Seeking Brighton

I was looking through my passport the other week and couldn't believe that I'll have had it for 10 years in 2014! Even more exciting is that for each year I've had my passport there's been at least one country stamped on my rapidly decreasing blank passport pages.  It's no wonder that I made the choice to visit 30 countries by the time I'm 30 when I've completed over 20 of them in my twenties alone.

Well World, so far it seems like 2012 will not be the year of more countries, but rather exploring more of the country that I now call my home.  This is partially a financial choice as I did a decent amount of travelling in 2011 and partially because I don't want to plan a trip out of the country until I get my new visa sorted (a frustrating tale for another post at a later time). And it seems I'm not the only London blogger that's looking for more adventures outside of London but still on the Island. 

I kicked off the first staycation of sorts with the boyfriend on a weekend trip to Brighton.

Brighton Pier, October 2009

I've actually been to Brighton before, during an International Students day trip my Uni did while I was here doing my Master's.  Somehow my boyfriend never made the trip down there in his nearly three decades of living in England, so we hopped a quick £30 return train down.

Day view from The Atlantic Seafront, Brighton

Night view from The Atlantic Seafront, Brighton

We stayed in a fantastically affordable and quite sweet B&B, The Atlantic Seafront, just across the road from the pier - killer views of Brighton.  It's not that big of a town when it comes to attractions and things to see, and in my opinion, it's not worth it to stay in some big fancy hotel.

We paid about £60/night and had a range of breakfast options available, cooked-to-order, in the dining area each morning.

Brighton Wheel, photo taken with Snapseed

There are pretty much three must-see things in Brighton; the pier, the palace and the lanes.

The pier is a crazy mix of a massive penny arcade, an all-season carnival, and a restaurant/bar that's open year-round and stretches over 1,700 feet long.  

Brighton Beach

A beach made completely of rocks is disappointing - although, my hipster photos make it look cooler.

The Royal Pavilion was built for King George IV and looks like it should be in India.

An entrance to the Royal Pavilion, Brighton October 2009

The Lanes pretty much look like the Camden markets, but on hills and fewer angry teens with purple hair. 

Finally, it's not a must-see, but I like seeing things that are a bit different (and free). If you walk along the shore, you'll find a small, dusty room that has cool stuff from Brighton's heyday as a fishing town.  It was quite interesting, but it left me with an allergy attack.

As an added bonus, I got to meet up with an old friend from Ohio that's just moved to Brighton after marrying her tall, dark-haired Englishman - apparently that's how we like 'em in Ohio. :)

Photo courtesy of Ashley :)

I don't really know where to go next, typically at this point I pick a country I haven't seen and book a flight, but I want to keep it a short train ride away.  

Help me trek the path less taken - Do you have any cities in the UK that you would suggest for a great weekend trip?

South West London - Chelsea - Big Easy

I've finally reached the point of being homesick. As a result, I've started seeking out places to eat American style meals. I've had at least 3 milkshakes in the past 2 weeks, scarfed my face with burgers and most recently joined in at the Big Easy for their All-You-Can-Eat ribs and 1lb Maine Lobster.  Everything on the menu is in massive portions, £14.95 a person and includes a boozy drink. Amazing!

Obviously it's no where near as good as home - the ribs were a lil dry for me, and not that Red Lobster is something to judge seafood on, but that style of smorgasbord is what i was craving...but it did the trick.  Also, the milkshakes were quite tasty and some even come with alcohol!

This will just have to hold me over until my work visa finally comes through and I can make a vist back to the Sates.

The Big Easy can be found at:

332 - 334 Kings Road,

Chelsea

SW3 5UR

Nearest Tube: Sloane Square

Mango Margarita

Chicken tenders with tortilla chips + honey mustard sauce

Lobster + butter, best combo ever

North London - Crouch End - Nakama

As I began to wean myself off those stupid Christmas-Party-Injury Crutches, I tried to force myself to go out seeking London spots again. One of my favourite areas, in my own back yard, is Crouch End. It may be part of London, but creep over the hill that takes you through Hornsey Rise and it's like you've found a whole new village. I've done a few pubs in the area, but it also has a wide range of restaurants that aren't chains on offer. I did a quick bit of research for sushi in the area on my Urbanspoon app and came across Nakama.

Excluding the table behind us with another American/Brit mix party of two, we were the only people in there - so I was getting a bit worried about the food.

However, about 5 minutes in to our meal, I realised I had nothing to be worried about as they served up all of my favourite Japanese dishes in very visually pleasing arrangements.

Miso soup, Salmon sashimi, Asahi beer

Tori Gyoza/Chicken Dumplings

The chef was even nice enough to throw in some free tuna carpaccio

By this time, we were quite full but our mains had arrived.  The boyfriend went for the Chicken Katsu

Chicken Katsu

And I had a pork curry

Japanese Pork Curry

By the time our mains arrived, another American/Brit party of two had arrived (are we all sourcing this restaurant from the same place?) and pointed out something (I didn't have my glasses on so I couldn't tell what it was) that was very impressive.  Not long after, our waitress brought some of this mysterious thing to our table as well!  Pretty!

Origami Swan

Sushi, miso soup, dumplings, two mains and 4 beers set us back about £50 total.  Great service, chill vibe and jazz music.

Nakama can be found at:

50 Topsfield Parade

Crouch End

N8 8PT

http://nakamarestaurant.co.uk/

Nearest Tube: Crouch Hill (Overground), multiple bus routes

North London - Emirates Stadium - FT Arsenal 1-0 Leeds United

It's not very often that I get to write about the team I love here in London, but I have just returned from a very happy win in the FA Cup.

Some things to note from today's game:

• Leeds supporters have very intricate chants involving rhythmic clapping that I can't even get some dancers to do when I teach rhythm
• They also never shut up (which isn't saying much coming from an Arsenal supporter)
• The Emirates stadium is freezing in the upper tiers - particularly when people start leaving their seats
• The walk from the stadium to N19 is very nice. Walking home every day from Highbury & Islington station may be my new 'thing'
• Thierry Henry is a BEAST

Welcome home! OH TO, OH TO BE, OH TO BE A, GOONER!

Watch the goal here

North London - Parliament Hill - New Year's Eve 2012

Unexpectedly, diamond geezer seemed to have had the same NYE experience I did.

Annoyingly, due to my foot, I didn't make it as far up the hill as he had but I had somewhat of the same experience.

A simple night that at first would have been at the Victoria Memorial, then at Feeling Gloomy, then at Proud Camden ended in a night of drinking at my house and going to find a place with a view in London. Luckily, living North, getting to Parlimant Hill wasn't too much of a mission.

Eventhough I didn't make it to the top of the hill, I still had a decent view with minimal nature-blockage of the London Eye - as well as a view of some fireworks happening down south I presume, and some within the heath itself.

This being my third NYE in London, I'm happy to say I've had a different experience for each one. My first year I went to Ruby Blue in Leiscter Square, which funnily enough had no view at all of the fireworks and was complete shite. The second year I went to the Victoria Memorial, enjoyed the fireworks and then headed to Brick Lane and made my way in to the Big Chill Bar before being fed up with the crowd and going home. This year, we had drinks (lots of drinks + power hour) at home, quickly saw the fireworks, and drank at Southampton Arms near the heath afterwards.

Regardless of how I spent tonight, I knew I would have much to look forward to in 2012.

Here's wishing you and yours a very happy new year! xx

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