Off Your Radar

Hi maties!!

I’m still in the land of the living but clearly not in the land of the blogging right now.  Summer holidays, beach, a replacement oil tank, She Shed, and some serious garden landscaping are keeping me pretty occupied right now.

Throw in a storm-damaged pergola into the mix which needed our urgent attention in order to save what was left of the pergola to keep grape vine and wisteria alive.

Our abundant grape crop had to be sacrificed to save the vine itself. 

A new pergola is now queued up as a winter project as we need to wait until late autumn to cut back what remains of the plants in the area. 

So I hope you can understand what’s keeping me quite silent on the blogging front right now.

I leave you with a second pic of our nigh street and town church.

Have a splendid week.

A la perchoine, 

Mary x. 

Renoir's Moulin Huet

Hi my lovelies.

Are you having a splendid August?

I'm sure your days are full like mine and you're finding little time to sit and read whilst the sun is out.  There's something about August that inspires me to live life to the full.  You too? Maybe there's a touch of panic in the air, the feeling that summer is slipping by ...

So I thought I'd just pop in with some pics of what I saw and enjoyed when out walking recently, as some of you have mentioned that you enjoy seeing pics of my home island of Guernsey, so I thought it would be nice to do a few scenic posts this month for you to whisk through when you have a moment or two to spare. 

Let's kick off with Moulin Huet, a bay along our south coast.

The island was celebrating the life of the French impressionist artist Renoir (d. 1919), who visited the island and worked on many paintings of this particular bay during his stay.

To create atmosphere, this charming family walked around the area invoking the spirit of the period.

Frames captured some of the scenes he painted.

From the hilltop tea kiosk.

I felt this pic was of the period, I rather liked it's composition.

No filters are needed when the shallow sea is this beautiful shade of jade.

Every walk must include a coffee and scones, it's the rules!

TP taking a shot through one of the frames positioned around the bay.

I hope you found a few spare moments to take a virtual walk around Moulin Huet.

A la perchoine, 

Mary x.

My Cliff Top Shop

My dear readers, we are ploughing into August with some great bulldozery thing and I am wanting to make the most of every single hour of sunniness.  So on many days I frolic around on the beach.  And on many other days I am working on my She Shed.  You get the picture don't you.  Or rather you don't get the picture, cos I'm either in a swimsuit or in painting scruffies and either way, not much is making it on to the blog right now!

However, these beauts have been most photoworthy.

I recently did a bit of shopping at a cliff top gift shop at Le Gouffre.   Ok, not your Madeleine, Hobbs or Baukjen sort of shopping admittedly, but this type of shop sells light clothes with a distinct summer vibe and most wearable in this heat.

Here's what I picked up in their summer sale.

A black jersey and lace OTS maxi, cool and floaty and just £15.

I tried it with a leather tie belt, which I thought was quite the gypsy look.

But I think it works best as it was designed - loose, floaty and cool.

A hat adds edge to this floaty number, taking it from 70s throwback to teensies boho.  IMHO.

I also bought a light-as-a-feather pink kaftan, £7.

Great for suitcase packing and a versatile layering piece.

It scrubs up well over a black maxi slip dress.

And the kaftan can be slipped off for summer evening aperos.

However, it works best with a white column.  Again IMHO.

But a few days after this little shopping spree, I went back for more.  I knew the white version of the maxi was lurking up on those cliffs.

I spent took out another £15 from my money box and bagged myself an OTS maxi twin.

I stuck a hat on this outfit and test-drove the dress on my morning constitional.  Really just to see if after all these years I could still walk in a maxi without going t**s up.

And what a relief, not one stumble during the whole walk.

But it did feel a bit weird, walking round the lanes on a sunny Saturday morning in something that resembles a nightie.  

I asked The Photographer what it felt like to be out in public with a lady who looked like she'd just got out of bed (especially as I wasn't wearing make up!)

"No, it's like I'm out promenading with a lady from an impressionist painting", he replied.   Awwww. 

So here I give you a hitherto unknown work, attributed to Monet.  Femme Dans Les Jardins de Chez Pout.  

So, what do you think of my floaty numbers?

Not a bad haul for cliff top gift shop shopping?

Was that £37 well spent?

And do YOU sometimes pick up clothes in unlikely places?

A la perchoine, 

Mary x.

Cousin Chris’s Chicken Pie

I recently shared my quickie recipe for Chicken Sundae, which you can find HERE.

