Polpetto - Review

J and I went to Polpetto on Saturday night, I had managed to book a table for the preview evening and was super excited to go having been to Polpo a few times and absolutely loving it there.

And so we arrived, to this little room about the French House on Dean Street which had sweet simple tables, lovely big mirrors and the same light bulbs as Polpo. Luckily enough we got a table next to the window so enjoyed the breeze coming through as we ate.

Deciding what to eat wasn't easy, it all sounded yummy and there's a fair choice (although not quite as many dishes as Polpo). In the end we went for a mix of Cicheti, breads, meat and fish dishes and some vegetables.
As we had a few dishes I'll list them and highlight the ones I really really loved:

Melanzane Parmigiana (small bite)
Smoked Swordfish, lemon and dill ricotta (small bite)
Fig and Salami bruschetta
Zucchinni friti
Pea, Fennel and Ricotta salad
Sliced flank steak with white truffle cream
Pigeon Saltimbocca
Soft shell crab in parmesan batter
Pannacotta and blackberries
Tiramisu Pot

Those in bold were the ones which really got me excited, especially the steak, that truffle cream made me a very very happy girl. (On the right in the photo above, it was amazing!)

The food overall was all great, I love being able to eat a selection of smaller dishes and so having a different meal everytime which is flexible to what I feel like that evening. I could keep going back just to try all the dishes.

Plus I would keep going back because the atmosphere is lovely. It's relaxed, attentive and fun. We were able to enjoy ourselves, catch up, relax and then just make mmmmmm noises with each mouthful without feeling self-conscious or stupid.

In brief I would recommend it, it's a lovely place for dining in. Either at Polpetto or Polpo, both have that great atmosphere and fabulous food which keeps you going back for more.

The fear of bra shopping...

I finally plucked up the courage to go bra shopping today, something I've needed to do for a while... And it got me to thinking, why am I so scared of asking for help with fitting my bra?

I tried my normal tactic, picking up some styles I like in the approximate size I think I am. Five bras later and none of them fitted. So I stood in the changing rooms and wondered if I should go home and try again another day. And then a deep breath I walked out and asked for help.

For some reason the very idea is one which I get slightly unsettled by. Even though I know I need to get some advice and buy the right size I still shy away from it and have a drawer full of semi-fitting bras.

It also made me think about all those statistics of 90% of women wearing the wrong sized bra, how did this come to be? Or is that just marketing puff. When did we not get taught how to shop for the right size. Who is to blame?!

Should there be compulsary fitting with every new purchase to try and avoid this. Should we be taught at school the importance of buying the right size. And then almost as importantly, how is it right that even once you have been sized different brands fit in different ways. I know this brand size difference is the same for clothes as well as underwear but it just doesn't seem right that it's like this.

Thankfully Selfridges have lots of very helpful and lovely staff and a lady arrived to help me with my fitting. She was very sweet and I've managed to find two bras which actually fit! Now to relax until the next time...

Manon at the Royal Opera House

Last night papa and I went to the opera. We were off to see Manon at the Royal Opera House. This is not an opera I've been to see before, in fact I've not seen any Massenet operas before and I wasn't sure what to expect.

I was therefore delighted by the first few strains coming from the orchastra sweeping through the house and transporting me away from dreary life. The opera was stunning, Massenet's composition is just fabulous and I was so pleased to be seeing an opera I hadn't seen before and really enjoying it. Plus the new production by Laurent Pelly was pretty good, the set a little dreary but the costumes amazing!

We were incredibly lucky with the cast, Anna Netrebko as Manon and Vittorio Grigolo as Des Grieux. Plus a host of other very talented singers. I was especially impressed with Vittorio, as a tenor his voice flows over the orchestra and has a power and richness to it which I often feel is lacking in other tenors. My favourite singers are generally deep male singers, bases and britones.

If you have the time and are quick there might be tickets left, I would highly recommend it. And of course if you do go let me know!

A walk in London...

