heart and limbs and mind

The only book from my Mr B's Reading Spa which I bought that I already knew about and knew I wanted to read was A Compass Error, the follow up to A Favourite of the Gods by Sybille Bedford. I didn't enjoy it as much as the first book but it was lovely to be transported to sunnier climes in the midst of such a dull early spring.

'She loved the shapes of bottles and of course the romantic names and the pictures of the pretty manor houses on the labels, and she loved the link with rivers and hillsides and climates and hot years, and the range of learning and experiment afforded by wine's infinite variety; but what she loved more than these was the taste - of peach and earth and honeysuckle and raspberries and spice and cedarwood and pebbles and truffles and tobacco leaf; and happiness, the quiet ecstasy that spreads through heart and limbs and mind.' Sybille Bedford A Compass Error

bottles

What will you be drinking this weekend?

The Month of February

Warmth had the day off work to wait in for a new carpet to be laid. Now all we need for the front room is an over mantel mirror and some pictures.
The train to Canterbury to see Mother, a quiet and lovely weekend catching up and keeping warm.
Really enjoying going along to Pregnancy Pilates.
A quiet Friday evening mooching to the Tatty Devine shop to buy this and discovering it's in the online sale, wandering past MW Nails that I've read lots about, popping in on the off chance they had a space and having a lovely Friday night file and polish in their airport style salon. Still having time to pop to the MAC shop to buy a new eye shadow and then home. A very lovely Friday evening.
Meeting up with a dear friend to go to the Valentino exhibition at Somerset House followed by tea at Laduree. Perfect for a cold dreary Saturday.
Up early on Sunday as friends, with their four children, were coming to lunch and to very kindly drop off a whole load of baby bits and pieces.
A delicious Valentines Day meal cooked by Warmth of lamb shanks and chorizo.
Popping round to Mama and Papa Warmth expecting a cup of tea to be welcomed with afternoon tea of delicate sandwiches, scones, fruit loaf and lemon drizzle cake. Then off to meet Mother for a quick, and very light supper at Victoria, as she then went to meet Pops at the airport.
A wonderful family day on Sunday welcoming Pops back with a 'low key' turkey and trimmings. So lovely to see him, he to see bump, when he left three months ago there was nothing to see. Catching up on three months of our news and all he's experienced. Lovely to know that his stories will keep coming and being talked about.
Beginning the half term with my #bookswap delivery. I have so many wonderful books to read that I mustn't buy anymore.
Off to the Kings Road for a mooch and more importantly meet a dear friend for lunch, catch up and to learn more about babyhood at Pain Quotidian. It was almost like when we used to work together and would sometimes meet up there between visits.
Finally getting round to buying a food processor, so when I saw the latest Hummingbird Bakery book reduced in the shop it felt foolish to resist it.
Discovering a dainty patch of snowdrops, being able to hang out the washing and permanently having a vase of daffodils. Spring is coming and soon I'll be back out in the garden. I can't wait.
Then off to Poole Hotel du Vin for a few days rest. My it was cold. We wrapped up warm and the delicious soup at this deli warmed us. Gawping at the huge houses at Sandbanks, a brief and windy walk along the sandy shores, catching the chain ferry across the spit to Swanage for fish and chips, stopping off at a traditional sweet shop to buy iron rations for exploring Corfe Castle and each night being thankful that we were dining in the hotel's restaurant so we didn't need to venture out.
A lovely evening with Warmth's brother and wife at The Young Vic bar and supper at Ev.
Continuing with the Sunday bake, though the pear, raspberry and oat loaf was just too soggy, an apricot and marzipan loaf from The Great British Bake Off book and another lemon drizzle cake, with an extra lemon added for additional zing.
Reading The boy in striped pyjamas by John Boyne for my school course, finishing Diana Athill, Instead of a Book and really enjoying The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. Finishing off the month with The Parasites by Daphne du Maurier, one of my Mr B's Reading spa recommendations.

tiny icicles chimed

'We celebrated the Russian New Year in Odessa. My grandmother, the sweet-natured Bella, had prepared a feast. We had an enormous meal preceded by zakuski - salmon, caviar, smoked sturgeon, salted cucumbers and pates of all types - washed down with vodka, followed by a series of dishes that combined traditional Russian Jewish cuisine with French and Russian recipes, from a pie made with carp to boiled chicken, accompanied by a series of wines, culminating in several bottles of champagne which we drank, as one should, so cold that tiny icicles chimed against the crystal glasses.' Elisabeth Gille The Mirador Dreamed memories of Irene Nemirovsky by her daughter.

champagne

Wishing you all a very happy new year x

unwholesome food

Today's #shareadvent is 'Carry out a family tradition or start a new one.' Each Christmas we gather new traditions. Maybe this year's is a Christmas tea with Granny Warmth at our home.

