let it snow..

Via

This morning it snowed in London! Yipeeee!

And then it turned to brown mush and went away again....

Booooo.

Dear snow,

Your a little inconvenient, its true,  but you sure are beautiful. You also make me feel all christmassy and cosy, so I'd appreciate it if you could just stick around? And maybe give us all a snow day? Yes?

Yours sincerely,

Hannah

Update

It snowed. And it stuck. Thanks, snow.

Leaf love

I like leaves. These particular leaves were collected from Greenwich park the week before last, carefully selected, collected and stashed away in my bag.  After languishing on the kitchen table for a while I finally decided to thread each of the leaves onto a piece of thread and hang it in my lounge.

And so, there they are, bringing some of the their understated autumnal loveliness into my flat.

Thanks, leaves.

Tea and old age...

My journey with herbal tea began a little rockily. My friend and I ordered two delicious sounding fruity teas when we were 17 at our local gym. Excited by the fruity, sweet smell, we dived in only to burn our tongues and be bitterly disappointed that the rather bland taste bore no resemblance to the intoxicating smell.

Suffice it to say, I’ve since come a long way. My latest tea addiction surpasses all others. It involves rosemary, nettle, rosehip, ginger, cardamom and liquorish; it’s hard to imagine but the flavours are perfect together.

My only issue with this tea, is its name.

'Womens Fitness'.

Each time I make myself a brew I'm torn between excitement and wanting to punch myself in the face for having such twee clichéd' tastes. If I was ever in denial, drinking this tea confirms that yes, I am one of those hippyish, quietly striving, middle class women who buys tea called ‘Women’s Fitness’.

Gah.

Ah well. I give in.

Aside: enjoying herbal tea was of the indicators I set for myself as a teenager of 'being old'. Along with 'spending a decent amount of money on good quality, practical shoes', wearing full pyjama sets to bed, and asking loud people to be quiet.


Uh oh.

If...

If is cold where you are*, blisteringly so, with the threat of snow splashed across the free daily's;  if you are hungry for something but maybe you are not quite sure what it is; If you are in need of something that radiates warmth in your stomach, but you are not in the modd for stodgy stodge; If you are revelling in the cosiness of the winter months but perhaps reserve a little place in your heart for the sweetness and light of summer, cook this.

Sausage and root vegetable stew cooked in cider.

I didn't have celeriac or celery; I replaced them with a whole cabbage and 3 leeks which made it wonderfully light and green, yet hearty and meaty with addition of the sausages and onion and thyme.  The cider gave it a delicious, almost summary sweetness, but the parsnip and potato places this dish back firmly in the realm of 'hearty winter warmer'.

Images

Hugh? You kill me. I also have a bit of a weird crush on you. The end.

*If it isnt cold where you are, enjoy a fruity cocktail for me? Wear your floatiest item of clothing? For me? Thanks.

The Crochet Blanket

A long long time ago, in a living room (not so) far away, a crochet blanket was born. It was picked up enthusiastically. It was put down with merry abandon. At times It became an obsession. At other times, it's been completely forgotten. But now the crochet blanket is back in my life. Oh yes. I pick up my hook and wool at every single opportunity.

Take Sunday evening, for example. I managed two squares on the train home from my family weekend away . Very satisfied I was too. Then we transferred to the packed tube for the last leg of our journey. But even the packed tube didn't deter me. I couldn't put it down. I was stood, balancing precariously, with a ball of wool sticking out of each pocket, crocheting. I drew some curious glances. But I didnt care. I had two rounds to finish before I got off the train and i'd be darned if the quizzical looks of my fellow passengers were going to stop me.

And so. I thought i'd share my progress. Its been over a year since I started it. And theres still a way to go. Slow and steady wins the race, right? Right?!

Amelia's, Mobile

I’ve just returned from an annual family weekend away, and when I say family, I mean the whole extended family, all 40 (ish) of us. There were long walks and birthday parties and scheduled three course dinners (don’t ask) and performances (!), and a lot of catching up too. There was some clearance sale rummaging, pie making, and morning jogging. And also lots of babies. Each year the family grows and grows; cousins bring their boyfriends and girlfriends, and there’s news of marriages and new babies. I have realised that I am at the age when my friends and family are all starting to have babies. My mister and I are still a while away from having our own, but it is lovely to play with the babies of our friends and family. And then give them back again...

This was the inspiration for my latest craft column for Amelia’s magazine, which is a simple project about how to make a baby mobile. I would be very flattered if you had a min to pop on over to check it out.

The article comes with some lovely illustrations as usual, including this lovely one by Michelle Urvall Nyren.

Happy Tuesday to youuuuu!



P.s

P.s One day, in our future dream house, we will have a proper outdoor firepit. And an outdoor pizza oven. Yep. And we'll have fires all the time. And make pizza. Outside. And I will be a fire making, pizza eating champion. There will be no more depression era chic bonfire- in- a- bin. Nope.

Image

Image

Bonfire

Our Monday to Friday break left us with 2 full ‘holiday’ weekends on either side. We liked this very much. Curry with friends and a junk collecting trip to Deptford Market before we left. And on our return a bonfire party in the garden. Lovely friends bearing bottles of wine and other baked goodies joined us in the garden to huddle around our bonfire-in-a-bin. A baby slept soundly in the bedroom upstairs, we shared hilarious not- very- scary- ghost stories and compared mallow toasting techniques. But mostly there was talking, eating and all eyes absorbed by the flickering flames.

