FROCKS & FORKS

Making Birthday Cards

March 21, 2015sarahloulake

When I was in Gothenburg I visited a store called Granit and blogged about some of my purchases here.

Today was the first time I actually used some of the things I bought to make a birthday card for a friend. I used:

Black Notecards and Envelopes

White Pencil

White Pen

White Printing Ink

Alphabet Rubber Stamps

The first thing I did was sketch out the lettering in pencil and the go over it with the white pen.

Then, I used the stamps with the intent to do the whole message using them- it didn’t go to plan, as I kept accidentally getting the corners of the ink on the card! The overall effect was ok though!

The Great Brownie Bake Off Part III

March 20, 2015sarahloulake

A few weeks ago I blogged about the “Brownie Benchmark” here and this is the third instalment in the brownie series.

This brownie came from the book “Slow Cooked” by Miss South, available from Amazon for £10.49 here

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The recipe for these slow cooker cream cheese brownies can be found on the BBC website here

I am a big fan of my Crock-Pot, but usually for savoury things (stews, ragu, curries and casseroles!), and this is the first time that I cooked something sweet in it.

They are extremely gooey- eat with a spoon gooey- but that’s ok. The cream cheese/condensed milk topping is delicious. The only thing is, you have to open a whole tin of condensed milk for just a tbsp. Any ideas on what to do with the rest of a tin of condensed milk!?

They’re not the prettiest brownies, that’s probably reason why the book comes without any images! But they’re sticky, gooey and pretty tasty! I will definitely be making them again (mainly because there is a tin of condensed milk sat in the fridge now), plus, I feel like there is a whole side crock pot cooking I am yet to discover!

Battle of the Bags

March 16, 2015sarahloulake

I want to buy a bag. Right now, I am using my smaller Le Pliage from Longchamp, but there are a few flaws with using it has a handbag. It is one compartment: I lose everything (thank goodness for the torch feature that you can quickly get to on the iPhone) plus, because it is made of fabric, the bottom of the bag is subject to wear and tear, so small holes are appearing.

There are a few features that I want the bag to have: I have to be able to carry it on my shoulder, it should be zipped (doesn’t that sound like mum advice?! To avoid pick pockets?) and I want it to be leather. I am looking for quality, so it has to have a timeless design aspect to it. I also need some compartments to at least try and bit a little bit more organised!

The problem is: I can’t make my mind up on what I want! Here’s a run down of the contestants:

Skagen Tote

Ferring Leather Tote, £269

Sandqvist

Gabriella Congnac Brown Tote €259

Everything about this bag is not sensible: no zip. One compartment. I just really like it though!

Tiger of Sweden

Bronzino Bag in Black £239.95

This would be the truly “grown up” option: zipped, compartments, right length to carry for my height, and beautifully soft leather

They no longer sell it in black directly online, instead offering a baby blue version for SS15

P.A.P

Emma Shoulder Bag, €399

Madewell Tote

The Zip Transport Tote, $188

Saturday Night In Bristol- Some New Discoveries

March 15, 2015sarahloulake

I have lived in the South West for most of my life, and yet my knowledge of Bristol is fairly limited. Well, it’s embarrassingly poor. So, last night, we ventured out into the city to Whiteladies Road and made three very different stops.

First Stop: Black Boy Inn

Roaring fire, jazz music playing, plush high backed chairs. This was nice and relaxing. The bar maid was clearly on a learning curve (“ice and lemon in your spritzer?”…ummm…just ice please) but the place had a mixed crowd; couples going for pre-dinner drinks, drinkers poring over the Saturday papers and friends chatting. There looks to be a nice restaurant behind the bar, and the place seems to have a place in Bristol’s history. As a meeting place, it was good for a couple of drinks, but my new favourite place has to be the next stop…

Second Stop: Hausbar

Described as having “luxe décor inspired by pre-war Berlin”, I wanted to see this place. I am not sure if that Google description is quite right though. Talking to the mixologist (and using my eyes!) the inspiration is more 1960s Berlin. I certainly felt like I was in an episode of Mad Men, and that’s no bad thing.

