We Did A Delia

Well. My mom came for her annual Week In Suffolk. We had our usual fabulous time (of course)!

My mom's 'cousin' came up to visit from Bristol, and came to the Bach Choir's performance of Dream of Gerontius. It went exceptionally well (and has been stuck in my head ALL week). We had a picnic in the Abbey Gardens between the rehearsal and the concert, which the boys thoroughly enjoyed. I mean, c'mon, what's not to love!?

We spent Sunday at Ickworth House, since I have now recovered from my employee-induced snit with the National Trust and have (gasp) joined for a year. I think we made a good dent in the membership: two entrances to Ickworth, one to Anglesey Abbey (um, the guy was a SERIOUS magpie!), and two to Osterley Park (reason no.1 for visiting: 5 mins from Heathrow).


We also did our usual amount of gardening (welcome, new plants!), and general eating. But the highlight of the week was the cooking class that we went to in Norwich, at Delia's Canary Catering. We spent the morning watching Alex Mackay give a great cooking demo, had a very tasty lunch, and then WE MET DELIA!

(Americans, Delia Smith is the English Martha Stewart. Except just for cooking - not so much on the interior decorating front.)


My mom is now back on the other side of the Atlantic, which is rather sad. We did, however, have a super week, and we've left a trail of recipes / plants / books / pictures and Flip videos behind us!

Kate & Mom Week 2011

A small preview. We went to Ickworth yesterday. Fun!

This weekend: Bach Choir sings Elgar

Ok, English people. We are singing the very English (and very awesome) Dream of Gerontius, by the very English (and very awesome) Edward Elgar this weekend at the Bury St Edmunds cathedral. And my Mom is coming all the way from New York to see us. So you should come, too.

Details at the Bach Choir website. Short version: Saturday 9th April, 7:30pm, St Edmundsbury Cathedral. £23 / £18 / £12. BE THERE!

Look what I can do when I turn my camera to manual mode! ::Happy dance::

Pretty Things

Ribbons and a fat quarter.

 

Fuzzy.

The Downton Abbey box set for the M-i-L for Mothering Sunday, 

all wrapped up in ribbon and brown paper.

Rambles

Well. Spring has rather suddenly sprung - it was 20 degrees and sunny today. Glorious.

This is...ahem...my second Aeropress. The first one lives at work. And then our John Lewis coffee machine (with the nice insulated pot) decided that it was Finished. On strike. Not making coffee. Well. We can't have that.

If you really like coffee (and don't mind not being able to top your cup up with "a little hot" as my mom always calls it), go get one.

OK, I have a confession to make. I've gone over to the Dark Side. See? It's right there, in the picture. No, not the Aeropress one.

Fine, you win. I will shout it from the rooftops.

I HAVE A KINDLE! And I love it. It hasn't been properly Kindle-y and left the house yet, mostly because the super-snazzy wool felt case that I ordered on Etsy hasn't come yet. Don't worry, I'll blog about it when it arrives.

I've decided that I will continue to be a mega-customer of the Stowmarket Library (at least until the Tories kill it), and the Kindle will be used for (1) books in the public domain and (2) books that I Have To Read Now And The List At The Library Is So Long That I Would Have Bought The Book Anyway. For the moment, that means I'm reading Pride And Prejudice.

One more thing to show you - remember when Viv came to stay? I know, it was a blast. Anyway, when she was here, I admired her snazzy knitting bag. And so she made me one. And sent it to me last week. And I LOVE it! Little mini pencil-case sized bag for scissors and those funny little poky things to twist the needles and stoppers on and off, and a big bag for the actual knitting. You can't see from this picture, but it has a really bright blue lining that looks fab against the linen and the red zipper. Also, Little Red Riding hood is accompanied by some very entertaining critters.

Small Cambridge Adventure

We went on An Adventure to Cambridge yesterday, and stumbled upon a really delicious lunch, at Jinling Noodle Bar.  We were walking past, on our way to Wagamama for lunch, when we noticed it. We peeked through the windows and saw lots of happy customers slurping on noodles. Wagamama would wait. This looked better.