Our bonfire-in-a-bin (purchased to avoid scorching the grass). Depression era chic, don’t you think?!

The ancient tree at the end of the garden has been shedding leaves and branches at an alarming rate in the recent windy weather so we had a plentiful supply of wood to burn. There were mugs of chestnut and pumpkin soup with fresh French baguettes. The first jars of steaming mulled wine of the season. Choclate brownies and gingerbread men. And hot chocolate made with real chocolate, vanilla and milk. A feast.


It was lovely. The bonfire party tradition was originally started by Fay and her husband last year, complete with death defying fireworks and watercress soup, and this year it continued at ours. Any excuse to celebrate I say. Some of my favourite get- togethers with friends are what are turning out to be annual events, birthdays of course but also the Christmas dinner party, pancake party and now bonfire night. Establishing annual events like this kind of makes me feel old, but I weirdly like it.


I also wanted to hurry up and post about the bonfire because Christmas is around the corner, and I cant keep it at bay any longer.

Away

Last week I was away. In a cottage. I meant to schedule some posts for the week, but.... didn't. Instead I was packing, and baking. An ill fated plum crumble cake which ended up being left on a train, hopefully enjoyed by someone residing somewhere between London and Birmingham...

And then we arrived.  Our chapel. 

It was late and dark and we were tired and achey from carrying our (ridiculous ammounts of) luggage.  We sank into the sofa with glasses of wine (courtesy of the owners of the cottage) to take in our surroundings. It was small, smaller than we imagined it would be but perfectly cozy. A lounge/dining room with huge sofa and a wood burning stove. A telly (never switched on). Mezzanine balconied bedroom. Lovely kitchen.

Kitchen

Lounge/diner

Nothing for miles, but beautiful welsh countryside. Windy wrapped up walks, crochet and countless games of backgammon and cards. Reading late into the night, learning to take photographs and teaching my mister how to crochet. And talking and talking and talking.

Cold sunset walk

A windy walk!

A forest trail

My trusty rain mac

The moody, changeable welsh skies

The postcard- perfect view from our cottage

After walking the 50 minute walk to the nearest town on the second day, we visited the butchers and green grocers (Greengrocer! A proper greengrocers!) and stocked up with delicious food for the week. We ate like kings. Candles and napkins. Beef, butternut squash and welsh ale pie. Fried breakfasts with potato cakes. Welsh cheeses and biscuits. Bangers and mash with onion gravy. Warm chocolate fudge cake. And wine. Lots.

It was perfect. 

Bliss; a full stomach!

On our last night, a storm and a power cut. Pitch darkness.  Fumbling for matches. Candles and the wood burning stove. Snuggling down in bed with wind and debris battering against the cottage. A wild, slightly unnerving but exhilarating end to our much needed break.

And then home again... sigh.

How have you been? 

I can highly recommend Under The Thatch who specialise in holiday cottages with beautiful, original interiors. They state; "we know that great design is good for the soul". Hells yeah. They regularly tweet offers too.

KAPAWW!

Image by Tea Kettle

My hipstamatic pictures of Blackheath fireworks

Fireworks make me feel like a giddy 6 year old. Part poop-my-pants scared. Part cant-quite-beleive-it wonder. 

Lovely. 

I went to not one but two displays this weekend. How lucky am I? 

Happy Bonfire weekend!

Fashion Conscience

I've been shopping. Oh yes I have. And, after refraining for 3 months, guess how satisfying it is?... yeah, that, times a million.

So far; a bright blue vintage dress with mini cape, a very versatile black stretchy mini skirt and a pair of lovely brown brogues. (la la la unemployment- looming- so- I- shouldn't- be- spending- money, la la la ...)

Long time readers of my blog will know how much love stylish, affordable ethical clothes, that don't royally dump on the people that make them. There are so many amazing online shops (both vintage and ethical new stuff) that I am pleased to report that shopping ethically has been easy. Too easy, some might say (Must. Stop. Soon)

I felt that one website in particular deserved an honourable mention. Hailed by the likes of Grazia and Vogue, Fashion Conscience is an ethical clothing website, but cool. YEAH.
 
(If I knew how to do one of those fancy fashion look book thingy's I would do it now. But I don't. So you'll have to make do with my rather unglamorous cut and paste option. Voila...) All Images via Fashion Conscience.
 

(I'm going to wear this T-shirt dress with chunky tights and brogues. The rest is stuff I wuld like to wear)

  

                                                         

There's tons, seriously, and a decent house section too. Its the future, I tell you.

Also Ray and I have been drooling over the vintage coats over at Rokit Vintage online.The collection on the Rokit website is vast and definitely worth a gander.

Happy Thursday!

P.s My blog currently receives no sponsorship so when I talk about a product or brand it is because I truly love it.

P.p.s Ray is going to be blogging about her wedding very soon. EXCITED!

They're here!

Ray and Phils wedding pictures are here! And goodness. They are good. Yep. 

 See more on Emma Case's blog (the most lovely photographer that ever was)