Make Do Mend: Beef & Squash Chili

Food is one of my favourite things in all of the land. I spend most of my time thinking about what I am going to eat next. Particularly whenever I am broke, and can only afford to 2 minute noodles, I spend the most time trawling through endless recipes, via every social media platform imaginable, and make grand (meal) plans for when all(!?) the money comes in on payday!

I came across this recipe one poor, hungry night and man am I glad I did. A bowl chockas full of flavour with all of the best things in it. Beef, butternut squash, chilis, beer, avocado, pumpkin seeds. Seriously, how can that not taste good?

You’re going to just have to try for yourself and see. It takes a good amount of time to do so give yourself 2 hours, the beef is good and tender then. I added a chipotle to the mix to make the holy trinity of chilis (ancho, pasilla, chipotle)!

Re-hydrated chilis are my favourite!

Get the recipe on Bon Appetit.  We served it with homemade sourdough pita. Yikes!

Happy eating!

– Celeste

Valentine’s Tunes & Doodles

I love Valentine’s Day and will take any excuse to pull out some cheesy, grin giving music!

Here are a few Valentine’s themed favourites & doodles for your enjoyment, whether you have someone to kiss on the mouth or not, hopefully they’ll bring a smile to your face!

Get these tunes spotified, you tubed, ituned?

Barry White ‘Don’t Go Changing’ – This man’s music can brighten the gloomiest of days.

Stevie Wonder ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered’ – Perhaps better for a wedding?

Fleetwood Mac ‘Everywhere’ – Romantic or needy? I want to be with you everywhere, or just some places?

Elvis ‘A Little Less Conversation a Little More Action Please’ – Catering for all Valentine’s eventuations.                                                                                                                     (We’ve all been there.)

The Cure ‘Friday I’m in Love’ – Except that it’s Saturday

The Beach Boys ‘God only knows’ – How could you not love this song?

R Kelly ‘Bump n Grind‘ – There are no words. Best song.

Not much goes together as well as these two.

Remember when a mixed tape meant ‘true love’?

❤

Niche? But not as niche as ‘We go together like Na + Cl.‘

Happy Valentine’s Day.

– Celeste 

Found things: Introducing Analogue

So, you won’t need to know much about us to know that two of our great loves are music and books, and so when one of the foxes and her husband paired up to create a little book and album pairing club, we gave it a big thumbs up and thought we’d share the idea with you. You can join in physically if you live in Belfast, but alternatively this will operate as an online club – where you can nominate on the pairing, vote, listen and read along and contribute to some online discussion… So, without further ado, ladies and gentlemen we present Analogue: an experiment in books and music – pop along to find our more, to vote for february’s pairings and to join the club!

Penny for your thoughts: How do you unwind?

Hello,

After a long silence from my part I thought the most appropriate way to re-enter this space would be to talk about relaxing. After starting a career in teaching this has been on the forefront of my thoughts. It seems to be a challenge to find a balance between working and relaxing – especially with a job where you’re never done and could always do more. So, I’m curious, how do you manage it? What makes you relax after a long day in the office / school / university / workplace?

In the last year or so I’ve realised that these small things make me unwind:

Lighting a candle while having a bath or a shower and leaving the lights off. Amazing what a bit of ambience can do to calm your busy head.

Comfy slippers (or woolly socks) that keep your feet toasty.

Reading a good book (thank you Sarah for this one – making my way through it!)

Going out for a walk. I can’t wait for the afternoons/evenings to get brighter to be able to do this more!

Like I said these are very small things but help me to keep find some kind of balance between home and work. Although it’s definitely a constant area for improvement.

Have a relaxing week 🙂

– Hanna 

Found: Anna Rifle Bond Illustrated Classics

One book that has remained a small obsession for me since I was a little girl is the canadian classic, ‘Anne of Green Gables’ by Lucy Maud Montgomery. 

Some of my earliest memories are laughing hysterically at the shenanigans she and Diana got up to, feeling enraged at Mrs. Lynde’s cruelty, heart all a flutter with Gilbert & being utterly inconsolable at Matthews death.

