Tea & Trinkets In The Attic

Brunch is my most favourite meal of the day. If I could spend every afternoon holed up nibbling on bacon and toast, watching the world go by, I'd die one chirpy woman.

I'd also end up incredibly bored and chubby, but every dream has its pitfalls.

Every so often I like to grab a friend & force them into a brunch date with me. This week my victim was J. Our destination? The Attic Cafe in Berkhamsted.

The Attic is hidden away in the highest peak of the highest tower of Home & Colonial, an antique shop oozing with trinkets & vintage champagne buckets.

You have no idea how hard it was to resist those vintage champagne buckets.



Aren't they delicious? I just want to fill them with ice and take a swim in them.

We spent the morning searching for treasure in our wellies and mittens, catching wafts of cake and coffee coming from above. The Attic is stowed away up four flights of stairs, with each floor housing a selection of goodies waiting to be browsed.

If you're ever forced to travel for bacon and cake, this is certainly the way to do it.

Climb the stairs with me to see my favourite part...

The crockery. Oh the crockery. It melts my heart with every delicate teaspoon.

The trinket shelves are also positively waiting to be rummaged through.

I took this opportunity to perform a very audible rendition of The Little Mermaid.

"I've got gadgets and gimos a plenty, I've got whosits and whatsits galore, you want thinggymabobs? I got twenty. But who caaaares? No big deaeeal. I want SMORES!"

I would suggest you do the same. It's very soothing for the soul.

Anyway. Onwards and upwards.

As we began 'weighing up' whether it was time for brunch yet...

We quickly got our 'skates' on and jumped up the last flight of stairs two at a time!

Browsed out and hungry we nestled into a corner to examine my favourite object in the building, the menu. We decided on a pot of tea for two & full English's.

 

Antiques, tea and a double serving of fried mushrooms? I think I can cope with that.

Have you been anywhere nice lately? I so love hearing your suggestions!

Chopsticks & Chums At Gilgamesh

I thought it was about time I found out what all of the fuss was about.

How good could it really be? A pan-asian restaurant tucked away in the midst of Camden's Stables Market? Well, I'll let you in on a little secret. Just between me and you, it turns out it's pretty spectacular.

Exhibit A:

 I could honestly eat the duck spring rolls forever.

So, let me tell you a little bit about the place. Gilgamesh first opened up in 2006, boasting a bar and lounge area, a nightclub and of course, the restaurant itself. 

The chef, Ian Pengelley, is nothing short of a genius. The cuisine is described as Pan-Asian, and offers a selection of the most decadent starters, mains and desert plates which London has to offer.

Having scooped 'Most Original Restaurant' in the Tatler Restaurant Awards back in 2007, its clear to see that not much has changed since then.

The place is dark, slightly cramped and a lot to take in. One minute you're gorging on a feast of black bean spare ribs and the next, you have the 18:08 train from Kentish Town Station whizzing straight past you. It's a strange little cave of deliciousness, but it's one which I'd happily shack up in for the night.

When it came to ordering, Sophie and I kind of went to town. We went for:

 The earlier mentioned divine duck spring rolls and chicken gyoza's to start

I gave Sophie a chop-stick master class over dumplings and plum sauce, (potential love interests can thank me later, you're welcome.)

Egg fried rice, crispy chilli chicken and vegetable tempura. The chicken was incredible. As someone who can be a little bit funny about eating chicken from the bone, it really is as good as it gets.

It comes with a garnish of cucumber and chills which go brilliantly with the juicy meat and sizzled skin.

The only dish which I wouldn't order again is probably the tempura. Although it pains me to say it, deep fried avocado was probably never going to work. The sweet potato was slightly better, but as soon as it gets a little cold the dish is a write off. If I were you, I'd scratch the tempura and go for the black bean ribs. The table next to ours were tucking in to a plateful and it really did look scrummy.

We shared a bottle of blush over dinner, which I strongly recommend you do the same. The wine is delicious and reasonably priced, coming in at around £26 a bottle.

The dinner was rounded off by our waiters recommendation, the chocolate fondant. Being a slight pistachio fanatic, I insisted he swap the vanilla ice cream in favour of something slightly more nutty, which to my delight, came out as this:

You'll have to excuse the awful picture quality, it really was dark in there!

