Its been a while

Now: March 2013

Here are some lovely snapshots from the bus window en route to paddy's day festivities. I was severely hungover (too much fun the night before) and I couldn't help but be poetic and try to capture the rain soaked landscapes on camera. Hope you enjoy!

 

Number 15- Tower Hill to Regent Street- I catch this bus everywhere. The Tube is great for people watching, but dull for window watching.

 

 St Paul's cathedral

 All these lovely photos were brought to you from the front seat of the number 15 heritage bus. as i drove through monument, st Paul's, Aldwych towards Trafalgar square. London is just wonderful from the bus window on a rainy day :)

Where the magic happens...

Nights out: Tenacious D- Live at the Brixton Academy

Then: Summer 2012

Every once in a while you need to do something crazy. Something out of character and something that falls in to the grey area of good behaviour... Well that once in a while for me was when i arrived at work one night to have Mateusz tell me he had spare tickets to Tenacious D in Brixton at 7pm. He asked if I wanted to go. And despite the fact that I was meant to work until midnight I said "Hell YES", then made sure the team at work was ok.ish and pretended to be sick to go home early.... yeah. Home haha.
Instead I ran all the way to the Oxford Circus tube station (no mean feet in my killer heels) and hopped the line to Brixton where Mat was waiting to whisk me away to The Brixton Academy. Once through the doors the excitement began to build!

We met up with our mutual friend Mariusz and his lady friend and then we danced the night away. Tenacious D were insane. 2 hours of good songs and great stage antics. Jack Black came out with a toy saxophone at one stage and 'sax-synced' a song for the audience. Too fucking cool haha! There was also some cool opening band from L.A. whose lead singer had a huge fro and balls to match, He gave the front row of the crowd 2 milliseconds notice before stage diving into the poor unsuspecting onlookers. Talk about laugh haha. Kudos to you kid.
But the fun and the funnies didnt stop there! Oh no. We were treated to hours of entertainment on stage and it was great to see the level of audience involvement when we all had to call Kenny back after he and Jack Black had a lovers tiff onstage.

Also I know many of you are probably wondering about what exactly that thing is on stage. Let me explain. I mean Tenacious D's new album was called 'Rise of the Phoenix' and believe it or not that giant penis shaped thing was supposed to be said phoenix, we had it from the mouth of Jack Black himself. And we believed him until the final song when the "phoenix" ejaculated 'Cumfetti'- their words not mine (no really the confetti strips had it written on there) and it 'deflated'. Leaving us believing the show was over. But oh no! It was not over yet. See the phoenix's wings? Yeah well after the phoenix retreated back to its dormant position you got a full view of the stage and what was clearly a giant Vagina (please dear god are my parents reading this?). From which Tenacious D burst out of for a final encore performance leaving everyone in stitches and slightly grossed out. I mean i get it rise of the phoenix, rebirth- the human bodies reproductive organs. Its beautifully metaphoric. In a very Jack Black and Kenny G kind of way :) Insane night guys! Thank you Mat and Mariusz..

reasons i love london: number 3221057

Then: Autumn 2012

I love london because when i walk home late at night i get to see views like this..

Yep. I am one of the luckiest darned girls in the world :)

Walking home from work when....

Now: March 2013

Walking home from work today I decided to make the most of the sun and walk via the Tower of London (riverside) up to Tower Bridge. Its an atmospheric and touristy thing to do and I was feeling quite swell. What with all the vitamin D floating about I figured it would be a great way to cap off my first day back at work after being sick.... wrong Emily.
The access path was blocked off by a couple of official looking gents- they were kind enough to refuse me entry and lessen the blow by telling me that there was a film being shot along the road today...
"OOOOOOOOOH" I exclaimed before slowly moving back towards my usual route home. I actually didn't care too much about the prospects of seeing the film being shot, I figured it was probably stock footage for some lame telly add. Wrong again Emily!

 

As I began walking along tower bridge I came across a group of lads with one of the most ridiculous cameras I've ever seen. I mean who here has seen the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' where Johnny Depp and  Captain Barbosa take turns in pulling out larger and larger telescopes? Well after seeing this dude's set up I half expected Jack Sparrow himself to pop out of nowhere and unsheath his incredibly large yet collapsiable telescope. I had a bit of a giggle and then poiltely asked what was being filmed.

