Let's paint the town...oatmeal?

The problem with renting a flat (which most Londoners have no choice but to do, as the endless newspapers remind us daily) is that you have very little choice over the aesthetics of it, especially when the place is furnished (like mine). Over the last year, I have grown quite fond of the granny-feel of the flat and the old furniture which is dotted in the living room and corridor. As for my room, whilst I quite like the furniture, the orange/peach coloured walls have annoyed me since the day I moved in. It has taken me over a year, but I dedicated this weekend to painting my room; getting rid of the orange and covering the walls in oatmeal...

After a painfully slow week, the weekend couldn't have come quite fast enough and given that Saturday was dedicated to painting, me and Richard made the most of Friday by going out for a lovely dinner in the evening. Richard had booked a table at Aubaine in Wimbledon Village which I have wanted to visit since I first moved to the area. As soon as we walked into the restaurant, I fell slightly in love with the restaurant's interior. The whole place was the epitomy of country, shabby chic; the white wood, candles and dim lighting creating a gorgeous, warm (very French) atmosphere. We both chose from the set menu which was limited 2-3 options per course and came with a really quite lovely glass of house wine (far too easy to drink, even for a red!). Me and Richard both had the summer vegetable soup for starters with some of the most amazing, fresh bread ever (I think I would have been happy to just have that for dinner). The soup was good too; I don't think soups can really be anything out of the ordinary. As for the mains, I had sea bream with a quinoa salad which was incredibly good! The portion wasn't huge but when coupled with the starter was the perfect dinner. The salad in particular was very tasty and fresh. Richard had pork schnitzel (not very French at all) which he also enjoyed. My dessert was probably the best (which we both had off the set menu) I've had. Richard ordered the pistachio creme brule which proved to be a surprisingly large portion, not fitting in with the size of the other two courses but actually tasted really good; there was only an undercurrent of the pistachio which wasn't overpowering at all. As for me, I may have had the winner of all desserts; whilst I cannot remember the French name for it, it was basically a chocolate melt with vanilla ice cream. It was wonderfully chocolatey (which I don't typically like) and gooey : the best dessert! I think for our next visit, we would definitely try going off the set menu as the other dishes sounded so good. Either way, it proved to be a wonderful evening with great food and the quiet walk home added to the relaxing, wonderful feel of the evening.

Unusually for a Saturday, both me and Richard had an early start, ready to rid my room of the orange/peach walls. It proved to be a bigger task than we imagined, as 3 layers of paint were required to cover up the bright bright walls. Initially, the task didn't seem all that daunting; having moved the furniture to the middle of the room, with music in the background and the sun shining through the windows, painting walls seemed quite fun. After the first layer of paint though, the fun dissipated and after 12 hours of painting and 3 layers of paint, we were both exhasuted (although if I am being honest, Richard did most of the work - THANK YOU! x) and just about managed to roll into bed.

Starbucks break.
And the result after 12 hours of painting...

 Waking up still exhausted on Sunday wasn't quite the start I'd hoped for for the final day of the weekend. The morning was spent breakfasting and putting all the furniture back in my room. Neither myself nor Richard felt all that great on Sunday so we decided to spend the day at the flat, relaxing. Before we knew it though, we needed fresh air and headed out to Clapham Junction for coffee at Deli Boutique. The French café (I'm sensing a French food related theme this week?!) is a converted house, with the back garden being like the one in any ordinary house - much like my parents' - there being typical homely stairs to lead to whatever is upstairs and the ground floor containing a kitchen and a counter with some delicious looking pastries, the till and some tables. We initially thought to sit in the garden but it was quite busy and the ventilation system was blasting hot air, on an already warm day so went to sit out at the front, taking part in some people watching whilst having our coffees (or hot chocolate, in some cases). My cappuccino was a little too milky for my liking but Richard seemed to enjoy his mocha. I'm glad we tried some place new; having perused the menu, it looked like a great place to go to for brunch and will probably be my next place for that first meal of the day.

After our drinks, we walked up towards the high street to buy some food for dinner. Richard is slightly addicted to Wagamama's Katsu Curry and every time he thinks of ordering it, I brag that I have a pretty decent recipe for the dish myself, so decided to try it out for dinner. Having bought all the ingredients, we headed back to the flat where I started on the cooking. The dish turned out pretty good; having not made it since Uni, I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome (Richard seemed to like it too). I plan on posting the recipe soon so anyone else can try it out...

Neither myself nor Richard feeling any better in the evening, we spent the night watching Suits and generally relaxing. It was exactly what was needed after an exhausting weekend!

Muah

Roo xx