Picnic gadgets

Okay the London weather isn't quite sure yet if winter is over. After snow at Easter and snow last weekend it's hard to believe it's April, but it is any sometimes it's quite nice out. Plus how long can it be.. it will be spring soon. And then out come all the picnic blankets. It seems that here in the UK people go for picnics more often than in The Netherlands. I have no idea why, but I think it's true.


Maybe I should knit the olive a coat...

A few years back I was in Scotland and visited a performance of Macbeth at Scone Palace. It was performed on Moot Hill. The place where the Kings of Scotland where crowned of old and there at the end of the afternoon people sat down unpacked their hampers and enjoyed the play, nice food and a good glass of wine. In short Happy Living to the max.


The stylish way to dine on grass!

So hoping for a better summer than last year I was scouting about and found these two smart beauties found on The Style Files. First off a Picnic rug and bag in one... with quite a posh look to it. I like the idea that the whole picnic experience is contained in one easily portable and very stylish bag.



First aid kit? Oh no great picnic set...

Also quite stylish, although for some reason it makes me think of a first aid kit, is the second picnic portable. It's this compact dinnerset in one that has 2 plates, cutlery and a corkscrew (v. important). I don't think it would be much use for a full picnic, but this would be very nice for touristy visits. I'm just thinking of my parents visiting London a while back. They had a blast of a time and liked the Southbank area loads. There are tons of nice place to sit and have a nice bite there. And if you go on Friday or Saturday there is tons of the best food in the world available at Borough Market. Then take that yummie stuff get your all in one picnic pack and go to:

1. The Major's building so you can have a bit while viewing Tower Bridge and The Tower.
2. The lawn (if allowed) of Southwark Cathedral. A very nice tranquil place, except during lunch hour when it can get busy.
3. The grounds in front of the Tate Modern. This old building has such a nice vibe and with the Thames so close.. you can't go wrong.

Cheers!

A Martha week

If she'd known about my endevours this week I'm sure I would have made Martha Stewart Proud. I've been crafting, decorating christmas threes and been a hostess to a birthday celebration. Also I went to a party in the street to meet all the new neighbours. This was absolutely great. They where all very nice to us newcommers and there is a great community feel in the street. Still if you, over the next comming weeks are invited to a party that you really do not want to go to, think of me and the Happy Living Blog. Because I spotted this great little tool for you online: The Holiday Party Excuse Generator from Enlighten. Don't tell me I don't think of you!!


The buffet area needed decoration

For the birthday party I used a Martha Stewart idea for a Festive Garland. As you can see it looks very much like the original. As you can see I decorated the corners with tissue pom poms! Please read my old blog post on Pom poms about this great decoration craft.


Cheer up an empty fire place

And then I thought that this corner of the house could use some Christmas decoration. So I Martha'd again and made these cute little Paper Stockings for the (sealed up) fire place. Don't you think they're nice?

My only dissapointment is the fact that I couldn't find the ingredients to my mothers most famous and beloved Tiramisu. It's in Dutch (my mom is Dutch my father is Italian, they live in The Netherlands) so I will translate and then will post it on my blog for you to try out.

A horrible dinner?!?

On Saturday October 22nd we had our first dinner guests over in the new house. We moved in June and have been working on the new house, which is an old house (get it). So now we had my boyfriends sister, Nicola, over for dinner with her husband Phil and daughter Bethany. Phil helped us move house back in June and we didn’t have a chance yet to thank him.

We started with planning the dinner, which wasn’t easy. Or I should say it was, as Phil only eats peas and corn when it comes to vegetables. So with choice limited to these two we didn’t really had to worry about what to cook. I picked peas and thought of a Beef Wellington to go with it for a while. But the thought of beef with a jacket of pasty didn’t appeal as it is costumary to put a layer of mushrooms between the two. This was too exotic. So we decided on a roast as it was well known that they all liked that.


