Fall Already?

Often you'd find me standing at the kitchen counter eating leftovers out of a tupperware container or eating something delicious chef dad has made, but sometimes I actually make dinner myself and even dessert. And of course that's a happening so I sometimes document it too. (I even pulled out our Canon for this, though most of these pictures are with my iPhone.) Today it was so chilly when I walked Lois to nursery school that I thought it would be a good comfort food day. Pot roast. Being from the southeast US, I almost can't believe I made pot roast in August. But I did, and it was yummy, so were the little heart tarts. Well, the pot roast was better, but the tarts were still pretty good. I did something wrong with the pastry dough. Pastry dough is a beast. I've never gotten it right, though I've only tried a few times. It's all about the butter I think, or mostly anyway. The heart tart recipe is from The Gentle Art of Domesticity by Jane Brocket, a wonderful book for anyone who values, cooking, crafts, family, and home. Now to clean up this explosion that is our house. Everything looks pretty in neatly cropped photos, but around the edges, woah, what a mess!

The finished pot roast tasted much better than it looked in pictures! Tea and tarts looked better. 

Blueberry Breakfast

Well, the dumpster chairs are finished, and we celebrated their makeover with a pretty breakfast! Here's Lois modeling one of the shabby-turned-chic chairs. I rinsed them off, scrubbed them, painted them a creamy white, and made seat cushions for them. I'm also working on throw pillows for them, but have just made one so far. Blueberries were on sale at the grocery store, so I thought we'd have a true blue celebration with one of my favorite breakfast treats--blueberry muffins. Here are some pictures from our true blue breakfast.

The chairs before and after. I used ticking on the top for the seat cushions and a yellow floral print for the undersides. Then I made this pillow with part of a vintage tablecloth on one side and a vintage pillowcase on the other. 

The chairs before. Yikes, up close I could see why they were in the trash, but the still had good bones. Wish the person who threw them out could see them now!

Garden Party

Andrew's out of town so on Thursday night I was thinking about taking Lois out on a date, but the weather was so nice and the first rose in the garden was blooming, so I decided we'd have a date at home in the garden. We got dolled up, made things pretty, had a nice dinner, and watched the sunset. It was a carpe diem sort of night. I couldn't just let leave the house and miss out on that rose blooming! I knew in the next day or so it would be withered. It made me think of a classic carpe diem poem by Robert Herrick, "To the Virgins, to make much of Time." The first stanza is...

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

Old Time is still a-flying:

And this same flower that smiles today

Tomorrow will be dying 

So we gathered our rosebud and and made the most of it. It was one of the best dates I've ever had.

Pub Grub

London is filled with pubs, and we're lucky to have a great one right in our neighborhood, one called Fox and Hounds. Family friendly, great food and drinks, close to home. It's a winner. Here are some pictures from our last visit to Fox and Hounds. Dig in. Later this week French food is in order because we're headed to Paris on Tomorrow!

Tea Time

Our place is still quite messy, but it's coming along, and I do love it. Yesterday I cleared off a corner of the table and had tea with Lois. I pulled out the Dixie Dogwood, which I think is so pretty. It's not fancy, just pretty. It was a nice little tea break.  

PS. Our internet connection is VERY slow but I'll be back responding to some comments and reading your blogs soon.  We get internet service at the house on Friday.  

Mudchute

Over the weekend we went to Mudchute Kitchen and Farm. Andrew read that the cafe was a good place to eat with kids, and we thought the farm would be fun for Lois too. It was quite a haul from our place, but it was worth it. Mudchute is London's largest city farm, with 32 acres in the Isle of Dogs, just south of the Docklands. It's a bit o' countryside right in the city. Here's a peek.

A proper English breakfast.  It looks disgusting but tasted amazing. The cafe was very cozy and homey, with flowers on the tables, mismatched furniture, piles of newspapers at communal tables, and lamps scattered around.

Dessert after breakfast? Sure. We had blood orange cake, yum.

Homemade farm jam.

The specials on Valentine's.  Andrew had the second one, sausages with pumpkin mash and winter slaw.  Wow, it was sooooo good.

After we ate, we walked around the farm, got really muddy doing so, and saw lots of animals along the way.

It was interesting to see the contrast of the city behind the farm.

Cartoon pigs are WAY cuter than the real deal. Yes, I've seen pigs in person in my life, but it's been a long time.  This was one unattractive pig.

See, cartoon piglet is cute!  Oink, oink.  That's all folks!