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.

A Grand Day Out

I had an exceedingly stressful week at work - taking on a huge pile of new work, with very little handover. Lucky me! It'll all sort itself out at some point.

The Husband decided on Friday evening that I needed a mini-vacation, so suggested a trip to London on Saturday. Woot. However, spontaneity and National Express East Anglia do NOT mix. John checked the NXEA website for the train schedules (rather than creating a "journey" on their journey planner), and announced that the trains departed Stowmarket at half past every hour. So we drove to the station, paid for our parking, and walked over to the ticket office.

Hmm...what are all those busses doing there?

[epic rant] 

As NOT mentioned anywhere on the National Express website, they were doing engineering works AGAIN, so there was a bus replacement service to Ipswich, where we could catch the train to London. Since we had the car anyway, we figured we'd just drive to Ipswich. I was checking my Trains app to see when the next train was due to leave Ipswich, and tripped over the curb and skinned my palm and my knees. OW. And I blame the evil Train people for mucking us about. See? My injured palm? (I'll spare you the pictures of my skinned knees.)

Skinned knees be damned...let's still go to London. So we drove to Ipswich, where they announced that the normal trains weren't running and we'd have to take a puddlejumper to Stratford and change to the Central line. We'd already gotten this far, so figured we'd go for it. Plus, I still REALLY wanted to go to London. The final insult to (actual) injury was that our two tickets to go 70 miles on the Slow Coach cost us £73. That's over $120. Granted, the puddlejumper took FOREVER, so maybe that's why it cost so much. National Express East Anglia, I hate you. Especially since you've raised my commuter ticket (one way) from Bury to Stowmarket to £5.10. ONE WAY! And there's no way to buy a ten-trip. Can we borrow some Dutch train-experts to come sort things out, please? Thx.

[/epic rant]

Anyway, we DID eventually get to London, where we proceeded to have an excellent time. We stayed on the Central line to Chancery Lane, where we got off and walked up towards Lamb's Conduit St (great name, btw), on our way to Persephone Books. More about them in a minute.

John said, "I'd quite like a coffee and a bun." And magically, Bea's of Bloomsbury appeared out of the mist. (Yes, I look like I weigh 400lbs in my green jacket, but it was FREEZING yesterday). We knew the cake was going to be good when they asked us if we had a reservation. We didn't, but they found seats for us anyway.

I had an extremely large slice of carrot cake with cream cheese icing, which was delicious, and John had a seriously rich piece of chocolate cake with chocolate ganache icing and caramel and coconut filling.

Sigh.

I should have brought the big camera...

Newly fortified by our cake, we made our way up Lamb's Conduit Street to Persephone Books. According to their website: 

Persephone Books reprints neglected classics by C20th (mostly women) writers. Each one in our collection of 90 books is intelligent, thought-provoking and beautifully written.

I agree wholeheartedly. I bought a book, to be reviewed shortly. They also gave me a copy of the most recent Persephone Biannually, which featured a short story by none other than the wonderful Eva Ibbotson. Really? I couldn't have planned it any better. Run, book geeks, run to Persephone Books!

Since we were in his 'hood, we stopped by the British Museum to visit our buddy, the Horus. Unflappable, as ever, and most definitely still in charge of the museum. We had a little chat.

We meandered our way across Soho, to Liberty. Where I really wished that I had brought the big camera. [Camera geeks, any suggestions for a small-ish non-fugly bag that fits an SLR, a paperback or Kindle, and my wallet, phone, Burt's Bees and some kleenex? Thanks.]

Elephants!

And stairs!

And lots and lots and lots of fabric. Didn't buy any, but window-shopped extensively.

I checked Pinterest for London suggestions before we left yesterday morning, and found Tokyo Diner in Chinatown. It reminded me of the places I used to eat in New York - reasonably priced and very yummy. They had a power cut just as we were finishing, so we ended our meal by candlelight. How romantical!

We were pretty much zonked at that point, so we made our way back to the Central line and back to Stratford and back to Ipswich (on an express that only stopped in Colchester, Chelmsford and Manningtree, woot!), and then back to Stowmarket. A supremely Grand Day Out, once we actually made it to London.

Fabric, on order

We were in Ipswich last week and wandered in to a score with lots of Scandinavian fabric, homewares, and other awesomeness. Some of this blue geometric fabric is now winging its way across the North Sea. Woohoo! Couch cushion, and then DEFINITELY some quilting.f

M&Ms & Tufted Tweets

This is what happens when I snack and quilt at the same time.

Recipe: Blueberry muffins

I really wanted to make some blueberry muffins. So I asked the internet and found this recipe from the BBC. It says that it makes 12 muffins - we thought it made a scant 9.

As you can see, they were a yummy 9!

Blueberry Muffins, from Paul Hollywood, BBC Saturday Kitchen
makes 12 [we only got 9!]


110g/4oz plain flour
110g/4oz butter
65g/2½oz caster sugar
2 free-range eggs
1½ tsp baking powder
125g/4½oz blueberries, or equivalent in frozen blueberries
pinch nutmeg

Cream the butter and sugar together then slowly add the eggs, mix for three minutes.
Add the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, stir to combine, then refrigerate for at least an hour, preferably overnight.
Place a spoonful of muffin mixture into each muffin case, filling each to just over half way. Stud each muffin with about eight blueberries.
Bake in an oven set at 200C/400F/Gas 6 for 20 minutes, or until golden on top.

Recipe: Martha Stewart's Cornbread

I was planning black bean chilli for supper tonight, and decided that I really wanted some cornbread to go with it. I was informed by my boys that they Do Not Like cornbread. Fair enough - more for me!

I searched around for a few minutes (none of my cookbooks had a recipe - zoinks!), and decided that I'd see what Martha Stewart had to say about it. Oh, look, a super-duper Martha cornbread recipe. Thanks, Martha!

Ingredients

Makes 1 eight-inch square loaf [I used a rectangular pan because I didn't have a square one]

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup milk
• 2 large eggs

Directions

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees [or 200 C] with rack in center. Butter an 8-inch-square baking pan [or a 6 x 12 pan], and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, and baking powder. In a small bowl, whisk together milk and eggs until frothy. Pour the milk-and-egg mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix until the ingredients are just incorporated. Do not overmix; the batter should be lumpy. Pour the batter into prepared pan. Cook until top is golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out dry, 20 to 25 minutes.

From Martha Stewart Living, November 1999

So here are the dry ingredients, all piled in:

And the batter in the pan (yum!):

And my golden crispy cornbread with the veggie chilli and the rice (for the non-cornbread-eating boys):

Good thing you can freeze cornbread (it was delicious but there's only one of me)! To their credit, they did both give it a try. Pronounced it "too American."