Melbourne: Eating

It's been a month since I was in Melbourne. Time flies right? I was thinking about this post, thinking, "urgh, no too much time has passed, there's no way I am going to remember what I ate and where", but after thinking about it for all of about ten seconds, the food memories came flooding back.

My sister and I base everything on food. She's 22, I'm 28. I once said to her, "do you remember when we went to Great Yarmouth?" ad she said "is that where we  went to the Little Chef?". Yes, yes it was, and you were 7 years old. And you still remember sausages, chips and beans in Little Chef?! Food is so evocative though, isn't it? Anyway, I digress.

When we landed in Melbourne it was early morning. We went to the hotel to drop our bags, then my sister and one of her friends met us there and we went to one of their favourite spots for some breakfast. This was the first of 3 trips to La Roche, because it was bloody good. They do deals on food every day of the week. At weekends, it's breakfast, and when I tasted this breakfast I thought, "I think I'm gonna like it here". The breakfast consists of eggs poached, fried or scrambled on toasted Turkish bread with bacon, sausage, tomato & hash brown. Simple but effective. The poached eggs were like perfect teardrops. Amazing.

Our further two trips to La Roche were on Monday nights. Monday is when they do Surf and Turf for just $17.50 and boy is it tasty?! A great big steak topped with big juicy prawns and an amazing garlic sauce, with chips of course. Wine is just $5 a glass during happy hour, so a glass of red wine with that and you've just had, like the best meal ever for £12. Mum spent the whole of the following week saying, "I don't care we go to eat as long as we can go back to La Roche next Monday for Surf and Turf again." Fine by me! We went back, but this time I had a chicken parma, an Australian classic. It was an enormous chicken escalope covered in cheese, it was so big it covered the plate. The fries were hidden underneath, there was so little room left. Incredible.

Surf and Turf

Mexican Chicken Parma at La Roche

Melbourne has a number of foodhalls, inexpensive places to get lunch which quite frankly poop all over our foodhalls which normally contain a Spud-u-Like, a McDonalds and a Harry Ramsdens. Lacklustre. One of the best I found was at Southgate Plaza, right by the Yarra and Flinders Street station, which has Mexican at Salsa's (lovely burritos to rival our Chilango) and Rhumbas for great tapas and Italian food, the counter is full of mouthwateringly good-looking arancini and piadini. Then there's sushi, Chinese, Indian, a juice bar, coffee shops and a bit of everything. There's also some sit-down restaurants like Wagamama (which I didn't realise they had in Oz), bars (including an ice bar) and some more upmarket fare. Being part of an office complex, this place gets pretty busy at lunchtime, but after nabbing a table it was fun to people-watch and see what everyone else was having.

Down the road from Southgate Plaza is the impressive Crown Melbourne, boasting a huge casino, hotels (the luxe Crown Metropole included), spas, luxury shopping, another great food hall and restaurants galore. On one of our first days in the city we walked in and had a good gander at everything and spied a fancy seafood place, The Atlantic which is hard to miss with window displays crammed with succulent crabs, lobsters and oysters.

Over the next couple of days I realised that it was Mother's Day in Australia while we were there, and my poor old mum had a crappy UK Mother's Day, my present was late and my sister probably didn't even acknowledge it, as she lives in Australia so wasn't subjected to the same marketing messages that we were here. So I emailed the restaurant and booked a table, pulled my sister aside and told her the plan and on Sunday we managed to gear her over to that side of town right in time for our booking. So we suggested walking through the complex because it had just started to rain (for once, rain was welcome) and as we strolled through, I said "Let's just take a look at that divine menu again. Oh isn't it lovely? Such a shame we can't go here. Except we can because I have a table booked in 3 minutes time." Mum was swept off her feet, delighted and very, very surprised. We had the feasting menu which consisted of oysters and prawns, luscious soft shell crab and barramundi, fries and salad and a delicious cassonade for dessert. Everything was delicious. The feasting menu is $60 each (£40). We checked out the wine list but the prices made me want to cry a bit so we opted for water and carried on our tradition of $5 supermarket wine back in our hotel room. Heathens like us wouldn't appreciate fine wine anyway!

