There's no place like Gnome

Well we've finally had our new carpet fitted in the living room!

 

before...

 

after...

  

It's felt like a long wait.  It was rather enjoyable having such a productive day but someone else doing all the hard work. Once Chris had emptied the room and ripped up the old carpet, two nice chaps from Summerlings of Chesham came around and were all done with the living room, stairs and landing in under 2 hours. Simples.

 

We went for a beautiful loop pile carpet from the Cormar Malabar range in a flagstone colour. Depending on the retailer and whether they subsidise the fitting fee it's around £23-£26 per square metre, which is pretty good for 100% pure wool. Its woven texture looks lovely and warm, but more importantly it will be forgiving to cat hair, fluff and tread-wear. Who knew carpets could be so much fun? Although I have to admit when we were getting quotes I did stand in the carpet shop waiting for a grown-up to materialise make the final decision for us, because surely that can't be me.



The cat does not recall signing off the
budget code for this...

 

 If there's one thing that does make me feel a little grown-up it's owning a beautiful set of coasters, received as part of a birthday present from my awesome maid of honour...

  

And my parents visited the house for the first time since we moved in, bringing with them the birthday presents that would not have survived with the postman. One of them was this adopted gnome! I think he is a refugee from the Wembley branch of Ikea.

 

 In other news, Chris over-wrenched the hammer when ripping up the old carpet grips and made it look sad...

 

Please help the animals of Oklahoma

Like with many disasters, we've watched over the past few days as the true severity of the impact the tornado had on Oklahoma has only come to light with time.

It's very humbling to see how people pull together in a tragedy.  There are even individuals travelling from afar to the suburb of Moore to help, scrambling through the debris and combing the destruction.  I struggle to read all of the news, particularly about the tragic loss of young life when the school was pulled apart.

But one aspect of disasters, natural or otherwise, that always rumbles away in the back of my mind is what about the animals? Call me a fluffy animal person, but what about all the cats, dogs and livestock who resided in Moore?  Pets are family members, and I would consider myself very lucky if something tore my house apart but my loved ones were ok, and that includes my cat.  It breaks my heart to think of the people who have lost their beloved pets, and those animals who have lost their homes and owners.

The OK Humane Society are taking donations. They need help rescuing surviving animals from the wreckage, treating their injuries and hopefully reuniting them with their families.

Please consider donating to this cause, just imagine how comforted and relieved someone would feel to have their pet returned to them after all of the trauma of the past few days.  Remember to put "OK Humane Disaster Relief Fund" in the designation field. 

Please, please, please, and thank you.

Gifts to trust the postman with (or maybe not...)

A conundrum I'm often faced with is what gifts can I give to people that would survive the company of Royal Mail?  Not living less than 100 miles from any of my nearest relatives certainly poses some challenges.

Sure there's always vouchers, or mail-order flowers, or a box of chocolates swaddled in layers of bubble wrap (it'll taste the same even if it's smushed anyway). But what if you want to send an actual present? 

Whiskey Gift Sets
The Whisky Tasting Company

Not full sized bottles I'm afraid...!

TWTC offer a great range of options, from subscriptions to one off tasting boxes.  You can have them sent directly to your lucky recipient with the gift options (and the box is slim enough to fit through the letter box). Each of the boxes contain a number of mini 30ml bottles of different whiskeys (decent ones too) and tasting cards which explain each one's background, ingredients and distilling process.  It's a great gift for the whisky drinker who'd like to try something new and expand their palate.  I particularly like the Welsh Whisky Grand Slam gift set (£27.50) and the Old and Rare Scotch Whisky set (59.50). There's something for everyone. Except for someone who doesn't like whisky. In which case, why are you bothering to read this segment? Silly Billy. Move along.

Gift Hampers
Virginia Hayward


Tear and Share (yeah, right)



I've bought many a hamper from The good people at Virginia Hayward over the years, and they always go down a storm. Their delivery service is speedy too, and they have next day options on many products.  So we're talking about cheese hampers, wine hampers, chocolate hampers, xmas hampers, special diet hampers, even tea and coffee hampers. I've always been a fan of their sweetie ones, particularly the Blast from the Past (£22). They've just brought out a Best of British one too (£22.50) which comes in a smart Union Jack keepsake tin, and their oldie but goodie the Tear and Share set (£29.99) comes in an actual wicker hamper. And you'll share absolutely none of it. 

