Food

Cupboard Love

Simply Wonderwoman, Joanna Gosling - photo Rachel Whiting

My book of the year, which I have enthused about previously is Joanna Gosling’s Simply Wonderwoman. I had this image in my mind now for many months. Cupboard envy. So yesterday I mustered my inner Joanna and set to the kitchen cupboards.

If you asked my husband what I would do with a day of ‘me-time’ he would know the answer immediately. Not a visit to a Spa, not a visit to the beach, not really a visit to the hairdresser. It would be without doubt, a visit to ‘the tip’. Bliss! Coming pretty much second would be a good sort out.There are weeks when I yearn for such a thing and I am sure there are very many well documented psychological reasons…blah, blah,blah. But let’s not tarry there.

Little be ashamed of the image above.

Mid task chaos – nearly walked out at this point…Two significant things struck me, why did it take me so long to complete the task? Since we moved in to our house over 3 years ago I have not got the arrangement of things right in our kitchen. So there was much indecisive wibbling about what to put where. (Get a grip woman!)

Eventually I made some decisions, based not only on my preferences but also on the height of other people in my family. Let’s hope I don’t leave quite so many things languishing in the back of the cupboard now.

Ok, one of the reasons it took me so long is due to having too much fun with the label maker. But there must be a law of physics which explains why you appear to fit more in a cupboard when it’s contents are simply thrown in as opposed to neat and nicely organised.

Hilariously I read in Grazia Magazine today that a signifier of being ‘middle class’ is having Kilner jars. Yep… no surprise there. Just don’t go anywhere near my tidy cupboards!

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Cheeky wee rabbit dish

I forgot that I had taken this photo. It has begun to dawn on me that my love of whimsy is accelerating and perhaps this denotes the full onset of my progression to being a batty old lady. When in London with my dear friends, I spotted this dish in Anthropologie. I love their website and wanted a full blown pootle in the shop. I knew immediately what I wanted to do with this dish. A little fun salt pot for the table. Little B obviously ‘gets’ his Mummy, ‘Look it’s an Arctic Hare playing in the snow!’ Yes indeed it is!

Funnily enough I had to ask the assistant in the shop, what the real purpose was of my Cheeky Wee Rabbit… a jewellery dish! Ah well he will amuse me at the dinner table a little while longer.

 

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Yummy Autumn Cake

Don’t you love it when you see a dream come true. My friend Helena is an enviable baker. I would say that being such a sweet tooth, I KNOW cakes, I like to bake, but I love to taste. So when I discovered that Helena  had stepped out and started the baking business she had dreamt of I was thrilled.

At the previously mentioned autumn celebration I came to me that actually a apple spice cake from Chocolate Cake Cottage.

Trouble is getting someone else to do your baking gets a bit addictive….. going away to relatives, usually take a cake.. cupcakes! I promise you that I did give credit where it is due and didn’t pretend that I made them.

If you are a local friend then do pop by the the website – yummy loveliness. If you are from beautiful far-away climes then the pictures on the website are nearly as good as the cakes themselves.

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Pumpkin Squash Hat – Free Pattern

About this time of year I do go a bit pumpkin crazy in celebration of the harvest autumn season. For a while I have had in my mind the idea of a pumpkin baby hat which was crocheted. I was not entirely sure if it would work. But this little titfer passed muster, when Little B was able to identify it as a pumpkin straight away.

So inspired by the principle of my pumpkin tea cosy – this is my pumpkin baby hat. (In fact, I thought I had lost my pumpkin teacosy and got almost frantic turning the house upside down). The main part of the hat is worked without breaking the yarn and is great way to practice your back loop rib.

It has been such a while since I have posted a free pattern, so here you go. Find the pattern here and have fun making the tendrils and if you do think of making one yourself please do send me a photo.

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Beautiful Celebration

Over the summer my nephew had his Christening. My family threw the most fantastic party for him and looking back over the photos I am mindful that whilst I blog, other members of my family are actually far more creative. I have mentioned before that my sister is pretty handy with the sewing machine and her attention to detail is astonishing – no slap dash here. She made this beautiful bunting, which was so beautiful and wonderfully finished. I don’t think I have seen any finer.

Isn’t this cake gorgeous…a combination of my parents gardening and cooking skills. The wonderful old tradition of using the top tier of the wedding cake for the christening celebration. So pretty.

Finally, no west country celebration would be complete without a cream tea. Look at that! You could almost gain a few pounds just looking at that photo. So yummy, in the name of tradition I just had to partake. Anyway if ‘making’ something is an indicator of how much someone is loved, my nephew is a very blessed little boy.

