hotel toast

I absolutely adore hotel toast. As described by Nigel Slater:

'Even when eaten within minutes of its arrival at the table, it still manages to be pliable, stretchy even. The butter refuses to melt, staying sweet and firm on the surface. Yet there is something perfectly agreeable about [it].... Bendy, cold, elastic and invariably too thin, hotel toast is still curiously moreish, and feels somehow special.' (Eating for England, 2007)

Last week, Jaye, Rachel, and Sue indulged my love for hotel toast by giving me the most wonderful birthday present: a proper pewter toast rack from Brissi!

Now I can have hotel toast at home. I just need to perfect my knife skills, as we had no luck trying to wedge an ordinary slice in: only the thinnest, most elegant slices will do! Yummy!

last hurrah

I think this will be our last frozen treat from the allotment this summer (what little summer we've had): raspberry ice cream.

Definitely a big step up from the sherbet. I'm afraid sorbets and sherbets just don't do it for me. I crave the lovely creaminess of ice cream!

And I just noticed how autumnal the lawn is starting to look with its scattering of leaves...

to market, to market

After our visit to the Design Museum, Jaye and I walked back along the Thames to Borough Market, London's oldest food market.

While there were numerous stands selling meat, fish, and bread, the produce stalls presented the best photo opportunities:

Even the most mundane veggies looked enticing:

And such amazing mushrooms:

I came away with sausages from the German Deli and a bag of granola from Mini Magoo's. We'll be buying Puffin Poo on our next visit!

walk to walker

On Friday morning, Jaye and I took the train into London, then walked along the Thames to the Design Museum to see Tim Walker Pictures.

Not being an avid reader of fashion magazines, I wasn't familiar with Walker's photographs. But his work is so much more than the ordinary series of glossy spreads. I was utterly and completely entranced. The images had the most fabulous Alice in Wonderland quality:

Tim Walker, Lily Cole and Spiral Staircase, Whadwan, Gujarat, India, 2005,

British Vogue

And they invariably captured a very English sensibility:

Tim Walker, Otis Ferry and His Foxhounds, Shropshire, England, 2007, Vanity Fair

The photographs were complemented by numerous pages from Walker's scrapbooks as well as a few rather amazing props from the shoots.

Tim Walker Pictures is most definitely worth making a trip into London for. Now I just need to save up my pennies (lots and lots of them) for the limited-edition exhibition catalogue!

pottering in petersham

G very kindly took a holiday from work yesterday to help me run errands. One of the tasks on my list was to return my contest entry form to Petersham Nurseries. I haven't actually won a contest since elementary school, but I keep trying...

The hydrangeas were spectacular:

G was particularly fond of this arrangement in the restaurant:

It was unusually quiet, so we managed to get a table for lunch without a booking. A very nice break after a busy morning.

While I've eaten in the teahouse many times, this is only the second time I've eaten in the restaurant. The table arrangements were lovely. I particularly liked the pots of purple peppers (a great tongue-twister):

But then again, the arrangements at Petersham are always amazing:

As is the food. I had salt cod brandade, which was delicious. The first time I ate in the restaurant, I had wild salmon carpaccio with olive oil, lemon, and pea shoots. So although the menu changes daily, I do feel I can wholeheartedly recommend the fish.

And I'm pretty sure this little guy, whom G found napping in one of the greenhouses, would also enjoy the fish:

a book and a bun

After lunch, we headed into Abingdon for afternoon tea with Jane Brocket. The event was organized by the bookshop where Ali works, Mostly Books.

Jane spoke about her new book Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer:

She also read passages from her favorite children's books and showed us how to decorate buns with her trademark technicolor icing and jelly beans.

I transported my bun home in my new Cup-a-Cake carrier:

The Cup-a-Cake worked brilliantly, and the bun was delicious. I'll definitely be using orange or lemon juice (rather than water) to thin my icing sugar from now on: the tart citrus tempers the sweetness of the sugar perfectly.

And for everyone at the tea who was taken with Jane's gorgeous paste colors, I just unpacked a new shipment of little pots in the shop today--only £2.99 each!

a natter

This was the scene Saturday morning as we set off for Ali's house: Betty Beetle with a basket of goodies and a book to be signed...

We had the most wonderful lunch with Ali and Andy, Mark and Johnny, Alice, Monica, and the lovely Karen, who I'm sure will have a blog of her own very soon.

G had a fab time playing football with Mark and Johnny, but all the girl talk around the picnic table put him to sleep--literally!

We had so much fun chatting away. And the food was delicious. Just look at Ali's gorgeous cupcakes:

What could possibly make such a splendid day even more splendid? A visit with Jane Brocket, of course...