Weekend city-break packing

Ordinarily I don’t find it too difficult to pack for a holiday as I’m usually going somewhere sunny and on the beach. Even the city breaks I go on tend to involve some sort of beach/sunbathing action so packing is fairly simple; lots of bikinis and easy throw-on day dresses then a couple of more glam outfits by night.

 

 

However with Berlin, not only were the weather forecasts all very conflicting so I didn’t know if we’d be making use of some of the riverside beach clubs and sunbathing or going city exploring (pah, who was I kidding!) but also the usual type of thing I’d wear on a night out just didn’t seem very ‘Berlin’. Certainly not the end of Berlin we were going; think East London rather than West End.

 

 

So I ended up panic buying this outfit a few days beforehand which I would never dream of wearing in this country (not such short shorts paired with such high heels at my age!!) but the lovely (20 year old) assistants in Zara convinced me I didn’t look like mutton (yes, I know, they were probably on commission!) and would be perfect for partying in Berlin with my girlfriends.

So, Saturday night’s outfit sorted. Then I took my black jeggings and studded vest top for another night.

And surprise surprise, I didn’t end up wearing any of it! Char and I both ended up raiding Laura’s altogether cooler suitcase that was full to bursting with American Apparel clobber so she very kindly let us have our pick. So the Zara outfit is still with tags on and shall be returned shortly!

 

Some packing essentials included:

 

My fave Melissa Odabash bikini I bought for my honeymoon (which I did get to wear as Saturday was indeed sunny, yey!), false eyelashes of course and this cute 'A' necklace from Dotty P's that I've not taken off since, but will need to do so soon as it's turning green. It was only £4!

Office flip flops and my fave studded pumps from Top Shop:

My trusty cream skinny jeans, a funky little skull sleeveless t-shirt from River Island and this grey jersey boyfriend blazer that goes with pretty much anything:

Some more cheapy cheapy accessories from good old Dotty P’s and my initialled Anya Hindmarch purse which is big enough to hold money, cards, room key and a couple of makeup essentials. One of my wedding presents from the hubbie, this always comes away with me.

Toiletry essentials included dry shampoo (standard!), Rimmel 60 Second varnish in 'Instyle Coral', SPF 30 for my face and some L’Oreal summer skin moisturiser which is a good colour on me but is pretty whiffy!

Finally, my classic Marc Jacobs sunnies plus some fun heart-shaped ones, also from Dotty P (can you tell there's one in Bond Street station that I walk past daily?!)

So with my suitcase packed, all that was left to do was pop to the hairdressers then meet the girls and get on that plane (easier said than done for some......Laura!) A post to follow soon on the weekend. Once I've been through all my photos and found a handful that are postable (is that a word?) that is!

xx

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Zara Home heaven

It isn't to everyone's tastes but Zara Home is one of my favourite high street shops in London for homeware, up there with The White Company but a bit cheaper.
Located at the bottom of Regent Street, this particular Zara Home is three floors of loveliness. I often get carried away in there and end up with a basket full of lovely things I don't need / have nowhere to put / can not justify (usually all three!) and end up putting all but one or two items back on the shelf.

With the sale on and the sun shining, I took a walk down there to have a browse and ended up buying two things I needed and one thing I didn't - none of which were in the sale. Typical.

So I got these two silvery white woven baskets to slot on the bottom shelf of the new console table which are the perfect measurements and are wide and deep enough to throw a whole load of 'stuff' in and make the room look less cluttered. For us it's mainly post, paperwork, takeaway menus & magazines but they would also be useful for shoes, small toys/child paraphernalia or maybe as baskets for all your scarves/belts/general accessories...

My other purchase was random. Just a small tray but a really pretty, antique looking tray. I saw it and had to get it, even though I've no idea what to do with it...

Some ideas:
My initial thought was a drinks tray but it's probably not a good idea to have vodka or gin in my line of sight every day, probably safer that they're kept in the cupboard!

A tray for all those bits and pieces that get chucked on the side in the kitchen like keys, oven timer, bottle opener and ummm, herbs?!

What about a tray to go on your bedside table or dresser with your costume jewellery, nail file and lotions and potions that you want to keep to hand?

Or, thinking outside the box, I could get hubbie to hang it on the wall and use it as a mirror?!

For now, until I decide what to do with it, it can just live on the fireplace and look pretty.

If you don't have a store near you, then for all sorts of lovely things for adults and children, you can buy online at www.zarahome.com

Zara Home
129 Regent Street
London
W1B 4HT

x

God save the Clam

There wasn’t a picnic hamper or glass of champers in sight at this Jubilee weekend pop-up. The brainchild of Pitt Cue Co & Rock Lobsta, this place was a huge success despite the hit-and-miss weather.

Making the most of the sunshine (to begin with), we hit town early starting with pitchers of cocktails at The Boundary Rooftop before heading over to London Fields for the main event; God Save the Clam, situated on a massive rooftop of an artist’s studio overlooking the park.

It was still dry when we arrived so we were directed to the punk’ed up Banshee Bar and swiftly handed a mug of tequila cocktail in a God Save the Clam mug which I was told I was allowed to take home. I was happy!

