The Sneaky Magpie

I really wish for warmer weather, this morning my fingers and toes got frozen and I almost skidded on ice on Oxford Street and went against the traffic cause I was not able to take a turn. On top of this the heating in my office is broken again and I am sitting under two layers of jumpers plus a water bottle. Brrr.

But it is sunny so I should not complain too much!

This weekend was very nice.

More bread making. Sourdough rye, a much lighter rye than last week, superb crust. I am using Richard Bertinet’s book called Crust, very easy to follow and all the bread comes out amazingly well.

A quick look at Carnaby Street exhibition followed by a delicious lunch of Italian tapas at Polpo.

Afterward I was off to National Portrait Gallery to see a wonderful selection of Irving Penn’s portraits. The photographs are very striking with a fair dose of humour.

More baking was done: caramelised apple, hazelnut and almond cake accompanied by a hot beverage in my new Portmeirion cup, thank you Lisa!

The baby plants are doing very well.

I got three Elizabeth Gaskell books, it was very hard to decide which one I should read first. I recently watched BBC’s North and South so decided to start with this one. Absolutely smitten with Richard Armitage BTW. Gaskell’s writing is very engaging, realism with a bit of humour, I feel we are going to be very good friends. I am enjoying it so much I actually get up early to do a little bit of reading before work.

I also watched few films:

Up in the Air – all I can say, thank God the DVD broke half way in, it was dreadful

Where the Wild Things Are – very charming and beautiful

Paris je t’aime – a great selection of 18 shorts about Paris, each by different director and star studded. Some nicer then others but lovely to watch. Ps We booked another weekend in Paris in June, cannot wait!

We had another go at making baguettes, we followed the same recipe as last time from Chocolate&Zucchini but replaced some of the strong bread flour with rye flour.

We ended up with four delicious baguettes and a bun. It’s such a enjoyable process and it tastes so much better than a shop bought bread. Sourdough bread will be the next thing to master.

The baking didn’t end there. I have been meaning to try another of Clotilde’s recipes – pecan mudslide cookies. I actually made pecan and hazelnut cookies, they were very rich and scrumptious. So rich I froze half of the batch.

We went for a walk and errands in Balham, we bought some more of good quality bread flour and other bits.

We visited Trinity Stores, a wonderful little deli and tea shop.

Shelves full of great products.

And produce.

Next door, also in Balham Station Road, there is a second hand book store, it’s a mess so it’s good to go there with lots of free time. I had to restrain myself from buying books as I have just ordered three Elizabeth Gaskell novels.

We decided to take a different route home and explore the neighborhood.

Back home I settled for a very large cup of tea and some cookies while reading Anne Bronte’s Agnes Grey. It was a blissful afternoon.

Then I got very busy organising various cupboards in the kitchen while M built shelves to improve our storage space. The kitchen is looking very good now.

I finished the day watching Katalin Varga. A dark drama of crime and revenge.

I was supposed to go out of town on Sunday but the weather was so dreadful I decided to stay and see what London has got to offer.

First stop was The British Library to see Points of View exhibition. The exhibition covered 19 century photography from William Fox Talbot’s beginnings through documenting the first hippopotamus in Britain, practical and spiritual use of photography to Eadweard Muybridge’s motion pictures and the birth of Kodak.

Talbot’s early picture and the famous hippo.

Everyday life.

Exotic travels.

Portraits.

Science, medicine, criminology and progress.

Journalism.

Every area of life got examined, new animals and lands were seen by all, people became travelers from the comfort of their own sofas, ‘ghost pictures’ were all the rage along with séances, catching criminals got easier, world became a smaller place.

A very good and broad exhibition, well worth a visit.

Next stop was Wellcome Collection, the current exhibition is about identity however it failed to engage me, I was much more into Medicine Man which is a bit like a smaller and tidier version of the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. It had a selection of various medical objects as well as curiosities like Darwin’s walking stick, Napoleon’s toothbrush and King George III’s lock of hair. I had a lot of fun and highly recommend it.