This was how I felt. Pic from Allposters

Now I don’t mind if people are a bit picky and I think our idea to provide our guests with things they liked wasn’t a bad one, but it somehow backfired a bit. We called Kevin’s parents to get the low down on what they liked and before we knew it we had a long long list. With instructions and brands and this and that and the other. Here I remember thinking: this might not have been the best of idea’s. However it was too late we wanted to please so off we went to do the shopping.

We got the crisps they liked, Pepsi Max because Phil doesn’t drink anything else, fruit shoots for Bethany and white wine for Nicola. And that was just the beginning. So we went home with bags full with odd groceries. Let me cut in that both me and Kevin are part-time health freaks. We usualy don’t buy anything like crisps, cakes or cola. I say part-time because we are not against these things every now and then, we just don’t buy them on a weekly basis. Anyway we got home and forgot the bloody peas!

Then we found out that we got the wrong Fruit Shoots. We got the purple with blue tops and we needed the ones with the green tops (or the other way around I forgot). And that was the moment I had enough. I’m not very dramatic in general but I wanted to scream: they will eat and drink what we’ll put in front of them or they can p*** off!


The pumpkins, Mr. Scary and Mr. Traditional

Clearly a case of pre-dinner stress. But honestly I’ve never in my life heard of so many people (not just my guests but friends, etc) that are so picky when it comes to food. I find I have a hard time coping with this English? mentality. My Dutch side rebels because (as our saying goes) ‘act normal then you act funny enough’ which is applied to everything in daily life and in the case of food it means: you will eat what is in front of you and you won’t make a fuss. My Italian side rebels because food is meant to be enjoyed. People that only eat peas make me confused. I think this comes mainly from the fact that I just don’t understand that.

Right so I had my little rant and am fine now. As was the dinner in the end. It was a great succes and to jazz things up we carved two pumpkins of which you see two pictures with this post.

I always thought that carving pumpkins would be really hard, but it really easy. We bought this mini carving kit at the supermarket for next to nothing (read two pounds) and started working. I used a template that came with the kit and Kevin decided on a more traditional scary pumpkin of his own design.


The pumpkins in the dark!

We started with cutting of the top and scooping out the flesh and seeds. The kit has a handy plastic scoop that did it’s job well and easy. With the little crayon we traced the outline of the eyes and mouth (and in my case hands and eyebrows). There was a puncture tool in the kit. This was great to make a hole in the pumpkin in which we could insert the mini saws (one course, one fine). Then it was just a question of sawing over the lines. It was great fun! Even Kevin, who isn’t usually a very creative person, found it heaps of fun. We where very proud of the results and I’m sure that next year we might throw an actual halloween party. But for now I’ve had enough family fun until Christmas.

Bento!!!

Ohhhh bento!!! Oh bento! Obento! Yes you guessed it: I like bento boxes :). I first got hooked on them at the end of 2006. I then visited the blog Bento Corner for inspiration. I don't think it's updated anymore but the boxes on there are fantastic.


My favorite box from the Bento Corner

Cool eh! I was reminded of my love for Bento's when I say a post on the Hostess Blog on 3rd October pointing to This great Obento website: The meaning of Food. Great pics, two examplese here.


Watermelon rice... well sort of. It's Tuna!


Panda lunch

Gosh I wish I had the time!

Autumn Harvest

I am an autumn child and I always feel fantastic when it arrives. This year I was not very much looking forward to it as we had a really bad summer. Normally I get fed up with all the warm days and long for the cool calm of Autumn. Still now that it has come around I notice that it's my season. I got more energy and feel good inside. A happiness with my life and at peace with the world, it's hard to discribe.

Autumn calls for all sorts of cosiness. Like delicious cooking. As I child my mother used to make Lasagna Italian style. I found the basic, traditional Lasagna recipe online and used that. It's in Italian (ofcourse), but they also have an engish version. And the great thing is: it's also has Video :D.



