Cheese and Wine Festival - East Village (London)

On Saturday morning I met up with a friend and some randoms for our not-so-regular brunch club. Anyone and everyone is welcome and this time we had 5 people. After brunch, Rachel - who had come down from Cambridge for the weekend - said she was headed to the Cheese and Wine Festival in the East Village. Cushla and I quickly jumped on that idea and invited ourselves along because, well, CHEESE!

It was a bit of a mission to find the place as none of us live in the East and following the 'directions' seemed to take us all around the Westfield.

We arrived pretty much on the dot, and started wandering around the open air market stalls. We did our first lap to see what was on offer - stopping at the cider stall for a half of cider before continuing on and around for some arancini balls!

these were amazing!

We now had a bit of an idea of what we wanted, so we started at the beginning again, this time Rachel and I had a glass of Pimms to accompany our journey round.

One of the main features of the Festival was the cheese carving. Unfortunately we didn't stick around till the end, so not sure what the end result was, but they did have Brie-once on display!

this is made entirely from cheese!

Our next stop was to the chocolate stall! I got these three cute little hot chocolate sticks, one for me and one each for my housemates. Cara and I have not yet had ours, but G had hers last night to help cure her hangover and she 100% recommends!

On our way out we stopped again at the cider stall where I restricted myself to only buying 3 jars of chutney! I bought a passionfruit curd (not sure what I'm going to do with that!), a sweet cider chutney and a Thai lime and chilli flavour. While sipping on another half of cider I checked out the cheese - all the cheese (excluding the Stilton) was all from Somerset. With a few tidbits as samples, some of that cheese ended up in my bag to take home!

so many options!

Our last stop was to 'Gastro Nicks' where Cushla was looking for an alcoholic gift for a friend.  We came across these cute little bottles of gin liqueur.

Cushla purchased 2 of the Rhubarb and Ginger flavour - one for her friend and one for herself!

After spending an extortionate amount on cheese, it was time to part ways with Rachel and Cushla and I met up with some other friends on the Southbank.

A Sense of Home - July Travel Link Up

This month's travel linkup topic is Home.

It got me thinking as to what makes a place feel like home to me.

Although a lot of people have connections with the physical place, home to me has more to do with the people and the sense of belonging you get.

I love the Adelaide sceneries, the Hills, the beaches, the wineries, the most important thing about is the people that I love and who love me. My family and most of my friends are back in Adelaide, and when I go home, they are always there to support me and share in experiences.

I can say the same for the people I meet in London. Being an Antipodean in London, a lot of us have the same values - making the most of life, visiting new places, experiencing new cultures and foods, learning history of places we've never even heard about before.

I have made a great group of friends here in London, who I have shared many new experiences with.

Home is a sense of belonging.

How to link up your post

Just pop your post up over the first week of the month (the 1st - 7th July 2016) and add it to the link up widget found on Angie's, Jessi's or Polly's blogs.

No real rules – just check out some of the other cool bloggers; tweet a few of the posts out to your followers that you think they will love and make a few comments here and there.

Turtle Bay

So anyone that has access to either my Facebook or Instagram accounts will know how much I love food. Cooking it, eating it, photographing it. Food in general.

Last month a couple of friends and I discovered Turtle Bay. The thing that attracting us in the first place had to be the 2 4 1 Cocktails Happy Hour (I swear we're not alcoholics!). But it wasn't just any Happy Hour. It was a SEVEN HOUR HAPPY HOUR!

                                    

    


The decor was warm and inviting, a 'beach hut' served as the bar and the kitchen was placed in a shipping container at the back of the restaurant. The bathrooms continued with the same hip scene.


                                                     

Turtle Bay have a really good allergen menu. It was colour coded between meat, vegetarian and vegan and all the allergens in each dish were marked. Super easy to find what was gluten free. 

After a morning of shopping on a bit of a hangover I wasn't feeling all that hungry so opted for the Goats Chesse, Aubergine and Butternut Salad. 



I did think it was a bit weird that it came with a side of watermelon, but it added a refreshing burst of flavour after the spicy chickpeas. 

We had wonderful food, amazing cocktails and great service from our waitress. 

Turtle Bay can be found at 16 High Street, Ealing, London. It's open from 1130 till midnight with Ealing Common being the closest tube station and Ealing Broadway Train Station. 

Pierre Lemond Photo Shoot

For Christmas I bought my room-mate Cara a photo shoot at Pierre Lemond Photography. 

She did her shoot the week before last and had the opportunity to put a few names down for their own free shoot, including make-up and hair, including me. 

I organised my own for today and was able to take along a friend. I asked Emily and she was free.

They recommend to take 4-5 different outfits, ranching from casual to evening and anything in between.

On arrival Em and I were given a sheet to fill out with our details and how we would like our hair and make-up - natural, sexy, casual. 'Naturally sexy' was our choice. 

The lady who did my make-up and hair was amazing! She did a great job and was really friendly. 

We were offered some refreshments too, so started the afternoon with a glass of white wine. Of course a sneaky Snapchat had to be taken.

With each outfit we got both single shots and some together. 

My favourite of Emily and me

Our photographer was a blast and talked us through different poses and how much he preferred H&M to Primani (Primark). 



Due to being referred by Cara, we each received a free photo of our choice plus a £25 discount on photo packages, and I also had another £60 for the deposit I laid down. 

