As well as being a devout cake fiend, I am also a part-time burger scoffer. When I met up with my glamtastic friend Ruki, and as we paced the Soho Streets (NOT in search of its dodgy red lights!), we couldn’t decide on what to eat. Sushi? Tapas? Fruits de Mer? The possibilities were endless! We then stumbled across Byron, the American burger chain, which up until that day I didn’t realise existed EVERYWHERE! Our tired feet and rumbly tummies coerced us into the Soho joint and I’m so happy we did so! The menu is simple, but sufficient especially if you’re after a quick bite to eat. And whilst it does not have an exhaustive menu to rival GBK, it is inexpensive and there are literally a million of them in London town, so will never be hard to find!
One of Ladies Wot Brunch has literally just introduced me to this blog – You ghasta check it out!
The DVS gals specialise in baked treats, which can be purchased online via their website DVS Bakery, and seeing as I haven’t given up cakes for lent this year, and I share their cake obsession (caaaaaake!) I shall be sampling their delicacies in the near future. More updates to follow!
Join these four sisters with a passion for good food on their culinary journey.
After months of planning, several hundred emails and countless meetings, Saturday 25th February 2012, the date of our very first trip abroad arrived! Woopie! The crisp morning welcomed 15 effervescent young ladies, ready to have fun and rock ‘n’ roll in the French capital.
We met bright and early at St. Pancras International Station and everyone was surprisingly alert and perky! Although, this may be attributed to the copious amounts of caffeine which was bought and consumed in record timing (we had to drink all liquids before passing through security!).
After a few hours of gist with each other, networking with the other passengers (everyone in our carriage knew who For Ladies Wot Brunch were by the time we arrived in Gare Du Nord!) miniature munchies and several aggregate hours of power naps, we arrived in Paris, ready to show the Parisians how fabulous we were!
The countless hours spent planning the trip meant that we had an airtight itinerary: every minute was accounted for! Our day’s activities included a trip to the stunning Louvre Museum, sightseeing at the Eiffel Tour, a cruise along the River Seine and shopping in Galleries Lafayette and environs. But of course, with plenty of activities, we expected we’d build up a hearty appetite and so a sumptuous pit stop for a delicious dejeuner would be required.
Food
Chez Francoise, situated near the Eiffel Tour was the venue chosen for our French lunching experience. My research churned out rave reviews, and the restaurant promised to have something to offer each diner. On arriving at the restaurant, we were a bit sceptical: from the outside, it was not the most glamorous, nor the swanky looking of venues, however on entering, all our fears were allayed. The decor was low key luxury, mood lighting relaxed our eyes and hushed French accents created a sumptuous background hum. We were seated at our table and swiftly greeted with complimentary champagne. Salud!
As the majority of us opted for the seasonal set menu, we ended up having an array of French dishes spread across our table. The voyeuristic diner in me was disappointed that typical French fare such as snails and crème brûlée were not on the menu, but of course, this didn’t stop me from ordering: I was starving!
The group’s favourites on the menu were the Game Pâté for starters, the Cod with Langoustine Linguini and Parsley Sauce for mains and the Chocolate Fondant cake with Vanilla Pod Ice Cream for dessert. Several of the Ladies, who initially ordered the veal for their main course, ended up having to send it back and order the cod instead, complaining that it tasted like kidneys… Ewww!
Although the food was not to everyone’s taste, where the food fell short, the service and decor made up for it by a mile. Our personal waiter Luke, was an absolute darling! Catering to 15 divas is no easy feat, but he handled us like a gentleman answering the several translation questions we had and effecting and fetching various amendments to our orders.
The restaurant staff overall were also fantastic, greeting us with their suave French charm and bringing out the food and drinks graciously. They even corroborated with my sneaky plan to organise a birthday cake for one of our Ladies who was celebrating her birthday that day and all came out to sing joyeux anniversaire to accompany the celebratory sponge cake. Tres joli!
Highlights
As you can imagine, there were several gist fuelled conversations, lots of picture taking and lots of shopping! Here are the highlights of the day:
Louvre-licious Ladies: As soon as we arrived at the museum en masse, it was difficult to miss us: clearly 15 glamtastic women don’t hit Paris very often! From the security guard who was so keen to speak with us and find out about the group that he let us in for free (Dratz! We shouldn’t have been so efficient and pre-purchased our tickets!) to the Japanese tourist who was so convinced we were models that she insisted on taking photos with us, our first stop at the home of Paris Fashion Week gave us a little snippet taster of what we could look forward to if we ever decided to change careers…
Snooze and you don’t lose! After a hefty 2.5 hour lunch and a last minute dash to make our River Seine cruise, we were all happy to rest our feet and view Paris from the comfort of the luxury liner. Some were perhaps a little too happy… It was perfect for a power nap! Zzzzzzzz!
Macaroon Wars: by the time we arrived at Galleries Lafayette, there was limited time available to shop. Throughout the course of the day, the Ladies had quietly joined one of two camps: Ladurée or Pierre Hermé Macaroons. Which do you prefer? Both sides presented their arguments, laced with personal experience and filled with pride. When the culmination point arrived, the Ladies purchased several boxes of delicious french fancy. I personally could not reach a conclusion, perhaps another 2-3 boxes will help me decide… Tee hee hee!
Overall
I can honestly say that the day was an absolute blessing. The laughter, the company and the positive energy made The Brunch Club’s first trip abroad a memorable one.
