Bits and Bobs and a terrible addiction to a staple gun

I think I have damaged my hand with the appalling staple guns that I have been using, nasty manual ones that are over 20 years old in particular.  In fact I think even the electric one I used (killed it in 2 weeks) and the old Powershot (killed it in 3 months, much better staying power) did some damage, and I really haven't been able to staple or even contemplate stapling.... UNTIL NOW!!

Have you met my little friend??  Air compressor staple guns are worth their weight, and set up costs. They last longer, they work faster, harder and with so much gusto I just giggle whenever I pick it up, an evil giggle of unadulterated stapling glee!  LOVE!

So I have FINALLY been able to get on with some of my projects that have laid in wait while my poor nervy hands healed and I acquired my beloved gun!

My friend Fee fell in love with my black Parker chair for her office. After begging me for mine (which I was NOT going to give up because it is soooo comfy) I found her one almost identical on eBay... However, it fell apart. Not to worry, her daddy screwed it all together and it will NEVER fall apart again we hope! But now for the refurbishment...

This is just part one of god knows how many parts to this refurb...

my chair

Fee's chair

So as you can see, it is a 1972 (older than me!) Parker style chair.  It appears to be the original fabric and finishings, latex inner and rubber webbing. It was all worse for wear as I discovered while pulling it all apart...

There are lots of hidden screws, staples and little pin nails, so pulling apart a chair slowly and in reverse from its manufacture is the best way to remember how it all goes back together. I find if you start where you can see staples (usually the underside), it all unfolds before you. Just keep all of your screws together in a container so you can reuse them when it's time to put it all back together again.

My preferred tools of trade are a staple remover, some wire snips that I use to lever out nails and staples, and a screw driver. This one looks deceivingly electric, it's not, someone has lost it's charger, but it has a nice big handle which makes it comfortable to use! I usually do things arse about, and in this case, its with an electric screwdriver with no electric!

Inside the seat it was *blach* nasty, deteriorating latex rubber, full of *yick blach blach* god knows what. I'm not very good with yuck stuff I haven't created myself (my OWN couch, no problems cleaning that, I know what I've done on my couch. Pulling apart a random couch I have no idea what... YUUUUUUUUUCCCCCKKKKKKK!!!!)

*blach*

The webbing was also past due, so after throwing out yucky latex, I removed the hessian and the rubber webbing...

By this time, muttly had discovered that the top part of the seat was available and made himself comfortable...

So the reconstruction of Fee's chair has begun, I decided to put on extra webbing for support and we're now just waiting for her lovely fabric to get printed by Cloth Fabric... Lovely!

Now for a side note or two... I don't do high heels much, I like to stomp around too much, but for some reason I was compelled to buy 43 pairs of shoes from eBay, all in one listing, some Gucci, some Enzo, some Calvin... All for $51. I couldn't resist. So now I'm to be seen tottering around my living room in SPECTACULAR heels, and my tracky dacks. Noice look luv... 

And another little project that had laid fallow while my hands healed is my little red and white chair... Finally finished now thanks to my beloved gun!  And for sale if anyone is interested???

So I hope you are all well out there and I look forward to getting another blog out to you soon!

Love Sarahx

Rosti lessons...

Well spring is finally poking its head up and the sun is out, the flowers are blooming and I just can't wait until it is officially here! 


I have managed to spend the day at home with my step-daughter, mostly because she is 'sick' and I just love to be at home during a week day, but also to catch up on some house work. So I'm sitting in the sun blogging :)


My step-daughter, TJ, just loves rosti, she also hates bread and can't really eat it at the moment for health reasons (more on that in the future) so rosti is the nicest thing to start her day in the mornings, but she's not been sure how I cook it... So here goes it!


All you need is potatoes and horseradish cream.  I use whatever potatoes I can get my hands on, but I find mashing potatoes are pretty good, the starchier the better, so they stick together.

I hate peeling (so I make TJ do it) but this recipe is so simple you don't even need to peel the potatoes, just wash and put them into a saucepan and bring it all up to a boil. 