No sooner had we finished that when the heavens opened forcing us into a beach hut (gate-crashing this poor couples date).

Before too long, there were 8 of us huddled inside the hut. The tequila cocktails & beers were slipping down a treat so there was lots of good banter and we were all clearly refusing to let the weather dampen our mood, all of us eagerly anticipating the meal that was to come. And boy was it good…

We kicked off with the Pitt Cue Co's starter of sausage links, chargrilled lettuce, salty anchovy dressing and over-sized spicy croutons. Proper delish.

Then on to the main event from Rock Lobsta. Think beach buckets overflowing with steamed seafood including crayfish, clams, cockles, mussels and even crab claws complete with hammer to smash them open. All accompanied by dripping-covered potatoes, BBQ'ed corn and grilled sour dough.

Going....

going.....

gone!

It was messy business but totally worth it.

No sooner had the lovely waiters finished clearing away our buckets of empty shells then our desserts appeared. To be honest, by this point I wasn't sure I'd be able to manage it but one mouthful and there was no way I was leaving it; I think it was called a Screwball sundae but basically it was like an Eton Mess (my fave dessert) only with ice cream rather than cream, delicious crunchy meringue and strawberry sauce liberally poured over the top. Sooooooo goooooood.

Just when I thought it was all over and we were all gushing about how tasty it all had been, what good value it was, how stuffed we were and so on, a very friendly chap appeared with 8 glasses, a bottle of Jose Cuervo's traditionale tequila and a wooden board of halved tomatoes around the outside and pots of sugar, salt & pepper in the middle.

We were poured a very generous measure each then starting at one end, instructed to each help ourselves to a piece of tomato, dip it in each of the three pots and then either eat the tomato then drink the tequila or vice-versa. I've no idea which way around it went but I do remember that it was a lot nicer than your average tequila downed with the obligatory salt & lemon. It didn’t even make me shudder. Charlotte wasn’t so convinced though so rather than let a good shot of tequila go to waste, I did hers too!

"Ok babe I'll do yours too"

Char sensibly abstaining from the Tequila shots

Unfortunately the rain just didn’t let up throughout dinner. Such a shame as the other half of the rooftop was a dedicated dance floor complete with a DJ in a beach hut, what should have been one big rooftop party, just didn’t materialise.
 

We had to vacate the comfort of our hut to make space for the next wave of diners so they had somewhere dry to sit and enjoy their meal but that meant there was nowhere covered for us to carry on drinking so we begrudgingly left the other God Save the Clam-ers to it, and headed to the Pub on the Park next door.

Any foodies out there who like the sound of this, I found out about it on twitter from @Tweat_Up; ‘tweeting, meeting and eating in London’, and consequently @GodSaveTheClam whose tweet profile promises more to come!

The £40 ticket included a welcome cocktail (including the mug!), 3-course meal and a tequila to finish plus really good service and banter from the hosts.

I for one would most definitely go to one of their foodie events again, next time hopefully minus the wet weather.

xxx

Selfridges' Big Rooftop Tea & Golf Party

So with some respite in the recent miserable weather and a return to sunshine here in London, a few colleagues and I decided to take ourselves off to Selfridges' Big Rooftop Tea & Golf Party and enjoy a drink in the sun (the girls) and a round of London-themed Crazy Golf (the boys).



Accessed via a lift next to the Chanel counter, you're whisked up to the 5th floor and transported to an Alice in Wonderland style entrance with lots of cheerful hosts willing and eager to help.

A whole wall of vintage cups and saucers. Not captured too well but looked cool. Promise.

You're led outside to the sanctuary of the roof terrace cafe bar operated by Daylesford Cafe offering afternoon tea and light meals or just a tea/coffee if sadly like me, that's all you've got time for.

In such peaceful surroundings, you'd never think you were only 5 floors up from one of the busiest shopping streets in Europe.

And this was during one of the opening days of the sale in Selfridges where punters were flocking in to grab themselves armfuls of designer bargains, oblivious to the sanctuary of this pop-up cafe bar drenched in sunshine just above their heads!

Pimms O'Clock?

Unfortunately just a coffee for me

I didn't have time to stop for more than a coffee and to take a quick look around the crazy golf set-up (including the very phallic looking Gherkin below) but the menu looked tantilizingly good. The ladies on an adjacent table were sat relaxing in the sun sharing a rather delicious looking Afternoon Tea for two complete with a jug of pimms. How very civilised. 

The winner

My personal favourite hole although wouldn't be too keen on going in the water to retrieve the ball which would be inevitable with me

I'll be back there next week when I'm booked in to see my uni girls and we can check out the menu and maybe see how it scores for Afternoon Tea in the capital...

Running as part of Selfridges 'Big British Bang', The Big Rooftop Tea and Golf Party is open until 2nd September.

Crazy Golf is only £6 a head for 9 holes and takes around 30-45 minutes depending on how good you are!

The last slot for crazy golf is 7pm so for those who work nearby, it still gives you time to nip up for a quick game of silliness to forget about your day in the office (if you're so inclined), with last orders in the cafe bar at 10pm.

www.selfridges.com
400 Oxford Street

W1A 1AB

Tel: 0113 369 8040

xxx

Impromptu holiday shopping...

