WISH Wednesday #35

Here I go again - yet another bedroom for WISH Wednesday. I just can't help myself is seems. What I was really looking for was a beautiful room with a striped rug and it just happened to be a bedroom. Did you know I have a thing for striped rugs. I'm terribly, horribly, desperately in love with them - in all colours, and all shapes, and all sizes.  The very sad thing is we don't have one single striped rug in our house.  I really do think I need to remedy the situation.


Isn't this a lovely cheery bedroom that would grow with the children.  I would happily sleep in that room - well you might have to get rid of Ernie and possibly even that snoopy giraffe, but otherwise it is divine.  I love the orangey-red colour on the beds, in the beautiful striped rug, and in the flowers on the quilts.  And I love how painting the beds orangey-red really highlights their classic lines.

Elle Decor

Anyone else love striped rugs?  Do you have any in your house?

Grasmere Gingerbread

Last night my wandering husband returned - which actually makes it sound a lot worse than it was given that he spent three weeks of long, long days working in the library rather than ... well, any other kind of wandering that one's husband might do.  One of the things he brought back for us was some gingerbread from Sarah Nelson's shop in Grasmere in the Lake District in Northern England.  Grasmere is one of those quaint towns filled with beautiful gardens and stone houses.

Grasmere, Lake District

Sarah Nelson began selling gingerbread in 1854 from her home in Grasmere in order to add to the family income. The gingerbread were a great success and have since become associated with Grasmere. 

Sarah Nelson's Gingerbread shop being sold at The Village School

The poet William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy lived in Grasmere in the early part of the nineteenth century and Dorothy recorded in her journal that they went to buy gingerbread - they had a choice of thick or thin and wanted to buy thick, but could only find thin. 

Can you believe my husband actually saw a lonely cloud when he was in Grasmere.

The gingerbread from Sarah Nelson's shop were nothing like any gingerbread I had tasted before.  They were thin and crumbly and almost like a very gingery shortbread rather than the customary thicker and softer and more cake-like gingerbread. 

They tasted amazing.  

I did some Googling to try and find the recipe (or something close to it).  It wasn't easy - not only because the recipe is a carefully guarded secret and is locked in a bank vault, but also because I needed to have the recipe in North American measurements.  I attempted to make them (twice), but mine really tasted nothing like the original.
If you want to give the ones I made a try here are my recipes.  Everyone really liked them and a few liked them better than the original (I think because they aren't huge ginger lovers).
Version#1Ingredients:1 cup (125 gm) flour (I used half whole wheat and half white)1 cup (125 gm) fine oatmeal (and since I didn't have this I used steel-cut oats which made it very crunchy)3/4 cup (125 gm) light brown sugar1 tbsp golden syrup (or honey)1 tsp minced ginger 1/4 tsp baking powder3/4 cup (150 gm) butter or margarine 
Method:1. Combine ingredients with a fork.2. Press lightly into a greased 9 x 13 inch pan.3. Bake for 30 minutes at 325.4. Score the squares as soon as you take them out of the oven, but don't remove from the pan until they are cool.

Gingerbread Version #1

Version #2
Ingredients:



1 cup (125 gm) whole wheat flour 1 cup (125 gm) quick cooking oats 3/4 cup (125 gm) light brown sugar1 tbsp golden syrup (or honey)3 tsp minced ginger 1/4 tsp baking powder1/2 cup (150 gm) butter or margarine 




Method:1. Combine ingredients with a fork.2. Press lightly into a greased 9 x 13 inch pan.3. Bake for 20 minutes at 325.4. Score the squares as soon as you take them out of the oven, but don't remove from the pan until they are cool.

Gingerbread Version #2

Neither of my versions are as gingery as the original.  You might also try here, here, and here for other recipes.  Anyone else like gingerbread?  It's one of those flavours that some people love and others are not so keen on.
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Oh, and in other news I'm making headway on the bedroom.  The minions even helped me at crucial moments - well actually son minion appears to be admiring the sunset rather than working.

The walls are painted, but I'm waiting to show you the room until I fix the bottom of the curtains, get a new light, and a new bed frame. In the meantime - here's a corner of the room.

WISH Wednesday #34

I simply had to take a break from bedroom photos as that is all that I have been doing these days - working on my bedroom, thinking about what needs to be done on my bedroom, or looking at pictures of bedrooms.  So how's this for a change?  It's feeling mighty summery around here and I thought this screened porch was lovely.  We have a screened porch at the cottage and I simply love it.  This screened porch looks so pretty with the blue lantern and cushions and white beadboard and wicker chairs.  I think what especially attracts my eye is how the round rug highlights the round table and the round room.  Divine!

Traditional Home via Ciao Interiors

Have you ever had a screened porch?  Do you like to eat outdoors or do you prefer to just sit and soak up the scenery?

The Queen and Her Chicken Salad and Other Stories

As I was pondering what to have for Sunday dinner, I found a recipe on-line for Coronation Chicken Salad and thought that was very timely and we should give it a try.  