Turns out THE Muppets were being filmed here and I was just in time to have my childhood shattered as I saw Kermit the Frog emerge in the midst of a prostate examination... Just kidding guys, I swear this blog is kid friendly... I just mean that, well... Turns out this charismatic frog is just a puppet after all :(

 

From this angle everything seems to be as per normal and I was actually pretty darn excited to see Kermit in person! I used to love watching him and Miss Piggy in the muppets movies and to see him moving about behind the window of this car was pretty surreal! And then something terrible happened ladies and gents. 'Kermit' stepped from behind the car and revealed himself to be nothing more than a puppet on the end of a man's arm. I gasped out loud. It was then that I realised that even though I knew Kermit to be a puppet, a part of me never really believed in all that grown up nonesense about make believe and play acting... I just let myself be taken in by the magic of movies and always believed that somewhere out there Kermit and the Gang really were off on their adventures.

It was all at once very exciting and very sad to see Kermit in real life. I was chuffed I had gotten to see this piece of movie magic in the making, I mean people must have been hanging about the bridge all day for a good glimpse of Kermit and I just happend to walk up right at the opportune moment... With a small smile on my dial I decided it would be best not to dwell on the little bit of childhood I had just lost and so I walked off toward home. But not before being blown a kiss by a well dressed old mate on a yacht passing underneath the bridge. Guess he too was feeling that summer feeling in the air today. It looks like summer 2013 is shaping up to be an interesting one indeed. Even if Kermit isnt real :)

Reading in the back yard...

 A sunny day walking home from work when i stopped to snap this pic, there is now a huge building here and the view has been blocked :( what a shame.

When the sun is shining and i don't want to stray to far from home i head down to 'my back yard'.
'My back yard' is actually the Tower Bridge Park and there is always something to see and do down there. Summertime sees live performances, out door theatres, filming for music videos and all other sorts of cool things happening on the grassy knoll where i like to sit and read in the sun. Its a great place to be and it just so happened that on this day i would be privilege to see the tower bridge raise up and pass a visiting warship through. It was quite a spectacle and there was a moment or two when i thought i was about to witness tower bridge be taken out by the ships tall antenna, but lucky the old girl survived to tell the tale. Check out the cool photos :)

The large ship being tugged along through the Thames. With a nice view of the city and the tower of London in the background.

Finally after a slow journey the ship is under the bridge and out the other side! No mean feat when you consider the size of this thing. I mean it had a bloody helicopter on the deck! amazeballs!

Tate Modern- my frist solo outing in London

Then: September 2011

(google images) Tate Modern on the river Thames, Pictured here with the Millennium Bridge

My first outing undertaken alone was to the Tate Modern art gallery in Southwark. I walked from Aldgate East where i was living down to the Thames at the Tower of London and up along the river until i reached Millennium Bridge- or the wibbly wobbly bridge as i liked to call it. 

Wibbly wobbly because with hours of it being opened by the Queen it began to sway violently in the wind and had to be shut down and re- enforced over the following 6 months. Its also the bridge that the death eaters destroy in a Harry Potter film and it wibbles and wobbles its way into a water grave in that scene so why not call it the wibbly wobbly bridge? 

 Le wibbly wobbly- a nice sunset photo from the riverside. People either love or hate this bridge and I am definitely in the former category, Ive taken everyone across it. From Mum, to Mike, to Virpi and Jelle. It offers stunning views of London and the River

Anyway. After a giddy trek across the wibbly wobbly i came upon the Tate Modern and was immediately confused about how to enter the building. My brain said- go through the big front doors, my feet however took me around the back and in through a side door that i doubt was meant for the public but hey. I got there in the end. 

The big doors i didn't go in haha

 

Once inside i was awed by the size and set out of the gallery, lots of lifts, floors and exhibits to check out i was thoroughly entertained for hours on end. I came across some wonderful artworks well known and otherwise and I had a great day walking around taking in all the exhibits.

 Two of my favourite artworks- Monet's 'Waterlillies' and Jackson Pollock's 'Summertime: Number 9A' I stood a long time just looking at these artworks. Seeing the different layers of paint, different brush strokes. It felt wonderful to be seeing them in person and not from an art textbook or google images.

 

 It felt like being back in Art at school, with all the students walking about with their VAPD's (visual arts process diaries- a kind of log about your artistic works) I only wish i had brought one along myself so i could talk down a little bit about the exhibits and the artists names and such.

 

 Artwork from 'a living man declared dead and other chapters'- i really enjoyed the stories of these people and as an avid people watcher i spent my time looking at all their faces and thinking about how similar and different our lives could be. It was a wonderful exhibit. 

There was however a fantastic room dedicated to Taryn Simon's "a living man declared dead and other chapters"- here is a little bit of info taken from Simon's website...

