Sunday Brunchin' @ The Riding House Cafe

The Riding House Cafe

To celebrate the return of MM from his booze-fuelled lads week skiing in Andorra, a quiet 'welcome home' weekend was in order (mainly due to his lack of voice and generally pretty fragile nature)

After a relatively quiet Saturday night- consisting of a little trip to the pub, a Chinese takeaway, and a Masterchef marathon on iplayer, we decided to brave the public eye on Sunday lunchtime. After a long lie-in and no breakfast, brunch was THE plan. Of all plans. And what an excellent plan it was (courtesy of myself)

We jumped on the bus and headed slightly across town to Great Portland Street, from where we meandered our way through the sunny, Sunday-hushed streets to The Riding House Cafe.

Outside, MM commented* (*scoffed) "oh. Good choice Jen." (Please note the sarcasm) as the exterior was covered in scaffolding and the windows looked very dark. However! I was the winner. I marched us to the entrance and inside- to a buzzing, warm and smart interior. An open plan kitchen/bar/eating space; bright and airy, yet cosy and very nicely decorated- modern and clean- white paint and exposed brickwork. Glass panels and bottle-green leather. Wooden tables and metal furnishings.

Famed for the brunch menu- we both took our time to order, I went for the Buttermilk Pancakes with syrup, cream and berry compote, whilst MM had the Chorizo hash brown with a poached egg, and we had apple juices (we are very sophisticated you see.) 

The pancakes were HUGE! Honestly, I ate half of the food on my plate and was fit to burst. But they were so, so SO yummy.

The Chorizo hash brown looked lush. And whilst MM said it was really good- the texture wasn't really like a hash brown- a bit softer and not as compact.

Still, it was just what the doctor ordered! A great spot in Central London for a brunch, not too pricey and well worth a visit.

We left happy and stuffed... Ready for a Sunday nap! 

From Here to Eternity @ The Shaftesbury Theatre

From Here To Eternity

As an ex-drama student, and a massive drama queen- I am a massive fan of theatrical productions. All of them. Plays, musicals, ballets, even pantomimes- you name them, I love them. (The exception to this rule are circuses with clowns in, because I hate clowns and they should be banned from life)

So it was clearly a very welcome (and surprising!) suggestion when MM mentioned he had seen a flyer at work for 2-4-1 tickets to selected musicals in the West End, and perhaps we should go.

I obviously laughed at what I assumed was a wind up joke (bearing in mind this is the boy that almost fell asleep during the ballet at Christmas,) before realising that he was being serious- and quickly snatched the opportunity - alike to a fat kid grabbing cookies that they can't believe they're allowed to have- before the offer was retracted.

The flyer was for a website called Showpairs- and it is great. The idea is that you pay for a top-price-bracket ticket (which means good seats!) and get the other one for free. 

I had spied advertisements for From Here To Eternity on the tube and read the reviews, which were all very positive. Produced by Tim Rice, the play is set in Pearl Harbour in 1941- just before the Japanese attack, and follows two separate (but intrinsically linked) love stories.

The tickets were booked and paid for £67.50 in total, and absolutely worth every penny.

The show, whilst a little slow in getting going, culminated in an incredible final 30 minutes. It's not all glitter and bright lights- it's harsh, hard hitting, and emotional, well choreographed, dimly-lit and brilliant.

The song performed by Private Angelo "I Love the Army" is a particularly poignant moment, and "The boys of '41" sung by the entire cast at the end had me in absolute bits... Actually, I was crying for the majority of the second half- but I cry at everything, so this is not really a groundbreaking event. I'm a bit of a drip.

It is wonderful though. A completely different west-end experience to the big name shows, but no less enjoyable- albeit for different reasons.

I have been re-bitten by the musical bug, and tickets for my next theatre visit are already booked!

Cocktails @ Lounge Lover

Lounge Lover

After speaking with each other on a daily basis during our year in New York (I say 'speak' ... this is actually code for 'emailing each other song lyrics'), returning to the UK and beginning new and slightly more demanding jobs whilst living in completely different postcodes of London (She is Totteridge, I am Putney) has driven a little wedge of space between myself and one of my wonderful friends SM. 

"This will not do!" Said we, and so we resolved to meet more often- to catch up on life events, have a good ole gossip, and, most importantly, drink.

Our first date location: Lounge Lover, in Shoreditch. I stumbled across this gem by scouring my London go-to websites and blogs, and it didn't disappoint.

