mar, 31st - eb&flow...

day 418:

A. and i went to the opening of this gallery earlier...... EB&Flow is in a converted print works in Shoreditch, East London. 

love the title of the first show....Since Tomorow.

mar, 30th - more sunshine and shadows....

day 417:

lovely Spring sunshine. and shadows. 5 things that i'm looking forward to this Summer:

• long, bright evenings
• picnics in the park
• losing the tights
• bare feet on grass
• open windows

mar, 29th - spring clean....

day 416:

it's time to dust off the cobwebs, sweep the steps and polish the windows....Spring is here!

mar, 28th - chopsticks....

day 415:

good food is an integral part of our lives. both A. and i are interested in cooking, sourcing amazing ingredients and enjoying interesting dishes created by others. we live in a fantastic part of London where there is incredible diversity in terms of cuisines (especially asian and lebanese). we are spoilt with little restaurants that still seemed to be owned by families proud of their heritage and interested in the food and the community rather than the profit margin and turning tables. one of our favourite places is a typical eggs and baked beans English caff during the day but by night a Thai family takes over and serves up some of the best Thai that i've had in this city. the interior is very basic caff, it's b.y.o. (very rare in London), prices are economic-crisis friendly and the Laab Gai doesn't make allowances for the milder English palate....i love this place. and how brilliant that it's one building working perfectly for two restaurants.....wish that more people did this around the world.......

anyway, back to good food...... as i said on day 164, we're trying to expose Limi to a wide variety of cuisines (through what we eat and also what we cook separately for her)......she's now pretty good with trying different things and mainly feeds herself using three preferred implements - a spoon, a fork (very determindly when eating noodles), and both hands.....hey, we've certainly not perfected the whole solids thing yet and some weeks you just want to revert back to her firm favourites (grilled salmon, fishcakes or noodles for every meal) but we're trying to push ourselves to keep it interesting......i won't be surprised if at some stage we go through an i'll-only-eat-spaghetti-and-peas phase and this is not about turning her into some organic-pesto-only child......it's just about trying to instill some idea that food is about sustenance and health but also about flavour, texture and enjoyment......

the pics are from sushi on Sun.....where Limi ate her grilled salmon and avocado rolls (well not the seaweed obviously) but definitely enjoyed the chopsticks more.....

mar, 27th - more maltby....

day 414:

this cough has given me a husky throat.....and since i'm trying to save my voice for karaoke this week (anyone know the words to Turn Around by Bonnie Tyler?)....no really.....and i've already said enough about Maltby Street {see day 400}....here are some wordless pics from our latest visit on Saturday.

mar, 26th - bicycles....

day 413:

we managed to drag ourselves away from our sick beds and make the most of the weekend and....so was the rest of London....on their bikes. whether they had rented a Boris Bike (nicknamed after our London Mayor)....or shined the leather on their seat and handles.....bicycles were out in force this weekend.

we made it back to Maltby Street {see days 400, 401 and 403}...more about that later in the week...yes, we're addicted (i blame Louise and Nivaldo) and also into the parks. East London is definitely the peddle-heart of the retro bike with leather accents and wicker baskets....

beautiful stitching, supple leather, shiny chrome and clean wicker......bicycle spotting was definitely easy on the eye this weekend.

do you think that it's too soon to get Limi a tricycle?

mar, 25th - bleugh....

day 412:

even though we've been having the most delicious Spring weather this week and our neighbourhood coffee shop has re-opened {see day 203}...okay, it has new owners, a new exterior, a new interior, a different vibe (i miss the French jazz).....and they don't yet realise that we're locals.......

we haven't had the Spring feeling in our household.......... 

i've been perfecting the hacking cough and my throat feels like i've been gargling with vindaloo.....Limi's had a jab-related fever for two days and kept it interesting by trying to cut some molars at the same time, Jae has had pounding drums inside her head and A. came home tonight with a promising tickle in his throat.

bleugh.....our weekend plans may be less out-and-about-taking-in-the-Spring-blossoms and more curled-up-on-the-couch sharing the calpol spoon. at least we can try for a picnic on our inside-grass.....

hope that your weekend is more promising. x 

mar, 24th - tate modern....

this post is for you mandy......

take a look at the lovely 16house for sweet words about she had us at hello.....

day 411:

it's not a secret (unfortunately) or a new fad....but a lovely way to spend a weekend afternoon in London is at the incredible Tate Modern. housed in the former Bankside Power Station, it's the best kind of vast, industrial space providing huge walls for iconic art.

a gift that i love giving to friends, is membership to Tate. it gives you a year's access to all exhibitions at Tate Britain, Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. plus you get to enjoy the members bars. as you walk into the the one at Tate Modern you are faced with a wall wide view of St Paul's Cathedral (which always makes me think of My Fair Lady).....such a beautiful dome. it also has a fantastic roof terrace for taking in the Thames and a view of London City.

it's well worth a visit.

mar, 23rd - humour....

day 410:

seems like Limi is picking up at least five new skills every day.....my favourite at the moment is that she is making up her very own jokes....there are a couple that come up nearly every day....my best is tapping her own chest and in all seriousness saying 'mama, mama' and when i say 'no, no, i'm mama', she packs out laughing and then goes back to all seriousness and says it again.......

mar, 22nd - in the detail....

day 409:

as i stepped out the door today in London, i was hit by the feeling of an early morning in Cape Town...the sun was shining...the air was clean, the birds were chirping and there was a lovely atmosphere of hope......seems sunshine will do that....or perhaps it's just that it makes people whistle out loud.

anyway, it made me want to post some bright, light, Summery pics today.....so, here are a few more details from our wedding a couple of years back in South Africa. i shared a few of our detailed ceiling on day 384.......

i love layered decoration and attention to detail.....especially if it delivers the unexpected......i really enjoyed every aspect of planning the festivities for our wedding and had loads on fun with the small detail.....A. , not so much.........although he did focus a lot of energy on the music and the late-night whiskey selection.....

the ginger and macadamia sorbet was in honour of A.'s folks who have a ginger farm in Australia......

the hand-washing station for pre-dinner with crochet trimmed hand towels made by my mum......

the seating plan found in individual guest lucky packets.....wheeled out for everyone to collect....

the menu printed onto a hand fan.....

tin buckets ready for bottles of local champagne and guests to help themselves.......

the guest polaroid photo booth with..... 

brown boards for everyone to write messages onto.....

found farm implements used to line the dusty road that we walked down from the ceremony....

carafes for our friends to fill up with wine from a barrel.....you never want to be sitting with empty glasses trying to get a waiter's attention.....

and finally...something that i was quite insistent on....candyfloss......can you tell that i had serious fun with this......

it's probably the biggest party that we'll ever throw and a real luxury to have our familes and friends in one place so it was unbelievably important to us that it be a celebratory time for everyone....

looking back after a few years...there are small tweaks that i would do differently but as a whole, the weekend is just a happy memory......and thinking about it always makes me wide-mouth smile.

[all pics by our wedding photographer: Jean-Pierre Uys]