LIKE, RECENTLY

Via Cubicle Refugee

If it's halfway through January and I'm only just doing my first post of the year, it's fair to say that Crayon Maison isn't exactly the most loved blog on the internet. I can't honestly say I'll make any promises to change this (unlike last year), but I will promise that I'll try to make the posts I do write about quality rather than quantity.

This year looks set to be a busy one - already I've started a new job with more than enough new and terrifying responsibilities to match. We're also looking at possibly moving house in the spring, and my new-found disposable income will hopefully bring with it some nice holidays and weekends (I get those off now!) away later in the year.

But, despite all the promise of the year ahead, January is always a pretty drab month for anything. After inevitably spending too much at Christmas, my next pay day seems an inordinately long time away and I am broke! I am also very cold!

Despite this, if all it takes to cheer me up is a chirpy playlist and a biscuit, things can't actually be that bad. Hope this does the same for you.

Laterz!

ALL THE SINGER LADIES

Hello! Hope you're happy and dry, and didn't suffer too much in the biblical rainfall we've had over the past few days. I've got two days off work and, with the last proper pay day before Christmas already here, I've started thinking ahead to what I could get/make everyone. I've also finally started getting the hang of crochet (not the names of the stitches though. Very confusing.) and, naturally, have pretty grand visions of the many wonderful things I'll create.

But to the music. I've been planning to do a list like this for ages, but I never end up writing very much and the bands inevitably end up changing, so it never actually came to fruition. This is probably for the best though - I'd like to think that the music below represents a tasty distillation of all the music I've been listening to lately.

Houndstooth are ace. Their Bandcamp page says they have an upcoming full-length. I'm excited.

PINS are four ladies from Manchester. Their first EP (I think) LUVU4LYF came out on Bella Union last month. It's pretty epic.

I love This is the Kit. I like to think they sound like my band. (They don't)

Animal band names seem to be quite in at the moment, but I don't think She Keeps Bees are the faddy type. This song is probably my favourite off their 2011 album Dig On.

I only found out about This Frontier Needs Heroes recently, but I'm hooked. Not predominantly a 'singer lady' band but definitely enough to shoehorn into this list. It's funny how certain albums will always remind you of what you were doing when you first listened to them; thanks to an afternoon spent in the kitchen a couple of weeks back, their album The Future will now always make me think of decorating my sister's birthday cake. This cake:

Any singer ladies you'd recommend?

BAGEL PIZZA

I was saving this for a time when I hadn't previously posted about food, but I haven't finished the thing I was planning about five lady singers (maybe next time) and I haven't posted in about a month and also I changed the blog layout slightly so I thought I'd celebrate and bring you BAGEL PIZZA!

But is it a bagel? Is it a pizza?

It's both. 

These are my favourite snacky tea/exciting lunch. They're dead simple to make, so I almost feel a bit silly posting them, but they're so tasty that I couldn't resist.

They also take hardly any time to make and did I mention they're delicious. The first time I made these I spent the next three days telling everyone about how amazing they were. Bagels work really well as a base because they're doughy but also chewy but still toasty. Buying buffalo mozzarella makes the whole thing feel a little bit more fancy.

MAKE THEM IMMEDIATELY!

No pressure.

Bagel Pizzas

(aka Pizza Bagels)

Bagels

Mozzarella, shredded

Garlic

Tomato purée

Oregano

Salt & Pepper

☞ Slice and toast the bagels (in a toaster)

☞ Peel a garlic clove or two and rub onto the sliced side of the now toasted bagels

☞ Spread with tomato purée and top with the mozzarella, à la picture number 2

☞ Season with salt and pepper and scatter with oregano

☞ Place under the grill until the cheese has melted. Be careful not to burn them like I did. 

☞ Remove from the grill. Eat!