The bar is located beneath a curry house- stay with me here though. You go down a set of dingy concrete steps and are met with a black door. A door that only opens from the inside. We were convinced it was closed, then saw two people walk down the steps- so we followed them! They had booked: the host had a small, handwritten clipboard and walked them to their table. He asked us to remain outside. It was cold last night, but I guess this adds to the feeling of exclusivity. When he came back, he told us we could have three seats at the bar for thirty minutes (it actually ended up being a little longer than that). We were in, and behind the curtain a beautiful, tiny bar was delivered. A true “speakeasy” style experience. I suppose, in this sense, there was some pre-war Berlin about the place: we were entering the Kit Kat Club (but there was no Sally Bowles awaiting us!)

So, we’re in. The cocktail list is extensive, arranged by spirits. Round one is a Manhattan, a Raspberry Daiquiri and a Virgin Mojito. Round two is a Manhattan, a Singapore Sling and a Virgin Mojito. These are, hands down, the best cocktails I have had in the UK. This is the closest I have come to finding American style service and cocktails here- and I loved it.

Next time, I want my name on that list and I want to make a night of it!

Third Stop: River Cottage Canteen

At this stage, it’s 9pm. I am 4 drinks in and need some sustenance. We had a table booked at the River Cottage Canteen for 9.15pm (they are on OpenTable) so walked back down Whiteladies Road towards it. Just to add a bit of class back to the evening, a man in a sailor outfit guarded his projectile vomit that was covering the pavement, apologising profusely to passers-by, whilst simultaneously proudly acknowledging “that was me- I did that”. Lovely. Thank you, Bristol.

The River Cottage Canteen is in a beautiful converted church building. The lighting is beautiful and the heavy wood and iron staircase an apparent feat in engineering. The kitchen is open, so when sitting on the lower level, you can watch the chefs at work. I love restaurants with this. I just love to watch chefs at work.

The premise of River Cottage, if you haven’t seen the TV shows, is all about provenance. The menu matches the seasons, and the quality of ingredients is set at a high standard.

At this stage, I had drunk a fair bit. So the quality of the photos isn’t great.

Starters are more like tapas and we selected English Buffalo Mozzarella with Beetroot and Blood Orange, Ham Hock and Leek Crumble topped with Pickled Roots (cue the question from our American friend “What is Ham Hock?” well, we know it’s “delicious”, but it’s actually the joint between the tibia/fibula and the metatarsals of the foot…yeah, let’s just answer with “delicious”) and Buxton Merguez Sausage with Fava Bean Humus. This also came with some bread, which was welcomed by me to curb some of my intoxication.

L-R Beautiful Bread, Ham Hock & Leek Crumble, Mozzarella…after we had attacked it all!

Then the main courses: Confit Duck Leg, Roast Carrot Salad with Marmalade Dressing (Reaction from Matt when I asked “did you know it was a salad?”: “I didn’t get past the ‘Confit Duck Leg’ part of the description”), Roast Portobello Mushrooms Blue Vinney Rarebit and Polenta Chips, and for me, Fowey Mussels, Burrowhill Cider, Leeks, Bacon and Chips. Delicious. I haven’t ordered Mussels for ages! The only thing missing was a finger bowl of water: I eat mussels the French way (pinching an empty shell into the mussels to eat them- it’s just easier that splitting and chasing the mussels with a fork) so my hands got a bit covered in the Cider-y sauce!

So. You’d think we’d had enough, wouldn’t you?

No, we had dessert.

A Chocolate Mousse Cake, Salty Peanut Caramel & Cream, a Sticky Parsnip and Butterscoth Pudding with Vanilla Ice Cream (the waitress pointed out, you make Carrot Cake from a root vegetable, why not use Parsnips?) and then I had Roast Rhubarb Pavlova with Cashew Cream.

Delicious. Great portion sizes (not too big, not too small). All accompanied with a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and Fentiman’s Curiosity Cola.

Then we drove back (note the Virgin Mojitos and Curiosity Cola- we had a designated driver) and I fell asleep, like a baby, awaking as we drove down the hill to our house.

All in all, a pretty good Saturday night then!

