Getting ready for Christmas

We are well and truly into the Christmas rush now. The last few cards and gifts need to be sent, the social whirl is in frenetic mode, and Mariah Carey is everywhere, like some kind of golden-voiced, glittery diva angel.

I approve.

As we head towards the celebrations proper, I am all about getting ready for Christmas. There are so many little things to do to ensure the festive period goes smoothly.

I like to check that our Christmas food orders are sorted and doublechecked (thank heavens for online shopping too, I must say). We're getting most of our stuff delivered by Ocado on the 23rd, and we have some delicious options on the list (Poppet is most interested in the large free range turkey crown of course!).

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London: London on a budget

I love living in London.

Sometimes my little country mouse self cannot believe I get to live here day in day out, surrounded by what has to be one of the world's greatest cities. Everything is here, and there's no mood or craving London cannot satisfy!

Architecture? From the dome of St Paul's to the jagged top of the Shard, the city is packed with icons!

Art? Two Tates, the nationals, myriad smaller galleries.

Green spaces? Richmond Park (home of one of my favourite funny YouTube vids ever. Never fails to lift the mood) or Hampstead Heath.

History? Everywhere. If you walk down an unfamiliar street or a new avenue, you'll always find a new blue plaque, unusual house, or little slice of this vibrant city's past.

Shopping? Oxford Street, Fortnum's, Portobello Market...whatever you want to buy, we have plenty for you!

Theatre? From the West End to some of the finest fringe venues on the planet, we've got you.

I could go on.

There is so much to do here in town, it can sometimes be a little overwhelming. Especially for the wallet. With so many wonderful but expensive options, I'm always keen to mix these in with more frugal and equally fabulous things. This is why I describe myself as a pick-and-mix blogger: I love a bit of luxury, a bit of mid-range, and a bit of a bargain sometimes too! With this in mind I thought I'd put together a post on my ten favourite free-or-cheap things to do in the city (this may well become a 'London on a budget' series!).

1. Mooch around a market for some bargains, top street food, and some very instagrammable shots! From Portobello to Borough, or the flower bonanza that is Columbia Road, the city's markets are so pretty and vibrant.

2. Take in a little history - you can snap Tower Bridge, or Buckingham Palace, or the Houses or Parliament, or St Paul's easily and get that quintessential London picture! If you're a London resident or planning a trip pretty far in advance, booking tickets for the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London will reward you with a one-of-a-kind experience!

3. Visit a museum! I love both the Science Museum and the V & A, and can't quite believe I haven't made it to the Natural History Museum yet. All of these museums and many others are free.

Ducks at Spitalfields City Farm

4. Go to one of the city's beautiful city farms for a slice of country calm amongst the hubbub. I've enjoyed Kentish Town, Hackney and Spitalfields city farms - next on my list is Mudchute! All these farms are free to visit, but as they are charities donations are appreciated.

5. Get arty, for free! The National Portrait Gallery, The National Gallery, Tate Modern and Tate Britain are all free to visit. The Tate-to-Tate boat between the latter two does cost money (£7.50 single, £15 return) but is a great way to see a whole swathe of landmarks from the river!

Stunning architecture at the Old Royal Naval College

6. Head over to Greenwich. From the Queen's House to the National Maritime Museum to the Old Royal Naval College, there's so much to see, as well as some cracking views of London and a lovely park. There are other paid museums to enjoy too (the Royal Observatory and the Cutty Sark), but the three linked are free/donation only.

7. As well as the more central parks such as Hyde Park, Regents Park, Green Park and St James', you can also enjoy some of the more unusual parks by venturing a little further afield. With swimming ponds in Hampstead Heath, dinosaurs in Crystal Palace Park, and deer in Richmond, the capital's parks are a true wonder!

Love walking past the 'Pringle' in the Olympic Park - site of so many golds for team GB four years ago!

8. Visit the newest of the big parks (this one gets its own entry as I'm local and biased!), the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. As well as being a super park, it has great play areas and wildlife hubs, and it's really cool to snap pictures of the Olympic Stadium and the Orbit - London 2012 has left such a great legacy.

