10.03

Cider-with-Rosie-London-

What better way to punctuate an errand-filled day, and to wrap up a rather beautiful, sunshine-filled week, than by having a burger date with friends?

I’m telling you, it felt like spring had well and truly arrived in London on Friday. We woke up to blue skies, and bright light streaming through the bedroom curtains. The sun had the merest hint of warmth to it, for the first time in so many months! I had a little wait for my train on my way into town so spent 10 minutes sat at on the station platform basking in a patch of sunlight, and found myself hoping that my train might be a couple of minutes delayed, just so I could enjoy the warmth on my face a little longer. It was total heaven.

Tania, Freya and I made plans to meet at Byron on The Cut (off the back of Waterloo station) at midday, to catch Freya on her lunch break. That branch of Byron has become something of a staple hangout for us, and I’m not too sure how. I think it’s been a case of ‘right place, right time’ as it’s just happened to be on our path back to the station during one or two evenings out in town over the past couple of years- I’m think especially of the time we drank cocktails in Topolski’s so potent we found ourselves on a mad hunt for carbs at gone 10.30, and everywhere else we tried was shut. It was a carb-crisis, okay? ;)

The burgers at Byron aren’t by any means the best you can find in London (tasty, but missing the je ne sais quoi that the likes of Patty & Bun burgers have by the bucketload)…but the Oreo milkshakes? Now those really are something else. As far as I can see, they’re made basically by just blending Oreos with vanilla ice-cream and milk. As dreamy as you’d imagine. We ordered one for Tania before she’d even arrived, because true friends know each other’s milkshakes orders ;)

Byron-burger-date-Cider-with-Rosie Oreo-milkshake-Byron-Cider-with-Rosie Cider-with-Rosie-burger-review

^^ Uhh…I over-ordered. My eyes were bigger than my stomach. Though does that saying still count if you eat it all? I did leave *some* of the bun though, so whatever…^^

I went for the B-Rex- a towering monstrosity of a burger made up of a beef patty (so steak-y and tasty!), melted cheese, BBQ sauce and mayo, bacon, an onion ring, pickles, and jalapeño chilis. For the sake of dignity-when-consuming I had to take out the onion ring before eating, but yep. Ate the lot. For LUNCH. And since it’s now a few days later, I can tell you I didn’t feel hungry again for about 48 hours afterwards…a job well done, I’d say! ;)

Cider-with-Rosie-London-lifestyle-photography

^^ A token portion of fries for the table, plus blue cheese dip of course! ^^

Byron-burger-Cider-with-Rosie Cider-with-Rosie

What I wore :: Trench coat {on sale right now!} || Shirt || Jeans || Trainers || Handbag || Watch || Bracelet. { and a big shout out to that oversized shirt for hiding my burger baby belly.}

Once we’d finished our meal, and chit chatted about everything from the best beauty salons in London to where we should head for Tan’s birthday this week, we kissed Miss Freya goodbye (she was heading back to the office), and Tania and I moseyed over to the South Bank for a coffee and a wander. I’m going to omit the part where we stopped by Konditor & Cook to buy a brownie each, alright? It’s struck from the record. Never happened…

The South Bank had this amazing feel to it on Friday afternoon, full of people out making the most of the sunshine and taking photographs of the Houses of Parliament and the light on the river and all those other things that make for great Instagram snaps in London. The below photo, of two red balloons tied to a child’s pushchair, was my favourite from the day. And actually, maybe my favourite photo from this year so far!

Balloon-shadows Tania-Cider-with-Rosie

^^ Having shutterbug friends is the greatest, especially ones who not only don’t mind, but actively encourage you to not feel embarrassed about talking to your camera whilst recording video snippets for vlogs! Those kind of friends are the best of the best :) ^^

Beany-Green-SouthBank-Cider-with-Rosie Beany-Green-coffee

Our last pitstop was to Beany Green, a freestanding coffee shop that sits just beneath the Golden Jubilee bridges (outside the SouthBank centre). It serves the most dreamy Australian coffee, so we ordered a couple of flat whites and drank them sitting right underneath the steps of the bridge at a little makeshift bar made out of crates. The coffee was exactly what we needed after such a heavy lunch- strong and not too milky- and helped fix the mid-afternoon slump that hits me every day without fail.

We walked back to Waterloo once we’d finished our coffees, and then spent ten minutes buying bath bombs from Lush in the corner of the station before jumping on to our respective trains home.

It was a totally heavenly way to end the week, and if spring continues on the way it’s begun? Well, I’d be pretty happy with that.

