Sunday 21 August 2011

P is for Picnic

Yesterday hubby and I paid our monthly visit to SeeWoo in China Town to stock up on green tea, tofu, soya, seaweed & other odds and sods.
We thought that as we were going into town anyway, it would be nice to have a picnic lunch in St James's Park before shopping, so we packed adzuki bean pie, salad, bread sticks, fruit & beer.
We were going to bring the vintage Brexton picnic case that I scored from the car boot sale last year but decided that it would be too much of a pain in the backsie to carry, especially as we'd be laden with carrier bags after going to SeeWoo's.
  It was just as well that we didn't bring it cause contrary to what the man on the telly said about the weather, mid picnic it started pishing down.
It was alright though cause we continued our picnic sheltering under a majestic tree that had umbrella like qualities ;)
Here I am getting ready to crack open a bottle of non-alcoholic Cobra beer...
I've only just come across the 0% Cobra & I have to say that although it's very nice I still prefer Becks Blue to anything else that I've tried.
St James's Park is one of my favourite London parks.
My sister took me here on my first visit to London when I was ten years old and I've been in love with the place ever since. 
Hubby and I worked & lived-in at a pub off Trafalgar Square in the late 90s & in our spare time this was where we went to chill out or excercise; 
slothing out on tattered pub accommodation blankets or playing Frisbee, those where the days ;)
I have some really happy memories attached to this place.
Here's the Brexton that never made it to the park, thankfully!
Here's hubby sheltering under the tree, at this point it was merely spitting, a few minutes later the sky ripped open and it poured down for atleast half an hour.
Even the ducks looked a bit miffed by the end of it.
Then we strolled up to China Town to restock our supplies of oriental goodies.
Green tea is ridiculously cheap in China Town, this huge box of 200 teabags is less than £2.
I actually saw this tea when we were in Malaysia earlier on this year and they were charging a lot more for it over there, which I found somewhat stange considering it's so much closer to China.
We always pop a few things in the basket that we've never tried before and this month that turned out to be these four items...
I'm sure I've had black sesame seeds on bread rolls before but I've never cooked with them.
We go through a bag of white sesame seeds every two weeks, I like to scatter a handful in salads & sauces.
Did you spot the print on the dress I'm wearing in the pics?
I bought the dress on eBay cause the print reminded me of the Homemaker print ;)
Retrotastico!
When I was googling for a pic of a Homemaker cup I came across a really awesome blog called H is for Home, if you're into your retro stuff then this is definitely one for your blogroll.
Here's a pic from that blog of a Homemaker pattern cup...
I also found out that the blog owner has a fabulous on-line shop that is amazingly well stocked & an etsy shop too, where you can buy some of this amazing fabric...
 I almost fell out of my chair with delight when I saw it, it's really gorgeous, alas I have no spare pennies to buy some myself at the moment.
I did score some fabulous vintage fabric at the car boot sale earlier though, so I really can't complain too much ;)
Hope everyone has had a smashing weekend!
Lot's of love,
Jennie
xXx


8 comments:

doradadama said...

Amor,
You look lovely, i love picnics.
Thats a lot of green tea, i cant have any cause of my migraines.
Your homemaker dress is the bomb, i seen the homemaker plates at the boot sale once some granny beat to them.
I am falling off my bed looking at these fantastic fabrics.

Unknown said...

i love THAT PATTERN!
you look so pretty and domestic ;)
I am a huge fan of vintage fabric (or material) as my Mom calls it, but i seem to sit on it and am afraid of 'messing it up' if i take my scissors to it! LOL!
xXX
Reva

glittermummy said...

My Hubby prefers Becks Blue and I prefer the 0% Cobra (although, to be honest, my fave tipple is Guinness!)

Lucky you have a monthly visit to China Town... we get a yearly visit to the Chinese supermarket in Sheffield which is fab; and do pretty much the same thing - VERY cheap green tea and stuff we've never tried before (although we did put the dehydrated jellyfish back I have to admit... not THAT adventurous!)

You look lovely in your dress, love the coordinating crockery, and YAY to picnics in the park ♥

Rose&Bird said...

Shame about the weather, but looks like you had a nice time anyway. Love the hamper, especially the plates. Great dress, I wonder if Homemaker was produced as a fabric print as well, as your your dress looks almost exactly the same.
Will check out H is for Home, thanks for the tip x

Nelly said...

I see your showing off that Hot Hubby again lol

doradadama said...

Jennita,
OMG!
I am so honored to be on your legendary list. its so weird cause I had a dream about you. dont worry nothing bad, only that you were making me dinner. :)
so that meant I was going to hear from you.I will have to live up to my honary name now. *bows*

Vix said...

Dear Jennie, you look so pretty and Mark looks as fab as always.
What a shame about the weather, our forecast was dreadful and I spent the afternoon sweltering in the garden in a bikini...hoorah!
I've got a couple of Brexton picnic hampers and you're right, lovely as they are they weigh an absolute tonne, far more suited to a vintage car with a roofrack than lugging it around on public transport.
Fab fabric, you know I'm a print tart!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

doradadama said...

Ay,
I did notice more sellers and less buyers in my face.
Oh you lucky ducky, goth shoes are the coolest.
Thats a bargain a half!
Im getting sad, boot sales will end in october here.
I did find find an alternative freezing car park boot sale for winter.
Have a great day!!
Gracias amor