The Sneaky Magpie

This weekend was great. Having a friend for breakfast on Saturday morning made me clean my house and do grocery shopping early. After my friend was gone about midday I was left with a tidy house, full fridge and a whole weekend to enjoy myself without any chores.

I did a small trip to one of my favorite cooking and baking shops in London – La Cuisiniere.  Unfortunately they didn’t have the things I needed and as I was in the area I popped to the local charity shop instead. I always head for the book section, they sell paperbacks for 50 pence and I usually find some of the classics I am meaning to read. This week I got:

Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte, a novel I wanted to read for some time as I am a huge Bronte sisters fan

The Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith which I never heard of before but it looks very interesting and funny

Hotel Babylon by Imogen Edwards-Jones – I though Fashion Babylon was not that silly after all, the plot is very basic but there is a lot of little insights of how the industry really works, I hope to fish out those bits from this book about hotels, and at 50 pence it can go back to the shop anyway. I thought it was serendipity having just finished her other book.

Even though I haven’t bought any bake ware I did manage to make some tarts. I hate making pastry but I like the idea of pretty tarts. So I decided to face my demon and make some. I figured the only way to learn how to make pastry is to do it frequently. Sweet pastry is way easier to make than savoury one, though.

The treats this week were hazelnut tarts from Skye’s recipe and super rich chocolate tarts from Jamie’s recipe. The hazelnut filling is like hazelnut frangipane, delicious with a hint of lemon rind. I added one whisked egg white unlike Skye, I can never stick to a recipe!

I also learned that I should trim the pastry before baking for a neat look, doing so after it’s baked ended up in a disaster, the pastry just chipped and large chunks fell off.

I popped to the Battersea car boot sale and got some granny cups, love them!

Watched Milk at last and thought it was fantastic.

Also watched Everyone says I love you and thought it was not that fantastic, I haven’t been lucky with Woody Allen lately.

I also guest blogged about my olfactory adventures on Signature Scent which was fun.

I must say it felt a little bit like spring on Saturday but I don’t want to get too excited as it’s not even the middle of February.  Felt tempted to buy some daffodils but restrained myself and settled for small pink carnations, I should enjoy spring when it comes!

Jessica from Signature Scent asked me to guest blog for each other. I have written about my favorite perfume on her site and she did a brilliant job with writing up a food guide for Northcote Road.

Delis

Al Gusto

This is a charming corner deli in a great people-watching spot. Perfect for a quick lunch, a sandwich or a cake in the afternoon. The sunny location means that the outdoor seating area is always packed in the summer months.

Northcote Patisserie

Local treasure, Manuel, knows all the locals and greets everybody with a welcoming smile. The fun atmosphere and cute combination of greasy spoon and Italian deli means that this patisserie is packed out day after day. The toasted mozzarella ciabattas alone are worth the visit – you won’t need to eat again for a week.

La Dolce Vita

Dolce Vita opened in December 2009 – so has yet to create a loyal following. There are a couple of tables to eat the promising deli food in house. Lots of treats to choose from and some great Italian pasta and other authentic produce.

Gastro Pubs

The Bolingbroke

Buzzing atmosphere ensures that the Bolingbroke is busy seven nights a week. The sophisticated decor and outstanding service make this a solid place for evening drinking and good food. More of a thirty something crowd than other places along Northcote Road.

The Draft House

One of a small group of local pubs, in a location that was previously occupied by the Pitcher and Piano. The new vibe is much more promising and the menu looks great.

Tea

Gail’s

Originally established in North London, Gail’s is a luscious bakery with loads of great deli bites and sweet treats. The seating space at the back always has proper tunes playing: more of a hip London vibe than anywhere else locally.

Brew

Successful cafe in a very small location means that they have had to make the most of their space. Blankets and outdoor heaters out front so that the outdoor seats are usually fully occupied even on the coldest day. If you want to stay away from the nappy crowd, then Brew is your place. Great menu includes fantastic scrambled eggs and a great selection of salads at the counter.

