Sunroom

I've wanted to share more photos of my home on my blog for a while, but never seem to be able to keep it tidy for long enough to take decent photos! I'm finally feeling like my house is nearly how I want it now, so the first room I'm sharing with you is the Sunroom - this is my dining room/craft room/sewing room, and my favourite room in the house, especially in the summer.

This weekend was spent building my new sideboard and dresser unit, and they really finish the room off. It's so nice to have all my fabric & threads & sewing machine all stored away neatly in one room, ready for me to use without having to pull everything out to find what I need! Lets just hope it stays that way....!

The farmhouse table and chest are both antiques, the table I bought myself from a reclamation yard in Glastonbury, the chest my mum bought in Portobello Market when she was in her 20s.

The four chairs were also my mum's - they used to be a hideous tan stain, very similar to Dale Winton's fake tan! I sanded them down & pained them different colours as I don't like things to match too much.

The bench seat also came from a reclamation yard. I've had it for years but recently painted it white & it feels like it has a new lease of life now!

The pottery is a mixture of charity shop finds, proper antiques and gifts from friends.

I hope you enjoyed having a peek around my home!

Thrifting!

This weekend I got several nice bits of clothing in the charity shops in Wells. Such a good place to go for thrifted goodies, there are at least 6 charity shops along the high street, plus the market on a Saturday is really good - photos of that to come in another post.

A pinafore dress, a floral skirt, two tops and a shirt, all for under £15 - a good days shopping!

Wells Farmers' Market

Spring is finally here!

We got a red onion & cheese loaf from this stall - it was amazing heated up & dunked into olive oil & balsamic vinegar



This fudge stall was amazing - he even let us try before we bought - always dangerous! I ended up having Malteaser flavour and Strawberry Pavlova - heavenly!



Every Saturday the city of Wells (yes, it is a city, it has a cathedral!) hosts a Farmers' Market. and a very good one it is too!

In case you didn't know, Wells is the setting for the film 'Hot Fuzz' and wandering around there feels like you're walking around the film set, as they showed so much of the High Street in the movie.

The farmers' market is well worth a visit, and has lovely yummy food stalls - I highly recommend the indian style veggie food stall, amazing snacks! Also there's bread, olives, a fish stall, fresh veg, and some really good meat sellers (not that they appeal to me!).

This time there was a Peruvian food stall selling beef heart skewers, which Ash & Bronwyn both sampled & judged as very nice indeed (although Bronwyn felt she needed to try a bit more to be sure...)

After all of that excitement we needed to rest & refuel, so we visited a milkshake parlor that kindly allowed us to bring Bronwyn in & had the most fabulous milkshakes - I had Banoffee Pie flavour & Ash had Oreo & Dime Bar - Yummy!

Asian Prawn Noodle Broth

This yummy dish is so warming and filling - perfect for wintery evenings when you still want to feel a bit virtuous!

Ingredients:

•1 tablespoon mixed seeds (pumpkin, poppy, sun flower)

•1 quart vegetable stock

1/2 can low fat coconut milk

•1 packet of king prawns, preferably raw

•2 teaspoons thai five-spice powder

•sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

•a thumb-sized piece of fresh root ginger

•olive oil

•½ to 1 fresh red chili, to your taste

•4 ounces rice sticks or vermicelli

•a handful of snow peas

•6 thin asparagus spears or 4 regular-sized spears

•6 fresh baby corn or 1/2 cup fresh corn kernels

•soy sauce

•juice of 1 lime

•a small handful of spinach leaves

Fresh coriander

preparation

1. Put a medium frying pan or wok on a high heat and add the seeds to it straight away, while it’s heating up.

2. Put a large saucepan on a high heat. Fill the saucepan with the veggie stock, heat until very hot, and put a lid on it.

3. Toss the seeds around until heated through nicely — this will take a couple of minutes.

4. While this is happening put the prawns into a bowl. Sprinkle the prawns with the five-spice powder and a good pinch of salt and pepper and stir.

5. When the seeds are done, transfer them to a plate.

6. Put the empty pan back on a high heat. Add a little olive oil to your hot pan with your prawns and cook for 3-5 minutes, until golden, tossing and turning every now and again.

7. Peel and finely slice your ginger and slice your chili.

8. Take the lid off the pan with the stock and add half the chili, all the ginger, your rice sticks (or vermicelli), snow peas, asparagus, and corn, with 2 tablespoons of soy sauce & the coconut milk. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring. Halve the lime and squeeze in the juice. 

  

9. To serve, divide the spinach leaves between your bowls and pour over the broth, rice sticks (or vermicelli), and vegetables. Divide the prawns over and scatter with the toasted seeds, coriander leaves and remaining chili.

Green Park Vintage Market

On the last Sunday of every month Green Park in Bath hosts a vintage market. It's housed inside an old railway station, a perfect setting for vintage (if you ignore the car park and supermarket right next door!).

There is always a good mixture of stalls selling everything from clothing & jewellery to homewares, furniture and fabric. It's a great place just to wander around and get inspired even if you don't buy anything. Plus there are yummy food stalls, which is very important if you don't want to faint from hunger when perusing the pretty items on show!

I didn't buy anything this time - my self restraint must be growing! - but I still had a lovely morning and went home very inspired.

Garlic, Spinach & Mushroom Pasta

Ingredients:

1 small bulb of garlic
olive oil
200g chestnut mushrooms
200g baby spinach leaves
200g low fat cream cheese
Plenty of freshly grated nutmeg
100ml low/reduced fat single cream
salt & pepper

Nestle the whole garlic bulb in a little foil & roast in a preheated oven, 200c for 35-45 minutes until it is tender when pierced with a knife.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large saucepan and gently fry the mushrooms until they are begining to brown. Add the spinach, cover with a lid and heat gently for a couple of minutes until the spinach has wilted.

Remove the roasted garlic from the oven, leave to cool slightly, then slice off the base and squeeze out the contents of each clove. Put this in a food processor with the cream cheese and nutmeg and blend until smooth.

Turn the garlic mixture into a saucepan, add the cream and heat gently, stirring with a wooden spoon, to make a smooth sauce. Add the mushrooms and spinach mixture and heat through. Season to taste with salt & pepper. Serve stirred through your favourite pasta.