Vindication and things in the mail

As I typed "vindication" all I could think was "vindication, kinda sounds like viticulture, which is related to wine, yummmmm."

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A while back I wrote about one my Experiments, the one where I chopped up some kumaras and who knows what else, threw some balsamic on it and possibly some basil, totally thinking that this was a legitimate side dish idea.  My failure convinced me otherwise, but this morning, what should appear in my inbox but an email from Chelsea Sugar with a recipe for Balsamic Roasted Vegetables.  Ha, take that kumara experiment, you are a real dish!  I was just missing a key ingredient - golden syrup - and I should have used rosemary instead of basil. 

I'm still learning my way around the herb and spice rack, clearly.  I have no idea what tarragon is, what it's used for, or why I have some, but I bought some at some point thinking it was a good idea!  Also on the list of mystifying herbs is sage.  Methinks some research is needed - yeah I'll just add that to my list of things that will never get done!

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This week started off with a bang when I got to play the Single Lady on Monday night and tried to make some minestrone.  That failed minestrone is still sitting in my fridge, waiting for me to decide its fate, which may just be the bin at this point. 

On Tuesday I got chocolate in the mail, which was brilliant coz I was in desperate need of a pick-me-up when rushing from work to home to pottery.


Please excuse my freaky pink fingers, they were excited for the chocolate too.

Notice the little kitty popping her head up over the chocolate?  That's Lucy, and she is a drama queen.  Not in the blatant meow-I'm-going-to-scratch-your-eyes-out-ifyoudon'tfeedmerightnow kind of way, but in the way she snubs us or refuses to eat anything but expensive treats when she's mad at us.  When we went away for four days and she couldn't get inside the house (don't worry we have a conservatory where they have everything they need and our neighbor fed them regularly), she wouldn't snuggle up to us for a whole week.  She's a real Aristocat.  Man I loved that movie as a kid! 

Lucy has to sleep IN my sewing stuff, while I'm trying to sew.  Nothing else will do.

It was one of my favourite weeks of pottery class - glazing!  You get to play with colours, mixing and double-dipping and getting dirty.  It's great fun.  But first you have to find your own pieces from among all the ones that went into the kiln, which is a bit like Christmas.  "Oh, I made that?!"  When most people say it, they find their pots to look better than they thought.  For me, they look runtier.  I'm still working on getting my throwing technique...ok I'm still working on getting any technique at all really.  I seem to pick it up one night and then completely lose it the next.


Find the most wonky looking pots in there and they are mine, guaranteed.

I got some wine in the mail too, that was pretty thrilling.  I had decided we needed some white in the house as it was getting warmer, and you never knew when you'll want a nice refreshing glass or three of a nice sauv blanc.  So six bottles ought to do for the next week or so, don't you think?

A bonus WineNZ magazine to read as I drink - guaranteed that I will not remember it!

I don't have any excuse for including this photo other than I think it's hilarious and I want to see if people can come up with good captions for it.  Sorry it's so orange, but she's an orange cat and she's sitting on an orange blanket.  I'm sure your eyes will eventually adjust back to seeing colours properly.



What should the caption for this photo be people??

Oh, and there was some baking, and some watching professional baking, and then some learning how to bake.  I am a Baker after all.  Coz that's my husband's last name.  Heh.  His bad jokes are rubbing off on me, I better stop now!