My week

I was very glad that everything seems to have calmed down in London today and I can ride my bicycle again.   I'm absolutely loving my new found freedom and I've been going all over the place.  The first day I rode it I didn't even like a car going past me!  I'm fine now although I'm steering clear of main roads, bendy buses and car doors opening!   I never took my driving test and haven't had a

My excellent night out

Last night I had an early dinner with The Actor at our friend Elaine's fabulous restaurant - A Little of What You Fancy.  I know I keep blogging about it and it certainly doesn't need any publicity as it's packed every single night.  I can barely get a table and often have to get take-away.

I drank Sipsmith gin and tonic and The Actor had red wine
We both had the roasted red pepper, tomato and

A trip to the country

Last week The Actor and I went to visit my Dad in Norfolk.  We had to hire a car as The Actor is learning how to do some fancy moves on a fixed gear bike for a role.  There was no way the bike was going in his 'Italian Job' Mini Cooper which can barely fit my handbag in.

I wasn't sure about the Vauxhall Insignia we hired with but it turned out to be a good car and you could have fitted a king

Mrs Jones new shop opening in Shoreditch

By Sunday I'd done four days on the low carb diet and was already bored with losing a food group.
Giles and David came over on Saturday night and I was unusually well behaved.  I drank umpteen cups of Rooibos tea.  Giles had beer and David had Jack Daniels and Coke, which I inhaled every time it passed me.  To top off the rock 'n' roll look I was also wearing a long white Victorian nightdress

Saving money on food and I actually cook something from scratch

This is my cooker.  You don't see it much.  I don't see a great deal of it either.
As I'm on my own so much I tend to buy things that I like to eat, that are easy and mostly require heating up, vegetables adding and maybe a bit of tinkering about with.  Sometimes it's easier to pick up some of Elaine's fabulous soup or one of her dishes at A Little of What You Fancy than make it myself.
I used

My weekend

Photography by Britta Jaschinski
After my big night out I was good for nothing so I stayed in and watched films all day Friday which was lovely.  
Mrs Jones came to stay in the evening and on Saturday I helped her unpack a ton of stuff into her new shop.  The Actor watched the football with his friends.  How brilliant were Barcelona?  I'm no expert on football but it was clear in the first five

Daisy Beaumont's Birthday and Sunday lunch at The Wrestlers

The beautiful Daisy - I love this girl SO much.  I didn't manage to get a picture of her on her own so here's one I took a few weeks ago instead.
Daisy had originally planned to have a barbeque in her garden yesterday but as it rained during the day she decided to have a drinks party in the evening.
My gorgeous friends Jo Butler and Jon Cooke came over for a drink and to give me a lift.  When

David Waddington's 40th Birthday at Bistrotheque

Birthday boy the gorgeous Mr Waddington
Yesterday my great friend David Waddington co-owner of East End restaurant, bar and cabaret Bistrotheque gave a lunch for forty close friends and family to celebrate his 40th Birthday.  It was also the seventh anniversary of Bistrotheque's opening.
Even after seven years Bistrotheque still has no sign outside just this painted on the wall in entrance
It

Dinner with the de Havilland's

Yesterday I interviewed the fabulous Terry de Havilland and his gorgeous wife Liz.  What a wonderful couple they are.
Terry's shoes are works of art.  There's a jaw dropping collection of new and vintage de Havilland's at his studio.  I was like a kid in a sweet shop!  I could go absolutely mental in there!
It's going to take a while to put the interview together as I plan to use a lot of images

I go crackers buying more DVD's

Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer and Rosalind Russell in The Women
The Actor was supposed to be coming over this afternoon.  I was going to get him to take some snaps of me wearing some of my new Ebay purchases to show you.  He ended up having a meeting and then getting stuck into a script and I'm too fussy (and tall) for my friend Frances to take pictures - I'm 5'10" and she's 5'2" so even though

Dinner at The Empress of India

Last night we were going to go to our local Argentinian restaurant for a steak after The Actor had watched Jamie Oliver making a delicious looking steak sandwich.  Then he changed his mind and decided he'd been eating too much red meat.
So we took a short drive to Victoria Park to The Empress of India.  It's owned by the same guys as our local the Prince Arthur.  They own a group of pubs that

Another fabulous dinner from Elaine's

I know I keep banging on about this restaurant but the food is unbelievably delicious, fresh and simple.  I love the fact everything's local too.  There's no need for me to PR this place, it's nigh on impossible to get a table in the evening now.  The Actor and I are friends with the owner and we had to book over a week in advance for a table for two.  I knew this would happen!  Elaine's food

Too cold to be glamorous!

Here's today's outfit.  As ever I've bought everything cheap on EbayCream cashmere cardigan/dressing gown £50 on Ebay, 2008Cream cashmere v neck £15 on Ebay, 2009Cream wool and cashmere leggings by Joseph £20 on Ebay, 2000

It is freezing in London and I'm very disappointed we've had no snow yet, I'm like a big kid!  It's too cold to be glamorous today, even for me!  I've dug out my limited

Take-out from A Little of What You Fancy and their Time Out review

Time Out says *****By Euan Ferguson
Hackney's patterns of immigration have ensured the borough has never been short of decent dining options - as long as you want some of the best Turkish or Vietnamese food in London.  Yet the middle-class colonisers who have been boosting the area's property prices for years haven't had much in the way of more traditionally British ingredients to get their

My amazing new local - A Little Of What You Fancy

I have eaten in every establishment Elaine Chalmers has ever cooked in.  Ten years ago when she ran the restaurant below Smallfish Records on Old Street I would go in for my breakfast, back for my lunch and often pick up something for my dinner, it was easy to eat healthily as the salads were inspired, interesting and so delicious.  Elaine's is a genius with food.  
After a stint cooking at the

Don't go shopping with a hangover...

Have you ever been shopping with a bad hangover?  I do it quite often.  Traipsing around aimlessly with my one brain cell.  I walk in with no idea what I want and am often surprised what I end up with.  It's never a good idea to go shopping when you're hungry either.  All my healthy ideas go straight out of the window.  
Above is Waitrose in Marylebone, a shop I've spent a lot of time in.  My

Where I actually go to the cinema

I don't really like going to the cinema.  I think the last time I went was to the Trainspotting premiere!!  Well, actually it wasn't quite that long but I hardly ever go.  The Actor has only got me there twice in the four years we've been together.  Once he bribed me into it as he couldn't believe we'd never been.  He took me to see There Will Be Blood.  I'm not good at films that make me jump

Sunday lunch at the Princess of Shoreditch

I always have to have a roast on a Sunday and I'm constantly looking for new places to try.  We're very lucky in the East End to have such a huge choice of places to go.  Nearly all the old pubs have been gentrified and the there's some fantastic food being served.  Gone are the days of overcooked meat, deep fried roast potatoes and soggy vegetables.  Thank God!  
We've been meaning to try The