Last weekend J and I were at a loose end on Saturday and hungry. Struggling to decide where to go for lunch we ended up heading off to the Hawksmoor on Commercial Street for lunch. This was to continue J's quest to find the best burger in London. In my opinion great meat but far too heavy and the cheese which came with the burger was too overpowering. Not sure I would entirely recommend it but the Hawksmoor I would recommend, especially the cocktails :)

So both of us feeling rather heavy after the thumping burger we decided to walk home from Commerical Road to Pimlico. Which meant a walk along the river. I hadn't been along a lot of these sections of the river for a long time and really enjoyed strolling along reminding myself of how lovely London can be.

The roof of old Billingsgate market with the fish detail which caught my eye.

The Monarch's entrance of the House of Lords. And then we were home ready to relax on a Saturday evening instead of going out and about for a change. (Although we did have to watch the England game).

Oh what joy weekends are...

V&A Quilting Exhibition

On Sunday I went to the V&A with middle sister. We were off to see the quilting exhibition which is on until sometime in July. Sorry to not be more specific.

It is a very lovely exhibition full of items which made me do a slight intake in breath at their intricacy. The exhibition is not too huge, and sister and I are quick exhibition goers, none of this loitering and staring for us...

There are a few pieces which stick in my mind, one is made by a soldier of the tiniest hexagons and is amazing. Another was made by prisoners at Wandsworth prison and is so very moving. I loved the idea of using quilting to get the prisoners to create a community and express their feelings.

But most of all it inspired me to keep on trying with the quilting to push on to finish the second and start a third. And to think of new ways to use them. I would like to make some cushion covers and also to try some new shapes. I have always loved Arabic geometric patterns and think I could acheive some pretty spectacular patterns and colours using quilting. Perhaps this is all for a time when I have less work and more time but it's nice to feel inspired.

It did also make me realise how much happens in London which passes me by. So this weekend J and I plan on going to Tate to see their Rude Britannia exhibition. We shall see if we make it!

Apologies for the lack of pictures, I wasn't sure I was allowed so took the safe option of keeping the camera in my bag!

Polpo Soho - Review

On Sunday J and I went to Polpo in Soho for the first time. We were joined by a couple whose wedding we went to in January and who we hadn't seen properly since. They had agreed to be our willing companions to our first foray into this Italian bacaro. And I think they were pleased with what they found...

The Pizzette Bianca.

We went for about nine dishes between four, a couple of meaty dishes (fabulous lamb), some fish (Octopus salad and Fritto Misto), some vegetables and a little bit of bread. Plus a couple of little starters to warm up us. Each dish was well presented, appetising and colourful. It's my kind of food, simple, full of flavour and not fussy. Don't get my wrong I love haute cuisine every now and then but on a warm Sunday afternoon I want food which simply tastes good.

We also had puddings, and after that all of us felt just right. Full but not stuffed, the ideal balance.

But Polpo is more than just great food, it has a friendly atmosphere and a relaxed feel. From the phone call to book the table to the welcome and the waiting staff all were just right. Attentive but not overly so, friendly, willing to give advice but not without asking first.

So in a very simple conclusion I would thoroughly recommend Polpo. If you're with people who don't mind sharing and want great food, a lovely atmosphere and a good meal - Go!

A sunny weekend in London

London was fabulous this weekend. Just beautiful. So here are some of my photos from Sunday afternoon in St James Park. Perhaps my favourite park in London. Here's hoping this weekend heralded the summer properly and that we'll get some more warm weather!

Tales from a wasted lunchtime...

J and I had a plan, formulated earlier this morning, that I would pop over to Soho and we would meet for lunch. It seemed perfect, he wasn't too busy, I wasn't too busy and we like opportunities to see each other when you wouldn't normally. Soho being such a hive of great cheap quick eats we had quite the choice but had narrowed it down to two. Yalla Yalla and El Camino. Lebanese or Mexican respectively. We'd had mediterranean yesterday so decided to go Mexican.

Arriving at just before 1pm the restaurant was relatively busy but not a cause for concern and we were seated pretty quickly. After ordering we then sat back, both starving to wait for our food. We've eaten there before and it was quick and tasty so hopes were up.