Favourite Brand Discoveries From a Weekend in Sweden

March 9, 2015sarahloulake

P.A.P Leather

I saw these bags, phone, laptop and tablet covers in STUK. PAP (Premium Accessories by Pyk) is a Swedish brand that uses leather with solid brass details. Their website talks about timeless design that is always modern.

My favourite is this Emma shoulder bag in Tan €399

Definitely a contender for the bag investment…

Bread & Boxers

The brainchild of two people, stranded without luggage, the original concept was about “mini-bar” underwear, which then extended to a full range. Beautiful packaging. Beautiful models. This is a simple range of vests, t shirts and boxers (and pants for girls!) in classic white, black and marl grey, made from 100% organic cotton. My favourite is this classic relaxed crew neck in grey for €29.95

Granit

I wrote about Granit in the main post on the trip here, but this shop is great design, well priced. It is form and function combined in classic, Swedish style. Love.

Gram Shoes

Gram is all about making sophisticated sneakers. Beautiful design: clean lines and simple. Much of the idea, as the name suggests, is around the concept of weight and the names of each shoe correlate with the first sample’s weight in grams.

Sandqvist

Just beautiful bags with simple design

Bosign

Scandinavian detail and lasting functionality in lifestyle products

I love this cable tidy- I need it by my bed! Unfortunately it had European plugs in it…

Edblad

Nice, simple jewellery

Love this necklace for 399KR

Swedish Stockings

Sustainable tights, in great designs

I am always on the hunt for good tights, as I wear them all year round- even in the summer!

I love these Nina Fishbone ones…these ladies deserve a congratulations for finding a tasteful way of photographing tights as well…

Koka in Göteborg

March 9, 2015sarahloulake 1 Comment

Before I headed to Göteborg, I coincidentally happened to order the latest edition of “Where Chefs Eat”. If you haven’t heard of it, it kind of does what the title suggests: it outlines restaurants where chefs eat. It claims to be “The Ultimate Insiders’ Guide” spanning “From Local Favourites To High End”. I benchmarked it based on the Chicago picks: thanks to a very good gastronomic education in the second city, I was able to deduce that this book has some good picks in it.

Buy the book. It’s great. £10.47 on Amazon.co.uk

Flicking to the Göteborg page it talks about a place called Koka:

“Having started life as a French bistro in 2000, Bjorn Persson’s Kock & Vin only started taking shape in 2006 when the restaurateur bought the cellar below, upgraded the kitchen and set his sights on creating a world class restaurant. Eight years later, the restaurant has a new name, a new food philosophy and its modern Swedish cuisine has a Michelin star. However, Koka remains very much a Gothenburg establishment: the menu brims with west-coast produce- salted herring, seaweed, nettles, lovage, langoustine, lingonberry. If you indulge in the seven-course taking menu, you’ll appreciate the comfortable pared-back dining room; opt for the three course dinner and you’ll grab yourself a bargain”

You can book online, and the first table available was at 9pm. Apparently, in trying to work my way through the Swedish, I had selected the 3 course menu. Fine by me- the book recommended it, after all.

When you arrive, the restaurant is beautiful; each table lit with its own simple black lamp. The cutlery is laid in its own little bed, and the waitress pulled out an envelope from underneath the wooden frame. In it, was a typed menu with our three courses (and the option for a cheese course), along with a correlating wine menu to go with the food. We opted for the wine menu (400 SEK per person). And the cheese. In for a penny, in for a pound. Or a Kroner…

There is a small bowl next to our left. The waitress pours a broth from a kettle into it, and we sip it from the bowl. She tells us it’s vegetable broth- I have no idea how they can make vegetables taste so good though!

So, the first dish comes- an Amuse Bouche. Delicate. Small. Raw shrimp with elderflower mayonnaise topped with carrots and roasted shrimp shells. Delicious. But small. Is this one of those amazing meals where you’re still hungry?

Just as that fear flickers across my face, beautiful sour dough and crisp bread arrives in a Scandinavian grey felt bowl. Next to the bowl for the broth there was a stone. The waitress comes with a bowl of hand churned butter with sea salt flakes. Seriously. This is the best butter I have EVER tasted. It comes with wooden butter knives. I loved them, and bought some in the airport to use up my last few Kroner!

