Latest Purchases #90 – Dotcomgiftshop

Happy Saturday! Ian is working today so I snuck back to bed this morning with brioche and tea to read a few chapters of my new book and plan to spend the day baking, blogging, pottering and doing a little bit of marking.

A little while ago, I made another order at Dotcomgiftshop (which does the most amazing sales!) Here are a few things I picked up…

First up a fun new print for the kitchen. I like the retro style of this picture and of course the celebration of all things pudding! I was going to ask Ian to hang it this weekend but after almost falling out hanging some other prints midweek I think I may need to butter him up first!

I have phases where I find cross stitching really relaxing to do as I watch TV (it stops me constantly checking my phone too!) and this ‘Home Sweet Home’ print is a very sweet project to have lined up.

This metal sign made me giggle. I plan on hanging this in our utility room by the washing machine when we finally decorate it.

I really like this next item – a pastel green herb house. I saw a similar style in IKEA recently and almost bought it but thought this was a little more unique. It comes with six plant pots with blackboard-painted signs for you to add the name of your herbs on. We always have fresh herbs on the go so this will be a lovely way to grow and display them.

I can never have too many notebooks and this pretty pink and gold design is a happy addition to the collection.

I also picked up this pencil box to try and keep my desk tidier at work.

I love making my baking efforts look a little bit better by using pretty cupcake cases.

I had to bin my old flask recently as it was leaking so this is a good replacement…perfect for filling with hot chocolate when we go on an autumnal country walk!

We always need tea towels and I thought these apples and pears designs looked very Orla Kiely-esque.

Clearly influenced by the same designer, I bought a new jar for storing our teabags.

Napkins.

Despite Ian telling me we don’t need any more tins, I couldn’t resist these pretty ones and they all fit inside the big one so they aren’t taking up too much room!

Some washi tape in pretty gingham designs.

Some metal candle holders that I plan on hanging in the garden next summer.

Finally, my most middle-aged purchase (which I am secretly really excited about) is this little gardening set as my knees really hurt when I have to kneel down to dig and plant stuff!

Travel Guide – Washington DC

We spent 5 days in Washington DC this summer which felt just right to visit the various iconic monuments and museums dotted around the capital city. Whilst this wasn’t my favourite US city, it is definitely worth a visit and was a lovely ending to our most recent trip.

EAT

Luke’s Lobster

I became a little bit obsessed with lobster rolls on our two weeks away and we had a great early evening dinner at Luke’s Lobster where we had crab, prawn and lobster rolls with a few sides.

Shake Shack

We had an awesome burger here that definitely lived up to the hype.

Oyamel

We ate at this Mexican restaurant and had an amazing meal. I am used to Mexican street food-style places like Wahaca but this was a much more refined version of my favourite dishes. We had fresh guacamole made at our tables, margaritas and some great fish tacos.

DO

Visit the Newseum

Probably my favourite museum of our whole trip, the Newseum is just fascinating. I love the ins and outs of the media and seeing how different events are reported around the world and this place had such interesting exhibits. My favourites were the Vietnam War, 9/11 and the Pulitzer Prize winners gallery. I even had a go at some news reporting in the interactive gallery!

Walk through the Sculpture Garden

We stumbled upon this quite by accident on our way to a museum but it is a lovely little park to have a wander through. The Roy Lichtenstein ‘House 1’ is very cool to view from different angles.

Go and watch The Nationals

We’ve been to see a couple of baseball games in America now and although I’m a little fuzzy on some of the rules, the atmosphere is always great! It also feels like you are doing something non-touristy and on certain nights, there’s a fireworks display after the game and who doesn’t love some fireworks?!

Take a Bus Tour

We found that Washington DC was very spread out so trying to do everything by foot in the August heat was impractical. We bought tickets for a 2-day hop-on/ hop-off bus tour which took us all over the place.

Hang out in Georgetown

My favourite district in DC, this place is so cool and doesn’t feel like a city at all. Im just annoyed we found this on our last day as I would have loved to come back. I did quite a bit of damage in Sephora here!

