August

It's funny how the epitome month of Summer can also feel like the beginning of Autumn - especially with the weather we have been getting recently! I've still been up to a few summery adventures though, mainly featuring food..



Recently discovered Amorino ice cream with Lisa - the most incredible ice cream ever, they let you pile on as many flavours as you can into your 'flower' of heaven.

Of course I went for a modest amount - chocolate, coffee, mango, coconut and lemon... and of course working it off by climbing to the top of these rocks ;)



The weather has been so nice recently (up until now..) that the treadmill has lost it's appeal and I've started playing football and frisbee with Dima most days in the park!

That's the nice thing about London - although there's not often enough room for a garden, there are so many parks around that there's really no excuse for not getting out in the sun!


We invested in a spiralizer.. 
I convinced Dima we need one in our lives - mainly so that I could make The Londoner's slutty pasta! Definitely worth it, and it's so nice being able to eat big bowls of 'pasta' without the guilt!


I also recently discovered Crussh - a really healthy cafe chain which I had never ventured into before. Their food was amazing and this smoothie (the fatburner) cheered up my day nicely.


August is quite a quiet month in the fashion world, so there has been rather a lot of lazing around with cocktails - the above are Watermelon concoctions at Eclipse in Kensington, their cocktails are divine! The watermelon martini is an absolute must :)



We also ventured up into Camden recently, to try out Camden Lock market on the weekend. I found the most amazing wrap from a stall called Chia - chicken and halloumi wrap with all different kinds of healthy nuggets in it such as pomegrante and purple cabbage - worth going back and fighting the crowds for!



The real winner of Camden though was Batch Brownies. I had heard of them and they did not disappoint - they exceeded my wildest brownie dreams. They had run out of their brownie stuffed cookies but we picked up a salted caramel and smores brownies. They were literally the best thing I have ever eaten. Ever. 




It is worth sourcing out Batch Brownies wherever they may be just for the salted caramel brownie. It surpasses any sort of brownie you have ever had, promise. I think they're mostly at Camden but feature at Spitalfields on a Wednesday, dangerously only around the corner.


Another important development this August is that Dima's mum randomly forced him to bring back a breakfast in bed table from Cyprus. This was actually a very good idea, because I get lots of breakfast in bed now!

Other than my recent fat-adventures, I have been in the process of packing up my life into boxes slowly in preparation of moving to Dima's in a couple of weeks. After four years it is probably about time we lived together rather than on opposite sides of London, the only thing I am seriously worried about is where to put all of my clothes!

What have you been upto this August? xx

Summer nights

Haven't we been so lucky with the English weather lately - everyday has been up to 20 degrees and the sun has (mostly) been shining! I love summer evenings when it stays light until 10pm and everyone in London is smiling for once (above ground that is, the tubes can become pretty awful in the heat) - they call for BBQs! 

I found myself a handsome fellow and a working BBQ in his garden he wasn't aware of, and we set to cooking a feast!

I was on Pimms duty... I make it half lemonade, half pimms and a splash of elderflower - works brilliantly! ;)

This BBQ in particular ended with us all toasting marshmallows (or setting them on fire and blowing it out quickly) and stuffing them between two lebinz chocolate biscuits - perfectiooooon. 

We also had a baking afternoon, I made The Londoner's irish soda bread which is amazing and ridiculously easy to make..

but very difficult to not eat all in one go!

...it's healthy right??

Whilst Dima relived his past travel adventures and cooked Thai Pancakes which was a very laborious process, but oh so worth it. After making the dough, letting it set for half an hour, rolling out many extremely skinny pancake bases and cooking them quickly, you are 'supposed' to have them with condensed milk, banana and egg but I found that nutella, marshmallows and banana works much better. Nutella>everything. 

Here are a few other random snaps from the past week...

Sheltering from the summer showers!

Hippy hair at Asos - if only I could recreate this at home! 

Very cool flowers found in Mile End

Jelly shoes - so excited to wear these in Croatia! 

What have you been up to this Summer? xx

Cyprus

Sorry I've been away for a while, I've been catching up on well-needed sunshine in Cyprus! I grew up there so it's always nice to go back and visit family. I also took along my best friend Katherine so this was extra fun :)

We spent a lot of time at the beach...



and in the pool..


and eating!


