Possible Future Neighbourhood Exploration

Possible Future Neighbourhood Exploration is what we have been up to lately - a few weekends ago we headed south of the river(!) to wander around Peckham & see if perhaps a move down that way could be on the cards. We had a lovely, lazy Sunday meandering about the place - helped along by too much coffee (caffeine overload is pretty unpleasant it turns out) and some seriously delicious baked goods. 

Coffee at Anderson & Co

Guinness chocolate cake 

One of the most exciting reasons to move to Peckham: The possibility of having an actual garden/outside space again! It has been too long - gardening inside the apartment ain't the greatest. 

 Turns out I was a bit snap-happy at Anderson & Co and didn't manage to take any actual photographs of anything else we did that day. Except (of course) of my coffee at the tiny/lovely Cafe Viva...

I loved this cup/saucer. I wanted to steal it. I didn't. 

Xx

The tale of Grefriars Bobby makes me sob every time: Edinburgh (again)

Edinburgh was amazing (again) & the train trip from London provided some beautiful scenery, even without the copious amounts of daffodils that graced the hills on our last trip. 

Travelling with my family had a weird impact on the photographs I took while we were away - obviously with just the two of us usually there aren't many photographs involving people, so that was a bit different but having access to a smartphone (I have a crappy, but very reliable & never-needs-charging samsung flip phone, no camera, definitely no internet access!) changed the photographs I chose to take with my DSLR. Usually it's glued to my face the whole time we are travelling (with a proper amount of just 'taking-it-all-in' hopefully). Yes, I'm the embarrassing person that pulls out a giant camera no matter where we are. This time I noticed myself taking more photographs on the phone because it was just...easier. The quality is different but so are the photographs themselves - being able to quickly take a picture without hauling out a huge camera was definitely something I enjoyed. I don't think that having constant access to a smartphone would make me shelve the DSLR but it would definitely allow me to take quick snaps of nice everyday things. 

So, the next few blog posts from our trip will have some weirdly square phone pics thrown in (I now have an Instagram account, which for obvious reasons can't be updated very often - although Ben has a fancy phone I can get my hands on every now & then!)

Okay. That's enough ranting about phones/cameras - here are a few pictures from our foggy/rainy/perfectly Scottish week in Edinburgh...

Greyfriars Kirkyard

Coffee at Brew Lab every day

The little flat we stayed in - I do love Airbnb!

We spent our time generally wandering through the city & went to a few of my favourite Edinburgh places, including another trip to Craigmillar Castle where we were greeted with perfect sunshine for the only part of our stay!

Xx

Edinburgh (Part II)

My favourite way to meet a new place is to spend time in cafes, hang out in parks, wander around (undoubtedly getting lost along the way) & eat whatever delicious food we come across. Edinburgh is a wonderful to place to get lost in, there is something interesting around every corner & I think you could spend a lifetime exploring it, marvelling at the history of it all.

Here are a few of our favourite places...mostly the whole place to be honest...

Brew Lab: Good coffee is obviously one of the first things on the list when we arrive somewhere new. This was it. 

Carrot cake/Hummingbird cake. Also at Brew Lab...Yum.

I really love this street.

Cheesemonger!

More of Edinburgh soon, plus our crazy adventure out to The Broch!

I hope you have a happy week!
Xx

A Primrose Hill Picnic/Good Times in The Sun/Coffee (always)

Spring is definitely making an appearance in London. I have ventured out sans coat for the past 4 days in a row. Crazy times! This weekend I am going to 'oooh & ahhh' at the beautiful Spring flowers - they will all be finished by the time we get back from our impending trip to Berlin, Copenhagen & Edinburgh (excitement is beginning to take hold!) Spring is my favourite season and I want to make the most of it.  

The sun came out on the weekend and we (along with the rest of North London) headed out to Primrose Hill for a picnic, drinks (too many for me) & some much needed Vitamin D. Lots happening in the coming weeks - as the days get warmer and longer I remember how amazing London is in the summertime & can't wait to see what this one brings.   

Affogato at our regular Friday evening cafe stop - Tapped & Packed. This is where we plan our weekend adventures.

The Shard with bonus Rainbow from our balcony.

Sunday Picnic with fellow sunlight devotees. Don't worry - we cleaned up after ourselves. 

 Football in the mud.

The photos don't capture it but I swear it was sunny. 

Happy mid-week everyone!
Xx

Weekends in Soho

The faint hint of Spring has faded & the snow has returned. I can't say that I've been doing all that much lately, mostly just waiting for the weekend. We've been spending a bit of time in Soho recently and were there on Saturday for coffee & caught a bit of the Chinese New Year celebrations. Tomorrow is standing in for Saturday as Ben has to work then so we are heading out for some You Doughnut action at Kerb, a trip to the cinema & some coffee (of course!) Here are some pictures from recent coffee shop perusing - we've been to 2/3 of Tapped & Packed in the past few weeks and they were both really lovely. We were discussing it the other day - how many outlets constitutes a 'chain' & is it always a bad thing? Something to ponder I suppose...      

