Monday 25 June 2012

Weekend update: fashion, music, food, FUN!

Weekend recap! On Friday, I met a friend for lunch near Vauxhall and spotted these lovely, colourful tiles at the tube station...


And earlier that week, I headed to Starworks' media preview of the resort collections, which are often my favourite as they are also so colourful. I sense a theme... 

A bit of Nicholas Kirkwood. A bit less wacky (though they wouldn't be Kirkwood if they weren't a wee bit crazy), a bit more wearable. I love those bright pink metallic slippers.

Love the swirl, wave detail on the top row pairs (especially the nude flats with his signature rounded heel), and the mix of bright blue and vermilion on the bottom row.

A few of these pairs (i.e. the ones with the laces) look a bit more 'traditional' Nicholas Kirkwood.

These shoes feature Swarovski crystals, and I bet a few bride-to-bes will be putting these on their wish lists. As someone who owns a few pairs, I can honestly say that Nicholas Kirkwood shoes (even when they are five inches high) are actually, really comfortable. Definitely not as narrow as Louboutins, which I love. (I'm sure my podiatrist back in Vancouver - yes, I have one... TMI? - will appreciate their width, too.)



Starworks also represent Tucker by Gaby Basora, a brand I first fell in love with after buying a blouse at The Block in Vancouver's Gastown. Gaby designs all of her own prints - how great is this lipsticked-angry-woman print for Resort 2013?


Another series by Tucker - love this chunky yellow knit. What a great way to brighten up a drab fall day. I need one of these!



And on to Roksanda Ilincic, who is probably one of the most beautiful fashion designers and best embodiments of her own brand. I love her signature lantern sleeves and wool crepe - it's a combination that gives her pieces so much amazing volume, but keeps them light and comfortable at the same time. Definitely on my wish list.

And yes... she is launching a children's line! SO ADORABLE. This little rack of little clothes was enough to make even the coldest heart feel broody (which is what they say here in the UK to describe someone whose biological clock is a-ticking away).

And on to Jonathan Saunders. How '70s does this coat feel?!


Let's breeze through the rest - some new, lighter fabrications (seersucker!) but still-sporty silhouettes from Lisa Marie Fernandez swimwear...

Wild, bright, and always-amazing digi-prints from Peter Pilotto...

Another amazing piece by Peter Pilotto. This dress is made from layered mesh (with an inner lining), so it feels light and sporty, while its print is nothing if not elegant.

And then it was the BBC Radio 1 weekend! We got 4 guest list passes (thank you to the BBC, Mallorca Rocks and my flatmate's boss!!!) - wicked fun. The tickets were actually free for everyone who bothered to apply (it was a bit of an arduous process - people had to submit passport-sized photos and provide proof of address as certain boroughs were allocated more tickets than others), with a £10 donation to charity at the door.

I saw Ed Sheeran recently in Mallorca and Ibiza, but this ginger(bread) man has some serious talent. He is one of the only big acts I've ever seen that has NO ONE supporting him on stage - no drummer, backup singer, nothing. 

Elliot spotted him wearing "Ibiza Rocks" underpants. Quick note - no one really says "boxers" or even "briefs" here; everyone says "pants". And what if you're trying to buy what we call pants in North America? You ask for "trousers".

Anyway, we got very very drunk, but not so drunk that we couldn't take a picture of this massive #jagerbomb #fail. 

We also saw Will.I.Am, Nicki Minaj, Example, Kasabian, and a couple of other random acts, but the highlight for me was seeing Jay-Z - even though I saw him a month ago at the O2 arena. This time, he brought along Rihanna, M.I.A. (uh, amazing!), AND Kanye West.

You've probably seen loads of other coverage of Hackney Weekend (Florence and the Machine, Azealia Banks, Rihanna, Lana del Rey and David Guetta all played on Sunday) - so I'll skip over the rest, but seriously, it was amazing.

The next day, we went for brunch at Dishoom, a Bombay-style café near Covent Garden.


This was my "Full Bombay" breakfast, which was a delicious take on a full English breakfast, with Akuri (spicy scrambled eggs that are apparently an Irani café staple) on toast instead of poached or fried eggs. I'm craving this again now.

And that's my weekend update! 

Wednesday 20 June 2012

More London eats: East Street

I was walking to Tottenham Court Road station the other day (which, before I moved to London, thought was a fictional name from Harry Potter) and chanced upon this big, open space that reminded me a bit of the street markets in Singapore.

Lo and behold, that is exactly what East Street is going for.


As usual, I was hungry, so I went in and sat down. It was a bit empty (it was around 4pm, before dinner and well after a normal lunch hour), but they had a few people sitting there on laptops, using the Wifi.


In addition to a menu that includes traditional dishes from Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia, they have a shelf near the front displaying a few essential ingredients, too.

I was glad to see that these weren't exorbitantly priced. I bought a very large bottle of sweet chili sauce. Yum!

A blurry photo of a corner of my placemat.

A shot of my super delicious chap chae. 

East Street has an "Eastern Express" lunchtime menu where, for £7.95, you get:


A choice of: 

  • Korean chap chae, sesame-scented fried glass noodles with shiitake, cucumber, carrot, chili, and optional chicken
  • Thai tom yum soup with prawns, straw mushrooms, and glass noodles
  • Japanese "gomoku yakisoba", which are noodles fried with prawns, chicken, red pepper, carrot, and bean sprouts
  • Indonesian nasi goreng, which is a spicy fried rice (we eat this in Singapore, too)!

AND a choice of:

  • 3 pork gyoza
  • 3 "tod man khao pod" (Thai corn fritters)
  • "goi cuon" (Vietnamese rice paper rolls, or "summer rolls" as they seem to say here)
  • miso soup
I don't know how authentic the chap chae was, as it was only the third time I've ever had it, but the servings were enormous and I thought everything was delicious. Next time, I'll try the Singaporean spicy chow mein off the regular menu and let you know how similar it is to the dishes you get in hawker centers.



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