It is lovely to see Trafalgar Square at any time of year, but I particularly like it at Christmas, you see I’ve only seen it at Christmas for a couple of years and I’m always bowled over by just how big that tree is. Hubby and I started on our first leg of Christmas journeys here as I was eager to see just what the tree was like and to end our adventure we had to come back to see it in the dark.  It was magical, enjoy.

I had a quick trip around a local supermarket with hubby just as they were reducing their fresh groceries for a quick sale, when the shop assistant plonked four bags of nice looking limes into the reduced section for two pence a bag. I blinked and then grabbed them.  I was working on the premise that I would worry about what I was going to do with them later.

After rescuing two glass jars that were nearly empty washing them and then running them through the dishwasher to sterilise, by far the easiest method, I prepared the limes.  Some recipes call for the rind to be grated, I prefer my curd super smooth. So I squeezed my limes with my teak lime squeezer, it does such a brilliant job, weighed out my sugar, beat my eggs really well, the more you beat them the less risk of solidified white bits and cut my block of cold butter into small cubes and measured out a level dessertspoon (not tablespoon) of cornflour – this just stabilises the mixture and makes it much less likely to curdle.  Then I put all of the ingredients in a saucepan, placed on a medium heat, stirred all the time with a wooden spoon until it thickened, turned the heat right down, let it blip, blip, blip, whilst stirring for another 30 seconds to a minute and turned it off the heat and potted it up.

It made two jars with just enough left over for a taster.  Having seen it settle down, I’d say fill the jars as much as possible, the egg must give it a rise or something because it sinks right down when it is cold.

Ingredients.

10 Limes

5 medium eggs

14 oz caster sugar

250g unsalted butter.

1 level dessertspoon cornflour

It has to be said there is a fair amount of window shopping to be had in London.  Even I suspect with the deepest of pockets much of the time is spent wandering around.  If I’m in the centre of London and need a little shopping therapy my favourite place to mooch around is Liberty, I just love the whole shopping experience, the Tudor revival building with its central light well where one can gaze onto the other floors,  the smells of polish and perfume, leather and wood.  Luxury goods are lavishly displayed all around and the gentle sound of feet walking on solid timber, it simply fills me with joy. I feel invigorated as I leave, even if I don’t make a purchase.

Liberty at Christmas is just wonderful, there is so much to love.

On Sunday after much adventuring we stopped by Caffe Concerto in Northumberland Avenue, just off Trafalgar Square for a very welcomed treat. Hubby chose coffee, which he declared delicious and as I can’t drink coffee that late in the day, it was 8p.m., I’d have been flying all night with the tawny owls, I settled on a restorative glass of strawberry and prosecco rossini, which was as hoped, delightful. We had gorgeous cakes, after a 7.5 mile hike around London we thought we had earned the calories and a very pleasant hour was spent listening to a duet played on a baby grand and a violin.

I know people whinge about Caffe Concerto as being a tourist trap, but really where else is there in the centre of London that isn’t.  The decor is wonderful, we had excellent service, the cakes are lovely, the coffee is good and the prosecco was cold, the atmosphere was just charming and the loos were spotless and they were open for coffee and cake at 8 p.m on a Sunday, what more do you need?

I know this post is very overdue and I was going to let it slide, but hubby has asked me about it three times now and the last time this weekend he sounded rather sad.  So for you my darling boy, may I present my photos of the Apple Watch’s installation in Selfridges Windows. I agree it is absolutely stunning.

The more observant of my blog readers may have noticed that my posts were slightly erratic of late, made worse by me playing catch up with some posts that were overdue (some still are!). I headed home in a bit of a rush, sometime in October, I literally grabbed a bag, packed a cat and ran, my Dad had been rushed into hospital.  Six weeks later he has a brand new shiny aortic valve and a double heart bypass, he’s home and is slowly recuperating, we are hoping for an uneventful recovery.

I did have time to spend a little time with Son no.1 and hubby, but basically my life revolved around daily hospital visits, some more grueling than others, emotional exhaustion and knitting. Knitting really saved my soul, I didn’t seem to get much done, but just the very act of carrying wool and squishing warm wool at times of most need was greatly comforting.  I suspect you just have to love wool to understand that, to me its my comfort blanket.  When I look at my knitted wardrobe I have several jumpers and pairs of socks that I can attribute to various operations and confinements that me, hubby, my dad and son no.2 have endured, bizarre but true.  In fact it was one of the first thing I packed, some knitting needles and some sock yarn.

And now I am home in London, downstairs looks homelike, upstairs still needs attention, the cat is happier, I am happier, which is interesting, we will see how that pans out, country girl becomes city chick, maybe!

And something else has happened, which I can’t put my finger on.  I was in a state of angst before all of this happened, nothing major, you know just… ‘stuff’.  It all seems clearer to me at the moment, which is a wonderful relief, I feel more energised and clearer of vision, more focused. It is all good.  As that saying goes, ‘Life is too short to sweat the small stuff”.

So I’m back in re entry, hubby and I had a good 7.5 mile stomp around London yesterday, more of which you will see later on in the week and we couldn’t be happier.

I’ll leave you with the last of my summer roses, picked yesterday morning.

Toile in full retriever mode.