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Holiday Joy

Isn’t it amazing what you can fit in a week. Camping by the glorious Ullswater in the Lake District

Paddling idly in water. Wellies, how we love you.

Some outdoor knitting nonsense… yes it is the beginnings of a second brioche cowl.

Finding a cracking cycle path and avoiding the rain (but looking at this leaden sky in this photo I don’t know how).

On our last day in the Lake District we accidentally came upon Askham Hall. What a beautiful discovery. We literally spotted the castle in the distance and shouted – ‘Let’s find that castle!’

The gardens have only been open for a couple of months and we had the most gorgeous lunch outside in the ‘lesser-spotted’ British summer sun.

Little B had a fab pizza baked in their outdoor pizza oven, and I had a this sumptuous omelette and salad.

We loved the gardens and had a couple of happy hours running about.

Finding a surprise hidden jewel like Askham Hall is just a brilliant gift at the end of a holiday.

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Jubilee Joy

Look who was enjoying the swing this weekend in my garden! You might think he had more than enough to do this weekend, but it is always good to kick back and have a couple of carefree moments on the swing. This has been the most amazing weekend, with lots of fun and quite a bit of rain. We spent most of Saturday in the garden, in the rain. But it didn’t matter.  Sunday was very rainy and we watched valiant rowers on the Thames flotilla but from the comfort of our own dry living room.

Today though was spent enjoying the hard-work preparation of Saturday. Friends of ours visited fully decked out as the complete Royal Family. It was hilarious. I think some of our youngest visitors were quite overcome by the sight and weren’t sure if they were actually in the presence of royalty.

Obviously there were cucumber sandwiches.

Some pretty fine cupcakes.

Some more pretty amazing cupcakes.

My gorgeous American friend E, (the wizard cupcake maker) said – ‘You know the thing I admire about you British is that you just carry on and party even though the weather is cold and rainy’. – Yes indeedy… the key to a great British outdoor party, enough fleeces for everyone to wear and a fire. What’s not to like?

 

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Holiday Colour

Hello Lovelies! How are you? I am back from a week away with my ‘B’ boys! Classically we went away to a hot country at the very same time as our country decided to take on un-natural heat. But we all know that a ‘holiday’ is about the memory making more than the weather. So nothing lost/missed.

There was plenty of hooky nonsense time, some in the vein of ‘commissions’ other bits a pieces which were just a ‘me’ indulgence. When I have finished that particular project I will do a little show and tell. In the balmy evenings sitting on the terrace with hook and yarn in hand it was a battle of wills to stay outside straining in the lowering light or avoiding those nasty little insect bites! My poor husband, hardly a rock-n-roll holiday companion.

Anyway on our first full day we ventured out yet again to experience the colour and texture of the local market. I love it so much.

The seasons are so much ahead of ours. The smells and tastes were incredible.

I have to say that there is nothing like a walk in the market to get my colour juices flowing. This week I want to share a few captured views which really got me excited. I hope you are enjoying some Spring warmth too x

 

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Blighty Biscuits and Cakes

With the run up to the Olympics and Jubilee, the shops are going what can only be described as ‘Blighty-tastic’. I think there is some real humour mixed in with it all. Currently I am finding it all a bit cheery. In the very British store, Marks and Spencer even the packaging for cakes and biscuits are making me smile. I had to buy this blue biscuit tin. I love the illustrations.

A friend of mine bought the pink one, so pretty. Little B then benefited from his Mother’s madness when she was compelled to buy these cakes.

I wonder if any of these will become collector’s items in the future? Well, I’m afraid the contents have already disappeared.

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Crafty Thursday and the reality of things

If you have not come across the beautiful blog of Sweet Paul and fancy a little photographic and culinary inspiration, then please do visit. It was this post which made me want to make Cake Bunting. Then I wondered if I had gone completely mad. I had a bunch ladies for supper on Thursday and thought it would be a fun table decoration – but it does make me think – surely I need to harness my madness for a greater good. Oh I don’t know perhaps world peace, or even a tidy house. Never mind. Anyway the mini bunting made me smile.

Some of my friends have commented on that the blog is a bit ‘cheery’. Yes sorry about that. People who know me well know that we have certainly faced and continue to stare at a number of rather ‘challenging’ issues in daily life. But this space is about the joy of making, sharing, looking and the things which make me smile. So to those who cry out for a reality check, here is a wee demonstration that Varnam towers is really a family home of random objects left in strange places and constant struggle against the tide abandoned objects. This is the photo of the other side of the kitchen on Thursday. It probably makes me smile the widest smile.

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