Designer Halloween Pie

Sophie Conran (Sir Terence's daughter) devised this special Halloween Pie recipe. It’s scarily easy to make and perfect for spooky suppers.

Ingredients (serves six)

800g (1 lb. 12 oz.) pumpkin, peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
½ tsp. dried red chilli flakes
2 tsp. cumin seeds
3 tbsp. olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
200g (7 oz.) firm goat’s cheese, crumbled
2 tsp. fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
1 handful walnut halves
1 handful flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
150g (5 oz.) filo pastry
50g (2 oz.) butter, melted, or 3 tbsp. olive oil, for brushing the pastry

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4).
2. Place pumpkin pieces on nonstick baking tray.
3. Sprinkle with chilli flakes, cumin seeds; drizzle with olive oil and coat well. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Cook in preheated oven 25-30 minutes or until pumpkin is tender and starting to brown. Remove from oven and leave to cool.
5. Once it’s cooled, place pumpkin in a bowl. Stir through goat’s cheese, sage, walnuts and parsley. Spoon mixture into a pie dish and set aside.
6. Brush both sheets of filo with melted butter or olive oil. Cover the top of the pie dish by lifting up each piece of filo in the centre with your thumb and index finger and placing it on top of the filling, making little crumpled hills.
7. Bake 20 minutes, until top is golden and centre piping hot.

Adapted from Sophie Conran's Pies.

Halloween's Mistress

I have found this charming lady over at ullabenulla etsy shop. she is so special. a touch melancholic. thoughtful. domineering.

Ines de la Fressange

Ines de la Fressange sits on top of my personal style icons along with Catherine Hepburn, Fanny Ardant and Diane Keaton. I have recently found these pictures of her at home with her two daughters. Beautiful, lived in, sophisticated.The photos are by Guillaume Barclay .

New deco for the shop

Last week we made a major redecorating in the shop. I was thinking of decorating for Christmas, but it's a long time shopwise. And here are the results. We haven't been receiving any new bedlinen for winter, so we grouped together the existing ones by color. Here is the pink/fuchsia lot.

And the orange one. There are a couple of new throws in there. I hadn't thought of grouping orange with yellow before. I like the result.Here is our new sofa. It is a company staple, but I like the new take. Less folk and more sophisticated.
And the second new sofa. I wasn't a big fan oF grey in deco, but I changed my mind the moment I gave this linen/cotton fabric a try.
This is our classic solid beech bed. Changed the curtains, made it less flowery. You can't see the beige throw details on this pics, I'll have to take a close up, but it is a lovely woven woolen with scattered fuchsia embroidered flowers. One of my favorite pieces ever.
This is bed nr.2. That's the kind of bed most of our customers go for. I had this wall painted red, and although I'm beginning tiring of the strong color, I thought I'd leave it as it is till spring. Then moved the bed with the charcoal covers against it. The duvet cover found its place. But what i love most is the two aluminium birds just behind the headboard. They actually stand on the floor and their colors fit nicely the new scheme.
This is the master bedroom at our front window. It's very comfortable and inviting. I love the new quilted bedspread (I'll have to add a close up of this ,too). And the woolen throw is just perfect!

Blues and Purples