Oysters and Prawns at the Atlantic

Barramundi,Soft Shell Crab and Fries at the Atlantic

Another highlight was Joe's in St Kilda, which is a really cool, fairly new diner selling American nosh with an Australian twist. The food was incredible, we opted for several plates and shared because we just wanted a bit of everything, so we had kranski sausage, soft shell crab, harissa chicken, fries and a chickpea salad. There was a relaxed vibe, it was clean and the staff were really helpful, and the final bill was modest too.


We had so many other amazing meals in Melbourne, including Mexican at Taco Bill which is a very reasonable sit-down restaurant, lovely authentic Thai food, fantastic Greek cuisine in the now miniscule Greek Quarter and so so much more. We happened upon a down and dirty takeaway establishment which was newly opened on Chapel Street, the Cheeky Prawn. As it was newly opened, they were boasting 50% off selected items on the menu (they were pretty vague about how long the deal was for, "oh maybe a few weeks?"). We each had the soft shell crab burger (are you spotting a theme yet?) which was delicious and came to something ridiculous like $5 each, and we shared a seafood chowder which is the best I've ever eaten. It's fast food like with its formica tables and plastic cutlery, but damn I wish we had something like it in the UK.

Enchilada Nuevo Mexico, Taco Bills

Our final night was spent at Cafe Cavallino on Lygon Street which is the Italian part of town. There are tonnes of Italian restaurants, some with staff outside trying to tempt the tourists in. My sister had asked an Italian friend for recommendations, and she told us where to go and where to avoid. We opted for Cavallino. We wanted to tick off as many main food types as possible, and Italian is a big part of Melbourne's culture. The whole place is covered in Formula 1 memorabilia and has cute gingham tablecloths so it does feel like you're in a southern Italian ristorante. The menu was huge, so much choice, so we spent ages poring over it. I've just had another look at the menu and I can't actually remember which one I had, it was so vast. But I know this: we all agreed it was one of the best pizzas we've ever eaten, far better than UK chain restaurant fare.

N.B. My favourite ever Italian Restaurants in the UK for authentic Italian are La Pizzeria Italiana, Catford, and BB's, Sheffield.

Other highlights included:

These enormous sushi rolls were$2 each

• Sushi. It's everywhere. It's cheap. Try Edo Sushi and Noodles on Degraves Street.
• A deep fried scallop. I mean, can you even imagine a better way to debase such a delicate thing? It's amazing. Funk Fish, Queen Victoria Market
• Gooey cakes at the famous Ackland Street bakeries. apparently Monarch is the best.
• The coffee. Almost anywhere. Our chainstore fare in the UK sucks in comparison.

Because Melbourne is such a multi-cultural city, you can get almost any food, from any place, at any time. It's incredible. I want to go back, there's a million restarants I didn't get to try, and what better way to live your life than by a food bucket list?

Glamping Fun

I interrupt this spate of posts about Australia, to bring you one about something a little closer to home! This weekend, I went on a dear old friend's hen party, which was a glamping trip in the Kent countryside, not far from our hometown, at Bloomsburys Biddenden.

Bloomsburys used to be a garden centre, but has recently had a revamp and transformed itself into a lovely relaxing tearoom/restaurant, arts centre, complete with farm shop and glamping site. Being so closed to home, I got the train to Ashford International straight from work and got my mum to drive me to the site and pick me up again on Sunday which was uber-handy, but other girls who took the train went to nearby Headcorn and got a taxi, or drove, it's easily reachable from Tunbridge Wells, Ashford or Maidstone.

We had a lovely teepee decked out with mattresses for five of us, a large tent with a terrace (with actual real beds) and a caravan, which was a little musty but had a kitchenette with a fridge which was promptly filled with prosecco for the do as well as a 2 bedrooms, one was empty but for a mirror so that was used as the hairstyling room by us 16-odd girls. We had electricity and thus heaters in both tents, and loads of benches and space outside to spread ourselves out. 

There seemed to be another two groups on site, but we all had plenty of space to ourselves, one group was another much quieter hen do and another a mixed group who seemed to be having a blast, but nobody got in each others way and there was no cause for complaint between any of us about noise.

The bathrooms on site were fab, four cubicles with a toilet, sink and decent shower, which were in the main hot enough. One of my concerns usually when camping is the bathrooms so when I heard this place had luxury bathrooms I thought, "do they, do they really?" but I was pleasantly surprised by the facilities available.

