The Sneaky Magpie

Another extremely busy weekend, juggling lots of tasks and managing to do some fun things too.

On Saturday morning I met a friend for her first bike trip in London, we started lightly on a 20 minute ride to Dulwich Picture Gallery. The gallery is in such a lovely spot and the works displayed are just the right mix of old masters, as usual there is a very good representation of the Flemish golden age which I adore.

As we started quite early we decided to go to Brixton and have a lunch at Franco Manca, we got there just past 12.00 to get the last table, few minutes later the queue was 20 people long. Franco Manca’s pizza is legendary and I heard many opinions by the locals blaming Claphamites for invading the place. Well, I visited with a local so I guess that’s ok? Anyway, the pizza is amazing and dirt cheap, definitely worth waiting for.

Back home for a brief moment and hubby and I were out of the door heading up to town to do a spot of shopping. Oxford Street was heaving so we got what we needed and quickly moved away to the quiet Kaffeine for some refreshments. They had some rather delicious carrot and lemon marmalade.

Sunday started early again, we met up with friends for breakfast at Gail’s, the morning was glorious with sun shining, market stalls unpacking and a pleasant company.

Back home to do some important mortgage paperwork, dull but it got done. Then we were off again, this time to Battersea Car Boot Sale, we had a clear idea of what we wanted and pretty much stayed focused. We have a long list of birthday gifts to get and a couple of people definitely would appreciate something vintage. A beautiful tile for my mother in law, a bag of figs grown in Balham for us (they were delicious!) and a sleek Denby dish for a friend (tried to haggle but the woman kept saying ‘it’s Denby, it’s the last piece of Denby I have got, no discount, it’s Denby!’ she was lying, there was a Denby jug just next to it, oh well).

On a way back home M smelled steak. Le Pot Lyonnais is a restaurant I pass twice daily on my way to and from work and it always looks tempting in the evening with tables on the pavement. So we gave it a go and I must say it was a proper French fair of steak frites and poulet.

So a lot of nice things but also a lot of mundane tasks like washing, house cleaning and grocery shopping. I need some rest now!

Lately all my weekends were packed with chores, last week I was on a shoot which left me exhausted so I took two days off and decided to only do things I really want to do.

My plans were ambitious but as the baby is growing fast now I get tired faster than before so I did about half what I intended.

I went to Tate Britain to see the very funny Rude Britannia exhibition, I knew there will be a number of Hogarths but to my absolute delight they had Rake’s Progress which I always love to see. There was a lot of David Shrigley too who I find hilarious.

Reading room at Rude Britannia

It’s a great show for everyone who likes politics, history and humour, a well spent hour indeed.

Afterward I wandered to the newly opened Chelsea Space and had a quick peak at the current exhibition. There were some colorful windmills outside.

I had a house viewing later on and planned to go to the movies after but when I got home I just had enough.

On my second day off I had more grand plans, Tate Modern and Borough Market in the morning and a movie in the afternoon. I had to stop a little, I spent the morning at home.

I started knitting a baby hat.

And I baked Nigel Slater’s peach pie which was delicious.

Re-energised I took the bump outside to see a film. Here it is, just started to show at 18 weeks.

My outing was very pleasant, I went to see Gainsbourg – a great biopic. Beautifully made and so well cast. A real pleasure to watch.

And there is still whole weekend ahead!

Picnic with friends in Richmond Park sounded like a great idea for a hot Sunday afternoon. I decided to contribute with individual fruit tarts.

The pastry recipe was from Jamie Oliver’s first book, I always get bit scared not to overwork it so usually it comes out too crumbly. I think this time I came pretty close to the real deal. My little tart shells baked and got decorated with  fruit and jelly. I never poured jelly into pastry cases before so obviously I didn’t think about putting a layer of egg white on top. The jelly set beautifully overnight but it also soaked through the shells so the tarts became soggy and definitely not picnic worthy.

I had plan B, as I made a lot of pastry I had enough for a whole fruit tart so I set to work. I almost got it rolled out in one piece and it almost landed perfectly in the baking tin. I think I am close to getting it right, just need to practice a bit more. It is a very satisfying thing.

This time I sealed the pastry, whipped some cream and arranged summer berries. It looked very pretty. It lacked few mint leaves but I could not find any in the supermarket (damn you Pimms drinkers!).

