Thursday, 22 July 2010

Pea and potato curry.

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I promised some of you to post a recipe of the pea and potato curry that I made nearly two weeks ago, and here it is finally.

1. Start by cutting about 750 grams of potatoes in rather big cubes, and chopping two onions into rings.
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2. In a large saucepan, put two teaspoons of mustard (the recipe originally calls for mustard seeds which is probably better to use, but we didn't have any so I thought I would just go for the second best option.) and heat until it starts bubbling (if using mustard seeds, until they start popping).
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3. Chop three to four cloves of garlic and grind two teaspoons of fresh ginger.
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4. Add the onion rings, garlic, ginger and two spoons of ghi or oil to the pan and stir at medium heat until the onion is soft.
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5. Add 1/2 teaspoon of chili spice, 1 teaspoon of turmeric (silly me for misspelling it on the label of the spice), 1 teaspoon of cumin, 1 teaspoon of garam masala, and some salt and pepper. Also, add the potatoes. Stir until the potatoes are evenly covered in spice.
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Potatoes, onion and spice.

6. Add 1 1/2 dl of water and let everything boil at very low heat for 15-20 minutes or until the potatoes are slightly tender with a lid on the saucepan.
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7. Almost finished. Add 100 grams of peas. It's best to use frozen peas rather than canned since the taste is fresher. Boil at very low heat for another 3-5 minutes or until the liquid has been absorbed.
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8. Stir in a little bit of chopped fresh mint.
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9. Ready to eat! Serve with rice.
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Monday, 19 July 2010

Lace playsuit

Field

I've been wearing my new playsuit (that almost looks like a short dress at first glance!) nearly every other day since I got it around a week ago and on Saturday when my boyfriend and I went for a little walk I had him take some pictures of me wearing it. As you can see, I've also had my hair cut. I'm not sure if I like it yet since the hairdresser I went to cut it about five cm shorter than what I asked for (something that has never happened to me before - I always find myself needing to tell my hairdresser to cut my hair a little more) and I'm a little annoyed with that. I had wanted my hair to be cut in the same length as it was last year at this time of the year, but there is nothing to do about it now. In a few months it'll be a bit longer and by then I'll beyond doubt be used to it.
Now I'm off to make myself a cup of tea for the umpteenth time today. I've caught an unpleasant cold that my boyfriend had last week. I don't mild colds so much, but when one has to cope with one in sticky hot weather it is near torture.
FieldField
FieldHorse shoe shoes
Playsuit from Dahlia, horse shoe shoes from Topshop.

Friday, 16 July 2010

I love Dahlia...

Ever since I stumbled across the Dahlia shop in Carnaby street in London two years ago, Dahlia's been one of my favorite brands and every summer (I think their summer collections are the prettiest) I've bought a couple of pieces from them. This summer has proven to be no different as I couldn't help myself from ordering these two items a few weeks ago: a delicate lace 50s inspired playsuit and a stripy dress with pretty sailor buttons.

Dahlia clothes hanging
Sailor buttonsLace playsuit

I'm going to try taking some pictures wearing the playsuit on the weekend.

Dahlia

I really like the new website Dahlia recently launched which is so cute and so easy to navigate through. One of my favorite things about it is that each piece of clothing is accompanied by sweet description and styling advice! And also, as a nice change from the previous website, now there are pictures from every angle of each item.

Gosh, there are so many darling clothes and accessories that I would like to get on top of those I've already bought...

DahliaDahlia
DahliaDahlia

Monday, 12 July 2010

Nine pictures from Saturday.

Waking upPicturewalkBagelBagelBicycleRoadpotato and pea currypotato and pea curry

My Saturday more or less. Woke up much too late, got dressed and did my make up, went for a walk with Tassus, ate a delicious and oh so filling bagel that my boyfriend made, biked to and from a private German lesson I gave, cooked potato and pea curry. Quite an ordinary and relaxing Saturday.

Saturday, 10 July 2010

Sorting out my wardrobe.

clothes
my improved wardrobe

I guess it's actually much too late to start sorting out my summer wardrobe in July, but I've never had the need to do any seasonal wardrobe cleanses before, and I didn't imagine that this summer would be any different. I've always been able to wear all my clothes (aside from heavy winter coats, mittens, scarves and such) at any time throughout the year just by putting them together a little differently: switching thicker tights for thin ones, and occasionally not wearing tights at all, or wearing thin cardigans over blouses or dresses instead of thick wool cardigans or sweaters (that's Norwegian weather for you).

These past weeks I've come to the realization that putting away my thicker and darker skirts, dresses and cardigans would give me a better overview of my dressing choices, and there is really no point letting clothes that will be too warm to wear in Israel for the next few months take up valuable closet space, is there?

I tidied these away:
dressesclothes
clothes
Half a dozen skirts, half a dozen dresses and some tops and cardigans that are too warm for this weather.

To make more space for:
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Floaty, lightweight dresses and some colorful ones

skirtsclothesclothes
summery skirts, blouses and tops.

I feel more inspired looking at my closet after this little clean-up, and hopefully this feeling will stay on even if I still think colder weather allows more dressing choices.

I want to thank all of you who commented in my last post for all your encouraging words and suggestions. I'm going to try and go ahead with the ideas that I first have in mind for my post and blog more frequently even if it seems like quite a challenge at times.

Saturday, 3 July 2010

New lace dress...

Sunkissed

I am such a lousy blogger - I know. I keep wanting to post more, but my inspiration seems to be going through a downfall at the moment and that is really bothering me. I also keep thinking "Oh, this would be nice to post about!", but, then it doesn't seem like worth posting about a little while later. After re-reading these couple of sentences, I realized I've kind of made this sound like a blog depression (is that even possible?). A bit silly maybe, but I suppose what I wanted to put into words is; is there anything you would like to see on my blog, anything that you miss seeing here, or, in other words, do you have any ideas of what I could post about?

Over to something else. Yesterday I went to the Topshop sale and I got this pretty little dress that I was eyeing on the Topshop website a few months ago, and that I've been trying to get on ebay (but it's always been selling for too much), so I was really happy to get it for half price yesterday. The downside, however, is that it has a small foundation (I'm guessing) stain at the neckline and the shop assistant refused to give me a discount because of that (quite ridiculous since in Europe I'd get it in a second). I really hope it'll come off. I love the fact that it has long sleeves as well as being very light weight so that I can protect myself a little from the sun in it.

Vintage necklace

PortraitLipstick
Cute dog
The sun in my face
ThinkingSitting on a chair
ArmHairband

Dog on my arm

Lace dressWindow sill

Sunset


Lace dress from Topshop, necklace from my grandmother and scarf (worn in hair) from my other grandmother).