Wistful wanderings

Maybe it's fall setting in a bit here, maybe it's having had visitors from Germany these last two weeks, but (Mostly Berlin)  has me yearning to travel, to bring a book and wander through Berlin.. visiting some of the cafe's this blog has written about. I still have that tiny residue of Seattle with me I suppose, the love of a really really good latte, playful decor and a cafe that takes it's barista with total seriousness.

Post colour week : bit of blue

As suggested by Not Only in Thailand, a post colours of fall day- weekend blue.  It's Sunday here and we have just returned from five days in the North of Malta, in a small flat by the sea. 

The first picture is a bowl of peeled prickly pears ready to eat.  Am impressed with the shades of magenta, yellow, orange and green you find on the insides.

The sky skapes on Thursday and Friday were quiet spectacular, as the thunder storms rolled in.

Last beach days I think, the children had a blast. School begins here on Monday. May be time to put the buckets and spades away. It's been a good long summer.

Colours of Fall: Day Five

PLUM

Not sure if it totally counts but there are some nice shades of purple in this fabric by Heather Ross, and how sweet a name, Underwater Sisters (but really it's the octopuses that are the clincher for me) . This Fabric can be found on Etsy here at Uberstich.

Colours of Fall: Day four

BROWN

Not the most creative am afraid, we are at a flat by the sea right now, it's all blues, grey and big skyskapes of storm clouds. Decided to share this pillow, captures a bit of the feel of autumn for me.

Fall Colours : Day Three

YELLOW

What girl goes without a bright yellow pair of shoes right?!  I think Malta must be having an effect on me, am going for bolder colours these days.

Here is day three of Elsie Marley's colours of fall week.

They are quiet a lovely mustard colour in real life but appear lighter in the photos.

Colours of Fall: Day two

BURNT SIENNA
Certainly makes me want to get on a train and travel off into the sunset.

Not feeling totally satisfied with this, I looked back at some old photos and realised that for me

fall makes me think of my daughters, for they were both born during this season and I connect it to 

those last days of being pregnant and then the settling into winter with a new born. 

This is a photo from my older daughters birth, she was born at home, in Malta

(we were renting an old house in a place called Zebbug which means olives). 

This was our bedroom, the early afternoon light had an unusual effect on the room. This was one of my favourite things about this house.

Autumn Colours Day One

I am joining the colours of fall week suggested over at Elsie Marley and today is the start. In ode to the colours of fall I am missing, here is a picture of a fabric I am taken with and what comes to mind when I think of fall... a comforting cup of tea.

Changing seasons - Rummien

They say here with the September rains, it's the sound of the thunder that cracks the pomegranates open and then you know it's time, they are ready. While passing under it's tree on our walk today, we spotted our first cracked open one.

It's the small things sometimes

Like today, I set aside all major projects, cleaning tasks and to do list of errands and took all three children on a long walk to Birgu (equipped with a stroller and a picnic lunch). We had such a good time, trying out some unknown side paths, spotting not three but six little salamanders (or so they call them), test flying Tano's little paper model plane, going up and down on the see saw, the children were so good, with all the walking, heat and tricky streets to cross they did not complain once (not usually the case). One of those days you so enjoy being a parent and getting to spend time with your children. I wish this was true every day.

The pictures, while A. was away in Portugal last week and I was on my own with the kids, the Zabbar feast was in full swing. I took the kids through the crowded streets, to the band marchs, fire works, little stalls (am not normally much of a crowd person) but I managed and this was one of my favorite parts.... strolling round a familar little piazza to find an angel, or rather a tall painted wooden statue of some angel, they suddenly appear all over the city during the week of the feast. There is something uplifting to me me about turning a corner and seeing an angels wing or the bare foot of a temporary statue. Here are some close ups.

2 minutes

I stepped away for a moment, just a minute... and whalaa two cups of milk added to the playdough...nice. Needless to say that was the end of the playdough, which perhaps was good timing- it was all looking the colour of a dirty toad. As much of a pain as playdough is (the tiny bits you find squashed on the floor, in carpets, on shoe bottoms, hidden inside legos weeks later) it does certainly keep my gang very occupied.. I would go as far to say an hour.. which is an eternity with my lot. Am sure there is some flour based make it yourself recipe out there I can find on line. I hope!

Till the next posting, a song that off and on gets stuck in my head -Don't Fence Me In by Cole Porter , (only ok sounding version I can find at the moment) the horse bit is a little creepy.

Can I visit?

