Domesticali

Mud Pies and other Recipes

A couple of years ago, a small friend came to our house to play, bringing with her the most enchanting recipe book for dolls by Marjorie Winslow. I fell head over heels in love with it and managed, with some difficulty, to track a copy down (it was out of print).

Imagine my delight yesterday, when I went into a bookshop and saw on the table, a newly published re-print.

I cannot tell you what an excited squeak I let out - if you have smallish people at home (up to around 10 I'd guess) you simply must find a copy to look at.  And I'd bet a portion of fried water, you'll find a way to squeeze a copy into somebody's Christmas stocking. 

And, though I'm sure it is poor etiquette to re-publish one's old blog material, here's my post about the book from a couple of years back.

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Is it shameful to be constantly tapping my children for blog fodder? Thankfully, someone in the household still has time to be creative. It isn't me, that's for sure. But I would miss the act of blogging sorely, so you'll have to indulge me. And today, it is worth it. Because there was something very special happening in the garden.

Mark's friend Chloe came to play after school, bringing with her this gem of a book. And what marvels it contains. 

No supermarket is as well-stocked as a forest, a sand dune, or your own backyard, and everyone knows that dolls dote on mud, when properly prepared. Invite everyone, for Pencil Sharpener Pudding, Dandelion Souffle, Wood Chip Dip, and, of course, Mud Pies.

I knew as soon as I saw it, that we needed a copy. It is utterly charming and funny for the way in which all the recipes are presented so seriously.

FRIED WATER
Melt one ice cube in a skillet by placing it in the sun. When melted, add 1 cup water and sauté slowly until water is transparent. Serve small portions, because this dish is rich as well as mouth-watering.

Unfortunately, it is out of print and has proved a bit tricky to track down. But  for something so enchanting, it was worth the effort.
 
Hors d'oeuvre anyone?

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See what I mean? You've got to know someone who needs a copy.

Clearly you can take a bookseller out of the bookshop but the impulse to share wonderful books remains. And in a very spooky throwback, though I was in an independent bookshop far from home, the delivery guy, Andy, was the same one who used to deliver stock to my former bookshop - how very spooky is that? Just like old times.

Doughnut Friday

From the Farmer's Market. Some traditions are worth preserving.

I always used to take them in for everyone at work, trying to remember who objected to nuts and who wasn't fond of gooseberry jam. But today, I pleased myself. Apple. 

Because I am not working at Mostly Books any more - a decision was made that after two and a half years, a new, full time person might add more value to their business than me. And thus, my happy, fitting-in-with-school-hours existence ended. 

Can't say I was terribly pleased - quite apart from the battering to one's self esteem that 'redundancy' always manages to bring, spending five days a week at home without the diversion of small people is not something that I was seeking. Too afraid of the potential for boredom and isolation. But though there are things I miss (like my lovely customers) there are good things about being at home too. And an apple doughnut was a way to remind myself of that.

Hugless Douglas

Bear arms? I'm happy to oblige. For David Melling, whose new book is Hugless Douglas.

And who was in need of a pair of bear arms. 

Feeling decidedly hugless myself - but I know just where to find one...

There's nothing like a hug to improve one's day.

World Book Day

As far as I'm concerned, every day should be Book Day, but today was the official one. Which can only mean dressing up. We had a Warrior Cat (unphotographed) and this feline.

He's The Tiger Who Came to Tea. Practicing his growl.

If only  he  had eaten all the food, drunk all the drinks and processed all the books that have flowed through a certain little independent bookshop this week, I might be less shattered.

But it's all good fun.

Winding down

Big fat fluffy flakes of snow have just begun to fall outside our window and I couldn't be happier. It feels like time to hunker down now and enjoy the festive season.

Just time for one last trip out to deliver seasonal sustenance to the bookshop. If ever there was a group which needed a bit of thoughtfulness, it's those who work in retail this time of year. Madness. So the card seemed particularly appropriate.

Hope you are all managing to do the same.

Radio link

Well, some of you did ask... here's a link to Jo Thoenes show on BBC Radio Oxford. Mark from Mostly Books is their new book recommend person and this was his first slot (which begins at 1:07 in the programme, with the cupcakes' moment of fame at 1:23).

