Ladyboss Collective

Hey Edinburgh folks! Have you checked out Ladyboss Collective on Candlemaker Row yet? If not you need to pop in to Edinburgh's snazziest nail bar and concept store.

Ladyboss Collective was opened in May this year by Amber Vermeulen after studying Fashion, spending a couple years working in hospitality and doing some traveling she decided it was time to open her own 'dream store'. She had been playing around with Nail Art for a while and it dawned on her that it was the missing link to making her dream come true. Not long after qualifying as a trained nail technician an opportunity to open a pop up shop arose and she jumped at the chance! Through her art school connections and working in hospitality she already knew quite a few creatives on the Edinburgh scene. She teamed up with a bunch of her favorite boss ladies and the 'Sassy concept nail bar featuring a gaggle of the best creative Ladybosses' was born.

I caught up with the Ladyboss herself for a wee chat and to get my nails done in the shop. Amber had done my nails once before and came recommended by a friend and before this appointment she asked me for three words for things I liked so she could create a custom design for me. I didn't make it easy for her and chose; Cats, Space and Vintage as my three words. I had seen some universe nails she'd done on Instagram a couple weeks before and loved them and we all know I love cats and anything vintage. Amber did not disappoint! She had all her cat decals at the ready, including some vintage/antique looking ones and showed me a couple for her free hand cat designs too but I settled on the decals that had a strong resemblance to Grumpy Cat.

Space Cat Nails!!!!!!

We sat and had a catch up while she layered up the varnish and glitter to create the universe effect on my nails and then positioned one cat on each hand, we done want over kill now, and then added more glitter to make them merge with the design. 

We chatted about why she started Ladyboss, how she stocks the shop and what inspires her. As mentioned already she has a lot of contacts in the local creative community and uses them to her advantage, she chats to everyone who comes through the shop and reaches a few folk that way as well as recommendations from people already supplying her. She also makes the most of social media and says 'I sometimes randomly message people I like and ask them to get involved, there are so many talented people out there often it seems you just have to ask'.

Some of the huge selection of stock.

Amber finds her inspiration for her designs in all sorts of places but likes to keep up to date on the nail art trends through Instagram and Pinterest, while I was in she was showing me a practice nail she'd been working on for a festive Christmas jumper design and it was awesome. She's great at working with people to find out what their style is, when I walked in for my first appointment with her I didn't have a clue what I wanted and walked out with stunning blue Mexican Día de Muertos nails, perfect for my summer holiday. 

Some of Amber's other designs

So if you're out and about in Edinburgh then you should pop in and say hi, check out her amazing stock that ranges from prints through clothing (vintage and new), jewellry and zines. There are some amazing stocking fillers and presents to be found and maybe a wee something for yourself too. Obviously I would totally recommend making an appointment to get your nails done while you're there as Amber is a pro! You can check out the Collective on her website and check out her Instagram for her latest designs and whats going on in store. 

Ladyboss Collective - ladybosscollective.co.uk - 23 Candlemarker Row, EH1 2QG 

Date Night - Al Dente

It feels like an age since our last date night at Saiko Kitchen back in July! August as a crazy with trips to London and and Bristol and some crazy flat hunting. The good news is that we found a flat, its not far from our current rented flat so the move should be easy and it has a second bedroom so we'll have a bit more space to breath (and craft). So brace yourselves for more DIY tutorials for the new place. I've already starting new Pinterest boards you can check them by clicking the badge on the side bar.

The Rules of Date Night

Martyn and I started ‘Date Night’ over a year ago when we were still living in Tollcross, Edinburgh. There are so many lovely independent restaurants in Edinburgh we are completely spoilt! In a quest to work our way around some of these places we declared ‘Date Night’.

The Rules of Date Night;
Once a month after pay day.
Must be local (walking distance from the flat).
We take turns on who pays.
When he is paying I choose the location.
When I’m paying he chooses the location.
We never go to the same place twice for date night.

It feels like an age since our last date night at Saiko Kitchen back in July! August was a crazy with trips to London and and Bristol and some crazy flat hunting, thank goodness its over now. It was September before we managed the next date night, we went back to local and headed towards Easter Road again for some Italian.

