Sutton House, Homerton High Street, E2

If you want to go and see 'A Mans Story' at the cinema on a Saturday night, just go and see it.

A Man's story trailer

Don't get talked into seeing this:

The Raven trailer

The Raven is, in my humble opinion, a big fat disappointment. It thinks it's Sherlock Holmes (the ones with Robert Downey Jnr in), its not. The end titles think they are the Bourne Identity, they aren't. It has a poor script, some poor performances and a plot so patchy it doesn't make sense. Basically a waste of time and money. Don't even wait for it to come out on DVD. Watch something else instead, maybe some paint drying. Or a kettle that you have just put on to boil.

However, if you want to go to a National Trust property in Hackney, go to Sutton House. You'll have a much more successful trip out. We went there on Sunday as they were holding  a Wedding Fair.

Sutton House website

Sutton House is a bit of a hidden gem in Hackney and is just off Homerton High Street. It's run by the National Trust and is the only surviving Tudor House in the East End. Built in 1535 by a prominent Courtier of Henry VIII, its a nice place to have a quick mooch about and a cup of tea. Its very small, you could have looked around the whole place in 20 minutes, but they often have events on which might be worth visiting. They had a great Antiques fair a few years ago at Christmas and I purchased some lovely old cutlery that had apparently come from a Stately Home. This silver cutlery only gets used for special occasions so if you come for tea and only get the Ikea knives and forks you know what we really think of you.

Anyway, back to the Wedding Fair. Just because our wedding is currently on hold until next year, it doesn't mean we have forgotten about it completely. Also, some friends of ours are having their wedding this December and talking about their plans made me feel a bit emotional about our wedding.  It was hard being so far down the line with it (venue booked, dress chosen and deposit paid, Stationary designed, table dressing etc bought) and having to pull the plug. I suppose though when the day does finally come it will be all the nicer having our little baby with us. Anyway, I am convinced that the bride of this other wedding is going to have the same dress as mine and I am getting a bit panicky about it. I have no evidence to say this is the case at all but I have a weird feeling about it. I'll let you know in December if my weird feeling was correct or just heartburn.

So, knowing how I feel about our wedding, The Wig thought it would be nice to pop along to the Wedding Fair which we did on Sunday. As Sutton House is so small, there really wasn't too much too look at but all the people we met were very nice so we picked up some cards to add to the collection.

Laura McClusky Photography

Vipressed Letterpress

Frenchmade Cakes + Bakes

Joyce Connor Bridal Make Up + Hair Design

Alexa Loy Photography

I obviously can't vouch for any of these people to say if they are any good, but like I say, everyone we spoke to was lovely.

Sadly though, all these card's are destined to be glued into my Wedding scrapbook which has been packed away until further notice because of the baby that stole my wedding. I don't mind really.

The English Pig, Aldersgate Street, EC1A

Last year when I went to visit the Museum of London I walked past this board:

It was advertising a restaurant near to the Barbican and I thought that it looked quite fun. Just because of the name. I won't make that mistake again.

A year and a half ago when we got engaged, our friends took us to dinner as a congratulatory treat, so when they got engaged this Christmas it seemed the polite thing to do to return the favour. So what better occasion than to go to The English Pig, I thought, than for a betrothal supper. The restaurant had a fairly decent website and good reviews, what could possibly go wrong? I'll tell you. First of all, we got very lost finding it despite Aldersgate Street being approximately 8 minutes walk away from Liverpool Street Station. Considering the Wig and I are very familiar with the area and he had been given the title of 'Head of Maps' for the evening, this was a most heinous crime. Armed with a printed out map and a SatNav thing on his phone as back up, we still got lost. He will never be 'Head of Maps' again.

Then when we actually found the place, my heart sank. It looked a bit like a Wetherspoon's from the outside and you could clearly see that it was empty inside aside from one table of 4. Mortificado. Whoever designed the website was clearly very smart at choosing only the most favorable photos to post up. The other thing that was upsetting was that I had really been looking forward to going out to dinner as we haven't done so for ages. So the only thing to do was to drink. Alcohol. And I am ashamed to admit that I had my first (small) glass of wine since last August. It was delicious. Sorry bump.

The sad thing for The English Pig, is that the food was actually very nice and the waiter was really friendly. I had a beetroot salad starter, its signature dish for a main (21 hour slow roasted Pork Belly on mustard mash and savoy cabbage), dark chocolate tart and vanilla ice cream for dessert and we all shared a cheese platter. It just had zero atmosphere and a curious feeling that it didn't know what it was. Is it  a pub or is it a restaurant? I'm buggered if I know. I think the online reviews for the place must be from people that work in the city and go there for lunch and not for evening sittings. Its great to have good food and attentive staff but you do need the atmosphere too, otherwise you might as well have your tea at home.

