North Bank

Until yesterday, the weather in London was surprisingly un-autumn-like. Sunday was another warm and sunny day, so I decided to take the DLR down to the Tower of London and go for a walk along the North Bank of the Thames. (and then over night, temperatures dropped to just 13C and this morning I wished I had taken gloves with me....)

learned a new word!

No bake off cake for me this week

I missed out on this week's bake off cake. Cake A withdrew from the competition for reasons unknown to us. And cake B was gone so quickly, that I didn't manage to get a piece! Not a bad thing maybe. With all the cake I've been eating lately, I decided to start walking a bit more. Earlier this week, I was planning on walking from the office to Tower Gateway. And gave up at Bank... But that already took me about 30 minutes. Along the way, I came across the Guildhall Art Gallery - which is one of the reasons why walking across London is so nice: you discover all these hidden (or at least less known) treasures.

The Guildhall Art Gallery

And the guildhall next to it

Oh, and I also found out that my cake won last week... I demanded a recount - with no effect... It also turned out that my assumption about my competitor were wrong - it was actually my boss who had baked that wonderful cake!

Steak night!

Monday and Tuesday it's steak night at Zilouf's on Upper Street, Islington - 2 for just £20! I went for the rib eye for the simple reason that it was meant to come as 8oz version and the rump steak was 10oz. When the food arrived mine looked actually even bigger than the rump steak! In any case, both tasted very nice. And so did the tripple cooked fries and the bearnaise sauce was delicious, too. The side salad on the other hand came with an unusual dressing. We couldn't really identify what it consisted of, but I'd probably not order it again.

I only managed about half of this....

The skirt project

Finally my clothes making class started a few weeks ago. The fact it’s on a Friday night from 18:00-21:00 is a bit of a nuisance. As I usually am so knackered that I just want to go home... But hey, I do want a skirt at the end of this, so I am persevering!

In lesson 1 we were told that we wouldn’t start sewing until week 5. Which was rather disappointing. Quite quickly it became obvious that the class is moving very slowly indeed. I partly blame the teacher who doesn’t seem all that familiar with the pattern we are working on. Several of us had to point out that we needed to make sure that we can pull the skirt over our hips, as there is no zipper included. Which means the waist measurements need to take account of our hip measurements. Calculating the final garment measurement also turned into a bit of a headache – adding the seam allowance: yes or no? At the end we all seemed very confused.

On the up side, the other girls in the class (we are making a skirt, so it’s not surprising that there are no guys attending at all) are all really nice and so at least we are having a good laugh, while sometimes pointlessly sitting around. Last Friday, we finally started on the fabric and I of course went for pink! (well, also, because it was cheap... John Lewis has a nice selection of fabrics, but all at hefty prices - at least for a beginner project!) I still have serious doubts that I will be able to wear the final product...

I am already signed up for the spring class, which will be about making a top. And I managed to secure a place on the Monday evening class. Which will hopefully be a tiny bit better than having a class on a Friday night!

And not to forget: pink really is THE colour!

Eastbourne had me won over the minute I saw the pink goody bag in my (5*) hotel room! It came with a pink mug and pink pen, which doubles up as a USB stick. Now, that’s useful!

Black is (also) the colour

My first ever shop at COS. A lot of their clothes I find a bit too straight cut and they look a bit boxy and even baggy. But I found a couple of tops and a cardigan, each with a little 'twist':

'Folded front cardigan', £55

'Draped neck knit top', £55

'Front drape top', £39

And - very excitingly! - as I recently had to bin a handful of tights (damn those bloody ladders!), I went to stock up at Primark and M&S:

Es gibt Reis, Baby

One of the rare occasions that I cooked: chicken curry with basmati rice

Just made me think of Helge Schneider's song from the '90s: