• We love good food.
   
• We love good customer service.
   
• And recently I have got rather fond of Twitter.

This week all three came together when I saw a tweet from The Ginger Pig introducing their new smoked pork sausage rolls.

The Ginger Pig is a fantastic butchers selling fantastic meat. As they say on their website… there is no great secret to what they do, they simply raise the best animals, in the happiest of circumstances and you can really taste this in their meat.

Back to the sausage rolls. When I saw the tweet, I couldn’t resist the sound of them; so tweeted back that I hoped there would be some left when I got down to Shepherds Bush later. I needed to go to Westfield (my idea of hell) so the thought of being able to pop down the road to this fab butchers made the trip so much easier to bear!

After a bit of toing and froing on twitter it was discovered that their shop in Askew Road W12 wasn’t receiving the new sausage rolls until the next day, but a chap very kindly offered to drop two down there for me specially.

After a quick chat with one of their super friendly and knowledgeable butchers, I came out laden with sausage rolls, a couple of sirloin steaks and a bunch of the first of the new season’s British asparagus. 

I bought raw sausage rolls to cook at home (but they are available pre cooked) and the smell whilst they were cooking was just so good that our mouths were watering by the time they were ready. 

Moist, perfect pastry, amazing flavour of the smoked pork and paprika, rich, but not too rich. 

We will never be able to eat a ‘normal’ sausage rolls again!

The following morning, the kitchen still had just a hint of the smokey smell, in a good, not bad lingering smell way!
 
As Kell said the next day “I am still dreaming of those sausage rolls”. If only we had had more for breakfast!

Ginger Pig Butchers can be found in 5 locations around London and 3 farms in Yorkshire.  Or follow them on Twitter.

On our way to Pizza East Portobello for the great aperitivo hour, we bump in to film director Richard Loncraine. He had generated quite a lot of interest with his crazy antique Italian bike with the handlebars behind the saddle. Mr Skött, a bike fanatic himself, could not resist having a ride on it, and afterwards a look at Richard’s new Cyclepedia App that he has just developed.

Meanwhile the Skött spaniels were invited to the Grufts exhibition at Graffik gallery on Portobello Road.  Here they tucked into treats from Pet Pavilion while the grown ups enjoyed Bulldog Gin cocktails and viewed the great dog portraits. Then it was off to Doyle Devere gallery for champagne and the launch of fashion house Paper London’s lovely new collection, where Mrs Skött was seen admiring the exquisite silk tops and tailored trousers – all in great colours with a 1960’s feel to them.

Being tall, blonde (when it’s not dyed red) and blue eyed, Mrs Skött is often mistaken for a Scandinavian even though she is a born and bred north Londoner. She sometimes seem to be more Scandinavian than a lot of Danes, becoming engrossed in Danish TV series, embracing the wonderfulness of Danish interior design, eating herrings and drinking Akvavit with gusto.  We were delighted when Signe Johansen, author of the Scandilicious Cookbook popped into the salon.  There was lots of Scandi food talk and a plan in the pipeline to hold a local Scandi baking class. Watch this space.

First published in Absolutely Notting Hill April 2012.

Lily came in to the salon and saw Senior Stylist Raul, who gave her happy hair and put a big smile on her face.  

She drew this great picture, which made us happy so we thought we would share with you!

And it’s not just in clothing; this season pastel colours creep into hair world and it is proving to be a major trend on the runways and on celebrities with light blues, lavenders, greens, pinks and peaches being seen.

 
Playing with colour is a good way to update your look, but it can take being a bit brave to experiment with  pastel colouring. 

We love this trend in the salon and encourage our clients to experiment with adding bit of ‘candy’ to their hair. 

Our Master Colour Expert Bartholomew loves using Wella Perfecton semi permanent rinses.  They last two washes, meaning you can achieve different tones of blues, lavender and candy pink colours without a long term commitment.

Pastels go perfectly with blondes, a few fine panels through a fringe section or hiding them underneath means they will shimmer through and add interest.  They can also be used to accentuate brunettes and redheads.

 
The soft My-Little-Pony looking pastel hair colours have been seen on many celebrities, with Lady Gaga going for green, Emma Watson choosing pink, Ellie Goulding embracing the look in both pink and purple and Kelly Osbourne sporting lavender.

