Randomness by Petchy

Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (Petchy) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:18:00 +0000

Gorgeous, sunny winter weather. A tiiiny bit of snow. Campfire, hot chocolate, and the mandatory burnt-beyond-recognition hotdog. Sunday at its finest ♥

Living room and kitchen - one year later

noreply@blogger.com (Petchy) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:13:00 +0000

It's hard to believe it's been over a year since we moved in here. More like a year and a quarter to be more exact. Although I'm still not completely done decorating, the grim looking place I started out with seems a distant memory - thank goodness! Turning somewhere into a home takes more than paint and wallpaper - it takes lots of love and living. To me, a home is somewhere that evolves - definitely not a static showroom. Here's a peek into my living room and kitchen as they are today.

Some of the cushions in my sofa got new covers this weekend. I'm feeling really into deep purples, greys, turquoise and petrol blue at the moment. I love how they look together as well. Pernilla the cat seems to sneak into almost every photo I take these days - as well as gnawing and clawing at every houseplant, flowers or furniture she can get her paws on - but she's also one of the reasons our flat feels like a home, so I'll let her off.

While the living room is slowly becoming more subdued colour-wise (relatively speaking!), the kitchen is still a real feast for a colour-lover's eyes. With the exception of that one wall with the mega bright wallpaper, the base is still neutral though. White walls, white kitchen cabinets. The colour is brought in mainly with accessories: colourful crockery, tins and kitchen utensils brighten the room up. Things I am really in love with right now are my egg cups (vintage Figgjo, a xmas pressie from my sister), my moomin mug collection (not pictured here, but they are on display) and my metal tea boxes. Oh, and not to mention: my espresso ~~machine~~ miracle. The pictures on the wall are simply sheets from a calendar that R brought home from his former kindergarden. I've just framed them - for no other reason than the fact they looked kinda cool, and they were free.

So what next? I have yet to paint the ceilings (I am dreading that job and keep procrastinating it), but my next big project is to cut a big hole in the ceiling. Don't worry, I've not gone bonkers - I'm just planning to put a staircase up to the attic room to make it part of the flat and turn it into a more usable space; combined TV-den, guest bedroom, playroom and sewing room. I'm just waiting for the final permission (I'll be gutted if I get a "no"!) and then I'm ordering the staircase and getting to work!

What makes your house a home?

Could this be... the one?

noreply@blogger.com (Petchy) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 21:54:00 +0000

I've been on a quest for the perfect handbag for years. I'm not even exaggerating when I say that. I came close with a bag I bought during my holiday on Crete last summer - close, but not quite. As a result, I have more handbags than I care to admit. The perfect bag must meet the following criteria: It has to be roomy (but not too big!) and have a crossover strap (I have shoulders that all bags slip off). It has to be leather, and preferably be vintage and already "broken in". It has to have the right colour. Then today, I came across this stunner on Etsy:

Be still, my heart... Could this really be... the one?! I have high hopes for this one, it seemingly fits all my crucial criteria. Hurry up, postman - bring my beauty home to me as soon as you can, please! And so the waiting commences.

{All images are by Etsy seller dandeliondaydreamer}

New rug

noreply@blogger.com (Petchy) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 11:38:00 +0000

I'm not really a rug or carpet person. But I've been contemplating getting a rug for under the coffe table for a while. Partly because I cannot stand the colour of my floor, and a rug would mean less of it would be showing. I wanted a round rug, but we have no IKEA nearby and I couldn't find one elsewhere. Gah.

This was on sale and dirt cheap, so I figure I can change it for a round one when I can get to IKEA at some point. I think i like it, despite my usual rug-aversion... the cat definitely likes it, she's been sleeping on it ever since I rolled it out.

Whaddaya reckon?

[Oh crap. I just realised... since hanging rugs out on the balcony isn't allowed here - this probably means I'm gonna have to buy a proper hoover.]

