Beans, beans the musical fruit

Gosh it’s hard to think of snappy blog post titles!  This one is extra lame (I want to hear groaning people!)… :)
Anyhoooo, Cam made a ridiculously AWESOME stew on Tuesday night.  Adzuki Bean Stew.  Yes, Adzuki beans can be used in savoury dishes.  This was really, Really, REALLY fantastic.  The flavours were just fantastic (probably all of that delicious smoked paprika).  I had it for lunch again the next day.  My only comment is that the dumplings weren’t bready enough.  A friend have us about 2kg of dried Adzuki beans, so we will DEFINITELY be trying this again (I’m thinking of using the dumpling recipe from the Leek and Bean Cassoulet from Vcon and tweaking it).  I believe the recipe for this is here – from the printed copy on the bench, it looks like Cam put it into metric! (Maths can be useful)
You really MUST try this recipe!!!

And, just because I get more comments when I post purdy things, witness the crapilly made, but very pretty quilt I made during uni break!

Hey ya!

Hey guys.  Long time, no blog.  Uni, work, you know the drill…..
Anyway, I was inspired by a recent South Park episode to make Tofu “fish” Fingers (I believe you call them Fish Sticks in the US).  Recipe came from the Vegan Lunchbox cookbook (finally bought it!).  Pretty tasty!


I’ll resist the urge to make a gay vegan fish joke.

I discovered chipotles at the Indian grocer the other week (month?) and so I made tamales (using aluminium foil instead of corn husks).  Not bad….  They’re really dense!!!
And, of course, I’ve been sewing….


Exams are coming up, so I’ve been attempting to start study (they start on June 15, so hopefully I can cram it all in – for some unknown reason they’re ALL open book!!).
VeganAmy out.

Why yes, I have turned into the crazy bag lady

Iron Chef Vegan has been returning to old favourites - Get Sconed's Mac and Cheeze, Burritos, Vietnamese Spring Rolls.  I really haven't been doing much in the way of cooking because of the machine.
The sewing machine.
And so, I have turned into the crazy bag lady:

I bought this pattern before Christmas along with the fabric.  I loved the fabric so much I didn't want to fuck it up!  So I waited until I was sure that I could actually sew properly!

I'm really proud of this one!  It looks pretty damn good.
I really really REALLY love this fabric.

Thus, I have embarked on a ridiculous quest to make a lot of handbags for friends and family.

This one's for my mum (hopefully she doesn't check this blog in the next hour!).

Vegan homemade handbags rock!

Needle and thread

Hey everyone.
As requested, here's a bit of a look back at the craptacular items I've been sewing.
Item 1 - The sack dress.

This was the first thing I sewed.  I haven't worn it yet (and I finished it the week before Christmas.  Any suggestions?  I thought a band below the bust, empire line style might make it wearable....  I love the fabric though.
Item 2 - The Xmas Top

Lesson number two - always make the bottom of an item extra long so it covers what you want to cover!.  I wore this on Christmas day.  I still love it.  But it reminds me that I need to lose that 7 kilos.
Item 3 - The Amy Butler In Town Bag (the easy non-pattern one)

This was the first time I actually did a proper lining (and use proper interfacing - I have a ginormous roll that I got from Spotlight now!).  I use this constantly.  So awesome.  But I never match my top and my handbag.  A little too tacky for my tastes.
Item 4 - The pyjama shorts that look like boardies

I think I'm detecting a preference for frangipanis! 
And just because I think the fabric is faaabulous:

Of course, I now have a fabric buying addiction.  Today I bought no less than three pieces of fabric (6.5 metres!)

1.5 metres of fancy cotton.  I was going to make a skirt, but then I remembered that I don't wear skirts.  Probably an off the shoulder top.

Polyester/cotton/lycra/I have no idea....  Isn't it so retro?  Probably will be a work top.
And finally, the favourite thing in my stash.  The fabric I waited for an hour to buy at Spotlight.  I bought three metres because it's that cute:
The feminist in me likes to think that this is how happy all women will look when we finally beat down patriarchy.  I have no idea what this one will make.  I'm thinking some sort of handbag lining (I have a fetish for handbags, yet another reason to take up sewing - vegan homemade handbags!).
And just because this is meant to be a food blog:

The caption should read: Mmmm sprinkles.