Lunch at Ritorno Chelsea

Guess what?  I've been editing photos!!!  It's been ages.  I was starting to think the blog had run its course and fallen by the wayside.  But change is in the air.  The lead up to the 1 year anniversary to the day the gauntlet fell on my marriage sucked!  So bad.  It stirred up so much shit for me.  But then, lots of self-love (cliche? yes. necessary? definitely), reflection and wrestling with the past.  I also took a really good look at where I am a year later and determined where I needed to make some changes as I move forward.  I feel like I've made it past a very important milestone.  I feel lighter and less foggy.  I feel excited about the future, more in control of my life again.  I've also felt editing photos and maybe even blogging some.   These photos have been sitting in draft form for a year now.  Last year, lovely Fiona from London Unattached invited me to Ritorno in Chelsea to sample their Chelsea Flower Show cocktail and have lunch.  Here are some of the pics I took that day.

The Jamie Oliver Cookery School

I've been missing London so much.  Surrey is lovely but I haven't yet found my groove here.  When we received an invitation from The Jamie Oliver Cookery School in Shepherd's Bush, we jumped at the chance for a date night in London.  The Cookery School is located at the Jamie's Italian Restaurant in the Westfield Mall.  So we jumped on the train and made our way into London for the evening. 

The Savannah Bar & Restaurant London

Oh, how the days are flying by.  It's funny how the grass is always greener.  When I was working I just wanted to be at home.  Now that I'm home every day, I can't wait to get back to work.  Unfortunately, now that we're outside of London, getting out and about is a bit more difficult.  (I'm still working on that UK Drivers License and making slow progress.)  I was whining on Facebook that I'm going a bit stir crazy.  My friend Fiona from London Unattached invited me to join her for lunch in London at The Savannah Bar & Restaurant.  It was the perfect reason to get out of the house and back into London. 

La Belle Assiette Private Chef Dining Experience

We were recently invited to a dinner party.  I feel so adult when I say that. (You do realize that in my head I'm still 18.)  One of the things I pictured when we first moved to London is attending dinner parties.  You know, like the ones in Notting Hill.  That movie IS London to me.  So many cinematic impressions of this city, and they still linger even after four years of actually living here.  Don't even get me started on the Heathrow Arrivals scene.  Anyway, back to the dinner party.  This wasn't just any dinner party.  This was a Jury Validation Dinner Party with a private chef team from La Belle Assiette.  Fancy, huh?

TheFoodMarket.com #GloriousNaturalFood

Every Saturday morning, just a block away there is a terrific food market.  We love to wander over for some fish & chips or to buy some fresh cheese.  But some days we just want to stay in bed and can't be bothered.  On those days I always feel a little bit guilty.  I'm just certain that we've missed out on a new merchant displaying something wonderful that I must have.  Now I've found the perfect thing to assuage that guilt.  I can now snuggle under the duvet without that rush of FOMO.  It's a multinational farmers' market, an exclusive food hall and a health food emporium all at the click of a finger.  It's been developed by a team of ex-Amazon e-commerce experts and it's bursting with foodie delights - TheFoodMarket.com. 

La Cucina Caldesi Cookery School

Our last move took us right into central London.  With the great location came several trade-offs... no bathtub, no extra bedroom, no outside space.  It also came with a kitchen that is smaller than the average walk-in closet.  I have one square foot of counter space, a fridge the size of a suitcase, and every time we use the oven I have to relocate all of the pots and pans that are stored in there.  Needless to say, it's not conducive to home cooking.  When invited to a cooking class held in the professional kitchens of La Cucina Caldesi Cookery School, I jumped at the chance to cook in a proper kitchen.  These are the people who wrote the book on Italian cuisine.  Actually, they've written several books on Italian cuisine.

Eating Prague Food Tour

One of my top London experiences was the Eating London Food Tour which I took a few years ago.  What a great way to experience a city... through your stomach.  I knew that this same group also has an Eating Prague Food Tour.   It was at the top of our list for our city break in Prague.  It didn't disappoint.  

Leicester House in London

There's this particular London PR firm that occasionally invites me to a blogger's table to review a restaurant.  I never say no to their invites because I know I'm going to be treated to a wonderful meal and great company.  They introduced me to both Gaylord London and Le Garrick.  They've also helped this picky eater get completely out of my comfort zone and try some wonderful dishes that I've always been afraid to try.  My most recent invite was to try some French Vietnamese cuisine at Leicester House. 

Taste of London 2015 & Celebrity Cruises

It's hard to believe that this is my fourth summer in London.  It doesn't seem possible.  One of the first events I attended that first summer was the Taste of London.  We haven't missed it since then.  You can read about 2012, 2013 and 2014 to see why we love this restaurant festival so much.  Of course, I wasn't going to miss it this year either. 

An Indian Feast at Gaylord London

Can you believe that my first experience with Indian food was just three years ago when I moved to London?  Up until then I'd never had Indian food.  Now I can't imagine a week going by with at least one curry night. Britain has a long standing love affair with Indian food dating back to their colonial relationship with the subcontinent.  Curry is as popular as fish & chips in the UK.  There are 9,500 Indian restaurants for the UK population of 64 million.  (Half of those are in London).  Compare that to 8,000 for the US population of 314 million and most Americans are missing out on some spicy special food.  

Restaurant le Bercail en Avignon

It feels terribly self-indulgent to stretch out my time in Provence to so many posts.

A bit like making family and friends sit through a long drawn out slide presentation of my vacation.

But, I guess a travel blog is by definition pretty self-indulgent.

Plus, I’m enjoying remembering our wonderful trip.

I’ve told you about our island, our hotel and Avignon.
Today I’ll tell you about our favorite restaurant.

