Sunday Roast

Pears and Plums.

Pop your pears and plums into a shallow dish, drizzle in olive oil and then in runny honey, roast in the oven till almost soft, spoon over the oil and honey juice from the bottom of the dish then add toasted flake almonds and finish roasting till just soft and sticky.

Serve Cream or Ice Cream.

Have a good week ahead.

Shelly.

January Reasons to be Cheerful....

You can make a hearty bowl of soup, how about French Onion with cheesy bread topping?





You can still have a cosy twinkling corner for the dark evenings.

You can have flowering spring bulbs in the kitchen.

It won't be long till the snowdrops are in full bloom.

You can dream about and plan your summer holiday... French farmhouse anyone?

and best of all, if your as blessed as I am, you could welcome to world this little pink petal.

Born the day after my birthday my beautiful new Granddaughter joins our family, where she will be much loved by many.

January blessings indeed... what are your reasons to be cheerful in January?

Shelly.

(some images from Period Ideas and Country Living magazines)

Afternoon Tea.

There is something oh so lovely about the thought of a proper 'afternoon tea'.

I was lucky enough to unwrap a present this Christmas with this beautiful teatime china place setting in it (thank you Sally)

A Pot of Earl Gray Tea, a scone with jam and clotted cream or a slice Victoria Sponge cake......

It makes me very happy!

Take some time, get out the china, have afternoon tea.

Shelly.

Clean and Simple

When the mood takes you there is just no stopping!

I am of course talking about Cleaning.

Once all the Christmas and Birthday things were gone all I wanted to do was clean the house from top to bottom.




And then one thing led to another.... I thought the bedroom walls needed a bit of a freshen up so I persuaded my hubby to give them a coat of paint, which meant emptying the room out, which led to dismantling wardrobes which led to sorting out all our clothes..... it was unstoppable!!!

It was just what a I needed.... clean as a new pin, sorted, clutter free, simplified!

A good beginning for a grey and rainy January.

Shelly

A Day in the City

This weekend we went to the City (of London) we go every couple months, it is about an hour by train from the market town we live in and this weekend we had theater tickets so we went to Covent Garden for the day before heading to the show.






I love the name of this shop.

The entrance to the market.

Covent Garden is known for it's street artists, they perform all day.

I love the glass roofs and it's lanterns.

You have to buy tea from the Tea Palace

I Love this window at Lush.

The sounds and smells of the market include all kinds of foods and all kinds of music, a small orchestra was playing next to these guys cooking Paella.

In the main walkway the giant Christmas baubles were still hanging.

As we headed for a pre-theater dinner we passed to beautiful St Martins in the Fields Church.

After dinner we walked across Trafalgar Square with it's fountains and famous lions.

Looking towards the National Gallery.

The London Coliseum - home to the English National Opera and Ballet.

and on to the Adelphi where we watched Love Never Dies - the sequel to Phantom of the Opera.

It was a wonderful show.

It was a wonderful 'birthday' weekend.

Shelly.

Bank Holiday Pancakes

These are lovely fruity pancakes, perfect for lazy Sunday and Bank Holiday mornings and really quick and easy to make (a Jamie Oliver recipe)

You need:

1 cup of self raising flour (a normal size mug)

1 cup of milk

1 egg

pinch of salt

a couple of grated apples or pears or both.

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and lightly whisk together until you have a smooth batter.

Melt some butter in a fry pan, add large spoonful of the batter to make small thick American style pancakes.

I serve mine with Greek yogurt and honey- yummy.. you could add what ever you wanted, bananas and soft fruit work well too.

Shelly.

Happy New Year

Christmas has passed in a mountain of presents, piles of wrapping paper, a family feast, games were played and the house filled with love and thanks in celebration of the baby's birth all those years ago.





New Years Eve was a more grown up affair and spent having dinner with friends. I am not one for New Years resolutions but I am a planner, a dreamer and a 'glass half full' rather than 'half empty' kinda girl!

Now I am looking forward to packing away the decorations and thoroughly cleaning the house (starting today) I am going to buy a big bunch of flowers for the table and some spring bulbs for the kitchen that hold the promise of the Spring to come.

But for now with a clean and tidy house I am still lighting the candles, cooking with Winter foods and keeping us cosy for the next couple of months.








A very Happy New Year to all.

Shelly.