Sunday, 24 February 2013

Only 3 More Days to Enter My Giveaway!

Have you entered my February giveaway yet?  There isn't long!  Enter to win one of my Harry Potter Bookshelf Necklaces and a pair of matching book earrings:


Enter here:  http://www.coryographies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/february-giveaway-win-harry-potter.html

or visit my Etsy shop and see which other bookshelf necklaces you like, or purchase a Harry Potter one now! www.coryographies.etsy.com
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Saturday, 23 February 2013

Ice Age Art - Venus figurines by crafters on Etsy

Here is a treasury I made on Etsy featuring different items inspired by European Palaeolithic Venus Figurines:


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Sunday, 17 February 2013

My New (Old) Portable Typewriter!

I found an amazing little item at a charity shop yesterday, and I've fallen in love:


Isn't it beautiful?  It's an old portable typewriter in the prettiest colour.  I took it home and scrubbed it up and it looks really nice.  I need to replace the ink tape, and the 'a' button is a bit sticky, but other than that is works great.  I love how I can put on the lid, and it turns into a cute little case for carrying!  And it doesn't use electricity like my parents' old typewriter did, so no cord to fiddle with or loud humming noises.  Just an extremely satisfying 'clack clack ding'.


I did a bit of research on the model, which is a Smith-Corona Corsair, and this model was patented in 1963, and was made up until 1980.  So it's from somewhere in that timeframe.  It seemed to be a pretty popular and affordable model, so it's probably not the rarest of typewriters.  I think I got a pretty good deal though, as I see one on ebay going for £50 and another on Etsy going for £250!!

I love this ad I found for it:


I wish only that I had a nice place to put it out to sit pretty - I don't have enough space in my tiny flat for it to be seen unfortunately, so into the closet it goes beside my also beloved sewing machine.  One day I'll have my dedicated craft room, one day!




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Wednesday, 13 February 2013

Perfect Valentine's Treat Recipe from All That I'm Eating

One of my favourite blogs is Caroline's All That I'm Eating.  She posts really special recipes as well as reviews of restaurants she visits around the UK.  It seems every time I visit there's another recipe that I just have to try, and this one is no different, and perfect for a Valentine's Day gift:


These are white chocolate truffles with a little suprise inside - a pomegranate seed, and rose flavoured truffle inside!  So pretty, as well.

Check out her blog post here QUICK and start on this recipe for your sweety (or yourself) so you can suprise them tomorrow: http://www.allthatimeating.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/white-chocolate-and-rose-truffles-with.html#more

And follow her blog - it's great, I promise you.
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Monday, 11 February 2013

Kraft Dinner Recipes: Canadian food that brings joy series 1


Here are some amazingly delicious Kraft Dinner recipes for all to try.

Kraft Dinner is the one food that, while a student living on a typical Canadian student diet of perogies, instant noodles and sushi, never got old.  One reason for this is there are just so many ways to jazz it up!  Here are some of my favourites:

Maple Beans and Tomato Kraft Dinner

The title isn't too mysterious.  Make Kraft Dinner according to the original recipe, and add half a tin of Heinz Maple flavoured beans.  Top with chopped fresh tomato.  My all time favourite!  So good it doesn't even warrent ketchup.

Extra Cheezy Broccoli Kraft Dinner

This title isn't too mysterious either.  Cook according to usual instruction, but while boiling the pasta, drop in chopped broccoli florets.  Top with cubed cheddar cheese.  Yum!

Kraft Dinner Primavera

While boiling the pasta, add frozen peas and follow the rest of the directions normally.  Mix in 5 or 6 tablespoons of vegetable pasta sauce.

Tuna Sweetcorn Kraft Dinner

This one doesn't really need explaining does it.  Add tin of tuna.  Add tin of corn.  Mix.  But!  There is an option: instead of using milk, use mayonnaise!  It gives it a nice creamy taste with a bit of a different flavour, that goes nice with the tuna and corn :)  Give it a try!

These are the ones that I cooked time to time (but lets be honest - nothing beats the original with ketchup!).  

Take a look at some of the other Kraft Dinner recipe that are out there though - you can get pretty extravagant!  Check out this collection on Pinterest:


I think this entire blog post was inspired by the fact I realised I only have one box of Kraft Dinner in the cupboard, and you can't buy it in the UK.  I need a care package :(
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Sunday, 10 February 2013

Oxford Chic: treasures from Oxford shops on Etsy


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Wednesday, 6 February 2013

Book Review: The Wild Life: A Year of Living on Wild Food by John Lewis-Stempel

The Wild Life: John Lewis-Stempel
John Lewis-Stempel was motivated at first to save money, but really because of his natural curiosity and appreciation of the landscape of Herefordshire, to try and live solely off the plants foraged and animals hunted on his 40-acre farm.  The Wild Life is his diary of that adventurous year, and it's hard to put down once started.

I really liked reading this book, and I connected with John's desire to have a greater relationship with the land he lived on.  Month by month, he goes through not only what he eats, but how he finds it and prepares it, and he really conveys the sense of how getting food becomes an all-consuming full time job for him.


The best thing about the book is the recipes he gives for different dishes he tries - dandilion coffee, making elderflower wine and other alcohols using the natural yeasts in the air, and endless recipes for spicing up rabbit dishes.  You sympathise with the boredom of rabbit as the go-to meal, even though rabbit to my husband and I is a tasty treat we only cook once in a while!

A possible feast awaits!
There were some strange illogicalities in the book, which I couldn't really fault, as they were more differences of ethical and moral opinion between John and I and not 'bad writing' in any way.  His wife noted that he shouldn't use the freezer, since that wouldn't be very 'natural'.  Yet he uses a gun to hunt the wildlife on his farm, and all the modern conveniences of his kitchen such as an oven, stove, grill, forged steel knives, and pickling jars.

Harking back to any 'olden' way of living off the land is near impossible anyway, since he is confined to his farm and bound by hunting regulations - so he cannot hunt a deer for example, and he cannot fish in the stream that belongs to his neighbour, and he cannot shoot ducks out of season (and endangered species are right off the list of course).  Taking the freezer out of the equation was just an unnecessary challenge I thought.




I miss knowing the names of all
 the birds I see
It seemed a bit arbitrary how he chose his rules to live by, such as when his daughter asked him to stop killing the cute bunnies, he acquiesces, but when he shoots to kill he seems to revel in a couple extra rounds to the head of an animal.  He doesn't fish for the lingest time, because he is scared of his failure.  We also find out that he has been feeding the carcasses of the animals he kills to his dog, and is not boiling the bones for stock or anything.  And he always needs an alcoholic drink in the evening, of something, anything (there are lots of recipes for alcohol)!  Just a few of the things that made me raise my eyebrows.

Salmon berries - I miss picking them!
I enjoyed this book, and it opened up a new area of reading possibilities for me, learning about Britian's wild food and living off the land (and hedgerows).  I'm unfortunately not in the best position to try that, living in residential urban Oxford, but it's the knowledge that I crave, growing up in rural Canada where I knew all the names of the plant and animal species that I lived with in my childhood, thanks to my dad's knowledge from being a logger (lumberjack to you Brits) that spent/spends most of his time in the bush.


I'd rate this book 4 stars out of 5 and recommend it to anyone that wants to learn more about having a meal gathered solely from the back yard.


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