Papercutting Trees
Cutting Edge Frames UK - Not on the High Street 


A nice kind of paper cut



For something special, I'd direct you to Not On The High Street for a multitude of ideas. For something really special, I'd tell you to go straight to these papercut trees (£65). It isn't just a print, they really do laser cut your choice of names out of your choice of colour card. Their service was quick, their emails friendly and the end product stunning. I bought one of these in white on light grey with the names of our family as a thank you gift for my parents and it is displayed proudly in their hallway.  You can also have names and a date done as in the picture, so they'd make a great gift to celebrate a wedding or new baby.

And if there must be chocolate...
Hotel Chocolat


Giant Slab. Sold.



Of course, sometimes only chocolate will do. In which case I forbid you from going anywhere but to Hotel Chocolat. Their gift ideas are genius, their range is extensive, and their giant slabs are just plain bat crap crazy (£15).  They do a gift bag service so you can send direct, but quite frankly if no one was sending me anything from Hotel Chocolat for a while I would walk five hundred miles and I would walk five hundred more just to be the one who'd walk a thousand miles to fall down at the door of Hotel Chocolat. (da da da da).

Selfie Obsessed

Selfie (noun)
| sel-fee |
        1. A picture taken of oneself
        2. Photographs to be uploaded onto social networking
           sites as the user's profile picture
        3. Pictures taken by a person of themselves that must be
           incredibly awesome-cool or said person will be
           perceived as annoyingly shallow

It's ok, Japanese Engineer and Astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, your selfie is incredibly awesome-cool.  Much love. 

(click to enlarge)

Map it out

One of my birthday presents from Chris was this awesome Film city map by Dorothy - so the layout of the city is based roughly on an LA street map but EVERYTHING is derived from films - the streets, the parks, the lakes, the pubs, the schools, even the airport (aptly names AIRPLANE! of course).

The pictures are from their website cos I've not got mine in a frame yet...

 I particularly love the street named Diagon Alley, which is flanked either side by the Deathly Hallows, the Chamber of Secrets and a very reputable school named Hogwarts. 

Let's all go take a Walk On The Wild Side to The Cabin In The Woods...

The movie map is just £25 for a 60x80 print (so it fits inside many Ikea frames!) and they do other ones too like a song title map. Too many maps, not enough walls...





I love stuff like this, they become real conversation pieces in the house (my Famille Summerbelle papercutting London Map has already started up several conversations about its inspiration Rob Ryan)

P.S. If you like any of the purchases you see on the blog don't forget to check the Shopping List pages on the right - chances are it'll be there. If not drop me a comment on here and I can tell you where I bought it. 

I've also added a Wish List page. That's gonna be a long one...



I couldn't not share this...

For anyone who's not familiar with this quote, it was spoken by the Joker in the recent Batman movie.

Birthday Chocolate Banoffee Pie

• 1x sweet shortcrust pastry
• 4x ripe bananas
• 100ml milk
• 4x table spoons of caster sugar
• 75g dark cooking chocolate
• knob of butter
• 200ml whipping cream

Firstly, pop the pastry into a preheated oven at 180 degrees for about 5-10mins to catch slightly, because otherwise I find it too soft and doesn't have a nice crunch

Put a small pan on a very low heat and add 50g of the the chocolate, broken up into small pieces. Leave to melt but be very careful not to burn on too high a heat. As Mary Berry says, chocolate melts in a child's pocket, it doesn't need a high heat.  Once the chocolate is almost melted turn off the heat and add the butter, giving it a gentle stir to incorporate.  Pour this into the bottom of the pastry case and smooth out.

Put a medium pan on a high heat and add the sugar, giving it a shake to spread out evenly and leave to melt. Do not stir.

Meanwhile blitz 2x bananas and the milk together until quite smooth

Keep swirling the pan as the sugar melts into caramel, do not stir and DO NOT get this on your skin - it is napalm.

Once the caramel is dark golden and bubbling, pour in the banana milkshake. Careful, as it will spit a little in protest. Immediately stir the mixture, the caramel will go stringy at first but keep stirring and it will blend nicely and caramelise the banana.

