It's the little things that count

In downtown Rotorua there is a Trade Aid shop, which basically is a store that sells fair trade goods from different countries around the world. They have great jewelry and gifts and even coffees and chocolates. And this...this fabulous little pencil sharpener. Now I am usually a pen girl all the way...but with the whole design aspect coming into my knitting I have begun keeping a few pencils in the stash...and now I can't wait to sharpen them. This little lady is just so perfect. Her little handpainted face and pearl necklace...red lips and long eyelashes. I just think she is wonderful. I think I will name her Felula, and have her by my side at all times...I may have not made any real girlfriends yet in my new home, but now I have Felula...and its all good.

Also I am making steps forward in the cooking world. Me and JFC have a horrible habit of finding 2 good recipes and rotating that day after day, week after week. We have eaten so many stirfrys in the past 2 years we are going to start sprouting broccoli and tofu from you don't want to know where! Now I would love to delve into the world of Indian cooking or maybe Malaysian or Thai (well besides thai green curry...we've mastered that one)...but am still a bit intimidated by how long the dishes need to cook for and the huge range of spices necessary (many of which can be difficult to come by). Wow I am really straying from my point here...back to it! So I have begun dipping my toes into the Italian pool. I am currently slow roasting some tomatoes in the oven with basil, garlic, rosemary and olive oil. And tonight I am going to serve some cannellini crostinis with are normal hearty potato soup. So far everything smells great...but I am still keeping my fingers crossed until those tomatoes are done. When tomatoes first came into season we bought a huge bag of them and I attempted to make a fresh marinara sauce...it was less than great.

Oh yeah...as far as knitting goes I am just working on the Man Skills Scarf while trying to work up the motivation to frog a couple items that have been sitting in a basket for ages...