9. Walk to the top of Parliament Hill, Primrose Hill, or to the hilltop next to Alexandra Palace for sublime views across the city.

10. Find cheaper eats by embracing the street food vibe, lunching for your main meal, or eating in up-and-coming neighbourhoods a little bit away from the centre of town, where tourists can be targeted with higher prices.

Still looking for inspiration? Cheap Flights have put together this fab post on thirty things to do in London for under £20 - we even agree on some of our favourite things, and they cover a few of my faves that didn't make my own list (love the Prince Charles Cinema, especially for the singalongs!).





Disclaimer: Cheap Flights asked me to write a post with my tips for London on a budget. As a London fan and someone who adores a bargain, I was very happy to collaborate with them on this sponsored post!

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London, Food: My first taste of Rawligion

As someone who blogs about food (a lot!), I'm always interested to read about new places that are opening, particularly when they have a unique spin or hook, and try to get along and visit them when I can. So when an email popped into my inbox a couple of weeks ago inviting me to try out a brand new cafe which serves only raw foods*...well, I had to say yes, please and get down there. 

Rawligion is a new raw food cafe which opens tomorrow on Tottenham Street, just off Tottenham Court Road and a mere few dozen footsteps away from Goodge Street station. All of the food and drinks are produced on site from carefully sourced produce and on the night we attended last week for our bloggers event things were still in the settling in phase - I'm excited to head back and see the place once all the fixtures (and the plants!) are up on the walls! 

Rawligion is the brainchild of the lovely John, who was once a professional poker player (that's totally on the list of dream jobs, by the way. If only my poker face were better!). While touring and playing, life on the road wore him out, and he found healthy living in general and raw food in particular helped him to feel balanced, centred and healthy. His passion for his products and the care taken with their provenance and production is really admirable, and as someone who loves to purchase from people who are passionate about their craft (whether it's making bread, growing veg, or selling books), his enthusiasm had me firmly on board.

These Oji coffee machines are the first thing you see as you enter. I love that they look like something out of a mad scientist's lab!

On the wall behind the counter there is an enormous display of moss. The whole ethos of sustainability and eco-friendly choices permeates the whole space, from products to fixtures to the containers your food is in.

The cooler was filled with goodies for us to enjoy.  There were a range of juices from the cold pressed botanical range made on-site, and big bowls of salads and dishes featuring such all-stars as kelp, quinoa and sprouting veg.

There were also mezze boxes and individual boxes of courgetti. On opening, all the meals will be served in individual portions, for ease of movement and consumption. The white boxes for the courgetti are made from recycled sugar cane, fact fans!

Vegan millionaires shortbread. Unbelievably moreish, but also oh-so-filling!

I loved the quinoa salad (above) and the delicious kelp in vegan pesto (below). Insanely good, creamy and satisfying!

As well as serving up all kinds of goodies with the help of his team, John also shared about his vision and let us sample a selection of the juices on offer.  Katy, Vicky, Pippa, the rest of the gang and I had a whale of a time trying to guess which ingredients were in each drink! As well as tried and tested favourites such as carrot and ginger, there were also new spins and fresh, botanical flavours. Would you believe that the blackish liquid below actually tasted of grapefruit and lime? The juices were great and a glance at the ingredient list shows off a cornucopia of goodies in each serving.

I very much enjoyed visiting Rawligion, and will be heading back soon for more yumminess. My favourites were the raw chocolate millionaire's shortbread, the kelp in pesto, and the phenomenal wulnut and date milk (which I was far too busy enjoying to take a picture of!). 

If you like good healthy foods, are interested to learn more about raw food, or just like supporting small businesses in this busy city of ours, you should definitely convert** to Rawligion for a breakfast or a lunchtime this month!

Thank you very much to John, Sheepa and the team at Rawligion for inviting me.

* Full disclosure, the very first thing I thought of was the raw food cafe the girls visit in Sex and the City.  Rawligion's food was much, much tastier than the meal the ladies enjoyed in the show. Thank heavens.

** see what I did there?

Disclosure (sing it with me if you know the words!): I was invited along as a guest to sample the offerings at Rawligion. All opinions, anecdotes, bad puns and SaTC related witterings are entirely my own.