 

"A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters I – XVIII was produced over a four-year period (2008-11), during which the artist, Taryn Simon, travelled around the world researching and recording bloodlines and their related stories. The subjects Simon documents include victims of genocide in Bosnia, test rabbits infected with a lethal disease in Australia, the first woman to hijack an aircraft, and the living dead in India. Her collection is at once cohesive and arbitrary, mapping the relationships among chance, blood, and other components of fate.

Each work in A Living Man Declared Dead is comprised of three segments. On the left of each chapter are one or more large portrait panels systematically ordering a number of individuals directly related by blood. The sequence of portraits is structured to include the living ascendants and descendants of a single individual. The portraits are followed by a central text panel in which the artist constructs narratives and collects details. On the right are Simon's 'footnote images' representing fragmented pieces of the established narratives and providing photographic evidence.

The empty portraits represent living members of a bloodline who could not be photographed. The reasons for these absences are included in the text panels and include imprisonment, military service, dengue fever and women not granted permission to be photographed for religious and social reasons.

Simon's presentation explores the struggle to determine codes and patterns embedded in the narratives she documents, making them recognizable as variations (versions, renderings, adaptations) of archetypal episodes from the present, past, and future. In contrast to the methodical ordering of a bloodline, the central elements of the stories – violence, resilience, corruption, and survival – disorient the highly structured appearance of the work. A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters highlights the space between text and image, absence and presence, and order and disorder."

The story surrounding these photos takes place in Qld Australia- and its about the culling of wild rabbits, I'm unsure if the artist sympathises with the rabbits or the culling program but it was interesting to see a portrait of bunnies amidst stories of peoples from war torn countries and victims of humanitarian crimes- i think its an interesting parallel.

 The Tate Modern houses what I feel to be a lot of great works that are (whilst not always obviously) relatable to modern life- Works like the 'Venus of the Rags' by Michelangelo Pistoletto are a wonderful way to prompt thoughts about the choices we make in life and the world around us. 

A man after my own heart- Pistoletto no doubt shares my feelings about consumerism. I wonder if he has more luck than i do in boycotting the lifestyle?

 An installation by Abraham Cruzvillegas. This was very eye catching and as many of you know i love bits and pieces of paper so this bright installation drew me in like a moth to a flame :)

 

Do Ho Suh: 'Staircase 3'- Amazing string installation about how we view the world around us

And a part of the Gallery that i loved with the giant art movement wall. It featured all the artistic movements that are documented and artists who fall under those categories, It took me right back to Mrs Moy's art class and trying to memorise these categories for exams. I sat a long while and just remembered sunny days in her class and tried my hardest to identify one artist and their artwork from each category on the wall. I didn't do too well but i think i could hold my own against some of the crazy art types i saw walking about. After the wall i went down stairs to the wonderful shop and browsed until my bank account told me to calm down and go do something that didn't cost any money. So i ended by day by lying on the grass and in the sun out front of the museum :) It was a great way to begin my London adventures!

 

Good thing the Tate Modern had lots of space to sit and look. I spent a lot of time off in my own world. I think a good art gallery is one that can prompt thoughts and ideas. Hence the need for chairs!

Nights out: Gecko at the 12bar Club soho

Now: Feb 2013

(google images) the 12 bar club London, very intimate (aka tiny) but a very good night out- apparently there is live music every night of the week and well worth checking out.

Not long after coming home to London from my Christmas in Aus. Sam called me up to tell me that my favourite and Gecko would be playing with two of his mates and I might like to come watch. I was ready and raring to go, having seen Gecko (cute bunch of Bristol or is it Brighton? boys) play once before in Islington (see below) I knew how much of a great night out they put on.

 Gecko @ the old queens head islington. They were in such popular demand that after their set we all raced outside on to the street for an encore performance. Such a cool freaking way to end the night, dancing on the side of the road with such a great band. Nov 30th 2012.

Sam and I met in Picadilly Circus and he took me on a peeping tom's tour of his new workplace the Cafe Royale hotel. Peeping Tom being we didn't go in, we just peered in through the windows because we were late for the gig. The hotel is uber cool, despite its hilariously bad reviews and I am very happy that Sam is doing so well there. He is a manager in the Meeting and Events Dep. and gets to host parties for Supermodels from London Fashion Week and Prada Christmas parties and so forth. Living the glam life indeed haha.

