Chai Mix

thanks to angry chicken i made this chai concentrate! I didn't have ground cardamom, so i cleaned my coffee mill by grinding some rice in it, and then ground some green cardamom pods, unfortunately not to a fine powder... but i managed to strain out the shell pieces. i used freshly grated nutmeg, and I might have overdone it a little, my chai was definitely nutmeggy! i might add more cinnamon and cloves to the mix, but i'm giving it another while, to see does the flavour change a little in the next few days.

my knitting needle broke!

i was using these knitpro interchangeable circular needles and i was just trying to fasten one of them again as it kept coming loose (i mustn't have used the cable key properly) and it just snapped! and they are my only 3.25mm needles, so the 'little sister's dress' is on ice for the moment, and it's the weekend, i was really looking forward to making some progress...

well, i'm going to bed.

Update 06-Feb-2010: I was lying! I did have more 3.25mm needles, I found 2 sets of 4 double pointed ones, so now I'm knitting with 7 dpns!! Bit of a pain, but better than nothing!


Update 10-Mar-2010: After a visit to This is Knit, to buy new circular needles, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I hadn't been doing anything wrong (always good to know) and also, that I won't have to pay for a replacement! Should get a phone call to say the replacement arrived, any day now! This is great, Thanks girls! 

Great sunshiny day

We had a great sunshiny day today! I decided to drop a book back to the library and take Emm for a walk by the sea, she fell asleep on the way so I decided to have a little knitting lunch break for myself! Listening to classical music on the radio and looking out at this...

Seaside lunch break
Originally uploaded by tulpenpink

When she woke up we went for a walk, it was quite windy so we went into the town for some lunch, just us two girls! We sat outside a cafe in the sun and had gorgeous fish pie, chatting to the ladies at the other table who were besotted with my little girl. Everybody was so friendly, a sunny day does that to people over here! I had a nice coffee, Emm and I shared a macaroon, yum, yum! And then we had to get some foodshopping done.


Thinking what a great day we'd had, I arrived at home, only to see my friend Cate pulling up outside, I hadn't seen her in over a week so we had tea, banana bread and a good chat in the house and Emm was over the moon, as always when she sees Cate (who's a primary teacher and brilliant with kids). Then we all went across to my Neighbour V, where we got more tea, and biscuits, and the kids had a ball.


M had no trouble going to sleep tonight and my beloved brought home some really good chips after football, and we had them with spicy chicken wings that I'd put in the oven earlier, mmmh! So good, so bad and so easy!


He's off to the pub with his football mates now, so I'm enjoying some online time and some more knitting! Life is good!

strong bones without dairy?

I was visiting my neighbour today, so our little daughters could play together, or, as the seem to prefer at this age, play on their own while eyeing each other up suspiciously every now and then, and to take toys and treats away from each other!

We were talking about their diets, and Abby was saying her daughter used to hardly eat anything, it was a battle to get any food into her, even when the granny tried to give her ice cream and other treats, she'd just have a nibble and then walk away from it. Until she talked to a nutritionist who advised her to take her 14 months old daughter off dairy! She was really reluctant to do it, because of all the general advice out there, stressing they have to drink loads of milk. After some deliberation and with a list of other foods containing calcium, she went ahead with it, and could not believe the change it made! within a few days her daughter took to her food, enjoying all her meals and snacks! She suspects the milk and formula was making her feel full or queasy, so she never felt like eating, and now, without, she's got an appetite.

While Emm loves all her food, she does have eczema on her wrists, behind her knees and on her ankles. I'm pretty sure it has to do with teething, as it gets worse whenever she has other teething symptoms, too, but I wonder would taking her off dairy make a difference? I'm generally suspect of  messing with babys' and toddlers' diets, but she doesn't actually like to drink milk, so I wonder is that a sign? She does like her milky porridge though, and cheese and yoghurt, and whipped cream (surprise, surprise!)...

We feed her a diet of mostly unprocessed, natural foods, withing reason. Milk alternatives, like soy milk, are very processed, and I'd prefer not to introduce new artificial foods to replace (relatively) natural foods, like milk, but if it improved her eczema, it might be worth it?

