Gathering bits and pieces

It's been a while since I used my sewing machine - it's sitting there in the sewing room looking very forlorn and neglected. As I'm booked into the September craft market I need to get creating!!! I have been gathering bits and pieces though and I have a hankering to make scarves. Have lots of interesting bits of Japanese fabric, lace bits, and yo-yo's I've been making with my new yo-yo contraption but still need more. It's all very well to have an idea in mind but if you can't find the right fabrics and bric-a-brac the idea can sort of fall short, which reinforces my old theory that it's far better to get your inspiration from your materials - rather than have an idea and then try to find the materials to make your idea work - well especially in Hobart.

Sha-sha asked me yesterday for my favourite vegetarian meals and I looked in my cooking diary last night for some of the vego meals we make. Rediscovered some we haven't made for a while, like Bill's White Bean Soup. I like it because you can be serving it up within half an hour of being home from work. Here's the recipe:

Bill Granger’s white bean soup with bay leaves and pancetta
Serves 4

2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs butter
2 onions chipped
1 tsp salt
2 bay leaves
3 x 400 g tins cannellini beans, drained
1 litre chicken stock

To serve: Extra virgin olive oil

50 gm pancetta in thin strips, pan-fired until crisp

Melt olive oil and butter in large saucepan. Add onion, salt and bay leaves and cook until onion is soft. Add beans and stock and simmer 10 minutes.

Remove bay leaves and puree the soup. Ladle into bowls, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and top with crispy pancetta.

It's also good with left over rice thrown in – provides extra bulk for that winter comfort food feeling. PS The photo above has nothing to do with anything. It's one I took in Vietnam last year and I thought it looked pretty.