Anyway, this picture on the wall above our table sums things up pretty nicely:

http://www.theenglishpig.co.uk/

Today, however, has been a whole other kettle of fish. Today has been brilliant so far. First of all, I didn't go to the Pregnancy Yoga class. I've been thinking about the whole yoga thing for the last week and I'm not entirely sure what is being achieved by attending the class. There doesn't seem to be much structure to the lessons, with people dropping in and out and the teacher not always being the same person.  It seems like a good idea in theory but maybe this one isn't the best one to go to. So, I decided I would do 2 hours of gardening instead. That seemed like a fair swap to me and also meant the only blow off's I had the potential to encounter would be my own.

Secondly, after our morning hot drink and paper read at Chase + Sorensen, we spied yet another new business opening less than 1 minutes waddle from the flat. I don't want to say too much until its properly opened and I can (hopefully) get some nice pictures of it, but, to me, this is the most exciting development in the vicinity since the  Hackney Picture House  opened a few months ago. The Wig and I were looking through the windows of this new place place and got invited in by the people that run it who spilled the beans on what it's going to be. I was so happy I actually burst into tears. I don't know what is wrong with me at the moment, I keep crying over the most odd things. It's so brilliant that after living here for the last 5 years and feeling somewhat trapped by having to sort the freehold out before I could move, it's all now happening right on the doorstep. It feels like a lovely reward for the 2 years my life has been on hold. Anyway, all I will say is, if you are local, watch this space and I shall be back to report on the juicy new place as soon as I can.

Then thirdly, these got delivered to me:

They were sent from the Agency that were working on the job this week that got pulled at the last minute. They were a Thank you for my help. How nice is that? Very nice I think, and a lovely treat for a Saturday afternoon.  It actually ttranspired that I wont be completely destitute after all as the day after this job went away, I got confirmed on another one so it all worked ok in the end. To coin a phrase things usually work out ok in the end, and if it's not ok, its not the end.

Happy weekends everyone!

Niels Eilersen Danish Rocking Chair

For some reason I got it into my head that I needed to own a rocking chair. I must have seen on a website somewhere that it would be useful for when the bowling ball / baby is born. So, for the past few weeks I've been sniffing around eBay on the prowl for one. Since I am quite particular there were a few boxes it needed to tick. It had to be white, wooden, not too wide and not too tall. I chose to ignore the small matter that we don't actually have room for one as I began my pursuit. This was a minor detail as far as I was concerned.

Anyway, last Sunday I struck gold and found a lovely white, wooden, not too wide and not too tall one on eBay. So without much thought and the excited high that eBay gives me, I bought it. And at 6:55am this morning, it arrived. Talk about a speedy turnaround! I did have a slight pang of guilt when it turned up as we still haven't actually bought the pram yet and I really shouldn't be buying chairs I probably don't need when we still have essential baby things to purchase, but too late now. I think I've been pretty restrained these last few months, not going to any antique fares, not really buying anything much for myself, so I hope the baby wont begrudge me this one purchase. Particularly since we can both make use of it. I can rock backwards and forwards in it like Norman Bates' mother and the baby can vomit on me. I'd say that'll be 2 happy customers right there!

Best eBay wrapping ever. 

Ta dah! The lovely chair, which is also surprisingly comfy. I didn't think I would be too keen on the upholstery of the fabric but its actually not too bad. Also, it's the original fabric so I think I should leave it alone and not attempt any DIY on it. It would only end in disaster.

Maybe it looks better with this cushion on it...?

Interestingly, I have since found out that its quite a well known design of chair called a Ladderback Rocking Chair, made in the 1950s' by a Danish Furniture Company set up by a chap called Niels Eilersen. The company began in 1895 as a coach building factory but in 1934 it burned down. After that the company re-opened as a furniture makers focusing on high quality upholstered items. Its now being run by the 4th generation of Eilersens still making wooden furniture. God bless the Scandinavians.

Coffee @ Ridleys, Dalston Lane, E8 / Kedgeree

Today could have ended up being one big, fat disappointment. A possible job that I have been working on for the last 3 days had the rug pulled from under it this afternoon which was rather frustrating. However, I think the day was saved by the following 3 things:

1. Nature.
Isn't it amazing. I love seeing flowers in the city and I love Silver Birch trees. For our (now postponed) wedding I wanted to get a Silver Birch log chopped into thin slivers to make drinks mats for everyone. Oh well, it was the thought that counted.

Silver Birch Tree.

Pink thing.

Daffodil.

2. Yet another new Coffee shop.
I can't quite believe it but its true. I officially live in the epicentre of Coffee shops in E8. I've been sucked into a sort of Coffee Bermuda Triangle. After finally hearing about the job that died a slow and painful death, and then releasing all my pencils on crew, studios and gear I realised it was 3pm and I hadn't had any lunch. I know, unbelievable.  So my small heavy friend and I lugged ourselves up the road to Coffee @ Ridleys on Dalston Lane.