So when, on Christmas morning, I found this little beauty in my stocking I was more than a little excited. The cover was beautifully illustrated by, Anna Rifle Bond of Rifle Paper Co. Swoon!

Gather a little gang of these beautifully illustrated girly classics to hang out together and look all lovely! ‘Heidi’, ‘Little Women’ & ‘A Little Princess’ are also available if you want to complete the  ‘In Bloom Book Collection’ published by Puffin. It is the perfect gift for someone who is little and loves to read or someone big that loves a bit of nostalgia.

If you already own most of the Rifle paraphernalia & you still can’t get enough then you can also get these sweet tattoos from Tattly, for a little bit of temporary fun!

– Celeste

Make, Do, Mend: DIY Milk Bath

Milk Bath

MILK BATH RECIPE

This year i bought Karen Gilbert’s lovely and accessible book ‘Natural Beauty’ to inspire me with Christmas gift ideas.  I made this little bath recipe for a bunch of people and thought I would share it with you if you are in need of something luxurious and warm in these freezing nights or for a gift idea

If you are a vegan, you could make the same recipe with more sodium bicarbonate, or use kaolin (white clay) instead, but I love the luxuriousness that the milk powder gives.

Ingredients

• 1 vanilla pod (optional)
• 50g goats’ milk powder
• 100g sodium bicarbonate
• 20 drops essential oils

(optional)

• 10g cocoa butter
• Handful dried red rose petals
• (optional)
• Equipment
• Mixing bowl
• Metal spoon
• Cheese grater
• An airtight 350ml jar

1) Place the vanilla-scented goats’ milk powder and the sodium bicarbonate in the mixing bowl. Add the essential oils at this stage, if using, and mix thoroughly with the spoon.

2) Grate the cocoa butter into the bowl, stirring in gently.

3) Stir through most of the rose petals. Sprinkle a few spoonfuls of the mixture into a running bath yourself (if you don’t have any handmaidens to do it for you!).

4) Spoon the remaining mixture into the jar. Sprinkle a few more petals on top for decoration.

Suggested essential oils – This recipe calls for all-out luxury, so choose sensual woods or heady floral oils that work with the milky scent of the goats’ milk powder, such as ylang-ylang, cedarwood, sandalwood, rose, geranium, patchouli and vetiver.

Grating cocoa butter – Place the cocoa butter in the freezer before grating. Use the finest side of the grater so you get a powder, rather than chunks, and use either a pastry brush or a paintbrush to dust off any cocoa butter that sticks to the grater in the bowl.

Weekend in Pictures

It’s blue Monday and we’re thinking of the fun we had at the weekend…

Sarah & her 1 yr old, Elliot had an early morning front room disco to Head & the Heart videos.

Wandering through cobbled streets with good ones.

“It’s great!” to spend some quality time with the beautiful niece. Sarah & Eve.

Hot buttered popcorn, m&m peanuts & binge watching ‘Borgen’. Perfect.

Celeste has been tucking into ‘Fifteens’, a Northern Irish delicacy, in an attempt at assimilation.

But not forgetting where she comes from, getting some Aussie grog in celebration of Australia Day.

Happy last week of January! (Yikes!!) 

– Tracks of Foxes 

5 of the best… ALBUMS that we’ve worn out in 2014

As we review the last 12 months, we thought we’d share our greatest finds of 2014, from music, to movies, nights in and days out…

The Albums that have been the soundtrack to our 2014:

Hanna’s top 5

1. My Morning Jacket – At dawn

2. Ryan Adams – Gold

3. Rosie Thomas – If songs could be held (for sentimental reasons… our wedding song’s in it)

4. Phosphorescent – here’s to taking it easy

5. Lauryn hill – The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (erm, because of my teenage years)

Sarah’s top 5:

1. Ben Howard – I forget where we were

2. Beck – Morning Phase

3. Asleep versions – Jon Hopkins – ethereal, this will transport you to a some beautiful place between awake and asleep

4. Bombay Bicycle Club – So long, see you tomorrow (not least because of Rae Morris’s sublime voice)

5. James Vincent McMorrow – Post Tropical

And a sneaky honourable mention to “We are all young together” by Walter Martin – a kids album featuring Matt Berninger and Karen 0, that grown ups will love as much as kids – our baby boy goes crazy for this album!

