#9 Wins and more

I haven’t really written anything here in a while. I guess life got in the way. I have had a busy start to 2018 and I had no clue which direction to take my career in so applied for nearly every single job opportunity I had. Multiple interviews, mountain loads of stress and a whole lot of indecision later, I have an exciting new job lined up in Northern Ireland this August! I am quite excited and (of course, nervous) about yet ANOTHER big move. But hey, life is an adventure ain’t it?

Fast forward to another 2 months into the big move, and I still have not been able to get back into the swing of things completely yet!

For those who don’t know, I am what is known as a “comper”. I enter competitions as a hobby, and what I mean are those social media ones where you like and share, or submit a photo, or prize draws! There is a huge community online for it and it sure is a fabulously rewarding hobby.

It is difficult to feel motivated sometimes as entering competitions is really SUCH an effort, and one really needs to invest the time in it. To make myself feel a bit more motivated to comp, I have decided to revisit my Excel sheet of wins and list down some of the wins I have had this 2018!

• A year’s worth of pizza with Chicago Town – Who doesn’t love pizza?! 24 vouchers of the various different Chicago Town varieties
• A £250 Office Outlet voucher – I haven’t used it yet but so excited to explore the website and pick out a few things I need
• An incredible bimonthly subscription of Gin with Craft Club Gin and Arden snacks – I just simply love my gin, and love adding a new special gin every two months to my ever-expanding collection! Truth be told, I also won another three separate competitions for gin this year, including one where I had a writing entry, so PLENTY of gin in our home.
• A High Peak Outback gas BBQ with Quotadis – Been on my wish list for ages now, so superbly ecstatic for this wonderful summer win! To be honest, I only received it recently due to a delivery issue and I haven’t opened it yet… The weather is just not right for it!
• My very first big instant win of a £100 eVoucher for Tesco with Regina Blitz – Could not believe this as I am usually really unlucky with instant wins (never won a thing with the soft and gentle, soft and cheesy, pepsi/doritos, lucozade, ribena promotion)
• £150 Love2Shop Vouchers with UK Bike and Go for a fashionable photo of myself on my bicycle
• £250 amazon voucher for a creative memory box photo I entered which I have already spent on some beauty and tech products
• £50 Beanies voucher with their monthly competition to show them #beaniesontour and where you drink their coffee
•  £50 voucher with Compers News (magazine I subscribe to just for competitioning) for a prize draw where my photo was picked for their Bucket List Challenge! Now I only entered one photo and it was picked at random and I know they had plenty of entries, so feeling pretty lucky there!
• A really fancy Meaco fan worth £99.99

To be fair, I have had quite a few big wins this year, and also I have managed to cash in multiple weekends in London but I’ll leave the photos and stories for next time.

Andddddd, here’s my wish list of competitions to focus on:

• I really would love to win a holiday! South Africa, South America, Iceland, Finland/Lapland, South Korea, Florida… I am not that fussed where to be honest. It just needs to be all expenses paid and not in the UK. My best win ever was a discounted holiday and was truly one of the best experiences and most epic time I have ever had. (I’ll leave this for another blog post.) Kevin and myself are currently planning a holiday for November and it is so painful on the wallet!
• Anything that includes a reed diffuser / aromatic diffuser as I am currently so obsessed with them, and I don’t really want to buy anymore… I mean, how nice smelling are they?!
• A new big TV! There has been quite a few recently with Pepsi/Doritoes but no luck on any yet.
• I saw someone on instagram win a years supply of body soap and thought, that would be awesome. I still have beauty and hair products to last me another few years but body soap is a different story!
• Anything gym related (clothing, protein, snacks, drinks) as I am currently trying to get fit and healthy
• Concert / event tickets
• More Amazon vouchers to buy more books!
• A new hairdryer if I am not tempted to buy one before then…
• OH AND A NEW PHONE, before the parents have to get me one this christmas!

That’s all for now – be happy and lucky!

