Newlyweds and Nesting: Elizabeth Anne Designs Living: A Food, Lifestyle, and Craft Blog » Rachel

Teal & Mustard

Rachel — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:00:27 +0000

Ah, teal and mustard.

{image by Toast}

{images via The City Sage by Anthropologie March 2011 and Elle Decor, February/March 2011}

I love this combination of colours – it probably comes as no surprise that teal is one of my favourite colours. Last night I went to a Fashion Show*. Bearing in mind I live in a small village near a slightly larger town, I was really going along to support the charity. But, talented girl that I am, I can spend money anywhere and so I ended up buying a teal dress. Which would go perfectly with mustard. Only I am blonde, and don’t own much (anything?) in mustard. Anyone got any ideas for me?

{images courtesy of author’s personal collection}

Please excuse the poor quality and poor lighting. And the fact you can see my pants drying on the rack. It was intended as a quick snap to e-mail to facebook (by popular demand I hasten to add – people wanted evidence that there was fashion to be had where I live) but I thought, what the hell.

The flowers are the only mustard coloured items I am aware of in the house at the moment. I think they would look fab in a wedding bouquet. I am not sure that a bouquet is the right look for my teal dress though…

* I tried to take some photos of the show but the models didn’t pause for long enough and the lighting was terrible. The average age of the audience was definitely old enough to be my mother and the announcer had some strange ideas about “what all the magazines are doing” but, among the vast swathes of what can only be described as um, rubbish, were, occasional nice pieces. Like my teal dress. And the polka dot blouse with pussy bow that I am wearing today.

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Posted in: Decor, Fashion

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Aqua Me This

Rachel — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 13:00:42 +0000

{image credited to Tim Walker via Design Museum flickr stream}

We have this poster from the Design Museum in London on the wall above our bed. It’s a print of a photograph by Tim Walker of Lily Cole and I love it. I adore the colour, a sort of aqua, eggshell blue and I love she looks a little like a peacock (our wedding theme) and that it looks a little Moroccan too (one of our favourite holidays). It’s also fashion-y but not so much that Husband would object.

{images viaArtemis at The Bucket Tree}

Last week I was browsing vintage goodies on line when I came across this blanket. I fell in love with it immediately, the colour, the style, the material. It’s made in England from 100% wool and beautiful. And perfectly matches our print. Best of all, it was on sale. I emailed it to Husband. Who loved it too. So we ordered it and it arrived this morning. And is just as gorgeous in real life.

For more aqua goodies, head over to EAD Weddings for Aqua Color Week!

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Posted in: Around the House, Beautiful Things

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Spring

Rachel — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 14:00:22 +0000

Despite the cold weather and almost constant ice cold rain this week, spring is on it’s way. Lambs are in the fields, snow drops popping up in gardens and in verges. It’s getting lighter in the mornings and the evenings here. And now Valentine’s Day has passed, my thoughts turn to lighter clothes. I might still be wearing gloves and a tweed coat when ever I step outside, but inside, I am buying my new spring wardrobe. I don’t want to spend too much money though, I’ll mainly be recycling what I already have in my wardrobe, with one or two new additions.

I can’t wait until it’s warm enough for bare legs and sandals. I will be wearing this skirt and shoes with stripy tops that I already own, perhaps with a blue blazer and a brown double wrapped thin leather waist belt. I already own those too. With my vintage 1950s leather strapped mens watch.

{images credits: skirt by Hush, shoes by Topshop, bag by Marc by Marc Jacobs via Net a Porter}

The new additions being the skirt and the shoes. Sadly, I can’t afford the Marc Jacobs bag, yet.

Has anyone else started their spring wardrobe?

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Posted in: Fashion

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One year in…

Rachel — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 14:00:14 +0000

{Image via Author’s Personal Collection}

This time last year I was writing about how we had moved from London to Somerset to live in the countryside. How we had bought our first car and rented a sweet little country cottage. It doesn’t seem that long ago, but a whole 12 months have passed by and spring is on it’s way once again. Coupled with, once again, being on the search for a new car and a new (rented) house. Add to that a hen party to plan for my sister and a baby shower to plan for my sister-in-law as well as a full time job for me in Somerset (and husband in London), things are pretty busy.

Still, a year in and I’ve learnt a bit about living in the countryside. From the basics such as weather appropriate coat and boots (I have a tweed coat which is waterproof and warm but isn’t a raincoat with all important decent pockets and Timberland boots which look good but have proper treads to cope with our road which is actually a country lane) and carrying a torch, to the importance of getting to know neighbours and becoming part of the community, I feel a lot more at home here than I ever did in London.

