Kyoto Garden, Holland Park

 

Like I've mentioned before, last weekend I ventured over to the West part of town. We decided to have a little mooch around Holland Park as my boyfriend and I had never been before. I was in awe of all the peacocks strutting around like they owned the place - they even came right up and just walked inches in front me. Amazing!

I'd read about the Japanese Kyoto Garden so we attempted to try and find it. We struck gold when we stumbled upon it. I can imagine it'll look beautiful in the summer when it's started to bloom. It's not very big but it was lovely to wander around taking it all in. If it wasn't frostbite-inducing weather I'd have liked to sit down and soak it all up. Alas it's just an excuse to come back again. Next time I'll bring a good book and enjoy the serene surroundings.

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OOTD: Mellow Yellow

Outfit:

Beige midi length trench coat: Zara (similar)

Black roll neck tunic: ASOS

Burgundy skinny jeans: New Look

Black suede western ankle boots: Topshop (similar)

Forest green leather satchel: The Cambridge Satchel Company

What's this? Two outfit posts in one week? I know, I'm on fire. I really want to start posting regular outfits again. If only to encourage me not to wear the same thing week in, week out. It's the coat and bag again though. They're the first things I reach for before I bound out of the door. Don't worry, the coat is now in the drycleaners so hopefully it'll be in better shape next time it pops up on this blog. 

This weekend I'm finally celebrating my birthday properly. Only a month or so late. I'm going out for dinner in Islington before heading onto Barrio North for some dancing and lots - I repeat - lots of cocktails. It's been one hell of a week so it's very much needed. Sunday shall be spent feeling sorry for myself and whipping up Slimming World friendly recipes. I've decided to take the plunge and attend my first meeting tomorrow. Wish me luck! I'd love any tips if you have any.

What do you have planned for your weekend?

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Review: Boom Burger

After reading about Boom Burger on The Londoner, it had been on my radar for a long time. But I very rarely venture West - East London is my ends. Maybe North if I'm feeling adventurous. I was staying overnight in Lancaster Gate, London last week and thought we might as well try it out. How right we were to take the plunge.

The restaurant is teeny tiny but what it lacks in size it certainly makes up for with delicious food. We plonked ourselves at the bar with Michael Jackson ringing in our ears and scoured the menu. I already knew I had to try the jerk chicken burger before I'd ever glanced down. I LOVE jerk chicken, I could eat it all day long. The Jerk Boom consisted of shredded spicy chicken on top of fried plantain with a handful of rocket - a delicious mango and pawpaw sauce is smothered on the bun. It was messy and dirty and exactly how it should have been. The fried plantain added the perfect amount of crunch and the shredded chicken was soft and tender. The incredible moreish saltfish fritters mixed with chilli and herbs were divine. They easily outshone the fries and packed a decent amount of heat. That rum punch? I was guzzling it like water.

One thing's for sure - I'll definitely be trekking west so I can sample it again. I've got the whole menu to work through!

 

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OOTD: Beige Trench Coat

Outfit:
Nude trench coat: Zara (similar)
Forest green tunic: Topshop
Black skinny jeans: New Look
Black suede western ankle boots: Topshop (similar)
Forest green leather satchel: The Cambridge Satchel Company

Another pair of jeans. Those midi skirts are showing no sign of shoe-horning their way back into my every day wardrobe. It's just too cold at the minute to even think of putting my legs in tights! I've been making sure to stock up on tunic style tops like they're going out of fashion. Looking at this jacket I think it might need to be taken to the drycleaners. And I should learn to hang my coat up when I take it off...

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H&M Home haul

I'm in full on 'buying everything in the world for my house' mode. Let's forget about the fact that I'm not moving out for another two years. Rather concentrate on how fricking good H&M Home is? Lets take a look at what I've been spending my pennies on.

