The Sneaky Magpie

Chips, French fries, frites any time any place I will eat an extra large portion. I still remember walking home from school with some shrapnel in my pocket, I would stop next to a chip shop and get a paperbag full of the golden goodness. I would never tell my mother I had them before tea. It was my secret.

And this is how they serve them in Shanghai Airport

Favorite are the chunky Flemish fries – hand cut, really wide, golden and crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, topped with mayonnaise. Absolutely the best comfort food. Chips often determine what I order in restaurants. When I used to live in Amsterdam it was really easy to get them, every street corner has got a chip shop. The best place was just down the road from my house in the Pijp, a brown eetcafé called Carel’s. Carel’s served the best steak with a sauce of your choice. It would come with a generous side of chips (and a salad). I would devour the lot. Every evening the wonderful smell would wander into my apartment, it was a torture. When I last went back to Amsterdam, Carel’s was on top of my list of restaurants to visit when my friend told me it has closed down. I was shocked, disappointed, scared that I will never find another place like that again. Some say Lootje’s is the best, I am still to be convinced.

London chips are different, I eat various kinds for different occasions, fries in chi chi restaurants, soggy ones from a chippy while drunk and starving on my way home, my own version of roasted chips in olive oil for dinner, the naughty lunch treat from my fav (so far) chippy in London, I even tried pub chips with melted cheese on top – it was not good.

Given that I’ve cycled to work for three days now I decided I deserve chips for lunch. The best chips near my office are in The Chippy in Poland Street. On Fridays you need to make sure to arrive before 13.00 otherwise the queue can get pretty long. Big box of chips is £1.70, they are always freshly cooked and crispy. Today I decided to eat fish&chips inside the chippy, it was a great thing to do as it seems more like a busy brasserie than a caff. Even though the place opened not so long ago it has got an austere post war look with white tiles and copper lamp shades which adds to the experience.The fish wasn’t bad either.

I could go on about my London experiences for a very long time, I will only say the Electric Brasserie, Lucky 7 and Soho House serve some good stuff.

Needless to say I feel bit heavy now. Might retire on the office sofa as boss is away…

Crossing Oxford Street was a deadly experience today, string of taxis and buses with bikes zooming past. I must make a point – I don’t like crossing Oxford Street on a regular day let alone on a mad tube strike day. My office is in Market Place which is Noho and it pains me if I have to go over the other side, unless of course I walk down to Liberty or Pain de Quotidien.

Today I went to Borders to buy The Cherry Orchard by Chekhov (yep, another book skipping the queue), I have booked tickets to see the play by the Bridge Project at the Old Vic next Saturday and needed to refresh my memory. As an experiment I bought the cheapest tickets, the ‘limited leg room, left side no arm rest, might have to lean forward’ kind. Buy they did cost £9.50 which is a steal given that it is directed by Sam Mendes.

Anyway, back to Borders, I came across yet another beautiful series of books by Penguin, it’s called English Journeys. Books small and light enough to put in your bag and read on a train or a bus or the tube once it gets back in service. Books that tell stories about places, encourage you to go and visit. I really like Penguin for things like this or the blank cover books where you can draw your own cover or the leather bound classics for a perfect gift at only £20 per book.

Now, all exhausted after two big cycles in insane traffic, I am in bed with a cup of tea and Chekhov, bliss.

Yesterday went all wrong, I was supposed to cycle for the first time to work armed with my nice new basket and Bern helmet however it decided to rain, and rain and rain…so I changed to wellies and brolly and a coat and off I went, about 10 minutes into my walk it stopped, arghh.

The day was dragging on, boring at work at the moment, grey outside, I started to daydream about this cake I baked some time ago – flourless chocolate cake topped with raspberries with little cloudberry jam nipples. The recipe is from Times and you can find it here. It’s really easy, delicious and always a winner with people.

However, I don’t have an oven or the ingredients at work to bake so I settled on a fab coconut and passion fruit cake from Le Pain Quotidien. My favorite cake ever from LPQ is the carrot cake, best one in London but this one hit the spot.