STAY

We stayed at the Hyatt Place Hotel and had a bit of a mixed experience. The hotel itself was amazing; probably the best we stayed in during our two weeks away. The room was modern and had a cool lounge area, the staff were ridiculously helpful and there was a really tasty free breakfast option which we took advantage of. If I could pick the hotel up and drop it in a slightly more central location, it would have been perfect. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in the nicest area, especially after dark, which just took the shine off our stay.

TIPS

Watch House of Cards before you go!

This brilliant political drama on Netflix gives a great insight into the inner workings of Washington DC and meant we knew quite a few of the famous landmarks before we went.

Dismaland

This weekend, Ian and I braved the crowds and visited the latest ‘bemusement’ park in the South West, Banksy’s Dismaland.

Hotly anticipated tickets meant the website crashed so for the opening weekend, you could just turn up and try your luck. Having missed his last exhibition in Bristol, Ian and I were determined to see this one down the road from us in Weston-Super-Mare so set our alarms and after a swift 3 and a half our wait (!!!) we were in!

As soon as you stepped inside the once-derelict Tropicana building, the experience started with in-character staff giving you a very gloomy greeting. My first impressions were of a sad, tired, ageing seaside resort  with a dilapidated castle as a centre point and various attractions dotted around.

We visited the art galleries first of all which were incredible. A mix of sculpture, art installations, paintings and a whole model village; the subversive art genre was very much alive. My favourites were the tattooed ornaments and the cross-stitched car.

We spent the next few hours wandering around, watching some short films in deckchairs, riding the big wheel, eating pizza, visiting the exhibits and having a go on both the carousel and rotating caravan.

Having grown up in a seaside town that is dependent on a holiday park, I loved the social commentary behind a lot of the exhibits here. It was great that there were a variety of artists’ work here and as I would say is normal, there were pieces I enjoyed and others I didn’t. It was refreshing to be able to see these works of art in an alternative setting and despite the rather lengthy queue, I felt once inside the organisers got the numbers just right and there was no queuing or having to wait to do anything.

I believe that it will be ticketed entry from this week onwards and although I cannot say that anyone else will ‘love’ these pieces of art, I do recommend a visit here, simply to experience the originality of the whole concept and you can go for fish and chips afterwards on the sea front! x

Travel Diaries – Washington DC

Washington was our fourth and final stop on our East Coast road trip – you can read Part One and Two of our New York trip and all about Atlantic City and Philadelphia by clicking on the links!

Day Eleven – Thursday 6^th August

I couldn’t have left Philadelphia without running up and down the ‘Rocky Steps’ so I dragged myself out of bed early, put on my trainers and ran out to the art museum, up those famous steps, posed for a quick pic with Sly then headed back to our hotel room to pack our bags again.

We caught a bus to Washington which was fine (it had free wifi!) then taxied it to our hotel – you know it’s going to be an interesting ride when you tell the taxi driver your hotel address and he asks you “Where’s that?”

We stayed in Hyatt Place and we loved the room. It was a pretty new hotel and had a lovely little lounge area to chill and watch TV and a really modern, cool bathroom. We weren’t that impressed with the area our hotel was in. NoMa is apparently very up and coming but I just don’t think it was quite there yet and although it seemed quite vibrant in the daytime, it didn’t feel the best place to be walking about at night.

We decided to head out and do some exploring that afternoon so walked down to the Capitol Building (which was stunning but covered in scaffolding!), wandered through the parks, saw the Washington Monument and had a great dinner of prawn, crab and lobster rolls – yum!

Day Twelve – Friday 7^th August

After breakfast at the hotel, where I tried my first ever ‘biscuits and gravy’, we spent the morning at the Newseum, a museum dedicated to the media. Outside, there is the front page of every main US State’s newspaper as well as some from the UK, Spain, Brazil, China, France and so on.

