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Stacey

Hix Farringdon

I’ve been wanting to go to Hix for ages. It must be the only restaurant in Farringdon I haven’t been too, which is crazy considering how long it’s been there. So when I got a chance to go out for dinner in the area with a good friend I didn’t hesitate in booking.

It didn’t disapoint – I loved the inside of the restaurant – great decor, and a lovely looking bar. While they specialise in fish, it isn’t the only thing on the menu and I thoroughly recommend their ‘Heaven and Earth’ starter, which is a little ball of black-puddingy delight. I followed the starter with a beef flank and ale pie – minus the optional oysters, and we shared a gold chocolate mousse and new forest trifle.

I loved all of the food, and I especially loved the cute martini – which came with extra martini. Smooth and strong – exactly how it should be.

PS – I’ve even been back once already – and it was just as good the second time 🙂

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17th October 2016

Design

Gorgeous pencils

I’m such a lover of stationery, these pencils from letterpress and stationery designers Marby & Elm always catch my eye as I walk past the window. I love the colours – neon brights are always a winner!

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15th October 2016

Play

The Levelling

We went to see an amazing film premiere, as part of the BFI London Film Festival.

‘The Levelling’ is a dark and dramatic film, set against the backdrop of the devastating Somerset floods. It tells the story of a young girl called Clover, who returns to her family farm when her brother commits suicide. The complex relationship between her and her father and the struggles the family go through are told with a brilliant script and stunning performances from Ellie Kendrick and David Troughton.

It’s a hugely immersive film – with fantastic cinematography and direction. Go see it, you won’t be disapointed.

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12th October 2016

Live

Sunrise over Blackfriars

One benefit of going to work early in the Summer months is arriving in town just as the sun is rising over The Thames. There’s a perfect view downriver to Tower Bridge from the station at Blackfriars.

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11th October 2016

Travel

Wonderful Rome

I had a wonderful time in Rome. After the boys finished the cycle, we had Saturday night, and full days on Sunday and Monday, so we made the most of them.

We walked our feet off, traversing the city and constantly being amazed by yet more brilliantly big old stuff. There were lots of churches, and sitting in on mass on Sunday morning was very special.

There was lots of pasta. The best Spaghetti Carbonara I’ve ever had, washed down with lovely rose wine.

There was no shortage of Aperol Spritz, all served in jars.

And it was wonderful to see The Vatican. The queues were so long that we didn’t go in, but even from the outside it is very special.

I adored Rome and would go back tomorrow. It has the best food, the best drink and it is so accessible. Everything is in walking distance, and there are some lovely neighbourhoods away from the main tourist areas. We didn’t have a bad meal or an unpleasant experience the whole trip – perfection!

And of course, there was plenty of gelato.

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9th October 2016

Travel

Ciao Roma

The great thing about living near an airport is that you can be from home to through security and eating your breakfast in 45 minutes flat.

After a 2 and a half hour flight, I landed at Rome’s Fiumicino airport around lunchtime, and with just hand luggage I waltzed through and out the other side to the train station. It was easy to buy a ticket and to find the ‘Leonardo Express’ train into the city’s Termini station. The boys were not due to finish the Epic Cycle until about 5pm, so I knew I had plenty of time to find my hotel and get some food, before making my way to The Coliseum.

Phone in hand, I started following the Google Map directions. Which was fine, though after a while it felt like I had gone round in a bit of circle. At which point I realised I was following the driving directions not the walking ones, so I’d obviously gone right round a one-way system! Just as my bag was starting to feel a bit heavy and my feet beginning to ache, I stumbled across a very nice looking small restaurant. I managed to order a lovely spaghetti pomodoro and 2 glasses of white wine, which fortified me enough to finish the remaining 10-minute journey to the hotel.

I was quietly proud of myself for getting to Rome, getting the train, finding a restaurant and walking to the hotel. The idea of travelling alone doesn’t scare me, but it’s not something I’ve done much of. I felt like a proper adult, and even managed to work out how to use the room safe – one of the hotel room features that frequently foxes me 🙂

So, buoyed by my travelling success I headed off across Rome in a cab to meet @madgie. I had an wonderful jar (yes, jar) of Aperol Spritz while looking at the The Coliseum and a cup of coffee at a nearby café. I really enjoyed my day of solo travelling, but I was glad to see @madgie when he finally came in.

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7th October 2016

Live

Ear hoovering

Finally @Madgie went off to Rome for the Epic Cycle, and I was home alone for 4 days. I was really looking forward to spending time on my own and doing lots of pottering about and other bits that I never seem to have time to do, but it didn’t t quite gone to plan.

