Sometimes it lasts in love... sometimes it hurts instead...

I'm gonna love 'My Week with Marilyn'

For so many reasons, not least because I love Marilyn Monroe. I can't wait to see the film but in the meantime, here are some of her brilliant, poignant and timely quotes...

“I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.” 
― Marilyn Monroe

“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.” 
― Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn: Her Life in Her Own Words

“I am good, but not an angel. I do sin, but I am not the devil. I am just a small girl in a big world trying to find someone to love.” 
― Marilyn Monroe

“Ever notice how 'What the hell' is always the right answer?” 
― Marilyn Monroe

“What do I wear in bed? Why, Chanel No. 5, of course” 
― Marilyn Monroe

“This life is what you make it. Not matter what, you're going to mess up sometimes, it's a universal truth. But the good part is you get to decide how you're going to mess it up. Girls will be your friends - they'll act like it anyway. But just remember, some come, some go. The ones that stay with you through everything - they're your true best friends. Don't let go of them. Also remember, sisters make the best friends in the world. As for lovers, well, they'll come and go too. And babe, I hate to say it, most of them - actually pretty much all of them are going to break your heart, but you can't give up becuase if you give up, you'll never find your soul mate. You'll never find that half who makes you whole and that goes for everything. Just because you fail once, doesn't mean you're gonna fail at everything. Keep trying, hold on, and always, always, always believe in yourself, because if you don't, then who will, sweetie? So keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life's a beautiful thing and there's so much to smile about.” 
― Marilyn Monroe

“Dogs never bite me. Just humans.” 
― Marilyn Monroe

Day 2 at Ashburton Cookery School

Something fishy...

It's been a fabulous day and I've done things I never expected to do! It's great to have the opportunity to learn new skills, cook new recipes, prepare food that I wouldn't usually and do this with a great bunch of friends. I've gutted and filleted mackerel, plaice and red mullet and turned them into great dishes expertly led by our chef, Phil. It's been such a tiring day because we've hardly had a moment to spare between courses but as the saying goes - no pain, no gain!

We created an excellent, quick dish using our fillets of plaice. We made a beautiful, easy parcel of rolled plaice fillets on a bed of oil, thinly sliced fennel, fresh mussels topped with a prawn and dill butter. We wrapped our greaseproof paper and foil parcel adding some white wine before baking in the top of the oven for just 10 minutes. And what a triumph!

Me and my work station buddy, Chloe from Oz. She's currently working as a chef on a yacht and has been here for almost a week. She's delightful and we're having loads of fun. We all went out for Tapas last night and you can guess who ended up in the local pub whilst everyone else went to bed!! She's the best station buddy I could ask for and our dishes are definitely the BEST :)

'Stripe' - my friendly mackerel

"OUCH".. sorry Stripe.. I'm learning some useful knife skills.. !!

"Nice plaice"

~Palma wrapped red mullet fillet on a bed of pakchoi with balsamic glaze roasted cherry tomatoes - YUM!

John Dory fillets on a bed of pan fried courgettes with a red pepper coulis - my favourite dish of the day!

Our fabulous chef, Phil, scaling the red mullet before we had to do it ourselves. I've never scaled a fish before so this was another brilliant challenge for me.

The proof of the squiddling is in the eating and it couldn't have been more delicious if we'd tried. Take one fabulous hand-dived scallop in it's shell (opened and prepared by yours truly!) with different rings, strips and scored squid wings on a bed of apple, chilli, garlic and shallot salsa!!

Inky but certainly not DINKY±! These squids were enormous and it was quite a different kettle of fish to remove the guts, de-ink them and prepare them ready to cook. From inky mess to white squid flesh in less than 10 minutes. I was very proud of myself :)

Oh what a monster!! But this was just another challenge on a day of great adventures in my culinary life.