About Al Dente 

Al Dente is a tiny wee restaurant right on Easter Road it's after the first up on shops just before you go over the rail tracks going down the road. It's been there for a while but if you blinked you'd miss it. They pride themselves on 'Pure Italian food' and that means fresh made pasta and traditional Italian flavours. They have a wide ranging menu of the usual suspects; pasta, risotto salads etc but also a large specials board too. 

The Food and Drinks

So I've recently joined a slimming group so I was trying to make 'wise choices' on date night, by the main course that was out the window and a glass of the house red was en route to our table. FYI the house red was delicious and next time I'll be ordering the bottle. 

To start I had the Bruschetta Classica and Martyn ordered the Sformatino di patate e salumi. The bruschetta was beautifully, fresh bread topped with tasty tomato, basil and garlic. Martyn's starter was an oven baked potato tart with cured meat and topped with mozzarella. Our starteds disappeared into our faces so fast I didn't even get a chance to photograph them...

For our mains we went very traditional, Spaghetti alla Carbonara for Martyn and Pumkin stuffed Ravioli with Sage and Parmesan for me. 

The carbonara was served in a good sized portion of spaghetti with cheese, pancetta, and plenty of black  pepper, it was gone in no time! My ravioli was stuffed with smooth and sweet pumpkin, very seasonal and smothered in, not very slimming, sage butter and parmesan. 

By this point the wise choices were out of the window and the vino was in hand as well as the Desserts menu. As you'll know from the Origano review I'm a sucker for tiramisu so it was ordered along with a Gelati misti, Chocolate ice cream with hazelnut and chocolate sauce, for Martyn. 

Unfortunately the cream in my tiramisu had turned, I mentioned it to the waiter (the only waiter) as soon as I realised and he was very apologetic and took it straight away returning to apologise again and ask if there was anything I'd prefer. He also pointed out he'd forgotten to mention the dessert special which was an amaretti semifreddo. Boom! Done! I love anything amaretti and ordered it without seeing the menu again.

It was delicious, creamy, sweet and all I could have asked for. I finished it off with my glass of wine feeling satisfied and full.

Round up and Atmosphere

Well as I'm sure you can tell I was quite impressed by Al Dente, apart from one hiccup, they were amazing. They were short staffed but everyone was getting the attention they needed and the food was fresh and seasonal. 

We both thought it would be a great choice for a big family meal or a big bunch of friends catching up over great food and wine. 

They also do pre theatre and great deals. If you pop down and check it out let me know what you think of it

xxx

Al Dente -139 Easter Road Edinburgh EH7 5QA - Tel: 0131 - 6521 932

The Biscuity Workshop with Nikki McWilliams

You may have seen on my Facebook or Instagram that a couple Saturdays ago I was lucky enough to spend the day with Nikki McWilliams and a lovely group of ladies at Hill Street Design House making Biscuit themed clutch bags.

You might recognise Nikki's name from my Wish List Wednesday post a year ago about her Tunnock's Tea Cake cushion that I fell in love with. Nikki is a Scottish designer, has her own blog and one of the best Instagram accounts you'll find! Her home ware and accessories label launched in 2009 and was inspired by 'a love of British culture, contemporary Pop-Art and her fascination with the ritual of the Tea Break'. You can check out the full range on her website!

The workshop was one of my Birthday presents from Martyn (after a very large hint). We all had to be at Hill Street Design House, on Hill Street, for the class starting at 11am. I wore my Collectif Dolores top, skinny highwaisted jeans, new red pumps and, of course, my custard cream brooch.  

The bright room was laid out beautifully with a big pink covered central table covered in craft supplies and plates piled high with biscuits! Everyone took a seat and Nikki introduced herself and explained the plan for the day. We were all making biscuit-inspired clutch bags with our own designs using simple printing and sewing techniques.

Nikki demonstrated set up our fabric for printing and folding for sewing. she then showed us how to mix the acrylic paint and printing medium then how to print on the fabric using craft foam designs we had to create. We had brown or cream fabric to choose from for chocolate or vanilla biscuits and I chose the cream as I wanted to create a Nice biscuit bag.