Situated just off Bethnal Green road, we arrived at about 7 o'clock and were seated, without a reservation, straight away. 

Coincidentally (ahem) they just happen to have a happy hour every week night until 8pm- offering 2 cocktails for £12. Who knew!

The cocktail list is extensive, and our idea was to buy a round each, ultimately trying 2 different cocktails. In reality, we ended up ordering 4 rounds of the same dreeeeam cocktail! Woops. It was just so good. 

'Love Letter' (cracking name) consists of Elderflower cordial and stolichnaya raspberry vodka, stirred with white grape juice and served straight up in a martini glass. Mmmm.

The interior of the bar is very quirky; there was a hippo's head hanging on the wall, wooden panelling, a large wall map, palm -tree-shaped lampshades, and huge Chinese vases positioned by doorways.

This place would make a great date spot, and an ideal place to catch up with friends- quiet enough to hear each other, but not so quiet that you feel awkward/listened in on, and they do offer a tapas menu should you get peckish.

Lounge Lover is very cool, very shoreditch, and very yummy. 

Well done, me! (And my internet advisors!)

Pottery Painting @ Pots 2 Go

Pots 2 Go

Having been in London since the New Year- the smoggy air was getting a bit too much for my lungs, and I felt that it was time to take a little weekend trip back to the Motherland: God's own county, the happiest place in the UK (according to Mr Guardian journalist himself) or Yorkshire to you and I.. Harrogate was calling!

My train from Kings Cross to York was delayed, again! (I have the most hideous luck with trains ever. Train drivers literally have some sort of vendetta against me) but eventually I arrived at Harrogate station, a bit cold and tired, and was met by Daddy Simmo and my two very excited mini-me sisters, Em and Be.

When the girls were considerably younger (they are now 7 and 9 and far too tall for my liking) and I used to live at home, I used to host 'Girls Club' in their bedrooms at bedtime... This was a very simple and genius means of getting them into their PJs and into their beds before bedtime (Bravo me)! However, it is something that seems to have stuck- Girls Club is something that they always request we do when I am home (and, I have been duly informed, is an occasion from which Daddy is categorically banned!)

On this trip home, I proposed a 'Girls Club' day out (basically a cunning excuse to let me off the night shift so I could have some wine!) and the 3 of us adventured into the town centre for Girls club fun.

First stop: Marks and Spencer's toilet, Phoebe had had too much juice in the car.

Second Stop: Pots 2 Go. If you have ever go to Harrogate/ever plan on going to Harrogate and you have children in tow... Go to Pots 2 Go.

Positioned on Montpellier Hill, it is right in the town centre, and conveniently close to Betty's (any excuse, ey!) Pots 2 Go is essentially a pottery painting cafe.

It is advisable to book, as they are always very busy- but when you arrive, you are presented with a huge selection of white pot items from which you can select your pieces to paint- these range in price from about £5 to about £30 depending on what you choose (and obviously include the cost of painting and equipment)

I chose 2 egg cups (very practical), Em chose a bird shaped plate (somewhat practical) and Phoebe chose a rabbit ornament (practicality is clearly not a priority for Be)

You are seated at your table and given aprons, paint, a colour chart, about a thousand paintbrushes and some paint 'pens' for finer details/writing, and you're pretty much left to get on with it.

The reservation was for 90 mins which was plenty of time. I made MM a Sunderland inspired egg cup (as it was cup final weekend and I wanted to be a supportive girlfriend) and myself a suitably girly one. Em painted her bird plate purple and green (exotic) and Phoebe painted her bunny brown, with a pink tummy etched with the name 'Hopy'... An unusual spelling of Hoppy, but Pheebs is a rebel and breaks the rules.

We finished painting, washed our hands (and the paint off Phoebe's face..) and handed over our items to the lady behind the counter. She explained to my two amazed sidekicks that they are going to be left to dry, then taken and dipped in glaze, before 'cooking' in the oven for 24 hours. The whole process takes about a week- and we could pick up our things the following weekend. 

The service is great, the girls that work there are ao helpful- they will help you choose colours and do any painting that you want help with.

The prices are so reasonable- you pay about the same as you would find the items retailing for in high street shops, and that price includes the experience and the finishing process over the course of the next week.

I think I can safely assume that the girls will suggest we make Pots 2 Go a regular girls club location.. And it gives me an excuse to paint pretty things, and shop in Betty's, naturally.

On the way back up Montpellier hill, we came across a tree that has been carved in advance of the 2014 Tour de Yorkshire. 

