Leek, Courgette & Cannellini Bake

Like everyone else on the planet I'm trying to be a bit healthier and lose a little bit of weight. Not loads, gotta keep those 1950s style curves! ;) However, after the excesses of Christmas (mainly cheese and wine related!) I feel I need to give my body a bit of a break!

This recipe is great for when you want to be mega healthy but also to feel full. 

 

You will need:
Spray oil
1 large leek, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove
1 tsp chilli powder or 1 fresh chilli
2 tomatoes, finely chopped
1/2 can cannellini beans
1tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 large baking potato, sliced
1 courgette, sliced
100ml vegetable stock
25g cheese grated

Preheat the oven to 220c. Heat the spray oil in a frying pan and cook the leek and garlic until softened. 

Stir in the chilli, then the tomatoes, beans and parsley.

Transfer to a small baking dish. Cook the sliced potato for 5 minutes, drain and spread across the leek mixture along with the courgette. Pour the stock into the dish.

Bake for 25 minutes. Then sprinkle with the cheese and cook for another 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Patchwork Quilt

Look how unhappy she is that Bronwyn is sharing her quilt!

All cuddled up with her mum

This Christmas I tried to make as many of the presents I gave to people as possible - a separate post about that coming soon. For my friend's daughter Josie I made my first ever attempt at a patchwork quilt - and as you can see she was thrilled with the results!

The patchwork squares are Cath Kidston fabric I won on ebay. It had already been cut into squares the right size, so that saved me a lot of work! I bought some pink polka dotted cotton (also on ebay) and used part of a duvet inner for the stuffing. 

Now that The Boy got me a book about how to make patchwork quilts for Christmas I plan to have another go at one - without making it up as I go along this time! 

Film Inspiration

I am a total movie obsessive. Sad but true! Of course as a vintage girl I love all the classics - Breakfast at Tiffany's, Casablanca, The Red Shoes.... But I also get great vintage clothing inspiration from modern films. These are some of my favourites - mainly for the clothing!

Atonement - Obviously the green evening dress is the famous outfit from this film. But I love all the clothes - even if I do wish Keira Knightly had a more womanly figure to put in them! I love this era of fashion, and spend the duration of the film sighing with outfit envy. The book is wonderful too, as is the soundtrack album.

Mona Lisa Smile - This film is a bit cheesy, but a bit of cheddar never hurt anyone eh?! I love the beautiful full skirts, cute little cardigans, and Julia Roberts's bohemian look. 

Cracks - A bit of an odd film, but one that I love without quite knowing why! Has a real feeling of menace throughout. And the clothes... sigh! Oh to look as good as Eva Green in everything!

The Edge of Love - Ok, it has some pretty dodgy accents in it! And again Keira Knightly needs a sandwich.... but I have a girl crush on Sienna Miller here! And the clothes are fab - makes me want to run around wearing floral skirts, jumpers & wellies - and why not?!

Royal William Yard, Plymouth

Over the Christmas holidays I went for a nose around the Royal William Yard in Plymouth with my friend Stacey. (I believe she counts as a ‘vintage’ friend having been in my life for 22 years…!) This area of Plymouth had become really run down once the shipyard tradition started to die out. However, in recent years there has been an injection of money into the area, with many of the large old buildings being made into flats & housing, new cafes & restaurants opening up, and the South West Film & Television Archive being housed there.

Stacey is an archivist for SWFTA, and took me for a tour around their very old (and very cold!) building. I have to say that from the outside it looks a little bit ‘asylum chic’, but it’s worth it once you get inside for a nose around! The South West Film and Television Archive (SWFTA) is the regional film archive for the South West of England. It covers an area from the Isles of Scilly in the west to Bournemouth in the east and as far north as Gloucestershire, and includes all the county and unitary authorities in the South West. SWFTA is a charity whose role is to conserve, preserve and provide access to the moving image heritage of this region. Established in 1993, it is one of the largest regional film archives in the UK and holds the Westward Television and TSW (Television South West) independent television collections as well as a significant number of donated film collections, both amateur and professional.

Check out their website here: http://www.swfta.org.uk

Or pop along yourself for a visit!

Craft Fair

These photos are of our stall at the recent craft fair. People kept walking past & commenting on how the handmade soap looked good enough to eat! I guess it had something to do with us displaying it on cake stands....!

Anyway, I'm really proud of how pretty our stall looked, and despite the awful weather people still turned up to shop for Christmas presents. Definately something to try again!

Busy Bee!

Apologies for the lack of posts recently! I've been a very busy bee, making lots of goodies to sell at a craft fair this weekend, so all my evenings have been spent very industriously!

Above is a selection of the homemade smellies Mum & I have been making, soaps, bath bombs, bath melts & salts. I'm also selling lots of my sewn goodies, flower brooches, bunting etc as well as some photography prints. 

If anyone is on the Tavistock area this Sunday, 25th Nov, come along to the craft fair in the Town Hall!

Buckland Abbey

 Buckland Abbey on Dartmoor was the home of Sir Francis Drake. It is now owned by the National Trust and I've been visiting the building ever since I was a child as it is so close to where I grew up. 
When my best friend Jamie came to stay at my mum's house in Plymouth for a few days I knew I had to take him to Buckand. Given his obsession with all things medieval and monk related and the fact that the site was inhabited by monks for 300 years I knew he'd feel right at home!