Hix Oyster and Chop House

I'd been gunning for a visit to one of Mark Hix's restaurants for quite some time. Hix fuses great British food with great British modern art in his eateries - in Tramshed there are pieces by big names like Damien Hirst, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Michael Landy...the list goes on. According to his website, food and art are the perfect marriage, and as an art historian, I'm duty-bound to agree! My mum's a big oyster fan, so when her birthday rolled around this year I decided to book Hix Oyster and Chop House in Farringdon.

On walking into the restaurant I clocked the giant Tim Noble and Sue Webster neon hanging on the wall immediately. When reflected in the mirror, it reads 'fucking beautiful'. Oh, for the love of modern art.

You'll have to forgive me for completely forgetting the specifics of the dishes that arrived on our table. That's what you get when you order a round of very delicious apple elderflower cocktails at the start of the meal and forget to note down what else you ordered...

I started with the 'Heaven and Earth' dish. Sticky black pudding perched on a bed of crushed potatoes.

My sister and mother went for the oysters, and they were so good they ordered another platter, letting me sample a couple. They tasted fresh from the sea, salty and acidic from a light dousing of lemon juice and red wine vinegar and shallot sauce.

The mains came next, and this is the point where things go a little fuzzy. I'm pretty sure I ordered duck but can't be 100% sure, since the plate's been taken off the menu since! Unfortunately, all I remember about the actual bird was that the meat was a bit chewy and I had to work hard to get it off the bone. The vegetables and accompanying side of creamy mash went down a treat though.

Mum chose sea bream and Bri got her meat fix with hanger steak and bone marrow, accompanied by an unctuous béarnaise and chips. 

We chatted about how Bri's university term has been going so far over our cornucopia of sides and admired Mum's earrings.

Dessert for me came in the form of a hedgerow trifle. This is always the kind of pudding I make a beeline for, but it was a little too sweet and rich for me and I couldn't bring myself to finish it. 

And for my sister, a Peruvian gold chocolate mousse. It may not look much, but trust me. This. Was. Sensational. It slipped down all too easily, leaving a completely unexpected kick of flavour in the back of the throat, almost like alcohol, that left me addicted. 

A trio of chocolate truffles to celebrate my mother's birthday provided a lovely full stop to the meal - a very sweet touch from the waiters.

I think Bri's chocolate mousse, the elderflower cocktails and the oysters were stunning, but I have to be honest and admit that the rest of the meal didn't overly wow me. I may have been a little tipsy after the cocktails, but the fact I could barely remember what my main was must mean it wasn't all that memorable. The hit and miss elements might just be down to my bad ordering though - all three of the dishes I ordered have been taken off the menu now, while the Peruvian gold chocolate mousse, hanger steak and oysters remain. I also really enjoyed eating in the presence of modern art and thought the service was impeccable. And I'd definitely go back just for that Peruvian chocolate mousse... 

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Monthly Goals: November

It's already November 6th and I can't believe how quickly this month, let alone the year, is speeding by. Last night I watched the local fireworks from the comfort of my living room. And with Bonfire Night comes the one month mark until my birthday! (Get ready for me to blabber on about this all month long, people - I bloody love December. Might have something to do with all my presents for the year coming at once...) And before my birthday I'm always itching to do a little self-improvement. So let's get down to business! As usual, first we'll see how I did on my goals from last month *quakes*. This is just like Parents' Evening all over again...

OCTOBER GOALS

• Apply for 5 jobs per week •

Ok, this one went down the drain as soon as I started my work placements. Penguin and Blue Rubicon were really fun, but I was so swamped that I ended up crawling home exhausted every night, probably more tired than I was during finals. I applied for a couple but nowhere near as many as 5 per week, so I'll be continuing with this goal this month. 

• Read 5 scary novels! •

I seem to be good at ticking off my book-related goals! I read my requisite 5 scary books, and you can see what I thought of them here. I kind of want to read at least one scary novel a month - they're so addictive!

