The Riverside Biertgarden - Cambridge

I love street food, and London used to be the only place where there was a good scene for this close to me. I love London, I do, but sometimes it would be nice to know you can try new street food more locally without having to take a train. Thanks to social media I found out about a company in Cambridge which has started hosting food trucks outside their venue on Chesterton Road and also organising a German style biertgarden at the Cambridge Museum of Technology right on the riverside throughout the summer.  

We had a free weekend so the two of us decided to check it out for a little date night. Cambridge is only a short(ish) busride from us and the Cambridge Museum of Technology is only a short walk from there. This particular Saturday evening in Cambridge was lovely and warm, everyone around seemed in good spirits and we couldn't wait for some music, drinks and great food. 

We arrived fairly early, greeted by a 1986 Trabant as we came in, so got a seat right by the food trucks and immediately started planning what we were going to eat first. First though, drink. I chose a tart cider which I really enjoyed so must find it again. The bars also only accept contactless payment so you don't have to worry about taking a lot of money out with you. 

There's not always the same traders there and they keep this updated on their social media so go and give them a follow so you don't miss out. This week they had Warm and Toastie, The Proper Pizza Company and Greek Mezze Club.

 Pizza is happiness, pizza is life. Pizza was first. We LOVE making it at home in the pizza oven in the garden so we always end up basically trying to chat up these food trucks to learn their secrets. No time for that though, two minutes and the pizzas were done! I ordered the meaty one and he ordered one with mushrooms. Yes, one each. Nikki doesn't share food. Also, mushrooms and not life for me. I really liked this pizza, great ratio of sauce and toppings, hot and a good base. Ticked all of the boxes. 

You'd think we'd be full after a whole pizza each, no, just no. This is the beauty of street food, you can always force another dish in...or three. So we took a trip to the Warm and Toastie van. There's very few things that a cheese toastie doesn't fix, so if you love cheese you can't give these guys a miss. The menu was great, lots of choices and they had gluten free options too. We went for Vegan (yes, VEGAN!) rocket with tomato and chilli chutney with vegan cheese. I didn't read the vegan part when we chose it and I really didn't know the difference to be honest. That said, they had a rather lovely looking pulled pork one I might have to test out next time. 

The DJ was in full swing, the smells coming from the vans incredible, and the place was full of people out all for the same reason and finally (and incredibly) we were full. Full of excellent food, great drinks and decided to stroll back down the riverside, through the parks, back to the bus to finish the evening outside in the garden. 

I'm now just waiting for the next evening we can go back to Cambridge to check out who will be trading that week, I think a third course is in store next time! 

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Cherry Dollface Photo Shoot at Le Keux!

Some people say you should never meet your heroes, WRONG! I'm glad I didn't listen to them, meeting Cherry was one of the best experiences I've had. So forgive me, this post is two years in the making. I'm not entirely sure why it's actually taken me so long.  I've shared these images on my Instagram so it's about time I show them off properly. Cherry Dollface was my gateway into the vintage/pinup scene. I'd always loved it but didn't realise there was a whole world of people out there who lived this life daily, that is until Instagram and Youtube. Since discovering this wonderful world I've met some of the most wonderful women you could imagine, empowering, encouraging and inspiring. It all started for me because I wanted to do my eyebrows in a pinup style and I found Cherry's channel. 

Then I realised she also did videos about how to style your hair, and so the interest grew. I've kept up to date with her videos and posts ever since and I found out she was doing a UK tour and offering photo shoot packages with hair and make up done by her lovely self, I couldn't turn it down so I signed up and patiently waited. 

The shoot took place at Le Keux Vintage Salon in Birmingham, a place I had been wanting to visit for a while actually. They do photo shoots, hair, make up and offer lots of different packages so it's definitely worth a visit. I arrived with a dress I had made especially for this occasion, a leopard and cherry print dress with a huge skirt and underskirt. It was the most complicated dress I've ever made and it was by no means perfect but I loved it. I found the fabric in a little shop in Lyme Regis called Sew-La-Di-Da Vintage and I managed the buy the last of the stock they had of it so I had to make sure I turned it into something fabulous and I feel like I did it justice.

The salon is wonderful and the staff were amazing. Lynsey looked after me and talked me through what would be happening and really put me at ease. Not having done anything like this before I was a bit nervous and really excited to meet Cherry. You could hear her before you could see her, bouncing around and chatting excitedly with the lady she was shooting with before me. Before it was turn I had a little look around at the rooms available to use for shoots. Spoiler - they're all great.

So it was turn, meeting Cherry was lovely, she was so warm and full of fun you instantly felt excited. I hadn't had my make up and hair done professionally a lot so it was a real treat and I had intended to pay a lot of attention so I could replicate it at home. Unfortunately I was too caught up in conversation with Cherry to pay proper attention to all the processes so styling my hair successfully with heat still remains a mystery to me. 

Make up close up (excuse the millions of filters)

I love how she did my make up, I used to always use eyeliner on the bottom of my lids but she didn't and I couldn't believe how big it made my eyes look. She gave me a bright red lip also, I love red lips but never felt too confident with them like I couldn't quite pull them off because my lips were big and I felt I looked like I'd just pushed my face into jam. But then Cherry said something that has forever changed how I feel about my lips, she said I only feel like that because I have big lips, this doesn't mean I can't wear it and basically that my big lips were wonderful. Since then I've worn lipstick almost every day and love when they look big and bold rather than shying away from them. Big lips embraced. Tick.

I have no idea how she did what she did to my hair, she did tell me, and the products she used. But I can never re-create this, it looked perfect. The curls were so silky and defined, and the set held for a couple of days. When I use heat my curls drop in a matter of hours and can use get success from doing wet sets.

A few sneaky dressing room snaps before the shoot began

Suddenly I was ready to get dressed. I really wasn't sure what to expect as I've never looked like this before, but I couldn't have felt more confident and couldn't wait to get started. I had a few sets to shoot in and I wasn't a natural, at all! But soon I felt more at ease and didn't want it to end. Lynsey took the pictures and was great at giving me direction and tips which helped me so much.  It was a wonderful day, I made some great memories which I'm now ready to fully share.

 Ignore the dodgy hem...

Above is probably my favourite 

I feel like this one is perfect for my blog name, I also love how it shows off my dress

If you're thinking of doing a shoot like this but haven't done one before and feel nervous - do it anyway. Give it a try, I see bloggers who do this all the time and I wish I could afford to do it more. I can't recommend Cherry or Le Keux enough.

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