First you have to invite the friends..

Have you put it off? Never got round to it somehow? You think you haven't got time, it's too much work, you don't know what to cook?

Planning in advance is the answer to easy and relaxing entertaining. I either get things out of the way early in the week and leave the day itself to concentrate on preparing, or do a bit each day. Either works but I don't get anxious if I have a plan. We live a long way from any shops so I have to think ahead about the food at least (and I write it down then try not to change my mind!).

Once you have found a menu that works (see yesterday's post) don't be afraid to repeat it with other friends (I try not to repeat it with the same friends but that may well have happened - but if it's good food, who minds?)

As to the house - open the windows for an hour or two, whip round the dining room putting the 'pile' of papers and clutter in another room, fresh towels and soap in the bathroom, candles and flowers - any kind - tea lights and wild flowers in jam jars, whatever. I think you get away with a lot if you have candles and flowers.

So lift the phone and make that call. Enjoy! It is one of life's greatest pleasures.

(If I invite you round for dinner any time soon, you know what you are going to have, don't you....)

Oh, an important PS:- ALWAYS ask if anyone has any allergies/dislikes/spicial requirements. I had someone lactose intolerant and another who was diabetic at the same meal - all the more reason to PLAN.

One of my very favourite things is having friends for a meal.

Here is an easy summer menu.

Grilled slices of halloumi, diced chilled water melon and mixed salad and herb leaves. All prepared earlier in the day.

Then ratatouille which can easily be kept hot on the top of the cooker till needed, with ready-to-bake French bread brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt - baked earlier and warmed while we had our starter. The bread is the only thing that requires timing.

Follow, in a leisurely fashion, with home made strawberry ice cream (see here) served with mint leaves.

A nice wine, good coffee and little squares of dark chocolate.

Add dear friends and laughter and no work the following day and you have an evening to remember.

(M&S wine club for those of you in UK have a great introductory offer - £50 off and free delivery - which I can highly recommend....)

The garden is very full, and after a few days of sunshine and cloudbursts, much of it is flattened.

Picking flowers this morning I couldn't quite make up my mind if it looked romantic, or if it just looked messy - it's a fine line....

The air was warm and moist, the scents were delicious, I had all the time in the world.

I opted for Romantic.

Tomorrow I may think differently....but tomorrow is another day..









May You Be Happy Always (and Always Choose To Have A Little Romance In Your Life).

Coming soon to a street near you!

I want to know how they get him here, and how they take him away....

He is real! He nodded and moved his hands, but his expression is somewhat pained would you agree? His tin was filling up. I felt obliged to contribute, for the photograph, and the entertainment.

City life!

An hour or two in dappled sun..

followed by a lovingly prepared delicious meal.

We've had a very happy anniversary!

Every now and then, throughout a rather fraught day (abandoned journey, lost phone numbers, torrential rain, thunder and lightning and zero visibility on the motorway) I found myself thinking of the new baby prince and feeling a little burst of joy.

I remember after the birth of my daughters that for those first few hours the rest of the world simply did not exist for me, so filled I was with love and wonder.

Nothing is lovelier than a wanted child.

Sarah asked if I get my sweet pea seeds from Sarah Raven...truth is I've lost track of where I get them from!

I have had great seeds from Matthewman's sweet peas, Unwin's and Sarah Raven - and ones I've spotted at garden centres.

I always grow 'Anniversary', shown here, and Matucana, (see recent posts). 'Gwendoline' is another favourite.

This year I tried 'Fire and Ice' - a good scent but very short stems. Nice for posies.

At wonderful Easton Walled Garden they have a Sweet Pea Week and a 'pickery' - isn't that delightful? It also gives you the chance to compare lots of varieties. 

I made a list and bought seeds of 'Blue Velvet' and 'Betty Maiden' and made a note to buy 'Duo Salmon' and 'Harlow Carr' which they didn't have in stock when we were there recently.

I choose first for scent and second for colour. This year I will sow some in autumn in the hope of having some flowers when we open the garden under the Scotland's Gardens Scheme again next June.

This year, in this heatwave, you can smell the flowers all across the garden - heavenly!

..with the garden at the moment!

 I realise my posts are rather short and very flowery lately, but I'm floating on perfumed warm air....and having a most delightful holiday at home.

What with that and a full moon....

Normal service will no doubt resume with the first thunderstorm, due any day now, we're told.

Blues are quite hard to photograph I find..

Pretty!

Healthy, sugar free, guilt free and easy ice cream!
 
Love it.

It's a Zoe Harcombe recipe. Freeze some sliced banana and some strawberries and put in a blender with some orange juice to make a thick smoothie. Add live yoghurt, tip into a dish and freeze - you can give it a stir, but you don't have to. We had it frozen but not frozen solid. Absolutely delicious and a lovely texture.

