House Hunting

I may have mentioned it before, but we are moving to Bath, UK in August. This is very unexpected, but very welcome. I love London, but I look forward to more space, a nice garden (that's "Yard" in American), and much, much more quiet.

Some really cool houses that we looked at:

And then even though I wanted to sit home all day, Paul really wanted to go to 2 boot sales. We did find some cool stuff, to include these wonderful dishes. Watching Tivoed Wimbledon after boot sales:

Oh, and we saw The Wiggles on Friday. SO FUN!

Because I couldn't think of anything else for DINNER

We are back from the States.

Today was our first back-to-regular-schedule day and it was great. Sadly, I love the boring routine.

This is what we had for dinner with Fried Potatoes and Pancakes.

Ham and Egg Cups (feeds 6 -- 2 per person)

12 slices deli ham
12 eggs

Cheese--any kind you want (we used parmesan and cheddar)

salt and pepper

baking spray

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.Spray 12 muffin cups with baking spray. Place one slice ham in each cup, folding over to fit.Crack one egg in each cup(or scramble the egg first -- one of mine wanted scrambled).Sprinkle with salt and pepper.Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until eggs are cooked to your liking.Run a knife around the edge and then pull up by holding onto the ham.Serve immediately.

From http://blessusolord.blogspot.com/2008/01/ham-and-egg-cups.html

Heading to the States

We'll be gone for about a month.

* 8 hrs in a plane with a child. Weeeeeeeeeeeee! FUN.

* Eating Fig Newtons for lunch, because I don't want to clean the kitchen again before I leave.

*I've been in London for a year, and it does feel like home by now. I'll miss it.

*But I am excited to shop with much more affordable dollars, than pounds! Target--here I come.

Obsessed by a Quilt

Ok, I don't REALLY know how to quilt. My mom helped me make one for Tate from the scraps she had leftover from mine, and she held my hand the entire time. And my little snuggle bug has stolen every quilt in the house into the his "nest". His "nest" being his crib (yes, he is almost 4) that he refuses to give up for a big boy bed.

I want to make another quilt, because you can really use quilts in England. Almost all year round.

But I don't have a sewing machine.

So, I was like "they made quilts a bazillion years ago without sewing machines. I can do this". AND I love the idea of a scrap quilt. Of a blankie to be loved made out of old clothes and scraps that no one wants anymore.

I pulled out my all my fabric scraps

and then, Tate said "mama lets go in the charity shop!". And I found the perfect thing for the back of a quilt.

Super soft, good quality cotton. Duvet cover, 3 POUNDS!

Not sure how, but I have the beginning pieces. I was inspired by THIS BOOK, which took the mystery out of it all by basically suggesting that, to make a quilt, you just sew piece A to piece B and you can do it by just using a needle and thread. It makes it seem oh-so-simple....

I fed my kid popcorn for dinner

This weekend, Paul and I had the chance to go out. We went with the neighbors (3 British bachelors) to the pub that is 2 blocks away. It was fun, but I always pay for it the next day. So Tate's Sunday was filled with LOTS of TV, popcorn for dinner, basically whatever he wanted within reason.

Yes, I am going to Parent Hell.

Real Food Festival Review

This weekend I went to the Real Food Festival in London at Earl's Court. Amazing!! I had a wonderful time. I attended 2 cooking classes, got many a deal on wonderful food, and learned about some great local food. I highly recommend to any foodie :)

Rustic Pesto: Just finely chop basil, garlic, salt, pinenuts, and parmesan. Then, make a well and add olive oil in the middle until desired consistency. This was about 1/2 way into the process.

Stirring the veggie risotto:

In love with...

• Dunkin Donuts coffee
• Singing "Be with You" (from High School Musical) as a duet w/ 3 yr old
• New Friends, yes FINALLY
• Connecting with Old Friends, like no time has passed
• Sunshine and sundresses
• London Markets
• The new JCREW and Anthropologie catalogs
• My new witchy boots that can be worn with dresses
• Apartment Therapy
• New Dave Matthews: Big Whisky and Groo Grux King
• French Country Kitchens and Bakeries

Hampton Court Palace

The Great HallLove the architecture!

King Tate. Picnic Lunch in the gardens.

Portabello Rd/Golborne Rd Markets

Stuff I want:

Stuff I bought:

Our Day

OUR DAY: I am stealing the format, just for the day, from Rocking Granola Blog. I was inspired!

Breakfast: Oatmeal and Waffle for Tate, Cereal for Paul, Eggs on Toast for me

Morning: Tate went to Peques, and I spent the morning catching up on email. I also discovered
Apartment Therapy. WOW! Check out the home tours.

Not only am I totally inspired to make the most of my home, regardless of space issues, renting and most of stuff being in storage, I am also want my house VERY CLEAN. Which led to the all afternoon clean-a-thon.

Snack: String Cheese and Cashews

Lunch: Leftover Fajita Chicken, Veggies, and Cheese in a tortilla; Applesauce; PB crackers

Afternoon: As I mentioned, cleaning, with Tate helping. Also, I dumped the ginormous bucket of old crayons and organized them by color, put them in those small leftover planting containers, and put them in a box. I left the box and a huge pad of paper on Tate's new table. Oh yea, we found legs for it!!

Dinner: Waitrose (local grocery store) to the rescue! A collection of random stuff and leftovers, to include the homemade hummus.

Evening: Paul and Tate went to the bookstore (hence my ability to blog) and I see Rosetta Stone Spanish in my immediate future.

