The Sneaky Magpie

Seeing the rain go away and welcoming blue sky if only for a couple of days.

A detox juice and a beautiful teacup.

The cutest piglets at Deen Farm and vintage bikes.

Little boy meets blueberry pancakes.

Kingston Market asparagus and Deen farm eggs for dinner. I am so happy asparagus is here.

Buying plants (but no cake) at Petersham Nurseries.

Back home with aquilegias and tiny pink ones the name I have forgotten.

Planning.

The veg patch started to gain some height.

The seating area is getting cozy.

Anyone knows the name of these green flowers? I think they will look fab with bluebells next spring.

The apple tree is in full blossom at last and lots of plants started to grow like crazy with all the rain we are experiencing. Now can we have some sunshine please to get the bees going? Broad beans are really big and radishes and peas are catching up fast. I have plenty of strawberries too, the Alpine strawberry plant I bought last year created 13 new plants, hopefully this hanging variety will do the same. Lots more to sow.

A resident robin, the boldest bird in the street.

Chocolate and banana bread in a shape of muffins by Joy the Baker for A Cup of Jo.

A new obsession – green manures. Ours is a mix of buckwheat, clover, phacelia and mustard. The plants are meant to improve structure of the soil, nitrogen content and attract wildlife. They also look beautiful, a small meadow in my garden. We have really bad soil and struggled with veg last year so apart from this we are also growing potatoes to do some digging and will sow Hungarian rye everywhere over winter. After few months you just dig it and it will work its magic. The prep is hard because we had to weed a lot but the results will be worth it.

My project is done and I am a stay at home mum again. We shot last Thursday in a stunning house with a huge garden, a summery scene on a very rainy day, some magic had to happen.

With all the April showers I am catching every dry spell to go out and do fun things, at this stage there seems to be no good forecast whatsoever and I cannot spend everyday inside with the boy.

This morning we zipped to Petersham Nurseries to purchase few plants, we were lucky enough to get back just before  the big downpour. A practical note: on a rainy day or just after wear your Wellington boots!

We also progressed with Freddie’s room, he has got so many books they were scattered in every single room and now they live happily along his vintage tractors.

Freddie himself is up to mischief all the time climbing on beds, jumping and pulling stuff down. After a smashed toe he cut his lip with his teeth.

Read Making of The Marchioness which I loved and started on Mad Men – awesomeness!

What a lovely weather we had, unfortunately it is coming to an end for my Easter party.

Ranunculus are in season, my second favorite flowers ever, and I am taking the full advantage of the Kingston Market flower stand who sell them in beautiful colours.

Tulips are also appearing in my home but I am yet to wait for my own to bloom. Rosemary is blooming though with pretty purple flowers.

Car boot sale today, great results:

An enamel mug and Festival of Britain shot glasses

Tin tractor and Dr. Seuss for the Bug

Frames for a future decoration project

A fuel rationing book

I used the last year’s apples and blackberries from the freezer and made a pie with this recipe, the stem ginger adds so much to the fruit, delicious.

We visited Isabella Plantation to admire magnolias, camellias and some rhododendrons.

Much gardening was done but that’s another post.

The first BBQ of the year.

And Mad Men season 5 has started!

I went to Petersham Nurseries today for the first visit of the year. The sun was shining so we enjoyed strolling and admiring flowers. Then I sat down to coffee and cake and the boy ran around to the fountain and back making a new friend on the way.

The nursery can really make any flowers look good, the trick seems to be grouping a lot of them together, I must rethink my approach it seems!

We came home with a black currant bush and a new cake obsession – Skye’s orange and almond.

What a wonderful springy few days we have had! I loved basking in the sun, letting the boy run in the park and getting our garden ready for the planting season.A lot of herbs and flowers came out of the greenhouse and the greenhouse itself got cleaned and organised and it is my little planting haven.

We had a visitor and went to see Lucien Freud at The National Portrait Gallery which was breathtaking, seeing those amazing canvases close up is such an amazing experience, the brushstrokes, the poses, the expressions. A truly remarkable body of work. It’s very hard to get tickets at this point so the best bet is to be there at 10.00am otherwise the queue is 2-3h long.

We were supposed to go and see David Hockney too but my friend with the tickets got ill and had to stay at home, we enjoyed a very long lunch at Café Boheme so wouldn’t make it anyway and one big exhibition was enough for the boy.