Complete with a 'fairy door' round the back- we stopped for a quick photo op, before heading home for juice (wine) and a night in front of the fire watching trashy Saturday Night tv. Ideal!

 

TinyTea Teatox Time

Teatoxing

In a disgustingly hungover state at the onset of January 2014, with a severe case of 'The Dicks' (ie/ when the "I'm such a dick," "He/She must think I'm such a dick," thoughts are racing through your fuzzy brain) I made the resolution to change... I was never going to drink again! Ever! And furthermore, I was going to detox- to cleanse my body of all the bad stuff, and become the epitome of health and wholesomeness. I would be radiant!! And no longer an embarrassing drunken mess.

Whilst I may have accidentally consumed several glasses of wine, bubbles, spritzers, beers and cider since (woops) I did think that there was a moment of clarity in my hungover despair... Surely a good ole detox could only be a positive course of action to take?

And so I scoured the internet for every kind of detox pill and potion, and stumbled across something that seemed ideal: The Teatox. 

Teatoxing is hugely in vogue at the moment, with every company and brand jumping on the bandwagon and creating their own version of a detoxing tea blend- so the main question was which teatox to choose? 

A lot of the options included laxatives, which are frankly not my cup of tea (pahaha! Get it?!!!) and then I came across YourTea's Tiny Teatox.

Available in a 14 or 28 day course- all you have to do is have a cup of tea 3 times a day, roughly 30 minutes before each meal. Possibly the easiest detox in the world?!?! I think so. 

As a Yorkshire girl, true to my roots I am a big fan of the national drink (Yorkshire Tea) - so the idea of detoxing by drinking a few cuppas of special brew seemed to be laughably easy. I was sold.

At £26 (including postage) for the 14 day option, it isn't cheap, but also not unjustifiably expensive- £26 is a reasonable price to pay to cleanse your internal systems, reduce bloating, increase energy, reduce lethargy, and improve blood flow- basically making you an all round better human being. Definitely worth it.

And so it was ordered, and within just a few days a prettily packaged pink and brown box landed at my work desk.

My first impressions were that the tea smelled pretty horrid and that the taste was "like green tea with a bit of dirt in it" (I can be ever so eloquent.) But I promised myself that I would do this, and do it properly. And so I carried my teabags around like little mascots- religiously drinking them before my meals, asking for cups of hot water at restaurants before ordering food, cooking MM's dinner half an hour late (a not so popular effect of the tea) and sitting patiently at my work desk waiting the required 30 minutes before eating my breakfast.

To tell the truth, I was a little disappointed  that, after my first cup, I didn't deflate like a punctured balloon, skin instantly transforming into that of a newborn baby's and suddenly feeling boundless energy. Still, I persevered- and I am so glad that I did.

I haven't lost any weight, but I wasn't expecting to. What I have lost, though, are the uncomfortable belly-aches, the bloated and sick feeling you get after you polish off a family sized pizza order from Dominos (which I clearly would never do), and the tired, drained and lathargic sluggishness I felt if I had had an unhealthy week of 'bulking.' (I feel it is important to note here, that my use of the term 'bulking' is merely an excuse to eat bad-but-so-good food and get fat)

My energy levels have increased, my attitude is more positive- infact the only area that I haven't noticed an improvement in is my skin, but that is possibly down to the fact that I got the shoddy genes in the family, and suffer from every skin condition going.

I am hooked. I have even grown to love the dirty green tea taste and find it actually quite comforting! My second order has been placed.. And the next time I am going LARGE. A 28 dayer... Bring it on!

Schnitzels & Spritz @ Boopsi's

Boopshi's

During my year in New York I made a group of 3 great girlfriends, affectionately known as my Meatballs (thanks be to the Jersey Shore for both the term 'Meatball', and the incredible drunken night out we had last October!)

Upon our return to London Town, we agreed to host Jersiversaries (meatball dates) whereby we rendezvous to chat and catch up and have some food and (oh, if you insist!) a beverage or four.

Our latest haunt was Boopshi's, described online as a Alpine non-Chalet, serving simply the best schnitzels and spritz this side of Austria. Or Germany. Or wherever it is that is home to the original Shnitz.

Aside from caviar, foie gras and other very upper class and posh foods, one of my favourite things in the world are chicken nuggets. I love them. They are the answer to most of life's questions:

- Hangover? Chicken nuggets.

- Feeling a little bit blue? Chicken Nuggets.