Deepest, darkest Devon adventures

I'm here in deepest, darkest Devon and it's blooming chilly! I've come down for a fish course and to learn how to handle fish. I think, after the week I've had, I need a lesson in sharks, rather than just fish! I'm 'reeling' ha ha from my London adventures yesterday with the lovely Lisa. We had a fab time at the theatre. It was just the tonic I needed. We ate in a Persian restaurant, went to an extremely camp performance and between us, chatted about anything and everything until the world was back the right way up again.
We got back to Paddington in the evening in time to have a coffee before our train. I remember remarking on the fact that trains from Paddington are never delayed. That was my first mistake! Within five minutes, the status of our train had changed to delayed and it went downhill from then on. We finally caught our train and during the course of the journey it lost over 35 minutes. I also remember remarking on the fact that once... I had had to even catch a bus because the train wasn't running - yuk! So you can imagine my horror when pulling into Swindon and the guard remarked that there would be a bus journey for anyone who needed to travel to Kemble, Chelts or Glouc. At this point, myself and Lisa were in hysterics though Lisa had now warned me to keep quiet about any future incidents I might mention.
We stood on Swindon station for a while before, being the resourceful girls that we are, we went outside to the taxi rank and asked the taxi driver how much it would be to our destination. £40 or 5 x £8... which sounded a heck of a lot better than waiting for the mystery bus! Lisa persuaded the guy on the platform to announce that we were prepared to share our taxi and it wasn't long before we were on our way with our merry band of 3 other, on our way to Kemble station.
So we arrived back at mine and I ended up sleeping on the sofa whilst my guests all slept in my beds! I wouldn't have had it any other way :)
Today I've had a lazy day, spending the morning with Fi & Rob and driving down to Devon mid afternoon.

Why does everyone want to drive in the outside lane on a Friday afternoon?!!!

It's so frustrating but hey ho, sit there I do. And eventually... here I am, ready to chop, fillet and skin some poor defenceless little fishy and turn him into delicious culinary masterpieces. In less than 48 hours I will know my sole from my pollock and will have had a brilliant weekend - I'm going to make sure of that! Love to everyone who loves me xx xx

Our day out in the countryside

Thank goodness for girls

If you've ever been to visit me then you'll know exactly where this was taken. And no, we hadn't been into the pub for some refreshment on the way up the hill! We have been to Hobbs for a lovely light lunch which is exactly what the Dr. ordered. We've had a wander around the shops and we're on our way back to my place to scrap! Playing with paper and glue can fix most things - I really hope that's true XX

to me x

Sweet onions with lentil stew

I took a photo but it looks a bit like mud, which really doesn't do this supper dish justice at all. I watched Nigel Slater make this dish this week and was so impressed that I decided to give it a go. I'm not a fan of lentils. It's not that I don't like them. I just don't use them to make dishes because I don't generally cook with beans and pulses. However,  it's a great week to say 'A change is as good as a rest' so here I am describing this tasty dish.
I am a big fan of Nigel Slater. I like his straightforward approach to cooking and every recipes of his that I've tried has always turned out well and most importantly, tastes absolutely delicious. This dish is very wholesome and includes pancetta, onions, carrots, mild paprika, lentils, stock cooked with spices that have the most delicious aroma, cinnamon and nutmeg. I bought a box of whole nutmegs so I could grate one into the bubbling mixture. Mmm, delicious and very comforting. I can't wait for the spices to seep into the dish overnight. I'll be serving this dish to my guests, along with some moussaka tomorrow, topping it off with 'mouth-watering, sweet caramelised onions and a dollop of creme fraiche! And I'm pretty hopeful that it will look, and definitely taste, more appetising than a bowl of mud!

My latest new baby

It's big, it's packed with stuff and it's gonna be great! I'm talking about my new Love Baking pack. It started life as a little gem of an idea about doing a cupcake special and a few short months later, it's a brilliant newstand pack which goes on sale next week. It's pretty unique in a market that's stuffed with titles so I'm hoping it will do what I need it to do - stand out from the crowd! Who wants to blend in.. huh!
Issue 1 includes my fave brownie recipe which I'd have to admit is a chocoholics treat, mmm :) xx xx