I have been disgustingly indulging in Nancy Mitford. Pursuit of Love, The Blessing (beyond hilarious!) and Madame de Pompadour. The woman can write so well and her social observations are excellent. The Dior and tweed-clad heroins and their love lives are very gripping but I was really impressed what a great biographer she is. Madame de Pompadour is a very addictive read full of anecdotes and vibrant descriptions. I also have Don’t Tell Alfred waiting by my bedside – a paper version was half the price of Kindle mmmm…..

I haven’t been baking a lot but I did make some brownies topped with pecans and crystallised ginger.

In techy/social media sort of news I am on Pinterest, totally loving it. A massive addiction!

As the autumn approaches (or are we officially in it already?) there are woolly jumpers coming over from Wales, grandma and great grandma are lovingly knitting for the little boy and what a skilled duo they are!

We also received a sweet lavender heart that my mother in law made.

And the bug got his own lavender stuffed cat from auntie Sam. Even though lavender is known for its relaxing quality it did not stop the boy from his usual waking up every 2h at night!

At last I have visited a car boot sale, this one is at a Kingston school, rather small but pretty good. All the prices I asked for were in pennies. I got a couple of baking tins and some pretty serving forks and spoons. The total cost £2.50.

Our beetroot crop was pretty good but not massive, there are still some small chioggia beets in the ground. I roasted all of it with rosemary and put it in a blender. It makes for a great humus or is very good added to risotto.

I really feel like knitting again, a hat and a scarf would be a good, manageable project.

We did our first trip to see the grandparents, boy’s first plane trip in fact. It all went well and they bonded instantly.

We stopped in Warsaw for a couple of days and enjoy the ever evolving city. We had the best doughnuts in town filled with rose petal jam (hole in a wall bakery in Chmielna Street), great sandwiches at the Gessler deli and other Polish classics. The weather, as expected, was a fantastic 30 degrees.

I brought back some liquid treats – rose hip syrup and morello cherry vodka.

Upon return home we discovered plenty of ripe apples to deal with and some nice cherry tomatoes. All the asters have opened up and I was eager to cut few to decorate some of the rooms.

The biggest event of all – the boy can crawl! There is no escape from him now, whenever I try to do something he climbs up my legs. I cannot believe my little baby is nearly 9 months old.

I mentioned some damsons coming my way from Wales and when they arrived they were the tiniest things ever but after a long stoning process they turned out into a wonderful low sugar damson and rum jam.

The blackberries have come and gone, it happened way too quick. I managed to bake several cakes and make a blackberry and apple conserve. Now our apple tree is dropping its fruit like bombs all over the garden which results in lots of apple pies and purees. More baking of course…. I miss car boot sales, I am yearning after some old baking equipment and crockery…. I must get organised.

This tart was a star of a very summery lunch, the classic pastry case is filled with single cream, mascarpone, amaretto and lemon juice, and topped with berries and mint. It sits on a vintage plate I picked in a charity shop in Isle of Wight for a song. I love the green colour and the aged golden rim.

This cake is a moist sponge made with melted butter and olive oil, it’s got lemon and orange rind in it and, of course, blackberries. This one sits on another charity shop find, I usually pair it up with a doily.

A favourite classic – apple and blackberry pie on a crispy pastry. The filling has got citrus rind to make is nice and zingy.

We had some tasty veg coming from the garden: courgettes, cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes started to get red and borlotti beans are very pretty too (mind you, they get grey and dull when cooked but so delicious).

Onions are garlic have been harvested and are drying.

We had second round of roses, the yellowy pink ones smell divine.

The garden is slowly winding down, the geraniums are wilting but our sweet peas just started to bloom! I guess planting things late has its charm. We are planning a new look for the garden, this autumn will be busy. I will also get very very organised and order spring plants and fruit bushes this year to be ready.

Last week we went to visit Ham House or rather Ham Garden, it was part of the National Garden Scheme which meant all the proceeds went to the said organisation. You can visit on any day though.

We skipped the house and left it for winter and went to explore the gardens. There were formal gardens, little bits of organised wilderness and our favorite – a kitchen garden.

As usual we got inspired by some of the arrangements, especially all the lady bird and bee friendly borders.