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Maths and baking with the #estimationnation challenge

Those of you who have read here for a little while will know that I enjoy baking.  While I don't have the biggest sweet tooth in the world I love whipping up cakes, puddings and treats for when we entertain. I'm probably a better cook than a baker (cookery's room for improvisation is more my speed than baking's precision), but there's something quite therapeutic about the steadiness and calm that baking requires.

Imagine my delight, then, when I was invited along to a baking event by the crew at Smart Energy GB, to see if my powers of estimation were up to snuff.

Full disclosure, I went in to this challenge knowing my skills of estimation were....a bit rubbish. Having taught primary maths for years I'm super happy with numbers and calculations, but my estimation has always been a little bit...iffier. It's more of an innate skill than something you can learn, and it's not something I find particularly easy. Nonetheless I happily signed up to go along, knowing that either I'd pleasantly surprise myself, or amuse the rest of the people in attendance. Smart Energy are the team behind the rollout of Smart Meters for electric and gas bills, so estimation worries are at the forefront of their mind...

 Once we'd arrived at the kitchens in Hoxton (where they do some of the auditions for Bake Off, apparently) we were split into teams and handed a fetching purple apron. I was paired with May of Eat, Cook, Explore, who I've seen at several foodie events but never worked with, so it was fun to chat and catch up as we baked and attempted to measure.

 Our MC for the proceedings was the lovely Ian, who'd been the runner up on last year's Great British Bake Off (a.k.a. my food and TV heaven each spring). He was thoroughly nice and very sporting, even with teams who had a bit of a nightmare on the estimation front.

*cough* us *cough*

For both bakes we were given a pile of ingredients, plenty of utensils, and a recipe card.

Alas, the recipe card had no numbers on it. No weights, no temperatures, no quantities of any kind.  When it came to those things it was estimation all the way....

Ah, here we are, so young, so hopeful....

 ...and here are our finished cupcakes (or semi-souffles with dog poop icing,as we decided to call them). An oven too low and icing too buttery conspired against us.

 For reference, this is what they should have looked like!

After that disaster we broke for a restorative cup of tea before the second bake of the afternoon - cheesy, herby scones. As you can see below, these worked out far better, and were even, dare I say it?

Edible.

I had to get a snap with the Bake Off meister, of course.  The red mark on my forehead is from the Go Pro I was wearing all afternoon...the team from Smart Meter should be sending that footage, plus the video they took, over in the next few days.  Nigella I'm not, but there are bound to be some truly hilarious faces pulled, so I'll be sure to share that here when it arrives.

We were so proud our second bake took, we all had to get a picture!

After all the drama the contestants were greeted downstairs by the team for wine and canapes while Ian and the other judges decided who would win the prizes for the best and worst bakes.

And guess who got the wooden spoon for our cupcakes?

Good losers that we are, we still happily posed for a picture. We both won a gift voucher for cooking lessons, though as it was an estimation fail that did for us rather than a cooking based mishap, I'm hopeful my next creations will be more delicious!

Thank you so much to the team at Smart Energy GB for a fun and challenging afternoon, and for all the writers and bloggers in attendance for making it such a fun event.





Disclaimer: I was the guest of Smart Energy GB at this event. Cooking without quantities is stressful, for the record.

 PS The Smart Enrgy GB team have now sent me the video they made on the day (thank you!). I pull a classic bemused face about thirty seconds in!

 

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A most unusual Friday night with #clueQuest (+ a giveaway!)

There are many ways to spend a Friday night in London.

There’s the tried and tested - dinner and a movie, pints in the pub, takeaway and telly – and there’s the new and exciting. One of the delights of our fair city is the endless scope for new, fun, innovative ways to spend your time.

Which for me, a couple of Fridays ago, involved getting trapped in a room with four other lovely bloggers and striving to save humanity as we know it before the evil Professor BlackSheep unleashed his dastardly plans on the human race.

No biggie.

Gulp.

