Like Ham & Cheese on Crack

You've probably been to Pret numerous times on your daily breakfast run and thought to yourself, God, it's that same old thing again; "a yoghurt and raspberry jam parfait, please, take away". Off you go, with a grunt and a softly-dying appetite, at the thought of swallowing down yet another tasteless breakfast this week. It's doesn't have to be that way, zesties. Weekday breakfast can be fun again! This morning, I took the adventurous road down the bakery aisle at Pret and bought myself a melty crispy, goldeny brown Ham & Cheese croissant. I did it. Carbs for breakfast, zestie, it's a fact. So sue me.

It's got all the winner ingredients for a happy breakfast and a splendid start to the day: the ham, the bacon, the cheese, the juicy tomato sauce, the crispy crust - it basically is 352 calories of pure goodness. I can't wait til tomorrow morning. Did I just hear my alarm clock?

In the Pret a Manger near you.

Bye Bye 2009- A Retrospective of My Fave London Discoveries

Happy New Year, zesties! This year is going to be a good one. I am so excited to get into gear and accelerate into this new year, better yet, into this new decade, in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, where I have yet to discover many many new places, gems and secret spots. My New Years resolution: continue on my quest for London Zest. But first, let me recollect on my favourite London discoveries of 2009.

1. My fave neighborhood: Though I live and breathe the Notting Hill life, Farringdon was by far my best 2009 discovery. Quirky, industrial and cool, it offers some of the hippest London restaurants, cafes and boutiques. St John's for a good old British dinner, Modern Pantry for a funky North London breakfast and Quality Chop House for the most bizarre and out of the ordinary steak dinner.

The Modern Pantry, Farringdon

2. My fave brunch: Bistroteque in Bethnal Green/Shoreditch is always my back-up brunch alternative when I am looking for a little jiggy jiggy. The food is delicious, the scrambled eggs and mushrooms are mouthwatering and the avocado on toast has won me over big time, while the musical background provided by the extravagant and bizarro restaurant pianist have made me a usual at this hot Shoreditch spot.

Bistrotreque, Shoreditch

3. My fave shop: Aime on Ledbury Road is the hub of all the designers that are cool (and somewhat affordable) in my book: Isabel Marant, APC, Vanessa Bruno etc. It's a mystery the shop is always nearly empty, when it's just off of Notting Hill's hip and posh-laden Westbourne Grove.

Aime, Ledbury Road, Notting Hill

4. My fave shoe brand discovery: Bloch Ballet flats are the most comfortable, adorable and affordable ballet flat on the planet, available at Bloch in Covent Garden, Liberty's and Selfridges.

5. My fave jewelry store: Kabiri in Marylebone. I have not yet found an equally diverse jewelry store in London. This eclectic shop offers some of the most original, creative and wearable pieces.

Kabiri, Marylebone High Street

6. 2009: the year of the bicycle: Wandering down the streets of Islington, I discovered London's, better yet, Britain's, most beautiful bicycle shop, Bobbin Bicycles. In this gem of a jewelry box, I found my Christmas present, the vintage, the gorgeous, the one and only Gazelle bicycle.

 

7. London, the land of tea parties: Sketch Tea Parlour and Liberty's Tea Room have given me a new appreciation for Britain's staple beverage and favourite afternoon activity.

Sketch Tea Parlour

8. My fave open market: Borough, of course. No further explanation required.

9. My one and only lunch destination: Leon's on Carnaby, Canvey and Regent Street, organic fast food joint, has me addicted to their Superfood Salad, Beef Chili and Carrot Juice.

10. My fave Notting Hill discovery: All Saints Road, with the yummy and neighborhood find, Italian Ripe Tomato restaurant, and the sweet and lovely The Jacksons, the gem find of the year, with the coolest boots.

A Little Bit of New York Zest

New York has been pretty awesome, what with the Christmas season being in full motion and all. And I've also just really enjoyed walking around Central Park, the Upper West Side and Chelsea, eating at my fave restaurants, shopping at my fave shops, breathing in the Christmas cheer, going to my fave museums, and just taking in all the cool things I used to love about New York. This is my top 10 list of everything from food, shops, walks and cultural bits that make New York, for me, a special and unique place in the world.