I wonder if you can skip freezing the fruit first....I'm looking forward to experimenting with different fruits, and for a special occasion using cream instead of yoghurt.

More good weather forecast. Yay!

Some of you will remember my brave talk of a 30 day diet blitz (see here).

I might have managed to stick to it on holiday, but not on holiday in a heatwave. When  it gets over 20 degrees I want ice cream, and when it reaches 28 I want two!

I knew it might be difficult and found Leo Babatua's advice on keeping up your good habits while travelling really helpful (see here).

I decided to 'hold loosely to my expectations', 'do the minimum' and pick it up again soon after I got back.

But it is still hot, and I still want ice cream.

Zoe Harcombe has a recipe which I'm going to try tomorrow - will report back...

Have you ever managed to stick to a strict diet while on holiday?

Because it was so hot while we were away, I spent a lot of time sitting in the shade in this small town garden (which I designed for friends) reading Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall.

When we did venture out I found myself looking around York thinking that the characters in the book knew this city, walked these streets, Cardinal Wolsey would have arrived from London through that very gate. We visited Lincoln and the old part of that city too would have been familiar to some of the real people Mantel brings back to life so effectively. We went to Easton Walled Garden which may have looked much the same as it did in Tudor times and the Cholmeley family who have owned it for 14 generations were around in Henry VIII's time.
We went to a wonderful concert of choral music by the scholars of St Martin in the Field in an ancient church in York and I realised that some of the music would have been known to Thomas Cromwell, and would probably have sounded just the same.

I became more immersed in the book and the period than I ever have before with any book, and it was a lovely experience. I'm now reading Bring Up The Bodies....

All because it was 26 degrees.

We came home to the smell of dead mouse in the kitchen! Bleugh...but I have spent a happy hour replacing the awful stink of the poor wee beastie with the heavenly scent of sweet peas in vases, a big jug of honeysuckle, and tiny glasses of delicious night scented stock on windowledges and by the bedside.

East, west, hame's best!

This is an annual meadow at Breezy Knees Garden near York - see it if you can! It is expected to get even more colourful in the next few weeks with cornflowers, poppies and toadflax. It is huge (two acres) and if you can, imagine all the flowers swaying  slightly in a little hot wind as we walked through it, with hundreds of moths and butterflies fluttering about....heavenly and one of the highlights of a most relaxing holiday.

I'm heading off for a holiday and leave you with a medley of images from the house and garden.

Wishing you sunshine and happy days.

Quotations I like -
 
'I have decided to be happy because it is good for one's health.' 
     Voltaire.

Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.' 
     Hippocrates

At one time I thought to simplify my gardening by only growing perennials, but then I would miss things like this gypsophila 'Covent Garden' and in front, Orlaya grandiflora....

and this Papaver somniferum 'Dark Plum' from Sarah Raven.

I love it against lime greens and other wines and purples.

And sweet peas! How could I garden without sweet peas?

This one is called Fire and Ice.

One of the things I like best about annuals is that you can try something different every year. I think I shall be growing them for some time yet..

And yes, I grow biennials too.

A warning! I should have known better than to prick out the forget-me-nots into home made compost.
 
Clearly our bins don't get hot enough to kill of seeds.. (we usually dig the compost into the cutting patch).

Sowing seeds in it was even more foolish. I have no idea what I've got here, but I don't think it's foxgloves - the two pots look suspiciously alike and germinated suspiciously close in time! They might even be something desirable as we don't put weeds in the bins....I might just wait and see....

but will also re-sow, in sterilised compost.

Our little friend,

seen here on a sunny day in February,

is looking a bit the worse for wear tonight!

Well, if you'd raised two families this summer, were moulting, and had been out in the rain all day, would you be looking your best?

Well, day one of the healthy eating plan was good - lots of nice fresh food and an hour's walk.

But, (there's always a but isn't there!)....I have two problems so far:

One is Zoe's suggestion that you get rid of  everything from your kitchen which is not on the list. How do you do this when someone else in the house still wants to eat these things? You can't, can you Penny? So willpower will be required (the hard bit).

Also in our culture, as in most cultures, it is courteous to offer a cake or a biscuit with a coffee when friends call. What is the healthy alternative here? Ideas please....though I fear the answer is willpower again..

Frances - are you getting over your resistance to being told what to do?

I find there is great freedom in it - simply doing what you are told -  but only if you trust who is doing the telling, and I do trust Zoe Harcombe, having used her books for a couple of years now. I do what Fly Lady tells me every day, and housework has never been easier, so I no longer have an issue with this.

Are you good at following this kind of plan? Can you accept being told what to do?