Forte Village Resort, Sardinia; Part 2

Dress – Zara. Hat – Claire’s

Gordon Ramsey’s

White lace dress, Lace inset (blue/yellow) dress  – MGSM. Bag, floral dress (green & pink)- RED Valentino (all via Donne Concept Store at Forte Village).

The sound of rain and wind pelting against the windows on a drab Monday morning makes weaving together of this second part of my trip to Sardinia back in July a much, much easier task. Again, I don’t know what brand of hormone pills London’s been taking lately, but given its perpetual state of up, down and sometimes pickles + ice cream (i.e sun and hail within the same post code. WAHT IS DIS), I have to assume this time it’s actually three-months pregnant. Baby shower! Wait, no baby shower. Baby sun please. So do excuse me if I prefer resorting* to the ever-sunny European sibling to kick-start the week. Today I dream of Forte Village, the rustle of Oleander bushes in the mild morning breeze, bare-feet walk to breakfast, floating by way of seven sea-salt pools of the Thalassotherapy spa and rising higher with Gordon Ramsay’s exquisite dishes by the sea. Slumping back to earth completely, of course, with giddy midnight snacks on the terrace: pain au chocolats and toffee puddings stolen from breakfast. AH, would you look at this, the sun just came out here between the sheets of rain, looks like somebody’s jealous. Or craving toffee puddings. Oh heck, let it be the former.

* Resorting. Get it? get it? I am SOoohohoho funny.

A belated thank you to Forte Village Resort again for the stay. Part 1 here.

Bag – Furla

Coat – Zara. Knit – Goodnight Macaroon. Jeans – James Jeans. Sneakers – New Balance. Bag – Furla. Sunglasses – Celine. Watch – Daniel Wellington.

I’ve gone and dug my own grave this past holiday, I think. I played in the same chair I sit to work in, for like, ten whole days straight. We’re in a fresh new year on self-declared clean slate and all I can smell is 2013 wafting from the leather of the wheely desk chair because as we all know the entire year was peanut butter cookies and pizza, in a nutshell. Especially the last few days during which I successfully transformed my workstation into a food-smeared playstation. I got up early on the first working day of the year, got dressed, hosed down the chair with a febreeze and sat down, ready to do an honest day’s work and found myself clicking on the Call of Duty icon without thinking, then proceeded to tour Mother Russia in a tank to defeat the Nazis. Hooray for stupid. Well, to start with, it took several attempts to get dressed because I kept putting shoes on before any pants, and had to Youtube how to tie shoelaces. It’s like when you sit on your hand for too long and it goes so numb it forgets how to be a hand. Except I haven’t set a foot outside the house for the past two weeks and have forgotten how to human. Anyway, back to the grind, shoelaces flailing and all.

Speaking of cookies, I baked a whole new batch last night for some reason. Screw the new year, I’m staying in 2013 until they’re gone.

For when is there a better time than the first working day of the new year to introduce more ways to heartlessly abandon diets and money saving resolutions… Here’s my five favourites from the East/North corner, stay tuned for more as I valiantly invade other post codes! Also, for other food/drink recommendations in the city, I’ve pinned them in a fail-safe map here.

Nevermind the general disneyfied approach to American dining, if you’re craving fluffy, syrupy, stacked pancakes with blueberry garnishing that border on jam, try The Diner. Shuffle into a booth, order a plate of pancakes and a mug of filter coffee, gobble it all up – chunk by chunk, pay, shuffle out the booth, and leave. Don’t expect much ambiance, and for sure don’t make it a first date spot, but DO consider the lush milkshake menu, and do try that thing where you semi-yell at the waitress for a refill. Like in the movies, yes.

Perched on the first floor of a nondescript, East London warehouse building, the only hint that Bistroteque is, in fact, there, is the sound of cutlery clinking over a soft piano tune leaking out from the top windows. The interior is bright, by way of white ‘subway’ tiles, and painted brick that spans one massive room – with an oval bar by the entrance where walk-ins are seated. (read: book for table if bringing motley crew) The brunch menu offering is classic and simple, European portions, pancakes on the fluffier-than-normal side… but if you’re anything like me skip out on all that and go straight for a virgin Bloody Mary. Or not virgin, whatever you like. It fills you up (considering the price, it had better), and you’re set for a couple of hours before actual lunch. Do sit at the bar and watch the bartenders bustle around making drinks, especially the one that looks like Johnny Depp.