Crumpet

Directly opposite Brew, Crumpet is catering to the family market. Kids’ menu, kids’ portions and baby friendly facilities are amongst Crumpet’s main features. The staff are generally friendly and accommodating, although they can seem a bit frazzled at the busiest times.

TAMRA

TAMRA has recently taken over from what was a family institution, Boiled Egg and Soldiers. The vivid orange exterior doesn’t exactly welcome you the morning after the night before. But, great for breakfasts or a deli style lunch.

Steak

La Pampa Grill

Argentinian steakhouse. Great local steak place. If this one is busy, there’s a second La Pampa on Battersea Rise.

Cattle Grid

Recent addition to Northcote Road, great for steaks and ribs. Small restaurant, perhaps a bit lacking in atmosphere, not helped by the theme park fibreglass bull parked outside. Local opinion is that the steaks at La Pampa are better.

Gourmet Burger Kitchen

If you like a massively filling burger and some big fat chips – then this is the place for you. Always busy, so be prepared to queue at popular times. Good choice of burgers.

Italian & Spanish

Buona Sera

Buona Sera is one of those places that you go for birthday parties or big group lunches. It’s a rowdy, raucous pizza place. Lots of fun and the staff are super friendly. Best dish is the paella.

Lola Rojo

A stylish, modern take on tapas in an equally stylish setting. The deli counter sells Spanish specialities to take away on Saturdays. Outside seating area is perfect for summer evenings to bask in the sunshine and watch the passer-by.

Marzano

Loud and proud Italian pizza and pasta place. Packed with families at lunchtime on Saturday and Sunday. A younger crowd in the evenings.

Numero Uno

This local institution is a family-run restaurant; great for gourmet Italian food. Pizza doesn’t feature on the menu. If you feel like bresaola, or some lobster, this is the place. Friendly, Italian waiting staff will make you feel like you are the best customer they’ve ever had.

Osteria Antica Bologna

This was reviewed by the Sneaky Magpie herself a week or two ago.

Salumeria Napoli

Authentic Italian deli. Great seasonal produce as well as regular favourites. If you get a craving for Panetone, this is the place to buy it.

Tapas Variadas

The owner, who looks more like she’s from Hawaii than Spain, can be great fun or not. But don’t be put off by the odd scowl, the food is worth it. Lunchtime seafood paella for two is fantastic value for money. And make sure that you have a good look at the taps cabinet inside – some great food.

Vito’s

An Italian in a great corner location.

Thank you Jess, I will be trying a lot of those places soon!

I am in an absolute need of a stripy dress for spring. I can only imagine how I would jazz it up with colorful accessories: necklaces, scarves, a good satchel bag and those fabulous colorful bangles by Sonia Rykiel for H&M.

It must be made of jersey or cotton and flexible enough for cycling. And the stripes could only be blue and white.

There are 3 contenders:

Dress no 1: long Acne dress – the obvious problem with this dress is that it is long but I could cut it and maybe even make an extra skirt out of it.

Dress no 2: Alice by Temperley – wonderfully draped, the right kind of stripes, not too short not too long. I love it so much I got it booked at Net.

Dress no 3: Alexander Wang T (if jane, thanks for posting it) – wonderfully clingy and the perfect timeless cut.

And now for the accessories. Lots and lots of color, ideally scarf or bangles. Comfy flats and a satchel.

I love my Church’s shoes so I wouldn’t mind them in a different color.

I really think this is the winner.

I got up on Sunday morning wanting to bake with hazelnuts. I have got a large jar of hazelnuts and am eager to use them up before they go off. I flipped through a number of cook books desperately trying to find a good nut recipe but didn’t quite feel satisfied with anything. There was either pastry to make, billion of eggs or tons of butter to use. I had a clear idea of fruit, hazelnuts and yogurt.

Looking through My Favorite Ingredients by Skye Gyngell cherry clafoutis caught my eye and after reading the recipe carefully I decided that I can replace cherries with plums, almonds with hazelnuts and cream with yogurt.