I actually bought this originally as a blog prop but it will be lovely on my future dressing table housing all my favourite knick knacks. Mostly perfume, jewellery,lipstick and nail polish. All of life's essentials. Prepare to see this beauty popping up a lot in future posts.
Round gold tray

I love a jar. Especially glass jars. I thought these would be fantastic in any room of the house holding little bits and bobs. At the minute I'm envisioning them in the kitchen holding my baking things. When I next get paid I'm going to pick up a couple more of these. Just don't tell my boyfriend.
Small Glass jar with a gold lid
Large lass jar with a gold lid

I seem to be making it a habit to buy handwash only things. These glasses are no exception. But look how pretty they are? Admittedly they do feel quite delicate and flimsy so I'll only be able to hand them out to house guests who can be trusted. These glasses won't be making any appearances at house parties!
Tumbler glass with a gold trim

I will hold my hands up and admit I saw these at Hannah's house and went online practically the next day to buy them for myself. That girl has taste! I love the industrial, Scandinavian feel of them. I think my current copper infatuation comes from a fond childhood memory of seeing my nan's house over run with brass. It just looks so classy.
Large copper metal candlestick
Small copper metal candlestick

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Review: Pizza East

I love pizza. Even more than burgers. Controversial I know. So when we were discussing places to eat, I immediately came up with Pizza East and luckily my friends all gave their approval.  As we were coming from all over, we opted for the buzzing Shoreditch branch. Situated near Brick Lane, this old industrial tea warehouse building is right on the corner opposite Boxpark. I'd recommend booking just to ensure you don't end up disappointed. 

After being seated, we endeavoured the menu. It was a tough choice but I opted for the spicy sausage, mozzarella and tenderstem broccoli pizza. The generous chunks of succulent spicy sausage stole my heart. It added just the right amount of heat to the dish and the gooey mozzarella helped to compliment it. It was the first time I'd had broccoli on a pizza and I was sold on the first bite. It tastes delicious wrapped in the melted stringy cheese. The wood fried base was perfectly crispy and chewy at the same time. It tasted delicious dipped in the olive oil. 

Have you ever been to Pizza East?

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3 quick and healthy snacks

I'm still trying to eat well and although I've managed to lose 6lbs since Christmas, I'm still carrying 1lb of Christmas weight. Those burgers and cakes clearly aren't helping matters. I was very kindly sent a yummy selections of goodies - more coming later! - from Nairns to help me keep on track with my healthy eating. The brand may be known for their oatcakes but they've also got some wheat-free oat crackers in their repertoire too. Perfect if you're not too keen on oatcakes! I've got my three favourite toppings to talk about - it makes a great change from munching on a bag of crisps at your desk!

Cream cheese and smoked salmon
This is such a classic and very tasty. I find the tiny individual pots of Light Philadelphia are perfect to take in your pack lunch. Simply smear some on a cracker and then top with a piece of salmon. Not too much as you don't want to overpower the cream cheese. Plus smoked salmon is very salty!

Guacamole and sundried tomatoes
I could easily eat sundried tomatoes like sweets. They're a great supplier of vitamin C and A as well as offering your body much needed calcium and magnesium. This will help your blood pressure. They provide the perfect accompaniment to zesty lime of the guacamole. I think this one is my favourite - it will work well with avocados too. I just find they go off a lot quicker - I can never use them up in time!

Low fat Hummus and chutney
This may sound a bit odd but it really does work well together. The sweetness of the chutney pairs great with the grainy hummus. You can never have too much hummus in your life right? Make sure you get the low fat version - it tastes exactly the same but you can save important calories.

Do you have suggestions for toppings?

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Places to stay: Malmasion Oxford

Perhaps the reason why the boyfriend and I have been together eight years is because we both like slightly unusual things. Or he just amuses me by going along with slightly unusual things. One such unusual thing was booking me a nights stay in this amazing hotel as a birthday present. It is a converted prison in a medieval castle with a lot of the period features on show. The staff were extremely kind and helpful, they even tried to book us a table in town for dinner. But atlas, it was fully booked. We stayed in the superior suite - the lovely boy cheekily paid for an upgrade - and it consisted of three cells knocked together. It still has the cell down intact too. If you go down to the ground floor you can actually see a cell how it originally was.

