Meal for a warm day

On warm spring days (and summer too) I start to crave big salads for meals. Here is our meal from the other evening. We love using these big vintage bowls we got from a friend (made in East Germany!) for soups and salads. This version was lettuce fresh from the patio, fresh mung bean sprouts from the windowsill, grated carrot, chopped kale from the garden, toasted coconut, and a spicy Thai dressing. A couple of weeks ago we shredded the last piece of the last beet from last year's garden! With the mild winter we were able to leave some beets in the ground until early spring, then we stored them in the fridge and they were still as sweet in May as they were last fall!

 

 We also had these almond flax burgers from Brendan Brazier's Thrive Diet book. They're surprisingly tasty and filling.

The drinks were my version of a kombucha mojito, based on another Brendan Brazier recipe but adapted to what we have on hand. I've been brewing kombucha tea for a few months now, and Dave and I rather addicted. We have some just about every day.

For the mojito, muddle a handful of chopped, fresh mint leaves with a couple of tablespoons of lime juice and about a tablespoon of maple syrup (adjust to taste). Pour 2 cups of kombucha tea over it (leave it to steep in the fridge for an hour or more if you have time). Strain and pour over ice cubes until the glass is nearly full, then top up with sparkling water. Enjoy!

If you google kombucha mojito you'll find a few other variations you can try too.

Finished

Pattern: Brandywine Shawl by Romi

Yarn: Sea Sock by HandMaiden in Nightshade

A shawl is knit

I've finished knitting my Brandywine shawl. This one won't be too difficult to block, and the weather is supposed to turn wet, so I should get it done soon. I'm looking forward to wearing it, so that will help! I ended up doing two extra repeats of the main lace chart. I probably could have squeezed out one more, but I didn't want to run out of yarn part way through an i-cord bind-off and then have to rip back one lace chart.

The pasque flower has finished flowering, but now it has these cool-looking pods instead, which last for quite a while.

Wordless Wednesday

Sunny afternoon

Today's creativity attempt - hand carved stamp from India and mixed media:

Progress on the Brandywine:

It's as wide as my circular needle is long now, with three more repeats of the main lace pattern to go.

The first of my tomato babies to go into a big pot for the season. This is Supersweet 100 - an heirloom cherry tomato.

This one is Superbush - large heirloom tomatoes on a short sturdy plant. It does really well in a container. I love how strong its stem is.

A kale seedling under the tulips:

And my artsy photo for the day: Thibault trying to join me outside through the screened window.

Can you guess?

My creative play today was to play around with the settings on our camera, and then to take and edit this photo:

These little guys appeared on our Pasque Flower this morning. I love how they are a complementary colour to the flower petals!

So, does knitting count as doing something creative or inspiring on a given day? I think it should, but I'm trying to use this challenge to push myself to do things I don't feel I do enough of. I have done a few more repeats of the lace pattern on my Brandywine, which is actually in the same colours as today's photo. I'm hoping to have it finished in time for the knitting retreat.

Every day in May?

When I checked in on Sarah's blog last night I saw that she had posted a challenge on May 1st to do something creative or inspiring every day in May. I figured that the lunch bag I made counted for Wednesday, so before I went to bed last night I pulled out an ink pad, a stamp I carved inspired by Geninne's book, and some pencil crayons and felts. It only took 20 minutes, and was a lovely way to end the day, and end up with this in my sketchbook:

This afternoon I sat in the sun on the patio, and played around with another stamp inspired by the same book:

Anyone else want to join in with Every Day in May? I'm going to try...