Posts Tagged ‘shopping’

Westfield London


Westfield London, the largest urban shopping centre in Europe is celebrating its first anniversary this weekend with a series of events and activities.

I bet opening a retail centre developed at £1.6bn amidst a recession last year wasn’t lost on the finance-types or the owners.

It seems like it’s had a good year so far, managing to establish itself as London’s most exciting shopping destination.

Westfield London Shopping Centre

Westfield London People

My BFF J. mentioned several times how stunning the place and wonderful the shopping experience was.

She was very excited and couldn’t wait for me to see it.

To be honest, I didn’t really share J.’s excitement.

I cringe a little whenever I hear another supermall has opened somewhere in the UK, because I feel it diverts  from quaint High Streets, which I prefer and feel is more British.

Also, I couldn’t imagine how excitingly different a shopping mall could be, I use to spend a ridiculously insane amount of time at Westfield Montgomery, (when it used to be Montgomery Mall) a lifetime ago.

As for upscale, I imagined Tyson’s Galleria – which National Geographic called “the Rodeo Drive of the East Coast”, an out of the way suburban shopping centre with very exclusive shops.

Thankfully Westfield London turned out to be a little different… in a good way.

HOF

It has a  distinctive set up.

It combines shops, restaurants, bars, exclusive services and public services in an architecturally beautiful complex located in an urban location.

Outside Station

Its central location makes it easy to get to; it was a short ride to Shepherd’s Bush tube station for us.

There are about a dozen or so restaurants outside lining the terrace on one side, and an informal sitting/meeting area.

Stores

The Village is an exclusive section of the mall with high-end retailers like De Beers and Prada.

Champagne Bar

At the centre of the Village is an elegant champagne bar by Searcys.

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Last Days of Fun – Bond Street


Our final days in London were a bit of a whirlwind. There still seemed so much to do and yet time was closing in on us.

Feeling inspired after the Paris trip, we decided to fit in a little shopping.

It was long overdue, I’d been running around for days with a list of things I absolutely had to have and yet I hadn’t actually managed to buy a single thing.

Things I’d convinced myself I needed so badly and couldn’t find anywhere in North America.

We took the tube to Bond Street Station, walked a few feet west and found ourselves in every shopaholic’s dream.

Bond Street

Bond Street has the most luxurious, elegant and unique shops in London, it’s worth just the browse.

We set off from New Bond Street, I was determined to try on everything! especially stuff I couldn’t afford.

I tried on shoes, jewelery, clothes, perfumes and everything else in between.

Elsa, Franklin and Winston

Look who we found! ‘Allies’ Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt, The sculpture is by Lawrence Holofcener.

Shops Royal Arcade

I was almost talked into trying on an £18,000 wedding gown – but I had to draw the line somewhere.

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Shopping Bicester Village – Day Three


Bicester Village

You don’t necessarily think of outlet malls when you think of London, do you?

Outlet shopping is more of a North American thing, so I wasn’t surprised when my (London living) friends and family had no idea what or where the heck Bicester Village was.

The Bicester Village is an outlet centre in Oxfordshire, between London and Birmingham where high-end luxury brands sell their wares at discount prices. Brands include, Vivienne Westwood, Valentino, Jimmy Choo, Agent Provocateur, Pringle of Scotland and a whole slew of others.

I heard about it two years ago from my internet friend J., she calls herself a ‘fashionphile’, takes exotic shopping vacations and writes about it.

She made me promise go to Bicester while I’m in London, “and bring me back a scarf from Folli Follie to remind me of Greece” she said.

Thankfully, I do love outlet shopping – every Canadian living close to the US border probably does (and that’s about three-quarters of the population!). But long before I discovered cross-border shopping I used to do the outlet malls in and around Maryland. My favourites were the ones in Rehoboth Beach in Delaware.

I read a lot about this outlet centre before going, we got our train tickets two days earlier. I was looking forward to taking the Chiltern Railways because I used to take that train (and route) years ago when I attended school in Buckinghamshire.

Chiltern Railways

Stop Train Station

Fields Country side

Bicester Village is a nice 50 minute train ride from London Marylebone Station, with great views of the country side.

We even stopped at nice charming stations. We got off at Bicester North and took the village taxi bus (a plush Mercedes van) to the outlet centre.

Park

The outlet centre is built to look like a quaint town square, it’s outdoors and spacious with over 100 stores, cafes and restaurants.

Since it was our first time there and we had all day, we decided to browse every one of the stores, besides it was raining like crazy back in London.

We ended up having a fun day; we stopped for lunch at Villandry and felt very European about it.