After half an hour I was beginning to get really angry, I don't do well when I'm hungry at the best of times but this was the on the verge of tears, shaky, angry hunger I get which means I really really really need to be fed. So we asked the waiter where our food was. Another few minutes more than the asking should have taken and we were told we were next. Okay I thought I'll have a slightly extended lunch hour but we'll be getting food soon so no need to dash just yet.

Then about five minutes later we heard the food bell ping, finally, but nope it was another table. And then another table got their food. And then I snapped, up I leapt coat in hand. And we left without food because we had been waiting far too long by that point to wait any longer and see the 'next' food order be delivered.

So I guess the moral of this story is don't go to El Camino if you want to get your food anytime within about an hour. It's pants. And I hate it when you don't have any form of communication from the waiting staff and the kitchen are clearly s**t. And in case you haven't guessed we won't be going back... Nor would I recommend you to!

Apologies for the rant, I have since been fed and am much happier but I feel it is my duty to warn you of pants restaurants so if you were thinking of trying them you can hopefully go somewhere with better service and quicker food!

On haircuts and hairdressers

I was very excited on Tuesday as I went to have my hair cut by my old hairdresser. She did my hair for my wedding and then went travelling to New Zealand and I hadn't seen her since. And then she came back!

The trip to the hairdressers got me thinking on a few things about hair. The first one being that a really good haircut is worth paying for. I've had a few over the years and they've varied from pants to mediocre to great. But this trip made me realise properly that to achieve a great haircut the hairdresser has to understand your hair. I have fine hair, but lots of it, which waves in ways I don't understand, plus I have a huge cowslick to contend with. Then I'm lazy, I wash and roughly blow-dry my hair but anything beyond that is too much effort for me most days so having a cut which works with that is imperative.

And Christa, she gets my hair and gives me cuts which suit it, and that I request. Not what she wants to do, or thinks best but she talks to me and then voila. Plus she's very sweet and great fun.

And then there's the salon, the new place she's working at is called Ena Salon, it's on Great Queen Street in Covent Garden. Handily close to where I work. And it's lovely, beautifully decorated, great colours on the walls, lovely spacious work areas and really really friendly people. It also does beauty so I've been for a wax there too and can recommend it for that as well. And being somewhere which is calm, but has fun people and looks gorgeous does make a difference, to be greeted warmly and welcomed in makes me feel that much better at spending money on a hair cut.

So the only question I have now is how do you tip your hairdresser? It's one of those things I've always struggled with, I can't work out how much, I feel uncomfortable doing it and then I get all panicked and spend most of the haircut worrying about it. All advice gratefully received.

Thoughts on where to start...

Finally back on UK soil, and happy to be so. The holiday was great, amazing even and I have so many wonderful memories but I knew it had to end sometime and it seems now is a good time. I feel genuinely refreshed and being in London today I was made to remember why I love living here. Although in all honesty the cold is not such a nice homecoming!

Anyhow, I have lots to tell so am trying to work out the best way of doing it. I think to make it succinct, interesting and perhaps useful will be hard but perhaps feasible. (Fingers crossed!)

But I also have lots of other ideas floating around my head, I find I often write posts in my head and forget I never put finger to keyboard and then wonder why the post doesn't exist! So this year I shall aim to put those ideas into words.

And this weekend I shall start with some photos and stories, now to select which photos from the 900 or so we took when away! I promise I shan't bore you with them all.

Happy Christmas one and all!

Well here we are on Christmas Eve, and how time has flown. So I shall keep this short and sweet. To start a most lovely Mandarin Duck I found in St James park yesterday. I just love these ducks, so pretty and proud.

And to finish these winter leaves, no snow yesterday but it was cold! And the leaves had that lovely lovely frosting.

Anyhoo, all the best for your Christmas breaks. Enjoy, eat, drink and be merry! Xx

And on to the next one...

Last night was fun. The skating was pretty, although not on my behalf, more wobbly there but it's beautiful skating around at Somerset House as the light fades. My only complaint would be that there are a few too many people on the rink but you can't win them all!

