Friend: Mum and daughter red wine drinking at Vinopolis

So as I am desperately still clinging to it being Christmas goddamit, I am going to file this under gift ideas, even though regrettably I know most Christmas gifts will already have been given by now. But you know, just in case there is someone out there somewhere who is having a belated Christmas celebration, or indeed you have someone in your life with one of those pesky January birthdays so you have to rack your brain for presents twice in one month. Or indeed your family are still in town, then this could be a thought if you need something to do with your days which isn't playing charades and eating stilton (though why anyone would want to stop doing that I don't know).

If you know me or have read Loner. Lover. Friend before, you'll know I am a big fan of the experience present - taking someone somewhere wonderful, giving them a nice memory to keep, rather than a gift.

Normally, I am quite good at thinking of things people will enjoy, if I do say so myself, (very hard for me not to break into Jay Z Drunk in Love rapping here FYI) but when it came to my Mum's birthday at the end of September I had a little trouble.

Previously I've taken my mum to Afternoon teas, and silent cinemas and had some good, albeit generic, ideas. But I was all out, and although I can think of loads of weird and wonderful things a lot of people in my life might like I realised I didn't for my mum. My lovely mum. What did my mum like doing? It sounds really awful, but I was a bit stuck. I think my mum, as a mother, has spent so much of my life doing what the rest of the family wants to do that I have no idea what she likes doing? How terrible of me. How tricky to buy her a nice experience gift.

And then I suddenly thought, I know what my mum really loves, a full bodied French merlot. Or indeed any red wine really.

Hello Vinopolis London. Vinopolis is a "wine tasting" experience, where you can wander around and take your pick from trying over 100 different wines, including champagnes and then some spirits.

Strolling around under the arches (it's built beneath the trains), it sort of feels like a weird wine theme park. Or at least a fairground. You get a card topped up with the tokens you've bought, and you mooch around with your special tasting glass, choosing wines kept at their correct temperature in a fabulous wine tasting vending machine, paying for it on your card. How good it would be if they had one of them next to the coca cola one in my office.

Depending on the rareity and retail price of the wine, depends on how many tokens you can use, but most of them just take 1 or 2. Mum and I mainly tried the 1 token wines, but we saved them up and tried a 6 token wine at the end, so that was nice, and exciting to lift a £50+ wine to my lips.

Now I am not gonna lie, I wouldn't say I came out of Vinopolis a wine expert, but you do a little bit of learning about how to taste a wine, I got a bit more of an understanding about how different wines grow in different climates (like I've never thought about it before but there is a northern strip x above the equator which is good for wine eg - Southern France, California, Italy etc, and a southern strip x below the equator which is a good climate too - Argentina, South Africa, Northern Australia etc) and I learnt about which type of wine I like - via both a lot of wine tasting, but also these cute little interactive games like those you get at the science museum, but about wine.

Learning we are well bodied red girls. As if we needed a game to tell us...

The drawback with Vinopolis might be the cost. It is £27 for the wine tasting experience which includes the lesson and 7 tokens - so 7 lots of the lowest price wine, but this is not 7 glasses, this is 7 shots (each of the measurments from the machine is 25ml, ie a shot) and for £4 a shot, I'd expect to get a jaeger bomb. For another fiver you can get another 5 shots of wine, so a much better deal (less than £3) a shot, and makes it worth trying maybe one of the whites before moving on to red red red.

However, I think one of the best ways to experience Vinopolis, especially if you are buying it for an experience gift and want to make it all last a little longer. Vinopolis have a range of experiences on their site - from Burns' nights to chocolate tasting to nights with Oz Clarke, the wine man of the nineties.

I took my Mum to Vinopolis Sundays, which for £35 per person includes a two course roast lunch, a bloody mary, and 7 tokens for wine tasting. We then topped up those 7 with another, 4 tokens, which you can buy for £5 when you get there.

You eat in Vinopolis' restaurant, Cantina, which is actually pretty lovely. It is no Michelin starred silver service, but it is nice, more than Harvester nice, more than pizza express nice even, and actually a bloody good roast. (With bloody good salted caramel sticky toffee pudding for dessert).

