September 2013 Part 2 Instagramy Post

Due to the lack of a proper routine and stocked kitchen, 

I am eating out more than usual.

I've been eating at my new local eaterie, Toasted in Lordship Lane.

I tried to be healthy and ordered a squid salad. 

It was so delicious but this always ends up a false economy.

 I needed to order something else at another place immediately afterwards because

 I didn't want them to think I was a pig that I am.

But this was a hit for my palate and my stomach.

Chanterelles are in season and they served it with a slice of Spanish acorn fed ham fat. ( just the fat )
Sounds weird but that fat is like tasty salty butter.

I love this poster that hangs on the walls of their bar.

Decorex London 2013 highlights

I must say that this week is full of Interior Design themed festivals in London so this is another post heavy on the theme.  

Apologies to those with no interest in the subject at all!

The Decorex event which was directly competing with the 

Focus Design fair at Chelsea Design Center was held at the more glamorous Orangery at Kensington Palace.

 The event was quite large so there were marquees pitched all around the central point being the Orangery.

The lobby of the main exhibit was so glamorous!

Look at the de Gournay wallpaper.

 They even had matching sheer blinds to complement the wall.

Interior Design fabric talks at Chelsea Harbour - Helen Cormack of Tissus d'Helene and Hermes textiles

The Focus Design Festival is one of the interior design festivals taking place in London this week and I thought I'd share with you a few of the things I saw for those who might be interested.

One of the many atriums of the Design Center

The event is taking place in the Design Center in Chelsea Harbour which is the mecca for all interior design needs and wants.

A display mannequin of various textiles at Tissus d'Helene

I got to Lots Road via a Range Rover car service they were shuttling people back and forth with as Lots Road is in deep Chelsea and hard to get to.  Plus they were competing with Decorex, another festival in Kensington Palace so they had to make it accessible.

I got there in time to hear Helen McCormack speak about fabrics and who better to hear about textiles than Helen herself.

Helen is the Helene of the company Tissus d'Helene.

Blink and you'll see it

One of the unoriginal but mandatory things for me touring any city 
is visiting the museums.
Vienna had a particularly organized section of the city they called Museum Quarter.

As the name illustrated, 
there was a cluster of various museums all around one plaza 
with inclusive communal seating arrangements.

I first went to the Leopold Museum which houses local artists who 
I happen to be a fan of such as Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele

.

Self portrait of Egon Schiele

Living Magazine September 2013

This is something I am sharing for your weekend read.

Martha being a savvy businesswoman made sure she competed with all the other September issues out there.  This issue was filled with so many tips that I hope to but probably will never use.

Do you write out your calendar like Martha?

I am thinking of starting one myself.

Doesn't she look so pretty?  Love how good she looks.

I am just surprised it has taken her so long to produce this blue and white chinoiserie collection.  If I lived near a Macy's, I would have already filled my cupboards with this.

Omelettes would look great on those plates.

Omelets are such a easy and delicious meal/snack. 

For the non-foodies who might not know, most chefs are asked to make an omelet to show their skill as a chef and 

not a complicated dish like Chateaubriand as one would suspect.

Mews News - My house renos

Anyone else having or planning renovations?

Like Heidi at Adelaide Villa and Jenny from The Lime Walk who are undergoing extensive but exciting renovations at their lovely homes , I am in the eye of the storm that is my renovations.

There is the pain, the expectation, but then you go home to nest and like the end of a Grand Designs episode, it seems all worth it in the end.  But I swore after my last home refurbishments, I was never ever going to do renovations ever again but like childbirth one forgets the pain and the labor involved and does it all over again.

 
This is the top of our roof before we finally started construction in end of July.

We are currently building another floor to our two story home.

I had been telling Mr CSW that we needed to get planning permission sorted out way in advance but he always postponed it every year for the past 7 years. 

My house at present

September 2013 Instagramy Post - Part 1

The turn of season has come.

Even inanimate objects are polite in Britain,

summer never overstays its welcome.

The first foggy morning of the season seemed atmospheric 

and very Bronte-esque but that very morning 

there was a car crash involving 130 cars.

Pumpkins or is that squash has come out already.



Due to my new area, I got on the wrong train like a bloody tourist but went past the Battersea power station and had a good look at it from an angle that I rarely see it in. 



It is finally being developed after being left dormant for 30 years! 
It is going to be a modern complex of shopping center/flats 
because God knows London needs more shops 
and more unaffordable accommodation.

If I won the lottery...

Please indulge me sharing with you one of my dream purchases if I won the Euromillions.  Most of us have an imaginary spending list with the possible windfall; gifts to family and friends, charity, upgrade of certain items, etc.

But there is one item after I complete the list which I would purchase probably a week after my win. 

No it isn't a yacht.  
Those who have one say the best day of your life is when you buy your yacht and the second best day is when you sell it.

My extravagant item would be 
 the Zip Necklace by Van Cleef and Arpels.

Black ancestors of the British Royal Family

Some of you may know I visited Buckingham Palace during 

its limited summer opening season.  

The palace was what you expect: 

high ceilings, intricate cornicing, and a vast art collection.

There was one painting hanging in the Green Drawing Room in particular that made an impression on me.

Via 

This portrait is of Queen Charlotte with 2 of her 15 children she eventually gave birth to 

who was married to King George III 

as in the mad one whose life was made into this movie.

In fact, Helen Mirren won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress playing this very queen.

I love history which by default is closely linked to ebbs and fortunes of the royal family. My favorite branch of the British Royals is the Stuarts; my unusual crush being King Charles the Second.

Via wikipedia

His great grandmother Mary, Queen of Scots has to be one of the most complicated and interesting women out there.  Don't take my word for it but how many women 500 years later still get talked about?

Via wikipedia

 But I am not a huge fan of the Hanoverian branch of the family who were known as of 1918 as the Windsors.  

I have my reasons...

Queen Victoria is probably my least favorite monarch.

Have you seen these documentaries? 

If not, believe me you will share my opinion.

There are usually royal jokes about inbreeding and cousins marrying cousins which resulted in genetic dispositions such as hemophilia.

But when I saw the portrait I was struck how mixed race 

she looked and perhaps the inbreeding was only a trend 

during Queen Victoria's era.

Elle Decor Sept 2013

The September issue of Vogue wasn't the only hefty one out there.

This issue of Elle Decor packed in a lot of homes.

There seems to be so many brands crossing into other markets than the one it started out in.  

Lacoste bedding might be a good idea but personally I am afraid I will wake up with an alligator imprint on my cheek after a night's sleep on its logo.

I like minimalism and marble but for some reason
 this just seems so Miami drug dealer digs to me.

I finally made it to Vienna

I finally made it to Vienna in the middle of August.

This was my first time to a city that I had been itching to go for ages but somehow fate always seemed to intervene.

But my frieghbor ( half friend, half neighbor ) in London invited me to stay with them for a few days at their home in Vienna so I gladly accepted.

They have a lovely terrace with the most amazing view of Vienna. 

That's the city hall with the Wien 

( Vienna in German ) banner hanging from it.

August 2013 Instagram-y Post

Here's my month of August in snapshots.

I was taking my usual walking route before I temporarily moved house that is...For those of you who don't live in London, 
this building is the infamous One Hyde Park.

This is where one bedroom flats that don't even have a view of the park sells for £20 million.

But what I noticed walking past is that the owners who own the flats you can see must have paid at least £30 million 

( off plan before completion price mind you) 

and yet they all were making do with the same outdoor furniture that the developers gave them! 

( sorry about the picture quality but take my word for it, 

it was the same set of furniture on the balconies!)