The Good Egg is a restaurant that's been on my list to visit for a good few years. The Jewish eatery, basing its menu on Tel Aviv street food, has won lots of praise for its brunch menu. But the original one is based in Stoke Newington, an area of north London not known for its transport links so I've never made it down to the area. But this year I'm keen to explore parts of London I've not been to before so we arranged a day out with Hannah and her boyfriend Steve to hunt for records in charity shops, go on a mini bar crawl and stuff our faces.
Located in Church Street, a road in Stokey that's known for delicious places to eat, The Good Egg is famous for having large queues but luckily we only had a ten minute wait when we arrived. Settling down we scoured the menu and decided on a few dishes to share. I opted for the the vegetarian option of the Jerusalem Breakfast with crispy halloumi. A feast consisting of little versions of the breakfast plates on the menu. I adored the delicious dips of whipped green feta, house Labneh and beats and dills. They were so addictive. I just wish there was more of the pita bread to dip. We shared a spicy halloumi Shakshuka which was a little too tight on the cheese for my liking, but still pretty tasty, and fluffy cornbread paired with a herby spread.
Service was brilliant, prices were very reasonable and the food was amazing. If you're looking for something a little different from the bog-standard brunch places then The Good Egg is your guy. You can't book at the Stokey branch but they have another one more central in Kingly Court where you can. I'm desperate to go back and sample the dinner menu. The short-rib shawarma is calling my name!
Something strange happened last weekend, the bank holiday was a scorcher. I don't think I can remember a bank holiday when it hasn't rained! So we did what all Brits do when the sun decides to appear - we went to the coast!
Margate had been on my list to visit for ages. Situated in Kent, it's been nicknamed Shoreditch-On-Sea thanks to the abundance of hipster shops and restaurants that have opened up. Despite an 90 minute car journey taking three hours, we arrived to a cloudless sky and the sun beating down on our faces ready to stuff our faces with ice cream and chips.
On first impressions Margate was a bit meh. It wasn't any different to any Essex seaside towns I'd been too and I wasn't quite sure that it was worth the trip. I'd wanted to visit Fort's Cafe for breakfast so we made a beeline for some grub. Service was pretty slow but the food was delicious. I highly recommend the Welsh rarebit if you ever find yourself in this part of the world. We ended up on the 2p machines in the arcades and took a wander along the seafront before stopping for a Diet Coke on a terrace overlooking the sea. It wasn't until we were on our way back to the car that we stumbled across the old town. This was the part of Margate that I had been looking forward to seeing!
It was chock-a-block of cute vintage shops, delicious looking restaurants and quirky looking buildings. We went rummaging and came out with a couple of records for our collection and a scoop of the most delicious ice cream. So creamy. Annoyingly I can't remember the name of the shop but it had a great vintage shop next door so keep an eye out for that! I wish we'd had more time here and it's 100% the place I'd head back to first if I find myself in Margate again. I'm not sure I'm in any rush to go back but I feel like I'm missing the appeal somehow. Maybe I should go back so I can finally see what the fuss is all about!
Outfit:
Red midi dress: Primark (similar)
Light wash denim jacket: Primark (similar)
White espadrille sandals: Next (similar)
Red leather backpack: Michael Kors (similar)
I'm a dreamer. A girl that always has her heads in the clouds. A girl who always has 101 dreams she wants to fulfil. Ask my boyfriend about all my big ideas and he'll tell you he's the one who has to be my anchor to make sure I live in the real world. My main dream in life were to work for a newspaper. There were times when I never thought this would happen. Namely when I was interning for free for a whole year gaining job rejection after job rejection. And when I was made redundant from my first magazine job and making no waves in the freelance world. But finally it happened. Finally I was able to say that I did in fact work for a newspaper. Dream ticked off. But alongside that main dreams were little ones. I've always wanted to live in London. But now I've bought a house on the outskirts in Essex. I've always wanted to travel the world. But I've only actually been outside Europe twice, both to the States. I've always wanted a Chanel handbag. But realistically could never justify spending a couple of grand on a bag when I have a lemonade purse.
You put hours upon hours of time and energy trying to make your dreams come true. Everything you work towards in life has an end goal of making that dream come true. We're taught that if we work hard enough then our dreams do come true. So it can be so soul-destroying when you feel like you're not getting anywhere. They start to consume every hour of your waking day and you feel like a failure because it's just not working out how you imagine. As you get older, those dreams seem to get further and further away. Real life gets in the way and before you know it you're tied down with a mortgage and suddenly hit the grand old age of 29. Buying this house felt so final. In a way, it felt like I was giving up on the dreams I had yet to fulfil. I think that was why it took me a good few months to get my head around it. I was mourning the loss of my dreams. Owning a house is such a big commitment and one that we would be tied into for the next 35 years.
As we got our offer accepted on the house, I realised that I probably wasn't going to live in London. We bought a doer-upper home in Essex as house prices were cheaper. It's a huge project and thanks to lack of funds, one that will probably take about five years to complete. We did have high hopes of buying and renting it out then renting in London. But that's looking unlikely as who will want to rent a building site and after all this hard work, I'll be damned if someone else gets to live in here! I've also had to accept that I might not have a year travelling the world. I'm going to have my travel fix through weekends away and a two weeks trip. Those dreams that 16-year-old Sophie had are put on the back burner and I'm unsure if they'll ever come true.
It's ok to finally put a dream in a box and accept that it's never going to fulfilled. Some dreams just aren't meant to be, no matter how much you wish they are. Instead concentrate on what you have achieved, not what you haven't. Think about everything else you've done, maybe even things that didn't even figure on your list. Sometimes we achieve dreams without ever realising they were dreams in the first place. And sometimes those are the best ones.
