February 13th – officially Galentine’s day. Now I’ve never been one to celebrate these types of things, however as a bunch of friends had organised a meet-up on said date, it seemed rude not to!
Seeing as our group opted for a Valentine’s colour theme (yes, we are that kind of group), I went for a red and white combo. The dress is from St Cyr Vintage in Camden. I added a cropped cardigan and a Jenny from Vivien of Holloway. As the weather was foul, I popped on my Elements rain coat – beret added for extra hair protection.
To kick things off, I met up with Kelly, Becky, Lara (birthday girl) and Eve at Notting Hill Gate station. From here, we gawped at brooches at The Hirst Collection, grabbed a French cuppa and caught up with Eva at What Katie Did.
In need of calm and recharging, we got to Fortnum and Mason in time for our booking. We kicked off with some fizz, which slipped down nicely. There was a wide array of teas to choose from but I managed to settle on rhubarb, raspberry and nettle – a refreshing blend. I was pleased to hear that the entire tea service was able to be replenished – a few extra cakes and sandwiches is never a bad idea.
The sarnies were filled with classic fillings: smoked salmon, cucumber and coronation chicken for example. All were rather scrummy. For me, the highlight of the tea was the scones. These were the BEST scones I’ve ever had – buttery, crisp on the outside and perfectly baked in the middle. Decent helpings of cream and jam were piled on top and upon eating, I was in scone heaven. I would go back just for these.
On to the cakes, which were Valentine’s-themed. There was a rose choux, a rhubarb and custard biscuit affair, a chocolate-coffee-hazelnut fondant fancy, a raspberry and lychee swirl and chocolate and cherry heart macaron. I was quite enamoured by the the macaron and the rhubarb and custard patisserie. There was a cake trolley too but we were all far too stuffed to even consider trying any!
Waddling like over-stuffed penguins, we took the tube to Holloway Road to peruse what Vivien of Holloway had on offer. All of us enjoyed a decent trying on session.
Our next stop was Covent Garden for some evening mooching. Kelly and I were pretty pooped from our day out so we headed off home.
On the train home, I reflected on the day. There was so much love and joy shared between the five of us. Having struggled a lot with friendships and acceptance in my teens, I thought I’d never find people I could truly connect with. I was wrong. Online, I’ve found a small handful of people that have had such a positive impact on my life. On days like this when we actually get to hang out, I just feel content and warm. I do not have many friends but the friends that I do have mean an awful lot to me.