'every year at Compton Bobbin the German and Sussex customs were made to play their appointed parts. Thus the Christmas Tree, Christmas stockings and other activities of Santa Claus, and the exchange through the post of endless cards and calenders (German); the mistletoe and holly decorations, the turkeys, the boar's head, and a succession of carol singers and mummers (Sussex Roman Catholic); and the unlimited opportunity to over-eat on every sort of unwholesome food washed down with honest beer, which forms the groundwork for both schools of thought, combined to provide the ingredients of Lady Bobbin's Christmas Pudding.' Nancy Mitford Christmas Pudding

christmascake

What are your Christmas traditions?

The month of November

Last day of the holidays and Warmth had the day off. A day of chores and beginning the paint choosing for the newly plastered front room. Will it be Lamp Room Gray, French Gray, Elephant's Breath or Old White?
A lovely afternoon/evening with Warmth's brother and wife. starting off with drinks in the Young Vic bar and then a carb fest of burgers, chips and mac cheese, the vegetables being onion rings, courgette fries and a slice of pickle at Byron Burger.
A very wet Sunday with a mooch at We Make London Fair and resting before returning back to school. What a lovely relaxing week it's been.
Back to school and Friday night supper with Mama and Papa Warmth who've just come back from some time in France.
Then off to my parents for a family weekend to say goodbye to Pops who is now in Palestine with EAPPI. A weekend of food. Arriving in time for tea and rock cakes, a Chinese takeaway, a delicious breakfast whilst Pops opened his Christmas gifts, then a glorious walk along the beach in Deal before home for roast pork, the choice of three puddings and a huge cheese board. Then a tearful au revoir.
Meeting up with my dear old colleagues at our favourite restaurant for chat, Early Years news and friendship. A very lovely belated birthday gift of vouchers for Anthropologie meant that I could buy the measuring cups I've been drooling over for the last month. So glad I resisted the other times.
Meeting up with a dear university friend at Tate Britain for the Pre-Raphaelite exhibition. How funny to read this as the opening line of my book on the train in.
'There is a certain room in the Tate Gallery which, in these unregenerate days is more a passage-way towards the French pictures...'
'He now observed that it was mostly hung with large with large and unpleasant works of the 'Every picture tells a story' school, interspersed with some rather inferior examples of pre-Raphaelitism...' Nancy Mitford Christmas Pudding
A very lovely Friday night in with mother and then a very cold, wet, grey mis Saturday beginning the Christmas shopping.
Lunch with Mama and Papa Warmth.
Suddenly feeling it getting much colder...

Reading The other side of truth by Beverley Ngaioo for the English course I'm on through school. A little troubling reading about refugees and trying to get into a country just as dad was flying to Israel and then onto Palestine in the midst of everything. Making a long waited for start on the first of my Christmas books - Christmas Pudding by Nancy Mitford. No baking, apart from the ubiquitous banana bread, I'm all ready for December baking though.

The month of September

Started with a day trip to Worthing to see Granny Warmth. After lunch we went for a walk along the beach, played on the 2p slot machines and all the joys of a local museum.
London has just been alive this summer with so many surprises. Walking from Charing Cross we discovered a Paralympic live site at Trafalgar Square and then walking up Regents Street, which was closed for Piccadilly Circus Circus. We gazed, gawped and admired the amazing acrobatic feats.
Back to work, but the evenings were still filled with Paralympics.
Glorious sunshine and a sunny Saturday mooching at Maltby Street Market and then Borough Market. Buying delicious food for a weekend of final September BBQs.
An early start on Sunday and in to London to eek out the last of London 2012 with cheering on the marathon. The sun shone and London looked glorious.
Picking a few apples from our tree, not nearly as many as last year.
Easing into autumn with footless tights...
Going to Renegade Craft at Spitalfields and meeting fellow blogger Anna there. A new brooch was bought. Then a lovely autumnal shopping mooch, up Marylebone High Street popping into Oxfam Bookshop, Rococo for a small salted chocolate bar, then meeting Warmth and Brother Warmth and wife for drinks.
A Sunday afternoon at the cinema for Anna Karenina. It felt like we should have vodka and caviar rather than popcorn to munch on.
A quiet weekend sharing food with Ma and Pa Warmth on Saturday and Mother and Pops on Sunday. Suddenly autumn has arrived, as did the rain.
Catching up with a dear friend at Pain Quotidian.
Another gorgeous sunny Saturday and off to Sevenoaks to visit some friends this evening.
Books read - very dismal I started Such a Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry but just couldn't get into it so 200 pages in we departed company.
Baking an apple streusal cake - not the most interesting but it's always lovely to have a cheeky slice of cake. Some more bananas so another banana cake. Julia Child's Coq au vin - the perfect recipe so much so that we've already planned who we're cooking it for next.

