A Mini Garden Makeover

Over the summer, we gave our front garden flower beds a little revamp and before it gets all cold, dark and dead-looking, I thought I would share our simple improvements.

I feel I should firstly start with the incident that caused us to need to makeover our front garden. The house next door to us was empty for a little while and before the new neighbours moved in, they had a complete clear-out of the very overgrown front garden. Unfortunately, the gardeners got a bit carried away and along with next-door’s weeds and dead plants, they also pulled up all of the flowers and plants in our garden leading to me writing several angry emails to various garden companies until I was offered an apology and compensation for the cost of new plants!

In retrospect, our front garden wasn’t looking that great and although we lost some nice plants, they also pulled up a lot of weeds, in particular a rather invasive climbing plant that we could never seem to get on top of!

Here is the long flower bed in our front garden a few weeks after the gardeners had visited with a lot of weed regrowth. We (I roped in my parents to help!) began by pulling all of the weeds up to create a blank canvas then laying down a good layer of topsoil.

My Dad then secured this lovely little white picket fence to separate our front garden from our next-door neighbours’.

Then it was time to get planting. I’m no Charlie Dimmock so cannot give a proper list of plant names but I do know we now have a jasmine tree, several hydrangea bushes, some osteospermum daisies, some ferns and a yellow poppy plant amongst other things.

After nightly watering and weeding, things seemed to flourish and this is our garden at the end of October. I love how the little pink flowering plant hangs over the side of the wall and how alive and colourful everything looks…the bees seem to love our new flower beds too!

Latest Purchases #90 – Dotcomgiftshop

Happy Saturday! Ian is working today so I snuck back to bed this morning with brioche and tea to read a few chapters of my new book and plan to spend the day baking, blogging, pottering and doing a little bit of marking.

A little while ago, I made another order at Dotcomgiftshop (which does the most amazing sales!) Here are a few things I picked up…

First up a fun new print for the kitchen. I like the retro style of this picture and of course the celebration of all things pudding! I was going to ask Ian to hang it this weekend but after almost falling out hanging some other prints midweek I think I may need to butter him up first!

I have phases where I find cross stitching really relaxing to do as I watch TV (it stops me constantly checking my phone too!) and this ‘Home Sweet Home’ print is a very sweet project to have lined up.

This metal sign made me giggle. I plan on hanging this in our utility room by the washing machine when we finally decorate it.

I really like this next item – a pastel green herb house. I saw a similar style in IKEA recently and almost bought it but thought this was a little more unique. It comes with six plant pots with blackboard-painted signs for you to add the name of your herbs on. We always have fresh herbs on the go so this will be a lovely way to grow and display them.

I can never have too many notebooks and this pretty pink and gold design is a happy addition to the collection.

I also picked up this pencil box to try and keep my desk tidier at work.

I love making my baking efforts look a little bit better by using pretty cupcake cases.

I had to bin my old flask recently as it was leaking so this is a good replacement…perfect for filling with hot chocolate when we go on an autumnal country walk!

We always need tea towels and I thought these apples and pears designs looked very Orla Kiely-esque.

Clearly influenced by the same designer, I bought a new jar for storing our teabags.

Napkins.

Despite Ian telling me we don’t need any more tins, I couldn’t resist these pretty ones and they all fit inside the big one so they aren’t taking up too much room!

Some washi tape in pretty gingham designs.

Some metal candle holders that I plan on hanging in the garden next summer.

Finally, my most middle-aged purchase (which I am secretly really excited about) is this little gardening set as my knees really hurt when I have to kneel down to dig and plant stuff!

Recipe – Orzo Pasta with Heirloom Tomatoes, Basil and Mozzarella

It seems as though we have had another little burst of summer this week and I have found myself savouring what may be the last of the sunshine with sleeveless dresses and all the windows open.

To celebrate this, I decided to make a vibrant and summery dish using an ingredient that was new to me – orzo pasta.

Reminiscent of risotto rice, these little pasta pieces are great as a soup base, mixed with a sauce or served as a chilled salad. I made a dish that would be great eaten warm or cold the next day and it looked and tasted amazing!

First of all, how could you not enjoy these beautiful heirloom tomatoes?

