Snow on the Sphinx

Just when you think spring is finally here, that the long harsh winter is finally drawing to an end and the flowers are starting to bud and blossom, the weather can turn and plunge us right back into winter. But it usually isn't quite as dramatic as what it was this weekend, when we had heavy snow fall in London on just the right side of Valentine's Day.

I love the snow. I adore everything about it - the cold of it, the blanketing crispness of it, the feeling of walking or skiing on it, the inevitable days off work which it results in....well usually. That was the only down side this time - everyone was prepared as the snow fell on the weekend and so the roads were cleared on Monday.

Still, it felt like an extra long weekend, even when it wasn't, as snow just gives such a different perspective on things. I felt like I had been on a mini-break after I went for a long walk in Crystal Palace Park.

It was a grey and cloudy day, but it was still glorious.

The Spinxes looked more majestic and aloof than ever in the snow.

They are still guarding the stairs of the old Crystal Palace. The spinxes and stairs are all that remains of the glass and steel building that housed the Great Exhibition in 1851. The palace had been moved two years after the exhibition in Hyde Park, at a significant loss to the company (which they never recouped). It slowly declined in this location in Crystal Palace, at the top of Sydenham Hill  (then Penge Place) until it literally went up in a blaze of glory in 1936.

I can't help but wonder how fantastic it would have been to see towering glass glinting in the sunshine there. I wonder if it really did look like crystal. I know that it fell into disrepair and was not the success that had been envisioned. Perhaps that would have meant it was more eyesore and less the elegant building I would hope it to be. But one thing I know for sure.... the view over London, Kent and Surrey is still breathtaking.

I walked down the hill, past the maze ..... the ponds ...... the site of the 1909 Scout Rally in Crystal Palace which girls attended declaring themselves as Girl Scouts ........ past large expanses where people had built a range of snowmen, snow dogs and even a snow pig ......... past forts that had been built up to protect those launching snowballs.

Finally I ended up at the dinosaurs.

They were unveiled in 1854, some six years before the 'Origin of the Species' was published, and although considered largely inaccurate now they are still impressive, and must have been awe inspiring for the Victorian's to visit.

They looked right at home in the snow.

Feeling delightfully cold, it was time to go to my favourite cafe in Crystal Palace, Domali. They served me an amazing sweet potato and goats cheese pie, with the most delicious gravy I had ever tasted. I read the paper, eating a late lunch and sipping gluhwein stirred with a cinnamon stick, feeling blissfully content. I couldn't have been happier - it was though I was in a chalet on the slopes of Austria, enjoying the Apres-ski.

Delights of Autumn

Minature Pumpkins (Copyright Bygone Babe)

Autumn is the time to go shopping for cosy pyjamas in order to rock that Wee Willie Winkie chic and avoid putting on the heating as long as possible while we cozy up indoors. But with the mild weather still continuing shopping was furthest from my mind, and all I wanted to do was walk in the warm October sunshine, as the leaves turned and fluttered to the ground. Last weekend a friend and I were stalking the deer in Bushy Park, watching squirrels horde acorns, and avoiding the temptation to pluck the stems of unidentified mushrooms. Today, Mr BB and I went strolling through Crystal Palace Park, past the sphinxes, to find a bench to sit on to read. It was so warm in the sun that there was no compulsion to leave the view of the misty, pink tinged valley and hills of Kent and Surrey for some time.

A pot of tea for two (Copyright Bygone Babe)

Once home, with the sun steaming through the windows, it was dificult to ignore that the house needed a good going over. I enjoy those old fashioned English novels, where they always have someone in, like a matronly Mrs Pinkhurst or some such character, 'to do the rough' . With no such dear in sight, I was doing the soft and the rough. In the kitchen, a search and eradication of stray sugar granules, left over from Mr BB's incident with a bag of sugar, then led to a thorough going over of the tea and coffee cupboard. Gasping for a cup of tea, which I was determined to have as a reward after my job was finished, I was suprised to unearth the above tartan treasure, which Mr BB must have inherited from my MIL. It had been so long since I have had tea in a pot that I thought this would make my reward even more special, so I scrubbed the inside with bicarbinate of soda, fantastic for removing tannin from all tea vessels, and set the pot to warm. 

What a reward it was! Two cups from the teapot were thoroughly enjoyed while I lingered over a puzzle book. During the week, puzzles seemed to abound at work. Some were mulling over 6 across, others were stuck on soduku, with even some working the wordsearch. I decided to extend the craze into the weekend and it was a great way to relax with my tea. After trying the Number Crunchers, the Arrowwords and the Hex puzzles, I settled down to my favourite - Logic puzzles, which are stories with fragments of clues, gradually pieced together to find out which 5 people had what amount of money, where it was kept and how they earnt it, or something equally inane. I think I like them because they are most like the old fashioned murder mysteries Agatha Christie used to write (Mr Peabody did not have the hammer while he was in the library, but the person in the kitchen had the chainsaw... ) 

A final delight this Autumn day was to linger over a slow cooked dinner - after all, this is the season of stews and casseroles. While returning from our walk, Mr BB and myself had discussed dinner and concluded that it would be Beef Pie for Mr BB and Mushroom Pie for myself, with Nigella's Hasselback Potatoes and some peas. Imagine my delight when I entered our local supermarket to purchase the necessities and was able to nab a recipe card as well. So handy.

Mushroom Pie (Copyright Bygone Babe)

The Beef Pie was made with stewing beef, which required about an hour cooking, once sealed, with the carrots and baby onions, and the gravy made from stock, plain flour and tomato paste. The Mushroom Pie was made second, with several types of mushrooms, baby onions, and a gravy made in the same way as above. While the filling for the pies was simmering, and sticking to the bottom of the pans, the potatoes were roasting in the oven.

Mr BB had been pestering me to make these Hasselback Potatoes ever since he had tasted them one dinner at the home of my friend, a true Domestic Goddess who had married an American Jamie Oliver. Needless to say dinner at their place was always a treat, but I harboured no illusions tonight I would come close to their usual gorgeous fare.

After an hour of simmering and stirring, the pies were ready to ladle into mini casserole dishes and a lid of puff pastry was laid over the top. They then had another half an hour in the oven, next to the potatoes. I happened to spy one of the apples beginning to turn, so decided to use several in order to make an impromptu apple crumble, which I popped into the oven as I served the main course (I fear my greed was too great as I didn't manage to eat the crumble, and have since relegated it to the fridge for another day.)

When it came to serving the pies, we removed the lids and then scooped the inside on top of the puffed pastry so it could cool before it was devoured. The aroma from both pies was delicious. The baby onions and small, whole mushrooms in my pie had still held their shape, while the rest had combined and melted into a delcious gravy, enhanced by the sherry I had decided to splosh into it while partaking of a rather large nip. It was a large serving, enough for two, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, and will have another chance to do so with the leftovers. Mr BB, I noticed, did not eat all of his pie filling either, but every last one of his Hasselback potatoes had disappeared.

Beef Pie and Nigella's Hasselback Potatoes (copyright Bygone Babe)