Thank you for all your supportive comments on yesterday's post, it really was encouraging to know that we all strive for some kind of balance in our daily lives, and that we all go through times of needing a break. It's part of the ebb and flow of life I suppose.
1. Rolling on with this week's celebration of simple goodness, I give you the humble sourdough loaf. I bought this at a cafe/deli nearby on Monday morning (after meeting a friend for breakfast straight from the school run, there is no better way to begin the week, let me tell you) and ate it all week. I had it for lunch on Monday spread with bramble jelly, then on Tuesday I made a cold roast beef and mustard sandwich. On Wednesday and Thursday I had it toasted with soup or scrambled eggs. It was magnificent. I wish I could make my own.
2. The weather this week. Just beautiful. Misty mornings, warm sun, golden light. The very beginnings of autumn but you can still wear sandals.
3. Baking. These are raisins soaking in tea for tea loaf, but I also made chocolate coca cola cake and lemon syrup loaf. Full cake tins make me happy.
4. I began work on my summer embroidery this week. Those French knots leaves were a dream to sew, so satisfying and tactile.
5. A new mug. There is always room for one more, and I never let a full to bursting cupboard tell me otherwise. This is by a really lovely French company called Mr & Mrs Clynk who I am most enamoured with at the moment, and bought from here. I'm told the gift shop at Yorkshire Sculpture Park stocks their products too, even better, I feel a trip there coming on sometime soon... It feels really lush when you wrap both hands around it to drink from as it's so curvy and plump. I hope I am making sense here and don't sound like a mug fetishist. But some mugs are just...right.
I have a mug thing to, that one is gorgeous Lucy x
ReplyDeleteA good loaf is something that should be used up to the last crumb. I can almost taste it. I love this time of year too; a time for harvesting and storing good things in jars and the freezer against the leaner months, feeling the last rays of summer sun on your face, thinking about battening down the hatches against the winter.
ReplyDeleteOh Gillian :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautifull way of starting the weekend ,celebrating the litlle good things in life .
I know ,i said it before ,but this blog really inspires me .
This pictures ,that mug ,the bread ,the raisains in tea ,the embroidery .....
Live simply ,enjoy the litlle things in life :) :)
Have a great weekend ,if possible with sandals ;)
xoxo
Lulu
Bread, coffee, biscuits - now there's stuff that make me happy! Weather is the same over here - enchanting, really - and I just love a gently autumn in which you can still wear sandals. xxx
ReplyDelete:))) Happy weekend to you and yours!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat happies. I really must get back on the blog wagon. I've fallen off somewhat.
ReplyDeleteLeanne xx
Lovely embroidery :)
ReplyDeleteI've had my eye on their mugs for a while - they are gorgeous! I just haven't been able to convince myself I need more mugs... maybe I could put one on my Christmas list! Maria x
ReplyDeleteOh gosh tell me about mugs!! I must have about 25 and I use them all!
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you thank you for the link to Teaandkate, what a beautiful shop and with so many French brands that I love!
I just adore Mr & Mrs Clynk and all their beautiful ceramics. I have been lusting after their collections for a while.. I have a purse with that same pattern and I love it, I have to get this mug!! I just love this pattern and shape!
Have a go making sourdough, it is easier than it first appears....see Paul Hollywood or Hugh Fearnley- Whittingstall for recipes. Love the mug too xx
ReplyDeleteThose teeny french knots are só pretty !
ReplyDeletePs - a lemon syrop loaf ? Never heard of it, but it sounds yummy !!
Great happies. I've not yet managed a sourdough loaf but it's on my list of things to do (eventually). Beautiful mug...I have a bit of a mug thing going on too...Love the embroidery and can't wait to see the seasons together. I really should get going on some too.
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderfully warm and cozy post... so autumn like! The loaf of sourdough bread looks delicious. I love that kind of bread with soup and pasta. A tea loaf sounds really yummy. I am going to make a pumpkin spice cake this weekend. Enjoy your new mug... it's so pretty.
ReplyDeleteEven though I'm very much a fine china cup-and-saucer person, I love that mug!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteMargaret P
Oh gosh, I really am drooling over those French knots, they are delightful.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely blog. Those cups are amazing and now I want to bake some cake. Have a lovely weekend.
ReplyDeleteLove the shape of your new mug, Gillian. The embroidery is looking good. I've tried to guess how many greens you've used for your French knots, is it four? x
ReplyDeleteI've just checked - it's five but two are very similar. :-)
DeleteI love sourdough! have a happy weekend.
ReplyDeleteJacqui xx
I have to say crunching my poor toes back into shoes is not a nice thought - long live our summery autumn, long live sandals!