(google images) Cafe Royale. Piccadilly Circus. Regent St. oooh lalah

We stopped off at Hungry Jacks for dinner (romantic sir real romantic haha) and caught up over all my exciting adventures in Oz and I heard all about what I'd missed since last being there. After my double whopper (so bad its good) we headed over to the apparently legendary 12 Bar Club where everyone who is anyone has played and met up with Ed and Kirst. Sam's new housemates and good friends. They were a lovely couple both with a cracking sense of humour and warmth. Ed then jumped up on stage and gave a great performance before he was joined by Liam (another mate) and together they were absolutely divine. Such a great combination of voices and instruments. I was simply blown away by how good these guys sounded.

Ed Koral and Liam O'Kane. Music for the soul.

It was around this time of night that I headed off to buy a pint and was asked for I.D. naturally flattered I reached into my pocket to discover that I'd left it at home and had to think quick. I charmed the long haired bar tender with my apologies and talk about slayer (he was wearing a shirt) and he was kind enough to remind me to always carry I.D. and i felt like a complete fool. Albeit a lucky one this time. After a laugh and a few kind words of encouragement to Ed and Liam, Gecko took the stage and as always it was time to bust the moves and sing along.

Gecko. Too good for words, Again a blurry pic because of all the fun i was having dancing about.

The boys on stage are the most down to earth and funny chaps about. They have a great kind of acoustic/ tropical pop vibe and their lyrics are great. You can tell that these guys get together and make the music as a group effort. Its relatable, its fun and I am a huge fan. They were recently lucky enough to play at Boomtown and a slew of other festivals in the summer. They are always about with new tours and gigs. If i can figure out how to post a youtube vid i will be please be sure to check them out. For now though here is one of mine

 8 seconds of great music. excuse the bumpy footage. i was busy dancing!

After the performance I quickly used to loo where i discovered that one of the old bartenders private performances were apparently as well known by the ladies as the venue's public performances. So after a good giggle and some farewells I was off home to bed, where i was apparently still bopping about and singing in my sleep!

Nights out: 101 Bar

Then: winter 2011-2012

(google images)- Ah the front door, After sculling some off licence wine we had to pretend to be sober enough to pass the ridiculous amount of security at this front door, a good indicator of how drunk you were was if you tried desperately to go in via the exit door... why they insisted on having two doors next to one another with three security guards for each ill never know.

 
Ahhh, the 101 Bar- The first place I ever went out to in London. I loved and loathed it in equal parts but in all honesty I had some amazing nights out in this seedy club and I made some of my best friends while drunken dancing there. The 101 Bar was on a dingy corner under and train bridge on Tottenham Court Road- Its a bit to close to Oxford st to be classed as Soho but a bit too close to Soho to be classed as anything else. (Soho being a great place for evenings out)
The reason the 101 became a haunt for the marylebone crew was because of its late entry hours, we would all finish work between 10.30 and 1pm and not ready to head home we wanted somewhere to drink and party and laugh about the night we'd had. The 101 became our local. It was always packed with hip hop dancers that couldn't quite get it right, gangsters who probably rented those gold chains around their necks and chicks who were tougher than the poor lads they were dragging about the dance floor. The music was an odd mix of last months Pop songs, R'n'B, Gansta beats and some cool Latino jives. It was easy music to dance to, easier to laugh at how corny the music was and if you were like me and just looking for a way to shake off the trials of the day the 101 was an easy place to let your hair down.

(google images) Check out the decor! I do not remember it being this flash at all, to be honest i remember a dark dance floor, cranky bartenders, endless stairs to the top floor and a ladies toilet that I'm sure doubled as a brothel. Perhaps my memories are biased because we never used to arrive in the sober hours of the evening, by midnight these poor chairs were probably covered in lord knows what and all kinds of interesting characters. No wonder i never dallied long enough for a second glance haha

I have such great memories of drinking too much here, dancing with Avinash, Lily and Fraz, almost getting into fights with the scary bitchatchoes on the D Floor and screaming matches with co workers out the front. I've since walked past the old hang spot and found that its long closed down, it was always inevitable but i felt a tug at the ol heartstrings as i remembered all the fun I'd had there.
I used to love it when it came to 9pm- the time of night to begin thinking about closing up at work and someone would bring up going for drinks after- Lily and Sam would always yell 'Not 101, that place is shit!' and the answer would always be 'c'mon guys its not so bad? ok so its terrible but what else is open so late!?'. Like clockwork haha.
Eventually we did discover another late entry club 'Roadhouse' (more on this later) and the 101 was no more. But for the first few months of my life in London a good night out was one where you didn't get ripped off, hit on, yelled at or stolen from at the 101.... It marked a time in my life when I felt young and inexperienced in the workings of London, a time when Avinash and I would share out private jokes and laugh hysterically at each other all night. A time when Fraz tried to teach my drunken self to dance like a latino. A time when all of us at work were partners in crime, friends and comrades. Before all the fights and misunderstandings. A time for crazy stories and drunken antics.

