Thursday 30 January 2014

Home Wish List - if only I won the lottery!


1. Glass Pendant Lights from £225 - Curiosa and Curiosa 2. Phaedra Brody Print £360 - Yellow Korner 3. Nakashima chair £878 - Skandium 4. Jonah sofa £599 - Made 5. Line Blanket by Eleanor Pritchard £226 - Haus 6. Kobenstyle enamel pot £78 - Dansk 7. Air kitchen design (price on demand) - Devol Kitchens 8. Round Bowl £15 and Chopsticks £6 - Nom Living

Monday 27 January 2014

Snapshots

Most of these pics were taken at the weekend due to my less than desirable week - enough moaning though this week is going to be great! We had Uncle Matt and Auntie Bego staying this weekend which Lenny loved (as did we obvs!) - Bego is expecting a baby which Lenny finds fascinating and keeps getting mixed up and telling people "Mummy has a baby in her tummy" - this has produced some raised eyebrows and whispers which are WHOLLY unfounded. I'm just about keeping afloat with 2 thank you very much!! Hopefully this blinking HIDEOUS weather is going to cheer up soon and we can go on some outdoor adventures - at this rate we will need to invest in a boat. Seriously.

broom broom

looking good, looking good
Mo Bot

Lenny used to be a fabulously unfussy eater. We are currently going through a "I dont like it" phase with everything. Its very boring. But he will always eat corn on cob.

The Mint woz 'ere

kitchen tennis

I really have perfected the machiato


Bros

Mother, The Times editorial has really dumbed down. Can I have the Inde next week please?

recreating an amazing brekka I had in some posh cafe in London a few weeks ago - porridge with toasted almonds, grated apple and honey. Delicious.

Sunday slug out

The Incredible Book eating Boy

Whatch'ya lookin' at?

Friday 24 January 2014

Heart of the Home.....

This week has been tricky to say the least. Rupert has been away and Lenny has seriously been pushing me hard. People say "he's 2 thats what 2 years olds do" or "he's just testing his boundaries" well frankly I say he's been acting like a little devil!!!! My lovely friend Marianne had him today to give me some much needed time out to catch up on household chores and he has come home full of beans and being delightful again. Go figure?! Whatever you did Marianne - you have saved me! Thank you. All this has meant I have had NO time to even think about the blog or anything else fun or creative hence the silence. I now have the boys in bed, a large glass of red and I'm back on my beloved computer catching up on some web surfing. Unreal, e-world I have missed you (and yes, I know how weird and sad that sounds). I have property in my head. We currently rent our house and I love it - I really do but I also am beginning to feel a definite itch to buy again and get my teeth stuck into a project. I think we will begin to think seriously about this in the Autumn but in the meantime it's all about dreaming of the perfect home.... When Rupert reads this post he will be sweating and wondering how he is going to reel in my very over inflated plans for our next house! I am currently pouring over kitchens. Naffly called The Heart of the Home but rightly so - in my opinion the most important room. By far. I think the next kitchen's hit list is cool shelving for storage (those who have been to my house will know I have about 100 kilner jars!),  an open fire to cook on, and light. Oh, and a HUGE table for everyone to sit around for hours. Oh, and maybe a sofa/ snug area. Oh, and an adjouning playroom..... Oh and...... Oh and...... Oh and......

(All pics sourced from Pinterest)






































Monday 20 January 2014

Snapshots

A quiet week last week spent doing our usual classes and groups and hanging out at home. We had one lovely (?!) slug day under duvets watching movies as Lenny had a temperature and cough - he soon bounced back though and I realised I am the worst Florence Nightingale ever. Moany, sick children are grinding to say the least!! I know, I'm mean. We had a very wet walk at the weekend where we had planned a hot dog barbeque in the woods but abandoned that for soup on a tarpaulin blanket! This rain is making me SO depressed. We did have a beautiful sunny day on Sunday though. The sun bought with it much cheerier moods for all and we had a lovely day walking and lunching with friends. A long winey roast while kids made a pear chocolate cake most of which ended up in tummies before it hit the oven but who doesn't love raw cake batter?!

Maurice my dude.

Starting on artistic pursuit early!

Green and Pleasant lands

hiding in the bamboo

jelly makers

he was so proud of this luminous jelly rabbit he asked me to take a picture!

the leopard species has evolved to camouflage perfectly into the Ikea pine environment

licking the bowl

crazy Saturday night at ours spent mapping out a hike across Dartmoor!

sun at last

thank goodness for Ariel

damp picnic

sickly slug

these boots are made for....

loving the rays

Saturday 18 January 2014

Spice Roasted Carrots with Paneer and Sesame

This is this weeks awesome recipe find. Spicy, sweet, fresh and not too fiddly. Try it, it has shot to no 1 spot in my salad repetoire. It says it serves 4-6 but we had it on its own for lunch and it just did 2 so be generous!

It is taken from another awesome find Do Ahead Dinner by James Ramsden - I HATE actually having to cook when we have friends over. Who wants to miss out on the chat by being in the kitchen?! So this has some great ideas to make yummy and unusual dishes beforehand and look like you've just rustled them up!


SERVES 4-6

1tbsp coriander seeds
1tsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tsp black onion seeds
1 tbsp runny honey
4tbsp groundnut oil
1kg carrots - peeled and sliced thickly at an angle
2 red onions - peeled and sliced
2 green chillies
salt and pepper
200g paneer cheese - cubed
fresh coriander

For the dressing:

juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp groundnut oil
a few shakes of toasted sesame oil

- Preheat the oven to 220 c/ 424 f/ Gas Mark 7
- Put a dry frying pan over a medium heat and add the coriander and cumin seeds. Toast for a minute. Do the same with the sesame and onion seeds and crush them all roughly together. Mix in the honey and oil and coat the carrots, onion and chillies and season with salt and pepper.
- Roast for 40 mins.
- Heat some oil in a frying pan and cook the paneer until crisp and golden. Add to the cooked veg.
- Mix the dressing and toss the salad.
- Mix in some chopped fresh coriander and serve.

yum.


Friday 17 January 2014

Hands OFF my DVD's.

Friday's here. At last. Tonight is all about pj's, slippers, chow mein, peanut m+m's, a blanket, the sofa and one of my treasured DVD's.

One of my biggest bugbears is lending people DVD's. You NEVER get them back. So I have decided to NEVER lend any of mine again. So, if you ask if you can borrow one and I politely but firmly refuse you can go ahead and think I am a controlling freak. But I will be the controlling freak with all the films I love to watch over and over and over again to hand so nur nur ne nur nur......

My taste in movies is as far from high brow as you can get. I like beautiful films and don't really care if the script is dodgy, the historical content wholly inaccurate or the plot slushy and sentimental. If they are a feast for the eyes I am happy. This post will upset movie boffins as I am well aware my choices of go to films are decidedly uncool but you know what? I dont care. (Wow, I am in a contrary mood today) These are my DVD delights (can you name them all?)

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