I asked the waitress what she recommended, and she said the brisket noodle bowl. Somewhat unlikely, but there you go. It was delicious - the noodles were tasty and just the right consistency, the cabbage was crispy, the brisket was meltingly tender, and the broth was really savoury and not too salty.

Here's the before:

 And the after. Yes, I ate ALL of it.

We were also in John Lewis, where I thought this display of plates was really funny. I've been told by the Husband that we are NOT buying any commemorative Royal Wedding stuff (not even a teatowel!) but the It Should Have Been Me plate cracked me up. As did the Kate's Wedding List plate. She wants a toaster, a dinner set, throw pillows, a new tiara, and Oxfordshire, apparently. Tee hee!

Camera Tips

Ok, I read this. And then read it again. And then linked to it for y'all.

I think I'll read it again tomorrow.

Apertures & Shutter Speeds via NotMartha. If you have a camera, go read it. Promise.

This was a non-slr photo taken in completely automatic mode (and tinkered with in iPhoto).

Review: Downton Abbey

Well. We loved Downton Abbey. And may even have to brave the commercials on ITV to watch the second season when it comes out, rather than waiting for the DVD. People who live in Suffolk: they have the DVD at the library - it's £2 for a week and you can reserve it online. What are you waiting for!? Americans, it was on PBS. Watch it. Great cast, Dame Maggie Smith is AMAZING and steals every scene she comes within 30 feet of, and the "bad guys" are deliciously bad.

And a little baking yummyness: lemon & blueberry cake (minus blueberries) + raspberries + portrait lens = awesome.

Needs work

Saw this in Woodbridge last week. Teehee.

Nautical day (not on the water yet)

In a fit of excitement at NOT wanting to spend the whole day asleep under the duvet with a box of tissues and a cup of tea, we went bought bottom paint for Kanga (the boat). Ok, the two aren't really related, but I thought it sounded good. We're now ready for some Warm, Spring Days, please, so we can apply said paint to said bottom.

I am very glad we do not have to paint THIS boat's bottom. That's a lot of paint.

We headed over to Woodbridge after the boatyard, to grab some lunch and go for a walk. We wandered through town and up to the market square, where we found The Galley. The mezze on the menu looked interesting, so we went in.

The food was delicious, and really colorful. Yes, it really was THAT pink (turkish yogurt with garlic & beetroot). We split the mezze starter between us as lunch, and it was just right. Some of our fellow diners were eating full three-course meals, but I think we'd have to fast for 48 hours before taking that on. We'll definitely stop in to the Ipswich branch (owned by the same chef) next time we're at IFT.

We then had the best creme brulee I've ever had (and the second best John's ever had, after the now-closed Bertorelli's in London). It was perfect.

We chatted with the chef/patron about it, and apparently it takes 5 days to make. And minutes to devour.

I'm feeling a little conflicted about blogging with so much death and destruction around the world, but I think I'm going to go with Shutter Sisters' message today: show signs of hope.

This was my week

I caught the mega-cold (worst one I've had in a while) that has been going around work. And missed the entire week. As one of my colleagues said, I "slept for England." And read Jilly Cooper's Jump for book group. Verdict? Meh. It should have been half the size. Half the number of characters, half the number of pages, and half the story arcs. At least it entertained me for several days on-bed. Even her author's acknowledgements at the end were 9 pages long. 9 PAGES! Someone, somewhere, please edit Jilly Cooper down to a manageable length, at which point I might consider reading another one.

Haven't actually started Downton Abbey yet - I'm looking forward to it.

Recipe: Non-Yucky Lemsip (because the medicated stuff is NASTY)

1 green-tea teabag

1/2 lemon

1 tbs honey

boiling water

-and-

1 paracetemol (taken separately)

Stir the lemon and honey around in the tea, then take the lemon out and squeeze as much juice and fruit as you can into the mug (it'll be easier after a minute in the boiling water). Works better than the medicated stuff, I think, to make you feel better and clear things up, at least temporarily. I wonder if I could fill an insulated camelbak with it and just take it around with me!