Cantina, Vinopolis' restaurant

I don't mean to keep waffeling on, but also it is nice going on a Sunday as a) you don't have to queue for the clever wine vending machines like on a Saturday and b) it's totally respectable on a Sunday evening to go home and fall into a red wine induced slumber at 8:45pm.

So yeah, Vinopolis: wine and fun vending machines and finding out my mum and I both like "well bodied full reds". In the genes I guess.

My beautiful Mum, pleased as punch cos she is off to have a lot of red wine...

You can book on Vinopolis Sundays or any of their events here, and right now it is "buy one get one half price" on their wine tasting experiences, so more shots of wine per £.

Got something for your Mum, but need an idea for your Dad? I've taken him on a walking tour and a food tour and he was happy as larry, check out my post on them here: Friend: Go on a walking tour right where you live

Lover: A date at York Hall - Championship Boxing and Facials

So I had ideally wanted to make my blog somewhere that was teaming with Christmas spirit and general yuletide merriment, but this post isn't actually a very Christmassy one, sorry. However, I am on my 19th quality street today as I type this, plus my third mulled wine and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is on in the background so there's that. As it is the 27th so definitely still Christmas everyone. No time for January blues just yet.

When Will and I first started going out, as I am sure many new couples do, we took it in turns to suggest date places and used to go to a fair bit of effort into finding something special and different, making lots of use of some of the fantastic blogs and online websites around (I particularly like the Nudge, and I know this great little place). It was so lovely discovering all these new and exciting places together, and sharing some weird and wonderful and delicious and drunken experiences as we fell in love. Just threw up a bit, sorry. How the heck do you say "fell in love" without it sounding cheesy and puke inducing?

Anyhoo, fast forward three or so years, and Will and I still make an effort to go out for dinner and drinks, and do some fun things, but often it is the same spots - the pub just round the corner, the Italian just down the road, we might treat ourselves to expensive steak but we pop into the nice steakhouse near work. I am way more lazy about how many tube stops I am happy to take to go on a date night, and Will to be honest was probably only going to pop up screenings of Miracle on 34th Street and wotnot to woo me. Now he has, there is no reason for him to go on pretending his ideal date night doesn't begin with red meat served somewhere less than 5 minutes away, and end with a bottle of red wine on the sofa whilst I watch him play GTA...

I wanted to bring back the fun date, and win back my power into talking Will into going to places that didn't sound like his cup of tea on the tin (too many idioms there, sorry). So I suggested, and he agreed, that every month one of us would plan a fabulous surprise date for the other, and we would take it in turns. The person who planned the date would also pay for it, ensuring that the worst case scenario if the other person didn't like the date was a couple of hours wasted, it wouldn't cost them a penny.

The first month, Will just suggested, as the bill arrived at our usual steak house, that he pay, and it be "his date". Totally missing the point, but the bill was a fair bit, and there were some over the knee boots I was eyeing up in Topshop, so I allowed it.

The second month, therefore, was mine for the choosing. I was pretty tempted to just take him to a musical in the west end, as that is like my perfect date, and I know I would probably be better off asking Will whether he wanted to come and get a pedicure with me, than if he wanted to book tickets to Matilda if he had any choice in the matter. (Although, actually come to think of it, he may well like a pedicure, he does care a fair bit about foot hygeine.) But I didn't want to kill the scheme before it properly had begun, so instead I had a think. Where would I love going, but Will wouldn't mind, and where would Will love going and I wouldn't mind?

For the I love going, and Will wouldn't mind, the obvious choice seemed to be a spa. He took me to an amazing spa for my birthday, and I know although he would never properly admit it, he had a lovely time, padding around in a gown, drinking prosecco in the hot tub, getting "a guy's facial".

For the Will would love going, and I wouldn't mind, the obvious choice seemed to be some sort of sport. As boys like sports right, and I don't mind live ones as it is a good excuse to drink lots of beer and eat hot dogs and wotnot.

