Puffed up heartyness

This week I have been experimenting with puff pastry. First I started off with some little squares containing leeks and walnuts, topped with goats cheese (below)...but the nuts weren't a popular ingredient with Dinosaur-boy, so today I tried out a red pepper and onion combination, and in an attempt to give it added child-appeal (and perhaps because I'd been feeling excited all day about the whole new avenues of fun that have been opened up to me by venturing into puff pastry) I cut the pastries into heart shapes before I cooked them.

The little Teacakes were delighted by them...and oh how lovely it is to be eating outdoors again!

When I haven't been dreaming about different shapes of pastry cutters I have been playing with the overlocker that my father (is there no end to the man's sewing goodness this week?) very kindly financed....the overlocker cost a little more than the £4 he spent on my other machine, but is equally wonderful. After a couple of sessions whizzing through scrap cotton remnants, I now have some Amy Butler under its foot that I am making into a kimono.

Threading an overlocker is every bit as hard as people make it out to be, but once it is finally threaded (my first attempt took a little over half an hour and it's decreasing all the time) it seems fairly simple to use, although far less easily controllable than a sewing machine....going around curves is problematic, but luckily kimonos tend to be straight-cut garments.

The other problem is that an overlocker (for those of you who aren't familiar with one) cuts your fabric as it overlocks it...meaning that extreme weight loss may be the only remedy for the shrinking size of the butchered garment should there be any error....but thankfully my first foray into overlocking was free from mistakes, so I will be off to the cake shop in the morning.