Picnics and Chameleons

On Tuesday Nick had off work for the Easter holidays so we had a picnic!  It was a bit chilly and windy, but there were plenty of people out enjoying the park... even the icecream man made an appearance!

We picked up some sandwiches from this little place called The Honey Pot, which I'd been dying to go to.  It has such a delicious sounding name don't you think?  Especially when all the other sandwich shops have names like "Pulled Pork Sandwich Shop"  Umm... not the best place for your favorite vegetarian.

Alas, in the country, vegetarian food is hard to come by and even in The Honey Pot, the best they had to offer was a sub par egg salad sandwich.

While we were out we stumbled across the coolest reptile shop ever.  Now I'm not normally in the business of sharing my dreams on this little blog, but a few weeks ago I had the most vivid dream about Heidi playing with a pet chameleon named Charlie.  I have been wanting a chameleon desperately ever since, but where the hell do you even buy a chameleon? Well this reptile shop sold them!

The owner asked if I kept reptiles, and I replied, "no but I had a dream about a chameleon and I've wanted one ever since!"  I could see his crazy lady / terrible reptile pet owner alert going off in his head, so I pulled the....

I've worked with cheetahs....

And elephants....

and Sumatran rhinoceros line. (coolest animal ever FYI, this is Emi and Harapan, they're famous)

I'm not sure if at that point he thought I was a complete nutter, but he seemed to believe me enough to tell me its chameleon breeding season!  And brand new (captive bred) chameleon babies will be available in a few weeks!

(Via)

Now these little cuties run about £100 a pop, and thats not including the fancy set up they require.  They're also prone to stress meaning they die easily and only live for 2-5 years if well taken care of.  Plus, the reptile guy said they are a lot of work and give you no affection, he recommended a bearded dragon as they are apparently more affectionate reptiles.  However, I still want/need/must have a baby chameleon.  

HAVE I LOST MY BLOODY MIND?

Martha Comes for Easter

Ok so the homemaking goddess didn't actually make an appearance at our little home for Easter dinner, but she had a big influence nonetheless.  I adapted three of her recipes from the January issue of Martha Stewart Living for our fabulous dinner.  I'll post them in the order I made them because I think this is the best way... just in case you feel a surge of inspiration and want to make all three for a little Martha inspired Indian flavored feast.

Honey-Roasted Eggplant with Chiles

Ingredients

• 3 medium sized eggplants, cubed
• 2 Green chiles, sliced (note: Martha suggests 5, but we thought two was way more than enough heat we might've got the wrong chile)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat the oven to 425 F.  Toss all ingredients together in a baking dish and roast eggplant for about half an hour, tossing half way.  

Toasted Coconut Rice

Ingredients

• Olive Oil
• 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
• 1 cup rice (she recommends basmati but we just used plain white rice)
• 2 cups water
• 3/4 tsp coarse salt
• 2 Scallions thinly sliced on the biased (we left these out)

Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat, add the coconut, toasting it for about 6 minutes until it just starts to brown.  Set aside two tablespoons of coconut for garnish later.  Stir one cup rice into the saucepan with the remaining coconut and add two cups water and 3/4 tsp of coarse salt.  Bring this to a boil, then reduce it to simmer, covering the pan and allowing the rice to absorb the water, about 20 minutes. Garnish with reserved coconut and scallions.  

Tofu Tikka Masala

(this recipe has been changed a lot from Martha's original - so I think I'll take credit for this one!)

Ingredients

• 1 pack of extra firm silken tofu
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 3 tablespoons freshly grated ginger (from about a 6 inch piece)
• 1 tablespoon pressed garlic
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons garam masala
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup cream
• Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, heat two tablespoons of oil over medium heat.  Cook onion until golden, about 20 minutes.  Meanwhile, blot tofu dry with a paper towel, and slice into half inch thick pieces.  Heat a tablespoon of olive oil over medium high heat in a griddle.  Place strips of tofu onto the griddle, allowing them to crisp on both sides.  Set tofu aside.  When onion is ready, add three tablespoons of ginger, a tablespoon of garlic, 3 tablespoons tomato paste, two teaspoons garam masala, and 1/2 teaspoon chili powder, and cook until fragrant, about 3 minutes.  Add one cup of water, 1/2 cup of cream, and tofu.  Allow everything to heat through and add salt and pepper to taste.  

