London Happenings #1

New York may have amazingly cool bars and restaurants with themes like Beauty Bar or Barcade, however nothing can beat London when it comes to the unofficial and transient. 


London is home to a plethora of pop-up restaurants, bars and shops. I can think of at least 4 'roaming' secret cinemas, so many galeries and in the summer you could go to a different festival everyday. 


It's hard to keep track of all there is to do in this amazing city I call home but I thought I would take a stab. I am hoping to start this series to pass on knowledge about what London has to offer while also inspiring people to try some new things!


#1 of the series is about the Society of the Golden Slippers

Every 3rd Monday of the month The Society of the Golden Slippers puts on a candlelit show of up and coming musicians at Blacks on Dean St. You have to be following their Facebook page or on their mailing list to find out about the next concert and who will be playing. Gigs are free but you have to get on the guest list- which is apparently hard. 

Their next show is on the 16th July with Josh Kumra, Alexandre Wolfe and Kimberly Anne. These guys all sounds amazing with just their voices and guitars so I image, by candlelight, it's going to be a show to remember. 

Josh Kumra

Bauble Bar

Have you heard of Bauble Bar? Well, now you have. 
It's a fantastic mail order site that sells very reasonably priced jewelry that all looks very expensive (in a good way). 
They run fantastic deals and send out 'clues of the week' to secretly marked down items. 
I just love that I can order jewelry for under $40 that isn't tacky!

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Meat Liquor

FINALLY went to Meat Liquor over on Welbeck St W1 (just off Oxford St).  
I've been wanting to check out this place since it opened almost a year ago. The planets aligned this past Saturday and we managed to get in for lunch. 


The benefit of lunch is that there wasn't much of a queue and we could walk right in. The downside of lunch is that we couldn't fully enjoy the 'liquor' side beyond a beer and a glass of wine (well, we could have, but unfortunately I had some important work to get done that afternoon). It was also pretty dark inside, which is a little bit annoying for us lunch time crowd as I enjoy being in sunlight in the summer, it also means I couldn't offer any of my own photography.


However, this was MORE than made up by its amazing burgers! 

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The burgers were phenomenal. 
Meat Liquor gets that burgers should be juicy, the patties should be thick and the relishes should be strong. 

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Find on the menu 'dead hippie'(2 patties with special dead hippie sauce), phili cheese steak and chicken wings among others. I thought the fries were good but no different than the skinny fries I could have gotten from the gastro pub down the road. They also offer chili cheese fries and onion rings but it was only lunch and still had to save room for dinner!


All in all, I would recommend it and would go back...for dinner. It was great food but ambience wise, wasn't great for lunch. 
The queue might be worth it for 20mins (or 40mins if you're with good company) but I might draw the line there. 


All I can say for the liquor side is their cocktail menu looked long, inventive and reasonably priced- good qualities in any bar. 

Weekend Snaps

I hope you had as good a weekend as I had- full of good food and friends. 


Gluten Free Blueberry & Raspberry pancakes

I realized I had never made American pancakes. Sure, I've made English pancakes, but never the big fluffy filling kind. UNTIL TODAY! And, if I do say so myself, they were delicious. 


Recipe:
1 cup gluten free all purpose flour (self-raising). I used Amy Ruth's that I picked up at Marylebone Fair.*
1 egg
1 cup soy milk
2 tablespoons salter butter
squeeze of honey (but wonder whether maple syrup will also be delicious) 
2 tablespoons of Vanilla Macadamia Nut Sugar**
Blueberries & Raspberries 


Mix the wet then add the dry.


*You can make this non-gluten free by just not using regular, gluten filled, flour. Same measurements. 
**This is an ingredient I picked up in Maui years ago (see picture below). To be honest, any sugar will do or even a sugar substitute. With gluten free cooking you need something to counterbalance the bitterness of the flour.

 

Also enjoyed an amazing Midsummer Feast with my Swedish friend... for which I made Salsa for (didn't say I was logical). 

 More Picked Herrings than I thought existed. 

 Smorgasbord!

 Random Salsa?

'Eggs with Eggs' boiled eggs with fish roe

And to finish it all off- a glass of wine in the sun

Hope you had a good weekend too!

Summer Wardrobe

It's rainy here but dreaming of hotter days.

from top left Sandals/ T-Shirt/ Tote/ Skirt

Strawberry & Blueberry Salsa

The whole world needs to go make this right now. I promise it won't disappoint.
It was so easy and tasty that I feel it will be my go to summer accoutrement forever more. 

