A few weeks ago the lovely people at Prospera Publishing sent me a review copy of Nicky Schmidts’ debut novel – Naked in Knightsbridge. I am not a self-professed chick-lit booklover; but then again, before Twilight, I was never a teen vampire romance lover. I don’t do book reviews very often (if at all) , so forgive me if it doesn’t sound too right!

I wanted the book to be a complete suprise, so I ignored the summary that is so often available on the back jacket of the book. It started off with a letter from the heroine’s bank, demanding repayment for her outstanding business overdraft. In fact, all the chapters start with letters addressed to the heroine, Jools. I actually looked forward to the start of chapters because of the often hilarious letters, especially those where the author seem extremely preplexed at her mostly unreasonable behaviour.

Naked in Knightsbridge is about Jools, a single late-twenties woman that had always taken the easy way out of life. Stumbling into the cleaning business after finishing uni because she couldn’t really be bothered to look for a proper job, she actually achieved some success in it. However, like quite a few people, she spent all her profits- and more. Mostly on unsuitable items of clothings (i.e. 2 sizes too small)….and doughnuts. So when the business starts to go belly-up, she was left penniless and as close to homelessness as you can get, making meals out of hobnobs and expired alcohol.

What will resonate with readers is the reality that Jools live in. The spend now-pay later culture that is so prevalent in modern British society – I am very debt-adverse and am really terrified at the way people spend the money that they do not have. Coupled with references to eBay (everyone loves a bargin, right?) and sham marriages for illegal immigrants to stay in the country, this is definately intelligent chick-lit that makes itself very current and on the pulse. And of course, everyone has the one friend that you are slightly envious about right? So is the loneliness in modern society of having only a handful of friends – with everything falling apart once that small teensy support network collapses. This would not be a chick-lit without the knight in shining armour – and I do love the character development of the knight in this book. Trying not to give too much away, I must say that the eventual knight is most definately my favourite character in the book…I shall leave you to guess which one of them is the eventual saviour .

Bridget Jones meets credit crunch, I would say. Available here with FREE worldwide shipping, definately a must-have on your Christmas list for the chick-lit lover who appreciates a good laugh as well.

Remember this post where I ate at Jamie Oliver’s Italian in Oxford? Well, thought it was time to visit another one (on expenses again) whilst I was away on one of my tours down to Brighton. The last time I was there I had chinese buffet – which was the simplest thing really as we were really tired and just wanted something in our tummies and be on our way.

On a blustery Monday night, things were fairly quiet; none of the crazy queues that we saw in Oxford branch. Which was really suprising, as we were told they were only able to fit us in at 6.30pm (we were aiming for 7pm you see). So some of us got seated at 6.30 whilst waiting for me to arrive at 7. We did not even ordered till 7.30pm, so what was the harm in seating us at 7pm instead? Especially in an empty restaurant! That was kind of offputting and annoying. I do hate places where they just want to tweak your timings slightly – just because they can.

Interior-wise it was lovely – nicer than then one in Oxford. Translucent pink chandeliers set off the dark woodsy interior – and coming down the stairs you were treated to a live televised view of the kitchen which was projected on the wall facing the stairs. Olive oils and wines line the wall, making for a very impressive rendition of a modern italian eatery. I was with loads of people from work,thus the lack of pictures in case they think me freaky! I did not order any starters, although I was very, very tempted. Sat at the girls end of the table, they were just all on a perpetual diet. However, I was pleased that I waited for my main course instead of having a starter – it would have completely ruined it!

They call this Fish in a Bag. Yes, I did order it just because it was called fish in a bag. Slightly dissapointing that it did not come in an actual bag (I was expecting zip lock bag and all) – instead it was a seafood parcel, wrapped in waxed paper and tinfoil. Inside were some clams, mussels, a side of seabass and some sliced baby potatoes, all topped by fennel, capers and a lemon slice and then baked. The juices were absolutely lovely..very light with a touch of white wine and the lemon to bring out the zing in it. None of the mains comes with any sides, so I had a side of rocket and radicchio salad with parmesan cheese. The portion was HUGE – it was more of a main meal than a side salad, but not a problem there as I absolutely love rocket. The simple balsamic dressing was very very lovely – again, light, tasty and easy on the palate. If there was one complaint it would be that there were too much grated parmesan on the salad (my fault for not asking it on the side) – it kinda took the shine away from the light dressing.It might just be me, as I am currently trying to watch my cheese intake carefully.

