A Vintage Christmas

If November is all about the Christmas magazines then December is all about Christmas books.

For the last two years I've listened to the audio book of Miracle Regent Street by Ali Harris around this time of year to get me in the mood for all things that are festive and London.

I find an audio book can be easier when you're on the move provided you have good headphones that block some noise- if you're changing trains a lot or the tube is very crowded it can be hard to read. If you're tired sometimes it's nicer to be read to as well. Plus your hands might be busy holding shopping bags at this time of year; or if it's very cold you don't want your hands out of their gloves, exposed to the elements turning pages and getting cold.

Miracle on Regent Street is a great book though and I did read it as a book first- in the comfort of my bed (and bath!) and it a great re- read. Still though sometimes you want something more- and something new. So I was delighted to see Ali Harris has written a novella follow up to Miracle on Regent Street called A Vintage Christmas. It's about the same characters but set a year (or two?) on. I just started reading yesterday evening and I'm already feeling more festive and longing to visit Liberty and Fortnum's, to get my white Winter coat out and do some London Winter activities.

I am only half way through but so far, so good. There are vintage shoes, there is a big London department store (my very favourite kind of shop), there is decorating and there are breaks to the Cotswolds.

The novella is only 99p from the usual online outlets and has been a lovely and inexpensive early present to myself.

Ali Harris also has a lovely vintage Christmas pinterest board here too, if you're feeling pinny. 

(Also dear TV companies, this would make a lovely film or mini series for Yuletide viewing- just saying).

Magazine addiction, the Christmas edition

So it has begun... Christmas for me starts at a different time each year and yesterday was the first day I think. There have been whispers... the first looks at decorations, the re watching of the early Harry Potter films (because they are a great transition between Halloween and Christmas- and because I love them, I know I'm in my thirties but well...).

Yesterday though was real. It all started with Home Alone and then followed googling for Nutcracker tickets and wreath making. As the day progressed the annual 'present ideas' list was begun and National Lampoon's Christmas was watched- and today I had my first listen to my going to work Christmas play list.

I am aware it's November and I don't like to dilute the joy of Christmas but there are some things that you need to start early- like making Christmas cakes, chutneys or sauces (this year I'm going to make my first Cranberry sauce... once I've finished unpacking boxes from moving house... again).

Magazines though. I love magazines and Christmas magazines have become a 'thing' most of them are out now and you really want to be reading them from now on because frankly by just before Christmas it's too late for food, decoration and present ideas.

So I've decided you can start reading Christmas magazines now.. frankly with this many to read (see below) I'd get cracking.

Christmas books too are great for getting you in the mood- I like to start light and work up to the joy of a Christmas Carol- but everyone has their favourites (I also love Miracle on Regent Street), a more recent but much loved discovery.

If you are so inclined you can personalise this Christmas countdown so you don't miss anything.

Coffee- to drink in, to breathe in

Coffee! On Monday mornings a total essential, on Tuesday mornings a life giving force... let's be honest on most mornings the reason for getting up and out!

Coffee has for years been encroaching on the patch of tea in the place of the British work force. For me tea will always be my all round, whatever the time of year, whatever the occasion hot drink but first thing in the morning it now has to be coffee. I go through phases where it's decaf coffee but it never seems to last!

The British love their coffee then- but we don't seem to use coffee in cooking as much as other countries (we like a coffee and walnut cake but aside from that, there's not much from the Brit recipe pile that is coffee based).

Likewise I've always found the lack of coffee perfumes a bit strange- though there are more of them out there than there used to be.

I wrote about my love for Noa by Cacharel back in 2008 (hello I've had a blog for 5 years!). I still like and wear it- though less often now I must say- re reading this post has made me wish I'd grabbed it this morning- it's perfect for days when you want to feel hugged by your perfume.

Other coffee smells I like include Comme des Garcons Wood Coffee - though it's no longer available in shops you can get it on the good old internets- it's really quite gourmand and certainly wouldn't be for all- but if you're trying to go decaf, or you just really really love coffee then look this up.

Jo Malone Black Vetyver Cafe is probably the most obviously coffee scent out there- it sounds like it should be perfect for men- which of course makes me think women should try it! (did anyone read the Sunday Times article in the Style magazine about women wearing men's scent- thought it was very good, though the scent recommendations could have been more adventurous).