We have had a go at growing two different varieties of tomatoes this summer and are just finishing the fruits of our labour. It has made me appreciate really good quality ingredients, especially when so much of the supermarket veggies taste so bland or is that just me?!

After looking at a few orzo recipes for inspiration, I noticed several of them recommended cooking the pasta in stock to add some additional flavour. I liked this and saved a few tablespoons of the liquid to use as a light ‘sauce’ rather than drizzle a load of oil over the pasta and it worked really well.

Ingredients

1 chicken stock cube

150g of orzo pasta

1 punnet of heirloom tomatoes, halved (normal cherry tomatoes would also work)

A handful of fresh basil

A ball of mozzarella cheese or a tub of the mini mozzarella pearls

Salt and pepper

How to make it

• Bring a pan of water to the boil and crumble in your stock cube
• Pour in the orzo pasta and cook until al dente
• Drain the pasta leaving a bit of stock in the pan
• Mix through the tomatoes and some basil and cook on a light heat for a few minutes
• Add the mozzarella balls and season well
• Serve with a little more fresh basil and enjoy!

Recipe – Mushroom, Leek and Gruyère Quiche

Finally, the school holidays are here! It was an emotional last week of term with lots of goodbyes, a rather horrible car accident (my poor Smart car is currently off being repaired…fingers crossed it returns in one piece!) and a classroom move in this sweltering heat, but I made it and am already feeling very much in holiday mode.

It was strange last night not to get the usual ‘Sunday night feeling’ but I do have lots of things planned for the summer holidays so will definitely not get bored!

So far we have had several meals outside, started work on a new area of the garden, drank Pimms from my new cocktail dispenser and I managed to burn my knees!

We also had Ian’s parents and George to stay this weekend so I tried out a new quiche recipe on them. This is the perfect time of year for quiche – it is tasty warm or chilled and throw on a bit of salad and you’ve got yourself a lovely summery lunch.

Ingredients

1 pack of shortcrust pastry (it was too hot to make it from scratch!)

A good glug of olive oil

3 leeks, sliced

1 tray of chestnut mushroom, sliced

Salt and pepper

A pinch of dried thyme

2 eggs

284ml of double cream

200g of Gruyère cheese, grated

How to make it

• Begin by rolling out your pastry on a floured surface so that it fits your quiche dish
• Using your rolling pin, lay the pastry over the dish (I usually grease mine first too) and use some leftover pastry scraps to gently push it into the edges of the dish
• Chill the pastry case in the fridge for about half an hour and meanwhile preheat your oven to 200°C, Gas Mark 5
• While the pastry is chilling, fry your leeks in oil for about 10 minutes then add the mushrooms and sauté for another 5 minutes
• Season with salt and pepper and add a pinch of thyme
• Once the leeks and mushrooms have softened, set the pan aside and allow to cool
• Get your pastry case and lightly prick the base with a fork
• Line with greaseproof paper then fill with baking beans
• Blind bake your pastry for 20 minutes before removing the paper and beans
• Cook for another 5-10 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown
• In a separate jug, beat together the eggs and cream
• Pour this mixture over the leeks and mushrooms and mix well
• Add half the Gruyère cheese and tip this filling into the pastry case
• Top with the remaining cheese
• Bake for 25 minutes until the quiche has set and is golden brown
• I usually trim off the excess pastry too

o   Enjoy warm or chilled!

A Little Catch Up

It felt like I didn’t have a spare second to blog last week so I thought I would start this week with a little catch up…

We have enjoyed glorious weather for the past week and I have spent most of my free time either in the garden or watching the World Cup…but the less said about England the better!

I have become slightly obsessed with my roses, which I still believe are the some of the most beautiful I have ever seen – I am even logging on to gardening websites for hints and tips! Unfortunately they don’t last very long when I have cut them and brought them inside in vases but the smell is so intoxicating I don’t really mind.

Not wanting to turn this into a gardening post but as well as my roses, I am also doing daily checks on my tomato plants and raspberries. We are growing two different varieties of tomatoes indoors in pots in the conservatory and now have about 12 baby ones coming through.

Whilst clearing away a huge bramble bush in the back garden at the weekend, I also uncovered five or six healthy-looking raspberry plants which have a nice little harvest ready to pick.