This was a fascinating museum and there was such a good variety of exhibits including the Berlin Wall, the history of comic strips in newspaper, a huge archive of the most important headlines over the past two hundred years, a September 11^th exhibition, the challenges journalists face in different parts of the world, the dogs of the White House (loved this one!), the Washington Nationals and my favourite which was all about the Vietnam War and the influence the media had on changing public support for it. There was also a section where you could record yourself as a news anchor on screen which was really fun! This was probably my favourite museum of the whole trip (OK, maybe joint favourite with Ellis Island in New York and the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia!)

We refuelled with some chicken wings and pizza before a wander through the Sculpture Garden on our way to the Museum of American History. On paper this place looked cool but it was very much aimed at a younger audience so we only did a couple of exhibitions…obviously the one including food and a visit to Julia Child’s kitchen!

That evening we caught the metro over to the Nationals Park to watch a baseball game. This was so much fun especially the firework display at the end of the game.

Day Thirteen – Saturday 8^th August

After a few days in Washington DC, we started to realise how huge and spread out it was so in order to cover it all and not add to our blister count, we bought tickets for another hop-on/ hop-off tour bus. Whilst it wasn’t as good as the Philadelphia one as it was a recording and felt a lot less personal, it did take us everywhere and also to places and memorials we probably wouldn’t have gone otherwise such as Arlington Cemetery and the Pentagon which are over the water in Virginia.

Lunch was my first ever Shake Shack and was as good as I had hoped! That afternoon we visited the Vietnam and Lincoln memorials before heading to Chinatown for happy hour cocktails and an amazing Mexican meal where our waiter made our guacamole at our table…I grilled him for his recipe!

Day Fourteen – Sunday 9^th August

Our last full day in America! It was Liverpool’s first match of the new season and I read about a Liverpool supporters’ bar not too far away from us. We spent the morning there and it was such a good atmosphere and a chance to chat with some locals too. We left a bit tipsy and realised it was still only about midday!

That afternoon we went to Georgetown, one of the oldest parts of Washington and one I’d heard was a bit less touristy and cool. I loved it here and wish we could have spent longer wandering around the shops and trying out the bakeries and bars. We had a really nice lunch here (ribs!) before hitting Sephora where I got so excited running up the stairs that I tripped and fell! I was so embarrassed and ended up overspending to hide my shame – like in that episode of Sex and the City where Carrie falls over in Dior and ends up buying loads to make up for it!

We spent our final night packing, eating doughnuts and watching Sons of Anarchy and I also cracked open my new Essie polish to try out!

Luckily our flights home were a lot less stressful than when we left the UK, although I suffered with horrendous jet lag for the next few days and was a bit zombie-like most afternoons!

So that is the end of this ‘Travel Diaries’ series. I think you can probably tell we had an absolutely incredible couple of weeks and I feel a bit lost now I don’t have something to spend my spare time planning for…I may have to get our next trip booked soon! x

Travel Diaries – New York (Part Two)

If you haven’t already, you can read Part One of our New York trip here!

Day Three – Wednesday 29^th July

We were up bright and early for another beautiful, sunny day in NYC. We jumped on the Metro and headed for breakfast at Tick Tock Diner. I love American diners, especially their breakfast and brunch menus, and I had some delicious lemon and ricotta pancakes with a raspberry sauce and maple syrup.

That morning, we decided to head up to the top of the Empire State Building. It’s one of those iconic New York buildings and just has the most breath-taking views, including my favourite building, the Flatiron. Weirdly, this also really helped me get my bearings and see how far apart various areas were – there was also another good audio guide session here!

After we had taken in the views, we walked the High Line. This wasn’t in existence the last time we visited New York so was something I really wanted to do. An abandoned railway line, it is now an elevated walkway lined with wild flowers, art work and great views over the surrounding neighbourhoods. We wandered along, cooling off with some ice lollies (I had a refreshing cucumber and mint one), adding to the Lego artwork, dipping our feet in the water features and relaxing on the day beds.

We ended up at the end of the High Line near Gansevoort Market, aka foodie heaven! There was such a lovely selection for lunch but I opted for another lobster roll, a mint iced tea and macarons for pudding.

After lunch, we had a wander around Greenwich Village, visited Magnolia Bakery on Bleecker (which was a huge let down!) before popping back to the hotel for a cat nap as I had something very cool planned that evening…kayaking!

