Afternoon Tea Series: Bake a Boo

Earlier on today I met with my London girls for our third Afternoon Tea. You may remember my previous posts on Betty Blythe and Bea's of Bloomsbury. I love this series, I have always been a tea drinker (and lover!) and absolutely adore the whole concept of Afternoon Tea, it's one of my favourite British traditions. As you would expect, there are loads of places in London where you can enjoy an Afternoon Tea, some are grand, others are more low key. My girlfriends and I have decided to explore what London has to offer together and so far we have loved all our picks.

This month I chose a very sweet place in West Hampstead called Bake a Boo, isn't this such a cute name for a shop?! This little tea room is simply darling and the girls and I had a very lovely afternoon chatting and devouring the mouth-watering sandwiches, scones and strawberries dipped in chocolate. Magical, sweet, lovely and pink are the adjectives I would use to describe this place. 

As usual, here are a few pictures for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Afternoon Tea Series: Bea's Of Bloomsbury

Remember my post about the new Afternoon Tea series that I started with my London girlfriends back in November? Well, we skipped the month of December as most of us were abroad but on Saturday afternoon we met again and enjoyed yet another fabulous afternoon tea in a very cute cafe' in the Holborn area.

So, the calendar so far goes as this: 

1. Afternoon Tea at Betty Blythe - November, 25th

2. Afternoon Tea at  Bea's of Bloomsbury - January, 26th

Bea's of Bloomsbury felt more like a cafe' than a tea room and it was definitely less fancy than Betty Blythe. However, we all enjoyed the extravagance of some of the food and some unusual options (e.g. passion fruit marshmallows!), not to mention the burlesque china and cake-stand!

I love this series and can't wait for the next one! 

Tea-pots as lights? Love them!

Valentine's decorations in the window

Afternoon Tea Series: Betty Blythe

My WI girlfriends and I have just started a new series that is promising to be very exciting! 

For my birthday last year I received a lovely book entitled Tea & Cake, London. The book was, of course, a gift from one of the WI members, Elena, and when she gave it to me all the rest of the crew was with us. It took us no time to realise that we wanted to start an Afternoon Teas series. It's so nice to hang out with similar minded people! 

So we started yesterday afternoon and we could have not picked a better tea place to begin our new adventure in London. Here are some pics from the evening. As you can see, we had loads of fun dressing up and wearing all the vintage clothes and accessories available in the vintage tea-room. The tea was lovely and all the cakes delicious. Definitely a nice spot in London!

1. Afternoon Tea at Betty Blythe - November, 25th

Jubilee Weekend

It's a very long weekend here in the UK. Thanks to the Diamond Jubilee we have Monday and Tuesday off and the whole Country has been in celebratory mood since Friday evening. God save the queen! 

Last night Rob and I started the celebration with the Coldplay concert at Emirates stadium. We bought tickets a very long time ago, way before I got pregnant, and even if I was very excited to go, I was a bit concerned about the thousands of people walking to and from the stadium. Nevertheless, we decided to go. We saw on the Coldplay website that they would start playing at 8.45pm, so around 6.30 we left the flat and slowly made our way to Arsenal. 

Once we got there I spotted at least two or three other bumps and the girl queuing in front of us was pregnant too and due in just two weeks. Well, this is what I call a brave mother! She gave me the courage to go to the women's volleyball semifinals at the Olympics in mid August, for which we have tickets (I am due on August 29th...we will see...!). The concert was ok but definitely not Coldplay's best show; however we enjoyed it and I loved the glowing wristbands that they handed at the entrance. 

Today was the big Jubilee pageant, the highlight of the Jubilee festivities. A thousand of boats and vessels sailed through the Thames from Wandsworth Bridge to the Tower Bridge for the grand finale, right where we live. We hosted a little afternoon tea party with our friend Amy and her parents and I got very patriotic with the decoration of the table and the cake. 

We watched the whole parade on the telly for over three hours and from time to time we went out on the balcony to look around. 

Despite the horrible weather there were people celebrating out on the balconies and waving their flags. It was a great day to be in London, something to tell Baby O one day...

More Teaspoons!

Apparently, I get excited about teaspoons lately. Now, I am in love with these, they would be perfect for a Summer party!

One more thing...

... And *Santa*, if you are still listening, I love these super cute teaspoons:

It's Getting Real

Last weekend I celebrated my hen party in London with a very nice bunch of girlfriends. This, more than the civil ceremony, made me realise that it's getting real, Rob and I are getting married in a month!

My friends organised a wonderful weekend together and I couldn't have asked for a better hen party. It was lovely, it was fun, it was tasteful, exactly what I wanted. 

We started the celebration with an Afternoon Teaser at the Volupte. While enjoying a traditional high tea with sandwiches, champagne, scones, meringues and more we were entertained by some talented burlesque performers. I think we all agreed that Amber Topaz was the best, although Matt Ricardo the magician was incredibly funny and my friend Ambra even said that she could marry a man like him. 

The show lasted about two hours. We then jumped into our taxis and headed to My Chelsea Hotel, a very girlie boutique hotel in the heart of Chelsea where we had a beauty and spa themed bridal shower. I was treated with luxurious gifts from Liberty and Penhaligons (Thank you friends!) and received a facial with peeling and mask. It was very relaxing and so much fun.

The hotel was very cute, very small and perfect for our purpose. We spent a couple of hours chatting, sipping tea and relaxing in my room. We then got ready for dinner and headed to the hotel bar where we enjoyed Cosmopolitan and Mojito cocktails.

We ended the evening with a nice meal at the hotel restaurant with more chats and laughs. 

I am so very lucky: I had the perfect hen party with the perfect company and went to bed so full of joy and touched. Sunday morning we all had breakfast together and then it was time to say goodbye and see you soon in June in Italy for the big day!

Thank you all for making my hen party a day I'll never forget! I love you all!

Zero Japan teapot

I have been dreaming to buy a Zero Japan Teapot for quite a while now, in fact since I visited the lovely High Tea of Highgate tea shop several months ago. Just recently I noticed that a modern tea store in Shad Thames, very close to where I live, sells them and since then I have been wandering around the store admiring the lovely teapots pretty much every weekend...until a few days ago when I finally decided it was the right time to buy one! I spent days and nights thinking which colouor and size to buy, I asked friends and family what they thought, and after some serious consultation I went for the large, round, pink teapot. I absolutely adore it!
I have been brewing rose and lavender&rosemary teas so far and can't wait to try new flavours...yes, I am ready for Autumn!