Vee

 

#8 An American in Paris

The reveal: We got to watch the wonderfully acclaimed An American in Paris at the Dominicon Theatre tonight! What an utterly beautiful show. It’s no wonder Mr Carl WoodWard @theatremusing had described this as the best musical in London!  Thank you so much for easily the best seats in theatre.

Now I wouldn’t categorised it as a musical, but a wonderfully choreographed theatre piece with singing. It is perfect for a fan of ballet and dance, and one who can appreciate jazz and the wonderful 20th century composer Gershwin. The costumes, sets and use of modern tech were really very creative and so elegant and beautiful.

(Also if you are learning drama or theatre in school or university, this was a really good show to watch – the director / choreographer really used a lot of various drama techniques to draw parallels and contrast the storylines between different characters and you can truly appreciate this on this set!)

Outside the theatre

Interval 🙂

Definitely a must-go if you love dance and theatre – An American in Paris is a stunning piece. (I only wish that we didn’t have to feel the rumbling of the tube under our feet every 2 minutes…)

Also… Here’s a random observation we noted. WHY IS HÄAGEN DAZS the only ice cream brand ever to be served at the theatre? Did they make a deal? They aren’t the only one that does mini pots, are they? Is it because it’s classy looking or has a spoon for easy eating in it? Feel free to enlighten us…

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#7 A lovely Saturdate

We try to make the best use of our time off whenever we have any, and the lazy part of me dies a little every time we have to make that effort to do stuff and just in general, get out of bed on a non-working day. However, I’m always glad we do in the end though, because we always have a good time doing things.

We had afternoon tea in the fancy Waldorf Hotel, and as it advertises:

“Afternoon tea at The Waldorf Hilton is always special. Put simply, you can’t pay us a visit without sampling our take on one of Britain’s favourite pastimes. Whether you are celebrating an occasion or seeking an indulgent treat, enjoy our selection of freshly cut sandwiches and savouries before tucking into warm scones with clotted cream and jam. Finish with sweet treats and your choosing from our fabulous range of speciality teas. Creating a real sense of occasion, our popular afternoon tea is skilfully prepared, served with precision and accompanied by our elegant resident pianist and harpist. For those looking for bubbles, free-flowing Champagne can be added.”

I mean, clearly I am easily swayed by such pretty and elegant descriptions but would’t you be too?! (This is why I never have enough money, as I am so easily persuaded to buy things on a lurch.) But yes, afternoon tea was nothing less than wondrous – (to be honest, the sandwiches were pretty meh but it was really the classy atmosphere that you pay for). I was so impressed with the harpist that the next time that you hear from me, I might have signed up for some harp lessons. Or you know, be half way into doing Grade 1 to become a professional harpist. One should have dreams you know, it’s good for you.

 

The afternoon tea delights!

Heh I love this new white top

Such a classy place

We then walked around Covent Garden to shop and also visited the Pop Up Café near Leicester Square by Easy Jet celebrating all things Dutch – well actually, celebrating mostly – sprinkles. Yes, sprinkles. In fact the social media tag was #sprinklescafe. This was actually so fun, and we’re so glad we went to check it out! We ended up trying to be all artistic and tried to make sprinkle art on toast because apparently Dutch people ACTUALLY have it as food. (We confirmed this with staff who were actually Dutch and told us which were the better sprinkles to eat and the not-so-nice ones.) They had such awesome snazzy sprinkles and tulip art everywhere, and even clouds that went into a flashing musical display! I even got my lips done — WITH SPRINKLES! Never had so many stares in one day, and I heard someone whisper “crazy” but – #YOLO.

 

Toast everywhere!

Super cool light display

Sprinkles on toast

Sprinkled tulip display!

Miffy is dutch!

