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!

Come through the door of Gastro in Clapham’s Venn Street and you’ll completely forget you are in London. This bistro is a real treasure having managed to hire only French staff, make the decor like a Parisian restaurant and serving perfect French dishes.

Every time I have been here I feel like I am on holiday. The wine is excellent and the food delicious. Baguettes and butter are served before you get your menu and the atmosphere is brilliant with French chatter and a noisy espresso machine in the background.

The menu is classic French fair: steak frites, moules, lobster and chips with haricot beans or a salad side dish and delicious crème brûlée for dessert.

I had mussels in white wine and french fries.

My other half had steak with pepper sauce and fries.

In the past I’ve had goat’s cheese salad and calves liver with mash – it was amazing.

The chef was very happy to pose. Who said the French are moody?

We didn’t really mind the rain on our way home.

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 really cannot wait for spring, it has been raining for days and I am very fed up of getting home wet every night.

I went for a walk round the common last weekend and got very excited to see crocuses coming out. Daffodils are not that far away and I think snowdrops have been seen in the country side. This makes me happy.

On a way home we decided to visit Bowling Green Cafe which is next to our house but in over three years we never went there. Maybe we were put off by the pram mafia. But on a rainy day it was empty.

I was actually expecting an old fashioned caff but to my surprise it was a cute little cafe with proper coffee machine, selection of Clipper teas and cakes.

The decor is very cheerful with yellow walls and odd pictures.

The outdoor tables are very good alternative for my garden-less apartment.

The days are getting longer and March is few days away. I can’t wait to ditch my winter coats and boots.

It’s not the BAFTAS, not the Oscars but the Dorset Cereals Little Blog Awards I have been nominated for!

This is a blog begging for a vote.

Thank you kindly ;)

Also, please check out a great food blog for people allergic to dairy, wheat, soya, egg and yeast. The fabulous Pippa put a lot of work into coming up with some delicious recipes and works closely with one of the biggest UK supermarkets on developing Free From brand. Even though I am not allergic or intolerant to anything I will be trying a lot of them. They look amazing.

This is not an ordinary cheese and pickle baguette, this is a home-made sourdough baguette. The first successful bread we made.

A couple of weeks ago two architects moved into our office, I got talking to them and soon we discovered our mutual love of sourdough bread. It turned out that they have a 9 year old starter and make proper bread at home. I tried to make a starter last summer but failed. Later on that day they made me toast with home-made plum jam (one of them has got an allotment in High Gate) the bread was delicious, close enough to my very favorite bread from Gail’s, the jam was amazing too. I was determined to give it a go.

So to my delight the next day I was given a bit of their starter and a book to get my head around bread making. They also gave me a bunch of very good tips:

- in order to create steam in the oven for good crust, get a squirter for the oven walls and a ‘bath’ to put on a shelf

- get a stone instead of a baking sheet

- get a proofing basket

We had a go earlier this week and made pain de campagne. It was good, but it needed more salt and more kneading.

It was way better than any bread we baked before but we realised we have to keep making it till we are happy.

Yesterday we decided it was the time to make sourdough baguettes, we chose the recipe from Chocolate and Zucchini. It took about 17 hours but the baguettes turned out really well. Actually, they were amazing. It’s a really straight forward process with a lot of proofing time in between including a 12 hour rise in the fridge.

From this:

Via this:

To this:

So we are hooked. I fed my starter again and in few days time we can bake again.

I also baked some sweet buns.

M planted some herbs: basil, oregano and dill.

I sorted out the freezer.

Whenever I buy fresh herbs I only keep a small bunch in a glass with water and freeze the rest for future use. I usually toss them into sandwich bags which is not a great idea as the sizes are uneven and they spill. The solution to this are small take-away containers which will keep my herbs neatly. I even wrote names of the herbs on the boxes, I know, I am sad. Soon enough though I will have my own herb garden.

At the beginning of the year I flogged a lot of clothes on ebay, things that I kept packed away for the times they would become fashionable again, impulse buys, quick fashion fixes etc.

To my surprise a healthy amount accumulated in my paypal and my original thought was to take the money out and buy that stripy dress. But then I thought it’s going to end up on ebay in few years time after having lost its value and I will be left with few pounds. So I started to think about something that would stay with me for much longer and M reminded me of the Kitchen Aid mixer that we really really want but never can justify forking out a considerable amount of money for it. Ebay was the perfect place, very soon we found brand new and boxed black Artisan Kitchen Aid for much less than in the shops. And, lucky us, it had buy it now button. So we bought it. I was ecstatic!

I didn’t really want it to be posted as it is very heavy and I was afraid of possible damage. M was away in Wales and I decided to make a trip to Harrow to collect it myself. I started to wonder why would anyone want to sell a brand new mixer cheaply, it surely must be stolen goods! After committing to Saturday morning I started to think about the danger of going to some stranger’s house, the Street View confirmed the worst – it was a shabby council block. But I braved it, left the address with enough friends to be found should anything happen (yes, I was paranoid!). On my way there I got a text from the seller saying that he/she (I only knew the ebay name so had no idea about the gender which added to my distress) will meet me at the station with the mixer. It was a relief. And then even a greater relief, it turned out to be a nice enough lady, she doesn’t cook and got the mixer as a gift from her family, she thought it would be rude to ask for the receipt so couldn’t exchange it for a more suitable thing.

When I finally got home and unpacked the box, everything was spanking new and shiny and there was the receipt inside, the machine was bought 2 weeks earlier and the box was never opened.

The first thing I made with it was a batch of pancakes.

Pancake Day is one of my favorite days in a year. I usually eat healthily so having pancakes for dinner is a real treat. I suppose I could eat pancakes on any other day but I just don’t allow it myself, it could get out of control. And if I do eat them it is usually for breakfast or brunch.

My pancakes are not the most beautiful things in the world, I like them in various shapes and sizes, they are more fun that way.

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!