^ If you ever go to Cyprus, get a mixed sandwich. They sell them literally everywhere and they are incredible, usually a mix of ham (lountza), cheese (usually halloumi), salad and mayo grilled together - amazing. Also must-eats are bakery food - not difficult to find, they have seven bakeries in my tiny village alone - especially cheese pies and sasusage rolls! The desserts are also fab. Meze is obvious - around 20 never-ending dishes come out one after another, each tasting better than the last. Most restaurants do it in Cyprus, but go for the run down tavernas - they are usually the best and most traditional!

One day we visited some camels in the camel park, and found a secluded beach with its' very own DJ! (Apparently called Bananarama beach - found in Kiti/Mazotos)





There was a tiny beach shack on the deserted beach, run by a family who were all sitting eating. We got some amazing value and tasting food there - a humongous greek salad, mixed sandwich and drinks for 7 euros!



We sourced out a surf school who kindly invited us to their party complete with free paddle boarding - everyone in Cyprus is really friendly and hospitable!



We also went and visited Nicola who lives in Limassol - in my opinion this is the best place in Cyprus to live/holiday - it is a 'town' complete with beautiful beaches and places to go. Larnaca is a little bare, Ayia Napa is very touristy, Nicosia is in the centre of the island and so just boiling hot, and Paphos is quite touristy/far from everything. A new marina has opened up in Limassol and it's beautiful - I prefer the old town though!





And the old town..





Definitely worth a visit if you go to Cyprus! We made a good tour of the south of the island, starting in Larnaca, up to Limassol and back down to Protaras and Ayia Napa - more on that next time!

June

Can you believe it is finally June?! I am sooo happy it is finally here, fingers crossed the sun comes out a bit more in London! Not that it really matters, because I am off to Cyprus in a week and the sun is definitely out there :)

Goals

1. No Chocolate

I have fallen off the diet wagon for the last week and a new month which also happens to be bikini month is a great time to get back on (and stay on!). It is important when you have (massive uncontrollable chocolate fuelled) relapses that you just draw a line under it as quickly as possibe, and make better choices next time. I am going to try and give up chocolate again completely - I managed to once, it is just so addictive! I used to smoke for 5 years and giving that up was far easier than giving up chocolate (best decision I have ever made). After three days, it is fine - it's just those three days are really difficult! Wish me luck!

2. Learn to Drive

After the excitement of finishing university I have just been hanging out with friends, working and partying too much. I need to learn how to drive ASAP before my time gets super filled up! It's hard because I really hate learning how to drive, thinking to do automatic this time.. any thoughts?

3. Travel!

As mentioned, next week I am going to Cyprus with my best friend Katherine and I am so excited for it. I used to live there but haven't been back in two years so I will definitely appreciate it this time - can't wait to just lie on the beach and not have any worries bigger than what we are going to do that evening. And the food. Cypriot food is insanely amazing.

4. Grades

I get my results on June 25, and this will pretty much determine the rest of my life (to an extent). I sort of hate and love the anticipation of opening results - my A level ones were a pretty horrendous experience but it all sorted itself out in the end (make sure you get a remark if your results aren't what you expected - mine went up 14 marks as they missed 2 pages of my exam!)

 Fingers crossed that this goes well though, I have put in so much work over the last three years so really, really hope this shows! Then I will officially be a law graduate!

5. Relax!

It's officially summer - time to have fun! :)

Summer Days

Hasn't the sun been AMAZING? (for the past two days - it is probably gone for another couple of months now!) Luckily it was on the weekend, so me and Nicola headed down to Victoria Park for yet another picnic and frolic in the sunshine :)

 

Victoria Park is such a nice place to run - we used to run down this path when we lived in University, literally opposite! You can get there from Mile End tube station.

Nicola brought along a ridiculously amazing apple pie she whipped up - I ended up eating a LOT of it (theres two more layers under there!)

And attempted to work it off with some bridges!

We then headed to the Olympic Park - the swimming pool there has just opened up and it is incredible. For us, having lived in Cyprus, when it is warm we can usually just dip into our pools at home or go to the sea. So it was really nice to be able to casually go for a dip in the Olympic pool! It is huge and was quite empty, we paid £4.50 by pre-booking here.

We then explored the Olympic Park - I had never been properly before and it is looking pretty good! 

  

 

We had a lot of fun playing in the fountains...

Probably too much fun, we got all wet again after swimming! 

But it was seriously beautiful at sunset - it would be the perfect date spot (I had my best friend as the perfect date with me too luckily! :)) 

Even though I'm still not sure what the giant red statue is meant to represent?

A perfect day finished by a perfect sunset - I am SO happy that Summer has finally arrived!