LIFESTYLE

Hello London | Spring in London

Hello Lovely Readers and welcome back to my Hello London blog.  It is spring in London and everywhere you go, you will find beautiful trees with colorful leaves.  At least if you did not came in that one weekend when it was winter again. Just the luck we had with the family visit. Of course I was super happy to see my family back in London, so the weather did not stop us of having fun!

So if you here in London for a sort weekend and you would like to see some other things than grab your daily coffee or cup of tea and read on!

Sadler Wells theatre: Voice of America

I am not sure if this one is still playing in theatre, if so this is a huge recommendation. It is the English National Ballet performing different plays. The end is so much fun, where they performed classical ballet with club music. If you can see any performance/ play of this amazing National Ballet, just go and see it.

Dress for less – vintage shop Islington

On the way to the Sadler Wells theatre, we came across this vintage shop that sells only secondhand (in great condition) designer goods. I had to go in (you know me) to see what they had.  Here you will find great designer pieces for less. “Less” meaning: not cheap, but cheaper than before.  At least much less than the original price of course.

Candid art café – Islington

This hidden café is in Torrent Street.  Nice café to go to, just for the sake of art. Looks a bit like a big living room. (Smells a bit like it too, not sure if this is a good thing) You can find different art lessons here and once in a while they have a vintage per kilo event.

Sunny days in London

When the sun is shining in London, this does not happen often, we as Londoners must ENJOY this beautiful weather. A nice way to enjoy is to go on a bicycle (rent the city bicycles if you don’t own a bicycle) and stroll around the city to any park. Bring some food and wine and lay in the grass. I like Regent Park a lot, because it is nearby for me. In spring you will see all the trees blossom up and they look amazing!

Brick lane vintage market

A bit touristic, but Brick lane is a nice alternative to show to family instead of the standard sightseeing tour. Go see the vintage market. I think we had a successful day here, because my family bought two nice (fake furry) fluffy coats for next winter.  A super cozy and warm souvenir for back home and I think it is typical a London thing to do.  After the vintage shopping, we went to Beigel Bake for a Salty beef beigel with gherkin and mustard of course. OMGSH…This beigel is one of the best beigels here in London. Definitely try this one when you are here. You will find much more locals around this area.

Musical: Kinky boots

I don’t want to spoil anything, so just go and see a musical while in London. This one is a bit special to me, because I saw so many advertisements on buses or in tube station. This made me really curious to see this musical and it is really spectacular. Sometimes you can find cheap tickets online.

Chiswick – vintage / charity shopping

Another successful day was a shopping day in Chiswick. Everyone has seen the high streets like Oxford Street and Regent Street. So I brought my family a day of vintage and charity shopping in Chiswick. They have one long street (Chiswick High Road) full with charity / vintage shops and the clothing that they sell looks much better than from some charity shops in the center.

Sky garden

This was the highlight of the family weekend. I wanted to show them something special and I also wanted to see this one. The Sky garden is a beautiful garden on top of the Walkie-Talkie building with great atmosphere.  Tip: try to get your free ticket on the website on Monday. They release each Monday free tickets for the upcoming week. Find a ticket for a late slot, so you will see the amazing view transform from day to night. Or if you are lucky you will see a beautiful sunset.

Ace hotel – Shoreditch

This hotel has a great lounge where you can relax and drink a nice cocktail. It is a great way to enjoy the nightlife in Shoreditch.

National Gallery

One of the greatest galleries I have seen. I haven’t been there for a while and I found again some interesting paintings I missed the times before. Some paintings I saw again and I was again amazed how great artist deliver such beautiful paintings. Never boring this gallery, but can be busy during the weekends. From here you can wander around in the city and go to Chinatown and Piccadilly Square.

Waitrose

This one is not for everyone, but my family loves to bring “food” related souvenirs back home. The Waitrose has a great variety in food and drinks for gifts to bring home.

Hope you enjoyed reading this blog and got some new ideas of where to go in London or what to do!

Have a great bank holiday weekend xx

FOOD CORNER

Hello Food | Quattro Formaggi Easy 15 min Pasta

Hi Lovely Readers, this is a fresh Sunday morning, therefor time for a new Food Blog. This time for a Sunday lunch or dinner, what else can you think of then a great pasta!

