Saturday, February 19, 2011

An Aga, Some Tarts & Me

Today will be a day to remember forever and always.  I drank in the beauty that is an Aga cooker in all its cast iron glory.  R didn't quite understand the attraction at first but by the time we left The Aga Shop he was planning a new kitchen with a refrigerator to match.  Realistically though, until we finish paying for The Heiress' education the best we can hope to attain is one of these...

...adorable teapots!

 We were just up the road from the St Lawrence Market so we stopped in for something sweet.  The Key Lime tarts (bottom shelf) came highly recommended by the waiter at the pub were we had lunch.  R wanted to buy some fruit as well and while he made his choices I tried my first fresh fig from Argentina....delicious!
                                    
And thanks to Renata's suggestion in response to my post about visiting second-hand bookshops in Toronto last weekend, we stopped at Eliot's on Yonge Street.  To my sheer delight there were creaky floors, creaky steps and a sliding ladder!  It did make a very unfeminine 'thunk' whenever I stepped on it causing R to shout out a couple of times from the row over 'Is that you going up again?'  With copies of On the Side of the Angels by Betty Miller (VMC) and The Collected Stories of Elizabeth Bowen under my arm it was time to head back home for some playtime with Deacon.  Perhaps we could skip dinner and go straight to dessert!

14 comments:

  1. Oooh... I wish I had an Aga! Those teapots look really cute.
    More VMCs - well done :-)

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  2. I won't ever have one either...so I read Aga Sagas instead. :)

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  3. Oh sounds like the perfect day out. A sliding ladder is definitely the sign of a good bookshop. I visit the Aga Shop in London every now and then to indulge in a bit of wishful thinking, but I'm pretty sure if we tried to put an Aga into our flat it would crash into the flat below...!

    K x

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  4. My parents have a teapot a little like that - but I think it's a sideboard rather than an Aga. Purely decorative mind!

    I think you will LOVE On the side of Angels - I really enjoyed it for my VVV.

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  5. Cristina, The teapots are so cute that I'm not sure I could bear to put tea in them!

    Audrey, Every bit as nice and much cheaper...but never say never!

    Kristina, It's funny how tastes change as you grow. Wishful thinking never involved cookers when I was a teen but they sure do now!

    verity, Thank you! I was hoping you would have a thumbs up or down for me. This one was R's find and the cover art was the first sign it would be right up my street.

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  6. Ah, so that's an Aga, featured in many many old English books. (Though probably now a bit prettier and a LOT pricier.)

    And, ah, so that's Darlene.

    Nice shots of the butter tarts. I can't resist taking pictures at the Market either, including butter tarts, which I also did a water colour of on a recent art class field trip. Olives make a nice colourful display too.

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  7. Susan, You have to stop in at the shop the next time you're at the market! The model shown is massive but there are a couple on display that are much smaller...and less expensive. The colours available also add to the fantasy...the aubergine is gorgeous!

    The olives are lovely but there was so much jostling going on I was afraid of getting in someone's way!

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  8. Gorgeus cakes and gorgeous you Darlene! Lovely to see your face at last!

    Great haul...books are better than agas anyway!

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  9. What a gorgeous day - Agas, tarts, and books. It sounds wonderful.

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  10. bookssnob, Oh aren't you sweet, Rachel. R took a full on shot but I was mid-blink and looked as though I spent the afternoon knocking back Pimm's!

    makedoandread, Days like that make winter so much more bearable and it's nice having a partner who doesn't mind tagging along!

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  11. I am not allowed anywhere near teapots while I'm out unless they already have tea in them. Otherwise I will buy them. If I drank out of a different one every day for a fortnight, I still wouldn't use all the working (as opposed to purely ornamental) ones. It is a terrible affliction.

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  12. Annie, Teapots are so aesthetically pleasing and such a source of comfort. You can't be faulted for your affliction! Have you ever posted a photo of your collection?

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  13. I am glad you enjoyed the bookshop. It is nice when they are organized and you can have a chance of finding authors you are searching for. Haven't been there for quite a while, hmmm.......

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  14. WOW! That's what you call an Aga! I reckon if we got that in our kitchen there would be no room for us. My mum used to have a cat that used to sleep in one of the ovens, with the door open of course.

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