• Continue to learn Spanish •

Again, this one went out of the window. I did fairly well towards the beginning of the month, racking up a 16 or 17 day streak with all my languages on Duolingo, but after I started suffering from the most stubborn cold ever (three weeks, guys - I need sympathy here!) the streak quickly fell by the wayside. I'm not going to let this one slide, though - I want to get my Spanish up to at least a basic level so this one is officially appearing on my goals list for a second month in a row.

• Get rid of things I don't need •

I've begun to clear my wardrobe of the summery things I didn't end up wearing this summer, and my bookcases are next. I have so many that they're spilling off my two floor-to-ceiling bookcases into piles on the floor, so I've started putting the rejects to one side to sell on Amazon or give to charity.

• Build up my stamina •

Another goal, another defenestration...I totally failed at factoring the promised runs into my routine, but I did manage to do a couple of workouts each week, so I think my stamina might have improved, if only by a little! I'm really interested in the nine week Couch to 5k plan though, as recommended by Lisa. This one isn't going to get swept under the rug!

So yes. I was a bit fail this month with my goals. I'll chalk it up to my lack of a regular schedule, running around town at two different work placements as well as starting a part-time job. Hopefully as soon as I have a stable routine I can put these goals into action! I'm going to cut myself a little slack this month and go for four instead of five: here's what I'd like to accomplish this month.

NOVEMBER GOALS

• Establish a regular blogging routine •

I didn't post as much as I wanted to in October and have ended up with a backlog of seven posts that really should have gone out last month (drat). I'm going to try posting three or four times a week to see if a Tuesday/Thursday/Sunday or a Monday/Wednesday/Friday/Sunday schedule works best with my lifestyle.

• Teach myself how to use the manual setting on my Canon •

I'll come clean here: I completely suck at using manual. I'm lazy and usually just flip the settings to automatic or no flash. This month I'm going to look up YouTube and online tutorials to try and finally sort out how to use manual. If anyone knows any good tutorials, please link me to them - I'm so useless at using my camera properly!

• Try out 3 new things •

This one's a bit vague, I know. It's kind of a get-out-of-jail-free card for this month's goals, and might mean trying out a new restaurant or bar, attempting a brand new recipe or even learning a short new piano piece. I'll report back next month, hopefully feeling that I've mixed up my routine and been a bit daring in the interim!

• Persevere with Spanish •

I'm going to get back into Duolingo and continue to learn español! I really love languages and would love to add Spanish to my list. I found the vocab fairly easy to learn last month because of my Italian and French, but haven't quite got to grips with the grammar yet. Maybe one day I'll be as good as Beth and Sam...

What do you want to tick off your to-do list this November?

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October Favourites

Oh October, you were a bit of a weirdo. Stubborn clouds and driving, icy rain meant I finally liberated my giant knits and coats from the back of the wardrobe, only to be nonplussed when the thermometer soared back up to 21ºC at the end of the month, leaving me sitting outside during my lunch break in a thin t-shirt, craving ice cream. I didn't have much time to sit and ponder the meteorological mayhem though, since October has been my busiest month since graduation! Here's my highlights from this month, as seen through the bleary lens of my increasingly senile iPhone:

Strolling through Westbourne Grove to peruse the Aladdin's caves of Ottolenghi (incredible caramel mascarpone cheesecake!) and Melt Chocolates. Every year my parents buy me a little bag of Melt goodies for my birthday, and I'm convinced their salted caramel truffles are the best out there. Their raspberry puree-filled white chocolate and mint truffles are pretty special too.

Realising that losing stuff on the Internet can sometimes be cathartic. I was extremely annoyed when I lost all my Chrome bookmarks as well as the contents of a few notes on Evernote due to computers not syncing properly or generally malfunctioning, but accepted the losses as a chance to start afresh. My bookmarks, for one, are much neater now...Yup, there's always a silver lining.

Scoffing a deliciously doughy blueberry cinnamon roll with Alex at the Soho branch of Nordic Bakery during their Cinnamon Bun week! Nordic Bakery is a perennial favourite for our foodie/coffee dates (I enthused about it way back in June) - I'm addicted to their pastries and wi-fi free, minimalist interiors. I made pinwheel pastries using their cookbook last Christmas, so perhaps I'll attempt making some cinnamon rolls if I'm feeling brave this year.