Restaurant Bercail is located on the island and sits right on the river across from Avignon.

With outdoor seating, pastel patio furniture, overflowing baskets of pansies and handsome French waiters

and views straight out of a travel brochure, it was the perfect place to enjoy a leisurely meal and pink wine.

Because it was so convenient and just a short walk from the hotel,

we tried it on our first night and were hooked.

I think we went back about four more times over our six days in Provence.

The food was wonderful and the service was authentically French
(charming with an eye roll thrown in here and there to keep us in our place.) 

 Once we discovered the goat’s cheese pizza and seasoned fries,

 that became our usual order with a bottle of rose and four glasses, thank you very much. 

  

 That pizza was absolutely divine!  Hand rolled thin crust, mozzarella cheese, goat’s cheese,

pecans, olives, olive oil and a magic drizzle of honey.  Perfection. I need to try this at home. 

They also have their own version of seasoned chili oil that we all agreed they should bottle. 

Liquid gold.  We poured it on everything.

 What do you think about goat’s cheese pizza with honey? 

TWITTER | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | SUBSCRIBE | BLOGLOVIN

Food, Photography and Smiles

A few weeks ago I was invited to a photography workshop taught by

award winning photographer, Paul Hames. 

I was invited by Joe Blogs Blogger Network and Simply Health.

What brought these three various things together?  Smiles.

 What makes people smile?  Food.

Y'all know how much I love my camera.  I love the way it connects me to the world.

My blog is obviously very photo heavy.  Which is why I'm so embarrassed to admit to anyone

that I always shoot on automatic.  I've tried manual a few times but I have a complete brain block.

So you can imagine my reaction when Paul instructed us first thing to turn our cameras to manual.

Terrified and excited, all at the same time.

For the next few hours, my camera was on manual!  I was very tempted to turn it back.

But, I resisted.  And I'm actually pretty proud of the results. 

After sitting us down and taking us through the basics,

we all walked over to the Kerb Food Market at King's Cross to

try out our new skills with the camera and have some lunch.

Before turning us loose, we had one more lesson on Capturing the Perfect Smile.

Here are the tips from Paul:

• Don’t say smile. This is the worst thing you can say. It will produce a false smile and is unimaginative.
• Engage with your subject. Make friends. Appear interested but also be yourself and genuine. Make your subject feel special and tell them how easy they are to work with. This will put them at ease.
• Clichés do work. Hands on hips makes someone project and feel more comfortable. You can also make them look round then back again with different smiles.
• Make sure you’re smiling and projecting positively yourself. It’s infectious.
• Say something funny. We all have a good joke or a story. This is otherwise known as an icebreaker. Do everything you can to get that smile.

  With beautiful models like these three, it wasn't hard at all to capture that perfect smile.

Melanie from Sunny in London

Sarah from The Wanderblogger

Mandy from Emm in London

Then it was time to check out the food offerings.

I'm much more comfortable photographing food rather than people.

But, I did find one willing subject.

This is what I had for lunch from Bill or Beak.

It was amazing!  Shredded duck and pork in a Vietnamese dressing with coriander,

chili and mint salad topped with tempura shallots.

It tasted even better than it looks which is fantastic.

It was a fabulous day which all combined to make

taking my camera from auto to manual not nearly as scarey as I expected.

Photo courtesy of Joe Blogs

 Simply Health provides affordable healthcare with a focus on exceptional personal customer service.

They have over 3 million customers and their services include Simply Dental Plan.

Thanks so much to Simply Health, Joe Blogs and Paul for a day full of smiles.

 Do you have any tricks for capturing the perfect smile?

Special Announcement: I have the date & venue for the next #LDNBloggersTea.

 Festive Afternoon Tea
Sunday, September 28th
£30 per person with champagne
Intercontinental Westminster

We will previewing this year's holiday tea for review.

Space is limited, so email me asap at Selena.Jones@me.com for your spot.

TWITTER | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | SUBSCRIBE | BLOGLOVIN



 *I was invited to this photography workshop by Simply Health for the purposes of review.
 All photos, writing and opinions are my own.
As always, I promise to be open, honest and transparent with my readers.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.  
 

Taste of London 2014

I can't believe that this is the third time I've attended the Taste of London.

That means I've been here almost three years now.  Hard to believe.

For Taste of London 2012, I went twice, once with Matt. 

The other time with my (then) new friend Sarah.  We were just getting to know each other,

so you can imagine my embarrassment when I burst into tears.

I got the call I'd been waiting for that Matt got the job!

Everything was still pretty unsettled six months into the big move to London.

This was the news that would change everything and it did.

Sarah was so sweet.  She didn't mind the tears at all and insisted we celebrate with champagne.

Two years later and we're the best of friends.

Taste of London 2013 was the year I went with my dear friend Gina.

We went to the morning session and had so much fun that we didn't want to leave.

We were very tempted to just stay for the afternoon session.

We would have felt very naughty ducking around trees

to avoid the security staff that was ushering everyone out.

If that had actually happened.  Cough.

This year I went with my best friend and husband, Matthew.

As usual, we had a wonderful time.  It was a beautiful blue sky day.

It's one of my favorite London events and I always look forward to it.

See, doesn't that look great?

Tickets are less than £30 each and you purchase "Crowns" to buy food.

There's a large number of London's best restaurants

selling sample plates for about £5-7 each.

It's certainly not a cheap event, but it's a lot of fun.

 What's your favorite food and drink festival?

TWITTER | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | SUBSCRIBE | BLOGLOVIN

   *I received two complimentary tickets to the Taste of London for the purposes of review.
All photos, writing and opinions are my own.
As always, I promise to be open, honest and transparent with my readers.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.


You can find this review and many others in my
London Attraction Guide.