Friday 29 April 2011

Thursday 28 April 2011

Wedding madness

We had a wedding lunch today, with all the kids dressed up as little princes and princesses, all with little crowns on. Unbelievably cute! There were sandwiches, victoria sponge, sausage rolls (we're in Britain after all), brownies and cupcakes with red, white and blue icing. Flags and pictures of the happy couple had been put up everywhere. For the occasion I also dressed up in the flag colours (both British and Norwegian- very convenient at times!).


I'm not sure how to feel about this royal wedding. I love weddings, and I'm not a republican, yet I do feel a little uneasy about the royals. Particularly the British ones (because, I have to say, the Norwegian royals are very nice). Firstly, there are ridiculously many of them, I'm not sure anyone knows who they all are. And secondly, the have, up until now, lived very sheltered lives, very removed from the British people. This might, hopefully, change in time. Thirdly, because of the size of the family, they are costing the British state a lot of money. Considering that Britain has been hit quite hard by the financial crisis, and most young people are struggling financially, graduates are not getting any jobs, and can forget thinking about buying a house, having a huge expensive royal wedding costing the taxpayers lots and lots of money does not seem like a great idea.

But enough with the politics. I do love weddings, and although we are going to Scotland to escape the wedding madness in London, I will watch the wedding, and I'm sure I'll even cry a few tears.

Wednesday 27 April 2011

Madwoman

This is how I'd look in Mad Men.. Love the dress.

My London Alphabet

I have decided to slightly change my London guide, and from now on I will be making my own London Alphabet! My own A-Z. Stay tuned.

Monday 25 April 2011

Evening sun

I packed away my winter clothes today, and got out all my summer dresses. It's so difficult to imagine that it was ever cold and dark, that I had to wear scarf and gloves if I wanted to go outside, and that I'd run from the car to the house to get in as quickly as possible, especially when the evening sun is shining through the window as it is tonight, and the whole house is bathing in a bright pink light. It's funny how quickly winter is erased from the mind. I can't even remember what freezing cold feels like, and instead I'm enjoying the warmth of the sun, the feeling of bare feet on the grass and bare legs with no tights. Blissful spring.

Cambridge friends

These are my friends from Cambridge, my birthday treat to myself. I can imagine them belonging to a girl who reads English lit at Cambridge, has a red Pashley bike and likes to sew her own dresses. Every Friday she drinks sparkling rosé and puts bows in her hair. She drinks her coffee on her tiny little balcony every morning in summer and goes dancing every Saturday. After she graduates she'll become a children's author and live in a little cottage in the English countryside, where she'll bake scones and grow vegetables.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! Sorry it's been quiet here lately, I've been in Norway on holiday and decided to take a little break. What a glorious holiday it has been! Warm, sunny weather, beautiful nature, beaches, sea view, concert, great friends, family, lots of chocolate and long walks in the hills. Perfect. Here are a few pictures:

The view of my home town from the hills. I always miss the sea.
Numerous glorious sunsets.
And my favourite flower; kvitveis (forest anemone).

Now I am back in London and not really ready to start work again. Thankfully we have a long weekend coming up next weekend, so we're escaping the wedding madness here to go to Scotland for a few days.


Hope you also had a great Easter holiday!

Friday 15 April 2011

Finally Friday!

Happy Friday to you all! Hope spring has found you, wherever you are.
I'm enjoying my time in Norway, even though it's pretty cold and wet...

Sunday 10 April 2011

Birthday garden party

Seeing as my birthday is at a time of year when it's not really weather for being outside, I have never had a birthday garden party before. But with this heat and beautiful weather there was no way a garden party could be avoided. I put my best dress on.
I made scones, chocolate cake and carrot cake, and put plenty of bottles of Cava in the fridge. And lots of tea, of course. Little sandwiches too. Cucumber, smoked salmon and cream cheese, egg and tomato and roast beef and rocket. Pretty little tea party. Beautiful, lovely friends. Sunburned shoulders. Party hats. Balloons. Boules.

