A PINCH OF SALT

I never used to salt my cooking much because salty food is up there with a red sock in the wash for me, it kind of ruins the whole meal. There's a fine line between bland tasting food and an over-salted dish, but a sprinkle of salt can do wonders for flavour. Apparently, salt isn't just a seasoning; it opens up the taste buds, to enhance the flavours and help you taste more intensely. The trick to making the most of your meal is to finish your dish with a final pinch of course sea salt after cooking, just before serving. I like to use Maldon for its perfectly-formed crystals and I've heard the smoked version is perfect on steaks.

READING LIST: the sequel

Have you read Eat, Pray, Love? I've seen the movie a couple of times; it's poignant, uplifting and both sad and hilarious in parts. It's a good one for hungover weekends, that's for sure, if not just to imagine yourself eating bowl after bowl of pasta. I read the book at the beginning of the year and while the movie is wonderful, the book is so much more profound. I'm in awe of Elizabeth Gilbert's writing and I think Julia Roberts was a perfect choice for the role - I found myself laughing out loud on more than one occasion, with Roberts' voice resounding in my head. I didn't know about the sequel, Committed, until it popped up in my Amazon feed, and I devoured it in a couple of weeks (it's the perfect book to read in a big ol' bubble bath, fyi). It follows on from Gilbert's story after she fell in love with Felipe in Bali. Having both been through difficult divorces, they vow to remain happily devoted to each other, yet unmarried, until they are forced to marry in order to live together in the US. What ensues is a personal journey of what it means to be married, featuring historical analysis and statistics interspersed with personal anecdotes and stories from other cultures. It could have been a dry, or self-indulgent, follow-up to Eat, Pray, Love, but it's neither of those things and is both compelling, heartwarming and utterly fascinating. I'm fascinated by human relationships, which is probably why I did my degree in Social Anthropology, and it's a wonderful look at what marriage means to the beautiful thing that is love. I promise it's not a totally mushy love fest, either.

FRIDAY FROM AFAR

Hi friends! I'm in Kuala Lumpur right now visiting my grandparents. I tested out the Blogger app before I left, but you can't do much with it so that scuppered any plans to blog. Not that I had anything big lined up, but I was hoping to share a few pictures, seeing as I planned a very relaxed daily itinerary of dim sum breakfasting, lunch at my favourite noodle house and a few afternoon laps at the gold club swimming pool. If you'd like to see some holiday snaps, you can follow me on instagram, though!

Also, if you'd like to follow me on bloglovin' you can see all my posts there in one place.

LEARNING WITH SKILLSHARE

My goal for the year, and really the reason for starting this blog, is to find out more about what I like and invest in growing my skills, achieving my goals and generally make life a little rosier around the edges. I want to improve my photography, but I'm just not a natural picture taker and can't get my head around using my SLR in manual mode. Plus, I'm loathe to lug it around when I'm travelling. I'm a big believer in the idea that the best camera you have is the one you carry with you; for me, that's my iPhone. Actually, Will's gorgeous phone photos from New York made me feel better about starting my blog, because it shows that if you know how to take pictures properly, you don't always have to have amazing SLR images to capture and share enchanting images. I followed a couple of links through the post and found out about Skillshare, an easy and cheap way to pick up new skills. You sign up to digital classes, usually a video or series of videos, with community discussions and peer appraisal. If you have your own skills, anything from photo editing to making a bracelet out of a spoon (!), you can share them and earn money from your classes.

I was interested to know more, so I joined Corey's course for photographing and editing landscapes, which is perfectly timed as I'm going to Siem Reap on Friday! The video class is split into three parts - scouting and capturing locations, editing and post-processiing. I wish he had focused more on actually capturing pictures and composition, but I learned some really great tips for post-processing apps that I hadn't heard of before, and I'm looking forward to giving a few of them a try. (fyi, this Design*Sponge post is super informative for iPhone photography.)

The courses are all $19 and there is currently an extra 20% discount code: SHARE20. With an emphasis on community and sharing, Skillshare is also offering a $10 credit towards classes via this link, and you'll get $10 for every friend you recommend. So why not have a look around, see what you can learn, and earn your own credits! I ended up paying £3.20 for Corey's class, and I have my eye on an inDesign walk through that will perfectly complement a sub-editing qualification I'm taking.

{images}

BARE LEGS FOR SPRING

Temperatures are still hovering in low numbers but it feels like reminders that it should be spring, even if it doesn't feel like it, are everywhere. On a warmer day in mid-February I wore a midi skirt (sans tights) and it made me really happy - funnily enough, I wasn't cold until I was at my desk in my 'temperature controlled' office. I love how floor-sweeping maxi hems and midi lengths look in colder weather with cosy layers, leather jackets and scarves, don't you? Here's a couple pins that caught my eye - ladies, I dare you go to bare-legged this week, even if it is under a maxi skirt.

{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}

p.s. did you catch any of the Paris Fashion Week AW14 shows? I wrote a little round-up if you'd care to read.

LIEBSTER FRIDAY

Last week (or the week before? Time is flying!), Jo nominated me for a Liebster Award! I've seen a couple of posts about this and it's such a fun way to get to know other blogs that you might not have heard about; it's not so much an award as a way of supporting other bloggers and also a chance to be a bit nosy, I suppose! The other posts I've seen are accompanied with lovely photos, so at first I thought it was some kind of photography award; you'll have to put up with instagrams though!

