Gorgeous finds at Vintage

Needing to get away from boiler issues and with a whole weekend of work ahead, I decided to spend the afternoon at the Vintage festival on the South Bank. It's free to access the vintage marketplace and one of my favourite brands, Lowie, has set up a pop up shop there, both perfect excuses to go and have a rummage!

What a feast for the eyes that was! A real treasure trove of lovely vintage clothes, underwear, accessories and jewellery! My plan was not to spend much money but in front of so much lovely things, I caved in and my poor wallet has taken a hit. Unsurprisingly, it's the jewellery that got me.

Here's the lowdown on my finds:

The first thing that caught my eye were these lovely teacup rings. Unfortunately, the lady selling them didn't have her name on display or cards on the stand but she said she can be found at Portobello most weekends. Those dainty rings will make perfect little Christmas gifts!

 I also bought this necklace and bracelet set from the same woman. I just couldn't resist!

My next purchase was these lovely vintage buttons by Jam. They'll come in really handy for some sewing and knitting projects I have in mind.

I then fell in love with the jewellery of Lorna Henderson. I would have bought half her display if I could afford it! But after much deliberation, I settled for these earrings and necklace.

Right next to Lorna's stand I found Lucie Ellen's stand. She sells super cute bunting necklaces, which I had seen before. I hesitated about buying one of those but settled for this lovely piece instead:

I guess the swallows theme inspired me because I then got seduced by these brooches from Acorn & Will. I'm keeping the pink one for myself but the other two are meant as Christmas gifts. Delightful, aren't they?

Just as I was leaving, a ring caught my eye... Whilst it's unlikely I'll be wearing it much, I had to have it if only because of it's uncanny resemblance to my beloved cat, Miss Marple. I bought this ring from Abilu Creations.

It's probably a good thing that I had to get home in time for the plumber's arrival otherwise I probably would have ended up buying so much more!

If you haven't got plans yet for the weekend or if you're in the area, I heavily recommend a visit at Vintage! It's on until Sunday and I was told the marketplace is open until 8pm.

Kobkun Thai Therapy

I'd promised I would blog about any good massages I have found in London so here goes!

Yesterday I was hunting for some good sales in Islington when I had the sudden urge to walk into Kobkun on Upper Street and ask them if they had a 60-minute massage slot available. They didn't have a slot straight away, I think I had to wait about an hour and a half, but there's plenty in the area to keep me entertained, the weather was lovely and I had Kathy Reichs latest novel with me so I decided to just hang around on Islington Green until the time of my appointment.

I've never actually had a thai massage before and I was a little apprehensive as I'm usually partial to the more gentle aromatherapy massage but it turns out it was just what I needed! After spending four days standing in the rain and running around in the mud at the Dour Festival the previous weekend, my legs and my shoulders were still pretty tense. My therapist dutifully unknotted every muscle in my back and stretched my legs in ways I'd never considered possible before. I came out feeling like I was walking on a cloud!

The price is pretty good too, I paid £55 for 60 minutes but during the week, the same massage would cost only £49. That's a bargain in London! And it's worth every single penny!

Definitely a place I would blindly recommend :-)

This is how you make chocolate mousse!

It's no secret that Belgians do chocolate rather well. We Belgians just take the quality of our chocolate for granted, it's only after I'd moved here that I realised just how spoiled we are back home. It's also in London that I've learnt how special a good chocolate mousse can be.

Like many of my compatriots, I just learnt to make chocolate mousse the traditional way as a kid, it was always a favourite at school fancy fairs. And whenever I make it here for friends or colleagues, it's always a massive hit. Now that I have this blog I thought it'd be nice to share my recipe so you can all enjoy a good old traditional Belgian chocolate mousse :-)

Chocolate mousse is easy to make, all you need is three ingredients: good quality dark chocolate, sugar and eggs. I must insist on the quality of the chocolate, that's where the secret for success lies. I use Callebaut cooking chocolate, I buy huge slabs of it whenever I'm in Belgium, but if I haven't got any in stock for any reason then I opt for Green & Blacks cooking chocolate. Don't be a scrounger and buy cheap rubbish as it will seriously affect the end result.

And now, here's for how to make chocolate mousse! Per person you will need:

- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp of granulated sugar
- good quality dark chocolate, about two fingers worth (see picture below)

Separate the eggs and put the yolks with the sugar in one bowl and the whites in a separate bowl.

Mix the yolks and the sugar until smooth and beat the whites with an electrical beater until stiff.

Melt the chocolate au bain marie. You can do it with a microwave but if you do, be very careful not to burn the chocolate!

Slowly pour the melted chocolate in the bowl with the yolk and sugar mix and keep stirring whilst doing so.

Finally, add the whites gradually and fold them in gently. Don't be too rash here, you want to keep the air in so the mousse is nice and fluffy!

All that's left to do at this stage is to pour the mixture in ramekins and leave them to set in the fridge for a few hours and there you have it, delicious chocolate mousse!

Off course, the best bit about making chocolate mousse is that you get to lick the spatula at the end, as my little assistant will confirm ;-)