The May bank holiday weekend has come and gone, and it was so much fun, that I feel like I need another long weekend to recover! I found myself immersed in food comas, music, and of course....dancing!
In my last post, I mentioned visiting a diner in Brighton. Well, on Saturday, the hubs and I went to visit my sister and brother-in-law and feasted at their very own diner, which they built as part of their kitchen.
Not only does it look amazing, but the meal that they cooked for us was deeeeeeeeeeeeeelish! We were given the full American experience, with: pulled pork, mac'n'cheese, greens, chips (or, as it was an American menu, fries), coleslaw, cornbread - all topped off with homemade bbq sauce, no less! This is in addition to the homemade cinammon rolls, topped with a sticky caramel walnut sauce...
Continuing on the culinary theme, we were up bright and early on Sunday morning, to head across town for brunch at Duke's Brew and Que.
Now, as you may have gathered from previous posts, I am a big fan of brunch. That said, I don't think I have actually gone out for this delightful start to the day, since I went with Team Brunch, nearly a year ago!
I ordered the bacon and cream cheese stuffed french toast and a bloody maria. The french toast was eggy and delicious, and the maria was strong and spicy! Us girls both ordered the same meal, and the guys both had some sort of smokey burnt ends bbq omelette with homefries (which was also yummy, but super stingy on the homefries).
Duke's has a super laid back vibe, with exposed brick walls, booze stacked on scaffolding behind the bar, and a communal bathroom with a 'sink' made out of a trough, where you have to use your foot to pump the water.
We stayed and chatted for quite a while after our meal (and didn't feel pressurised to leave), before going for a walk and stumbling upon a cool little coffee shop/bar on Kingsland Rd, called The Bridge. Unassuming from the outside, this narrow corner bar is decked out like a 1920s salloon, and even has a fully-functioning ornate vintage cash register.
We were told that there was more space upstairs, so up we headed, only to find a big lounge area filled with sofas, coffee tables, draped fabrics and deco lamps - which we collectively dubbed, the opium den.
After reclining in this trippy boudoir of sorts, we bid adieu to our brunch buddies, and headed to the nearby Swing Rendevous, a monthly afternoon dance at The Stag pub. We were only here briefly, but it was a cool little venue with a vintage feel - even serving pints in those old fashioned dimple beer mugs. The music was a little too old timey for my personal preference, but that didn't stop loverboy and I having a few dances before heading home.
In the evening we hit up Joe's in Camden, where the River Rhythm Trio were playing a free gig as part of the Hip Joint bank holiday special. Having seen them a couple of months ago at the Boston Arms Rockabilly club, I was enthusiastic to go along and check them out again. I really, really like this band a lot! They are great musicians with style and substance, and I'm pleased I went along to see them perform their rip roaring rockabilly sound again. For a three piece band, they produce a really big, full sound!
The band played two sets, with DJs El Nino, Scotty, Miss M and Swingin' Dickie spinning records on the night. As well as playing rockabilly, Miss M mixed things up with some hot reggae sounds towards the latter part of the evening, which I really enjoyed (especially as it meant that I got to dance nice and close to loverboy *wink*)...less enjoyable was the drunken dancing girl whose hair kept dipping in my drink (fyi Joe's make a mean margarita), everytime she stumbled around!
Monday was a bit of a lazy day, but we did venture out to Jive Dive at the Boogaloo in the evening. It was a lot of fun - the atmosphere was buzzing and the music was brilliant, but the dance floor was sooooooo crowded. Of course, that didn't stop us from dancing ourselves into a sweaty happy state! I have no photographic evidence, though, so you'll just have to take my word for it...
In my last post, I mentioned visiting a diner in Brighton. Well, on Saturday, the hubs and I went to visit my sister and brother-in-law and feasted at their very own diner, which they built as part of their kitchen.
Not only does it look amazing, but the meal that they cooked for us was deeeeeeeeeeeeeelish! We were given the full American experience, with: pulled pork, mac'n'cheese, greens, chips (or, as it was an American menu, fries), coleslaw, cornbread - all topped off with homemade bbq sauce, no less! This is in addition to the homemade cinammon rolls, topped with a sticky caramel walnut sauce...
Continuing on the culinary theme, we were up bright and early on Sunday morning, to head across town for brunch at Duke's Brew and Que.
Now, as you may have gathered from previous posts, I am a big fan of brunch. That said, I don't think I have actually gone out for this delightful start to the day, since I went with Team Brunch, nearly a year ago!
I ordered the bacon and cream cheese stuffed french toast and a bloody maria. The french toast was eggy and delicious, and the maria was strong and spicy! Us girls both ordered the same meal, and the guys both had some sort of smokey burnt ends bbq omelette with homefries (which was also yummy, but super stingy on the homefries).
Duke's has a super laid back vibe, with exposed brick walls, booze stacked on scaffolding behind the bar, and a communal bathroom with a 'sink' made out of a trough, where you have to use your foot to pump the water.
We stayed and chatted for quite a while after our meal (and didn't feel pressurised to leave), before going for a walk and stumbling upon a cool little coffee shop/bar on Kingsland Rd, called The Bridge. Unassuming from the outside, this narrow corner bar is decked out like a 1920s salloon, and even has a fully-functioning ornate vintage cash register.
We were told that there was more space upstairs, so up we headed, only to find a big lounge area filled with sofas, coffee tables, draped fabrics and deco lamps - which we collectively dubbed, the opium den.
After reclining in this trippy boudoir of sorts, we bid adieu to our brunch buddies, and headed to the nearby Swing Rendevous, a monthly afternoon dance at The Stag pub. We were only here briefly, but it was a cool little venue with a vintage feel - even serving pints in those old fashioned dimple beer mugs. The music was a little too old timey for my personal preference, but that didn't stop loverboy and I having a few dances before heading home.
In the evening we hit up Joe's in Camden, where the River Rhythm Trio were playing a free gig as part of the Hip Joint bank holiday special. Having seen them a couple of months ago at the Boston Arms Rockabilly club, I was enthusiastic to go along and check them out again. I really, really like this band a lot! They are great musicians with style and substance, and I'm pleased I went along to see them perform their rip roaring rockabilly sound again. For a three piece band, they produce a really big, full sound!
The band played two sets, with DJs El Nino, Scotty, Miss M and Swingin' Dickie spinning records on the night. As well as playing rockabilly, Miss M mixed things up with some hot reggae sounds towards the latter part of the evening, which I really enjoyed (especially as it meant that I got to dance nice and close to loverboy *wink*)...less enjoyable was the drunken dancing girl whose hair kept dipping in my drink (fyi Joe's make a mean margarita), everytime she stumbled around!
Monday was a bit of a lazy day, but we did venture out to Jive Dive at the Boogaloo in the evening. It was a lot of fun - the atmosphere was buzzing and the music was brilliant, but the dance floor was sooooooo crowded. Of course, that didn't stop us from dancing ourselves into a sweaty happy state! I have no photographic evidence, though, so you'll just have to take my word for it...
Hey Lady.
ReplyDeleteYou have been nominated for an award on my blog:
http://everything-unfinished.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/my-first-blog-award.html
xxx
Wow thank you sooooo much!!!!! That's awesome! :) xxx
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