Summer Food Markets

Over the summer I've caught a few of the weekend food markets across London. The first one I went to at the South Bank Centre had quite a buzz and a good variety of stalls, my favourite being a fresh coconut stall where you could quench your thirst with the water from a freshly sliced coconut and after you could get the coconut chopped open to eat. 

The second food market I went to was at Alexandra Palace. I was looking forward to this as it was advertised as a large food market with entertainment, but I was ultimately a little disappointed as it was smaller than I expected with less variety and it was overcrowded. That said, I did enjoy the food I ordered a lot, I had a burrito for lunch and a chocolate banana waffle. Sitting on Muswell Hill eating lunch and taking in the sights of the city definitely made the trek across London worth it. 

Most recently I went to the Victoria Park market. Again this market was not that big, but I found the variety of different food and the mix of food to eat there and products to take home good. I enjoyed a cheese and onion jam toastie with a refreshing berry juice drink and I purchased a couple of sweet treats from a stand called a pie party to take home. There was also a lady selling garden plants and as she was going on holiday the following week they were only £1.50, so I picked up a pretty Busy Lizzie bush plant for the balcony which I'm hoping to be able to overwinter. 

I'm keeping an eye out for any more food markets I can explore before the summer months are over.

Beautiful bouquets

There is nothing better than a fresh bouquet to brighten up a room and lift your mood. I often can't resist taking a photo of the beautiful bunches of flowers I occasionally treat myself to, it doesn't capture their beauty entirely but here are a few of my favourites:

Using up the courgette glut

The unusually warm, long summer has paved the way for glut of courgettes. This year I've stuck to growing my yellow courgette plants in containers, but even so, up until recently they were producing more courgettes than I could keep up with. At first I was roasting courgette slices to add to dinners and vegetable skewers when we had barbecues, but after looking on line for some inspiration a few recipes caught my eye.

The first one I tried was courgette, potato and cheddar soup. This recipe was so simple and quick to make. I peeled one large potatoe and chopped it into cubes and added it to a pan with enough water to cover the potatoes. I crumbled in a stock cube and left it to simmer for five minutes before adding about 4 medium courgettes, again chopped into cubes. I let it simmer for a further 5 minutes before added a bunch of finely chopped spring onions and letting it simmer for a final 5 minutes.

Once cooked through, I removed the soup from the heat and added a small handful of grated cheddar cheese and mixed it, before blending it into a smooth soup. 

I added a sprinkle of grated cheese and a couple of spring onions on top to serve. It tasted so good! I thought the combination could be a little bland but the flavours all worked together to make a nutritious and filling soup. I've made this a few times since as an easy way to use up a growing stock of courgettes and I particularly like using yellow courgettes as ithe bright colours give it a nice summer feel. 

The next recipe I was keen to try was for courgette cake. For this I found an American recipe online and converted all of the measurements to make a loaf cake. I was surprised by the flavour of courgette cake, having never tried it before, it was very light and almost floral. The cake was a hit and I've made it a couple of times since.

Finally I wanted to try making courgette fritters, as I'd bought them ready made a couple of years ago from a supermarket and really enjoyed them. They are so simple to make! You just need a bowl of milk and a bowl of plain flour to start. Cut the courgettes into batons, dip them in milk and coat them in the flour before frying them. 

These were a hit too, simple and quick to make and a great accompaniment to summer dishes. The courgette plants have slowed down a lot now so I don't think there will be too many more to pick before the end of the season, but hopefully there'll be enough for another cake or batch of soup!

Mayfield Lavender Fields

Last week I went to Mayfield Lavender fields, which is just outside of London. I had read about the fields last year, but they are only open for a short period between June and September before the flowers are harvested and I couldn't get there in time.

I read online that due to the prolonged heatwave the harvesting was likely to take place sooner this year as the flowers were starting to fade earlier than usual, so I decided to go as soon as I could. 

As soon as you arrive type are engulfed in the most relaxing lavender fragrance and you look out over a see of purple. As I walked around I noticed how relaxed and calm I felt and how tranquil the setting was. There were hundreds of bees flying around but they were focused on collecting pollen and didn't seem to bother anyone. 

After walking around, taking in the beautiful scenery and of course taking plenty of photos, we stopped in the cafe for a snack and I called in to the gift shop for some lavender bags to put in my wardrobe to hopefully deter moths as well as a couple of tasty treats. 

It was a lovely morning and I could have stayed longer, especially on such a lovely summer's day and I would definitely recommend as visit. 

Snow storm

It has been snowing for five days and the last two days the snow has been so deep we have been stuck indoors. It looked pretty and festive at first, but now we are running low on food so I can't wait to get to the supermarket and stock up! 

I've never seen such extreme snow drifts before, some of them are about four feet high. Parts of the garden have patchy snow and then the patio looks as though a truck has dumped a delivery of snow there, it's a small mountain! We braved the cold earlier for a walk but we couldn't go far before the cold was biting at our toes.

We've also been feeding the few birds that have ventured out. Yesterday the resident robin was taking shelter in the honeysuckle plant, occasionally darting out to get the seeds and nuts we'd put out and today the blackbird has been for his lunch too. 

Bird prints in the snow:

Lush Christmas Sweater bath bomb

I dipped into my Lush sale stash a few days ago and tried out the Christmas Sweater bath bomb. It had a festive spicy clove and citrus scent, which reminded me of mulled wine and left orange and red swirls in the water. The scent did not fade whilst I was in the bath but it did leave some red marks which I rinsed off and would recommend rinsing the bath after use to avoid the colours staining.

I'm looking forward to trying the other bath bombs over the next few weeks.

Lush Sale 2017

This year my mum and I decided to go to a nearby city for some retail therapy on Boxing Day. Overall the sales were quite disappointing; most years we spend Christmas money and vouchers we received as gifts, but this year I only came away with a few things from Lush.

I spotted a queue outside lush at 9.55 and naively hoped the store would be opening at 10, but unfortunately it wasn't open until 10.30 so I waited in the cold for half an hour, trying to decide what I wanted to look for. I mostly buy bath products from lush but I still have enough bubble bars for now, so I decided to look for a few bath bombs and bath melts. 

When the store eventually opened the whole queue, which was by now snaked around the block, was let into the store and although I had reached the bath section, so many people were in the tiny store that it was impossible to move. I had picked up a couple of bath bombs and found the Christmas tree bath melts I wanted to buy and decided to just pay and leave the overcrowded store as the atmosphere was quite unpleasant.

In the end I only spent around £11, but I was pleased as although the Christmas items were all half price, I still think they are a luxury which will be used up in just one bath so I didn't want to get caught up in the hype and spend a lot, I prefer to use them as a treat.

I purchased a Christmas sweater bath bomb, a thundersnow bath bomb and three tree-D bath melts. For Christmas I also received another thundersnow bath bomb, a shoot for the stars bath bomb and a bath melt, so I am looking forward to trying them out.