Recipe: Butternut Squash Curry

Ingredients:

• Oil
• Onion
• Curry powder
• 1cm grated ginger
• Cayenne pepper
• 300g butternut squash
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 3tbsp peanut butter
• Seasoning
• Coriander

Instructions:
1. Fry the onion for about seven minutes, adding the curry, ginger and cayenne pepper after five.
2. Add the remaining ingredients apart from the coriander.  Bring to the boil, cover and cook for twenty minutes.
3. Remove lid and cook for about twenty more minutes until thick. Serve with the coriander.

Recipe: Spicy Tomato Soup

Mum's here this week and today she made me some delicious spicy tomato soup. It was just what I needed in this weather!

To make it you take:

- 2 boiled carrots
- 2 tins chopped tomatoes
- 1 tin baked beans
- garlic
- chopped onion
- pickled onions
- cumin
- chilli
- salt and pepper
- water

Combine the ingredients in a pan. Blend with a hand blender and heat up. Easy and delicious! Thanks Mum!

Recipe: Chocolate Berry Dessert

I tried this new dessert from cupofjo this week. It's easy, quick and delicious. It's also quite heavy so you could reduce the recipe or invite people round!

Ingredients:
170g butter
198g chocolate
200g sugar
3 eggs
45g flour
1 cup frozen berries (defrosted)

Melt the butter and chocolate. Combine all of the ingredients. Transfer to a baking tin and move to a preheated oven for twenty minutes at 200°c.

We served with vanilla ice cream to cut through the bitterness.

Balcony

At the weekend we finally got the balcony ready for winter. I don't generally do will with plants up there but it went really well this summer until we went to England and it all died off in the heat.

When looking around and thinking what to do next, we came up with winter heather. It does well with drier conditions and should add some colour when it flowers, although I am loving the green in the meantime.

New Winter Tipple

Nico's mum gave us this spiced apple liqueur for Christmas and it is delicious. It's a sweet winter warmer and one I'd like to try again.

Kohltour

After five and a half years in Germany I finally experienced my first Kohltour. It's a winter tradition in Germany and certainly brightens up January.

We met at our neighbours' for coffee, cake and the sharing out of pretzels. Everyone was well wrapped up. The pretzel and a shot glass are worn on a string around your neck. The queen from last year had prepared a trolley with schnapps, snacka, mulled wine and games.

We walked from their house on a mystery tour to a restaurant. At each junction, the schnapps was passed around and on two of the stops we played team games. It was great to chat with our neighbours and get to know them better after a year of short chats over the fence.

We passed several other groups on tours and at the restaurant there were about twenty groups enjoying their kale and sausage dinner. There was music and dancing and the new kings and queens were chosen.

Afterwards, we walked back in the snow which was nice. Really looking forward to next year too!

Make It Monday - Draught Excluder

 This week I did a second project from the Fat Quarters book from Mum.

As winter is on it's way, it seemed appropriate to make this one. I used some red and navy scraps as it seemed fitting for the season.

I learned how to make boxed corners on this project and I love the finished product. Isabella thinks it's a great new toy so everyone is happy!

Wood

As you can see from this view from my front door, we're ready for winter!

One of our favourite things about the house is our wood burning fireplace. We first had one in the Harz and it was great after a long walk.

We're just getting to the time of year where we can use it again and it's fantastic. It only takes one lot of wood to heat up the living room.

I wouldn't be without it any more. We'll be hibernating this year!

Carrot and Ginger Soup

 This week I tried a real winter warmer of a soup from the paleo book, carrot and ginger. It was really easy too - carrots, ginger, garlic, onions, vinegar, stock, cinammon and salt. Yum.

Crochet Winter Hat

While I was shopping for Christmas card stock on Monday, I stumbled across a display of hat crochet kits and bought a simple one.

With the help of a few youtube videos and a patient husband, I had this one done in a day and a half.

I love the colour and the hat is wonderfully warm. I'm looking forward to wearing it lots this season and making some more too.

If you are interested, you can find this kit and others here.

5 Pampering Tips for Winter

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Yesterday, I managed to send myself and the bump head over heels down the last couple of steps at work, landing with a bump of the wrong kind.  We spent time with our doctor and at the hospital and luckily baby is fine and it looks like I have just got a nasty sprained ankle.  I have a couple of days rest and a follow up appointment to come and so far have been indulging in a little pampering, which is perfect for this time of year.  I thought I would share some of these ideas with you.