A huge thank you goes to Feyi who worked with me closely to plan the trip and of course each and every single Lady Wot Brunches who attended and ensured the day was a success. They brought exactly what they were asked to: positivity, a smile and the penchant to have some fun! I’m already itching to plan the next trip!
As a little girl, I used to long to get married, just so I could design my wedding dress and look somewhat like Disney characters’ glamorous ladies, with the big ball gown, tiny waist and full round bust. I never stopped to think for a second whether the idea of the perfect dress I had as a kid would suit my taste and body shape as an adult. Luckily, when I started looking for my ideal wedding dress, the idea of a Disney dress quickly evaporated from my mind. I mean they are beautiful on the dolls on Disney channel, but it just won’t fit my body structure, and even if it did, I would like to think my style has evolved since my Disney days!
Another myth I had about the perfect dress was that it would take me days and days and weeks if necessary to find it. I thought I would go from bridal shop to bridal shop, trying on an endless number of dresses while my friends sat in the next room eagerly waiting for me to come out in the dress so they could sigh awwwww and wipe a few tears from their faces. This myth was again quickly squashed with my actual experience. I understand for some girls, this actually happens and is not a myth for them, but seeing as I intend on getting married just once and I found my dress in the first shop I went into, it remains a myth for me.
We set the date for our wedding about 3 weeks after we got engaged. The wedding date was set for 8 months time. I assumed I had plenty of time. My parents are doing the bulk of the planning and all I needed to do was sort myself and the bridesmaids out and make sure my fiancé did the same. However, 8 months slowly turned into 7 months and I still did not have a dress. I had looked online to get an idea of what I wanted. I was so convinced I wanted a Justin Alexander dress as he seemed to be the only one that made dresses with decent sleeves that both I would like and that wouldn’t make my church in Nigeria send me packing when I got to the altar. You see, when getting married in Nigeria, one of the biggest pains is finding a dress that the vicar and Church folk will find acceptable. If its too short, too tight, or God forbid, reveals your delicate features, you will NOT be allowed to get married! I soon called a few bridal shops close to me to do a price check just to give me an idea of how much I should expect to spend. The one closest to me was £200 pounds more expensive than the second bridal shop I called. The second shop was also doing a January sale which meant if I ordered my dress or placed a deposit of £100 before the end of January, I would get another 10% off my purchase. Fantastic!
So I tried to book an appointment at the second bridal shop to find that the next 3 or 4 Saturdays were already booked! This was really frustrating: I mean, how many people are getting married really?! This meant that I had to take time off work to go and try on dresses. I went into the bridal shop with an open mind, consciously deciding to try on the Justin Alexander dress I thought I wanted last, just so I would not have a biased opinion on the other dresses. I picked a few dresses with sleeves which I thought looked nice on me and then the shop assistant suggested I tried on a boob tube wedding gown. My thoughts went to what my mum’s face would look like if she saw me in this, then to what the church would say and so on. However, once I’d tried on the boob tube dress, I could not deny the fact that it fitted perfectly and despite telling myself I was not going to buy a boob tube wedding dress because I wanted to be comfortable when I was dancing and didn’t want to worry about my boobs seeping out, I ended up buying a boob tube dress! On a few conditions though…
I expressed my worries to the shop assistant and she showed me all the support the dress had inside: a zip and 2 layers of buttons to keep me strapped in. Then, she showed me this beautiful jacket I could also wear on top of the dress (not like boleros, I’m not a huge fan of boleros). Unlike boleros, the jacket covered my chest and buttoned up at the back. The buttons matched my dress and basically the jacket looked like it was part of the dress. I was thrilled!
My joy was very short lived! I knew my mum wouldn’t understand if I tried to explain the dress and jacket to her. Once she heard boobtube, she would have switched off, so the plan was not to tell her. However, my dearest thought it would be a good idea to pass it through my mum so we could jump through all the hoops now. Let’s just say the conversation with my mum about the dress ended up in tears! And of course by then I had already paid a deposit for both the dress and jacket!
So I cancelled the jacket before it was too late, just until I figured out what I wanted to do. I knew for sure I wanted my beautiful dress but just passing it through my mum and church was going to be a problem. I spoke to my mum and then got my friend to go to my church with a picture of the jacket to ask the vicar’s wife if it was acceptable. The vicar’s secretary said NEVER! “The dress had to be long sleeved and we may even accept if it reaches your elbow!” When my friend told me, I just laughed and thought what a joker!
She eventually saw the vicar’s wife and apparently although my chest is modestly covered and they can’t see any cleavage whatsoever, the fact that they can see my arms is an issue, especially as they can see my armpits! So, I would need to add sleeves to the jacket. Sigh. At this point, I had wished I allowed my dad get his way so we would be getting married in England instead of jumping through these unnecessary hoops in Nigeria.
I resulted to calling my designer to ask if I could buy the exact same material the jacket was made from along with the dress. They said to ask my bridal shop to call them and they’d arrange something. For an extra £115 I now have a solution to cover my armpits. Hahaha! When my dress arrives, I’ll go for a fitting and the material should have also arrived by then. I’ll then decide what length of sleeve will suit my look.
I am slightly upset though… Oh well.. Its all for a good cause. As long as at the end of the day I’ll be married to my dearest, they can dress me in sacks all they want!
PS: Of course the jacket will be coming off at the reception 😉
PPS: I need to order my veil… Lacey? Long, short, medium length… None? Decisions decisions…
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