The Month of August

Continued with watching the Olympics. A lot.
With the news that the window restorers were not starting meeting up with a dear friend for a mooch and then lunch at Cocomaya on the Kings Road.
Quiet, as in not doing much, noisy as in lots of banging, days around the house as the downstairs windows were restored.
Meeting dear print making friends for our annual visit to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. This time we discussed the Olympics as well as art and life.
A weekend of Olympics. Watching it on television, going to Potters Field to watch it on a big screen and the next day cheering the Women's marathon in the rain.
A lovely week of friends to lunch, visiting school friends and university friends in Sevenoaks, meeting friends for lunch out on the Southbank, pottering in the house, reading all sandwiched in between watching the Olympics.
Meeting a friend for Monday night tapas and rose at Jose. Then the next day meeting a dear friend for lunch at Mishkins a mooch through Covent Garden including Kate Spade and the Chanel pop up then to Laduree for macarons and tea.
Off to France to stay chez Mama and Papa Warmth. Drinking delightful wine, a Sunday mooch at a local brocante, a return visit to La Borne a favourite pottery place, the book town of La Charite, a paddle in La Loire as it was so hot. On to Amboise to view the chateau and Clos Luce where Leonardo de Vinci lived. An anniversary drive back through France - that included sat nav taking us along the Boulevard Peripherique.
Productive days around the house. Destroying the bamboo, clearing the pond and stripping the wallpaper in the front room. Interspersed with drinks at The Railway, learning alot more about Edward Munch at the Tate Modern and meeting The Brothers Warmth, plus wives, at PropStore for drinks and Wahaca for much needed food.
The final days of school holidays going into school for the morning to prepare for September.
Really feeling that autumn is coming - socks on!
And we finish the month of August at the Olympic Park cheering on the ParaOlympics.

Baking that Banana Bread again.
Reading Mrs Bridge by Evan S. Connell - oh the ending. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie, The Report by Jessica Francis Kane, A World of Love by Elizabeth Bowen, A Favourite of the Gods by Sybille Bedford.

decanters, jugs, beakers and glasses

If ever an image and passage went together these two do.

'... down the path which led from the magna domus to the tennis court, a trolley with rubber wheels, also laden with decanters, jugs, beakers and glasses. Within the porcelain and pewter jugs were tea, milk and coffee, and within the Bohemian cut-glass decanters, beaded with pearls of moisture, was lemonade, fruit juice and skiwasser - this last a thirst-quenching drink made of water and raspberry syrup in equal measures, with the addition of a slice of lemon and a few grapes.' Giorgio Bassani The Garden of the Finzi-Continis

trolley

Shall we all just stop and meet at the tennis courts at 4pm for a skiwasser?

The Month of July

Mama and Papa Warmth to lunch, a walk around the garden and a lovely catch up.
Meeting a friend and having the opportunity of seeing the Olympic rings over Tower Bridge whilst eating a pizza at Strada.
Friday night mooching in Selfridges with a dear friend, exploring the beauty halls, the fashion, the home ware and then resting with a beautiful glass of rose and some snacks on the roof garden. Somehow it did stay dry though the blankets in buckets were most welcome by the end of the evening.
Celebrating Warmth's birthday with friends to stay. A BBQ with so much meat that the only pudding was Warmth's Birthday cake - all he wanted was a Gingernut loaf from his childhood.
Watching Murray in the Wimbledon final.
Meeting a friend on a soggy Thursday for drinks at The National Theatre at Propstore pop up bar. The Southbank is looking so wonderful it just needs dry weather for everyone to be able to stand out and enjoy.
A sad Saturday of meeting a dear friend for a farewell afternoon tea at Fortnum&Mason, then a slow mooch up Bond Street window gazing before going to leaving drinks for another friend. Both lovely times but I do wish they weren't leaving.
Hurrah the last day of term, an end of year social in the hall with huge vats of curry from a local restaurant.
My birthday gift to Warmth was a Eurostar trip to Paris.
An earlyish start the next day to cheer on the Olympic Torch as it went down both ends of our road. Then off to dear friends of Warmth's for a BBQ and catch up.
A lovely, lazy sunny Sunday ending with a BBQ in the garden.
First day of the summer holidays and the sun in all its glory shone. Popping into school and meeting a dear friend for her birthday. I'd suggested Inn the Park but alas Beach Volleyball scuppered those plans. So we found a great lunch deal at Maze where we had a cooling glass of fizz, a four course taster, coffee and then a tour of the kitchen. A delicious and lovely way to start the holidays.
Off to Kew to cheer on a friend who'd been nominated to for the Torch Relay. Oh it was hot but what fun it was. Spending a lazy day in Kew. Cooling lime and sodas in a shady pub garden and then to Ask pizza a whole group of us, plus the Olympic Torch.
Sitting in the shade by Blackheath pond meeting Rachel for lunch, book mooching and gentle chatting.
And then to watch the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games. It was amazing. The whole Olympics are amazing and in fact I felt like just writing this sentence for The Month of July as it surpasses everything else this month, yes even Paris.
A family party with fun games in the garden, lots of delicious food but not quite enough Olympic watching.
Sunday lunch with mama and papa Warmth the Olympics were on all the time.
The month finished with Mother coming up for a day of gardening.
Lots of cakes baked for school Fun Day and the cake stall. Lemon Drizzle and iced star biscuits were the biggest success. Lots of fairy cakes baked and a banana loaf. A different banana loaf with added seeds - hoping this one doesn't sink.
Books read Illyrian Spring by Ann Bridge, Lunch in Paris by Elizabeth Bard. The first of my new birthday Vogue subscription and The Mirador, dreamed memories of Irene Nemirovsky by her daughter, by Elisabeth Gille.