I really must mention the cafe at Wellcome Collection, it’s run by Peyton and Byrne and the cakes were amazing. They also have the nicest crockery and glasses with embossed bees.

Both exhibitions are free.

I also read The Diary of a Nobody. Mr Pooter, the protagonist, is the Victorian version of one of my favorite literary characters – Adrian Mole. He leads a happy life, doesn’t like changes, makes a lot of jokes and finds them hilarious, offends his friends and makes up, gets into uncomfortable situations and struggles to understand his son, he is a middle class city clerk desperate to be recognised by the upper class.

The tone of this book is very light and funny, it’s a satire on all the Victorian diaries that became so easy to publish everyone did it, it is also a satire on people who take themselves too seriously. I enjoyed it tremendously.

Few days ago Lisa from Krim Krams announced a giveaway of a stunning Portmeirion cup and saucer, of course I promptly joined the fun and this morning I found out I won it! I haven’t won anything since I was a little girl so it put a huge smile on my face. Thank you Lisa!

Later on today a Hummingbird Bakery box landed on my desk. A special selection of Valentine’s Day cup cakes for everyone in my office.

I am not a huge fan of cup cakes but tried one and the sponge was nice and moist, the icing was not too sickly sweet and it was so pretty, soon I found myself tucking in with my fingers dyed red and glitter everywhere.

Then the sugar rush hit and my colleague and I headed down to Waterstone’s  in Piccadilly to look at some issues of McSweeney’s (usually I am very lazy and cannot be bothered to walk that far). It’s extremely hard to choose just one so we quickly decided we will buy them off Amazon later on. Check out the great story behind the name of the literary magazine here and watch Dave Eggers at TED, he is so brilliant. Before returning to the office we looked at some more books, I always want to buy a lot so it was hard to leave empty handed.

Afterward came the crash and I actually started to crave another cup cake like a junkie.

Unfortunately for me Hummingbird Bakery has just opened a shop in Soho. While Notting Hill is a save distance away, Wardour Street is a mere 5 minutes from my office. I only hope my sugar levels go back to normal by Monday and I will forget it altogether.

It’s 9.00pm and I am still buzzing.

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!

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.

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.

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.

I had a great day today and yesterday, I have posted near to 30 items on ebay and they caused a stir! Fingers crossed all will sell which will give my wardrobe much needed breathing space. I have decided that if I haven’t worn something for a year or longer I will never wear it again and it must go. I have also revisited the boxes of designer treasures that are not such treasures now I look at them, no classics, time to go. My fashion investments will remain in the bag and shoe stock.

I have loaded a bag for charity shop and will deliver it to Oxfam with all the ebay failures.

You know all the tasks that get put away like mending your clothing, polishing shoes and sewing missing buttons on? They have been staring at me from the depths of my wardrobe for some time and yesterday I finally faced them all at the same time. Such a relief.

I have invested into a small catering business in Philippines on Kiva. I really hope these ladies do well.

I have purchased two nice belts from All Saints, in brown and black leather. They are my only sales hunts so far, unfortunately the other belt sold out so I don’t have a picture.

I have really cracked on with my book pile, I have managed to read:

High Raise the Roof Beam, Carpenters by J.D. Salinger

Seymour an Introduction by J.D. Salinger

Nine Stories by J.D.Salinger

I know it is a lot of Salinger but he is such a good writer, I also found out that he is still alive, 100 years old!

The Most Beautiful Woman in Town by Charles Bukowski

The Faithful River by Stefan Zeromski

I have decided to put away Ulysses and The Corporation, at least for now.

So the only remaining books left are Tropic of Capricorn and some Chekhov stories and plays. This means I will be able to move onto some brand new books very soon. Really looking forward to it.

I have watched the 2 new episodes of Cranford and am awaiting the DVD of the first series, I might even start reading the books. I am quite glad I have not discovered it earlier because I am in real need of a costume drama fix.