If you’re going to live in the countryside, you have to be organised. The shops do close at 5.30pm in the weekdays and most of the village shops are only open on Saturday mornings. There is one place you can buy milk up til 10pm every day of the week but only if they haven’t run out. It is a 45 minute drive to the nearest clothing shops or cinema – outings are less spontaneous than they were in London. Oil and wood run out. In London, the worst that would happen was that you would get a large bill. Here, if you run out of oil you don’t have any heating or hot water. You might be able to get a next day delivery but more likely than not, you won’t. (Did I mention that none of the village gets gas?)

A car is pretty essential. We’ve been making it work this week without one, but it’s hard. The buses are infrequent and inconveniently spaced. The last one back to the village leaves at 5.30pm. Taxis are expensive but it pays to get to know the company in the village. Just make sure you don’t run out of fuel – petrol stations up on the moor are few and far between and such that there are, are extremely expensive. And closed, outside of normal hours.

Cottages are cold. Pyjamas are essential (I recommend Hush‘s by the way. Warm but still attractive) as are slippers/alpaca socks/Ugg boots. A slightly different wardrobe too, than a city one. I wear a lot of black to work but outside, black looks extremely harsh. I wear a lot more grey than I did before. More muted I guess. I haven’t worn my sequinned vintage 80s roller girl top down here, or my sequinned leggings. There is less call for going out shoes too, or at least for me. I save those for my trips back to London.

Internet shopping has become my best friend. Literally everything (almost) that you could want, you can buy online and they will deliver. Although not to the house. No courier company can ever find it, despite it having a postcode and them having satnav. Still, clothes, books, shoes, shampoo, toiletries and even 2 coffee cups have been delivered to me over the reception desk at work.

What it lacks in shopping though it more than makes up for it when you can walk out of the front door, down the lane, to the beach. Or turn the other way, up the bridle path and up onto the moor. When you can watch birds in the garden, birds of prey over ancient woodland just metres from the garden, when you see deer on your drive home and often follow a badger or rabbits up the road from the village. When the air is clean and fresh and has a slight taint of salt to the taste and rain to the feel. When you lie in bed and all you can hear is the river running in the garden, and the dawn chorus sounds in the morning. The brightness of the stars and being aware of the cycle of the moon – I know when it’s a full moon because I don’t need a torch to get from the car to the front gate and I can see dimly in the bedroom once the lights have been turned off.

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Posted in: Life, Outdoor Life

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Somerset in Winter

Rachel — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 13:00:17 +0000

Winter in Somerset is beautiful. We are in the South-West of England so we have a more temperate climate than, say, Scotland, or the East coast of England. Palm trees grow down here. The sun seems to shine the most gorgeous shade of amber and the light is very bright but warm. The skies are very blue by day and filled with the most brightest of twinkliest stars by night.

We have been to local late night shopping evenings (the purpose of which seems to be to gather the village to drink mulled wine, listen to carols, to watch stilt walkers and to peruse the darling little village shops which include a butcher, a cheese shop, a lovely florist and the teeniest of shops with low beamed ceilings and an open log fire, where you can buy simple silk night wear, silver and gemstone jewellery and hand made beeswax candles.

We have been to a carol service; listened to little ones give readings and many little ones sing tradition carols. “Away in a Manger”; “Little Donkey”.

We have been walking. Up on the moor; along the beach. Wrapped up warm in cashmere scarves and tweed coats and shiny new Timberland boots (which both look good and have ‘proper’ treads.

We have become more used to living in the countryside. Bought grit and salt for our road for the ice. New tyres for the car.

And a tree. Did I mention the tree? An itty bitty little tree which was grown down the road and fits perfectly in his new home on top of a filing cabinet, dressed in vintage baubles.

{all photos by me, using hipstamatic app for Iphone}

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Posted in: Beautiful Things, Life, Outdoor Life

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Anathema Designs

Rachel — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 14:00:56 +0000

I found some amazing necklaces the other day and wanted to share them with you. The beauty of the internet you see. I can show you something that is made in the UK and you can not only look at them but order one too, if you wanted. They are beautiful individual items created from recycled material. My favourites are the ones made from zips and watch parts. The creator is a trainee architect and has quite the eye for detail. Every rough edge is smoothed down and each piece is unique. Even the chains are made from recycled parts and warm up beautifully on the skin.

The top necklace is made from steel zips (zippers?) and is not as heavy as it looks. Substantial but a lot lighter than I had imagined. The one below is made from recycled watch parts and resin and is hung on a chain mail chain. I think it works best as a long pendant but the beauty of buying jewellery like this is you can specify just what kind of length you like.

