The Horniman Museum

During the Easter holidays I thought it would be lovely to visit the Horniman Museum and explore it as I had never been there before. It was a gorgeous sunny day, fresh and bright after early morning rain, and I didn't really know what to expect but I particularly wanted to see the gardens and the Victorian conservatory.

The large conservatory is a seating area for the restaurant where I enjoyed a lovely bowl of soup for lunch. It is also hired out for weddings and I can imagine it would look absolutely stunning by candle light.

Inside there was a range of displays including a large Natural History section full of so many animals and birds native to the United Kingdom, such as this gorgeous badger sett.... 

....... to ones from further afield, such as a now extinct Dodo and one of the highlights of the museum, the Walrus. 

The massive walrus, which was brought to London by the Victorian hunter James Henry Hubbard, who collected it from the Hudson Bay in Canada, was put on display in the Horniman Museum in 1890.

I am not really keen on taxidermy per se, but I guess you have to view it in the context of the time it was created, and these specimens were important in the study of Natural History.

It also must have been amazing for the Victorians to be able to see and appreciate these animals for the first time, and even for us, when images on television and the internet are so prolific, it is still interesting to see them in such displays.

That doesn't always mean that they are accurate. The walrus in the museum is an unusual taxidermy specimen as it appears stretched and 'over stuffed' with none of the skin folds that the walrus has in the wild. It is thought that the reason it is not so true to life is because over 100 years ago very few people had ever seen a live walrus. It is still one of the most popular exhibits in the museum.

There also the enjoyable African section. I loved the mummies in particular, as I have always had a fascination with Egyptology that at the time of my visit I was feeding by reading the thoroughly enjoyable but widely improbable Amelia Peabody mystery books by Elizabeth Peters. There heroine is the determined and intelligent Victorian female Egyptologist, Amelia Peabody, who gets into countless scrapes and manages to fight her way out of most of them with her specially adapted parasols, while catching criminals and murderers along the way.

This gorgeous lion is also in the African section. It is so unusual as well. I adore it!

But my favourite display was the Romanian Easter eggs, which were simply exquisite, and the fascinating exhibit, 'Mummers, Maypoles and Milkmaids' with photographs of English regional rituals and celebrations, such as May Day and Wassailing, taken by Sara Hannat.

It is an interesting museum with an eclectic and slightly surprising range of displays. Perhaps that is because it was originally a private collection and reflects the whimsy and interests of its founder and original curator.

The museum was opened in Victorian times, when Frederick John Horniman, a tea trader and avid collector, opened his house as a museum and moved into another residence, as he could no longer contain his extraordinary collections and wanted to show it off to visitors.

It seems it is the museums diversity, as well as the aquarium and the gardens, that seem to make it such a popular place for young families to visit as well. Aside from expecting places to be busier with families in the Easter school holidays, it does seem to be a favourite place for people to come with their young children throughout the year.

And to top it all of the gardens, and the views of London, were spectacular. Perched on top of Forest Hill as it is, with fair reaching views, it was a lovely place to be on such a lovely Spring day.

Magnolia and Quince

Quince? But it's Spring, I hear you cry! Quince is in season in November .... now is the season of Magnolia's and blossoms, not quince, surely? 

But despite being surrounded by blossoms flowering on all of the trees around me there were still quinces sitting in my pink wire cupcake stand. Gorgeous, plump and yellow, I bought them when I went into Borough Market one rainy day in November - when they were in season - and they have patiently perfumed my kitchen for months, only occasionally reprimanding me for not making them into the Membrillo I had fancied when I picked up the three for (gasp) £1.50 each. 

I was determined to use them ..... and on one gorgeous March day, when the Magnolia tree in my front garden was in full bloom, I knew the time had come when I noticed one of them was developing a brown spot. The weekend that I had to cook my quinces was here.

Firstly, I cut out the browning part of one of the quince, chopped them into small to medium sized chunks, and then covered them with water and boiled them. I mashed them up as they boiled down, making sure I kept topping them up with water.

They smelt divine.

When they resembled a pulp, I put them into a linen jelly bag and then, as I didn't have a jelly-making stand, I took the gadget free approach of wrapping the muslin around a wooden spoon and then let it drip overnight, squeezing it at intervals to hurry it along.

I was somewhat distracted the next morning by looking out at the gorgeous blossoms and feeling delighted that Spring was finally here. When I woke up the next morning, excited to finish making my Membrillo and go out and enjoy the day, I threw out the pulp and Quince flesh that was in the muslin and then looked at the recipe. I hadn't properly read the recipes that I was flitting between on the internet and realised too late that I would not be making Membrillo after all as that delicious paste had the flesh of the Quinces in it. Ooops!

So my gorgeous Quinces became gorgeous Quince Jelly. 

These happy accidents occur, and I added jam sugar, boiled the mixture, occasionally testing for a set by putting a side plate in the freezer and every so often dropping the quince jelly on it, pushing it with a fingertip to see if it wrinkled, and then greedily licking it off. 

Finally, my Membrillo turned Quince Jelly was ready to place in the jars that had been prepared in the dishwasher and there they stood, a gleaming orange, ruby, geranium, colour, ready to enjoy at last.

I could have it with slices of Manchego cheese and it still tasted nice.....

........ or by itself on wholegrain bread, with butter...........

 ..........along with a  lovely view of the blossoms out of my window.