I’d heard about escape rooms before, and had read with glee Katy and Jasiminne’s accounts of their recent visits to clueQuest. So when clueQuest and Nuffnang kindly invited me to take part in the ‘Revenge of The Sheep’ challenge I was delighted.  I love puzzles, problem solving and logic challenges of all kinds (check the ex-teacher) so I was excited to take part in an escape room and to see if those skills worked in a practical situation!

My gorgeous companions for the evening! (L-R Erica, me, Jasmin, Milli and Milly)

My awesome team was made up of Erica, Milly, Jasmin and Milli, all of whom are bloggers I’m fond of, and once it was booked in the diary I found myself looking forward to the experience more and more. I was intrigued to see how we’d work together and if we’d manage to achieve our mission!
There are three live escapes at the clueQuest location, so you can visit three times and have a truly unique experience on each occasion. You can work through all three over separate visits, or just enjoy one – we attempted the third challenge but slipped into the story and proceedings straight away; I think this works equally well as a standalone challenge or as part of a series.

V  V V mysterious

As it’s all a bit secretive and under wraps, I don’t want to give away too much of the detail in the room, but allow me to set the scene. Professor BlackSheep (evil baddie guy par excellence) has a mission to turn all humanity into…..sheep. You might think that’s a baa-rking premise (*pun alarm activated*), but in the excitement of the challenge I found myself utterly swept up in the narrative and determined to save the day.  I loved having to solve the many puzzles and challenges along the way and there were plenty of thrilling moments, as well as points where we were well and truly stumped! Luckily the team at clueQuest are observing via a series of cameras in the room, and they have various methods of communicating with the team – some direct, and some rather more cryptic!

These cameras also meant that the lovely Natasha, our hostess from Nuffnang, could watch everything unfold in the control room, and man, did we give her a show. I can’t tell you much about what happened or how we solved the challenge….but I can tell you we did so with five seconds to spare.

FIVE. SECONDS.

I swear, those last couple of minutes aged me about five years!

We were so relieved to have solved the challenge - not least Natasha who'd been watching from the control room! 

I thoroughly enjoyed the Revenge of The Sheep challenge – it was fun, really made me think, and we had to work as a team to ensure we completed the challenge.  I think this would be fantastic for friends on a night out or colleagues doing some teambuilding, and also think it would be great for families of older primary or secondary school aged children – my former pupils would have LOVED this.

Have I piqued your interest? I certainly hope so, because the generous folks at clueQuest have given us bloggers the chance to give away a visit to their location near Kings Cross for a team of three to five people! If you’re up for the challenge, please enter using the Rafflecopter below.  Please note that this giveaway is open to UK residents only, and will run until Tuesday 31st May.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you so much to clueQuest for having me to play, and to

my awesome team for a fun, and funny, evening!

You can find out more about clueQuest here, and find them on social media at twitter and facebook.




Disclaimer, because I like to be honest: this post has been sponsored by clueQuest. Down with Professor BlackSheep!

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Sitting Room Daydreaming

A snippet from my 'Sitting Room Daydreaming' board on Pinterest

I like our cosy sitting room.  It's where Matthew and I curl up on the evenings we have time for a little boxset viewing (currently watching: Parks & Recreation).  It's where Shona and I settle down with a Dominos to watch a chickflick (recent films include Josie and the Pussycats and The Devil Wears Prada).  It's also one of the cats favourite rooms - as it's south-facing it gets the best of the sunshine and Fry can often be found basking in a sunbeam!

It's a large room, and at the moment it's a room of two halves, with the front half being the sitting room and the back half being a home gym of sorts.  We might split these rooms with a curtain or wall at some point, but for now they flow through together.  We might move the home gym equipment down to the basement and make one large room (this is currently my favourite option, but will require saving up the pennies for a good while!).  While we do so, I'm having a great time thinking up what I'd like to do, even creating a Pinterest board to collect furniture, accessories and other things for a dream sitting room.  It's entirely wrong how happy an hour or two daydreaming about this can make me!

The good folks from Fishpools asked me if I'd like to do a post about this, and I happily acquiesced - it takes very little persuasion for me to talk about home improvement dreams.  The next project around here is my study, but after that I think the bathroom, hallway & sitting room will be next on the list!

