Story

I couldn't help feeling sad at the loss of Story Deli from the Truman Brewery... it opened when P and I lived close by, and in those days we were regular visitors. Happily, today I stumbled across the newly opened Storybox, which is located in the old Scooter Shop on Sclater Street, E1. A much more fitting premises, to my mind, which suits the Story aesthetic perfectly.

Welcome back! You make a wonderful cup of coffee.

Paying for coffee, Bermondsey Street style

Maltby Street

This morning, just as the snow started to fall, we took a short walk from home to Maltby Street for coffee (two each as one is never enough) and the best custard doughnuts you will ever taste, seriously. It's a place we visit often on Saturday mornings, but today, in the snow, it felt a little magical.

And, as a day like today requires the very best of treats, we stopped by Violet Cakes to buy a slice of ginger molasses cake and a pumpkin whoopie pie from Claire Ptak, who is very nice indeed. The samples of her candid peel were delicious!

Do take the time to visit this wonderful collection of London's finest food retailers in our corner of Bermondsey. They're open for Christmas this coming Thursday, 9.00 am to 3.00 pm.

Wild Rumpus

It feels like I've waited a long time for Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are to be released. We took Friday off work so we could be at the first showing of the film at The Electric... a special film needs a special cinema.

We had a really lovely day together, which started with breakfast and a perfect coffee at Ginger and White and on our way from Hampstead to Portobello we made a quick stop off at Marylebone where I picked up a pair of grey and black Veja volley trainers from the recently opened Ascension store in St Christopher's Place, which I have been after for ages.

I loved the film and it was a great day!

Tagged

I've been tagged by The Sneaky Magpie to list 7 things I love... much harder to select just 7 things than I imagined, but here are the 7 things which came to mind first.

1. My husband, for so many reasons, including the fact that he reads me to sleep at night, Pete has to take the number one spot in a list of things I love.

2. Pete's paintings are incredible, it really isn't enough to see them reproduced in photographs. To be captivated you need to spend time viewing them at various distances and from all sorts of angles. There is so much to see.

3. Japan has a very special place in my heart. We've visited twice and I spend a lot of time longing to go back.

4. Coffee any time day or night, I alway fancy a nice cup of coffee, whether it's a fresh brew on Saturday morning in our Chemex coffee pot or a flat white from number of fine, specialist establishments.

5. Black cashmere crew neck sweaters are always what I want to wear.

6. My camera recently had to be repaired and I was lost without it.

7. Murder, She Wrote... I have no explanation as to why I love this show, I just do and can watch it any time, episodes back to back over and over again. Can't wait for series 10, which will arrive on 26 December.

Weekend

Time is flying by and I'm not really sure where it's going... among other things, I've had no time to post nor to catch up on all my usual blog reading. On the plus side, I'm sure there are lots of wonderful posts for me to catch up on.

This weekend started with my first Christmas get together, a very pleasant evening with friends for drinks and supper at Crazy Bear. The food was great, as always, so I was far too full to indulge in their (and my very favourite) salted caramel dessert.

We had a day of household repairs planned for yesterday, but instead decided to take ourselves off to the Norwegian and Finnish Church Christmas fairs. We stopped for a delicious coffee at Monmouth on Maltby Street, which is where they roast their beans. It is only open for a short time on Saturday morning and they are joined by Neal's Yard Dairy and Fern Varrow. The fairs were both fruitful, I came away with a variety of toadstool decorations from the Norwegian fair and a Finnish Moomintroll baking pan and Moomin some cookies.

Today I had the second of four Sewing Clinic classes at City Lit. I'm finally learning how to use a sewing machine and hopefully is my first step towards this little dream.

KeepCup

For the past 18 month or more, I've been using my own cup for my morning (and lunch time, and afternoon) coffee, driven mostly by the desire to cut down on unnecessary waste but made a little sweeter as there is also a small discount on the price of my brew.

I finally retired my effective but rather cumbersome thermal Planetary Design mug last week, when I popped in to Dose for a lunchtime flat white, in favour of a new smaller, slimmer and lighter 12oz KeepCup.

I'm really very pleased with it... Dose didn't have many to choose from, but I've been having fun mixing all the various colour combinations which are available, take a look at the last tab.

The cup isn't thermal, it mentions on the website that it is, but I contacted KeepCup to ask how long it would keep a drink hot and they explained that it's not thermal in that sense but rather it's insulated so as not to be too hot to the touch.

Happy Birthday Deerylou

Bright, early and chilly start today, to meet Deerylou for a birthday breakfast at Monmouth in Borough Market...

Happy birthday Dolly!

Weekend

I went looking for shoes yesterday morning and ended up with a very sweet wool cape from Muji instead. On my way home I popped into Wild and Wood and sat in the cosy nook for a very well made flat white and a quick bite.

Today was a lovely grey rainy London day and for a change Columbia Road was quiet. We had coffee and breakfast in the rain at Ezra Yard and brought home some red anemones. I picked up Paumes Copenhagen Apartments, which I was very happy to find in Lapin and Me, and a copy of the newly released I Choose You from Elphick's. It's a lovely book by Silver Jungle, who are helping to protect endangered animals in the wild, and is illustrated by Lisa Jones.