Shortbread

These are delicious and very easy and quick to knock up, just the thing for afternoon tea on Mothers' Day.

4 oz/100g butter at room temperature

2oz/50g caster sugar

4oz/100g plain flour

2oz/50g cornflour

Beat together butter and sugar until pale.



Sift in flour and cornflour and work with a wooden spoon until it comes together.  It will eventually!







Once you have it all in a lump, don't over-work it.  Roll out to about half a centimetre thick, cut shapes, place on a lightly greased tray and bake for 10-12 mins at 180C.  They should be just turning pale golden, don't let them go brown!  If you are making slightly thicker shortbread, bake at 170C for about 15 mins.

Perfect with a cup of tea and a mummy!

They go very well with strawberries and cream, are a lovely nibble with coffee after a meal, or how about serving alongside a fruity fool or mousse?  This is a pudding I made at Easter a few years ago; it's rhubarb jelly topped with strawberry mousse and a teeny tiny bunny shortbread (there was also a plate-full of spare bunnies on the side), delish!

A Lovely Mummy Weekend

We decided a few weeks ago that it was high time we got together for a bit of boy-free something-or-othery and as Mim is away for mother's day I quickly bagsied her for last weekend and made the necessary plans.  Firstly as Tunbridge Wells and Plymouth are an awfully long way apart, we needed a half way point to meet, so we wouldn't lose all our chatting time to travelling!  Bournemouth just happens to be about the mid point between us both, so I found a cute little B and B in Boscombe and we arrived on Saturday morning just in time for a coffee on the sea front in the sunshine.

It was very windy as well as sunny, hence the slightly mad hair and squinty expressions.

Luckily the sun stayed out/ it didn't rain, so we were able to munch our picnic on the sea front too, although we did have to move to a spot well sheltered from the freezing wind.  (I made a carrot and lentil salad with ham, eggs, olives and a fabulous beetroot dip which I will post the recipe for soon!)

After lunch we wandered round the shops in Boscombe, including a quick rummage in the charity shops and a peep inside the Arcade.  My favourite was this china shop, absolutely bursting with gorgeous things.

On Sunday we went to the Russell-Cotes Museum in Bournemouth.  It's a completely beautiful (and slightly bonkers) house built in 1901 by Merton Russell-Cotes as a birthday present for his wife Annie, and is stuffed with all sorts of weird and wonderful things they collected from around the world.

I wont put too many pictures as you absolutely must go and see it for yourself!

There are several beautiful views from gorgeously big windows.

A huge collection of paintings and sculptures (this one is my favourite, she's looking at a military uniform button and it wonderfully captures such a private, wistful moment).

(This is what I have in mind when I'm missing Edward, however I think I am in fact something more akin to the opening scene of Bridget Jones...)

I love the lady's boudoir: fab.

There is also a lovely cafe....

Then home again home again, in very sad opposite directions, but at least with re-filled stocks of mumminess!

Introducing....

...the glorious Honoria.

(Then greedy Gertie came waddling over in case there were any snacks involved...)

Honoria is a lovely addition to our little flock and more importantly a very reliable egg layer.  Being plain and brown, she is able to give all her attention to the whole egg thing, whereas Gertrude, Araminta and Margot are very pretty but seem to have a rather more relaxed view of proceedings which makes for annoyingly unreliable eggs.

Hence the need for a more sensible bird.  She is named after one of P G Woodhouse's characters, Honoria Glossop, (I can recommend his books for a good laugh) and she has already laid three lovely speckledy eggs in the five days I've had her: fab.

Sadly Honoria's bottom is a little large for the saucepan nest so I decided new digs were required.  A few hours of my best bidging and bodging and hey presto, voila, I present you the Eggstension.

It is obviously extremely high quality carpentry....

The Prince of the Pagodas

I donned my fur coat last night and shimmied off to the theatre...

I made this dress last year with a beautiful piece of discounted silk, some leftover lining and a recycled zip.  It's a simple pattern with just a front and back piece, a few darts and pleats in the waist and is perfect for any occasion.  My fur coat, I hasten to add, is very vintage and was possibly the bargain of the century at £30!

  

Birmingham Royal Ballet are doing The Prince of the Pagodas at Plymouth Theatre Royal this week and my friend very kindly got me some discounted tickets.