Went to see Bath, UK this weekend. BEAUTIFUL. I feel my shoulders relax as soon as we get right outside London. I did return home with a weird sensation...I am comfortable here in London at the moment. It feels like home, even if I B*$%@ about the constant noise and traffic.

Made Courtney's homemade hummus with just a little too much garlic, if that is possible. Still yummy, but in a few days it will be REALLY strong.

Courtney's Hummus
1 can chickpeas, drained (set liquid aside)
1 Cup Tahini
1/2 Cup lemon Juice
2 cloves garlic minced or through press
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin
3 TBS olive oil

Blend all of the above in food processor or with hand blender. Add chickpea liquid if you need more liquid while blending.
For garnish: paprika, toasted pine nuts and chopped parsley. All optional, but the paprika really adds something.

We stayed in most of the rainy day, recovering from the weekend and from a cold.

Random Stuff- fashion, food, craft and kid AGAIN

Fashion:

Brooks Brothers Non Iron Shirt-AMAZING. My friend, Katie, introduced me to these. Now on first thought, I'm like Brooks Brothers? Really? A tad too conservative for me and the prices are high. But this shirt is worth every cent! Reading these: We are in love with Nick Butterworth's stories about a Park Keeper named Percy and his animal friends. We stumbled upon one when lived in the states, but didn't know he had a TON of books in the UK not easily available in the US. I want to go to Borders and buy every one.

Made calzones for dinner last night and they were AWESOME. I have been trying pizza dough recipes for awhile and this is my new fave. Roll the dough out thin and it works perfectly:

Tribeca Yummy Mummy's Whole Wheat Calzone/Pizza

Other things we have been making:

Why Dumpster Diving Kicks Butt in London

People have to move suddenly in London.

There is no extra space to store ANYTHING.

For these reasons, people throw away perfectly good stuff every day.

I was inspired watching this show:

Kirstie's Handmade Home

This woman outfitted her entire GORGEOUS cottage in Devon with recycled, reused, repainted, and handmade or local stuff.

And then I found this in the trash across the street. Perfect play table for Tate AND it is orange, his favorite color.

Fashion, Food, Crafts and my Kid

These are the creative things that I rotate through. For instance, I will be on a scrapbook kick, and then I will want to research all things fashion for awhile, etc etc.

Sometimes I hit all 4 subjects at a time. Often.

Here I am today:
1. Inspired by Audrey Hepburn today. Wearing black skinny capris, black t-neck, and deep red mary jane flats. Red lipstick and a long cream sweater when leaving the house.

2. Just threw in Apricot Chicken Crock Pot Recipe*.

3. Gotta work on Andy's (my brother) scrapbook. Stuff sitting on desk.

4. Alphabet Puzzle that I wll set up before he gets home. If I do this, he will walk in, and play without me having to say a thing. It is so worth the time it takes to set up these daily activities before he gets home. Oh, and I am sure he will want to do ANOTHER egg hunt.

*Apricot Chicken *--didn't turn out so great....
2 1/2 pounds skinless boneless chicken
1 TBS cooking oil
2 C onions (small individual or large cut into pieces)
4 carrots sliced 1/2" thick
salt and pepper
1/2 C chicken broth
1/2 C apricot jam
2 TBS quick scook tapioca
1-2 TBS Dijon mustard
1/8 tsp allspice
Hot cooked rice (optional)

Brown Chicken in hot oil. Set aside. In slow cooker, combine carrots and onions. Top with chicken. Sprinkle salt and pepper on top. In small bowl, mix broth, apricot jam, tapioca, mustard and allspice. Poor over chicken and veg in slow cooker.
Cook on low for 8-9 hrs or high for 4-5 hrs. Serve over rice.
**I did not brown chicken, but just put in raw and cooked all day because I am lazy:)

Easter a Few Days Later...

We had a great Easter with friends up at Lakenheath and Mildenhall (about 2 hours north, near Cambridge) to include a great brunch and a scavenger hunt. Tate didn't hunt for Easter Eggs, so we are going to do it today. We got this awesome GLOW IN THE DARK Egg dye kit yesterday, and of course, it was half off being after Easter.

Stuff on the horizon:

• My first London Scrapbook Crop-APR 22!
• Scrapping for my brothers High School Grad Book
• Finish Felting and Embellishing Thrifted Wool Sweater (for Tate- double decker bus needle felted on it!)
• Yoga at least 4 days this week
• Rosetta Stone Spanish-MUST FINISH UNIT 2 today!
• Trip to US- May 28
• Can we fit in Spain before then?

My *Favorite* Comfort Dessert

Cake Mix.
Yep, not the actual cake, but the mix. And sadly, not the made-from-scratch batter, but the stuff that comes from Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines.

My mom makes this AWESOME dessert with yellow cake and pie filling and some sort of cream cheese concoction, and it calls for 1/2 a cake mix. My sister and I used to try to eat the other 1/2. And my mom would let us. We would eat until our stomachs hurt and it was soooooo yummy.

What is your favorite comfort dessert?

*MOM--send me the recipe for the above mentioned dessert so I can post it on my blog!!

Creative Frenzy

Felting!!

The bird was thrifted, the eggs we made by felting roving wool. There are some cool tutorials at crunchyparent.com, youtube and also in Amanda Soule's The Creative Family.

Blog Layout

Can't quite find one that I love....
so I am trying a new one.

April Status Report

Eating: Barefoot Contessa Ribollita and Brown Bread
Listening to:

Reading: It is really, really good. It makes me want to book a trip to SW France just to eat.

Wanting to try:

Wanting to wear: cute summer cotton dresses...(hard to find online, but I'm taking any and all suggestions for cute ones!)