The next challenge was the packing and wrapping. Cling film was used heavily and the tart landed in my basket. We set off to Richmond. But 20 minutes into the ride the cream started to melt and as the tart was right in front of me I was getting more and more stressed about it. In despair we stopped to buy some ice, the tart was placed on top of it and somehow we made it to the park. It wasn’t as spectacular as the original but it tasted very good indeed.

This weekend was not the hot summer weekend I was expecting, the fact that my house doesn’t get much sun and is bit cold in general, didn’t make me think that the weather was ok to go out. On top of it my tube station was closed for maintenance so I got kind of stuck in Clapham. I could of course cycle but if going to East End markets I prefer to take the public transport. And I don’t have patience for buses, they make me nauseous when I try to read. So it was a weekend at home, well, almost.

I got a bit of reading done. My boss gave me On Chesil Beach (we shot in Weymouth some time ago just next to Chesil Beach hence the gift) by Ian McEwan and I actually enjoyed it. I never liked McEwan but this strange story of two people who despite loving each other very much are not able to stay together managed to suck me in.

I am also reading Séance and Other Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer. This collection of bizarre folky Jewish stories is taking up all my free time. Singer is so engaging with his writing it’s hard to put the book down. I have a couple of his novels waiting for me too.

Speaking of books waiting to be read, somewhere between car boot sales, charity shops and gifts I have managed to accumulate quite a sizable new pile so I really should not buy anything for a while.

On Friday evening hubby was working late and I happily settled to watch An Education. From the start I knew I will enjoy it, the imagery was pleasing, the acting very good especially Alfred Molina and Carey Mulligan, the dialog was clever and natural and the storyline in general simple yet engaging. It wasn’t a massively thought provoking film but it definitely had a lot of good values and messages.

I am really really looking forward to Sophia Coppola’s new film Somewhere. It looks good!

I continued to watch Sopranos and I even channeled my inner Carmela when I whipped up a very good tasting lasagne and salad for dinner (I skipped all the 5 other dishes she would usually make keeping her fake nails intact).

I did some baking of course, this time it was chocolate and nut banana bread, a kind of left over ingredients cake. I had some odd amounts of various nuts, flours and sugars to use and it all married together well.

The recipe is dead easy:

150g of sugar (cane, caster, brown)

2 eggs

80ml of olive oil

1 tspn vanilla extract

3 -4 ripe bananas

260g flour (rice, wheat, tapioca, almond)

1/2 tspn baking soda

1/2 tspn baking powder

1/2 tspn sea salt

100g chocolate

100g nuts (hazelnuts, almonds, pecans, walnuts, macademia)

Heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius, prepare 2 small loaf tins.

Cream eggs and sugar until smooth, add vanilla, oil and combine. Add mashed bananas and mix until smooth leaving few chunks. Combine the dry ingredients and add to the egg mixture. Add chopped chocolate and nuts and mix well. Split between the tins and bake for 40-50 minutes or until the knife comes out clean.

A great afternoon snack.

I did manage to drag myself out on Sunday, wrapped in a scarf and a jacket I soon discovered that it was in fact a very nice day outside! My flat is so misleading. Hubby and I wandered down to Wandsworth Common which is much nicer than Clapham Common with its bits of wild. We gathered some wild flowers and had a cup of tea in the park café. Then it was back home for more Sopranos and reading.

Yesterday was one of those Saturdays when I wake up early and cannot fall back to sleep. I quietly left the bed, made myself a cup of green tea and some toast with jam. M baked some delicious rye sourdough the day before so I could not ask for a better treat. I settled comfortably on the sofa with a book and spent a blissful couple of hours with Mrs Gaskell. I am nearly finished with Wives and Daughters and loving every page of it.

Later on it was definitely time to give my house a bit of attention and catch up with my every day life. Cleaning, washing, shopping and lots and lots of cooking.

We had a bit of a disaster with our baby plants and the Thai basil is the only one that survived.

It looks so fragile in comparison to the bought one.

Fresh blossoms found their way into our living room. This is bird cherry.

Time for lunch.

Grilling some bread which is later rubbed with garlic.

Topping for my bruschettas are tomatoes with onions dressed in vinegrette and artichoke dip.

Some time ago I have baked lemon cookies.

I really fancied rhubarb and custard, the perfect accompaniment to it are lemon cookies. So I decided to combine the two and make a tart.