I invited someone else to come and share the enjoyment and together we sat in raptures!  It is a fabulous ballet choreographed by David Bintley, with music by Benjamin Britten (his only commissioned ballet score) and teamed with costumes and designs by Rae Smith (who did War Horse) it a spectacle not to be missed!

It's on until Saturday and I can definitely recommend going if there are still seats available.

Distraction Tactic #4: Cocktails and Cake

I've had a bit of a baking bonanza the past few days.  I've had one of those weeks that left me wanting things like buttered toast and cake by the end of it, so I set aside my sensible getting-into-shape-for-summer plans gave in to the carby cravings and got stuck in.

An invitation to picnic lunch at Wembury beach started the baking frenzy; I baked a lovely soft seedy loaf, perfect for egg sandwiches in the sunshine (utterly fab weather - bare legs and everything!).

(A selection of home grown eggs from my hens and my friends' hens!)

Then I made a batch of thick, chewy, peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies to send in a care-package to my brother in France, who needed cheering up following the recent death of his poor little car.  I obviously had to try a few as they emerged hot and squashy from the oven, just to check that they tasted ok....

Then I realised it was hot cross bun season and I therefore absolutely needed hot toasted buttery spiced fruity buns for breakfast...so I made a batch of those too.  They have lovely sticky tops and smell (and taste!) divine.

On Friday my lovely neighbours were hosting birthday cocktails and so just before donning my party dress I quickly made a batch of cinnamon buns to take round for recovery brunch on Saturday morning.  (Sadly, as I actually was slightly hungover, I then forgot to take a photo of them, but here is the recipe!)

And  here is the reason why I forgot...

(Very cute party dress, but I got cold and hat to put woollen layers on...which changed the look from glam to gran...)

It was very serious cocktails.

The cinnamon buns went down rather well with a fabulous fried breakfast, about a million cups of tea and some rugby; the perfect hangover cure!

This afternoon I had a few friends round for afternoon tea, which obviously needs a batch of warm scones and piles of butter and jam to make it really worth while.

Back to normal food tomorrow!

A Summer Dressing Gown

I bought this fabric at the end of last summer hoping to make a nice floaty dressing gown to wear for summer breakfasts in the garden, rather than being too hot in my wintery fleece one or having to actually get dressed...very lazy, but a fab excuse for a new dressing gown.  Then what with my easy distraction and moving house, I only got as far as cutting it all out.

When the sun came out for the first time the other day I suddenly remembered I hadn't finished it and fished all the pieces out of the cupboard.  It whizzed up in no time at all, which is just as well because the fabric was an utter nightmare to sew.  I only had to breathe near it and it slithered off halfway across the room, requiring about a million pins and a fair bit of patience.

(A few more terribly modelled shots and I had to do a bit of weirdy knee bending in this one to fit in the picture)

It all paid off though because I love my new dressing gown!  It feels very glam, and a bit  like I should have my hair in rollers and be smoking cigarettes from a holder and wearing fluffy heeled slippers....or something.

SUNSHINE!

Wowzers, Spring has made it's first glorious appearance and it has been utterly fabulous!

Everything seems so bright and colourful after all the grey drabness of the winter.

I spotted my first blossoms.

My teeny Narcissi have finally flowered and are very cute little splashes of colour in the grass.

Yesterday I got out all my March Country Livings, my gardening books and my tin of seeds and had a lovely time getting springified and making plans for the garden.  

Planning done, coffee drunk, I went to start on the digging.

It 's just as well the weather was so gorgeous because digging is boooring.

It is also quite hard work, which means a legitimate excuse for a deliciously unhealthy lunch!  Some delicious smoked local bacon and a couple of Gertie's teeny tiny eggs took centre stage.

The chickens crossed the garden in about 2 and a half seconds to see if they could get in on the action...

These are Gertie's best beguiling 'feed-me' eyes...

...not working.

I was so happy to wake up this morning to another perfect day!

I bravely stepped out in shorts and t-shirt and was rewarded with the fabulous feeling of sunshine and a soft springy breeze on bare skin, and to warmth without being bundled up in a thousand layers of clothing.

I stopped at tea time for a cup of tea and some toasted seeds.

Here is the product of my efforts - soo satisfying!

Not sure how big I actually want the plot to be eventually, but I am going to need at least one day off before I attempt any more digging; my back aches, my body aches and my hands are ruined!