And because I live in east London, the home to many a weird and wonderful establishment like breakfast places that only serve cereal, and cafes where you get to eat with cats, there is also a place which both hosts a spa and championship boxing matches (which has been around for more than 50 times as long as the cat and cereal cafe have been around put together).

Enter York Hall -  a Better Gym, spa.London, and an event space. It seemed to me the perfect date. We could spend a few hours padding around the steam rooms and saunas in spa.London before heading upstairs for a drink or two and a night of watching boxing.

Ok, granted it didn't work out quite perfectly. The spa that day was women's only for the steam room and saunas so I booked Will and I in for a facial - which was fabulous, but Will was none too happy as apparently he only has facials on holiday. Who knew.

The surprise highlight was actually the boxing. It started at 4:30 and ended at half 10, but somehow it kept my attention the whole way, and I wasn't even drunk. Here are some reasons boxing actually weirdly makes a great date, even for the most squeamish and unsporty of girls:

1. York Hall itself - built in 1929 it was such a special venue. Sure you can't bring your beer up to your seats with you (sad face) but if you hold yourself over the balcony, squint and ignore the spearmint rhinos girls holding up the "round 2.." signs, you could be back in the infamous east end of the 60s, watching the boxing before drinking some babychams and going to a dance.

How amazeballs is this grand room in York hall being used as a swimming pool? (The swimming pool today isn't like this one!)

2. The audience - ok, so I am 26, I wear a lot of topshop and quite a bit of vintage clothing, I like eyeliner and red lipstick, I drink craft beer and I write a blog, arguably I am a teeny bit of an east end hipster so what I am about to say is a bit hypocritical. But the east end is slowly becoming taken over by hipsters, which is not all bad, and provides us with lots of nice cocktail bars and a wider selection of finest cheese in tesco's, but I guess it is a bit sad that the east end is losing a bit of what made it the east end. At York Hall, you meet the proper east enders, groups of blokes who look like they have been coming to Saturday night boxing every night since 1968, and girls glammed up to the nines in platform heels and bodycon dresses. It's nice to know it is still there, behind the hipster layer of faux fur and ginormous man beards.

3. How nice the boxers are too each other - I guess if as they say football is a gentleman's game played by ruffians (no offence anyone) and rugby is a ruffian's game played by gentleman, then boxing must be a cold hearted criminal's game played by well... really nice blokes. Of course people are fighting and can do a lot of damage (one man got knocked out cold, he was ok in the end) and they look really terrifying when fighting. But actually - bar one man who I am sure tried to bite his contestant - they are so gentlemanly and such good winners and losers. Great sportsman really. As soon as the bell goes they break into a smile and give each other a hug, regardless  of whether they think they are winning or losing. It is really heart warming.

4. How nice the boxers look - so boxing definitely plays up to its reputation as a boy's thing, by having these women in thongs parading around.

Whatever. They are missing a trick, as the boxers show way more than the girls and they are muscly in a whole new way, there are muscles bulging in places I didn't even know people could have muscles. Even the really tiny ones, who weigh eight stone something (who weighs eight stones something??) but are super tonk. Which actually is really nice, because I guess boxing can be a thing for all boys - even if they are short and little, they can train and make it as a super lightweight boxer, so it is a nice inclusive sport in that way.

5. The length of the match - as I mentioned, I was there for 5 hours, which I am not going to lie, was a little too long. However, each of the matches are either 4 or 6 rounds of 3 minutes (less if someone gets knocked out) meaning it is really easy for it to keep your attention and you don't get bored as you see the sport in short little bursts.

Probs not making it as a sports photographer in the near future.

6. The music - each boxer gets to choose what song they come on to, and some of them make some excellent choices. I basically chose who I wanted to win each match on song choice alone - my two favourites were "Return of the Man" and Jennifer Hudson's "Spotlight". How the boxer empathised with the lyrics, "Are you a man who loves and cherishes and cares for me? Or are you a guard in a prison of maximum security?" I do not know, but I am so glad he did.

So how much will it cost you for a date in York Hall?

Spa. London has a range of treatments available, starting with a 3 hours spa experience (going around the steam, sauna and relaxation rooms) at £25. The Elemis Clarity facial is £38, and you can check out spa.London at it's various locations by visiting here.