Although we have bought our old house and are still slowly setting things up here in Malta, I seem to have caught the house design bug and stumbled upon this site the other day DWELL. Without meaning to, a broom and the mop to my side (dinner dishes and the kitchen floor to attend to as A. had bed time honours with the children). I got a bit side tracked and before I knew it a good half hour had passed. Maybe I am missing Grand Designs (admittedly one of the shows I miss from the UK). Here are some pictures of houses I wouldn't mind visiting. The last one is from a section called scrap houses, all made from scraps of material- love it.

That crush

I saw her again, that beauty of a car, wonder if I can talk the old man into selling it. The colour, the details, I just love it. I used to cross paths with this Morris car every now and again while walking my children to school.

This

is a little bit fun -

perhaps he has been around for some time but this is the first I have heard of him- check out the Face Hunter blog. I love seeing people who take on a style of their own. These are a few from his Berlin section (he goes round the world and photos people on the street).

Adjusting

In my tastes anyway, much like the experience of growing to like (love actually) Geit Ost (the brown goatcheese) while living in Norway. I have come to love some Maltese specialities, like Kinnie (the national soft drink) and pickled onions, todays lunch was one of my recent favourites, fresh local bigilla (bought at the market this morning) served on today's bread, parsley and tomatoes. Bigilla is a broad bean spread usually made with Garlic and any combination of spices, no two seem to taste the same.

(One my favourite streets on the walk to the market)

By the way, kids have given the thumbs up on the blue doors and so has A, so I suppose we will stick with it. Funny, now the picture in our kitchen (red and blue print of Obama) is like the cross over from the outside to the inside.

Apologies to your eyes, we seem to have endless red surfaces, this was taken as I joined the kids on their kid table for a picnic lunch. Just realised it too is turquoise and red!

Some days

Things just work and others it all goes horribly wrong in small little ways all day long.

Today was one of those days- I had great hopes of finally painting the hideous tan metal doors in our courtyard. But in two ways this endeavor went awry, the first being that one should not start to paint something (with non water based paint) when young children are a foot.

For at just the point (nearly done and getting a little relaxed and carefree) I looked to see little Mr T. who desperately wanted me to look at his upside down submarine made for trains ... and in that moment, the entire can of paint slipped out of my hand and spilled ALL OVER ME, THE STONE FLOOR AND THE LADDER (borrowed from my in laws). My little guy notice an unusual word coming from my mouth and quickly ran over to help - walking right through the bright blue paint. If I wasn't covered in paint I would have taken a picture, it was a site! Slightly worrying, especially when I had not exactly told my husband that I would be embarking on this little DIY project. So with an hour to go before A. would get back from work and with minutes to go before destructo (my one year old) would wake up from nap (paint splatter and footprints EVERYWHERE), I did what one sometimes needs to do in these situations. LAUGH. Somehow it made it all better, it did take me ages to clean it all up ( I was by the end wreaking of kerosene having managed to spread paint form my hand to my face, as well as my elbow, forearm and knee ). I did clean it up in the end - JUST IN TIME. Then came lesson number two, a small square of colour looks very different on a larger scale! Twas all in vain- you look at the colour and think that you're in a fish tank- not the shade of turquoise I was going for after all. What to do?!

Pretty hideous- especially when one takes into account we have a bright red kitchen (as seen above), wouldn't red out doors have been a bit too much red though?! Back to the drawing board...anyone have any suggestions?! The walls are all old yellow sandstone so bold colours can work. Oddly the colour is already starting to feel normal.

On another note, I did have a good cooking day yesterday and made this caramel ice cream from the lovely Falling Cloudberries cookbook, the result- three very happy children. (Notice the ugly old tan metal door in the back ground).

Well good morning!

A friend spotted this and passed it on to me today-(thank you M) and I just had to share it with you all. Talk about athletic! Am loving it this morning, after a strong cup of coffee and with the kids at their grandparents I feel almost like tap dancing around the place myself. Had to share!

Hope you are all out having a good weekend!

By the way, fancy feet and myself are at last signed up to start tango lessons! Just hope I don't get the giggles, tango seems like some serious business.

For the kids

WATER BABIES

Sometimes you just need five minutes, to jump in the shower, run and grab the laundry off the line, finish the breakfast dishes or make a quick phone call. Am including (because I strangely enjoy making lists) a list of some of my kid's favourite youtube videos, most are 3-5 min long.

I admit I am a bad mother and have used them as bribes, such as "if you two can stop bickering and get your shoes, hats and coats on by the count of ten, you can watch the robot song".

Boy does it work! Better then sweets and I admittedly enjoy hearing them humming the songs throughout the day.

