Cool Shit Monday: Wintery Wonders

It's bloody freezing here in Dunedin today and I'm sitting on my couch waiting for the snow to roll in.  I hope it does - what's the point in enduring biting cold wind and rain if it doesn't turn into pretty white snow flakes?  It's definitely a 'cool' Monday though.  So I thought I'd do some cool winter shit.

www.moderninkmag.com

Well firstly on a cold day you need some good reading material.  I do love a good book and there's nothing quite like curling up with one but I have recently discovered (I know I'm a bit behind the times) that there are a whole slew of online magazines, and they are FREE PEOPLE!  So you get to have all the awesome articles and info and hot tips and you can ignore the "How to Know If You're Needy or Nerdy" and other pointless fodder.  Actually, I don't tend to buy magazines that have those ridiculous "help" articles in them but these ones definitely stay away from anything of that ilk.  These are worth checking out but you will lose hours of your day in doing so.  Perfect for a cold day on the couch!

www.sweetlivingmagazine.co.nz

I am keen to add one of these beautiful patterns to my long list of "Things to Make".  I discovered one of their pattern books in Spotlight the other week and had been 'visiting' the book just to keep me interested (does anyone else do this?  Visit the things they want to buy, without actually buying them??), then I figured I could use this new fangled interweb thingy and I found all the patterns online, plus you can buy their gorgeous-looking merino yarn to make them with.  I have my eye on one of these dresses for Edie.  Keep her snuggly on cold Dunedin days.

Speaking of keeping Edie snuggly, I love these cute jackets from Hatley.  And as if they are sickeningly cute enough, you can get the matching gumboots.  The parcel from Aunty Natalie that I mentioned the other day contained this one.  Lucky Edie!  They don't ship to New Zealand unfortunately, but I'm sure you can find an American to post you one, plus some Reeces' Pieces.  Every parcel that comes from the States should have compulsory Reeces' Pieces.

Source: www.skinnytaste.com

Enough kiddy stuff, let's get down to some more cool shit for grown ups.  Roasts.  I didn't grow up in a house where we did the Sunday roast so I don't have that emotional comfort food attachment to the meal as so many others seem to.  However we bought a lamb roast the other day and cooked it with some taties from my father-in-law's garden (I could do a whole post about that garden.  It's like something out of a Beatrix Potter story), a bit of pumpkin and some steamed broccoli.  Even writing that does nothing to whet my appetite and trying to find an enticing picture/recipe of a lamb roast?  Forgeddaboutit (in my world anyway)!  But the roast we cooked was freakin' delicious.  The lamb was tender and tasty and the veges were sweet and perfectly cooked.  I get why people love a good roast.  There's no doubt it's perfect winter food (even if lamb roast is more Spring-like).  So here's a lamb roast for you to salivate over.  If you're that way inclined.


And no roast is complete without pudding.  I love rice pudding but I know it's one of the Zooey Deschanel of desserts - you either love it or hate it - so I think the more universally popular roast accompaniment is apple pie or crumble.  I believe you can tell a lot about a person by their crumble.  Specifically the crumbly part.  My crumble must have brown sugar, whole oats, coconut threads (desiccated coconut: what a waste of space that stuff is), and optional chopped almonds.  I'm not sure what this tells you about me, but I'm sure it's a lot.  The recipe in the picture below uses a cheat's method: toasted muesli, but I guess if you find a yummy toasted muesli it'd be acceptable.  I mostly loved the picture - it does look pretty good!  And I've thrown in a rice pudding for me and all the other Zooey Deschanel lovers out there.

Source: Adeline & Lumiere

With coconut and almonds - that's what I'm talkin' about.
Source: With Style & Grace

And of course you need the perfect spot to sit and knit and read e-mags and eat your roast & pudding while your gorgeous and perfectly self-sufficient child plays outside in the freezing cold in their styly raincoat and gumboots.  A couch is the natural choice on a winter's day.  A soft, squishy, stretch yourself out, kind of couch.  I found it hard to choose one so here are a selection.  Insert the one that tickles your fancy into your Winter Wonder fancy.  Get a bowl of pud and snunky in for the day.

Couch or Bed: Why choose?
Source: www.spraaksel.nl

Pillow Couch - it's calling to me...
Source: Design Squish

Library couch.  Oh to have a mezzanine library
Source: Southern Accents

Nana couch.  Perfect with the rice pud.
Source: www.posy.typepad.com