My sprinkle lips

Getting the sprinkle lip art done

For dinner, we had a reservation at Café Pacifico – this was a prize win from ages ago as part of the Comida Festival. Cuban/Mexican-inspired cocktails, mandatory nachos, chimichanga, burritoes and tacos! YUM YUM YUM. Service was absolutely excellent, there were so many customers and yet food managed to be served in record time, super tasty, piping hot and very nicely presented! I can’t wait to be back – the atmosphere was so fun and the food was so authentic and tasty.

 

Chimichanga

Burrito Especial

Aerial view

Our mexican inspired cocktails ❤

Mandatory wefie

 

#6 Let’s get Kinky!

All compers have a wish list of items or experiences they want to win and then keep an eye for competitions for it. I have had “top notch musical tickets” high up on that list for THE longest time ever.

And I do have to say, prizes do really come like buses. Sometimes never, and then occasionally all at once! I won two tickets to Kinky Boots last last Friday and, I have managed to bag another exciting musical prize win this weekend as well (I won’t spoil which one yet)! Theatre is an expensive hobby albeit a worthwhile one and so these wins are especially special.

I won this with the lovely Today Tix – an app which I’ve mentioned before where you can get lots of discounted theatre tickets, and enter for ticket lotteries. They were celebrating Kinky Boots’ second anniversary and asked for people to send in a short video about why they love it. They compiled some of the winning entries and then posted it on their social media Not sure if the link below for the video would work – spot me, I’ve got the heart sunnies on!

https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FTodayTixUK%2Fvideos%2F821361198023336%2F&show_text=0&width=560

Outside the Adelphi Theatre

Opening Stage

The Final Applause

And if the name of the show hasn’t given it away – the Kinky Boots musical is about an unlikely and heartwarming friendship between a man struggling to keep a family legacy of a shoe company alive and and a marvellous performer in need of some sturdy but sexy stilettos. We had a brilliant time watching it – it sure is fabulously sassy and uplifting, and would definitely put you in a good mood no matter what.

I think what was extra memorable on that day really was our crazy journey to the train station. I finished my shift late that day so literally had to cycle at full speed home, get dressed and made up in record time (because you have to look half presentable at the West End) and then we had to sprint over to the train station. We were extremely lucky not to have missed the train because if we were any second later – watching the show would not have been possible! Hah. We both had the worst stitch ever, and we were both a little green faced in the train but it was well worth it!

 

 

#5 I am so in love..

…WITH MY NEW BIKE!!!

Literally on top of the world with my new ride.

Introducing my gorgeous new customised Marin bicycle – jazzed up with fabulous dynamo lights, Pitlock security and a Brooks Saddle! I simply love everything about it – it’s stylish, gorgeous and rides SO damn nicely.

Me all smiles after collecting my wonderful bike outside the shop

So the background story is that I was extremely lucky to win a custom bike by the Cloud 9 Cycles shop up to the value of £1700 with Upbeat drinks (yes, the protein smoothie drinks!). Upbeat drinks asked for you to submit a photo where you are doing any sport with your thumbs up, and I submitted this photo below into the prize draw. There were thousands of absolutely impressive entries including ones of people scuba diving and doing crazy things like sky diving with their thumbs up, so I couldn’t believe my luck when I got a winning message from their team!

 

My winning photo that I submitted (I think minus the emoticons, couldn’t find the original photo lol)

It took a while for everything else to happen. I had the privilege of going for a bike fitting with world expert Tony Corke who had a fancy stationary bicycle of which he can adjust the saddle height, and the position of the handle bar etc. for measurements for a perfectly measured bicycle! Now as someone who ain’t very tall (although apparently I’m well proportional thankfully), this was a great idea as I’ve always struggled to find a well fitting bicycle. (I’d like to suitably blame my poor riding skills due to this very fact.)