Homemade Lasagna before going into the oven

I know it's home made and doesn't look as stylish as the magazines make it, but this is proper food and I made it to be eaten not photographed. What I do is I make this on a Saturday or Sunday. It makes six portions and as we are two I can freeze four. These then serve as 'easy does it' meals during the week. It's my favorite solution for days we go to the gym for a work out. When we get home it's not a lot of work to turn on the oven and slice a tomato for an easy salad on the side. And it is always a succes.


Homemade lasagna after baking in the oven.. mmmmm

That's how I like it. Proper food! Why would you have that from a pack? A bit of effort et Voila! But that might be the nail on the head. It seems the world is devided in two: those who don't mind the effort and those who do. Perhaps not everyone knows how to cook, but I believe many of them don't really want to learn. Anyway another thing that takes effort and a bit of TLC is growing your own crop.



The time for harvesting our Tomatoes has come! Yum yum

The vegtable plot only became available this last week or so and thus we will start properly next year. Still this year we had a test run with our tomatoes in growbags on the patio and I must say that the yield is not bad. This is the first major harvest! And they taste really good too!!


The yield is great!

Piece of pie and easy as cake!

London finds:

England the land of Pie and Cake (and gaining weight). This Friday I had a nice pie from Pie Minister bought at Borough Market. And it was yummie, but what is really great is the cute little box it comes in. Have a look. Ain’t that sweet? I had a Mamma Calzone with roasted summer vegetables, pomodoro sauce, pinenuts, capers, mozzarella and basil.


The nice little box...

Another great find is this cute little tearoom, again near Borough Market. It’s called Shipp’s and as you can see from the pictures it’s cute as can be. There are cups on strings as window decoration, but the cakes under their domes of class are most tempting of all. Had a nice cup, no cake as I’m on a diet. I’ve gained 8 kilo’s since coming to England last year and I’ve had enough so it’s diet time for me. And excersise, but more about all that later!!


Shipp's

Vegetable pre-plot

I moved to England last year at the end of May. Our last garden was facing north and by the time I was settled in a little it was autumn and the season for growing had passed. The only thing I planted was a big flower pot full with herbs. This year we moved house. We saw it in January but we didn't move until June. This meant that the important spring/early summer season was passed. Ofcourse there was a lot to do with the house and so my vegetable plot had to wait.

Then Kevin's father brought some young tomato plants and two little courgettes and two pepper plants. So this is now my improvised Pre-plot veggie garden. And it's growing. Just look at the size of them:


the garden half June


the garden beginning of August

And, except for the peppers who where assaulted by slugs and snails, all are producing. I'm so pleased!! And the peppers are recovering now that I've put a copper strip on the pot. It really works very well!! And no killing!


Tomatoes up close


My second courgette

Which will go the same way as the first: into the pan. I used it to make a Veggie mix.

Here is the Veggie Mix recipe:

1 courgette (zuccini)
1 big onion
1 red pepper (small)
1 yellow pepper (small)
4 tomatoes

Peel and chop everything but the tomatoes. Drizzle a bit of olive oil in a pan and heat. When the oil is hot add the onion and sauté for about 5 minutes until the onion is soft but not coloured. Now add the courgette. Leave this for about 7 minutes until it softens up. Now add the peppers and again give it time to soften, but here you can choose how much depending on your taste. If you like fresh, crunchy peppers leave them for about 3 minutes. If you like your peppers more soft, give them about 5 minutes. While the veggies are cooking chop the tomatoes into small bits. I like small wedges, but this isn't important. Now there is a choice again. you can add them to the pan and give them about 2 minutes on the stove OR you can take the pan of the stove and chuck them in raw. I like both methods and choose on the day according to my inclination. If you add them afterwards it gives a fresh salad kind of feel to the veggie mix. If you give them 2 minutes they become warm and soft and yummie. Great comfort food :D.
To finish off I use a Roasted Tomato & pepper spice mix that you suppose to use on Fajitas. But it's also really nice without.


My very First English grown Courgette (Zuccini)


Chopped up an all ready to use