Design Notebook………….

Bestlight Desk Lamp.

Created in 1930 by Robert Best and made in Birmingham, the Bestlite (from around £300+) is very British and very fictional. The angle of the lamp is adjusted via the pivoting swan neck arm. It has a chrome height adjustable arm with an adjustable shade and base available in matt black, matt ivory or glossy white.

It’s not a pretty lamp but very clean in design and impressive, it’s well constructed and durable and is still a firm favourite in many homes. It’s a very straightforward design with no gimmicks and it comes in a variety of lamps and wall brackets in the same shape and they all work well. An early example of the Bauhaus movement it was featured in the 'Architects Journal'. This opened up the light's potential to the architectural community and huge success followed.

Legend has it one sat on Winston Churchill’s air raid shelter desk during the war. 

New Kitchen Journey

I have asked Andy Randall head of design at tsunami uk ltd what you should be looking for or how you should approach buying a new kitchen and his expert advice is, “people should trust what they think and want but be open to inspiration and advice from us. Easier said and done as people continuously form opinions and ideas, they should ask as many questions as they can, ask the same questions in different places, this gets rid of dodgy salesman answers that get given!”

When we embark on changing our kitchen so it not just suits our needs but also our lifestyle here is how the whole process works at tsunami uk ltd.

1.            Client comes in and talks a little and looks around showroom (we will tend not to go to deep here)

2.            Meeting for design brief booked in (very important from our side as Tsunami, if they are interested and serious they will come back for a proper meeting, we have found people we take a brief from when they just walk in, never, really never go ahead. Important to remember that for an hour of their time we a giving hours of our time in designing)

3.            Design brief (The most important bit! this is the opportunity for us to understand the client and for them to tell us as much as possible, the better the drief the better the design! )

4.            Designing (this will take 7-10 days for us to design, drawer, price)

5.            1st Presentation (We will present the design and concept we have come up with. This is done using hand drawn plans, hand drawn measured perspectives, and costings, at this stage the entire design is talked through, from basic concept to finishes. However nice the design/drawings this is really the first main discussion so changes almost always occur. This is good as this is the real refining of the design to suit the client)

6.            2nd Presentation (The design presented here should not be a shock, it should include the changes made at the last meeting and the costs really pinned down, because of this the client should know the design, the finishes, the final cost. A deposit will normally be asked for here to proceed.)

7.            Deposit received (we will now release drawings, samples and our project manager will come to site, until this point we will have been quite cagey, we do not release drawings as they are our strong point, we do not release samples as we work very very hard to secure rare and exclusive materials)

8.            Kitchen ordered (delivery will now take 12-14 weeks. During this time we would generally liaise with the client’s contractors who are doing the building work, ensuring that the site is going to be ready for the kitchen delivery)

9.            Kitchen Here (We are ready to fit to a ready prepared area, floors down, wall first painted, electrics and plumbing in place. It will take about 3 ish weeks to fit)

10.          Fitting (Normally the kitchen gets first fitted, units only. The worktops get template and there is a pause while they get made 10-14 days. The worktops get fitted. Second fix of the units is completed all appliances in, things finished off. The client now has a finished Kitchen)

Design Notebook………….

Gordon Ramsay by Royal Doulton
Gordon Ramsay White

Sometimes you just want the simplicity of white tableware and not have any distraction when you’ve created your dish or you don’t want it clashing with your dining room interior.

Gordon Ramsey has created a great white tableware range for Royal Doulton which is restaurant standard and has an embossed ring pattern round the edge to add some relief.

This range has a great selection of choices without being confusing and you’re overwhelmed.

The plates come in 4 sizes from the dinner plate of 30.5 cm at £18.00 down to 16.5 cm£13.00 for the side plate.

  

There is a great sized desert / cereal bowl at £15.00 and a rimmed soup bowl at £17.00.

The rest of the range comprises of a tea cup at £13.00 and saucer at £12.00 or if you’re more of a coffee fan an espresso cup at £8.00 and saucer at £6.00.

We loved the serving plate at £45

At Tsunami UK we thought this was a great well-made basic range which you could mix and match your existing china and not duplicate on your big dishes and platters.