On Friday night, we had ourselves a barbeque with food the bridesmaids had ordered beforehand before lighting outselves a campfire and toasting marshmallows, and then popping away from a dip in the hot tub. Nb: first proper summer Friday evening + hot tub + prosecco = good times.

On Saturday morning, the bridesmaids had arranged for a local beautician, Sophie to come and do mini treatments for everyone that wanted them for a very reasonable price per person. I was weighing up massage versus manicure but after seeing one of the other girls coming back from her massage absolutely blissed out, I knew I had to go for that, and it was 20 minutes of heaven.

We had afternoon tea at the venue, which was a little later than planned. The people that run it are very laidback, and despite being told several times we wanted the tea at 2pm, they prepared it for 3pm.  This was the only real gripe though, because they are so laidback, we were left to our own devices for the duration.

The staff were helpful and clearly described to us the sandwich fillings and cake flavours I personally found the afternoon tea a little sparse, but then I like to eat a lot of food., I could have done with someone else's portion!

We took a mini bus to Tunbridge Wells where we had a refined cocktail in Hotel Du Vin, doled out the dare cards and tottered off to Pitcher and Piano, for more, far less refined drinks and dancing. Luckily, everyone abandoned the dare cards pretty quickly, mine was to go to the bar with my skirt tucked into my knickers so you can imagine my relief! The minibus driver from Clarkes arrived to collect us at 02:30 and we headed back to baseglamp, where we had a hilarious time trying to find the footpath leading to the side gate, as the main gate had been locked. The "footpath" was an unlit mudbath so this took about 20 minutes, with 16 girls shrieking as mud oozed into their peeptoes!

If you're planning a hen do or just a holiday in this area I thoroughly recommend this. Here is what the weekend cost me, which is obviously based on our own itinerary and approx 16 glampers (a couple of the girls could only stay one fo the two nights)

£40 glamping
£13.50 high tea
£8 treatment (based on a deal offered by Sophie)
£5 hot tub
£25 Food and drink (the bridesmaids did an online food shop at Tesco and had it delivered to one of their houses before arriving)
£13.50 Minibus
£21.20 Train to Ashford from London (with Network railcard)
The rest is up to you...

The contact details for Bloomsburys are:

Bloomsburys, Sissinghurst Road, Biddenden, Ashford, Kent, UK, TN27 8DQ, 01580 292 992

If you want to speak to Sophie about potential beauty treatments at the site or elsewhere locally, you'll find her website here.

Melbourne: Staying and Seeing

More on Melbourne, I only got back last Saturday but already it feels like a distant memory, so I am trying to get it all down before I forget any of the lovely details.

We flew with Royal Brunei Airlines as it was the cheapest option with the best flight times for us, at just over £700 each. We flew Friday evening and landed Sunday mornings, with stop-offs in Dubai for refuelling and in Brunei which meant we had the opportunity to stretch our legs every 7 hours or so (though at Brunei not so much space to do so, the airport is tiny). The middle leg of the journey was perfection, as a lot of people disembarked at Dubai, meaning we had loads of space to spread out (no such luck on the way back). I can't fault the airline, the service we received, and the food was pretty good for plane food too. It's a Muslim airline so there is no booze served on board but to be honest that doesn't bother me as I always get really dehydrated during a flight.

We booked the Cosmopolitan Hotel a couple of months before we travelled via Lastminute.com's Top Secret Hotels and we got a real bargain at around £550 for 12 nights instead of £750. We'd toyed with finding an apartment and doing self catering, but we ended up going for the hotel option as it was better value, and we could use the saving we made for eating out, it was a holiday after all!

The hotel was great. We'd asked for a twin room (I didn't fancy sharing a bed with my mum for two weeks) and the room we got was huge, with a double and two singles, so it must have been a family room. There was loads of extra space which was great for a long stay as we actually felt comfortable, some hotel rooms are so poky you don't want to spend any time in them. The room came equipped with a mini fridge, air conditioning, a hairdryer and TV with DVD player and free wifi (although signal could be pretty weak, on a couple of occasions I had to go to the hotel reception and hover just to upload a photo). The hotel staff were really helpful and were flexible enough to let us check in early when we arrived after the long journey, and were also able to help with airport shuttle bookings and local information, and there were DVDs and magazines to borrow in reception, along with a computer for guest use.

