radio bliss

Just a quickie...Radio 4's Women's Hour have a new 10-part dramatisation of one of my favourite books; Wives and Daughters.

It starts today...

Wives and Daughters

new home

here is a sneaky peek at some corners of my new kitchen...kitchen fireplace and pantry

On saturday I went to the Vintage Bazaar in Frome, which was a real treat. It was crammed with stalls selling vintage homewares, kitchenalia, fabric, trimmings, vintage clothes, books, and even handmade cloche hats.

spain

Gibraltar, mojitos, flamenco, tagine, Morocco, nelson, beads, beach, cafes


The homelyheroine in me had a lovely time too....


There was an amazing bead shop in tarifa, with hundreds of hand-painted wooden beads, and gorgeous jewellery made from the beads...




This is my little haul...




I also bought this pretty lilac leaf ceramic dish...




There were some delicious cakes...




And some lovely tiles...

Oh dear, its been a while...

...since I've put my head round the door isn't it. Faithful readers, I am still here.

Well, what's the gossip?

I had a lovely holiday in Spain, it was a much prettier place than I had imagined, and I daresay I'll post a mosaic of photos for the curious that will give you the gist of it.

I've moved house, and I'm all safe and sound in my new home, a dear little cottage that I like to think is a bit like the one in the 1995 'Sense and Sensibility' film. Plenty of white wood panelling, and a fireplace is practically every room. A proper little kitchen too which we've managed to fit a dining room table into, and a pantry.

I've started my OU course, which was pretty terrifying at first, but is so far not too difficult. Maybe I'll report differently after the first assessment...

I had my first ever house-warming party, to which I lured people with the promise of a chocolate fountain, and was stunned by the generosity of a relatively new friend who has some game in the cake department. She showed up with this stunner...

And yes, those roses are entirely made of sugar, and she made them with her own fair hands, impressive, no? Needless to say she is baking her own wedding cake (she of the Westonbirt wedding, which has now changed location to a Devon cliff with a private beach for the day).

More soon, there is much to tell, and many blogger-friends to catch up with.

holiday

Thanks for all your lovely messages of support, and practical advice! I managed to get the cake there, and assembled it at the bar while Mr HH and my sister shielded me from view. Perhaps I overdid it with the chocolate cream filling, as by the time it was served it had melted down the side of the cake a little, and was 'artfully' disguised by the waitress who added yet more cream on top of the white roses. On the whole though, it was successfull, my mum seemed pleased at least!



Tomorrow I am going on holiday, hurrah! My bags are packed, I have my euros, nothing left to do but catch my flight. I'm flying to Gibraltar, Gib, The Rock, the port for British sailors since the days before Aubrey and Hornblower (ok those two are fictional), that strategic military base with roaming monkeys...

But I'm not staying there, I'm heading for an empty beach on the Costa de la Luz, rural Spain, with a view of Africa across the Straits...

Hopefully there'll be a few day trips, to Cadiz and Tangier, whale watching and churro eating.

And some good reading, I'm taking 'Anne of Green Gable' which I've never read (!) and the new Muriel Spark bio just out in paperback. See you in two weeks!

and breathe...

I am T minus 2 days away from my mother's 50th birthday party in Brighton, and I am responsible for providing the cake. I am stressed about this on several levels......

My plan is to bake a chocolate sandwich with a layer of chocolate whipped cream between and on top, to place this on a cake board and garnish with fresh white and pink roses, with pink candied rose petals scattered on top. Fine. Except I also have to get it to Brighton intact and fresh, and that means surviving a 4 hour car-journey. The cake is for 20 people.

It'll be ok though, because I have an elaborate plan to transport everything separately- sponges, cream, flowers, and assemble at the restaurant. I'm trying not to think about it, mostly.

On the other hand I did manage to get Robert Opie's '1920's Scrapbook' on sale at work...

It's a fantastic collection of newspapers, adverts, and memorabilia, arranged into chapters such as 'hair and hats'. Excellent social history record, and very nice to open randomly and pore over. There is also a '1930's Scrapbook' which I'd love to get hold of...

Speaking of social history, top of my wishlist at the moment is this book by Shirley Hughes. It contains a painting for every other year from 1900 to 1950, and 2 pages of text and black and white drawings summarising the social, cultural, and political history of that year. Most of the paintings depict meals, and my favourite is the very first...the kitchen of the grand townhouse.

I just got my registration papers back from the OU, I am officially started on my history degree, an ambition of some 6 years standing....so excited!

Just as long as the cake turns out ok....

paper art

Here's a book to fall in love with....'Playing With Books'

It has a number of projects to turn beautiful books, pages and covers that will never be read into decorative and useful items, such as a clock, bag, or flowers. Then at the back features some serious artists practising the craft. The dress on the cover for instance, but also 'butterflies' and my favourite, a tiny but perfect age-of-sail ship cresting the wave created by the pages of a book.

Have a look at the website of Tracey Bush, I adore what she does, particularly the use of maps.

Another nice book is 'Things on Toast'. Yum, yum, yum.

There won't be any more children's books featured for a while because I am on the long-list reading panel for the Children's Book Prize run by my company, and I cannot divulge the titles.

I tried salt-dough today for the first time, no pictures yet because its in the oven, and I need to find some paints...