I found a place online that offered free kayaking on the Hudson River and was slightly worried it sounded too good to be true. However, it was so much fun and such a pretty sight as the sun set although we did get very wet bottoms so had to go back and change before dinner!

That night (the last in my twenties!) we went for wings and margaritas at Hooters (I love their chicken wings!) before heading back up the Empire State Building for a second view of the city at night. Although we had to queue for a bit longer, this was just as magical and I just don’t think I could ever get sick of the 360° views up there.

Day Four – Thursday 30^th July (and my 30^th Birthday!)

I started my birthday off with another Central Park run and chai tea from Argo then opened my presents from Ian. He knows I can sometimes suffer with post-holiday blues so he bought me tickets to see three of my favourite comedians so we would have something to look forward to over the next few months – an excellent present!

We went to Stardust Diner for breakfast, near Times Square. This place is so much fun – the waiters sing (mostly show tunes) as they serve and there is just a great atmosphere inside and the food was good too!

After breakfast, we hopped on the Metro and spent a few hours at the Natural History Museum before a spot of shopping, which included theatre tickets for that night.

I love Mexican food so we had an early dinner of taquitos and margaritas at a place near our hotel (it even had its own mariachi band!) before going to Broadway to watch the play ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’. I enjoyed the book of this and had wanted to see the play for a little while. I loved it and thought the staging was excellent, although some of the Wiltshire accents were a little off!

We ended my birthday with beers and mini birthday cakes in bed.

Day Five – Friday 31^st July (and our two-year wedding anniversary!)

For our last full day in New York, we hopped on the Metro again (we definitely got our money’s worth from our weekly passes!) and went for breakfast in Grand Central Station. The building upstairs is stunning but it also has a really nice food court downstairs too.

We then had a very cultured morning visiting the Guggenheim and the Met. This was my first visit to the Guggenheim and I loved it. Lots of variety inside and I really love the way the curved inside of the building guided you through the exhibitions.

We then walked up through Central Park to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This place is huge so we decided to just pick a couple of exhibitions to enjoy and explored the Ancient Egyptian section, the featured ‘China’ one which had lots of Chinese-inspired clothing from the major fashion houses and then saw some Monet paintings (one of my favourite artists).

It was getting on to lunchtime then so we headed to a New York institution – Katz’s Deli. The queues were out the door but well worth the wait. We got one pastrami and one beef brisket sandwich and they were huge! I think I preferred the brisket but both were exceptional…my Dad was very jealous of this visit!

We decided to spend our last afternoon chilling in Central Park so grabbed some drinks and snacks, a good book and found a quiet spot on the grass. On the way we bought each other our anniversary presents too. You are meant to give cotton after two years of marriage so we bought each other an ‘I Love New York’ t-shirt to remember where we spent the day.

We had planned a big, posh anniversary meal that night but were so stuffed from the huge sandwiches at Katz’s that we just decided to do that the following evening and opted for cocktails and a slice of pizza near to our hotel before cheesecake and wine in bed!

And that was the first stop on our trip. We love New York and cannot wait to return. Next up, Atlantic City…

Friday Night Dance Parties

Just a short but sweet post today as it is mine and Ian’s eleven year anniversary so we are off out for a bite to eat to celebrate. I have a real craving for a burger which isn’t the most romantic of foods but hey!

I wanted to share one of the little gifts I bought for Ian which pretty much sums up our Fridays nights. Families have a whole range of little traditions and our favourite one involves a trip up to our local pub on a Friday night to chat about our week, make weekend plans and enjoy a few ales (Ian) and a cocktail or two (me). We wander home and then proceed to cook dinner whilst enjoying a playlist of our favourite bands and having a little boogie in the kitchen.

This print will look great on the wall and make me smile when I think of our Friday night dance parties!

 

Our London Break (Warning: lots of food photos!)