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Posted in BURGERS, FRIENDS, LONDON, RESTAURANT, REVIEW

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03.03

Five-Guys-Lunch-date-1 Five-Guys-Guildford-1 Five-Guys-Guildford Five-Guys-fries Five-Guys-Lunch-date

One evening about a week or so ago, Jason turned to me and said ‘Oh B, one of those London burger joints is opening up in Guildford soon.’ ‘Which one? I replied. ‘Patty & Bun? Meat Liquor? Honest Burger? Shake Shack?’ (I reeled them off super quick, like any good burger junkie can). ‘Mmmm…not sure. I can’t remember’ said Jason. ‘UHHHH’ said I.

After a little googling, it turned out that Guildford was being graced with a Five Guys! So on Friday, I went over to the studio, and met Jason for a little lunch date. It was so, so nice to have a mini midweek date with my love, when we usually see so little of each other during the week days. We talked about plans for the house (because that’s all we talk about these days, you know), compared our burgers (unfavourably) to those we ate at Patty & Bun, and picked the other’s brains about the projects we’re each working on right now. It was just lovely.

But now, let me tell you about the food! I’ll be honest with you, it wasn’t great. Flavourless, overly greasy, and ceeerrrrazy expensive. The bill came to £30 for two burgers, one small and one regular fries, and two sodas. WHAT? I know. We both felt that it basically was like an overpriced Macdonalds, and most definitely wouldn’t go back!

Save yourself for a trip to Patty & Bun and one of their Smokey Robinson burgers, is our advice ;)

* I’m wearing a sweater by Brora, boots by Dune, playsuit ℅ Love, and jacket by Toast.

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Posted in BURGERS, GUILDFORD, JASON, RESTAURANT

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07.01

Freya-and-Tania South-Bank-lights   Byron-burgers Lizzie-and-Freya Byron-burger Tania-and-Rosie-Cider-with-Rosie Burgers-and-milkshakes Lights-over-the-Thames

A couple of days after Christmas, I went into town to meet Freya, Tania and Lizzie for drinks and dinner. It was our last chance to see each other before Tania heads home to France for a couple of weeks, and then off to Australia for a whole year! The South Bank looked gorgeous, all lit up in white and blue for the festive season. In fact, it looked so beautiful it kind of made me wonder why I ever bother getting on the Tube when I’m in London, when I could just wander along the river instead!

The girls and I met at a little bar just near Waterloo called Topolski’s (a tip off from Freya’s fiancé Adam), and ploughed through a couple of wicked cocktails made up of fresh cranberry juice, and a vodka infused in-house with clementines, cinnamon, and a whole host of other Christmassy spices. They were pretty spectacular! And also lethal (the kind of drink that goes down easy as anything, but makes you ‘pull’ every ‘push’ door on the way to the bathroom), so afterwards we went in search of burgers! Byron (and oreo milkshakes for four) hit the spot in the way that only moderately-priced extra cheesy cheeseburgers can.

We spent our evening talking about the ins and outs of this strange and wonderful industry we’ve all found ourselves in, and the need for holiday, and unplugging, and friendship, and food, and Christmas, and our plans for the year ahead. I won’t harp on again about how grateful I am for these sweet girls (You must be sick of us all! Is there a word for the female version of a bromance? Because there should be.) and will instead just say that I’m very, very glad that 2013 was the year our paths crossed.

And also, Lizzie? I’m sorry you had to put up with having three bloggers take photographs of your food before you could eat it. We are obnoxious, and we know it. ;)

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Posted in BURGERS, FRIENDS, LONDON, RESTAURANT

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17.03

yesterday afternoon, jason and i braved the rain (it was torrential!) and journeyed to guildford for lunch with my family at bill’s. we got together to celebrate the life of my beautiful grandma, since yesterday marked the one year anniversary of her passing. it’s hard to contemplate that an entire year has gone by since she left our lives. 
 during those first few awful months after we lost her, i used to feel so resentful whenever people told me that time would heal, and things would get easier. i thought ‘how can you say that? i don’t want things to get easier, i don’t want to get used to living in a world where i haven’t got a grandma, i don’t want to forget.’ but as the days and weeks and months plodded on, i realised that no matter how hard i dug my heels in and yearned for the past i was already living in a world without my grandma, and the last thing she’d want is for me to missing my present, for the sake of yesterday. 
so yesterday afternoon there were no tears, and instead, there was laughter, and food, and many a happy memory recounted :) we love you grandma. yesterday, today, and always. x


below: bill’s halloumi and houmous burger.
below: my oh so beautiful ma. 

below: we wound up comparing handwriting. why? who knows! but we learnt that my handwriting is the most childish (cool), cesca’s is the same as mum’s, and emily doesn’t like writing ‘w’s. 

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Posted in ANNIVERSARY, BURGERS, FAMILY, JASON, LOVE, MUM, WEEKEND

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