flea market style and where to get it

One of my favourite book purchases recently has been Emily Chalmer's Flea Market Style. I'm certainly not the first blogger to feature it and to rave about the multitude of charms hidden within it's pages but I am going to let you know my favourite places to actually get it.

Firstly, I'm not surprised the book is so popular - unlike many others the interiors featured actually feel genuinely eclectic and timeless, unlike so many of the other faux shabby chic books competing for position on the nations bookshelves. There is also real love for wonderful found things.

The writer (although text is actually by interiors journalist Ali Hanan) is the owner of the Caravan boutique and a fellow Hackney dweller. Debi Treloar also has a great online portfolio which is full of other fantastic interior inspiration. I particularly love this open plan industrial kitchen.

Anyway, here's some stills I managed to grab from the net since it seems to be way too dark in my place to take any photos of the book itself at the moment.

So the real question is, where can you get this stuff? The given suggestion of Portobello road market, or Stockholm fleamarkets is fine if you have a huge budget or aren't travelling hand-luggage-only with easyjet.

Some good friends of mine have furnished their homes with absolutely wonderful finds from London's true secondhand markets. Deptford (Saturdays in deepest South East London) is cheap and eccentric but you need to be prepared to hunt. Battersea car boot sale (Sundays at the tech college - get there for the 11am opening) is also fab, slightly pricier and with a £5 admittance fee for those turning up earliest, the entry price is almost always justified for the sheer variety of knick knacks that you can find, there is also some great clothing. Good quality furniture can be hard to find at either though.

For furniture, there are a few East London institutions selling expensive 20th century antiques that are always exquisite.

2 Columbia Road (address in the title) stocks collectable Danish and other European furniture and, if you should be so lucky, advice on how to begin a serious furniture collection. Bohemia, on the Brushfield Street side of Spitalfields market has an impressive collection of former industrial bits - stripped down filing cabinets, reclaimed clocks from the sides of buildings and the such.

However some of my favourite options for quirky well priced options are slightly more off the beaten path.

Crystal Palace Antiques warehouse on Jasper Road has to be one of the best places for furniture in London. It has four floors of furniture and architectural antiques, screen prints, industrial lights and fortunately precious few random knick knacks. The basement and the top floor are the best for eclectic 20th century finds, but any floor of this sprawling and ramshackle place is worth a look. I almost always see something I love and could spend a fortune - they have a huge range of 70's Danish sideboards, 50's metal desks, 60's armchairs and occasionally various other crazy things.

Stroll just round the corner to Church Road and there are loads of other secondhand shops, some with odds and ends, some for serious furniture collectors - I once saw a huge wrap around modular 70's leather sofa just like the one in Green and Red on Bethnal Green Road - if I'd had enough space it would have been mine. There's even a pub - The White Hart - with a little vintage boutique inside. Don't tell Kathy of 5678 Vintage, you'd never get her out.

London Fields also has two great shops - Firstly the Dog and Wardrobe just off Broadway Market in the self proclaimed 'Hackney Stables'. This is smaller than their website would have you believe but it chock-a-block full of all kinds of beautiful oddities - vintage opticians signs, giant plastic numbers, more antique glasswear than you could shake a brass topped walking stick at. What furniture they do have has a somewhat knackered industrial aesthetic but it's all part of the fun, and a recommended part of a Sunday trip to Broadway market.

Further into the Hackney hinterlands is Arch 389 - listed by Time Out recently as one of East London's great secrets. This is an eclectic little place just by London Fields BR station stocking great furniture with a pre-loved, post-industrial feel, that's just right for getting that stylish, eccentric style from the book.

i do like to be beside the seaside

One of the things I do miss about living in London is being close to the sea. The British seaside has a perculiar charm - none more so than Norfolk's premier coastal resort - Great Yarmouth.

I was back visiting parents this weekend and we drove by to take some pictures, hoping to get some of that faded glory. Unfortunately I only had time to grab some quick pics at the pleasure beach - it's probably just as well as this is already going to be a long one.

More on my Flickr account

the perfect margarita

This is a margarita funded on the scared rules of Thomasina Miers, and built on the chapel of the luxury spirit brand, but it also functions well as an end of week pick me up.

I've tried the passionfruit margarita at Wahaca and wanted to tried it at home, except Tesco Metro are clearly too cheap to sell real passion fruits, so Rubicon juice had to do.

The mix is 37.5ml tequila (I used Silver Patron Resposado for a luxury feel - this stuff is £50 a bottle) and 20ml Cointreau, with approx 3/4 of a lime and enough passionfruit juice to stop it feeling like a shot and lots of ice. An excellent way to start the weekend.


Each bottle of Silver Patron is apparently handcrafted in the mountains of Jalisco - the only region of Mexico 'allowed' the produce tequila - anything else distilled from the agave is technically a Mezcal - though those are strictly just from Oaxaca. And each is hand numbered, judging by this only just over 42,000 bottles have ever been produced of the Resposado, prpobably less of the Anejo. I think White Stuff may have sold more wired sweats...

