Catering for a small family army

Mum, Dad and little sis to say to see a fabulous friend on the National Theatre stage in a fabulous show!

Dinner of the sis’ favourite foods: prosciutto e melone to start, Spanish chicken and chorizo stew for main and then the dessert…

To continue the continental summery theme, I thought I would christen the wedding ramekins that were still in their box and make this Spanish Orange Creme Caramel… The caramel was a bust to start with and, after vigorously stirring in error, had to throw it out and start again.

Not to worry, got it right second time (not without boiling hot sugar caramel burn to thumb but y’know, no pain…) and poured custard mix into the bain marie. Into the oven and onto the washing up. Whereupon I found the sugar that should have been added to the custard.

Hmmm…

Needless to say, the custards did not set, the semi-cooked orange omelettes have gone down the sink and I am still trying to dig rock hard caramel from the bottom of porcelain ramekins. Any suggestions for Ask Aggie style fixes to this conundrum, do get in touch!

I had made chocolate cherry cupcakes for the next day’s picnic (her fave pudding combination) but after the disastrous above, I pulled these out the cupboard and all was well. Domestic goddess aura fades slightly… but not wholly tarnished….

The Great British Family

The sis has been after me for a union jack cushion for months and months. Sadly I’m a meanie (and work in the Arts) and so my budget didn’t quite stretch to this little tapestry beauty at over £250! I put my scraps and stitching to good use in time for her birthday this week, not least of all as she has taken it upon herself to leave the country in two months’ time for the sake of a boy.

It must be love! Particularly if he is happy to have these slightly girly examples in his bachelor pad!

The story behind the one below is a long and silly one involving home movies, an 18month old sis in rubber ring and a bellowy, bossy older sis trying to enforce the ‘You’re not allowed to jump into the pool until your toes are over the edge of the tiles’ rule… using the time-honoured method of SHOUTING IN FACE.

Needless to say, the still-chilled-out little sis just stood there taking the shouting, which is not dissimilar to how we operate now.

God I love her and God I’m going to miss her.

That boy had better be worth it.

Stitching for friends

Antique red velvet ribbon handstitched on cotton ticking with star buttons…

For a gorgeous friend who I fear I have known now for 18 years. Which makes me feel quite old…

A Pistachio and Grey Colourscheme

This dress has suddenly inspired me to get creative and trawl the internet for a cool and crisp winter wedding…

Shoes would have to be these with this extraordinary hairpiece to rival the skirt!

For the reception, the jewel-covered cake inspired by Sylvia Weinstock would be pride of place and I have visions of taking over an old-world dilapidation like Wilton’s Music Hall for the grey/green hues to blend into the stonework…Men in silver and grey Kenneth Cole and paper products from Hello Lucky…

Yum yum…

Bump at 22 weeks

The bump continues to grow apace and I’m doing my best with the bits I have (god love Duro dresses – thanks to the gorgeous Erin, I have about five in my wardrobe and have been wearing them on rotation) My autumn wardrobe is traditionally some variation of a-line skirt, little jumper/cardigan and knee high boots. As the days when I could get into those skirts are long gone, I’m intrigued to see what I come up with this year!

It’s a funny one, pregnancy. I had this idea in my head that it was pretty much just wearing an increasingly larger backpack on your belly for 9 months with little other variation to your life or wellbeing.

Oh how wrong can you be??

At 22 weeks, my lower backache has come into play approximately 2 months before the books say it will, which bodes well for the rest of the year! I look like an old woman whenever I shift from horizontal to vertical or vice versa. Getting into bed has never been so sexy, let me tell you!

Hair – flat as a pancake (more so than usual)

Nails – NOT blossoming but in fact cracking and splitting like nothing on earth

Me – clumsy and absent minded (more so than usual)

But – it is now kicking and squirming. The first pummel was felt during the recent Harry Potter film, then during a conversation about Ebay – so The Boy is very proud. If it doesn’t start wiggling when I’m next in a vintage shop, I’m going to start asking questions about progeny…

A Londoner Tours London

A welcome opportunity to be a tourist in the Big Smoke when an old friend from the US dropped by early this month…

 

Moving…

Get pregnant, realise that you have already filled your current home to the brim, realise that in a few months’ time you will be far too enormous to do anything about it, realise that there is a gorgeous house available two streets away… get boxed up and moving in record speed.

Thanks so much to the stalwart friends who came and contributed elbow grease to the cause. They were handsomely repaid in curry that evening, but even so!

 

We are currently wandering the house with the ‘how are we so lucky’ look on our faces… The reason – our rent has increased – and now we can’t go out as much!!

Jolly Holidays

 

Beach at Brean

Pier at Clevedon…

…covered in plaques, memorials, dedications and promises

 

Antiques at Honiton

Animals at Longleat

Heaven in Somerset

  

A countryside wedding – as a guest – Part 2

After the gorgeous ceremony, the guests returned to the bride’s family house just down the lane…

Canapes and photographs in the family garden, with much snooping into the various corners of summer houses, vegetable patches, water features and scented gardens… Heavenly…

Then the grand removal of hats and we all went into the second marquee for dinner…

Trio of desserts (banoffee pie, chocolate mousse and raspberry jelly)was a great hit…

    

The cake was cut, the dances were danced and a glorious day was had by all.

Brain + Pregnancy = Empty Head + Full Fridge

My latest pregnancy trick reared its ugly head when the supermarket online order arrived yesterday. I'd gone to the loo halfway through the order and had clearly completely removed all memory of what I'd already put in my 'basket' and pretty much started the shop again.

When it arrived we had:

• Three pots of olives!!
• Cherry tomatoes
• Whole tomatoes on the vine
• Kleenex tissues
• Sainsbury's own tissues
• 12 mini scotch eggs
• 12 mini basic scotch eggs
• 24 yoghurts in various flavours and sizes
• Value kidney beans
• Normal kidney beans
• Value tinned tomatoes
• Normal tinned tomatoes
• Frozen chips
• Frozen potato wedges
• 18 soft buns
• 12 pitta breads

And it went on...

The classic thing was that I was clearly (at one point on the order) on an economy drive and so the duplications didn't show up as I had ordered the cheap and the normal of each thing!! Our fridge is bursting and luckily the Boy is taking it in good humour (not least of all as the order was on his credit card!). I did warn him that I'm not the best at the shop at the moment. Usually all my cravings come out in triplicate but this time I tried to rein that in and this is what happens!!!

Ah well - we've got a load of scotch eggs if you're up for a picnic any time soon!

On your Marks…

I know I’ve already waxed lyrical about some of the wonders of the British High Street.

Then the icon that is M&S turns 125… And wonders will never cease…

There’s homewares… Not to mention the jams, cordials and fizzy pops that aren’t on their website…

Silk underwear with retro styling to accentuate those curves and give a bit of oomph to your retro frocks…

    

And as if that weren’t enough… The frocks come strutting by…

Not one of these is over £100 and not one of these is made of polyester or anything else yucky. Utterly inspiring and utterly timeless.

And then there’s the accessories…

An online museum of the history of their shop, packaging and products is worth a little wander too…

As per usual, though, I won’t be held responsible for any credit card bashing that arises as a result of this post… Though I’m getting VERY close to nabbing one of the orange/black/white tulip frocks myself…

Bump needs a break

My belly at 14 weeks! Off now for a week’s sojourn in *sunny* Somerset so will get back on track on our return.

Arrivederci!!