Now, I have to admit that it doesn't look like much from the outside and you could easily go past it without noticing it, BUT it really is much more interesting inside.

Fancy Ceiling lights.

Display of various random stuff. I love random stuff as much as I love nature.

Exceedingly comfy sofa although not ideal for a pregnant customer. I struggled somewhat getting up out of this chair when it was time to leave. I think I'll sit on one of the stools next time. Or make sure I go with someone else so they can pull me up.

Coffee machine and large selection of CRISPS.

Once again I have to apologies for the poor standard of photography which really doesn't do this sandwich any favours at all. Not only do Coffee @ Ridleys do hot drinks, fresh orange juice, and a small selection of cakes, they also do quite a wide range of made to order toasties. I opted for the mozzarella, pesto and sun dried tomato one and I don't know if it was because I was so hungry but I can honestly say it was one of the best toasties I've ever had in my life. Ever. Seriously. It was delicious.

So all in all this was a trip out worth taking even though it took me a long time to walk there. Not only was it an interesting place to sit and spend 40 minutes, and the food was delicious, the man that worked in there was an absolute delight. I think when living in London you can get a bit used to mardy shop/cafe staff who all think they are too 'groovy' to make eye contact with you let alone actually serve the customers with any sort of civility (Cat + Mutton, can you hear me?!), but this was a refreshing change. The young man was friendly, polite, smiley, made a delicious hot chocolate AND brought me over a drink of water, without me even asking for one! What service. So, young man in Coffee @ Ridleys, give yourself a big old pat on the back, you are an asset to your employer. With all this in mind I would rate Coffee @ Ridleys a high 8 mozzarella balls out of a possible 10.

3. The Wig made Kedgeree for tea. 

I know this is probably some people's idea of the worst dish ever (fish and egg) but I really like it and its always feels like a fairly healthy meal. It beats Findus Crispy pancakes anyway.

Kedgeree for 2/3 people

Shopping List:

2 x Eggs

2 x Portions of Basmati rice.

1/2 pint Milk

1 x Bay Leaf

Salt + Pepper

Handful of Black Peppercorns.

Various smoked fish. We used a smoked mackeral and a piece of cod but smoked haddock would have been better as that's what you really need to give it the smoky flavour and also slight yellow tinge.

Teaspoon of Cumin.

Teaspoon of chopped Dill.

A knob (whatever that means) of butter.

A small onion, chopped.

A chopped clove of Garlic.

A handful of frozen peas.

A sprinkle of curry powder.

Lemon juice optional.

* Hard boil the eggs for 10 minutes. Once boiled, cool, shell, slice into quarters and set aside.

* Prepare the rice as per the instructions. Once cooked, rinse and set aside.

* Meanwhile prepare the fish by placing it in a pan with the milk, bay leaf, peppercorns, cumin and dill. Bring to a simmer, cover and leave for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. I'm aware it don't look too tasty at this stage... Its not my camera, it really does look like that I'm afraid.

* Once the fish is cooked and starting to fall apart, remove from the heat, drain and remove any skin, the bay leaves and the peppercorns if you want to. Set aside keeping the milk and herb liquid in a jug.

* In another pan melt the butter and and soften the onion and garlic.

* Once the onion is softened, add to this the fish pieces, the rice, the peas and some of the milk liquid. Heat through adding more milk if necessary.

* When all the ingredients are heated though and thoroughly mixed, serve adding the egg on top and sprinkling with the curry powder. Add a squeeze of lemon if desired.

Delicious! (if you like fish and /or eggs).

"Singing in the Rain"

If you can't sleep, the best, and only thing to do in my opinion, is get up. So it's 4am and all I can think of to do (quietly) is try and squeeze out  a little blog. I haven't written one for a while since I have been working again (yay!) which has pretty much wiped me out, but sadly the shrunken bladder has returned and brought with it it's friend acid reflux for company so sleeping has become a bit harder again. Apart from that though, I'm feeling pretty chipper. The problem pelvis which plagued me at the start of the year has subsided and now the only thing that I'm noticing, that I hadn't really until a week or two ago, is the growing weight of the bump. I feel a bit like one of those Scandinavians you used to see on 'The Worlds Strongest Man' competition that used to drag lorry tyres around. I'm hoping this doesn't mean that the baby is going to be a whopper...*gulp*. But there isn't too much longer to wait until we find out  as we only have 11 weeks to go. This doesn't sound like a long time to me at all. Preparations are pretty much complete in terms of things we (apparently) needed to buy, with the last thing being the pram. We have only put this off due to not wanting to have it hanging around at home (bad luck supposedly) but yesterday I got very excited when the new chest of drawers arrived for the baby's clothes.

