May 2013 Instagramy post

May has been so busy that I felt a bit like this duck.

I am lucky enough to live in walking distance to Ottolenghi but having gone there for more than a decade, I always make sure I spread the love and visit Tavola in equal measure.

It often gets overlooked as it is 2 blocks away from Ottolenghi.  

But Alistair Little the owner/chef is one of the three cooks 

who were  mentored by Elizabeth David; 

the other two being Rowley Leigh and Simon Hopkinson.

He does both savoury and desserts extremely well!

Even his produce is flown fresh from Sicily but 
I tend to balance out all that fresh deli food with...

I forget who said if you want to eat well in England, eat breakfast 3 times a day.  
I go to a Spanish restaurant / caf ( not cafe but caf my dears) 
called Churreria

Royal Chelsea Flower Show Part 2

Part 1 of my post on the Chelsea Flower Show was about the show gardens but this post is about the two other sections of the flower show.  The show also has a huge exhibition in the Pavilion and there are Artisan gardens which are the other two judging categories.

This lily stand won gold medal because not only was the overall effect amazing but each individual flower was perfect.

This new feathery, frayed lily is my new favourite variety.

Name is Roselily Natalia.

Everywhere you looked inside would make you walk towards each respective stand that we ended up doing a zig zag inside.  

But Avon Bulbs was one of the best and of course won gold.

Chelsea Flower Show 2013 Part 1

After years of turning down invitations to the Chelsea Flower Show, I finally decided to go and see what the fuss about was for myself.  It might be me getting older but a day out surrounded by flowers seemed like a fabulous idea.

I went with one of my besties for whom it was also the first time.

After the turnstiles, we saw so many heads. I had a little panic and wondered if we should retreat after seeing how crowded it was. 

But I will categorically swear that I have never been surrounded by a more polite and civic minded lot in all my life! That many people and not one scuffle, one misplaced elbow, or a muffled sigh.  Everyone was so well mannered and I am now officially a huge fan of gardeners!

Eperon d'Or Hermes Scarf silk printing from start to finish

I know that some of you are probably sick of anything Hermes 

but this post is for those of you who wanted to see the scarf being printed from beginning to end.  

Silk screen printer with the ripped scarves as trimming

 In fact, a few of my friends who don't live in Europe asked for a proper step by step demonstration which I wasn't able to do as seen from Part 2 of the Artisan Festival post as I was standing on the wrong side and I had an appointment to go to.

So I got there early and took a picture of each press.

Here it is and thanks for your patience!

Part 2 Hermes Festival des Metiers London Saatchi Gallery

This exhibition was unusual from the other exhibits that I had seen from Hermes in that it illustrated so many different crafts.  

This was the first time I had seen silk scarf screen printing.

Aren't these scarves hanging lovely as installation art?

The silk screen artisan plus one of the managers at the Lyon based silk press was there to present one of the silk screen sessions 

that take place 4 times a day.

These strips of scarves that didn't make the grade was hanging from the table.  I wanted to stitch them all back together.

This tasseled look could work for my bed.

They rolled out the silk that is made from Brazilian silk worms.

They set the silk properly and tightly with no air bubbles underneath to ensure a smooth print.