You can book tickets for Championship boxing on Ticketmaster here.

For more date ideas, check out my lover page. 

Loner: Christmas craftiness: Mulled Wine Salt Scrub and Cherry & Cinnamon Whisky (last minute present ideas you can make with stuff you can buy in a supermarket)

Mulled wine salt scrub. Mmmmm.

I have never really been that much of a craft person, but after starting Loner. Lover. Friend, I've been quite inspired to get down with my crafty self by all the wonderful crafters out there in bloggersphere. 

My main problem with crafts however, is that my crafty self has not the patience for crafts. My Dad always tells the story of how when he was younger, he and his cousin Antony were both given toy planes for Christmas, which needed assembling. Antony spent days filing down each of the pieces to make sure they were perfect to paint, then giving it a three licks of paint to make the colour pop and then finally assembling it. My Dad had assembled his plane and splashed it with some bits of paint before they'd even sat down for their turkey. I am my Dad. What is worse is not only do I not really have the patience for crafts I don't have much talent for them either.

However, for these two little pieces you need neither, as they are super easy and both take about half an hour max of hands on work. What is even better, is that you can buy all the things you need to make them from a supermarket, meaning that if there is a gift you've forgotten this Christmas, you can make these babies and actually get extra credit for the effort you put in for the homemade gift.

Mulled Wine Salt Scrub

So the name Mulled Wine salt scrub is probably a bit misleading as this one doesn't have any wine in it, but "the-spices-you-need-to-make-mulled-wine salt scrub" didn't have the same ring to it. This looks quite nice, but what is even better about it is the smell and the way it makes your skin feel afterwards. (I had to test it as it would be pretty awful to give my 81 year old Grandma something which gave her an allergic reaction). Not only is your skin all silky smooth, but you smell like Christmas.

What you'll need:

(You can amend the quantities and make this bigger or smaller depending how much salt scrub you want to make. I just used moroccan tea glasses to measure mine)

Approx 200g (4 parts) rock salt - not table salt, you need nice big pieces
Approx 50g (1 part) brown sugar
Approx 100 ml (2 parts) olive oil (or grapeseed, or almond, just definitely not vegetable or sunflower this shiz is going on your skin)
A glug of vanilla essence
A spoon of ground almonds, or a glug of almond essence
Mulled wine seasoning: I used mulled wine sachets - I bought a packet of 6 and just cut them open and added them, but you could if you prefer use a pestle and mortar and spices to grind whole cloves, cinnamon sticks and nutmeg. Again I added six sachets, but you can add less or more depending on how subtle you want the smell to be, and how much of the other ingredient you've used.
A jar to put it all in - I used this pretty one which was 80p from Ikea, but just a spruced up Jam Jar will do

How you can make it:
This is basically an all in at once thing, but I'd work with the olive oil, salt and sugar  first to get the consistency of a salt scrub. It should be solid enough that you can pick it up in your hands, but liquid enough that it is easy to rub on your skin.
If you use the proportions I've put above (4 parts salt, 1 part sugar, 2 parts oil) it will start of like this, but after you mix it together, it will form a nice consistency.

Then you just need to add a sprinkle of ground almond or almond oil (optional - but it means you get all those lovely moisturising nut oils) and a glug of vanilla essence. (Vanilla really compliments the mulled wine spices, and gives the salt scrub a sweeter scent).

After this just add your mulled wine spices. I just used the sachets of mulled wine, because I am lazy, and I am slightly scarred by a pestle and mortar after trying to grind lavender to add to a hand cream for my mum back in 2009, but if you want to get all your favourite spices together and grind them up you can do.

The sachets are great though, as the spices are already the right size and they have dried orange in as well, which is harder to get hold off yourself, without going to the effort of drying an orange. I cut six of them open and then added them.

Then you just need to stir it all together, mixing it really well so the spices and vanilla distribute evenly throughout.

After this you can present it as it is or label it up.

I added a cute little label with the ingredients on, to give it that little extra bit of homemade feel.