1. Best skyline view/ sunset walk: The most beautiful walk and view in New York takes place on the Brooklyn Bridge. I used to recommend this walk to all my friends/family that would come visit. The coolest thing to do is to take the subway to the other side of the bridge and walk (or bike!) back towards the city, at sundown when the skyline is a multitude of colorful patterns, lines and curves. That view, in my opinion, is the best view of the New York skyline.

2. Best neighborhood for an afternoon walk/shop/coffee stop: the Lower East has, over time, climbed its way to my favourite places to shop, walk around and grab a late afternoon coffee or early evening drink. Rivington, Ludlow, Essex and Norfolk are among the many funky shop-filled streets of the neighborhood.

3. Best dress shop: Honey in the Rough: my lovely and bubbly friend Ashley Hanosh's quirky and secret dress and accessories shop on Rivington Street offers the most fantastic and unique pieces for ladies with style and sass. Stop by for a lovely shopping experience and you will not leave empty handed. And that's a good thing.

4. Best banana pudding/cupcake: The Sugar Sweet Sunshine Bakery on Rivington Street will leave you salivating for more. The sweet smell of icing and banana cream will knock you over with excitement. I've never tasted such heavenly banana pudding or red velvet cupcakes- and I'm no fan of bananas nor have never been one to go on and on about red velvet cake, mostly cuz I never got where that funky color came from.

 

5. Best 2 Italian restaurants: Bar Pitti on Sixth avenue and Houston (Soho) followed by Malatesta Trattoria (West Village) both offer some simple and inexpensive Italian dishes and pastas. Bar Pitti has the people watching, while Malatesta just has a kick ass tiramisu. Your choice.

Bar Pitti, Soho/West Village

 

 Malatesta Trattoria, West Village

6. Best brunch: Bubby's in Tribeca. Best green eggs and ham and eggs benedict south of Houston. This legendary joint has much more to offer than a mile long queue and Harvey Keitel sitting in the back room chatting up the waitresses and sipping on his beer. It's a lively place, really, with some good ol' Southern American food, but some normal American food as well. 

7. Best burger: Shake Shack at Madison Square Park and the Burger Joint at the Parker Meridien Hotel. New York's 2 unmissable burger places, both located in the lower to midtown areas.

Shake Shack, Madison Square Park

8. Best cocktails: Little Branch on 7th avenue and Leroy Street, serves the most funky drinks ( a la Milk & Honey) from the vamped up Pimm's Cup (go Britannia!) to the classic but sexy Mojito, Trinadadian style: The Queens' Park Sizzle.

9. Best manicure/pedicure: and this is for us Londoners who can't get enough of the Vietnamese style mani/pedi, just cuz it's quick and dirty, cheap and chic. Iris Nail on Broadway between 10th and 11th, does the job just fine. You get a little MTV reality junk, with a side order of NYU students' gossip. Love it.


10. One more for the road- Best Borough Market New York equivalent: Chelsea Market (on 9th avenue between 15th and 16th) is the luxury version of a department store food court, offering a wide variety of different food joints, Lobster shacks, delis and grocery stores and also housing the famous Nicole Farhi store and restaurant, known to all us Londoners as 202. 

That's it for now, zesties. Heading to Paris tonight for some New Years celebrations. I hope the Christmas festivities were warm and fuzzy for all of you. Enjoy the New York Zest. In the meantime, LondonZest will be on hold til further notice:)

Fish n' Chips a la Conran

I never thought I'd say this but I am growing more and more fond of British food. I guess, after over a year spent in this lovely country, after one too many of Jamie Oliver cooking shows (for lack of a better choice) and after numerous Sunday Roasts, Fish n' Chips and a million different varieties of shepherds/farm/fisherman gooey slushy types of pies, I have grown accustomed to the strange combination of ingredients (green jelly with red meat, really???) and the taste confusion explosions that have occurred in my mouth in the last 12 months. I have never thought of myself as food snob, not really, but I like my dishes to be plain and simple, and most of all, I like my food to be clearly identifiable on the plate in front of me. I like to  know what I'm eating and I like to know what I'm injecting into my body. I like to know what type of meat I'm smelling, what's in a pie and what certain mysterious lumps of goo are made of. Well anyways, I'm being open-minded, I am, I really am! In fact, I'm somewhat surprised at how much I have enjoyed the British fare experience. Especially when that experience consists of eating in a fresh and industrial-looking place like the Albion in Shoreditch. Cuz it's so much cooler than pubs! I just hate it when I'm eating my Sunday Roast in a gloomy ale-stinking bomb of a pub in the middle of the day, and it is so dark that I have trouble sticking my fork in that one miserable little pea.