If you like to be more obscure give xtabentum a try...

fancy friday

Number 2 in a (somewhat irregular series)

Today's Fancy Friday is the somewhat fantastic blog/image bookmarking website Ffffound!

I know that graphic designers love it, that other blogs have a weekly slot devoted to it, and that looking at it lately there is little rhyme or reason for it's succession of images but it is brilliant, and brilliantly inspiring.

Here's this week's favourites...

Is there an E, because if so I need it.




This is both a hilarious font joke and a Truebie joke all in one go. I think I must be a massive geek!

And finally, because we like to release the Marie Antoinette in us all...




Anyway, ffffound can be found at the link above, get stuck into it's graphic inspiration.

pierre herme counter, selfridges

I have been in a bit of a bad mood all day, not least of which because my new brogues were rubbing however I knew what would cheer me up - it was time to finally tackle the Pierre Herme counter at Selfridges which I had both fantasised and eulogised about.

The counter itself is in the food hall, tucked around the corner from the steps up into the area in the newish dedicated cake area and is a joy to behold. Brightly coloured presentation boxes jostle for space with the macarons themselves - laid out by flavour.

I decided to buy a box of 12 priced at a rather fearsome £35 but packaged in a rather lovely red presentation box and selected one of each of the key flavours except the manifique. A strawberry and wasabi flavoured concoction that was surely devised for the brand's assorted Tokyo retail outlets. I hate Wasabi - Yuk.

This was all packaged up in a great little Pierre Herme carrier which I proudly toted all the way back to the underground. I was happy as larry until I got to Bethnal Green and began the walk home and the heavens opened. Fortunately the macarons were safe.

Once home I got myself comfy, took some photos and got stuck in. I can safely say that they really are all I was hoping for - I'd heard that these were macarons that were more about the ganache than the biscuit, with a expertly blended balance of flavours. Each one was soft with an extremely light shell and soft, almost runny filling carrying most of the flavour. However as each of those I tried were so different it feels unfair to generalise and not provide more detailed tasting notes...

Arabesque

Described as apricot and pistachio, this has a delicious fruity multi layered ganache with a strong apricot flavour.

Huile D'Olive & Vanille

olive oil base and vanilla filling - this is plain and almost savoury tasting but nonetheless delicious. The texture of this is crunchier than the other macarons. The 'neutral' flavour allows you to taste the subleties in the texture.

Rose

One of those that I was most excited to try - it is pink afterall. It was floral but still fruity and not heavily perfumed. This also has a slightly chewier texture, it's beautifully feminine - a real sweet treat.

Mogador

Milk chocolate ganache and passion fruit biscuit, this was one of my favourites and I had heard a lot about it from other bloggers. It smells a little odd but constitutes a real taste sensation for fans of passion fruit and other tropical loveliness. The chocolate is a perfect match for the passion fruit and doesn't seem at odds at all, however unlike some of the other flavours there would be a limited to how many of this rich treat you could eat.

Eden

peach, apricot and saffron, the saffron taste in this is barely there and the main flavour is of apricots again. It's fruity, fresh, toothsome.

Chocolat

Simple this - rich and tasty with an almost liquer-like intensity. I love chocolate and expected this to be my favourite but the other flavours are so good it didn't seem to compete.

Citron

Lemony and fresh with a tart lemon ganache. It's sweet, refreshing and very moist.

Jasmin

My second favourite - this had a wonderful iridescent sparkling shell in gorgeous pale colour. The flavour was a revelation - delicate, floral but not heavily perfumed. This was light, like high tea in heaven.

Infiniment Caramel

Salted caramel - fantastique.

Mosaic

A strange one, this has some kind of glace fruit in the centre (pictured above) which ruined the general goo-ey loveliness for me. Minus this the taste reminds me of the jasmin - it's unusual, light and complex.

I was told that they would keep for 4 days in the fridge, however they're all gone already. Oopsy, but now I'm in a much better mood.

the commercial tavern

The Commercial Tavern on Commercial Street in Spitalfields isn't an amazing pub - I've had fun playing pool there and knocking back drinks with friends but it still doesn't really have the feel of a local. That said it's a pretty good place for a drink after a sojourn around Brick Lane and the various Sunday markets.

What is remarkable about it however are two things - the fantastic selection of offbeat beers, real ales and locally brewed whatnots including, you guessed it, Meantime and the extraordinary eclectic interior. Late on Sunday afternoon Mr LROC and I decided to stop by for a swift few and I took a couple of photos.

I would highly recommend the Meantime Helles - much nicer than their London Pale Ale and with a light German taste (I'm guessing it's called Helles because it is just that - since Hell is German for light) so if you're in the area do stop by.