I have made it to Tate Britain today to see the wonderful Turner and the Masters show, they had some amazing Rembrandts and Canalettos. I also checked out the Turner Prize which is definitely better than last year’s and glimpsed at some beautiful sculptures in the hall. This reminds me of few more exhibitions I must see and the time is running out. Especially for Ed Ruscha at The Hayward (Friday 6.00-10.00pm two for one deal) on till the 10th of January, Maharaja at V&A till 17th January and Jacob Epstein, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and Eric Gill at The Royal Academy till 24th January. I knew I left it too late and now will have to rush.

The Mill by Rembrandt

And tomorrow I will have to take it easy….

I have not read a book for a bit which is very unusual for me. Maybe it is because I am forcing myself to read books I own and haven’t read yet, or perhaps I ditched the tube for a bike loosing up to 1h of valuable reading time a day.

Very often I read book after book and when I get to # 5 or 6 I can’t concentrate anymore and need a break. I don’t stop reading entirely but engage in magazines and short stories instead until the book hunger pang strikes again.

At the moment I am reading short stories by Chekhov, Bukowski and J.D. Salinger. Chekhov has been one of my most beloved writers forever, his elegant and pure style is a big part of my literary education. I read all Bukowski’s books in one go and got a slight overdose while reading his short stories but I reached for The Most Beautiful Woman in Town again and I am enjoying it a lot. As for Salinger, I loved Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey but couldn’t engage with his stories, I had a second approach at Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters this morning and I can’t wait to go back to it when I get a free moment.

My book pile is getting smaller and smaller, I was really hoping to be done with it by the end of the year but I really don’t think this will happen. The few books left to read are:

Tropic of Capricorn by Henry Miller

Ulysses (2 failed attempts – what I need is a right moment in the future)

The Corporation by Joel Bakan (not feeling it at all so might skip it)

The Faithful River by Zeromski

Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger

And a few books that I am planning to read afterward:

Steinbeck’s Cannery Row, Tortilla Flat and Travels with Charlie: In Search of America- I have to ration his books as they are so good!

Capote’s Summer  Crossing

Eggers’ Zeitoun

Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich

start on Proust

I’d like to try something by Anais Nin as never read her before and some of the Persephone classics

Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia and The Road to Wigan Pier, the only things I have not read by him and I adore him!

Fitzgerald’s The Beautiful and Damned and This Side of Paradise

Ayn Rand’s Anthem and also her biography, she fascinates me and if we are talking of amazing women I really must read D.V. by Diana Vreeland

A friend of mine mentioned a wonderful bookshop in the back streets of Wimbledon apparently piled with second hand classics for a song, I shall be visiting this treasure trove for sure.

Oh, almost forgot, I am also reading Jane Austen in Bath: Walking Tours of the Writer’s City by a wonderful publisher Little Bookroom. Have a look at their website as they have the most amazing and unusual guide books with true insider tips. I have read half of the Bath guide last night, city that I have been meaning to visit for a very long time, and need to plan a short weekend trip very soon given that is it only a couple of hours away. The book is beautifully illustrated and tells stories from Austen’s life while taking the reader through various parts of the city.

Looking back at 2009 I have not read that many books but the ones I’ve read were mostly very good. The favorite ones being:

Generation X by Douglas Coupland

Vonnegut’s stories, re-reading Slaughterhouse 5 and Mother Night- I went through some Vonnegut phase few months ago

The World of Coco Chanel

The Love in Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Tender is The Night and whole lot of Fitzgerald’s stories

High Rise by J.G. Ballard – I couldn’t stop thinking of the Trellick Tower, and a very good biography of Erno Goldfinger

Collected stories by Nikolai Gogol

Now it’s time for some festive fun, been listening to Billie Holiday’s album 40 Hits and it’s about the time to break for Christmas, starting at The Champion with some friends (lucky I didn’t cycle to work today!).