Bonjour Paris!

My best friend Jessie lives in Paris, but will be embarking on a journey down under this year. Since her trip is coming sooner rather than later, she invited our friend John (who lives in Oslo) and myself to gay Paris to have one final NYC posse showdown with copious amounts of gooey cheese and yummy wine.

Been to Paris loads, thanks to Jessie and the 2.5hr Eurostar ride, but good ol' lil' Jess wowed me again with new places to eat. Like La Grande Epicerie near Bon Marche. It's a gourmet food market that greets you with fresh pastries as soon as you walk in. My favorite pastries are the palmier and mille feuille, but how wonderful do these woopie pies look.

For dinner we went to this very cool restaurant and bar called La Fidelite. The crowd looked like a hybrid of artists and fashionistas who've come from the menswear shows. The food was good - tasty and satisfying.

We were a bit tired after our meal, but we did check out the cave bar downstairs. Great music and very smokey despite the non-smoking sign.

I had another great time in Paris and it kind of made me think of this scene in Funny Face. Remember this?

Thornbury Castle

So my birthday just passed last week and I have now entered my 30’s. Many people have asked/said “wow, you’re 30! or how do you feel…” etc., etc. and I have to say these are exciting times. Life has never been sweeter.

For this momentous occasion, I originally wanted to plan a trip with my family to Mexico. What with my birthday so close to Christmas and me based in London, it was too expensive. In the end, I spent a dreamy evening in a castle.

A few months ago, the Hub told me to take a few days off from work. He wanted to whisk me away somewhere special and it was a surprise. My in-laws always joke about how I’m a Royalist, I have an obsession with Royal culture and of course castles, manor houses, and titles. Can’t help it, we just don’t have those things in America!

Well after our 3-hour car journey, we rocked up to Thornbury Castle. You can imagine my surprise when we drove up, I welled up within 3 seconds into the gravel driveway. 

Oh and it gets better. He booked us a night in the same room that King Henry the VIII and Anne Boleyn stayed in.

This bed was amazing. First I love canopy beds, but the mattress was like a cloud. We just sunk into it. One of the best sleeps of my life. 

The fireplace was kept on throughout our stay. I love fireplaces, the smell of burning wood is so calming. I've never stayed in a room with a fireplace, so it was so nice to have that all throughout the night and the warm glow it gave our bedroom. Definitely want one in our future dream home. 

The castle has an award winning kitchen, so naturally Hub booked us in for dinner that night. We started with sauteed scallops and chorizo in a lemon caper dressing and home made mushroom ravioli with black truffles and a rich buttery sauce.

For our mains we had pan fried halibut with gnocchi, morels, and cauliflower and Hub had home made beetroot gnocchi with melted goat cheese and fresh beets. Oh so delicious. I liked his better than mine, so we shared. 

And finally for dessert, Hub had chocolate torte with honeycomb ice cream. Normally, that's something I would go for, but I'm going through this sorbet faze (moved by 34's Almafi lemon sherbert) and so I went with the lemon tart with raspberry sorbet. Loved it, super tangy. The following day we read the paper, had fresh pastries (the cinnamon buns were divine, i had two) and eggs with smoked salmon. 

We took a final walk through the gardens and grounds of the castle, which are kept in the same state as they would have been in Tudor times. 

I can't recommend this place enough. Thornbury was so quiet and relaxing, it was perfect for a quick getaway. I definitely want to go back and would love to take my family here. To Thornbury Castle, until we meet again.  To my darling Hub, you are a keeper!

Coming Back Soon

Dear Blog,

So sorry I’ve neglected you the past few weeks. It’s been a busy one with the holidays, plus my bday and getting back into the London swing. I’m working on my next few posts and hope to be back on track by Monday.

Jx