In other coffee thoughts... 

Brewed boy does the best coffee in Soho... fact. I was THRILLED to see the Brewed Boy stand at EOTR this year, it was a massive hit and they ran out of coffee by Sunday afternoon!

Macmillan Cancer Support created coffee inspired perfumes for their recent fund raising coffee mornings.
I wish I could have tried them!

Picture of my flat white from  Lantanacafe on Saturday afternoon- a blissful spot for a coffee and catch up on the Saturday papers if you're in the Tottenham Court Road/ Goodge Street area- though watch out for the queues for brunch!

The first day of Autumn: Back to school?

I woke up at 5.30am this morning, I could hear rain hitting the windows and it was the light from street lamps, not the first morning sun, that was breaking through the shutters. As I crept along the floorboards, my arms around me for warmth, I realised I had woken up in Autumn.


I love Summer, particularly English Summer- fleeting and magical it can be- last weekend I danced in the woods of an ancient forest until 6am- my skin pinked by the sun's full golden roar during the day was soothed by the night air. High Summer in London though can also be a kind of madness, life seems to stop while everyone concentrates on the sun actually shining, Soho even drunker than usual on drink, and humidity and wearing sandals for 2 whole months.


Autumn feels like a new start to me- much more than the real new year it's the time of year when a new school years starts and for me- though my studying days are long gone- that will always mean looking at what I've been in the last 'school' year and what I'm going to do in the next one.

I've been told by lots of grown ups... (which I now define as people who are old than me but I used to define as people quite a lot younger than me too...) that your thirties are your best decade- because you know who you are. Well so far that is true of my thirties, I am in many ways more comfortable in my own skin and know what makes me happy far more than I used to. However I don't feel I've really achieved very much this school year- and the blog has certainly suffered. So it's back to school for me and back to school for my blog.


Goodbye Summer and hello Autumn. With a spritz of scent and a gloss of the lips, here I go.

Picture taken at End of the Road Festival in Dorset.
 

Hotdogs!

Hotdogs are a thing aren't they? Suddenly popping up (ha ha) everywhere- from the obvious places like independent cinemas (why haven't they always served hotdogs? they are traditional, far less noisy or stinky than most cinema snacks and easy to eat in the dark) to the not so expected- the much lauded Hawksmoor for example.

I have always been a hotdog fan. Perhaps it's having a Mother who spent her formative times nearer to New York than London but they were a treat weekend lunch meal (though we never had onions and I still prefer not to have them personally).

I'm also a big fan of the German style wurst and sauerkraut, in or out of a bun- German food isn't very fashionable, though I'm sure the day will come, but I really like it (though they do need to raise their game vegetables wise- cabbage is not an entire food group).

I've tried to go to bubbledogs on about 3 occasions but the wait, in the queue outside, is always at least an hour. Hotdogs really must be a thing if Londoners, not so used to a queue culture as New Yorkers, are prepared to wait outside- in London weather- for London's finest sausages in buns (or baps for the Welsh).

Timeout's thought on london's best hot dogs

For German style wurst I recommend Fulham's Octoberfest. Or you can go the German deli at Borough market, buy your own and get going, very quick and yummy!

Picture from my products I love Pinterest board- though I do not know where it was first pinned from. Pretty cool though!

Irish Moss scented candle from Bog Standard

I have been burning this Irish Moss candle from bog standard in our flat since early January, when the nights were dark and there was snow on the ground.

Now that Summer is looking like it might be here and the candle is just about finishing I wanted to write about the scent while it was still strong in my mind.

I sat in the living room last night, with the French doors open and the cool air lapping in- I preferred to put on a sweater and light the candle than close the doors on the Summer ish air.

I don't know what real moss, Irish or otherwise, smells of really- slightly earthy, wet and musty I suppose. The candle doesn't smell like that- it smells green and fresh but slightly musky, in a good way- it's sophisticated and makes the flat smell cosy on cold nights and slightly heady on warm ones. Above all it's comforting, which I think is the most important thing for a home scent.

If I could wear a scent of this I would- and I'd keep smelling my arm constantly.

Friday

Eifel tower cheese grater, because it's Friday and it made me smile a huge smile when I walked past Octoupus on Carnaby Street this morning.

There is also a tiny version, for camping maybe? or very chic picnics?

Available from Octopus on Carnaby Street or online from Pylones.