Tales of a London Girl

Lecce

Posted on August 18, 2017     Leave a Comment

After a brief 2 year hiatus I thought it was about time I hopped back into this whole blogging malarkey. Partly because I missed it and partly because I think places like Puglia need to be shared. I say this now although I’m sure in a few years, when everyone has discovered the delights of Puglia and every man and his dog is going on holiday there, I’ll massively regret this statement.

I’d heard of its charms a few times, whispers here and there, and after a little digging of my own and a lifelong love of Italy I decided it should definitely be next on my list.

After very little persuading, the boy agreed that this would be the perfect spot for a week’s holiday. Plenty of places to explore along with some gorgeous beaches and delicious food, that pretty much ticks all the holiday boxes if you ask me.

Our first stop was Lecce and after a disgustingly early flight we arrived  in Bari and set off to find our hotel. Being nosy and generally excitable we didn’t make it there without having a quick detour around an olive grove on the way.

But before too long we made it to Torre del Parco. It was recommended by a friend who’d stayed there on her trip to Puglia and after the quickest of perusals we decided it was very much up our street.

We arrived a little early for our room to be ready so after a quick explore of the hotel and a very dignified change in the loos we set off to explore the town. Stopping to grab some peaches for our ambling, which turned out to be the best peach I’ve ever had, warmed by the Italian sun we both grinned as the juice ran down our faces.

Beautiful old streets revealed all kinds of gems and leaving you to wonder what secrets they held.

We stumbled across a Prima Gallery and immediately wanted everything in there. Photographs by Roberto Tondi have been stored in a the basement room giving them a curiously beautiful mottled effect that can’t be replicated owing to the temperature and humidity conditions. After deciding it might be tricky to get one home on my easyjet flight i sadly left them behind although i’m looking into ordering a print.

After a quick and fairly unmemorable late lunch we ambled back to the hotel to check into our room and have a quick nap

Before taking ourselves onto the roof terrace with a bottle of wine to watch the sunset. we curled up contentedly, wittering about nothing in particular until we realised that people seemed to be arriving for some sort of wedding party and we should probably scram.

After a quick shower, we wandered out into the evening to Le Zie, a restaurant known for its relaxed atmosphere and great food.

It’s very small and cosy and feels slightly like you’re in your Nonna’s house (if only we all had a Nonna, right?) but the food is so worth a trip. Ridiculously the beans that came on the antipasti were my favourite part of the whole meal although H was rather partial to his horse stew…. I liked it but it was definitely too gamey for me, I was happy with just a taste.

After a slight disaster with the bill (their credit card machine wasn’t working and H got his card blocked at the cashpoint whilst I was held hostage for half an hour) we wandered our way home, only getting minorly lost on the way.

In the morning there was just enough time for a quick coffee, the local speciality of Ghiaccio con latte mandorla which is essentially a frothy almond milk iced latte (bloody delicious) before jumping in the car.

Next stop Ostuni!

Lemon and Rosemary Sugar Scrub

Posted on January 8, 2015     Leave a Comment

When I told my best friend I’d just made this, her response (as I creepily knew it would be) was “aren’t you going to smell like a roast chicken?” Well, no, you’re not. Whilst they may be popular, and common, additions to a roasting tray, they also smell pretty darn good on you. I don’t know about you but at this time of year my skin start to feel a little lacklustre. Between the freezing winds and the central heating, all of the moisture seems to disappear and everything tends to feel a little blah. That’s where this little beauty comes in. The sugar sloughs off all the dead skin whilst the coconut and rapeseed oils are deeply nourishing. Everything else? Well that’s all there to smell good, it’s bright and zingy and the perfect little kick-starter to a cold, dark morning. There’s also the major added bonus that you know exactly what has gone into it so you can be safe in the knowledge that there are no nasties lurking inside. You may even have some of the stuff already tucked away in your cupboards, you’ve probably even bought some coconut oil in a fit of healthy eating so here’s another way to put it to good use.

For enough scrub to fill at 1/3 litre jar you’ll need:

• 250g granulated sugar
• the zest of 2 lemons
• 4 sprigs of rosemary
• 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
• 120g coconut oil

First things first, pop your sugar, lemon zest and rosemary leaves into the bowl of a blender

Then pulse everything together until you have a beautiful flecked sugar mixture, blending these three together will bash all of the oils out of the lemon and rosemary to maximise the fragrance. If you don’t have a blender then just chop the rosemary and lemon zest together until really fine and stir through the sugar.In a separate bowl, smoosh together the rapeseed and coconut oils. You want the coconut oil in a solid state so that it achieves a whipped consistency. Now all that’s left to do is tip in your sugar, give everything a stir up and pop it in your jar of choice. If you’re not much of a body scrub kind of person then this is a great thing to keep next to the kitchen sink. It’ll get rid of any nasty cooking smells on your hands as well as keeping them silky smooth.

If however, you do like a scrub then just grab a handful and get to work before you get in the shower, be careful, the oils will make things a bit slippy! This is also a great thing to use before you shave your legs ladies (and maybe some gents). So what are you waiting for? Get scrubbing and let me know how they turn out!

 

Le Chalet at Selfridges

Posted on January 6, 2015     Leave a Comment

Sometimes all you want is a little slice of the Alps in London, right? Or perhaps the idea has never crossed your mind. Either way, you should go have a little peek inside Le Chalet. Tucked away high up above the hustle and bustle of Oxford Street is a little oasis on the roof of Selfridges. Now, I am a little biased, my love of Sefridges goes back a long way and my ex even used to refer to it as my “mothership”, however, I promise you it’s worth a visit.We dropped in just before Christmas for a little dose of festive spirit (and some mulled wine) but I’m sure it’s just as great now, we have a real lack of roof terraces in London so I’m always on the hunt for a good one .

