20,000 steps

We woke with a plan yesterday morning. With lunch booked at a rather lovely restaurant on the Kings Road (hoorah for birthday presents that need using up before the next one!) and the sun shining, we decided to get the train to Clapham Junction and walk to Chelsea. We ambled through Battersea Park, past beautiful homes and Chelsea Pensioners taking a rest, stumbled across a very sweet farmers market and battled our way through Sloane Square and along Kings Road itself. We finally made it to our destination with time to spare. Delicious food (steamed trout, rhubarb creme brulee, a glass of white wine...) and a wonderful spot overlooking the garden cafe and road so that we could people watch.

With our feet rested and tums full, we walked to Lambeth and the Museum of Garden History. We've been wanting to visit for ages. We got there rather late and as we were about to buy our tickets, a lovely member of staff pointed out that Lambeth Palace next door had opened its gardens for the afternoon as part of the NGS scheme. So off we went, promising to return to the Museum at a later date. I've often wandered past the walls of Lambeth Palace wanting to peek at the gardens behind and what a lovely surprise. An avenue of lavender, trestle tables of homemade cakes, blooming rose bushes and a bucketful of history. Oh, and the peonies. Beautiful.

We made our way back to Waterloo with throbbing feet, and were treated to a train waiting for us on the platform. Heaven. And why 20,000 steps? Well, our wandering today saw us cover 10 miles, which according to google is roughly 2,000 steps per mile. If only I'd had my fitbug on!

Books and blooms

Hello there. I shall say this very quickly and then use my selective memory to swiftly forget ever uttering such words. I have neglected my little blog recently and it's down to working my backside off, and I'm loving it. It's stressful, the mind spends much of the time being rather boggled and I've yet to hit my 10,000 steps with my Fitbug, even once, in almost 6 weeks. But it doesn't matter. It's great. Hoorah for work. I still have my Patisserie Valerie addiction, but the cake intake has reduced, as has my coffee - it's now a treat, rather than a need.

Now...trendy books. Do you crave them or shun them. I'm definitely in the latter camp - quite often to my detriment. I've always been that way - the same can be said about films. For example, I'm still rather chuffed that we got to see Slumdog Millionaire on the 2nd day before everyone starting going on about it. I think I suffer ever so slightly from a disproportionate sense of disappointment - where something has been built up into the most amazing, must see/read/do, so much so, that I do. And oh. Phneugh. Really? You thought it was great. Oh. Sigh.

That said, I am guilty of gushing about things and expecting everyone to agree. Such a Gemini. Moving on.

So, true to form, I tend to buy 'recommended' books a year later from the charity shop unless I really, really have to for bookclub. I'd imagine there were rather a lot of us who wound up reading The Reader, thanks to the film earlier this year. (I haven't seen the film - oh, and those are a disappointment too - they always butcher the book. Stardust is a prime example. I made Mr M sit down and watch it with me because the book had been 'brilliant'. Twenty minutes into it and we were both absorbed in our email. Quite). It was our bookclub book and thankfully I picked up a copy for £1. Treading carefully now...it was probably just me...but...it wasn't quite as captivating as the many reviews had me believe. Yes, I understood the messages. Yes, I could visualise the scenery. No - I can't recommend it. It left me saying 'phneugh'. I was left feeling a little beige.

However...since the book of beige, I have read two stonking books - highly recommended by all (including a lovely girl on the tube who saw me reading one of them and told me that I would need tissues for the ending because she sobbed her way through the final soggy pages). First up, A Thousand Splendid Suns - So insightful. All the more shocking because it hammered home just how unaware I had been about the world outside University and home at the time. I finished the other book this morning - The Pirate's Daughter. It's one of those books that you pick up when you're looking for the 3rd book in the 3 for 2 offer and then put back down because you're not too sure. Plus Richard and Judy had recommended it with one of their bookclub stickers which, as you can probably guess, put me off. It decided to haunt me. Posters on the tube, spotting more than one person reading it on the train and a fleeting appearance at a book sale. Finally, I caved in. Another £1 at the charity shop and how pleased I am to finally read it. It really is a little random, but a jolly good read - vivid escapism at its best with a dash of history.

