The Sneaky Magpie

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.

Ernö Goldfinger, the creator of one of London’s most iconic buildings – The Trellick Tower. A very self-confident, controversial and prolific urban modernist. And yes, the James Bond villain was called after him, this was Ian Felming’s payback for building a modernist terraced house in Hampstead. Ernö didn’t have it easy. But he did a lot for London and I really appreciate his buildings.

He was a follower of structural rationalism, creator of simple and functional spaces that worked.

Balfron Tower

Inside Balfron Tower

He designed few tower blocks like the Balfron Tower in Poplar where he actually lived and worked on improvements for his next structure. Tenants were invited for champagne and a chat about the building with Ernö and his wife, Ursula. Whatever he learned from his experience at Balfron he implemented in his next building – the Trellick Tower in North Kensington.

Trellick Tower

Ernö with kids at Trellick Tower

Trellick Tower was one of the most sophisticated tower blocks in the 60s London, it had its own nursery, doctors’ surgery, shops and Goldfinger himself had his practice there for some time. There is a great story by JG Ballard called High-Rise which is inspired by the building.

The Elephant & Castle development was another hated creation – soulless, scary and dangerous.

Elephant and Castle development

I find those buildings very interesting, light and elegant but I can understand how people hated them back then.

Ernö built his family house in Hampstead at Willow Road, now in hands of National Trust.

1-3 Willow Road

The moment I saw it I fell in love, it would be my dream to live there. He designed most of the furniture himself too as well as children toys. I have written about my visit here.

2 Willow Road

2 Willow Road

2 Willow Road

2 Willow Road

2 Willow Road

The house is very warm and almost feels familiar, there are even shelves of condiments in the kitchen (Ursula was the heiress of the Crosse and Blackwell fortune). As the Goldfingers had many friends in the art crowd there are few amazing works of art in the house.

Goldfinger was a very important post war architect, not afraid of criticism and facing tough challenges.

Ernö’s other buildings include Daily Workers HQ in Farringdon, Carr & Co offices in Birmingham, a number of shops, office buildings and schools.

Looking at post war buildings around London you can very often spot Ernö’s influence: large windows, low spaces, clean lines and easy access.

Further to my previous post about 2 Willow Road house here are some postcards as sadly, photography is not allowed inside.

Goldfinger’s studio.

View from the living room onto the garden. Surprisingly the garden was very classical, far from the modernist style.

Dining area with Roland Penrose painting at the back. The kitchen is tucked away at the back and it is tiny. There are some old jars with condiments in the cupboards, mostly Crosse & Blackwell – Goldfinger’s wife Urusla was an heiress to the fortune.

This weekend was gorgeous, we decided to spend it in Hampstead. After a brief walk on the heath we went to see the Ernö Goldfinger family home in no 2 Willow Road. The house is a part of the National Trust and every Saturday it opens to visitors. You start with a video introduction to the architect’s life and the history of the house followed by a trip round the house.

2 Willow Road

The house, built in 1939, is stunning in its simplicity, colors and materials used. Nearly everything is left as it used to be when the Goldfingers lived there up to Ernö’s death in 1987. The Goldfingers were part of the London and Paris art scene and were proud owners of a lot of amazing works of art by Henry Moore, Roland Penrose, Bridget Riley and many others. The rooms are very minimal and practical, furniture is simple, all the chairs, beds and sofa’s are surprisingly low to the ground – Ernö was a very tall man.

We pondered through the house for a bit, we then went to Gail’s for a lovely sponge cake with lavender and a cup of tea.

Afterward, all inspired by British modernism, we walk to Lawn Road to see the Lawn Road Flats (Isokon Building) designed by Wells Coates. After taking a few snaps my other half was chased away by an aggressive inhabitant of that building. How rude!

Lawn Road Flats

Before leaving Hampstead I couldn’t resist popping into Beetroot Deli – a Polish specialist, to stock up on dumplings. Yum.