1. What is your favourite thing to do on a weekend?
Breakfast! During the week, I eat porridge at my desk when I get into work, so making a proper breakfast is a real luxury for me and it’s usually a batch of creamy scrambled eggs, avocado toast and a pot of tea. Since I bought a new computer at the beginning of the year, it also means watching BBC iPlayer in bed, which feels so indulgent. 

2. What would your last meal be?
I’m constantly either eating, or thinking about eating, so this is really hard for me! I could eat Thai food for days on end, so it would probably have to be my favourite takeaway: fish cakes, Pad Thai, yum woon sen and beef massaman curry. {cue stomach gurgling}

3. If you could try one job out for the day, what would you do?
Thai beach bar owner, please. 

4. If you could learn one skill and be super amazing at it, what would it be?
I’d love to have a creative skill and I always wish I could be an illustrator or graphic designer. It would be so fun to create book jackets or draw pictures for children’s books.

5. What would your super power be?
Control the weather. When the sun’s out, everything’s a little bit better, but being able to create a massive thunderstorm when I’m curled up on the sofa with a hot chocolate would be pretty cool too. 

6. If you could live in any city where would you live?
I’ve been lucky to live in Tokyo and New York, but so far London is my favourite! I’ve always said I’m staying put from here on out, but the temptation to up sticks, rent out my flat and live in Australia for a year is seriously fueled by Tania’s travels at the minute.



7. What is your happiest moment?
My happiest moment is stepping into a steaming hot bubble bath. Nothing could be better for the soul. 

8. What is your guilty food? - the one where you're too embarrassed to admit to anyone that that is really what you ate last night
To be honest, I don’t feel guilty about anything I eat because it’s ALL SO DERICIOUS. I think people normally have their embarrassing meals when there partner is out for the night and can’t be bothered to cook, but if I’m in on my own I always treat myself. I suppose my guilty food is an ‘everything meal’, when all I can decide on is that I want to eat all of the food. I used to work in an American diner-style greasy spoon and after seeing all the orders go out, I’d want it all and request the weirdest meals: bacon and egg burger with a jacket potato and coleslaw on the side, 1 chicken nugget, 1 scampi and sometimes a sausage. This, btw, was in the days when I had a 16 year old’s metabolism and I was on my feet all day so I never got fat. Oh, the injustice.

I've nominated a couple of blogs - both new-to-me and pals - and can't wait to read their answers! Over to you, girls xx

Ruth
Charlie 
Tori
Teffy

What made you start your blog and what’s your favourite blog moment so far?

What’s your first childhood memory?

If money were no object, describe your perfect holiday.

If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?

What would you say to yourself 10 years ago? What would you say to yourself 10 years from now?

What would your winning Come Dine With Me menu be?

Finish the sentence:

My friends would describe me as…

When I’m sad I like to…

My simplest pleasure in life is…

Birthdays are…

p.s. you can follow me on Bloglovin'!

COOKBOOK CHALLENGE: nigel slater's aubergine and chickpeas

My brother gave me Nigel Slater's little box, Eat, for Christmas. I've flicked through a couple of times and love the simplicity of it, with humble recipes such as gratin of kale and almonds, cucumber fennel and ricotta salad and basil prawns. No '15 minute meals' claims here, just good, honest meals that take little time to prepare and, using a limited number of ingredients, also fit just fine into my 'frugal recipes' category. I made aubergine and chickpeas on a cold Monday, when my boyfriend and I both had the day off, and it was satisfying and lovely and warming. I broke my Cookbook Challenge rules a little and improvised part of the recipe, plus we didn't have any garlic and it was tipping it down outside so we made do without.

Slice a large aubergine into thick rounds and place them in a single layer in a grill pan or on a baking sheet. Brush with olive oil, scatter with a tablespoon of chopped rosemary needles, salt, black pepper and 2 cloves of finely crushed garlic. Cook under an overhead grill, adding a little more oil as necessary, for 10 minutes or so, until the aubergine is golden brown and tender. Turn each piece and allow to brown lightly on the other side. 

Drain a 400g can of chickpeas and warm half the contents in a small pan with a little olive oil, salt and some black pepper. Blitz in a blender or food processor with half the grilled aubergine to give a soft, quite smooth puree. Fry the reserved chickpeas for a few minutes in a little oil in a pan tip hot, then stir, whole, into the puree. Correct the seasoning then serve with the warm, grilled aubergine and some torn sesame bread.

My puree came out a bit dry, so I expect I didn't use enough olive oil, but when it comes to aubergines and oil, one can ask 'how long is a piece of string?' Obviously they taste best doused in the stuff, but in the interest of waistlines, I was a little reserved. I also fried the remaining chickpeas in a little cumin and actually cooked them until they were quite brown and starting to stick to the pan, which gave a really nice, smokey taste. I served it with kale, because I bloody love the stuff.

KITCHEN SNIPPETS

Last Friday I shared the exciting news that my kitchen renovation was featured on The Kitchn! I thought I'd post a few close-up details. I'm embarrassed to say I've had those beer postcards for years, so now I'm pleased they have a nice new kitchen to hang in.

{Beer postcards, Rise & Shine poster, pizza plate, scratch map}