We all settled in and started drawing and cutting out our designs, there were some great ideas and we were all chatting and helping each other with ideas, Nikki was floating around the room checking out or designs and offering help where it was needed.

Before we knew it it was time to start printing, Hannah who was sitting by me was doing a custard cream design so we decided to share paint and Nikki helped us mix up the perfect biscuity, creamy yellow.

I think the printing is the most nerve wrecking bit, making sure we didn't print letters the wrong way up, making sure they didn't smudge or even just spill and splatter everywhere! Nikki introduced us to the concept of Wabi-Sabi which roughly translates from Japanese as 'Finding the beauty in Imperfections' which I just love and can totally relate to. Most things that I craft have an imperfection somewhere but I like to call 'Character'. 

I was very happily surprised with how mine turned out, it had just the right amount of 'Character'. We had a break for lunch while the paint dried and when we returned it was time to sew them up and embellish them. The table was covered in wool, ribbons, pompoms, pompom makers, beads, ricrac and all a girl could need to jazz up her biscuit bag. 

We glued craft foam to what would become the inside front and back of our bags and folded them up, sew stitched up the side while it was inside out and them turned them out. We were left with envelope style clutch bags that just need the top flap tidied up with a couple more stitches and we were ready to embellish. 

I love a pompom but I also wanted to keep my bag quite simple so I chose the bright yellow ribbon with mini pompoms all along it, simplicity isn't my strong suit. I stitched the pompoms along the edge of the envelope opening and then made a wee bow that I popped on the back too. Everyone was having a ball making pompoms and tassels it was infectious so I made a tassel for the side of my bag from some thin ribbons in the yellow I'd used for my bow, blue and violet.   

I'm so happy with the final product and was so inspired by all the ladies around me and their creative designs, we had Kit Kats, bourbons, custard creams, jammy dodger and party ring designs too. 

Once we had all finished up, or at least as far as some of the overly adventurous were going to get, we took them all outside so we could take some pictures in the good light and Nikki even took a wee Boomerang video. 

I had an amazing day, it was lovely to meet some lovely new creative ladies as well as Nikki McWillliams herself and check out Hill Street Design House too. I know Nikki is running more of these workshops and Hill Street run events like this all the time making all sorts like jewellery, lingerie and flower crowns as well as hosting private events too. So keep an eye on both of them.

Date Night - Anniversary Special - Saiko Kitchen

The Rules of Date Night

Martyn and I started ‘Date Night’ well over a year ago when we were still living in Tollcross, Edinburgh. There are so many lovely independent restaurants in Edinburgh we are completely spoilt! In a quest to work our way around some of these places we declared ‘Date Night’.

The Rules of Date Night;
Once a month after pay day.
Must be local (walking distance from the flat).
We take turns on who pays.
When he is paying I choose the location.
When I’m paying he chooses the location.
We never go to the same place twice for date night.

This months Date Night was a special one as it landed on the 2 year anniversary of our first date. Martyn and I are a successful product of the Tinder dating app, we started chatting over the weekend of my 30th and his 27th birthday. His is the day after mine so we are birthday buddies and makes the end of June kind of like Christmas in The Clubhouse with all the cards, presents and parties. Since that warm Wednesday night at the start of July it's been a whirlwind of new jobs, him moving in to my flat and then us renting our own little place together, date nights, trips around the UK and other adventures.

Anyway I digress! So as this was a special Date Night we decided to declare it an 'Away Game' and left the usual limits of walking distance from the flat and jumped on a bus to Marchmont and Saiko Kitchen. I when quite rockabilly for the evening and wore my Dorothy Perkins 'Lyla' high waisted jeans, new H&M Bardot style stripy top, old faithful Mary-Janes and accessorised with my new Ladybird Likes butterfly necklace and H&M lipstick scarf.

