linen periwinkles

Earlier on this summer, I spotted this top in Seasalt in the Arcade,

Absolutely adored the fabric, a soft linen covered in periwinkles,

a shell that you find all over our beaches.

Oh to be able to buy this fabric by the metre.......

and that style of tunic top just does not suit me (sad face)

This is a better shape for me,

so I waited and waited, and when it went down in the sale, I went for it!

Grabbed my scissors, moved the pockets, split the front

and faced the edges with what I cut off the bottom

Eh voila!  A lot more my style, very pleased with it.

Actually that is an understatement, I am over the moon with it!!!!!

chervil

Just a quick post, wanted to show you a photo of my chervil that I grew from seed,.

Chervil is not a commonly used herb over here, but very popular in France, its got a mild aniseed flavour, so you use it like you would tarragon, with eggs, cheese and chicken.

I should have taken this photo at the beginning of July when it was looking its best, but totally forgot!

The reason I really want to share was its leaves, can you see its beautiful colours, ranging through from an acid green to a dusty pinky lilac, stunning.

Will definitely grow it again next year, but will plant it in the beds as it has a large root system and the one above is now looking rather pot bound......

a cornucopia of colour and wool

I just wanted to show you all a wonderful donation t

hat we received a couple of weeks ago, 

two large quilt bags full of embroidery wool

and two full of Appletons wool!

this lady was down sizing and thought of us! Aren't we lucky, I expect our stitchers will be very busy this winter making lots of gorgeous things for the shop.  Will keep you posted.

my dairy prayers have been answered!

image of Guernsey milk from Mojo creative

I was told I was lactose Intolerant back in my early 20's, and so pretty much since then I have been cold turkey.  I don't have a really bad reaction, its just uncomfortable so if someone served my white coffee or butter on my sandwiches I didn't fuss.  But I would have to turn down such delicious things as Lasagne and Cauliflower cheese.

I remember the sheer bliss when I was living in Sussex and I discovered that Cornettos were so synthetic, that I could eat them, they really had never seen a cow in their life!  Later I found this also applied to Mr Whippys and Vienettas. Not the classiest of ice cream, but if you cant have the real thing.....

At the same time my awareness of the amount of sheep and goats cheese out there grew
as did my love for it, especially Manchego, Pecorino and Ossau Iraty. Heaven!

Recently I decided that I would only have things in my kitchen that I could (if push came to shove) make my self, so margarine had to go.  So in the bin it went.  And I decided that I would rather have just a little bit of butter ever so often, and I didn't seem to suffer.

At the end of June I had my cousin round for lunch and had a very decadent pud, Tarte Tatin, puff pastry and apples oozing in lots of caramel, all made with proper Guernsey Butter! And the devil in me said, well you are going to suffer, so sod it have some cream on it too, so I did! 
It was so so gorgeous, the cream, caramel and the juice from the apples formed a ambrosic nectar, that I can still taste in my mind, and do you know what,I was fine.....

This triggered a memory of a comment on another blog, by a lady who was also LI, who had found she could eat cream.  So I started googling and found this article and others similar.
It basically says that lactose is mainly the whey of milk, so the higher the fat content the less lactose.  For example you would have to eat more than 12 spoons of butter to get 1 gm of lactose, where as there are 13 grams in a in a glass of milk..
So basically I can now eat cream, butter and hard chees,
but need to stay away from, milk, yogurt and cottage cheese!!!!!!!!

Life changing moment,
my body is telling me to eat all the delicious stuff,
and stay away from the healthy stuff! Oh happy days
xxx

ma petite crevette gris

It was my birthday at the beginning of the month, and I was lucky enough to celebrate it down in the South of France with my husband, a gorgeous few days of sun, rose, river swimming

and Crevette Gris! (brown shrimps)

I joke to Chris that I am a cheap date, as this is my all time favourite shellfish, maybe even food!

Now you can get them here, but they tend to always be shelled, I could go down to the beach, but the one time I did that, I only caught one, bonded with him, gave him a name and ended up setting him free ( I know, not normal).  So these days crevette gris (with their shell on) is a treat reserved for when we are on holiday in France.  Just like orangina used to be when I was little.

And to top it off, look what my lovely sister gave me for my birthday!

Two stunning Emma Bridgewater plates, one covered in langoustine

and one covered in my crevette gris! Perfect, thank you Serena xxxx