My day did not end up well, rushing to the tube to get on a train before 7.00pm (the strike started at 7.00), I was on the Victoria Line, then planning to change at Stockwell for the Northern Line to Clapham but they decided not to let us off at Stockwell because of overcrowding. The train stopped, you can actually see the other platform from the train and there were no people there! And they still decided not to open the door for us. So I had to leg it from Brixton. Oh well.

People are curious creatures, I popped to my local supermarket to get some berries and the whole fruit and veg section was barren. People were panic buying. Buying everything. I suppose if you get stuck at home because the tube is closed all you can do is stuff yourself for two days.

This morning I did cycle in, it was horribly busy and extremely badly managed. Boris, it’s minus 10 points for you again I’m afraid.

Stila’s Major Lash mascara was my all time favortie mascara for few years now. Imagine my shock when I went to buy a new one at Liberty’s and the whole Stila stand was gone! On to Space NK, even bigger shock when they told me that Stila moved their business from UK altogether and won’t be back! My heart sank. I’ve been monitoring ebay for a while to no avail. This morning I received an email from Brand Alley telling me they are selling Stila at discounted prices. With my heart throbbing I went to their website, wallet in hand, just to discover the the mascara priced £7.50 has sold out! What is the point of sending an email announcing new arrivals when the stock is gone?! It’s exactly the same trick they are playing at The Outnet.

Finally finished Celebrity by Marina Hyde, the brutal truth about celebrities. On to the next tube book – think Accidental by Ali Smith, this is one of the birthday gifts from my very good friends.

My birthday is not over yet it seems, my dear friend Ewa got me the first series of Mad Men. I find it visually impeccable, the story line is intriguing and the slow pace adds to it. I only saw few episodes from the second series and got hooked. The attention to detail is amazing be it with the interior or with clothing, down to ashtrays and underwear. The leading ladies are beautiful and men are handsome. Crazy world of advertising in the 60s. Being in advertising myself I find it fascinating. Kind of glad the good weather is gone, feel less guilty about staying at home and gorging on the show.

Joan, had to upload her as big as possible, the woman is stunning

July’s Vogue is so dull, it seems to be exactly the same as last time they did the Ageless Issue. Yawn….Elle vs Vogue 1:0.

Totally forgot that Mary Queen of Charity Shops started last week, had to catch up on Iplayer (thank you BBC for this wonderful tool), watch it here if you haven’t seen it. Mary looks amazing as usual with her structured jackets and statement jewelery. Next episode on Tuesday at 21.00, cannot wait. She is getting very important message across too – don’t drop off your rubbish to charity shops, they won’t be able to sell it and will end up spending lots of money to dispose of it. Can’t believe people actually give away dirty pants.

This week’s film is Anotnioni’s Blow Up. It’s a really good story but they haven’t executed is properly or didn’t manage to develop it cause it could have been very exciting, Hitchcock-esque almost. I found it bit strange, even boring at times. I shall read Julio Cortazar’s short story the film is based on to find out what went wrong. Vanessa Redgrave is great though and so amazingly beautiful.

Sunday was spent round Shoreditch, I popped to the newly revamped Whitechapel Gallery, they have some very interesting stuff there. They also opened a swish restaurant next door – Whitechapel Gallery Dining Room,  looks good however it got a luke warm review from AA Gill. Will go on my ‘places to eat at some point in not too near future’ list.

I’ve been meaning to write about it for such a long time as it is one of the best things to do in London. Event called First Thursdays happens in the East End and streches as far as Islington on every first Thursday of a month as the name suggests. From about 19.00 crowd gathers to visit new galleries that stay open till 21.00, I usually go to Vyner Street area, which is a home to quite a few galleries, with new ones opening fast it is a very exciting place, you can get a beer from a street stall very very cheaply or try to grab an outside table at Victoria pub. The quality of the artworks vary but you can be sure to find something that suits your taste, the exhibitions change frequently so there is always something new to see. Last week a new gallery opened called Monday Morning Says: and they are fantastic, check out their blog. I bought one of their magazines with drawings, some are beautiful, some are hilarious, slightly Shrigley-ish. Good stuff and a perfect thing to do during the week.Make sure you catch the next one!