At the bike fitting trying to look all chill (I was actually very out of breath and struggled to hide the fact I wasn’t as fit as I remembered)

It was going to be too pricey for a total customised bicycle, so the knowledgeable folk (thank you Adam and Billy for all your help and expertise) at Cloud 9 Cycles said it might be best picking a frame and then customising it to what I would like. They helped me choose a frame that would be well fitting and would suit my needs best, and suggested adding on things like a dynamo light – I mean, the wheels of the bicycle power the back and front lights – how freaking cool is that?! Also managed to get a wonderful basket added on the the back pannier which is really useful and extremely practical for my commute to work. I’d like to think that I am the envy of all other bike riders out there :’)

Of course, with such a prized possession and a sad history of previously having my bicycle stolen, (screw you bloody bike thieves) there comes a great fear of this bicycle being stolen too so I have been super duper, ridiculous vigilant about it (think GPS trackers, gold insured bike locks, frequent checks on the bike on lunch breaks at the work place). (Kevin may say a little paranoid…)

Our prized possessions

Funnily enough, Kevin (my other half) also recently won a Boardman bicycle from Halfords! It was a direct card entry into the prize draw at the local retail park at one of the local events, and he was absolutely over the moon with his. We BOTH get new rides! Safe to say though my bike is much nicer 😛

Exploring the riverside town on our bicycles!

Till next time!

#4 Truly, it was Phantastic

I’m not sure how you feel after watching a brilliant play, musical or musical performance. I am always left utterly mesmerised and singing or humming the entire repertoire for days on end.

Last weekend, we decided to watch (as you might have gathered from the title), the Phantom of the Opera!! It is my third time watching it but I don’t think it really counts until you experience a musical close enough to properly appreciate it. Previous two times I was far enough that I had to do a stupid amount of squinting and borrowing of binoculars to view the performance properly, and this time though, I was in the FOURTH ROW. The FOURTH ROW! We paid full price for the tickets and it was freaking worth every penny.

I know this entire post is dedicated to talking about how amazing the Phantom of the Opera is, but really, it definitely really is the best musical out there and I love it so much. I’d give it a 11 out of 10 if I could. I’m so pleased Kevin feels the same way about it. There is a reason why it is has been running for 31 glorious years – it is the longest running musical there is. I love absolutely everything about it, the brilliant singing and operatic highlights, the humour, the raw emotion of all the characters, the wonderful stage set up, the special effects, the rich details of the costumes and entire setting. It is an incredible show, and it absolutely cannot be faulted. The entire cast was brilliant, and Ben Lewis played such a brilliant Phantom. THANK YOU SO MUCH to all who makes it such a brilliant show, and to carry this wonderful musical legacy onwards! :’)

Have you watched the Phantom of the Opera before, and if so, who is your favourite cast member? Who is your favourite Phantom or Christine? And if you HAD to pick one (an impossible task for me), which is your favourite song?

Funny faces

❤

Here’s the stage front at the beginning of the show and the view from E11/E12.

Struggling with a good photo especially with the standing ovation!

 

#3 Surprise!

Came back home today with a massive surprise waiting for me.

A HUMONGOUS Thomas J Fudge Hat box full of amazing goodies!!

Turns out Kevin nominated me a while back, telling them about some good deeds I’ve done, and how I deserved some recognition for it.

He knows how crazily obsessed I am with their Florentines and he was going to get me a whole lot of them from their website and he spotted this and submitted my name!

I mean, look how HUGE the box is!!!

ˆˆ

Cheese board, notebook, apron, dish cloth!

Lots of their florentine varieties, cheese box, and mini wafers!!

Can you believe it?! I cannot be happier with such a wonderful surprise from the other half! Apparently there had been loads of delivery issues because we only just moved houses. Hehee, many many Florentine boxes, mini wafers, a heart cheese board, Apple crackers, a notebook, and all beautiful things Thomas J Fudge (dish cloth, apron, box and all)!

I’m really pleased 🙂 Kevin, you sir, are a keeper.

You too can make someone’s day at their website and you should check out all of Thomas J Fudge foods and snacks, as they all taste incredible!

