Archive | November, 2011
30 November, 2011 

Christmas gifts – books

Sitting on a sofa drinking tea, eating lebkuchen and thinking of the gifts I yet have to buy – books spring to my mind! Here are few literary suggestions, I hope you like.

Kindle! Yes, it is the best thing ever. I know that real books are great, the smell, the touch but Kindle is so handy if, like me, you have no space to house all the books you want. It can store up to 1500 books and you get them within seconds. And just imagine how easy it is to read on a packed public transport not to mention how light it is for your poor stressed shoulders. From Amazon.

The funny, witty and smart author, India Knight, writes about four Christmases she hosted. Pure joy. From Amazon.


If I had enough space I would get all the Penguin Classics with covers by Coralie Bickford-Smith. They are so beautiful.

 

This great edition of Master and Margarita and many more stunning books at The Folio Society.

The Making of a Marchioness and other wonderfully rediscovered 20th century classics from Persephone Books.

A Kindle cover which is not a Kindle cover – it’s a Whistles make up bag! But it fits perfectly and is so much more stylish. Also comes in dusty navy blue.

PS Apologies for the messy pictures but for some reason WordPress won’t center, argghh.

28 November, 2011 

Dennis Severs’ House – you have to visit when in London

This must be one of the most amazing places to see in London. This is what I expected Charles Dickens House to be like, and all other historical house in fact. Real food, real fire, candle light – it looked, felt and smelt like we went back in time.

The house is supposed to be seen in an absolute silence, there are sounds assisting you to truly experience life of this family of silk weavers, you can hear steps on the stairs, bits of conversation, tea being poured into cups. There is an unfinished breakfast and an unopened letter in one of the bedrooms, half drunk cups of tea, a pomegranate cut in half, someone has just left the table, perhaps to answer the door, and will be back soon. After a while you start to imagine additional noises and become acquainted with the inhabitants.

You are not meant to look at all the object like in a museum but take it all in as a home, we move through the ages starting in the basement where bits of St. Mary’s Spital are placed in a crater, they are from 1197, we move on to Enlightenment, Victorian times, Baroque and end in 1914, there is no chronological order as such, but you grow more mature as a person ending in a ragged dirty bedroom at the top which probably housed an industrial working class family of eight.

If you visit now you will discover the house to be all dressed up for Christmas with a Christmas tree, mince pies, Christmas pudding, sweets and plenty of spectacular festive decorations. You can also book a place for the evening tour called Silent Night, how amazing would that be? No artificial light  whatsoever.

The house is a location as well and Crimson Petal and the White was shot there, I am guessing scenes from Mrs Castaway’s house, definitely Sugar’s bedroom.

Take a peek.

Apart from the top exterior shot all the pictures are from Dennis Severs’ House website and Flickr account.

Dennis Severs’ House

18 Folgate Street

E1

For opening times visit the website.

 

24 November, 2011 

Christmas gifts

Oh, it is this time of the year when I have to start purchasing gifts in order to post them in time! I have been visiting quite a lot of websites and gathered few suggestions so expect few posts about gifts. I was going to wait till December but one must get organised so here is part 1.

This one is for home items. Christmas gifts for home

 

Cutlery set, tea towel and a blanket from Toast
A beautiful edition of Vita Sackville-West’s In Your Garden & In Your Garden Again from Folio Society
Mugs and a pot from Tate Modern
Tea towel and folky serving plate from Pedlars
Flasks and pie blackbird from Labour&Wait
Mugs and plates, and above a stationary set – all Festival of Britain from Southbank Centre
Paper party plates from The National Gallery
Gingerbread house tin from John Lewis
21 November, 2011 

A very successful shopping trip

Yesterday we went to our usual car boot sale and got few bits. Afterward we headed to Old London Road in Kingston. We popped into 37 Old London Road which was in one of the funnier episodes of Mary Queen of Shops, they have a very tasteful selection of old, new and reworked goods, some great tables and kitchen cabinets in particular. A world apart from their pre-Mary shop selling glass mules and a bathrobe clad son/shop assistant.

Next door is Kingston Antiques Centre which I passed by on several occasions but never stepped in, it looked closed. We went in and I thought I died and went to a vintage heaven – room after room crammed with antiques, every smallest nook filled to the brim, Victorian, Art Deco, Mid Century, modern M&S, it just went on and on, and there was another floor! Lo and behold – a Polish cafe to refresh yourself with a cup of instant cappuccino (yuck) and a bowl of home made chicken soup (delish).

We ended our trip at Princess Alice Hospice furniture store where we purchased a wardrobe, it comes on Wednesday and I cannot wait. After a year of a clothes rack and piles of shoe boxes scattered around the place this will be a brilliant improvement. Fingers crossed we can get it in!

Few purchases from the car boot fair.

20 November, 2011 

Wimbledon Common – the perfect backgarden

Saturday was such a sunny and warm day that Freddie and I decided to go for a walk in Wimbledon Common which starts literally behind our back fence. The leaves crunched and our path was peppered with mushrooms. Hubby did some painting so it was better for us to stay out so we walked enjoying the views and fresh air.

We crossed river Beverly and headed up towards Wimbledon Village, it’s a great 30 minute walk especially in autumn when it just looks beautiful.

Coming to the top of the hill there are some amazing houses and a good pub – stop for a drink or lunch after the brisk walk.

Enter the Village – again amazing houses, cafes and shops including Matches, Space NK, Whistles! and soon to open The Kooples.

Sometimes I have to pinch myself, I am very lucky to have such beautiful woods on my doorstep.