I may have let out a little squeal when I spotted the roll top bath - filling it up to the brim on Sunday was pure heaven. We didn't touch the mini bar as we were too poor, but they had absolutely anything you could ever fancy. I loved the little touch of the bath robes and we kicked ourselves when we saw the DVD player. Games Of Thrones is crying out to be finished and we could totally have spent the entire evening in bed. The room was by far one of the best we've ever stayed in and we made that excuse when we trudged off after eating too many burgers to get into bed. At least we made full use of the room eh?!

Despite him remarking at least three times - 'The amount this cost me, we went to Berlin for the weekend' - it was certainly worth the money. The boyfriend has a very nice idea of taking me away for the birthday the kind soul he is. Sometimes in life you have throw caution to the wind and splash out. A little bit of luxury is what makes the world go round.

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Oxford City Guide

Christchurch College
If you're a Harry Potter fan, no trip is complete without a wander around this college's grounds. The building is absolutely beautiful! You'll certainly recognise some things! It's a £4.50 entrance fee and you can stroll around to your hearts content.

The Randolph
Like I mentioned in my pervious post, my boyfriend surprised me with afternoon tea. The Randolph is a gorgeous old-fashioned five star hotel in the heart of the city. It's very charming! It's a lovely place to go if you're celebrating a special occasion. We opted for the yummy full afternoon tea which consisted of a selection of sandwiches, fruit scones with clotted cream and jam alongside afternoon pastries. The bakewell tart was my favourite!

Malmasion Oxford
I love a quirky place to rest my head and this hotel ticked all the boxes. It's set in a converted prison in a medieval castle. It's so luxurious and definitely somewhere to book if you fancy a little treat. I won't say too much as I'm going to write a separate post on it later this week.

The Vaults and Garden Cafe
I found this on Trip Adviser when I was researching some places to stop for breakfast. It's set in the Church by All Souls College, not too far from the high street. You join a canteen style queue as you place your order on what homemade food you'd like to sample - get your partner to grab a table as it gets very busy! We opted for the full breakfast which consisted of organic eggs, air-cured bacon, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms and giant butter beans in a tomato sauce. It was pricey at £7.95 but it tasted delicious. Sometimes it's worth splashing out!

St Johns College
Lily mentioned this was her favourite college so we set off to hunt it down. This college was free to enter and it has gorgeous grounds. If it was a little warmer, we would have spent a lot longer exploring.  It's so cool to think that people actually study and live here and the incredible history that the walls could talk about.

Cafe Loco Oxford
This was a recommendation from Hannah - when she mentioned it was Alice In Wonderland themed I was sold. It's again quite pricy - sense a theme? - but the portions were a good size. It's a great place to go for lunch after you've visited Christchurch. It offers table service which is great after you've been on your feet all day. I opted for a tasty pesto, mozzarella and roasted vegetable panini to help refuel before we headed off home. Make sure you get a cake from the takeaway section!

 

The University Church of St Mary the Virgin
I'm a sucker for a good view so I was very excited when I found out you could climb up the church tower for £4. After quite a lot of huffing and puffing, we finally reached the top and were rewarded with some stunning views. It was such a bright day and we could see for miles. It was well worth the dollar and provided some gorgeous pictures. Try not to lean on the wall as my boyfriend got pooped up on the cooing pigeons nesting there!

Oxford University Museum of Natural History
After spending a small fortune, we decided to venture to the museum after reading it was free. It's not too big but you can still whittle around an hour in there taking in all in. They had a good selection of dinosaurs - always a winner in my book - and some cool stuffed animals. There's a cafe upstairs too if you fancy some cake! It's set in a beautiful building.

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