We had to start before the eggplant was finished because OUR OVEN BROKE.  This house is seriously cursed.  The bathroom doesn't work and now the kitchen.  yikes.  But this was delicious.  And once we put the eggplant back into the other oven it turned out pretty good too (though I would usually salt my eggplant before cooking it - I think I would do that if I made it again).  

I know it's not going to win any beauty pageants, but I think you'll find all the dishes are perfectly delicious together.  Everything was slightly sweet, which complemented our chocolate Easter eggs perfectly!

Happy Easter!

Nick bought me a mini tripod the other day and today I insisted we take a family portrait when we took Heidi for her walk.  I put on a pretty top and skirt, and then realized it was freezing outside.  I think I do this every single Easter.  It's always colder than I want it to be.

But I still insisted we make an attempt.  We only got one shot before one of Heidi's friends showed up and she was totally out of commission.  Hopefully we can try again when it's warmer and we can wear pretty spring clothes!

We didn't think this was Heidi's best angle, so we took off her new gentle leader (great for stopping her pulling) and Nick took a picture of us and my new purple rain boots!  Love them!

Trying to set up a tripod and get into the picture before the countdown is over is pretty tricky.  We need to make a photographer friend to get a good shot!

We've been spring cleaning and eating egg salad in true Easter fashion the rest of today.  We also went on a wild goose chase yesterday to get lots of Easter candy for each other but didn't have much luck.  I was seriously missing Walgreens as we trolled multiple supermarkets and could ONLY find large stocks of Cadbury eggs (sister Dani, you would be in cadbury egg heaven).  I'm sorry but there is SO much more to Easter than cadbury eggs.... like peeps, for example.  Peeps are MY favorite Easter candy.  However, I have two major problems with peeps...

1. Peeps are nowhere to be found in England

2. Peeps are NOT vegetarian

But I found a recipe on Martha's website!! God love her, and I am going to make them myself.... except Nick won't let me until I get a candy thermometer.  (He says it will be a disaster and I kinda believe him).  I would love to go out and get one, but the bus only runs once an hour on Sundays, and the shops closed at 4pm... oh life in the country..  But my dear readers and vegetarian peep lovers, I promise you that I will be producing lots of peeps sometime before the week is up.  You have my word!

A Country Walk

Hey Folks,

Looks like we've moved to the country.  We're really loving it here so far.  The air is clean and the people are nice, and the land is beautiful.  I pass these friendly livestock when I walk the dog, and thought I might introduce them to you too.

Say hello to the sheep.  The lambs have just arrived and they're the cutest little things ever.  

We also meet plenty of horses.  Heidi thinks they are massive dogs and tries to sneak under their fences to play with them (we don't let her do this, obviously).  But luckily, for her little puppy ego, they usually humor her and come over to say hello.

This is Charlie.  I know his name because his owners put this sign up on his fence.

Can you believe them?  Calling him out on his weight like that! How utterly embarrassing!  Don't worry Charlie, we all have a few extra pounds to shed!  Isn't that right piglets?!

The Ugliest Blog in the Blogosphere

I have nothing to blog about other than the unpacking of boxes, and trying to make this ugly house with it's unflushing toilet, asian lamps, and shitty kitchen a home - which is rather boring.  So I decided to attempt to make my blog pretty.  It's really not fair at all to bore you, my dear readers, with such a dull and ugly looking blog, especially when I probably bore you already with musings of my extremely uneventful life.

But anyways, can someone tell me how the hell to make my blog pretty?  Every time I try to change it the pictures get all screwed up and it looks even more fugly than it already does.

I'm feeling a bit like Bruce Springsteen when he wrote Dancing in the Dark. 

"I wanna change my clothes, my hair, my face and I ain't gettin no where."

If only I could get SOME where.  Like Courtney Cox - she got somewhere.  But, no, I'd be the DUFF (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) who came to the concert with Courtney and had to listen to her pretty self replay the events over and over again about how awesome it was to be pulled up on stage and dance awkwardly with THE BOSS.  Meanwhile, I'd be waving my arms next to her, like the one with the bad bangs, trying to look cool but then realizing that my arm fat would be forever jiggling in a SPRINGSTEEN VIDEO.

I'm not sure why I'd feel more Courtney Cox-ish if my blog looked pretty, but rest assured, I would.