Free, Free, Free!

The hedgerows of Hackney Marshes seem to be bursting with blackberries this year.

I, like many others, filled containers full of them and took them home for a free dessert – well, nearly. Thanks to a stop-off on the way home at the charming, riverside Ferry Boat Inn, I gathered some cooking apples that had fallen in their orchard, so all I needed to add was some sugar, flour and custard for a delightful blackberry and apple crumble. I highly recommend a trip to the Ferry Boat, a hundred-year-old waterside pub, for good, reasonably priced food (I tucked into a delicious turkey roast with all the trimmings last Sunday for £6.95). And for the next few weeks (until 30th September), there's another good reason to go this popular pub – they are giving away free Gin and Tonics. Here's a voucher for you to download – a good way to celebrate summer.

Flower arrangements for free

These were supposed to be the table decorations for our Lunch in the street. I had 30 bottles loaned by
my lovely milkman which I had filled with sweet-smelling flowers – roses, daisies, jasmine, honeysuckle – from my garden Unfortunately, wind stopped play and the bottles remained safely under – rather on top of – the series of tables on the pavement all covered with pastel coloured table cloths and an amazing collection of home-cooked food (recipes to follow). I took the flower arrangements home, though, where they now grace my mantlepiece. If you are feeling the squeeze in these credit crunch times, and either have a garden or have a friend with one, fill up some washed bottles (jam jars will do too) for a pretty display that costs nothing. 

Picnic in the Park

I love going out to eat as much as the next person – well, probably more. But when the sun is shining, why sit inside, especially if you live in London's greenest borough? I live within ten minutes cycling of Springfield Park, London Fields and Victoria Park, so on a fine day just pack up a picnic and set off for the great outdoors. If you really don't like to self cater, Springfield has the very decent hill-top Spark Cafe www.sparkcafe.co.uk and Victoria Park the lovely, lakeside Pavilion www.the-pavilion-cafe.com

Lunch in the Street

Inspired by the nationwide initiative, The Big Lunch (www.thebiglunch.com), we are having a neighbourhood 'Lunch in the Street' on Sunday 19th July between 2pm and 6pm. Residents of Dunlace and Glenarm Roads are all invited, along with all our favourite shopkeepers on Chatsworth Road. Despite the name, the event will actually be on the pavement and in the courtyard of our lovely, local Bookshop, the Bookbox (http://bookboxonline.co.uk). The idea is that we close the street next time as a trial run for the historic Chatsworth Market www.chatsworthroade5.co.uk comeback which used to take place between the junctions of Dunlace and Blurton roads. Participants just bring food and anything to share – games, music, poems – anything really, and there will be the chance to take part in making a community mural. I have been making bunting – from old sheets and clothes bought in local fetes and charity shops and I am hoping that my husband will make buckets of his delicious champagne soup (secret recipe to follow).

Hackney Homemade

It is pretty embarrassing to be writing this, but I have just had a really fun evening playing in my bathroom. It gets worse: it was Kirstie Allsopp that got me going. I know this woman is a hideous combination of gushing Nigella Lawson and nauseating estate agent. But there is something about her TV programme that is downright enchanting and, actually, inspirational. I can't say that it was down to watching her this evening that made me re-collect some of my most mundane things and see them in a new and beautiful light, but it must have had something to do with it. My somewhat functional bathroom became a shining, colourful shrine to pink and turquoise. First, some glossy books in my living room grabbed me, including the gilt glad Erotica Universalis ('A banquet for the imagination and a feast for the eye'), and the shiny turquoise The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tam. which I placed on top of my steel bathroom cabinet. Inspired, I pounced on a collection of (empty) small bags – all pink and turquoise – I have amassed, which look lovely together above my bathroom window. Chinese silk bags in similar hues bought in New York hanging on the back of the door fitted the scheme perfectly. And then I realised I have two matching dresses... and, miraculously, my recycled, tin-worked lanterns from Morocco matched too.
Continuing on the cocktail theme, my clear blue bottle of Bombay Sapphire, the queen of gin, which my godmother always perfectly described as 'liquid anesthetic' sitting alongside twin Moroccan rose and green tea-lights filled with candles completed the picture. I thought I was done with this whole pink/turquoise trip until I stumbled on an exquisite painting done by my four-year-old god-daughter on top of our cocktail cabinet. In the style that any Expressionist would be proud of, it now takes pride of place above our toilet. As a result of all this, I have just signed up for a an 'Introduction to Colour' workshop at Walthamstow's divine shop, Beautiful Interiors (www.pennyfielding.com)

In a Glaze

Saturday saw a trip to the much loved Ginger Pig (www.thegingerpig.co.uk) – see my earlier blog for more details. We rather overdid it on the meat front, purchasing a whole chicken (as the butcher said to a girl asking for two breasts: 'we haven't got any, but we have a whole one, which includes legs and wings – much more economical'), a 3-kilo ham (apparently excessive for a household of two, but it did us for three dinners and two lunches) and four very meaty sausages (which we just scoffed with leeks and mash – delicious). I glazed the ham, which made me feel very Nigella Lawson, but actually the recipe was Oliver's: The marmalade goes very sugary and the ham just falls off the knife. I cant recommend it enough. We had it with coleslaw, also from Jamie  and new potatoes with mint.