After moaning about my recent ceiling-painting, Ian and I decided to treat ourselves to a professional decorator for our hallway. It’s a big job and I don’t trust myself balancing precariously on stepladders to access those hard to reach places, so I think it is worth it. I spent a long time in B&Q finding the perfect shade of grey I wanted and the entrance hall, stairs and landing are already looking much better than they did before.

I went to a really interesting talk on chocolate moulding at our village hall with the local WI. I’m not a member but couldn’t resist the invitation from a friend to join them for an evening of tasting and making. Unfortunately I didn’t get any photographs but I will definitely put my new skills to good use soon.

I held a little pizza party for the England match with friends. It was a really fun evening and I will be sharing my foodie tips on it later this week.

Finally, my highlight of the week, well actually my highlight of 2014 so far, was seeing the legend that is Dolly Parton at Birmingham NEC last night.  Ian and I drove up with my parents and it was the most amazing concert…I’m not sure if I enjoyed the songs or all her funny stories in between them more! Having grown up listening to her, it was great to sing along to all the classics and her voice was just stunning. The tickets were pricy but I don’t know how many more UK tours she will do so it was a case of ‘now or never’ when I saw them advertised! I can’t wait to watch her again on TV at Glastonbury this weekend.

Phew…no wonder I didn’t have time to blog this week! x

Recipe – Ham, Leek, Asparagus and Mushroom Pie

Yesterday was glorious! I was in the garden after work last night (helping my neighbour try and catch his rabbit, Reggie, who keeps making a run for it!) and noted how beautiful my rose bushes are looking. They were all here when we moved in but I have made an effort to keep them pruned and well-watered and my efforts are paying off…

They also have the most gorgeous scent which fills the room when I pick them.

When Ian got home from work, we walked up to the pub for a few beers in our favourite spot, overlooking the cows and calves, before heading back home for chicken and tzatziki pittas and the news series of Orange is the New Black – a pretty perfect evening for me!

Today however looks to be wet, grey and miserable! I was saving this recipe up for such an occasion as who doesn’t love pie when the weather outside is rubbish?!

This recipe came about after we had lots of leftover ham following a roast dinner joint – the below should make enough for four hungry diners. I separated the filling in to two dishes and made two smaller pies

Ingredients

A glug of olive oil

2 leeks, sliced

A small tray of button mushrooms, halved and quartered

One small bunch of asparagus, quartered

About 3 thick slices of ham, chopped into bite-size pieces

A good pinch of dried thyme (1-2 teaspoons)

A large tub of crème fraîche

3 teaspoons of wholegrain mustard

A sheet of puff pastry (I always buy the ready-made stuff!)

How to make it

o  Begin by preheating your oven to 180°C, Gas Mark 4

o   In a large pan, heat the oil on a medium heat

o   Add the leeks and sauté for 5 minutes or so

o   Then add the mushrooms and asparagus for another few minutes

o   Add the ham, season well and sprinkle over the thyme

o   Sauté for another 5 minutes or so

o   Add the mustard and pour in enough crème fraîche so that the contents of the pan are generously coated

o   Spoon your filling into your pie dish or dishes

o   Cover with your puff pastry and score some little holes to release the steam whilst cooking

o   I usually do a little wash with some milk over the pastry using a pastry brush to give it a golden finish

o   Pop your pie(s) into the oven and bake for around 30 minutes until well-risen

I enjoyed mine with some garlic roast potatoes on the side but it is pretty substantial just as it is too! x

How to…Restore an Iron Gate

This little project has been an on-going one since we moved in to this house about two years ago but with the help of my Mum this week, it is finally finished!

My priority has always been to get the inside of the house looking good with the front and back garden a kind of afterthought that we just about keep on top of with the occasional bit of lawn mowing and weeding. The front of your house however is obviously the first thing that people see when they come over so I wanted to smarten ours up to make a good first impression and all that!

We inherited a rather worn and rusty iron gate when we moved in, which I assume was once painted black. As you have probably gleaned, I am a fan of all things white so set about researching how to transform our gates. I should point out that I first started this project in April 2012 so it has taken me a good two years to finish it…sounds about right for me, although I am clearly going to blame it on the lack of good sunny outside-painting weather!

