Boudhanath stupa

I really want to blog and post pictures to show what I've been working on recently. However, I plan to give this 'something' as a gift so cannot release its image into the public domain, owing to the very small chance that the recipients, or anyone for that matter, look at this blog!

So, here's something from my archive to curb my blog-craving. It's a picture of Buddhist stupa on the outskirts of Kathmandu, Nepal. I visited Boudhnath stupa in October 2008 and drew this picture last year from a photo, using pastels. I should probably make it clear that the stupa does not hold a deep, mystical and/or spiritual significance for me (sorry Buddhists). The visit was pretty cursory and probably a bit of a tick-box moment on the itinerary. I think I just chose the picture because I was told to pick something for an art class I was taking and I thought this would be quite easy with all the white going on, it turned out it wasn't. It took me ages and I still wouldn't call it finished!

A Tanzanian Adventure

A film of our Christmas family holiday to Tanzania. I compiled the best of our snaps and videos in editing software then threw a bunch of special effects, sound, zooms and speech bubbles at it, in the hope of giving a flavour of our holiday without taking up too much of your precious time :D

Delicious Daal

This is a, frankly, awesome dish which has been slightly adapted from a recipe taught to me by my friend Zeeshan Mansoor in Pakistan. He got the recipe from his Mum, so thanks Zee's mum! 

Apart from the taste, this dish is amazing because it's cheap to make, you can keep most of the ingredients in the cupboard for ages, using just a small amount each time. When you want to make it, you just need to get a few things fresh: tomatoes (although could use 1/2 tin of tinned variety), fresh ginger and fresh coriander. Furthermore, I reckon it's quite healthy and it doesn't contain wheat, gluten, nuts, meat, dairy or other animal products which means it pleases most dinner guests.

Serves 3-4 people (as a main dish, obviously serves more as a side)

Good served with basmati  rice (start boiling the rice at the same time as the lentils)- use 1/3 of a cup of dried rice per person.

It helps to divide this dish into three steps and batches of ingredients:

First lot of ingredients:

1 mug of red split lentils (IMPORTANT: put in a sieve and rinse under tap until water runs clear)

1 ½ pints of boiling water

1 veg stock cubes

3 chopped tomatoes (remove skins by stabbing and submerging in boiling water - or could used 1/2 a tin)

1 heaped tablespoon of mustard seeds

1 tsp sugar

Spinkling of salt

Onions and garlic frying with the spices

Second lot:

1 onion diced

2 cloves of garlic chopped up

2 heaped tsp Garam Masala (maybe more)

1 heaped tsp ground coriander

Tsp ground cinnamon

Tsp Cumin seeds

Or whatever spices you can find.

Third lot:

Fresh coriander (31g bags are available in most supermarkets) chopped roughly

Fresh chilli or chilli flakes to taste

Fresh chopped ginger

  

Prepare the first lot by dumping it all into a non stick pot and simmering on a medium heat, stirring occasionally and checking it doesn’t boil dry. This only takes about 20 minutes to cook.

Chop up the onion and garlic and fry in a frying pan on a medium heat until it’s dark brown/almost burnt!

While that's frying chop the fresh coriander, ginger and chilli

Add the spices to the onions and garlic which are nicely browned by now, fry for a few minutes

All the ingredients together at last, just stir 'n' serve

When the lentils are cooked (fall-y apart-y), remove from heat. Add in the fresh coriander, ginger and fried onions and garlic and spices and stir it in – Then it’s done! 

Mmm - hope you like it. Let me know what you think.

Baby quilt #2: Leonard

When cooking for vegan friends, I expect to have to work a bit harder to create a tasty meal. But I was surprised to find that the lovely Fiona and Laurie's veganism managed to inconvenience me when undertaking a task so seemingly innocent as making a baby quilt for their unborn child, Leonard. Quilts do not contain meat, dairy products or even honey, but you'd be amazed how many designs of children's fabric centre around a jolly farmer, farm animals or circus scene. I found it a bit strange, even creepy, despite being a carnivore myself. Anyway, I'm pleased to say that the quilt I made for Leonard features happy rabbits dancing with happy children, yellow chickadees and only the best free-range, disembodied panda heads.

Strikes

Click picture to enlarge

Rob, in art form.

As it’s his birthday, it seems like a reasonable time to dedicate a blog to Rob. 

I have made a few attempts to capture Rob’s likeness. They tend to focus on two of his main features:

1)      Prominent eye lids 

2)      His having the misfortune of always appearing to have feint moustache, even when he has shaved, and despite having facial hair in few other places.

In the beginning, I painted an egg Rob. He became known as ‘Eggbert’. Eggbert was created early on in our relationship before I had properly processed the constant moustache but after I’d known him long enough to see a few shaving mishaps.

The second attempt saw Rob transformed into a Meercat, using green pen on whiteboard. Sadly I cannot be bothered to find a picture of the whiteboard.

I then became aware that Rob’s mii character needed the eyelid and moustache treatment, so I went to work on that.

I sketched this last one when I was bored. He had no idea I was drawing him as he was busy writing a list (one of his favourite pastimes). Happy Birthday Rob!

Easy Satay Stir Fry

This is a deceptive dish that punches above its weight considering how easy it is to make and how likely it is that you already have the basic ingredients in your cupboard. Err, I mean, I’m an awesome cook and you can never hope to attain my greatness.

WARNING: SATAY SAUCE IS A PEANUT-BASED SAUCE SO IT *MAY* CONTAIN NUTS.

N.B Apologies for the photos, it's v. hard to take good food pics!

Ingredients

Meat and/or Vegetables (enough for the number of people you are feeding)

Sauce:

2 dessert spoons of Peanut Butter (smooth ideally)

2 dessert spoons of  Honey

2 dessert spoons of  Soy Sauce

A Couple of cloves of Garlic

Fresh Ginger grated (optional)

Half a stock cube (optional)

Serve with Rice or Noodles

Method

1)    Chop Meat and/or vegetables

2)    Prepare your sauce: Take one mug, put sauce ingredients in it. Add enough boiling water to fill the mug. Use a fork to stir until you’ve broken up the peanut butter and formed a paste and it looks like a mug of coffee or strong tea.

3)    Fry meat and then add the veggies, stir fry for a few minutes

4)     Add the sauce (take care not to add any nearby cups of tea)

5)     Cook for a bit (for those who need precise instructions I’ll arbitrarily suggest “3 minutes”), until the sauce has thickened.

6)    Combine your satay stir fry with rice or noodles, if you’ve reached the end of the recipe without realising that you should have cooked either of these, I recommend microwave rice or straight-to-wok noodles :D

7)     Put the food into your face