Right across the street from the uber cool "members only" Shoreditch House, sits the "everyone's allowed!" uber-er cool Conran-owned Albion caff, as the locals call it, where you can probably find the most delicious and trendiest fish n' chips in all of London. Well at least in all of Shoreditch. It's got everything you want in a breakfast place, the food, the people watching, and the obvious 20 minute queue. No reservations are accepted, but as you are patiently waiting for your turn to be seated, you can take a stroll down to their ultra chic downstairs restaurant The Boundary , gawk at their marvelous bakery and let your nostrils and eyeballs be teased by their small and exclusive grocery shop. You will find that the wait is not as long as anticipated. 


                      The Albion Caff on Boundary Street, Shoreditch

Sunday Lazy Sundays

Gotta love those lazy London weekends. The ones where you put on your lazy shirt and no one judges you...or do they? Those weekends filled with nothing...well, not nothing, but nearly nothing. Let me explain. No, I am not bumming around, relishing in the freedom of unemployment. And yes, I'm trying very hard to get my act together. My weeks are active and dynamically-charged and jam-packed with the usual gym, blog, job hunt routine. I work very hard at that and I plan on keeping it that way. But stuck in limbo between finishing grad school and starting a career, I find myself, on weekends, to be filled with boundless and incredible energy to do absolutely nothing, especially when nothing consists of lounging around in my new gorgeous and very very adult flat. Veggying out in bed on Saturdays (and Sundays) reading girly mags, surfing the net and the blogosphere. Renting movies from the indie flick Notting Hill Gate Video City. Having friends pop by for some Pringles and tea. Visiting friends/family in Islington. Strolling hapharzardly from Islington to Primrose Hill and making awesomely zesty discoveries without expecting to. Looking forward to Monday mornings so I can blog about them. Then blogging about them. Yeah, it's a nice feeling.

So after all of this ramble and nothing-talk, I must share my unleashed excitement for Primrose Hill. It is absolutely not surprising how, over time, celebrity and non-celebrity residents alike, have chosen it as their neighborhood over any other neighborhood in London. From Kate Moss, Agyness Deyn, Rachel Weisz and Enrique(!), to Spice Girl Geri Halliwell and Jude Law, all have lived at one point or another in this gorgeous area. In my view, this is why: first of all, it is blessed with one of London's most breathtaking views from the top of its hills, beating the LondonEye's view by a landslide. Second, its houses and buildings live and breathe pure Londonness, offering the most exclusive sneak peaks into its residents' living rooms (have I mentioned how much of a voyeur I have become ever since I've moved here?) Third, it offers three of the most important things an area should offer, and those include: an awesome neighborhood pub, a cupcake shop, and last but not least, a gem of a vintage boutique, and all of these are located on one street: Gloucester Avenue!


The pub, for one,  is called the Lansdowne . And this is no ordinary pub. It is what I call a girl-friendly pub, a pub where girls like myself can feel comfortable in and drink a glass of wine, or a half pint of light beer, without getting the evil stare from the beer snob sitting next to you. It is also one of my faves because it offers oh so yummy pizza, with oh so zesty toppings.

The cupcake shop is called Primrose Bakery. It is lovely and delicious and you will love it. Need I say more?  

And this below is Shikasuki Vintage Boutique. These photos speak for themselves. Though I thought I could add a couple of reasons as to why this is a must-go, must-see. As you walk in, you all of a sudden belong to another planet, another world, a place where twirling and zipping back to childhood are not only allowed, but encouraged. There is almost a jewel-like quality to this place. The boudoir, sparkly,  glittery and cozy decor adds to its quirkiness as a clothing-and-other-stuff shop. Because not only will you find all of these dresses that you played dress-up in as a little girl, but you will also end up believing that you are Alice and Shikasuki is your Wonderland.