It's probably a bit sad to be so excited about a chest of drawers but after waiting 10 weeks for these bad boys I was over the moon when they got delivered yesterday. They are from the Rubie range at Laura Ashley and I had to buy them, it was fate. They were the only ones that fitted into the fireplace hole.

I also have the Rubie Cabinet from the same range which is pretty much my favorite cabinet in the world.

Once the crib/cot arrives in a few weeks 'Baby Corner' will be complete. Well, almost complete, it will just need the baby obviously.

Not only was the excitement of the drawer delivery almost too much to bear, it's arrival meant that I could actually put some of the things away that we have bought. So I spent an hour or so washing tiny clothes for the first time last night. I'm sure I'll get fed up with this sort of thing at some point in the not too distant future but for now I can say it was the happiest time I have ever spent with my washing machine. It really is the little things that make life great.

Talking of babies, which I am trying hard not to do too much of, I just wanted to say a very belated 'Congratulations' to some people we know who have recently experienced the trauma of childbirth had babies. The lovely lady at the Wedding dress shop (where my beautiful dress is currently in limbo) said to me last year that it's common for people to pro-create in times of recession and she wasn't wrong! So congratulations and welcome to the world:

Andy + Laura = baby Rory
Ian + Kei = baby Takeru
Jon + Amy = baby Ida
Natasha + Julian = baby Sebastian

And good luck to all our friends with babies pending in the next few months:

Kathryn + Lee
Lauren + Andrew
Craig + Nicky
Nat + Matt
Vicky + Danny
Peggy + Susie
Julian + Mrs Julian

So, moving on. February's Glossybox was pony. I received it last week and seriously thought about canceling about my subscription. I'm aware that this is a huge about turn from my initial 'it's amazeballs' reaction to my first Glossybox but Februarys box was rubbish! When you sign up to it, you tick various boxes to let them know what sort of products you would be interested in. I know I have a bad memory but I'm pretty sure I didn't tick the box saying "I'd really like to look like Danny La Rue please".

My box contained:

1 x Packet Fake plastic nails. I have never worn plastic nails in my life.
1 x Gold Eyeshadow. I have worn gold eyeshadow in my life but I've tried to erase that dark period from my memory.
1 x DuWop Lip Plumping gloss. In gold. Again, why?
1 x Slimy secretion to protect hair from straighteners. I have never used straighteners. Ever.
1 x Cheap shower gel sample.

Oh dear . . . sadly the best thing about this delivery was the ribbon which I have put in my sewing box. But just as I was about to cancel next months box and all future boxes, I received a VERY exciting email from them. March's box is a collaboration with Harrods and will be made up of products from the Harrods beauty department! I think I'll give them one more chance...

Last week wasn't a total disappointment however, since my dear friend Twitty McPhee (made up name) took me for a Theatre trip to see "Singing in the Rain" at the Palace Theatre, Soho.

http://www.singinintherain.co.uk/

The trailer really doesn't do it justice - it was BRILLIANT. I'd heard about this production as it has rain effects in it using actual water and apparently if you sit in the first few rows of the theatre you get soaked. We were in row C, the third row from the stage and got soaked. Twice. Despite that though I would strongly recommend trying to get tickets for this. Rather annoyingly I went on the one day of the last year and a half that I didn't take my camera so couldn't take any photos, but not only was the show spectacular (great sets, choreography, costumes, everything), the actual theatre is stunning and well worth a visit for that alone.

When Twitty suggested we go to see this particular show she was unaware of my strong attachment to the song "Singing in the Rain". When I was small and attended Stage School (*snort*) this was MY song. At all our shows at the Warley Mental Hospital (I'm not being rude, that's what it was actually called before Political Correctness had been invented) and in competitions, this is what I sang as my solo so it shall be burned onto my brain for infinity. I can even remember the outfit I had to wear. It was a royal blue A-line rain coat with bright pink flowers sewn on and matching sowester and umbrella. I think my memory is so clear because ultimately this song caused my childhood downfall and swift exit from the Stage School. In the final competition I ever took part in, aged about 5, I was rolled out to perform my little song and dance routine like some sort of clashing blue and pink monkey, but as soon as I had trotted merrily to the end of the stage to begin, my brain froze. For some reason I could not remember the lines to the song or my perfectly practiced dance routine. So I spent the entire duration of the number standing on the stage sobbing at the judges. And that was the end of my show business career. I quit the stage school that afternoon and haven't worn a royal blue and pink floral sowester since.

Finally, I would just like to say thank you to my older Brother for the very sweet card he sent me, all the way from down under mate. I love stationary and think it's very important to send cards for birthdays, as thanks you and for just because you can. Aren't stamps amazing? I also like the words on the front of this card, it made me a bit teary. I'm blaming the hormones. "A gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life", yep, thats me.