The location was great too, just off Ackland Street in St Kilda and 5 minutes from the beach, with a tram stop just over the road to get into Melbourne which took about 20 minutes. Being out of the city and right by the beach just added to the holiday feel. The trams start pretty early so a couple of times we were woken by that, and we had been told that St Kilda was pretty lively too. To be honest on a couple of nights there were some shouty folk loitering outside the hostel/club opposite but in the main it was pretty peaceful, maybe it wouldn't be so much in the height of the Australian summertime. Breakfast wasn't included in our rate and was pretty pricy (hotel breakfast always is) but there were plenty of cafes nearby for breakfast. We opted to go to a nearby supermarket and bought raisin bread and some butter and had that in the mornings if we weren't dining out.

Now for the sights:

My sister, who we went to visit bought us some iVenture cards, which cost $50 and can be used at a number of attractions in Melbourne. We used ours for a one hour Melbourne River Cruise which is usually $23 dollars per adult, as well as entry to Melbourne Aquarium, normally $35, and Old Melbourne Gaol, normally $25 again, so the pass was well worth the money.

The river cruise on the Yarra, departing from Docklands gave us a leisurely start to our trip, the day after we arrived still up to the eyeballs with jetlag, a relaxing one-hour cruise with live commentary and complimentary tea and coffee on board

At the aquarium, a great attraction for kids (or big ones) there's plenty to see in terms of colourful fish, fancy seahorses and sharks, but the highlight for us was the King and Gentoo Penguins. We spent ages watching them eating, swimming and playing, my sister and I were completely giddy!

The Old Melbourne Gaol was an interesting place where you can learn about infamous Australian criminal Ned Kelly, as well and conditions in the gaol, along with the history of the place. You can also opt for the Watchhouse experience, where a prisonguard treats the group present like they're actual criminals including locking you in a cell! That was quite an experience. For this portion, they warn of "adult themes" but there was a couple with a small child in our group so I think the guard toned it down a bit on this occasion.

We also took ourselves to the Immigration Museum, which gives the history of Melbourne in terms of the migrant population that have made the city what it is. The whole museum (and my whole experience in Melbourne) gave me the impression that the attitude in Melbourne is "come on in, there's enough for everybody", which is refreshing when you're faced with bigoted attitudes in Britain about foreigners "coming over here and taking all our jobs". There was an incredible moving photography exhibition called "Leaving Dublin" by Irish photographer David Monahan, about Irish people coming to Australia seeking a better life. Their despair at their current situation and apparent hope of more prosperous times in Australia was really touching,  I am actually welling up just thinking about it. My sister lives in a house with 14 other English and Irish young people, and their views match the tone of the exhibition, they don't feel like there's anything for them at home. If you happen to be visiting Melbourne before 25th August, I recommend it. Entry is $10 per adult, but free for concessions, so my pensioner mum and student sister got in for free. Before going here we went to the Melbourne Visitor Centre at Federation Square and picked up loads of attractions brochures, some of which had coupons inside, so I was able to redeem a 20% off voucher at the museum and paid only $8.

On arrival in Melbourne we found out that the Hollywood Costume exhibition from the V&A was in town, I missed it's London tenure so we went along to that ($19.50 per adult). It was at the ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image) at the incredible Federation Square. It was so incredible to see Vivien Leigh's green curtain dress from Gone with the Wind, Audrey Hepburn's ultimate LBD from Breakfast at Tiffany's and an array of costumes from the Mighty Meryl's back catalogue. The ACMI's permanent exhibition is pretty awesome too with loads of interactive activities for kids and a load on Australian film (Baz Luhrmann, y'all). The Hollywood Costume exhibition remains at the the ACMI until Sunday 18th August.

Hollywood in Melbourne, ACMI

Federation Square

In terms of European exhibitions mum really wanted to check out Monet's Garden, whose work was on display at the National Gallery of Victoria, on loan from Paris. This was a lovely peaceful exhibition, especially the film which depicted the last day of the season at Giverny. we paid $26 each for entry to Monet but the rest of the museum was free entry so we enjoyed checking out the European and Asian art and the small but perfectly formed Dior and Yamamoto exhibition, as well as the Ballet and Fashion exhibit. 

