My Favourite Restaurant in London

My boyfriend and I are sometimes hard to please when it comes to eating out. For a start, my other half doesn't like chain restaurants so sometimes when you are starving and just want some food, it is excruiatingly painful to have to walk past restaurant after restaurant that can satisfy my hunger. Secondly (as you all probably guessed) is the gluten-free issue and the killer question, 'is this gluten-free?' which leaves many staff running for the exits. Thirdly, is his height: let's just say he'd be at home in a basketball team! We always have to check that his legs will fit under the table, then which side is easier for him to sit in and where can he sit so he won't obstruct the staff and other diners. In small restaurants, it can be a bit of a mission.

Now last night, we booked a table at a restaurant Brawn that we had tried to go to before but got turned away as they were so busy. This time we booked ahead. Walked in and did the checklist: not a chain, height..fine and the gluten-free aspect taken care of with complete aplomb. The menu came back with the glutenous items crossed out and when we placed our orders they were quick to spot one of them contained gluten and checked whether that was ok (which it was as it was for him not me).

After the arrival of our bottle of red, came the starter of a platter of charcuterie with a brawn (pig's head) terrine, salami and a pork paté and of course some bread for the gluten one. Next came main courses, mine was a black brawn dish with braised red cabbage and a green caramelised apple and his was pig trotters with some salad. The plates looked quite small but even a quarter of the way through we were both struggling to finish our meals. Although we did manage to find space for a delicious chocolate ganache with nuts, cream and meringue which we shared because we were about to explode!

I cannot put into the words how delicious the food is here but having been to plenty of London restaurants we both decided that Brawn is by far the best.

My Perfect Sunday

As I already told you guys my weekend started off with a delightful girls night in raising money for breast cancer care and then Saturday saw the not so delightful task of cleaning the flat. Think deep clean, oven, carpets...you name it we cleaned it!

By Sunday I was in need of some relaxation so I headed to the East to see my other half. We wandered down Columbia Road looking at the beautiful flowers and then headed to Brick Lane to the market.

We still couldn't settle on what we wanted to do so we wandered on to Whitechapel and then down to Tower Bridge taking in the quietness of the city. It was so peaceful it felt like we were in a countryside of sorts. We wandered along to St Katherine's dock, stopping off at The Dickens Inn for a nice pub lunch. I had delicious cajun salmon and my other half had a pie (any chance to have something glutinous!)

It was the type of Sunday that I just love but it wasn't over. We wandered back home and had a nap for a couple of hours before being woken up to play Scrabble. With a roaring fire projected on the wall, mug of tea in hand and a game of Scrabble it felt like a wintery evening round the fire.

Scrabble was followed by a delicious meal of melt in the mouth gammon, kale and roast potatoes, a film and a glass of wine.

Now thats what I call a perfect Sunday!

When Charity should start at home

There's a well known saying that charity starts at home and sometimes I feel myself muttering it under my breath as I walk past the numerous volunteers collecting money for charity at the station. Its not that I'm anti charity but if I gave money to every single charity then I would become in need of charity. I also find that they have this magical ability to make me feel horrendously guilty as everyone in the station walks past them in a rush to get to work.

My guilt got the better of me when I walked past a retired man stood on a cold and windy Waterloo bridge collecting money for RNLI. Now I would happily donate to the RNLI but I was rushing for a train and couldn't stop but as soon as I got to the station I felt so guilty I considered walking back across the bridge to give my donation to that poor guy feeling the effects of a strong sidewind. In the end I did donate to the RNLI, did miss my train but felt relieved to know that if one day I or any of my friends or family needed the RNLI then my little donation would go towards helping them.

I guess thats the type of charity that makes me warm inside, the ones that can help the people I love and care about which is why I was honoured to be invited to a girls night in for Breast Cancer Care. This night was great fun, spent with great people raising money for a great cause and there is something so fulfilling about a night like that. There was no guilt for not donating as we had fun games that we paid money to join in with and paid to have manicures.

So I guess sometimes charity really should start at home.

Winter Wear

Last time I wrote I asked the universe to give us a summer or at least some warmer weather, unfortunately it never arrived but in a roundabout way the universe did deliver on my other wish...to have a reason to go shopping.

Now I love to shop at the best of times but when living is so expensive, it can often be hard to find time and funds to go shopping. Luckily for me, this all happened to come together one rather quiet Monday evening when a friend had the genius idea of going to buy knitwear.

We all moan about how we hate winter and how miserable the weather is but we do enjoy the plus sides of the weather getting colder. For instance, in the summer you can't get excited about chunky knit or cable knit but in winter you can but more than shopping Autumn/Winter allows you to be a big kid.

Kicking your feet through the fallen leaves is allowed and strongly advised. Making snowmen, throwing snowballs and sledging is actively encouraged. Drinking mulled wine and eating certain foods is only acceptable in the winter.

So in readiness for Autumn/Winter, I purchased my Christmas knitwear and am embracing the changing weather because somehow the world looks a little more beautiful at this time of year.

So, when it starts getting chilly lets not complain, lets embrace our winter wardrobe.