Happy Monday! We had a good weekend this weekend, just spending some time and catching up just the 2 of us. We had a bakeoff on saturday which got quite fraught actually! (a failed first attempt at foccacia had me quite stroppy) I will bring you the photos from this foray into baking tomorrow. The final foccacia was really delicious and I would definately cook it again!

I also had a go at making some soap which smells amazing and is very moisturizing. I'm going to do a super easy tutorial for this cheats soap making method later in the week! (its such a cheat, I hope I don't get any real soap enthusiasts shaming me!)

I am also embarking on a diet this week... wish me luck :-( It is me realising that I may actually have to curb my festive gorging which has followed me into the new year! I am now roughly the size of a young killer whale and so I plan to follow a dukan/ low carb kinda thing to get back to my wedding day weight. You never know maybe I'll have to come up with some dukan recipes to satisfy my cooking compulsion.

Stay tuned for the diet come down!

XHX

If you are anything like me you will have noticed a creeping takeover by fluffy round eyed birds in design and crafts recently. Owl motifs are frigging everywhere at the moment and have been for a while now. I get it, they're cute and boggle eyed and fluffy and can be customised with colour to match into any scheme. With that in mind I bring you my pick of the best (or nest! geddit?)

1) this cute owl cuddly/ cushion is one of about a gazillion on etsy and other craft sites and blogs at the moment. It seems you aren't worth your salt as a crafter these days if you havent made and posted a patchwork owl. I am not worth my salt... yet but I do want to make one of these beauties soon. I love this one (hes called 'cornelius' by the way) because he uses the coolest check and paisley scraps and has a certain debonair feel, which is what an owl should be I think.

2) These amazing woodland wall decals are from notonthehighstreet.com and are just one variety in a large section of owl and other creature wall stickers for your home. They would be so sweet in a childs room or nursery, or even in your own room if you are young at heart. I love them above a bed as in this picture.

3) If you don't quilt or sew then you might not know Michael Miller fabrics, they are one of the biggest I would say for this kind of craft print cotton. His prints really are always amazing and this pattern 'Forest Life' is one of my faves. It would be great to make the aforementioned patchwork owl project (the idea of owls on an owl is stragely pleasing to me) It also comes in 5 colourways including some more manly versions! although they still have little bambis on them so I'm not sure its quite 'Terminator' manly.

4)This little owl necklace is so cute, enough said really. It makes the grade for the contrast colours, the brass fixings and the antiquey enamel owl.

5)Owl stamp from notonthehighstreet again, I love this website. This cute rubber stamp set would be great to make your own gift tags on manilla luggage labels, It would also be good for Christmas cards or maybe your own wrapping paper (if you can be faffed with that!)

6) finally this little owl hat is the cutest thing ever! I wish I could knit or crochet or whatever the genius who made this did!

This little post is going to be dedicated to my forever ongoing (in my head) hotly contested best advert ever/ worst advert ever awards.

I love TV, I know thats not a very high brow thing to say; I'm supposed to say "oh god isn't half the stuff on TV these days awful mind rotting drivel leading us further into broken- Britain collapse blah blah blah... I'd rather read". Well it isnt true, yes sometimes I would rather read but often I like to sit and watch TV, alot of TV. (in my PJs with Frankie on my lap, no mean feat since he is a 20kg collie not a shitzu)

Aaanyway, Today for no real reason whatsoever apart from that I saw a photo on pinterest from the advert for Sony Bravia with the bouncy balls in San Fransisco, I gave it another watching. Instantly hooked again, This advert is a definate contender for best advert ever this week. something about it really makes me feel little and calm, which I like. I can nearly feel the texture of the bouncy balls with the almost see through glowey rubbery two colours in one blendy colour changey magicky amazingness (phew thats alot of fake words)

I love those bouncy balls, I had one as a child, you could bite bits out of them, I wish I had one now.

And if you missed it watch it.

Moving on to the less awe inspiring category of worst advert ever... the one that is really yanking my chain this week is the Australian tourist board advert. It has a rediculous jingle that goes "theres nothing liiikke! Austraaiiiilia! theres nothing like Austraaaiiiliaaaaa!" . Don't get me wrong, nothing against Australia, just dont feel that they are doing themselves justice with that advert. Its on a million times a day, It gets in your head like nothing else and if I got off a plane in Australia and was greeted with a chorus of that song I would splat myself through the plane's engine like an unfortunate seagul. Needless to say, Its on the hitlist for worst Advert ever.

If you missed that one, don't bother looking it up you will find it clanging through your brain all day.

xxx H Favesies? Worsties? anybody?

This weekend Tim's lovely parents came over to install some loft insulation for us (wild isnt it? this blog) To thank them for all the effort I tried to break out the big guns and made a lovely Coq au Vin that I am proud enough of to share with you here.

You will find during the course of my ramblings on Wishone that I am an enthusiastic cook! Nothing is better to me than really being able to focus on something in the kitchen. Copious praise from eaters is also a factor, I don't mind admitting!

For this meal I wanted something warming and tasty for a cold January day of, for the guys at least, hard work up in the attic. Tim received Valentine Warner's book 'The Good Table' for christmas, a great book full of very hearty looking dishes with great gritty photography. Although I had made Coq au Vin before with reasonable success, I never felt that I was getting it quite right and wanted to do it by the book so to speak.

Warner's trick is to individually and thoroughly brown all of the ingredients separately and remove to a bowl each time. I felt that this makes for a much deeper and richer sauce and I have to admit it was a vast improvement on previous efforts. I didn't mind the addition of a whole bottle of red and a cup of brandy either!

I snapped some photos of all the caramelising fun! and no that is not a charred shallot you spy there... Its just your imagination. We had this with basmati and wild rice with parsley and the traditional (apparently) fried bread! yum! when can you ever manage to justify eating fried bread in the name of being french and very cultured??