Inside my closet. My tidy closet.

noreply@blogger.com (Petchy) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 11:10:00 +0000

I'm not even going to show you what it looked like before. This part of my living room used to be a bedroom before I knocked a wall down, and the original built-in closets didn't have shelves in - just hanging rails. So for the past year I've just crammed stuff in there and piled it high. Anyone stupid enough to open the doors was in serious danger of being buried alive. But now... I finally got round to fixing shelves! Yay!

It's so nice to finally have all Ruben's crafty stuff in one place. Somewhere to store a few tools for everyday use. And somewhere to store board games so they're within easy reach! And a shelf for paperwork!

I must say - I didn't paint the inside of the closet. It was like that when I moved in... I contemplated painting it all white, but it's not exactly gonna be on show so I couldn't be bothered right now. I took the easy route with the shelves too: I had a length of shelving cut to size by the builders merchants, then used small metal brackets to fix them in place. The smaller pieces were nice and easy to transport for me without a car, and less mess and sawdust at home - goodness knows I am truly fed up with sawdust now!

Now to see how long the tidiness will last...

Free download: 2012 wall calendar

noreply@blogger.com (Petchy) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 21:52:00 +0000

Many people liked last year's free calendar download. Well, here's a new one – this time with a brand new look for 2012! There's a new illustration for every month and here's a little peek:

Download the free PDF here (english and norwegian versions available) and print at home. For best results, print at 100% on A3 paper, cut each sheet along the dotted line and assemble. Fasten the sheets with a document clip at the top or make a hole to hang it from.

Hope you like it!

Simple xmas goodies

noreply@blogger.com (Petchy) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 07:30:00 +0000

Marzipan, with different food colourings, dipped in melted choccy and rolled in "hundreds and thousands"... Mmmm... nothing says xmas like marzipan!

And just as quickly as they appeared... suddenly they were all gone!

Getting into the xmas mood

noreply@blogger.com (Petchy) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 07:00:00 +0000

A few more xmas decorations are sneaking their way into my flat as I am attempting to unwind and get into the xmas mood. Busy days at work are balanced out with candles, mulled wine and baking.

I'll give you a recipe for "kakemenn" (umm... that's "cookie men" in english I guess...) just in time before the big day, so stay tuned...

Recipe: make your own butter

noreply@blogger.com (Petchy) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 22:06:00 +0000

OK, so I realise the rest of the world is mocking us norwegians because of our so-called "butter-crisis". And rightly so. Describing a butter shortage as a "crisis" when people are starving to death elsewhere is nothing short of disgusting. But I do like my butter. And I much prefer it to margarine. I don't get why people are moaning so much though - if you want butter: make your own! It's really easy and takes 10 minutes.

Not really a recipe this, more like simple instructions. Just place double cream in your mixer (my 600ml of cream yielded a 250g lump of butter) and whip away:

After a while, you have whipped cream:

But don't stop there. Carry on whipping and you'll see it start to separate:

And whip a little more... see, now it's really curdling up nicely. It's like whipped cream gone really, really bad! The cream has separated into butter and buttermilk.

Next, gather all the lumps of butter and use your hands to start squeezing the buttermilk out. Knead it really well - in a bowl of cold water so the butter doesn't melt. Change water a few times, and when the water runs clean you're pretty much done. Get as much moisture out of it as possible.

At this point you can put your lump of butter in a clean tea towel and squeeze it a little more. I didn't. What I did do though, was add salt to taste. Just sprinkle it on and knead it in. You can make flavoured butter too, by kneading in herbs or spices. Butter for spreading should normally be a little saltier than butter you are using to bake or cook.

And there you have it: home made butter! Kids love helping out with this too, it's a bit magic watching the cream go through the various stages. Why don't you have a go?

PS! You can save the buttermilk to use for baking instead of ordinary milk...

How to: make an iPad slipcover

noreply@blogger.com (Petchy) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:42:00 +0000

My poor neglected sewing machine finally got some tlc last night. I got a brand new iPad before the weekend (yay!), and it turns out that was just the thing to bring out my long lost sewing-oompf! I reckon the smart-cover on its own isn't gonna be enough to protect my new toy from being scratched by keys etc in my bag. So, I whipped up this:

And here's how:

(If you want the outer to be patchwork-style like mine, simply sew together strips of different fabrics to form the outer fabric piece and then cut to the correct size.)