I give you: Strawberry & Blueberry Lime Salsa. 
(adapted from How Sweet it is)


1 Handful of blueberries
4-5 Strawberries 
Zest of 1 lime
Juice of 1 lime
Mint Leaves
Onion (I used white as that's what I had but red would work just as well)
1 bunch of Cilantro/ Coriander 
Salt & Pepper


This is not an exact science so change the ratios however you wish. The lime cuts the sweetness of the fruit so I wouldn't suggest cutting it down unless you'd rather something closer to a coulis than a salsa. 


Directions: Put them into a blender and blend. BAMM your done.


I served it with pan fried cod and a salad but I think this would be good with tortilla chips, burgers or any type of fish. 


Enjoy!

Ye Olde Marylebone Fayre

Twas Ye Olde Marylebone Fayre this prior Sunday and boy was it full of frivolity! 


Every year on Father's Day Marylebone High Street shuts down to cars and has a street fair (or as they call it 'Fayre'). All the local shops and pubs, plus some extra, set up stalls on the street and Marylebone becomes THE place to be. Live music, amazing food and Pimms galore- fun for the whole family! 

It is also a chance to discover new shops and products. For example Concoction, a haircare brand, where you can blend your own add ins with your choice of smell. 

The idea is interesting but I've used it only once so can't make a judgement yet. I'll let you know!


Second discovery was La Paire- beautifully simple sandals by Amy La.

all photos found via. their website here

Read more about what was at the Marylebone Street Fayre after the jump.

Happy Weekend!

Hopefully one of these recipes inspires you to cook this weekend! 

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Shrimp tacos with spiced peach jam (why not make your own tortillas)

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Grilled Chicken, Peach, Blackberry + Basil Pizza

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Peanut Butter Pretzel Truffles

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Brown Butter Brownies

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Red and Yellow and Green and Blue!

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Homemade Tortillas

I.am. awesome....seriously.awesome


I'm not normally a toot my own horn kind of gal but in this situation I am blowing an ENTIRE BRASS SECTION! 
I made my own corn tortillas. That's right. You did hear me. HOMEMADE TORTILLAS. And they were easy and amazing. 


Let me take you on a journey. (again, sorry about the quality of photographs. I'm changing the name of this blog to girl with a camera-phone because she's lost her charger to her real camera).

You will need some Masa Harina (basically coarse ground corn). This is hard to get in the UK but you can find it on amazon. For the US folk, all you need is a well stocked grocery store. 


It's about 2 cups flour to 1.5-2 cups water plus a massive pinch of salt. Kneed it together until it forms a springy not sticky dough. Leave for an hour. 


Once it's ready tear off 2in balls and place it between two pieces of cling film (if you have a shmansy pants tortilla press- this is the time to get it out!). At this point you can either smoosh the ball down with you hands or use a rolling pin. I used the latter. 
Flatten the ball so that the dough is about 1cm ish thick and then place it in a NON oiled hot skillet (I learnt the hard way- if you have used oil then you basically are making tortilla chips, still delicious, but not what I wanted at that moment). 

Let it cook for about 1 min on one side and then flip it for 15 secs before taking it off the heat). It's nice to get some charred bits on the tortilla. Adds flavor! 

Keep going till you get a nice stack going. You can keep them in an air tight container in the fridge for probably a little under a week. 

I topped them with pickled red onions (water, malt vinegar, salt and sugar), chicken, Pico de Gallo and feta cheese.

I can't recommend homemade tortillas enough. Really fun and easy to make and very rewarding. Let me know how yours goes!


Amy xx

3 things

Something Shiny

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Something Yummy

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Something Gorgeous 

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Romping Around

I've been wanting a romper for a while now... to romp around in obviously. 
The only issue with rompers is how to go to the bathroom with them on without having to strip first. 

Here's to romping! 

Clockwise from top left: 1/ 2/ 3/ 4/ 5/ 6

Have an exciting weekend!

Enjoy all the little moments xx

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Glamping!

It's not that I don't like to camp, but glamping just sounds so much better! 


Shelter Co. 
You pick the spot and they set up the tent! 
Sheets: 400 count
Floors: Carpeted 
Bed: Mattressed
Amazing.


Not only that but they also offer a large 'lounge' for 12 people a bar set up and a stocked library! 

Find it here

Tree House Point

Based in Issaquah, WA you can pick from 5 different Tree Houses!

Found here

Clayoquot Wilderness Resort

Find it in BC, Canada they have 20 tents to choose from. Ensuite bathrooms, underfloor heating, flushing toilets and indoor/outdoor showers (okay, so not so much like camping). 

All photos found on their website