27TH APRIL

When we decided to start this blog we never thought food would be a strong feature (even though meal time is our favourite time of the day!) but I have really enjoyed the freedom of a proper kitchen. Even though by student standards I was an advanced chef in my uni kitchen, the lack of a budget and some proper utensils has allowed me to indulge this passion.



So now for another success story from our '365 reasons to sit down and eat' recipe book - Tomato and Goat's Cheese Quiche plus our own experimentation with a few bits and bobs that we had lurking around in the fridge.


I love goat's cheese and this was a winning combination, especially as we ate them piping hot from the oven so the cheese was wonderfully runny.

Tuna and Red Onion Quiche, random but this was our favourite combination! This had the best flavour, even though we used tuna straight from the can. I definitely plan to experiment with fishy quiches more in the future so if anyone has a good recipe we would love to hear from you!


Chicken and Baby Spinach Quiche; this needs more flavour maybe basil, some pesto or red pepper to add some zing but an excellent option for using up leftovers.


As you can see, one of us is enjoying cooking whilst the other one is enjoying the fact that the other is enjoying cooking. We are already planning ahead for 2nd May when it's pizza time!


DESIGNERS / MAKERS MARKET

We have exciting news to share with you all...we are off to Spitalfields to be part of the Designers / Makers Market on Saturday 19th May.

The Designers / Makers website is a great online shop featuring emerging design talents across a range of disciplines, so for us to be a part of their market makes us feel chuffed that we have come this far since starting just a few months ago.




We would love for you to come down and see us and support all the other designers and makers. It's easy to find and there are lots of great restaurants and cool boutique shops so you can make a full day of it!

Designers / Makers Market, Old Spitalfields Hall, Saturday 19th May - see you there!

SCINTILLATION

According to the Oxford English Dictionary the definition of scintillate is sparkle, twinkle; emit sparks. We would love to create a spark and light up your home so here are our first lampshades for your perusal. 


Available in two sizes; 20cm table lamp and 30cm diameter ceiling pendant they feature our new London prints




In stock now in our shop!



            

THE CHALET



While we were out on our travels last week we stopped by The Chalet at Tadworth for a spot of lunch. This is a lovely little coffee shop in a small arcade of shops and well worth a visit; all the bread and cakes are homemade on site and the staff couldn't have been nicer.


While we were there there was a constant stream of customers, from regular locals who obviously know a good thing when they find it, to passing business men stopping by for great coffee and a delicious sandwich. Don't worry if you can't decide what to choose off the menu, there's a huge selection of breads, cakes and preserves that you can buy to take home and enjoy. 


18TH APRIL


We read in the FT Weekend Magazine that this week is the start of the British asparagus season; with it only lasting eight weeks we thought we'd best indulge ourselves.

This called for a flick through our new recipe book, 365 good reasons to sit down and eatand as luck would have it 18th April had been designated to Cream of Asparagus Soup. A quick dash to the supermarket and we were ready to make our soup.

The recipe is really simple to follow and we were even more impressed when our bowl looked very similar to the image in the book.


As soups go this was tasty but we felt that what it really needed was fleshing out - left over meat, a few chunks of goats cheese or garlic prawns - so that there is a depth of texture and also more than just the single flavour of asparagus.


We would suggest you use this recipe as a base to your soup to which you can add endless possibilities. Go wild! (and please do share any success stories)

LONDON'S CALLING

Having produced our cushion collection earlier in the year we have since been concentrating our efforts on creating a print collection. London will always be in our hearts at Clementine & Bloom and with it being such a great British year it seemed natural to progress into designing London themed fabrics.


After many a trip to draw, photograph and absorb the vibrancy of the city we knuckled down to produce our first full collection. As with all good things, this takes time but now we can finally reveal the finished results...


There is the eclectic medley of architecture encompassing all that we love about London - a mish mash of ancient and modern, from Shakespeare's Globe Theatre to the faceted glass 'Gherkin' tower - in red and blue colourways.

Also featured is a pattern of Ravens inspired by the legend that warns that if these majestic birds were to leave the Tower of London, the kingdom and the Tower would fall.

Taking the wonderful curves of the dome at St Paul's Cathedral we produced a repeat lozenge design.

And finally in a larger scale design is a half-drop repeat pattern in a light blue colour. They are all printed onto 100% cotton and are now waiting to be made into items for our shop.