About Saiko Kitchen
Saiko Kitchen is a pan Asian restaurant, specialising in a street food style. It is a small but varied menu with something for everyone. Their slogan is 'Fresh, Food, Fast' and I think they have hit the nail on the head. The restaurant is light and airy with subtle but bright splashed of colour scattered around. The menu consists of soups, salads, rice and noodle dishes, small plates, banh mi sandwiches, sides and sweet treats. A lot of the options are either vegetarian or vegan and they have quite a few gluten free choices too. They don't have a drinks licence and it's not byob so it's soft drinks all the way. We arrived just before 7pm to a very quiet restaurant but it started filling up as the evening passed.

The Food and Drinks
When it comes to this style of food Martyn and I are very predictable, I'll opt for the Pad Thai and Martyn will either pick Katsu curry or a chicken noodle soup, he just couldn't make up his mind this time but a very accommodating waitress let him order the Hanoi chicken noodle soup with a side of the Panko chiken strips served with Katsu sauce instead of the standard sraracha mayo they come with.

I went with the tofu Pad Thai and it was delicious, crispy coated tofu, fresh and crunchy veggies, soft noodles all coated in classic sweet and savory, spicy flavours. We also ordered a surprisingly large portion of 7 spice fries that even we didn't get through! 

Martyn loved his aromatic soup and dipping the crispy chicken strips in the Katsu sauce and although we both fancied trying the Sweet Treats - Banana and peanut butter ice cream cake or Raspberry and Mango sorbet - we couldn't even finish the food in front of us and had to admit defeat. 

 

Round up and Atmosphere
I'm already planning on heading back for lunch soon, it's not too far from my office, and trying one of the Vietnamese style Banh Mi sandwiches. Crispy tofu, pickled veg, salad, coriander and chilies with ginger and peanut sauce sounds like lunchtime heaven to me! 

Our waitress was friendly and the kitchen were very fast. They also do take away and there were a few customers in and out for their collections while we sat too. 

So go and check it out for lunch or dinner, the food is a delight, so fresh and tasty. 

Saiko Kitchen - 15 Roseneath Street, EH9 1JH - 0131 281 5613 

Date Night - Rivage

The Rules of Date Night

Martyn and I started ‘Date Night’ over a year ago when we were still living in Tollcross, Edinburgh. There are so many lovely independent restaurants in Edinburgh we are completely spoilt! In a quest to work our way around some of these places we declared ‘Date Night’.

The Rules of Date Night;
Once a month after pay day.
Must be local (walking distance from the flat).
We take turns on who pays.
When he is paying I choose the location.
When I’m paying he chooses the location.
We never go to the same place twice for date night.

This month we headed along to Easter Road to check out Rivage. We had been recommended it by our friends The Knoxigans a couple weeks ago when we met up with them and their new pup Marvin, he's the cutest. 

I wore my Forever21 stripy skirt, Dorothy Perkins bardot top, red cardie, mary janes and it's hard to see but my tights have tiny wee hearts all over them! I'd been to Lipstick, Lashes and Locks after work to get my hair cut and the lovely Tina had curled it for me too. I did a quick roll at the front to keep my hair out of my face, some big flicks and red lips. I grabbed my bright red Cambridge Satchel push lock bag and we legged it along the road to dinner. 

About Rivage 

Rivage it at the top end of Easter Road and I must have walked past it 100 times, I used to spend a lot of time in The Mash Tun pub quizzing a couple years back, they do a great quiz and some pretty decent food too. Anyway I've walked past plenty of times and it's always smelt pretty tasty but it doesn't look like much from the outside but always seemed pretty busy. 

The contrast between the inside and outside is vast! All the table and chairs are quality chunky dark teak, well accessorised with carved partitions and features, you can see the tandoor oven in the corner from nearly every seat in the restaurant, it's great to see them preparing your naan bread and receiving it pipping hot. 

The Food and Drinks

Rivage is BYOB but they also have a small bar serving a selection of drinks. We weren't in the mood for a bottle of wine so just ordered drinks there, I had a bottle of Kingfisher and Martyn had a pint of diet coke, we also had water brought to the table as soon as we sat down which I really liked. 

We ordered popadoms to start us off and then I had the Aloo Tiki, two patties of pea and mashed potato flavoured with ginger and lightly fried, it came with a salad and riata dressing. Martyn opted for Murgh Tikka Trianga, chicken tikka with done with tree different sauces, mint and coriander, red spices and cashew and cheese. We both loved our starters, they were a very generous size and well presented. 

