Kitchen Update

Work on the kitchen begun in earnest first thing yesterday morning and I thought you might like to see some pictures. They are messy and not very pretty, but working on the premise that the during is as interesting as the before and the after, I thought you'd enjoy seeing them.

On Monday afternoon, while Bella and Angus were at my sister's, my parents helped me empty the kitchen and dining room. It always amazes me the difference a person's things make to a space. Above, you see it full of the colour and clutter of every day life, and below, stark and bare. 

The last thing to go here was the dishwasher, which we'll put back in the new kitchen.

An empty dining room. (Sorry about all the washing flapping about in the garden - Monday was a good drying day.)

Within hours of arriving on Wednesday - bang on the dot of 8.00 am, no more holiday lie-ins around here - they had stripped the tiles and removed the kitchen. Most of the cupboards went into the huge skip which is currently sitting on our drive (curtains twitched when that arrived!) but some we've kept to hang in the garage as extra storage. 

The sink has gone, and today that whole back window and door section was removed to be replaced with brickwork and a new window.

I think the floor tiles you see were probably original to the house. The oven and hob is still hanging off that wall there because there is some gas pipe work in the wall which needs to be dealt with before the wall comes down. Incidentally, we gave that oven a good last meal on Sunday night, cooking roast lamb with all the trimmings and a sticky toffee pudding. 

In the meantime, all our dining room furniture - chairs, table, sideboard - is in the living room. 

It's a bit of a squash but really not too bad, and actually I think the dining table looks lovely in front of the window. 

And our current kitchen is in the garage. It's inconvenient, freezing cold, there isn't room to prepare anything and no hot water so we have to boil the kettle to wash up, but it's more kitchen than many have so I'll stop moaning there. Also, I am very thankful indeed to have a large garage with a sink and an internal door to the hall, so access is really very easy. 

I dreamt we had mice a few nights ago and since then have been obsessively keeping all food in lidded boxes and off the floor. 

Preparing meals is tricky but not insurmountable. Breakfast and lunch are easy enough, it's just hot meals. On Monday evening I had a salad, Tuesday Chinese takeaway (it was our wedding anniversary - we know how to live), Wednesday a meal from the freezer with couscous, and tonight we dined like kings on chicken pie and apple crumble at my mum's. We went to the supermarket today and bought some ready meals - macaroni cheese, fish pie, cottage pie etc - for busy weeknights when we are back at school and work next week. They are so expensive! I honestly had no idea. Our trolley was half as full as normal but we still spent about the same amount. 

So, that's where we are so far. The wall comes down tomorrow and the steel beam is ready and waiting. The people from Building Regulations will come on Monday to check the work and the kitchen will be delivered Wednesday. The room will be plastered and, if my plans work, we hope to have time to paint the kitchen while it's empty before the fitter comes the following week to install it. 

I am spinning plates here. I hope I don't drop one. 

Make, Bake, Sew, Grow

{ Make }

Making - at last - decisions and purchases, resulting in two lovely, shiny new lampshades for the hall.

I am in love with them. They were just as I hoped they would be. No more prison-chic bare light bulbs!

I've also been making a few sneaky purchases for myself lately, like these bits and bobs from the Liberty range at Uniqlo. John said the wide shorts look like pyjama bottoms. I am ignoring him and insisting that I will be both stylish and comfortable in them this summer, with a white vest and my Saltwater sandals. 

{ Bake }

I was given Anna Jones' A Modern Way to Cook for Christmas. I loved (really loved) her first book A Modern Way to Eat, but found I was less drawn to her second in the months following Christmas. It seemed too light, too salady, in the winter months when all I wanted was stodge, and I never seemed to have the right ingredients in the cupboard at the right time. But I've been using it so much over the last month and have found it an incredibly inspiring and helpful resource in my quest to eat not less, but better. It's worth buying for the breakfast chapter alone.

I made these chocolate bars, which are like a healthier version of a Bounty bar. Really, really good.  

My other current obsession is these rice bowls. 