Recycled and recyclable gift wrap

noreply@blogger.com (Petchy) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 07:14:00 +0000

We always have a huge pile of gift wrap after all the parcels have been opened on xmas eve. It's quite sad really, most types of gift wrap can't even be recycled and needs to be thrown out with the regular rubbish. We buy the stuff, only to pretty much dispose of it mere days later. I love wrapping xmas presents with pretty paper and ribbons, but this year I've gone a different parcel-wrapping route:

This year's gift wrap in the Petchy-household is both recycled and recyclable: old newspapers have been given new life and will even be allowed centre-stage on the big night. Teamed up with some raffia ribbon and some Dymo labels, I even think it looks pretty funky. And once the show is over... they get to be recycled once again!

So, near and dear ones, it's not that I couldn't afford to wrap your presents in decent wrapping paper – it's more about our environment not being able to afford more waste.

Our gingerbread house

noreply@blogger.com (Petchy) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 08:05:00 +0000

Expertly decorated by the youngest member of the house (well, unless you count the cat) – with a little help from yours truly when the icing proved tricky to pipe on without making a big mess.

I wonder why this little fella (notice he's had a sex-change since his previous appearance, who knew wooden angels could be transgender?) looks so sad. Is he not happy with his new home?

Ready for winter

noreply@blogger.com (Petchy) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 22:27:00 +0000

Turns out being stuck at home with a chickenpoxy Ruben was the perfect opportunity to have a load of firewood delivered to my door and actually be able to be here when it arrived (which meant they carried it all in for me rather than just placing it outside the house) – so I'm all stocked up and ready to stay toasty warm all winter.

We've had an exceptionally mild winter so far, but temperatures have just started creeping below freezing point. Fine by me; there's nothing like sitting in front of the fireplace with a purring cat curled up on my lap, big woolly socks on, and a mug of steaming hot mocha... It's been a busy autumn, so I have about five unread, brand new books waiting in my bookshelf too – fits in perfectly with that scenario, eh? If I can finally find the time to sit down and read that is!

Gingerbread-baking

noreply@blogger.com (Petchy) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 22:17:00 +0000

It's the ultimate cure for extreme chickenpox-induced boredom in 5½ year olds. Just so you know! He's not got a temperature, his pox don't seem to be bothering him much – but he's booooored. I totally get him; he wants to be at preschool, having fun with all his mates, and instead he is stuck at home with a mother that is attempting to get some work done. Unlimited TV- and Nintendo-time loses its appeal after a while. So this afternoon we got the gingerbread dough out:

Last year he lasted about 5 minutes and then I was stuck making the rest. Today though, he stayed to the bitter end. First we made the parts for our gingerbread house (using the fab cutter-kit I bought last year) and then we used up the rest of the dough to make gingerbread men, -women, -pigs, -horses, -goats.... you name it! And once we were done he took a bowl round to offer all our neighbours a taste ♥

I've promised him we'll decorate the house tomorrow afternoon if he lets me get some work done before lunch - nothing like a bit of bribery, eh?

Stay strong

noreply@blogger.com (Petchy) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 20:41:00 +0000

A video has been going round on various social media sites the past couple of days. It's moved me beyond words, so I'm not gonna write much. Just watch, read, and remember that bullying is real. It happens all the time, it probably affects someone you know - even if you can't always see it. Let's not accept this. Bullying needs to be stopped.

Another blog I read made me aware of a follow-up video in response above. That one doesn't really need explaining either:

If you happen to read this at some point, Jonah... or anyone else experiencing bullying for that matter: know that things WILL get better, if you just stay strong! Never blame yourself, you are not at fault.

You are good enough just the way you are!