Ian and I have just got home after a wonderful few days away in the big smoke. He has gone off for a run whereas I have chosen a cuppa, a catch-up of this week’s Apprentice and sorting through my photos instead! I decided to take my ‘proper’ camera up to London with me in order to practise using it for a variety of shots rather than just reaching for my iPhone. I did look like a complete tourist with it around my neck but hopefully I managed to take some better photos and I definitely feel like I have gotten to ‘know’ this camera better after shooting a variety of inside, outside and (of course!) foodie pictures!

As you have probably guessed by now, I am one of those weirdos who wants to drag out a mini-break for as long as possible and thinks a holiday starts at the airport (or even at the hotel the night before a flight!). This trip was no different and before we even got on the train we had treated ourselves to a Bertinet Bakery (the best in Bath!) brunch and I had a new book ready to get stuck into on my Kindle.

Upon arrival, we headed straight to our hotel in trendy Dalston, Avo Hotel. We have a good variety of friends we usually stay with in London, but for this trip we decided to treat ourselves to a hotel and I found this little boutique hotel which turned out to be cheaper than your bog-standard Travelodge and it always feels good to help the independents. We stayed in the King Top-floor Suite which we loved. It had a huge and comfortable king bed, a double sofa with good tea and coffee facilities and a fabulous bathroom with sparkly black tiles, a rainfall shower and nice Elemis products. Oh, and a view of the Gherkin! It is a family-run business and really friendly. There was always someone behind the front desk and they offered a simple but tasty breakfast too.

After we had settled in, we hopped back on the tube and went to see the poppies at the Tower of London. I thought this was stunning and a very moving installation although be prepared for the crowds!

Seeing as it was such a gorgeous autumnal afternoon, we decided to have a wander along the river via Borough Market and a drink with a view as the sun set.

We also noticed several decorated buses dotted about. I hadn’t heard of this project but I do love these city-wide art installations and it was great to see the different varieties.

That evening we were meeting our friends, Cat and Lucie, to try out a new restaurant; DF Mexico in Shoreditch. I will be writing a separate restaurant review of this soon but it was a great night with good friends and margaritas…need I say more?!

The next morning, after a quick bite to eat at our hotel, we paid a visit to the Saatchi Gallery. There were a couple of installations I wanted to see (the ants and the oil room) which we both loved and then we wandered around the remaining rooms. I really like this gallery – there are bold and daring installations which can invoke a love/ hate reaction and you don’t feel like you need to be an ‘art expert’ to enjoy yourself. I think this may be my new favourite art gallery in London.

Next, it was time for lunch and I had heard amazing things about Comptoir Libanais which was just around the corner from the Saatchi. Again, I will do a restaurant review soon but I really enjoyed our lunch here, from the décor to the sharing platter to the wonderful rose-mint tea and baklava.

Unfortunately, it was a bit of a grey and drizzly afternoon so we decided to head over to the Tate Modern to shelter and soak up a bit more culture. I’m not sure if it was due to the half-term crowds but I wasn’t really feeling this visit compared to how much I loved the Saatchi Gallery. We didn’t stay too long here and instead popped back to the hotel for a warming hot chocolate and to get glammed up for our evening out.

For an early dinner, we had booked an afternoon tea with a twist…burgers! We ate at BRGR where we had a delicious selection of mini sliders, drinks and puddings – my review is coming soon!

Then, we walked over to the Noel Coward theatre to watch Shakespeare in Love (via Leicester Square where we tried to grab a glimpse of Matthew McConaughey at his latest premiere!). For our first wedding anniversary, where it is traditional to give a ‘paper’ gift, Ian bought me these tickets and being fans of the film, both had high hopes for the play. It did not disappoint and was actually better than I thought it would be. It had some really funny moments followed by some very poignant ones and there was a dog which easily makes it deserve its five star reviews!

I also discovered Crème Brûlée flavour Häagen-Dazs during the interval which was a highlight for me!

On our way home, we both had the munchies and noticed a Jamie Oliver pop-up diner selling burgers and hotdogs – perfect midnight snacks!

Today we were pretty knackered so just enjoyed a late-morning brunch at an amazing American-style diner near our hotel, aptly named The Diner, a quick photo opportunity in front of Big Ben and my first pumpkin-spiced latte of the season before catching the train back to Bath.

