Notting Hill Carnival

I have been a horrendous blogger recently, I am not sure why really but I subconsciously decided to take a little spontaneous blogging holiday. I do apologise, please forgive me?

As if I hadn’t been a bad enough blogger by taking several weeks off, I also am uploading a post about something I did several months ago! Shock horror, but my blog, my rules.

NT and I decided this summer that we needed to jump on board the Notting Hill bandwagon, or should I say carnival float, and what a fabulous decision we made. I had never been before, not sure why really, but I put it down to sheer ignorance and now I have been educated, I won’t be making the same mistake again. We had such a ball watching the parade go by, dancing in the confetti showers, catching mardi gras beads and just soaking up the summer sun and dazzling costumes.

London often is seen as a grey city and it is clear why. Drizzle sadly dominates our weather forecast and gloomy skies define the London cityscape, so it is even more exciting when colour bursts on to the scene, filling the city with rainbow costumes, glitter and all-round joy. A world full of glitter is quite frankly a world that I want to live in.

After dancing away we stopped to sample some of the wonderful street food on offer and we sat on the pavement enjoying the spicy goodness of jerk chicken and watching the world go by.

I have no idea where time went, but the hours seemed to fly by as we watched live music, dancing away and being part of the incredible community of fellow revellers. 

Mood - Super happy! 

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Jammin'

The beautiful LP and I recently decided to give jam-making a go. With very little experience under our belts, but with an optimistic outlook we rolled up our sleeves, dug out the jam pans and got stuck in! (And believe me, we got very sticky!) After several minutes we realised that we had actually no idea what we were doing and quickly consulted the jam-making gurus……our mothers, who provided us with the idiots' guide to jam-making.

Our first stop was a trip to Borough market to pick up supplies. After shopping round for the best deal and choosing the freshest fruits we managed to buy several bursting bags of raspberries, persimmons and several unidentified fruit given to us by the very friendly market-man.

Next step, lay our your ingredients, wash your fruit, test a couple and then pretend to be Amelie by eating raspberries off your fingers.

Always make sure you test the jam-goo-mixture at every stage, this is a crucial step…..do NOT miss it out!

As you stir, do not forget to do you best witch impression, cackle loudly and murmur “hubble bubble toil and trouble”.

Pour into jars, leave to set, give it a good sniff and then clean the pan….with your fingers!

I would love to be able to give you a recipe, but we followed our mothers’ instructions, stirred in some experimentation, added a generous dollop of “make it up as you go along” and finished with a pinch of LP/BT love. I am pleased to say though that we ended up with fifteen jars of crimson red, sweet, raspberry jam, perfect for spreading on toast or scones, so it can’t be all bad.

At this rate I am going to be a domestic goddess in no time!

Mood – Sticky! 

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T'was the week before Christmas

Well nothing quite kills the Christmas mood like essays, but now that they are out of the way there is nothing for me to do but to party! I had the most wonderful time last week catching up with old friends, meeting new ones and really enjoying having time to catch up with my nearest and dearest. It makes me wonder why it is often only Christmas that we make this special time for people, why are we not better at finding time for people all year round? 

My week started with an action-packed trip to London with AN and included a wander around the Tate gallery. I have not been to the Tate for years and I loved seeing all the weird and eccentric pieces of art.  The cafe in the Tate is definitely worth a visit because of the floor-to-ceiling glass windows that allow for an excellent view of the river, St Paul's and the London city-scape, I couldn't resist snapping a few photos!

After a spot of culture what better but afternoon tea? Dalston Junction may seem like a small expedition to get to but let me tell you, the Other Cafe is worth every minute stuck on the tube. Walking into the Other Cafe is a little like falling down the rabbit hole and being transported to a crazy-mixed up world where nothing is as it seems and yet everything fits together perfectly. AN an I opted for afternoon tea and we were served a large plate of sandwiches, huge freshly-made scones and three-tiers of cake! Yes, three tiers! I was a very, very happy girl! 

 (Photo taken from the Other Cafe website) 

After walking off all the cake I had consumed I met up with the ever-wonderful JJ to go to the ballet. There is nothing quite like seeing the Nutcracker to get you into the festive mood, the music is so perfect and wonderful and the dancing literally transports you to a magical, exotic world. From the moment the orchestra stuck up their first note I had goosebumps which lasted the whole ballet, I might even have teared up at several parts. Thank you JJ for organising the trip, it really was magical! 

A couple of days later I was back in London again, this time with JT to attend the Albert Hall Christmas Carol Sing-along. It has been almost ten years since I was last at the Albert Hall and in fact the last time I was there I was dancing, so it made a lovely change to just be able to sit back and enjoy the show. From start to finish we sang our little hearts out and it was just incredible to be part of thousands of people singing Christmas carols and filling the hall with noise! A wonderful way to kick Christmas off in style. 

I cannot believe it is Christmas eve already, where has the time gone? I have butterflies of excitement for tomorrow but I am going to try and enjoy the day, filled with preparations, family and festivities!

Mood- well and truly Christmassy! 

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