21.01

 

Yesterday morning we woke up to the first frost of this year.

It wasn’t a particularly heavy frost. Just heavy enough to sharpen the edges of everything it touched, and necessitate a good twenty minute stint of car-defrosting before we could set off on our morning walk.

It was tricky to choose between taking a flask of tea out with me to keep my hands warm, or leaving my hands free for my camera, so that I could capture the frost in all its glory.

Guess which I chose?

Teddy-watching-sheep Cider-with-Rosie-First-Frost-Church Cider-with-Rosie-First-Frost-Sheep Frozen-fern Cider-with-Rosie-First-Frost-Holl1 Frozen-holly-and-cobwebs Cider-with-Rosie-First-Frost-Frozen-Puddle Cider-with-Rosie-First-Frost-3 Cider-with-Rosie-First-Frost-2 Cider-with-Rosie-First-Frost-6 Frost-on-chopped-logs

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Posted in DOG WALKS, PHOTOGRAPHY, WINTER

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20.01

Cider-with-Rosie-Indoor-Plants

I’ve been spending some time lately making plans for the decor of our house. Our living room and guest bedroom have been a work-in-progress for an embarrassingly long time now, and our bedroom is as frumpy and ‘not us’ as the day we moved in. It’s so exciting to finally be rounding off the decor in each room, and making plans for a total revamp of our bedroom. I thought I’d turn the process into a mini-series here on Cider with Rosie, sharing decor inspiration and colour charts and wish lists and eventually, photos of the finished rooms one by one! So get ready for those ‘finished rooms’ posts to be coming at you in say…March? March…2015. ;)

One of the things I’m most keen to work on is incorporating more greenery into our home. I love the combination of bold indoor plants (especially ones with really dark green foliage) combined with a neutral colour palette, soft furnishings with plenty of texture, and of lots of natural wood furniture. I never really understood what an important job plants play in making a house feel like a home before last year, if I’m honest. When I planted up those little herbs and grew them on my kitchen window ledge through the summer months, all of a sudden our kitchen felt about 100 times more homely and ‘lived in’. Alongside this year’s crop of kitchen windowsill-herbs, I’m planning on investing in a mature Fiddle Leaf Fig tree to stand at the end of the sofa in our living room, a smaller plant like a Bird’s Nest Fern for the dining table, and various little succulents to be scattered throughout the house. Above are a few of my favourite examples of greenery being incorporated into the home. Isn’t that Fiddle Leaf Fig (top left) so gorgeous, in its soft woven basket?

1 (Fiddle Leaf Fig- original source unavailable) // 2 (Mixed cacti and succulents) // 3 (Split Leaf Philodendron) // 4 (Mixed succulents) // 5 (Snake Plant) // 6 (Dracaena Florida Beauty) // 7 (Mixed succulents and cacti, original source unavailable)

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Posted in HOME, INSPIRATION

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17.01

Teddy-and-I-on-the-rug

Hello! I hope you’ve all had a splendid week? It’s been pretty good here. Apart from that I ran out of petrol, again. But this time my car didn’t even have enough to get out of its parking space, which is a blessing when you think about it! I know I know. Fill it up more frequently. Stop playing fast and loose with the ‘Oh I’ve got 30 miles from when the light comes on’ theory. But anyway! The rest of this week has been a peach. I’ve caught up with friends (in person and via lengthy phone calls) eaten some pretty delicious food, and worked on some fun projects. Ted’s had a good one too! He’s convinced that the new rug (above) is a gift from me to him, and has been using it as a playmat since I brought it home. Two words: Pulls. Everywhere. Le sigh. Happy Friday everyone!

1. The almost-1 kilo bag of chocolate chips currently stashed in my baking cupboard. I’ve been eating teeny handfuls throughout the week in moments of need.

2. Wearing my glasses, because they’ve helped disguise what a crappy job I did trimming my fringe on Wednesday…

3. Making plans with my love for what we’d like the next few months to bring us. Whilst I was at university we put a lot of plans on hold, so it’s nice to be able to get the ball rolling now that we have so much more freedom.

4. Ticking silly little tasks off my to do list. Spring crocuses are planted, I’ve finally got round to buying a basket in which to store all of Teddy’s toys, and the hems I’ve been meaning to unpick on my denim shorts for the longest time have finally been let down.

5. Warm salads of wilted kale, chickpeas, and salami, dressed with homemade mustard and honey vinaigrette.

6. Reading The Kinfolk Table, and Reading My Tea Leaves. I just adore Erin’s blog, and Kinfolk is so inspiring.

7. Late night shopping with my Ma and sister. We bought new rugs on a whim, and new glass storage jars, and had honeycomb hot chocolates. Not bad for a rainy Monday evening.

8. Stealing an extra five minutes in bed in the mornings, before heading downstairs to let the pooch out into the garden to do his ‘business’. (p.s. Having to go outside into the cold less than ten minutes after waking up each morning is the only sucky thing about having a dog. Fact.)

9. The cup of tea that Jason makes me at about 9 o’clock each evening. It’s always the best tea I drink all day, even if it does make it hard to fall asleep afterwards.

