A bit of country side and Benny turns 29

So it has been a busy and cold two weeks in London. We are busy with work and sadly saying goodbye to friends heading back home. Two weekends ago we ventured out of London to the Cotswolds area. Seven of us stayed in a gorgeous cottage in Bibury as a finish to Cam and Elise's time in London. It was a quaint village famous for it's trout farm, about an 1.5 hours from London. The cottage had it's very own fire place. I surprised Benny and became a domestic goddess assisting in preparing and cooking meals. Our friend Britta bought an amazing pork from her local butcher for our roast on Saturday night. It had the works including very good crackling. Thanks to tips I've learnt from Nanna Ritchie. On Saturday we went for a nice country walk to sample some good country pub food and admire the last of the snowfall. We even sampled some of the trout from the farm. On Sunday on our way back we took a drive to visit the other little towns Borden on the Water, Stow on the Wall and Burford.

After our nice relaxing weekend away we headed back to reality. Work was incredibly busy as we were launching a campaign. Benny was turning 29 so we were organising his three nights of birthday celebrations. Thursday, we celebrated with his school friends and their girlfriends at the Alma Pub in Wandsworth. We had many a laughs over good food and wine. The next day, Benny had a few hours drinking with work friends before meeting with me for a fancy dinner at Lima. It is a Peruvian restaurant with unique and yummy food such as Amazonian fish with cocoa crumbled on the top.  We ended the meal with a lovely cocktail and a birthday treat from the restaurant.

On Saturday night, Ben had his final night of celebrating with some more friends that we have met since moving here. One of our friends celebrates his birthday the day after Benny, so we thought it best to celebrate together. Eight of us dined at another great find, Entree on Battersea Rise in Clapham. They are renowned for their pork belly, which Benny selected. I had my first poached duck egg with duck breast and salad. I even had barramundi for my main. After dinner we joined more friends downstairs for cocktails at the restaurant's piano bar. We had a great night and stayed until last drinks were poured.

Sunday was no day for relaxing. We were off out and about to Elise and Cam's leaving lunch. We went to Ping Pong for all you can eat dim sum feast. We stayed there for a few hours before I skipped off to Knightsbridge to meet a  very old friend who was in town from Brisbane. I had a few drinks with him before heading home to relax. It was a lovely weekend with friends but also sad as there seems to be too many farewell events. I'm excited though to have Em and Sam moving over in a week and a half. It is going to be great.