My Month in Favourites – March 2016

The highlight of March was, without a doubt, booking flights to Canada for October! It's been 10 years since I lived there and I am already getting excited thinking about all the people I'll see again, places I'll revisit and things I'll eat and buy. Oh Canada, I've missed you! On the bookish side this month I had the opportunity to go to the Scholastic Bloggers Book Feast (one of my favourite blogger events to date), a YA evening at Waterstones, and Transworld's latest women's fiction evening. I also checked out some fab new exhibits in London and even went down to York for the long weekend (more about that soon).

With spring lingering in the air, I am making April the month I will venture more outside again (I want to give my bike a good dust off and explore some walking trails in my new area as well). But for now, have a round-up of some of my favourite non-bookish things from March, including a new restaurant discovery, an Etsy shop I've fallen in love with, some inspirational links and, quite possibly, the best hot chocolate ever.
 

Wahleeah Restaurant

Always eager to try new places to eat in London, we stopped by Wahleeah in Fulham Broadway a few weeks ago and we instantly fell in love with the original, homemade menu and the incredibly friendly service from the owner. I didn't visit for review but will write a full blog about them soon as I absolutely fell in love with the place. Highlights of the meal included a gorgeous piece of juicy pork belly with smoked plums and chimichurri (the smokiness of the tangy plums added an interesting dept to the dish) and a divine homemade cheese infused with ham. The owner told us they now make seven different cheeses themselves (including a black garlic cheese) and they're looking to sell these separately in the future as well, so I'll definitely be keeping my eyes open for those!

The. Best. Hot. Chocolate. Ever.

Speaking of food, when I was in York over Easter, one of the places we went to was York's Chocolate Story. The fascinating attraction details the histories of the three well-known chocolate families in York, while we also got to sample some of the delights on the tour and even decorate our own chocolate lollies. However, the best thing about our visit was actually the hot chocolates we bought beforehand. Mine was the milk hot chocolate with caramel, marshmallows and whipped cream and I can honestly say it was the most delicious hot chocolate I've ever had the pleasure to drink. It was rich and gooey, clearly made from real chocolate, and lots of it, while the caramel added a sweet touch that made me ohh and ahh with every sip I took. My friend ordered a white hot chocolate with mint, and other additions we could've picked included chili and orange. Definitely worth a visit.

Give a Goat Campaign

I said this would be a non-bookish round-up, but who am I kidding, I will always slip in a novel, or two. Besides reading and talking about books (a lot), I hugely enjoy keeping up with what's happening within the publishing world, including exciting marketing campaigns. One that caught my eye this month and I thought absolutely brilliant is the campaign for Joanna Cannon's The Trouble With Goats and Sheep (read my review here), which spreads the word about the book by letting readers RT a message. A Herd-o-Meter counts the amount of retweets and for each new batch of RTs (matching a target) the publisher will donate a goat to a village in need. How brilliant is that? RT here to help more villages get a goat!

Etsy shop: BSILVER925

I love tiny silver studs. They're my favourite piece of jewellery and I own more pairs than is probably sensible. Nonetheless I keep looking for new additions to my collection and I found a fantastic (and really cheap) shop on Etsy, which sells a wide range of sterling silver jewellery I am eyeing. The shop is called BSILVER925, and I'm particularly interested in the white pearl owl studs, Mickey Mouse studs, red ladybug studs, owl studs (yes, another pair), and leaf studs. For less than £2 for a pair of earrings, I don't know what I'm even still waiting for.

Magnetic Bookmarks

You know how one Etsy browse usually leads to another? Yeah, that. I came across some adorable magnetic bookmarks and that made me Google more. I now want all of these: Rusty and Friends, Forest Friends, Woodland Friends (I see a 'friendly' theme occurring here), and these cute London ones. As I mentioned in my previous 'month in favourites' post, I'm absolutely addicted to the Amazon wish list browser button and it has come in very handy to keep track of all the adorable and completely unnecessary items I come across online and I want to add to my own collection. Perhaps not quite as good for my wallet, but browsing it all is so much fun!

Lovely Links

Finally, here are some fun and inspirational links I enjoyed in the month of March: the announcement of the YA Book Prize short list (how many have you read? I've read three so far and five more are already on my TBR), there is a penguin who travels 5,000 miles to reunite with his human (faith in the world = restored), Hillary Clinton answers a girl's question about bullying (so inspirational!), tilted poems look like miniature cities, and a cheeky dog who will make you laugh.


What were some of your favourites things you enjoyed or discovered in the month of March? And what are you already looking forward to in April? Let me know in the comments below!