First things first, I had to prepare the nuts. Step 1. blanching. Step 2. roasting for 10 minutes. Step 3. rolling in a tea towel to get rid of bitter skins. Step 4. grinding. And there you go – ground hazelnuts aka hazelnut flour.

I got some ridiculously cheap plums rescued from the supermarket’s shameful rack of things passed the sale by date. The plums were not even entirely ripe let along not suitable for retail. They would be in the skip the next day while absolutely fine to eat.

First step is to stone and cut the plums into chunks, melt 40g of butter till bubbly but not brown, add the plums, 100g of sugar, tsp of ground cinnamon or 1 cinnamon stick and rind of 1 unwaxed lemon and let it cook for 10-15 minutes till the juices thicken.

Place 1/3 of the fruit at a bottom of a low round baking dish and save the rest of fruit and juice for serving. This is super delicious on its own or on porridge.

To make the batter you need to cream 2 egg yolks with 5 tbsp of sugar (Skye says 3 spoons but it was not sweet enough). Combine it with 75g of ground hazelnuts, 75g of sifted flour, 1 stick of ground vanilla. Beat the eggs whites with a pinch of salt and add it to the mixture carefully.

Pour the batter over the fruit and bake in 200 degrees Celsius for 20-30 minutes. Let it cool for few minutes and serve with the plum sauce.

I will definitely make the proper cherry version this summer.

Now to books. I haven’t read a lot this past week due to going out a lot. So I promise to make up this week. I am actually reading a number of books at the moment, I am wondering how I am even able to do it. I am still going through Chekhov’s stories as I don’t like to read them all at once, I read one story in between books. At the moment it’s Three Years, as everything by Anton it’s very good.

I am re-reading The Golden Age of Couture. Drooling over the beautiful pictures and soaking up all the details about making couture clothes. There is a fair bit about rationing as well and the transition from poor post war years in to the opulence of New Look. This leads to another book on rationing, Utility Furniture and Fashion, which describes the rationing years not only in furniture making but other areas too. This little book is my breakfast read.

I am also enjoying the very silly Fashion Babylon by Imogen Edward-Jones which can tell you one or two interesting things about the true face of the fashion industry. Last but not least is the gripping biography of the Marquess of Bath – Strictly Private – one of Britain’s biggest eccentrics is not afraid to say it all. I am now yearning to visit Longleat. Vogue has arrived as well and it is a very fat issue, M is out climbing tonight, I will be having a night in with my magazine.

Oh, and films. I have seen a couple of films.

Do you remember Dolly Bell? Emir Kusturica’s early film full of human drama, politics, love, suffering and generous dose of the usual music and animal antics.

A woman under the influence by John Cassavetes. Brilliant performance by Gena Rowlands (p.s. her early 70s dresses were to die for) portraying a housewife going through a nervous breakdown, her husband trying to keep the family together in a very dysfunctional manner and committing his wife to an institution. Her suffering is almost tangible, a woman so desperate to please her family she forgets about herself, having no creative outlet she focuses on being a housewife so much she becomes self destructive.

And there was also a bit of music, well kind of. It was experimental avant-garde hosted by Resonance FM in the depths of Hackney. It was interesting. The two first performers were good but the third was not so good, noises that were very unpleasant to the ear. We didn’t stay for the fourth performer. Good experience all together and a very nice cafe, if you are ever in Dalston you must visit. It’s called Cafe Oto. It serves cakes, snacks, Montmouth coffee and the whole place is furnished with vintage Ercol chairs and tables. I loved it.

The weather was glorious on Saturday, the sun was shining, the ground was covered with a film of snow and it felt chilly. A perfect day for a stroll down a market.

A friend  of mine and I decided on one of the less busy places, Broadway Market in Hackney.  This market is the perfect combination of food, fashion, antiques and books. You can flick through old copies of photography books while sampling wonderful infused olive oils and various cakes.

The street is full of cute little cafes, quirky shops and proper old fashioned English institutions like this jellied eel place:

And it was as busy as when it opened…

Fantastic vintage liquor cabinet.

I wouldn’t mind a picnic set for summer outings.