- Celebrating a payrise? Chicken nuggets WITH champagne. Naturally.

So, despite a schnitzel being in breadcrumbs and not batter- to me it was a 'potato, potarto' matter- the concept was pretty much the same, and I was immediately sold.

We all rocked up from our respective London boroughs to the very cute and cosy eatery near Tottenham Court Rd, on a drizzley and cold Monday night- to celebrate our meatballness through the medium of food and drink, and have a good ole chinwag about life.

The interior is very cute- think stripped wooden tables, benches, high tables with stools- all very natural and clean looking and very simple- no bells and whistles, just a small vase on each table. The staff are kitted out in Boopshi's aprons (a la ski resort) although I was a little disappointed to not see any lederhosen. Or felt hats with feathers in. And I did kind of hope to hear some yodelling. 

The menu is very cool, everything sounds delicious (having said this, I still have no idea what 'spatzle' is) and it is pretty reasonably priced. I ordered chicken schnitzel with a duck egg (go large or go home) and frites. 2 of the girls ordered spatzle'n'cheese with their schnitz's and SM got sauerkraut, which she loved, and I had much less of an appreciation for.

The portion sizes are massive- so we really could have shared 1 side between 2 people, and still have been full- but a) we didn't know this and b) I'm a pig and don't like sharing food!! 

The food was great- albeit nothing particularly mind blowing or show stopping- it is simple and it is done well. 

It is the law of England that you need to accompany your Boopshi's schnitzel with  one of their speciality spritzer drinks... And as we are law-abiding citizens, we obviously followed suit.

I ordered the #1 spritz- containing Campari, sherbet, blood orange soda and prosecco . It was brought out in a huge glass and was an amazing bright orangey/red colour. I had no idea if I would like it since I was unfamiliar with 75% of the ingredients, but it was amaaaazing! I could have happily polished off another one (5) but alas, it was a school night and I didn't fancy a fuzzy head in the office the next day.

It was the perfect place to meet - the food was good, the drinks were great and the atmosphere was such that we didn't feel we had to keep our voices down, yet also didn't feel like we were being eavesdropped on.

We left Boopshi's as full, happy meatballs- and the standard has been set for the next place to compete with! 

Watch this space...

Sunny Spring Walks @ Kew Gardens

Kew Gardens

The plan as it stands is for MM and I to move in together in 4 months time (eeeeeeep!) As we are both northern, and still slightly bemused by London, we have begun a location-hunt; day trips to different areas to walk round, eat, people watch, and gauge whether or not we want to live there.

We have visited Richmond before (which is firmly on the list! Maybe a bit unattainable- but the dream is there!) and decided to head back last Sunday for a wander round near the river in the spring sunshine.

I have heard good things about Kew Gardens.. And I was particularly disappointed that I never made it to the Christmas Illuminated Walk that they put on over November-January (this has been placed on my high priority to-do list next year) so it seemed like the perfect choice of location to stroll down to from Richmond town centre, and spend an hour or so walking around and enjoying the nice weather and the fresh air.

It is only a 10 minute walk to the first gate, and at £16 each it is a bit pricey to get in if you do just intend to mooch about for an hour or so.. But it is absolutely beautiful.

The weather was really quite warm for February, the sun was shining, the spring crocuses were popping up out of the grass, and for a moment you really can forget that you're still in London.

The gardens are huge, we were there for an hour and a half and only just covered about a quarter of the plot. We walked past the Japanese gardens, complete with Pagoda! And then made our way to the massive conservation house (pictures above)... We couldn't go into the house, but it was nice enough just walking the perimeter and having a nosey from the outside.

There was a 'treetop walkway' which sounded right up my street so we ventured to that neck of the woods to have a climb and a birds eye view of the gardens. It's just high enough to overlook a lot of the grounds, and on a clear day we were able to pick out Canada Square tower at Canary Wharf! The walkway isn't very big- it's a small circular route, but is still quite fun to do.

We eventually made our way down, and made our way back to the gate to head into Richmond for lunch. A bit of a shame really- there is the Festival of Orchids on at the moment which we didn't have time to walk down to and enjoy- but I imagine it is lovely. I papped these pretty purple flowers instead

I fully intend to go back to kew Gardens in the summer for a full day- perhaps with a picnic. For £16 it's difficult to get the full value of the ticket in a short period of time- but the gardens are beautiful regardless, and were absolutely ideal to walk around on a sunny spring Sunday... Almost as pretty as Yorkshire!