Are you enjoying the Olympics?

toast-drinking

Whilst away I read The Paris Wife by Paula McLain about Hadley Richardson, Ernest Hemingway's first wife. It's made me look out my copy of Fiesta:The Sun Also Rises to see which pages are turned down.

'I say that is wine,' Brett held up her glass. 'We ought to toast something. "Here's to royalty".'
'This wine is too good for toast-drinking, my dear. You don't want to mix emotions up with wine like that. You lose the taste.' Ernest Hemingway Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises

toast

Do you like emotions with your drink? I know I want to mix memories with my drink, so I think that means I want emotions with it? 

Yellow Cocktail Music

I'll not be blogging this week as I'm preparing for birthday celebration party at the weekend. A Jay Gatsby party to get me in the mood.

"There was music from my neighbour's house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars...

fizz 

... enough coloured lights to make a Christmas tree of Gatsby's enormous garden. On buffet tables, garnished with glistening hors-d'oeuvre, spiced baked hams crowded against salads of harlequin designs and pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched to a dark gold. In the main hall a bar with a real brass rail was set up, and stocked with gins and liquors and with cordials so long forgotten that most of his female guests were too young to know one from another.

lights

... already the halls and salons and verandas are gaudy with primary colours, 


...the bar is in full swing, and floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outside, until the air is alive with chatter and laughter...

chatter

The lights grow brighter as the earth lurches away from the sun, and now the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music...


Laughter is easier minute by minute, spilled with prodigality, tipped out at a cheerful word.


....The party has begun." F.Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby

The Month of May

Began with meeting Lula from The Golden Afternoon Tea Company to discuss my birthday cakes.
Discovering a new restaurant for midweek suppers with friends. The Riding House Cafe. I am still dreaming about the chocolate sundae with honeycomb and macarons.
A surprise Thursday tweet from Gudrun Sjorden saying I was the lucky winner of their retweet to win a scarf. Home on Friday to discover it on our doorstep. A bright and lovely addition to my wardrobe. Thank you.
A lovely Saturday with Twin. Exploring the V&A British Design 1948-2012 exhibition. I'm looking forward to going again with Warmth later on in the summer.
A thorough thorough spring clean of our house. How does it get so dirty?
Off to my hairdresser's pop up shop a new brooch and some cocktail glasses then meeting Warmth for Bank Holiday Sunday drinks at The Railway, our new favourite pub.
A day trip to Brighton. A delightful read of Jane Eyre, mooching in the different jewellery shops and then the most delicious lunch in Terre a Terre.
Enjoying sunshine, venturing out without socks or tights and wearing bright varnish on my toes at last.
A girls' night out on Saturday night to Cocochan.
A glorious Sunday and finally buying the Whistles summer dress.
Meeting mother and pops for a wet and cold Tuesday evening supper at Waterloo Bar and Kitchen then a Thursday supper out with dear friends at Sofra.
A Saturday mooch in Exmouth market - continuing, and ending the birthday jewellery searching. Then to Mama and Papa Warmth for supper.
The family weekend continued with my cousin and her gorgeous family coming for lunch.
The weather turned to glorious, wonderful sunshine. The garden looks amazing. The foxgloves are peeping, the roses budding and the rhododendron resplendent in it's purple glory.
A beautiful sunny Saturday. Meeting dear friend to go to the Christian Louboutin Exhibition at the Design Museum. Then a first time explore of Maltby Street Market. Glorious on a sunny lunchtime. We ate brunch at Bea's Diner and took home the much read about St. John Bakery's custard donuts. Home to rest before going out to friend's annual Eurovision Party.
A sunny Sunday cleaning, gardening and getting ready for our holiday.
Nails painted in Essie Clam Bake means I keep wanting to sing "We had a real good clam bake, we're mighty glad you came" from Carousel all the time.
And today a visit to Mudchute Farm with 120 three to five year olds and the anticipation of our holiday.