Pour this into the pastry case over the chocolate. Smooth down but don't mix too much because this will melt the chocolate.

Pop in the freezer to cool down for 5-10 minutes.

Meanwhile whip the cream until it's just thick enough to sit on top of your pie. They say use a manual balloon whisk but I have no patience for such a thing. I use an electric whisk but be careful to stop when it looks like it's ALMOST done. Then in the split second between deciding it's almost done and actually turning off the whisk, it'll be perfect. If you whisk it for a second longer your cream will be dry and crumbly. Game over.

 Slice up your remaining 2x bananas and scatter these on the pie, keeping a few back for decorating.

Pop your cream on top of the pie. I then have a play with a dash of drinking coco with teaspoon of water to make a chocolaty paste, and doodle with a wooden skewer in the cream. Dash the remaining banana slices on top and grate on more chocolate if you didn't eat it all. Then stick your hands behind your back and bury your face into said pie. This recipe is derived from Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals. Great stuff.

Purple Haze

 

I've managed to subtly influence the front garden to conform to my favourite colour.  Our neighbour's adorable little girl came and asked us what we were doing when we were planting the baskets, and promptly told me that her favourite colour was pink. And blue. And not forgetting green, her schoolfriend added.

 

 

 

 

I even managed to sneak some purple influence into this weekend's salad.

  

 

lamb Lettuce, washed

cherry tomatoes, quartered

cucumber, diced

avocado, sliced

feta, cubed

bacon, crispy

croutons, herby

red cabbage, grated

lemon juice, spritzed

 

 

It's ok, I had a salad for lunch. So I could enjoy a nice birthday dinner at the Crown in Amersham. I could scoff my favourite duck liver pate, followed by lamb shank for my dinner. I could then finish it all off with a millionaire's sponge pudding, which featured a chocolate sponge rolled in caramel and butterscotch ice cream, topped with whipped cream, dark chocolate sprinkles and a chocolate ganache sauce. Oosh.

 

Meanwhile the cat continues to insist that water tastes better out of Chris' glass than it does out of his own bowl. Passive aggersive sod.

I've been having a bash at my center pieces over the last couple of days, I think I might have figured it all out but it's still a work in progress. More to come...

The Shopping Lists

I've decided to start keeping an inventory of my purchases, whether they be for the house, the wedding, or just for the hey-ho sake of it.

Then I thought, why stop with just a list, when I can review my purchases as well?

Me? Given the opportunity to voice an opinion and pass judgement? Don't mind if I do!

Drum roll please....

Homes for Gnomes

Doesn't anyone else feel really sad at the new Ikea advert???

I absolutely love Ikea, but how can they callously throw these poor gnomes off their lawn, which is rightfully their home, without the slightest bit of warning? And then the poor mites are massacred in a battle to survive to Swedish invasion. And we all thought the Swedes were a peaceful people. It's always the quiet ones you need to watch out for.

In other news, Fit4less want our money AND our self esteem in tatters. Ta.

 

 

And Chris has become the Gandalf of coving. We now have it in the bedroom and living room, with enough left over to do the downstairs loo as well.

 

 

  

The key to success really is to use no nails.

 

26cm Ceiling rose,
£14.99 from Homebase
 

Harlow 5 light,
£55 from Next

The next thing I want for the living room is a ceiling rose and a nice light that doesn't hang too low - while Chris and I are tiny we seem to have much taller friends and family. In our wedding pictures we're gonna need to stand on boxes to level things out.

 

 



We've now sent out the wedding invites and bought the materials to try to make my centre pieces. I'm going to be attempting to make 10x vintage hot air balloons for the tables, so watch this space next week to see how well that goes. It could end up more farts and gaffs than arts and crafts.

 

We also got a set of picture ledges from those gnome haters at Ikea for £8.25, so that we can display Chris' comic book collection in the spare room.

 

 

We really like them cos it means not drilling 8x individual holes into the walls and we can change them around without too much faff.  I'll share a picture of the whole room when it stops resembling a recycling centre.

 

 

And we really need to buy a longer extension cable so we can mow the lawn, it's long enough for the cat to hide in (and who knows what else - there are probably a few Gnome refugees in there).

 

 

May the Fourth be with you.