Ikea picture shelves

while looking to decide what to do with all the kiddie books in the house I came across an article in using ikea picture shelves and propping the books up. I liked the idea but didn't have enough wall space in my sons room. It did make me think that I should be doing this for all the photos and prints sitting about my room. 

so off to Ikea I went (anyone that knows me knows this is not unusual). I originally intended on getting two large Ribba shelves but when I was there I decided three smaller ones staggered might look a bit more interesting.

what do you think? 

I had a lot of white frames already and each were different so I decided to stick with one colour to bring it all together.  

I can actually look at all the lovely pictures that had been propped against my bedside table. 

Orange Chocolate Truffles

I wanted to make something for my friends that did not have peanut butter so that Mt hubby could eat too. So I went for Orange Chocolate Truffles.  They are so simple but lovely.

Ingredients
1 orange
200g Milk Chocolate - good chocolate  
100mls of double cream

Method
zest the orange and sqeeze all the juice out.  Simmer in a pot until the liquid has reduced to 1Tbs

Bring the cream to a simmer, not a boil.

while doing this grate your chocolate and put in a bowl.

Add the cream into the chocolate and stir in the centre until the two ingredients start to come together.  Then stir in all the chocolate.  Add the orange and do a gentle stir.

Pour into a shallow container and refrigerate.

when it has been set for a few hours scoop out with a spoon and roll in balls.  Roll in icing sugar.

these will keep in freezer for 1 month or the fridge for 4 days.  

Mmmmmmmmmm......... these are out of this world.  

Stay tuned as I have done rasberry and also Maple syrup and pecan ones as well.
 

vintage crate book box

For too long now there have been a lot of books cluttering up my tv unit. I decided I wanted something that's a bit different that could be moved from one room to another. This is the perfect solution. 

Crates seem to be very popular and easy to purchase in the USA however I found it very difficult in the UK to locate any new crates. I found a supplier of 1940s vintage french crates and thought I would get one to assess the quality. 

It arrived very grubby and rough quality. (what did I expect it's vintage) I had to do a lot of sanding and cut my hands to ribbons, I wanted to do it by hand as I didn't want to sand it back too much.

Originally I was going to paint it all the purple colour but after sanding I really liked that the wood looked 'authentic' without trying. Of course it looked authentic - IT WAS! 

I painted the inside with two coats of 'Annie Sloan Clalk Paint' in Emile (even the colour was french) and used two coats of the soft clear wax inside and out. It gave the wood warmth and it soaked up a lot of wax but it was worth it. 

For the wheels I wanted them to be in keeping with he rest of the piece so plastic wheels just didn't cut it. These polished brass wheels just set it off.

As my father in law said little did a french farmer know as he made this 75 years ago that his crate which was quickly made utilitarian box for transporting produce to market would be used in a modern living room in Belfast in 75 years to store books!! I think that's pretty cool. 

Creamy Butternut Squash Pasta with Bacon

I had read a recipe on Pinterest from cookie and kate and thought I would give it a go. not to diss the vegan idea I was just wanting 'more' so I used chicken stock and yummy maple cured bacon mmmmm. 

ingredients

1.5 pounds of small cubes of butternut squash

1 brown onion chopped

300mls chicken stock

pinch of cinnamon

pepper

chilli flakes (omit of you like)

5 rashers of maple or smoked back bacon (cut in strips and fried off)

1/2  cup of pasta water

pasta 

1. fry the onion, cinnamon and butternut squash in the pan with some oil until the onion starts to soften this should take 10 mins

2. add the chicken stock and pepper and simmer for 20 mins. During this time fry off your bacon and boil your pasta. 

3. place butternut squash mixture in food processor and whizz into a purée 

4. return back to the pan and stir in the bacon. 

5. add water from pasta (starch is a thickener) and stir. drain pasta and add to the purée to toss.

6. plate up and enjoy! 

this is so creamy no need for cheese or cream added so nice low fat recipe. my hubby the Vegetable Avoider loved it so has to be a thumbs up.