Once the starters were finished and cleared our mains were soon on their way. We had ordered Gucchi Muttar, Chicken Jalfrezie, Jeera Pilao rice and a Peshwari Naan. My Gucchi Mutar was rich and creamy with large bit of mushroom and plenty of peas and was seriously tasty, Martyn's Jalfrezie had great chunks of chicken in a sauce of crushed spices and stir-fried peppers. He loved his and eat the whole dish with the beautifully cooked rice. 

The Peshwari was a revelation to me, I never order it because I'm concerned it'll have meat or worse raisins (I hate raisins with a passion, especially when they are hidden in things like apple muffins and carrot cake). This naan was delicious, after Martyn convinced me to order it, stuffed with almond and cashew paste it was delicately sweet and really balanced the meal out. 

We didn't even look at the sweets menu as we were fit to burst after all of that food, we paid our very reasonable bill and rolled back along the road full and happy.

Round up and Atmosphere

Above is the moment we realised that I hadn't stopped to capture the meal when it arrived and we'd just dived into it! I would highly recommend Rivage for a night when only a good curry will do, the food was tasty and fresh, the service was unbelievably attentive but did not boarder on intrusive and it's BYOB.

It was noted in 6 of the best Indian Restaurants in Edinburgh but the Scotsman Food and Drink, of which we have been to 5 of now. We are considering an 'away game' date night to go the the last on the list Kalpna soon so keep your eyes peeled. 

If you head to Rivage then let me know what you think! 

xxx

Rivage - 126–130 Easter Road, Edinburgh, EH7 5RJ - 0131 661 6888

Date Night - The Compass

The Rules of Date Night

Martyn and I started ‘Date Night’ about a year ago when we were still living in Tollcross. There are so many lovely independent restaurants in Edinburgh we are completely spoilt! In a quest to work our way around some of these places we declared ‘Date Night’.

The Rules of Date Night;
Once a month after pay day.
Must be local (walking distance from the flat).
We take turns on who pays.
When he is paying I choose the location.
When I’m paying he chooses the location.
We never go to the same place twice for date night.

About the Compass Bar and Restaurant

The Compass Bar is in the heart of Leith on the corner of Queen Charlotte Street and Constitution Street. It's recently had a refurb and they have extended the old bar to include a restaurant at the back. The new space is full of great lighting, exposed brick work and massive art work giving it an airy New York Loft feel.

The Compass Bar pride themselves on using locally sourced and seasonal ingredients so the menu is constantly changing, they have also recently expanded their selection of wines and craft ales behind the bar. All the food is made to order in the kitchen that you can see right into at the back of the restaurant.

I wore my new Dorothy Perkins black and white stripped Bardot style dress with my Denim jacket and now Resin Rainbow earings and matching brooch. I love this outfit, its so comfy and easy to dress up and down.

The Food and Drinks

Martyn and I arrived and were directed through to the restaurant from the cosy welcoming bar, we were met by our waitress and offered a selection of tables and I choose one near the kitchen where we could see the whole place. The menus that we were given were different to the one we'd looked at online*, we were a little disappointed we'd not get to try the Spiced Veterinarian Haggis and Cous Cous burger but there were still plenty of tasty options.

We ordered our drinks, I went for a pint of Innes & Gunn that they have on tap in the bar and Martyn had a blackcurrant and lemonade. After a fair bit of debating about the menu we finally decided on the Halloumi, Red Pepper and Pesto burger for me and Martyn went for the BBQ burger, they both came with chunky chips. My burger was amazing! It was total Halloumi karma after our last date night at Pera, there were 2 or 3 chunky slices of cheese with juicy, sweet grilled red peppers and delicious fresh basil pesto. The chunky chips were thick cut, fluffy in the middle and crispy on the outside. Maryn's burger was huge, larger than the brioche bun it was served in, dripping with BBQ sauce and Cheese and filled with Bacon. We were both very happy with our mains and decided to have a peek and the dessert menu.

