Tataaa!

Hi, y'all!

In case you missed me: My motivation ran away and danced in the streets with a cocktail in her hand… But now everything's fine, I'm back :-) By the way: I may have told you that I streamlined my meal planning, so I only have to buy groceries every three weeks. And this is the haul - even my smart watch counts that as exercise! 

That includes everything from tp to dog food, and from shower gel to chicken breast. The only premises: A freezer, a zero degree (Celsius, of course) department in the fridge and a good handful of common sense. Which means: produce which is turning bad the quickest, will be eaten first, and things which stay good for longer, will be consumed later on. Pizza crusts, pies and burger buns I bake at home, but puff pastry I only have store bought to freeze. Regarding cakes, I usually bake sponge ones, because they freeze well, and sometimes I do them in a flat pan, so I can top them off after defrosting. For example, we had a tangerine and cream cheese topping lately, which was absolutely delicious. Then I usually stock on frozen vegetables e.g. for my spinach lasagna or a veggie curry. Popsicles are a must-have, at least in summer. Normally, I buy the mini versions of the large ones - for most of the times it's enough for my sweet tooth, but if not, we just take two :-) Pasta and rice are classic dry goods which I always have in my pantry, as well as red lentils, canned tomatoes, smoked bacon bits, parmesan and onions. So you can pretty easily toss a risotto, spaghetti Carbonara or vegetarian Bolognese. Canned tuna with sour cream or broccoli with soft cheese make some good pasta sauces, and even Ajvar (a spread from red bell peppers) is a perfect base for a sauce. Potatoes are good choice, too, baked in the oven with garden fresh rosemary and thyme (sorry, no parsley and sage this year…), with some salad and spiced sour cream on the side -simply perfect! Sure, this is no high-end cuisine, but it works well for everyday, it is quick, more or less low-fat and somehow healthy. Mostly vegetarian, but on weekends with meat, often as BBQ, cause it's summer time. And as we speak of summer: That's what we had Monday night for dinner:

And then I told you a few posts ago, that I crocheted some make-up pads which weren't as practical as I hoped them to be. Thus, I ripped them apart, put them into something new adorned with tassels and beads, and they are pretty nice, I think. There are possibilities galore: hanging from a handbag or on a zipper, as key chain, even as pendant or as an embellishment for a present and so on...

But stop talking, here's the deal: 

And as you're never too old to learn (it may only take some more time until you understand), I tried a new technique: needle tatting. Sometimes you find it under "Occhi" - sounds pretty Italian but doesn't explain anything :-) In principle, tatting is a form of lace-making, and there a variations with a needle and a shuttle. In lack of a tatting needle, I simply used a large sewing needle with an even larger eye and some leftover cotton yarn. In general, you do some Macramee-like knots on the needle and then you join them to circles or chains. You can put little picots in between as decoration or connecting elements. My conclusion after some playing around: a longer (and less pointy) needle might come in handy, and with some shiny thin yarn you could make some delicate and elegant pieces of jewelry or napkin rings or whatever.

Nevertheless, here are my first attempts on needle tatting:

Update: Here are a few more pendants...

And here is another insight, as it didn't take me too long to get into tatting: 

You can teach an old dog new tricks after all :-)

Stay healthy and creative!