Subscribe     Basket(0)     Terms
"Pure style is my way of life... a blueprint for living in the 21st Century"
June beauty
10 June 2016

9th June 3pm:  the garden basks in afternoon heat and light.  Days like this  in  our hit and miss summers are precious,  as all worthwhile things are. The bees are here again, feasting on the fluffy alliums and there`s a haze of blue nigella magic from a  packet of seeds. Blue and purple, purple and green: summer colour pairs which work so naturally and beautifully.  Framing the left and right borders  lush green and pink, the usual, but never  taken for granted , bowing  and flopping roses are  sweet with soap scent..












Tags: summer, alliums, garden, purple, blue, green, purecolour, simplestyle


Shots of purple
21 May 2014

When the garden is looking as heavenly as it is at the moment I have no huge  need to spread my wings in search of new excitement. ( Although   I  would rather like to go dancing.......  ) This week it is our clever lodger Jeffrey`s birthday and there is cake for tea and all the gorgeous purples and greens of  early summer to mark the occasion.

 Lucky to have the last fading tulip petals (they`re edible!) to decorate a chocolate  Victoria sponge using the recipe from my cookbook, and  to enjoy it against a garden canvas of alliums and lime green lavender and lemon balm leaves:  one of my favourite colour pairings.








See  how  a purple/green combination works in printed floral  cotton: a remnant used to patch one of my chidren`s jeans pocket.







Tags: purple, lime green, purestylecolour, summer, baking, chocolate, garden


Apple autumn
04 October 2013



Dew grass in the morning and fallen green apple orbs. Got to get there quick before the slug army advances. The tree is pensionable yet manages to bear  me a hefty crop this year.  No menopause for trees. I lay the fruit out in the cellar - and hope it will keep crisp for a few weeks. The other thing  like my mum used to do  is wrap them in newspaper, and store throughout the winter.





Worried  I`m selling out with the new white retro Smeg (Smug?) fridge replacing the leaky larder one I`ve had for 10 years. Thinking strategically though, because it fits with  the location kitchen look, and what with  all the baking shoots we need more space for chilling dough.
Balanced out the big spend with a  sixities Jaeger tweed skirt  £13.,50 from the secondhand shop Triad in Brixton. Can`t quite believe how achingly trendy Brixton has become. Five years ago my girls were wary of the dope dealers on the corner by KFC , now they`re dodging the foodie tours , snaking up the high street to Brixton village.








Back to the apples which I peel and chop at speed to make apple and ginger  pudding. Think I`ve given you the recipe from my cook book before but here it is:




For the syrup
4 cooking or large eating apples
juice of l lemon
90g butter
90g caster sugar
4tbsp syrup from a jar of preserved ginger

for the cake
125 butter softened
124g caster sugar
2 large eggs beaten
125g self raising flour
4 knobs preserved ginger chopped



Peel, core and slice the apples and turn them in lemon juice to stop them going brown. Melt the butter i saucepan.Add the sugar and syrup and stir until creamy and a pale toffee colour. Arrange the apple slices neatly in a greased 1kg bread tin or 23cm cake tin. Pour in the syrup mixture.

For the cake: Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy, beat in the eggs and fold in the flour with a metal spoon. Stir in the chopped ginger and spread the cake mixture evenly over the apples.
Place in a preheated overn, 190C for about 45 minutes. If the top browns overly reduce the heat.
Test for easiness with a skewer in the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean, with sticky cake mixture  on it , it`s gone.
Cool the cake on a wire rack before turning out. Eat with ice cream or creme fraiche.






Tags: apples, home cooking, green, autumn


 
Categories
 

autumn
frost
garden
homecooking
recipes for every day
scent
simple
simpleliving
spring
valentine
winter
alliums
apples
archtiecture
athome
autumn
autumn crabapple jelly resourceful
baking
barbados
basil
blankets
blankets colour texture roses
blossom
blue
bluebells
books
bulb
bulbs
butterflycakes
cake
chocolate
christmas
coast
colour
colour
colour band
comfort
competition
coronavirus
cotton
country style
countryinthecity
covid
covid-19
crabapple jelly
danish design
decoration
domestic bliss
ecogarden
everyday beauty
fabric
fabrics
floral fabrics
flower power
flowerpower
flowers
frost
functional
garden
garden
garlic
get crafty
golden
green
growing
hazelsticks
holiday
home cooking
home cooking
homecooking
homemade
homesewing
interiors
interiors. decoration
lido
lilac
lime green
linen
lockdown
lockdowngarden
londonreatreat
londonretreat
market
market
marmalade
melbourne
narcissi
natural
natural fabrics
olhao
olives blue summer
onions
orange
outdoors
paint
painting
pandemic
paper borders
pink
portugal
puglia
pumpkins
pure style borders
purecolour
purestylecolour
purple
rhubarb
rio
roses
runnerbeans
scent
september
sewing
shed
simple
simple decoration
simple decoration
simple design
simple update
simple-eating
simple-living
simpledetail
simplegarden
simplegardn
simplestyle
simplestyle
spain
spring
spring
springcolours
springgarden
stockholm
stripes
style
summer
sunflowers
sweden
swimmming
thrifty decoration
ticking
tidy
tiles
tulips
tulips. japan. location shoots
verbena
wallpaper
white
white paint
white rooms
wigwams
wildflowers
winter
winter
winter simple decoration white retro vintage
winter. home cooking
yellow
yellow

Archives
 

I like
 
Website design by ph9