The starter then arrives: raw cod with oysters and celery. I really don’t like celery, but this is delicious: it was like unwrapping a gift. Every bite was amazing and the dish was paired with a 2013 Riesling Trocken Weingut Wittmann Rheinhessen, Tyskland. It wasn’t that sickly sweet Riesling though, it was light. Refreshing. Lovely.

We then moved on to the main course: lamb, leeks and caraway cheese. This lamb was evenly pink and just melted. It was served with red wine, a 2005 San Guglielmo Magnum Malvira, Langhe. A perfect match- I know nothing about wine- but it matched!

We opted for the cheese- the Wrangebacksost which had been aged for 18 months and was served with poppy seed crispbread.

Then, we had the dessert. I am not an egg eater, but I ate this. There was a full, raw egg yolk in here, but it didn’t taste…eggy…it was sweet with the caramel and the buckwheat gave a biscuit crumb. This was served with a strong, sweet dessert wine: 2001 Moscatel de Setubal, JP Vinhos. Very strong. And, at this stage, glass of wine number five of the evening (and it wasn’t the last).

Finally, a pretty finale: cardamom cream with ligonberries.

Such a beautiful restaurant with impeccable service. Every dish was phenomenal: it forces you out of your normal selections to taste new ingredients served in new ways. Definitely highly recommended, and whilst expensive (not quite “grab yourself a bargain”, Where Chefs Eat!), is totally worth it for the experience alone!

Hej Hej From Göteborg!

March 9, 2015sarahloulake 1 Comment

I wasn’t having a great week at work last week, and just wanted to get away for the weekend. The British Airways website has some great deals on it, and for £154 they were offering two nights and a flight to Göteborg. I have been to Sweden before, in 2010, visiting Stockholm and loving the food, landscape, people and, most importantly, the style of Sweden.

So, a couple of days after booking it, we took off from Heathrow and two hours later landed in Göteborg.

Where we stayed: Scandic Europa. The price included a great Swedish breakfast- I ate yogurt. Every flavour. All together. (Swedish yogurt is so good!) It’s located opposite the station, making it perfect to get to from the bus station. You can easily get from the airport into the city centre using the Flygbussarna for around 200 SEK. The hotel was great- conveniently located, and clearly one of the places to be in the evening: both Friday and Saturday night the bar and restaurant were packed!

On the first night that we were there, we headed out for dinner at Tranquilo, a Brazilian restaurant and apparently, I discovered on arrival, where the beautiful people of Göteborg go for dinner on a Friday night. The bar and wait staff were attractive, stylish and edgy, and mixed delicious Raspberry and Classic mojitos for us. For starters there was Pan Asado and Spicy Sausage, and for mains amazing short rib with chipotle and patatas bravas. Not necessarily traditional Swedish fayre, but delicious nonetheless. We walked back through the city for more drinks and some great music before retiring to bed.

The next day, after breakfast, we headed out to explore Göteborg. Starting with the main part of town, my first shop stop resulted in a purchase. Monki is a Swedish brand that you can actually purchase on asos.com in the UK here. The store is kind of trippy- an optical illusion of mirrors and Perspex stairs- but I purchased a grey cardigan here. I love their stuff- it’s fairly modest (important to me), yet stylish and affordable.

We continued to walk through the city, stopping at all the beautiful shops along the way. It was fairly quiet late morning. The shops are beautifully designed, the windows perfectly set and the store staff welcome you with a cheerful “hej hej” when you enter. We walked down Södra Larmgatan, where we looked in Tiger of Sweden (I purchased this supersoft sweatshirt from their jeans range) and resisted this bag. Hope and this great store called STUK Manufaktur. Here I discovered PAP leather, a Swedish leather goods company, and nearly succumbed to the most beautiful BLK DNM silk scarf (photographed here on another blog) I resisted though- just. I won’t lie. I was simultaneously combing through eBay for one on sale for less than the 1199 SEK price tag!

