Stupidly easy, super healthy banana muffins

I sort of made up the recipe from a collection of varying recipes found on the net. 

Mash 4 bananas in a mixing bowl. 


Melt 60G butter, 125 grams of honey (about a third of a squeezy tub) and 1 tsp vanilla extract in a pan. Takes about 5 minutes. Pour slightly cooled liquid in to the mixing bowl, and moosh together. Looks a bit like vomit. Lumps are good. 


Then add 300 grams of wholemeal flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp bicarbinate of soda, 2tsp cinnamon
and 1 tsp nutmeg and mix until combined. Takes about 5 minutes. 


Then dollop spoonfuls into a muffin tray (if your anal this could take up to 15 minutes. ahem) and bake on about 200 degrees for about 20 minutes. 


Done. I'm not kidding. THAT easy.


So quick and easy in fact, that I had measured the ingredients, combined it all together and put it in the oven in the time it took my mister in the shower.


He was tres impressed. 


A lovely banana-ie end to a lovely long weekend.  

Help needed!

I've had selfridges vouchers since Christmas and agonised about what to spend them on for 6 months. Not wanting to buy anything new makes it all the more difficult ( it has to be good).

I'm in there right now and have finally narrowed it down to 2 choices.

This yellow satchel bag:





Or this Orla Kiely bed set:






Or maybe this one:






Which should I get? Quick!

Update; after overwhelming support for the yellow satchel bag ( text messages, Twitter and blogger told me so!), I am now its proud owner! Had enough left for an orla kiely hand towel too, so thanks everyone, I am such a ditherer. Feel very spoiled indeed! X

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Colour ordered.

In our recent spare room blitz, and in an effort to reuse rather than buy new, I was hunting for some storage for our new (expertly crafted, unique and beautiful) shelves, made by Mr Crafty.  (I am under strict orders to preceed anything to do with said shelves with a string of gushing compliments) So I decided to try and free up some of the apple crates in the lounge. 

I know that being 'lifestyle' blogger (is that what I am?!) and having apple crates as storage is already a wee bit cliched as it is (I bought mine YEARS ago, I tell you!) but just to add a cliche cherry on top of my cliche cake,  I also decided to order my books according to colour. And add a vintage union jack flag to the mix too.

Ye- ah. I know. I might as well throw in an Eames rocker and some perfectly iced cupcakes.  Forgive me. But shelf ordering is important you know. (ahem)

Shelves before...

 

shelves after. 

I like them much better. Yes. 

Higgeldy Piggeldy. Yes. I like higgeldy piggeldy. 

Whats your verdict about colour ordering your books? Have I offended book lovers and bibliophiles everywhere?!

Food porn.

A while back Ray prepared an Ottolenghi Veggie stew for me which can only truthfully be described as deeply sexual. I really mean it. Hot and cold, spicy and smooth, filling and delicious. And vegetarian to boot. They say that veggie cooking is cheaper, healthier and better for the planet, and in my experience so far this is T- to- the- rue. We haven’t cut meat out all together, but we have reduced it a lot. I have lost weight, cut our food shopping costs and helped mama planet too.


I am trying to find exciting and mouth watering vegetarian dishes to cook at home, to prevent Mr Meat looking lovingly at the empty bacon packet in the bin. And then I saw this book.

“Yotam's food inspiration comes from his strong Mediterranean background and his unapologetic love of ingredients. Not a vegetarian himself, his approach to vegetable dishes is wholly original and innovative, based on strong flavours and stunning, fresh combinations. With sections devoted to cooking greens, aubergines, brassicas, rice and cereals, pasta and couscous, pulses, roots, squashes, onions, fruit, mushrooms and tomatoes, the breadth of colours, tastes and textures is extraordinary.”


I am defenceless. Weak kneed with desire...

But I promised myself no new cooking books until I use my current ones more, and I am also trying not to by new things at the moment. Hmmm. What to do, what to do....

Sunshine

Well hello to YOU Mr Summer!


You came from nowhere, didn’t you?

From frost to vest tops in 2 weeks. Gracious.

I joined most of Britain over the weekend in displaying as much flesh as possible, drinking too much and turning pink. I also totally swapped my winter wardrobe with my summer one, and re-acquainted myself with clothes I haven’t seen for a year, or totally forgot I owned. This was all the more joyful due to my terrible memory. My mister and I chatted shit together. I was brave and caught a spider. We hung out with the in-laws and we gorged ourselves on smoothies, home -made bread and barbequed goods.

Life is excellent.

But now I am sat at my desk. Office schmoffice.

Anyone else stuck indoors? Maybe you would like this playlist. I blogged it last summer, but it is still so good. I click play and I am instantly sat in my garden in a sundress with my book, the smell of barbeque wafting overhead, watching the drips of condensation running down the outside of my wine glass... sigh...

