A weekend of good food, good drink & sunshine galore

If I'm to reach my target weight of 25 stone by July (she says sarcastically), I have to make it my mission to eat my way round North London....correction...round London.  The first Bank Holiday weekend of the year was bathed in ridiculous amounts of sunshine and it would have been rude not to venture out on at least 3 out of 4 days.

Today's blog will be concentrating on some of my favourite eating & drinking establishments - some of which you may know, some of which you may not!  I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone feels the need to eat in Pizza Hut when there is a wealth of yumminess to experience out there.

So we'll begin on Easter Friday with a lunch in the Mediterranean Cafe' in Berwick Street.  Whereas all the "cool kids" go to Flat White next door, I prefer this for cheap, cheerful greek & turkish style food.  I havn't had a bad meal in there yet and I would always recommend it to anyone.  A 3-course meal for £8.95 is a bit of a winner in my book.  I had Grilled Halloumi (king of all cheeses) to start, followed by Feta pancakes, and then Banoffee Pie.  http://www.mediterraneancafe.co.uk/Home.aspx.  Off to my new 2nd home, Bar Italia next....one word...Martini.  'Nuff said.

Another sunny day on Saturday.  Whilst a lot of you night owls were sleeping off Le Beat Bespoke, I was up at the crack of dawn, heading for Muswell Hill, on a mission to check out an orange 60s coat/dress combo that had been spotted in a closed charity shop the day before.  A big fail on the clothes front but a big win as regards a new cafe'.  Swings & roundabouts and all that.  I'd heard about Nyborgs danish cafe' on Twitter and it's all that was promised.  As someone who has spent a lot of time in Scandinavia, Nyborgs is as authentic as you can get, due to the fact it's run by (I think) a dane.  We chose the danish bacon roll off the small but scrummy menu.  A lovely place for breakfast no doubt...which I will do one day.  http://www.nyborgs.co.uk/

More Bar Italia, more Martini & to end the afternoon, a trip to Zen Sai in Inverness Street, Camden.  Don't let any photos or music on the website put you off folks, this is one of my favourite places to hang out these days.  Happy Hour cocktails are a total winner - £3.50 each - the Mango Daiquiris are definitely recommended for a start.  Happy Hour tends to start whenever the management feel like starting it, and finish when they feel like finishing it....suits me!  Although I think late at night, this place generally turns into a bit of a house music bar, earlier in the evening, it's full of the most stylish 50s types, listening to great R n' B, Northern Soul etc.  I'm very much looking to next Sunday night where I shall partake in a Daiquiri or 3 myself .http://www.zensaibar.com/

Sick of reading about food & drink yet folks?  Worry ye not, nearly done!  Sunday was chores & baking day and neither of those things are interesting enough to write about on here.  The sun carried on shining today so we took a little trip to Primrose Hill, via Camden Market.  The market these days is beyond recognition and I had to get directions to a friend's vintage clothes stall, A Dandy in Aspic.  Get yourselves down there.  Today there were some particularly lovely shoes for ladies with tiny feet and some gorgeous dresses.  Unfortunately for me, my boobs didn't allow me to buy any of the said gorgeous dresses but I live in hope for my next visit!

Lunch in another favourite of mine - Trojka, the russian tearooms/cafe'.  On the menu for me today, Russian dumplings filled with mushrooms & sauerkraut, accompanied with smetana, and followed by baked cheesecake.  I love Trojka - it's particularly lovely first thing in the morning and the breakfast menu is lush! http://www.trojka.co.uk/.  A walk up Primrose Hill after lunch and then finally, as we'd promised ourselves as a treat before we go back to work tomorrow, a little trip to Marine Ices for a Knickerbocker Glory.  http://www.marineices.co.uk/

With all that talk of food & drink, I'm feeling positively STUFFED so I will love you & leave you.  I hope that some of you check out my recommendations & like them as much as I do. 

Streets paved with Gold.....allegedly

Big changes happening in my world....changes that have been forced upon me......but good all the same (I think).

Last Friday we got the (not so) unexpected news that our office will be closing down at the end of September.  Rather than sit in a corner sobbing, I'm going to take my severance money and my laptop, and move on to the next phase in my life.  I'll be very sorry to leave this place as it really is the best place I've ever worked (and probably ever will) but what will be, will be, and as I always say in times like this....no-one has died.

So that news has prompted me to think about all things financial.  Brighton salaries are generally rubbish.  I can no longer work for £25k and moreso, I refuse to!  My current salary is rare and one I will never get again in Brighton....or at least at the moment.  So.....after a lot of soul-searching, I've made the decision to move back to North London.  This wasn't an easy one - I'll miss the sea, I'll miss my flat, I'll miss the Laines - but needs must.  I don't want to struggle for money anymore and the only way I can avoid that is working for decent money in the smoke.  I'm only going knowing that I can come back to visit friends at weekends or on days off....and am only 50 mins away.

I've been in Brighton for 10 years now and for most of those 10 years I've said I will never move back to London....ever.  Oh how things change.  I guess things over the past year have made me like the place again (or least parts of it) - I loved doing Lipgloss in Chalk Farm (albeit with a very short shelf life), I loved going to South East London for illicit meetings, and I've fallen in love with Soho again.  So...rather than dreading this move.....I'm looking forward to it....and only wish I could go now rather than have to wait until October.  At least I'll have Summer in Brighton and all that goes with it, and when it gets colder and less appealing, I'll be off...MacBook in hand.

I'm looking forward to being a North London girl again so will be trawling the property websites for a 1 bedroom flat in Highgate, Crouch End, Tufnell Park, Archway.  I'm very choosy though and won't be living in some kebab-shop infested street above a laundrette or anything of the sort.  I will, of course, have to find a job first but I'm hopeful.  If nothing else, I'm resourceful and can market myself quite well when needed.