And some retro shot glasses (I am hunting for the perfect set).

Plenty of good quality fruit and veg. It’s a shame I live so far otherwise I would do my weekly shopping there.

Old fashioned candy – I don’t actually like them but the jars look so pretty.

We decided to stop for lunch in one of the cafes, it was called L’eau a la Bouche, we ordered hot chocolate to warm up and curried parsnip soup with pesto for my friend…

And ploughman’s for me. It was delicious.

Afterward we decided to stroll down to Old Street. There are some amazing buidlings along the way. They have so much character.

We headed to Leonard Street and had tea at The Book Club.

It serves as a cafe and you can play ping pong there, it also has got all kind of events like DJ nights, reading, fashion, discussion groups. A fun place and so laid back!

Then it was time to go home, I was exhausted as the previous night was spent at friend’s house for dinner which finished rather late. Btw did you see the amazingly bright Moon?? As explained by hubby it was the night when the Sun reflected off Mars and projected onto the Moon resulting in Moon shining like a mega light bulb.

I don’t like wasting food, I usually scan my fridge for goods on their way out and use them in a soup or stew. It really pains me when I do have to get rid of an odd bag of salad leaves at time to time. And I wish I had a garden so I could do compost (not sure yet what I would do with all the rats coming to munch on it which would be a major issue!).

Occasionally I find myself with one piece of fruit or veg left over. Sometimes it’s a challenge, sometimes the answer comes easily.

Last week I baked Swedish apple cake and was left with one huge Bramley apple. Fruit is easy, Bramley apples fall to the same category as rhubarb or plums – I don’t eat them fresh. So the simple and tasty solution is stewing them and using as a topping for my porridge.

Take one apple, a knife, a chopping board and veg pots as companions.

Chop the apple into large chunks. I didn’t peel the apple but I would advise you do as the skin is tough.

Place in the pot with one cinnamon stick and one star anise.

Add brown sugar (as much or as little as you like), a squeeze of lemon and a tiny bit of water.

Stew in covered pan until the apple chunks fall into pieces and cook nicely. Remove the spices and place in a nice Sylvac apple pot (or cucumber if apple is not available like in my case).

Enjoy chilled on porridge or hot with vanilla ice cream.

Yesterday I went to see a fun exhibition at London’s Fashion and Textile Museum: Foale and Tuffin and Made in England.

I first came across Foale and Tuffin 4 years ago at the 60s exhibition at V&A and loved their quirky colorful designs ever since. It’s easy to spot which contemporary labels got their inspiration from Foale&Tuffin, and nice to see that the company’s heritage lives on.

A classic trench I would wear now and a dress reminiscent of Eley Kishimoto and Marc by Marc Jacobs.

Kate Moss must have gotten very impressed by this flowery dress (yours truly in the mirror too). I love the frilly top of the second dress.

The Double D dress and a fabulous green summer dress. A breath of fresh air after New Look era.

Peter Pan collars were everywhere. The ‘Boyfriend’ jacket in the background.

It’s all about color and comfort.

Simplicity is the word.

There were pictures of Twiggy and Jenny Boyd sporting the brand often photographed by the young David Bailey as well as drawings of the designs.

The exhibition also had few hippie frocks but that’s not my cup of it, let’s leave it to Bill Gibb, shall we?

And this is the workshop of Sally Tuffin and Marion Foale, the queens of Carnaby Street. They loved Liberty prints.

If you have got interest in fashion history this is a major chunk of the 60s London.

It was time for M’s haircut in Spitalfields (who is now sporting a positively Orwellian look) so Diana and I decided to have tea and cake at Market Coffee House.

Banana, chocolate and pecan cake and gun powder tea accompanied by D.V. was a delightful hour.

Afterward we headed to Shoreditch High Street via Brick Lane popping to pick up some chai latte on route.

Visiting new places continues and this weekend it was Geffrye Museum which I enjoyed a lot.

The museum is housed in 18th century almshouse, it shows domestic interiors of English middle class in London through various periods starting with 17th century dining room and ending in a modern 90s apartment.

