Vintage London

I know it’s been a few weeks since I’ve been back in the states but I’ve been meaning to do this post but have just been overly lazy about it.

While in London I had the great pleasure of finally meeting a woman who I’ve been internet friends with for a couple years, Esther over at Villian School Dropout, she’s also married to Gus from Rooster Teeth Productions, which is the website that I met Jonathan on. She and Gus were in London for the MCM Expo, when I found out I was in fact going to be in London the same time they were I messaged her and we started planning out what we were going to do. Once the “OMG, your kidding” and “no really, I’ll be there” messages were gotten out of the way I asked what she wanted to see/do while there she messaged back “can we go vintage shopping??” Gotta say I fell in love a bit.

I love vintage. I know it’s all the rage right now and everyone’s wearing all these faux vintage accessories, and well I’ll admit I have my fair share, but I’ve really enjoyed vintage stylings for a while and it’s kinda become my look. I do this weird mix of vintage, edgy, academia type of look. So blazers, cardigans, silk shirts, short skirts, platform heels/boots and my great aunt’s pearls and hand bag. And let’s not forget the plastic faux tortoise shell framed glasses.

I had a vague idea of where to go for vintage shopping which was confirmed by my friend, Carly, when she came over during the week. I was also happy to hear that she would be vintage shopping the friday as well, which meant that the market would be open. The thing about most London markets is that they’re only open on the weekends, there might be a few days during the week that they’re open but they won’t have all the wares as on the weekend. I was a bit nervous but if Carly, who lives in greater London was going during the week it must be fine.

I first took Esther to Camden Town, not really vintage there, just a really big awesome market. I felt she should experience and it’s really pretty down by the locks. Camden Town is thankfully open everyday of the week. It might be a bit bigger on weekends but if you go on a Tuesday, you won’t be disappointed.

We then headed to Portobello road. We evidently started on the wrong end though. We took central line to Notting Hill Gate and walked up the road from that end. Which is fine and all, lots of shops, but if you want the market bit of it you need to take the Circle or Hammersmith & city lines to Ladbroke Grove. Ah well live and learn. Next time I go I’ll make sure to start on the far end because I think I could have found better deals in the market itself than in the actual shops.

Starting at Notting Hill we ended up going through a lot of the store fronts. There are a lot of vintage and antique stores up and down the road. There’s also a lot of great pubs. We stopped and had lunch in once called The Sun and Splendor, which had really really nicely done fish and chips. After that we wandered the road popping in and out of little shops. The first few shops closer to Notting Hill Gate were really expensive and only carried designer stuff. As you walk down the road though things get a little less pricey. We went into a store called Alice’s which was packed full of all sorts of antiques. We also found a nicely priced vintage shop where I found this blazer.

It’s just a just barely a touch too big, but it’s very warm and gorgeous. It was made in 1933 and the price was awesome (£40) so I had to get it. I also love it because it reminds me very much of this blazer which I saw on Jack Wills. Preppy site I know, I had no idea what it was the first time I went to the site, I heard about it from a blog I follow and checked it out. Most the stuff was way too preppy for me but their blazers are awesome though very out of my price range. Even on sale this one was over $150.

But that just makes my find that much sweeter

We did make it all the way to the other end of the road to the market, but by the time we got there it about 4:30, the venders were closing up, and we were both exhausted and our feet were very sore. We just barely poked our head into it and decided we’d rather have tea and cupcakes. For that we walked back down the road to Hummingbird bakery, which has the best cupcakes I’ve ever tasted. They  kick Magnolia Bakery in NYC’s ass.

All in all it was a day well spent. We had fun, though I dare say I walked Esther to death. I feel bad about it cause she was still very very jet lagged. Sorry, sweetie!

Oh and here’s the full run down on the outfit I’m wearing in the picture above.

Blazer – vintage shop in London

Scarf – thrift store in Lincoln, UK

Top – really a slip dress from All Saints

Skirt – Forever 21

Belt – Forever 21

Necklace – Forever 21

Tights – Target

Also here’s a music video I’ve been meaning to post and it just kinda fits with this blog, hope you enjoy it.

turkey day roundup

Finally recovered from my food coma enough to post (and think) about food. The extended food coma might have something to do with me actually eating left overs the day after. I usually wait like a day or three to eat more of the same. So here we go Thanksgiving food preparations.

