Sunday sleep in

Dog tired. Cocktails and Vietnamese food till late in shoreditch last night.

Fi

Spontaneous City

'The Spontaneous City in the Tree of Heaven', The Secret Garden, Islington, North London.

With over 300 boxes of varying sizes, they hope to bring birds and bugs back into London.

Fi

Greasy Spoon

A greasy spoon cafe - these were 1950s staples, before Costa and Starbucks ripped up the high streets. This one in Old Street was delightfully rough around the edges and no frills in style. We wandered in because it was packed with people tucking into lunch. Clearly they liked this cafe, as the wall behind the counter was earmarked with over a hundred pictures of customers grinning from beneath bowl haircuts, 60's bobs and 80's perms.

We squeezed into a freshly vacated booth, with neon yellow walls and mint green trim, a well worn formica tabletop, peeling lino floors and chatted over large mugs of piping hot tea and chunky chips doused in salt and vinegar. Grinning all the while.

Fi

Dreamboats and petticoats

Like Mish, I'm a massive fan of 1960's music - 'The Boat that Rocked' is a firm favourite. So I was more than delighted when I found out about 'Dreamboats and Petticoats', in fact I was practically in raptures watching the musical and wore the carpet threadbare with my toe tapping!

The storyline is a cutesy tale of teenage love, set in a British youth club over the summer. While it's not the most original premise, it didn't matter, as it was all about the musical score. It is in the genre of 'jukebox musical', as the score is comprised of previously released pop songs. Which are all played by live musicans during the show.

What made the night even more enjoyable, was the audience, who were mostly made up of baby boomer rockers - who crooned and bopped along to all the hit songs of their youth. One particular highlight was when a man, who would have been no younger than 75, was one of the first to leap up and unself-consciously jive along to the encore, despite his fragile appearence and stiff-legged gait.

I had such a good time, I'm tempted to go again....

Brick Lane BBQ

I went to my first English BBQ the other week. It was at a friend of a friend's place and they were raising charitable funds for a madcap cycling journey from London to Paris...to be completed within 24 hours. The party was in a tiny slip of a street off of the infamous Brick Lane. The street may have been narrow, but their lodgings was a warehouse of whopping proportions. The courtyard alone was bigger than the flat I'm staying in. It's surprising what lies behind closed doors.

The temperature dipped into single digits, so with one hand warming over hot coals and the other chilling with a pint of cider, we chatted as the cycling team churned out training miles on a fixed bike stand. Laziness never felt so relaxing.

Wandering back onto Brick Lane, revealed more unexpected delights. The borough of Tower Hamlets is home to London's Bangladeshi-Sylheti community, so the lane is infused with the heady aroma of spices from stewing curries. The brick walls are canvases for street art, the shops are a mixture of grandma vintage chic, thrift shops, independent cafes, heaving asian supermarkets, tiny bars, obscured doors leading to indie nightclubs and of course hot beigels. Hot salted beef in a mustarded beigel is so simple, yet so utterly delicious and moreish.

Fi

An English summer

[Tate Modern]

[Place to plurge my wallet and nesting instincts - Anthropolgie]

[I capture the castle - Limerick city, Ireland]

[Morning routine - London]

Fi

Emails and podcasts

Emailing isn't quite the same as real conversation, so I was pretty happy to catch my little sis on the phone last night, she proceeded to make me extremely jealous by recounting her wild adventures and letting me in on her vague plans. Stories of museums, parks, markets and festivals... oh the jealousy river flowed! It makes me want to throw a few things in a bag and jump on the flight next to my brother on Thursday and run round ye old London town!

In other news I discovered today that the lovely Joy from Joy The Baker has a podcast, huzzah, what I after actually cooking, and watching is cooking is listening to people talking about people cooking. I let you know how it is when I actually sit down and listen to a few. Somecinnamon sugar pull-apart bread baking in the oven would be the perfect warming scent for this dark, wet night, ideas seem to be afoot!

[Joy The Baker]

Also, how did I miss the blog What Katie Ate? Oh me oh my! It's dark, intense and beautiful, and the best it's based in Sydney so I can visit the restaurants, shops and markets.

Mish

Glastonbury 2011

Oh my stars....

tea and toast please

Reading Jane Brocket’s blog is like sipping a cup of tea and munching warm toast – it’s delightful, simple, refreshing, homely and hits the spot every time.

[tea and toast]

Jane’s blog is a treasure trove of recommendations for books, yarn, films, thread, bulbs, quilts and most importantly afternoon tea destinations. My mouth is drooling in anticipation of visiting:

- Albion

- Peggy Porschen Parlour

- Baker & Spice

Squirrels unite

[image via: Point of Difference]

[Secret Squirrel: "I'm not like them" collection 2011]