All the interiors are very well described, there are timelines of the crucial events that influenced design among other things. There are also notes on the domestic customs like doing the accounts in the afternoon and visiting Carnaby Street for fruit and veg in the morning.

Lovely wallpaper.

I live in Art Deco building so it was very exciting to see how our apartment should really look like.

This beautiful chair would really work well in our place.

My favorite period in interior design the 50s-60s. Pete and Trudie Campbell would feel here at home. I love the briefcase left next to the table, father is home, get the old fashioned ready!

Woolworth’s Homemaker cup and saucer.

Beautiful Art Deco coffee set from Shelley Potteries.

Art Nouveau vase from Royal Doulton…

…and ‘The Book of the Home’.

Funky TV and coffee set.

Great place, I highly recommend it. I will be back later this year to visit the garden.

Feeling hungry we decided it was time for lunch, off to Pizza East for portobello mushroom and egg ….

…and Margarita.

The day got rather nippy so I was glad to head back home, curl up on the sofa and immerse myself in more wisdom of D.V.

I was meeting a friend of mine for tea after work but the idea of a quick bog standard tea in a characterless environment of Starbucks, Pret or similar did not appeal to me at all. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good for a quick bite or a beverage on the go but for a nice chat I need something much better.

So instead of a £2 paper cup of average tea I decided to have a top of the range cup of white peony tea for £3.50 served in beautiful china pot and brought to my table by a smiling waitress. Sitting on a properly upholstered Liberty peacock print chair and resting my feet on perfectly varnished wooden floor obviously adds to the experience as does the whole decor and atmosphere of the Liberty tea room. I must consider the extra £1.50 as very well spent.

Of course I had to snap few picture of the windows of my favorite shop in the world!

My weekend started at Osteria Antica Bologna in Northcote Road, a nice family run Italian restaurant where I enjoyed delicious scallops with lentil, apple and parsley salad accompanied by good wine and fabulous company. I actually tried to recreate the lentil salad but it wasn’t as good, truth be told I used the wrong kind of apple. If you are ever in Clapham Junction area do go, it’s a fantastic place for lunch, dinner or drink. Beware of a slow service but the wait will be worth it!

Saturday was all about food shopping and a very early spring cleaning of the flat, we have thrown out a bagful of old papers and organised a lot of cupboards. We also visited the local charity shop to offload some stuff where I couldn’t resist buying F.Scott Fitzgerald collection of short stories for 50p.

After last two weeks of ebay madness I hardly have things to get rid of which feels so good.

Sunday was spent on cooking and playing with my little niece. I baked Allegra McEvedy’s Swedish apple cake which is more of a pudding than a cake, especially when served with good vanilla ice cream. Very easy recipe, it takes about 10-15 minutes to put everything together and 50 min to bake.

Got to read a little too, Vogue and ELLE arrived, The Sunday Times had a good article on Mad Men which btw won the best drama at Golden Globes for the 3rd year in a row, well deserved!

I am reading Chekhov’s stories and this weekend I enjoyed Ward no6. I also got D.V. by Diana Vreeland which I am very much looking forward to. Following the Norman Parkinson show at Somerset House I decided to re-read The Golden Age of Couture – the book accompaniment to one of my favorite exhibitions.

I watched the rather bad Breaking and Entering (a total waste of time) and the very graphic yet beautifully shot Antichrist.

Few things I am looking forward to:

a visual feast of A Single Man thanks to Dan Bishop

visiting V&A to see Quilts, Grace Kelly and Horace Walpole shows, and might even pop in to see a rather intriguing sounding The Metropolitan Police Service’s Investigation of Fakes and Forgeries

Foal and Tuffin at Fashion and Textile Museum should be fun, along with a stroll down Bermondsey Street

William Eggleston at Victoria Miro Gallery

Irving Penn Portraits at NPG

whole lot of good stuff at the Tate Galleries

buying some plants – I quite like the idea of mother-in-law’s tongue in nice mid-century pots, at the moment I own no plants whatsoever, even my basil died so this will be a challenge.