Here’s what you can do with the rest of your roasted chicken.

When I was last in Sussex one of my cousin's invited us round for supper and served a super-yummy chicken pie.  I asked how she'd made it and she talked me briefly through the ingredients and process.  She had me itching to try it and I made it a few days later with fresh chicken - I've since come up with an even easier way to make it using roasted chicken so that's how i present it here today.

I’ve tended to be put off making chicken pies because they can be a bit of a faff.  This one isn’t.  I think its USP is not having to make a “proper” sauce to bind the filling,   This pie's "sauce" uses a few ingredients mixed together and dolloped on top the filling ingredients.  

So simple.  In fact, so simple is it that I’ve made the pie several times since I first tried it at my cousin’s house back in June.  Well, I’ve had to do the testing of the recipe for you, eh, and if I’ve got to eat rather a lot of chicken pie along the way, then that is no hardship!

Cousin Chris’s Chicken Pie 

Ingredients

(This pie is not chemistry cooking, so you decide your own quanties)

Filling:

Cooked chicken (my preference), shredded or chopped roughly

Vegetables: onions and your choice of veg, mushrooms, leeks etc

Chopped fresh herbs you have to hand, e.g. basil, oregano, tarragon

Seasoning

Topping: 

250gr tub mascarpone

Grated parmesan, to taste

about 1 heaped tspn plain flour plain

Seasoning

Pastry:

Shortcrust pastry to cover your chosen our pie dish

milk or beaten egg to glaze, if desired

Method

Make pastry (or buy ready made)

Cover with cling film (Saran  wrap?) and leave to chill in fridge for at least 30 minutes (makes it easier to roll out).

Meanwhile, make the filling.

Place ingredients in oven proof dish.

Top with fresh herbs.

Mix topping.

Place in clumps over the filling (you may prefer to add the herbs at this stage - your call!).

Take pastry out of fridge and take out of cling film covering.  Roll out on floured board to a size to cover and seal your pie dish.

Cover the our dish with rolled out pastry.  Crimp to seal edges.  Prick.  Glaze.  Bake at 180c for 30-40 depending on whether you're using fresh or cooked chicken and the ferocity of your oven.

Enjoy!

Having a souschef can save time!

Such simply constructed comfort food.  What's not to enjoy?  Well, apart from my little video of the making of this yumminess.

Please watch and enjoy that too!

A la perchoine, 

Mary x.

What I Wore in July

Hi lovely peeps.

Well that was July gone.  Our beautifully sunny July met all our expectations over here, hope it was good for you too.

So, welcome to August!

I'm knee-deep in She-Shed stuff now.  The construction of the shed itself finished yesterday.  It's now hell for leather for us,  painting the inside and out, then decanting the contents of The Leaning Sheds of  Poutland into the She-Shed, but neatly, stylishly, light-touchedly stored this time round.  A one-ton dumping bag will be near to hand during this stage, there will be much de-cluttering.

The garden team come back mid-August for the next stage.  Yes, this shed thing has become A Thing at Chez Pout - and has sprouted legs in every direction possible!

Which is my excuse for this post intro to this post.  I realised last night, brain fired with virtual garden planning and unable to sleep, that I hadn't posted a What I Wore during July.  Not one.

And if you're like me, then you do quite enjoying seeing what others wear day-to-day.  Not staged and styled outfits, just your common or garden everyday wear.  Besides, I find it's just the discipline I need as it holds me accountable for what I wear, and I need some of that!

So last night I loaded up what's been doing on my back during our glorious July, with the exception of stand-alone outfits I've already posted on (very few during the month, I discovered).  

Here's July's OOTD parade, with very little narrative. 

Yes, I dared to take one of those blogger leg shots, just for a laugh - nice wobbly bits, Pout.  I sent it to my Sibs, for fun you understand, we're not weird!   My bro replied with "Rickets?"  Well, I expect I do look at bit rickety from this angle - ughhhh!!!!

I attempted one of those accessory detail collages too.

Shorts and hats were my July essentials.

I played around a bit with headscarfage.

Old silk harems were rediscovered.

Loving this yellow broderie anglaise (eyelet) top.

This was my most popular Insta pic in July - beats me why!

Sorry for the out of sync pics but hey, I've got a shed to paint so no time to try editing this lot!

But I hope within this combobulation there's maybe some inkling of inspo here for you.

Wishing you a fabulous August - go out and enjoy it!

A la perchoine,

Mary x.