamb stock cubes for more flavour as think there was a couple other ingredients I missed, one of them turmeric, but didn't have it so I made do without. I would have liked to make the dish properly and with all fresh herbs, but the way I did it and with it being my first time, I am happy with the result. :-)

Persepolis

Amy and I had dinner out tonight. One of the good things about not feeling totally in form is that it is an excellent excuse to eat out instead of cooking at home! ;-)

I managed to talk Amy into coming to this Persian restaurant that has recently opened up in Swindon, called Perspolis. Having enjoyed some fantastic Persian cuisine in the past I was really looking forward to it, and I wasn't disappointed! We got a warm and pleasant welcome, and didn't have to wait long for the food once we had ordered. Amy had a skewer of chicken and a skewer of minced lamb with rice and a grilled tomato , Soltani, and I had a lamb stew with rice which is called Ghormeh Sabzi, one of my favourite Persian dishes. The flavour was lovely, and I am looking forward to go back and try some of the other dishes too.

It's not very expensive. My stew cost £6 and Amy's meal was £10, so not bad at all, although if I shall be perfectly honest, I would rather have paid a bit more and gotten some more meat in my dish, as it was only a couple of chunks and the rest was slivers of meat mixed with the kidney beans and the herb sauce. But, it was still lovely, so, Perspolis is hereby recommended to anyone who wants to try something tasty and different in Swindon!

Fabric has arrived, and here is the first dress. :-)

The fabrics arrived yesterday and they are all gorgeous! If it wasn't for me still feeling ill yesterday I would have started sewing straight away, but had to wait till today. So here is the first dress made out of the new fabrics. Libbie was my model again, and lovely she is with it. :-)

The picture of fabric is one I missed out the other day. Can be mixed and matched with many of the others too.

Hope you like. :-)

Lazy day and a guilty concience

I have taken a day off ill from child minding today. Had a fever through the night and aching most places, and as I didn't sleep well and feel like I have been beaten up, I called Nathan's mum and asked if he could stay at home today. I knew it would be ok as his dad is having some time off at the moment, but I still feel guilty. Women and that feeling of guilt about most things, eh? Oh, yes, I also feel guilty about the house being chaotic and was going to do something about it while having an ill day, but turns out I feel too yuk to do any of that either, which makes sense I guess, so at least I don't have to feel guilty for having a day off from work and be well enough to do something. Hmm, that makes sense to me! ;-)

Got two meters of the ordered fabric to make dresses with today, but can't start until I get the rest. It's looking promising though, :-)

Now, back to the sofa for a nap. Take away for dinner today I think!

Bags, bags and more bags!

The first products I put up for sale on my etsy page, was handbags. I have had some great feedback on them and would like to be able to show them off more. I really, really, really want to exhibit at a D&K arts and craft fair at Lacock village hall, preferably in June, but there is only a couple tables left, so fingers crossed I can get on it. I have heard some good things about this craft fair and Lacock is supposed to be a beautiful place to visit.

I have only done one arts and craft fair before, and I am blaming the lack of customers for a low sale, as my bags looked great on display ;-). This was at the end of March when it was bitterly cold, and the craft fair was held in the Neeld Hall in Chippenham. All doors was open to attracts customers, and I wish I sold clothes instead of bags as I could have done with something to warm myself in. The whole experience was made bearable with the entertaining company of my friend Mandy and I am hoping she will come to the next craft fair with me too. I will indeed be selling clothes at future craft fairs, but I better bring a cardigan or something for myself as it's no way I can get into girls size 1-8 years.

Until I get more of a swing on it with attending craft fairs I'm mainly selling my bags and the girls clothes on etsy. The prices are in US Dollars, but don't be put off by that if you like any of the bags or dresses and really want to buy, as I mail from the UK to anywhere in the world, and paypal works it all out for you.

Now, better get back to planning for my day job, child minding. ;-)

Awaiting these lovely fabrics!

Aren't these fabrics just fabulous!? Most of them are designed by Amy Butler and the others by Kaffe Fassett and Phillip Jacobs, and I ordered them online at the cottonpatch. They sell the fabrics as fat quarters, so me getting excited thinking it was only £2.65 or something per meter was a bit premature until I looked at it properly, as it ended up costing £10.60 per meter at the most. which doesn't leave a lot of scoop for much profit as I'll be selling the dresses for around £16 and will need more than a meter for some of the dresses. But I enjoy sewing and can't wait to mix and match and make them into fun little girls dresses! Now all we need is some warmer weather!

Blogging! Help!!!

Oh dear, this is a bit scary, as struggling to find my way around the world of blogging, but I was recommended keeping a blog so that more people could find my products, so here I am. :-)

Hmmm, I guess this is like keeping a diary, but without the juicy personal bits that makes it interesting? ;-) he he

Right now I should be doing some planning for my main job, being a child minder, but my mind is on some beautiful fabrics I have ordered and which I can't wait to receive! I have recently made a couple girls dresses, and I loved making them! The picture is showing lovely Libbie modelling one of the dresses, and although I like the fabric, colour and pattern etc, it's maybe not very 'now', hence me being so excited about the fabrics I have ordered as they are very girlie and vibrant and I think they should be to many little girls tastes, and in the taste of mums and dads who wants their little girls dressed in something different than the mass produced clothes to be found in most shops. The fabric designers are Amy Butler and Phillip Jacobs. I was very tempted to order some more, but had to show a little bit of restraint!

Here is some of the fabrics! Well, they will be found in the next post as for some reason when I try to post them below the text, it ends up at the beginning, so trying a new post. :-) Fingers crossed it works! :-)