Packing Cubes

Packing cubes. I kept hearing about them and thinking, 'surely they are just extra faff'. I mean, can't you just fold more neatly? But packing for 2 adults and 3 children is the stuff of nightmares, no bags ever close, everything spills out, clothes, nappies and necessities are guaranteed to end up on a different floor to where they are needed. I was a woman at the end of my tether so I ordered some from Amazon.

I was prepared to be underwhelmed and wish for my £19.98 back but I was also desperate. They arrived. I put them to work immediately. The three children and I were going to go to my mother's house for the night - sounds simple but really isn't with one in nappies, one potty training and one who has been known to just wet his trousers rather than stop what he's doing. Also it was hot so I needed to pack swim nappies, sun cream, sun hats and other such fripperies.

I allocated each child a medium packing cube and I gave myself the large one. Not only did all my bags close but I had room to spare. I rolled all the clothes into the packing cubes and could have fitted in more. When we arrived I put each child's cube in his bedroom and that was it. It meant that said child or whichever poor adult was designated dresser could identify which clothes belonged to which child and the sight of my 5 year old wearing a 1 year olds onsie was less likely to be the first thing I saw in the morning.

When packing to go home I separated clothes into 2 cubes for clean clothes and 2 for dirty. The two dirty clothes got emptied into the utility room when I got home and that was that. The packing cubes had passed the first test with aplomb. But what about France for 2 weeks with all five of us? Believe me when I say packing was almost pleasurable. Almost. I mean. It's still a massive pain in the arse but being able to put aside clothes for that person and see what you've packed already made the whole thing more bearable. There was room in our case (which I helpfully filled from the markets in France) and packing at the end of the holiday took less than half the time it usually did. Again I sorted clothes into clean and dirty and then by children and grown-ups and unpacking was really easy.

I really cannot recommend these highly enough. They have made surely one of the most boring parts of adulting into slightly less of a trauma and the ones I chose came in green so that's a bonus.

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Doing New York

When you tell people you are going to New York you get so inundated with suggestions that it's hard to know what you can actually achieve in the time that you've got, especially when there are three of you to make decisions and a 1 year old to consider. I think we did pretty well at deciding what to see and we all loved the city to much I hope we'll return so I wasn't too anxious about missing those bits we didn't make it to.

I would like to say that we found New York to be really baby friendly. Even the places we were told were not baby friendly that we accidentally poled up at, were really lovely and accommodating and mostly had high chairs. I've done a whole separate post on where and what we ate while we were there - I'm still struggling to shift the New York weight.

Manhattan Sky Line from the Circle Line Boat

One thing that was consistently recommended to us and was I think, all of our favourite part of the holiday was the Circle Line Tour which is a trip around the island on Manhattan. Due to the tides we weren't able to go the whole way around Manhattan but the tour guide (David) was so fantastic it really didn't matter at all - we more than got our monies worth. Informative, funny and absolutely stunning this tour not only gets you really involved with the history of New York but helps you get a real grip of the geography. I may live in London but I was really intimidated by the idea of New York and yet it is so manageable and easy to understand once you get to know the layout and this tour really makes you feel like you've seen most parts of a city that would take a long time to see every part of - you could spend a good three months in the Metropolitan Museum of Art alone. If you do one touristy thing while you are in New York let it be the Circle
Line Tour. I hope you get David as your guide.

My lovely friend from school, Vanessa who has lived in New York for the past five years, took us on a walking tour of Midtown, Times Square, Greenwich Village and China Town. We were exhausted and our feet hurt and thought she was a turbo New Yorker - til we saw her two days later when she said every time we weren't looking she wept for her feet (a slight exaggeration I'm sure) and had to wear flip flops into work the next day her blisters were so bad. If you don't have someone to do it for you I really think a walking tour of the city is a great idea - I think you'd be hard pressed to see a lot of areas without a constructed tour by someone who knows what they're doing. What we didn't cover with the walking tour was Central Park which we did a couple of days later although we could only manage a couple of hours (due to our sore feet... thanks Vanessa). Central Park is just beautiful - and without sounding cliched and cheesy it was everything I wanted it to be. Huge swathes of green with skyscrapers in the background. I could spend a lot of time there.

Central Park from the top of the Rockefeller Centre

Probably the most 'touristy' thing we did was go to the top of the Rockefeller Centre - Top of the Rock. Apparently better than the Empire State building the view is phenomenal but there is a big queue to get up to the top and a HUGE queue to get down to the bottom again so be prepared. Central Park, so huge when you are in it, looks like a piece of patchwork. Had I not had a 1 year old I would have spent hours up there (not queueing to get down).

We had a couple of false starts with the shopping. I had a few specific things that I wanted, and failed, to get which I think really set us on the wrong path. Once we got advice (again from the wonderful Vanessa)  we were on a roll - I really recommend Ann Taylor, Loft and White House, Black Market. Joe got some lovely shirts from Loehmann's and if you are in the area it's definitely worth checking it out for discount designer clothes.

