I Heart Japan

I LOVE Japanese food- it's in my top 3 nationalities of cuisine, along with Vietnamese.. I love an Asian, ask Jose.

And Spanish, well I did practically grow up there. 

I've STILL not been to Japan, im SO desperate to go, infact so much so that I like to throw the odd Japanese night at mi casa. Tokyo, Mile End. Same, Same.  There was the time I dressed as a geisha and Kate dressed as HELLO KITTY

Who knew you could do THAT with a pillowcase. I applaud you Andrews. 

And there was the time Florence Welsh came over for a Japanese night thinking it was a warehouse party and it was me and my brother being cooked tea by my Japanese photographer friend Yukuske. She was pretty wasted so didn't seem to notice, then she serenaded me with a song about my ex boyfriend running off with a GoGo dancer. #alltrue #toughlife #shouldhaveboughtapole and then she put her cigarette out on my kitchen floor which I ALLOWED coz I love that 'you've got the lurrrveeee, you've got the luurruurururrurve to see me through' song. 

If only Fi had had got the memo that it was a JAPANESE night and that a sari isn't quiiiiittteee the same thing. 

Anyway I'm digressing with my #TBT that's a THROWBACK THURSDAY mum, she's just getting her head round hashtags. For tea tonight I went to my Favourite Japanese in London and low and behold it's in Mile End *coughs* well Aldgate East but whatevs.

It really is amazing and not a bad price either- I go so much that i get the same seat and today the waitress said 'you've not ordered your usual spider roll this evening' I have infact never ordered it but that's not the point, they know us and in the cold, cold world of LDN this is BIG news! 

The salmon and avocado roll and tekka maki- that's right, I know the lingo 

The butatakuni- which is braised pork belly in a sweet sadhu soy sauce with yellow mustard

Ebi tempura, make sure you have the boiled one and not the sweet one that's raw and tastes of slime. 

The torikaraage- fried chicken marinated with chilli soy sauce.

Prawn tempura - you may notice this is not the same photography, that's coz its off google. I'd necked the lot before I'd managed to snap shots.

Bloody amazing.. Really fresh, pretty healthy. Batter and pork fat IS healthy if you eat it with sushi. And who would have known this gem was nestled in the mean streets of East London. May as well cancel that flight, who needs Tokyo when you've got amazing food, a kimono and a pillowcase and you can get yourself home in time for corrie. #winning. 

If Oasis did press days.......

.......Which they do and boy are they good. It was like being an extra in 'Goodnight Sweetheart' without that annoying Nicholas Lyndhurst character #sticktorodney #onlyfools4evs

We walked into a 1970's high street, with a florist, sweetshop, hairdressers and shoe cobblers. All dressed in Oasis OBVS.

Me getting me hair done. 

Me walking the dogs 

Me picking up the fruit and veg from 'pink lady green grocers' not as good as Nellist & Co obviiioouusssllly. Don't worry dad, they've got nowt on us. 

The help yourself sweet-shop, wish all shops were this 'cheap'. I did once nick a pack of tunes from bob's shop in the village. That was a bargain. 

Killer picnic basket and heels- dreamy.

My boyfriend in the cobblers 

And the amazing clothes to go with- NEED this skirt to go with my 500 blue polonecks. 

And this bad boy that Jill called 'groovy' well she did see the seventies the first time round, probs how she knows all the lingo. 

And then MORE bacon sandwiches! GET IN.. #banthebeetrootbar #bringbackthebacon

The classic triangle sanger- always a fave, I might have knocked a couple back. 

Fruit salad. Simple and basic just the way I like it. I survived the first half of my life without touching an acai berry so I think I'm good. 

And the cereal selection.. I used to buzz of them multipacks when I was about 12.

Now I don't know anyone that still eats cereal, except me BFF Indea but she also still buys chocolate 'Freddos' and I'm sure I spotted a 'CLUB' last time I was there #ifyoulikealotofchocolateofyourbuscuit

EPIC press day Oasis and hats off to the visual merchandisers. Let's go eighties next time, I love a chicken Kiev. 

Viet Grill Take Out

Unfortunately Street Studios has stopped doing Itsu sushi take-outs (nooo!) so we had to go for the closest we could geographically get and opt for a Viet Grill takeaway for our shoot day lunch. 

I got the Chicken Pho. Much discussion occurred about how to pronounce "Pho" so naturally we asked Jay Zhang the Chinese hairstylist which way is correct. It's "fur", FYI. 

Anyway I only went and FORGOT to order summer rolls aswell. What a fatal error. I obviously didn't stop banging on about it for the rest of the day. The Chicken Fur is far too healthy to eat on it's own, it's a soup ffs, which equals a drink, which means I actually forgot to order lunch altogether. FML.

Whilst it was tasty and I felt totally virtuous eating it (like, it's totally wiped out any bitching I have ever done in my entire life) I'll admit I was totally jealous of the photographer Mike's fish curry.

Luckily Sophie the make up artist had ordered these bizarre spring rolls which we felt tasted of fat and are perhaps the Vietnamese version of a Greggs sausage roll.

 If that's' the case then sort it out Vietnam. We certainly aren't gonna be queuing up on a hangover to get those #vomfest 

Luckily the studio provided us with a plate of treats to make up for the fact I hadn't eaten since my 2 breakfasts that morning. 

We then discussed how I would look with a fringe (whilst working REALLLYY hard obviously) and the model said that I look just like "that really famous blogger from We Wore What".

