Cupcakes & Marathons

Cupcakes seem to be in vogue at the moment (though, apparently, those 'in the know' have now moved on to macarons) and there seems to be a new cupcake shop opening in London every other week. But with so much competition how do you stand out from your sugary-sweet contenders?! Well, if you're Cox Cookies & Cake and your shop is slap bang in the middle of Soho, you sex it right up!

A joint venture between shoe designer Patrick Cox and pâtissier Eric 'The Cakeboy' Lanlard, the 'edgy' decor has a strip club/ nightclub feel to it: glossy black floors, neon fittings and staff donning leather-studded aprons.

The cakes themselves are works of art - stylish, sweet but not overly-sickly. Think subtle flavour rather than Hummingbird Bakery style sugar rush. The 'classics' range from Madagascan vanilla, zesty lemon to Triple Valrhona chocolate, all priced at £2.50. But the speciality cakes are where Cox Cookies & Cake really come into their own: cola fizz cakes, black jelly skull cakes and, my favourite, the rather gorgeous pop art cake filled with blueberry jam and topped with a white chocolate image of Marylin. Why would you want a cookie when you're drooling over these cakes?

There is more then a sprinkling of camp in this joint - they recently commissioned some special 'Kylie' themed cupcakes... need I say more? The naked torsos, the 'beef cake' and the titty cakes aren't cheap at £4 but the evident icing craftsmanship and original cheekiness more then justify it. There aren't many seats inside (just five bar stools) as it's more of a take-out joint but, if you do manage to grab a seat, the coffee and hot chocolate are equally great choices. The hot chocs also come in shot form if you can't quite handle a whole one.

http://www.coxcookiesandcake.com/index.php

After all that cake on Sunday it was time to get out and about to cheer on the 36,500 runners who were running in the London Marathon. If you've never been along, give it a try next year as it's a cracking day out. The atmosphere is great and the runners apparently really appreciate the crowd's cheers, plus you really do see some sights (bleeding nipples anyone?!). From the man running with a washing machine on his back, the 80-year-old nun, the man running in just a mankini (chaffage much?), the ridiculous cartoon costumes, to the ordinary people running in memory of their loved one's you see it all! The variety of runners you see out there is definitely surprising - people of all shapes, sizes and ages. It really is an inspirational day out which does restore one's faith in humanity somewhat, and it's all in support of such fantastic causes!

Some runners really were the bollocks!

Summery Southbank

London has been looking beautiful in this rather early summer weather, so at the weekend I (along with most of the tourists in town) decided to head to one of the city's most iconic areas = the Southbank.
Yes Southbank on a Saturday is heaving but with more iconic sights, street entertainers & living statues then you could shake a stick at you can see why. Our first stop was the chocolate festival by the royal festival hall.

Luckily none of the chocolate seemed to be melting and we were treated to a lot of free samples, some very yummy (apple & cinnamon truffles anyone?), some far too healthy (if chocolate is both dairy free & sugar free, what is the point?) & some just plain disgusting (sweet pesto to accompany a chocolate tart - so wrong in so many different ways!) The chocolate festival is returning December time, and they are also planning a tea & coffee and cheese & wine festival in the coming months.  Most other weeks the 'real food market' is here so its worth popping in if your Southbank side & peckish.

One of my favourite places to 'hang out' on Sunday is the benugo bar & kitchen (thanks to my housemate Dan for the recommendation!).  You have the walk into the BFI & right to the back of the building to find this Arabic inspired lounge bar. Now it's not cheap (but that's central London for you!) but once you've bagged one of the colourful sofas you can eek out your pint or latte or rather fabulous chips for many an hour making it the perfect place to catch up with friends or recover from the night before. With free wi-fi & a right old collection of folk it is also a fantastic spot to people watch.

And finally..when you've tired of wandering along, taking in Big Ben & alike, it's worth popping into the Southbank Centre shop which has lots of trendy homeware bits, cool London themed gifts & pretty jewelery, some of which is quite reasonably priced!

P.S If your ever stuck for somewhere to catch the sun  (when it returns) and enjoy a pint in the Kings Cross area then look no further then The Driver on Wharfdale Road which has a cracking roof terrace. The service is a little bit slap dash but the food was rather scrummy if not a bit overpriced-  luckily we had a Groupon voucher so it was good value. Also, their private rooms look pretty special for a private party. http://www.driverlondon.co.uk/

 

'Village' Life

So, on Saturday my lovely housemate Katie & I decided to explore Bermondsey 'Village' aka Bermondsey Street. I did scoff at the thought of anywhere that close to London Bridge being referred to as a village but, once there in the afternoon sunshine, it did seem surprisingly village-like and extremely quiet for central London. Bermondsey Street is gentrified to the max, lot's of trendy delis, independent vintage shops (aka ridiculously expensive), converted warehouses and a very well dressed crowd all with ridiculously tiny dogs.

Our first stop was Coffee @ Bermondsey Street

A ridiculously trendy (but not too East London pretentious) independent coffee shop whose lights made of Starbucks cups are a very unsubtle dig at the coffee giants. Uber-cool decor, tables made of lego, framed posters of 80s legends (A retro youthful Phil Schofield was our personal favourite) all add to the relaxed, trendy vibe. We didn't actually try the coffee but it looked good, and if it was anything like our Carmel Frappe's then you'll be onto a winner. It's a great place to escape the madness of Borough market (a mere 7 minute walk away) and chill with a good book.
A place that did look very nice (& was very busy so surely a good sign) was the Garrison gastropub http://www.thegarrison.co.uk/ the Sunday cinema club is enticing enough to encourage a visit.
Our whole reason for visiting Bermondsey Street was so we could visit the London Museum of Fashion & Textiles. Founded by the pink-haired legendary fashion designer Zandra Rhodes at an entrance fee of £7 I would say our expectations we're quite high.

A beautifully curated space, consisting were two exhibitions one on the designers of Timney-Fowler and the other on the 60s photography Justin de Villeneuve. Both lovely exhibitions, but for the price we were expecting more. They needed another exhibition to justify the price and with plenty of brilliant free museums in London when your paying an entry fee you do expect more. However, the museum shop was very cool, lots of nice fashion related and quirky cute designer gifts.  http://www.ftmlondon.org/

So next time your around London Bridge/ Borough market way and fancy a taste of village life, I thoroughly recommend a wonder down Bermondsey Street, but not necessarily the fashion museum I'm afraid.

Also, on a local South-West London note next time your in Earlsfield (and who isn't) treat yourself to a trip to Belle Amie.

This place is girl heaven, a gorgeous cafe cum shabby chic homeware shop.  Mixing beautiful Cath Kidston style homeware furniture & homeware accessories with very reasonably priced coffees and cakes, plus freshly made baguettes, tarts & a full breakfast menu.  Its such a lovely place to spend an afternoon gossiping and stuffing ones face with cake.