Anathema Designs mostly takes commissions and is happy to work with what you want to make. She didn’t offer headpieces but when I explained that I wanted something more unusual than a fascinator to wear to a wedding next weekend we worked together to work out what sort of sized zip piece would work best. I am eagerly awaiting it’s arrival this week…

I also really liked the concept of jewellery that attempt(s) to change perceptions about what is beautiful and what isn’t. That is something we could do to take from jewellery and apply to a few other areas of life too.

(they’d also make excellent christmas presents)

{All photos from/by Anathema Designs}

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Early autumn in Somerset

Rachel — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 13:00:30 +0000

Our first year in Somerset marches on. It does not hang around for me to savour summer but pushes relentlessly on. September. October. Autumn. It is as if a page has flipped; the light is undertoned with amber in the sunshine and a strangely peaceful steely grey when it is not. Leaves are falling, the rain is no longer the laughing rain of a summer storm but more forceful. A taste of what is to come. The fronts scud off the sea, the sky seems bigger, emptier. The tourists have faded fast. The roads are full of pheasants not cars. Term has begun and those that are left are the hardy walkers and campers with their boots and rucksacks and plastic-backed maps. The season is ending and the village events have started. Carnivals, art weeks, apple days, a celebration of the bounty of summer and a collective urge to celebrate as the nights draw in.

I stood upon a gate, stretching up to pluck blackberries off the top of the bush. The rain of the morning gradually receeding over the moor and a warm sunshine broke through the clouds. A buzzard wheeled overhead, it’s cry just audible over the sound of the rushing water. When my bowl was full I climbed off the gate. Crossed the tiny lane and went back over our bridge into our garden. I did the same last week with a couple of kilos from the same bush. That day, I went into the garden, picked some early eating apples from the tree, went to the kitchen and made pie. I think the flour I used travelled the furthest. Tree to table in two hours.

In London the seasons came and went, marked not by weather but by fashion. Here, the change is daily; the flowers that grow in the lanes which mark my journey to work, the colour of the heather on the moor, the movement of the sheep, the clouds which pass over. The size of the pheasants littering the roads. I miss London and fashion so much I dream of frantically shopping like my life depends on it. And yet, there is something compelling about being here.

I then used the blackberries to make blackberry and apple cobbler, a traditional English pudding served with custard.

Blackberry, apple & Almond Cobbler (Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall)

Peel core and slice 1 kilo Bramley Apples and place in a saucepan with 100g sugar and a small piece of butter with a couple of tablespoons of water. Heat gently until soft, cooking for 15 minutes at a gentle simmer until you have a smooth compote. Stir in 500g of blackberries and pile into a pie dish leaving a few centimetres spare at the top. THEN, , mix 100ml whole milk, slightly warmed, with 1 teaspoon lemon juice and set aside. In a food processor pulse 100g plain flour with one tablespoon baking powder and 75g butter until you have fine crumbs. Stir in 100g ground almonds and 50g caster sugar and mix into a soft dough. Heap the dough in generous spoonfulls onto the compote in the pie dish. Aim for 6-8 cobblers in total. Place in the centre of a moderate oven (180C) and bake for about 30 minutes until the cobblers are puffed and golden. Serve plain or with cream, custard* or ice-cream.

*Custard – Begin by splitting a vanilla pod lengthways and using the end of a teaspoon to scoop out the seeds. Then place the pod and the seeds in a small saucepan, along with the 275 ml double cream. Now place the pan over a gentle heat and heat it to just below simmering point.

While the cream is heating, whisk 3 egg yolks, 1 teaspoon cornflour and 25g caster sugar together in a medium bowl using a balloon whisk. Next remove the vanilla pod from the hot cream. Then, whisking the egg mixture all the time with one hand, gradually pour the hot cream into the bowl.

When it’s all in, immediately return the whole lot back to the saucepan using a rubber spatula. Now back it goes on to the same gentle heat as you continue whisking until the custard is thick and smooth, which will happen as soon as it reaches simmering point. If you do overheat it and it looks grainy, don’t worry, just transfer it to a jug or bowl and continue to whisk until it becomes smooth again.

—

(Cobblers from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s The River Cottage Year. Custard from Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course.

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Posted in: Cooking and Food, Outdoor Life

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Rachel: Life in the Day

Rachel — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 14:00:04 +0000

A word of note: having read some of my fellow writers ‘Day in the Life’ posts I hope that my own version does not seem too odd. Here in the UK, in one of the Sunday papers, the back page of the magazine runs a ‘Life in the Day’ column where (famous) people describe their life through the medium of their day. This is the way I have pretty much chosen to write mine. And apologies for the lack of photos.