Other saviour of the week: Angry Birds. LOVE it. Even if playing for 2 hours drains my iPhone (3) battery from full to empty. Not that I've done that, in my pjs, while sipping Non-Yucky Lemsip, or anything. Nope.

Review: The Adjustment Bureau

We had to drop The Stepson in Colchester yesterday for a birthday party. 11am to 4pm. That would be a day-shredder, then. Lovely.

Since our one experience of Colchester was 5 years ago (and was overwhelmingly negative), I suggested we spend the day there and see the sights. Um, yeah. We saw the sights in about 10 minutes. And then we were done. And hungry. So we arbitrarily picked a cafe that looked good, and were treated to a lunch straight out of 1994. BEFORE England's foodie revolution. Bleurgh. No, 3 pieces of limp iceberg and a cold, sad, tasteless tomato do not a salad make. C'mon, guys! We should have gone to McD's.

Anyway, we bought tickets (most expensive movie tickets EVER at £9.50 each - for a matinee!) to see The Adjustment Bureau. After 30 minutes of previews and ads (again, WTF, Colchester), the movie started. It was really enjoyable (especially since I'm a sucker for a good New York City movie...cue the whispered "I've BEEN there!" every 4 minutes...sorry, husband). Lots of running around, intermittent kissing, and some good old fashioned omniscient beings. Not sure it was worth £19 for the two of us, but then again, I cant think of many movies that would have been.

Anyone with contrary opinions of Colchester, please feel free to weigh in.

To make up for the Epic Lunchtime Fail yesterday, I had this for lunch today. Stepson had a variation with pepperoni and cheese, but mine had cheddar (should've been mozzarella but it had gone rather gloopy and fermented), homemade pesto from the freezer, and sundried tomatoes. Melty, cheesy, garlicky goodness.

See? Yummy! And cheap! And not hard to make. Hear that, Evil Cafe in Colchester? (I did take pictures in hope that it would be tasty and I would be able to blog about it, but I'm not going to spread a web of hate on my blog. Nameless they shall remain.) But beware, visitors to Colchester! Stay home and have toasted cheese sandwiches instead. It'll be better.

Portrait lens and cake

I made lemon & blueberry cake (except with raspberries instead of blueberries) for my work peeps on Tuesday. I only had the portrait lens on the camera (and was too lazy to change it), but I like the way the picture came out. The cake was delish, btw. Great recipe.

I read The Magician's Guild, the first in Trudi Canavan's Black Magician trilogy. I liked it more than the prequel that I read last year. Not much in the way of wand-waving but I think there will be more magic (and learning about magic) in the next book in the trilogy. I'm still working on Jilly Cooper's Jump (ugh) for book group, and I have several other books to get moving on, mostly non-library ones. Woohoo!

Concentration

This was me, today. Concentrating hard!

AND I made brownies for the bellringers. Firehouse brownies again (no more Betty Crocker for me - I'm converted!)

Things I like

Amy Karol added a link to matchbook magazine over on her blog - I love it. I'm also quite a Lonny mag fan - I love that the design mags are international and web-based so I don't have to spend lots of time (and money) hunting for them in the wilds of Suffolk.

For some reason, Neutrogena seem to have discontinued the regular face wash that I've been using since high school, and replaced it with a grapefruit-scented version. Now, grapefruit is one of my favorite things, but the smell is a little sweet and cloying and it seems to be making me break out. BAH. Neutrogena, please bring the regular Visibly Clear back. Thanks.

To make up for Neutrogena's failings, though, I found this in the most recent Waitrose magazine. It's the comically named Baby Bottom Butter, and it is the Best Moisturiser Ever. Mostly olive oil and other yummy stuff (and no evil chemicals). I smell a little bit like a bakery, though, between the vanilla scent from the BBB and the grapefruit Neutrogena! It feels fairly greasy when you first put it on, but it sinks in within about 5 minutes.

These aforementioned dishcloths are as awesome as they are adorable - they go in the washing machine, can be composted when they're dead (several years hence, according to the interwebs), and scrub all kinds of yuckies. The scourer has gone back under the shelf below the sink - it's not pretty enough! Apparently these are used universally in Scandinavia (and my mother-in-law always used them when she was first married).