They are amazing and have made them every week for the last three weeks when John is working a late shift (he would consider this a glorified salad, and therefore Not Dinner). It's essentially a bowl of brown rice, shredded roast chicken and lots of greens and fresh, crunchy shredded vegetables, elevated to the level of high-deliciousness by a dressing made of soy sauce, lime juice, rice vinegar, sesame oil and ginger. 

And this evening, John is making roast lamb followed by sticky toffee pudding so, you know, it's not all health, health, health.

{ Sew }

Thank you so much for your kind words on my Midsummer Sprigs cross stitch sampler. Recent creative efforts have been quicker but no less enjoyable. 

Oh a whim I made a few felt baubles/pompoms, from the book Felt Sew Good. I've had it for a while and this is the first thing I've made. Something about the colours and shapes is really pleasing. 

I am about to try my first kit from Wool and the Gang, a tablet cover. I'll let you know how I get on. In the mean time, nice packaging.

But the main thing I have been working on lately is the border for my blanket. 

I am nearly, nearly there. I keep thinking I'm at the end, then add another row, but I reckon it's almost finished now.

{ Grow }

Ever the fair weather gardener, the garden and I have been spending some quality time together lately and now my pots are fresh and colourful and my borders weed free. Drooping daffodils and withered tete-a-tetes have been removed and the front door step now looks respectable. (It's that kind of street.)

I remembered some great advice Sarah kindly left in a comment a while back: 

"When your daffodils have finished flowering you could plant them straight into the border letting the foliage die down naturally. Next year they will flower again and you can avoid bulb planting in Autumn which always carries the risk of damaging existing bulbs. Buy fresh bulbs and use fresh compost for your pots in Autumn and you will be able to continue the cycle."

Thank you Sarah. I planted all these fading bulbs in a bare patch of border in the back garden where they can die down with the rest of the foliage and hopefully re-emerge next year!

The long border at the end of our garden is a big old mess of yellow and purple. Suddenly, everything I planted last autumn has come up and burst into colour.  It's not going to win any prizes but it makes me so happy to look out the kitchen window and see this messy, colourful border that my mum and I created, rather than a big long fence.

Over the last week it seems like everything woke up in the garden.  Wall flowers suddenly have tiny flowers and plants suddenly look fuller, greener. 

The blossom is almost gone. It was so pretty while it lasted.

Can you tell that I'm enjoying being at home this Easter? My head is just bursting with ideas and plans, and my heart is full. I love spending time in and on our home. 

{Make } Something for our home, or for me.

{ Bake } Something from the kitchen.

{ Sew } Something crafty.

{ Grow } Something in the garden.

Midsummer Sprigs

My Midsummer Sprigs Sampler is back from the framers and I am so happy to be showing it to you. 

Some mock cross stitch (I've heard it dismissed as "sudoku for crafters") but I find the regularity of the stitches soothing, the way the most organic shapes are reduced to even little squares. Working on the black linen was hard work at times, I'll be honest, and I think all other cross stitches I sew will feel easy after this. But I kept at it because I love it so much, love the way the colours pop and shine against the dark background. 

I opted to have it framed without glass. This is risky - I'll have to make sure I don't hang it in a sunny spot - but my preference. I love the way I can run my hands over the stitches of the things I've made and feel the bumpy texture. I'm weird like that.

The pattern is by the talented and ever-inspiring Alicia Paulson and available here.

I followed the pattern instructions for the most part, ordering the stated linen (Cashel) and some of the Weeks Dye Works embroidery threads she recommends. They are lovely because they're variegated, and so the colours pool and change as you sew. But I also bought a lot of the cheaper brands of thread too, like Anchor and DMC, especially for the colours I only needed in small quantities. 

At the moment it sits on the mantel above the fire place, where the black linen reflects the black stove below. I'll enjoy looking at it here for a while before I hang it elsewhere. 

*

Thank you for your brilliant tips and suggestions on how to survive the kitchen re-fit! We are fortunate in that we have a sink and cold water plumbed into the garage, so can wash up there, with hot water from the kettle. So our temporary kitchen will consist of a sink and tap, a small amount of worktop space, camping table, fridge, freezer, microwave, kettle, toaster and slow cooker.