And then Mark gets pretty much a whole half-hour to talk about the shop and how it began. It's funny, I've been working there for coming up for 2 years now and sometimes it's easy to take for granted just what a special place it. And how much energy is invested into making it so.

So hooray for independent shops. Are you giving them some of your Christmas spending?

Wrapping

Gift wrapping is one of my little pleasures. I almost get more of a kick at wrapping Christmas parcels than I do unwrapping them. I love the sense of anticipation and seeing them all in a beautiful heap.

So even though I have been wrapping empty boxes this week, I've been having a lot of fun doing it.

These are for the book shop window display, where our theme is recycling. Hence the book pages and re-used packaging paper. With some chenille from the scrap store thrown in to add colour.

One of our customers wanted to know if I had any bright ideas for eco-wrapping. So I offered to lend her my dummy packages for the local Carbon Cutters eco-Christmas event. And give her the link to the tutorial for making gift bows from magazine pages.

I was tempted to go the whole hog and offer to wrap parcels to order too, but the length of my own 'to do' list made me keep my lips shut. The shop Christmas window is due to go up on Sunday. I've been sewing snowflakes like there's no tomorrow.

And I have the rest of a cardboard fireplace to construct.  I think I may have missed my vocation, but vacancies for Santa's elves are few and far between.

Homemade at mostly books

Usually, my world of work at my world at home co-exist nestled in their own snug  side by side compartments. But once in a while, they come together. Like last Tuesday, when we lured Ros Badger to come along  and talk to a shopful of crafters about Homemade.

I know lots of you have this book already and enjoy it for the same reason I do - the simple message that homemade is special. So it was fitting that we should have a very special evening, with Ros (who is utterly charming) bringing along many of the items that feature in the lovely photographs of the book. And having the time to chat to everyone, swap making stories and help us do a couple of projects from the book (that's my button heart).

For me, it was also a chance to realize that there are so many creative people, and even fellow craft bloggers right under my nose. And it's doubly handy when they do a write up of the event, because there has been a little missing camera cable problem at the shop, and hence, no write up on the shop blog!

And I am so so so sorry that I didn't tell you about it here beforehand and let those of you within reach of Oxfordshire have the chance to come along. But the event sold out so fast, there was no time. I promise to do better next time.

So, the spirit of all things homemade seems to have seeped out of my home life compartment and pervaded the bookshop. First, our trophy for our mostly bookbrains literary quiz next month. It had to be an altered book really, didn't it?

I knew all that catalogue folding practice last year would lead to me making something eventually. Though I am rather nervous about taking it in to the shop, as in our publicity materials it has been billed as 'a magnificent trophy' and I'm not sure the Trade Descriptions Act would agree.  Homemade charm and magnificence are not quite the same thing.

And then, I get to run my own event for the bookshop - a pre-Christmas evening of craft, where hopefully we capture the same spirit of camaraderie as Ros' event managed to. And make a whole stack of recycled and upcycled decorations for the  Christmas window.

I imagine there will be some of this

and a blizzard of paper snowflakes. And any other wonderful ideas I can dream up between now and then.

But before I get round to planning that event, I need to make sure everyone at work  is a dab hand at making these:

because we have a little craft activity planned for the children who stop by for books at Hallowe'en.

That's an awful lot of shop stuff, no wonder there is no time left for my own making just now. Sigh.

Part timer

Not sure quite how my part time job metamorphosed into working 8 days out of 10, but that does at least explain my absence from these parts of late and my current level of shatteredness. The lead up to summer holidays seems almost as frantic as Advent - perhaps it's a cunning plan.  If we are all really stressed and over-extended now, we will appreciate the change of pace of the school holidays and be blissed out at the thought of a quiet day or two at home. Wonder if the same will be true for the offspring?

I had really been looking forward to the Children's Food Festival, both as a punter and because Mostly Books were doing book signings with all the celebrity chefs. This meant a large amount of book ordering, book unpacking, book re-packing, book counting, panicking about books that weren't in the right place and humping of boxes full of books. A lot. But it did also mean that I got to decorate a 'Princess Baking' themed table for some Annabel Karmel stock.