A major trip highlight was a day trip to the Great Ocean Road with AAT Kings. We got the best possible weather that day, it was hot and sunny, perfect viewing conditions. We went through Anglesea, Lorne, Apollo Bay up to the Twelve Apostles and finished at London Bridge in time for sunset. The coach driver gave a lot of information throughout the tour and was very helpful throughout. The tour cost $120 which included lunch at the Apollo Bay Hotel. I wouldn't bother taking the lunch option. It was $21 extra but when we got there we were given menus showing a limited number of dishes from the main menu which were all priced $15-17 each. It was also a bit downmarket and my portion of fish and chips was miniscule, it hardly resembled the luxe surroundings and large tray of succulent prawns displayed in the brochure. The driver mentioned that there were plenty of places to eat in the area for the benefit of those who hadn't had lunch included and we ended up wishing we'd gone for something different.

Regardless of the lunch aspect (to be honest, we ate enough other glorious food across the rest of the trip so it wasn't much of a hardship, yet another post to come on food later!), this was one of the best days, with glorious weather and breathtaking scenery. Here's some snapshots.

On our last full day in Melbourne, we took a trip to Melbourne Zoo ($26.10 per adult) which is just a short train ride away. It was a rainy day, in fact it never stopped, but we got to see some giant things (elephants), fluffy things (bears), some cute things (penguins, seals, meerkats) and some downright scary things (snakes). It was so great seeing the kangaroos, penguins, emus, koalas and platypus and acting like a kid with my sister. That night, as we made our way back to the hotel, we were talking about all the great, Australian things we'd seen on the trip when a possum ran along the wall next to us - FULL HOUSE!

There's so much to see and do in Melbourne, I know there's probably loads more that I haven't even touched on, there's something for everyone in this amazing, multicultural city, I loved every moment.

Melbourne: Shopping

Naturally, I did lots of wonderfully cultural things in Melbourne, but to strike a balance, a lot of window and actual shopping took place too. This post is about some of my shopping highlights.

Cotton On is a great, good value store with branches everywhere, similar to our H&M (there's no Hennes in Australia). While I was there I got some great items, including two gorgeous jackets, Zino and Claudine (I got my Claudine in mint green, I can't find it on the site). Zino was marked at $40 but was $20 when  got it to the till, and now the site says it's $5! Claudine was also $20 but is still $40 on the site. I am tempted by Zino in red too, as I've just found out they ship to the UK for $40!

This snood/scarf in khaki was also offered at $5 along with any purchase which is super soft and comfortable and was very useful to retreat into when we landed at 6am in London.

Claudine

Zino

Cotton on Body is part of the group, but usually a separate physical store selling underwear and sleepwear, there I got some gorgeous PJ shorts including these sailing boat cuties for $10, and another couple of pairs at 2 for $30.

Typo is also part of the Cotton On group, selling cute stationery and gifts, you'll find branches all over the place. I also heart kikki.K, which falls into the same category.

Some of the best shopping in Melbourne is on Brunswick Street, Fitzroy. There I got this gorgeous lasercut wallet from i.d.s. It's a wallet with a chain strap, so can be used as a bag for a night out too, it'd look great with an otherwise plain outfit. I love it!

i.d.s wallet

Also on Brunswick Street were loads of quirky gift shops and some huge clothes warehouses including Clear It selling tonnes of discounted Alannah Hill dresses. I fell in love with one, and now I am seriously regretting not buying it, although I've just found it on eBay...maybe I will enquire about postage costs...

Alannah Hill Everlasting Love

Hours of trawling to be had on Brunswick Street

There was also loads of vintage wares to be had at Hunter Gatherer, if only I'd had a bigger luggage allowance!

Hunter Gatherer Vintage

I also fell in love with T2 teashop, visiting the stores on Brunswick Street and at Melbourne Central, an awesome shopping centre. I asked one of the shop assistants and he said that T2 is hopefully coming to the UK in the next year, with a store opening at one of the London Westfield centres. When it does I am buying ALL DAT china, I am in love with the Casbah Collection! I make a point of buying some tea in a nice tin wherever I go, so treated myself to Babi's Brilliant Blend, pictured below. I love the cute tin, I would have bought the whole range!

Afternoon Tea

Casbah

Babi tea

There's also Chapel Street, a reeaaaally long street in Prahran/Windsor, which is chocka with opp shops (charity shops) where there are many cheap treasures to behold. There's Chapel Street Bazaar, a haven of antiques and vintage clothing for all price ranges. We went to Chapel Street on day one, still up to the eyeballs with jetlag, but as soon as I clapped eyes on the Bazaar and the opp shops, I knew I was going to love Melbourne! Chapel Street is also chocka with restaurants and cafes, but that's a whole other post!

