George's Christening

We went to Eton last weekend for our nephew George's Christening.

We ambled into Eton beforehand for a quick brunch to keep us going during the service, and peeped at the preparations for a Queen's birthday street party being set up all down the High Street.

The service was in the college chapel, which is such a beautiful building!

I was sort of hoping Mathilda might sleep as it was perfectly timed for nap-time, however she had other ideas, and although sleepy, spent the service reading her books very loudly and practising her animal noises...

Luckily we were all busy singing hymns and joyfully welcoming little George into the Christian family and she got away with it!

I wore a new dress that I'd made especially for the occasion (just in time - I was, as ever, sewing on buttons late the night before) and I love it!  The photos are awful, but you get the general idea!  It's in broderie anglaise that I bought when I was pregnant and I've been dreaming of this dress for aaaaages, I'm so pleased it turned out just how I imagined!

Mathilda was wearing a gorgeous little vintage coat which was a hand-me-down from my Uncle and Aunt, I've been longing for her to fit it, it's so sweet!  Underneath she had on a new romper I made; it's from a vintage pattern in a beautiful Liberty-esque lawn, and has a hair bow to match of course!

After the service we trundled over to the Queen's Eyot for a few refreshments and a bit of catching up with all the family.  Generously the sun came out for a bit as we hopped on the boat to take us across the river to the island.  (Sooo gorgeous and exciting!)

We sipped champagne and nibbled a delicious afternoon tea, which we followed up with a game of croquet, just in time before the rain arrived!

Then back to the mainland and reality - Ed caught the train down to Dartmouth for a course and we drove home all girls home alone-y and tried to think on all the loveliness of the day rather than missing him.  I say we...Mathilda mostly just slept...

Creme Brulee

Not as complicated a dessert as you  might expect; creme brulee is in fact super easy, fairly quick, and perfect to accompany the British strawberries that are now in season.

For the custard:

1.5oz granulated sugar

5 egg yolks

430ml double cream

1.5 tsp vanilla essence/vanilla bean paste/vanilla pods

For the pralin; 

2oz flaked almonds

2oz granulated sugar

Place the cream in a pan and heat gently until hot but not boiling.  Meanwhile, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar for 2-3 minutes.  They'll turn pale and almost double in volume, keep whisking until the mixture thickens enough that when you lift the beaters, it forms a ribbon on the surface that slowly dissolves back into the mix. 

(Extremely hard to photograph!)

Very slowly dribble in the hot cream, stirring/whisking all the while* (- see note below).  Be careful not to pour too much in at once or the eggs will cook too fast and you'll end up with a scrambled mess!

*Depending on what texture you want, you can either keep whisking as you pour the cream in which gives a lighter slightly mousse-y texture, or for a denser texture just stir briskly with a wooden spoon. 

Return the mixture to the pan and heat gently, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens.  Make sure not to overheat it - don't let it boil!  If you're feeling technical about it, use a jam thermometer to make sure it doesn't go above 74C, but you should be able to see when it's ready by just keeping a sharp eye on it and stirring all the time!

Keep stirring until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon.

Remove the pan from the heat and pass the custard through a sieve.  Stir in the vanilla.

Pour into ramekins, bung in the fridge for a few hours and hey presto, creme brulee!

Well nearly!  That's the 'creme' bit, next for the brulee: sprinkle the top with a layer of granulated sugar and toast under a grill until it caramelises.

Alternatively you can top the ramekins with a layer of pralin - blitzed caramel and toasted almonds; utterly delicious!  Toast the almonds in a hot pan until golden, and spread on a baking tray lined with a layer of greaseproof paper.  Place the sugar in a small pan and add enough water just to wet the sugar.  Heat gently, stirring every now and then until the sugar has completely dissolved.  Turn up the heat and boil the syrup without stirring until it turns a golden brown; keep a sharp eye on it as it turns quite suddenly and tastes awful if you burn it! (photos and more detail on making caramel here)  Remove from the heat straight-away and pour over the almonds.  Leave to cool completely before blitzing in a blender to a fine crumbly texture.  Sprinkle over the ramekins just before serving.

Woodland Curtains

I have been mulling over making some curtains for Mathilda's room for such a long time, and I finally decided it was about time to get on and make them!  I found some gorgeous fabric and whipped up a pair of curtains, being sure to make them with fabric to spare in case the windows are bigger in our next house.