Writing "love" is cheesy but adorable. Nb. Sort of cheated and wrote the ingredients of the mulled wine sachet, rather than "mulled wine sachet"...

And ta-da: Merry Christmas Grandma! (or whoever else in your life might fancy this)

So how much will mulled wine salt scrub cost you? I guess it depends what you've got in your cupboard, but assuming you've got a little bit of sugar and a glug of olive oil around you'll only need to invest in some rock salt (as you'll use most of the packet), some mulled wine, ground almonds and some vanilla essence:

You'll have plenty of ground almonds and vanilla left though, to use in any future cooking. I'm going to be using it to make homemade amaretto, using Bell Alimento's lovely recipe.

Cherry and Cinnamon Whisky

My boyfriend loves Jim Beam's Black Cherry Whisky, and Fire Eater's Cinnamon Whisky so fusing cinnamon and cherry together in whisky myself for a nice homemade Christmas gift seemed like a plan. You can use any fruit or infusion you want, just keep in mind how bitty it is. I foolishly added ground almonds to this, and it took me yonks to sieve it out, so make sure whatever you use is big enough to be caught in a sieve.

For this I used blogger Oddly Lovely's double infusion method which she used with her infused vodkas. The more time you leave for the flavours to infuse, the stronger it is going to be (I had mine infusing for 6 days in total), but even if you can only do 48 hours (so two lots of 24 hour infusions) the double infusion method is the key.

What you'll need:

A 750ml bottle of whisky - there is no point buying a super expensive one of these, because you are going to amend the taste anyway with the infusions, however, don't get the Tesco Value bottle as you don't want something too harsh which is not going to complement the cherry and cinnamon flavours. I went with Teacher's as it was on offer.
2 punnets of black cherries
4 cinnamon sticks
vanilla essence
A funnel of some sorts (I just got one from a DIY store)
A sieve
An empty bottle for decanting your whisky into (I used one of these from Ikea which were £1.75, but they are 1 litre so end up being a little big)
Some jars you can make airtight (eg. old jam jars)

How to do it:

1. Wash and chop the cherries and place in air tight jars. You don't need to worry to much about removing the stones and the stalks at this stage, but make sure they are chopped up so all the lovely juices are coming out

2. Add a cinnamon stick and a drop of vanilla essence to each jar

3. Pour over the whisky, seal up and leave in the fridge for a minimum of 24 hours. (I left mine for 3 days).

A few days (or hours) later....

4. Sieve your the whisky into bowls, separating it from the cherries and cinnamon sticks.

The whisky will turn a lovely dark - cherry - colour

5. Then start all over again. Chop up more cherries, add them to the now empty bowls, and add the cinnamon and vanilla again.

6. Pour your infused whisky over the top, and pop in the fridge for round 2.

A few days (or hours later) ...

7. Sieve again, separating the cherries and cinnamon. You might have to sieve more than once if whatever you've infused has got a little bitty in the infusion process.

8. Decant into your bottle.

9.  You can then leave it as it is or label it up. I used manilla labels, and an extra fine uni posca pen in silver. I am no calligrapher, but I just browsed some fonts on pic monkey, typed out my message and then copied it the best I could. And bob's your uncle: a happy whisky drinker:

It seems a shame to throw away all these amazing boozy cherries so I removed the stones and stalk and stirred them and crushed digestive biscuits into chocolate, then set again and broke up for a lovely accompaniment to the infused whisky.

Remember to always drinks responsibly.

I love getting into the Christmas spirit by making homemade gifts, even if my family members aren't so sure about getting a present they can't return. I'm also looking forward to making this gingerbread biscotti on Smitten Kitchen. Yummity yum yum.

Still stuck for present ideas? What about taking someone on an experience gift like afternoon tea or even a walking tour of their local area?

Friend: Should you go to Winterville?

I bloody love Christmas. (Sorry if you've read Loner. Lover. Friend before or know me at all and find that blatantly obvious). My boyfriend said the other day that my Christmas spirit is probably the worst thing about me, that I have so much yuletide joy it is exhausting and suffocating. Every Christmas I have a list of all the things I want to do to help me enjoy the season - to go and see the nutcracker, to go ice skating, to watch a whole list of Christmas films, to go to Rules restaurant, to eat every lunch place's version of "the Christmas sandwich", to wear velvet somewhere and drunkenly dance to Mariah Carey "All I want for Christmas", the list goes on.

