London Coffee Festival

I almost missed Brick Lane's ode to the black ichor of life that is the London Coffee Festival. Luckily, I was able to snag two tickets to the brunch session (aren't you all trendy with a "brunch" rather than "morning" session, London Coffee Festival?) last Sunday. What follows is a photographic diary of my trip into caffeine, my cannonball into coffee. To say I was buzzing by the end of the three hours in the Old Truman Brewery would be a slight understatement.. 

The morning started off with a bang thanks to Square Mile Coffee. They were offering flights of three distinct coffees poured out by a friendly fellow giving tasting notes. Sidenote: how have I not seen this before? I feel like coffee flights should be standard fare in East London at least. Who's on board with me?

Our next stop was the Make Decent Coffee lounge, where baristas from ThreeSixty coffee demonstrated the various methods and benefits of pour over vs Chemex vs French Press vs (the frightening to the uninitiated/clumsy) Aeropress. I picked up some useful tips for my morning cafetiere. Did you know scooping the floating grounds before you press the plunger down cuts down any bitterness?

I also picked up a Peanut Butter doughnut from the tempting Crosstown Doughnuts booth. It was a very fluffy doughnut, and tasty - I maybe had to stop myself from picking up more from the Piccadilly Circus location later in the week in order to avoid becoming a doughnut monster. A little word of advice to Crosstown though - warn people with North American accents that the jam is blackcurrant. Please. 

I really enjoyed the variety of cold brew coffee at the festival. The selection on offer at the Goodbeans booth had to be my favorite though - very very smooth. The extremely cute Alice-in-Wonderland-esque bottles didn't hurt either. Bonus points for presentation and friendly staff!

The London Coffee Festival was also the place for some quirkier takes on coffee, such as the coffee soap and granita (a joint effort with Gelupo) on offer from cold brew maker Minor Figures.

There were also lots of freshly pressed juices and tasty treats on offer. Sandwiches from St John's? Check. Chocolate tastings? Check. All the baked goods your coffee could possibly want as a companion? Check.

Mounds of baked treats from Cakesmiths

Overall, a pleasantly different East London brunch experience (of sorts). We also walked away with kicky totes and a guide to London coffee shops, so expect to see some coffee shop reviews in the near future! I'm off to brew some decent coffee now. A very happy and caffeinated Sunday to you all!

Day Adventure: Richmond Park

For those of you in London wanting a little getaway from the city, have you been to Richmond Park? You can get there easily using public transport, and there are lots of nice little trails and paths that meander through the park. 

There are wild deer roaming around, which is something you don't see every day!

These guys look a bit like they've spotted Fenton.

Have you been to Richmond Park? I also really like wandering around Hampstead Heath, Regents Park, and Kew Gardens. Which is your favorite?

Snapshots of this Summer

So although I know that it's not technically autumn yet, I kind of feel like the last official day of summer was Saturday. And it was a really nice, sunny, pub lunch and hang out in the park kind of day. It made me just a little bit sad that summer is nearly over, but we had some amazing summer adventures and lots of outside time - just take a look!

Found tons and tons of flowers on Howth Hill during a stroll in Ireland...

Including this Disney-esque scene of fallen pink petals and twisty tree limbs, which were perfect for climbing.

A dream-come-true tiger kiss (and the most amazing day photographing big cats)!

Home for Fathers Day and freshly baked doughnuts for breakfast to celebrate. I definitely have some autumn themed doughnut recipes in the works!

A family trip to this beautiful and low-key beach with plenty of walks...

And also many loggerhead turtle nests spotted on those walks - I so wanted to see baby turtles!

We also made good use of the bikes at the beach. It was nice to take breaks with leisurely shaded bike rides in the afternoon - and on the beach in the evenings once the tide went out!

A nostalgic eatery visiting tour of Athens, Georgia with my sister. (Mama's Boy, Big City Bread, and Last Resort, I'm looking at you!)

And VERY colorful legs (actually, head to toe colorful!) after the Color Run, which was my first official 5k! Please note: only one of those legs is mine!

Spent a weekend in Wales and hiked up Snowdon.

Also spent a sunny Saturday walking around central London like great big tourists. Because sometimes you forget that monuments and sightseeing type things are everywhere when you live nearby.

I enjoyed times about 100 all of the beautiful, sunny, and seasonally appropriate weather in and around London and elsewhere this summer. So I suppose it's only fair that autumn's starting to sneak in now, right? At least I can unabashedly consumer unreasonable quantities of pumpkin soon, right?

Did you soak up as much sunshine as you could this summer? What are you looking forward to as it starts to cool off?

Going to the Zoo Zoo Zoo

Made a trip to the London Zoo a few weeks ago. Highlights from this most recent expedition include:

Seeing the new Tiger Territory, which is so much nicer and more spacious than the old setup:

Hunting what looked like bits of raw steak

Watching penguin feeding time:

All very interested in the fish bucket.

Catching the birds of prey showcase, which was an open air show-and-tell with some impressively-close-to-the-audience fly overs.

Zoo Lates are happening again this year, every Friday night in June and July from 6-10pm. (So now!) These nights are for big kids only and you can book advanced discount tickets on the website here. In addition to seeing the animals, you can catch performances, indulge in some face painting (perhaps you've always wanted to look like a zebra?), and have grown-up (beverage) picnics. Have you been before? Will you go again this year? I hope to!