suits you!

The holiday season is upon us and my own summer vacation is only two weeks away so, you know what that means....! It's time to begin the hunt for swimwear! 

Swimwear has got to be the worst thing in the world to shop for (along  with exercise -related clothing). Year after year of  summer shopping trips spent trawling through the 'beachwear' sections trying to find the perfect bikini that would fit both my bum and keep the boobs contained - personally I think it's a myth - or the perfect one piece that wasn't ugly and didn't cost the earth - up until last year I'd thought this was only a myth too. Because last summer I did, I found the perfect one piece on ASOS of all places! It was affordable, keeps the beasts at bay, hides the fact that my body is not (and has never been) 'bikini ready', and,  v.importantly, is super cute and makes me feel fabulous! I think I was bloody lucky last year because ASOS don't seem to have re-stocked it for this summer, they, along with a lot of other shops, seem to be well into the 'one-piece-with-loads-of-bits-cut-out-of-it-so-it-may-as-well-be-a-bikini' type thing. BUT, should you also be looking for a flattering one piece (without loads of bits cutout of it) then Modcloth is your friend. 

If I hadn't found my dream swimsuit last year I would be purchasing the one on the left (which is actually a two piece - yes, it's true, a flattering tankini!).

Taken the plunge (sorry) and got your swimsuit sorted yet?

Reading & Seeing 10

How to Be A Woman - Caitlin Moran

Hands down, the funniest book I've read since...ever? Quite probably. I can't remember reading anything else that made me laugh out loud on the tube. At rush hour. I think Caitlin Moran is awesome - not only is she a great writer but she also raises some excellent points about girl stuff and life in general. It's sort of like a critique on the behaviour of women told through a v.amusing narrative which links back to events in her life (so it's a little autobiographical too). The critic quotes on the cover of this book are correct: every woman should read this book. Guys might be interested too but I imagine a lot of it might be lost on them. She may not have all the answers but she's got some excellent (and hilarious) ideas!

The Teleportation Accident - Ned Beauman

A completely random read. If I'm honest I initially picked it for the title and cover but the blurb got me hooked. It's an odd little story centred around german theatre set designer Loeser and his two life passions: 1) Renaissance set designer Lavicini and his 'Teleportation Device' which destroyed a theatre and killed members of the audience. 2) sex, and more specifically, his obsession to bed one lady in particular, Adele Hitler (no relation). It's these two interests that take him first to paris and then to LA. Along the way he meets a string of interesting characters - good, bad and some who are completely superfluous to the story's progression. I liked the oddness of the dislikable protagonist and the bizarre back stories (and conditions) of some of the supporting roles, but most of all, the end was exactly what I'd wanted. So rarely does that happen these days. It's a delicious soup of odd-ball characters swimming around in the increasingly un-rigid elements of time and space. I wouldn't say that this book is for everyone but this is Ned Beauman's second novel (he's only 28!) and I liked this a lot so I think I might try his debut too...

Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013)
I may live with a die hard star trek fan and I may, from time to time, watch an episode of the tv show all the way through but I'm not a big star trek fan and frankly, I think it's a little bit silly. BUT, J J Abrams has brought star trek to the masses, he has reached out to those who, when hearing the words star trek, roll their eyes and shake their heads at the thought of william shatner et al running around cheap looking sets fighting/conversing/attempting to get off with various humanoid aliens, and given them so much more. J J Abrams has made star trek cool. I was sooooo looking forward to this and it did not disappoint. Yes, perhaps it's not as good as his first foray into the franchise but by god it's bloody good. It's action packed, the script is sharp and the cast is superb! Seriously, the line-up for this movie is fabulous and I'm not just talking about Cumberbatch (even though he was my favourite thing in this instalment). There's lots of old skool star trek references  for the trekkies (especially concerning the continuing spok/kirk bro-mance, particularly the part involving the radiation chamber - it's all rather touching) and it's a superfun journey for all the rest of us waiting to see how the gang will put an end to the evil (and delicious) Benedict Cumberbatch. Unsurprisingly, I highly recommend it, on the big screen if you still can!

The Fall (2006)
Possibly the most beautiful film I've ever seen both aesthetically (the locations in the 'story' sequences are AMAZING) and the plot itself. It's a simple tale - set in a hospital, a little girl with a broken arm befriends a fellow patient - a stuntman in the movies. He's depressed as his lover has left him for a movie star so, enlisting the innocent girl's help, he tries (a number of times) to kill himself. In return for 'helping' him, he tells the little girl the story of the Red Bandit. The characters and story in the hospital run parallel to the events in the fantastical story of the bandit until the v.touching (and bloody) conclusion of both. I cried at the end - the actress who plays the little girl is adorable - I defy you not to do the same. This is a great film which I deffo recommend - a real gem.

