Reasons to be cheerful: Blood oranges

January is, I think, my least favourite month. It follows what is a very social month, and just as I'm getting into my swing everyone disappears and the weather often takes a turn for the worse. This month already we've seen off a light sprinkling of snow, and colder temperatures are forecast and I've just spent a couple of days in somewhere where the daily high was a negative.  Brrrr. 

So you might be thinking what I've found to be cheerful about. Well, as it often is, it's something really quite simple. And that's freshly squeezed orange juice from blood oranges. Not only does the colour make me smile, it tastes delicious too. 

It's a great start to the weekend and I'm sure it tastes even better because they have a relatively short season, only really appearing in our local greengrocers in January and February.  Plus it gives me a good reason to use my new water glasses from Habitat in a more colourful way!

I do like the simple things in life, so juicing blood oranges is a good place to start, but you don't have to stop there. I've been looking around for other ways to enjoy them, and I couldn't get past this blood orange syrup pudding from Cherished by Me.

A blood orange syrup pudding

I like how it's a syrup pudding that's not steamed, which means it takes less time to cook and you can also make it with gluten free flour. But mostly I like it because it plays to the sweetness of the blood oranges and because the pretty flesh is still on show, and not because as Nova says, it's a generous sized dessert. Oh, ok, maybe it's a little bit of that too...

Image credit: Cherished by me

Enjoy 10% off your first order from Habitat

Last week I told you about my new red wine glasses and how by using the following link you can enjoy 10% off your first order from Habitat , no strings attached.

Don't forget to make the most of this offer - and let me know what you buy, and how you enjoy your blood oranges.

* This is a collaborative post but all views and opinions are my own

Thirty three materials from my stash

Last week I told you about my current obsession with scrappy quilts and how crazy my next project was and how I planned to sort out the material for it from my stash. I knew that I needed thirty three fat quarters, but as I didn't know what size they were I was none the wiser until I sat down and looked into it further. It seems a fat quarter is a piece of material approximately 18 inches by 22 inches, which was good news for me, as it helped me visualise the amount of material I was after. 

It turns out it also meant finding the material was much more achievable than I thought it might be. As you'll remember I plan to use material I already have, including some from clothes I've cut up rather than buy new material, so it will truly be a scrappy quilt. With my materials chosen I put them together to make sure the tones worked together and no one material, or colour, dominated.

I think it's worked out remarkably well, don't you?

THIRTY THREE MATERIALS CHOSEN FOR MY SCRAPPY QUILT PROJECT

As I looked at the materials together, my geeky-side came to the fore, and I wondered what the balance was on where the fabric originated. I wasn't surprised to learn that a third of these were from earlier donations from my mum. I was surprised to discover I could source the other two-thirds easily!

There's old shirts of both MOH and me, I haven't worn work shirts for many years but couldn't quite get rid of them so cutting them up seemed the next best option. There's old summer dresses, old skirts, part of a duvet cover and material I've bought either in the past or more recently.

With twelve pieces coming from mum, another thirteen are from clothes (and a duvet cover) I've cut up, leaving only eight from material I've bought.  And even that was a while ago; the green fabric at the top of the third column, I bought most probably in the nineties with a plan and a project that never materialised, and the V&A materials were from a trip there shortly after I took a break from working in 2014.

So for completeness, here's where each piece is from, top to bottom, starting in the left column:

1.  An old shirt of MOH's
2. Bought in a scrap bag
3. From mum's stash
4. An old summer dress
5. Bought from the V&A
6. From mum's stash
7. Bought from the V&A
8. From mum's stash
9. Bought online somewhere
10. An old shirt of MOH's
11. An old shirt of mine

12. An old summer dress
13. An old shirt of mine
14. An old skirt of mine
15. A childhood favourite
16. From mum's stash
17. From mum's stash
18. An old shirt of mine
19. From mum's stash
20. Bought from the V&A
21. An old shirt of mine
22. An old top of mine

23. Bought and never used
24. From mum's stash
25. Part of an old duvet cover
26. From mum's stash
27. From mum's stash
28. An old shirt of mine
29. From mum's stash
30. A childhood favourite
31. An old shirt of mine
32. Bought at the V&A
33. Bought at the V&A

Which means, it truly meets my brief of a scrappy quilt. Now for the next stage of actually cutting the thirty squares from each piece I need...

And then the hard work can really start!

A new Loo Series from Les Deux Salons

In between Christmas and New Year we headed into town for a meal out, because well you can never eat too much at Christmas can you?  Not sure how busy it would be we booked a favourite of ours, Les Deux Salons close to Trafalgar Square, to save the aggravation of traipsing around trying to find somewhere with a waiting time of less than an hour.  I don't mind some times waiting, but not when it's cold, and definitely not when I'm hungry, so booking removed the guesswork.

It's a typically French restaurant, with typically French fare, and it's reasonably priced too. But today I'm not telling you about the restaurant, but their loos. They're upstairs and I was pleased I'd remembered to bring my phone, to save the multiple visits that normally happen when I'm not expecting such fancy loos. 

My eyes were taken by the mosaic tiled floor.

JUST LOOK AT THAT REFLECTION ON THE DOOR PLATE

And then I noticed the rest of the Ladies, the copper sinks, chrome accessories, while tiles, large mirrors and marble counters. Quite a statement isn't it?

Once again I found myself with the loos to myself, so what else was I to do?

Now I mentioned the sinks before, but I didn't tell you how beautiful they were. The colours were fantastic and to have the four in a row was just stunning.

Breathtaking even.

So if you find yourselves near Trafalgar Square and fancy a great Steak Frites then pop over to Les Deux Salons, and don't forget to check out the loos in person.  MOH tells me the Gents were "quite fancy" too, he also told me he wouldn't be seen dead taking photos in a loo either!

Could you live with a sink as beautiful as this?