London - Borough Markets

London - Borough Markets

27 Aug 2010

When I was in London I visited Borough Markets and spied a couple of photographers similarly laden with camera equipment. I think the stall holders were a bit sick of us because many stalls displayed signs announcing that unless you bought their products, photographers weren't welcome. When you're travelling it's a bit hard to load up with produce hence no stall photos.



I thought their attitude was fairly short sighted in this day and age of blogging, twitter and facebook. Don't they realise how much free publicity is generated through blogland and social networking sites?



I arrived at the markets around lunch time and the place was really busy. I was quite disappointed by the food I'd eaten during my stay in London. The best food I ate by far was bought at the Markets. I bought a great steak, mushroom, onion and rocket bap for lunch from one stall and a delicious lemon curd tart for dessert from another.



I still found things to photograph and used some of my favourite black and white film to do so. Doesn't this lady have the most marvellous face?



I hope you all have a great weekend. See you all again on Monday,

Jillian

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Miss B - The Fairy

Miss B - The Fairy

25 Aug 2010

It's been a while since Miss B featured on the blog. I visited her on Sunday and found her in full fairy mode.



Now as every-one knows, every good fairy needs accessories, including a pair of perspex clacky heels and matching hot pink nail polish. Have you ever tried to paint a 4 year olds teeny tiny finger and toe nails? I struggled and have the photo to prove what a poor manacurist I am.



It wouldn't be a blog post about Miss. B without a portrait on the blue chair. I've been told the chair is broken but I've been assured it will be replaced with another blue chair so we can continue our tradition.



Thank-you Miss. B for being such a willing, if a trifle demanding, model.

See you all again on Friday,

Jillian

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Beef and Mushroom Pie

Beef and Mushroom Pie

23 Aug 2010

For the first time ever I'm posting something savoury. I didn't want you to think that I lived on a diet of cake, pies, puddings and cookies, cos nothing could be further from the truth.



Now that I have my cute little pie dish, I want to use it all the time. I saw a recipe for steak and kidney pie in Delicious magazine a month or so ago and decided to try it.



I don't particularly like kidneys so I left them out and just increased the beef. I can't track down the original recipe but this one from Gourmet Traveller is almost the same except for the addition of some tomato paste.



The pie is fairly simple to make as it's just a well flavoured beef stew with a topping of puff pastry and no, I didn't make the puff pastry from scratch.



I served the pie with mashed potatoes and peas and it was delicious. The filling improved with keeping and I'll definitely be making it again.

See you all again on Wednesday,

Jillian

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City Walks Paris - Hopital St Louis

City Walks Paris - Hopital St Louis

20 Aug 2010

One of my friends bought me City Walks Paris for my birthday last year and I in turn bought copies for the 2 friends who joined me in Paris. Some of the walks I'd done before but we found some new treasures along the way.




As I was staying near the Canal Martin, as soon as I'd settled into the hotel I took a walk around the area and found a hidden treasure, the Hopital St. Louis.



The hospital was designed by the same architect who designed the Place des Vosges and it's a thing of beauty.



The grounds were shut so I returned the next day to take a look at the gardens.



The internal courtyard garden was as delightful as the buildings. I visited the garden on 2 occasions, once early in the morning with nary a soul in sight and again later in the afternoon. Then, the garden was filled with nannies watching their charges playing in the sun. Totally enchanting and best of all, free.

Friday finally arrived so that means tomorrow I'm off to vote. I wonder who the Prime Minister will be on Sunday? Have a great weekend and thanks for all the comments this week. It's so nice hearing that you like my work.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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Mini Shopshoot - La Galerie Vegetale

Mini Shopshoot - La Galerie Vegetale

18 Aug 2010

When I decided to go to Paris I sent out an open invitation to my friends to join me. I hoped to rent an apartment for a week to house the throng. In the end 2 of my friends from Sydney joined me and we downsized to a few rooms at the Hotel Taylor.

It's always hard choosing a hotel from a website but in this case the Hotel Taylor's rooms looked exactly like the rooms featured on the website. We loved the area, which was close to to Canal St Martin and Republique but far away from the tourist crowds. We also discovered some great restaurants nearby.



Last Christmas I bought Pia Jane Bijkerk's book Paris Made by Hand for my friend 'Little One', hoping it would encourage her to join me in Paris. In case you don't know who Pia is, she worked as a stylist in Sydney before moving first to Paris and then to Amsterdam. Paris Made by Hand is filled with interesting shops she found in Paris, tucked away in out of the way places. Pia has since written Amsterdam Made by Hand. I'm planning to visit Amsterdam next June and can't wait to visit some of Pia's secret shopping locations whilst there.

Well 'Little One' did meet me in Paris and to my great delight I found she'd packed the book in her luggage. While she was having a little nap one afternoon, (I'm a relentless tour guide) I pored over the book and decided on a wander around Canal St. Martin.



The first place we visited was inexplicably shut, which does tend to happen in Paris. We didn't reach the second place on our list until after 5.00 p.m and they'd closed for the day. Finally we found a place that was open, La Galerie Vegetale. I'd walked past the shop every day I'd been in Paris but had never been inside.



What did I find inside? An intriguing blend of cafe, florist shop, gallery and homewares emporium.



They had lots of lovely things but with limited space in our luggage, we had to be sensible with our purchases. We both bought some pots made from recycled rubber and I bought a small pebble shaped vase which one day I'll get round to photographing. 

2014 edit - unfortunately La Galerie Vegetale has closed for business.











After La Galerie Vegetale we walked to Emmanuelle Wittman's Atelier where we both admired her ethereal ceramics.



I didn't take any photos there as my job was to support 'Little One' in the onerous task of choosing which items to purchase. Emmanuelle has the most hilarious little puppy called Gaia who entertained us with her antics whilst we were deliberating.

Last stop of the day was Le Petit Atelier in the Marais but that's a story for another day. I'll be back again on Friday with some more photos from Paris.

Until then,

Jillian

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Double Ginger Biscuits

Double Ginger Biscuits

16 Aug 2010

Do you remember a few weeks ago I when made these cookies? They just weren't right so I tried another recipe I downloaded from here.



Now I can never follow a recipe without doing a bit of tweaking and this recipe was no exception. I replaced the self raising flour with plain flour and 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder sifted together. I also added an extra 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger. I used crystallized ginger instead of stem ginger but almost doubled the quantity as I decorated each cookie with a piece of ginger.



So how did they turn out? Well they're absolutely delicious, especially when they're still a little bit warm from the oven.



I've already munched my way though the first batch and made a second batch when I came home from work last week as they take very little time to whip up. I'm so happy I've finally found my perfect ginger biscuit.

I'll be back on Wednesday with my last mini shopshoot from Paris, so until then,

Jillian

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