Cambridge

Yesterday Husband had a concert just outside Cambridge, and as Cambridge is one of my favourite places in England, I decided to drop him off at the rehearsal and then spend the day there. It was such a beautiful day, and for a few hours I pretended that I was a part of one of the colleges, that I had a big apartment looking out on the river, and a pretty Pashley bike parked just outside. Oh, if it were only true.
I bought myself a beautiful pair of shoes (birthday treat for myself) and also something that was wrapped up very beautifully in a box with a pink bow on.
I sat down by the river and enjoyed this whilst looking at all the tourists punting by.

And the gardens were so pretty with flowers everywhere, and people lying in the grass, enjoying the sunshine. Blissful Saturday.

I hope you're all having a great weekends too!

Friday 8 April 2011

Birthday Friday!

I truly could never ask for a better birthday than I have had today. Husband had his cast taken off this very morning, so it has been the birthday of firsts. Today is the first day of our Easter holiday, and it is the first time we have:
-walked down the street holding hands in four weeks.
-had ice cream in the park this year.
-had a proper picnic this year.
-had a birthday as a married couple!

In addition to all these lovely things, the weather has been absolutely fantastic; bright blue sky and 28 degrees. Proper summer weather. I can't believe how warm it has been! I remember the last birthday I had in Norway- it was snowing.

This is what my birthday has been like:

Presents in bed!
These are 100 Penguin Classics postcards. On each and every one of them Husband had written something that he loves about me. I can imagine our grandchildren finding this box in the attic, it is like a book about our relationship.
Penguin Classics have brought out these lovely editions of old classics. So beautiful!
I picked these in the garden this morning.
And had coffee from the birthday cup.
Champagne brunch in the garden.


Husband had made me a beautiful crown! <3
<3


The rest of the evening will be spent in the warm, sunny garden. I'm having a champagne tea party on Sunday to celebrate. More on that later!

Hope you are having a beautiful weekend!

Tuesday 5 April 2011

Uninspired

It's a terribly dull day today. Grey, windy, rainy. So uninspiring. It's one of those days that isn't any season, it's just grey.

I need a bit of cheering up. What makes you happy today?

Saturday 2 April 2011

Pink Saturday

This paper chain from my lovely hen party last year is still hanging in my living room.
A pink flower in my hair.
Pink napkins from Cath Kidston.
This is sitting on my shelf waiting for my birthday next Friday!
The ranunculus I bought two and a half weeks ago are still going strong.
But I just had to buy these ones when I saw them sitting outside the flower shop down the road.

Update: And now a beautiful pink sunset too!

Hope everyone is having a fabulous Saturday!

Friday 1 April 2011

Time for harvest

Today we harvested and ate our first home-grown purple sprouting broccoli from our garden. It was tasty. The tastiest broccoli I've ever had! And there's lots more to come, so we're very excited.
The purple sprouting broccoli takes a few months to grow, and this plant was sowed last summer. We didn't think anything would come of it after the winter, but lo and behold- there was broccoli after all! It's easy to grow; we're growing it in a grow-bag on the patio in our garden.

Another thing I discovered this week, apart from home-grown broccoli, is rocket pesto. Just as good as normal pesto, but far cheaper to make yourself. This recipe is from 'The Vicar's Wife's Cookbook' by Elisa Benyon:

50g pine nuts (roasted in a dry frying pan)
1-2 cloves of garlic, peeled but left whole
zest of 1-2 lemons
125g rocket (I used less than this)
ca 100ml olive oil
70g grated Parmesan or Grana Padano

I wouldn't necessarily follow the measurements very strictly, but add a little at the time, taste it and maybe add some more until it looks and tastes right. Put the ingredients into a food processor (or a pestle and mortar) and put it on full speed until you have a sloppy pesto (not runny). Enjoy this with your pasta, or even better: marinate a couple of chicken breasts in lemon juice for half an hour. Put them in an oven proof dish and cover with the rocket pesto and then a slice of mozzarella on top. Add some salt and pepper and stick it in the oven for about 20-25 mins. Yum! Really tasty.


Happy weekend to you all!