I like to cook them until they are still a little hard in the centre, so depending on how big your tatters are, you can cook anywhere from 10mins to 25mins (we had big suckers so it took 25mins)


It is important to note here that I am an instinctive cook, I rarely do things by the book, and I really rarely pay attention to what I am doing when I cook. Sometimes I get things perfectly right and it tastes great, other times... well... slop is a good description, but it is usually really tasty slop!  Promise I won't subject you to those recipes! Unless you want them!!!

The next part is grate! I leave the skin on, it's ok to have some skin in there, and whatever is left over I give to Loppi the muttly. He's an odd dog, he likes his veges...

Now was the time for TJ to start helping out! We want her to cook it for her Mum! So some practice was needed...  The poking out tongue is a tactical advantage, it helps with precision I believe...

So what you have is a bowl full of grated mushy potato, the starch in the semi cooked bits will make it all quite glutenous and it sticks together well...

I stir in one large tablespoon of horseradish cream, so with three large potatoes that is just enough, a bit more for more potatoes, a bit less for less.  Now would be the time you can add anything you want to your rosti, fresh corn or peas, different flavours, or even a little bit of grated beetroot to make PINK rosti! Pink rosti is COOL MAN!!  I'll show you next time I do it!

I ball it up into fist size patties, squeeze it a bit as you roll, again, you can make your patties smaller or larger, any larger is a little harder to handle though, it smashes up into mash!

Patty cake, patty cake bakers man.... Bake me a rosti as fast as you can!

Ready to rosti! I don't add any flour coating (one recipe I have seen has it dusted in corn flour, but I couldn't be bothered with that extra mess)

Lets fry! Just a bit of oil or butter in the bottom of a hot pan, not much, just a tablespoon or two, as desired. Butter will burn quicker though (but is oh-so yummy!) I start hot, then drop it down to the next heat setting once I have sealed the underside...

Mean while... I always make too much of anything, so I put the rest in the fridge, it will do us for a couple more mornings... I have added brown rice to this mix before, which goes nice and crispy when you fry it off, and makes it go a little bit further!

Starting to go golden! You can flip them a few times to get your desired colour, about 7-10 mins each side with a few flips each.. time to get the rest of the meal done in. You can rosti for any meal too!  We just like it for breakfast!

Tadaaa... (Sorry, terrible blurry shots, I think I have a dirty lens on my phone!!)

As it was a little more of a lunch thing today, we warmed up a little bit of last night's BBQ chook and I added some salsa verde (parsley dip made of lemon, oil, parsley and a whizzer sticky thingy, my best friend)

MMMMM rosti, Sydney Harbour, sun, spring in the air. Bliss

Not so hard! Food is always the best when it is made with love.

I hope you enjoy your rosti!

Sarahx

New beginnings, big ideas

I love to write, and I love to craft, I love to create and I love to share. So I guess the next best thing for me to do is to blog. 


I have so many ideas running around in my head and it's often quite hard for me to herd them into any assemblage of sane continuity without getting a splitting headache or busting a hernia (think  herding pigeons as an image, only every pigeon is brightly coloured and talking to me at a million miles per hour. Yes, I am insane, my family and friends will contest to that fact)


I hope I can make this blog an interesting and informative diversion from your everyday, as so many other blogs are to me. I hope I can teach you things you never knew you could do. That I can inspire you to think out of the box. And that it brings some colour and movement into any dark corners you may face...


So. Firstly I would like to show you my nightmare....

Doesn't look so bad from this photo, but this is my ever growing pile of STUFF. And I'll have to add here, that it isn't just my nightmare, but the nightmare of my poor husband as well, as it is slowly growing in the corner of HIS factory unit! 


Who would have thought that a pile of discarded old furniture could have a life of it's own, and the growing rate of a veracious weed. This shot is about 6 months old and the beast has grown about three times as much since then. But I have to tell you, when a piece escapes, and becomes a finished project, wow...


From this....

 To this....

I had a lot of fun learning how to do these chairs, a very satisfying experience once I got over my fear of piping (don't we all fear piping?? Unless it's on a cake?). There is a matching table as well, all relaminated in a cream that suits the square print...


*yawn*....

Tadaaaa!!

I have a thousand more plans for the beast pile in the factory, and I hope you will enjoy seeing what I get up to with it all!  So will my husband, he'd love his factory back!


A very humble 'thank you' for participating in my first step into the bloggesphere...


Sarahx