The pastry is very simple:

cream 160g of butter (room temperature) with 125g powdered sugar, add zest of 2 lemons and juice of one as well as 1 tsp of vanilla

combine with 260g of flour, 20g of corn starch and 1/2 tsp of salt

chill for 2h

butter the baking tin and heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius

instead of rolling out the pastry slice it (bit like carving meat) and place in your baking tin, press the pasty slightly so the whole surface is covered

chill again for 30 min

bake for 20 min or until golden

in the meantime slice the rhubarb and place in a pan with a small knob of butter, 4 tbsp of sugar and a few slices of peeled ginger

stew for 15-20 min

after the pastry and rhubarb have cooled pour the fruit into the pastry shell, top up with good custard

It is delicious. Next time I would probably place the custard in a separate jug though.

On Friday night I was supposed to go to V&A followed by a dinner at Daquise (a rather shocking website but the food is good) with a  friend of mine but she was swamped at work and it didn’t work out. Polish food was on my mind. And then Chihiro left a note in the comments about a new Polish eatery in Elephant and Castle. I was sold.

I know most people hate Elephant and Castle but every time I go I love to look at the Ernö Goldfinger’s development and the beautiful mid century tiling in the scary as hell (after dark) subway.

Mamuska is a ‘milk bar’ or bar mleczny. It’s a canteen style establishment serving very traditional food very very cheaply.

The place have a modern look embracing its location (the E&C shopping center), it looks more like a funky student canteen with modern paintings than your everyday old skool caf.

The food was delicious, just like my mum’s. There were dumplings, stews and schnitzel that covered half of the plate on a mountain of mashed potatoes, all for £5. They also serve full on breakfast for £3.

It’s a great place. And the best thing about it was the clientele, there was a number of nationalities and races, everyone tucking in like it was your regular Chicken Cottage.

Having friends with little children makes me plan things that can excite both: adult and kids’ tastes. With the weather being so glorious the most essential part of the plan has got to be an outdoor space, and lots of it.

One of my favorite places in London is Horniman Museum with its Victorian dark displays, stuffed animals which have seen better days and all kind of curiosities. The museum is surrounded by gardens, meadows and it has got a small animal enclosure for kids.

We set off with plenty of spare time and got there really fast, I was pleasantly surprised it was only a 20 minute cycle from my house. I always imagined it to be far away.

Having a spare half an hour we headed to Dulwich Picture Gallery, we didn’t have enough time to visit it but instead we strolled through the garden which would not feel out of place in a Jane Austen novel.

It felt so romantic and I was half expecting to see Elizabeth Bennet reading a letter under magnolia tree.

From the tranquility of the gallery grounds to a mayhem of toddlers pointing at stuffed monkeys and owls. After repeating animal names for a bit and trying to teach a 2 year old the word ‘cuttlefish’(it’s been a while since I saw kids getting so excited!) we settled for an afternoon tea in a charming glass house.

I couldn’t take my eyes off of the fish scale detail of the roof.

Then it was time to explore the garden and burn off the Victoria sponge, the blossoms make everything look so pretty.

I have no idea what tree this is but I love it.

Lately I have been reading a lot about Utility design and rationing, a very fascinating topic.

Utility Furniture and Fashion 1941-1951 is a great little book explaining all the stages of the rationing era: how the utility furniture was designed, what pieces of clothing were allowed, there are examples of fabric design and the best posters ever. Simplicity is a must, but simplicity makes those things aesthetically appealing to me.

The Dig for Victory campaign is probably one of the best pieces of advertising ever made, clear message and striking imagery.

Fabric patterns:

Posters:

When I visited Imperial War Museum back in January I almost screamed for joy when I saw the poster for the upcoming Ministry of Food exhibition. So yesterday I paid a visit.

To start with I wanted to buy everything from the exhibition shop, there were recipe books, candles, aprons to name a few, all very attractive looking.

The exhibition shows all aspects of food making process.

We start in a gardening section with a shed and accessories that wouldn’t feel out of place at Labour and Wait.

We had rationing books and examples of food rations – it was not a lot! There was also a shop with the most amazing packaging display, a lot of the brands are still available now.

There was a kitchen with very little on the table.

I will take this as a house inspiration.

I saw few examples of the most popular dishes and I can only imagine how dull it must have been with a Woolton pie being the most exciting thing on a plate. But I admire people for creativity, I remember potato stamps which used to amuse me as a child and got chucked afterward, back in the 40s after having a creative afternoon the stamps were cleaned and cooked for dinner.