Molecule mix-up

Couldn't sleep because my molecules were all jumbled up. And, I am sure you have no idea what I'm taking about. We'd all like to be the main event in our lives though I sometimes get the feeling that I'm just not on top of mine. I'm featuring somewhere close to the bottom in my own production. It's easy to put others and the craziness of work, that is life's biggest challenge, to the forefront, particularly at this time of year when I leave and arrive home in the dark. The hours of daylight get shorter and I'm a daylight girl. I like light shining on my life and the loneliest place will always be in the dark in the middle of the night no matter who you are.
Do you ever feel your brain is so crammed full of stuff, the important things get pushed to the back? Today the light is on in my brain and I'm going to put myself first. I've beaten my flu bug and there's only one thing I should be doing and that is enjoying this moment. It won't happen again because no one can stop the clock ticking. There you go, another second has flown by!
My weekend has started with a well deserved treat - smoked salmon and scrambled eggs with the lovely Lisa. And I'm about to chuck out some of my past and spring clean my scrapping room. Then I'm going to start spring cleaning my life. I have a week of treats planned, not least spending time with my lovely college buddy Fi and her top totty, Rob. I'm going to plan my eats for the week :) I was watching Nigel Slater last night and have got my eye on his heartwarming recipe "Sweet onions and lentil stew". That should blow the cobwebs away so beware all you stupid spiddys!
I heard someone say on the radio a while ago 'Be the best you can be'. I manage to achieve that at work and am very proud of my achievements and the level of success I have. I'm less confident about my ability to be the best in my own production. I have plenty of wishes and dreams and I'm going to stop dreaming about them and plan tomorrow's great adventure. I'm looking forward to a cracking foodie fish course at the weekend. I can't wait! XX

Highlights and lowlights of my week.. so far!!

The roads open again, yeah!
I've had the big switch on.. my heating!
Poorly father :(
Baked delicious filling for my jacket potatoes :)
Jive class, yeah!
Love Baking new launch is another stonking success!! I love it when a plan comes together :)
Lost more weight.. can now fit into my old skinny jeans - triumphant!
Hobbs soup is amazing which is the reason I've had it twice this week :) the fact that they also have yeast-free bread is brilliant!
News that a friend had a baby, nice :)
Gained some brownie points for tidying up my craft room :)
Lost a bf :(
Thank goodness for my great friends and lovely family :)

A creative project from Maxines Melange

Here's our class kit for our afternoon delight - and half the night too though we didn't realise at this stage! It's a small bag of treasure with a big sprinkling of magic all sealed in tiny plastic bags and ready to assemble... :)

Take a bag of bits, 5 hours of painting and glueing and hey presto, I've made one of Maxine's Creative Christmas albums. If ever there was a reason to enjoy the creative journey, it was right now! These kits are beautifully put together and include chipboard shapes, German scraps of lace, decorative papers, die-cut shapes and all you need are basic tools and a lot of patience to put one of these projects together.

Here's the front of the box complete with lace covered window shutters. It's surprising what skills come in useful when I'm crafting! I used my extensive bathroon tiling skills to good use to put spacers between the chipboard box sides so the gap is the correct width.

I love these German scraps. All the need is some careful handling, a little bit of paint and distressing with gold rub-on paste or inking to turn a plain Christmas window box into an aged, Vintage masterpiece!

Here's the result of 3 hours faffing with paper and glue! Every little piece has been cut, painted, stuck, painted, sanded and layered to make a box frame with a window effect.

Voila! It's assembled with front, spine and back as well as decorative wooden holly leaves, crown and German scraps.

I love the idea of having a Paris Christmas scene in the window. This tiny pack of chipboard tree, stars and snowflakes is deceptively small at around 5cm square. Each delicately die-cut piece needs pushing out, covering and sticking to the Paris scene background.

 Wet glue is great for sticking the chipboard and paper elements together. Polymer glue is best for attaching the cocktail stick tree and all these tiny elements to the Paris background. A bit of stickles glitter glue and it's ready to stick to the back of the front of the box.

The final touches are the Paris scene with glittering stars and xmas tree which sits at the back of the window and the final flourish of highlights added in gold and bronze rub-on paste.

I like making three dimensional projects because they're a real challenge and something quite different from making just a card. I can feel another Maxine's Melange coming on :) x