shopping the blues . . .

There seems to be a whole lot of blue out there this week - or is it just my facebook feed??

image via : majorelle blues

I love following the creations of Australian jewellery designer Birdie Hill - she always uses beautiful and inspiring images - this was her contribution to the blues this week!

And then my friend Marianne added this blue note to the mix - one of her RedDog designs in this great colour - I might have to trade in my red for a blue!
and finally this morning I saw this blue boucherouite carpet which I decided I had to add to my collection on
Shouf!

so a blue week , but not in a bad way!
and ending in theme - a bit of Blue Velvet by Lana Del Rey.

x

Shouf!{look!} - a giveaway!

I am unashamedly and unreservedly
asking for your help in turning my bright idea
into a reality.
Its all about footfall . . .  or so I am told!

via

I have been chatting about it quite a lot recently
so you might have visited already?
shouf!{look!}

I would love more people to have a look at the collection of carpets and textiles
so
with this in mind I devised this simple
GIVEAWAY
This beautiful necklace made up of scented soap (yes soap!) beads
created by L'Art du Bain,
 could be yours.

It couldn't be easier!

simply tweet, pin, share on facebook or any other social media platform

that floats your boat!
Straight from SHOUF into the social media network of your choice.

The more shares, the more chances you stand of being the lucky winner!

5 tweets = 5 slips of paper with your name of it in the hat!

etc etc . . . 

so remember
individual items on shouf must be tweeted, pinned and shared
 I will make sure to check there  and enter your name in the draw where ever I see it!
x
thanks for your support
and do keep an eye on the shop as I hope to extend our range as soon as possible
good luck
Pauline

it would be great if you shared this post as well - and would MOST DEFINITELY count as an entry!

just go straight to the share tabs below

Casabarata Tangiers

La Casa Barata - translated directly simply means "the cheap house", which pretty much sums up this sprawling indoor-outdoor market place in Tangiers. It is a place to buy anything . . .  from a satellite  to a soap dish.

But I was interested in the salvedged and reclaimed building elements and furniture so spent most of my time looking at vintage metal work and old window frames.

These sun loungers were the first thing that caught my eye . . . but I passed them by thinking it was more important for me to get windows right now rather than things to lounge on - plenty of time for lounging later! 

So it was off to the building materials we went!

I ended up with a substantial amount of metal work for windows.

Now we just need to build the windows!

It was a little chilly walking around the market yesterday - so we finished up at a tiny stall selling

Bessara - a fava bean soup that is typically eaten for breakfast here but perfect at any time of the day to warm and fill you up.

While writing this post I searched for a recipe for the soup - and found one, along with some lovely images of Tangiers on this food blog by Jenny Chandler.

Perfect.

x

Tapenade

When life gives you olives . . .

Having had our fair share of meals at Port XIV in Assilah, we have also consumed WAY more than our fair share of their signature tapenade that gets put on your table with a flourish as you settle in to decide what to order. 

So we thought we would, in collaboration with Port XIV and their head chef Youssef,

show you how to transform

these . . . 

Into this.

There are a few subtle variations  to the traditional tapenade, but that is kind of the point.

 We are in Morocco after all!

so to your 1/2 kilo of black olives

add: 

1 teaspoon of cumin 

  1/2 teaspoon oregano

        2 teaspoons of olive oil - preferably from your own trees!

        1 teaspoon of fresh coriander chopped

        1/2 teaspoon of harissa 

The rest is simple - mix it all together and blend.

Then a bit of fresh bread, a glass of wine . . . .
Perfect.

Luckily, I don't have to don an apron to make any for a while as we were given this lovely jarful of the results of this recipe to bring home.

I will confess that there is already considerably less tapenade in above jar after 24 hours chez Brettell!

Thanks to Port XIV & Chef Youssef for sharing their recipe.

x