Category: Love Actually

Love Actually

I love shortbread, actually

thegirlinthecafe 6 Comments

I heart shortbread

Passing the baker on my way to work (yes on Saturday!), my eye fell on this heart shaped one. I am glad I live in an area where we still have a real baker. Even though they are not open on Sundays like they were in Denmark, real bakers are the best.

But clearly I had to get one of those, erhm ….
“I want one of those heartshaped ones.Is it a Jammie Dodger?”
Of course it wasn’t. This was just a normal heart shaped shortbread the baker told me.
He did have really big Jammie Dodgers though, he said. And they looked scrummy too, maybe next time.
I told him that the whole British cookie – biscuit – shortbread-Jammie Dodger-cake-scone tradition still is beyond me. It feels like you need a university degree to become a baker, just to learn about all those different type. He thought that was funny.

What would we call a cookie/biscuit like this in the Netherlands I wonder?

And I really need to plan a proper afternoon tea in London one day. Just to indulge in all this sweetness.

Love Actually, in a box

thegirlinthecafe 4 Comments

Love Actually, in a box

I was wandering around the market on Portobello Road again. Mainly because it was lunch time and the weather is so nice at the moment, but also because I was trying to get some pictures of the market for Kate, as she asked for it a while ago (and I am happy to answer to everybody’s photo requests). Did you know that last week both Posh Spice (Ms. Beckham – and who cares) and Justin Timberlake (am not a major fan, but wouldn’t mind spilling my cup of orange juice on his shirt while I come around the corner with it …) have been spotted walking on the loose on Portobello Road?

The pictures I took are not great (taken with my mobile phone), Hugh Grant is not on them, but it gives some sort impression of what it looks like: Notting Hill, Portobello Market on a Friday afternoon in the summer: Portobello Market 1 and number 2.

I am not that big a fan of Flickr, but it is very handy to post to with my mobile while I am on the move. And what I do like is that you can plot your pictures on a map. Here is mine.

While I was taking those pictures, I stumbled over Love, Actually again. This time I found Love in a carton box, for only £1,50.
Sure sounds cheap to me …

I am currently in this mode again, because I have one, and maybe even 2 interesting things to tell you, but I am waiting for a confirmation. So you have to wait with me.

In the mean time: I hope you’re not completely tired of my Love Actually obession just yet. Because I am afraid there is more to come. At least this time I won’t ask you if you ever bought love, for 1.50.

Love Actually, in a tree

thegirlinthecafe 9 Comments


Love Actually, in a tree on the heath

They still exist, the true romantics.

“Ah love, a dreaded bond, yet so easily severed …”

And then there are those that are more sceptical.

This picture is taken on Hampstead Heath, and I expect the carvings to be several years old.
Did they live happily ever after I wonder.

Have you ever carved the name of your loved one in a tree?

Tina Dickow – Dingwalls, Camden

thegirlinthecafe 7 Comments

Drawing with Light
Drawing with lights in Dingwalls : Love Actually in Lights

It was about half a year ago I last saw her, in Dingwalls in Camden. At that time I had just arrived in London. Now 6 months later, Camden is a place I know relatively well, and I am no longer that intimidated by the “Do you want skunk” question. I rushed there right after work, needed something to eat and decided to give the happy hour ?2 Chinese shop a go. I hoped my stomach would be happy for more than an hour with this, and I didn’t want to know how long this food had been simmering, probably all day. A large coke in Dingwalls takes care of most of the possible stomach disturbers. Tina Dickow is magical, her songs still seem to hit something as I found myself crying more than once during the concert.
It was a good night.

Here is a bit for you to hear

(limited availability – you’re too late …)
She is touring the UK at the moment, highly recommended.

One
One touch can fill a life of longing
Not much is so much more than nothing
Yeah – All you need is
One
An open smile to win you over
One single step will bring you closer
Yeah – All it takes is one

And when you?re running for cover
And you feel the sky falling down upon you
And when it feels like forever
Since you?ve seen the face of someone who loves you

Then one is all that you need
All that you need to keep you warm
Is all that you need
All that you need to move you on
It?s all that you need
All you need is

One

Love Actually on a wall

thegirlinthecafe 7 Comments

Love Actually on a wall
Every day I bike past this anonymous appartmentbuilding, because it is located about 50 meters from where I work. And suddenly one day (about a week or two ago) the building got a bit more interesting. I know that graffitti normally shouldn’t be encouraged, but today I brought my camera, stopped shortly, and here you go. I always have to smile when I pass it.

Love Actually on a wall.