Let the Christmas Countdown Begin

Posted in Family Life, Interior by A Spoonful of Style

Only five weeks to go until Christmas and I for one Can. Not. Wait. There are so many things to look forward to – putting the decorations up, buying and wrapping the presents, the school Christmas concerts, our village Christmas fair, all the yummy food… I could go on and on, and no doubt I will be doing just that, right here on this blog, over the coming weeks!

The boys have been busy writing their letters to Santa this week. Casper has rather optimistically asked for a Play Station, an X Box and an iPod so I had to explain that it is unlikely he will receive everything on the list. For the first time Cameron has been expressing doubts about the existence of Father Christmas (he is ten so I guess it is to be expected..) but he is under strict instructions not to voice these in front of his younger siblings unless he wants to find an empty stocking on Christmas morning! He didn’t want to take any chances so his letter is also winging its way to the North Pole as we speak…

Nothing beats the magic of Christmas morning even if it does tend to start at the ungodly hour of 5am in our house. This year we’re actually away on Christmas Day (it’s my dad’s 70th birthday on the 25th so we’re going to stay in a country hotel for three nights) but that won’t stop me from decking out the house in its festive finery. I love these inspirational pictures from Danish brand House Doctor, especially the big paper stars and the illuminated snow sign.

18Nov2013

The Great Outdoors

Posted in Family Life by A Spoonful of Style

One of my best purchases over the last year was not a new bag or a pair of shoes, but a family membership to the National Trust. So far we have enjoyed a Boxing Day walk at nearby Claremont Landscape Gardens and an Easter egg hunt at Ham House as well as trips to Petworth House and Uppark, both in Sussex.

The staff are great at engaging the children with stories of what life was like in ‘the olden days’ and there are usually little activity stations and play areas dotted around the houses. What my three enjoy most, however, is exploring the often vast grounds and gardens – climbing trees and rolling down hills, things they don’t really get to do on a day to day basis. And best of all, once you’ve paid for your membership, if you bring a picnic it’s virtually a free day out and all that fresh air is sure to guarantee sleepy children by bedtime.

Yesterday we spent the morning at Bodiam Castle in Kent, about an hour away by car from where we live. We had promised Casper that we would go there before Christmas as he missed a school trip to the medieval castle when he had his operation a couple of months ago. It was a grey and drizzly morning but we had lots of fun exploring the castle which was built in 1385 by Sir Edward Dallingridge, a rich soldier. As it wasn’t quite picnic weather, we warmed up afterwards in the National Trust cafe with home baked scones slathered in butter and jam and cups of tea and hot chocolate.

A lovely day out.

{Bodiam Castle viewed from the courtyard}

{The children contemplating whether or not to roll down the muddy hill outside the castle. Luckily they decided not to!}

{Listening to a talk about the history of the castle}

{There were lots of nooks and crannies to explore}

{Cameron looks rather pleased to see his brother in the stocks!}

17Nov2013

This Week’s Favourites

Posted in Family Life by A Spoonful of Style

Sunday night again. The kids are in bed and I’m waiting for Homeland to start but first a quick update on another week that flew by.

1. I took all the children to have their hair cut at the start of the week – the boys’ fringes were getting so long they could hardly see! Clemmie and Casper were happy to just let the hairdresser get on with it but Cameron had very specific ideas about what he wanted – short back and sides (using the clippers) and longer at the front. He spent most of the journey home admiring his own reflection in the car windows!

2. Thursday morning saw the much-anticipated launch of the H&M collaboration with French designer Isabel Marant. As sod’s law would have it, the online shop opened at 9am which is the same time that Clemmie’s preschool opens. As my husband refused to take the kids to school and be late for work so that I could get first dibs on the highly coveted collection (men, eh?) , I had to race home after dropping them off only to be greeted by this message on my computer screen…

3. Until finally, after pressing the ‘Try Again’ button a million times (it seemed like it at least), I was in! Sadly, most of the items on my wish list had already gone but I managed to get my hands on these stunning shoes and also a grey jumper (rather nondescript in the picture but, hey, it’s Isabel Marant at less than £40!). I have since read that it was one of the fastest selling collaborations of all-times – not surprising I guess, given all the hype surrounding it – so I think I was very lucky to get anything at all.

4. To raise money for Children in Need, Cameron’s school invited all pupils to dress in their pyjamas on Friday while Casper’s school asked them to wear polka dots. The first one was easy enough but as Casper was not keen to wear his sister’s spotty pyjamas (I can’t imagine why!) we ended up cutting out sticky-back felt circles and putting them onto an old plain T-shirt.

5. Finally Friday and candles lit for a cosy night in..

6. ..and a glass (or two) of bubbly to celebrate the end of the week.

7. A very dear friend gave me these four Mateus cups as a belated birthday present. Definitely worth waiting for!

8. Despite the grey, drizzly weather, we went on an outing to Bodiam Castle in Kent this morning. It took just over an hour to get there but it was well worth it.