A few favourite finds for the sitting room so far?  I love the idea of this piece of room art (from Not on the High Street), with all the destinations we love on it (Edinburgh, where we met; Mogan, where we got engaged; London, where we married; and all the other sweet destinations we cherish).  I'm a little bit in love with these cool grey shelves (from Ikea).  While looking through the Fishpools site I loved the Alexa sofa.  Getting a sofa into our terraced house will be a labour of love - with a narrow dorrway it will involve taking the front window out, but I love for the day we can curl up on a lovely, cosy sofa!  I really like this chic little yellow side table from John Lewis - I love to have little splashes of sunshine in my decor!  Last but never least, I feel like every Austen fan needs a Pride & Prejudice cushion (from Etsy).

Spring always gets me excited about home changes and I think it will be a busy season around here - budgets and shopping and boxes, oh my!  From tiny jobs (cleaning out the junk cupboards in the dining room!), to medium ones (installing a new extractor fan - oh, the glamour!), to bigger projects (more on the big study move later this week!).




Disclaimer: this post is sponsored by Fishpools, but as you all know, I need very little provocation to hit Pinterest and do a little home planning!

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A Rock and Roll Brunch

That red guitar above the bar at Hard Rock?

Eric Clapton's.

He used to pop in to the bar here after a long recording session locally, keen for a drink or two and a chat with the friendly bar staff.  Back then, Hard Rock was a little slice of Americana in the heart of Mayfair, perfectly placed for acts recording in the studios on Curzon Street and beyond.

One night, so the legend goes, Clapton asked if there was any way he could reserve a seat....and the next day brought a guitar in to seal the deal!  The rest is history.

I've been to many a Hard Rock cafe in my time, knowing it's always a great spot for a decent burger, a great cocktail, and some interesting decor.  Last week I was invited along to try something a little different that the brand is launching here in London - bottomless brunches with mimosas and bloody Marys on tap, and live music as the soundtrack to your Sunday morning.

Being one of the first patrons to arrive gave me loads of time for pictures!  I even beat the band to their spot.

As I'd gone along to the brunch solo, I was kindly invited to join Sarah from the brand and a few of her guests.  I so enjoyed hearing more about the Hard Rock Cafe and the wider brand.  Her stories about the memorabilia were hilarious and hugely informative - did you know the largest item given to their collection is a BUS from the Beatles?  Crazy.

As we were both their bright and early, Sarah offered to take me over the road to the Hard Rock store, to have a peek in the vault.

The shop is situated in a building that was Coutts bank, before they moved to the Strand.  So the vault is a real vault - check the doors!  The Queen used to store some of her 'everyday' jewels down here.

The view from the doorway - there's a huge door with bars usually in the foreground of this shot.  But not when you're taking a tour with the lovely Sarah, who has access to the key!  I had a total music geek moment being surrounded by so much memorabilia as we stepped in for a proper look around.

There were so many items, from a massive array of artists.

I loved the wall outside the vaults too - so many famous faces and a wonderful testament to a much loved brand.

By the time we returned to the office, the band were in full swing.  They were absolutely cracking, playing lots of softer rock and pop - perfect for a Sunday morning.

We settled down to the first of many coffees and took a good look at the menu.

Sarah was enjoying a Bloody Mary (I loved that you could mix and match your accoutrements!), while I sipped a refreshing mojito.

The brunch options are comprised of three platter options, and you can select as many or as few as you desire.  I skipped the bagels and pancakes option as that many carbs in the morning sends me straight back to bed!  Instead we enjoyed the meaty platter, with sausages, chicken and waffle, bacon, potatoes, tomatoes, mushrooms and beans.  Perfect for having lots of little bits and bobs and mixing it up.

We also split this veggie and cheese tortilla, which was so nice as a vegetarian option.

I had a lovely time eating, drinking, listening to tunes and chatting to some lovely people.  What a great start to a sunny Sunday.  Thank you so much to Hard Rock London for their hospitality!

Disclaimer: as mentioned above, I was invited to review the brunch and received my meal for free.  All opinions and fangirl glee at going to go into the vault are mine and mine alone.

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