The basic kit you will need:

• Wire brushes (a thick one for the gate posts and a thin one for getting into the fiddly ornate bits)
• Paintbrush (use an old one as unless you want to buy the specialist thinner, this paint is pretty impossible to clean off!)
• Specialist metal paint in the colour of your choice (I chose one that didn’t need a primer or top coat)
• Hot soapy water and an old rag/ cloth

Try and choose a day or weekend when you have fairly decent weather as rain can interfere with the paint drying and wind can cause dust and debris to stick to your newly painted gates.

Begin by using your wire brushes to thoroughly scrub the gate to remove all traces of rust. With a gate of this size, it did feel like a rather painstaking process but it ensures the paint has a good surface to adhere to and gets rid of all the old paint as well.

You can see where I used the wire brushes here:

Next, using hot soapy water and a rag, clean down the iron to ensure all traces of rust and dust are gone.

Finish off with a spray of clean water but mind your toes…I got soaked!

Once the gate has dried off, then you can start painting. You can lay down old sheets if you want to avoid getting paint on the surrounding floor or plants but I didn’t bother.

We needed two layers of paint for full coverage and if your gate is ornate like ours then you really do need to take care and make sure every twist and curl is painted.

Once the gates dried and I admired our handiwork, I added the finishing touch which was a number 7 sign I bought when we first moved and can FINALLY put up now!

I hope you’ll agree the gates now look 100 times better and make our drive look so much nicer! x

 

Too Much Eating Out!

It has been a funny old week with some celebrating and commiserating and lots of eating out!

I mentioned earlier in the week that I had some travel vaccinations done. Well, I was meant to be going to China for three weeks this summer on a teaching programme. Those who know me well know that I am slightly obsessed with China and Chinese history and culture so I was getting very excited about this trip but had a funny feeling all along that something was going to go wrong and that I wouldn’t end up going. I then had an email on Thursday informing me that the holiday had fallen through due to pretty poor organisation. Although there seems to be some vain attempts to keep the project going, it appears it is dead in the water and so Ian took me out for dinner that night to cheer me up!

We walked across the fields in the sunshine to The Fox and Hounds – how pretty is their beer garden? I can see us spending some time here this summer!

Over a great steak (Ian), a rather average pie (me) and a delicious treacle tart we replaced my disappointment with new travel ideas. I think we managed to plan a trip to almost every continent this summer and have narrowed it down to two or three options to investigate…and now I am fully vaccinated, I can go anywhere!!!

Last night, one of my best friends Cat arrived from London and after a bottle of prosecco, our chauffeur (Ian!) dropped us at The Longs Arms in the next village – one of my favourite pubs that serves the most wonderful local and seasonal food.

I had an amazing smoked salmon spelt risotto with samphire and Cat had a fresh asparagus and broad bean ravioli.

For pudding, I had a buttermilk and mead panna cotta (which had the perfect wobble!) served with honeycomb, popping candy, fresh berries and mint and Cat had apple pie rice pudding with strawberries – both looked and tasted incredible. This is one of my favourite places to go for dinner and we always leave feeling very full and with smiles on our faces!

This morning, we had a lazy morning with tea, OJ and croissants then headed into Bath for lunch at Bill’s. We both opted for salads (Chicken Caesar for Cat, Bacon, Avocado and Poached Egg for me) and then enjoyed a wander around Bath in the gorgeous sunshine before we went our separate ways.

Ian and I spent the afternoon in the garden, reading, sunbathing and admittedly nodding off once or twice. It was such beautiful weather and the best part is that we are due more of the same tomorrow!

After this indulgent week, I am determined to have a slightly healthier week ahead as the option of a potential beach holiday is on the cards and I am definitely not bikini-ready!

Have you been making the most of the sunshine today?

Before and After – Our Conservatory

I love these ‘Before and After’ posts. Not only does it mean I can tick another room off our to-do list but it is just so lovely to see your ideas come together and look even better than you had imagined!

I have to admit I have never been a huge conservatory fan and if our house didn’t already have one when we moved it, it wouldn’t be high on my lists of things to do. However, now that ours is finished and functional it is one of my favourite places to sit and work!

I have trawled through the estate agents photos of when we came to view the house and here is the only one I can find of the conservatory:

As you can see, it leads out to the back garden and given how much furniture has been crammed in by the previous owners, it looks really small and pokey with too much stuff on the walls and wires hanging down from the dark light fittings.

