ÅSOM SEWING COURSE

So I joined a sewing class! A friend of mine (who's behind the sports brand Åsom) is running a sewing course for beginners, and it sounded fun so I decided to join.  We meet on Mondays at 18.00 at Sølvberget in Stavanger (join us!). However, I wasn't able to make it last Monday as I was travelling, so I decided to finish up my project from the first class at home. And ta-da! Check out my mini shopper, aka my new yarn bag. I'm not sure how many projects we'll be finishing during this course, but I'm looking forward to having some dedicated sewing time each week, learning more about different types of fabrics and techniques, as well as meeting some like-minded people who enjoy sewing too.

BALSAMIC TOMATO TATIN

Pinterest can be both a blessing and a curse. While it's great for finding inspiration, I find that I often end up pinning things and never look at them again. This is especially true for me when it comes to recipes for some reason. So I decided to take a look on my pinterest boards for something to make for breakfast, and came across this recipe for a tomato tatin. I'm a bit of a breakfast enthusiast, and love trying out new things for breakfast on the weekend. The past couple of weekends, I've made tomato tatins for breakfast.

I first tried a variation of this recipe using green tomatoes from the garden. It's getting colder and I've started to lose hope that the tomatoes on my plant will ever end up actually turning red. A handful of them have made it, and they've been the sweetest and most delicious tomatoes I've ever tasted (of course I'm not biased), but we are now at the end of October, we've started lighting up the fireplace and my tomato plant is still full of green tomatoes. But at least this recipe is something that works with green tomatoes, too. But my favorite way of making it is with caramelized balsamic red onions. I love the flavor you end up with, and while some might argue this is a bit of a summer dish, I think it's perfect for a weekend breakfast/brunch in fall, when it's all stormy and wet outside.

Ingredients:
200 g flour
100 g butter
1 egg
pinch of salt
250 g tomatoes (mixed)
olive oil
1 large red onion
2 tblsp balsamic
1 tsp sugar
olive oil

Directions:
First make the dough: Mix flour, salt and butter until combined, and your dough is forming little pebbles. Combine the egg, and let chill for 30 minutes. While your dough is chilling, cut your tomatoes in half, add a bit of olive oil to the bottom of your pan, and add a layer of tomato halves, skin sides down. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle a bit of olive oil on top. Bake in the oven on 175 C for half an hour, until the tomatoes are soft. While your tomatoes are baking, slice your onion and sauté in a pan with some olive oil. Once the onions are soft, add the balsamic and sugar, and continue to cook until caramelized. Take out the tomatoes, add a layer of carmelized red onion. Roll out your dough, and place on top. Prick with a fork, and stick it back in the oven for another 30 minutes. Once the dough starts to brown, take it out and dig in!

SAVE THE DATE!

Things have been pretty busy recently. The company I work for got bought up this year, and it's been pretty busy leading up to transition day. I've also been house hunting, and looking into whether I should buy my parents house that I'm currently living in, or find somewhere else, so we've been going on house viewings and have three more today. And last, but not least, three weekends ago Graeme and I sat down, had a few whisky sours and started planning our wedding.

We've actually been engaged for three years now, so I guess it's about time we took the next step. So we spent that evening perusing Pinterest, making plans and getting excited. The following week we started looking at venues, and fell instantly for the second venue we looked at and got it booked. We've attended a wedding fair and have two more scheduled. And yesterday we spent the day making our save the date cards. A few of our guests will be coming from pretty far, so we want to give them plenty of time to make their arrangements.

Graeme designed these using a photo I took with my Diana mini, and the fonts Wisdom Script (free/donations from here!) and Neutra Display (we also made a more censored version that reads "It just got real" to send to relatives). We printed them at home, and I'm really excited about the result. (So excited that I'm posting this blog post the day after we mailed them, so for some of you this will be a bit of a spoiler.) Shit just got real, guys!

CHORIZO AND TOMATO SALAD

Where I work, we eat lunch ridiculously early. Sometimes it feels more like a second breakfast than lunch (or brunch, I guess!). I thought it was very strange when I first started working there, but it’s amazing how quickly my stomach has gotten used to it. However, one downside is that sometimes by the time I’m back home from work I’m absolutely starving. And on days like that, I sometimes like to make myself this quick and delicious chorizo and tomato salad. 

The salad was inspired by a chorizo and tomato salad Jamie Oliver made on one of his shows, though with a few changes. It’s great as a quick meal when you’re craving something fresh, but it also works really well as a side too. 

Chorizo, feta and tomato salad recipe:

350 g tomatoes (mixed bunch if you can, and preferably at room temperature)

1 garlic clove

2 shallots, sliced

However much chorizo

handful of basil

handful of parsley

balsamic

olive oil

flaky sea salt

ground pepper

Directions:
Roughly chop the tomatoes and place in a salad bowl. Chop the basil and parsley leaves, sprinkle over the tomatoes and drizzle a bit of olive oil over. Chop the chorizo and slice the shallots, add to a frying pan with some extra virgin olive oil. Add garlic to the chorizo frying in the pan once the chorizo starts to get a little crispy, and as the garlic starts to go brown add a splash of balsamic vinegar. Use a slotted spoon and transfer the chorizo, shaollots and garlic to the pasta bowl and drizzle some of the olive oil and balsamic from the pan over the salad. Season with freshly ground pepper and a pinch of sea salt, and serve with crusty bread.