We grabbed some Fika (coffee and cake) at Di Matteo, and then walked through this small alleyway, discovering a store called Granit.

This store is everything I want my home to be, and I went a bit crazy. I bought this great little desk calendar as well as some black note cards, white printing ink, pencils and pens and a typography stamp set. I also bought this little tear off shopping list.

We returned the next day and actually purchased two of these copper coat rails, which work with S hooks. The coats have been homeless since the shoe cubby was installed, so this will hopefully give them a new home!

On the same street we visited the Nudie Jeans Repair Shop- a great concept where people return their jeans in return for a discount off their next pair. The jeans are then repaired and sold. Matt got a pair of the mended Nudies for 500 SEK along with a belt.

After this, we visited a couple of other beautiful home stores, one called Artilleriet which was packed full of people and classic Swedish design. This chair was amazing. Too big to carry back, unfortunately!

We also visited a great store called Grandpa which sold clothes and home stuff. This is where Matt discovered one of his new “wants”, Gram shoes (“sophisticated sneakers”) and I just wanted to look at all the Sandqvist bags. Decisions, decisions on the bag investment front.

We headed back towards the city for some lunch, and became engrossed in the game of shuffleboard that was happened next to us, then continued walking to the old town.

Here there were loads of antique stores and tiny cafes, stacked with cakes in the windows and reindeer skins on the chairs outside. We visited Market 29 where I bought two prints. Their Instagram can be found here and I bought the black and white bicycle print you can see in a few of their pics. We also grabbed more coffee in one of the little cafes before heading back for a bit of a disco nap.

So, Saturday night. It started at the Clarion Post Hotel, with some wine sat on a gold Chesterfield. There is some great people watching here, and you’re surrounded by a selection of beautiful books. Mostly in Swedish, but great to look at. We then headed over to where we had dinner: Koka. It was so amazing it deserves its own blog post. Prior to dinner we had drinks at BB which, it turns out, means Bjorns Bar, small and perfectly formed, we nestled in a corner before our epic dinner.

Following the dinner, we strolled back through the city for…yes…more alcohol and great music. I’ll post all the tracks from the weekend in Göteborg, as every store, bar and restaurant had music I would want to listen to. Shazam came in handy.

The next day, after yogurt, I was still a little bit ropey so grabbed a big coffee and finished off the shopping. We grabbed lunch opposite the Saluhallen Market Hall, which we had visited the day before. It’s like the Oxford Covered Market, but cleaner, more stylish and more tempting. Great food stalls full of Swedish sweets, meat, fish and other delicacies.

We headed back to the airport around 4.30pm considerably poorer, with a good dose of Swedish style (home, fashion and music) and ready for the week ahead. I would definitely recommend a trip to Göteborg (if you have already been to Stockholm), but be warned: whilst the flights and hotel seem a bargain, shopping, drinking and eating costs money. I think it was worth it though!

Soundtrack to a weekend in Göteborg

The More I Want- Original Mix, Larse

It’s Yours- feat. E-Man, Jon Cutler

3am (Original Mix), Bobby Blanco

Bump and Hustle Music, Tommy Stewart

Jah Music feat. Blue Eyez, 7 Samurai

Nothing Better Than Music, Deadly Sins

Uncover, Zara Larsson

Fade Out Lines- Chopstick & Johnjon Remix, The Avener

Lean On (feat. Mo & DJ Snake), Major Lazer, DJ Snake

Are You With Me- Radio Edit, Lost Frequencies

Walk, Kwabs

Teach Me, Bakermat

Google Maps Made For Me!

March 5, 2015sarahloulake

I just had to quickly post about this. First, because I am just geeking out. Second, because I received a request for more tech posts this week. So here is one.

I am planning a trip to Gothenburg. It’s a quick holiday, and wanted to make sure I’ve got everything covered. So, I made a list: shops, cafes, bars and restaurants. Oh. And one museum. I’ve got all the bases covered- yeah? I had it on a Word document, with all the addresses and then thought, that doesn’t really help me- because I don’t know what is next to what!

So, I went on Google Maps, where you can create your own map if you have a Google account. I just plotted all the things I want to see on a map and saved it.

