Friday, 15 May 2009

RNA party, buns, books, cooking, and lawn shock



Up to London on Thursday for the RNA Summer party, all good fun as usual. Liz Fenwick and Janet Gover have blogged some good pictures - I was going to post a not too scary one of self from another member's site but it has gone amok this morning - the site not me, I mean. (top photo by Chloe Vereker, taken from the London Eye)
Currently have a convalescing house guest who was presented with this huge basket of buns from a smart bakery in Primrose Hill. Delicious or what, but v. bad for what's left of my waistline.

Recent reading. Much enjoyed Zoe Heller's The Believers. She's an original writer - this time her subject is a leftist US family, and a pretty dysfunctional family they are.
I also raced through one of the Shopaholic books which I found in a charity shop. Made me laugh aloud, even though I'm a reluctant shopper these days. The best kind of chick lit.
Cooking. Delicious lunch in John Lewis the other day - tagliatelli with rosemary oil, butternut squash, and fetta. Using fresh pasta plus some cooked chicken, I reproduced this dish at home and it went down a storm. My local Tesco's didn't run to rosemary oil so I just chopped up some fresh rosemary.
Last night I roasted a pork loin on a bed of roasted veg - red onions, butternut squash again and courgettes. Plus, towards the end of the cooking time, I quartered a couple of apples and stuck them into the roasting dish. All turned out pretty well. Glad I still have the odd domesticated moment.
Garden. Shock horror, the best back lawn has been attacked by animals (foxes?) who've dug about thirty small shallow holes. Not a pretty sight. Any ideas? The holes are too big to have been made by birds and don't look like rabbit scuffs - as for squirrels surely they only bury nuts in autumn.

Found the party pic(credit Nina Harrington). L to r, Liz Fenwick, self, Fiona Harper.

6 comments:

Jenny Beattie said...

Oh my, Susie, you sound fantastically talented domestically. That food all sounds so yummy.

Hmmm, badgers can dig can't they?

Susie Vereker said...

Talented domestically I am not, JJ! If you want to see a domestic and literary goddess at work, see Cornflower. But I'm glad I still have the occasional cooking inspiration.

Rattling On said...

Hi Susie, don't know about your lawn, but we had a problem with birds digging in our lawn for moss last year (I think for nest material). So, I bought some moss killer/ lawn feed. It killed off the moss overnight. Only problem then was there was no grass either. Had to re-seed the lawn.
The buns-in-a-basket look scrummy.

Karen said...

I feel hungry after reading that, and seeing those lovely cakes :o)

I love the Shopaholic too, and really enjoyed the film even though they'd taken Liberties with the story!

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

I adore butternut squash, so will definately try your recipes.

The party sounds like it was great fun, as usual, and I'm definately going next year. I love the photo of you, Liz and Fiona, you all look so glam.

Unknown said...

The party was brilliant but there is never enough time!

Those muffins look divine!
lx