Then glammed up we went off to Orso. No photos yet I'm afraid, a colleague was taking them and didn't bring in her camera today. But when I have pictures that are shareable I promise I shall share. Our meal was lovely, Orso is a very good restaurant with great service, good food and lovely wines to choose from. Expensive, but then I wasn't paying this time :) Plus it's quite a cosy restaurant so one I would recommend for an intimate dinner with a loved one.

I left at the right time, drunk but not awfully so, happily drunk shall we put it. Got home on the bus to a very drunk J. This morning neither of us were so pretty!

And tonight we are celebrating Christmas with our friends. It shall be another night of revelry which I'm not sure my body can cope with but we'll see.

Hopefully your Friday has been more productive than mine. Although one final tip, Itsu Detox Zinger is just the best thing when you have a hangover, ginger lime and apple all in a lovely drink. Yummy!

Have lovely wintery weekends. M x

It's party time!

Tonight is our work Xmas do. We're going skating at Somerset House and then off for dinner. I've never done the outside skating in London thing so hopefully it'll be good fun, sure it will. And then for dinner the theme was glam so I have purchased myself a new dress from French Connection. More on that later, hopefully accompanied by pictures!

Let's see how I feel tomorrow...

Kai Mayfair - Review

As a follow up to my last post I thought I should tell you about Kai. We went there because I had won a voucher for it in a raffle and we like to go to nice restaurants to celebrate our anniversary. So this year it worked out as Kai. The restaurant is nicely decorated, somehow it still feels Chinese but obivously upmarket. We had a big table which was kind of separate from the rest, although in some ways that was good.

We figured since we had the voucher that we didn't need to worry too much about how much we spent, so J had soft shelled crab for his starter and I had steamed scallop and king prawn. Our starters were both lovely. They came out at different times but this was fine as we had been warned. And both were dishes you wouldn't cook yourself at home, which always makes the restaurant experience feel more worthwhile.

Then on to our mains, I had beef in a pepper sauce and J lamb. If I'm honest I was not so impressed with our mains. My beef's sauce tasted a little shop bought and wasn't great and J's lamb just wasn't much of anything.

I then figured I would push the boat out and have a pudding. I had the 'not to be missed' pudding which involved pumpkin cream, something I should have been wary of from the start. Again, nice enough but not amazing. Especially for the price.

Which takes me to my next point, this place is expensive, starters start at around £15 and go upwards and upwards. Mains are of course more expensive. Now I don't mind expensive when I feel like it's worth it. And I think our starters were, but for the mains and pudding I felt less happy with the amount it cost. Although I knew the ingredients were of good quality for that much I expected something more amazing.

However the service was superb, very nice staff, nice atmosphere.

So in summary I don't think I'd recommend it, I think it's just a little too expensive for what we had. If you really want to go and spend lots of money then have the starters and avoid the pudding I had and you'll probably have a lovely dinner!

A few of my favourite things... III

The weather in London has been miserable, rain, rain, rain and yet more rain. Plus the wind and the general greyness, it's enough to get one down. So I have been utterly grateful for the next in my series of favourite things, my Hunter welly boots. These are the things of magic, they are sturdy, fun and most importantly keep my feet warm and dry.

It's one of those things I've always hated, wet feet, especially wet feet in nice shoes, which are then wet feet in nice ruined shoes. So having wellies has become an essential for me. Plus it means I can behave like a four year old and jump in puddles with glee.

So for those city dwellers who are fed up of wet feet, go get some Hunters! And even if they seem a little pricey they are the best, my last pair broke within about three months much to my upset and so from now on I will be tried and tested!

I am only slightly upset that I went for plain old Aubergine and not something a little jazzier. Maybe for the next pair I can branch out :)

Goats and a date night

I had an awful day at work yesterday, too much to do, not enough time and rude people upsetting an already tired me. So it was with relief that I left the office to head over to meet J. We met at Black and Blue on Wigmore Street, where we both merrily polished off our burgers (which were pretty good burgers). A little bit of food, a beer and not being in the office and I was beginning to perk up.

