Eat cake!

Hmm, there's a definite theme developing today...

We went on a family outing to Stoke Newington Church Street on Saturday - I used to live there but I hadn't been back in about six years (I feel old...). It's still as shabby chic as ever, though there are a few more vintage shops and baby stores, the salsa bar and jazz place have gone, and the house prices have definitely gone up (no way we could afford it now!).

Anyway, the most exciting discovery of the day was a genuine old-fashioned tea room! Ok, it can only have been there a few years but it's the closest I've found in London to a proper tea and cake joint. Called The Tea Rooms, it does what it says on the tin - quaint little tablecloths, retro crockery (which it also sells), proper brown Betty teapots and cakes to die for.

I fell off the cake wagon last week (I was surrounded by birthday cakes, what's a girl to do?) and I was going to jump back on again but there's no way I could resist the offer of their afternoon tea. We had finger sandwiches (half of them veggie), scones with clotted cream and jam (not enough cream for Mark) and three miniature cakes (ginger, chocolate and a delicious heart-shaped carrot cake), plus a large pot of the house tea which was the perfect antidote to a rainy day.

At £10 for that little lot it was an absolute bargain (and much nicer than the giant Liberty's tea that's almost twice the price and nowhere near as authentic). It's not that easy to haul a buggy down to Stokey from our end of town but we'll definitely be making a return visit soon.