#2 The Thames and Staybridge Suites

Dreamgirls. Thames Rockets. Staybridge Suites. Duck and Waffle. I can’t believe the weekend is over. And yes, I literally say that very same sentence every single week. I’m really glad me and Kevin took the plunge and decided to move down from Scotland to nearish London. We’re literally able to visit whenever we like, get in with the London lifestyle, and still get the novelty of being able to feel like tourists every single time. We’re far enough to be away from the chaos of it all, yet close enough to easily return to where all the fun happens.

Anyway, last weekend we tried to use a few of my prizes together again on another visit to London. If you haven’t gathered yet, I enter competitions as a hobby. Effort, photo, prize draws, you name it. It’s almost been a year anniversary since I’ve started and I’ve absolutely loved every bit of it. People tell me I’m so lucky all the time, and sometimes I want to rebuke and explain that it’s not all about luck and you do have to enter a lot to win anything, but you know what?! I’d like to think I’m pretty lucky. You could potentially enter thousands of competitions and STILL not win anything! Yeah, let’s just end it there. I am lucky! As the saying goes, you gotta be in it, to win it. I’m definitely in it.

So Saturday we train-ed down to London, and every now and then I enter on this fabulous app called Today Tix to see if we can watch a play / musical show that very day. We’ve tried before, and have won excellent seats to see The Entertainer (where actually the real highlight was meeting Rose Leslie from GoT in the theatre toilet, PS: still gutted I didn’t get a selfie but I wanted to be a classy and chill fan at that time) but since then, nothing. (Actually that’s not true, we were lucky in New York too, but that’s another story!) I got lucky, and we managed to bag ourselves £20 front row tickets to Dreamgirls!

Savoy Theatre

Now I’m absolutely obsessed with musicals and have had this on my wish list for a while, so I was really pleased. Marisha Wallace has some incredibly vocals and gave an absolute stunning performance of Effie White. Hers and Liisi Lafontaine’s rendition of Listen really had me with a tear in my eye. The costumes were oh-so-fabulous, the vocal powerhouses were incredible, and the dancing was brilliant. I did think some of the singing was a little shouty for my ears though. (My Final Rating: 4/5) There was also an exciting interval where the second half of the musical was delayed because three pensioners somehow sneaked in and required security to escort them out!! (Well, it was what we heard through the grape vine anyway.)

Front Row, baby!

Standing ovations all over!

We had lunch at Shoryu as Kevin and I were craving ramen close by (Note: I have a life-long affair with tonkotsu and could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.) It reminded us that we can sometimes be pretty boring and we like to stick to what we like. Kanada-Ya, you still hold number one in our hearts.

 

Putting in this photo we look good here 😛

Tokotsu Ramen Shoryu

We then embarked on an awesome Thames adventure with the Thames Rockets. This really was a unique experience and was such fun! It was basically a speedboat tour of the great city of London from the Thames river with all the fun facts and hilarious quips, and none of the boring stuff! The tour guides are hilarious and sure know how to make sure you have a good time. Once past the big London Bridge, that was where the fun really started and we whizzed and rocketed in awesomely fast s-bends with fabulous music pumping in the background. It was pretty much a a water rollercoaster in the middle of London! Kudos to whoever picked the music too that included 007 theme songs,  boat/pirate/river related songs and some of the more modern summer hits. We also had some rum cocktails in classic red cups on the way back too!

I found it really romantic pointing out the gorgeous sights from the Thames River and being on a super cool speed boat at the golden hour and peak of dawn, it sure was lovely cuddling up with the other half as we enjoyed the view. We got to see the gorgeous glow of the city of London transit into night and experience the capital in all it’s evening glory.

Now it has been so long that I honestly don’t remember who exactly I won this with. I think it might be Thames Rockets?! I just remember it took AGES for me to be contacted about this and then an email finally popped up saying that they’ve finally sorted out the voucher for the experience. Anyway, thank you Thames Rockets for the wonderful experience! Here are some of the photos from the evening.

With the Tower Bridge in the background

Whee!