Like all the pasta that I make, this one is super easy and no effort at all. The end result will be super delicious, especially if you are a cheese lover like me. Yum Yum Yum!

Grab your ingredients from the supermarket or order online and start preparing this Quattro Formaggi Pasta ASAP.

What you will need to make this;

• Parmesan cheese 80g
• Taleggio cheese 80g
• Gorgonzola cheese 100g
• Emmental cheese 80g
• Salt
• White pepper
• Milk 200ml with a bit of flour or whipped cream
• Pasta (any kind)

How to make this delicious cheese sauce;

MMM this cheese sauce is going to be delicious!

Start with chopping the cheese into small pieces. (Try not to eat them while chopping) The harder cheese should be really small, so it will be easy to melt. Put the whipped cream in a pan and leave the fire very low. Place the small pieces of Parmesan cheese in the pan slowly till all is dissolved in the cream. Do this with all the cheese. In the meantime cook the pasta, so it will be ready to be mixed. Once all mixed into the cream, mix the pasta with the sauce and put a bit of white pepper on it. Preferred pasta is the penne, but for me any kind will do. Even the left over pasta’s or a mix of pasta’s.

All together it will take approximately about 15 min to make. EASY, RIGHT?!

Tip;

If you use milk please use some flour to make it a bit creamy. Without the flour the cheeses will not dissolve the way they should into the milk.

If you would like a nice red wine with this pasta, go for a rich Primitivo and et Voila! Enjoy your delicious pasta!

Ciao! ♥ Miss Widjaja

LIFESTYLE

HELLO LONDON | Moving in MARCH

Hello lovely people and welcome to a new (super late) Hello London blog. (My apologies!) Moving and settling in a new place took a lot of time, but we did it. I have to say it took time to get used to the new place, but I like it much more than the previous one.

So this time in the blog I will update you a bit about the moving in March and I manage to see a nice musical and one of the best exhibition so far. Grab your cup of daily tea and enjoy reading.

By the way: HAPPY EASTER!

Moving in London

It started with viewing a lot of properties. You have to see at least ten flats to see what you can get for what price. If you check the websites ZOOPLA and RIGHTMOVE, you can find a lot of flats in the area that you would like. Arranging a viewing of the property is really easy to do. Just contact the agency or send them an email. Surprisingly sending emails and explaining your income, when and with how many people you would like to move, will get you a quick respond. All kind of agency were calling me to show us different flats. I think Foxton is a good one, if you want to see lots of properties at once. Just to give you an idea what is available around.
In the end we went for OPENRENT. This website provides the “small independent” landlord to rent their property to tenants. Without an agency in between it will save you a lot of fees to pay. The new flat is just ten minutes from our previous flat, but the rent here is much cheaper and the flat is much better maintained. We now live in a neighbourhood with much more local “nice” Londoners, some cute cats next door, a relative huge kitchen and no more ambulance sounds as a daily routine or wake up alarm (this is the best).

Our new wine (alcoholic drinks) corner 🙂

Aladdin the Musical

Aladdin is one of the musicals I really wanted to see here in London. I saw this one on my birthday and I can recommend it to anyone. The genie in this musical is hilarious, the customs and decor are beautiful. A bit different than the Disney story, but really magical. JUST GO AND SEE THIS MUSICAL! Tickets are available online. Next musical will be Kinky Boots and maybe the Phantom of the Opera. (Excited about these ones)

Modigliani exhibition in Tate Modern

 

“When I know your soul, I will paint your eyes” Modigliani.

Just heard about this Italian painter and sculptor a few days ago and I am already in love with his work. This painter lived only for 35 years. He died really young because of an illness. The exhibition is till the second of April 2018, so If you can.. GO! This is a really must see exhibition with so many beautiful paintings of Modigliani. Since I am into art and paintings, I really like his style of painting, Modern art movement, Expressionism.

He mainly painted the portraits and the nudes. What I love about his painting is the mystery of the eyes. From what I could find on the net, he only painted the eyes if he knew the person. He lived among great artist like Picasso, Brancusi, Chirico and Derain. Next step for me is to watch the movie that came out in 2004 with Andy Garcia “Modigliani” and  the Picasso exhibition in Tate Modern.