The enticing menu.

We were welcomed by the wonderful Fatima.

The most delicious fruit bread.

Very cute mini Yorkshire pudding with smoked trout dip in an equally cute pot!

Kell tucking in!

The haricot beans and chorizo went so well with the chicken.

The tartness of the Seville oranges worked so well with the chocolate.

Thanks for a lovely evening, see you at the next one!

Using a rub is an incredibly easy way to produce a delicious meal quickly.  

You can very swiftly turn a plain piece of chicken or fish into a tasty dish.

You can use as a dry rub by simply patting the meat, poultry or fish dry with a piece of kitchen towel before patting the rub in to the meat and then putting on the grill or in the oven.

Or use as a wet rub, by mixing with lemon juice and / or olive or rapeseed oil before coating the meat or fish.

They are also great sprinkled on roasted veg and potato wedges before roasting in the oven.

There are plenty available in the supermarkets now, but our favourite remains the rubs from Nomu,  the first brand we tried in South Africa.  Luckily we don’t have to go that far to pick them up as they are now available online (see the links below) and in Selfridges.

For more ideas on ways to use rubs, check out Nomu’s website.

Nomu rubs available online from Hot Headz and Caracoli and in store and online at Selfridges.

So many restaurants come and go in Notting Hill, but Osteria Basilico, is celebrating 30 years on Kensington Park Road.  We had a lovely long lunch sitting in the window with many clients popping in to say hello. A golden Labrador was pawing at the front door, because even the dogs of W11 have good taste.

There is nothing better than afternoon tea on a cold winter’s day, and we were treated to one at The Aubrey in Kensington thanks to the council’s Bikeminded initiative and their Advent Calendar competition, which we were thrilled to win.

Even better than afternoon tea is a tropical holiday in dark and gloomy February and you don’t get much more tropical than the Maldives. We left Heathrow in -4 and arrived 10 hours later to 34 degrees.  The best bit was swimming with turtles and reef sharks – and no, we don’t mean the Russian Mafia, of which there were plenty!

If Mrs. Skött had her way, she would live in her PJ’s – she is always ahead of her time as pyjamas are having a fashion resurgence this season. So, it was perfect timing to head down to lovely new lingerie boutique, Dolci Follie, who were holding an evening to showcase Olivia Von Halle’s über luxe lounging silk pyjamas.

After the great success of our cocktail invention last month, Mr. Skött is on a roll and has now invented another drink, this time a coffee based one.  Introducing the mocchiato – nope not a macchiato spelt wrongly, but a double espresso blended with the finest organic cocoa powder, a dash of hot milk and froth on top – you heard it here first.

First published in Absolutely Notting Hill March 2012.

I am very particular when it comes to scents of products (finding many things to overpowering or sickly) and am not normally a fan of rose as it is too sweet, but the Moroccan Rose Otto range from REN is far from sickly, it’s a natural scent due to the fact they use 100% pure plant oils and 100% natural fragrance.

All products contain Moroccan Rose Otto oil, which is one of the world’s most expensive and revered oils in the world and REN steam distill the oil from petals harvested at dawn.

My favourite?  It’s so hard to choose, but I think it has to be the Moroccan Rose Otto Bath Oil. It adds such a luxurious feel to any bath, gently nourishes the skin and the delicate scent of rose is renowned for it’s stress relieving and soothing properties.

A big bonus – unlike other bath oils, it does not leave the bath greasy.   And last, but not least, it’s in a very beautiful bottle!

Moroccan Rose Otto Range:

• Moroccan Rose Otto Body Oil
• Moroccan Rose Otto Body Wash
• Moroccan Rose Otto Bath Oil
• Moroccan Rose Otto Body Cream
• Moroccan Rose Otto Sugar Body Polish

I thought I would share them with you….

Daylesford Organic Westbourne Grove

The Cloth Shop Portobello Road

Ralph Lauren Westbourne Grove

Toms Westbourne Grove

Gail's Portobello Road

Pedlars Talbot Road

The Mocchiato, nope it’s not a Macchiato spelt wrongly, is a double espresso blended with the finest organic cocoa powder, a dash of hot milk and topped with froth. It’s available in the salon, served with our famous homemade chocolate brownies, from the beginning of March.