Quiet December evening

noreply@blogger.com (Petchy) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 21:51:00 +0000

Windy and rainy outside. The cat is snoring. My little chickenpoxy boy is also asleep, for now. Enjoying a cup of tea and few moments of peace while it lasts...

Santas, cone trees, angels and chickenpox

noreply@blogger.com (Petchy) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 13:52:00 +0000

In this post I could have told you all about a calm, harmonic and blissful Sunday morning, making x-mas decorations with Ruben and his two friends who were staying the night. X-mas music playing softly in the background, children sitting around the table happily crafting away, me enjoying a mug of mulled wine...

Well at least that's what I imagined it would be like when I planned it all yesterday. Haha. I should know better by now, It must have been a severe case of denial coupled with wishful thinking.

Instead, I'm gonna tell you what REALLY happened:
None of the three little lads were asleep before 9:30 PM last night. One of them didn't go to sleep until 10:30 PM - by which point I was seriously annoyed and wanting to go to bed myself. Did they sleep longer this morning because of this? No. Of course they didn't. 6:00 AM and all three lads were up making a right racket. I muttered a "wtf?!" under my breath, got up to tell them to keep their voices down so they didn't wake the downstairs neighbours, and then took my chances and went back to bed - hoping they wouldn't kill the cat (or each other) or tear the entire house down.

Fast forward a couple of hours and I'm feeling a little more human. I get up to make breakfast, quickly realising that my plan for a relaxed meal with smiling children around the table is simply not going to happen. If you have ever encountered children who haven't slept enough, you'll understand. I stick a brave smile on my face and cheerfully tell the kids to come and eat. The "I don't like"-chorus eventually gets to me and I snarl a rather unconvincing "Eat your food and stop winding each other up or else we won't make any x-mas decorations after all!". Hah. Like they were gonna buy that.

Anyways, table cleared, I get the craft stuff out. I put a film on for the boys so they will hopefully stop shouting at each other and/or traumatising the cat for a split second. It doesn't work. My fake cheerful voice is getting less and less convincing by the second. We start making toilet roll santas. It's all going well. That lasts for about 5 minutes. In the end, I'm sitting there by myself, making a stupid toilet roll thingy with yellow braids. Santas daughter or something. After about two hours where the gremlin-boys take sporadic breaks from attempting to kill each other, and let themselves be convinced to do a bit of painting or glueing, at long last we have something to show for our efforts.

So, we proudly display on our windowsill: Santa's daughter, Santa himself, two x-mas trees, one rather puzzled looking and one rather sad looking angel. And our guests can proudly bring home a similar batch of stuff. Phew. And we all live to tell the tale... just.

And then... we discover: two of the three lads are suddenly covered in chicken pox. I fear this may be a long week ahead...

Have a lovely Sunday, everyone! ;)

Yep that's me.

noreply@blogger.com (Petchy) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 21:43:00 +0000

In the local newspaper. Across three whole pages. Middle spread and everything. When they phoned me a week and a half ago asking if they could do a feature article on me, part of me thought "yikes" - and the other, more exhibitionist part of me thought "oh, that's kinda cool!"... So yeah. Here it is:

If you can read norwegian and want to see the whole article, there's a PDF here.

Recipes: marmalade and chutney

noreply@blogger.com (Petchy) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 20:03:00 +0000

I got crafty in the kitchen the other night and improvised these two recipes that I'd like to share with you...

First up: a marmalade with a twist (to the left in the photo). The addition of whole cloves to this recipe makes it smell and taste of x-mas, and it tastes delicious as an accompaniment to brie and other soft cheeses. Or, if you like blue cheese, try this with blue cheese on top of gingerbread cookies for a different festive snack!

Carrot-, orange- and lemon marmalade with cloves
This marmalade is the "lazy" version - meaning I've not gone the usual route of separating the flesh from the peel, but instead just sliced the orange very finely. Easy is good, right? Of course, you can do it the traditional way too if you want. I didn't add eny extra pectin to my marmalade, but it still set perfectly.

