la petite maison

E and I are a little greedy. We have two dates that we call our wedding anniversaries - only makes sense, since we did technically have two weddings.

We had a very small, intimate ceremony on July 15th last year at the Chelsea Old Town Hall, where we were legally married (by a thoroughly entertaining and lovely officiate) and afterwards enjoyed lunch in the sunshine with some of our closest friends. I hadn't expected this ceremony to feel very "wedding-y", but it turned out to be such a special day and we did truly feel married from that day on, even though our main wedding a few weeks later kind of sealed the deal.

Anyway, who turns down any excuse to celebrate?! Certainly not us. We are off to Lake Como around our wedding anniversary in August, but to mark one year of marriage according to our papers, E took me for a fancy lunch at La Petite Maison.

He kept it a secret for a while, but I was delighted when I found out since it's a place I've been wanting to try for so, so long!

It was a gorgeous day, so we got to sit out on the terrace (not the most secluded as it's basically on the pavement, but it's not too busy a street so it was nice), which always makes it feel like a bit of a stay-cation.

E pretty much knew what we should order due to lots of research and recommendations from friends, so I let him take the reins and sipped on an ice cold glass of rosé while we waited.

The restaurants boasts cuisine from the South of France where E is from, so I had an idea of the Provençale cooking that would be the theme.

To start off with, we had tuna carpaccio and a classic pissaladière (a thin layer of pastry with caramelised onion/olives/herbs etc. on top):

The dressing on the tuna had a kick to it which was delicious, and the pissaladière was melt-in-your-mouth good.

For the main event, we had sea bream cooked en papillote, and a grilled veal chop that we both took one mouthful of, looked at each other and shook our heads in disbelief at how tender and flavourful it was.

We also had potato gratin on the side, which was an afterthought but my god I was glad we did - it was absolutely amazing. If it wasn't so rich I would have wanted a whole one for myself!

Having heard that their cheesecake is one of the best in town, we definitely could not leave without seeing whether it lived up to the hype.

You bet your pants it did.

Like a cloud of vanilla-y cheesy creamy fluffy heaven. This one and the cheesecake at Cecconi's are the best ones I have ever had.

This place is firmly in the "special occasions" category for us as the prices are pretty steep, but it was a real treat to be able to finally try it and enjoy such a delicious meal. We debated doing something exciting in the afternoon, but being the wild duo that we are, we ended up heading home and sitting in our garden which was the best idea. I roped E into taking some commemorative selfies and just chilled out to the max. It was perfect.

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summer idea 01 :: gazpacho al fresco

A title of spanish and italian words? Doesn't get much better that that.

We recently got some garden furniture for our back garden, and although we don't have a BBQ just yet, I couldn't wait to make use of it (we all know that true summer days in the UK are fleeting!) so we had a little al fresco dinner last weekend.

Gazpacho soup is a favourite of mine in the summer months - it is just so embarrassingly easy, there's no need for heat on those hotter days, and it's foolproof paired with some charcuterie and bread. The raw red onion and chilli give it a bit of a kick which I like, but you can adjust the quantity to your liking.

I've popped the "recipe" at the end of the post, but it's a) not even a recipe, really and b) you can customise it to your heart's desire. It's probably not the most authentic one you'll come across, but it's good enough for us!

To drink, I improvised and made a grown up lemonade - generous shot of Limoncello & cold, sparkling water. It was so refreshing and delicious, I don't know why I didn't think of it before!

I am absolutely in love with these colourful bowls - I had eyed them up for a while in Anthropologie, so when they went on sale and I spotted them for 2.95 each (originally 12.95!), I went a little nuts and bought two each in 3 different colours. I adore them.

I hope to have many more dinners outside before the season's over - there is just something so relaxing and lovely about sitting in the evening sunshine with good food and good company, isn't there?

Gazpacho

Ingredients:

8-12 medium ripe vine tomatoes

half a cucumber

1 large or 2 medium celery stalks

half large red pepper

half large green pepper

half red onion

2-3 cloves garlic

one fresh red chilli

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus a little more to serve

2 teaspoons sherry vinegar

juice of half a lemon

salt & pepper to taste

To make:

1) Roughly chop all the vegetables, throw everything into a blender (or a large bowl if using a hand blender), and blitz until smooth.

2) Chill for at least a couple of hours. To serve, garnish with some finely chopped green and red peppers, and top with a little olive oil.

P.S. I was recently interviewed on the lovely blog OtherMix all about my running habits, how it started, etc. - head over there to read, and also read all the other runners she's interviewed here! 

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sponsored video & my go-to make up look

Even if you're not into beauty products or have any interest in such girly activities, chances are you've probably been made aware of Benefit's new gel liner pen, They're Real! Push Up Liner. It sounds all kinds of fancy with the science behind how the pen works, and many of the beauty bloggers and YouTubers that I trust have raved about the product.




I haven't tried this gel liner pen (yet), but it's definitely been on my radar since I am always on the lookout for a solid eyeliner that a) is easy to work with, b) won't budge even if I cry re-reading The Fault in our Stars, and c) won't break the bank.

For years now, an eyeshadow of a brown/taupe shade, slightly winged eyeliner plus mascara has been my go-to combo for my eye make up. It's neutral enough for all occasions, it's easy enough for someone like me to do (I love all things beauty but I'm not exactly a make up artist), and it just makes me feel a bit more pulled together.

Sometimes I go all out and use 2-3 different shades of eyeshadow (I know, what a dare devil) if I'm doing a bit more of a dressed up look, but other than that my make up really doesn't change. 

The thing that does get switched up often is the lips - I'm a complete lip product addict and I don't know how to cure myself.

The good thing about the above look is that the eyes aren't too dramatic, so to carry it over for an evening outing I can just slap on some red lipstick and it looks like I've made an effort. The one I've used below is Rimmel Kate Moss in 01.

Once my current liquid eyeliner runs out, I'll definitely be heading to a Benefit counter to see if this new one lives up to the hype!

For now, I will be contemplating how on earth people do beauty blogging - one session of trying to get close ups of my eyes resulted in my eye spontaneously starting to water and making my bloodshot eyes match my lips. I'm definitely not cut out for this, but I'd love to chat more beauty things in the future as it's something I genuinely enjoy.

Hopefully close ups won't be needed next time...

Disclaimer: this post was sponsored by Benefit, all opinions are my own.

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