After Dinner Delights

It doesn't take much to convince us to have dessert and looking at the menu we spied a couple of our favorites. I ordered the Apple Pie with Custard and Martyn chose the Lemon Cheese Cake that came with a Berry compote. The Apple Pie was lovely, lots of thing layers of sliced apple with a sweet cinnamon flavour and lattice pastry top, the custard came in a separate wee pot which meant Martyn got to try some pie before I smothered it in the custard. Mayrtn enjoyed his cheese cake and it was delicious and creamy and was a huge piece but it wasn't lemon. I think they must have run out or confused it with a vanilla one, either way it was delicious and had a buttery biscuit base. 

Once we had settled our bill we wondered through to the bar area and decided to stop for a last drink before heading up the road. They have a good selection of spirits behind the bar, we opted for a Gentleman Jack for Martyn and a Tia Maria for me, I'm going through a Tia Maria and Coke phase - I think its the cold snap were having and its nice and warming. We found bar stools and a table in the corner and enjoyed our drinks. 

Round up and Atmosphere

The Compass is a really nice bar and restaurant, it looked as though you can eat in the cosy bar as well as the more formal restaurant area which would be lovely in the evening by the fireplace. The atmosphere is relaxed and the staff were attentive and friendly, especially the bar lady. It won points with Martyn as they are also dog friendly too. 

We'd defiantly go back with friends for an afternoon pub lunch or even brunch, they do a fully veggie breakfast!  

They are very good at keeping their Facebook and Twitter up to date with their specials and daily deals so its worth checking them out too.

If you head down let me know what you think! 

xxx

*Looking now the link to the menu we looked at is out of order.

Date Night - Pera Turkish Mangal & Meze Bar

It's date night again! Mostly because I was so late in posting last month...

I thought as my first date night post was 8 months and 3 pages ago I thought I would do a reminder of the date night rules;

Once a month on or close to pay day.
Must be local (walking distance from the flat).
We take turns on who pays.
When he is paying I choose the location.
When I’m paying he chooses the location.
We never go to the same place twice for date night.

This month we went to went to Pera on Leith Walk, it's a Turkish Mangal and Meze Bar. We popped along last Thurday after a hard days work. I wore my black and floral dress that I picked up in the New Look sale at Christmas time with my purple cardie and my black Mary Janes from Primark (that you cant see in this photo very well but are super comfy and just a bit classier that a basic flat pump). I also had on one of my favorite necklaces that friends bought me for my 30th, it has 3 wee birds on a branch in silver.

Martyn had booked our table for 7pm, we left the flat at 10 minutes to and still had time to pop past Odbins on the walk and pick up a bottle of Casa Lluch Tempranillo 2012, which was recommended by the assistant in there. On arrival we were offered a choice of tables as it was only half full and given our menus, moments later the waitress was back with water for both of us and wine glasses which she pored the wine into for us.

Unsurprisingly being a Mangal (Turkish for Barbecue) there weren't a great selection of vegetarian dishes, there were 2 main courses and some salads that I'd love to try come summer and I think there were a few in the cold meze but there wasn't a menu of when they had. Martyn was in his element. For starters we ordered Sigara Boregi, filo pastry filled with cheese and parsley lightly fried, and  Halloumi and Sucuk, sucuk is a spicy Turkish Sausage. They both came in good time and were beautifully presented. The sucuk was thinly sliced and placed on top of the halloumi and Martyn loved them! My Sigara Boregi was delicious and light, I even shared them with Martyn.

He chose the Chicken Şiş (chicken kebab) and I went with the Vegetarian Kebab - Charcoal BBQ grilled marinated seasonal vegetables & halloumi with a yogurt sauce. It was beautiful! The aubergine melted, the couscous had the most amazing aromatic flavour and the yogurt dip was creamy and gralicky. The only thing that let it down was how little halloumi was on my plate, after the amount in the meaty starter I was a little disappointed to only have one piece on my plate. Martyn devoured his and also agreed that the couscous was delicious. We opted out on desert as we were both pretty full after all of that food!

