Sundaze 261: Tendril, kitchen garden and Summer Fridays

Hello Sundaze.

It feels nice to pop my head in and write a post, especially because it has truly been crickets around here. Sure, I’ve posted a few Instagram Stories and I’m somewhat active on Threads and @daisybutterbookcafe, but I’ve, still, largely been away from the blog. It’s felt surprisingly nice. Before our Athens trip, I’d been working on many blog posts but none of them felt very authentically ‘me’. Blogging has moved so much in recent years and I feel like I’m forever trying to strike the balance between sharing the personal bits (that I genuinely do still love sharing!) and the more meaningful content that is evergreen and draws new readers in.

Well, I haven’t really come to any conclusion on what to write or post next. For the first time in a long time, I’m not working on any current or upcoming blog posts! And that’s fine. I am slowly – ahem, very slowly! – working on revising a few plotlines of my WIP novel. And I’m leaning into revelling in the moment more. That is, letting my brain soak in what I’m doing and not constantly attempt to tease out ‘the story’. Journo graduate problems.

Anyway! I did still quite fancy writing my fortnightly Sundaze. So, here I am, perched mildly uncomfortably on the sofa (I don’t understand how anybody comfortably types from their sofa, where do your elbows go?!) and ready to recap the last two weeks…

A mid-week dinner at Tendril Kitchen

Last week, I popped for a mid-week catch-up with an old colleague and it was so much fun! Even though it’s definitely sad to see colleagues move on to new workplaces, I’m so proud of her and it just gives us another excuse to try out more restaurants around the city. New beginnings bring the beauty of hindsight and we had the loveliest evening together. As of next week, our London office closes for the summer and I’ll be solely working from home for a month, so I’ve consciously scheduling in more London dates!

On Wednesday, though, we headed to Tendril to visit their newly (re)opened permanent location. They specialise in being a (mostly) vegan restaurant – they tend to have two or three vegetarian dishes – with a changing, seasonal menu. I’ve visited twice before, and haven’t been disappointed once! Standouts this time included the grilled cabbage and the chipotle mushroom. Just delicious. A must-visit if you’re in town.

Growing my first-ever courgette!

Our terrarium-making date night

On Friday night, my boyfriend and I switched up our usual date night with a fun terrarium-making workshop. I spotted this small business a few weekends ago at a market, when I was out with my girls, and thought it’d be a super fun way to spend a Summer Friday.

The workshop was engaging and fun, and we both got to take home beautiful geometric glass case terrariums. Since I recently waved farewell to my longest-standing houseplant of three years, I’m excited to find the perfect space either in my bedroom or office to pop this baby. If you’re local to Hitchin, we couldn’t recommend this experience at Plantiful Terrariums more!

Links I’ve Loved

1. As a proud fangirl of many fandoms for many years, I really enjoyed and appreciated this feature on refinery29 about the misogyny towards ‘fangirls’.
2. I added this Arthur library card to my Kindle and everyone loved it!
3. These lunch meal prep ideas look and sound delicious.
4. Stocked up some of these AIRism cooling camis, which I’m forever wearing on WFH days with a cardigan on top.
5. My friend Kristabel has started sharing monthly newsletters… and the first is great!
6. I’m often asked for my seasonal book recommendations, but I’m really more of a mood reader. While I’m going to work on book ‘edits’ soon, for now, The Espresso Edition has a great summer reading list.

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How was your week? And, if you’ve made it this far, I’d love to know which posts you love reading from me and if there are any posts you’d still like to see on Daisybutter!