Hope you've had a lovely week. I can't believe it's almost Friday again. Where is the time going?

Right, must go and pick another book from the pile of uncool reads.

p.s. the pink rose above is our slightly disobedient climber who, thanks to the direction of the sun, has deigned only to open one rose on our side of the trellis and the other 12 blooms on our neighbours side. Pretty though.

What a weekend

A beautiful Friday wedding
full of laughter, games and fizz.
A sunny Saturday
pottering in the garden.
A relaxed Sunday
catching up with good friends and their little one.
A surprisingly sunny Monday
spending quality time with loved ones.

I do like bank holidays.

Can't wait for the next one.

Thank you, Queen Victoria.

For without her, we wouldn't have Victoria Sponge. And judging by just how many times I have baked it this year, I'm starting to think that it is now one of my core food groups. Above is my attempt at a fancy-pants Victoria Sponge for my little niece, Baby A. Enjoyed a little more by those of us this afternoon who were on solids as she is just 4 weeks old. Already a cutie - she has Mr M and the in-laws wrapped around her little finger. Can you tell the direction in which I started to stick the flowers down only to discover that the pattern wasn't going quite to plan? Whoops.

Hope you had a lovely weekend.

Just a little longer

Mr M flies home today. In fact, he touches down in 3 minutes. I can't wait to see him. He's only been gone 10 days day but it feels much longer. I'm frantically tidying because I have become rather slovenly recently. I'm blaming employment, but rather suspect that it is probably the ever so tiny lazy streak that I have. A glass of wine and Kirstie's Homemade Home Vs cleaning the bathroom. Hmmm. Difficult choice that one. As you can imagine with that attitude, no creativity has taken place recently beyond concocting different dishes based around the contents of the fridge, pasta and 15 minutes of cooking time.

Right - better dash. Have about an hour before he arrives and a rather long chore list to attempt to get through. Curses.

A spot of cake

in the garden on a sunny afternoon is always rather jolly. And even better when eating it with our soon-to-be-wed friends. I didn't fancy (gasp!) making Nigella's Victoria Sponge because I'm making one next weekend for my niece's ceremony so had a quick flick through the old faithful to see if anything caught my eye. I was instantly drawn to her Rosemary Loaf Cake mainly because we bought a new pot of rosemary last weekend for the garden and I've been cooking with it like mad, plus it sounded a little different. It took rather longer than the anticipated hour to cook, but no worries there - it was delicious. The rosemary adds a real zing, a little like fresh ginger or lemon zest.

And whilst we're on the subject of baking - aren't these old tins beautiful? Mum very kindly gave them to Mr M for his birthday to encourage his bread making. They are almost too fabulous to use. Only almost, mind you!

Right, I'm off to do some more cooking. Tonight - linguine with sardines and chilli. Ciao!

As they say...'bring it on!'

Do you remember these beauties?
They survived 1 week.
War has been declared against the squirrels. We spend the evenings plotting against one another. I'm not too sure which side will be victorious as they have already taken the Ranunculus. Hmph.

Fresh air

Hope you all had a lovely bank holiday. The weather was patchy but perfectly fine for pottering about outside. We managed to fit rather a lot into our three days. An enchanted stroll around Oaks Park - an 18th century park planted in the style of Capability Brown. A meander along tree-lined streets, nosing at the houses, on the way to the garden centre. An afternoon spent in the garden clearing a huge border, chatting to the robin and Blue in equal measures. So much fresh air - I was asleep the second my head hit the pillow.

p.s. any thoughts on what might have hatched from the above? We think it might have been a baby thrush.

B is for...

...bank holidays, babies, birthdays, bbqs, bats and broad bean flowers.

Have a marvellous weekend!