9. We wrapped up the weekend by having dinner at Pizza Express with the grandparents.

And that’s it. Another week done and dusted! Have a great Sunday night. X

15Nov2013

Embrace the Chaos

Posted in Family Life by A Spoonful of Style

{My Crazy Gang: They don’t half drive me mad sometimes but I love them to the moon and back}

This has been one of those weeks when we’ve been rushing around, late for everything, with tempers fraying left, right and centre. I love my three children more than anything in the world but sometimes the mixture of toddler tantrums, pre-teen hormones, sibling fighting and refusal to listen can drive me up the wall (especially when they’re all going on at the same time!) Both boys left their scooters behind at school on the same day this week (I don’t know how they managed that – obviously forgetfulness runs in the family!) which meant that trying to get out of the house on Wednesday morning was even more fraught than usual. I had to take deep breaths and count to ten many a time this week, but I’m sure that one day when they’re all grown up I will look back and miss all the noise and mess!

But for now I’m just enjoying the peace and quiet that has descended over the house this evening as we all relax after our busy week. My father-in-law and his wife are visiting us from France this weekend so I’m going to dim the lights to hide all the dust, light some candles and put a bottle of bubbly in the fridge.

Happy Friday to you all! X

14Nov2013

Currently Coveting #13: The Perfect Advent Candle Holder

Posted in Currently Coveting, Interior by A Spoonful of Style

With just over two weeks to go until the first Sunday of Advent, the search is on for the perfect Advent candlestick to take pride of place on our dining table. It needs to hold four candles as each Sunday until Christmas a candle will be lit until, on December 22, all four are alight. Last year I bought four chunky white candles from Ikea with the numbers 1-4 stamped on them in red. I tied a piece of red and white gingham ribbon around the base of each candle and placed them on a silver tray in the centre of the table. It was a cheap and very pretty arrangement but with no trip to Ikea on the cards in the next couple of weeks, I need to find another solution fast.

I’m drawn to the understated elegance and simplicity of this wrought iron Advent candle holder by Finnish brand Iittala. At the moment Royal Design are offering £5 off the original price so it would be a good time to invest in a candlestick that we could carry on using for many, many years. It also comes in a bigger version that can hold six candles, which I would be very tempted by if my requirements weren’t so specific. I like the idea of using different coloured candles to jazz it up a bit – Christmassy red or sparkly silver would look stunning.

13Nov2013

Recipe: Saffron and White Chocolate Cake

Posted in Food & Recipes by A Spoonful of Style

Christmas for me is all about traditions – carrying on old ones from my childhood as well as creating new ones just for our family. Despite having lived in the UK since the age of ten, when I was growing up we always celebrated a traditional Swedish Christmas (with a few English twists). Much of the festive season revolves around food and in Sweden saffron is synonymous with Christmas. For St Lucia Day (read more about it here), which falls on December 13, it is customary to serve bright yellow saffron buns studded with raisins. While the buns are rather time consuming to make as the dough needs to rise (but they are oh, so worth it, I will share the recipe when I do make them), this cake takes hardly any time at all. My eldest son has inherited my love for saffron so I made it for his birthday earlier this month and I’ll make another one for the first of advent to serve along with Glögg (similar to mulled wine) and gingerbread biscuits.

Ingredients:

100g unsalted butter
100g white chocolate
0.5g saffron (if you’re near a Scandinavian food store you can usually buy the saffron powder in tiny (but expensive) bags)
2 eggs
160g sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
130g plain flour

Preparation Method:

Melt the butter together with the white chocolate in a saucepan over a low heat. Add the saffron and put to one side.Whisk together the eggs, sugar and vanilla essence until white and fluffy. Add the chocolate and butter mixture and stir until combined. Sift in the flour and carefully fold it in. Pour the butter into a prepared spring form cake tin. Bake in an oven preheated to 200 degrees for 15-20 minutes depending on the desire texture (I like the cake to be slightly gooey in the middle). Allow it to cool before serving.

11Nov2013

This (or rather last..) Week’s Favourites

Posted in Family Life by A Spoonful of Style

I just got back from my little jaunt to the spa hotel this afternoon and have been trying to hold onto that relaxed, pampered feeling while supervising homework, negotiating sibling arguments and cooking tea. Not that easy at times but I did feel more chilled than usual and even managed to keep my serene demeanor when I caught my eldest trying to find out how many ‘bad words’ his seven-year-old brother knows (and eagerly offering to teach him any that he’s not yet familiar with..)

So my weekly favourites post is once again later than usual but at least I have a very good excuse – and even if I had wanted to, I couldn’t have posted it yesterday as we could not get any Wi-fi connection at the hotel.

1. It seems a long time ago now, but for Cameron’s birthday last Monday we went for brunch at a local restaurant at his request: Full English breakfast, Eggs Benedict and French toast – a great way to start the day!

