ice babayyy

I don't want to jinx things so I'll whisper this very quietly, but, I think we might have left behind winter and are now saying hello to spring. Hurahhhh, finally!! 

                  

    

    

    

                    

Lately we have been waking up to crisp frosts and are welcoming the sun throughout the day. Today has been a corker and, as I sit here writing this post, the sun is streaming through the windows and casting all kinds of shadows across the tiled floor. What's more, the ground is drying out, finally, from its drenching over the winter and I can actually wear something other than booties on my feet! 

   

Foolishly I am (supposedly) in training for a half marathon later on this spring, so made the most of my quiet afternoon and went for a quick run along the rye. To reward myself, and to quench my boredom, Sarah and I set to work making a skinny banana and chocolate ice-cream. 

I have no credit for this recipe- it's greatfully nabbed from The Londoner's blog www.thelondoner.me. Thank you- it's the perfect, and not so naughty, little lift.  

Sarah was super organised and had already got a fist full of bananas in the freezer- chopped ready for easy blending. They don't look too great here but this is what they looked like... Banana-ery! 

                 

Next, we simply added a tablespoon of cocoa powder and a tablespoon of honey. 

                 

Sarah gave it a thorough blast in the blender....

                 

Five minutes later and tadaaaa, you have instant chocolate and banana ice cream! 

                

We were being very lazy and ate it straight out of the pot...less washing up and just a little bit naughty! Oh, and also we found some Oreos and crumbled them on the top too. Perfection. 

                

Happy sunning! 

L. 

lunch and lionel

Though it's Monday, we still have a day off. Hurrah! 

Riding off a high still from the amazing sun yesterday, me and the girls decided to grab lunch and have a picnic in the not so sunny garden. Despite the sun's best efforts, the clouds won and we ended up wrapping ourselves up in as many layers as possible. 

                

We had been to M&S earlier and seemingly bought the entire contents of delicious and nutricious foodie items. Apparently we were eating for 8...

                

 

Hummus, chilli artichoke hearts, salmon flan, super food salads and avocados. All dreamy. 

                

                

                

         

Now, let me introduce you to Lionel. He's a prickly little chap, and really I'm quite scared of him. I think he's scared of me too, seeing as every time I say hello he puffs up. And not in the good way either. 

                

Nonetheless, he was out to play so I took the opportunity to give him a photoshoot. 

                

Look at this little fella! 

                

Lionel does almost as much exploring as I do.

          

He even decided Sarah's leg was a tree worth climbing. 

                

               

                

In the mean time we had opened a bottle of homemade damson gin to warm us up.

                

Lionel was pretty content and so were we.

                

Three weeks til the end of term then helloooo Easter, and hopefully maybe definitely, hello a holiday in the sun. 


Watch this space.




L. 

sh-sh-sh-shoreditch

So the original plan for Saturday night was to grab food and head over to Hoxton to meet university friends for a night on the tiles to celebrate Callum's birthday. Annoyingly, as always, this never quite turned out the way it was meant to. 

Scrambling across the city, me and the girls made it to the east. Now, I'm going to admit this straight away... I am not edgy enough to be an east end gal. I thought I was vaguely (very very vaguely) but I'm really not. It's super fun and cool but let's face facts, I am more suited to the west. 

Anyway, we were there and headed to The Golden Bee on Singer Street for a couple of cocktails before meeting up with my friends and the birthday boy. Looking back on it, I wish we had stayed there longer, maybe even all night. The atmosphere was great and the drinks delicious. Plus it was pretty cool inside and had a roof top terrace. Perfect for us to slurp our cocktails on and chat amongst the Shoreditch Massive. 

           

           

           

Leaving The Golden Bee we made our way to The Book Club. Though only a stones throw away, the queue had multiplied hugely and we got stuck in it for ages... and ages, and ages. Half my friends were in the bar and half of us were out. Typical. Change of plan again and we found ourselves in another bar around the corner. Luckily the weather was mild enough and we could enjoy our drinks outside whilst catching up. And watch our birthday boy rapidly fall down the slippy slope. 