Tuesday's Tees - zara

To be honest I'd never thought of Zara as a good place for tees but they've got some lovely and light  looking ones at the moment, perfect for summer. Liking the citrus fruit one especially!

a weekend of limited tech

Over the weekend our TiVo box decided to die and for some odd reason my laptop refused to connect to our wireless. Thus, a weekend of limited technology. In truth, Mitch and I have been contemplating downgrading our Virgin account to just broadband for quite sometime now and I think the defunct TiVo box has spurred us on. I didn't miss the tv at all. There's rarely anything on I actually want to watch and if there is we could, in future, just catch it on i-player or 4oD. I did miss the internet though. Saturday was mostly spent in brockwell park - the weather in brixton was superb - firstly going for a jog and then, post shower, lunch and some reading *bliss*, before heading back to flat to cook dinner which we ate, you guessed it, in the park. Sadly, sunday was v.cloudy and windy so I did some doodling - nothing really beats drawing - whilst catching up with Mad Men and starting 30Rock (Mitch v.kindly helped me out with his portable hard drive/media player set-up so I could watch them, so I guess there was rather a lot of tech going on on sunday). I also cut out more flags to add to the growing pile needed for the wedding bunting :) In the evening we took a bus over to peckham rye to see the visiting fun fair. A quiet weekend but lovely just the same. I do hope that's not the last we'll see of the sun!

In the games arcade at the peckham rye fun fair. It was a victorian era affair with some of the rides still running on steam! The arcade was basically a huge collection of, mostly, working vintage games.

As if I couldn't get enough of bird families at the moment, we happened upon a family of canada geese at one of the ponds in brockwell park on saturday. The goslings were so cute and fluffy.

tomato doodle

bunting to be

of late

Here are some pics from the last week or so. There was quite a lot going on but I neglected to mention it. 

Blossom in chiswick - there was SO much of it throughout May.

Last Thursday Mitch had reserved us a table at the Paramount Bar. A rather fancy establishment at the top of Centre Point. The views over London were pretty amazing. I wish I'd taken some pics of the actual bar - it felt like something out of the 1920s - but alas I was distracted by the view! I'd deffo recommend this as, unlike the london eye or the shard, it's free (apart from your drinks bill of course but you can always opt for a beer rather than one of their cocktails if you are a bit skint)! You do need to book in advance though and don't wear trainers, they won't let you in.

On Monday we went to a BBQ at our friends' house in epsom. It was a lovely day - super sunny and the perfect excuse to indulge in some serious meat-eating. 

Yesterday as the weather was fabulous, my boss took the company out for lunch at Chiswick House. The grounds are v.pretty PLUS there were lots of ducklings. We saw about 4 bird families with their little ones including a swan family (with 4 cygnets) and an egyptian geese family with 7 baby geese - sooooo cute.

So v.happy that it's already Friday - fingers crossed for some more glorious weather!

going veggie at home

A while back, Mitch and I decided to stop cooking meat at the flat - apart from fish as I love fish a lot (perhaps the title of this post should've been going 'semi-veggie at home'...). I just thought I'd share some of the recipes we've discovered and adapted over the last couple of months, you'll have to forgive me for my extremely poor attempts at food photography, it really is a skill that I clearly do not possess.

★ Shrimp Pad Thai - It is actually heaven in a bowl (this image does not do it justice). I've made it about 5 times since stumbling across it and every time it's bloody amazing. I don't use brussell sprouts as I detest them but I've found that greens or regular cabbage works swell.

★ Veggie Burgers - I love a good meaty burger so was a little skeptical about a veggie one but this recipe is delish. I ommitted the egg and just used more salsa to combine the mixture which worked a treat. I also added waaaay more chilli powder (and some other spices) than the recipe suggested to give it a bit of a kick. Further proof of their tastiness: I fed these to a v.ardent meat eater and he loved them!

★ Tofu - I'd never cooked it before and for some reason it didn't come out that well for me. It took FOREVER to fry and although it made a perfectly acceptable veggie alternative to the king prawns in the pad thai above, I prefer the prawns. However, I've not given up just yet. I'm going to try again with tofu and this recipe seems like a good candidate.

★ Mushroom and Leek pie - adapted from the chicken and mushroom pie recipe I made back in feb. It's a winner both ways but I prefer it with the leeks. Chicken does seem to be the meat I miss the least as it's fairly easy to substitute. (Although, Mitch's jerk chicken is absolutely fabulous and I do miss that. A hell of a lot. If you have a veggie alternative to jerk chicken I'd love to have it! Can you have jerk fish?)

★ Lemon and caper pasta salad - this is a perfect summer recipe. Unbelievably quick to make, very few ingredients (most of which you probably already have in the cupboard) AND it's so easy a child could make it. Blindfolded*.

*blindfold not recommended as there are sharp knives and hotwater involved.

★ Fajitas - Following on from the 'not missing chicken' thing, veggie fajitas are the bomb. Kidney beans, peppers, onions, spices, guacamole, tomatoes, salsa, nachos - why on earth did I ever need to add chicken to it? I don't have an actual recipe for this as it pretty much consists of me cooking onions and peppers with paprika, chilli fakes, pepper and a cajun mix, heating up the beans and then bunging them both in a wrap with all the other aforementioned ingredients. Idiot proof and YUM.

I'll share some more of our veggie (and fishy) favourites soon - hopefully with some half decent pictures. In the meantime you can peruse more fabulous recipes on my food based pinterest board.