Almost December folks! Not long until Christmas! And I am (slightly smug-ly) delighted to say that I have almost ALL my Christmas presents bought! This has got to be a record for me, I am normally only just starting at this point in the year. Perhaps it is the influence of my very organised boyfriend, or perhaps it is because my parents are jetting off to spend Christmas in Australia and I had to get their presents bought before they left. Probably a bit of both.

So I thought I would share a few snaps of some of the presents I have bought. The receivers don't know about this blog so there is no danger of them peaking!

I know I kind of intended for this blog to be about crafty stuff, but to be honest it's turning into an 'all things I love' blog instead! Thats why I've posted a load of photos (since I love photography) and why I am now posting a bit about cooking (oh, and I have my banana bread post too!).

I love fish, but I have to admit that I find it a bit daunting to cook. You have to cook it for EXACTLY the right amount of time otherwise its either under- or over-done! But my mum introduced me to a brilliantly easy way to cook a fillet of salmon that gets its beautifully cooked everytime.

Place the fillet into a shallow bowl and add whatever 'flavourings' you would like. In the photo below I have opted for a little drizzle of olive oil, a crushed clove of garlic and then a spread of pesto over the fillet. However, my favourite additions include sesame oil, garlic, ginger, chilli and soya sauce for a lovely asian twist. Cover the bowl in cling film and pierce an few holes. You will then want to get the rest of your dinner ready as this cooking is done super fast! Once you think everything else is almost ready, bung the salmon into the microwave for a max of 3 mins on high (check after 2 just to be on the safe side) and you will get a perfectly moist, steamed salmon fillet that tastes divine!

2 posts in one day - go me!

This post is just a group of photos from around my house of all the lovely red things I have. My kitchen and living room are red white and black and I get a little carried away buying lovely things for it - if its red and white spots I LOVE IT! Its actually turning into a bit of an obssession....and Im getting slightly concerned!

I think I had said I would post these pics a while back, but I have only gotten round to taking the photos now! Anyway. When I got my lovely sewing machine from my dear kind parents (keeping them sweet in case they ever read this blog! lol), I realised I would be best to have a dedicated space for it to live - and the spare room was the obvious choice. Except as you can see it was a bit of a mess:


xxx

I realised that I never put up a close-up photo of my new sewing machine, so here is it:

Well I thought it was about time that I attempted to use my sewing machine! My mum, bless her, was very excited about the whole situation and scurried off to her sewing room and came back with a 'make your very first skirt kit' (Lettie Wilson Copyright 2009 - lol, joke!) where she basically gathered up every thing I might need to make a skirt.

So, now that I have tidied my spare room, put up my new desk and officially have NO excuse not to start (I'll put up a 'before' and 'after' shot of the room soon) I have to start on the skirt.

First step...read the instructions. Think I got two words in before I was completely LOST! Dressmaking patterns are not written in English! It was like reading a foreign language. But I was determined to at least START the whole project....so I have pinned all the pattern pieces to the material and cut the pieces out. And I shall be making a visit to casa Wilson for a translation of the instructions so that I can actually start sewing everything together! But it's a start!