Seasonal recipe for September

Saddle of lamb stuffed spinach

As we move towards the comfort food, this recipe uses spinach and lamb a winning combination.

Serves 6-8

1 saddle of lamb, about 2.4kg, boned out

1 garlic bulb

Sea salt and pepper

Splash of olive oil

Few sage sprigs

Knob of butter

Stuffing:

3-4 tbsp olive oil

250g mixed mushrooms (shiitake, oyster, button), cleaned

Knob of butter

250g young spinach, stalks removed

2-3 tbsp mascarpone

1 egg yolk

Freshly grated nutmeg

6-8 sage leaves

Pan jus:

1 tbsp sherry vinegar

2 glasses red wine

125ml light stock

1.Heat the oven to 200C/Gas 6. Open out the saddle of lamb and set aside the eye fillets. Halve the garlic bulb, season and leave for a few minutes to draw out the juices.

2 For the stuffing, heat a splash of olive oil in a non-stick pan and sauté the mushrooms until they are softened and browned, then drain in a colander. Heat a little more oil and a knob of butter in the pan, add the spinach, season lightly and cook until just wilted. Tip the mushrooms into a bowl, mix in the spinach, mascarpone and egg yolk, then season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.

3 Oil several sage leaves and place down the middle of the lamb. Rub the meat with the halved garlic bulb. Spoon the stuffing on top of the sage leaves. Cut the eye fillets horizontally (but not right through), open out and place over the stuffing. Fold one flap of the saddle over, then the other, wrapping firmly to make a neat roll. Secure with string at intervals and tuck the remaining sage leaves in at the ends.

4 Heat a splash of oil in a roasting pan; add the garlic bulb and a few sage sprigs and sauté briefly, then add the butter and allow to foam. Put the meat on top.

The closing days of summer ……

As we head towards autumn and being inside, it’s nice to find great out door spots to enjoy a drink or bite to eat where you can sit outside but enjoy a drink or bite to eat.

The Sanctum Soho Hotel is two Georgian Townhouses converted into an opulent hotel with amazing décor and a fabulous rooftop bar so you can enjoy the outside in the middle of the West End of London.

The hotel although just off Regent Street is hidden away at the back of Warwick Street like a hidden jewel.

So if you’re looking for a few drinks before hitting a night out or just want a relaxing drink after a day’s shopping this is one place to be and don’t be surprised if you bump into an off duty rock star in the amazing lift ……..

Seasonal Food for September

This month’s newcomers...

Apples (Egremont Russet, Blenheim orange, Orleans Reinette), blackberries, cabbages, chillies, damsons, elderberries, juniper berries, kale, mushrooms (ceps, chanterelles, oyster), pears (Beth, Williams, Merton Pride), peppers, pumpkins, sweetcorn , crayfish, red grouse, goose

Still in season: Artichoke, aubergine, basil, beetroot, broccoli, cabbages, carrots, courgettes, cucumber, crayfish, fennel, French beans, garlic, hare, lamb, new potatoes, onions, pak choi, rabbit, radishes, red grouse, rocket, runner beans, sorrel, watercress ; apricots, blueberries, greengages, loganberries, peaches, plums, late raspberries, redcurrants

VEGETABLES

Artichoke, Aubergine, Beetroot, Courgettes, Cucumber, Fennel ,Kale, Mint ,Mushrooms ,Pak choi

Parsley, Peppers Pumpkins, Rocket, Rosemary, Samphire ,Sorrel ,Spinach Sweetcorn ,Watercress.

FRUIT

Apples, Apricots, Blackberries, Cherries, Greengages, Peaches, Pears, Plums, Raspberries.

MEAT

Grouse

Hare

Lamb

FISH AND SEAFOOD

Crab, Crayfish, John Dory, Shallow Salmon, Sea trout

A fishy on a dishy …….

At Tsunami UK we adore these plates by Valerie le Roux, they are all individual and quite quirky. They type you fall in love with on holiday but then spend ages trying to work out how to get them back home safely.

Valerie lives in Brittany in a tiny cottage overlooking the fishing port and draws her inspiration from their – you can buy directly from her website in Euro’s.

 www.valerieleroux.com