The next thing was, how to see it on my phone? Just download an app from the Play Store called “My Maps” (it’s a Google app, and free) and then log in- and your map appears! Just click on each red marker, and the details come up underneath the map.

Little things, eh? I am so happy- this is way easier than my Word document or carrying a map!

February in Chicago- Top 5 Restaurant Visits

March 1, 2015sarahloulake

I have been rather neglectful of my blog in February, probably because I spent 2.5 weeks in Chicago and had a great time catching up with friends and hanging out in my favourite city. I had every intent of blogging- I took photographs of many of the restaurants and bars we were in- but only now am sifting through them!

Avec

615 W Randolph

I had already been out with one set of people, ran back to the hotel only to run out the door again. On my way out the door, to get into my Uber, I ran into a colleague and brought him along to try this place out. This bar is beautiful, and packed- even at 9.30pm. The challenge to visit was set by a friend- and it was definitely worth the experience.

I had already been out, so we just sat at the bar. My company for the night doesn’t drink, so he had tea, which was served loose leaf in a glass teapot with a glass cup.

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I had wine and focaccia. The wine was a Spanish Rose, Alfredo Santamaria, “Pago el Cordonero”. I know nothing about wine, it was $11 and served in a beautiful mini carafe. It tasted good, which is always good! The focaccia though was just something else: “Deluxe” focaccia with taleggio cheese, ricotta, truffle oil and fresh herbs. $18. Totally worth it: crisp, light and just packed with flavour.

The challenge was accepted, and Avec is definitely worth a visit!

Piece Brewery & Pizza

1927 W North Avenue

In terms of ambience, Piece is a very different place to Avec! This is sport watching-beer drinking- pizza eating. However, it’s not greasy pizza with poor quality ingredients: this is good pizza. I mean, really good pizza.

I’d been before, when I lived in Chicago, but it was great to go back. Honestly, if you are heading to Chicago for any reason, don’t eat “Chicago style pizza” and think that this is all the city has to offer (heavy, cheesy, deep dish pizza pies?).

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At Piece you can either select from the menu or design your own pizza- pretty standard- but the pizza then comes out on the dish it has been cooked on, and sits on a stand on the table. Again, nothing that special. But it just tastes so good. So good. My friend Kim and I went for a red based pizza (yes- you can have white based, which is also delicious) with sausage and mushroom. The lighting is low, so the picture is poor. Needless to say though, it was great. A totally new discovery for me was the beer. Now, Piece does have a brewery, but we selected the Austrian Stiegl Radler, which is grapefruit beer. It was delicious, refreshing and actually quite low alcohol (much needed at this stage of the trip), which made it a bit like a “classy” shandy!

Momotaro

820 W Lake Street

The décor of this place is stunning: it’s almost like two restaurants. One open and bustling, with the chefs creating sushi theatre in a centre island on the ground floor, and then one downstairs which is dark, quieter and slightly seedy- in a chic way (with Japanese “porn” on the walls). We didn’t have reservations, so we got a typical “well…we can seat you downstairs, but only until 8pm…”. Eight o’clock came and went, and we weren’t moved on. Which was great, because we were having a good time! There were four of us, and we sampled from across the menus (both sushi and robata) as well as the main menu and a sort of “quick” menu.

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Sarah, our waitress, was exceptional at describing the menu for us and we ordered an array. I had salmon from the “quick” menu, as well as Wasabi Salmon Sushi Rolls from the Makimono section of the menu. We shared Wasabi Rice between us. One friend had the Alaskan King Crab from the Hibachi section (photographed below)

The wine menu is also great. I had visited before for drinks and selected cocktails, but this time went for white wine- the “Infamous Goose”, New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. It was surprisingly good!

Gilt Bar

230 W Kinzie

I have written about Gilt Bar before. This time, I went for what was supposed to be an early dinner with someone, and it ended up being one of those nights with a long chat! I ordered the salmon- the photo isn’t great. Gilt Bar is moody and dark, making it hard to take photos, or read menus. One time, another friend pulled out her iPhone and had to use the torch function to read the menu. A waiter promptly came over, offering a softer light from a torch that wouldn’t spoil the “ambience”! Anyway, the point of this comment is that, yes, I took a photo of the salmon, but the flash makes it look a bit “bleurgh”. Rest assured, it tasted great!