Therefore it might surprise you that I've actually never been to Winter Wonderland, London's Christmas spectacular that takes place every December. Now I like the hustle and bustle of Christmas as much as the next person (my Dad and I go to Tesco's every Christmas eve just for the atmosphere) but the number of people who get off the tube at the stop for Winter Wonderland overwhelms me. I've had to queue to get out of stations, queue to get into stations and let 11 full tubes pass before I get on one in the worst of London's rush hour, but I don't think I've heard the tube driver warn you about getting off because of congestion in the station, apart from for Winter Wonderland. So that congestion must be really bloomin bad.

And then along comes Winterville, east London's answer to Winter Wonderland apparently. Does this mean crowds of tourists eating bratwursts and sipping over priced mulled wine will be replaced with clusters of hipsters drinking craft beer and eating ceviche? Well sort of. There is both a ceviche pop up, and a Brewdog craft beer stand, but rest assured there are still plenty of bratwursts and over priced mulled wine on offer. Whilst there certainly is an amount of new east end about the joint - Voodoo rays, smoked beef brisket, the trendy "Bar Humbug" and so cheesy it is wonderful "hot breath karaoke", there is a fair chunk of traditional Christmas, in the shape of a santa's grotto and an ice rink, and a little bit of traditional east end, in the shape of the fairground which I'm told is much bigger and better than Winter Wonderland's.

Bar Humbug was by the far the busiest spot when I visited

And yet Winterville hasn't been getting rave reviews, and I can sort of see why. There is a little bit of "grass is greener" syndrome in that whilst Winter Wonderland is too busy for my liking, Winterville is a little too empty. You don't have to queue for rides or for the bar, which is great, but it means it all feels a little eerie, walking around a quiet fairground in the dark with Christmas songs blasting out.

Having said that, last Thursday night, which I spent at Winterville, I did have a bloomin amazing time. The lack of bar queue meant that I drunk copious amounts of red wine. I ate a sausage with cheese in the middle of it. I had an almost out of body experience in hot breath karaoke watching the presenter in lycra silver and a slightly geekish looking boy sing a duet of "rhythm is a dancefloor" at the top of their voices to an empty room, it was so hilarious. And I went on loads of rides. I laughed, I screamed, I felt all nostalgic, I thought I might be sick, I felt all Christmassy all over - what more could you want from a Christmas outing?

Hotel of terror is actually scarier after your third glass of wine...

This cruel photo of me and Katy eating cheese filled hotdogs is by Bessie Jewels

On the crazy mouse

So how much will it cost you? Winterville is free to get into, so I guess it just depends how much you do when you get there. I spent around £30 and that was enough to keep me slightly tipsy and occupied from when I got there at 7:30ish til when it closed just after 10. Find out more about Winterville, by visiting their website.

Do you love Christmas? Then maybe check out my post "Loner: 12 things you can do to get yourself feeling all Christmassy and warm inside"

Lover: Rules Restaurant - the most Christmassy place in the world

I first found Rules - aka the most Christmassy place in the world - when I was 18. My old school friends and I were treating ourselves to a pre-ice- skating burger at GBK in Covent Garden and were drawn to Rules restaurant across the road, like a Father Christmas to his ninth mince pie. The window looked like all my Christmas dreams had thrown up on it (in a great way): fir and baubles and fairy lights lined the massive windows which were decorated with huge wreaths in the middle. Little Christmas trees stood by the entrance which was guarded by a man wearing a flippin top hat, which I realise isn't technically Christmassy, but made you feel a little more like you had just stumbled into A Christmas Carol, but for real.