When doing food prep on Thanksgiving day, my usual charge is the cranberry sauce. This is mainly because I make it differently than my mom would ever think to. In order to make the cranberry sauce in this special way, I also have to make a sour cherry streusel pie.

I’m sure a few of you are going ‘huh?’ trying to make the corrilation. My foodie friends out there might have an idea dawning, so let me just bring everyone up to speed. When you buy cherries they come in a jar in a light syrup, I use this syrupy cherry juice for the cranberry sauce in the place of water. Get a normal bag of ocean spray cranberries and follow the directions on the back only use the cherry juice instead.

Now since I’ve got all these cherries, which no longer have a jar of syrup to call home, this is where I start to make a pie.

Here’s the recipe I used.

SOUR CHERRY STREUSEL PIE

Ingredients: Streusel 1 ¼ cup all purpose flour 6 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar ¼ cup sugar ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon ¼ teaspoon salt ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract Filling 1 cup (scant) sugar 3 ½ tablespoons all purpose flour 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon Pinch of salt 2 jars sour cherries, pitted

Preparation: I used a 10″ deep dish frozen pie crust. For streusel: Mix first 5 ingredients in bowl. Add melted butter and vanilla; run in with fingertips until small clumps form.Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 375F. Place foil-lined baking sheet in bottom oven to catch spills. Mix first 4 ingredients in large bowl. Add cherries; toss to coat. Let cherries stand until cherries begin to release juice, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Transfer filling to chilled crust, mounding in center. Sprinkle streusel over, covering completely and pressing to adhere. Bake pie 20 minutes. Tent loosely with foil. Bake until filling bubbles thickly and streusel is golden, about 1 hour 10 minutes longer. Cool on rack.

I usually make a few alterations to the recipe. I always add a couple splashes of lemon juice to the cherries to give it a bit more depth. This year because I couldn’t actually find sour cherries around here, I only used 2/3 of a cup and added some more splashes of lemon to the filling. End result: perfection. I also cut down on the amount of cinnamon I used by 1/4 a teaspoon in filling and streusel but that’s only because I’m have an allergy to cinnamon and get sick if I eat too much of it.

Usually this would be the end of my charges for the Thanksgiving meal, however my Dad and I ended up doing all the cooking so I got to try many more things. I started out with asking my mom if I could do a rosemary, rock salt, and cracked pepper rub for the turkey. She initially shot it down and told me to make the cranberry sauce. After making the sauce, my Dad and I were talking about possibly adding brandy or cognac to the sauce next year. He then mentioned that we needed a topping for a gluten free cheese cake that was made for my aunt. Since we had about 1/4 of a bag of cranberries left we decided to try this brandy adding idea. He also suggested to throw in a bag of frozen blackberries. This is why I love cooking with my Dad, we just bounce ideas off each other and make really awesome dishes. The tossed together recipe went something like this:

1/4 a cup of cherry juice

1/4 a cup of sugar

1/4 cup brandy

bring to a boil

add in cranberries and blackberries then continue to boil and reduce for about 8ish minutes. We wanted it more liquidy than the cran sauce so we didn’t really time it. When it was finished and put into a bowl my Dad folded in another dash of brandy, and then let it sit on the counter until time for dessert. My Aunt loved it, though she called last night to let us know that it’s MUCH better the second day and that next year we should make it the night before. So happy 2 of my desserts now have approval to be made time and time again. (My streusel was the first pie to vanish)

After Mom tasted our blackberry cranberry topping she came in and announced. “Do whatever you want to the bird” yay! so I got to do my rub though i think I need to use more rosemary next year to make the flavor more intense. I’m also going to look at what to use besides crisco and vegetable oil to cover and bast the turkey with. Don’t judge to harshly we’re Southern. Crisco is in our veins..literally. All in all it was a really great meal. Along with the topping, our venison and mushroom in a red wine reduction starter was a hit and has been requested again for next year. At the end of the day I was exhausted but had such a great time cooking all day.

Boots is made for kickin’

Little Boots, that is, is back with a kickin’ new track which was premiered on Annie Mac’s BBC Radio 1 show and then became available on the UK itunes store, and by some miracle the US store as well, last week.

So check it out here then go download it for yourself cause it is well good.

