A cosy, rainy autumn day in my little English home! 🍂 Today, I'm embracing the slower rhythm of the season, bringing a little autumn magic indoors with simple seasonal decorating, working with herbs, and making a homemade elderberry syrup in preparation for the colder months. Living in a small London flat has taught me that one doesn't need a countryside cottage to enjoy the beauty of seasonal living. Sometimes, it's the simplest things — making something with our hands, decorating with nature, and creating a warm, welcoming home — that make everyday life feel a little more magical. I hope this gentle autumn vlog inspires you to slow down, enjoy the little things, and find beauty wherever you call home. 🤎
Thank you for spending this rainy autumn day with me!
~Elderberry Syrup:
-1 cup dried elderberries -4 cups water -2 star anise -4 cloves -1 cup raw honey
Put everything into a pan apart from the honey. Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 1h or at least until the liquid has reduced by about half the amount. Let it cool slightly and strain the liquid through a cheesecloth before adding the honey and mixing together well. Keep in a clean container and store in the fridge.
Butternut Squash Soup:
-1 big or 2 small butternut squash -1 white onion -2 cloves garlic -2 or 3 white potatoes (makes it creamier) -2 tsp ground cinnamon -1 tsp ground ginger -1.5 l vegetable stock -salt and pepper to taste
Chop up the butternut squash and potatoes. Fry the onion, garlic and spices in a bit of oil until softened and fragrant. Add in the chopped veggies and stock and cook until everything is softened. Blitz the soup in a blender and enjoy!
It is very rainy
and grey here today
in London and we
are coming towards
the end of this
very beautiful and enchanting month.
October feels like the most perfect autumn,
the goldens and reds, warm and yet with the
beginnings of the autumn rain
and wind now edging in as we come closer to November.
This month allows moments for cosiness
and soft light in the evenings as the days slowly
Slowly get darker.
The forecast showed a lot of rain all day today,
I thought I would stay at home and
have a cosy day of crafting herbal preparations,
making delicious soup, and perhaps decorating
this kitchen just a little.
At the end of this video I will
also share with you where I'm going next week for my
little half-term break.
It's a beautiful and historic place that I've
been wanting to visit for a long time now
and I'm incredibly excited, but first,
I'm going to put on some bread to bake
in my bread machine to have later in the day.
The last few
weeks I have
slowly been
using up the
elderberry
syrup
that I made
a while ago
and so today I wanted to make a new batch
to restore my supply for the winter
in case me or any of my loved ones may need some too.
Elderberry syrup is one of the easiest
and tastiest herbal recipes I think.
And kind of tastes like a beautiful spiced berry drink that is also
so wonderful for our immune system.
Elderberries are packed full of vitamin C
and are high in antioxidants and nutrients,
and are really amazing at boosting our immune responses
and helping to reduce the length and severity of cold and flu symptoms.
Elderberries can be used in teas, syrups,
infused in both vinegars and honey as I've done myself
last week and can also be made into fun little gummies
and so so much more. You can forage them
in autumn fresh and then freeze them for when you wish to use them
or likewise buy them dried
from a good online supplier.
I will link the ones I buy in case you'd like to have a look.
I'm also very excited to do one of my favourite autumn activities,
making a herb drying wall.
This project takes a little bit of time,
but I think it's also such a fun thing to do at
home when it's raining outdoors.
You can use any herbs or flowers that you like to dry
and use later, but my herbs of
choice are generally rosemary, thyme and sage.
All three of these are incredibly useful
for not only cooking purposes but they also make
some wonderful medicinal teas for when one is feeling unwell,
especially a sage and lemon tea
which is so soothing for a sore throat.
I love the process
of spending time putting the herbs
in bundles, tying with some string
and hanging up in the kitchen to dry. I love feeling the
plants in my hands and taking in each of their magnificent
and unique aromas.
It makes me imagine how people of the past worked with these herbs
and what they crafted in their kitchens.
Simple households and simple families,
where people took time to do things slower
and to be so present in the moment.
It inspires me to do the same,
and not only does the kitchen now smell incredible,
it also looks so beautiful too.
One
of my
favourite
autumn
recipes
has to
be a
simple
butternut
squash
soup.
With a couple of potatoes, onion, garlic and some herbs.
It's so warming and tastes just like autumn itself.
I will leave the recipe as always in the description
or in the comments section
if you'd like to give it a try.
Or if you make your own version, please let me know how you make it.
Soup seems to be the thing I'm most craving at the moment
so please do let me know some of your favourite ones.
Another one I enjoy a lot is the Welsh Cowl Soup
that I've made in a previous video and
I'll link below and this is very much based
on a traditional Welsh recipe and is so delicious.
I also
recently
picked up
this very cosy
and lovely
blanket from
Vindic, the
second hand
app that I love to use and it's so soft
and has a beautiful autumn design and I thought
it would give a sweet little touch
of autumnal cosiness to our living room.
The elderberries have now finished
simmering so from here it's
a very easy process of straining
the liquid through a cheesecloth
and then adding in half the amount of raw honey to the amount of
liquid that you have. This helps the syrup
to stay more shelf stable as well as taste wonderful and
have all the healing and medicinal benefits of the raw honey too.
After this I do still
I still refrigerate my syrup and it can stay there for up to 3 months.
Some people also use a one-to-one ratio of liquid to honey
which then yields a thicker and sweeter
syrup with stronger natural preservative qualities
but it's really a personal choice.
Last
week I've
booked
a
little
trip to
Edinburgh
in
Scotland
to see
this
beautiful
old
historic
city.
For a long time now I've been so excited to see some of Scotland
and experience some of its
culture and rich history which I've only ever seen through films
and I have to say that the
Outlander series has truly made me fall in love
with the Scottish Highlands, its locks and glens
and I thought now would be a beautiful time to see Edinburgh
and the Highlands in autumn.
And so, due to this,
I suppose I will see you all here in about two weeks time and share
some of the magical moments with you.
And in the meantime,
I want to wish you all a beautiful end to October, and a beautiful
and magical Samhain if you celebrate,
and I look forward to seeing you all very very
soon.
All my love, Lika