               Shikasuki Vintage Boutique, Gloucester Avenue, Primrose Hill

Mayfair Lady at the Rose Bakery

I am moving again! Weeeeeee! Not far, just a smidgen south of where I am at the moment. My flat is a mess, my head is a mess, my life...well, is a mess, but surprisingly I am still standing. My student days are behind me, and I am looking forward now. To what? Yeah. About that. I have no friggin clue but at least I am looking forward, right? I've always been a fan of staying positive, though, and enjoying the wee things in life that make you feel special. Like for example: I looooove cupcakes or any baked goods with frosting on top. There's something about the fluff of the dough mixed with the nutty crunchiness and the smoothness of the creamy rich squirt of heaven that they put on top, that makes me feel all fuzzy inside. It's a mystery to me why I haven't keeled over from gluttony yet. My friends at work used to call me the closet fat kid. Soooooo un-PC, right? I thought so. Take a cinnamon roll from Gail's for example.  Isn't funny how something so sweet and delicious can give you a better perspective on life. What about a lovely dinner with friends on a Saturday night? Isn't fantastic how being around the people you love makes you feel warm, happy and full of glee. 

A good friend of mine visited from Paris last weekend. As we were aimlessly meandering down Piccadilly on Friday, she had the glorious idea of popping into Dover Street Market for a bite of lunch. No need to express to you how awesomely quirky this store is. Most of you Londoners have probably already been and it's no news to you that this is a real London hot spot...even though you probably don't end up buying anything most of the time (Comme des Garcons...um, who wears that?). You also probably have elevatored yourself up to the fourth floor (4F) where you catch yourself standing in the middle of a magical London lunch spot. The Rose Bakery at DSM is what I call a true London gem. It has everything from the yummy soups, quiches and salads, organic granola and cappucinos (cappuccini?), the absolute best carrot cake you have EVER tasted, and it is crowded with the cool Mayfair fashion, art and advertising professionals, who add to a decor that is at once sophisticated and relaxed. It is the hub of all that is cool in Mayfair. And the great thing is, on a warm and sunny day, you can take it all outside onto the balcony, where you can look down onto Albermarle Street and the rooftops of the Brown's Hotel. You'll enjoy a truly fantastic London moment and will leave happy, satisfied and a wee bit plumpier.

Rose Bakery at Dover Street Market

Carrot Cupcake at the Rose Bakery

Logos a Gogo

What do you think of my new logo? Pretty adorable, eh? Well I can't take all the credit for this gorgeous creation...I was lucky enough to get a little help. This contributor wishes to remain silent, so I should respect his privacy, but should you wish to contact him for any freelance graphic design gig, I can put you in touch!  

I haven't been outside, visiting, touring and fulfilling my zesty duties for a really long time, spending most of my precious hours finishing and polishing off my dissertation. So bear with me for a moment. But I've finished it, I really have! Woop woop hooray hooray! I am officially no longer a student and while it hasn't quite sunk in yet, I believe I've been hit with occasional waves of freaking out...or how do you say, unemployment anxiety?

Well, I guess I've also been suffering from a mental breakdown these past couple days, what with all the cabin fever and the staring at a computer screen like a lobotomized monkey all day long, for weeks and weeks at a time.

So I thought I'd let a bit loose and just tell you about this one teeny tiny zesty gem that I've been hiding from you ever since I discovered it. You see, I have a weakness for cinnamon. You name it, cinnamon toast crunch cereal, cinnamon buns form cinnabun (yeah so? I just said weakness...this is me confessing, ok?), cinnamon butter, cinnamon alone, cinnamon apples, Big Red cinnamon chewing gum. I could go on. But I won't. And for anyone else who has a weakness for cinnamon, you will understand why I have kept this secret from you, when you bite into this magical cinnamon sensation from Gail's Bakery on Portobello Road. I swear to you, this is the best cinnamon roll I've ever bit into. It has crunch, it has moist (gross, hate that word), it has spice, it has sweeetness and it has everything of the magic a cinnamon roll: it has about a gizzillion calories. Well, this isn't Starbucks, so no need to spoil your coffee/sweet break with a calorie count. So head over there on your next Portobello trip and enjoy a bunch more delicious treats at Gail's and grab a cappucino with it so you can dunk it in French-style. Ohlala!

Gail's Bakery, Portobello Road