We hopped over, and asked whether there was anywhere we could get a drink. The restaurant was teeming, a meal was a significant proportion of our student loans, and we were full of our "satay beef" burgers, but the lovely topped hat man led us up the stairs, to a little bar, where we took a seat next to a roaring fire, and took in the massive whif of fir. A man in a bow tie asked us what we wanted to drink, and we ordered one bottle of wine between the 8 of us (it isn't that ridonculousy expensive, but we were poor students who were used to paying £1.40 for a snakebite, oh those were the days).

Ever since, I've gone back to Rules every year, sometimes more than once, visiting the bar for a cocktail or two (now I am a London girl used to paying a tenner plus for a nice drink). The last couple of years, I've got myself into gear and booked in September to eat there, and except for the small incident I had where the oysters made me throw up in the church toilets during the carol service the next day, it has been totally magical. (Nb. that is not really Rules' fault, apparently the chance of you getting sick from raw oysters is 1 in 12, either way it was totally bloody worth it). Even with no booking whatsoever you can go down any time for a drink in their wonderful bar.

Anyhoo, enough of the waffling behold the beauty which is Rules restaurant at Christmas for yourself:

Apparently it takes 2 days to decorate Rules restaurant - people come in overnight on 2 occasions and transform the restaurant into a winter wonderland

The food at Rules is quite classic, and a lot of the menu is game. You could argue it is a little dated, but I think the food matches the atmosphere well. Will and I shared a rib of beef with yorkshire pudding, dauphinoise potatoes, shallots and spinach.

And for pudding, Bakewell tart with clotted cream, and tarte tatin.

This very very strong cocktail is called the Kate Middleton!

Before or after your meal, or just if you fancy you can come and relax in this bar upstairs.

Rules is London's oldest restaurant. Established in 1798 it has welcomed many a famous face since then: Laurence Olivier, Charlie Chapman, Henry Irving and even the king of London Christmases himself - Charles Dickens. You might spot it on Downton Abbey, and it has also been mentioned in a number of novels including ones by Graham Greene and Dick Francis, so it really is a treat to dine or have a drink in a little piece of London history.

It will be tricky to get a night to dine in Rules before Christmas now, but you can swing by for a drink in their lovely bar with it's roaring fire and delicious cocktails and other tipples. Check out their website, here.

So how much will it cost you for a night at Rules?

(Unless you do what I did and have one too many Kate Middletons and think it is a good idea to order an uber limo home... then it will cost you more.)

Like dining somewhere interesting and special, and don't mind biding your time? Check out my post: Lover: Butler's Wharf Blackout Dinner

Loner: CLOTHES: 9 places and ways it is totally appropriate to wear your Christmas jumper

Yesterday I was on the phone to my friend Katy about what we were wearing to our friend's Christmas party. She works as a fashion buyer, and is one of the best dressers I know, like significantly better than most celebrities with stylists, so she is a great person to go to for fashion advice. "I am wearing my new Topshop velvet jumpsuit, with my Christmas cardigan" I said confidently. There was a bit of an awkward pause on the line. "Ok," she said supportively, "you could do, just I don't know if people are doing the Christmas jumper thing, I think it is more of a nice trousers and nice top sort of occasion." Which made me think, when did it become the norm to only wear Christmas jumpers when everyone else is doing it too? Why can't we just wear our Christmas jumpers, with everything, everywhere, every day of December, because it is Christmas and it helps us feel all the magic and joy of the yuletide period? So I say move over Christmas jumper with jeans to Christmas jumper parties, here are 9 ways I have and will wear my Christmas jumper this Christmas season.

1. To a nice restaurant:

Pre the party, Will and I were grabbing dinner at one of our favourite steak restaurants - the Jones Family project. Bless him, he was actually very supportive about my decision to wear a Christmas cardigan to a place where they charge £26 for their cheapest steak with no sides, and everyone else is dressed impeccably. He completely genuinely remarked it was a great idea, when I tossed it on. But you know what, in my fashion credential-less opinion, it totally worked. I mean no one looked at me weirdly, and it made me feel super Christmassy, so that to me is working. I think the pros of having a Christmas cardigan is it is maybe easier to class it up than a full on Christmas jumper, I just picked mine up for a tenner at a vintage shop a couple of years ago and it still going strong.