Chapel Street Bazaar

Melbourne Central

My Directory:

For vintage and charity shops: Chapel Street

For alternative fashion and cool gifts: Brunswick Street

For High Street stores: Melbourne Central

For Designer/Top End gear (not featured much on this blogpost as it ain't my budget baby!): David Jones, Myer, Collins Street

For souvenirs: Queen Victoria Market, cheaper than the souvenir shops on Swanston Street!

Melbourne: In my Beauty Bag

I have just returned from a wonderful holiday in Melbourne, and this is the first of many posts about my trip. I returned yesterday morning, so am still a little jetlagged, so lets start with the basics: what I took with me!

I've probably mentioned before my efforts to destash my bathroom cabinets, so I bought as little as possible for my trip, choosing to take with me a few half finished goodies so that I could throw them out once and for all. This resulted in an empty L'Occitane Precious Cream and one Eucerin Hyaluron Filler Day Cream, both lovely rich face creams. I particularly like the Eucerin product because it contains SPF15, but I am not particularly loyal to any one brand when it comes to moisturiser so will continue to hunt around for the best for me. I've still got my Ainhoa and Avon night oil to work through for now but am always looking for recommendations for a good all-rounder, so do let me know if you've got any tips.

Just before my trip, I popped to the Boots Get Out There (#Bootsgetoutthere) event for bloggers which gave a great overview of the products on hand from Boots this summer, that are there to help you look and feel your best this summer s that you 'get out there' and enjoy yourself in the summer sun! It was a great showcase of the products available to help you feel confident and safe this summer. I took away with me some Soltan Protect & Tan Ultra-Light Texture Suncare Spray to trial on my trip, and I have to say it's a great product, completely non-greasy, easy to apply, with real protection, and it's half price at the moment along with some other great products in the range! Its slimline bottle also meant it was easy to carry around for reapplication during the day.

Soltan goodies on display

 Another favourite of mine was the Boots No7 Stay Perfect nail colour in Stand Back, which I applied on day one of my trip. It actually did 'Stay Perfect' well into the second week of my trip, and the fun shade also went fabulously with my sandals (Primark 2011)! A steal at £6.

No7 Stand Back

When I wear sandals or flip flops for the first time after a few months of hiding my feet away, they are horribly prone to blisters again, no matter how comfy those same sandals had become the previous year. When we landed at Melbourne, my toes were horribly blistered already from the ancient flip-flops I'd been wearing. The weather wasn't so hot on that first Sunday so as soon as I got into my hotel I wrapped them up in my Converse and let them heal. When I wanted to wear sandals again, I sprayed my feet quickly with Boots Blister Prevent Spray for the first couple of wears, and remained blister-free for the remainder of the trip. I'd definitely recommend this spray to keep the blisters at bay, at £5.49, it's worth it to save that agony!

These are some products that will be sticking with me all summer, I am looking forward to hearing about more great products that have impressed you this summer too....

Weekending

After a mental week at work, 3 days of which were spent at a trade show with loads of booze and naughty food, I was ready to crash this weekend. But I already knew that this wasn't going to be the case, owing to a girl's night out we'd planned ages ago.

In an attempt to spend some time with the Boy before I go to Australia (5 days and counting), we went to Angel in the morning to do some shopping. I needed some toiletries for my trip so popped to Boots and got some L'Oreal Elvive Full Restore 5 shampoo and conditioner, which were half price for the 400ml bottles, and some Nivea Happy Time shower gel, which was just 97p a bottle, so cheap and cheerful for me as always. We checked out a couple of opticians, I'd had an eye test the day before at Specsavers and had been told I need new glasses so wanted to shop around.. Below are my current favourites, although I also want to check out the Orla Kiely range at Boots.

Karen Millen 12

We spotted a branch of Bill' on White Lion Street, I didn't know it was there so I think it's fairly new (they seem to be popping up all over the place). I've wanted to check out Bill's for a while, so we popped in and got seated straight away, and told that breakfast was being served til 1pm (it's 12noon on weekdays). I opted for the vegetarian breakfast and Boy had the sausage sandwich, with a side of bacon and cauliflower cheese from the main menu.

