life/style/flash.

Taste of London restaurant safari

Becky — Sat, 19 May 2012 09:12:30 +0000

While I’m definitely a city girl I’ve always wanted to go on safari; earlier this week I got to attend my first, without even having to leave the bright lights of London, when I was invited on Taste of London’s ‘restaurant safari’.

For those to whom the concept is new, as it was to me, a restaurant safari is this: you enjoy a starter at one restaurant, a main at another, and dessert at a third (if you’re feeling extra indulgent you have cocktails and/or coffee along the way too). I was incredibly lucky that my first experience was that of dreams!

Cocktail and starter at The Savoy

(I’m head-over-heels with The Savoy, it’s totally enchanting. If you ever get the opportunity you must go.)

We began with the specially-created “Taste of Savoy” cocktail. It’s heaven, made with Bacardi rum, Martini Extra Dry, homemade pineapple sherbet and lime juice: the perfect combination of sweet and sour and perfect for summer.

I’d happily have stayed in the Beaufort Bar for the rest of the evening however we moved on to the River Restaurant for delicious slow-cooked pork belly, prawn Carpaccio with citrus, washed down with San Pellegrino Acqua Panna. Taste of London’s wine ambassador Neil Philips selected a balanced Henri Martischang Pinot Gris from France as our starter’s accompanying wine.

We were completely spoiled by being driven to our next stop in The Savoy’s own Rolls Royce Phantoms; I can’t tell you how spectacularly glamorous I felt being chauffered down the Strand, past Trafalgar Square, towards Buckingham Palace and through Mayfair!

Main course at Gordon Ramsay’s Maze

Our destination was Grosvenor Square, where we were seated overlooking the kitchen (like Carrie Bradshaw all I make in the kitchen is a mess so I found this fascinating).

As Maze serves only taster portions they treated us to not one but three courses, two of which will be served at the Taste of London festival (lobster and pork dumplings with spring onion, lemongrass and ginger, plus soft-as-butter braised beef featherblade with togarashi spice), accompanied by a Uruguayan wine: Tannat Libero, De Lucca.

Dessert at Theo Randall at The Intercontinental

After a short taxi ride we arrived at our final destination, where Theo himself came over to introduce his dessert: soft chocolate cake with crema di mascarpone. Oh my.

If you like chocolate (and something tells me you might), you will adore this cake. As Theo said, the consistency is almost soufflé-like and it just melts in the mouth. I’m a big mascarpone fan so this dessert was perfection in my eyes.

Taste of London festival

Taste festivals combine fine dining, drinking and entertainment. This year 40 of London’s best restaurants (boasting a combined 11 Michelin stars) will hold pop-ups alongside a boutique food market, champagne masterclasses, and more from 21-24 June.

Taste of London, Regent’s Park, London (nearest tube Regent’s Park / Great Portland Street)

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Life lately { in film }

Becky — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:58:15 +0000

I was recently given a gorgeous toy by Lomography (and one of the best blog gifts I’ve ever received): the La Sardina 35mm film camera. I planned to post about it weeks ago – in connection with hitting 200 Bloglovin’ followers, more on why in a second – but Royal Mail had other ideas and my first film roll disappeared en route to the processing lab.

So, here are some of my favourite shots from my second roll. Ok, they’re actually pretty much the only ones that came out – it seems after 10 years of reliance on digital one has to re-learn film. Still, dreamy right?

Don’t say I don’t give you nothing…

So do you want to win your own La Sardina camera? To celebrate my recent follower landmark I’m giving one away (c/o Lomography)! Doesn’t that make you feel all warm inside?

The competition will be going live next week so make sure you follow my blog in the meantime to make sure you’re eligible to enter! All options can be found in the sidebar.

Park life and tea parties

Park life and tea parties

Becky — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:42:35 +0000

I don’t know about where you are but last weekend the weather in London finally became more like what you’d expect for May (not that it lasted of course, I’m now actually glad I couldn’t find my St Tropez and instead opted for these spring-appropriate tights – what a waste of product that would have been).

On Sunday I went almost bare-faced, letting my skin get some much needed vitamin D, as the boyfriend and I enjoyed a sunny stroll around Regent’s Park. Later that afternoon I hot-footed it to Camden for a shindig held by Carrie and Lucy to launch their new venture, Wish magazine (post coming soon!).

It’s no secret I love London and on days like that – full of blue skies, friends, and sweet treats – I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world!

I hope you’re having a lovely week so far, thank you for reading!

What I wore :

ASOS floral dress (SS11)

Vintage denim jacket

Primark grey tights

Wallis pointed flats*

Wired Jewellery gummy bear ring*

AW12 / Boden press day

Becky — Sun, 13 May 2012 19:24:37 +0000

I always enjoy attending press days for a sneaky peek at what we’ll be drooling over next season – even if the pieces we preview aren’t personally my style it’s fun to get a hands-on look and of course bump into other bloggers while I’m there.

Every so often, though, I get to go to a press day so up my street it’s like the designer(s) climbed inside my head and turned my fashion dreams into reality.

Enter Boden AW12.

Taking inspiration from the 1950s and 60s, the collection features exquisite shift dresses (my pick being the Audrey in conifer) and truly sublime pea coats and trenches.

Shoes are timelessly-ladylike Mary Janes, almond toe flat patent pumps, and butter-soft knee-high boots.

This a simple collection but with details that make all the difference. Think faux-tortoiseshell buttons, super-soft fabrics, sequin embellishment, and cute prints.

The event was held at the Rook & Raven gallery and the Boden team had decorated the showrooms thoughtfully. There was an alcove dominated by a wall of books, other walls featured framed prints of lookbook images, colour palettes, and quirky quotes (“Growing up is overrated” and “Everything looks better in a circle”).

One thing I can’t get out of my head is the Westminster print that ran through the collection; I spotted it on a tunic, wellies, the lookbook and even on walls. I did ask one of the PRs if they plan to sell it as a wallpaper and was told that they aren’t but that I wasn’t the first to ask – please make it Boden!

Hand-on-heart, I adored this collection – thanks so much to Boden for having me (particularly Hayley for inviting me)!