Any job offers or flat offers gratefully received.  See you in Bar Italia x

I heart Soho....and more

This summer seems to be the busiest ever.  All good but fitting everything in is proving difficult.

I was hoping to be able to write about lovely indiepop things in this blog but Saturday night went down the pan.  Never mind......was obviously not meant to be!

It was the Race for Life event this weekend.  Brighton station was a mass of pink t-shirts yesterday.  I saw one particularly lovely thing that I wished I'd taken a picture of - a lady with a card on her back that said "I'm running for myself as I survived".  Fantastic, and surely what this is all about....as well as obviously remembering those who didn't survive.

Soho was calling again yesterday so on a whim, off to London I went.  No room for small people and prams in Bar Italia this time but we went back to my newly found gem, the Mediterranean Restaurant on Berwick Street.  I love this place and am recommending it to everyone!  £7.50 for two courses of yumminess.  Not the smartest of places and you might not even notice it from the street but the food is great!  Halloumi salad starter, and grilled salmon main - wasn't I good?

I wish I could tell you I did lots of cultural things yesterday or shopping, or at least spied a good celeb or two...but in all honesty, all we did was eat & drink.  Baby in tow was a good excuse & who's complaining?  Pattisserie Valerie next.  As I was having a good "don't eat all the pies" type of a day, I just had a milkshake but cakes are on the menu for next time.....all that effort...it'd be rude not to.

Still on a food note...I was happy to see The Stockpot was still open on Old Compton Street.  I was sure this had closed down before.  Love, love, love The Stockpot.  Nothing special on the food front but cheap & cheerful, and great punters.  I used to go to the one on the Kings Road regularly and would see Holly Johnson without fail every single time.  I think this place has been around since the 50s and nothing much has changed from what I can tell.  Vintage lasagne too no doubt!

.........and just because I like it, here's a pic of a hairdressers window in Kingley Street, just off Carnaby Street.  Am wondering if this is the place that Ian Earl of Ealing visits.  Perhaps he'll tell me.

Soho done.....this week is unfortunately not a good nor exciting one.  Two dental appointments (which my friends will know fear me with dread) and a meeting at work on Friday which will determine our fate as an office.  Expect moaning, groaning and tears in my next blog.....or perhaps not as I'm off to Newcastle on Saturday.  Swings & Roundabouts!

Ye Olde London Towne

My blog entries are becoming very erratic these days, as opposed to erotic, which is probably a bad thing!

Saturday arrived and off to London I went, on the hottest, stickiest weekend of the year so far.  For someone not good in the heat, this probably wasn't ideal but I couldn't miss the chance to catch up with the ladies.

First stop in Camden - Dr Strangebrew.  I love, love, love this place and if it was in Brighton, I'd be there all the time.  Although slightly off the beaten track (i.e. Camden Road!), this is one of my recommendations to anyone who likes their vintage, likes their coffee, and likes absinthe chocolate cake (if you're lucky!).  If they had a website, I'd put a link but instead you can find them on Facebook.

At the mention of 2-4-1 cocktails & 50s music, off we went to ZenSai in Inverness Street.  I'm not sure how long this place has been here but I'll be back, should I venture into Camden again - great cocktails and a lovely view of all the nutjobs of Norf Landan.
I can't remember what yummy cocktails I had but one was a peach martini I think - not a cocktail umbrella in sight either!  Loved the music in ZenSai and the fact that everyone was really dressed up.

Bored yet folks?  I've a bit of a way to go yet you know.  Am only half way through our Camden reunion evening!  Food next - and on to the Goodfare Restaurant.  I used to spend a lot of time in here, over a cheap plate of something italian & a frothy coffee.  Situated right opposite the old Food Records office - a great viewing post.  We saw Jude Law in there once I'll have you know - all young & pretty, with a tiny baby strapped to him.  Those were the days.  Sigh.

It wouldn't be a Camden night if we didn't go for a quick drink in our oldest haunt, The Good Mixer.  As I mentioned before, this place is just not the same anymore but it had to be done.  I didn't get that feeling of excitement in my stomach that I used to get nor was I surrounded by britpop stars but then I wasn't expecting to be.  There could well have been bright young things in there but all I noticed was the slight smell of vomit and the caged in area outside - no doubt to prevent alsorts of craziness happening on the pavement.  Blah.  Hawley Arms next.  I hadn't actually been here since my dreadlock days and beautiful Chris who lived in a squat on Eversholt Street (whatever happened to him?).  Apparently all the "cool kids" go to the Hawley, along with the likes of Amy Whitehouse and Kelly Osbourne.  To be honest, they'd be lucky if they could even fit into the Hawley - it was rammed to the rafters - and not a dreadlock in sight.  Final stop and not even worth a new paragraph, The Spread Eagle - another old haunt of ours.  I didn't even recognise the place - toilets that worked, food you could actually eat, and sofas. What the?  Put me right off it did!

Oh dear, today's blog seems to be just a selection of pub photos.  How very boring!

Sunday morning in Soho was lovely.  A complete contrast to mad old Camden.  Really peaceful and calm, and much more me than Camden is these days.  I could have spent all day in Bar Italia if time allowed & will definitely be checking out their selection of cakes - all of them, one by one, til I'm sick!  I love everything about Soho - Soho Square, Berwick Street, Frith Street, all of it.  I even love the sleaziness of the adult shops and live sex show venues.  It's what makes Soho and I wouldn't have it any other way.

So, that was my weekend, give or take the odd saveloy or cup of coffee.  Not the most exciting blog entry but such is life!

For faraway Mother - I saw Paul Nicholls.  He said he'd call you.

And to my favourite ladies - Dawn, Lee & Ulrika - love you lots xx