The exhibition ended on a high note in a sweet shop.

The fashion was pretty amazing too, corduroy jodhpurs, shirt and a preppy v-neck worn with socks and lace up boots. Chic Land Girls are my new style inspiration.

This is one of the most informative, interesting and inspiring exhibitions I have ever seen.

So the post Easter cold took over this week and I was in bed for a couple of days. When I got on my bike on Thursday I was loving the weather and the lack of traffic, I guess kids are off for two weeks and there are less buses and cars on the roads. The daffs are already on their way out giving room to the most amazing blossoms and other spring beauties. Loving it!

I did manage to do a couple of things that are really worth mentioning.

I went to see Arshile Gorky at Tate Modern. It was my first proper encounter with Gorky’s work, I only ever saw a couple of paintings here and there.

The exhibition is great, it takes you right from the start when he was an apprentice in Boston and New York, his early works show a huge influence by Picasso, Cézanne and especially Matisse.

There are some graphic prints and drawings as well as sketches of murals, sadly the only remainder of these works as most of the murals were destroyed in the 1940s.

In the 30s he started to move away from Cubism, he experimented with Surrealism, Avant-Garde and later on with Abstract Expressionism for which he is most famous.

The most touching paintings for me are the pale colored portraits of his mother who died of hunger and all the Eastern European folklore, Baba Jaga is a regular figure in his paintings.

Some of the most striking works are the Betrothal series, very powerful yet delicate, they are peaceful but somehow there is a certain lack of ease in these paintings.

A great retrospective of a troubled soul.

Last night I met a friend at the National Gallery to see a small Christen Købke show, I never heard of this Danish artist before and it was a real treat to explore something new.

Købke is amazing with light and an extreme attention to detail making some paintings look like pictures. The pastoral themed works and landscapes are my absolute favorites with the beautiful pink skies, folk in their everyday life, buildings surrounded by nature which takes over the canvas, it was magical.

Day 1. Good Friday. Shopping.

I was preparing for a big Easter breakfast with friends so in order to get the best produce I set off to Borough Market. The day started lovely with nice sunshine, I meandered through the stalls wanting to buy pretty much everything.

Beautiful gerberas.

Lavender.

Crayfish was looking at me.

Fat tomatoes.

The first of spring’s asparagus.

The last of winter cabbage.

And pretty much all other veg one can wish for.

Then it started to rain, and it rained badly. My friend and I decided to run to Tate Modern to seek shelter. We visited Arshile Gorky retrospective which was very fascinating.

Day 2. Saturday. Preparation.

The Easter meal demands a military precision. I was responsible for cinnamon buns which came out amazingly well, I used this recipe and M was making bread. I also made few salads and a chicken liver pate.

Buns got packed and we set off to see our little niece for an afternoon tea.

Day 3. Easter Sunday. Big Breakfast.

We started at 11.00 and finished at about 22.00. It was epic. Everyone put so much effort into it and absolutely everything was home made.

We all had our personal eggs.

We had a refreshing walk through Brockwell Park, stopped for hot drinks at the park cafe and ended up in a pub in Herne Hill. It was not the only pub we went to.

Day 4. Easter Monday. Suffering.

I am in bed watching silly films and paying for yesterday’s fun.

As we are coming close to Easter I am starting to plan some delicious recipes for the long 4 day weekend, and it will be a long rainy weekend so no horsing around outside I’m afraid.

I have spent many Easters with my Swedish friends in Amsterdam and what they brought to the table were salmon and herring dishes. Smoked fish especially feels to me like spring when paired with watercress, fresh yogurt sauce and boiled potatoes with dill. Next to it we will have several egg salads, breads and cakes.

I always buy my fish from Moxon’s which is the best fish shop in the whole of London and conveniently 1 minute walk from my house. They also have branches in Kensington and Dulwich.

I mostly buy smoked salmon fillets and whole smoked mackerel which is a world apart from the small salty fillets sold at supermarkets. The fresh fish is delivered daily and the choice is huge. You can also order whatever takes your fancy in the fishy department.

Along with the fish, Moxon’s also sell anything that can be cooked with it, there are fresh vegetables, sea salt, paella rice, tartar sauce, coconut milk and sushi ingredients to name a few.

The staff are very knowledgeable and always quick to advise on how to cook particular kind of fish. And it will not break your budget either, the prices are very reasonable and the quality high.