1 lemon
1 orange (seville if you can get hold of them, but a normal one works too)
4 medium sized carrots
500 ml water
500 ml sugar
10-15 whole cloves

Wash and finely shred the orange and lemon (I quartered them first so the bits of peel wouldn't be too large). Place them in a pan with the water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, peel and grate the carrots. Add the carrots, sugar and cloves to the pan and bring to a boil again. Simmer gently until it has thickened - probably between 30-45 minutes. Remember though, that it will set further as it cools. One way to check if it's ready is to put a bit of it on a chilled plate and look for signs of it "wrinkling up" when you push it with your finger tip. Pour into sterilized jars, cool, and enjoy!

Next up: a chutney that's a slightly different spin on the traditional cranberry sauce. Use it where you'd normally use cranberry sauce - or enjoy it with cheese, like the previous recipe. I'd say this works well with both hard cheeses like cheddar, and soft cheeses like camembert and brie.

Apple and cowberry chutney
If you can't get hold of cowberries/lingonberries, you can always use cranberries instead.

4 granny smith apples
300 g cowberries (or cranberries)
1 onion
150 ml white sugar
150 ml muscovado sugar
50 ml white wine vinegar
50 ml apple juice
2 tsp mustard seeds

Place the sugar, apple juice and vinegar in a pan and bring to a boil. Simmer for 2-3 minutes. Meanwhile, peel and dice the apples and finely chop the onion. Add the apples, cowberries, onion and mustard seeds to the mixture and bring to a boil again. Simmer until thickened, pour into sterilized jars, cool, and enjoy!

Amazing

noreply@blogger.com (Petchy) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:10:00 +0000

The weather changes so rapidly here. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it... but there's never any doubt: I live in a beautiful part of Norway! Feast your eyes on these two photos, taken from my office window only minutes apart:

First a beautiful rainbow - no, make that two rainbows - against an intensely dark sky. Then, minutes later, the most dramatic clouds appear. Add to the mix some colourful ships (the harbour was full of them today due to bad weather out at sea) against the dark blueish grey backdrop = simply breathtaking!

I could have kicked myself for not bringing my DSLR today! I had to make do with my iPhone.

No-fuss xmas decorations

noreply@blogger.com (Petchy) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 08:01:00 +0000

I'm not a huge fan of loads of tinsel, santas and stash all over the place at xmas. I prefer a simpler approach: loads of candles and a few carefully chosen decorative elements. When my sister gave me some super cute toadstool ornaments for my birthday last week, I instantly knew they would look perfect on my somewhat alternative xmas tree.

I couldn't resist buying a couple of larger toadstools and a tree to go with them. They're all from Søstrene Grenes – I love that shop!

And yes, it's a little early for xmas decorations, but what the heck.

Kindness from a stranger

noreply@blogger.com (Petchy) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:32:00 +0000

A parcel arrived here today. A few weeks back, I had the sweetest email from one of my readers in Vienna, Austria. She had read that I collect Moomin mugs, and wrote to me to say she had one that was just gathering dust - could she send it to me as a little thank you for the inspiration she has found on my blog? How sweet is that?!

I am amazed. To think that miles and miles away, someone I have never met takes the time and effort to send me a gift... just like that? Shows that there's a whole lotta love, kindness and generosity going round out there. Since the lovely lady declined my offer of some Norwegian goodies in return... I'll do my very best to pay it forward!

Thank you so much! And the mug? It's now found a home next to all the others - and a certain little lad instantly claimed it as his favourite.

How to: make concrete candle holders

noreply@blogger.com (Petchy) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:13:00 +0000

In my last post I mentioned making stuff out of concrete. Well, here's what we made – concrete candle holders! This is a great project to get the kids involved in too.

Although I'd love to be able to say I came up with this idea, I didn't... I saw it on another blog at some point, and decided to have a go. They're easy peasy to make – simply mix the concrete according to the instructions on the pack, then pour it into disposable plastic cups (or even better: have your 5-year old do it)...

Before the concrete starts to set, place another cup into the one you filled with concrete, like so:

Then leave to set. Photographing your cat while you wait is optional...