Over all the place was charming, the waitress was attentive and made sure our wine glasses were never empty and the food was very tasty. I'm not sure I'll be rushing back but I would definitely recommend it to meat eating friends.

Date Night - Tapa

Martyn and I had our January date night a couple weeks ago now but with trips to see family up north and down south this month has flown by! We finally made it to Tapa down at the shore, I'd been recommended it by friends at work months ago and had a peek at the menu which is very vegetarian friendly.

Warm welcome at Tapa

It was nice to have it on a Sunday night as I had time to get ready instead of my usual after work rush. I wore my new (to me) vintage style navy with polka dot hearts dress on it, I picked it up in the Cancer Research shop in Tollcross on Friday on my way to Martyn's office. It from Tu at Sainsbury's originally and I nabbed it for £3.95! I paired it with a wee red belt and my red cardigan for our evening out.

We headed down to Tapa for 7pm, it's not too far from the flat and just of Henderson Street. We were welcomed into a quiet restaurant and asked where we would like to sit, we chose the corner near the window and a radiator. Tapa is tastefully decorated, very simple and clean with flowers and candles on the tables.

Our waitress came and took our drinks order and explained the menu to us. I ordered a lovely glass of a tempranillo and we settles on the suggested dinner set menu as which is £25 a head but includes most of the items we fancied and had been recommended. To start you get bread with pesto, hummus and oil and vinegar, a selection meats and cheeses. Followed by a green salad, crispy aubergine drizzled in honey, patatas bravas and two choices of tapas each. I chose the asparagus spears and the avocado and chickpea salad and Martyn picked the chorizo and the chicken skewers. It also included a trio of deserts each but we'll get to that later.

They were very vegetarian friendly at Tapa and served the meats and cheeses starter on separate platers for me, yes I did share some of the cheese with Martyn... The pesto was unbelievable, so fresh and bursting with flavor and I love oil and balsamic with fresh bread, although the bread did resemble a pair of boobs when it was presented to us!

Boob bread! 

It was at this point in the evening I was treated to a surprise guest! My boss! I work in a school and just as the plates from our started were being cleared my ears perked up as the recognisable tones of the school Principal wafted through the door. My instant thoughts where 'No it can't be...' and 'Quick! Look busy'. Then because I had smiled and waved the waitress seemed to think it was a good idea to seat him on the next table. He came over and I introduced him to Martyn, had a wee bit of chat and he joked that he hoped we had just finish because having your boss next to you can kill the romance, I pointed out that we had just finished our starters and at that point he asked the waitress if they could move tables. It was nice to see him and for Martyn to put a name to a face but I was also relieved he decided to sit elsewhere.

Not long after our that mains arrived, first the green salad and the aubergine, then the patatas and asparagus followed by the meats and avocado salad. The aubergine was delicious crisp and sweet, the patatas bravas were lovely and rich and the asparagus spears were perfectly cooked and complimented with roasted yellow pepper salsa and cherry tomato jam. My highlight was the avocado salad, the chickpeas were tasty and crunchy and the avocado was creamy and soft with crisp salad leaves and almond slices and topped with balsamic glaze and sesame seeds - I would go back for the salad alone! Martyn loved the chorizo and the chicken skewers too. Everything was tasty and fresh.

Delicious crispy aubergine 

Once we had consumed all that it was time for desert! The set menu included a trio of deserts that turned up on a saucer, there was lemon cheesecake in the espresso cup with a chocolate bonbon and pistachio macaroon on the side. The cheesecake was beautifully creamy and sharp in one spoonful, the chocolate bonbon was a dark shell filled with smooth ganache and the macaroon was perfect with a crisp shell and gooey chewy center. Martyn had never had a macaroon before and seemed to think he'd not like them, he tried to give it to me but I made him try it and he loved it (I was a little gutted because pistachio one are my favorite).

Our Tapa experience was amazing, I would totally recommend popping down to the shore to check it out. We're already trying to find excuses to go back! 

Wish List Wednesday - The Boys Toys Skirt by BOB

Wish List Wednesday is back! Huzzah I hear you call!