Last random thing: I finished reading Wilkie Collins' No Name, after a recommendation from C because "the characters go to Aldeburgh and we've BEEN there!" They do, indeed, go to Aldeburgh (and Dunwich, and London, and a "backwater" in Essex). I enjoyed the book, although it is filled with rather a lot of unsavoury characters who aren't very nice to each other. Makes for entertaining reading, though!

Silver linings

Bad news: our shower has been leaking.

More bad news: we couldn't figure out why.

Good news: we figured out why today!

Bad news: it was because the tiles at the bottom came off in John's hand when he removed the grout. Thanks, Crest Nicholson. Tiles are NOT supposed to be attached with grout and hope. You need something stronger.

Good news: our neighbor the builder is coming to help.

Bad news: today was a cold, rainy, and generally grim winter day.
Good news: these daffodils look so much MORE yellow and springy against the grey background.

Review: The King's Speech

Well. We had an extremely awesome extended-date on Saturday. John had to do some work in the morning, and I slept late and rang the bells for a wedding in Stowmarket. We met up back at home in the early afternoon, and John suggested an outing to Ipswich for dinner and a movie. Woot. We booked tickets at IFT for The King's Speech (more on that in a bit), and hopped on the 3:30 train.

We walked along the waterfront to the Dove Street Inn for a drink. The last time we were there, with my brother, I had an amazing Adnams Bokbier, a Dutch-style lager. I was hoping for a repeat, but there wasn't any left. I tried the Black Sheep Best Bitter, which was definitely tasty.

We then walked over to Karlsson Design to pick up the fabric that I had ordered. SO pretty.

And we couldn't leave the store without these dishcloths (they soften in water). LOVE the birds.

After we left Karlsson, we made our way into town for some supper. We walked past FlyGirls, who had a big "eyebrow threading" sign in the window. SQUEE! I've been hunting for a non-London, non-NYC threading place for, oh, 5 years or so. Apparently they've been there for 2 years, but it's not a street I walk down often, so I wouldn't have noticed. And they did walk-ins and it was only £4.99 and I'm extremely happy that I don't have to go 12 months between threadings.

Anyone would agree that this all sounds like more than enough excitement for one day, but after dinner, we went to the Ipswich Film Theatre for our "...and a movie." I definitely recommend the theatre - cheaper than Cineworld, fewer previews, NO adverts, and really helpful staff. Also, we tend to prefer indie films anyway.

I was a little worried about The King's Speech, since it had been so well-reviewed and there has been so much buzz. I shouldn't have been - I loved it. Colin Firth was spectacular, as was Geoffrey Rush. Helena Bonham Carter was delightfully non-Bellatrixed, although I kept waiting for Winston Churchill (Timothy Spall) to nibble his fingers and snivel "Yessss, master." Can't think why Alan Rickman couldn't have been found a part to play, since Michael Gambon was there as well. I really enjoyed the interactions between Bertie and Elizabeth, as well as those between Bertie and Lionel. Fab movie!

Fetching cowl

The non-needed yarn is making a rather lovely cowl. Ravelled, here. Made quite a bit of progress while watching The Girl Who Played With Fire last night (left John to watch the last 10 mins by himself...too scary!)

Really enjoyed the movie, though.

Some sewing may be in order

I'll be on the lookout for The Perfect Fabric to sew this skirt (thank you, AnnaMaria!). Something tells me I won't be the only one.

Maybe one of these fabrics?

Oh, and in case you didn't believe me, here is the fab Eva Ibbotson short story that Persephone treated me to two weeks ago. Sigh. I might have to read it again now.

Is it me, myself?

How do you guys feel about this darning, from last month's Martha Stewart Living? I think it looks really cool...John thinks it looks a little too rustic.

I had a slightly inappropriate grammar-rant at the office recently. I don't claim to be perfect, by any means, but I'd received an email, hot on the heels of an apostrophe-quibble with someone else (yes, you do need an apostrophe to mark a possessive; no, I'm not going to look it up online to prove it to you), where someone who really Should Know Better asked for queries to be "directed to xx and myself."