The beautiful Lily and I at the 101 bar. Despite how much she complained about the place she was always the first in the door and on the dance floor. Ah I certainly miss you and your craziness madame

One of the more memorable nights was the night that I got into a yelling match out the front of 101. The evening was great fun, the group took out a newbie from work and we had the best time dancing and laughing and doing shots from the bar, that is until a certain Russian colleague decided to get all antsy in his pantsy at the bar tender and try and drag avinash into a three way fight outside. I with my big mouth gave them both a dressing down for their behaviour and wound up being yelled at for this and that. So i just laughed, then trotted off and made my way towards the night bus. It wasn't too long before Avinash caught up with me to apologise and yell something about friends and stop me from going home. He wouldn't hear of me ending the night on a bad note so he hailed a cab and promised to take me to an all hours Chinese restaurant in china town... What a great friend he is :) It wasn't all roses however, it took us near 2 hours to find the bloody restaurant he had been to at 4am yesterday morning, the two of us were little use stumbling about china town trying to find this place that i wasn't sure even existed! But exist it did and we arrived quick enough to order 50 pound worth of Chinese... for those that aren't aware of meal prices in London this is a lot of money. We were quickly served with 8 or so dishes and told that the restaurant closed in 20 minutes so down the hatch it all went. burning our tongues and the roof of our mouths on the way. we didn't care. we had our crab beer, we were drunk and laughing at the amount of food and at the antics of the other drunks in the store. And then it was time to head home. So drunk and full with no tubes running i caught myself a cab and arrived in my bed looking like I'd swallowed a hippo. After three hours of sleep it was time to shower and head back to work to regale tales of the night with the rest of the gang...

Meet avinash, i love him dearly! He and I were the original partners in crime that rounded up the gang for nights out, This is him at Chinese on one of the last night he lived in London. I miss you buddy and am super excited to visit you in Mumbai. Thanks for being the glue that held us all together xxx

The morning after a night out was always worth the wait, while running around during service we would all be sharing tidbits and having 'oh my god i don't remember doing that!' moments. It was always a laugh to see what you had forgotten and what other people remembered from the night. Work went quicker with the 101 gang about. We really were a team. And so I guess it wasn't really even the 101 bar that made those days great, I guess when you go anywhere with people you care for great times can be had...so thanks for all the memories guys! You know who you crazy cats are.

Sam's Gig

Now: Feb 2013

Meet Sam. Sam is one of my best friends. Its hard to explain how much he means to me. So being brief ill say this. Sam and I worked together at the Marylebone Hotel. He is amazing. We are two parts of a trio- the third part being Torben. And words cannot do justice to the amount of fun, love and support we share as friends. So moving on from the mush. Sam is a great singer and guitar player and Monday night he had a solo gig at a place called the Rattlesnake in Islington. I have known Sam since moving to London and despite all my best efforts to see him perform with Jimmy the Squirrel (before he left) I'd never seen him play before... And I am effing kicking myself for missing out. Sam was amazing (not too amazing if you are reading this, don't go getting a big head). He had such an amazingly clear voice and his lyrics and covers were divine. I was blown away and would have loved to stay longer to just gush compliments at him but I was up early for work and I wanted him to enjoy the moment with his lady friend (who is totally gorgeous- lucky bastard). So Monday night watching Sam was wonderful, despite me getting lost and barging into the venue almost disrupting sound checks a second time after calling him to find directions a first time. haha. I am super excited to see him play again :) (but not too excited if you are reading this haha)

The trio on a day out in London! Torben, Emily and Sam- despite it being freezing (see our scarves and jackets) Sam had his glasses on because it was sunny. He got very narky about all our British and sunshine jokes. so i thought id bring it up again now because we love him so much :)

A week of trying new things: Vegetarianism

Now: Feb 2013

Shopping vegetarian for the first time... and the wine i was given by a guest at work :)

Now before I send you all running for the hills with the 'V' word. Wait. Stop. I love meat too! I Promise. I decided that this week I would give being a vegetarian a go for a multitude of reasons.