Tapped & Packed on Tottenham Court Road

Tapped & Packed on Wardour Street

Tapped & Packed Tottenham Court Road - I sense a coffee shop theme developing here. 

It's blue somewhere in the world

Happy New Year!

In the next few weeks I am looking forward to:

1. Bhangara Burger residency at The Black Heart
2. A trip to Brighton (hopefully)
3. Spring time & Daffodils everywhere
4. Getting closer to our Copenhagen trip!
5. Getting up the nerve & resolve to call and get an actual booking somewhere I've been wanting to go for a while now.

Have a lovely rest-of-the-week everyone. 

Xx

Terrible coffee/Lovely coffee

On Saturday we went to Soho & I had the worst coffee I've ever had. I'd really been looking forward to checking out the cafe (Milkbar) too so it was super disappointing. Luckily the coffee from Store Street Espresso on Sunday was A W E S O M E. I had two cups in very quick succession. We made another Sunday afternoon trip to the British Museum & checked out the Japanese collection there before heading back for our usual Sunday afternoon ice cream at Chin Chin Labs. This week the new flavour was Sour Rhubarb Soda. So good.

Store St Espresso. 

Today I am aiming to finish some little bits of sewing, head out for a coffee, apply for jobs & clean the kitchen. We'll see how much I actually get done. Have a happy week!

Xx

Hello Society

My prediction for Wednesday was accurate (glorious sunshine - any sunshine is glorious at the moment) and I actually managed to do the things I had planned! A walk to Regents Park & coffee at a place just down the road I've never been to (coffee was P E R F E CT well, for me anyway. Soy ahoy!) I also made some Lentil Soup for dinner and Parsley & Walnut Pesto which was a bit more difficult in our miniature food processor than I had anticipated. So today it's sunny again and I've been good spending my time getting stuff done at home, although the kitchen is still rather messy from the pesto episode...  

Flowers in the house, sunshine beginning to make an appearance...perhaps Spring really is on the way

I am even contemplating venturing somewhere tonight that requires me to catch the tube! Hello Society!

Xx

Like driving into the future

A few weeks ago we spent a day in Greenwich with a stop off in Deptford for coffee/lunch at The Waiting Room which is connected to Kids Love Ink just a few shops down. The cafe was cosy and super cheap (sometimes I forget how expensive it is in London) with good veggie/vegan food and decent coffee - definitely worth the detour. We wandered around Deptford for a while & made our way down to Greenwich where we spent the rest of the day in the National Maritime Museum. We were there for ages & still didn't get around to seeing everything. Hopefully next time we'll see the rest of the museum and make it to the observatory as well - I would also like to be first on the DLR so I can sit in the roller coaster seat up the front.     

On the walk into Greenwich

Veggie hotdogs

To the observatory!

From where I'd rather be...

I would very much like to be outside in the Autumn sun drinking this coffee & eating those scrambled eggs (seriously delicious) on a quiet sunday morning. Instead I am awake on this fine Wednesday at 2am having given in to my insomnia and come to the realisation that my sleepy tea just ain't sleepy enough! 

I find it hard not to gulp the coffee at Ginger & White. It's actually embarrassing how quickly I drink it. 

Usually my 'going out' breakfast of choice is poached eggs but these scrambled ones are freakin' amazing. 

Have a lovely day, I am sure my potential daytime productivity has been seriously depleted after my lack of adherence to a reasonable bedtime! 

Xx

Part IV

We ended up being at Dartmoor National Park on the same day as the Widecombe-in-the-Moor Fair. Our original plan was to head there for the morning, go to the fair then head off for a walk & picnic lunch. The roads to Widecombe were closed off & we didn't have enough time to park & wait for the shuttle so we decided to go to another Dartmoor town instead.

After some harrowing driving we finally made it to the village of Chagford. It was lovely, we had ice cream & bought a chocolate cake from an honesty box (it was possibly the best chocolate cake I have ever eaten, although I don't think I'd make the crazy drive into Chagford again for it!) as well as having coffee at a cute little cafe that doubled as a whole-food store.  

Dartmoor was beautiful. It would take a lot of dedicated time to get around and see everything but we managed to get to a village & then head off to climb the hill (it felt more like a mountain) to Haytor & have a very cold and windy picnic lunch. 

Dartmoor (It's a bit creepy really...)

Church cemetery in Chagford

We spent the next few days driving around Devon and even made it down to Plymouth. It was a miserable rainy day but fun all the same! We had afternoon tea at the River Cottage Plymouth Canteen & Deli where I promptly fell asleep after all the driving I'd been doing. 

South Devon Chili Farm

Plymouth Sound (with bonus rainbow to make up for the bad weather)

Devon Cream Tea is one of my favourite things but if I see clotted cream any time soon It will be too much for me to handle. We had a few too many of these indulgent afternoon teas...

