New Baby Berry Breakfast Muffins

This week's foody post was going to be about meatballs. But as it's currently surprisingly seasonably warm, no one wants to think about meatballs. So I'm going to save them for the inevitable monsoons/blizzards/thunder storms we'll probably get next week, and tell you about berry muffins instead.


I had some lovely redcurrants in my vegetable box this week. They looked very pretty and reminded me of being little, as we had lots of currant bushes in the garden at home. They also reminded me that whenever we opened the freezer a few random frozen ones would always tumble out - my mama had a tendency to freeze them but not get around to using them before they managed to escape their container and hide behind the ice cream.

Anyway. They looked wonderful but gosh, they were sharp. Definitely not suitable for eating on their own. I contemplated various fates for them (apart from freezing; they didn't deserve that and the cat gets enough exercise chasing the frozen peas that always tumble from my freezer) but eventually decided on muffins.


This was a two pronged solution as it meant 1) using up the currants and 2) that we could take some as a new baby present to some friends of ours who have recently made a person. Muffins seemed like an appropriate gift as they're quick and easy to eat and, as I added some oats as well as the berries, these had a fair amount of goodness in them. And obviously, sugar. But new parents can generally do with some energy.

New Baby Berry Breakfast Muffins


220g plain flour
10g oats (and another tablespoon for the tops)
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
85g brown sugar (plus another tablespoonful for sprinkling)
1 egg
240ml milk
90 ml vegetable oil or melted butter/margarine
100g berries (I'm quite sure that most sorts of berries would work here, even frozen ones if you increase the cooking time a smidge)


Preheat your oven to 200C and prepare your muffin tins with liners or grease.


Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt, then stir in the oats and sugar. Put to one side.


In another large bowl, beat the egg with a fork then stir in the milk and oil. 


Make a well in your dry ingredients and pour the wet into the dry. Stir until just combined - it should still be lumpy but you don't want to be able to see any flour. 


Stir the berries through.


Fill the muffin cups to 3/4 full, then sprinkle over a spoonful of oats and sugar. Bake for 20-25 minutes. You'll know when they're done as they'll be browned and springy.


Eat for breakfast. Or at any other time.


(I made a pan of big ones and another pan of miniature ones, but I think you'd get about 12 normal size ones from this mix.)

A Summery Saturday: Borough Market and Vintage on the South Bank

I don't like over-planning my weekends. They're for relaxing, and too many plans can make me feel all regimented and stressed.


That doesn't mean I don't sometimes end up doing a lot of things, though. Freestyle weekends can still be pretty busy. This Saturday was a prime example...


First, we got up surprisingly early (for a weekend) and cycled to Borough Market. I've always heard it's best before eleven in the morning and I'm afraid to say it's true. Officially worth getting out of bed for. 

(Plus, the exercise and earliness meant we could celebrate our arrival with bacon and egg rolls, before having a wander around the rest of the stalls.)

mushroomushroomushroom

Pile o'meringues

Spectacular tentacular squids

'matoes

A flat peach and a flat nectarine! I didn't know there were flat nectarines too!

Picturesque French things

Shortbread Owls from The Cinnamon Tree Bakery

We then headed over to the Vintage Festival on the South Bank. Tickets for the actual event, in the Royal Festival Hall, were eye-wateringly expensive (to my frugal/stingy mind) but there was a free marketplace full of vintage stalls that was quite enough to keep me amused for a few hours.

Some of the lovely things that caught my eye...

Patchwork Pony

Bunting and cream teas (courtesy of Crowne paint, I think!)

Beautiful hats that I WANTED. From Kate Underdown Millinery and  Lady Go Red

Gorgeous upcycled furniture from Furniture Divas

Bobbins! (I think)

Hat boxes full of delicious vintage-style underwear.

Lots of lovely quilty things from Beyond Fabrics

Pretty frocks from Lowie.

Nick was quite taken with the record players, from Hourglass Vintage Lifestyle in my hometown of Salisbury!

Lots of people dressed up, and with amazing hairstyles

and a helter skelter...