I backed them with blackout lining so the room is almost pitch black when they are drawn - no dawn wake ups for Mathilda!

Whilst on Mathilda's bedroom... we went to an amazing jumble sale a couple of weeks ago and I picked up (amongst other things) this huge old suitcase for £3, which I pinned to be perfect under-cot storage for Mathilda's outgrown baby clothes and much nicer than plastic storage boxes!

I had hoped it would go under Mathilda's cot and peep gorgeously out from underneath, but annoyingly it was too high, so I had to hide it under our bed instead!

France in April

So usually after a party you end up nibbling party food and cake for about a week, but after Mathilda's birthday we had a rather tighter schedule to stick to, as we were off to France a not much more than a day later.  We mostly spent the day packing and tidying up, eating cake and tucking things in the freezer, and then snuggled off to bed as soon as we could, to max out on sleep before a very early start the next day.

We got dressed rather bleary-eyed at about 2:30am, but soon woke up when we stepped out of the front door into a mad howling gale and driving rain.  We were then buffeted all the way round the M25 to Gatwick and then once in the car park, had to load Mathilda into her pushchair, struggle on our coats and bags and traipse across miles of car park to the bus stop, all in pitch darkness and the continuing raging storm.



Mathilda was completely unphased by the whole thing and sat quite happily in her chair sucking her fingers, while I suffered a sort of hysteria attack and got the giggles so hard I could hardly breathe.

Anyway, we made it to Bordeaux in one piece and just in time for lunch with my grandparents, and then wiffled south down through the vines and tiny crumbly villages until we got to my parents house, where the first thing we did was to stretch our legs and take in the gorgeousness of our surroundings!

I picked a teeny posy of violets to welcome the house and then had to keep going over every five minutes to sniff their sweet scent.

Although it wasn't brilliantly warm, it certainly was nicer than what we'd left behind in England, and even warm enough to sit outside with bare legs!

Mathilda had such a lovely time spending all day, every day with her Daddy, hurrah for holidays!

We spent most of our time in the garden, and the chillier days were a perfect excuse for Mathilda to wear the gorgeous jumper my mum knitted for her first birthday.  It is beautiful!  I amused myself making daisy chains for my little chubby fairy, I can't wait to teach her to make them herself!

Then all too soon it was time for Ed to go back to work, and although we were lucky enough to be staying on a bit longer, we waved a rather sad goodbye and almost wished we were going home with him too...

We celebrated his last day with an enormous piece of steak cooked over a fire of home grown wood and a huge pile of homemade chips.

The weather perked up a bit after the first week and we were treated to gorgeously warm sunny days, clear blue skies and the heady scent of the lavender bushes in the sunshine.

Mathilda loved playing in the grass, discovering mud, poking beetles, playing with sticks, picking all the daisies and tasting interesting looking things...

We took a couple of picnics in the field - ambling through the orchard and down the whispering avenue of dancing silver birch to a clearing ringed with crabapples.  It's all hidden away and secretive and feels like you have quite suddenly been whisked away to the middle of nowhere.

Mathilda came over all sleepy and had to have a rest while we set up the picnic things.

Although a bit chilly to start with, once the sun came out it was roasting!

We had bread and cheese and hard boiled eggs with mayonnaise, radishes and a beetroot salad, and delicious creme brulees and tiny wafer biscuits to finish; all very French and very delicious!

We went wandering down the lane one evening and Mathilda picked buttercups and held them tightly in her fat little hands.

When we got back and had put her to bed we were treated to the most beautiful sunset which lit up the trees in an amber glow against the grey clouds.

'Red sky at night; shepherd's delight' rang true and the next day was perfect!  Clear blue skies and something around 25 degrees in the sunshine, perfect for starting my tan and warm enough for Mathilda to play in the garden in the shade.

It was even warm enough for post-bath cuddles in the evening sunshine!

We had a few days of beautiful weather which culminated in a mad changeable day, with moments of bright sunshine broken by threatening clouds rolling in, bringing rain and hail and ominous rumbling thunder.

It was a bare legs and galoshes sort of day, full of sudden rushes indoors to shelter from the rain.  It built to a spectacular storm that night and we sat in the warm darkness and watched the lightening dance across the sky.

We went home refreshed and ready to get back to normal life again, taking our souvenirs with us - a gentle tan for me, a Gallic shrug for Mathilda...