OMBRE

We spotted this gorgeous blue chair last week on the Design Sponge website - incase you're one of the few remaining people on earth who don't know, this is a fabulous blog that encompasses anything and everything that is beautiful. It has somehow stayed lodged firmly in our heads to be coveted and admired. We keep thinking back to the intensity of the blue and how well the ombre effect has worked here.



We have seen this technique appearing in fashion as well but not really in interiors, then today walking down a local street we noticed this slightly bedraggled feather and the beautiful chair popped back into our minds.



The subtle tones of grey echo the graduated blues painted on the chair. Don't you just love what nature is capable of doing?

LITTLE FROGS

According to Wikipedia, the name Ranunculus is Late Latin for 'little frogs' and probably refers to many species being found near to water just like frogs. Also like frogs some people consider Ranunculus and their buttercup family to be a pest in the garden (you know who you are!)



But we love them in all their brightly coloured, tightly furled gorgeousness.

HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR EGGS IN THE MORNING?

This Easter we decided to be adventurous with our eggs!



To create your very own small but perfectly formed beauties follow our short guide:


For the most vital ingredient here (the eggs) we would recommend you use standard shop bought eggs just because the shells are easier to pierce. For those of you who have never blown eggs before simply pierce the top of the egg with a pin, then using a surgical scalpel widen the hole slightly - this is your blowing hole and as it is the top of your egg and is likely to be seen try not to create something too unsightly! 

Turn you egg upside down, pierce again with the needle and then create a wider hole than before with your scalpel (ours were about 5mm across). Insert a darning needle into the larger hole and shake the egg vigorously. The purpose of this is to break the gloop of the egg. Whilst others may tell you you need only insert a pin and sloosh the gloop before blowing, we found that this requires too much puff, it's far more effective to shake the egg regularly than to simply blow.  


So now you have your egg shells, leave them to soak overnight in a bowl of diluted bleach. You will find they naturally bob to the surface so a plate rested on the surface of the eggs keeps them submerged.

Once dry place your eggs on wooden kebab skewers and spray paint; we chose this lovely duck egg blue colour. When they are dry the fun really begins - for our eggs we decided to decorate them with nail varnish - we wanted a glossy jewel-like finish and acrylic paints just weren't cutting it. This is where we would suggest you use a practice egg, for us it highlighted our inability to create steady lines with an even coverage but it also made us realise the true potential of the polka dot!  


So how do we like our eggs in the morning? Why with a Union Jack on of course!


These are just a few design idea's to get you started but we would love to see what eggstreme eggs you have all been making...

CARPE DIEM

Spring has well and truly arrived and we decided a change was in order at Clementine & Bloom so we have designed a brand new banner for the blog using one of our silk cushions. Since it is the year of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the London Olympics combined with our mission to promote all things British we chose the Union Jack design. 
                                                                                   
Yesterday, the weather was so beautiful and warm we decided to seize the day and head off for lunch and a gentle stroll around the gorgeous seaside town of Whitstable in Kent.  The town has many attractions including a working harbour, amazing restaurants and a castle. It's famous for its oysters (which we sampled of course) and hosts an oyster festival every year.There is a thriving artist/designers/makers community and plenty of interesting shops selling vintage and handmade goodies.




So if you find yourself down on Kent's coast we can more than recommend that you take a trip here!


SIGMUND & LOUISE

Firstly, this is not the story of an ageing Austrian psychoanalyst who goes for a long weekend of excitement and ultimate tragedy with his best friend a French-American artist like this film.  No, this is the Louise Bourgeois exhibition  The Return of the Repressed at the Freud Museum in London. The Freud Museum is in a large Victorian house located in a leafy road in Hampstead where Freud and his family escaped to after the Nazi occupation of Vienna.

The exhibition is small but provocative and draws on Bourgeois' troubled childhood and difficult early relationship with her father. It consists of several abstract textile sculptures which deal with femininity and sexuality and the often painful relationship between men and women; combining both male and female sexual organs in one piece at times, expressing how completely interwoven she believed the genders to be. There are also letters and notes exposing her anxieties and fears which reveal a direct influence on her artwork and the profound influence her early life had on her creativity. The highlight for me, however, is the steel spider displayed in the garden. She produced several of these sculptures in various sizes and these graceful forms entitled Maman refer to the themes of protection and nurturing.


After absorbing our share of cultural information, and as it was such a beautiful day, we wandered up to Hampstead for some lunch. It was great to be able to sit outside and watch the world wander by whilst surrounded by lovely terraced houses and some very nice independent shops.





Even the ticket hall at Hampstead Underground station with its ornate green tiles was worth a photograph!