I also had a feeling that my lovely bicycle hasn't been feature enough on this blog. Considering how much time I spend on it, I decided that should be remedied and passed the camera to Nick so he could snap velo and I pretending to look casual.

This has been a rather photo-heavy post... To continue that theme, the very lovely (and wise) Kirst over at the The Leopard Anchor is starting a Crafty Photo Scavenger Hunt and I'm going to join in. Pop over and see her for the rules, but the general gist is that she will set five categories each month and all the participants have to take a photo on each subject. My photography is very much of the pointandshootthenfaffaboutwitheditingsoftwaretomakeitlookbetter variety, but it's always nice to have a new challenge!

Started so I'll finish?

I love living in London; it's a beautiful city. I wish I could draw it, but I'm never happy with my attempts. The buildings I see everyday, out of my office windows, are inspiring and frustrating in equal measure as I constantly play with ideas but then decide I'm not happy with them.

Pen sketch

Pen with watercolour

Pencil, distorted perspective

Pen onto a street map fragment

I'm not going to give up though. I guess being at all creative is a process; you don't just decide to make something lovely and - tada! - it's done. So I'm trying to learn to enjoy the getting there, rather than trying to guess where I'll end up.


I've also been playing with fabric flowers, after my workshop at the weekend. These are a lot better for immediate gratification! My weekend-project is a headpiece for my sister, who's going to a wedding next week. Fingers crossed I'll get it finished!

Lettuce Love

Lettuce is kind of boring, isn't it? I mean... I do like salads, but the lettuce is always very much cast in a supporting role. I never eat one and find myself thinking 'what this really needs is more lettuce.'


At the moment I'm alternating my Abel and Cole vegetable boxes so I get mixed fruit and veg one week, and then a salad box the next. But, due to it being in season I guess, this means I keep ending up with lots of lettuce. A lettuce glut, if you will.


So, here are the results of my ponderings on (edible) things you can do with lettuce.


1. Leave it in the fridge 'til it goes brown and soggy. Throw it away and feel guilty.
2. Put it in a green smoothie! It's perfect for this as it doesn't have much flavour but adds lots of water. And you can use the boring middle bit.
3. Make it into a chilled soup. (I've not tried this... cold soup never appeals that much to me.)
4. Barbecue it, apparently!
5. Use the whole leaves as wraps. 


Number five is my current favourite. I've realised I can make a super-quick weekday supper that's actually quite healthy, uses up the lettuce and doesn't taste boring. And you can eat the wraps with your fingers, which saves on that pesky washing up of cutlery.

Obviously, the inside of a wrap can contain whatever takes your fancy. This is just my current default recipe:


Halloumi and Bulgar Wheat Lettuce Wraps


60g bulgar wheat
1 tbsp vegetable stock powder (I use Marigold Boullion) 
50g halloumi cheese (or use flavoured tofu, to make the recipe vegan?)
1 small onion
1 red pepper
6 large lettuce leaves, rinsed


Serves 1 hungry person


Prepare the bulgar wheat by putting it into a large bowl, stirring the stock powder through the dry wheat, then covering with water. Cover the bowl and leave to stand for about fifteen minutes.


Chop up your onions, pepper and halloumi (I prefer tiny cubes of halloumi and bigger bits of pepper, but obviously up to you!) and stir-fry in a pan until the onion and pepper are softened, and the halloumi is browned.


When the bulgar's ready, stir through the chopped veg and cheese.


Load a few spoonfuls into each lettuce leaf and enjoy!

An interesting lettuce fact... it used to be a fairly popular girls name, although it was usually written Lettice. From Laetitia, I think. It's pretty, isn't it?


In non-lettuce news, I've recently started using pinterest. It's quite addictive... You can see my boards, and follow me, here.

Cupcakes and Craft... in Tooting

I've mentioned before that Tooting is not exactly overwhelmed with exciting things to do and see. However, this weekend was a bit of an exception as the Tooting Tram and Social was hosting a SW Craft Club Summer Pop-Up Event on Sunday and I interrupted my hectic schedule of cutting the grass to go along.