As planned I went to explore the Brixton Market. It is a very vibrant place full of crazy characters, a lot of tat and some fab food shops. Stopped by a Jamaican grocer, gosh, there is a whole new world of spices out there! And everything is pretty cheap, a large box of dried chanterelle mushrooms cost me less that 3 quid, huge bags of beans, pulses and grains are £2.50 on average. The choice of fruit and veg is endless. I will definitely visit more often. On my way back I also snapped a bunch of white peonies for mere £2 as opposite to the bunch from Berwick Street Market which was four times as much!

The nice lady from Jamaican shop helped me to find Rosie’s Deli Cafe which is such a darling little place (The Guardian wrote about it a couple of weeks ago), with shelves of food stuff for sale, very attractive menu and charming ladies serving, including the lovely owner, Rosie Lovell. My friend and I grabbed a table outside and ordered ciabattas, mine was with pecorino cheese, grilled aubergines and spinach, and my friend’s with pancetta, spinach and cheese. It was delicious. I skipped the cakes but will surely be back to try them. Rosie’s book is out now, it’s called Spooning with Rosie.

Just across from the cafe is a vintage clothing shop called Secondi. The shop has got a great selection of clothing and shoes, lots of designer stuff and very interesting bags like the baby alligator bag, pretty freaky if you ask me! The shop also serves as a cafe (picture above), a perfect place if you want to get away from the market crowd.

Overall Brixton Market is a pretty great place, very easy going and full of locals, well worth a visit.

I only went there to get some knickers and they were missing from their usual spot. Topshop is all turned up-side-down, messy, hard to find a thing, but yet I managed to stumble across these studded skinny jeans. And did they make my legs look skinny! Somehow only Topshop jeans are able to turn my humongous thighs into slim and toned. MAGIC. So needless to say I got them. If I am to rationalize this purchase I bought it because the temperatures dropped and I am wearing a sundress and …. well, really like the jeans.

I also tried on this jacket. Luckily for my wallet it didn’t suit me. They do have a good selection of ‘trophy jackets’ as they call them.

Feeling slightly traumatised after the Topshop experience I went to Liberty to the beauty department where they wrap your Diptyque candle nicely and spray the same scent on the tissue paper. Love them so much for this.

I got a beautiful bunch of hyacinths from my mother in law last weekend, the flowers happily sit in Mr Celery vase, I have a bit of a thing for Sylvac pots and vases. Celery has got its place next to two beetroots and a cucumber pots in the kitchen when it doesn’t serve as an emergency vase.

Last Friday I wandered to Berwick Street Market to get my very fav flowers – peonies. They are in season now and I cannot resist buying them, all colors will do. Really love the fat pretty petals. Ranunculus are second best flowers.

And this is my new purchase, a Swiss eight day clock, very loud alarm. Got it at the Camden Passage a couple of weeks back. So glad I don’t need to be woken up by random text messages in the middle of the night anymore and my mobile can stay in another room for the night.

Got the lost/stolen Vogue at last, along with the new Vogue and Elle. Lots of reading tonight!

Coming back home on a hot Friday evening I had only one thing on my mind – ice cream from my local Patisserie Macaron. I almost got off the tube one spot too early to go there but after further consideration I decided to pick up my hubby from home and walk there together. We got there 10 minutes to 7.00 and they were closing, imagine the disappointment! I even checked the website and it said it closes at 8.00 in summer. I would describe May as summer as winter was the only other option. I grumpily went home. Saturday was pretty fantastic too and I did get my ice cream fix, my absolutely favorite is mango sorbet, I usually team it up with raspberry sorbet but this time I opted for mango sorbet and coconut ice cream combo. It is unbelievably good however I would remove the chocolate flakes from the coconut. I don’t like chocolate flakes in ice cream. This is one of the reasons why I don’t like 99, the Flake! (sorry Anthea Turner) And the fact that the ice cream is pretty lame too.

Anyway, going back to the lovely patisserie, it is in Clapham, on The Pavement, and it is the best. It had patisserie of the year award a couple of years ago. They make macaroons, pastries, tarts, fine patisseries and chocolates and they also bake bread. Perfect spot for breakfast, lunch or tea, drinks are served in mismatched vintage china. The atmosphere is great. The same people own a French restaurant down the road in Venn Street which is pretty good too, it’s called Gastro Deli.

Pictures from Patisserie’s website because every time I am there I concentrate on the cakes not photography!