Moving. Or at least trying.

Well, we're not moving yet. But we're looking. I absolutely love the Shad Thames area near Tower Bridge and have been on the hunt for a flat there for about a month (but really only about 1.5 weeks of intensive searching). The process here isn't something I'm used to (most rentals are handled by letting (real estate) agents). You have to "get in" with all the agents in your desired neighborhood so you'll be their first call when an apartment comes available. While I like the fact that someone is helping me look, they almost make the process more stressful. I would generally rely on my old faithful, Gum Tree (the Craigs List of London) but owners in Shad Thames just don't seem to do private rentals.

views of the Shad Thames area

image [via]

In between apartment hunting, I am of course working on the wedding and writing my dissertation, which I have unfortunately fallen behind in. I have no plans on Sunday so here's hoping I can make up some ground.

Tom's Terrace @ the Somerset House

The Somerset House is right next to the main King's College Campus on the Strand, somewhere I have recently spent a lot of time. The back terrace of the Somerset house is usually occupied by the River Terrace Cafe, which I have had numerous capuchinos at between classes. At the beginning of the summer the terrace was converted into a pop-up restaurant by the infamous Tom's Kitchen in Chelsea. 

Where: Somerset House, Strand

The Scene: Outdoor dining with partial view of the Thames

Delight: Delicious lunch

Disappointment: Limited menu and high prices

The mister and I went to go check out Tom's Terrace yesterday. I had read a scathing review of Tom's Terrace in the Guardian not too long ago, but I absolutely love that spot behind the Somerset House and I thought the menu (not the prices) looked pretty decent.

image [via]

When we arrived at nearly 1 pm I was surprised to only see a few other people lunching. I guess this spot is a bit hidden, but in the end I loved that it wasn't packed. It was great to relax without tourists and noise surrounding you.

I had the hamburger (£14.50) with cheese (for an extra £1) and the mister had the steak sandwich (£17.50). The main courses are very limited since they do all the cooking outside. There are only two other main dishes, grilled chicken and smoked salmon. We passed on both starters and desserts, which was a good thing because I was completely stuffed after finishing my hamburger. We were both extremely happy with our choices. My meat was perfectly grilled and melted in my mouth. This is definitely one of the best, if not the best, hamburger I have had in London. The mister's steak sandwich was open face, which he loved. The steak was covered with what appeared to be rocket. He said it was like having a steak sandwich and a steak salad all in one. He raved about the steak's preparation.

Cheese burger & chips

Steak Sandwich

Our bill was just about £40 once we added on drinks and service. Not exactly the tab I want to be having at lunch but the quiet and relaxing atmosphere, along with two great meals (and a sunny day!) made it worth it.

Before leaving we peaked our heads in at Tom's Deli, which is just inside the Somerset House building. It's a cute little place to get lunch, serving salad, smoothies, a variety of antipastos and most importantly some really good looking sweets. Since I am still dropping by the Stand campus this summer I might check out Tom's deli next time I need to grab a bite to eat.

Eton Mess Cupcakes

As I mentioned, I had a friend's birthday last weekend and she asked that I bring some cupcakes. I was really at a loss for what to make. I decided to try these Eton Mess Cupcakes.

image [via]

Actually, first I had to look up what Eton Mess was. I have actually had it before in a restaurant but couldn't remember what it looked like or what was in it. According to Wikipedia it is, "a dessert of English origin consisting of a mixture of strawberries, pieces of meringue and cream, which is traditionally served at Eton College's annual cricket game against the students of Winchester College." That sounded pretty good, so Saturday morning I woke up early and prepared my Eton Mess'.

They turned out really nice, although I don't think this is my favorite recipe, they got a warm reception at the birthday party. I even had a complete stranger walk up to me and ask to take a picture of my cakes. How exciting! Here's a picture of my creations.

I also got the birthday girl, who loves cats, this adorable underwear set from Urban Outfitters.

images [via]

Wedding Update

I have been so busy between life, my dissertation and wedding planning that I have totally been neglecting my blog. Here are few wedding updates.

I have purchased shoes! I went to the Selfridges sales and saw them, 4 sizes too small to actually get on my foot, so I went home thought about it for far too long (as I do with everything related to my wedding) and bought them online (and on sale!).

image [via]

For my wedding guestbook, I've been planning on having Polaroids taken of everyone to put next to their messages. I was going to fork out a ridiculous amount of money to buy the film (because they stopped making it, it comes at a premium). That is until I ran across this awesome little instant camera. And the film is a fraction of the price!

image [via]

Normally I probably would have received my champagne flutes and cake knife as part of the standard wedding shower gifts, but sadly since I'm abroad I wasn't able to have a shower (although I did have a wild hen night). Therefore I sprung for this absolutely adorable set. It's hard to tell in the below photos but they say Mr. & Mrs. on them.

both images [via]

My other huge project has been trying to figure out all that I need to do to change my name, get a new passport and a new visa and not spend a million years in the States. This has definitely been the most stressful part of wedding planning because nothing is ever clear when it comes to immigration and the last thing I would want would be to send the wrong documents in or do something that would delay my application.

In other non-wedding news, the mister and I checked out Bar Boulud the other week. My emotions are totally mixed because my starter was very average and my main was delicious but tiny for the price. More on that soon!

Brownie Heaven

Today I made (on a whim) the most amazing brownies: White Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies with Chocolate Chips. The peanut butter taste is fairly muted due to the white chocolate. This is preferable for the mister since he doesn't really like peanut butter in his desserts, but I do, so possibly next time I might top up my peanut butter measuring cup a little higher. I found this amazing recipe on a new blog I am reading called Sweetly Serendipity. I have a friends birthday this weekend and she asked I bring cupcakes. I am honestly having a hard time deciding what to make. Hopefully I can get some inspiration from Miss Serendipity.

image [via]