Its delights included workshops in making fabric brooches, mosaics, cupcake icing, and advice on knitting and crochet, interior design and up-cycling old clothes. There was also a swish (a sort of organised clothes swap), courtesy of Swish and Pout, which I'd never done before and was pretty excited about.


Entry was free, with small contributions requested for some of the activities. And the bar was open, which Nick was very pleased about. (He decided he wanted to come, I feel the need to point out, there was no coercion! But he did spend most of the event behind the Sunday papers with a pint...)


I had a go at making a fabric brooch with Tooting-based A Crafty Pint, and was very pleased with the results. It was so easy!

My brooch, and some of the free sweeties!

I also managed to tempt Nick out from behind his paper to come and ice a cupcake with me. There were beautiful, professionally iced, versions on sale, for inspiration:

But Brixton-based Ms Cupcake was so enthusiastic in her tutorials that we had to have a try ourselves:

Ms Cupcake and her amazing hat!

Unfortunately, our attempts left a certain something to be desired... I shall leave you to guess which was mine and which was Nick's...

They still tasted amazing though. And entirely vegan, which I would challenge anyone to have guessed.


The swish was also great fun, and I came away very happy with my little haul.

The Tram is probably one of my favourite Tooting venues (it's where I had my last birthday party) and they're doing crafty workshops throughout the year.

There's also another SW Craft Club event on the 7th of August in Clapham, so I think I'll be sorting out some more wardrobe mistakes to take along and swish.

Infinite Jest and Me: A Love Story

You know when you meet a friend of a friend at a party? And you've heard loads about this person, about how wonderful he is? 


And then you meet him and, actually, he's a bit of an idiot? 


Maybe pretentious? Perhaps a bit arrogant? Hard to relate to and, worst of all, perhaps a smidge disinterested in you? You have a bit of a chat but then wander off to find some whiskey, baffled as to what everyone else sees in him.


But, you know, your paths cross a few more times. And you have to chat to him because he's friends with your friends and you're a nice person. And every now and then you manage to have an interesting conversation, and maybe you start to feel you don't dislike him quite as much?


And then you don't see him for a while and for some reason he keeps popping into your head? So you manage to find out, completely by accident, where he hangs out and you happen to be there one night and you get chatting and, you know, one things leads to another?


So then you're totally in love and it's the best thing that's ever happened and he might still be a bit pretentious and arrogant and whatever, but it totally doesn't matter because he's also witty and smart and sensitive and everything.


And you get married and have lots of only-mildly pretentious children and are mostly and realistically happy for ever more, and end up in the same retirement home eating aniseed balls together. *


You know? Well, that's how I feel about Infinite Jest. As I've said before, it's a beast and it's taken me longer to read than anything else, ever. But I finally finished it and I love it. With a deep, abiding, aniseed ball sort of love. 


The sort of book-love that, when you get to the end (and despite the fact that it's taken months to read) you just want to go and start at the beginning again.


I'm not going to write a review. I don't think I could do it justice in a few words and there are plenty out there on the interwebs already. I'm not even going to recommend it, because I can completely see there are a lot of people out there who wouldn't love it.


But if you think you might want to read it... please do. That's all.


Here it is, finally snugged in with the other books. (I only allow books on to the book cases once they've been read. IJ had to live on the kitchen table, where it glowered at me if I hadn't picked it up recently.)

* This is not based on a true story. Well, not mine anyway. I met my love at a dance class and he thinks aniseed is the flavour of the devil. But still... you know?

Sunflowers!

Second beautiful wedding of the year was in Toulouse. I don't think I'd ever been to the south of France before, and it really is lovely. The best thing, though, was all the fields of sunflowers. I may have got a bit carried away in taking pictures of them...

I must admit, though, that walking alongside a field of sunflowers all alone without a single human as far as the eye could see, they did start to feel a bit... sinister. 

Like they were watching me. 

Definitely something of a Triffid-y aura about them...

My own sunflowers are still just leaves. I'm going to show them these pictures in an attempt to inspire them to do flowers. Although then I might wake up with their watchful faces peering in my bedroom window... Worrying.


And a few more France shots. Because it wasn't just sunflowers.