Leave them for a couple of days to make sure they're dry, then remove the plastic cups by simply tearing them off. Place candles in the holes and ta-daa! Mind the whiskers, kitty...

What I found after making these is it's best to keep your concrete mix fairly runny. We made two batches, and the ones we made with the slightly thicker batch ended up looking kinda crap with loads of air bubbles. They were also a lot more fragile (again, probably due to the bubbles making the whole thing porous) and fell apart very easily. We're making some more this weekend, and I'm definitely making sure to make the mixture a bit on the runnier side. I'll also push the plastic cups a bit further down into the concrete, so the hole for the candle turns out a little deeper.

Recipe: coconut oat cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Petchy) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 19:31:00 +0000

There's nothing like a totally chilled Sunday. Except maybe... a totally chilled Sunday rounded off with some improvised baking. So I whipped up these cookies:

I don't use recipes very often, and today was no exception - these were made just tossing some ingredients together. The problem with doing it that way is when something turns out delish enough that I want to share a recipe... I have to do a fair bit of guessing and estimating. So please bear in mind, these are approximate measurements! The only thing I am entirely certain about is the egg, and the fact I used roughly the same amount of each of the other ingredients. So be prepared to adjust the amounts a little if needed!

1 egg
50 g butter (room temperature)
50 g sugar
50 g desiccated coconut
50 g rolled oats
50 g fine wholewheat flour

Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy and white. Add the egg and stir well. Add the dry ingredients and stir well. Adjust the amount of flour until you have a sticky dough that can be rolled into balls. Roll 10 little balls and place them evenly spaced onto a lined baking tray. Bake in the oven (225 °C, middle shelf) for 2 minutes, then take them out, use a fork to flatten them (this makes for loads of yummy, crispy, crunchy bits!) and place back in the oven for another 8 minutes or so. Cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

The remainder of our day was spent getting messy with cardboard, paint, glue and other craft supplies, before heading out to meet a friend and her son. We spent an hour or so making stuff out of concrete too - if they turn out ok there will be a separate post with more details!

And then lastly, I have a question for you green-fingered people: I went onto the balcony to tidy away some things, and I found these poor neglected narcissus that I had just left out there (too lazy to chuck them after they finished blooming this spring).

They seem to have somehow re-sprouted. Is this normal? I cleaned them up a little, removed the slimey rotten leaves, and brought them in – are they likely to bloom again now?

Jumping on the trend: concrete

noreply@blogger.com (Petchy) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 16:10:00 +0000

Concrete seems to be a big trend at the moment - it's certainly doing the rounds on various Norwegian blogs. I'm easily influenced, so I've jumped on the bandwagon! Some of you may remember my slightly alternative x-mas tree, or more precisely, my x-mas branch? I've decided to upgrade it and make it an all-year branch – that way I can hang baubles on it for x-mas, eggs on it for Easter, and anything else I fancy for the remainder of the year. Right now, that happened to be a HAMA bead apple I made the other week.

I made a concrete base for it to make it stand nicely - with a crazy kitten in the house that's certainly safer than placing it in a vase! Concrete is dead easy to work with: buy a bag of concrete mix (ask at your local hardware store), add water according to the directions, stir well, pour into a container and leave to set. Make sure the container you use will come off easily - old milk/juice cartons are perfect for this purpose.

For this project I used an empty cardboard milk carton that I cut the top off. I filled it nearly to the top with concrete mix, put the branch into the mix and used some masking tape to keep the branch in place until it had set. You could just keep the branch in its natural state, but I chose to paint it white, and used a remnant of wall paint that was already in my cupboard. I guess spray painting it would have been even quicker.

You could do so many fun things with this - I imagine painting the branch a really bright colour would look super funky too. You could do this with a larger branch and use it as a coat rack, or a small one and use it to hang your jewellery on for example...

If you decide to have a go at making something similar, I'd love to see what you come up with. Ruben and I are making candle holders tomorrow, so stay tuned for more concrete goodness!