New horizons

Brilliant day yesterday getting away from Shoreditch and brands, brands, brands. First up, my friend and I were pleased to see that we could bring some "hot young thing" to a morning cookery class at Books for Cooks in Notting Hill. The class - an awesome birthday present from friends - was "A Taste of Spain". We sped through 5 recipes in 2 hours and then stuffed ourselves with chorizo, Andalucian salad, chicken with prawns, and a gorgeous apple cake. Who knew that one could roast peppers whole before peeling? Ooh!

Following a few mouthfuls of Pimm's, we ventured south of the river to check out Molotov Jukebox. The "up-beat reggae gypsy" band, fronted by my very old friend Nat Tena, absolutely smashed it and got everyone jigging around like it was going out of style. Nat brought some much needed sex appeal to the accordion by sporting suspenders and a captain's hat marked "H M Slut". She and her tricked out band steered the assembled cool kids through some incredible life lessons (ie. Don't live with your boyfriend) all set to a funky folk-hop beat.



If it weren't for the last tube home, we'd have also stuck around to check these guys out - The Correspondents.