Peggy from Mad Men dress

This weekend I made a dress from a pattern I'd found in my local charity shop for only 20p. As the fabric I used was purchased on ebay for only 99p for 5 meters, I think that offically makes this dress an absolute bargain!

I'm calling it my 'Peggy from Mad Men dress' as I definately think it's something she would wear to the office. Joan is usually much more my style, and my workwear fashion inspiration, but in recent series of my favourite tv show Peggy has been improving her wardrobe so that I now regularly lust after her clothes too! I love that I will be able to wear this dress plain in summer, with a shirt in Autumn and a jumper in winter - truely versatile!

Assisi

Alienfox

Recently I went to a charity fashion show for the headpiece designer Alienfox. The event was raising money for lesbian & gay charities, specifically after recent events in Russia.

As you can see from the photos above the headpieces are fantastical & certainly not something you'd wear to pop to Tesco! I like the feathered mohawk one in particular. You will be seeing Alienfox's headgear in the new Wella advertising campaign soon. 

Have a look at some more of his beautiful designs on http://www.alienfoxdesigns.com/

Makeup by the lovely & talented Charlene Howells http://www.charlenehowells.com/

Rome

The Pantheon

Interior of the pantheon

Getting a fruit pot from the market for breakfast

The Colloseum

Inside the Colloseum

An amaretto bellini - my new favourite drink!

You know what they say, "when in Rome..."!

We had a wonderful time in Italy this summer, and finished off our trip with a weekend in Rome. We stayed in a small apartment and spent our days wandering around all the sights (which are surprisingly close together) and taking far too many photos. In the evenings we sat outside restaurants and ate - and boy did we eat a lot!

Everything about our stay was amazing, the weather (43 degrees anyone?!), the architecture, the people, the markets... sigh!

Umbria

Viw across the bridge to the town & castle from our house

Evening over Spoleto

You can't go without ice cream in Italy! This one was English trifle flavour...

At the cathedral

The only way to travel in Italy!

The Roman ampitheatre

We were lucky enough to spend our summer holiday in Italy this year. We had a week in Umbria, followed by a weekend in Rome before flying home. It’s safe to say that we both fell in love with Umbria, and could quite happily get used to the laid back lifestyle out there!

We rented a beautiful restored artist’s house just outside the town of Spoleto. The town itself is a walled medieval town, with a castle, a cathedral, a roman amphitheatre and lots of pretty squares hosting markets and open air cafes.

Using Spoleto as a base we did day trips out across Umbria, or just spent our days potting around the winding roads of the town.

If you get a chance to visit Umbria, do it, it is just the most beautiful place!

Peri Peri Haddock

2 x 150g haddock loin
50g philadelphia light
1/2 red pepper, finely diced
1/4 red chilli, finely chopped
2 tbsp red wine vinegar

Preheat the oven to 190c. Place the haddock in an ovenproof dish. Mix the philadelphia, red pepper & chilli together & spread over the top of the fish. 
Spoon the vinegar around the fish and then cover the dish with foil.
Cook the fish for 10 minutes, remove the foil and cook for a further 10 minutes until the fish is cooked through

Home-Made Butternut Squash Tortellini

Our hand-made tortellini (spot Ash's ones in the bottom right corner! He delegated the rest of them to me after these deformed efforts!)

The finished dish

This recipe is really yummy & also good for you as the gyoza dumpling dough is lower in calories than fresh egg pasta. I promise you won't be able to tell the difference!

Ingredients:

Dough:
300g strong white flour
1/2 tsp fine salt
200ml boiling water

Filling
500g butternut squash
1tsp olive oil
1 red onion
3tbsp quick-cook polenta
25g parmesan
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
salt & pepper

Sauce
3 tbsp half-fat creme fraiche
handful basil leaves
2 big handfuls of baby spinach leaves
Chilli flakes

First make the dough. Sift the flour & mix in the salt & then stir in the boiling water with chopsticks until a ball forms. If the dough seems too wet add a bit more flour. If it's too dry add more water. Cover the dough & leave it to stand & cool for an hour. 
Preheat the oven to 200c. Peel the butternut squash & cut it into 4cm chunks. Toss them in oil, season & then roast in the oven for 25 minutes. Finely slice the red onion. Toss it in the remaining oil & add to the squash after the 25 min cooking time & cook for a further 10 minutes. 
Allow the veg to cool for 5 minutes, then add to a blender with the polenta & blitz it to make an orange puree. Set aside to cool for an hour, then stir in the parmesan & nutmeg. 
Place the dough on a lightly floured surface & knead for 5 minutes until it is very elastic. Roll the dough out very thinly & cut out circles using a pastry cutter - you can't re-roll this dough, so get as many as you can out of it in one go. 
Take a disc of dough & lay it flat in the palm of your hand. Place a heaped teaspoon of the filling in the middle, dip your finger in water & brush it around the edge. Fold the pastry over & press the edges firmly to form a semi-circle. 
Bring a saucepan of water to the boil. Drop the tortellini gently into the hot water & cook for 5 minutes until the pasta is tender. Drain & then tip the pasta back into the saucepan. Add the creme fraiche, basil & spinach leaves. Season well, add chilli flakes, then toss together over a low heat until the spinach wilts.