Celeste’s top 5: 

1. Chet Faker – Gold

2. St. Vincent

3. Bob Dylan – blonde on blonde

4. Bright Eyes – I’m wide awake it’s morning

5.  & it’s a tie b/w Bombay Bicycle Club – So Long, See You Tomorrow & M Ward – a wasteland companio

 

Hygge and Hot Apple Punch

‘Is there any pleasure on earth as great as a circle of friends by a good fire?’ C.S. Lewis

I was listening to BBC Radio 6 music while working this morning; Lauren Laverne dedicated her show to the Danish idea of ‘Hygge’  (pronuonced ‘Heu-gah’). We don’t have a direct equivilent in English but I came across this beautiful explanation:

‘The art of building sanctuary and community, of inviting closeness and paying attention to what makes us feel open-hearted and alive. To create well-being, connection and warmth. A feeling of belonging to the moment and to each other. Celebrating the everyday.

We all Hygge – around a table for a shared meal, beside a fire on a wet night, making coffee, together at work. In our overstretched, complex, modern lives, Hygge is a resourceful, tangible way to find deeper connection to our families, our communities, our children, our homes and our earth. It’s an uncomplicated, practical method of weaving the stuff of spirit and heart into daily life without sentimentality then taking time to celebrate it on a human scale. Hygge is a kind of enchantment– a way of stirring the senses, the heart and the imagination, of acknowledging the sacred in the secular – a way of giving something ordinary a special context, spirit and warmth, taking time to make it extraordinary. Hygge is about being not having.’ (http://hygge.co/definition-of-hygge/)

We are in the high season of Hygge, as we relish in it and be grateful for the simplest and greatest joys, my challenge to myself if who else I can make space for by the fire of my Hygge season; my advent season,  Who are those experiencing the coldness of loneliness, poverty, sickness near me who I can create Hygge for?  That I can extend warmth and welcome to? For whom is this season marked by isolation rather than the warmth of belonging? How can I cultivate Hygge in my advent? My prayer for this season is that I can stoke a fire warm enough for many,

In keeping with the notion of Hygge here is a little recipe for a Fairtrade Spiced Apple Punch (taken from the Fairtrade Cook Book) to warm your hands and your bellies:

Ingredients

800 ml Fairtrade apple juice

2.5 ml Fairtrade ground cinnamon or

4 pieces of Fairtade cinnamon stick

4 slices Fairtrade lemon

16 Fairtrade whole cloves

30 ml organic Fairtrade runny honey

Method

Gently heat the apple juice in a saucepan.

Add the honey as the juice warms through, and stir to dissolve.

Add the cinnamon powder as well if this method is used, stir well.

Once the mixture is hot (it should not be allowed to boil), pour the drinks into large wine glasses.

If you are using cinnamon stick put one piece in each of the glasses.

Take each slice of lemon and impale four cloves.

Add one cloven lemon slice to each drink.

To serve

Sip this beautiful aromatic drink, and enjoy curling your fingers around the hot glass.

Weekend in Pictures

The first weekend in December! Yikes!!

Christmas is coming & so Hanna and her husband picked their tree complete with complimentary mulled wine!

If that doesn’t get you into the spirit?

First christmas in their new home.

Sarah & Simon spent the weekend partying with their one year old.. look at that smile!!

& catching up with a lovely friend visiting from Vancouver

A breakfast made from whatever there is in the fridge turned out to be surprisingly tasty… even this one wanted a piece of it!

The V&A Museum of Childhood has all sorts of nostalgic goodies including this guy!

& to ready herself for her big move to Belfast, Celeste kept warm with a little Guinness at Broadway Market.

 Hope you all had beautiful, warm, bright & advent-ful weekends!

– Sarah, Hanna & Celeste