Despite the downpours, we’d like to thank the teams from Living Etc, Elle Deco, Homes & Gardens, Ideal Home, Good Homes, KBB, Country Living, Homes & Antiques and Country Homes & Interiors, amongst others, for getting their Loaf on with us at our press shindig at the showroom yesterday. Everyone who came along walked away with our Horace, the gooey sourdough starter who we’ve been house training for the past few weeks. We hope he’s behaving himself and is settling in nicely to his new abode.

If you’re all set, ready and raring to turn Horace in to something tasty, give this little recipe for sourdough waffles a go. We found it earlier this year over on the Food Network & it’s bloomin’ tasty for a breakfast in bed treat!

Ingredients

1 cup of Horace

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1 tablespoon sugar

2 cups of water

2 cups of batter (this will make sense later)

3 large eggs, separated

1 cup milk

1/4 cup butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 tablespoon baking powder

Night Before:

Mix together the sourdough starter, flour, sugar and water in a large glass bowl or plastic container (just make sure it’s big enough of the batter might overflow as it produces carbon dioxide and expands)

Leave it to sit at room temperature, loosely covered for 6-12 hours

Next Morning:

Beat the egg whites from the 3 eggs together until they form stiff peaks

In a medium bowl, beat the egg yolks, milk and butter together

Stir in the basic batter (if you have any left over, pop it in the fridge for another day)

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda together

Stir into the egg yolk mixture

Give the mixture a 10 minute breather and then gently fold in the egg whites

Ladle the batter on to preheated waffle iron and you’re good to go!

We like to serve them up with a good handful of fresh berries and a pouring of warm maple syrup alongside a steaming cuppa!

Happy Loafing x

We’ve had a pretty amazing time selling beds online. We had no idea back in early 2009 that we would quickly become one of the fastest growing companies in the UK.

But when we planned our big launch of sofas and armchairs on May 1st we all felt our trusted name, The Sleep Room, would soon seem a bit strange.

So we decided we’d change to…Loaf. Four letters. Easy to remember. And with nice Sleep Roomy connotations of comfort and schleppping about.

We’ll be introducing this slowly in all our press ads and here at www.thesleeproom.com over the next 6 months. We’ll also be expanding our Ladbroke Grove home to over 6000 square feet by the end of June. Then in October we’ll be switching everything over to www.loaf.com

Nothing else is changing. Same people. Same products. Same dodgy cardies worn by Charlie every day. We’re very excited about it and hope you love all our new products – there are some right belters in the collection!

Whoever said health and safety had gone overboard? We love this extraordinary pic a friend took the other day in Edinburgh.

Our own Mister Steve is out and about in the Far East looking at new ideas, factories and suppliers. Passing through an airport he came across this silhouette painting on a wall. It seems he/she was rather pleased to see our Head of Creation! More japes to follow…

This photo made us chortle. And it also reminded us how important it is for us to continue improving our packaging and wood sourcing in 2012. Anyway, Happy New Year to everyone: health and happiness to the lot of you. x

"Get in line boys, we're here to save the trees!"

Going for a stroll yesterday in Notting Hill we saw this sign on a neighbours door. Could it be that the Crazy Dog otherwise known as Philippe Starke is living there?

"Chien Lunatique!"

A few of us spent last week down in an utterly gorgeous part of East Sussex shooting our new April 2012 collection. We’re a bit battered  (Charlie said he’d done his back in on the first day – the woose!), but we got some wicked shots we’re more than proud of. And we’ve got to hand it to our Mister Steve, the new wardrobes, sofabeds and chairs are quite superb. Respect to you!

Taking photographs in late November is always interesting as there’s so little daylight. But somehow we pulled it off and got the best out of the lovely Karen’s beautiful home.

"Eh up lad, is this the Hovis ad?"

"One does enjoy a good chin-wag by the Aga, what?"

After 15 years of trying, we finally had a bit of a breakthrough at home last night. No, we didn’t get more than 3 questions right watching University Challenge. But we did finally make a 100% perfect tuna meatball pasta. It’s so damn good that you need to dig in quickly. Don’t bother with chit chat or any light conversation. Just attack that pasta. In fact after one mouthful the thought of anyone trying to communicate is just plain rude.

"Am I bovvered?": Minna, our Head of Snores in background

The thing about tuna meatballs is that you have to ensure that it doesn’t overcook. A few seconds too long and you’ve blown it. And then there are all sorts of rules in most Italian regions about how you shouldn’t put cheese with fish, shouldn’t put Asian ingredients in pasta, should only wear tan shoes with a blue suit. It’s a minefield. But we’ve taken the plunge and can assure you that, like Spag Bol, this just works. So here goes our recipe for Missy’s Tuna Carbonara:

-Mix together: chopped fresh tuna, a bit of chopped basil & parsley, some fish sauce and soy sauce, fresh chopped tomato, salt, pepper, fresh red chilli, dash of olive oil to bind it together

-Form smallish meatballs -about the size of one of those large marbles. Put in the fridge for at least half an hour so they hold their shape

-Get your pasta on the boil

-Heat some olive oil in a separate pan and brown the meatballs and then take off the heat. NB This must take no more than 30 seconds as you don’t want to cook the insides at all

-Drain the pasta when ready

-Whisk two eggs. Throw this into the pasta along with some grated parmesan. Mix it up

-Put the meatballs into the pasta making sure they are covered by the pasta so they take on the heat. Put a lid on and leave for 3 minutes

-Tuck in

And there you have it. It only took us 15 years. Let us know if any of you give this a go. It’s an absolute belter. x

There was a fire practice yesterday in the building where our offices are. All sorts gathered on the street outside: architects, dress designers, the odd celebrity (there’s a TV/radio production company here). But what really caught our attention was the amusing message on the back of this Roller parked nearby.

No tools are left in this van overnight!

We’d like to meet the cove who drives this puppy. Must be a character. x

We recently galloped round an expo in Paris called Maison et Objet where the furniture industry show off their wares. It’s a good chance to check out what’s new and who all the movers and shakers.

One thing that caught our eye were these particularly garish pillow cases – very Versace!

Disco bedlinen, what the person who's got everything hasn't got.