Sałatka jarzynowa – Polish vegetable salad

I’ve been requested recently to post a recipe for my polish vegetable salad. It’s my own doing, I brought it to mother’s day – and it is rather delicious.

The work in this salad is mainly in cutting everything up into tiny cubes. It’s a good meal to make in a small kitchen as it doesn’t take much space if you are organised.

The following recipe is for a large container full. It doesn’t last as long as it looks it should. I personally hide portions of it away from the hubby in the fridge so that it lasts more than a few hours.

 

Ingredients:

5 eggs
750g of potato
2 large carrots
1 cup of peas
1 cup of celery (or celeriac – which would have been boiled)
2 large green apples
4 Tbs of mayonnaise
2 Tbs of joghurt
1 Tbs of seeded mustard (as in the condiment)

 

Instructions:

Peel all your vegies and fruit. Cut potatoes and carrots into halves lengthwise for easier cutting later.

Boil the eggs, peas, potatoes, carrots (and celeriac if you are using this) until they are hard/soft.

Cut everything into tiny cubes (about half a centimetre squared) and put it into a large bowl, dish or container. Add the mayonnaise, joghurt and mustard and stir through evenly, but gently.

If you like salt and pepper, you could add a bit of that too.

Hide, or enjoy with buttered bread.

Improvisational pleating, folded

I’ve been working on the Tinny dress from Straightgrain for her improvisational pleating contest and today I finished my entry.

Straightgrain Tinny dress with improvisational pleating on cuffs and hem – Mrs Winter Creates

My improvisational pleating technique was to create deep pin-tucks in the red fabric with folded pieces of the contrasting floral fabric wedged inside. This is then folded to one side and creates a small flap. I featured this detail on the cuffs and the hem of the skirt and decided not to use it on the collar.

Straightgrain Tinny dress with improvisational pleating on cuffs and hem – Mrs Winter Creates

The red material I used is a light and soft cotton fabric, matte on one side and slightly shiny on the other. It is lightweight while the floral print is medium weight and this caused some difficulty with the finishing on the feature pleats, but all in all, I think it worked quite splendidly!

Straightgrain Tinny dress with improvisational pleating on cuffs and hem – Mrs Winter Creates

The floral fabric is called Breezy and is by P&B Textiles. The flowers are from a watercolour painting and they are bright and soft. I don’t usually go for such bright fabrics, but sometimes it is worth living a little on the wild side.

Straightgrain Tinny dress with improvisational pleating on cuffs and hem – Mrs Winter Creates

I made a size 2 as soon enough Miss K will be growing out of her mountain of 12-18 month old clothing and I need to prepare. I didn’t quite manage to make the zip invisible somehow, but I am telling myself that this will give it a bit more room for future growth spurts…

Straightgrain Tinny dress with improvisational pleating on cuffs and hem – Mrs Winter Creates

I put piping on the sleeve end, around the waist and at the hem. I think the hem would have finished up better if I had put it on both sides of the pleated detail. The fabric’s shouting colours tend to draw the eye from the dress’ imperfections, thank goodness.

Straightgrain Tinny dress with improvisational pleating on cuffs and hem – Mrs Winter Creates

As I chased Miss K around the park, the dress got quite a few comments. It is rather nerve-racking chasing a socialite toddler around a park with lots of water. I’m glad I made the effort and went outside – it was a glorious, mild day and we met some new friends.

Thanks to An of Straightgrain for this fun task, it’s my first ever contest entry and I think the result was worth the effort. On the 21st (that is in 4 days) she will be opening a link-party, where you can see what other people have done and vote for your favourite. I hope I’ve made myself a contender, I’m also really looking forward to seeing any nifty pleating techniques that others have created to use in my future projects.

Straightgrain Tinny dress with improvisational pleating on cuffs and hem – Mrs Winter Creates

And dear reader, you still have a few days to get your own project underway and finished! Maybe I’ll see you at the link party?

Far from quiet

So I haven’t written for about 2 weeks, but this can not to be attributed to having done little. It’s been a very interesting, beautiful, sad and productive two weeks.

At the beginning of these two weeks, I had a very good friend come to visit us from Melbourne. She is a talented artist whom we got to know in Berlin. We have the most amazing conversations about philosophy as neither of us shrink from difficult and demanding questions in these moments. Somehow, even though we seem to be diametrically opposed in some way, we end in agreement, or at times in respectful disagreement and always much enriched and enlivened by the discourse. I’ll write about her work soon in a separate post as it truly deserves the attention.

Today I attended my friend and mentor’s funeral. It was a beautiful and joyous event. It was a sad and thoughtful gathering too. He is the second person I know who has passed away gracefully and beautifully and this gives his friends and family grace and strength. I was blessed with the honour of speaking to him only a week ago as he lay; my heart is warm and full of this moment and of all the things I had learnt from him. A great and passionate teacher always leaves a strong impression, and as teaching is also my passion his passing and memory is helping stoke the fire that has been quietly smouldering ashes during this time of raising Miss K. I go back to teaching in August, and I am slowly building an eager hunger for the work again. Thank you John.

On the subject of my going back to teaching, well that job is in Berlin and at the moment we are in Australia – which means we are moving back, in two months time! You know what occupies my thoughts the most?

How on earth am I going to complete all of my craft projects before then?

What ought I do with all my craft supplies? What should I take with me?

 

Here is a sneak-peak of the projects I have going at the moment:

Coiled rope basket project – Mrs Winter Creates

Knitted baby camisole project – Mrs Winter Creates

Water colour and pencils – Mrs Winter Creates

Minimalist handmade jewellery – Mrs Winter Creates

Self-designed, printed and made baby jacket – Mrs Winter Creates

Straightgrain improvisational pleating contest dress – Mrs Winter Creates

So, stay tuned for a host of patterns, projects, reviews and new etsy items.

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The last picture above is of the fabrics I am using for the Straightgrain improvisational pleating contest – it is the first sewing contest I am entering, ever. Here is the button:

Are the 90’s really retro? – Dianas EP#2

A musical digression.

In another life, many lifetimes ago it seems, I played in various bands around Perth. That was the 90’s and early 2000’s. I also went to see many awesome local bands, danced wildly to the post-rock, shoe-gaze, math-rock and generally grungy sounds from some very talented musicians. I don’t even go out much these days, I’m usually up trying to deal with the maddening sleeplessness a teething toddler can induce. Still, I remember fondly nights I fit my whole drum-kit and then boyfriend, Mr Winter, into my Honda City Pro and drove to that weekend’s live show.

I stumbled upon this local and current Perth band called the Dianas just now and their sound really brings back memories, but not of any band specifically – they are not a rip off and the sound is great. They are like a essential aural oil of a bunch of my favourite 90’s bands. I am listening to their EP#2.

Dianas EP#2 – Mrs Winter Creates

There is more than a drop of Adam Said Galore (and related bands) in there, on the track Weightless I feel like I am listening to the Cranberries again, there are definitely moments of Cocteau Twins, which are probably more like 80’s right?

I can’t help feeling that this era of music must be eons away for a whole host of young, talented musicians these days. It makes me want to ask, are the 90’s really retro?!

None the less I thought I would share this gem with you. Hope you enjoy it too!