I made Ben eat the rest of my scones this time. I just couldn't continue. I think they gave us a whole tub of clotted cream... 

All in all we had a really lovely time away - Ben went to a Cheese-making course at River Cottage on the Thursday while I spent my time at a yarn shop in Bridport before taking myself to Lyme Regis for a wander & lunch by the seaside.

On the way home we drove past Stonehenge but didn't stop. It was a fleeting visit.

It's back to city living for now & for once I am glad to be back on public transport!

Xx 

A floating Marketplace & a non Notting Hill Carnival kind of afternoon

After a lazy morning waiting for our new shower (which happens to be worse than the previous one) to be installed we popped over to Primrose Hill for a coffee fix & took a stroll down the lovely (green) Regent's Canal to the Floating Market & onwards to Hyde Park. We had originally intended on heading to Notting Hill Carnival but by the time we dragged ourselves out of Hyde Park & got there we found ourselves in a sea of drunken revellers which proved far too much for our sober selves.

It's amazing to watch the poor ducks struggling through this sludge... 

Cafe's, hairdressing salons & bookstores were among the 'stalls'

The Floating Market was a bit disappointing but a novelty all the same. It seemed a bit too personal getting onto the boats to browse so we contented ourselves with some windowless shopping on the canal bank.

Perhaps we'll brave the carnival crowds next year. Summer is beginning to descend into Autumn and soon taking a walk down the canal will require a lot more effort so we are enjoying the last few weeks of warmth. Bring on the Ice Cream festival, Pride in Brighton & our River Cottage adventure! 

Xx 

Brewery Putt Putt & why you should check the sauce lid

Last weekend our lovely friend Cam was in London en route back to Australia & so we spent the weekend doing some London-y stuff. Borough Market for cheese sandwiches, Kernel for afternoon drinks, Boris Bicycling to Islington for shopping/coffee and putt putt in the brewery.

Yes. There was a Putt Putt (or mini-golf if you so prefer) course set up in the brewery. I started off strong with a hole in one which turned out to be an absolute fluke considering how far downhill my game went after that. Benjamin was trying out some fancy (and surely highly illegal in the putt putt world) 'chipping' moves which looked a bit more hockey than golf. Pints and putt putt are a good mix I think, although perhaps not too many pints. 

The course was harder than it looked, but then again the pints might be to blame

Granary Square at Kings Cross where I dragged everyone so we could check out the new Caravan which turned out not to have actually opened yet

CoffeeWorks Project 

This is why you should check the lid is on properly before shaking sauce. Also, for those of you out there with beards - if this happens to you, don't look down to survey the damage, your beard will end up covered in sauce also.

The people sitting next to us had a very lucky escape, the majority of the sauce ended up on Ben. Well, I am off to enjoy the sunshine at Street Feast & get me some Bhangra Burger & Sweet Tooth Factory goodness. I am also going to attempt to make a lion headband for a party tonight without the necessary craft supplies. Wish me luck!

Have a lovely weekend & remember to check the lid is on the sauce.

Xx

It's always a long weekend when you are unemployed. Fairy Bread.

Over the weekend we went to the Southampton Arms in Kentish Town/Gospel Oak to drink cider and enjoy the lovely London weather*. We definitely drank a fair bit of cider and to my surprise they had a vego version** of a scotch egg which I had to try (I had thought the whole 'scotch egg' thing was out of my reach). I am very glad that I did, It was delicious, if a little bit weird at the same time. 

Sunday started at Caravan for some good coffee and to wander through the markets which we thought would be on, turns out they aren't there on Sunday...at least the cafe was open! After our non-trip to the exmouth markets we made our way over to Shoreditch to check out an exhibition at the Idea Generation gallery. It was an interesting exhibition of photographs taken of actors in theatres across London over the past 25 years or so. I wouldn't say that all of the photographs were amazing, but the subject matter was interesting and the gallery was lovely, all in all definitely worth the trip. We finished the day by heading over to the brewery for a birthday party, fairy bread in hand. 

Fairy Bread is weird.

Don't get me wrong, I love a piece of bread covered in sugar every now and then - apparently it's not a recognised food over here though and so tracking down the sprinkles was a tad difficult. 

The 100's & 1000's were different colours (pastel, and quite nice actually) but in the end it tasted the same. Despite everyone glancing sideways at the strange australian party food for the first half of the night, within the space of a few drinks the plate was empty (although I suspect that Ben may have had more than his fair share...)  

Cider, cider, cider.

Weird and yet delicious

Soy latte & a macchiato, yes please.

The Half

Some Chocolate Rain just across from the gallery

Pastel (we mixed the uglier packet in with the nice one...)

Mmmmm. Totally appropriate for a 30th Birthday.

* By lovely what I mean is 'Typical London Weather'

** I am not talking about soy meat here people, I'm talking chickpeas and spices. The whole fake meat thing freaks me out a bit. Expect for Not Bacon. I quite enjoy that, go figure.