petworth house

(national trust petworth house, "rhubarb" catering) 

on wednesday night i was invited to the magnificent petworth house for a private viewing of turner's sussex exhibition. just the house itself was so wonderful. the walls were encased with original paintings and carvings (there were some extra turner's dotted about) and there was a little chap playing the saxophone. "rhubarb" held the party in the dining room (which is still used as a dining room for actual eating by the family that still live in part of the house - lucky lucky chaps) and they did an excellent job, there was an abundance of fizz and the canapés were presented beautifully on the most delightful platters. my fave nibbles were the beetroot and goats cheese macaroons ("rhubarb" partner with heston blumenthal so it is all most extraordinary). we were treated to a private tour of part of the house and the exhibition (which itself is very teeny, but absolutely worth a visit as you are able to see his sketches and his other artwork that lives at the house). the chap and i got most merry and skipped away with our goody bags with a handy on-the-train-home-snack-bag. cannot wait to return in the spring/summer to explore the grounds and house in a little more light and pretend that i live there. 

K x

gallery mess

(gallery mess at the saatchi gallery)

if you follow my instagram/twitter, you would have seen me yesterday sharing my rather yummy smoothie and scone combo at gallery mess. probably not the best week to declare ‘no more alcohol and cake until i am thin’ (ambitious i know) but alas, i ate fairly healthily (minus the scones) and drank none of the hard stuff (we had mocktails). 

so apparently gallery mess occupies the space where the grand old duke of york fed his 10,000 men. hence why it is called gallery mess – the gallery being of the saatchi sort, the mess being of where military peeps eat sort. works for me (simple things). it is really very handsome inside, with floor to ceiling windows, white painted arched ceilings and exposed brick. total interior porn. the mess is mainly for tea, alcohol and lunchtime snacks and definitely has that café, more relaxed kind of vibe going on. full of chelsea-ers but wasn't stuffy at all, so unstuffy in fact, that there were no plates for our bread (hands are really very multifunctional). 

my date tash and i had three courses; tash had the carpaccio with thin carrot shavings to start and the world's largest salmon and cod fishcake for her main (quote: "this is the largest fishcake i've ever seen"). i had a beautiful (but quite heavy - i genuinely had to leave some and i never do that) cauliflower soup for starters, with a super yummy pumpkin tortellini with walnuts and watercress to follow. my tortellini was wonderful, genuinely so so nice, the sauce accompanying it reminded me of one my ma makes (for lasagne, i'm known for my lurking around the saucepan with a ladle for "tasting"). as with rhubarb’s bond & brook, we couldn't say no to scones, and so instead of regular pud we have a mini afternoon tea. the scone babies had just been baked (warm and moist, nom nom) and were the perfect size for the final stages of our food coma's. i can imagine having a full afternoon tea out on the terrace on one of those rare warm london days would be delightful. 

K x

bond & brook

 (bond & brook at fenwick)

had the most wonderful saturday yesterday with the lovely tash of the house of scarlet, who invited me to go and gorge on food with her at the delightful bond & brook (located on the second floor at fenwick in mayfair). everything about it really was really quite beautiful. i got a wee bit obsessed with the menu (visually - layout and that), but the food was the winner of it all. break down of our consumption is as follows - we had champagne to start (obvs), hummus and flatbread to nibble on (amaze), followed by four of their larger-canapes pick'n'mix style tapas (which included venison, pea & ham quiche, lobster and hallouimi - again, amaze), for our mains tash had steak and i had cod (we were both very satisfied) and because if there is a scone on the menu, i have to have it, we nibbled on scones (with cocktails - no need for tea today) and rubbed our food bellies most contently. the atmosphere was not stuffy, a little warm (i got rosy cheeks - possibly/definitely the alcohol) but a wonderful place to escape oxford street/mayfair shopping. looking forward to returning to try out their afternoon tea in all its glory.

K x

herdy

(the herdy company)

ah, i apologise again. i'm rubbish at the moment - my posting is really bloody awful. anyway. i'm on instagram! with my shiny new iphone child i can now actually take pictures that don't make me die inside. if you want to follow me (for what i can only imagine are pictures of food, my dog and my beautiful friends), my username is katrina_bean. i'm a baby at this so i am sorry for my lack of knowledge but it will improve i'm sure. and i might actually get the hang of it. the mama and papa went to the lake district and brought back some (a lot) of herdy stuff, most notably the gingerbread herdy that you dunk in your tea. very nommy indeed. they recommend a 5-10 second dunk, i personally found the longer you dunked it - the better. it doesn't fall apart or anything, tis wonderful. looking forward to this weekend for various reasons, hope you all have a lovely weekend.

K x

twenty four

(fiona cairns)

tis my birthday! flying home from rhodes this evening, hoping to return to a crate full of these cakes. twenty four of them would be most appropriate.

K x

crown

(fiona cairns jubilee cake for harrods)

my absolute favourite cake maker fiona cairns made this wonderful cake crown for harrods' display for the jubilee. the entire thing and the cushion it sits on is edible and encompasses the emblems of the four nations - the english rose, the scottish thistle, the welsh daffodil and the irish shamrock. i want an edible crown. 

K x

salivate

(via flickr)

excellent sugared goodness.

K x

cross

(hot cross buns at st. john, photography by neil wissink via another magazine)

my favourite thing about easter yummy, doughy goodness. the idea of being in a bikini tomorrow is terrifying.

S x

nom nom

(firkløver)

so i know this isn't strictly "fashion" but i have had an unhealthy obsession with this cocoa nutty bliss since i was a bubby and today my nordic-babe of a friend whipped me a bar out of her bag and felt it deserved a post as it provided me and trina with the energy to survive my lecture.. takk takk H.

S x

cake monster

(fiona cairns cakes)

these are my favourite fairy cakes in the entire world (i am quite the cake addict), much better than cupcakes and so lovely and british. i couldn't help but grab a pack when i saw all the pretty valentine's fiona cairns boxes in selfridges, and treated the brothers to some sibling love in the form of a wonderful sugar overdose. 

K x