I tried to google the topic but the amount of sites from animal activists, calcium supplement manufacturers and old school pediatricians is overwhelming, so I don't know where to get info on calcium content, and also quite importantly, calcium absorption rates, without spending hours researching and copying data into spreadsheets...

I'm worried about her calcium intake, and vitamin D, too, but I wonder how much of that is fueled by dairy council propaganda... Nutrition really is a mine field, once you start thinking about it, taking into account protein intake, vitamin D levels, absorption rates... But at the same time, we all seem to do reasonably well on our less than perfect diets!

making boxty

A little treat for lunch today... unfortunately they didn't turn out the way I remembered them! I had a recipe, but I never wrote it down! I was making them quite regularly for my husband in the early days of our relationship, trying to impress him! I'm still fairly sure it was 5 potatoes, 1tsp of baking soda, a pinch of salt, and then flour and milk, but their quantities i can't remember! Today I went with 3 tblsp of flour and an unmeasured amount of milk, and they turned out a little too soft. But I'm not sure now was it the temperature (too hot, not cooking them long enough) or did I maybe put in too much milk, or maybe the amount of flour was all wrong too? I don't know!

Does anybody have an all-raw-potatoe boxty recipe? This one I got from Peter's granny, who sadly passed away last year. It was one of those 'a few of these - a bit of that' recipes grannies like to give out, because they've spent some 60 years cooking it, there's just no measuring necessary!

my current knitting project - little sister's dress

I'm probably mad, knitting a dress or vest for a toddler, she's only going to rub food into it! but we'll see, she might magically turn into well behaved little lady! The pattern is "little sister's dress" from tora-froseth-design

quick spaghetti carbonara

Today Emm and I had spaghetti carbonara for our lunch. I make it this way:

whisk 2-3 eggs, a tblsp of milk or cream (optional), pepper, nutmeg and some grated parmesan together (you don't need salt because of the bacon!).

cook some spaghetti in plenty of salted water, towards the end of the cooking time add some frozen peas.

chop some bacon or rashers and fry until crispy.

drain the spaghetti and peas, and immediately add them and the bacon to the egg mix, stir around until the egg begins to set (the heat from the pasta is cooking the egg, but make sure you use fresh eggs from a trusted source!)

serve!

a night out and yummie soup

I made this yellow split pea soup today, it turned out lovely, fresh and lemony, and the ginger gives it a nice kick! We had it for lunch, and Emm had some cold basmati rice mixed into hers. She absolutely loved it. I also made the broccoli and dipping sauce, but I had to substitute sherry for mirin, and lemon juice for lime, and my soy sauce was dark, it turned out quite dark and bitter. Might try it again some time, if I can ever get a hold of Mirin or Sake! 

The soup is really healthy, lots of garlic and ginger and lemon juice, and pulses. It was quite filling, too! I like to cook vegetarian and dairy free some days. I like meat and fish, but don't need it every day by any means! I worry about getting enough protein, iron and calcium though, especially for Emm. Going meat free some days means I can buy better quality meat, and free range on the other days. When I buy free range chicken I make the most of it and get 3 meals out of one, plus chicken stock. 

On Friday Night I spent my first night away from Emm! She was 15 months yesterday, if you count the pregnancy as well I have spent every night with her for the last two years! I was a bit apprehensive, but we had a good night with the girls, out in town, and three of us stayed in a hotel, they had a special offer on that made it as cheap to stay in the hotel as to get a taxi home, so we decided to enjoy our hangovers in peace! we got back to the hotel around 3, and spent another hour taking silly photographs and falling over laughing and drinking tea (there was no mini bar :-( ). It took me another hour to get to sleep while the other two slept as soon as they hit the pillow. I'm surprised I turned out to be the kind of mother that finds it hard to be seperated from her child, I always thought I'd happily leave them for a long weekend! Although the other girls told me it gets a lot easier when you have two!

Knowing she was safe with P helped, of course, I still can't imagine leaving her with anybody but my mother, if P and I wanted a weekend away together... 

