crème de la crème

Pitango Gelato is my all-time favorite gelato shop. Blending organic milk, cream, eggs, sugar, and produce from local farms, Pitango makes super flavorful gelato with a lovely clean finish.

© Pitango Gelato

Sadly, the branch near my mum has been discontinuing my favorite flavors one-by-one: Fior di Latte, Crème Fraîche, Yogurt, Black Tea... I hesitate to mention my current favorites for fear they could be next!

© Pitango Gelato

But I need no longer mourn the demise of Crème Fraîche, as I've just made my very own batch, again using a recipe from David Lebovitz' The Perfect Scoop:

Amazingly, it has the same creamy texture, slightly sharp flavor, and smooth finish as the Pitango version. And while I'd always rather go to Pitango, I suppose I better start looking out recipes for some of my other favorites...just in case!

blue sky thinking

Yesterday, Tracy, Nancy, and I met up for a much-overdue visit to Kew. There were blooms a-plenty on the way to the station,

and even more spectacular ones in Kew itself, from big and showy

to small and dainty,

all beneath a cloudless blue sky:

And over lunch, we did a bit of blue sky thinking ourselves. Inspired by The Happiness Project, we each now have a personal goal to meet before our next visit. Better get busy!

on celadon

While studying at Christie's Education many moons ago, I fell in love with Chinese celadon. Recently, my interest has been reawakened by modern British potters working with celadon glazes, including Edmund de Waal

and Chris Keenan (who apprenticed to Edmund de Waal):

© Beaux Arts Bath

And now my passions for pots and yarn have met in a new pair of socks knit in Madelinetosh's celadon colorway:

So while I still only dream of owning a piece of celadon ware, I can enjoy my very own celadon wear!

mmm-mmm malt

When I was little, my dad would occasionally take me out for malts at our local ice cream shop. These are some of my happiest memories of time with my dad and perhaps account for my enduring love of tall, frothy malts in ice-cold, stainless steel cups. Someday, I dream of having one of these:

But in the meantime, I'm quite happy with a scoop of Malted Milk Ice Cream, made from the recipe in David Lebovitz' The Perfect Scoop:

A generous measure of malt powder gives this ice cream a super velvety texture, as well as that very distinctive flavor. Mmm-mmm malt!

new beginnings

Oh it's been such a long time--nearly spring already!

Spring being all about new beginnings, I figure it's time to put my best foot forward and get busy blogging again,

wearing a new pair of socks, of course, knit in Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in Trodden. And despite the name of the colorway, I'll do my very best not to tread on any burgeoning blooms...

wisley wander, take three

Heading out to Wisley on Wednesday, it seemed cool enough to wear my new wool socks,

knit in madelinetosh Tosh Sock in Nostalgia, a glazed, semi-solid colorway mixing purples, beiges, and grays.

But luckily I wore my cotton socks, as Ali and I soon warmed up, wandering up Battleston Hill, through the woodland gardens, and out amongst the trial beds,

where we discovered fabulous fields of dahlias. While not normally a pink person, my heart is now set on pink pompoms for the plot:

Because surely everything (even weeding) is more fun with pompoms! And hopefully after their course, Ali and Tracy will be able to tell me just what to do, because I'm definitely more skilled with yarn pompoms than floral ones.

chalk cliffs and charleston

Early Friday morning, under the brightest of blue skies, G and I escaped to East Sussex. We made a brief detour to the Birling Gap, where the chalk cliffs drop dramatically

to the long pebble beach below,

then doubled back on the A27 to Charleston, the country home of the Bloomsbury Group:

Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant moved to Charleston in 1916, and over the next 50 years transformed the dilapidated farmhouse into a home and gathering place. Clive Bell, David Garnett, and John Maynard Keynes all lived at Charleston at various times, and Virginia and Leonard Woolf, E.M. Forster, Lytton Strachey, and Roger Fry were frequent visitors.

Vanessa and Duncan, inspired by Italian frescoes and the Post-Impressionists, painted nearly every wall, door, and piece of furniture: there was a nary a blank surface to be seen on our tour. And the painted decoration was complemented by objects from the Omega Workshops, the Bloomsbury Group's design business in London.

© Pia Tryde

© The Charleston Trust

I fell in love with Vanessa Bell's paintings when I was an art student in London many moons ago, and there were works by Vanessa (as well as Duncan) throughout the house:

Vanessa Bell, Iceland Poppies, c. 1908-09, © The Charleston Trust

The tour finished in the walled garden, which was planted with flowers, fruit, and vegetables,

enclosed by box hedges, and ornamented with mosaics and statuary in the southern European style:

G would like a classical head for our plot too, which is fine by me. But he's also suggested livening up the flat with some sponged and stenciled decoration, which is where I think I better draw the line!