Made Marian: Oozing Crafty Goodness

My friend (and extended family member ) Laura at Newbrowne has created a food themed meme and I’ve been tagged!  Although not strictly craft related it does refer to things I make so I’m sneaking it in here.

The Foodie Confessions Meme

IN THE KITCHEN

1. My trademark recipe: Lamb Tava (Tessa Kiros)

2. Kitchen gadget or accessory I couldn’t live without: Meat Thermometer

3. Biggest kitchen handicap: I can’t make an omelette (I have tried and I ALWAYS end up with scrambled egg!)

4. Dish/technique that I want to learn: Same answer as Laura - I would love to be better a cutting meats and preparing fish.

5. My top cooking tip: If you use tinned tomatoes for anything, add a sprinkle of sugar too, it makes a huge difference.

INSPIRATION

6. Favourite cuisine/food style: Probably Italian.  Lorraine from Italian Foodies opened up a whole new world to me when she revealed that Italian food is more than pasta and pizza

7. Favourite cook book: Clodagh KcKenna’s new one - Fresh from the Sea

8. Favourite chef: I still love Jamie but for innovation it has to be Heston Blumenthal

9. Favourite food programme: see the above

10. Favourite food magazine: I don’t buy any, there’s plenty of excellent stuff on blogs!

11. Favourite local restaurant: The Market Square Brasserie

INTERNET FOR FOODIES

12. Favourite foodie website: I don’t have a favourite

13. Favourite recipe search: Twecipe – same

14. Online recipe binder: same

15. Favourite food blog: Italian Foodies and I’m loving I can has Cook? at the moment! (I only read Irish food blogs)

FAVOURITE RECIPES

16. Main course: Changes all the time but at the moment it’s Lakeshore Pork (from the Avoca Book)

17. Quickie: Sweet and Sour (even made from scratch takes no time at all)

18. Soup/salad: Broccoli, Feta and cherry tomato salad from the Avoca Book

19. Baked treat or dessert: Mars Bar Mousse

20. Self-invented (or adapted): I usually on invent recipes on “use up everything in the fridge day”

I’m not going to tag anyone but feel free to answer the meme if you fancy and don’t forget to stop by and say hi to Laura.

I’ve been tagged by Ruth from Nice Day designs,  I haven’t done a meme for ages so here goes

Seven Things I Like:

Getting parcels in the Post

Things being tidy

Vintage China

Shoes, pretty pretty shoes!

Red Wine

Hoodies

Yarn

Seven Things I did Yesterday:

Had Breakfast with my Parents and Fiancé

Had Lunch with my Fiancé and his Family

Watched an Episode of the Wire

Put fresh sheets on my bed

Re-arranged my jewellery and cosmetics

Painted the frame of my jewellery holder and added new paper to the background

Did out a meal plan and shopping list for the week ahead

Seven Things I Wish I could Do:

Arrange Flowers Properly

Sew, as in make things, not just sewing buttons and hems

Make Lace

Design Websites

Make the perfect Risotto

Pull a Pint of Guinness

Take beautiful Photos

Seven Things I don’t Like:

Pears

When the Phone rings late at night - it’s always sad news

Traffic

Hearing about the Economy - I prefer denial

When things are out of place

Forgetting things

Being Irritable

We had a fine old time at Stitch ‘n’ Bitch last night, Froodie, Ruth, Lu’s DD Megs and myself. It was a lovely sunny evening so we sat outside the Old Quarter and had pints (except for Megs of course who stuck to Fanta).  Naturally we also did some crafting and had some great chats, sharing tips on where to buy supplies as well as loads of other things.

If anyone else fancies joining in, we meet every Tuesday at 7.30 at the Old Quarter, all are welcome so please come along if you can.

Although I’m not religious I’m not one to say no to four days off together so we’re off to Dingle and Abbeyfeale for the weekend so I will bid you all a very Happy Easter.  I hope to get some crafty photos taken over the weekend and should have a few posts for you all next week.

I’m off to Cork for the Bloggies and I kind of feel like a kid on Christmas Eve, every year this event gets better and better so I can’t wait to get the party started. I’ll be going to the Ladies Tea Party and knitting circle before the awards so hopfully I’ll bump into some of you there.  (Sabrina kindly added in the knitting bit at my suggestion that some of us may want to “stitch ‘n’ bitch”).  Best of luck to everyone who is up for an award tonight and most of all, enjoy it.  And of course huge thanks to Damien and his crew for all the work they’ve put in to make this a great night for everyone.

Update:  What a fantastic weekend, I was going to list out all the fabulous people that I met but I’d be here all day adding in the links so lets just say that everyone was lovely and in great form.  I brought the fiancé with me and he had a great night too.  The Cork International Airport Hotel was gorgeous and really looked after us.  We went into Cork city the next day and paid a visit to the Vibes and Scribes craft shop.  Needless to say I was like a kid in a candy store, more on that later.  We also drove out to Kinsale and ate lunch in the renowned Fishy Fishy café, it well deserves the reputation it has so if you ever find yourself in that direction you should definitely go there.

Ok, I’m off to play with my new craft toys and enjoy the rest of my day off!

Image shamelessly robbed from Alexia

Huge thank you to who ever nominated Made Marian for best specialist blog in the Irish Blog awards.  I’m really looking forward to the awards this year.  Despite the infrequency of my posting I really do love this little blog.  And if I ever see the end of the deadlines at work I swear I’ll give you a craft update soon.

I was just thinking that this time last year I was still buying overpriced, mass-produced cards and I had not discovered the joy that is making something for someone else to enjoy!  I still have hundreds of crafty avenues to explore but at least I’ve taken those first steps.  So my advice to everyone for 2009 is take those first steps, whatever you’ve been putting off all these years, whether it’s taking up the knitting needles, volunteering at a local charity or joining a soccer team….Go for it!

I also want to wish everyone who reads the blog a very Happy and Crafty New Year.  Enjoy the celebrations whatever you have planned

I’ve just submitted my nominations for the 2009 Irish Blog Awards.   The Awards are being held on February 21st in Cork.  To say that I am looking forward to it is a massive understatement. I CANNOT WAIT.  It’s the most fantastic night for anyone involved in blogging, meeting up with people that you’ve not seen since last year or meeting new bloggers or people that you missed last time round.

The tradition has been for meeting up on the afternoon of the awards with some like minded bloggers, last year I attended the Ladies Tea Party which was a great success.  I’m thinking of trying to organise a pre-awards Stitch ‘n’ Bitch.  If anyone is interested or has an opinion in a venue please let me know through the comments or the contact button.  The gathering would be open to all even if you just want to come for a chat, if you want a knitting/crochet lesson you would be more than welcome too.

In the meantime however, you can find out more about the awards and how to nominate etc here.

Just a quick note to say Happy Christmas to anyone that might be stopping by.  Enjoy whatever the festive season means to you.  I have already opened many of my presents and there is definitely a crafty theme going on with my loved ones

Anyway, eat drink, be merry and crafty!!

I’m so sorry for the delay in posting about this. I was delighted to have been chosen as a contributer to the book Homepages.  Catherine has done an amazing job with this book and there is endless credit due to her.  I’ve ordered my copy and you should do the same.  The proceeds are going to Focus Ireland. I can’t wait to get my copy in the post.