Saturday was super busy with all sort of chores but Sunday turned to be bit wet and staying indoors sounded like an excellent idea.

Having finished Cranford which I enjoyed immensely (and I am even more impressed with Sue Birtwistle who managed to transform it into such captivating TV drama) I reached for a book that was waiting for me for few days, a fresh Amazon purchase skipping the queue of the long overdue books to read: Adrian Mole, The Prostrate Years. I almost devoured it in one go, as every other book from the series it is hilarious and heartwarming, it manages to capture all the things people get obsessed by. This is the first Adrian Mole book I read while actually living in UK which definitely does help in understanding a lot of the cultural references.

Books were not the only things I devoured, as the courgette gods keep giving I decided to bake Clotilde’s chocolate and zucchini cake (thanks Laura for pointing it out). It was delicious especially when cooled in the fridge overnight. I will be baking this one again!

The new season beetroots seem to be abundant as well and I made a classic Polish chilled soup which has got the most amazing color.

Now I can only look forward to the long weekend ahead, hopefully the sun will shine!

But in remembrance of July here is a very summery cake which I made for my friend’s birthday, her name is off center but try to spell in berries!

The tart was a huge success, the base is a classic short crust pastry and the cream is a mix of mascarpone, sugar and amaretto from Jamie’s Italian cookbook aka torta di more.  It survived the bike ride much better than the picnic tart.

The only investments I will need to make are a couple of pairs of trousers with a stretchy band for comfort, I am on my last wearable pair of jeans and they won’t stand the pressure for much longer!

I love shoes and I am really scared that my feet will swell up, then I can only say good bye to Church’s (they are launching Chelsea style boots this autumn which I simply must have!) My brogues will probably not fit but perhaps suede boots would be more prone to stretching?? I definitely don’t want to wear Uggs, never had a pair and hopefully never will!

The rest of my shortlist is easily adaptable for when I get back to my normal size.

The courgette season is clearly pretty fruitful this year, my veg box delivers them weekly and in a large quantity so I struggle to use them up. I did the marinating and grilling for salads and pastas, raw strips dressed in olive oil and lemon, incorporated them into pasta bakes and soups and eventually I got bored.

Since I hate wasting food I had to come up with a new solution and this is when a friend at work mentioned a delicious courgette cake she was given. I quickly researched the recipes and settled on one which is pretty close to my beloved carrot cake, full of cinnamon and nutmeg. It’s also a great way to clear out your cupboards as variations of flours, sugars, nut and dried fruit can be used up.

Courgette cake recipe:

3 eggs

1 cup olive oil

2 large courgettes, grated

210g of sugar (I used a combination of maple and light brown sugar but any type will do)

400g flour

3 heaped tsp of cinnamon

1/4 tsp  of nutmeg

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp vanilla extract

a pinch of salt

200g of nuts and dried fruit, optional

Generously grease the tins and set the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Whisk up the eggs, adding the sugar and oil later, keep whisking till smooth.

Add the courgettes and vanilla extract, mix it. In a separate bowl combine all the dry ingredients, add to the egg mixture and stir till well combined. Mix in nuts and fruit and split the mixture between two loaf tins. You can also bake them as muffins. Bake for 45-1h or until the knife comes out clean.

The cake is delicious, slightly moist and fragrant with the spices. I took it to a BBQ (in a classic cold London rain) and a couple of people commented that somehow you can taste chocolate in it.

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!

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!

Change no 1. I am going to have a baby! I am due end of December so it’s a busy and exciting time for us.

Change no 2. We are looking for a nice home with a garden so most weekends are spent on cycling round London, looking at places, trying to buy them, having vendors change their mind etc. All we want is a 2 bedroom house with a garden in a nice residential area, not that much to ask, is it?

Last weekend I was trying to take advantage of the sales and went to the yummy mummy central (that I hate) – Northcote Road. There is an enormous amount of adorable baby things but I am not falling into the cute trap! I ended up with some baby grows and then I started to contemplate how I don’t fancy buying anything for myself. The only items that I can safely buy are shoes and bags. So the next thing I knew I was trying those gorgeous A.P.C. wedges and purchasing them with a huge smile on my face.

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.

Last week I attended a few garden parties. They were all set in amazing gardens which made me yearn for one even more! The most impressive by far was this garden in Kentish Town, just the perfect mix of lounge area and vegetable patches with flowers and strawberries here and there.

There were fig and peach trees.

Great dining and bbq area.

A peak into the kitchen.

Veg patches with potatoes, artichokes, chard, beans and tomatoes to name a few.

Decent amount of grass for sunbathing and a strawberry wheelbarrow.

Washing line and herbs. This is like Toast catalogue!

If I had a garden I would grow peonies….

..and a cherry tree.

For now I can only dream.

]]> http://www.sneakymagpie.com/gardening/garden-jealousy/feed/ 14 http://www.sneakymagpie.com/everything-and-anything/feeling-lazy/ http://www.sneakymagpie.com/everything-and-anything/feeling-lazy/#comments Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:09:17 +0000 The Sneaky Magpie http://www.sneakymagpie.com/?p=2322 The summer has finally arrived in London and we are somewhere around 30 degrees today. As much as it is fantastic to be outside the office is roasting which makes me very sleepy. Glad we are not super busy, I would just melt.

Last week was full of al fresco dinners, BBQs, evening walks and trying to stay away from the scorching sun.

I must say it does make me a little bit lazy and i do realise I have not been here as often as I should. My brain just goes into this summery sleepy mode and all I can think about is keeping cool with ice cream. My diet is very basic too, it’s salads for lunch and dinner. I am also constantly on a lookout for nice restaurants that have a decent seating outside, hard to come by in central London. Market Place is a good spot if Yo Sushi or Carluccios tickle your fancy but I don’t really recall another spot round Soho which is far enough from busy streets. I had a dinner at Le Pain Quotidien in Great Malborough Street and it was ok (traffic-wise) but I wish for wider pavements and more non-chain options.

I am glad England are out of the world cup, the peace and quiet will be restored faster and all the aggression can go back into hiding. And maybe all the office football talk will stop now too. It always amazes me that bosses are ok with people watching matches on computers and pretending to work, or even let people go to the pub for few hours, insane.

Let’s hope the summer stays for a while, there are many picnics and garden parties to come.