Delicious creamy autumn soup

As it is Autumn, I thought I would should share my favourite, yet simplest recipe. I love autumn because it feels like that's when the British home grown food comes into its own. In the summer, warm places get their exotic fruit, their oranges, lemons and bananas. But just wait for autumn to come with all these lovely carrots, pumpkins, apples, parsnips, potatoes, courgette and sprouts. The makings of heart-warming food! 

Today I want to share the recipe for butternut squash and potato soup.

This makes 6 portions and shouldn't cost more than £2. Here's all you will need:

1 butternut squash 

3 medium potatoes

1 onion

1 litre vegetable stock 

2 tbsp oil (I use half olive and half sesame, but vegetable oil is fine)

Salt and Pepper to season

1. Peel and chop the butternut squash, making sure to scoop out all the seeds. Slice it into half inch chunks. Peel and chop the potatoes, also into half inch chunks. 
2. Put the oil in a large saucepan. Chop the onion and put this in the saucepan too. When the onions have softened and look a bit transparent, add the squash and potato. 
3. Leave this for a minute before adding the stock.
4. Put a lid of the pan on and allow to simmer for 30 minutes, or until squash and potato are soft.
5. Put the soup in a blender and blend until smooth. 
6. Season with salt and pepper. 

This soup is creamy, healthy, cheap and filling. Everyone is a winner!

If you want to freeze it, then I would like to share a brilliant tip I picked up from my mother in law: freeze it in portions. Cup one portion into one food bag and when it comes to lunch time you can just defrost one bag. Sometimes, after defrosting, you need to stir it a bit to bring it back to the original consistency.  

All your ingredients 

The soup I just got out the freezer for lunch!

Enjoy!

Jonny and the Night shelter

In today's post I'm really excited to introduce you to our very dear friend Jonny. But first, I want to tell you a little story.

Last week Matt and I were walking home from an event, it was around 11pm and a half hour walk. On our way back we were approached by a man asking for some change. We politely apologised saying we don't have any and trying to dissuade him from following us. He asked again so we stopped, he was clearly pretty out of it, he looked a mess and said he had just run away from the police. As per (shamefully) usual, at the back of our minds we were thinking its probably all lies, he might be planning to rob us etc. Then his friend came onto the street, he was pretty aggressive towards the guy we were speaking to. At this point we were feeling a little uncomfortable but didn't feel we could leave these two alone without something bad happening. 
Throughout this man's story he had been saying 'I don't even have shoes, there are some over there but they're not even mine'. After a little thought Matt offered him his shoes, the guy was quite shocked, 'What, no I can't take your shoes!'. Matt was being genuine, there were no strings attached, and no he didn't want to be paid back in weed tomorrow. We left Matt's shoes in front of this guy and walked the rest of the way in socks. 
Later we were reflecting, and Matt said he just thought 'what would Jonny do'. And its true, Jonny would give his shoes away every time. 

Over to Jonny!



Hello readers of Dear Friend, let me introduce myself. My name is Jonny, I was bought up in Alconbury and until 2 years ago I designed racing cars for F1. However, 2 years ago I became a Christian and since then my world has been turned upside down. I left my job and moved to Newham, London last September to do a year with XLP. Each Monday I’d travel to and from Liverpool Street and I immediately became aware of what a huge problem homelessness still is. I was chatting to a friend of mine about this and she told me how 7 churches in Tower Hamlets were stepping up and coming together to provide practical support to the homeless people in their community. I knew I wanted to be a part of it straight away and the following Sunday spent my first night volunteering in the Tower Hamlets night shelter.

As soon as I walked into the building on that cold November night I was immediately struck by just how normal everybody was. I met a group of people who were just like you and me. For some it was a missed pay cheque or frozen benefit claim that had led them to the streets. Others had suffered a family breakdown or were fleeing conflict. But each and every one of the individuals I got to know desperately wanted to get themselves back on their own two feet and out of the situation they found themselves in. 

Volunteering soon became highlight of my week and I’d excitedly hurry back to church and tell them about the transformation I could see in peoples lives. At the start of this year I got chatting to people from my church about what our response as the church should be to the increasing levels of poverty and homelessness in my home borough - over the past year, the number of rough sleepers in Newham has gone up by a shocking 57%. It turned out that many other people in Newham had a heart to see change and at the start of March a group of us met in a local park to talk about potentially setting up a winter night shelter in Newham. Completely unbeknown to us at the time, Paul Riley (the ‘Night Shelter Coordinator’ from Housing Justice) was sat on the neighbouring table eating fish and chips with his mother! On overhearing our conversations he came and introduced himself to us and over the course of the next few hours a new Newham night shelter, called NEWway, was hatched. 

From the first week of November 2013 until the final week of January 2014, churches across Newham will open their doors for one evening per week and provide 15 homeless guests with a hot meal and a safe, warm place to sleep. Each guest will also receive 1-2-1 advocacy support to help them secure longer term accommodation so they don't have to return to the streets when the night shelter closes. Our vision is to help local churches work together to tackle the rising levels of poverty and homelessness in Newham. We believe that this new night shelter will have a long-lasting, positive impact upon the lives of some of the most vulnerable members of our community. 