There are few things I love as much as sunbathing but shopping is definitely one of them and given that we had one cloudy day on holiday, I sniffed out the nearest shopping centre and I was off, like a cat up a drain pipe!

My long suffering husband had to act as fashion adviser and fair play to him, he did pretty well (although I still think those shoes were gorgeous and didn't show my bunions tooooo badly, sodding bunions).

So here is quick run down of what I picked up:

Dress from Zara; looks like a sequin skirt and silk chiffon shirt but is actually a dress, super comfy but still stylish and an absolute steal at €29.

Dress from Mango; perfect for work whilst I've got a bit of a tan. Which actually means it has a shelf life of about 2 weeks now and two weeks in September after my next holiday by which time it'll be too cold to wear it anyway. A sensible purchase this one then....but at least it won't date.

And my favourite purchase; these snake print trousers also from Mango. I reckon they're one of those marmite items, you either love them or hate them but I am definitely in the love camp and they've already had a fair few wears since I got back;

Then I'll spare you the details but some pretty underwear and lastly, a few bits of make-up from a store I came across as we were leaving called Kiko Cosmetics; an Italian make-up brand which I've since found you can order online from the UK and is really reasonable.

There was no Sephora but I found this place similar to Sephora's own brand line. I got a sunproof cream foundation SPF 15 which goes on really smoothly and lasts all day and an Ultra Gloss lipstick also SPF 15 and looks nice against a tanned face and perfect to wear in the sun with its SPF lip protection.

I could have stayed much longer and bought loads more but Mark's patience was wearing thin so back to the hotel for the fashion show that then ensued with a big fat glass of Rioja in hand from the hotel's honesty bar. Happy days.

I also wore two of my three holiday purchases mentioned here.

So the green flowery Primark trousers (which I can no longer get in to again!) just worn with a simple black vest top and the pink stripey sun dress....both now packed away again but will hopefully come out again for our Paxos trip later in the summer.

The holiday was lovely and just what we were after. We spent the majority of the trip in a pretty villa in the hills of Andalucia just chilling on our own & then the last few nights in a hotel closer to Malaga. I'll be doing a review shortly on this super cute hotel; definitely worthy of a post of its own. So anyone out there ever who needs a stylish and reasonable stop over near Malaga airport, watch this space!

xxx

Ceviche brings a little bit of Peru to London town

I've never been to Peru. I'd love to go to Peru. And now that I've been to Ceviche, I would REALLY LOVE to go to Peru. Forget the Inca trail, I'd just eat and drink for the duration. It's probably not wise though as I'd give myself liver failure from all the Pisco Sours I would inevitably consume. Man they are phenomenally good. And like rocket fuel.

But the Pisco Sours weren't the only good thing about Ceviche. Far from it. The food was delicious. I went for some chicken 'Tequenos' to start (thin fritters with a spicy chicken filling and a creamy chilli dip on the side) followed by 'Lomo Saltado', (a deliciously tender beef dish) and finished off with the 'Chocolate Physalis Volador' for dessert (gooey chocolate between two thin sugared cookies with a kind of gooseberry jam on the side for extra gluttony).

Given that the restaurant is named after one of Peru's most popular seafood dish, it went without saying there would be a variety of raw fish on the menu and indeed seabass ceviche is the very first dish on there but not being a fan of raw fish myself I left Manuela to sample that particular Peruvian speciality. She assured me that it was delicious and worthy of the restaurant having been named after it.

* Photo not my own but I forgot to take any photos to illustrate the Ceviche!

The only drawback I'd say is that the portions are a bit on the small side. Although the Lomo Saltado was delicious, I have to say I was a bit disappointed when they put it down in front of me as it was by no means a main meal size and the waiter suggested ordering two or three dishes off this part of the menu each. At around £13 a pop that soon adds up....

That said however, the beef melted in the mouth and I'd much rather have fewer really tasty hunks of meat than a plateful of tough chewy nonsense. So having had the chicken fritters, the beef and then the rich chocolate dessert, I was nicely full and ready for the rest of the evening's shenanigans!

Thankfully this new opening isn't following the 'no bookings policy' trend which I'm a bit bored of so we were able to get a last minute table rather than standing in a queue being jostled about for up to 2hrs and not really getting to do much catching up with my mates (blimey I sound old).

* Not my photo either!

Dinner was followed by more wine at the bar in the Soho Hotel...

Mmmmm, a delicious bottle of Sancerre

....and just to continue the theme of well and truly mixing our drinks, back on the cocktails at The Player!

Old school Pina Coladas slipping down nicely, whose choice were they?!

As always, a really fun night out with my Team Booze girlies and very glad we managed to get in to Ceviche thanks to Manuela. I'm just gutted we were one member down this time - missed you Lau.

I would recommend giving this place a try especially if you're a Peruvian cuisine virgin like I was!


Ceviche

17 Frith Street, Soho

Tel: 020 7292 2040

www.cevicheuk.com

xxx