1. I was tired of buying ready cooked freezer meals and knew they were making me sick, fat and unhealthy.
2. I was frustrated at how much money i was spending on said fat, unhealthy frozen meals
3. Last Friday was my first pay day after a very long holiday and I decided to use what little money i had earned to make myself feel better from the inside out
4. I came across a Vegetarian Pinterest Board and it looked so freaking delicious I had to stop and salivate
5. I wanted to prove to myself that I can cook and would survive if the economies collapsed leaving me hiding on my families properties in the mountains of Australia

So my reasoning having been explained, let me stipulate the 'rules' I set myself: The meals needed to be served hot- for no other reason than that it being winter I wanted warm food in my belly for dinner. And that was really the only rule apart from the fact that whilst at work, if the only staff meal available contained meat then I would not force myself to go hungry. I felt that because I had no choice in what is prepared for our provided meals I was not going to be all high and mighty I'm a vegetarian. This attempt was really just a way for my to cook more often and more healthily.

So how did I do?

Well I was judging myself on two outcomes- the first being easy.

Did I consume any meat products? 

Nope. Nada, yayy I am so damned proud of myself! It was actually very easy and I will explain why in a moment.

The second outcome was:

Did I enjoy my week of being a vegetarian? 

Yes!!! I was so thoroughly surprised at how much I enjoyed cooking and how easily I found myself making up dishes that tasted good. I honestly thought I would cave into cravings or I would forget I was not supposed to eat meat, but there was only one instance where something even remotely came close to resulting in me eating meat and it was the case of no vegetarian staff meal being served. But luckily the team pigged out and left me none to eat (thanks guys- no really!) and so I decided to wait 35 minutes and just go home and cook up what food I needed to consume by the use by date.

It was a wonderful week of cooking and singing in the kitchen and whilst I will not continue to be a strict vegetarian (I'm going to an all you can eat Brazilian BBQ restaurant tonight with friends) I will no longer be buying ready cooked frozen meals from the supermarket or meats from the butcher. I will instead be buying more fresh vegetables, dry and long storage foods (pasta's and rice) and I will keep experimenting with the new recipes I find on Pinterest!

Things to think about: 

I wanted to mention a few things I feel I've learnt this week. Firstly I spent less on last weeks vegetarian grocery bill than I do on an average week. Its true that my weekly shopping stretches further with frozen meals and so I might only shop once a fortnight but I was feeling full, heavy and unhealthy most of the time. So Ill be sticking to my vegetarian shopping lists. 

I feel that by choosing a mostly vegetarian lifestyle I am no longer contributing to the need for so much wasted slaughter of animals. I mean wasted in the sense that suppliers of meat throw away so much of their products each day because they cannot sell it before the expiration date. They do this with vegetables and fruit as well but i never heard of a beautiful baby watermelon that grows up in a green field and then is one day packed off to a scary slaughter house that reeks of its dead species and is then slaughtered quartered and maybe sold. If its lucky it is sold and consumed- it died to provide food. This is the circle of life here on earth. If it is not consumed, it died to make a packed shelf look enticing and then was thrown into landfill.  

You do not need meat to create a hot meal on a cold night and I have photos to prove it! I always balked at the idea of cooking vegetarian because I had no idea how to cater to my natural desire of having a warm meal for dinner. Summer is different. Summer with good weather means (to me) eating fresh and light salads on my rooftop in the sun at 10pm. Winter means scurrying home at 6pm to be under the blanket with a Tesco's Frozen Shepard's pie or something. 

But check out the meals I made myself:

Omelet with tomato mushroom and Edam cheese :)

Stir fry- most delicious thing i have ever cooked and it was 99pence pre cut and packaged at Tesco's

PASTAAAAAAHHH- a huge mountain of it- with tomato and basil sauce, capsicum, tomatoes, mushies, cheese and carrots

And the meals I had made for me:

(not my photo) Mamadee made me a vegetarian burger with portobello mushrooms, red onion and blue cheese for my meal at work- AMAZING

Eritrean with Min at 'Asmara' Brixton- buttered spinach, humus, ground lentils and chopped veggies on a bed of pancakes. finger food at its best.

Cheese Tasting at work :) My favorites were the Golden Cross Goats Cheese and a Cheddar that tastes like sea salt and nuts :) A great way to enjoy food as a vegetarian!

YUMMM

The rest of the nights I was working late and ate toast with peanut butter and honey (my favourite) or didn't eat. I had a stomach bug and was eating sparingly the last few days. But my word. Vegetarian cooking is for me indeed :) Stay tuned, Ill be sure to post some more shots as i become better at cooking!