From the reindeer skins to the twinkling lights, it has everything you need to make you feel all cosy and warm – inside and out. It can probably even banish the January blues.

We weren’t hungry as we’d just taken ourselves to Jackson & Rye for a delicious brunch so we wandered through the restaurant and settled ourselves on the terrace.

We wasted no time in ordering some drinks, mulled wine for me and, for some inexplicable reason given that it was freezing, white wine for the others. They very helpfully provide big cosy blankets to keep the chill away whilst you’re outside, meaning that you can easily wile away the afternoon up there in the sunshine – something I would highly recommend. I reckon it would make a pretty good date spot as well, after all, what’s better than having an excuse to snuggle up?

We happily sat there for hours, chatting and lazing in the sunshine before finally dragging ourselves home as the sun began to disappear from view. Although we couldn’t resist a couple of last snaps in the sparkling hallway, something I may have to try and re-create for Christmas this year.

I think I’m going to have to return for lunch before Le Chalet packs up shop, the food looked cracking and any menu that has ‘buttermilk chicken schnitzel with blue cheese fondue’ is alright by me. If you think it might float your boat too then you can book a table here:  http://www.selfridges.com/content/le-chalet.

All in all a great afternoon spent with some of my favourite people.

Purple Power Juice

Posted on July 25, 2014     Leave a Comment

I first started juicing last year after a very indulgent week when I felt like I needed a bit of a cleanse but then the unexpected happened, I got a bit hooked. I went for the highly recommended Jason Vale 3 Day Detox and its something I still do every now and again if I’m feeling a bit sluggish. I was expecting to be hungry and tired and, if I’m honest, a little grumpy but I found the opposite was true, I slept amazingly, was full of energy and generally felt great. Obviously, it’s not something you’d want to do all the time, for one, it’s not the most sociable thing to do as you can’t meet anyone for coffee, dinner or drinks but also you’d get bored and go mad after a while (I have been known to dream of cheese whilst doing one). Well this is my solution, juice for breakfast. By doing this it ensures that about 30% of my daily diet is raw, vegan and jam-packed full of goodness, which totally helps to alleviate any feelings of guilt I may have over the odd extra cocktail here and there. As an added bonus, it’s delicious and will keep you going right through until lunch. You can put in pretty much any veg you have knocking around in your fridge but after some tinkering, this is one of my favourite combinations. I hope you like it too! Beetroot and avocado may not sound like the most appealing additions to your juice but they are so good for you and actually taste great. Avocado is the only fruit you could live on solely as it’s so crammed full of goodness and beetroot detoxifies the liver, kidneys and blood as well as increasing blood flow – what’s not to love?

Purple Power Juice:

• 3 medium apples
• 2 medium carrots
• 1 medium raw beetroot
• 1/2 a small lemon
• a knob of ginger
• a handful of kale or spinach
• a small handful of blackberries (i just keep some in the freezer)
• 1/2 to whole avocado
• a handful of ice

Start with one apple in the tube of your juicer followed by the lemon, ginger, carrot and beetroot, finishing off with the remaining apples. Next up you want to grab yourself a blender of some description, add the ice, kale, blackberries and avocado before pouring in your juice. At this point I also like to add the following for an extra nutrition boost, obviously they’re all optional but they’re a great way of super-charging your morning juice.

• turmeric – a quarter to a third of a teaspoon of turmeric – antibacterial and anti-fungal
• a teaspoon of nut butter, I like almond or cashew, preferably organic with nothing added – adds protein
• acidophilus complex, the contents of one capsule (not the capsule itself) – helps regulate bacteria in your stomach
• 1 teaspoon of supergreens powder, a combination of spirulina, chlorella, barley grass and wheatgrass – incredibly nutrient dense and cleansing
• 1 teaspoon of raw chia seeds – richest plant source of omega 3

Pop these in the blender too and whizz it all up together

Now all that’s left to do is pour into a glass and enjoy

Let me know how you get on!

Cochon Butcher

Posted on July 11, 2014     Leave a Comment

I’d originally wanted to try out Donald Link’s other restaurant, Cochon on Saturday night but sadly it gets packed to the rafters and I had left it a little late to get a table. As a result, before we left New Orleans on Monday we found ourselves running through the heaviest rain I’ve ever encountered to go to it’s sister restaurant, Cochon Butcher for lunch. It only took about 10 seconds to run from the car but that was long enough for us to get thoroughly drenched. Of course, 5 minutes after we arrived the rain stopped – typical. I was soaked to the bone and freezing in the air conditioning so I’m now the proud owner of a Cochon hoodie as I was a shivering wreck in my summer dress.

Jumper firmly on, we got town to the important business of ordering, pulled pork all round with sides of mac and cheese and roasted brussel sprouts to share.

I know loads of people hate brussel sprouts but I think that’s because a lot of the time they only come out at christmas and have usually been boiled to death. When they’re roasted until crispy with olive oil and chilli they are simply delicious.

We ended up sitting right next to what can only be described as the pulled pork station, thank goodness we’d eaten by the time these appeared or one may just have gone missing.

The atmosphere is great and there’s a huge cross section of people in there eating, from hipsters, to business men popping in for lunch. I’m told they do a pretty mean cocktail too and apparently this bar gets pretty busy in the evening. As well as being a restaurant and bar, they are actually a proper butcher and deli. Wouldn’t you be here all the time if you lived near? I know I would be.

Uh huh, you ready that right, bacon praline, which they’ve become quite famous for. Obviously I had to grab one for the road (surely it would be rude not to?)

I also couldn’t resist one of the adorable little ‘butcher’ bowls and a cookbook because, well, because I couldn’t ok?We left full and happy, the perfect end to a great trip to New Orleans, I’m already trying to find an excuse to return.