 

19 November, 2011 

November things

An early Christmas present arrived in a form of a tree Bundt tin. In preparation for the festive season I had a go at baking a suitable cake. Even though the tin is non-stick I didn’t quite believe it so I buttered it inside really well. Luckily the cake came out smoothly in a perfect shape. There wasn’t enough batter for the cake to rise right to the top so my cake is missing the train running at the bottom. It will be a long process to figure out the right amount of cake mixture.

I decided to bake Katie Quinn’s chocolate and Guinness cake which was delicious, not too sweet and not too malty.

I didn’t make the cream cheese icing but just covered the peaks with a bit of icing sugar. I also used a very good Dutch cocoa from Algerian Coffee Store in Soho. I went for Van Houten instead of the more classic Droste because of the tin.

I am looking for more Bundt cake recipes to try so if you know any throw them my way please!

I have a few vintage finds to share. The first comes from a charity shop – a pretty Poole Pottery milk jug. Unfortunately charity shops are charging crazy prices nowadays, the only decent one is Oxfam. I think Mary Portas is to blame for some of it, the days of great finds are long gone. I understand that they are trying to make money for good causes but charging nearly shop prices for second hand items is just cheeky, instead of spending some money I leave empty-handed most of the time. The end of rant.

I have also started to collect small plates and saucers for cake parties. These cost anything between 10p and £2.25. The cheapest came from car boot sale and the charity shops had prices from 99p up.

This mid century toast rack came form a boot fair and, I can assure you, did not cost a fortune. I love the colour and shape.

It came from my mother in law together with a couple of pillow cases. This fabric is Lucienne Day’s Calyx which I love.

I also did some real shopping in real shops! I am so used to buying things online that I never ever go inside shops anymore. All my shopping was done at Whistles and I could have bought the whole collection if I had the means. I got a pair of trousers, a couple of tops and a Kindle cover. It really is a make up bag but my Kindle sits in it perfectly and it is so stylish, way better than those purpose made dull covers. I really wonder why the choice of iPad covers is so vast and the poor Kindle is treated like a second class citizen?

16 November, 2011 

Classic cakes: Lemon tart

This is a recipe I’ve been meaning to try for years and years but there was never a good time. We had guests for lunch and cake seemed to heavy as a dessert. It was the right time for lemon tart, at last! I guess this is a warm up to lemon meringue pie. It turned out a little overbaked on one side but that’s my oven.

Pastry recipe is the same as the apple pie but needs to be baked blind for 10-15 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius, trimmed and baked for additional 10 minutes at 170 degrees Celsius until just slightly golden.

Filling:

5 free range eggs

125ml double cream

225g caster sugar

juice and  zest of 4 unwaxed lemons

Whisk the eggs, add rest of the ingredients and mix well. Pour it in a jug. Place the case back in the oven and pour the liquid in. Bake for 30 minutes at 170 degrees, the filling should be firm but have a wobble. Take out and cool. Decorate with icing sugar. Take out of the tin as soon as it’s cooled down.

 

12 November, 2011 

All about Charles

Well, almost. The bicentenary of Dickens’s birth is coming up and we have all sort of treats lined up.

First of all, I am so excited about the BBC adaptation of Great Expectations this Christmas with Gillian Anderson as Miss Havisham, Ray Winstone as Magwitch and David Suchet as Mr Jaggers. I am besides myself and cannot wait. I am starved of a good costume drama this autumn (season 2 of Dowton Abbey completely failed to engage me). In fact, we will be doubly treated to Great Expectations as there is also a silver screen version being shot with Helena Bonham Carter who, in my opinion, is the perfect Miss Havisham and Ralph Fiennes as Magwich who I am very curious about.

Most of us are familiar with Pip’s passionate love for Estella but I decided to refresh my memory and I am rereading this great novel. I downloaded the complete works of Charles Dickens to my Kindle for a mere £2 but you can go flash and get these luxurious Penguin Classics editions with fabric covers illustrated by Coralie Bickford-Smith at £10-15 per book or a full set for £100. A beautiful Christmas gift, don’t you think?

The box set includes A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, Bleak House, A Christmas Carol and Hard Times.

The Charles Dickens Museum was closed up until this week for some restoration works so I went to check it out yesterday. I expected a higgledy-piggledy house with creaking stairs and dingy rooms. In reality it was a very orderly and tidy home.

We start our tour down in the basement where we find a cozy kitchen, a washroom and a library. Of course I was absolutely fascinated by the kitchen and it was my favorite room in the whole house.

The drawing room was such a happy place, it was all coziness, fun and love. You can imagine the Dickens family enjoying many chatty afternoons here. Just imagine Christmas in this place!

Mary Hogarth’s room had a beautiful gown on display.

The author’s desk.

The musem has got the best collection of Dickens memorabilia in the world.

There is a great museum shop with beautiful editions of Dickens’s works and the museum will be dressed up for Christmas with special events.

Last but not least we have the new biography by Claire Tomalin which I am looking forward to read.

 

8 November, 2011 

Bonfire night in Wales

We went to visit my mother-in-law in Carmarthenshire and join her annual Bonfire Night party. Freddie found the flickering bonfire hilarious but the fireworks failed to impress him.

My mother-in-law loves antiques, her house is like a treasure hunt, every nook has got something interesting. She restores and upholsters furniture so everything is unique.

Hubby’s college creation.

The great outdoors.

We also visited a great car boot sale, I wish we had a car! This is what we didn’t buy.