At the weekend I woke up with a blocked ear. I put drops in, like they say you should, but nothing happened. By Tuesday I tried to syringe it at home, but nothing happened. So more drops, and more syringing, but still nothing. By this time I was raging with it. The whole side of my face was numb, I couldn’t hear anything and I felt dreadful. On Tuesday morning I phoned Medicentre to get a nurses appointment for a professional to look at it, because I was convinced it was more than a blocked ear and I didn’t want an infection to stop me flying to Italy.

After syringing my ear for ages, the nurse gave up. She said ‘put drops in it’ because there’s nothing moving in there. So I filled my ear with drops and went to bed. More drops, more home syringing, more nothing and Wednesday passed in a dizzy fog – it’s amazing how difficult it is to cross a busy London road when you can’t hear properly. By Thursday I was ready to chop my own ear off. I was up at 4am trying more syringing, but to no avail, so I phoned a private doctor. Who was useless. Literally, he couldn’t have been more useless. He looked at it and said ‘yep, you’ve got some wax in there, use drops’. By this time I was convinced I wouldn’t be able to fly on Saturday and as a last resort stood outside the crap doctors and searched ‘extreme ear wax removal’, in the hope I could concoct some sort of home remedy involving magic ear wax removing acid. But better than that, a result came up for something called micro-suction.

By 5pm I had an appointment and by 5.05pm I was cured. Turns out ear hoovering (micro suction) is a miracle. They insert a tiny little tube and basically vacuum the inside of your ear. It’s really tickly but doesn’t hurt at all and takes about 30 seconds. So almost a week, 2 doctors and £150 bloody quid later I could finally hear (and cross the road) and boy was everything loud! But most importantly, I could go to Rome and know I could have a nice time.

Oh, and for the record – ear drops don’t work.

30th September 2016

Travel

Viva España

Just back from a wonderful 6 days in Andalucia. I love this area and could happily live there tomorrow.

Because Madge is doing the epic cycle from Venice to Rome in 3 weeks, he needed to get some cycling in during the week so after we picked up our car and got to the hotel, we went out in search of the bike hire place. Turns out the combinaton of an unknown car, on unknown roads, on the wrong side is a hairy combination so it took us a few goes to find the place, but once we did they kitted him out with the bike, leaving him to ride back to the hotel and me to find my way in the car. Once we got back I was happy to park the car up and start the holiday!

We stayed for 2 nights in the NH hotel just outside Marbella, which is a nice basic hotel with a lovely pool and a good bar next door, perfect for watching the MotoGP in while eating tapas and drinking cava. The best way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

On Monday we got the bus into Marbella for a stroll around the old town and along the beach. We dipped our toes in the Med and had some lovely tapas.

We got the bus back, checked out and headed off to our villa, where we were staying for the next 4 days. We’ve been there before, so finding our way was easy and it was nice to go back to somewhere so lovely and so familiar.

We were straight into the pool, before heading out for dinner at Villa Padierna, a very nice hotel near by. On Tuesday Madge was up early for a cycle into the mountains, so I dropped him at San Luis de Sabinillas down the road and headed back to Puerto Banus for breakfast on my own.

It was lovely drinking cafe con leche and watching the world go by, and before I knew it it was time to leave to go and pick Madge back up. We had lunch back at the Villa Padierna and dinner out at our favourite Italian restaurant in Puerto Banus.

Wednesday was my Birthday and we had already made plans to spend it at the PuroBeach club in Estapona. We booked beach-facing pool beds and started the day with fresh fruit and water, followed by swimming in the sea, the pool and pre-lunch cocktails. We had a gorgeous lunch at Camuri and then spent the rest of the afternoon round the pool listening to the great music, drinking cocktails and snoozing, before heading home, getting dressed up and going out to La Sala. A brilliant Birthday.

The rest of the week flew by in a flash and before we knew it, it was Friday morning and time to leave to drop the bike off and head to the airport.

We finished our wonderful holiday with champagne at the airport, perfect end to a perfect trip.

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11th September 2016

Design

Tattoo – phase 3

I’ve started the last ‘phase’ of my back/arm piece. The design for the right arm is going to include a gorgeous girl-head, along with a modern take on my Dad’s old heart tattoo and an hour glass. Joined together with flowers and ribbons. At least that’s what it is planned to be – the designs always change and morph as we go along, which is one of the great things about not starting out with a fixed plan.

Just look at those eyelashes…

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28th August 2016

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