How can I get involved?
There are lots of ways you can help! To make this vision a reality, we need local people to volunteer and donate resources (particularly bedding, clothing and toiletries). If you are able to volunteer (even if they’re only able to help every once in a while), please come along to one of our free training sessions in Newham on the 15th or 26th of October. Any financial donations towards equipment and running costs would also be gratefully received. You can even 'like' our facebook page! If you would like to take me up on any of these offers, or have any questions about getting involved in a night shelter near you please email me at jonny@newwayproject.org or give me a call on 07772 604 222.

Thank you so much for having me Dear Friend readers.


What an inspiring story and how exciting that people are stepping out to try and change the areas they live in. Inspiring stuff. Lets get involved in our communities and cities!

Tie Phone Case DIY

This tutorial is inspired by a fear of scratching or breaking the screen of my new phone when I throw it in my bag. (This is particularly applicable if you're the kind of person who never knows what they may find in the depths of their bag on any given day.).

I don't trust myself with expensive gadgets, despite never actually smashing a phone screen (although two of my past phones have been run over), I was super cautious when my husband bought me the new iPhone. They are so slippery and so thin! As I headed out the house on the way to do some babysitting I picked up my phone, not wanting to throw it in my bag as usual I looked around for something to wrap it in. In that moment I had an idea. I grabbed a tie, needle, thread and ran out the door. Whilst babysitting I made a little phone case to protect my phone.

My new phone case 

This can be made by hand or using a sewing machine but either way it shouldn't take longer than 35 minutes. You will need:

• A neck tie (try to find one that is not very padded, and not a skinny tie)
• Needle and thread/ sewing machine
• Pins
• Scissors
• A toggle/hook and eye/ popper/ button (optional)

Lay out your phone on top of the tie then double the tie over. It should look like the picture on the right when you cut the tie,  make sure you leave plenty of space at the top where the opening will be.

 Fold over a half an inch of the material above the phone, at the opening, and sew it down on itself, as if sewing a hem. This will make it look neater and make sure it doesn't  fall apart.

Next you want to pin the top and bottom of the tie together. It is important you pin it so that the edges line up on top and bottom, this means scrunching up the bottom (wider) part of the tie a little.

Now it's time to sew down each side, keeping the stitch as close to the edge as possible. Keep double checking that the top and bottom of the tie are lining up. Sew all the way up to the hem you stitched first.











You could also add a button or popper or some kind of clasp to keep the case closed in your bag.

Hooray for safe phones! 

If you have any questions, ask away. I hope you have fun making this and find some funky ties. In my head I imagine business men going to board-meetings, getting out their phones and realising it matches their ties. 

Workshops!

The next workshop is confirmed!
It will be on the 16th October 6.30-8pm at St. Marks centre, Beckton.
Im very excited to gather a group of lovely people and get to know one another, whilst creating some beautiful jewellery. Hooray!
Get in touch if your interested, there is very limited space and so it'll be first come first serve.
The shop is more full than it has ever been (in its very short existence) and I added a bloglovin' button to the sidebar. So follow along!

Tomorrow I will be doing a little craft tutorial, so keep your eyes peeled!

I made this necklace from some vintage badges a while ago. Its a mixture of my favourite things, vintage badges, gold, pearls and a little bit of a statement. I made it for myself but have since toyed with the idea of making more and selling them. The problem is I just cant figure out how to make them a bit more sturdy and hardwearing. Its precariously strung together. I even bought a soldering iron in an attempt to figure it out. Alas, they will not be appearing in the shop for a little while. 

But thats one of the things I enjoy about planning these craft workshops and planning for the blog, you have a really good reason to stick at a project and invest time and even money into new ideas. And that is how I have spent my day :)

I hope your having a nice saturday, for those of us back at uni this week, good luck!

Contentment

Wow,  what a brilliant first day of the existence for Dear Friend it has been! A facebook page with likes, a shop with things to sell and a blog with post's. Not only that, we also made our first sale....I think that may make this official! Hooray! As it was the first, I feel I should document it with this photo. What a nice brooch Holly snapped up, if I do say so myself.

I don't know what the weather is like where you are, but here it is raining. Really raining. I can see headlights streaking down my window with the rain as everyone heads home from work. One of those evenings when I am extremely grateful for the roof over my head and the coziness of this little flat we have. I love how listening to playlists like this on evenings like these give you a heart full of contentment and peace.

 I wish you all a lovely evening and thank you again for your support.

Welcome!

I am so excited to launch Dear Friend!

My name is Esther and thanks for stopping by to read my blog. This blog is a place to document my experiences of living in East London and trying to build community, partially through craft workshops but also through everyday life.

I will do most of the writing but I'm sure you will hear from my husband, Matt, and various other people who I know have brilliant talents and hearts to share.

I will be posting weekly on a variety of subjects including craft inspiration and tutorials, trying to live life on a budget in London, stepping out of your comfort zone and trying to impact your community. There will also be plenty of my general musings, the highs and the lows. 

This, however, is not just a space for me to talk about myself, its a space to share our lives. So if you have something you would like to share, a guest post or recommendations then I would love to hear from you! Please do send me your comments and emails, they are very welcome! All my details are on the contact page.

I really look forward to seeing what this little corner of the internet turns into, so thanks for reading and sharing.
Here's to the future!