We ended up getting a package together as it worked out to be a lot cheaper. 

Pierre Lemond Photography is situated at 374 Old Street, EC1V 9LT, a 5 minute walk from Old Street Tube Station.

Jersey Boys

A couple weeks ago a few friends and I found a great deal on Groupon - tickets to Jersey Boys for £30 each! 

To be honest, I really had no idea what this was about, just that it was a musical and that I may know *some* songs. 

Missing one of the posse, four of us met up earlier for a bit of deliciousness. 

This plate of mouthwatering meat feast was found at Jamie Oliver's Diner in Picadilly.

Luckily for me I could actually eat the ribs as they were gluten free! 

According to Cara, our house rib expert, these babies are rated 3.5 out of 5 (apparently Wetherspoons do better - sorry Jamie!) This was because they were more spicy and less saucy, so it really depends on the individual. 

Being the punctual people that we are (besides Chantelle who had to trek from work on the opposite side of the city) after dinner we still had an hour before the show started.

What to do in Central London to kill time? Go to the pub of course! We met up with Chantelle on the way back to the theatre (the 10 metre walk from the pub) so unfortunately she missed out on a cheeky pint.

Jersey Boys is the story behind the 50/60s quartet The Four Seasons, mainly concentrating on the frontman Frankie Valli.

I was surprised at how many of the songs that I actually knew! I think the old bloke sitting next to me was getting a little (read: a lot) annoyed as Cara and I were singing along with the guys on stage. 

How can you not sing along to this classic?

Although I may have thought that it was a relatively new tune by the Bubes (Michael Buble)  *hangs head in shame*

As well as the singing, the actors were really good and believable, although it did take a little while to get used to the (assuming) faux Jersey accents. 

From left: me, Cara, Emily, Cushla and Chantelle

We got very lucky with our tickets, we weren't able to select them online, so were at the mercy of the Piccadilly Theatre. 

 After climbing many, many, many stairs we reached the very top circle - it's very Grand - and were directed to our seats.

The very front row!

Jersey Boys is on at the Picadilly Theatre, Denman Street, London. 

Bogan Bingo

I finally got around to going to this Aussie London staple - Bogan Bingo! 

with the added bonus of the Shitty Disco afterwards. 

The Bingo is hosted by these two legends:

The main prize was limited edition photo of two pandas trying to have sex. Second prize was a 9 day trip to Egypt with Travel Talk. On the left of that photo is the 'Bogan Board', with each photo of a famous bogan hiding a prize. 

Other prizes included a One Direction calendar (not updated), a dustpan and brush, a box of condoms and a 'drinking bib'. 

Unfortunately no one from my group was lucky enough to win anything. 

We did get the chance to dress up though! Theme was Trailor Park Fashion or Single and Sexy in 1986. 

Bogan Bingo is held every Thursday at the Slug in Fulham and Shitty Disco every two months or so.

Tickets can be found here

Victoria and Albert Museum

With some free time on my hands today, I took the advice from one of the girls from the Facebook group London Bloggers and ventured down to South Kensington to explore the Victoria and Albert Museum.

If you don't know who old Vicky and Bert are you probably a) live under a rock or b) live in a country that has no ties to Great Britain. Queen Victoria is the longest reigning female monarch (63 years) in history and Prince Albert was her husband (also her first cousin too! Ewww).

There is a bit of a range of of exhibitions, from glassware to fashion to antiquities from all over the world.

The change in fashions after the Great War was led by Coco Chanel.

Wandering further through the museum I came upon this great find in the China Exhibit. 

It's an ancient Chinese esky!! (ice chest)

There is so much to explore at the V&A, from limited exhibits to the more permanent ones such as Japanese, Chinese, Medieval Europe and glass!

            

                      

                              

The Victoria and Albert Museum is located in Kensington, with the nearest tube station being South Kensington. Admittance is free but they do ask for a £4 donation for upkeep.

Arsenal Stadium Tour

Because I'm an awesome girlfriend, for Christmas I bought my boyfriend tickets for the Arsenal Legends Tour. After much research (asking his friend - who is also a 'gooner' (Arsenal fan) which legend is better, the Perry Groves Legend Tour was booked. 


The tour started of with a introduction into the new stadium by Groves.

Emirates Stadium was built in 2006 and is the third largest stadium in England with a capacity of 60272 people. 


The pitch was planned first with optimal sunshine and then the stadium built around it. 
Due to the shit English weather the stadium use special UV lights to make the pitch all green and lush.  

We got to see the fancy 'Diamond Club' which is an ultra-exclusive suite boasting a fine view to the game. Prices start from £5000 not including food.

The Diamond Club is also home to this special trophy - winners of 49 games straight! (A record yet to be beaten)

We got to have a nose around the home change rooms and that place is more decked out than a spa!
A 'warm-up space', a massage room, a heated pool, ice bath, an integrated speaker system so the manager doesn't have to raise his voice to be heard and special non-slip floors.
The room is shaped in a u-shape to promote harmony (acording to feng-shui) .
After every game the players are required to spend at least 20 minutes in the heated pool on a vibrating ledge.

the heated pool

The opposition just have a basic square room, none of the perks of the Arsenal team.

the away change room

At the moment Emirates Stadium is home to the FA Cup.