halfway + my focaccia recipe

Half of the shop update

(more will be added next week)

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Summer doesn't want to show up and I've been baking a lot in the last week.

I come from a town famous for its focaccia, you can't beat the focaccia genovese. When I was a kid I used to buy 100gr every morning for my school break, indeed I ate a lot of focaccia. I particularly love to dip focaccia in a cappuccino!

In my life as an immigrant I tried several recipes to replicate it, in the end I made my own and I like to share this recipe with you.

I use white spelt flour, but 00 white flour or white strong flour are ok.

This will make either 2 focaccia ( the size of a oven tray) or 8/10 small ones.

380 gr white spelt flour

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of sugar

1 teaspoon of dried yeast (the one used for bread)

1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil

250ml of lukewarm water 

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extra flour for kneading

flaked sea salt

extra virgin olive oil

rosemary or sage (optional)

Oven at 250C

In a bowl put the flour, salt, sugar, yeast and olive oil, 
add the water a little at a time while with a spoon you
 mix the ingredients. 

Flour a clean surface and knead the dough for 5 minutes
 or until it feels elastic, do not overdo.

Put it back in a bowl, cover with some flour and then cover
 the bowl with a damp cloth; let it rise in a warm place 
until has doubled ( or more) its size. Knead a second 
time on a floured surface, place it on your tray 
(or baking sheet) and flatten it with your hands, 
push with your finger to leave digits 
(where the oil will sit nicely). 
Sprinkle with seasalt, oil and rosemary ( or sage).
Put it in the oven and bake for roughly 5 minutes 
or until golden. Eaten warm is the best!

*If you like you can chop the rosemary (or sage) 
and add it in the dough in the second kneading.

I use this basic recipe to make any kind of focaccia, 
one of our favourite lately is focaccia with eggs and asparagus.
I'll give you this recipe another time.

new things for knots

A shop update sometimes soon ( probably next week).

I'm working on new things.

I was born by the seaside, I miss it a lot. I miss to gaze at the deep blue of the Mediterranean sea, the brown hills at the back of my childhood home.  

I've chosen a colour palette that reminds me of them.

I like utilitarian things.

I like handmade things, well thought and well made. 

I like honest materials.

In every object I make there's a lot behind

Nothing is random.

(all this sounds a bit of a statement, well,it is!).

:^)

details and a recipe

I have a lot to learn.

I make this simple soup when I don't feel much hungry but still I need nourishment:

1 cup of boiling water, 1tbs white miso paste, firm tofu, few dried shiitake mushrooms,

1 finely sliced spring onion, Japanese soy sauce, sesame seeds.

Grab your favourite bowl, mix the miso paste with a spoon or two of water, add the 
boiling water, stir, add the mushrooms, cut the tofu in cubes 
( I use 1/3 of a confection of 250gr) then add it to the soup along with 
a dash of soy sauce, spring onion and sesame seeds.
 *All the ingredients I use are organic.

I like this 

Have a nice weekend!

one average monday morning

Double coffee for me this monday morning, i
t's dull, grey and cold, but it's the 10 of june!

I like:

Kinfolk volume 8
this image
this home and photographs
this hammock
this film (seems promising, though I don't like vampires)
this collection 
this cooking book

I'd love to go to Ana Ventura workshop 

Have a nice monday!

hi

I just had an haircut.
it is strange to see the wrinkles that gradually appears in my face 
and how my expression and eyes have changed as life goes by.
I'm trying to embrace middle age in a graceful way.
Anyway, this is me at 44, soon 45 years old.

Have a nice week end all!

doing, making, mending

I haven't blogged for 10 days, in blog time seems a month!

The reason why, the school holidays or mid term as it's called here. 
I spent most of my time with my daughter, we tried to finish few 
incomplete projects we started a while ago, like her photographs 
album I was meant to do a couple of years ago (!). 

It's such a relief to see stuff done!

Then I decided that it was time to put my sewing machine at work. 

I finished this top, made a pair of pj trousers with Liberty fabric 
I bought a long time ago, a simple top ( my favourite japanese pattern), 
a linen skirt ( no pattern used, made a mess then got it right in the end), 
cut a dress and made it into a skirt and started a simple jacket that I 
will show you when finished.