Despite the change of plans, it was still a great night, and hey, I was on exeat and had an actual real life weekend. And I was in London. Perfect. 

                  

More tales to tell tomorrow! Hope you're enjoying this late blooming spring weather.



L. 

(Sorry for the lack of photographs... Credit to Mel for The Golden Bee snap).

bubbledogs

Hurrah, exeat is here and even better, it's super sunny and delicious. 

Feeling twenty two, myself, Sarah and Mel hopped in the car and drove down to London. With it being International Women's Day, we felt it was only appropriate to blast Sarah's 'Woman' album and sing along to Shania Twain and Texas. Feeling suitably empowered, and having arrived in London, we ditched the car and made our way to Bubbledogs. 

           

Mel has been banging on about this place for ages now- admittedly it did sound pretty great. Champagne and hot dogs. Obviously I was sold with this winning combo so was more than happy to accompany her to the little restaurant in Fitzrovia. We arrived just before 5 and found it was opening at half past, so instead of waiting around we had an explore. 

          

This was a mistake. We arrived an hour later and found a massive queue had formed. Clearly a lot of other people knew about this place and were as excited as us to try it out. Never mind, the host was a super cute Irish man so we sucked it up and lined up for 45 minutes. 

All of us were getting irritable and the glass window in the front made it seem like a zoo. At one point Sarah practically had her nose against the glass. Finally we were in. 

                  

    

We were swiftly seated and chose our bottle and food. We were basically drooling by this point. But it didn't matter. This place was super great. Decor, food, people, host. Everything was glamorous and delicious. 

             

Now, the shots of the food and us eating aren't so attractive, but who can make eating a hot dawwg an elegant thing? 

                    

                    

Mel's bad boy had Mac and Cheese poured over the top, Sarah's crispy onions and sauercraut and mine Sloppy Joe's chilli beef. Wahhhhh. Sweet potato fries and slaw was also on the cards. 

    

    

More champagne was quaffed and various giggles and jokes about hot dogs were shared. Who says we're grown ups? 

            

                   

I really couldn't recommend this place enough. BUT maybe reserve a table or get there bang on the dot of 5.30pm as everyone else is jostling to get their fill of dogs and bubbles. 

                   

Check them out here www.bubbledogs.co.uk and scramble on down now. 

L. 

love you long haim

So to make up for the lack of posts recently, I'm about to embark on a blogathon. This weekend is another exeat and yet again I'll be heading down to London to spend it with my nearest and dearest. But, before that happens, I must tell you about last night. 

Having had a quick catch up over dinner with the delectable Natalia on South Bank, I headed to Brixton to meet Mel and her sister Jemma and friend Georgia to see HAIM at the O2 Academy. 

                

These girls are serious 'All Americans Gals'. I loved them. There was a lot of hair, a lot of bouncing around and a lot of banging of drums and strumming of guitars. HAIM certainly give the impression of having a lot of fun doing something they completely love. 

                 

                 

And they're pretty good at it too. Yep, pretty darn good. 

                 

We bopped the night away, chatted to some lovely people and even managed to look sufficiently giggy enough with our plastic cups in hand. Ahhh yeahhhhh. 

                 

    

It started to rain, with what can only be described as loo paper. That was pretty exciting. They even told a story about autocorrect and anal. Who says a thursday night is boring, hey! A lot more banging, of the head and drum kind, ensued and then a big explosion of lights....

     

                                    

       

And that was it. A pretty great start to the long weekend I feel. Had Mel and I not had a spontaneous night out the day before, we probably would have followed the crowds to a bar to carry on dancing the night away. However, we had to get the last train back so scuttled back across the city before we turned into pumpkins or something. 

I can't wait for tomorrow; it's Callum's birthday and all of the uni lot are gathering and heading to Book Club in Hoxton to dance on a few tables and behave like overly excitable teenagers. Keep your eyes peeled for blog posts about this place and all the other exciting things I have planned for this weekend. 

Here's hoping the sun holds out. 

L.