One of my new favourites in the East, this is American dining with ambiance and character. Technically a brasserie, and technically not even American – although being housed in Ace Hotel doesn’t help shake facts off – the eating experience is pleasant with swift service by friendly staff. I personally love the fact that they walk around with two jugs of coffee, one filter and the other decaf, although given that this is England I should suspect it could be tea… The menu is printed on newspaper in beautiful typography, which I also adore. Ask for the booth next to the window of Hattie Fox’s florist, which is in fact the official entrance of the restaurant, it casts a rather lovely, soft glowing light. For breakfast, I recommend the Hot set breakfast if not very tight on budget, if not, the Eggy bread with berries and Mascarpone. The balance of wet and dry is perfect on that one.

If there’s one manky old onion in my fridge for three weeks in a row Ivy’s Mess Hall is one of the reasons why. It being a local cafe/restaurant that Charlie and I frequent on the weekends, and also the fact that it’s 10 minutes closer to home than the closest supermarket means every weekend I am sidetracked to slip into Ivy’s and order a scrambled eggs on toast with three extra sides (roasted baby tomatoes, roasted mushrooms, bacon). I come home with crumbs on my sweater and hubby yells NOT AGAIN. It’s now a weekly routine. The atmosphere is homey, (I guess I’m now officially a hipster to consider stripped walls and bare-bulb lighting as ‘homey’) and in the summer eating under a canopy on the most Turkish part of Kingsland Road proves to be quite an interesting experience.

A lot more up-market for a casual brekkie, but one that definitely falls under ‘treats’. The floor tiles and the sole lemon tree at the entrance, for one, but the Lee Valley Mushrooms on Toast with Melted Taleggio & Mixed Leaves (not pictured) makes for a great hearty start to a day. A bit mumsy too (clean interiors, a whole wall of wine, buggy-friendly table spacing), as the general fate of Church Street is seemingly heading, and the prices reflect on this. But like I said, falls under ‘treat’, especially after a power-walk with ice-cream in Clissold park.

I’ve been squirrelling around since the morning building another 2013 in review post, and at 6 o’clock, I’ve decided against publishing it. 2013 sure has been a tremendous year for me, filled with highs and lows of varying strengths. Quitting my full-time job to charge on with this blog was surely a high, although to be honest it was technically a corner I was driven into that thankfully happened to have a little door. Regardless, I don’t regret taking that leap of faith and it’s been a hell of a ride ever since. The eczema probably was, and still is, the lowest … a problem I’ve sworn to tackle in the new year. I’ve decided against publishing a comprehensive review because, last year I wished for less shoes, more family, less ‘me’, more ‘you’, but the highlights were specifically about more shoes, and much more ‘me’ (5kg more at this point, to be exact), than ‘you’. So I want to start a clean slate, let’s try again, shall we?

Wishing all my readers a great start to 2014. Looking forward to prattling on in the new year!

Pattern from Kim Hargreaves Scarlet pattern book, called ‘Craft‘.

C2B, C2F, KTBL, P2…

…which is not an encoded call to Starfleet, but nonetheless a new language for me this season as I enter a new domain that is sweaters and cable knitting. Before I delve into the complexity of this sort of pattern, let me just say: if I can knit, a mattress can knit. A fingerless mattress. A blind, fingerless mattress. So don’t be discouraged when I say my eyeballs were bleeding and it took literally 32 hours to do a mere 6 inches. Cable knitting follows a grid pattern, and I’m not sure if you’ve tried doing geometry homework while watching a BAZILLION movies, but it sure slows you down (duh). Especially if some of them are Italian (La vita e bella) or French (Amelie) and you get your subtitles and knitting pattern confused and end up knitting “Bongiorno principessa“, then undo the entire row afterwards. It’s all good fun though, and not at all hard if you have Youtube and some time handy, which is exactly what this Christmas was, spending it quietly in London just with the hubby.