I've been complaining now and then, here and there, that I don't own 
an "overlocker machine", so, with the purpose of looking for one I 
started a search on internet and found an interesting forum which 
made me decide that I don't need one! when an experienced 
seamstress pointed out that 'haute couture' garments are not finished 
with an overlock machine but by hand or using different techniques 
such as "French seams" or "Hong Kong seams"...overlock finishing 
are used mainly for high street clothes. So I thought of my grand mothers 
(both seamstresses) and asked myself how did they do it? Having put time
and effort on my handmade clothes I decided to follow their steps 
and take the slow approach... though not so sure an overlocker is faster 
really as I read on forums many people complaints of the time it takes 
to thread them...what do you think? do you have an overlock? 

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WEAR is my style board on pinterest

mood board

I made a new mood board today
longing for the seaside
and lots of cuteness!
Have a nice weekend

At swim-two-birds

Untitled, a photo by At Swim-Two-Birds on Flickr.

The beautiful At swim-two-birds cushions by Renilde  are now in the shop!

testing stuff

I recently started a new board on my pinterest, 
it's about green DIY projects and products.

My concerns about the environment started many years ago, 
but when my daughter was born they became amplified. 
As time goes by my concern grows.

So I started to look for ideas and products that will help me 
to do more about it, and now I think I'm ready to share them 
with those of you who have the same concerns.

Plastic: plastic is everywhere, if you go to a beach, 
you will find many tiny coloured particles mixed to the sand,
that is plastic! it won't degrade for centuries. 
Fishes are eating it and so birds, it has entered in our food chain, 
and that is scary as we don't know about the consequences.
Supermarkets make me totally frustrated since I can't find 
a vegetable that isn't wrapped in plastic!

For these reasons and more I'm very keen to make of "alternatives" the routine. 
I made this board, which is the easiest part and I've started 
to test those ideas I've pinned, to see if they are any good.

To start with, I tried this project.
Let me tell you that it is a great way to recycle old t-shirts, but, 
make sure your t-shirts have no seams on the sides, because if they do, 
this method is not good at all.

Think about the project you want to make based on the number of t-shirts 
you have to recycle. I'd like to make a bathroom rug, crocheted 
(I find it hard to knit this kind of yarn). For my project I crocheted 
a chain of 23 stitches, with a n8 crochet hook. So far I obtained 
4 1/2 rows with one t-shirt, which is roughly 9cm, to finish this 
project I need in total 5 t-shirts. I quite like the result.
I think it's worth it if you want to avoid to send your stained, 
full of holes t-shirts to landfill.

The next project I tested is this one.

Using cheap garden twine and some wool filling, 

I made a scrub a bit larger and I knitted two 

rectangles rather than a folded one, 

then I sewn them together.

I tested it on the breakfast washing this morning 

and I must say that it worked perfectly.

I'll stick to these scrubs and I'll try with 

different natural materials and sizes.

Last I tested this one

Yep! I gave it a go, because I'm keen to avoid plastic bottles

 as much as possible. 

I've been using expensive organic products for more than a decade, 

but the plastic bottles that come with them are bothering me.

 I've tried many of them but still, my hair gets dry and heavy, 

sometimes my scalp irritated, not to mention

that I really spend a fortune on shampoos and conditioners! 

I had nothing to loose so I've tried this recipe last night, 

as soon as I washed my hair with bicarbonate of soda 

(baking soda is exactly the same product) I got really worried 

because they felt like fuzzy wool! then I added the apple cyder vinegar

 and the feeling changed completely, thank goodness it worked, 

the scalp felt clean and my hair looks fine! I'll stick to this recipe 

for a while then I'll do a recap with you to let you know 

if I have lost all my hair or not! ;^)

Ok, sorry for the long post, I hope I haven't bored you, 

instead somehow managed to inspire you.

Oh and this is my 500th post! 

update: after a couple of weeks I gave up, my scalp became quite dry and itchy.

I hope to find alternatives, for now I stick to a brand that is organic and 

use glass bottles. I diluted the shampoo with water.

just to say

Few days ago I started my Eyes Wide Open photo course with 
Erin Little

Although I took an exam on photography while attending Art 
school many years ago ( before digital) the truth is I'm not at 
ease with digital cameras as much as I was with my old film 
cameras, it's the feeling that is different.

I know it's just a matter of a lot of practise and to get out of 
old mental habits, this course encourage me to do so, to explore 
more and to keep my mind wide open ;)

See more on my flickr .