2.The weather turned colder this week and no one could have been more pleased than Clemmie who finally got to wear her leopard print hat (or ‘tiger hat’ as she calls it)

3. You know that Christmas is getting closer when the Gingerbread lattes arrive at Starbucks! As much as I love the Pumpkin Spice one, this is my hands down favourite and I shall be having at least one a week between now and Christmas Day.

4. Casper’s Beaver Scout group had a visit from a blind man and his guide dog last week and all the boys were tasked with making a tactile picture of the dog. Here is Casper’s contribution, made with some sticky-back felt I found in the crafts box.

5. Reading material for my night away: Jimmy Choo founder Tamara Mellon’s memoir In My Shoes and the latest issue of British Vogue.

6. We arrived at the hotel mid-morning and had a cappuccino in the restaurant while we were waiting for the room to be ready.

7. They say a change is as good as a rest and swapping the congested roads in our pretty but densely populated village for rolling hills and fresh air certainly did wonders for the mind and soul.

8. Yesterday we stopped for lunch at The Mulberry pub (which incidentally is owned by radio and TV celeb Chris Evans) down the road from the hotel.

9. A facial and a manicure were among the treatments I indulged in. I love this OPI nail polish but unfortunately I forgot to ask what the colour is called.

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog. Due to the lack of Wi-fi, I am a bit behind with replying to comments and reading your blogs but I’m sure I’ll catch up in the next couple of days. Hope you’ve had a great start to the week. X

8Nov2013

Listen up People – It’s Friday!!

Posted in Family Life by A Spoonful of Style

{I love being a mum but sometimes we all deserve a bit of time off}

We have had a lovely afternoon with my sister and her kids who are visiting from Sweden. When the boys came home from school it turned into a bit of a mad house with five children aged from 2 to 10 running around, but it was great for all the cousins to get together as they hadn’t seen each other since August.

Now it’s winding down time, the children have just got out of the bath and are deciding which movie to watch for their Friday night treat. The rain is pouring down outside but it’s lovely and cosy inside. I’m going to light some candles, have a glass of wine and enjoy the peace and quiet before I cook dinner.

A great weekend (I hope!) lies ahead: tomorrow night I am going out for dinner with my sister – a rare occurrence as we live in different countries. Then on Sunday I am going an even rarer trip to a spa with a friend. We are only going for one night but we have lots of nice treatments booked and I hope it will be a chance to recharge the batteries before the run-up to Christmas.

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend! X

7Nov2013

The Beauty Edit: (Re) Verso the Years

Posted in Beauty by A Spoonful of Style

I still remember the first time I went up to a beauty counter in search of an anti-aging cream. I was 23 years old and luckily the lady at the Clarins counter took a no nonsense approach and steered me away from the wrinkle-busting potions, instead persuading me to buy a pot of their Gentle Day Cream which I carried on using for many years.
I am extra grateful that she didn’t indulge my worries about my non-existent wrinkles after reading an article in The Sunday Times In Style magazine which warns against starting to use harsh anti-aging products too early, saying that they can irritate the skin and even cause it to age prematurely (take heed all you 20 somethings out there!)

Fast forward a few years and while I’m quite happy to grow old (er) gracefully without Botox, fillers or more invasive treaments, my skin is in need of a helping hand to stave off the signs of aging. The irony is that I probably spent both more money and time on my skincare regime when I was in my 20s than I do these days. Instead of the Clarins or Lancome products that I used to favour, I have been buying my face creams on the high street, or worse, relying on samples from magazines, which are not necessarily adapted for my skin type (Big slap on the wrist for me!).

In the summer holidays I read about a new Swedish skincare brand called Verso which uses a formula called Retinol 8 to stimulate the skin’s own production of collagen and hyaluronic acid in order to reduce the signs of aging (read more about the science behind the products here). It’s not the cheapest option around but this month I decided to bite the bullet and invest in the serum and day cream (the range also includes a cleanser, eye cream and night cream). As the products only arrived yesterday I haven’t yet been able to gauge if they live up to their promises but watch this space for a more comprehensive review…

{Verso skincare is available from Selfridges in the UK. For a full list of international stockists click here.}

5Nov2013

Currently Coveting #12: Ali MacGraw’s Classic Preppy Style

Posted in Currently Coveting, Fashion by A Spoonful of Style

One style crush that I never tire of is Ali MacGraw in Love Story and I find myself turning to the 1970 movie for style inspiration every time Fall rolls around. The actress exemplified all-American preppiness in her turtlenecks, knitted scarves, plaid miniskirts, knit caps, and peacoats, creating a look that is both chic and timeless. Even though the film is over 40 years old, every outfit could be worn today without blinking an eye and in today’s fast moving fashion world where trends come and go at lightning speed, that’s really saying something.

{In the picture above (clockwise from top left): Herringbone Tweed Jersey Skirt, £125 from Karen Millen; Cambridge Cable Turtleneck Sweater, £98 from J.Crew; Check Cashmere Scarf, £295 from Burberry; Sam Edelman Loren Heeled Riding Boots, £235 from Asos; Lexi Faux Fur Collar Coat, £250 from Whistles}