winter solstice

The shortest day of the year was only a couple of days ago. It has been very cold here in London, and the days are oh so short so i decided to make the most of the sunshine and work of some of my christmas pud by going for a walk on boxing day. I walked up to stratford and then headed west towards victoria park. Unfortunately the future olympic park intersected my path, but i eventually made it through and boy, was it worth it. the patially frozen lake at twilight is so beautiful, it looks like romance itself.

Christmas wishes

To all of my lovely friends and family back home in Adelaide and abroad, I would like to wish you a very merry Christmas and happy new year! Missing you all so much, you should come to London and visit me!

its real cold out

“No animal, according to the rules of animal-etiquette, is ever expected to do anything strenuous, or heroic, or even moderately active during the off-season of winter. All are sleepy--some actually asleep. All are weather-bound, more or less; and all are resting from arduous days and nights, during which every muscle in them has been severely tested, and every energy kept at full stretch.” (Badger, Wind in the Willows)

photo: Phoebe Richardson

White Christmas

Burrrrrrr, it's getting cold over here! London has just turned into a beautiful snowdome. It is so pretty you can't even imagine. Having never seen proper snow before I was, and still am, totally amazed by it. Tomorrow is meant to be even snowier- can't wait!

Today i did my annual christmas shortbread bake. As usual mum was completely hopeless when I asked for a recipe and so I had to go by instinct. I have made this shortbread every year since I can remember so Ihve a fair idea of what I am doing, only problem is that I am so used to making it in the heat of summer and right now I am in the depths of freezing cold, snowing outside winter. This meant that my butter was a lot harder than I am used to and things looked different (ie the first batch wasn't quite right). Anyway, I got there eventually and now have a beautiful bunch of christmas crackers filled with home made shortbread- australian style!

MMMM Macadamia

This is the gorgeous christmas tree that we put up during the week. I despise tinsel so instead Rosanne, LC and I spent hours folding paper cranes out of red paper. It ended up looking absolutely stunning!

Please note mum: all the presents you sent me are intact- still wrapped and waiting for christmas day.

Tonight LC and I went up to Stratford picturehouse to se Where The Wild Things Are. when we got back home there was a thin layer of snow over everything. It reminded me of the icing sugar at Mulots that Andre always called snow (and Jonno thought was coke).

all wrapped up for christmas

R.I.P.

Stella

05/03/2007 - 19/11/09

She is playing like a child

And penance is the play,

Fantastical and wild

Because the end of day

Shows her that some one soon

Will come from the house, and say

Though play is but half done

Come in and leave the play.

A memorial service will be held for Stella Cat today at West Ham park at sunset (330pm). All are welcome to attend to celebrate her crazy/beautiful yet short lived time on this earth. Miss you Stella............

All over London as one walks, one everywhere, in the season, sees oranges to sell; and they are in general sold tolerably cheap, one and even sometimes two for a halfpenny; or, in our money, threepence.

Just some of the reasons that I love london

1. London town 2. Brick lane 3. weird poem by Karl Philipp Moritz 4.spitafields 5. preparing the christmas lights 6. oxford street 7.pete doherty

Brighton

Brighton beach, Adelaide has been one of my favourite summer haunts ever since we all turned 16 and got drivers licenses. Sometimes we'd head down after school during free period on fridays and get wedges, breathing in the briny air. When we started uni we'd go and get seaside lattes and cake at the marylin monroe cafe. Every now and then my mum and i would take a drive down and muse on the idea of living by the beach. Whenever I was feeling like shit LC always knew that the ocean air clears my mind. This past summer I rode my bike down for a quick dip a few times.

Brighton beach, UK is a whole different kettle of fish. The seaside village is about an hour south of London by train and is a popular summer holiday destination with the brits. For me Brighton means one thing: NICK CAVE.

It was a bit blustery but its had been such a long time since I had seen an ocean that I was very happy to be there. Holding my glasses on my face and battling the extreme weather conditions I walked down the board walk at Brighton taking in the desolate atmosphere of a summer-time hot spot during the winter months. The tempest of the ocean was actually stunning, in my mind a storm at sea holds so much romance and intrigue (see turner). 

Australia is that way

So I headed west of Brighton towards Hove and followed church street until i found 9 Bar, an antipodean coffee house of sorts which had been recommended by....wait for it....NICK CAVE. As i was walking i fantasized about what i would say if i ran into him "Hi Mr Cave, I'm such a huge fan" too boring. "Hi, my parents met at a Birthday Party show at the Ratville hotel in the late 70's" a lie, but he doesnt know that. "I just read your book, i really enjoyed it. You wrote it the year i was born" hmmm, not quite what i am trying to say. 

Anyway, i had these horribly unrealistic ideas about seeing him, even though deep down in my heart i knew that my chances were very VERY slim. I sat down at a table and ordered my double ristretto soy flat white and decided to have a look around the cafe. 

and then

GASP

IT WAS NICK CAVE

SITTING JUST NEXT TO (the family who were next to) ME. 

THIS GUY. Drinking tea and eating carrot cake and sitting next to me. 

AND I MADE EYE CONTACT WITH HIM AND NOW HE KNOWS THAT I EXIST. 

this was my delicious lunch, i would highly recommend the restaurant, the food was great. 

and you might see nick cave. 

It took me like, two hours to calm down. I msged my mum who told me to kiss him. and lauren told me to take a photo. but I didnt. I just sat there and made eye contact with him and ate my lunch and he was there and every single muscle in my body twitched and oh god, it was amazing. it still makes me smile.

Needless to say i will be returning to brighton at some point in the future. it is a really beautiful place. and the atmosphere is a bit more chilled than London, not so many corporate A-holes. but there is still American Apparel. yay. 

christmas time

this is the SIGNED copy of Cave's new book. Pretty psyched, just started reading it. hopefully i will not spill tea all over it like i did with all of my other precious books. sigh. 

MARKET

One of the best things about London is all the Markets. When i first got here LC, Lo and I decided to go to a different market every weekend. Unfortunately i started working weekends but luckily my job is just oppisite the sunday up markets and around the corner from the Spittafields markets and brick lane (i can go every weekend!).

One of my fav markets thus far is definitely the Burough market. Just south of the river from monument the Borough markets are a fantastic food market packed to the brim with delicious hot food, sweet delights and farm fresh produce. If you're in the mood you could have a buffalo burger, sample some ridiculously blue cheese or purchase a flounder (ugliest of all fishes). 

Apparently a scene from Harry Potter was filmed around here. Its not hard to imagine, these buildings are so old and have a lot of character. There is a tuble line that runs above so every few minutes a roar and shacke hits the market!

Monmouth is one of the better known roasting houses in London producing a bean which far outshines much of what London had before they arrived. Apparently coffee culture in London only hit about 10 years ago, before that it was mostly just tea. Now there is a huge amount of starbucks, pret and EAT chains and a small pool of antipodean coffee houses. Places like Square Mile, Tina We Salute You, Nude Espresso (where I work) and Monmouth are making the effort to make Londons new found coffee culture a GOOD coffee culture, fighting the machine that is Starbucks et al. 

Also, they do this amazing filter coffee thing where they put the coffee in this cup like device with a hole in the bottom and it drips through into the cup. Its really nice. Sometimes i really appreciate the subtleties of filter or plunger coffee- espresso can sometimes bring so much overt flavour. Plus the first time i had it was after an extreme good coffee drought. 

These are the goodies i took home with me! Yummy owl shaped cookies and delicious vanilla tea. YUM!