So then we headed off to go and see The men who stare at goats at the cinema. I wanted to see this for a couple of reasons. One the story looked good, it's my kind of film. And secondly I really like George Clooney. Not just because he's very attractive but also because he's a great actor. And it lived up to my expectations. Based on a real story about a division of the US army it is both funny and slightly sinister with great acting from a great cast. I don't want to give too much away but suffice to say it's one of those stories which is so crazy it has to be true.

And so we walked home in the cold November night, enjoying each others company and our 'date night' (we never do date nights normally) and then to bed, sober, warm and glad to be home.

Would you want one of these?

Again whilst in Mayfair I caught this rather 'delightful' toilet. It struck me as odd that while someone was on the toilet they might want some porcelain nipples poking in their back. Perhaps this is something about interior design I will never understand... Your thoughts?

London in the Autumn

I had to go to Mayfair yesterday morning to do something for work and so I walked there through Green Park. It was a lovely autumnal day yesterday, rather mild but misty in the morning with the full scale of autumn colours showing in the trees. Hopefully these pictures capture some of what it's like here right now, although we're forecast for a rainy weekend. So welly boots and puddles here I come!

Wedding Photos and the Ivy

We have some friends through church who we don't see too regularly. They got married the week before us this January just gone and were a great support during our wedding planning. Others to share our thoughts and woes with! And so this weekend we finally caught up with them and shared our photos. After church we headed off to their flat, they have an amazing photo album produced which is also very heavy so we had to go to them to see it!

Their photos were beautiful, they both looked stunning, her dress especially was amazing. She had it made for her and the details were amazing. Plus it was so lovely to see their wedding at long last. We of course shared our photos too, taking over our Photobox photobook.

And then we headed off to The Ivy for lunch. They've been going there a long time and know the staff well, so of course service was superb. Although if I'm honest I'm not sure that the food quality isn't going down. The first time I ate there it was fabulous and each time since it's not been quite so good. Maybe the sheen of going there has worn off which is part of it, or perhaps its just that they don't need to be so good now as they have enough business. Plus as J and I both noticed their prices are slowly creeping up... But it did give J an opportunity to try the burger as part of his quest, check out his blog for a review soon.

And I guess I should be more grateful that we are able to spend a lovely weekend and top it off with Sunday lunch at the Ivy. And it really was a great weekend. Nice to take my mind off work!

Pole Dancing I

I had my first pole dancing class on Wednesday night and it was much fun! There were 9 of us in the class, 3 per pole and the rest of the girls were lovely. I felt very self-conscious in my little shorts (purchased that lunch hour) but everyone else was also wearing shorts so I swallowed my embarrassment and got stuck in. We warmed up with lots of stretching, which hurt, I have no flexibility anymore, but felt good to be stretching again. And then we were at the poles. It started easy and I thought okay, maybe this isn't so hard. Until we had to do our first spin. The firemans spin.

Our teacher makes it look so easy, so smooth. Until we started going. Clumsy but trying hard. It took a few goes to get the idea and then we were all spinning round nicely and landing without thumps and looking kind of elegant.

By the end of the class we had done a little routine, a few spins and then some pole conditioning. This sounds simple but jeez, it's tough. Especially when like me you have no upper body strength. I can't even do a push up... So to basically do a chin up on the pole using only my strength and no jumping was an impossibility for me. Maybe at the end of the six weeks I'll get there...

I now have sore muscles, not too bad but I can feel it. They've been worked. Plus a nice bruise on my calf, a war wound as it were. And I felt good at the end of the class. The challenge of learning something new. Doing things with confidence and holding your head up when dancing and meeting a lovely group of girls.

I also have an even greater respect for the Un-Bride, she must be strong... No wonder also she has an amazing figure, check her wedding pictures for proof. And I would recommend this. I've gone through the pole dancing school and my teacher is lovely, plus they've been really helpful. More to follow next week I'm sure :)