Baking my first attempt at Millionaire's Shortbread - I shall make it again. A favourite Hummingbird Bakery Summer Fruit Cheesecake. And a disaster. I attempted to make up my own recipe using stewed rhubarb and left over condensed milk for a loaf cake. It was all a bit dense, soggy and not to be repeated. Nigella's Cappucino Cupcakes for Eurovision.
Reading The wartime stories of Mollie Panter-Downes, the perfect bedtime reading. Two short stories before I close my eyes. Getting started early for the Victorian Reading challenge with a third re read of Jane Eyre.

The Month of April

Somehow the whole of my month of April has disappeared... It could almost be summed up with rain, chocolate, friends, family and gardening.

It started waking up in dear friend's newly decorated spare bedroom having had a lovely Saturday supper together and the knowledge that the Easter holidays had commenced.
Deciding I have another favourite place to add to London Mooching, Seven Dials. A glorious walk in the sunshine along these streets, gazing at the brooch I'm coveting and exploring a new shop that I'd read lots about.
Meeting a dear friend for a long lunch at Rocket.
Godson, his siblings and mother coming for a lovely relaxed lunch. Good to see children enjoying our garden, eating the creme egg cakes I'd baked.
Our curtains for the dining room have been delivered and are lovely. Phew we made the right choice.
A supper of bellinis, friendship and laughter with dear colleagues at the National Portrait Gallery Restaurant.
A cold and most pleasant day watching The Boat Race at Brother Warmth's flat in Mortlake. Then drinks in the Hare and Hounds, surely a pub Hugh Grant should frequent.
An Easter Sunday at our home. It was lovely to have every one around the table. Delicious lamb, cake, Simnel Cake and chocolate, Easter Egg hunt Easter Egg races in the garden, in between the rain.  Warmth received his life sized Easter bunny and was very happy and it was very delicious.
Meeting a friend for supper at Vinoteca. Hearing about her plans.
Warmth had the week off work which was lovely. Lots of pottering in the garden, seeing how new plants have sprouted shoots, bulbs planted are coming through, planting sweet pea seeds and hoping they haven't been washed away in the rain.
Tate Britain to see Picasso and Modern British Art then to Tate Modern to see Damien Hirst.

Lemon and Jar

A mooch to Greenwich Auctions then to see the most delcious film - Delicacy, a walk over Greenwich and Blackheath. A wonderful rainbow and drinks at The Railway.
A Friday night at The Royal Academy London Original Print Fair.
To The Rocket to celebrate a friend's 40th birthday lunch.
In amongst all the rain the first glimpse of peonies at Liberty's. Surely summer is on its way?
Ma and Pa Warmth to supper. A lovely evening and even better to have left over food to munch on the next day.
Baked Creme Egg Cakes, Nigella's Easter Chocolate Nest, Sunday evening baking restarted biscuits, banana bread, Bakewell Tart baked for the first time.
Books read - oh very slow with The Finkler Question.

The month ended with a beautiful, sunny spring day.

The Month of March

World Book Day at school. One of those warm fuzzy moments. A lovely warm afternoon, 500 three-eleven year olds dressed up, parading around the playground in their classes cheering everyone on. all the teachers and support teachers dressed up too.
Discovering a new bar, Eleanor Bar at The Charing Cross Hotel. The friend who chose it knew nothing about it but decided that because they'd chosen to name it after the original cross that Edward 1 erected as a memorial to his wife Eleanor of Castile, it couldn't be that bad. For it's location this bar is a fantastic find.
A feeling that spring had sprung one day and then the next day back to grey skies.
A sunny afternoon mooch in Blackheath and onto supper with friends.
Twin and the blessings up for lunch. Alas the weather meant we ended up playing games, making things and going for a very brief walk to the local park rather than to the woods.
The rebranding of AnyOtherWedding to AnyOtherWoman.
Off to Canterbury to see my parents. Twin and the Blessings were there so we had a delightful spring walk. Then in the evening to the cathedral to hear dad sing (Hayden's Creation) in his choir. It's the first time I've been for years, as a teenager I used to take a cushion and a book as I found it so boring. In places I would still have liked my book to read. I realised how fortunate I am to have this amazing building on my doorstep and how I just take it for granted.
A first spring afternoon in the garden. Amazed at the shoots of new life coming through, relieved that I don't seem to have killed off the plants - yet and excited for what will unfurl in the coming months.
discovering that I really do need to be more careful with my money. So striking things off my wish list. a £29 pair of Zara boots instead of these Ash ones.
A blog meet up with Rachel at Canteen. A really lovely evening talking about books and everything else.
Thursday Late at The National Portrait Gallery to see Lucian Freud. Then a cocktail in the bar afterwards. This was my favourite painting, imagine it in a bedroom, how restful.

