Shepherd's Pie

I'm no cook but I really wanted to use this baking pot Peter bought for when we made cottage pie and since pie's seem to be a winter recipe, I thought I'd try a shepherds pie which turned out to be quite delicious by the end. I've never thought of doing a food post before besides posting drool-worthy recipes I've wanted to try but never ended up doing and so this time it went pretty well. I have no idea about how lighting goes but thankfully, I did more than okay this time round but wishing that I had taken a few more shots.

Easy

4 servings

Ingredients:

- 1 large carrot

- 1 large celery stick

- 1 onion

- 700g lamb or beef mince

- 2 tablespoons tomato paste

- 2 cups beef stock

- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

- 3 large potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters or smaller

- 40g unsalted butter

- 1/2 cup milk

- 2 teaspoons cornflower

- 2 tablespoons water

- 1/4 cup chopped parsley leaves 

- Salt and pepper

OKAY, let's go! 

1. Finely chop the carrot, celery and onion. Since I'm not a Masterchef myself, I tend to use any cheats as possible so I used a food processor for this step. It's useful for skipping an onion-crying step when cooking anything.

2. Heat oil in a deep non-stick frying pan on a low/medium heat and then add the carrots, celery and onion and cook for 2-3 minutes or until soft. Add mince and stir for 5 minutes or until cooked and brown.

3. Add tomato paste, beef stock and Worcestershire sauce. Stir and then bring to the boil or until the sauce has evaporated. Turn the heat down and let simmer for 15 minutes.

4. Whilst the mince mixture is simmering, you can then boil your potatoes until tender and then drain them (tip: drip the potatoes into the water first before dropping them in to avoid splashes of hot water). Leave them in the same pot so you can mash them and then add the milk, butter and a bit of salt and pepper. Leave to the side, covered to keep warm.

5. Mix the cornflour into the water until it becomes a watery paste and then add it into the mixture. Keep it simmering until the sauce has thickened a little. Stir in the parsley then add the salt and pepper to taste.

6. Heat your oven grill on high. Transfer mixture into a baking bowl or dish and then spread the mash over the top of it. Place under the grill for 5 minutes or until golden. Then let it cool down a few minutes before serving.

If you want, you can seam some beans and carrots to serve on the side. And here is the original recipe.

*All pictures taken by me

I Can Be Proud

It's been longer than a week now and I have neglected to post some of these. It was for an assignment and I only used the picture above but there were three I really did like. I was to manipulate an image, creating one dark and moody, then a bright and sunny version of the same photo. I have a print of the image above and to be honest, it's very much not what I would prefer when taking pictures for my blog. As you can tell, these are a much warmer than what I would have usually made my images and darker. Also, the editing process for this is so much more time consuming so I like having my settings set on the camera so once I upload them, there would be no need for me to edit. Though that may occur once or twice. I was hoping to get these done around 6 in the evening and I can assure you that it was nice and warm during that time however, the clouds caved in quickly and so my pictures turned out much bluer than normal. As much as I'd prefer not having to edit and I wish we didn't need to darken our images for the assignment, I'm surprised at how okay they were and that they had turned out not so badly.

Growing Out

I think my fringe has gotten to a point where it's beginning to annoy me and this is usually about the time that a new trim is due out of frustration with the fact that it'll take a million years to grow out. But this time I won't give in. I don't think I can actually recall the last time I successfully grew my fringe out since all I can really remember is having a fringe practically my whole life. I know many of us girls who have had fringes for years tend to just keep cutting once they're too long to either keep that same hairstyle we have or purely because of impatience. I must say that even now I'm struggling to keep my mind occupied from thinking too much about how my hair looks like in the mirror without wailing over how boring and useless my fringe has become. My goal right now is to grow it out so I can experiment different styles that I otherwise couldn't achieve with side sweeps or blunt cuts. At the moment I've been surviving with bobby pins and little girls teeth clips that I found lying around from when I was much younger. Pinning them back really does help with the waiting process since I'm at ease when it comes to styling it. I'm not entirely sure how long this will last, but I do hope it does. 

On another note, knowing Melbourne, our heritage stands in small buildings or museums that are open to the public. We don't have ruins or ghost towns as the infrastructure continues to develop. But there is this one place that is yet to be turned into something new as if it never existed at all. There was nothing seedy about the place. Just walls and buildings filled with empty spray cans and walls covered in graffiti. I've seen pictures posted of this place and thought to visit. The cardboard on the windows give a rather echoing bang against the window panes and the pigeons coo only adds to the thrill of their flapping wings. There were shadows and shade and right in the middle, some of the roof has probably caved in over time, but even just standing there, it felt like an urban atmosphere. 

outfit

glassons denim pinafore

cotton on striped shirt - blue version

dangerfield bag

rubi sandals

Weekly Roundup Favourites #2

MAKE IT - Polka Dot Umbrellas

In the past week I haven't been using my laptop lately but when I did, I was on the biggest DIY whim. 

There were so many more that I couldn't link since I used my phone mostly for Instagram and Pinterest. 

Your Own Bokeh

DIY Ancor Statement Wall

Yarn Ball Bookmark

Polaroid Fun

I've been holding out on this post for a while but I'm sure you may or may not have noticed here or on Instagram that I've been carrying around a weighty polaroid with me from time to time. How inefficient does that sound in the modern world? Breaking all the rules of ergonomics, this land camera sparingly captures my favourite sights in all its impracticality. It was gifted to me for my birthday by Peter but not in it's original condition. Of course he made some minor adjustments which required him to solder a few bits and pieces but I've got to hand it to him. It works perfectly well after he managed to rig a few things to be fair with what I can still get my hands on today.  I was actually rather ecstatic to open my surprise. Way too excited to use it for the first few times. I absolutely love this camera. The polaroid has beautifully extended bellows and an impressively weighty body that basically overrules the evolution of cameras. I can take multiple exposures, and at times a few black and white shots too. My favourite thing about the camera is that it's like it has it's own random filter. You'll never know what hues are exaggerated or how well they'll turn out. It's instant and it's always exciting after every shot. I get just about overly excited waiting for the film to 'develop' before I can peel off the negative. It's fun and I don't think this can just be 'occasional'. I've tried bleaching my negatives and boy do they turn out interesting. I am yet to scan them onto a jpeg format and discover the colour plays. I've only scanned the positives and I'm sorry but these don't scan as true as the hard copies really are. But I've seen outstanding results of scanning the negatives and I can't wait to try it out when I figure out how. Below are some of my favourite shots and some were too dark so I had to lighten them up a little. But they will look completely different once the negatives can be scanned. 

Photo Scans

I tried to scan the two images that Peter gave me from a roll he recently developed. I took this one right under the gloomy-looking tree on turf. He likes the bokeh.

Food Affair

The comfort 'food' that I've come home to and sit by my laptop with is gherkins. Anything pickled is an absolute weakness for me but tonight I was re-reminded about food blogs and one in particular being Pastry Affair has got my tongue and stomach craving for sweets and things. Right about now, I could easily give into the baking mood but considering the time and the lack of ingredients I'm sure to have, I'll just froth at the mouth, staring at my screen. I've never really paid attention to food blogs but when I came across the Pastry Affair, I felt a match made in the viral universe. Wait till you see the cupcakes and pies or her specialty in scones of different flavours. Here's a pumpkin waffle recipe I'm dying to try/be motivated to make all in due time.