A long time, eons, an age ago, my mother and I decided to make the iconic canelé pastry. Not for the faint of heart, it’s a worthy challenge for any quarantined baker looking for their next time-consuming project. Multiple steps, speciality cooking gadgets, non-standard pantry items, what’s not to like?
I never wrote about my life-changing trip to the Amalfi Coast! Dear me, I am SO sorry. Sorry for you if you haven’t been to the Amalfi Coast, and sorry again if you didn’t get to experience it vicariously through me! Now seems the perfect time to bring it up again because guess what? You can’t go anywhere. Neither can I. We are all stuck in our respective houses, flats, apartments, shoeboxes, wherever you call home. I don’t know if it’s a particularly healthy thing to do, but many of us are dreaming of our next adventure. I read an article once that said people are actually happiest when they are planning their next holiday, not necessarily when they are on said holiday. So, in this time of quarantine, I hope to give you a bit of happiness and perhaps persuade you towards your next getaway.
I lived in Hampstead for a year. One glorious year. And I still live in close proximity to the Heath and Hampstead Village so I think it’s finally time for me to publish my thoughts on the food up for offer in Hampstead.
In fact, Hampstead holds some of the most restaurants in London that I would actually return to voluntarily. I’ve written about Hampstead before. How perfect it is in every way. If you find yourself in this magical corner of London, this is my top hit list for food.
Let’s talk about the healing power of a good old fashioned girl trip. Could we call them old fashioned? They probably haven’t been around for very long on account of women having no rights and not being able to do anything or go anywhere without express permission from their husbands. You can see what kind of mood I’m in as I write this.
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I moved to London at the end of 2018 and have finally found my place. The neighbourhood that speaks to me. Whose cobbled lanes call out my name. Hampstead is the cutest little village in London. It’s far superior to Notting Hill. Maybe it’s what Notting Hill used to be before the movie “Notting Hill”. No fear of such a thing happening following the 2017 romcom, “Hampstead” that just popped up on Netflix. It is by all accounts a terrible movie despite the fact that it features both Diane Keaton and Brendan Gleeson. But it’s a good thing that it is such a bad movie, because I don’t want anyone to know about Hampstead.
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