I’m so glad to have new music from Boots, she’s such a great artist. I got turned onto her Summer of ’08, back when she was doing tracks in her bedroom with her keyboard and posting them on youtube. I then saw her at CMJ twice in Fall ’09 and then again in spring ’09 right after her first album ‘Hands’ came out. She toured for a while then went back into the studio and last October she fell off the map for a couple months, didn’t even update twitter or her blog. Glad to know that she’s been hard at work and I’m looking very forward to her next album. <3

observation

Last night was the AMAs, however, no, I’m not going to talk about who won and all that jazz, that’s Perez’ job. (Though congrats to Katy Perry for achievement award!! You go girl!!) The only reason I’m even blogging about it is that I noticed something that no one else seems to be pointing out…

Cybermen have invaded!!!!

and Nicki Minaj was the first to be upgraded!!!

LOL

Ok first off I want to make it clear that I’m not putting her down at all, I really like her music and her style I just think it’s funny the similarities between this

and Ianto Jones’ cover  um I mean, girlfriend, when she was half way through her upgrade

How has no one else noticed??? Oh well it’s times like these that start to find my niche as a blogger, fashioning my geek goggles on the world. This would be really awesome if it was intentional and Nicki is actually a big Doctor Who/Torchwood fan. Would really make my day.

Anyway her opening act (and Taylor Swift rapping along with her in the front row) was all I saw of the AMAs because I quickly switched over to watch Neil Gaiman’s guest episode of The Simpsons. If you didn’t see it, it was very awesome, so I suggest you find it online somewhere. I loved that it was a one off since I don’t watch Simpsons much. There were several parts that made me giggle a lot.

Oh the only thing I will add about people’s appearances at the AMAs is loving the pink hair!!

flash mob

Check out this flash mob in Times Square to celebrate the 50th anniversary of West Side Story

 

 

Real blogs to come I promise I’ve got like 3 different ones that I’m working on just need to churn them out.

Odd London

Last week I went to London, (again) though this trip was very spur of the moment. The flight was booked on Saturday, and I left on Sunday. Very crazy. On Tuesday I met with a friend who I worked with at William & Mary and who’s now studying artifact conservation at UCL. We met up near the British Museum and after having a couple of pints for lunch at a near by pub, we decided to go to a museum before her class. Now, for me, the amazing thing about London is all of its museums. Besides the big obvious ones of The British Museum, National Gallery, Tate Modern, Tate British, Natural History Museum, Victoria & Albert, Museum of London, and others; there are a collection of smaller galleries full of oddities which are also still free to the public. It was to one of these smaller collections that we decided to venture. We went through the Hunterian Museum  at a bit of a rapid pace. I’d been there before so I was able to point out some of the more interesting bits of the exhibit. Like this old guy who died of syphilis.

It was a quick trip because we had to get back up to UCL for her class. This friend also told me about the Wellcome Collection. So on Thursday I ventured to the Wellcome Collection as well as the Grant Museum of Zoology, which are very close to each other and also very near UCL.

The Wellcome Collection had an assortment of oddities in it such as:

A false nose, in case you’ve lost your own in war or to syphilis.

Japanese sex aids from the 30′s, to give your Misses that little bit extra she’s been craving

Or these little gems to help cull the nasty habit of touching one’s self

I then wandered over to the Grant Museum of Zoology on campus.  I knew it was going to be fun when I noticed the jar of moles in the first case you see when you walk in.

They also had Dodo bones

and an Anaconda skeleton

It was very much set up like a 19th century Naturalist’s study. I loved it!

I got a little artistic in my picture taking here

That above is a juvenile chimpanzee skeleton.

I highly suggest all of these venues if you’re in London and tired of the usual museums. All three are free and open to the public at least 5 days a week. Though the Grant museum is only open 1-5pm, it is still something you shouldn’t miss. It’s great for kids too, they had a bunch of activities and with the larger bones you can actually touch them. At the Wellcome Museum, check out the bookstore it’s full very awesome and informative books.

And now I turn into a travel blog and give you the addresses *sigh*, but really you should go they’re really cool.

Hunterian Museum

35-43 Lincoln’s Inn Fields  City of London WC2A 3PE, United Kingdom
020 7405 3474

Sun-Mon Closed Tue-Sat 10am–5pm

Wellcome Collection
183 Euston Road
London NW1 2BE

Grant Museum of Zoology

Rockefeller Building
University College London
21 University Street
London WC1E 6DE

Monday-Friday 1-5pm