Staying local

We didn't feel like straying too far from home this lovely, sunny and warm Spring weekend. On Saturday, we bought pungent Old Amsterdam, Brie de Meaux Donge and Pyrenees Chevre cheeses from the imaginatively titled Cheeses in Muswell Hill; we bought cod fillets from the fishmonger Walter Purkis & Sons; Little Planet crawled around the equally imaginatively titled Children's Bookshop and we bought her some colourful and bold Jan Pienkowski books (Faces and Food); and we ate brunch at the local Giraffe, where M had eggs tostada, I had a full brunch plate complete with bacon, sausages, baked beans, potato wedges, fried eggs and toast, and Little Planet got distracted from eating her lunch by all the orange Giraffe balloons bobbing away.

Then we spent the afternoon at home gardening and playing with Little Planet on a picnic blanket. The day ended with cod roasted on a bed of potatoes and tomatoes and served with chermoula, and our first ever viewing of The Sopranos, season 1 on DVD, which we are watching now we have finished all seasons of The Wire.

Aside from a walk in the park and swing rides for Little Planet, all of Sunday was spent playing with Little Planet at home, reading the newspapers and generally chilling out. M baked bread with rye, wholemeal and white flours combined, and we ate it with our cheeses for lunch. He also made meringues, which he served up as pavlova with blackberries, raspberries and strawberries and whipped cream for our dessert after our Sunday dinner of roasted lamb shanks and watercress salad.