We, of course, went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (huge and a lovely cafe for lunch) and my Mumma (and Ned) went to the Museum of Modern Art (she said better to spend more time in the Met) and we all went to the Frick Collection which is just down the road from the Met and definitely worth a visit. There are so many famous pictures and artists in there it's pretty incredible and surprisingly few people have heard of it.

I fell in love with this city. It's intense and expensive but mesmerising and addictive. There is so much to do and see and yet I feel that, for a huge city it is quite an easy place to be. We stayed at the Marriott East and could not have been better placed or looked after - I'd really recommend staying in Midtown if you can as you really are able to get everywhere relatively easily and check out where I recommend eating here.

New York Baby!

So, a very good friend of Joe's is getting married in Washington D.C. in October and we've decided that we are going to go to New York for a weeks holiday beforehand. Not only will we be taking Mr Ned, one week before his first birthday, but we're also taking my Mumma. I cannot wait but where to stay what must we see? I need your help - suggestions please.

The Bell, Alresford

I've lived near Alresford for all of my 27 (ugh nearly 28) years and I have never once set foot in The Bell. That is because I have set foot in the Horse and Groom (aptly known to the youth of the the area as the Doom and Gloom) which has one of those red patterned carpets and you can still smell the hundreds of pre-smoking ban fags (most of which were smoked by me) and although I love it for it's familiar atmosphere it's not anywhere I would go for a nice supper. And there's a Pizza Express next door. I can't resist pizza.

Then there's The Globe - which is very nice in a way and the restaurant bit was lovely when I went there but for me there's something missing. Maybe its my complete frustration with the parking or the near-death experience of parking up the street and then going round the bend outside on foot. Or maybe it's because I've never managed to go there when the suns been out so I've always been confined to the crammed inside.

Anyway, The Bell has just been a step too far for me on the Alresford pub circuit. I see now this has been massive mistake. My brother-in-law announced that he was going to take us out to a 'nice gastropub' for supper last night as we'd all rather spent the last week since my father's death staring at the wall and listening to me overuse the word 'soothing' when describing anything (but mostly food). I think none of us wanted to go (except him and my husband who are massive foodies and week of pasta was getting to them rather I think). The thing is we only wanted to stare at the wall and drink gin (in my case vodka - my taste buds are just not grown up enough for gin yet). I for one was also worried that he'd take us to the wonderful Bush at Ovington which was a big favourite of my dad's and I think we'd have started crying as soon as we set foot in the door.

But he went to the trouble of booking us a taxi (sounds easy if you are a city dweller as he is... in the middle of nowhere it's a bit of a nightmare) so we schlepped along after him, me with my belief that The Bell was not going to be quite what he was expecting. Wrong - The Bell was not quite what I was expecting. The atmosphere is just fantastic - it was a Friday night and it was heaving but in such a friendly way that it didn't matter. One of the few places that does nice rose, our table was slightly late so we sat sipping in the garden and looking at the menu. The staff were really nice and polite - which I'm sadly just not used to anymore.

The menu was just fantastic - we're going to have to go back just because there were so many things that we would have liked to have had each! I shared a baked Camembert with Sam and it was without a doubt the best baked Camembert I've ever had. I don't know how they'd done it (we thought possibly with egg and Parmesan brushed on the top) but it was just fantastic - served with parma ham, chorizo, balsamic onions, sun dried tomatoes and olives I would happily have it again every day for a very long time if not for the rest of my life. I'm worried every baked Camembert from now on is going to be a massive let down. Joe and my mother had a very traditional looking prawn cocktail (declared 'soothing' by my mother which made me happy - I like her to be soothed) and my sister had a fantastic looking twice baked watercress and spinach souffle with Parmesan sauce which she declared was delicious but disappeared so quickly that none of us got a look in.

She and I both had the honey glazed pork belly with mashed potatoes and crackling - perfect smooth, creamy mash and proper, crackling. Sam, always the most adventurous had calves liver with bacon, Joe the lamb shank and my mother the soothing halibut. All declared delicious and tried by all and clean plates all round. I felt slightly like I was going to explode by the end - we've all been struggling to eat a small plate of pasta let alone two fantastic courses. I was too full even to have the Hampshire cheese board which, as a Hampshire girl, I'd decided I was duty bound to have.

Delicious rose and house red to go with the food and coffee with those yummy crispy Bendicts mint chocolate to finish - a really perfect supper. Check out the website - the pictures just don't do this delightful pub justice. You can also stay there so if you have a wedding in Winchester or anywhere around there and need somewhere to stay look no further.

Les Deux Salons

Oh my god. I hate to start a 'review' like that but they are the first three words that spring to mind when I think about the supper we had last night. Now, due to various job incidents and my inability to not spend all my money immediately I can't really remember the last time I went to a really swanky restaurant so when my father requested Les Deux Salons as his birthday treat I was pretty over excited. I'd read good reviews and been on a diet for weeks so I was more than ready - and I wasn't disappointed.

