the bruncheon club - part one

kitty,

how has your week been? it's been busy times here, working, cycling, singing, sewing, sleeping (fitfully), cooking.

today we took a break from cooking for ourselves and went to the bruncheon club. to explain - in ye olde london town there's been a bit of a resurgence of supper clubs, lots of clever people creating small restaurants/cafes in their living rooms where you go and met new people and eat homecooked food. it's great fun and this weekend was the best so far.

the food was delicious, the company was interesting and friendly and the conversation was full of good stories and laughter.

here's a few photos of our good time and the great food...



gregg and his freshly make soda bread.



afore-mentioned bread with scrambled eggs and salad. yum!



grilled grapefruit with brown sugar... the palate cleanser before...


the best i've ever tasted pancakes...

i sew therefore i am

** here is the back of the skirt, which i forgot to show you. the zip serves no actual function, but i think it looks pretty.



kitty.

how are things with you? how have you gotten on with trying to get down to melbs when i'm over? i so hope we can see each other! i miss you dreadfully - it's been almost 2 years since i have had a kitty spoon. sigh.

well, here's what i've been up to. we finally sorted out the spare room into a sewing studio for me. yay. it excites me ridiculously to have a little nanny space to do creative things.

this weekend has been most productive. i finished off the bag i started last week and made this skirt. it is seriously satisfying to make something from scratch to a wearable state. i have started so many things and just not finished them. mostly i think because i haven't had the space to dedicate to them.

as always, i miss you. i hope you are well and we can talk soon?

xxx nanny

pies

kit-kat,

what's going on with you? it's really cold here, it just keeps snowing and the roads are so icy - it's a challenge just to walk to the bus stop. i am uncertain why i live in this country.

however, the cold weather means a hankering for some hearty food so today i cobbled together a pretty good veggie shepherds pie which was super easy to make. i thought you might like the recipe.

nanny's no-meat shepherds pie

extras:

1 cup grated cheese
1 small knob (ha! - knob) butter
salt and pepper

the sauce:

1 tin tomatoes
.5 cup stock
1.5 cups chopped nuts
1.5 cups breadcrumbs
1 tsps chopped parsley
1 onion
2 cloves garlic

fry the onions and garlic in a pan til brown, add the stock and the can of tomatoes and break up the tomatoes. add the other ingredients and stir until even.

the veggies:

1 small butternut squash
4 potatoes
half a head of broccoli - chopped fine
3 carrots - chopped

steam the potatoes and pumpkin until soft. set aside the potatoes. mash the pumpkin and lay out on the bottom of a medium sized casserole dish. add a layer of the sauce mixture then lay in a layer of broccoli, another layer of sauce and then a layer of carrots. add a final layer of the sauce and grate a layer of cheese over the dish.

the mash topping:

place the previously steamed potatoes in a bowl with the butter, salt and pepper. mash until smooth and lay over the top of the dish to form the pie topping. add another layer of grated cheese and fork the topping to create peaks that will brown in the oven.

place the dish in the oven and bake at 180 deg C for around 40 minutes. yum!


i love you. hope 2010 is rocking.

xxx

homie

just a little lookie at the Imeson/Liddiard-Smith boudoir and how my accessories have slowly but surely taken over....

how was your christmas? mine was lovely, sandy got me a whizzing, whisking, chopping, dicing machine (i think he is not-so-secretly hoping for more baking) and pennie got me a subscription to frankie magazine *sigh* i am already anticipating the delicious monthly arrival through the letterbox.

and then it snowed

italy revisited

i drank wine and remembered our summer times in italy 5 years ago... it was much colder this time :(

marrakech