Afternoon tea at Mari Vanna

I've mentioned before that the girls and I go to tea semi-regularly. I love having this girly time but it's also a great excuse to get out and see parts of London I wouldn't otherwise. For our last instalment of tea Vale chose the ultra cool, Mari Vanna. I had never heard of Mari Vanna, who is apparently the Martha Stewart of Russia. Her restaurant was part haberdashery, part grandma's house and part old world Russia. (And truly a gem of London!)

The food was delish, we even received a champagne cocktail to start! I liked switching up the normal scones and cream for tiramisu-like cakes and the normal cucumber sandwiches for salmon pancakes, caviar and piroshkis.

If you're looking for an interesting and off the beaten path afternoon tea, I can't recommend this one enough!

Mari Vanna
116 Knightsbridge
London 
SW1X 7PJ

home made pavlova

Pavlova is something I normally associate with Christmas and special occasions, as it's the mister's favourite dessert and therefore reserved for those occasions. But topped with summer fruit, such as kiwis and passion fruit, it's the perfect sunny day treat. 

Hawaii in photos

As you know the mister and I had a trip to Hawaii planned for May. We went out for a wedding and it was so great to catch up with old friends and feel the warm sun on my skin (god knows when we'll see the sun again in the UK!). Here are a few highlights!

Old Lahaina Luau

The best pork I've ever had. Ever.

Hula dancers

Helicopter tour

Wall of tears waterfalls in Maui

Honokohau waterfall - used in the open scene of Jurassic Park

Maui Brewing Company

Champagne breakfast at Longhi's

Strawberry macadamia nut pancakes

shaved ice - a Hawaiian tradition

The wedding site

The bride!!

meeting little Mae for the first time!

London buses

Just this morning as my bus sped around a curve and I was thrown half way across the bus, I wondered how they know these things aren't going to topple over. Then in my weekly pursue of the Lively Morgue later that morning, I saw the London bus tilt test. Simples. 

lunch with a view - sushisamba

The mister and I booked tickets to the Lichtenstein retrospective the other week at the Tate Modern and thought we'd grab lunch beforehand since our booking at the Tate wasn't until 3:30pm. We come into the centre for lunch, um, never, so thought it might be good to dine somewhere with a nice view over the city, which put SushiSamba at the top of my list. It did not disappoint. I still think about the black cod (OMG!) and yellow tail taco (YUM!). I can't wait to go back.

swapping drinks with the mister. 

Yellow tail tacos

black cod and flank steak

another shot of the cod because it was THAT good

sushi selection

the beautiful terrace

a sunny day!

out of office

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30 before 30

Last month I turned 30. And while my 30th birthday wasn't too terribly different than any of my previous (besides the abundance of celebrations) it was a natural time to reflect on my life and try and understand what I've accomplished and learned but also to look forward and try and make sense of where I want to go. I mean this literally and figuratively. 

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When I was in college a friend of mine shared an idea he had for a challenge - 30 before 30. He wanted to visit 30 countries before he turned 30. I thought it was a brilliant challenge and adopted it as my own. I've updated my list over the years and have always been really blessed to be able to prioritize travel in my life. When I looked at the list right before my birthday I was so pleased to see how many parts of the world I've been able to discover. I ended up falling short of the 30 mark (even when I included Switzerland and Bosnia, both of which I've driven through but not necessarily "been to").

Perhaps I should set a new challenge of 40 before 40?

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