Learning about different industries while on work experience in two separate companies this month! I interned in the publicity department at Penguin Press, where I sent out hundreds of books, ran around the Science Museum on a research trip and helped out at a talk given by the inimitable Harvard professor, Michael Sandel. Then last week I was given a short crash course in public relations at communications company Blue Rubicon, working on eight different accounts that allowed me to write tweets, come up with a list of Roald Dahl's most memorable quotes and work out which politicians might have an affinity for red squirrels. Yep. I certainly wasn't bored this month. I had a great time at both, and hope I've learned enough to be a few steps closer to a job! 

Catching up with WIRED during my lunch break over a cup of chai and some biscuits. Tea and biscuits really do make the world a better place. And WIRED always makes me feel that I'm improving my brain a smidgen (in a way that my Cosmo habit doesn't...)

Getting my exhibition on with Alex! We went to see three different exhibitions together - Late Turner at the Tate Britain, The Art of the Brick at Truman Brewery and Sherlock Holmes at the Museum of London. I didn't have the opportunity to take any photos at Late Turner due to having to stow my trusty Canon away in the cloakroom, but seriously enjoyed it, having watched the much-acclaimed Mr. Turner in the morning before the exhibition. I'd recommend going to see both - in the same day if you possibly can! I'll be blogging about the other two exhibitions in due course.

Chuckling at a wonderful sign in the car park of the Hand and Flowers gastropub in Marlow. Probably one of the best meals I've eaten this year, I can't wait to review it! Sadly, though, the pictures suffer from dark restaurant syndrome. Clearly should've brought one of these along with me.

Developing square eyes in front of the TV! With cold weather comes couch potato season, and I've been glued to programmes like Grantchester, Doctor Who, and most of all, the new season of the Apprentice, my guilty pleasure! The contestants are all so dislikeable, though the best ever boardroom happened this week, with a triple firing of all my least favourite candidates. Also, don't tell anyone, but like the rest of the population, I went to see Gone Girl at the cinema. And I actually slightly preferred it to the Gillian Flynn novel. Bookworm sacrilege, I know... I'd love to know if there's other bookish types out there who liked the film better too, at least to assuage my guilt!

I'm behind with my Bloglovin' feed as usual, and can't wait to read all the October posts. I'm looking for more blogs to read ('tis the season to be a social recluse and choose laptopping over bar-hopping), so link me to your monthly favourites or let me know what you've been up to lately! 

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Witching Hour Reads for Halloween

“The witching hour, somebody had once whispered to her, was a special moment in the middle of the night when every child and every grown-up was in a deep deep sleep, and all the dark things came out from hiding and had the world all to themselves.” ― Roald Dahl, The BFG

Tomorrow is Halloween, bringing with it little painted beggars brandishing buckets at my front door, flickering jack o'lanterns in windows and the greatest witching hour of them all. In preparation for All Hallows' Eve this month, I made it my goal to read five books belonging to the darker genres. I also decided to source all five from my excellent local library in Queen's Park, whose myriad choice meant I ended up with a huge range of subject matter. From teenage witches to a time-travelling serial killer, a patient brought back from the dead at the turn of the century, a medieval bride lost during a game of hide-and-seek, and a man targeted by a malicious, invisible assailant...I had great fun! Here's what I ended up reading.

Half Bad by Sally Green

I'd heard stirrings about Half Bad all over Twitter, and initially thought that its plot might be quite similar to Harry Potter, with narrative elements such as the formative years of a young male witch, romances with pretty witch girls and the development of latent magic power. But Hogwarts this is not. This great YA focuses on a persecuted half-Black half-White witch, in a world where White is acceptable and Black is very definitely not. Do I detect some racial undertones here? If you're a fan of fantasy with love and violence thrown in, this will definitely be your cup of tea/cauldron of potion. I'm already anticipating the next instalment in the series.