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So, a quick dinner- I had the Roasted Salmon with brown butter, lemon and crispy capers, my friend had the truffle pasta- hand cut noodles and pecorino- (which I have had before- delicious) and the Apple and Squash Salad with manchego and hazlenuts. Our chat got so in depth, we ended up ordering dessert which, as I have got older, I very rarely do anymore. It was delicious- American Diner style pies. I had Coconut and Mocha and my friend had Lemon Meringue. It was so good, I clearly wolfed it down before I had a chance to take the picture!

For drinks, I stuck with my favourite at Gilt Bar- a “Bees Knees”, which is gin, honey and lemon. A friend had recommended a Sazerac (rye, demerara and Peychaud’s) but I am still not up on my whiskey drinking. I’ve tried. I just need the sweetness to enjoy it!

Bottlefork

441 N Clark

This was a new one for me. The Saturday I was due to leave, I was extremely hungover. Extremely. I had spent the night before closing down 2 bars with an English friend. (Bavette’s and Vignamaggio again…) A 3.30am finish and then having to pack 2.5 weeks worth of luggage meant I was not feeling at my best.

Cue Bottlefork. My lovely American friend, Elizabeth, proposed it as a location for a goodbye brunch, and it certainly did the trick. I was not prepared to let another drop of alcohol pass my lips. In fact, I still haven’t- over a week later! I was grateful for the coffee and the caffeine boost and I began the slow process of rehydration with some “Chef’s Huckleberry Lemon-Aid”. The “Aid” was required. This was huckleberry puree, lemon juice, syrup and soda. Delicious.

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I needed something to stop the room from spinning and this place gave me the elixir I craved. Now, English people. Don’t judge. For brunch I had the Wood Grilled Ground Bacon Burger, served with Vermillion blue, shoestrings (super skinny fries) and the ominous “special sauce”. We also grabbed some “tots” to share, whilst Elizabeth had the Greek omelette or (“Omelet” as it is spelled on the menu) which was feta, tomato, spinach and tsatziki. She made it a little less vegetarian with a side of bacon.

Sephora Haul

February 28, 2015sarahloulake

I have spent most of February (happily) in Chicago which meant lots of Sephora shopping! Hurrah!

This is only some of the stuff I bought (or was “rewarded”), but I thought I’d give a quick run through of it

Hair

I am a huge fan of all that is Bumble & Bumble. I always use their shampoo now. I have been on the Thickening Shampoo (and the Thickening Hairspray) but thought I would return to the one I used in the summer, which is the Creme de Coco, just for the smell! It’s $25 in Sephora and £18.50 in Boots here

I also purchased a travel version of their All Style Blow Dry cream. I have this in the larger size, but had forgotten to pack it. This handy travel size means that you can take it as hand luggage! It just improves blow drying your hair, and makes it look…well…better!

Eyes

I was very lucky, and received a gift voucher from some of my lovely friends in America. One of the things I bought with it was this beautiful Smashbox Full Exposure eye pallet which was $52 and can be found here. It’s £37 from their website here.

It’s a great mix of day and night- some matt shades and some glittery. I only wear browns/greys/blacks for eye shadow, so this is perfect. What I really like about this is the brush that it came with too. Sometimes the tools that come with make up are an afterthought. This is a great brush- I use it alongside my Mac brush as well to blend. I have never used Smashbox before, but I really like this pallet!

Scent

I also got Tom Ford’s Black Orchid perfume. It is just stunning. This is the perfume, rather than Eau de Toilette, so it is strong, but gorgeous.

It’s $75 at Sephora here– pricey, but worth it! You can find it in the UK for £52 here as well.

Free Gifts

I purchased all of this in a few trips, so got a few free gifts and points prizes. As it was my birthday month, I got these Nars lip pencils in 2 shades- one of them is very red! A nice gift, nonetheless! I also got a few 100 points gifts, including this Boscia face mask

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