Happy weekend, guys! After a lot of procrastination we are finally embarking on the project of doing up our living room. Currently, we have no furniture or TV in there and we took the ghastly terracotta wallpaper off in a few places just to see what’s underneath, so you can just imagine how cosy it is. We watch Netflix on my computer monitor sitting on two garden deckchairs as that’s the closest we have to comfortable seating. It’s not great and we were initially hoping to have it done by now, but things don’t always go to plan…
It’s a big job as we are knocking down part of the wall between the living room and the kitchen-diner to be able to install large internal doors, which means we need to also change the orientation and positioning of two radiators as they currently sit exactly where the opening will be. One of the first things on the to-do list is to pick the paint for the living room as, once we get the builders in to do the opening, we will need to have the paint ready for them. We went to a decorator shop this morning to have a look at the colours on offer. While I love colours, I am also chronically indecisive, so despite us buying a sample of poetically sounding midnight teal, I am already toing and froing on it. Duncan, who is really good at making decisions, is not impressed. I’m worried that we are going too dark as our living room isn’t massive. On the one hand, I feel that a dark colour will make it cosy and will really accentuate the nice Victorian cornice that we are lucky to have in our living room and I like the stark contrast between dark walls and white ceiling, but on the other I have never had the guts to paint any room that dark and I worry that it may make the room feel oppressively small. Argh…I know, I frustrate myself on a daily basis. It may take me a while to choose, but I will get there – my plan is to immerse myself in colour theory and look at many, many photos of other people’s living rooms before I decide. Although the sun is shining temporarily here in Bristol – I am excited about the prospect of not running in rain for once – the air has a bit of a bite to it so it’s perfect comfort food weather, in my opinion. This is why I’ve decided to share a recipe for one of my favourite comfort foods – pierogi filled with mushrooms and cabbage. They are delicious and not difficult to make at all, although a little time consuming, of course. In contrast to some Chinese dumplings, which pierogi and all other European filled dumplings can be traced back to by the way, the pleating isn’t very intricate at all, so if you have some little helpers keen to get involved, you can safely rope them in. Making filled dumplings is a fun thing to do when you have someone to help and chat to. Enjoy!!
45 ml / 3 tbsp olive oil, divided 2 medium onions, diced finely 2 large garlic cloves, diced finely 250 g / 9 oz fresh mushrooms (I used chestnut / cremini), diced very finely 150 g / 5.3 oz white or savoy cabbage, chopped very finely 150 g / 5.3 oz sauerkraut, chopped very finely 20 g / 0.7 oz dry porcini, washed and soaked in boiling water* ½ tsp salt, adjust to taste ½ tsp dry thyme (not traditional, but I like to add) ½ tsp sweet smoked paprika (not traditional, but I like to add) black pepper, to taste
WALNUT CRUMB (optional)
½ cup walnuts 3 tbsp nutritional yeast 4 rosemary sprigs, leaves chopped very finely salt
WALNUT CRUMB
