Some more jewellery I made last month

Some combinations of Glass and metal beads....

Watercress with Butter beans recipe

This is my first post for my cooking section. I used to occasionally cook before, but had to learn to cook new and interesting stuff once I got married :) As me and my hubby both hate to eat the same food again and again, I try to research and get new recipes, so we have something different almost all the time. Only exceptions being those days when I don't have anything in the fridge or I am not in the mood to do any cooking :P Most of the food I prepare is Indian cuisine but I have also tried my hand at various other cuisines as well. I love preparing Chinese, Thai, Mexican, Italian food. 

Coming to this recipe, watercress is supposed to be the natural super-food brimming with a range of essential vitamins and minerals."Watercress is brimming with over 15 vitamins and minerals, gram for gram containing more vitamin C than oranges, more calcium than milk and more iron than spinach. Research is also highlighting its role in the fight against cancer"-http://www.watercress.co.uk/

I prepared this recipe one day when I found nothing other than watercress and butter beans in my kitchen. This is a very simple, easy and quick dish. OK! here it goes......

Ingredients:

Watercress- 1 bunch ( around 2-3 cups)

Butter beans- 1 tin (around 1 cup)

2-3 green chillies

Ginger-chopped or paste- 1 tsp

Garlic-chopped or paste-1tsp

Onion-1/2 cup (I used Red onion)

Asafoetida- pinch

Cumin seeds-1 tsp

Oil- 2 tsps

Garam Masala- 1/2-1 tsp

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Yogurt- 2 tblsp

salt to taste

grated cheese to sprinkle

Method:

1.Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds. 

2.Once they start to splutter, add asafoetida, green chillies, ginger, garlic. Sauté till the raw smell goes off. 3.Add onions and stir till they turn transparent.

4.Add watercress and stir for a few minutes till they start to shrink.

5.Add the butter beans and stir for a couple of seconds.

6.Add the turmeric powder, salt, yoghurt and sprinkle some water if its too dry. 

8.Add garam masala and simmer for 2-3 minutes.

Remove from heat, sprinkle cheese on top and serve hot with Rotis or rice. I used this as a filling in Jalapeño and pepper wrap and it turned out to be very tasty! 

Some of my initial creations..

After my beading class, I was so inspired and motivated to design my own jewellery that I could not wait to get some beads and start off! Unfortunately, Reading doesn't have any bead shops, but I had seen John Lewis stock some crafting and bead supplies. I went there with high hopes of buying something interesting for my project but was very disappointed with the variety and quality of the beads available. Nevertheless I got something that I thought I could work on and got some mixed red beads and seed beads, crimping plier, beadboard, eyepins, headpins, beading wire and all the basic necessary things. The shock came when I billed my items... they were all so expensive! I was holding 3 packs of beads, the findings mentioned above and a bill of  £40 odd!! That's when I decided to search for some online store from where I could order or wait for the next time I go to London to get my supplies. I then ordered online from  a store called http://www.thesilvercorporation.co.uk/home.asp. I will review the stores I have dealt with separately in another post. I ordered quite a bit from them and was quite happy. The only negative about ordering online is that you cant see before buying. So, it might be a little tough initially to decide what to buy. It gets better when you know the bead size, wire gauge and your millimetres better :) Waiting to enter a bead shop soon ..think I am easily going to spend a couple of hours looking at all the yummy beads..with hundreds of design ideas bursting in my lil' brain :P

Below are the pieces I made with the beads I purchased. Red beads are from John Lewis.

The white Howlite donut pendant is my personal favourite. It's made with a double strand wire on each side to hold the pendant, strung black seed beads to cover the wire and finished with black lava beads, black onyx, white beads.

The fourth one is made from Blue Jade and Red Agate semi precious stones. I strung the pendant onto a 0.8mm wire and created a wrapped loop which later was strung onto the beading wire to create the design. 

                               

                               Howlite Donut pendant necklace with lava beads

     

          Red glass beads and various coloured seed beads

       Red Agate pendant with red agate, amber and blue Jade beads

Beaded Jewellery Workshop in London

I am passionate about making trendy and wearable jewellery and this is how I began....

OK! let me begin my story of how I landed in a bead Jewellery workshop! 

Sometime back I was bored of doing the same routine things everyday and was looking for something interesting and creative to do. Unleash my creative side you can say! So, next step to do was my favourite activity on the net... Google search! Yes, whatever I need, google is always by my side to help me during my bad times:) And finally after an hours search for the best places to take the course, I was enrolled on one. And that's how my passion for jewellery design and making began ..rather than just wearing it, now I could make my own jewellery...and that was a highpoint of the entire thing for me.

The class was to start at 10:30 in the morning and I had to travel all the way from Reading to London to get there. No prizes to guess how lazy Saturday mornings can be! Anyways, I finally fought all my laziness and landed in the class 5 minutes late. The class was to be conducted by a famous jewellery designer Vanetta Seecharan. There were already 5 ladies seated around the table looking at sample pieces of jewellery. The total class assembled in another 10 minutes and we began by taking a look at gorgeous jewellery made by the instructor to give us a clue of what we would be making during the day. I never in my wildest imagination thought that some day I would be making jewellery that would be wearable! The atmosphere of the class was very enjoyable and relaxed. Students were from all ages and backgrounds who never had anything to do with jewellery other than wearing them :) 

First we were taught how to bend wires, make loops, make wrapped loops and all the basics about the different tools to be used and different kinds of beads,wires available in the market. We then started our 1st project, making cluster earrings. We made the ear wires by bending .8mm wire. Then strung on beads to a head-pin and made wrapped loop. Made around 6 of these using the beads of our choice. Strung these onto a jump-ring and attached the ear wire to the jump-ring and voilà my earring was ready! I cannot express in words the joy that gave me ....

Next, we made a necklace and a double strand bracelet. After making these I realized how much patience and effort goes into making jewellery. Respect all those crafty people out there who spend so much time and energy to make gorgeous handmade products. Coming back to the class, we had lunch break of around an hour, tea and water at our disposal and Vanetta was really sweet and very helpful as almost all of us were first timers in the field. She helped us with developing design inspired by various patterns and on how to balance colour combinations in our designs. All in all a wonderful experience and good enough to motivate you to make more lovely jewellery at home! I came out of the class at 5:30 in the evening, happy, content and proud of my creations! Couldn't wait to show them to my hubby :)

Below are some of the pieces that I created in the bead jewellery workshop.

Red and Orange bead cluster earrings

Green and blue bead necklace

Blue and white beaded bracelet