Sleeping Nude by Lucian Freud

Warmth has done an amazing job searching for a new dining room table, our current one I inherited when I bought my flat. Finally ebay ended the quest and our new table was delivered. Time to now buy new table linen.
A busy weekend. Looking for dining room curtain material in Peter Jones. A walk to Battersea Park to The Affordable Art Fair. It was busy but good. We didn't buy anything but have found some new, affordable artists that we both like. Then to Shad Thames to meet some friends and have supper at Cantina del Ponte.
The next day up early for an early lunch at Mama Warmth's and then to Ham House for her birthday and Mother's Day celebration. It was a cold spring day, I dressed for a warm spring day.
A delightful evening spring mooch in town. Liberty's and Selfridges all in one night.
another potter in the garden. I am finding spring so wonderful this year having a garden. The way the dead branches come to life with tender new leaves is miraculous.
Florence Finds Afternoon tea at Drink Shop Do. It was a wonderful afternoon/evening. Putting faces and voices to internet names.
To finish the beautiful spring weekend. A walk through central London to order new curtains for finishing off the dining room. Then to Somerset House for Pick Me Up. Warmth had been speaking to my mother the day before who'd been there as the boyfriend of a relative is exhibiting. We did buy a print for our home, in fact we were spoiled for choice.
A family funeral. Tears, laughter, sunshine and lovely to be together as a family.
This weekend I'm mooching around Notting Hill and then we're off to friends.
A baking extravaganza. The Hummingbird Bakery chocolate cheesecake (delicious but huge quantities), Jaffa Cakes (a need to perfect them) my first Florence Finds recipe try out and a re bake of Bea's of Bloomsbury Snickerdoodles. Flapjacks - the idea is to bake something easy so I can have a snack at work and not resort to buying croissants, crisps etc. So a healthier option and the money saved can buy a new eye shadow or such like each month.
Books read The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh for Florence Finds Book Club. Penelope Fitzgerald The beginning of spring. Miles Franklin My Brilliant Career - the last two opportune charity shop finds.

The Month of January

Started with a small supper party to celebrate the new year.
After the postponed meet ups with Warmth and his brother we finally met for drinks at The Duke of Wellington.
Hurrah! Both Warmth and I had the Tuesday off work. We braved the elements to walk into town and then had the last day of Christmas munching, took down the tree and the cards and finally at 4pm on the last day of my holidays I started some school work.
A Warmth Family gathering for Card of the Year. A Warmth family tradition of judging each Christmas card and then announcing a winner, and also loser... This year betting was added to the mix. We then played Charades, although I so now want to call it The Game after Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey. Finally Consequences. All washed down with much laughter, prosecco, sausages, Christmas cake and Christmas pudding. Christmas has finally ended.
Exploring our new home. A walk to Oxlea Woods. Lovely - I know we will return.
Book Club - discussing our book, Christmas, shopping and so much more.
An early Saturday brunch on the opposite side of London. Lovely to catch up with old book club friends. Then a wintery mooch in Barnes and meeting Warmth's brother and wife for drinks.
A delicious Sunday lunch with friends and then a cold walk around their local park.
Finally swapping to the new blogger - and liking it very quickly.
Meeting a friend in Shoreditch. Exploring BoxPark and a warming supper at The Albion.
Friday supper with the dear old colleagues at Sofra.
Saturday travelling westward again, this time back to Putney, home for my first six years in London. A late afternoon hot chocolate and glass of red wine with one of my first teaching friends. Then a party at one of the boat clubs along the river.
A Sunday birthday celebration lunch at Baltic for Warmth's father's 75th birthday.
Meeting up with a dearest best girl and exploring Drink Shop Do. Oh it is fantastic and feminine. Cocktails and cakes with a little bit of shopping thrown in for good measure.
Finally ordering our wallpaper for the dining room.
Off to friends for the night. Delicious Chinese take away and more importantly a catch up.
Setting up a tumblr JHD366. I've managed a month of a photo a day. Hoping to keep going for another 11 months.

Books read - Finishing Good Wives, reading Wait for me! by Deborah Duchess of Devonshire. I realise the last few books I've read have all been about sisters - and lots of them! Finally my Persephone Secret Santa - Hostages to Fortune by Elizabeth Cambridge.

Discovering the first snowdrop in our garden...

.

A feast of cake

'She remembered the great decorated kitchen, with holly hung from the rafters among the salt-rimed shrouded hams and puddings, a fiddler on the back stairs, and a feast of cake and fruit and pasties, wine and whisky.' Winifred Holtby South Riding
cake, fruit
What are your Christmas memories of food?