ReplyDeleteYou've had some great happies this week. Can't wait to see how your summer embroidery progresses
I must say, a new mug can solve a lot of problems! I stand by that philosophy! :) I adore a misty morning, I'm in bed admiring the one outside my window now, happy weekend! :) x
ReplyDeleteI was very tempted to get that mug the last time we were at the YSP but opted for a lidded jar instead. Have you seen the bowls? They're all fantastic. I think the YSP has an online shop so you don't even need to go there to get these goodies...We love a good bread too. There's a local Turkish supermarket that we go to regularly. They bake all sorts of bread on site and that's where we get our favourite loaf. A great tasting bread does make a big difference. Have a lovely weekend! x
ReplyDeleteI know exactly what you mean about the satisfying mug shape, sometimes they are just right, both to look at and to hold. Sourdough is very easy to make, provided you can spend five minutes a day on your starter. You just need to throw most of it away and add 100g of cheap white bread flour and 100g of water to a little of yesterday's starter and whisk together and cover. (To start a starter, just whisk 100g each of cheap bread flour and water together and add a few raisins, add another 100g each of the flour and water after 24 hours and leave until bubbly - a day or two. That's your starter.) It's lovely to watch it bubbling up every day. I found James Morton's book "Brilliant Bread" really helpful. In fact it's so helpful it lives at my house now instead of at the library. Lovely summery embroidery, trees in full leaf are my favourite and those fantastic French knots recreate it beautifully. Wishing you and yours a good weekend Gillian. CJ xx
ReplyDeletefab post I really love the sound of all your baking makes my tummy grumble ;o)
ReplyDeletePERFECT little French knots.....have a lovely weekend! :) xxx
ReplyDeleteI tell'ee what, chuck, I've just looked at that lovely mug online at the website Tea and Kate and spied a lovely French shopping basket and have ordered one!
ReplyDeleteAlso, what has made me happy today (Saturday) is going online and ordering tulip bulbs ... a treat in store for spring! Tulips are my very favourite spring flowers (I mean the cultivated flowers; primroses are still my favourite spring wild flowers.)
Margaret P
You can make your own sourdough, I have managed it. Once the starter is established you establish a gentle rhythm, the work per loaf is 30 mins tops in a 24 hour period. I tend to start one Friday morning (put sponge on to develop whilst at work) knead and prove 2-3 times Friday evening, slow prove overnight in fridge and bake sat am. I even posted about it on my blog. I can assure you I am anything but a superwoman!
ReplyDeleteYour new mug is just adorable!
ReplyDeleteFor a minute I thought you'd baked the bread! Why not give it a try? I'm sure you could do it. Love your embroidery.
ReplyDeleteA good loaf of bread is always smile inducing! I actually just snagged some photos of my own this week - bread and butter - happiness doesn't get much simpler.
ReplyDeleteLove your new embroidery, those French knots are beautiful. A good loaf is an absolute pleasure isn't it?
ReplyDeleteMarianne x
We get a loaf of sourdough bread on Wednesdays in our veg box. It's such a treat to have fresh bread midweek! x
ReplyDeleteIn love with those french knots. It was one of the few classes in our local show I did not enter an tem in embroidery - must try harder next year and revisit the french know tutorial on Chrissie Crafts. Jo x
ReplyDeleteI love your new mug and your french knots. We live near a lovely (but very expensive) deli so I sometimes splash out a buy 'nice' bread when I run out of the normal stuff. So much tastier! x
ReplyDeleteLove that list. Sourdough toast really is the best, isn't it? Mug envy here, too.
ReplyDeleteI love your happies posts you seem to be totally on my wavelength as a fellow bread adoring, autumn loving, bumpy embroidery feeling, mug fanatic.
ReplyDeleteThanks too for your lovely comment on my post, it was most kind.
Your Friday posts always make me smile. I so appreciate your ability to find the small things in life that make you happy..things like loaves of sour dough bread and a new mug...which, by the way is lovely! Your weather sounds a lot like ours here in New England...a hint of autumn is definitely in the air, but one can still wear sandals. :) Enjoy your week!
ReplyDeleteSimple goodness indeed! Gotta get one of those mugs myself!! :)
ReplyDeleteLovely to read, and lovely to see someone else still wearing their sandals - it's a daily dilemma I've had this last week!
ReplyDeleteI too have a mug obsession, that one looks perfect.
ReplyDeleteAll those French knots make me happy, too! :)
ReplyDeleteSo that's where the mug cam from! I love the curvy shape of it.
ReplyDeleteThe bread looks delish, as bread pretty much always does, wouldn't want to live with it.
Glad the sandals are still out, I'm wearing a scarf and sandals on the morning walk to school, but mine is five minutes to walk there and home again!
Lisa x