Bill's vegetarian breakfast 

Bill's decor, Islington

I loved my breakfast. I am not a vegetarian, I am generally very carnivorous indeed but the description got me (poached free range eggs, tomatoes, hummus, mushrooms & guacamole, sweet chilli sauce, basil 

& toast) and I was not disappointed. I got additional bubble and squeak with mine, and we got a coffee each too. The bill came to just under £25 including 12.5% service charge which we were happy to pay as the service was great. A nice touch at Bill's is that they give you a carafe of tap water without it having to be asked for, I get so fed up with snotty looks elsewhere when you request tap water. Bill's branches have selection of handpicked deli products in store, all of which can be bought online too, along with the cookbook Cook Eat Smile which I now have my eye on after flicking through it in the store, it's a beautiful book.

Cook Eat Smile

We also went to H&M, where I got two great tops for just £9. This black number was £7.99, but 50% off (also in white, khaki and blue).

Black lace top, £7.99

This beautiful cream glittery top was marked down to £10, but when I got it to the till it was just £5! I can't find it on the website, so here's my picture below. Two tops for £9, I am still marvelling!

Mega bargain top

After shopping, I headed home and started working on my hair. I have long straight brown hair, which I wear in two styles. Up (in a ponytail). Or Down. I wanted to try something different, and inspired by Sienna Miller, I went for a plaited headband approach. An hour and many kirby grips later, it was achieved, here's me with my friend A. I wore the new black top with a blue boob tube top underneath, with black jeans and flat pumps

A and I had an amazing night at Koko, Camden. It was a Guilty Pleasures night, so the music was loads of amazing cheese and we had a really good dance. I loved it, though had one two many Skittlebombs and Jagerbombs. Taking all those kirby grips out on the night bus home was a wonderful feeling!

Today should be a lazy day, but I never sleep well after booze, so awoke around 7:30 (didn't go to bed til 3:30, ouch) then wandered to the shops again. I needed some new sunglasses so picked up some £5 jobbies from M&S, I am forever breaking them so I don't spend a lot of money on them, I have been known to get through 5 pairs in a month. I popped to our local car boot which is on every weekend and got 5 of the Game of Thrones books for 20p each for the Boy before going to Tesco to stock up our fridge. I am currently baking the Hummingbird Bakery Buttermilk Pound Cake and the chicken is marinading for tonight's Starlight Spicy Chicken Wraps. Who said hungover Sundays had to be dead time?!

The Look of Love

I've had a bit of a blog hiatus for the last couple of weeks...I was ill, then was out every night for a week and a half, it's been lovely catching up with friends and family, but tonight, a night in front of the sofa after a long day at Earl's Court with work, I finally have some downtime! Last night, we went to see The Look of Love which was fantastic, and inspired me to finally update my blog!

The film stars Steve Coogan, Tamsin Egerton and Anna Friel and is about the life of Paul Raymond, who was Britain's richest man, who is an "erotic entrepreneur" but absolutely not a pornographer, so he says..... The women are gorgeous, Anna Friel as Jean Raymond, Paul's long-suffering wife, Tamsin Egerton as his lover and Imogen Poots as his daughter.

I've only seen Egerton in St Trinian's before, and dismissed her as a bratty teen actress and didn't think I'd be seeing much of her again, but in this film she is incredible as well as beautiful. Anna Friel is stunning and glamourous as always (I love Pushing Daisies!), and Imogen Poots is gorgeous and tragic all at the same time. There are tonnes of other famous faces, Simon Bird, Stephen Fry (he who gets a gazillion retweets no matter how inane his 140-character rambling), Sarah Solemani and Shirley Henderson to name but a few.

Imogen Poots

Anna Friel

Tamsin Egerton

Queen Dusty

There is a LOT of sex, and a lot of boobies in this film, but despite the content and theme, it's actually all pretty tasteful. The styling is also brilliant, from the show costumes, minimal as they are to the outfits that Friel and Egerton strut around in, I am truly seventies-inspired now, with the Dusty Springfield filled soundtrack going on and on in my head!

As an aside, holiday countdown: 10 days til i fly to MELBOURNE!!! I saw Royal Brunei Airlines poster for the London - Melbourne route earlier on the tube and nearly died of excitement, in no time at all I am going to be On That Flight. EEEEEEEEK!
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