Something Silly

This quote just tickles me for some reason, I hope you like it too.. happy Friday!

Victoria Wood on a date in a crêperie:

'You creep in,
Get a crêpe ,
And creep out.'

(Image via: paris by pearled on Flickr.)

Get off the phone..

Dating in the digital era - what can I say...

(Image by Jean Julian, it's linked!)

I'm not the only one who relates to this - am I? ;)

Macabre Thoughts..

With Halloween only a week away, it's time to start thinking some macabre thoughts.. Here's some things to get you in the mood for Halloween next week..

As a child I used to always dress up as a witch on Halloween and my Mum would always make an effort with a few spooky garden decorations. Nowadays, I like this time of year when crisp daylight contrasts with spooky autumnal nights and bright orange pumpkins look harmless until you carve a sinister face onto them...

Expect more spooky musings throughout the week..





(The photos are from somewhere on tumblr, the last one is of a pumpkin I carved nearly two years ago now (where has the time gone!?) and was taken by my friend, Alice.)

National Baking Week

It's 'National Baking Week' in the UK...
So over at Girls Who Like to Gorge we're hosting a giveaway with 'Baking Mad.' You can an Eric Lanlard cookbook which is pretty cool.

As it says in the GG post, me and Grace went to Eric Lanlard's cafe, 'Cake Boy' last year and his patisserie was amazing. We sat on a big pink sofa and towards the end of the afternoon, Eric popped his head from out of the kitchen and asked if we were enjoying ourselves.. very nice man, and a great cook.

Head over to Girls Who Like to Gorge and follow us to enter ;) xxx

Autumn Interview

I always love doing these interviews - this one marks that glorious time of the year, the smokey, dark nights of Autumn and involves a cool girl who has a very amusing blog.

I met Livvy through her boyfriend at a house (flat) party on Shoreditch High Street. Her tweets are some of my very favourites. Livvy is a student and lives between Essex and Hertfordshire and is a girl very much after my own heart - we share lots of likes including the 60s, cooking and BBC6 music. Below illustrates how she spends her days and what she has planned for the months ahead.. oh, and some great beauty advice too - Find her blog Thoughts of Olivia here and her twitter, here.


1.) How do you start your day?

I normally have to set my alarm about half an hour before I need to get up so I can snooze for a little bit. If I have lectures, I’ll get dressed, eat and do my hair and makeup in about 30 minutes, it doesn’t take me too long in the morning. If it’s the weekend, I’ll mooch around in my pyjamas for a bit, watching the news or a cookery show and eating peanut butter on toast before having a bath. I much prefer baths to showers, if I had the time I’d have one every day. Then I’ll get ready slowly listening to music, usually Radio 6.

2.) What/who inspires you?

My parents are amazing, generous people, not to mention great company. I can turn to them in any situation for a bit of advice, or tough love if I need it. I also love children. I’m training to be a teacher and I find kids a great source of inspiration; they’re so much more enthusiastic than adults are about the majority of things. Primary teaching isn’t for everyone, and people love to tell me their (very often negative) opinions on this, but it gives you the opportunity to be really creative and have a lot of fun which I think is pretty cool.

3.) Who are your style icons?

I generally look to decades past for style inspiration, everything comes back around anyway. I love the way women dressed in the 60’s; really feminine with big eyes and high waists. I’m not really into overtly sexy clothes, and I don’t really like anything too over-styled. I think Jane Birkin and Marianne Faithful were absolutely beautiful; true icons with amazing style. Nowadays, I think Alexa Chung, Chloe Sevingy and Zoe Deschenal always look great. My friend Carly also has a real knack of putting great outfits together on a very small budget, normally gold she’s sourced from charity or second hand shops, something which I’m always impressed by.

4.) How do you unwind?

This really depends which mood I’m in. I love to curl up and watch mindless TV or a really good film with my boyfriend Mitch and a big home cooked dinner. I also love to see my girl friends and catch up over tea and cake, or spending time at my friend Craig’s flat drinking and dancing with friends to great playlists before heading out. Whatever I’m doing, I always like to be with people. I get easily bored in my own company.

5.) The best things about Autumn?

I always think Autumn is a bit of an exciting time, with lots of things to look forward to. I love starting to think about cooking warming Winter food like pies, roasts, soups, casseroles… I could go on. I also love shopping for Christmas presents, pulling out my Winter coats and boots for the first time and planning my birthday celebrations. A lot of my friend’s birthdays also fall in Autumn, which is all the more excuse for a few big nights out.

6.) Your best piece of advice?

My Mum is full of great beauty advice. She used to be a beautician and has always looked after her skin, which has really paid off. So, if I could take one thing from her it would be to always wear plenty of sun cream, and moisturise your décolletage. No lady wants a wrinkly chest. She also always says “Never let the sun set on an argument” which I think is a really nice sentiment to live by. Life’s too short to hold a grudge.
(All photos are via Thoughts of Olivia)

The Apartment (1960)

...Is one of my favourite films to watch as the nights draw in. It's set in New York, during the colder months of the year, in the 1960s.

The mise-en-scene is beautiful, there's the city itself, the cool office with its rows and rows of type-writers and the (pre-war) apartment itself; high ceilings, pretty archways, a separate kitchen and a tiny table with just two chairs. Also, I love most films from this era which involve Jack Lemmon because he's awesome.

The script is funny and so quotable - a work of genius -

Baxter: 'The mirror, it's broken..'
Fran: 'Yes, I know, I like it that way.. it makes me look the way I feel..'

Perfect melancholia, without any hint of tragedy or heartbreak. A reallly brilliant film

Birthday Stuff (my sisters, not mine)

It was my sisters birthday last week. I got her a cookbook (a gift I seem to give a lot..I also bought Second Hand Junkie one for her birthday..) So long as the person is vaguely interested in cooking, I think they make good presents.

I made cupcakes for my sisters birthday as well - they were 'Lady Grey' (as in the tea) cupcakes, and the recipe will appear on Girls who Like to Gorge soon.


And, Second Hand Junkie 's present: (my mum also got me a copy of that cookbook, 'Relish' I flick through it all the time.. it's one of my favourites..)

Supper Club

I treated myself to a couple of new books the other day.

The Supper Club is a book I've been wanting for a while now after reading about it on India Knight's blog. It's written by Mrs Marmite Lover - a home restaurant pioneer based in London.

The recipes are mostly suited to dinner parties and entertaining - although there are a few dishes which could quite happily be made for a weekday supper with the family. No doubt you will see some of recipes pop up on Girls Who Like to Gorge soon - especially the coconut Dahl, Butternut Squash and Blue Cheese Risott, Gratin Dauphinoise with Smoke Salmon and Marmite Cheese on Smoked Haddock - I could go on.

Inside the book there is lots of advice on setting up a home restaurant - which does sound very stressful; but great fun. I don't think it would go down well in my family home, however I had already conjured a few dream locations in my mind; there's my aunties house in the Norfolk countryside (with a huge kitchin and cosy dining room) and an old haunted house in Norwich where an old romance used to reside.

I should probably get the supper party part down before I start dreaming about starting a supper club - a girl can dream..