SAILING WITH CONRAN, OUTDOOR FURNITURE ETC

Conran Shop on Marylebone High Street in London had gone to the sea side. With sails, blue painted floor and the singing of seagulls coming out of the speakers it made me feel like being home ( I am from Stockholm just by the sea where you see sailing boats and hear seagulls more or less all year round!). Fresh and uplifting!

DESIGNERS GUILD OPENS NEW SHOP ON MARYLEBONE HIGH STREET IN LONDON

Designers Guild opened a new shop on Marylebone High Street last Wednesday! A much more modern and contemporary look than the "flagship store" on Kings Road. Marylebone High Street is really becoming the new Interior Design Street with Conran more or less opposite, Cath Kidston, Aga/Divertimienti, Grange, The White Company, Brisi etc......

GARDEN GNOMES, ANGELS AND RABBITS IN CONCRETE

I never thought I would lika a garden gnome but this one in concrete is quite lovable...or why not an angel or rabbit. All from www.gardengadgets.co.uk. They will exhibite on Chelsea Flower Show in late may. Home store in my hometown of Chipping Campden.

THE SIXTIES ARE BACK AT HOME

The sixties are back (did they ever go away) in interior design. Heal´s are showing sixties inspired furniture with a red backdrop, also very "in" like in the sixties. My first own room that I designed was all white with red and Marimekkos "Unikko" on the bed and in the window, very bold. Notice the silver cushion on the floor.
Above, "op" i.e. black and white graphic designs together with colours like orange and lime green, Designers Guild.

OUTDOOR FURNITURE AND DESIGN IN LIME GREEN and black

If you should believe the trend gurus lime green was last years colour. But I think it is the most uplifting colour for the garden. Crisp, fresh and vibrant it looks good with any style. Match it up with yellow, turquoise or just simply with black and grey as in Designers Guild´s (www.designersguild.com) court yard garden in Kings Road (London, England) recently. With pots and pansies in yellow at Lapstone (www.lapstone.net) near to were I live in Chipping Campden, The Cotswolds. I have some wonderful stuff in my garden in lime green and black, all in plastic, that was designed by Thomas Sandell for Ikea in the early 20 centuries, why are they not still in the range for summer, Ikea????

FRIDAY NIGHT WITH LAMB CHOPS AND POMMES DAUPHINOISE

Hi again. Today I finally finished writing a small guide about shopping in the Cotswolds.
To celebrate that it is finally Friday I will cook a nice meal tonight.
We will start with fennel salad and then have lamb chops with french potato gratin, Pommes Dauphinoise.
Serves 4

FENNEL SALAD (Insalata Bianca - white salad)

2 fennel hearts, finely sliced
the juice of 2 lemons
rind from 1 lemon
200 g mushrooms finely sliced
100 g Parmesan cheese, flaked
2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
Olive oil
Parsley

Pour the lemon juice over the fennel and add the rind. Leave to "cook" for 30 minutes.
Mix in the mushrooms and garlic. Sprinkle with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and finally chop some parsley and sprinkle on top. Nice and very healthy starter.

LAMB CHOPS

12 lamb chops

Marinate the chops in a mix of soya, red wine, honey and thyme, minimum 1 hour.

Fry och grill the chops to your liking

POMMES DAUPHINOISE

8 middle sized potatoes, finely sliced
500 ml whipping cream
5 garlic cloves, crushed
salt & pepper
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
grated nutmeg, optional

Heat the oven to 225 degrees Celsius
Butter an oven dish and spread out the potato slices. Mix the cream with the mustard and garlic and season to taste.
Pour the cream mix over the potatoes and cook in the oven for 45 minutes.

RECIPE FOR FANTASTIC PEPPERS!

Hi everybody, sorry for no blogging lately. We were supposed to have gone to Sweden for Easter, to our island in the archipelago, but the was too much ice so we could not go there (you have to have your own boat to get there). Next trip was supposed to have been to Hong Kong this Saturday, but that trip was cancelled due to disruption cause by the volcano in Island....what ever next...
Meanwhile and hopefully more blogging in the near future I will give you this gorgeous recipe with peppers...

you need

1 red, yellow or orange pepper per person
2-3 cherry tomatoes per per pepper
1 garlic clove per pepper
olive oil
salt
pepper
anchovies in oil
basil

Put the oven on 200 degrees Celsius.

Half the peppers and clean out the pips. Put them in an oven dish. Fill with the tomatoes and garlic, season with salt & pepper and drizzle olive oil over the peppers.
Cook in the oven for 40 minutes. Decorate with basil leaves and anchovies and serve as a starter!

PINK ROMANCE AT DESIGNERS GUILD AND LAW & COMPANY

More romance at Law and order in Stow on the Wold in the Cotswolds. This shop has managed to capture the essence of girlie romantic style without being too sweet! Well worth a visit!

A couple of weeks ago Designers Guild showed their spring news. Like this very romantic bedroom à la French Boudoir! Glamorous, chic and a bit naughty at the same time. They are opening a new shop on Marylebone High Street in London next week! Exciting!