My day usually starts around 7.15am when my radio springs into life playing Radio 4′s Today programme. More often than not I go back to sleep for as long as possible, foregoing make-up and breakfast time in lieu of just a tiny bit longer in bed. I have always been an owl rather than a lark and one of the first things I loved about my now husband was just how much he liked sleeping during the same hours as I did. We live in a (rented) country cottage and mostly sleep with the window open so we can hear the river running outside when we wake up. I usually drag myself into the shower, wash my hair, cleanse, tone, moisturise and clean my teeth before getting dressed in whatever outfit I can cobble together which is work suitable, not too boring and is clean. Much as I would like to be one of those people with neat organised clothes, mostly my clothes are anywhere except in the wardrobe. I usually then have a small cup of instant coffee, collect my food for the day from the fridge and leave for work. It’s hopefully 8.15am but in reality more like 8.30am. Even as a child I was one for sleeping in as late as possible, breakfast eaten on the trot, arriving at school on the dot of the morning bell, or later, as I got older and less scared of the consequences of being late.

My journey to work has immensuarably improved since leaving London. Whereon once I would walk down the road to the tube station, fight to get on the tube, ride in fuming silence pressed in a crowd of people to alight in the city and fight through the crowded pavements to my office, I now get in my car and drive through beautiful English countryside to my work. These days, my stresses are getting blocked in by the builders, driving behind tourists who drive at 25mph and brake for every corner and trying to avoid the pheasants and rabbits which get confused and think they can cross in front of cars. I usually carry on listening to the radio in the car, with the air vents on full blast to dry my hair.

I park fairly near to work and walk the last little bit down the road, arriving in time to be at my desk for 9am. My morning routine pretty much consists of making coffee, checking e-mails, deciding what needs to be done and working out if I have any meetings and so on. I am a lawyer so my time is divided between meeting new clients, seeing existing clients, working at my desk and attending court. I like to take a lunch break unless it is impossible and will either eat at my desk checking my e-mail, catching up on google reader and so on, or will go for a walk. Sometimes, I go to the beach and on other occasions I sit in the work garden.

The afternoon consists of more of the same, usually with a tea break around 3pm followed by a mad rush to get my letters back from my secretary and into the post before 4pm. I am a big fan of afternoon tea and will use any excuse to bake scones or cakes and serve tea. At our wedding I collected all of the vintage china and we now have enough tea cups, saucers and milk jugs for about 100 visitors. At work I usually drink out of a pretty mug, as the work dishwasher is less kind to vintage china. My office backs onto the work garden and I even have my own door, so, if it is sunny, I try to stand outside and have my tea, with a piece of chocolate or cake to keep me going until the end of the day. My contracted day ends at 6pm but more often than not I am still in the office at 7pm or later.

When we left London my husband’s job remained there. He commutes each Monday evening back up to London from the West Country where we now live and gets the train back on Thursday nights. Monday and Wednesday nights are my own. I usually potter leisurely back from work, perhaps stopping to buy some food or go for a walk. I am trying to find a yoga or pilates or dance class but sadly rural England does not offer the same opportunites as the city and I have yet to find one with spaces that is at a conveniently late enough time slot. We have an AGA to cook on so in the summer I tend to eat mostly cold food. I don’t plan what I eat and generally, if I do cook, I cook enough to eat all week. I usually blog or catch up on e-mails or reading blogs whilst I eat, snug in our kitchen. We don’t have a TV, so if I know something is on that I wish to watch, I will watch on my computer. Often, I will read a magazine whilst drinking tea. This is a habit I have carried through my university days since my first subscription to Vogue: I have my entire back catalogue, much to my husband’s disgust/amusement as they do take up a lot of space and are rather heavy to lug from one house to the next when one is renting, as we are. I thought I would be lonely in the evenings, but really, after supper and reading and entertaining some light cleaning, laundry and so on (although, who am I kidding, I leave all that til Wednesday night just before bed and frantically clean in preparation for husbands return) there isn’ t much time to be lonely. Add catching up with friends, chatting to my mum and sisters on the telephone and there isn’t much time for anything, let alone loneliness.

Tuesday nights I am a scout leader and rush home to change into my uniform before driving to the scout hut. We do lots of outdoor activities and challenges and I enjoy being part of the community. As a child I was a girl scout (Brownie or Girl Guide in England) as well as doing lots of gymnastics and ballet so I love being busy and helping provide other children some of the same things I enjoyed so much when I was little. Scouting was also a great way to get to know people in our new village, something I had never really had in London.