And how are things for you, bloglings? Pinker than pink? Full up on scorched meat? Caught any spiders? Any recent summer music finds? 
 
Do tell...
x

More spare room

So, Here are the dreaded before photo's.

Urrrrrrrr

I am horrified to note that it kinda looks like a squat, doesn't it?

(My mister made the before photo's look extra gross and grainy for affect. He's clever like that. He wanted me to tell you)

We got rid of  our futon and gave the organ back to its owners (we were 'organ sitting'). And we had an almightly clear out. Out went old magazines, bin bags of unusable cables and wires, old electronics eqipment (my misters) as well as lots of other rubbish we had accumulated over the years. It felt very cathartic.  I also, for the first time, properly sorted out my burgeoning fabric stash. And burgeoning it certainly was. I was a little pink of cheek when I realised just how much I had accumulated and my mister banned from buying any more with his eyes. Harrumph.

In our little sort out we couldnt afford lots of new furniture. We also didnt want to buy anything new. Although, I confess that at times the blue letters of IKEA blazed in our minds.... oh yes....  IKEA EXPEDIT, the shelving unit that every repectable blogger/ craft person owns,  softly whispered to us in our dreams. We were very nearly seduced, but we resisted. Instead my  mighty nifty mister decided to use the wood from the futon to make us some shelves instead. Free, recycled and unique! stick THAT in your pipe IKEA! (Apart from i'll take your brilliant tupperwares. And light fixtures, kay?)

So without further ado, Here are the after shots (well, some of them)

Oooo look at those JOINTS!

The craftmanship! (he told me to say that)

 

 

The Rambert Ballet poster is one of my most favourite objects. It was 50p from Deptford market (again) and dates to 1951. We had it framed at a local framers.  The drawers go way back in the family, the shelves are made by MR CRAFTY, and the ladder is from freecycle (FREE!). The ladder will eventually be used for storage, but for now I love it as an object so much that I am happy to leave it standing there looking effortlessly 'utility chic'.  On the shelves themselves you can see my beloved apple crates (bought 4 years ago and used all over the flat) some 'Valentine' fruit boxes found on the street and an assortment of other old boxes, tins and baskets collected over the years.

The desk area needs sorting so expect more photo's in the coming weeks.

We sanded, cut and painted the shelves in my misters workshop, which is fast becomming one of my favourite places to be. I came to work with paint in my hair and slinters in my hands and it felt good.  A nice little glimpse of our future, I hope.

Anyway. Happy wednesday!

Hannah x

My drawers

Me and my mister recently engaged in a long long long overdue purge of our spare room. It had become a 'close the door and avoid at all costs' room. But after months and months of 'we'll sort it tomorrow' and 'next weekend' and 'maybe tonight?' we finally sorted it. (Well, nearly...)

 We found this old filing cabinet at Deptford market for the princely sum of £4. 

And promptly turned it into some much needed storage for my little bits and pieces, which have, up until now, languished in very pretty but awakward vintage tins and boxes.

Mid way through...

(This is utside my misters workshop. I really like being in here. )

Are you ready for the tour of my drawers? Steal yourselves....

Its coral pink! Each drawer is LINED! And I now have a dedicated drawer for thread! Buttons! Pretty vintage bits! Funny little bits! Envelopes! Cardboard!

This makes me deeply, deeply happy. It does.

Thank God and Goodness for coral pink drawers with vintage wallpaper labels, containing precious vintage bits. For squealing about drawers of buttons and pink and slightly rusty handles. For life's brilliant ridiculous pleasures.

My mister also made me very exciting shelves. Photo's soon...

Update- the paint is spray paint. It is 'scarlet red' Plasticote!

Demonstrate

Today I am joining thousands of people across the country who are demanding fair votes from our new coalition government. I ranted and raved about this over at Amelia's magazine, don't you know.

Image via takebackparliament

Some info from the Takebackparliament website:

"At 2pm On Saturday 15th May, Parliament Sq will be flooded with purple and the call for fair votes now. We need you to be there

Our "winner takes all" system of First-Past-The-Post is bust beyond repair. It produces unfair and undemocratic results, like the one we've just seen, which don't reflect the wishes of the British people. It empowers a few thousand voters in "marginal" seats who decide elections, while those in "safe" seats, where the MP has a large majority, are ignored. And it hands huge power to the ruling party based on a tiny proportion of the vote. It is time for the UK to move to a proportional system that ties a party's share of seats to its share of votes across the country.

This is the fairest system. It would ensure everyone's vote counts; it would offer voters more choice and it would produce a government and Parliament that represents the British people."

And then we are going jeans shopping for my mister, heading to Borough market, and walking around London in the sunshine.


Hurrah!

Update: wwere here!