NOOOO! My eyes!

So I (nicely) called him on it. And he looked wounded and said he thought it sounded better and "gentler" and generally nicer.

I reminded him that if he took the other person's name out of it, "myself" would sound kind of strange.

Public Service Announcement: I am the only person who can send things to Myself. You can send things to Yourself, I will send things to Myself. You shall send Your things to Me. Can you and I (not me, not myself) agree on this?

One person at a time. (I shall not get started on commas, quotes, misplaced modifiers, or subject-verb disagreements.)

Apologies for the rant.

more yarn...oh dear.

The Stepson had a Sea Sprout afternoon in Ipswich yesterday (training for their upcoming night hike - yikes!), so I volunteered to drop him off. I went to the grocery store, then decided to go and window shop in Woodbridge while I waited to pick him up again.

I was deliciously surprised to find Twist Yarns, a new yarn shop, in town. Even though I need more wool like I need a hole in the head, I couldn't resist this gorgeous and super-soft yarn from Fyberspates. I think I feel a cowl coming on.

John also discovered an extremely decadent twist on Eggs On Toast - add a slice of prosciutto beneath the poached egg (it was on special at the grocery store). YUM.

And now, the boys have gone to Bury to get some groceries, so it's just me, my quilt, my book, and a cup of tea. Sigh.

Review: Arthur & George and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

On a recommendation from one of my work colleagues, I read Julian Barnes' Arthur & George, a fictionalised account of crimes committed in Staffordshire around the turn of the last century. I knew nothing about the book going in, other than the recommendation, and I enjoyed it. I though the middle was the most engaging (the beginning took a while to get going; the ending didn't really add anything). I didn't realise it was historical fiction when I started - I was surprised when one of the characters turned out to be someone I recognised!

(our drinks, in London, last weekend)

On Friday night, we rented the movie adaptation of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I was a little wary of the movie: I loved the book, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to watch all of the violence that takes place on film. I was pleasantly surprised, though. The movie follows the book very closely, and Steig Larsson's descriptions were obviously extremely vivid, as everything in the movie was exactly as I had pictured it when reading it. I did have to go and unload our dishwasher when the basement scene started, but I got the general idea. We watched it with English subtitles, with the sound in the original Swedish. I really don't enjoy dubbed movies, so this worked well. Swedish is also a really musical language - I found it a pleasure to listen to. Apparently the second movie is just as good (yay!). Also, John, having not read any of the books, followed along with the movie quite happily (although he guessed the ending in the first 5 minutes).

Owlet, on Cutest Semi-Niece Ever

Note to self:

Please do not try to carry the weight of the world. It will end in tears.

I mean, really, doesn't this picture just make it all better? Thought so.

Olde English Marmalade

Well. I love marmalade. A lot. So when Waitrose Weekend featured a "you should make marmalade this weekend" recipe, my first reaction after "Who, me?" was "Sure!"

I procured some Seville oranges and preserving sugar and set off. See the recipe? Could you have resisted? Thought not.

I had a little trouble in several places.

• The recipe says "cut the peel as thickly as you like." This is not true. Cut the peel into teeny tiny slices. Super-teeny-tiny or semi-teeny-tiny are both fine.
• The recipe asks for a square of muslin to hold the pits and pith while you boil the peel. Don't use a cloth napkin or dishtowel. It won't work. And you'll make the dishtowel very sticky and yucky and you will spend several hours trying to de-stick and de-yuck it.
• I think I might have burned the marmalade. It certainly tastes rather caramelised, and didn't reach setting point after 25 minutes. Husband thinks I should have been stirring while boiling. Not sure on this one.

In the pan, cooking the peel:

Boiling the marmalade to get it to set:

Anybody want some slightly-over-caramelised EXTREMELY thick-cut marmalade? There's only so much a girl can eat...

Garden update (January).

Garden watch! My hellebores are starting to think about flowering. YAY!

And, my Witch Hazel is enthusiastically spitting out little lemon-zest looking flowers. It has brightened up the whole garden.