Thank guys for reading my blogs! Hopefully soon with more art related blogs.

” Have a great Easter, Kisses!”

LIFESTYLE

Hello London | January Blues

Good morning Lovely Readers, Welcome back to my Hello London blog. How is February going so far? I can’t believe January is already over. London has been really cold this month… Wow  winter has come to London.

A few new things are going to happen this month. We are moving! Finally we found a new flat, so we are going to be very busy this month, but very happy that we could find a flat in a short time. Maybe going to blog about the process another time, if you think it is helpful.

Another new thing (and also for a new blog) I started to oil paint. This is something I always wanted to do. Really happy that painting is a part of my life now. I like being creative, first with making bracelets in the Netherlands and now slowly learning to draw (again) and paint with oil paint. It is just fascinating to work with oil paint or to see great artist in museums using oil paint ages ago and now finally getting the feel of it.

This is going to be a blog of all the places we have seen so far and is worth a go. Grab your cup of coffee, a pencil , a notebook and enjoy this blog!

Fara Charity Shop

Just want to mention this shop, because recently they have changed the whole shop and it looks fantastic! I found some amazing pieces there these months. My first found were a pair of black Manolo Blahnik pumps (in my size!)

Omg… I did some really great purchases there lately

I found a deep port leather COACH bag for £10! This bag needed some extra care and love, but still looks great. A cashmere sweater from Zadig and Voltaire, a silk dress from Diane von Furstenberg and some trousers from Banana Republic for work. They were all in great condition or new and here comes the best… All for amazing prices between £5 and £15! I am in thrift heaven.

Caboose Bricklane

This a derelict train carriage where we went for our Christmas dinner with the office. The food is a bit street style food and you will smell like food when you go home, because it is next to the kitchen.

The smoked meat (beef or pork) on a burger is super delicious.

During the day you can just pass by and order one of their delicious smoked burgers. I think I might do this in the summer.

Dulwich Picture Gallery

I have to say, if you live in central London, this gallery is a bit far. I almost sat one hour and a half in the bus to go to the Dulwich picture gallery or I just took the wrong connection to it (I really don’t know). They have a collection of Old Masters in Western European Baroque paintings and British portrait from the 19th century. Entree is only £7,-.

Lumiere Light festival – Lumiere London

This was on the 18th till 21st of January.

This is an amazing exhibition with artworks around London’s architecture and streets.

We went to King Cross and Granary Square to see some light exhibition around this area. Unfortunately we did not have time to see other exhibition. Next year we are going to make more time to see all the exhibition, just because it is beautiful.

 

Depa Tandoori

Not the greatest, but they have some nice spicy dishes. This was my first time to an Indian restaurant.

Sen Viet

We accidently came across this Vietnamese restaurant while hunting for a new flat this month.

It looked super busy, so we thought it must be great. And Wow! This place has delicious authentic Vietnamese food with no fuzz. Simple and delicious. Super busy place, so I am not sure if they can take reservations, but this might be a good option to do before. Please try the summer rolls, they are delicious!

SaSa Sushi

Another day of viewing properties we came across this small sushi restaurant.

Top class Sushi

They open for lunch and dinner. We had  lunch here and order sashimi, a bento box and a temaki roll, one of my favourite sushi.

Flat Iron in Covent Garden

The Flat Iron steak comes from the Flat Iron farm in North Yorkshire. For only £10,- per Flat Iron steak plus some additional stuff of course that are not included, you can have a really nice dinner together. Only downside is, you can’t make a reservation and when you are there, you need to register on a list and wait for an hour or so. This is not so bad when you are not super hungry. You are able to go around and when the table is free, they will send you a text message to go back to the restaurant within ten minutes. So a good thing is to stay in the area.

Life Drawing lessons in Hammersmith

Since I am enjoying painting and drawing lately, I was really curious to try a life drawing session. We went to one in Hammersmith, because of a friend of ours. Life drawing you probably can do anywhere here in London. So if you are interested just check on google one near by.

Thanks guys for reading this blog till the end.

Really appreciated it and hope you will find some cool places to discover in February.

Lot is going on in February, the moving, oil painting and going to be a
year older this month. Hopefully I have some time to write a new blog this month about art, moving and my thrift findings.

Have a great day! Danielle