The month that was: November

What happened:
We celebrated Olly's birthday at the start of the month, and his present from me was the BB8 droid (my nephew got the toy version for his birthday). Needless to say, he was very happy with it! We also headed to Kent the weekend after his birthday to celebrate with his family, catch up with friends, and watch a firework display. As for his birthday itself, we had a relaxing day. That's something to be said about working two days, having Wednesday off, then it's only two more working days until the weekend!

This month I finally listened to the Undisclosed podcast, which is a follow-up podcast to Serial, plus some of the Truth and Justice episodes. I thought that Serial was eye-opening but I am even more astounded after listening to Undisclosed that the case wasn't thrown out because of the missing /shoddy and seemingly tampered with evidence/witnesses. Has anyone else listened to these? I also started listening to Limetown, a fictional podcast - I'm not quite convinced about the story at the moment, but I'll see how it plays out - and I've also been listening to some of the BookD podcasts.

We headed to Marlow to have dinner at Tom Kerridge's The Hand and Flowers and stayed over, then headed to Bicester the next day for a bit of shopping. To be honest, I didn't really rate Bicester (Arielle would be appalled!) as I found a few things that I'd bought recently online to be more expensive at Bicester!

Other than that I've been hard at work earning money to ensure that I can take some months off at the start of next year to get Found finished. The cover is finished, and I'll be revealing it once it's available for pre-order.

What I ate:
We headed to Honest Burgers at Brixton Village which was Olly's first visit. Thankfully, especially as it was his birthday, he loved it. We ate at The Vineyard in Lamberhurst with Olly's sister and her husband and enjoyed some delicious gastropub/hearty country food. I had a beautiful wild boar meatball starter; other dishes we ordered included a yummy game pie, succulent scallops (below) and tasty venison medallions. Definitely go if you're in the area.

I discovered Taqueria on Westbourne Grove, which is an awesome Mexican restaurant if you're in the Notting Hill area. (I still love Wahaca, but it's always nice to try new places, especially since Wahaca is considered a chain nowadays!) Tacos from there pictured above right.

I was lucky enough to do some two Michelin Star dining at Tom Kerridge's The Hand and Flowers. We ate there last November, too, so it's becoming something of a November tradition! I'll review it soon, but we had a lovely meal, and I was particularly thrilled with my dessert (above right). It's a mini planet - how awesome is that! The next morning we had breakfast at The Coach, Tom's other Marlow eatery, which was nice enough.

What I watched:
TV-wise I followed Hugh's War on Waste with a super keen interest, and I urge you all to sign the pledge but also make sure that you recycle and try not to waste food. We also started watching the last season of Peep Show and season 7 of Nurse Jackie.

Movies watched: Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Fast & Furious 7, Cleaner, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, The Wedding Ringer, Paris When it Sizzles, Pitch Perfect 2, Independence Day, Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, X-Men: First Class, Angels and Demons, Tangled, Taken 3, Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace, Sister Act and Inside Out.

What I read:
In November I read 16 books and abandoned reading 3 books. I enjoyed reading From Italy With Love and From Paris With Love This Christmas by Jules Wake, The Assassin and the Desert by Sarah J. Maas, The Short Drop by Mattthew FitzSimmons, Little Black Lies by Sharon Bolton, Blackout by Mira Grant and The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen.

How was your November? (And how is it December already?!) x