Hannah x

Right now

I am tender throated and soggy headed, cursing our unseasonably cold weather, and attempting to work, slowly and mostly unsuccessfully,  from home.  I am regretting the lack of a food shop over the weekend, sacrificed in order to finish some projects,  and trying desperately to ignore my rumbly tummy. I am bundled up with three cardigans and refusing to move from my position at the draughty window, so I can enjoy watching the trees fill with green. I am eyeing some unfinished projects in the lounge relating to a mini no- spend makeover of our spare room. Images and explanations imminent. 

I am getting riled by the bbc election coverage; and the lack of women being appoitned to the cabinet.  And I am hoping that my latest article on this subject for Amelias magazine will be received well. Its new territory for me, but something I feel very passionate about. It is an article about womens representation in parliament. I am ranting and raving, just to warn you, and  I'm grateful to the 2 artists who illustrated my piece. 

  

By Sandra Dieckmann

By Jenny Robins

Lovely stuff, eh?

I just remembered that we have eggs and bread in the freezer, so with thoughts of a threesome involving  scrambled eggs, toast and HP sauce, I shall leave you.

Happy Wednesday cherries. I hope yours is slightly less fraught and germ filled than mine.

Hannah x

Tears

There are some things that sorta pull me. Reach in and grab, then wring my heart. That really pull on my stomach, weigh it down and and turn it over.  Big bad sad things, horrid nasty baddies, you know? And things like  and old ladies talking about sunshine  too. But there are not that many things that actually make me cry, like big salty tears running down my face like kid with a grazed knee (well, ok maybe there are, but hush). I am coming down with a cold so maybe I'm extra sensitive or something, but this video sure is one of them. 

Not sad tears, lovely tears.



"Joshua Littman, a 12-year-old boy with Asperger’s syndrome, interviews his mother, Sarah. Joshua’s unique questions and Sarah’s loving, unguarded answers reveal a beautiful relationship that reminds us of the best—and the most challenging—parts of being a parent"



Q&A from StoryCorps on Vimeo.


So very sweet. Happy (slightly belated)  International mothers day!

(I am not sure where I found this but I think it was somewhere via Marvelous kiddo)

P. S Wow. Just discovered that we have a prime minister. Guess how i'm feeling. Wonder if anyone thought the title of the post had anything to do with it?! Wouldn't be far wrong.

P.P.S Goodness me, thank you to my recent followers, I just saw that I am on 99! I seriously appreciate each and every one of you, and I love this crazy internet world so much. I really do.

Steam train

My baby brother has got to be one of the luckiest babies around, as he celebrated his first birthday at the East Lancashire Railway.

My dad's interest in steam trains can only really be desribed as a geek fest. To illustrate, he listens to CD's of train noises. Yeah.  Despite his wild excitement at the prospect of visiting the steam trains,  and his earnest primises that we would all LOVE it and that my one year brother MUST be innitiated to the joys of steam, I was slightly dubious, and quite unsure what to expect. Upon arrival, however, we were greeted by cheery bunting flapping in the breeze, plumes of steam rising into the air, an abundance of beautiful hanging baskets and of course the chug chug chug sound so associated with old fashioned railways. It was like stepping back in time, and as we entered the ticket office, I fell in love.

 It is a beautifully preserved old fashioned train station that hasnt been modified since the 1950's. The staff, all of them volunteers, wear vintage uniforms, and the trains have been beautifully restored and preserved in order to give a genuine old fashioned railway experience.  Admittedly, I fell more in love with the charm, than than the  " truly facinating.." engines...But If you are ever up Northerly, you must go along.

We visited over may day weekend, hence the bunting which literally covered the station.

There was a beautiful old fashioned shop selling equally beautiful steam train memorabilia:

(this wall was my favourite- tiny train parts in plastic bags pinned to cork boards. Lush)

The station platform:

Our lovely tickets. Yes, I saved every single one and am planning on displaying them too.

We boarded like excited children and whooped as we chugged out of the station. Before long our heads were hanging out from the window, not unlike excited dogs in a car....

I was very brave leaning out like this, they go very fast, doncha know!

But my mister was even braver; look at him showing off!

Plumes of steam above the train...

As soon as we pulled into the station, we were under strict orders from my dad to alight the train as fast as possible to visit the driver in his cab;

 One of the lovely old engines

And we even got to climb inside! Cor blimey!

I was equal parts ooohing and ahhing at the vintage memorabilia, as I was coohing at my baby brother. Poor thing!

(Smother him? Me?)

Lovely vintage suitcases on the platform...

I love this last photo; My Dad, in extasy talkiing to the driver about trains. My baby brother, in extasy with his yellow balloon. He only really had eyes for that balloon but dont tell my dad that.

It was brilliant, a true gem of the north and most definitely worth a visit.

Hurrah for steam trains!

Hannah x