Under the Waterloo Bridge

Cheers to this Thames Rockets

Tower Bridge at Dusk

We finally cashed in our one night stay prize with Staybridge Suites at Stratford. These are apartment-styled rooms right in the heart of the Westfield Stratford City shopping and leisure complex. It literally had everything you need, an entire kitchen, and also a phone called Handy you can borrow during your stay! The service was excellent and staff were so friendly and helpful. Also you get an amazing breakfast where it even has a pancake making machine, a bread station and all that enchilada.

Our Deluxe Suite

Salle de bain

Breakfast Hub

 

Special mention to the pancake making machine!

And literally all the juices and breakfast milks you could want

 

Hello Staybridge Suites!

Westfield Stratford at our feet

Free phone to use!

Weather was crappy, but the view was lovely!

Thumbs up to the awesome place!

We had a good nights rest, were contented with breakfast, and we were absolutely refreshed and ready for …. SHOPPING the next day! Thanks for our wonderful stay, Staybridge Suites – we shall be back.

Fast forward and following some £££ spent – we had our dinner at London’s highest 24/7 restaurant, Duck and Waffle. This place gets completely booked months in advance, but you can always call up at short notice to ask if there are any cancellations – which is how we managed to get a place for dinner! This is my third time there but Kevin’s first. To start, we had the ‘Nduja Seared Octopus and Spicy Ox Cheek Doughnut. Both were very unique and to be honest, the ox cheek doughnut was too confusing and our taste buds couldn’t wrap it’s little head around it.

To start

We both had the duck and waffle for our mains – exactly as it’s stated – über crispy duck leg, yummy mustard honey, fluffy waffles and a sunny side up duck egg!

The infamous duck and waffle

Mandatory wefie

Decent food and drinks, but definitely overpriced – a given when you get this kind of wonderful view.

Sunset

The Gherkin

Till next time London, you’ve been good to us.

 

 

 

 

#1.5 ZIP-a-dee-do-dah! Wales Weekend

We spent the rest of bank holiday weekend visiting Snowdonia National Park, in the wondrous North of Wales. We’ve been saving this trip for a while, and have been been meaning to conquer the infamous Titan Zip Line Experience for 2. (Thank you to membership bespoke for this lovely prize!) It was just one of those things where we figured we waited for some glorious summer weather to visit (as not all of the zip lines are open throughout winter), but well, what do you know, British summer weather is so unpredictable. Anyway, enough about the weather, I’ll let the photos do most of the talking.

Having had quite the late evening on Saturday in London, we had a late leisurely drive to Snowdonia National Park, and I must say, I absolutely love driving through amazing valleys and mountains like these (see below). It really reminds you that the world is a beautiful place.

One of the gorgeous valleys in Snowdonia National Park.

We spent most of our day just driving along the gorgeous mountains and valleys, and visiting Harlech Beach for a beautiful sunset. There is also a majestic castle that overlooks the the entire bay that I’d imagine has wonderful views.

Mandatory Wefie

Kevin’s photo directions: MAKE A HEARRRRRT!

Loving sunset and fire in the corner

Dinner was takeaway Fish and Chips (Which i feel is a mandatory meal at the seaside,) but for fear of seagulls attacking our food, no photos were taken. We stayed in a lovely 3 Star Bed and Breakfast called the Gwesty Seren Hotel which I highly recommend! The staff there were some of the best in hospitality, were friendly and couldn’t be more helpful. What I felt was the ultimate brilliance of it all was that this place also caters for anyone with physical and mental disabilities, their carers and families. Some people may feel that this isn’t for them, but I felt that this is a really lovely initiative and if you’re ever looking for anything with these sorts of facilities, this is it.

The bed

The bathroom

Monday morning we woke up extra early to go climbing up the Idwal Slabs. It’s an easy walk to the lake in the mountains and there’s even a beach there! For those more adventurous, Idwal Slabs is a perfect place for climbing up high as well. Bloody windy it was, but some gorgeous views.

