I am so happy about being able to pick flowers from the garden for the house, at the moment we are enjoying asters and cosmos, they don’t smell as nice as the pinky yellow roses but look pretty nevertheless.
The nature keeps giving and we are busy preserving – bramble and apple conserve, stewed apples and onion jam so far. It’s a very satisfying thing and therapeutic too, I peeled and chopped apples for about an hour last evening and there is much more. I will steam some for the baby but apart from that and various apple pies I am not sure what to do with the rest, there will be plenty left to eat, juice and give away to the neighbours. There are also some damsons coming over from Wales that need to be dealt with right away, oh my, jam I think.
I started to read Nigel Slater’s Tender Volume 1, I should have read it before I started planting veg in our garden, lots of good tips and delicious recipes. I am also enjoying Dorothea Lange’s biography, she was as fascinating as her pictures.
I have seen a couple of exhibitions lately, nothing major – Tracey Emin at Hayward Gallery whose work I don’t particularly like (and in all honesty most pieces were the same as her retrospective in Amsterdam about 8 years ago) and Miro at Tate Modern which was very exciting for my baby.
There are few things coming up that I shouldn’t miss:
Degas and the Ballet and Building The Revolution: Soviet Art and Architecture 1915-1935 at Royal Academy. Especially the latter one, even though Degas is one of my all time favorite artists.
Hollywood Portraits at NPG
Postmodernism at V&A
Last week we visited Mile End to collect a baby bike seat and we stopped by Victoria Park. Hungry and thirsty we came across The Pavilion, a small café serving local produce, delish.
I only just discovered The Wire and I am so hooked. Have you seen it? And The Great British Bake Off is back on inspiring me, I might take up a classic cake baking challenge.
Lots of walks, it’s sunny but you can feel the chill. Richmond Park is looking beautiful in autumn.
We are off to meet the grandparents in Poland this week, there is still summer there!
Oooh very impressed with all your preserving. Applesauce freezes well too. We’re just finishing our last container from last year. And just in time, as we’ve started picking the Bramleys in the orchard!
The Pavilion looks like a fab place for brunch. Must add to the to-visit list.
And hope you have a wonderful time in Poland! I’m off to my parents in Virginia this week, where it’s also still summer–hurrah!
K x
lovely lovely!
and have a great time in poland!
I had to laugh when reading your post – preserving, Nigel Slater, eggs florentine, The Wire – this could easily be a weekend of mine!
Kristina: great tip, thank you! all frozen and there are fresh apples to deal with
Nancy: thank you!
Jessica: ha ha ha.
So jealous of your Degas exhibitions! I was just reading about them in the New York Times and feeling wistful…I always go for applesauce when I have extra apples, and eat it far more quickly than I can make it! My mom usually goes for crisps I think…sounds like the most wonderful weekend.
Laura: apple crisps are on my list of apple-y things to try, I just need a good apple corer.
The Dorothea Lange book looks great!