Suffice to say, after such an indulgent foodie few days, my shopping basket was full of fruit and veg this afternoon to restore some much needed balance!

A London Weekend

We spent this weekend seeing friends in London and as always managed to fit a lot in. It started as all good train journeys should; with good coffee and a pastry – I am slightly obsessed with these almond croissants from Bertinet Bakery in Bath!

After accidentally booking the longest train journey possible (!), we were soon in London and making our way across the city to my friend Cat’s gorgeous new flat.

Following lunch, we decided a bit of culture was in order so walked through Hyde Park to the Serpentine museums. We saw Marina Abramovic’s 512 Hours exhibition. I will state now that I am no art critic and I don’t want to give anything away if you are planning on going but it was definitely an interesting experience! I haven’t been to see much performance art, especially not with any audience interaction, but this was one of the strangest exhibitions I have ever seen and put me completely out of my comfort zone. Whilst it wasn’t something that I could really appreciate, it was a completely new and different experience and I am glad we tried it.

The show gave us plenty to talk about so we popped down to the V&A for a spot of afternoon tea and cake. The dining rooms there are stunning and it was lovely to just take in the surroundings whilst enjoying our treats.

After a quick change and some G&Ts, we were back into town again for dinner. We ate at Bob Bob Ricard, a Russian-English fusion restaurant. The entire evening was stunning and I will review the restaurant in the next few days.

Then it was on to a wine bar for some post-dinner drinkies.

We made it home in time to watch the Netherlands come through their penalty shootout and fit in some bad 80s-style dancing!

All in all, an ace weekend in the big smoke with good food and great friends…the stuff weekends are made for!

 

Latest Purchases #48 – A Huge Dotcomgiftshop Haul

This may be stating the obvious but I love my half term holidays! Not only does it provide a much needed break, but it also allows me to spend a few days getting my house and life back in order and I always seem to get my blogging mojo back too as I have time to write every day, take photos in good light and also think up some new and interesting posts.

Today I wanted to share a rather large haul from one of my favourite online shops. Dotcomgiftshop is my go-to place for presents and treats for the home (their vintage kitchen accessories are my favourite!) Once a year they have incredible sales and I always make a few purchases, stocking up on birthday presents and of course a few items for our house too.

Despite getting daily emails telling me about the sale, I hadn’t even gone onto the website to browse until my colleague showed me some of the amazing things she had ordered so I blame her for enabling me!

Anyway, here is the huge box that arrived:

And the goodies inside:

First up, the Christmas stuff – yes, I realise I am way out of season but I always buy festive stuff in the sales and put it away until next year (oh dear…that sounded so old!)

Two pretty Christmas tree decorations – a vintage looking silver bell and a scandi print heart.

Some lovely printed baking cases for individual lemon drizzle cakes or something equally as tasty.

Some fairy cake cases and matching napkins with a lovely snowy print.

A pack of vintage-style paper lanterns to hang and brighten the place up.

Now, some foodie/ kitchen items:

My Dad has a new wood-branding kit so I thought a couple of plain wooden spoons would be ideal for him to create something personalised for me and Ian!

I love hanging signs around the house and this ‘Bon Appetit’ one is great for the kitchen. My Dad, who is a chef, used to work in an Italian restaurant of this name too so I bought one for my parents to remind them of all the nights we spent there over pizza and pasta!

These adorable measuring spoons are pretty and practical.

You can never have enough nice cupcake cases and I love this retro design…so much so I also bought the matching bunting and paper chains!

I am forever spilling tea and dropping crumbs when I bring them through from the kitchen so hopefully this tray will solve this problem!

These glass bowls are so handy – I am always running out of Tupperware to keep leftovers and work lunches in and these are just a bit prettier than our plastic ones.

I love having nice tea towels hanging up and these two floral designs will fit right in with our kitchen.

I also bought a matching oven glove after Ian left my Cath Kidston one on the hob and burnt it!