It's a well known fact that I am always up for a bit of 'pink and sparkly', given that my house abounds with testosterone, so I had fun with pink tablecloths, decorated with raggy ribbon flowers (this one loosely based on my beautiful peonies - now long dead)

And a farmyard full of piggy cupcakes

To go with a dozen eggs worth of meringues and a batch of tiara, gown and high heeled iced biscuits.

I have to confess, a third of the meringues didn't see active display (and it wasn't just that the helpers were scoffing them). I thought we'd go for a soft pastel meringue palette - pink (fine), pistachio green (fine, if a little lurid), lilac (hmmm). What was an appealing lavender shade mixture, somehow transformed itself into dingy underwear grey coloured during the course of baking. Not a good food look.

And I am sad to say, I didn't take my camera on Saturday, so there are no pictures. But there are a few celebrity signers in evidence on the shop blog. And I did manage to have it with me on Sunday, when I braved the whole thing again, with my own offspring. They had a ball making ice cream sundaes and doing plenty of sampling in the Chocolate Tent.
 
Getting back to the farm, pricking out seedlings and climbing on tractors, watching sheepdogs and making and tasting butter.

But in a bizarre turn of events, the most popular bit of fun was the Dyson airblade tent. Where you could wash your hands and dry them! In a tent in a field. What will they think of next?

Catherine Rayner

My personal favourite children's book of the moment  is Augustus and his Smile. Even if it does give me a huge lump in my throat every single time I read it out loud.

Augustus the tiger was sad. He had lost his smile. So he did a huge tigery stretch and set off to find it.

The tale of a tiger, who looses his smile and then finds it again. I love it for it's message of finding happiness in the everyday. I can't think of a lesson I would rather my boys learned. And when they can do so, with lyrical language that is a joy to read out loud and wonderfully nuanced illustrations, it's even better. 

Catherine Rayner, the author and illustrator came to give a talk at the bookshop last night. She brought her sketchbooks - I could happily have spent days looking through them and listening to her speak about the process of bringing an illustrated book into the world. There is a great interview with her here,  along similar lines.

Joy is a very precious commodity, and there is nothing better than to come across somebody whose work simply oozes with it.

A Very Hungry Caterpillar Party

Success criteria for a retail event are clearly not the same as those for a normal birthday celebration, but if you judge our recent Very Hungry Caterpillar Party on the basis of having fun, eating cake and making things then we had such a blast on Tuesday! Twenty four caterpillar fans and two rather over excited booksellers.

From rather small beginnings, our own hungry caterpillar grew and grew and has now taken pride of place in the shop window. Everyone who came brought a paper plate which they had decorated with a green design to make the body of a great big caterpillar.

We had a story - and there really could only be one, but a very beautiful pop up version of the classic.

And then we made threaded pasta caterpillars and some rather fetching bookmarks.

If you want to make your own, here's how. We used some light cardstock, washable stamp pads and a single hole punch for those all important nibbled holes. Child's play (quite literally).

And the highlight of any party, the cake. Baked by Alison (maker of all the delicious cakes we serve in our courtyard garden), who truly outdid herself with a yummy cupcake caterpillar. Inspired by this one.

And the only element we couldn't organize in advance, the weather, turned out to be the most perfect we could have hoped for. A sunny spring afternoon. Happy days.

Very Hungry Caterpillar

40 is a milestone birthday, and we're getting ready for a party at the bookshop.

It's no secret that I am partial to planning the odd children's party. Particularly ones involving crafty activities. So it shouldn't really be any surprise that I jumped at the chance to dream up a bit of fun for this one.  Time to channel my inner Eric Carle  - and make a caterpillar head.

Slapping paint on in a haphazard fashion is so liberating! But my feelers do require re-inforcement so as to avoid embarrassing droop. And there's the small matter of several pairs of legs.   Clearly, the body segments were going to be a big job, so everyone coming into the shop over Easter, gets the chance to decorate a paper plate in green in some inspired fashion. Hopefully we'll have a suitably impressive caterpillar by the end of it.

And the party goers? They'll get to make thumbprint caterpillar bookmarks and string pasta caterpillars. Oh, and eat cake and listen to stories. Which all sounds very blissfully idyllic.

So fingers crossed that the sun will shine so we can do it all in the courtyard. Otherwise there are going to be some slightly stressed booksellers squeezing a quart of fun into a pint pot of a shop.