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At the moment oriental design and images are big news in the crafting world. I particularly like to use self cling rubber stamps as they are cheaper, re-positional, and being clear you can see where you are stamping. When I saw a new set of such stamps featuring oriental designs I just had get them and get crafting!

To create this image:

1. Using a self cling stamp and acrylic block (or you can use an ordinary rubber stamp if you wish), stamp the image of the girl onto white card. I used gold pigment ink and embossing powder heated with a heat gun to give a raised image. If you want you can simply stamp a gold inked image without embossing.
2. Colour in the image using felt tip pens (I used posh Marvy Le Plume II pens), and a good old favourite of mine – eye shadows! Eye shadow will give a soft pastel effect to the image, and is much cheaper than crafting chalks.
3. Cut the image out carefully with sharp scissors and set aside. In this case I cut away half the image as I only wanted to use the top ’section’.
4. Cut out a piece of grey card and then one slightly smaller in a contrasting colour card (I used black), and mat them (i.e. attach with glue or tape to create a border effect).
5. Attach the image onto the matted card with 3D foam pads, and there is your gorgeous stamped oriental girl ready for use on a card or scrapbook page.

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To make the second image:

1. As before using a self cling rubber stamp and acrylic block stamp your chosen image onto white card stock, making sure you place the image slightly right of centre. This time I used silver pigment ink and sparkly embossing powder. Again if you wish you can just stamp a silver image. On the left side stamp three separate oriental style stamps. I used two Chinese characters and a dragonfly.
2. Colour in the image as before. One tip though, if you have embossed the image be careful when colouring in as this can knock some of the raised edge of the embossing off.
3. To get the blue edge effect on the white card stock take a blue ink pad, or any colour of your choice, and lightly rub the edge of the card stock with the ink pad at a 45 degree angle. You want to drag the ink pad away towards the outer edge of the card. If you are a bit unsure then practice on some bits of scrap. Leave the image to one side.
4. Cut out a large piece of black card stock a little larger than the white card stock image you have made. Attach the image to the black card using sticky foam pads to give a raised effect (or you could just glue or tape it on if you wish).
5. And there you have your image ready for use as you wish.

Please let me know what you think of these mini projects by posting a comment, ta very much.

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This recipe is unashamedly meaty! I had decided to batch cook a fair amount of meat for the Jewish holidays and it is customary to use flanken (beef flank, i.e. side of beef), to make tzimmes (honey roast). I had never actually cooked with flanken before, preferring to cook a large roll of beef instead. This year I did both, in the same pot too!

This is how the finished flanken and roast beef roll looked straight from the oven! This is a very easy recipe to make and the results are fabulous – as confirmed by all at Casa Marge.
A note about the meat: how much meat you want to cook will depend on how many people you are cooking for (and how hungry they are!) When I bought the meat I had a look at what the butcher had on offer and decided on two small pieces of flanken and one large beef roll. You may find your butcher has a large piece of flanken and the rolls of meat are small. Use your own judgement. I would strongly suggest you ask the butcher about cooking times when buying the meat!

Ingredients:

• Roast beef roll (your butcher will prepare this for you)
• Flanken (ask your butcher for beef flank)
• Carrots (about 3-4 large ones)
• Onion (large)
• Prunes (I used a 250g packet, but you might want to use less)
• Bay leaf (1 or 2 dried, or 3 fresh – again you may want to use less if you are cooking less meat)
• Rosemary (about a teaspoon of dried herb or a sprig of fresh)
• Oil to brown the meat
• Seasoning
• Honey (I used 3 tbps for a large beef roll and two pieces of flanken, adjust accordingly)
• Balsamic vinegar (1 tbsp) optional
• HP sauce (1 tbsp) optional
• Two cloves of garlic (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to a high heat for 20 minutes.
2. Season the meat to taste. I like to use coarse sea salt at it doesn’t ‘disappear’ into the meat straight away.
3. Heat the oil and brown the meat carefully, making sure you get all the surfaces sealed. Set the meat to one side. (NB: This process doesn’t actually seal the meat as such because after cooking you will notice the volume of the meat has decreased because it looses moisture. However it is good practice to brown the meat as it adds to the flavour).
4. Chop up the onion into slices and the carrot into batons, keeping the pieces fairly thick. Very lightly brown the vegetables in the same pan you did the meat in. You may need to add a little more oil. Place half the veg in the bottom of a large, deep pot (see pic above), or similar that is suitable for the oven. Add half the prunes and the garlic cloves (simply peeled and not cut), and herbs.
5. Place the meat in the pot on top of the veg and dried fruit. (You could use dried apricots if you wish but not raisins!), and add the rest of the veg and prunes. At this point if you wish you can add 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar and a splodge of HP sauce.
6. Mix the honey with a little water and pour over the meat.
7. Put the lid on the cooking pot (if you have no lid, then buy a proper oven pot you big silly! Or failing that use foil – just be careful when taking the pot out of the oven), and place in the top part of the oven – or as near to the top as you can bearing in mind the size of the cooking pot.
8. Cook on high for 1 hour and then turn the light down to medium and cook for another hour or so.
9. Naturally if you are using less meat you will need to lessen the cooking time. Personally I don’t hold with that pink in the middle nonsense about meat, so I like my meat well done. You may prefer it differently. Each to their own I say, even if you are weird…
10. Serve with potato kugel.
11. This dish will freeze well. Allow the meat and gravy (there will be loads of it!), to cool and transfer to large freezer bags or plastic freezer dishes.

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