Quick look on google (I'd never heard of it) and she meant Danielle Bernstein. Here's a snap: 

Now, the girl wears sunglasses pretty much ALL THE TIME which is very suspicious, so I'm unsure if this is a compliment or not, but I'll go for yes thanks to her thinness factor. 

We then discussed how me and her were  probably separated at birth due to looking the same, same weight (I'm probably thinner), both work in fashion, and the fact that we both have hugely successful blogs. Weird hey! 

A River Island Breakie

Yes it's STILL press day time, nowadays they pretty much last the full season. I'm not complaining like, means I get to sample loss of free grub. 

AGAIN We had to start at 8.30AM- now I know I'm beginning to sound like a broken record- but I just don't know WHY wanless makes me start this early. It's like arriving first at a party and waiting for the cool kids to arrive, and no that's not you Stofberg, you're just late. I'm not in a full time job, I don't have a kid, therefore I have no reason to get up at such a god foresaken hour. Well apart from the 'puppy-dog, no pressure, there is really lots of pressure' face I get that wins everytime. 

Wanless was infact LATE- and not because she was still in bed but because she'd been to about a hundred already. Obvs. I told her not to worry I'd out the collection. I lied. I just waited for the food to be ready and sipped on me carrot juice. 

I went for the usual- carrot and apple juice from River Islands in house juice bar. There was an option of a prosecco cocktail which I considered and stupidly vocalised. Only later to be told 'someone was asking if it was too early for prosecco!!!' errrrrrm who could that be??? #itsnevertooearly, and as I once got told from a close friend of VB's her Motto is 'well it's happy hour somewhere in the world' dam right posh- maybe you're not such a number after all.

I then bypassed the crepe stand. You see I don't really like sweet things. Which I told a whole shoot yesterday before eating 3 pieces of cake. Whatevs, so sue me.

And I headed out to the 'cheeky italian' food van outside for a pancetta, scrambled egg and roasted tomato Sanger 

Was BEAUT and way better than all these beetroot granola bars some press days are trying to pass off as human food. 

After that I did check out the collection- which by the way was pretty amaze. Seventies EVERYTHING

And these little cuties Holly and Rosie showing us their fave piece. Babes.

River I salute you! Amazing collection, amazing food #bringbackthebacon 

Prosecco, Paella and a Pass Out

As Mum's know, getting to sit child-free on a train with a bottle of Prosecco is the equivalent of a non-mum being told she's been given a years membership to Shoreditch House. Pretty damn exciting. And as most people will tell you it takes a lot for me to be enthusiastic or excited. In fact, I'm unsure if it's EVER happened. But I was very excited about this prospect. On the inside anyway. 

So the hours train journey from London to Bicester this weekend was spent guzzling prosecco. Lucky then that the father in law was cooking up one of his specialties. Chicken and seafood paella. He was taught how to make it by a 101 year old woman in a remote village in the Spanish hills, her family had had the recipe passed down through her family for 25 generations. 

Ok ok, he learnt how to make it on holiday once but whatevs, it's beaut. 

In the mix was chicken, prawns, huge shell on prawns, mussels, salmon, calamari and chorizo. A feast! 

We ate it whilst guzzling more prosecco and you'd think with the giant portion I went for it'd be enough to line my stomach. It appeared not, as 2 hours into the 30th birthday house party we then went to, this happened; 

FAIL. 

And weirdly I thought making this photo black and white would make it less embarrassing. It hasn't. 

Note to self. Just don't get excited about anything. It ain't worth it. 

An Asian BBQ

Earlier in the week we got an invite to 'the Weasels' house for a BBQ. Now everyone knows this isn't an invite you'd turn down. Iain is possibly the best cook EVER and wanless is the hostess with the mostess. Well that is until she's had a few two many rose's and starts pogo dancing round the living room like a lunatic.

Jose 'I love pork' bass was on the invite list so in true dream host fashion the theme of the BBQ was Asian. And no, much to the whole of shanghai's annoyance Jose isn't Chinese or even Japanese #Konichiwaaaaaa. He was 'born in Spain, grew up in Canada, his mother's Philippino and he never even knew his own father' Talk about Asian fusion. 

I arrived a tad worse for wear after a 3am finish the night before but was bullied into necking a glass of rose on arrival to 'bring me round' #wanlesstheboozepusher #youdontneedtotellmetwice. After a bit of vitamin D and a few more glasses I was back on track and slurping away in Wanless' below average garden. 

Then the food, WOW. We had Duck yum neau, mussel green curry, char Sui pork and pak choi, tamarind glazed ribs and chicken satay. 

 chef Iain threatening the Pak Choi 

Our Spread:

The Thai green mussel curry- absolutely increds.

 

The BBQ tamarind glazed ribs.

The duck yum Neau 

The char Sui pork and Pak choi

And finally the chicken satay 

It was definitely the best BBQ I've ever had. We spent the whole meal stuffing our faces and swooning like my boyfriend Greg Wallace. #whatcouldhavebeen #itsnottoolate #callme...again

After acting all posh chowing down on our swanky BBQ, we lost all signs of sophistication by emptying the chopstick pack and doing a kind of whiplash/stomp  medley. It was loud, it wasn't in time, but after a couple of rounds of negronis - boy did we think we were good. Ringo eat your heart out. #obvsdontknowanyotherdrummers