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

The Shining Girls has to be one of my favourite reads of the autumn so far. Sharing a similar premise to Stephen King's Doctor Sleep (supernatural serial killer(s) target victims with the 'shining'), it comes into its own with the extremely original element of a piece of architecture with the ability to manipulate the killer as well as allow him to travel through time. I won't say more because I reckon you should read this, if you're a thriller fan - or not very good with horror for the most part.

Printer's Devil Court by Susan Hill

This beautifully designed pocket-sized ghost story was written by the author of The Woman in Black - which had me sold the second I saw it in the library! I found The Woman In Black utterly chilling, both in book and movie form, and so I had high hopes for Printer's Devil Court. Named after the dingy halls of residence off Fleet Street occupied by student doctors, the book centres around three medics who make an unwise pact to emulate Jesus' raising of Lazarus, and attempt to bring a girl back from the dead...For our protagonist, the effects of this decision will resonate throughout his life, with some predictably unhappy consequences. Fun, light reading - until I got to the last page, and found that I was too terrified to turn off my bedroom light...

The Fear Index by Robert Harris

Now, this one didn't involve monsters or the supernatural (unless you count the ghost in the machine...) but it had the definite creep factor - a man who has built his fortune on calculating the 'fear index' in the stock markets, allowing him to buy stock at plunging prices, finds that someone is out to provoke the very same reaction in him. What follows is a ticking timebomb that will lead to the collapse both of the man and the financial markets - and there's very little time in which to pinpoint the perpetrator. I'd call this a Dan Brown style read - not amazingly written or wonderfully memorable, but a fun thriller to immerse yourself in while on a train.

The Mistletoe Bride & Other Haunting Tales by Kate Mosse

My first foray into reading Kate Mosse's fiction! I enjoyed this collection of short stories immensely, especially those focused around the eponymous mistletoe bride, lost on the night of her wedding... The stories are tied together by their settings: all find their roots in northern France, the Languedoc and Mosse's home territory of Sussex, and most are taken from ancient myth and legend, which I loved. I'm really looking forward to reading Mosse's other works now, as I know many of her other books are based in Sussex and France, such as the Languedoc Trilogy.

As a bonus, I'm now reading a book called Snowblind, by Christopher Golden: a terrible snowstorm ravages a town, but of course the horror doesn't stop there. Years down the line, the survivors get 'exactly what they've been wishing for...And the realisation their nightmare is only beginning' - or so the blurb tells me. I'm expecting a revenant plot twist is on the cards, in the style of The Returned. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to curl up with Snowblind in front of the wood stove, with a mug of tea and a couple of these Mr. Kipling bad boys to keep me company! (See below for my guilty pleasure...especially in their mince pie 'Winter Whirl' incarnation. Not even sponsored or anything, I just have horrifically bad taste where it comes to sweet treats :D)

Have a terrifyingly happy Halloween! 

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A Buzzworthy Wishlist

Honeybee season is well and truly over. I glimpsed one last hive straggler buzzing weakly around some wilting flowers at the weekend, but I imagine that as the days get colder and darker, most of our British bees will be dying off or going into hibernation. Having been on a beekeeping course this summer, I'm a big fan of the little guys (gals) and thought I'd pull together a short Apis-related wishlist to celebrate their year of hard work. I've thrown in one of my recent reads, Laline Paull's The Bees, a darkly dystopian yet almost completely biologically correct fictional account of life in the hive - there's a review on the way!

(above, in clockwise order)

Urban Outfitters honeycomb shoulder bag (£35)

Anthropologie bee colony tea towels (£24)

Olivia Burton moulded bee watch (£125)

Gorjana gold-plated honeycomb necklace (£48)

The Bees by Laline Paull (£10.99)

Sloane Stationery Busy Bee pocket book (£13)

Alex Monroe teeny bumblebee ring (£460) 

Okay, so that Alex Monroe ring is probably just a tad unattainable pricewise. I'll probably consign it to my 'in my dreams' secret wishlist board on Pinterest. So pretty and delicate! Do you get a buzz out of any of these items?

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