#FollowMeTo Idwal Slabs

Woot

Winds were much too cold

Here’s a whole lot more photos of where we climbed – the weather really was quite unpredictable, stormy and sunny followed by being absolutely glorious! Thank you Wild Trail for our awesome 18 snack bar prize too, perfect for our outdoor adventure.

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Close by is the town of Betws-y-Coed – a lovely town with plenty independent shops with crafts and local homemade produce. There’s also outdoor gear shops too, and plenty of cafés, bistros, restaurants and pubs around.

And for our main event… *drumroll please*…  The Zip World in Llechwedd slate quarry! So there’s a few adventure-y things to do here, zip lining, bounce below (trampolines underground) and an adventure trail in the caverns featuring rope bridges, short zip lines and tunnels underground. We did the awesome zip lining up above in the valleys, and this is apparently the largest zip zone in Europe! Not to mention, you get some stunning views over Blaneau Ffestiniog and its surrounding valleys. It encompasses of three zip lines – Alfa, Bravo and Charlie, and each rider travels a fabulous distance of over 2,000m! Who do you think wore it better, huh. Kev or moi? 😛

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Definitely a whole lot of fun, and definitely would love to come back soon, especially for the underground slate adventures!

That’s us for now. Zip-a-dee-doo-dah and Too-daa-loo!

#1 Saturday of the Bank Holiday Weekend

You know what I love? A 3 day weekend! Hope you had a great August bank holiday weekend because I had a brilliant one. One should never waste a day off!

Spent Saturday afternoon up the Shard, thanks to the lovely people at Red Letter Days for our #RedLetterDate. We won this a while back and have been waiting for a good day to use it! It sure is a gorgeous view overlooking the beautiful city of London, and it was simply brilliant pointing out the many attractions that London has to offer. Side note: How they keep the glass quite so clean, I have no idea.

Definitely make sure to check out the loo too, I’ve now ticked mooning from a high place up off the bucket list!

This sure is a loo with a view!

Of course the place is right next to Borough Market, so we had to have some food here. Tried the minced lamb wrap with spiced rice and vegetables and it was pretty delish. Photos were not insta-worthy but its yummy taste was definitely worth a mention!

We were also rather greedy and decided to takeaway two crabs from the market for eating in the evening when we headed back home. Having tried awesome Cromer Crabs before, we thought this would be a good idea! I can safely warn you that having two initially fresh crabs in a rucksack for the entire duration of a warmish British day is inadvisable. It results in two rather mucky inedible seafood items, two disappointed souls and leaves a trusty backpack smelling of fish.

We also visited Shoreditch, and everyone felt way too cool and hipster for us.

Dinner was in Boisdale Restaurant in Canary Wharf, overlooking the fountains of Cabot Square. What did we think about the food?  The Hot & Spicy Oysters “three ways” to start were delicious. Wished they had a few more than 3 though… Like 6, for the same price. Kevin had the Terrine of Tamworth pork with seared peaches to start and the plating was pretty nice. Our lobster meal was delicious – oh so fresh, succulent, and very tasty indeed! And of course, dessert. Kevin had the apple strudel which was absolutely melt in your mouth and I had the lemon meringue cheesecake which we both agree was better, hands down. Everything was on the pricier side, but you do pay for excellent service (12.5% worth to be exact), really great atmosphere and top notch food!

Terraine of Tamworth pork with scorched peaches

Of course, the main reason why one should dine at a Boisdale restaurant? The fabulous live music. Tribute to the Beuna Vista Social Club, the live music show that we watched started at 21:45 and is exactly what you need to end the day in style. We enjoyed every moment of it and are still humming along (with some secret snazzy hip shaking, of course) to the Cuban music from that night.

Apparently Boisdale Restaurant also has the world’s most extensive whisky bar (over 1000 malt whiskies) – which is pretty cool, and would have probably changed our drink choices had we known… when we were actually there. Oh well.

Do you have any food recommendations or things to do for when you’re in London?

Till next time, lovely London, we might be seeing you sooner than expected!