The Interior DIYer
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Feature – House and Home

This year is already off to a smashing start, if I may be so bold. When we got home from our ‘civilized’ NYE party last week, I found this hot little number in our post box. It’s only just the January / February House and Home, for which yours truly has not only written a piece, but is a featured contributor on page six*. Mind = blown.

{Warning – a load of photos at a 45 degree angle below. I just couldn’t stop.}

I wrote up a six page spread featuring Stuart O’Sullivan’s incredibly eclectic Stoneybatter home. I was pretty excited to sit down and talk with Stuart as he is a fellow TK Maxx, Marks & Spencer, IKEA and charity shop stalker.

To find out more, you’re just going to have to check out the January / February issue, on the shelves today at your local newsstand for €3.85. Or even better, subscribe for a year and don’t miss a moment.

I’m also so happy to report that House and Home picked up two awards at the Irish Magazine Awards recently. Mad props to such a skilled gang. H&H is without fail Ireland’s top selling interiors magazine, and I couldn’t be more lucky to have been a part of it. Exponential amounts of winning.

*Not a page 3 type thing. Page six. We keep our tops on on page six. Real classy like. 

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Chorizo, chicken and white wine soup

What this soup lacks in the aesthetics department, it makes up for in taste. I will be the first to admit, my pictures of it look a little bit gross. But holy mother of all things edible, this is one amaze-balls soup.

I concocted this recipe one night out of pure guilt. I was about to head out with a friend, and I was royally ditching hubby at home over the holidays. So as I was getting ready, I threw all these things in a pot, and what it made was something exciting and not like anything we stuffed ourselves with over Christmas.

I’ve blogged about soup in the past, but I’ve come to terms with the fact that I don’t like soup. Hubby is a big fan, so as I was making this soup, I had a little taste, and it may just convert me.


Ingredients
As much chorizo as you like, chopped. I used a good two handfuls
Leftover chicken or turkey, chopped into bite size pieces
1 onion
5 cloves of garlic, chopped into big pieces
Root vegetables – I used 1 parsnip, 1 carrot and 2 potatoes chopped into little cubes
2 cups of stock – I used chicken stock as well as stock from soaking dried mushrooms. It was yum.
300ml of white wine
Half a chili, sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
However, all of the above can be edited to suit what you have at your disposal. The things I will suggest sticking to are the meat, root veggies and a good stock. It definitely is an earthy soup. 

Method

Throw the chopped chorizo, chicken and garlic into a pot. Chorizo gives off its own lovely orange oily fatness, so use your discretion if you add extra oil. Let this sizzle and brown for 5 minutes. Then add the chopped veggies. More sizzling. At the 15 minute mark, add the stock, wine, and slices of chili. Let everything simmer and get to know each other for roughly 15-20 minutes. Once the veggies are cooked {you’ll know this if you can pierce them easily with a knife}, you’re good to serve up. 
You can really mix and match the ingredients to suit what you have at hand. But as I said above, I would state the chorizo, chicken, root veggies of any kind, and a good stock are the essentials.

So good. These pictures do zero justice. 

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2012 – goals

It’s the new year and I’m writing a post on goals – shock, horror. But in stead, I’m writing about last years goals. Twelve months ago I wrote a list, and never published them. I kind of forgot about them. And I also thought no one would really want to read them anyways.

Then the other day, I went back to take a look at  the unpublished post, and was shocked when it dawned on me that I managed to achieve each of my goals for 2012. I don’t think that’s ever happened …


Couch to 5k – I always admire joggers. I hate jogging. Probably because I hate sweating. But I’ve come to a point where I want to be fit, and the perfect way to start this is the Couch to 5k program. 
I achieved this, getting up to 50 minutes of non stop jogging. For me – the eternal physical activity hater – that was a huge achievement. I also shed 28lbs/2 stone in the process. I’m hoping to continue this goal into 2013 and I’m proud to say I started kicking my ass again this week after a couple months off. If I can do it, anyone can. For serious. 

Level up – I heart blogging. Since I began, the more I got into it, the more I realized it pushes me to be more creative. I’m contemplating taking my creativity to another level. Possibly stepping into the world of selling stuff online. But I haven’t a clue what I’d sell. Not off to a good start …
I got a couple of magazine features in 2012 which was more than I expected. I’ve had a possible online idea involving revamping items and selling them on, but I’m really unsure how that would go. I do have a daunting /massive/exciting project on the horizon, but for now, I’ll do that annoying thing that people do and I won’t tell you what it is. 
Project Less 365 – I have way too much crap. Stuff I’ll never use, but that can get use from someone else. I’m hoping this year to embark on Project Less 365 – the idea being that you get rid of / give away one item per day every day for a year. 
Having only started this at the beginning of November {delayed by wedding fever}, I managed to almost finish this project by December 31st. And I’m not stopping there. A weight is being lifted the more I get rid of stuff. If you’re curious, you can check out my less is more posts.



Not morph into Bridezilla – I have a pretty tough level of OCD at the best of times. What scares me about our wedding day is that I won’t be able to relax and enjoy it. I’m trying not to put an overwhelming amount of detail into it, that way there’s less to go wrong. And if it does, c’est la vie. Or, I’ll keep a constant supply of g&t at hand.

I was as calm as a Hindu cow the two weeks leading up to our wedding, and I’m very proud. I typically excrete OCD, so this was a big step for me. I reminded myself that yes, it’s our wedding day, but it’s just another day in the end, so calm the fuck down.

As for this year, I’m not yet sure of my goals. And I’m okay with that.

xxA