I did some digging to find the original recipe used at the coronation in 1952 and this one published by The Telegraph seems to be it. I did modify the recipe a bit as I couldn't find any crème fraîche and I decided to simplify things by using skinless boneless chicken breasts. The chicken salad was delicious and was definitely something I would repeat.

CORONATION CHICKEN SALAD (serves 3-4)

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts

1 tsp ground turmeric

2 tsp curry powder

2 tbsp mango chutney

1/3 cup raisins (I would even add more next time)

1/3 cup finely chopped dried apricots (I would add more of these as well)

1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt (I think sour cream or natural yogurt would work as well)

1/3 cup mayonnaise

Method:

1.  Cook the chicken and cut into bite-sized pieces.

2.  Add the raisins and chopped apricots to the cooked chicken and set aside to cool.

3.  Mix the other ingredients together to make the dressing and combine with the chicken and dried fruit.

4.  Serve on a bed of lettuce or watercress.  I served the chicken salad with sliced cucumbers and chopped mango.

The table was set with red, white, and blue for the Union Jack

with a bountiful bouquet of roses in a Crown Mason jar (get it - crown!!!  So witty, I know).

For dessert we had fruit with Devon Custard (for some unknown reason I had a can of it in the pantry).

Last year's post about Prince William's Chocolate Biscuit Cake has been a very popular post - second overall on my blog. Yes sir, people have been Googling that recipe all year long. Let's see how Coronation Chicken Salad does against Chocolate Biscuit Cake - a face-off!

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Diamond Jubilee souvenirs from a shop in Edinburgh (photo taken by my husband)

At the time of the royal wedding I posted about my three close encounters with the British royal family - you can read about when Queen Elizabeth waved at me during the Silver Jubilee celebration.  So sweet of her!  Well not long after I published that post I remembered another encounter with the British royal family, but it was too late to write about it last year so I decided to save it for this year.  
Story #4About ten years ago my husband was working on a contract in Bristol for six months.  We celebrated Christmas in the UK that year as we all flew over to join him.  It was an amazing and memorable trip. The company Jonathan was working for hired a car to take us from London to Bristol and the driver of the car used to be the butler for Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew.  He was exactly like a butler should be - VERY proper, VERY polite, VERY solicitous, and didn't dish any dirt on the royals.  He said Sarah was kind and nice to work for.  

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And finally, I had to add this transcript from a royal visit to Winnipeg, Canada in 1939 that is unbelievably funny. I heard the original on CBC radio many years ago and was able to find a transcription on-line for this post.  In 1939 the present Queen's father and mother came to Canada and were greeted by our Prime Minister Mackenzie King and Winnipeg's mayor John Queen and his wife.  I think they made the King and Queen visit Winnipeg just to see the reporter sweat. 

Royal Visit, 1939

Here comes the Royal Family now. The automobile has now stopped....
Oh, there's the King -- he's stepping out, followed by her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, nattily attired in a silver coat.
Mr. King is now shaking hands with the King and introducing Mr. Queen to the King and Queen and then Mrs. Queen to the Queen and King.
They are now proceeding up the steps to the well-decorated City Hall, the King and Mr. King together with the Queen being escorted by Mrs. Queen. The King has now stopped and said something to Mrs. Queen and goes to Mrs. Queen and the Queen and Mr. King and the Queen laughed jovially. The King leaves Mr. King and goes to Mrs. Queen, and the Queen and Mr. King follow behind....

- From CBC Radio report of the 1939 visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to Winnipeg, where they were greeted by Prime Minister Mackenzie King and Winnipeg Mayor John Queen and Mrs. Queen.

And on that note - I wish you all a happy Diamond Jubilee. I hope you enjoy the Coronation Chicken Salad (there is still time to make it) and the celebration of this memorable event.

(The photo of the Union Jack bunting at the top of the post was taken by my husband)

Linked to Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming,
WOW Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

From Durham With Love

As I mentioned Jonathan is away in Scotland doing research for his next book.  It's a scholarly book so don't get all excited that you might want to read it or something.  As Jonathan pointed out, more people read my blog than read his books and he has put infinitely more time and effort (and money) into them than I have the blog.  Well honey, I guess you just have to pick your topic more carefully next time.  What can I say?

I love living in the modern age when Jonathan and I are apart.  I know getting a handwritten letter is charming and all, but when your husband is away from home for weeks or even months then I like to be able to write a quick note every day or even a couple of times a day as things occur to me.  So to be apart now when we have good internet and he can even send me photos so I can see what he has been seeing is such a treasure.  
Last Sunday when the library was closed, Jonathan went to visit the lovely city of Durham in northern England.  He especially loved Durham Cathedral - one of the greatest Norman buildings in England - and took loads of photos which I made into a mosaic.  Aren't those the most interesting carvings - they were all over the wooden ceiling of the cloisters (you can see the cloisters in the photo second from the left on the bottom row).  Most of the carvings are heraldic shields or leaves or flowers, but some are green man carvings.  With a strange name like that, I had to Google to find out what green man carvings are.  Apparently they are a carving of a face surrounded or made of leaves often found in churches.  Love it!
Don't all those gorgeous photos make you want to book a ticket to Durham.