This room wasn’t very high on our to do list when we moved in but when having some work done on our roof, we decided to ask the builder to fill in one of the doorways. We never used this door but because it was there, it looked strange whenever we put something in front of it meaning this whole wall was in effect useless.

After the plaster had settled, we fitted a new skirting board and started to rub down the plaster.

Then it was time to fill in all the holes left behind by the previous owners, slap on a base coat then two coats of duck egg, my absolute favourite colour for walls! As our conservatory joins on to the dining room without a door, I wanted to continue the colour throughout the whole of the kitchen-diner.

I cannot take all the credit for this room though – my lovely Mum sat and did all the skirting boards for me when she stayed recently and helped wipe off all the paint I managed to get on the white PVC frames and floor as I painted!

Here is the empty, repainted room with the floor sparkling after a steam clean (my new toy!)

And just in case this all sounded too relaxed, here is the absolute chaos in the room next door!

My main purchase for this room was a new rug. I wanted a statement piece that would also tie in the wall colour and I fell in love with this chevron rug from Urban Outfitters. Their home section is great – I bought two more rugs at the same time!

Next, as I would be working in this room a lot, I wanted some storage so bought this sideboard/ storage/ bookcase from IKEA. After a lot of pondering, I got some floral and a red storage box too.

I already had this little table from our flat but it is the perfect size for my new desk. I also bought a new comfy desk chair from IKEA in black and white and a pretty lamp with a lace-like pattern on it.

In the corner, I added a chair and my new bunting cushion to break up the black a bit.

Ian has already put up some artwork for me – these vintage paper hearts sit above my desk…

…and this pretty heart frame sits above the new light fitting.

Finally, on the side board is our Bath Pigs poster and this lovely little duck wearing the same red Hunters I have!

The final piece of furniture is my new drinks trolley. Currently empty, I plan on pottering and filling it this week as I suddenly decided every house needs a decent drinks trolley to make a cocktail in the click of a finger! It may prove a distraction having the drinks trolley next to my desk but on the plus side, expect some cocktail recipes soon!

So there you have it…a huge improvement from the dumping ground it became over the past year and a lovely extension to the dining room where I can work but not feel completely shut away, take photos in good natural light and start experimenting with cocktails!

 

Beauty Review – Boots No.7 Ultimate Collection

Another glorious day here today with the daffodils starting to bloom in our garden – I couldn’t resist picking some for the kitchen table.

Today I wanted to share something that I actually bought around Christmas but have only just got around to opening and using recently. I was doing some last minute Christmas shopping in Bath and popped into Boots to get some photos printed and couldn’t resist the offer they had on.

With contents worth over £120, this amazing No.7 box was down from £65 to just £32! I grabbed one for myself and one for my Mum (good daughter points!)

I always used to associate No.7 with older women but in recent years their skincare has won rave reviews and I have a few pieces of make-up from the range too which have made me think again.

Packaged in a beautiful gift box and wrapped up with a bow, this collection contained:

• Completely Quenched Moisturising Body Lotion (200ml)
• Blissful Body Wash (200ml)
• Sumptuous Bath Soak (200ml)
• Beautiful Skin Cleansing Lotion (200ml)
• Protect & Perfect Hand Cream (75ml)
• Beautiful Skin Dry Skin Rescue (50ml)
• No. 7 Lash Adapt Mascara
• No. 7 Lip Gloss
• Protect and Perfect Day Cream (50ml)
• Protect and Perfect Night Cream (50ml)

As you can see, these are not mini versions of the products and the box contained lots of best sellers – the day and night creams alone are worth £22 and £24 each!

I also liked the range of things included – something for the bath, body, face and some make-up.

I have been using the day and night cream recently and I have to say I am a fan of both. Boots often do 3 for 2 offers and I would definitely repurchase the day cream as it soaks into the skin quickly and leaves it feeling so soft.

The bath stuff is lovely too and smells delicious – very luxurious and it feels like a treat to use them!

Apart from the face creams, and possibly the Dry Skin Rescue and mascara, I’m not sure I would buy the other items full price but that’s not to say I don’t rate them. They are all pretty wonderful but there are just other brands I would opt for. Saying that, if I ever saw these items in a similar kit at this price I would snap them up in an instant!