When we'd had our fill of gooey, chocolately sponge and licked the plate clean, we made our way upstairs for a few cocktails. 

The venue really is something special, if not slightly strange. A whole host of different characters could be found hiding in corners sharing platters of sushi and sashimi, so go check it out for yourself.

Just remember, order the duck spring rolls.

Aint No Party Like A V Fest Party

This week I had my birthday. I turned 22-years-old and to celebrate, I danced in around in a field full of friends and ate cake.
Lots of cake.
Yep, you guessed it. V Festival rolled around once again, landing smack bang in the middle of my birthday. When 12 o'clock hit, I looked a little something like this:

That's me at the front. As for the guy behind, I cant be sure how he was christened, but 'flashy glasess guy' seemed pretty adequate at the time...
So me and the girls decided on V Festival way back in March. Despite the usual last minute panic, we made it to Chelmsford Yellow Camp in the early hours of Saturday morning ready to get 'apitching.
Our tent, god bless my girls, was wonderful.

The first day began pretty standardly, we were all a little tiddly by around 12pm when the music started in the arena, so had a little freshen up before winding our way up to the stages.
The windin' did not stop there.
The first person we caught was Maverick Saber, who was much better than expected. We were then treated to the wonderful sound of Two Door Cinema Club, who for me, totally stole the show.

Maverick doing his thang.

 

Me and Sophie were super keen to see Two Door so barged our way pretty close to the stage. They seriously were amazing. Tickets are on sale to catch them in London on December 13th right now. Fancy joining me? Grab yours here.
Throughout the day we also caught The Courteeners, Labrinth, Jessie Ware, Netsky and of course, Beyonce.

It's a bit of a Topshopfest I'm afraid guys, both mine and soph's tops AND my shorts are from there. Ear cuff from Zara and arm cuff, you guessed it, Topshop. My leather jacket, below, is River Island.

The evening ended with cheesy chips and drunken dancing to Beyonce, so all was a success. B didn't disappoint. Even though we were pretty far away from the stage, it was a production to remember.
The following morning, however, I was attacked my wasps (three separate stings - seriously?!) and had a hangover to rival all others.
How did I recover, you might ask? Well, old chap, I dusted myself off, grabbed the girls, drank half a bottle of Jagermeister and headed back to the arena for another day of birthday fun.

Top from River Island, shorts from Topshop, sneakers Converse and bag Mulberry. I got 'street styled' by a glossy at some point in the day, so keep an eye out for a small blonde festival goer next time you're flicking through Glamour.

Throughout the second and final day of debauchery, I surprised myself at how many acts we got to see. Olly Murs, Jason Mraz, Kendrick Lemar, a teeny weeny bit of Rudimental, The Sterophonics, Calvin Harris and Basment Jaxx.
My one regret? We physically couldn't squeeze Kings of Leon in. We had to pick from Calvin, the Jaxx and the Kings for the last act of the festival. It was a pretty horrendous decision, but we managed 2/3 and both were incredible.
Having been separated from the group, Kelly and I decided to wander back to the tent and see if they were lurking behind the zips.
That was before we saw the silent disco sign.
£20 later and I was living the life of a rockstar. In silence.

A mixture of old school cheese, house music and the latest remixes, the silent disco really was the best ending to the festival... and my 21st year on the planet.
The following morning we woke up feeling worse for wear and trudged back to the car. I arrived home to find the house decorated beautifully courtesy of the boy, which in my delicate state was almost too much to handle.

It really was very, very cute. And I was really very, very spoilt.
The girls and I made reunited for a leisurely lunch where we gorged on all things green and beautiful after a week of deep fried chips and battered sausages, before I headed off to my family tea.

  

Presents were opened, cake was eaten, BBQ was BBQ'd, laughs were laughed and yawns were yawned. I had had around seven hours sleep for the whole weekend, so we made our way back home and I slept like a baby for the next thirteen hours.

All in all, my birthday weekend was incredible. Age 21, you served me well. Let's see what my 22nd year on this planet has to offer...