The Month of November

It started with The Ofsted Telephone Call. So the first week was lost with school.
As a Friday end of Ofsted treat I bought this lovely perfume bottle. Mooched in Selfridges and then met a friend for supper at The Waterloo Bar and Kitchen.
Saturday a day of epic sleeping. Sunday a gentle mooch around Greenwich.
Thankfully we had a day off for Eid on the Monday. Meeting a dear friend for lunch at Peter Jones. I'd quite like to work a four day week.
Meeting my dear dear old colleagues at Royal Festival Hall Bar for drinks and more importantly catch up and friendship.
Supper with Warmth's old school friends at Browns.
A day trip to Margate to visit Turner Contemporary. Lunch in the cafe. Stunning sea views. A mooch around old town in the shops and then tea and teacakes at The MadHatters Tea Place. It was truly mad.
Book Club meet and discuss of Snowdrops and the chance to walk and admire Fortnum & Mason Christmas windows.
A coffee meet at The Albion with Anna. It turned into a little bit of a Carol Ann Duffy appreciation society.
Purchasing a new beret and scarf. Both grey with tiny flecks of silver in them. My take on the glitter theme this season.
A Friday evening shop in Liberty's and Paperchase - getting our Christmas card pieces together for a weekend of making.
An evening with Warmth's eldest brother and wife. Wandering the streets of Hither Green for Lee Open Studio. How lovely to mooch knowing that if we had seen something we do have a litttle 'need' to buy. Alas all our favourite prints and paintings had already been sold. The evening finished with a warming curry.
Starting to find a church to call home in our new area.
An afternoon wrapping up the garden for winter.
Meeting a dear friend for an early supper along Bermondsey Street and eating at Zucca.
A Friday evening cinema trip to see The Help.
A perfect Saturday. First stop to The Book Club for Patchwork Harmony's Merry Magpie Christmas Boutique. Should have been buying gifts for others. Alas two things for me, a lovely tote and bird trays for my dressing table. Then I hopped on the bus and stopping off at Bea's of Bloomsbury for a coffee before meeting a friend for a trip along Lambs Conduit Street, a pop into Ben Penreath, Something and of course Persephone for Persephone Secret Santa. We had a lovely chat about PSS too. Then finally onto Cockpit Arts where it felt a little like one gift for others, one gift for me. After all that we needed cocktails and food. Hurrah for The Zetter and Morito.
A very festive Sunday. Coffee from a Starbucks red cup, a Pret turkey sandwich, Christmas shopping in John Lewis and then an Advent Carol service.
The month ended with this.
An delicious orange, plum and almond cake from River Cafe made easy. I had said that November was a no entertaining month and it shows in the cooking.
Books read The Ladies of Lyndon by Margaret Kennedy. That's all I've read in November? I am finding it a alow book. Has anyone else read it?
Wow it's been a long month. How was your November?

The Month of September

Started with a gentle introduction back into school.
A Friday mooch around Borough Market.
Taking The Blessings out for the day to a Kentish Country Fair.
Discovering The Painted Lady for nails. I shall return. They're small, they're friendly, they have a good selection of OPI and Essie and they offer you wine on a Friday night.
A wonderful wonderful evening at Any Other Party. All the women there were so warm, fun and thoughtful.
My mother arrived with boxes of letters from the past for me to sort through and store now we're somewhere larger. What to keep? What to throw?
A first, and by no means last visit to Eltham Palace. This was for an Art Deco fair. Oh I should have bought the beautiful wooden bookcase...
Celebrating a friend's 40th at Gauthier in a private dining room. The company was as gorgeous as our surroundings.
Buying furniture - quite a bit of it.
You've read about it before - meeting up with my old colleagues at The Electric for Porn Star Martinis. These meet ups are so precious. We've all gone our separate ways. But there is a tie that I don't think anything can break.
Drinks at Electricity Showrooms in Hoxton. How strange that over ten years ago I looked at a flat in this area, how would life have been different if I'd chosen that path?
Meeting up with dear friends to supposedly watch Spinal Tap. I've still to see it all the way through but it was great fun to meet up.
Trying to fit too much into one day. Ordering a carpet, visiting an open studio in New Cross to buy a painting and then back in time for a friend to come to lunch. Such glorious weather we sat sipping our gin and tonics outside.

Baking - lots of apple dishes from our apple tree. Apple and almond pudding, apple crumble. Salted caramel macarons - they tasted wonderful but they would have been marched off GBBO on looks. A Lemon Drizzle cake with an extra spoonful or two or lemon curd woven through it. A delicious Nigella Onion Supper Pie - devoured in front of GBBO. Finally bought the new Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days. Now what to bake?

Finished Persuasion. But you already knew that. South Riding by Winifred Holtby. It started off being interesting read a novel where the author has such hopes for the role of the local authority to change lives when we're in the midst of such local authority cutbacks. And then it became truly emotional and absorbing.