This week I'm swooning after the Boys Toys skirt from the new collection from BOB by Dawn O’Porter. The Equality Collection launch a week ago on the 20th of January.  It's a capsule collection with only four pieces in it, the skirt, a shirt, a dress and a pair of leggings, with prints on them created by the very talented Karen Mabon.

This is not Karen Mabon's first collaboration with Dawn O'Porter's label BOB. They previously created a beautiful selection of four skirts with designs including flying geese, nostalgic 90s school days and women walking dogs and my favorite, the blue one with sheets of paper with inspirational quotes on them.

Karen's studio is based in Edinburgh these days after studying here at the School of Art, so there is a local interest in this weeks WLW too. Her forte is quirky and colourful scarves and jewelry and you can check them all out on her website. The themes of her scarves very from dogs in fancy dress, Noah's ark to the classic greasy spoon cafe breakfast! They are all bright and full of interesting details.

The Equality Collection has three of Karen Mabon's prints; The Love Wins print which features the who rainbow of couples in love live a cat and a dog, two spacemen and a pair of figure skaters, it has been printed on a 60's inspired cream shirt and 80's style leggings. The Women and the Boss print features hard working women in in the work place, taking meeting and working with their babies. My favorite is the Boys Toys print, it's covered in Super Soakers, dinosaurs, Gameboys and toy soldiers and all of this is on a beautiful 50's inspired skirt. Since having her little boy Dawn O'Porter has been 'shocked by the gender specific toy industry' with girls toy sections being filled with 'tiaras and ponies' and the boys toy inspiring 'toughness and strength'. She wanted to highlight the fact that 'boys look great in pink and girls love being tough'. 

I love it! I always enjoyed playing with Lego and water guns when I was growing up and I do enjoy a great 50's style skirt too, especially when it has something positive to say about society. The Equality Collection is also available in sizes 6-18, which I love, and is all made in London.

You should also check out both Karen and Dawn's Instagram accounts too, they have both fun and inspirational, especially all of Dawn's vintage finds. 

Wool and the Gang knitting party

Have you guys heard of Wool and the Gang? I've been following then on Instagram for months now, you should check them out! They are changing the way fashion is created and consumed by sourcing their products with 'consideration so as to reduce impact on our environment'. The wool is natural, renewable and biodegradable and they work with fashion factories to re-purpose their fashion waste into new yarns. They sell their products in 2 ways, you can either buy a kit with wool, needles, a pattern and whatever other bits you need or you can buy the finished product. The Gang are an army of makers, both knitting and crocheting the collections in their homes and not in factories, the majority of whom are based in the UK. Many of their larger pieces are made by their Peruvian Gang. 

Lovely colourful wool

They also host knitting parties across the UK, Europe and the USA. My friend Emily and I went along to one before to knit the 'Snood Operator' woolly snood. Tickets cost £30 each but Emily, who I work with, wangled us a pair for half price! One of the knitting gang who knits at home was hosting the party in Outhouse on Broughton Street Lane so we headed along for 7 on the dot to make sure we got our pick of the wool colours. 

My equipment

We were the second folk there and chatted away to our host for the evening and chose our wool colours, Emily took the grey and I went with, my staple, maroon. We took our seats and a few others arrived, there were 6 of us in totally with a range of skill levels. Wool and the Gang provide everything you need to complete your project including the wool, access to videos about how to cast off, a needle to sew it all up and you get to take away the stunning 15mm rose wood knitting needles. 

Knitting and a pint!

Our host was very patient with us, we had 3 patterns to pick from for our snoods and she demonstrated them for us, I picked moss stitch for mine (which, for knitters, is knit then purl on an odd number to create an amazing texture). We sat in the pub for 2 hours gassing away to the other ladies and catching up on our work gossip and it flew by! At about 9pm we realised that we should be heading home and we were both nearly finished our snoods so we packed all our bits and bobs into the bags and headed down the road. Emily finished hers when she got in but it took me a couple days to get round to it but I love it now and it’s hardly been off since! 

Lovely Emily!

I would definitely recommend looking them up on Instagram and signing up for their newsletter because that’s how you hear about the deals they have and upcoming events. So go on folks check them out and change the face of fashion!