1. Candle lit Bubble Bath

I love my showers and don't take enough baths.  I had read a few warning about hot baths while pregnant but apparently that is only a problem later in the pregnancy and it doesn't have to be too hot to be relaxing.  For optimum experience, make sure there are lots of bubbles and a good book in there with you.  I love Lush bath bombs too.

2. Moisturising Face Mask

Winter really takes it out on our skin.  I normally have oily skin but at this time of year I always find myself reaching for the moisturizers - be it lip balm, face cream, hand cream...  A good moisturizing face mask is a luxury that also really helps and makes me feel refreshed and ready to get out an about again.  I really recommend this one.

3. Pedicure

It seems ridiculous since our feet are covered up most of the time at this time of year, but it feels like walking on air after a foot soak and a slathering of good foot cream.  Personally, I am easily bored by peppermint footcream - this is my personal favourite - I'm a sucker for citrus.  

4. Body Scrub

Don't forget all of that skin in between your face and feet - especially if you are also nursing an expanding baby bump.  I started moisturizing after every shower again around the three month mark but once a week I try to exfoliate as well.  It's made much easier with this staring at me from the bathroom shelf.  I can't get enough of soap and glory.

5. Wrap up with a cup of tea and a good book

Pampering doesn't have to stay in the bathroom.  It doesn't matter what time of year it is, the mind can always use the pampering effects of a good book.  The best thing about winter for me is curling up under a blanket with a book and some good English tea or peppermint tea.  Look out for my book reviews later this week for some tips.

Recipe - Stir-fry

This week we got back to one of our favourites - a good vegetable stir-fry.  

I love how healthy this meal makes me feel with all the veg in there but also it's great at this time of year as we pack in with ginger and garlic and it's a definite winter warmer.

We don't have a set recipe for this but here's what we included today - 

• three peppers
• a handful of mushrooms
• a head of broccoli
• a bunch of spring onions
• a can of cashew nuts
• ginger
• garlic
• soy sauce
• fish sauce
• lime juice
• oyster sauce
• honey
• spices

The wok is amazing but as it's hard to find gas hobs in Germany we had to invest in a camping stove to get the best effect.  It makes cooking so much faster and tastier!

Thoughts on Winter...

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28 things...make candles!

I completely loved this little project.  I used some of my Christmas money to buy a little candle making kit.  It makes four small candles - two round ones, one square and one star shaped.  The process was relatively straight forward up until I was taking them out of the moulds and cutting away the extra wick and Nico, the scientist in the house, pointed out I had them upside down - oops!  Luckily, I was able to rescue them.  The perfect project for these cold, dark evenings.

Inspiration

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Ice Skating!

This week's adventure was a bit of learning by doing when we took the kids ice skating on Tuesday.  They were all way better than us (or me anyway) even those who had never been before.  They nagged us to join them though and eventually we both took a turn around the rink.  I forgot how slippery it can be and I was on there just before it got cleaned!  I didn't fall but then I didn't give it much chance, clinging to the side and the kids like a limpet!  I'm glad I tried it again though.  I think my next challenge will be inline skating as that is supposed to be the first step in ice skating - maybe then I'll have better luck next year!

Winter Inspiration

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Inspiration

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Winter's Here!

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I don't care what the official line is (Winter starts on 21st December), Winter is actually well and truly here.  The beautiful Autumn colours and temperatures have gone and the snow arrived yesterday!  Luckily it hasn't settled yet and I can still cycle to work, just well wrapped up, but it was beautiful to watch yesterday morning.

Adding to the winter feel around here, we put our tree up on Saturday and started a special advent calendar (more on those to come).  While we were in town on Saturday I also bought these lovely cozy pyjamas and lived in them for the rest of the weekend - so comfy!!  And I'm in a Small!! 

This winter I'm looking forward to a lot of things, apart from Christmas we've got a visit from England, a visit to England, my first German New Year, the Xmas market and a nice Gluehwein.  I'm sure there's a lot I've forgotten - I just can't wait!!

Christmas Market!

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The Bremen Christmas Market started yesterday.  I can't wait to visit it.  It never gets boring - it's my favourite time of year in the city.