Anya Hindmarch

I didn’t buy much, some of the prices were still a little bit high for me – I walked through Valentino thinking “wow, that’s sad; I still can’t afford Valentino at discount prices”. There were a few bargains to be had. I got a very cute Anya Hindmarch blouse for £45.00 and a few other accessories  from Luella and Radley.

There were so many things I wanted to get but alas I didn’t want to spend all my money in one place and I hadn’t really budgeted for a big outlet shopping spree.

Laughs

The complex was crowded with very fashionable looking people, a lot of them tourists.

There were a few ‘locals’, families and young mommies pushing fancy strollers.

Shops

It was overall a very nice experience, I’d do this every once in a while if I lived in London.

I can’t wait to go back, I’ve started saving so next time I’ll have a budget!

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Curious Product: Kras Dorina Bar


I went dairy-free about a year and the half ago, except I haven’t been completely diary-free. I’ve given up everything except milk chocolate bars. I don’t eat them often but every once in a while I’ll have a bar. I’ve tried a few dark (dairy-free) chocolate bars and I’m slowly weaning myself off those milky delicious bars.

Kras Dorina Chocolate Bar

Photo Credit: Chris (photowalkingmunich.de)

Kras Dorina Chocolate Bar

This was an impulse check-out item purchase; I was in line at Bosa Foods waiting to be checked out when the bright red packaging beckoned. I was a little hungry and for $1.99 I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try it.

Kras is a Croatian chocolate manufacturer that’s been in business since 1911 and Dorina is the brand name. Kras has a popular Choco Bar (or Bonbonnière, as it’s also fancily called) that every chocolate lover who happens to be in Zagreb, (Croatia’s capital) should visit.

The bar I got was the 3.5oz milk hazelnut bar, it turned out I wasn’t as hungry and didn’t eat it until days later.

My mom took one look at it and asked “what is that?”

“Chocolate” I responded

“Why can’t I read what’s on here?” she asked turning it over

“It’s Croatian chocolate” I said

She says in a dumbfounded tone “Why would you buy Croatian chocolate?”

I have nothing, and she walks away shaking her head mumbling “Croatian Chocolate…”

It’s pretty basic rectangular bar with sectioned squares, comes wrapped in the standard foil and has bright red packaging on the outside.

The taste is rich, creamy and sweet, reminiscent of a Ritter bar. What surprised me was that the hazelnuts weren’t whole or in chunks. Instead there were tiny pieces of hazelnut speckled heavily throughout. I didn’t enjoy that aspect of the bar, maybe it’s because I’m used to huge chunks of nuts in chocolate bars. I felt there was something lacking with the tiny pieces and it had an annoying way of getting stuck in my teeth.

For $1.99 I probably would have bought it again if I weren’t giving up milk chocolate bars for good. It’s slightly better stuff than your average bar of chocolate and the taste isn’t bad.

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Curious Product: Ines Rosales Sweet Olive Tortas


Ines Rosales TortasOccasionally when I’m grocery shopping; I’ll throw a new product in the cart, hoping to find that one food item that’ll… change my life. Mostly, it’s been more misses than hits; but I remain forever resilient and hopeful. This is how I ended up with a box of Ines Rosales Sweet Olive Tortas.

I was at the Italian shop the other day stocking up on my pantry staples when I came upon them. It was the packaging that called to me; it had a certain simple wholesome Mediterranean-ess to it. I gave it a once over and decided to give them a try because I liked the ingredient list.

Each cracker/flatbread is wrapped in its own wax paper; it’s flaky, light, crispy and sprinkled sparingly with sugar. It tastes light and flavourful, it’s amazing! It has just the right sweetness and crunch and it’s very delicate. There’s a subtle hint of anise/liquorice that in my opinion binds the flavours.

I was so impressed and awed by my find that I scuttled online to find out more about this wonderful discovery. It turns out it has an equally wonderful back-story. The company has been making these tortas since 1910 in Seville, Spain. The tortas are made with extra virgin olive oil, flour, sugar, sesame seeds and anise seeds and essence. It’s made in small batches; hand flattened and contains no additives or colorants. I like the fact that it has no diary or eggs (it’s technically vegan!). inesrosalestortas7

There are six individually wrapped torta in a box for around $6.00CAD – it’s totally worth it.

I brought some along on a recent trip to Seattle two weekends ago and after a long day of running around, I sat in a park, took a nice long break and had a torta with my coffee, it felt incredible and everything just seemed perfect in that moment.

I’ve even had it with water and it was amazing. My dream is to visit Seville one day and go to the Ines Rosales Factory to personally thank them for making a product that could very well… change my life.

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