FUNNY BUNNIES

CONSIDER YOURSELF

THE ROBOT SONG (TALK BY COLDPLAY)

MAHNAHMANAH! (MUPPETS)

TALK LIKE YOU(JUNGLE BOOK)

CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG

OH TRIANGLE

THE BALLOON SONG (AUSTRALIA)

1234 (FEIST ON SESAME STREET)

BARNYARD

ONE WAS JOHNNY

I'D DO ANYTHING

*I have listed the videos as the kids refer to them.

Mysteries

While stopping by my husband's grandmothers old house last week (when I say old I mean more than 400 years, it has closed up stairways connecting to the catacombs under the city leading to the church), a labyrinth of a house, complete with an inner courtyard, an old well and countless rooms. My other half was away so I was asked in his place to stop by and pick out anything I wanted from one of the old upper rooms soon to be renovated, there was not much left in this particular room but two old arm chests (meant for someone else) and some random pieces of furniture (mostly spoken for already). Just before saying good by and thank you I spotted an odd shaped black case in the corner of the room, my husband's aunt had no idea what it was, so we gingerly took it out and carefully unzipped the case to discover a mandolin in perfect condition. She had no idea where it had come from or how long it had been sitting there, neither did any of her brothers or sisters (all seven), she had never seen her father or anyone else in her family ever play such a thing. She has decided to keep the mandolin and hang it on the wall somewhere but I am still puzzled by it, for it seems unlike the Italian Mandolins I have seen and the carved work is so intricate, many little inlayed triangles of mother of pearl, looks far more like something from north Africa.

I did read Captain Corelli's Mandolin many years ago and loved it (never saw the film), but ever since moving here it has drifted in and out of my mind for it's descriptions of the light on the Greek island remind me of what it is like here, and the band clubs where the old men gather, and the dry rocky earth with sparse olive trees....so many small details envoke a similar feel to this island. So this mandolin has for the time being captured my interest. Certain there must be quite a story behind it, one we will probably never know. At the least though I would like to know which country it came from. There is nothing written on it.

oh new books!

Kid related tid bit, my other half brought this home for our airplane enthusiast (we so enjoyed his other book, both pictured). Really beautiful illustrations and both have very sweet stories. Ahem someone went to Scotland and someone stayed home. Sometimes your the sail sometimes your the anchor I suppose.

In any case I just had to share...

Monsoon Rains?!

Fig and Ricotta Tart

What a delight to have a bit of rain on Saturday, thunder and lightening to boot! Summer storms are something I miss from my midwestern roots, England at least did provide a good dose of summer rain. The rain brought a smile to my face and a wave of nostalgia, actually more for our quiet days in Winchester when a short stroll through the tiny lanes, past the river, to the Bridge cafe was the perfect morning outing (especially with two toddlers and a new born) complete with fresh croissants. For some reason it is near to impossible to get a croissant here in Malta (at least in Zabbar). There is a wonderful cafe- newly reopened (will have to take a photo) in Valletta, a cafe near the old library called Cafe Premier which does thank god have good fresh croissants. Next post perhaps I will have to highlight some of my favourite cafes here. So yes a bit of rain over the weekend was lovely, the heat however did not subside much, and the humidity seemed only to increase. Back to the beach with the lot of us on Sunday.

I did find some last figs at the local vegetable stall and made this, which turned out suprisingly well! Shame I did not think to do it earlier in the season. Next year I guess.

I am terribly embarrassed about this picture, I am totally rubbish at taking good food pictures, and the grilled figs are a hard thing to capture but I feel compelled to add some kind of visual to the recipe.

Fig and Ricotta Tart

Crust - (makes enough for two)

6 ounces butter or about 3/4 cup (you can use half butter half margarine)

125 grams self raising flour (about a cup)

125 grams plain flour

pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

100 grams almonds

1 egg

filling

250 ricotta

2 eggs

1 1/2 Tbs semolina

5 Tbs sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix Flours, almonds, salt and baking powder together.

Mix in with your fingers the butter till the consistency of cornmeal or wet sand.

Beat one egg with a fork, add in a tablespoon of cold water

Pour egg mixture in and briefly mix together the dough.

Place the dough in the fridge for at least an hour before rolling out.

Blind bake the crust at 180 C for 10 min.

Take out and let cool

Meanwhile mix together the filling and once the crust is cooled off to room temperature pour in the filling and bake for 30 min or till the edges are golden brown at 180 C.

take out and place the quartered figs on the top, brush lightly with heated currant jam and grill for 10 min.

Let cool, tastes best when eaten cold.