Ballerina flats – Josefinas

Ryan G

These navy classic ballerinas are from a Portugese brand called Josefinas, but considering how much I fondle them and dream of spring-time dates by the riverside I’ve decided to name it ‘Ryan G’ so that when the times comes I can say ‘I’m taking Ryan out for a ride’ and confuse the crap out of hubby. For now Ryan G’s in winter hibernation in a snug silk dust bag that smells like Eucalyptus.

White candle – Diptyque ‘Cypres’. Dark candle – Dior 30 Montaigne. Cuff – Chanel ‘boy’ lego brick cuff. Rings – Monica Vinader stacking rings

I’ll count, you hide.

A couple firm favourites from 2013 that I’ll be taking into 2014: a Mikimoto circle pearl necklace that used to be my mother’s, Monica Vinader stacking rings (Baja and Diamond pave), and Chanel ‘boy’ lego brick cuff from the Cruise 13 collection. The cuff is actually on loan from the Chanel press office to ‘play’ with (their words, not mine), although the most ‘playing’ I’ve done so far with it was wrapping it with bubble-wrap and placing it in a 6-digit-code safe. Which is what I used to do with my prettier looking Barbies anyway so I guess that does count as playing.  

Necklace – FHH Accessories via Lulu Guiness. (Similar here)

Come on baby light my fire

When this arrived in the mail my pyromaniac husband put it around his neck and ran around the flat giggling. I’m afraid I’m not even kidding. I swear one day he will burst into flames from sheer girliness.

Striped top – c/o Gudrun Sjoden. PJ Bottoms – Gift from mummy (from Oysho, I believe)

A new surface

Ever since spilling beer all over my slightly more ‘agile’ laptop (aka not a tank) I’ve had to get out of bed, walk a meter, sit in a chair, and start my day on the internet like a normal human being. However, thanks to the recent acquisition of Microsoft Surface 2, a tablet with a handy keypad/cover that snaps onto the side, I’ve been able to return to my blissful lifestyle of a single-cell organism, that is: wake up, troll online, sleep. Some kidding aside, so far it really has boosted my level of productivity, although if you’ve e-mailed me in the past couple of months and didn’t receive a response, MY DOG ATE MY PURPLE KEYBOARD OKAY.

Wool & the Gang ‘Ashleigh’ sweater knit kit, with custom elongated sleeves.

Chunky monkey

World, meet my first ever hand-knitted sweater! All thanks to Wool & the Gang, who generously supplied with the pattern, wool and constant cheering throughout. Their HQ happens to be located about 2 minutes walk from where I live, so sometimes I hear a ‘GO SHINI!’ which usually just turns out to be one of the teachers in the school behind my building yelling ‘NO SHITTING!’. Which, don’t get me wrong, is pretty good encouragement too because one mustn’t poop in the living room. This particular pattern didn’t take long to do (6-8 hours in total?) as the yarn is super chunky, so I’d say it’s perfect for first time sweater knitters!

Perfume – Kenzo Flower in the Air

In the air

A whiff of the Flower in the Air takes me back to that one day in June when I took a train to Paris, rode a ferris wheel by the river, and again, then hopped back on a train and came home. A fleeting moment, that’s what it smells like, which is surprisingly lyrical compared to the usual scent pairing with my sarcastic temperament. On the skin, it’s a clean, modern scent, quite sharp at first, but settles into a comfortable floral blend of rose, gardenia… almost berry-like. I can’t wait for it to snow a little actually, I have a feeling this might be a great pairing, albeit slightly ironic.

Time machine

Watch & straps – Daniel Wellington

Somehow the folks over at Daniel Wellington know about the unfortunate vintage watch I cracked with a plier three years ago, I think. Then again, it was a plier that usually does the pipes under the sink, I don’t know what I was expecting. My hand slipped and crack, a spiderweb on the watch face. A roll of duct tape was the only adhesive tapey thingy I had in the flat, and for a week I’d only know when it was 2:15. This DW set, however, comes with a tool that sings finesse: a firm nudge and it dislodges the bar from the hinges, which you then slide out the leather, and back on the hinges again. The grosgrain ribbon (that comes with a rose-gold buckle) slides through the bars, then secured. I can probably duct tape my eyes shut and do it again. Curse you plier!