Your tips were great though. I'd already thought about eating at other's houses (I'll be seeing a lot of my family over the next few weeks!) and using the microwave and slow cooker, but hadn't considered paper plates, what a flipping good idea. And hot meals at school for the kids every day means that I don't have to worry about cooking them something every night. "Cold Collation" (a cold meal of nice nibbles, like anti pasti) was a new one to me, but I reckon I can give that a go! And things that can be eaten with couscous and bulgar wheat which don't require boiling, only soaking in boiled water - brilliant tip.

I am batch cooking like mad, especially meals which can be eaten with those microwaveable pouches of rice or couscous; chilli, curries, and yesterday ten portions of spicy chicken, chorizo and chick pea stew were made and frozen. And I'm not above buying a microwave meal, of course. Or eating the odd takeaway. 

Easter at Home

Hello! Did you have a nice Easter weekend? I hope you feel rested after the bank holiday. Ours has been quiet - we've mostly stayed at or near home - but it's been lovely for that. John had to work two out of the four days but that's not bad, we still got to do some nice things together. As is usual for the UK, the bank holiday weather has been...unpredictable. On Friday morning we went for a walk to a favourite place and sat in the warm, still air, watching the sun sparkle and glitter on the water. There wasn't a breath of wind and we even took our coats off. It was just gorgeous. Saturday and Sunday were cold and showery. Then, last night, I think I was woken every hour by Storm Katie. The south-west aspect of our bedroom window takes the full brunt of any bad weather and it's so noisy - between the rain blowing against the glass and the creaking of the window, it's not exactly conducive to a good night's sleep. We have one fence panel down (it needed replacing anyway, perhaps this will push it up the to-do list?) but got off lightly compared to the damage sustained by others along the South Coast.

I've been relishing this time at home, sorting, cleaning and washing; I've emptied cupboards and wardrobes, filled four bin liners with old clothes, toys and books for the charity shop, washed all the woolen jumpers...oh, it feels so good. I've been wanting to do this for ages and it was at the top of my Easter to do list. I do love a good clear out, it makes me feel lighter, physically and mentally. I remember, just before we left Leeds, going through the garage, the loft, everywhere, and getting rid of anything that wasn't necessary, and how satisfying it felt to think that everything we owned were either things that we loved or needed, and that I knew exactly where it all was. Well, it's been one year to the day since we moved into this house and I'm slightly appalled at what I've managed to shove into the back of cupboards in that time. Boxes that haven't been opened, clothes that haven't been worn in a year...I was a woman on a mission this weekend. Nothing was going to stand in the way of me and a perfectly folded jumper.

When I haven't been decluttering I've been making and cooking and pottering around, just doing all the other things that make me feel content. At Angus's request I made Barry the Badger a striped jumper. It came out pretty well for a pattern I made up as I went along, and I think he looks quite dapper in it. The kids and I made chocolate cornflake Easter nests and picked flowers from the garden. John and I cooked blueberry ricotta pancakes for breakfast on Easter Sunday. They were nice, but not as nice as they should have been for the effort involved. Any pancake recipe that requires me to separate eggs and whisk the whites before folding them into the batter and which uses about four bowls, better be pretty bloody amazing frankly, and these were just Quite Nice. But something we did make which used about 12 eggs (I'm not even joking), every pan and bowl in the kitchen and took all afternoon to make was this spectacular lemon tart. This was our contribution to the "bring a pudding" at my mum's on Easter Sunday. It's so, so delicious, like the best kind of lemon curd you ever tasted encased in a sweet, lemony, crispy pastry case. It's worth every ounce of effort, which is just as well because it is a lot of effort. 

I'm trying to make the most of the kitchen because, next week, builders arrive and we will not have a functioning kitchen for about a month. Possibly longer, although I can't really bear to think about that. The wall between the kitchen and dining room will be removed, changes made to the current door and window, and new cupboards and worktop fitted. It's going to be amazing, eventually, but in the mean time our kitchen will consist of a kettle, toaster and microwave in the garage. Possible a camping stove too if we feel like pushing the boat out. Any tips on how to survive a kitchen-refit will be gratefully received (but not takeaways please, my waist and wallet can't cope with endless pizza deliveries!)