August 2016 Review

After my excellent socialising in May, I turned the flat into a hermit cave and retreated for the duration of June, only leaving my deep state of introversion to buy food (though I used the self checkouts, so no conversation was needed) and to vote in the Brexit Referendum. As Commonwealth citizens residing in the UK, Yannick and I were eligible to vote and did so with sangfroid, only to be struck down in shock when the results came out. 

Following that, we went on a rather terrific trip to Greece in July for which I made daily posts (see the first one here).

Upon returning from Greece in August, we continued to house sit for Wanda. By this stage, her three-legged ginger friend Tim was a common visitor to the cement garden (we gave him that name as we were not privy to his real one). I love how grouchy Wanda looks in that photo.


Shoreditch is a happening area, and was fairly close to Bethnal Green. I attended the grand opening of What the Pitta, a vegan doner kebab and baklava stall. A food blogger, Fat Gay Vegan, had paired up with them to offer attendees a special meal deal and I couldn't pass it up! Not only did I meet a celebrity (FGV has over 25k followers on Instagram) but I chowed down on an amazing kebab for cheap! It was very filling, so I ate the baklava much later at home and can confirm that What the Pitta deserve all their 5-star reviews.

August was cherry season, and you'd better believe I didn't let that pass me by. A small grocery around the corner was selling 1kg crates for much more reasonable rates than the supermarkets so I loaded up. I mostly just ate them by themselves as they were perfectly ripe and juicy, but I did make a semi-successful clafoutis, and added some to porridge. I did feel like a bit of a cherry murderer after cutting all the stones out, though, as they stained my fingernails deep red.


Though I've had no previous modelling experience, I was roped into going on a photo shoot for my friend Adam's company, Thou Should Eat to Live. His shirt poses the question that vegans get asked all too often: "Where do you get your protein from?" Why, plants of course! Just like where cows and gorillas and other herbivores get their protein. The photographer had a handy light reflector that we used to combat shadows, which helped make us look flawless and modelly. Ka-pow! Ker-splat! Shadow be gone!

When Fabienne returned to London for a few days, we cooked up a Greek feast that included roasted cherry tomatoes and capsicum, hummus, grilled courgette, baked feta, hand-crafted pita bread and a summery rosé. Memories of light sea breezes on Mediterranean islands came flooding back.

With cherry season came spectacular weather. Unseasonably warm for London, I tagged along to several picnics. One was on Primrose Hill, a park near Camden that provides a nice vantage point to see the city skyline. Over the months, I had become good friends with Adam, Jemma, Shane (all pictured above) and Katie.

Katie (the girl in the glasses) was the uniting force of this little group, but sadly she was to be flying off to new lands. After travelling out to Walkern by train to partake in her birthday picnic, she flew to Thailand to take a diving course and then galavant around Southeast Asia having a lovely time. We miss her dearly, but keep in touch and know we'll meet up again somewhere in the world. 

To wrap up the month we spent a Sunday at the Notting Hill Carnival which was full of dancers and performers in dazzling costumes.