Did I mention I finished breastfeeding a month ago? She doesn't seem to miss it at all! We were down to just the morning feed, I think it helped that it wasn't the evening feed, it was easy to distract her in the morning, she must have been ready to give up i suppose. The main reason I gave up is to get a chance to maybe have another baby soon! I feel passionate about breastfeeding, so few babies in Ireland get to nurse, the statistics are quite sad! I'm sad to be finished, but I'm glad we got to 14 months after such a difficult start! 

what's in a name?

I decided to change my blogging name! Péitseoga, the Irish version of my nickname, has some disadvantages, namely the fada (the accent on the e) and also pronounciation, also, I feel I should have a more German sounding name... so, 'Irmhild', I decided, is sufficiently German sounding, easy to spell, and to pronounce! ...and I like the sound of it!

I'm doing this on a whim, and might regret it, but I have posted so little lately, nobody's going to miss Péitseoga!! The blog name will change to 'tulpenpink'. It's German for 'pink tulips'. Tulips always put a smile on my face, brave little things, sticking their heads out on a cold grey winter's day!

nearly forgot!

the mittens!!

and the wool i used was manos del uruguay silk blend. so nice to work with!

stella pixie hat and yoga

Oh it's been a long time since I last posted! I just don't seem to have the time to read and post... During the day the lap top is off limits as M likes to take the keys off it with her little fingers, and if I don't let her she gets very annoyed! And in the evenings (if I'm not out), after the dishes and tidying up, I'm often so tired, blog reading or writing is just not on the agenda! I did however manage to knit this 'stella pixie hat'

and I am currently working on a 'little sister's dress'. It requires a lot more concentration than the hat did, but I'm ready for a challenge!

On Monday I went to my first yoga class in over 15 months, the last one being my last pregnancy yoga session! I felt like it was the first time i did something relaxing for just myself since I've had M! I was lying on the mat, focusing on my breathing, and of course wasn't actually supposed to think about anything, but this thought popped into my mind!

I'm very excited about starting yoga again, it just feels like I deserve doing something for myself! I'm hoping to find an audio CD to help me practise at home, too, something I haven't done with any of my previous yoga classes over the years. But now, I am actually at home during the day, and most days there is an hour where I could maybe fit 20 minutes of exercise in, if I put my mind to it! Usually I use M's nap time to catch up on laundry and dishes and tidying, but maybe it would do me good to take some time, and calm down and focus on just one thing at a time.

I'm reading (when I'm getting to read) 'buddhism for mothers' at the moment, and I hope to bring some mindfulness into my life. It'll be hard for a seasoned multitasker and well known scatterbrain like me, but I hope it'll benefit my parenting, and our quality of life! Time is flying so fast, and I worry my career break will be over in a flash and I won't have used it as best I could, if I just carry on being dragged through my days by trying to catch up with housework and little tasks, while keeping lots of random thoughts and lists in my head and never really being in the moment, enjoying time with my daughter. It's often only moments, one moment during the whole day, where I realise how lucky I am to have this time with her, and that I haven't been fully there all day!

before and after pictures (the attic conversion)

hall


guest room

attic

christmas ornaments

little santa hat, pattern on ravelry
tiny sock (cast on 8 stitches!) the original pattern is also from ravelry, but i changed it quite a bit.

these are going into an advent calendar that us stitch and bitch girls are making for one of us, who's moving abroad. i'd say the tiny sock would be great on a card, too!

armchair cover

here we are, the armchair cover, finally finished! it's not great though... i made lots of mistakes, and i'm not that happy with the fabric, maybe the print is a little too big, really... it's a nice splash of colour though!

power cut

We had a power cut last night, 9 hours! It was a nice evening actually, maybe we should voluntarily switch the power off every now and then! Emm had her first candle lit dinner, and loved it! Our neighbours dropped by for a cup of tea (gas hob, how lucky!) the stayed, so we ordered pizza, opened a bottle of wine, then we got out the cards and played '110'. It was so nice and relaxed, no distractions, no fussing or cooking (didn't want the fridge to get warm!), no background noise, just candles and friends. when they left, we looked up at a beautiful starlit sky, we rarely get to see the stars properly, because of the light pollution! i wonder will there be a baby boom in the area, in 9 months time!