And just for the record on the 30th September I wore white linen shorts, a t-shirt and sandals to work!

The Month of August

Settling in to our new home. The days took on a gentle rhythm. Warmth leaving for work. A gradual awakening, a potter downstairs, watering the gardening, admiring the lovely roses. Maybe picking one and putting a single stem in a jar. A clean of a room, an unpack of a box, a little bit of a garden, the joy of being able to hang washing out outside. A wander into our new town center to explore and do a few chores. An internet browse - of blogs and gorgeous home ideas and possibilities. Waiting in for a delivery or someone to check on something be it aerial or internet or new bed delivery. BBQ suppers because we had no cooker.
Cleaning and a little more cleaning and imagining the women who'd have cleaned in this house of the years.... Feeling the need to have a scrubbing brush.
Visits from both sets of parents, within days of moving in.
Meeting a dear dear friend along the Southbank. I team taught with her as a newly qualified teacher. She is my friend, mentor and Early Years Guru.
Delightful bubbles in Selfridges and then along to Aubaine for supper. This included the purchasing of a fantastic denim tunic from Gap.
Twin and the blessings came up. They'd made a chocolate cake the shape of the house decorated with jelly sweets. So lovely to have a garden for them to play in.
A delicious day in Regents Park with goddaughter and mum. A picnic, a play on the climbing, alot of chat and a great ice cream to finish the day off.
A guest post over here.
Loving having a garden. Picking roses and hydrangeas to display. All the little glass bottles I've been collecting have a purpose. Enjoying the garden. Enjoying thinking about the plants and flowers and how spending time sitting. Weeding is a novelty and I, at the moment enjoy it. Though currently the blackberry bramble is winning the fight in whether it stays or goes.
Tea with our new neighbour.
Another gorgeous day with a friend in Regents Park.
Putting together said John Lewis deliveries. Or rather supporting Warmth.
Having read alot about da Polpo I finally sampled the delicious food. And my it was lovely. I already want to return there and eat in their two other restaurants. Pudding was courtesy of The Icecreamists.
We celebrated a second wedding anniversary in our locality at Cafe Buenos Aires with views of sunset over Blackheath. By the way the sunsets in south east London are just incredible. And oh my the rain....
Decorating the spare bedroom, the bathroom and house in chaos with a glamorous damp proof course being done. And finally on the 25th a cooker arrived.
A total of nine BBQ's for friends and family over the course of August.

Having a garden, no cooker and all the visitors means we've explored different foods. Lots of salads and our favourite marinades. Missing not having an oven to bake. Still hurrah for refridgerator cakes, Boodles, jelly and no bake cheese cakes. Experimenting with cake pops. I'm not sure about them. I have a sweet tooth and found them a little sickly. What are your thoughts? First cakes baked in the new cooker chocolate and hazlenut and an apple cake with apples harvested from our apple tree!

Books read. Finally I finished Amanda Foreman's Georgiana, tripped delightfully through a small book of Katherine Mansfield's short stories (Something childish but very natural) raced through The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows. For book club The Shadow of the wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Reader, I gave up after about 20 pages.) Starting Persuasion early. Reading many home decoration magazines and Decorate and modern vintage styling.
Returning from a blogging holiday and looking forward to seeing you all.

The Month of July

Started with receiving a date for our move. Hurrah.
Celebrating a birthday with drinks in town. A great night but bad pub. I was asked if I wanted ice with my G&T!
Friends for lunch delicious time to cook together for Warmth and I before hand.
Celebrating Warmth's birthday with an evening of 20-20 cricket at Lords with friends.
Buying an iPad. Oh how we love it.
Supper with dear friends at Rocket.
Joining Mama and Papa Warmth at Cleaver Square Fair.
A second visit to The Summer Exhibiton with printmaking friends. Lovely to see favourite paintings again and seeing others for the first time.
In the midst of rain an afternoon at The Berkeley for Pret-a-Portea. It was delicate. It was delightful. It was delicious. And there was a very lovely pistachio green cake bag to take a few treats home with me.
Then onto Baltic to celebrate all the recent birthdays with Warmth's family. And the next day another meal out to celebrate all the recent birthdays in my family. Yes basically everyone I know is born in June or July. I'm running behind on presents and cards too....
Back to my dear and much missed friend Portobello Road for leaving drinks with dear friends at The Electric. Even though they're leaving the area we will return for Porn Star Martinis. We even have the date in our diaries.
Finally the end of term. The end of the school year.

Paris in July celebrations
Reading Ripening Seed by Colette, rereading Chocolat by Joanne Harris, The Cat by Colette.

By the time you read this we shall hopefully be in our new home. I've decided to take the month of August off blogging as there will be too many lovely/tiring things to be doing in our new home.
Happy August and see you in September!