Baba Ganoush and Baby Blocks

Ta dahhh!  The Baby Blocks (Tumbling Blocks) quilt is ready for action!  I had a lovely day today, painting in the morning - a good natter with everyone. Great to see David has passed his exams and got a place at Uni on his 18th birthday, congrats David.  I also came home with a lovely new stamp and some mini pegs with beehives on them and it's not even my birthday.  Thanks Sandra.  

When I got home all was peace - Will was out on his bike, John was at rugby training and Steph was in Newcastle.  Despite the heat I decided to crack on with the last session on the Baby Quilt.  Even though the rest of the quilt was hand stitched I decided to machine the binding because it makes a much better edge and saves my poor finger tips.  Here it is:

The colours are not showing up very well - it's blue and white not blue and light blue.  I hand-stitched the binding to the back of the quilt and then fell asleep! Not a very good idea when it is so warm. I've loved doing this in the simple colour-way but may start a little ongoing project using colour values which I think will make a very interesting pattern.  Next on the list for the baby is the strippy quilt and a little knitted blanket to keep him cosy when the cold weather comes.

Last night we had baba ganoush (aubergine puree).  I charred the skins over the gas and then baked the aubergines until they were tender -

These are the other ingredients although I only used half the chilli -

So simple - just mish everything together and serve with whatever is in the salad box.  The garlic was a bit powerful though as it is not cooked but there were no vampires within a hundred miles last night!

I absolutely love having lettuce leaves with dip, don't know why but they just taste good, especially the soft leaves.  This was a butterhead lettuce, cheaper than chips! 

We had crispy chicken tonight with desiree potato wedges and cabbage stir fried with a little bit of bacon and cream but we were all so hungry we ate it all up before I could take any pix!  The crispy crust was made with breadcrumbs and polenta mixed with a little grated parmesan and some chopped lemon thyme and loads of freshly ground black pepper.  The polenta makes the coating extra crispy.  My brother sprinkles it over roast potatoes - mmm.

I'm back to work on Monday getting ready for the GCSE results next week. I've enjoyed my two week break even though I haven't crossed much off my to-do list.  The days aren't so long in the holidays so I'll have few more essential jobs and projects done before the kiddlywinks return to school in September.  I've nearly finished Sandra's guinea pig.... more on this next week.

So a bit of prep work tomorrow and back to the day job - I've enjoyed the extra time to paint, quilt, blog and share recipes.