This doesn't quite show the glory of this Topshop jumpsuit, but the camera was making it look weird in the crotch area, a standard jumpsuit problem... take a better look here. (At the jumpsuit, not my crotch, obviously). I am also wearing some Nine West court shoes I bought when I was 15, but have come back in, cosy'know, leopard print is a neutral.

2. Hungover:

And how I am wearing my Christmas cardigan today. Cos when you are feeling mopey from all the booze you drank the night before, it definitely perks you up when you look down or see your reflection in a mirror, and it distracts you from the massive bags under your eyes and your ridiculous hair. Also, I am double jumper-ing, which keeps you snug now it is getting nippy noodles, plus means you can peel off and then throw on layers when you are getting the hangover sweats and chills.

The Christmas Jumper is my vintage one I am wearing above (it is not actually so wibbly wobbly, it is just my rubbish editing), the checked jumper is £40 from Oasis, and then I've got some cosy fairisle leggings from Boohoo, for a bargain of £10 

3. Clubbing:

Hells yeah. If there was such a thing as a sexy Christmas jumper, surely it is this one from Toppers. Paired with these shorts as well you will feel fabulously Christmassy and yet like hot stuff. Although you may feel like actual hot and sweaty stuff, so maybe stick a little something underneath. I love this top from ASOS. I found it in LOOK magazine, but I can't find it anywhere on the website - but I am keeping an eye out in the new in section for it!

Jumper,£46, faux fur rabbit heels, £58, dark green velvet shorts, £36 all Topshop.
Bejewelled top, £28, somewhere on ASOS...

4. To the office:

Of course this Friday 12th December it is Save the Children's Christmas jumper day, which raises funds for children all over the world by getting people here in the UK to work a Christmas jumper at work. However, I personally think you can get away with a Christmas jumper every day, no? I just dressed up an old M&S pencil skirt, and Zara shirt, and smartened things up by nipping it in with a waist belt. Tomorrow's outfit to get me out of my Monday morning blues sorted.

5. To a Christmas party:

Obvs yesterday I just wore my velvet jumpsuit, but next Christmas party I am desperate to bring out this tutu I bought last week in the ASOS Black Friday sale. I personally think you can totally casual up a tutu with a jumper, and I think with this adorable M&S jumper it would be perfect to a low key Christmas drinks do.

This adorable Robin jumper is from Marks&Sparks and is in the sale at £20.50, Tutu (this is actually a tall version, even though I am 5'3 but I like it cos it means it goes past the knee, and thus you look less than a child) £60, ASOS.  Velvet navy blue heeled boots, £45, ASOS.

6. Sunday pub: I really love the idea of un-grannying a Christmas jumper with a leather skirt. This one is particularly ungrannyish because of all the zips. It is really similar to a baby blue Zara pleather skirt they had in in the summer, and I get so much wear out of that one, I think this River Island black one is defo worth the investment.

Pug Rudoph jumper, £18, Boohoo,  Key embellished blouse, in the sale at £17.50, M&S,  Real leather zip detail black skirt, £70, River Island, Patent black boots, £78, Office

7. Just out and about: Ice skating, Christmas shopping, lazing on the sofa and attempting to get drunk on mulled wine, for me, my favourite way to wear a Christmas jumper is just with wooly tights, a neutral dress and my favourite boots.

8. On Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day: Because you have to wear a Christmas jumper every day of Christmas whether it is with your wonderful faux fur trimmed dress, or just with your turkey eating leggings on.

9. On Christmas Jumper day. And of course, as well as standing out from the crowd in your Christmas jumper, blend into a crowd too, and do something lovely together. Support Christmas jumper day this Friday, and raise funds for children all over the world that don't have all the opportunities, education and basic things like food, water toilets and a good chance of making it through childhood, which of course every one should. Find out more about how you can raise money by bringing out your Christmas jumper here.

I don't normally write fashion posts, but I am super hungover today, so this seemed like a good excuse to basically shop online and try on all my new favourite clothes.

If you are feeling in the Christmas spirit now, you might enjoy this post: Loner: 12 things to do alone which will get you feeling all Christmassy and warm inside