10. Lunchtime. Every day. It makes me so happy.

Three posts I’ve especially enjoyed reading this week: Antonia’s Austrian pork roast // Sophie’s photos from the beach in Sydney // and Charlotte’s directions for finding the dinosaurs.

Tell me, what’s made you happy this week? :)

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Posted in 10 THINGS, HAPPINESS

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16.01

Eating-Seasonally-Pomegranate-farro-and-goats-cheese-salad-pomegranate-vinaigrette

This salad is a multiple box-ticker. Kale and pomegranates are both at their best in January, and both ingredients are also antioxidant-rich superfoods. There are pomegranate seeds not only in the salad itself, but also incorporated into the vinaigrette in the form of pomegranate molasses. It’s wheat-free, meat-free, and can easily be made vegan by omitting the goats cheese. It tastes wintery and hearty and wholesome, but also light and refreshing all at once. And since it keeps beautifully in the fridge, it would be a lovely one to make up at the weekend, and pack up ready for midweek lunches.

Farro can be a bit fiddly to track down (my local Waitrose always has it in stock, but as far as I can see neither Sainsbury’s or Tesco currently stock it) so feel free to replace it with more traditionally English pearl barley if can’t get hold of farro. It is worth hunting down if you fancy it though, since I’ve made this salad with both grains and really do think the more toothsome texture of farro works best here.

Eating-Seasonally-Pomegranate-farro-and-goats-cheese-salad-1 Farro

I made this batch up on Saturday to eat for lunch at my Mum’s, whilst Jason and the woof went out walking. Jason doesn’t like the vast majority of the ingredients in the salad (Pomegranates! Kale! Fruit paired with cheese!- I know. What’s up with the man?!) and so I decided to take it somewhere it would be fully appreciated. And thanks, lovely Mum, for playing hand model for me! You’re the best. And also thanks for helping me clear up after I’d finished cooking and shooting. Post blog-recipe-shoot clear up is my least favourite activity in the world, and I did make an exorbitant amount of mess with this one.

Cooked-farro-and-kalePomegranate-vinaigretteEating-Seasonally-Pomegranate-farro-and-goats-cheese-salad-2

// Serves 2-3 as a filling lunch, 4-5 if served as a side dish \\

Ingredients:
1 whole pomegranate
150g ‘farro di cocco’ (dry, quick cook farro)
80g soft, creamy goats cheese (I used ‘La Buchette’)
3 large handfuls kale
1 garlic clove
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (I used raspberry, but regular would be lovely)
1 tsp pomegranate molasses (or Dijon mustard)
Flaky sea salt, and ground black pepper to taste

- Firstly! How to ‘butcher’ a pomegranate! Take the pomegranate, and carefully cut the top and bottom off it. The idea is to cut through as few seeds as possible, so try to only take off about half a centimetre or so at each end. Then, with your knife, make shallow cuts from top to bottom in the skin of the pomegranate, along the six or so gentle ridges that run down its body. Then, with your hands, gently split the pomegranate in two, and then split each half in two again. The seeds can now be popped from the segments easy as anything! Some people like to use the ‘bash with a wooden spoon’ method here, but I prefer to just separate the seeds away from the skins manually. (Please note! Pomegranate juice stains like you wouldn’t believe. Even the slate tiles used in these photographs have been stained, as will chopping boards, worktops, and fabrics be if the juice is left to linger on them. Watch out! Be vigilant! Stay safe! ;)

- Cook the farro according to packet instructions (place in a pan of cold water, bring to the boil, and simmer for 10 minutes), and meanwhile, let’s wilt kale! Drizzle a little olive oil into a large frying pan or high-sided saucepan, and add in a lightly crushed, whole and skin-on garlic clove. Heat the oil gently for a moment or two to release the garlic flavour, then add in three large handfuls of raw kale. Toss for a few minutes in the oil and garlic until slightly softened, season with flaky sea salt, and then set aside.

- In a bowl/jug/jam jar, put the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, pomegranate molasses, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Whisk together until amalgamated, and then taste. I like my vinaigrette to be pretty tart, but you may like to add a little more oil, or maybe even a little squidge of honey to balance out the acidity. The pomegranate molasses adds a lovely tangy note, but if you have trouble finding it (again, as far as I know it’s a pretty new product, and is only available in Waitrose) you could happily substitute it for a teaspoon of Dijon mustard.

- Drain the farro once it’s cooked (about 10 minutes), and add it to a big serving bowl along with the cooked kale (don’t forget to fish out the garlic clove!). Add in about two thirds of the pomegranate seeds, then mix to combine. Pour over about half the vinaigrette, taste, and then add the remaining dressing and adjust seasoning as per your preference.

- Serve with a little mound of crumbled goats cheese piled on top, and more pomegranate seeds scattered over. Enjoy!

Eating-Seasonally-Pomegranate-farro-and-goats-cheese-salad-5Eating-Seasonally-Pomegranate-farro-and-goats-cheese-salad-16

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Posted in EATING SEASONALLY, FROM MY HOME TO YOURS, RECIPE

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