I am determined to put more art up around our house and bought four pieces. I love this heart design, made using various pieces of pretty floral paper. I still have the protective wrapping on but I think you can see how delicate they look. I saw these for about four times the price in Covent Garden recently too.

These would look great in a child’s bedroom but I couldn’t resist them either! I remember reading books with these retro style covers when I was younger and think they will be a unique and colourful addition to our walls.

This little heart frame was only £1.95 and I am sure I can find a little corner for it.

Finally, some completely random but useful bits and bobs!

I always need pretty cards so these birthday and thank you cards were a steal at 50p each.

This floral washi tape will look great when used for wrapping presents.

As a teacher, it can get very expensive buying presents for your class throughout the year. I always keep my eyes peeled for cheap and cheerful items and these packs of rubbers were reduced to 10p each so I bought enough for all my kids.

These two patchwork cushions look like so much work has gone into them. The fabrics used are lovely and they even came with the cushion inside too as opposed to just being the cover.

We currently keep all our medical stuff in one of my old make-up bags and can never find the things we need. This vintage-style medicine cabinet will hopefully get us a bit more organised and looks wonderful too.

These his and her desk calendars will make a great gift and are handy for people like me who can never remember the correct date!

Finally, I love bird cages and have several of them dotted around our house. This large cream one can be hung up and has a great little candle holder inside it too. I will hang this outside over the summer but that feels a long way off at the moment!

Phew…so that’s everything and I now have the not so exciting challenge of putting everything away and clearing up the huge amount of packaging left behind!

Restaurant Review – Bill’s Restaurant, Bath

Ian and I had a great ‘date night’ last night seeing Sweeney Todd at the theatre. I had forgotten what a dark play it was but we both really enjoyed it and those little tubs of ice-cream in the interval are worth the journey alone! This morning, we woke up to the sun shining in through the window so decided not to waste the day and head into Bath for a spot of brunch. We parked outside our old flat and I always find it a bit weird walking past our old front door. I loved living in Bath but now we aren’t in the city centre, it makes it a little bit more special visiting it every now and again. We walked through the rugby ground and along the river which was looking glorious in the sunshine. We headed to Bill’s Restaurant in the city centre. It has been open for a good few months now but this was the first time we had visited. As soon as I stepped inside, it reminded me of Jamie Oliver’s place up the road with the very cool mix of rustic and industrial interior and a variety of items on sale near the door giving it a part deli/ part café feel. The restaurant was busy but we found a seat near the bar and perused the breakfast menu. I was really impressed with the variety on offer and we both had a hard time deciding what to go for! We started with coffees and freshly-made orange, carrot and ginger juices then ordered. Ian went for Eggs Royale (smoked salmon and poached eggs on English muffins served with hollandaise sauce and pumpkin seeds) and I had the bubble and squeak which came with fried eggs, ham and hollandaise sauce. The service was quick and friendly and soon our meals arrived. I immediately had meal envy when I saw Ian’s and wasn’t that enamoured with what I had ordered. Now this is where I realise I am going to sound ridiculously fussy, but I hated the way they served my breakfast! There was a pile of bubble and squeak covered with ham, then topped with eggs with hollandaise poured all over it. In my head I pictured the items arranged separately on a plate but this was just a really messy was of serving it and it also meant it was difficult to get a bit of everything on your fork. Luckily, all of the food was delicious – the ham was really good quality, the eggs were still runny and the bubble and squeak was lovely but there was way too much hollandaise sauce which made the dish incredibly rich and I only managed to eat half of it as the sauce covered everything, making it quite sickly for my tastes. Ian on the other hand really enjoyed his dish and there was a good amount of smoked salmon, with the pumpkin seeds adding another texture. Although I did have a bit of a moan, I would definitely go back to Bill’s especially to try their pancakes or vegetarian breakfast which both looked really good. I think if I was ordering anything with a sauce again, I may ask for it to be served on the side because it really did spoil my brunch today but then again you may read this and just think I need to stop being so fussy?! Finally, after we did a spot of shopping to walk off our meals, I insisted we pop into Starbucks for my first Pumpkin Spice Latte (or PSM for those super-fans!) of the season…it was AMAZING!