I usually then potter about, shut the house down, have a bath and clean/floss etc before calling husband in London to say hello and good night. Sometimes I watch DVDs in bed on my laptop, other times I read a book. I like our bedroom to be peaceful but really it is husband who keeps it that way, clearing up piles of clothes when he comes home. I collect him from our nearest station (45 mins drive away) and we enjoy our weekends in a way that we never did when we lived together all week. We often have visitors, as our friends, thankfully, love escaping London to visit us for country weekends. We go walking a lot and explore the local area. Often we sit and have a drink in a local pub and husband spends a lot of time cooking. I prefer baking and often make cakes and puddings. In autumn we collect blackberries and we eat as much local food as possible.

Last thing before sleep and I check twitter again. I recently upgraded to an iphone from my old BlackBerry and have been using a sleep cycle progamme to see how long I sleep for. I try and go to sleep the same day I got up but invariably it is after. I set the alarm and listen to the radio as I drift off to sleep…

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Sophie Dahl’s ‘Celebratory’ Stuffed Trout Recipe

Rachel — Wed, 19 May 2010 13:00:43 +0000

One of the many things that I love about my husband is his ability and enthusiasm for cooking. He turns out restaurant quality food every evening that he is at home and is always trying out new things. Since moving to the West Country we have acquired much greater access to beautiful food. We can buy locally caught fish and locally reared meat and we try to buy as many local fruit and vegetables as possible as well. Our eggs, chicken and duck, all come from local farms, as does our milk. Last week, we decided to try one of Sophie Dahl’s main meals. I have made one or two of her dishes from her programme. The peanut butter fudge disappeared faster than I made it.

The last of Sophie’s programmes was around a dinner party and she made stuffed trout. We had a go ourselves, switching fillets for whole trout and goats cheese curd for normal goats cheese. It was really rather tasty, although I would add more lemon juice on serving. Our trout was caught very locally and we used as many local ingredients as possible, with the exception perhaps of the almonds and lemons.

Ingredients
1 whole sea trout, filleted, skin-on and pin-boned
1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves only
1 handful fresh basil leaves
1 garlic clove, peeled
85g/3oz blanched almonds
6 anchovy fillets in oil
150g/5½ soft goats’ cream cheese
1 lemon, zest and juice
300g/10½oz cherry tomatoes on the vine
2 tbsp olive oil

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
2. Lay five pieces of cooks’ string side by side at intervals in a large roasting tin. Each piece of string must be long enough to reach around both fillets.
3. Lay one fillet across the lengths of string, skin-side down.
4. Blend the parsley, basil, garlic, almonds and anchovies in a food processor until roughly chopped. Add the goats’ cheese, lemon zest and the juice of half a lemon, and blend until well combined.
5. Spread the stuffing mixture evenly onto the flesh side of the fish.
6. Lay the other trout fillet on top, skin-side up, and tie the ends of the pieces of string together to hold the stuffing inside.
7. Place the tomatoes around the fish and drizzle with the oil.
8. Roast for 14-16 minutes, or until the fish is cooked through and the skin is golden-brown and crisp.
9. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Slice into six pieces, leaving the string on to keep the fish intact.
10. To serve, remove the string and arrange the sea trout on six serving plates, with the roasted vine tomatoes on the side.

We didn’t bother with the filleting and the string merely getting the fishmonger to de-gut them and they worked just fine.

Sadly, it seems, Sophie’s show didn’t go down so well. Personally I rather liked the lack of real cooking skills, the vintage utensils, the feel good elements and the poetry. I wish more people had watched it, so she may have been asked to do another series. In the meantime I will have to try and get her book myself and content myself with our aga and kitchen and my husband’s beautiful cooking.

—

Recipe from here. Photos by me.

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Posted in: Cooking and Food, Recipes

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West Country Blossom

Rachel — Wed, 05 May 2010 18:00:50 +0000

Suddenly, the countryside has come alive with blossom. I took these in our garden last weekend after a rather rainy day where we drove over the moors and down to the beach before retiring to home for tea, biscuits and a relaxing evening spent reading and blogging and sitting cosily in the kitchen with my husband.

The verges and hedges are full of greeness, wild flowers and new shoots. The whole place has been carpeted with soft green verdent grass. Birds are nesting and the air has a new found warmth to it. Flocks of dandilions appeared as if from nowhere. Exmoor really is beautiful.

Next weekend we plan to go foraging and see what we can find in the countryside that we can eat. There are vast banks of wild garlic and we intend to make wild garlic pesto to eat with baked fish. I also want to try cooking with nettles. Last year we made elderflower cordial from the elderflower blossoms in our garden. Now we have moved we don’t have elderflower in the garden so we will have to try and find one somewhere else.

—

{All photos from author’s personal collection}

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