Dogsitting

I've been looking after a friend's dog, Piya whilst she's away on holiday and will be for a couple more weeks, so my weekend plans have turned very dog orientated indeed, lots of walks and outdoorsy activities and drinks in dog-friendly pubs...This weekend we're off to check out her part of town, Stoke Newington, more on that to come, but for now some snaps taken in the park whilst on one of our morning strolls...

Day trip to Brighton...

Textiles

My friend at work recently told me about the Japanese fashion and fabric designer, Mina Perhonen. He creates really beautiful fabrics which are just so inspiring!

Here are some of my favourites:

Battersea Beer Festival 2011

This week it's the Battersea Beer Festival, which is being held at the Battersea Arts Centre. It runs from Wednesday 9th - Friday 11th.

Ale, cider and perry menus below, click for larger image...(obviously we'll never get through ALL of these, that would just be silly, but it's nice to know one has options!)

Madeleines

My grandparents bought me a madeleine tray for Christmas, so this morning I put it to use and had my first attempt at baking madeleines!

To make your own you will need -

60g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 large egg

50g sugar (I used demerara)

50g plain flour

1 orange, zest grated

Madeleine mould

Method -

Preheat oven to 190°C. Grease the Madeleine moulds with a little butter...

Whisk the egg and sugar until the mixture is thick...

Sift the flour into the egg mixture and fold gently in...

Then fold in the orange zest and the cooled melted butter...

Fill each madeleine mould with the mixture...

and bake for 7-8 minutes...

Voila! (And they are bloody good if I'm allowed to say so myself!!)

High Society

This weekend we went to see the High Society exhibition at the Wellcome Collection in Euston. The show takes an interesting and often humorous look into the history of drugs and their uses, from the 19th Century British Opium trade to Native American peyote ceremonies to psychological warfare. The exhibition explores the subject through a wide range of media, featuring excerpts of film such as Jonathan Miller's 1966 version of Alice in Wonderland, liquid lightshows of 1960s gigs, propaganda such as Reefer Madness, paraphernalia, literature, sculpture, photography and paintings. The exhibition runs to the end of February 2011.


Also on at The Wellcome Collection is Medicine Man, a permanent exhibition about the history of medicine and health with many interesting (and some disturbing) artifacts on display!

Desiderata, Max Ehrmann 1927

Bottling the brew!

The ale was finally ready to bottle! Yay! We're going to leave it a few weeks at least to condition in the bottles before cracking them open, although I did have a little sip whilst siphoning it in and it tasted real good!! Really excited!

Some pictures of the process... oh, and thank you to Magnus for lending us your crown corker!