coffee and pie

Last weekend I went back to Greenman festival in the Brecon Beacons. I went last year and fell in love with the atmosphere, music and setting. This year despite a lot of rain and mud it absolutely did not disappoint.

One of the best things about the festival is how small and relaxed it is. There isn’t always a band you have to go and see so you can spend a lot of time discovering new music. This years absolute find were a band called Islet. Islet are a four piece from Cardiff who until very recently shunned the Web and didn’t even have their own website. I will definitely be looking for London dates.

Flaming Lips were the Saturday night headliners. I’ve never been a flaming lips fan but was excited about the visuals. The set was a little boring if I’m being entirety honest but Yoshimi battles the pink robot was amazing.

Probably my favourite act of the weekend had to be James Blake. I had been listening to his ep on repeat coming up to the festival and he managed to get B.O.B by Outkast into his set as well as Destiny Child Bills, Bills Bills. Amazing. You cant beat dancing around in your wellies.

Already excited about next year.

Could the blue sky come back please…

I managed to get tickets for Bompass and Parr The Complete History of Food last week at Belgravia square. The event curated by Courvoisier Future 500 is the first part of their summer of punch programme.

The evening took us on a culinary adventure through time. The menu stretched from mediaeval, renaissance, victorian eras and the more modern and up to date food trends.

If only every Thursday could start here. There was quite a lot of liquid involved on the tour but I took some pictures to remember the details…

It was sponsored by Courvoisier

We got some tasty roof top cocktails

Full of Courvoisier

They made the grapes fizzy!

and we ate Foie gras surrounding a port reduction and covered in crunchy almonds and gold leaf.

Followed by duck confit on puy lentls and beetroot.

I admired the gingerbread gherkin but decided agaisnt trying any

Instead I ate some whale vomit (ambergris) Very tasty times!

California is a Place, is a collaboration between filmmaker Drea Cooper and photographer Zackary Canepari. The videos are beautifully shot, each telling a California story. There are five in the series so far and cover topics as diverse as Scraper Bikes, The Mexican Border and Pool Skating.

The project stems from the all the groups, stories and ideas that exisit in the Golden State put simply California is loaded. The project is ongoing and worth keeping an eye on.

So I’ve signed up for a little experiment, over the next month I will strip my wardrobe down to only six key items (excluding undergarments, swim wear, work-out clothes, work uniforms, rain/outdoor jackets, shoes and accessories).

As soon as I read uberblond’s post about the experiment I wanted to get involved I’ve been thinking about a sort of capsule wardrobe for a while now and about spending a bit more on a few amazing pieces instead of buying multiple fast fashion fixes. I love how Grace Kelly used the same handbag over and over again as well as treasuring all of her dresses and I want that quality over quantity in my wardrobe. There is a bit more about why I wanted to take part over here.

So I’ve picked my six items below. One of the six is a dress to wear for a wedding so its down to five really. I’ve gone for jeans, two tshirts a leather jacket and a dress that can be worn when hot/cold dressed up or dressed down.

And so it begins. You can follow our progres over on sixitemsorless or @sixitemsorless.

Highlights from an amazing long weekend cruising the Norfolk broads.

Our boat ‘The Magic Gem’

Evening loveliness

That pesky duck ate all our chips

Some friends we made along the way

Tasty BBQ times.

Wine o clock

JUMP

Dinner time

Sunday started at Rummage, a new illustrator fair meets jumble sale on brick lane.

The new event happening monthly from now on provides artists a place to promote and sell some of their work to a willing audience. It was a great trip even in the rain! We picked up an illustrated t-shirt, tea – towel and postcard all for less than £20. Bargain.

After rummage we headed west over to Somerset House. On the way we spotted these curious elephants – which I later learned are part of the conservation campaign to highlight the endangered Asian elephants.

We finally got to Pick me up the graphics arts show at Somerset House, where some of today’s most exciting graphic artists were exhibiting their work.

I really wanted one of Erin Petson’s prints.

We got to see Rob Ryan’s studio in action. and I was blown away once again at the intricacy and detail of his work.

I also watched some of the shorts in the It’s Nice that cinema and saw some screen printing in action.

It was a great day but I was visually drained by the end if it and happy to head home. The day was finished off nicely watching a security guard trying to kick a stray pigeon out of somerset house.

On Friday night I went to see Cinderella at the Royal Opera House. I was lucky enough to be sat in a box right above the orchestra, unfortunately you cant take photos but the costumes and set design was stunning! the stage seemed to go nearly as far back as the seating area.

I took some pictures before the show and of the view of Covent Garden from the balcony on my iphone.

Can’t. Stop. Listening.

One of the things you notice as soon as you head to South London is how much more space there is. This morning I got to soothe my hangover with the papers and espresso in the garden. A garden is something of a novelty for me living on the 5th floor of a flat in Bethnal Green.

So is lunch around a table!

After some serious paper reading I got a tour of Peckham Rye park which is huge and a world away from the hundreds of hipsters in London Fields.

Then off we cycled around the (bumpy) streets of Peckham.

And headed over to the multi storey car park Where you get some of the best views in London. Unfortunately I didn’t have my proper camera but I will definitely be heading back there. I really hope there is another pop up bar/art exhibition this year!

Then it was back to the garden for another BBQ, and homemade burgers – yum

My lovely day in south London was then ruined by watching Haneke’s Funny Games – not the best choice for a Sunday evening!