Les Deux Salons is the real deal - distressed mirrors, tiled flooring and dark furniture it is like being thrown into a Paris restaurant. The staff were delightful if a little frantic - incredibly solicitous and friendly, bringing my father out a delicious ice cream pud with a candle in. The selection of food was varied and interesting - I sat opposite my brother-in-law which is always exciting as he's definitely in the running for the world most adventurous eater award. If I worry that I choose old favourites he's guaranteed to go for the slightly odder things on the menu and last night was no exception - he went for Herefordshire Snail and Bacon Pie followed by the special of the day which was Ox cheeks with spring greens and marrow (both of which he said were really good).

I had Bayonne Ham to start which was delicious and perfectly sliced, served with poached pears. I was worried about my choice of main course, Scottish Beef cheeseburger with fries, was a bit ordinary but it was actually anything but. It was without a doubt the best burger I have ever had the fries were delicious and definitely in my top five fries (no 1 being the Riverside Studios shoestring fries which are AMAZING) but the burger was cooked to perfection and so tasty. I think I may never be able to eat a burger again for fear of sullying it's memory. Other main courses around the table were slow roast pork belly (notably without any crackling) and duck confit. The puddings were iced peanut butter parfait with roast banana and wild strawberries with thick cream - proper wild strawberries which were delicious.

To conclude the service was on occasion slow (in fact we cancelled our side order of puree potato because there was still no sign of it by the time we'd nearly finished our main courses) but incredibly charming and in fact the slowness sort of added to the frenchness of it all. The wine was delicious, the atmosphere was lovely. I highly recommend it.

A Bit of Culture

If you are that way inclined or indeed, feel that you should be more that way inclined my sibling's work is in an exhibition opening this weekend at the Transition Gallery in Hackney. It is called Gilding the Lily and you should go because all the cool kids are doing it and it will make you a better person.


The Lesson is Fallout Shelter is Need Everywhere by Jessica Holmes

Norfolk

There were many reasons why I decided that marrying Joe would be bearable. One of them is his cottage on the north Norfolk coast which is just far enough away from London to feel like a holiday and close enough that you can dash up after work on a Friday and be able to have a good weekend there. In all the years I've been going there I've never seen the sea look as shining and clear as it did last weekend... the photos don't really do it justice... although my sister is fairly decorative.

Accidental Date - Tod's Bistro

Due to my husband quitting his job last November and entering the dangerous world of freelance we haven't been on a date since I don't know when. In fact I do know - we went to the The Anglesea Arms for our anniversary and my parents paid for that so I'm not sure it counts. So on Saturday night we were off to a house party in Kings Cross via drinks in Highbury and somewhere around Holland Park I realised we hadn't eaten. Booze on an empty stomach usually means one of us behaves incredibly badly so we thought we'd get a sandwich from somewhere on the way to Public House where the first drinks were held. I drew the line at a Budgens sandwich however and no other places immediately offered themselves so we decided to go into Tods Grill and Bistro... just to see what the menu was like obviously. And then we accidentally had a date.


Now my husband says it's not a date if I pay but we drank booze, shared food and there was a candle present, we even had my parents babysitting the puppy. Sounds like a date to me. It wasn't the cheap evening I had planned (one of the reason I love retro house parties is because you can turn up with your own booze and then drink it all and not spend any more money than that) but the food was gorgeous, the service impeccable and the surprisingness of it all, rather lovely. The restaurant had a great atmosphere - there were old show and movie posters all over the walls which I loved and it was packed which I find can make your experience all the more private. I thought I just wanted something light and the starters looked so good we decided to share some... by some of course I mean 5. Baked goats cheese with apple salad, chorizo bruscetta, calamari, homemade chicken liver pate and homemade gravad lax with toast.

When I met my husband he was a restaurant reviewer who only drew the line at tripe and I was one of the fussiest eaters known to man. This made us pretty incompatible when it came to sharing food. He remained a restaurant reviewer long enough for me to become 2 stone heavier and develop the ability to eat a lot of food long after I'm full - we are perfect restaurant companions. Now there are only four things I'm really fussy about - aubergine, courgette, fruit and offal and the latter has meant that even though it is something that I should love (based on my love of pickles, smoked things and cheese) I can't stand pate.

I have to say I've clung to this as my final attempt to revert to fussy eating and the waist I had when I was 20 but on Saturday night I think my favourite dish was the home made chicken liver pate. It was smooth and tasty without being too livery and we had just the right amount that left you wanting more. I was so particularly surprised by this new love affair as we'd also ordered calamari which I would quite leave my husband for if it wasn't a bit weird to run off with a food stuff. But I think the pate won the evening.

Our accidental date meant we were late for drinks and even later for our house party (at which I'd promised early arrival for moral support) but were beaming on both arrivals and not responsible for the vomit on the 390 to Notting Hill at 3 o'clock that morning so I think I will be advocating more accidental dating in the future.

UPDATE: sadly this Bistro has closed (2017)