I polished it off very satisfactorily. A braver person would go for some of the funky chips – there were that good that one of us had it as a starter as well as a side . It took me ages to decide if I wanted a dessert. None of the girls would have any….we were talking about weightwatchers points throughout dinner, which was slightly offputting….and there was me, stuffing my face. So whilst they chose coffees, I chose a variation of coffee – tiramisu . I had this last time, and it was so good I had to have it again! I was definately thinking of bacon when I ordered it – he absolutely loved it when we had it in the Oxford branch.

I love how it is so well-soaked with delish espresso, with a generous grating of orange zest. Sigh….heavenly.The side of mascarpone was a little too much for me, so I left it whilst I polished off about 80% of the tiramisu. I already feel bad enough stuffing my face without the female species eyeing me speculatively whilst I polish off a gazillion pointed dessert! Strangely enough someone else pinched the mascarpone and just ate it as-is. Hmm.

All in all, very satisfactory. I didn’t go for the pasta this time around, but those that had absolutely loved it. Would I have the same items again? Sure. Jamie did not dissapoint again. And AM SO LOOKING FORWARD TO LEEDS BRANCH OPENING IN APRIL!!!

Jamie Oliver’s Italian
Brighton Branch (with branches all over the southern part of the country )
11 Black Lion Street,
Brighton BN1 1ND
01273 915 480

Thanks to the girls at The Culture Vulture ,I blagged myself a free goodie bag from tonight’s event at my local Urban Outfitters!! Love it, love it! Urban Outfitters had been one of my very favourite brand since I first stumbled across it in Santa Monica in 2000. I remember the day when I spotted this guy overloaded with Urban Outfitters bags in central Leeds…if I did not spot the shop ten meters down the road, I would’ve chased after him to ask where did the bags come from! The edgy fashions, the quirky household stuff, lomography cameras and mad bags (remember my speakers clutch?).

Tonight was their christmas special – with 20% discounts throughout the whole store, the place was HEAVING. I couldn’t even buy anything…as I could hardly move to the queue. Sigh. Anyway – as promised, here’s my goodies!

From left-right: leopard print linen scarf, Levis’ 501 cutoffs, set of 3 headbands, two pairs of pseudo Raybans, patchwork dress, purple thighs, LEE 120 years anniversary bag and salt-and-pepper shakers

Sooooo fab! The only glitch is that the cutoffs are way too tiny, and the thighs are definately not my size – I am not very tall, but it’s made to fit girls up to 5ft 3! So I’m going to have to figure out what to do with them – I see a giveaway coming up! I squeezed into the pretty patchwork dress that only came in one size….loved the salt&pepper shaker. Incidentally, I purchased the exact same salt and pepper shaker in Sydney back in 2006 as a gift . The pseudo-Raybans are cute – not something that I would ordinarily purhcase for myself, but I do think its cute. So is the scarf – I so really needed something like this but had just not gotten around to buying one.

Definately very random – but I love it nonetheless!

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UPDATE:

I received a suprise phone call today from Kate of NSW Tourism, who have been very concerned with my rambling rants on how I have been trying to haul my arse over to Sydney and have been receiving little help. My posts were just what they were – rants of frustrations and me trying to update the large porportion of my Australia-based readers who had been expecting me for Christmas. It was very refreshing that Kate was concerned (even though it wasn’t anything she nor visitNSW did to provoke my stress!), and has kindly offered to help me sort things out. I have now left things with her – and I might therefore still be winging my way to Australia this summer!! Watch this space – I am still hoping to do Febuary. Nothing like surfing in Bondi in the hot Australian sun….oh, I DO miss the magnificent beaches.

I must say, my posts were just my rants and I did not think anyone would actually 1) pick up on it 2)be concerned about me ranting like a madwoman. So thank you 1000heads kindly for pointing this out to the lovely Kate.

I have now removed my madwoman rants as I believe if someone is trying to help me out, the least I could do is give it another chance to change my opinion of the bad experience. And yes – this IS the first time in my 4 years+ history that I am actually removing a blog post.

Talking of diet pills, one of the new fangled one that may work with you could be the hoodia gordonii. There have been loads of of press around this pill, but you would never really know whether it will work for you until after you have taken it for a test run. It will not do harm to you anyway so THERE is really the option of trying it out