lifeofyablon.com

by yablon | March 4, 2013

Be Breast Aware this Mother’s Day #earlydetection

my Breast Cancer Campaign #earlydetection message

Given a white t-shirt and a pink pen, what would you write?

I wrote on mine: Don’t Ignore It.

Leah Wood’s message this Mother’s Day

Interior designer Kelly Hoppen MBE wrote: Too Old?

Actress and artist Leah Wood wrote: Too Young? Think again.

DJ and model Leah Weller wrote: Know the signs & symptoms… I DO!

Fashion designer Zandra Rhodes wrote: Don’t delay. Call your GP today.

DJ Krystal Roxx wrote: Know the signs, know the symptoms.

And then we put on our Ts and danced (badly in my case – see video!) while George Michael’s superbly talented photographer, Caroline True, got truly snap happy.

Zandra Rhodes and Caroline True at the shoot

And this was the photo-shoot, organized by the medical research charity, Breast Cancer Campaign, to highlight the crucial message of #EarlyDetection surrounding breast cancer. It’s the week of Mother’s Day, making the message even more poignant … so I’m calling all mothers, daughters, granddaughters, grandmothers, aunts and sisters to enjoy your special day but make it also a day to check yourself.

Breast Cancer Campaign is launching this campaign following a survey undertaken by ICM Research that reveals that more than half of women in the UK fail to check their breasts at least every month and almost three quarters of women rarely or never discuss checking their breasts with friends or family. Let’s change that.

Visit breastcancercampaign.org/breastquiz to help understand the signs and symptoms of breast cancer.

gadget inspector

I do love a good gadget. It all started for me when I was a second jobber. Buzzing around a cross-generational drinks party, 23 year old me cheekily happened upon one of Lord Y’s contacts. This contact owned a number of small retail operations and I found myself shameless begging for a job. And then, I spent two fantastically fun years as the PR and marketing girl at The Leading Edge, THE gadget shop at the time.

Other than still reading Jonathan Margolis’ column in the FT’s How to Spend It, I am now mostly out of touch with the gadget world. So I decided to call in some of the more recently launched home gadgets (as opposed to electronic ones – don’t get me started on Apple TV!) for review.

Here are the four which most amused and impressed:

place your mug on this Hot Cookie and keep the coffee warm

place a mug on this Hot Cookie to keep your coffee warm

1.the lookalike Oreo, Hot Cookie £10

2. the Scholl I-Pop Vibrating Massager £20 to reach over the shoulder

the tea robot makes great green tea

3. the Robot Tea Infuser £3.99

Corn OFF the Cob

4 the Corn Kerneler £6.38

While I can’t claim that any of the above will honestly change my life, I did enjoy delving back into the gadget world, albeit briefly.

COMPETITION: Mustard, the online gift retailer, has given me 10 of these Hot Cookies (£10) to keep your drinks warm. All you have to do is to enter this competition is sign up to my blog (top right of homepage), follow me on Twitter and RT the picture of the Hot Cookie on 15th March! The lucky winners will be selected randomly on 16th March 2013.

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Filed under prizes, shopping

by yablon | March 1, 2013

Assaggi: mouth-watering food at eye-watering prices

blue canvases at Assaggi, Notting Hill

My Blonde was always going to be snapped up. Not only is she gorgeous, she’s too much fun to sit at home knitting a scarf or watching reruns of any American sitcom. And so finally, the not-so-new-man in my Blonde’s life was wheeled out for dinner with Him and me last night. Not-so-new-man had suggested Assaggi for dinner and I leapt at the chance to revisit the restaurant with a prestigious reputation serving probably the best Italian food in London.

starter: tuna tartare at Assaggi

When Assaggi first opened in 1997, it was simply impossible to get a table. The dinning room is small (its décor I shall come to later) and bookings are staggered so that ‘the kitchen isn’t under too much pressure’. 16 years later and now much easier to secure a booking, I was curious to see how the renowned Notting Hill eatery was faring.

Above a pub, the restaurant’s décor is unusual. But not really in a good way. The walls are very orange and there are blue canvases hung randomly around the room. I think my Blonde was a little disappointed having heard such great things about this Italian stallion. And I agreed, it was a bit like eating in a giant peach – but without James.

osso buco with creamy mash

The menu is in Italian, therefore a little useless for us common folk. So, the bilingual waitress took a big inhale of breath and whizzed down the menus translating as she went. I literally wanted everything she described but managed to settle on the tuna tartare to start and the osso buco with creamy mash as my main. Harping back to the deserts of the 90s, we all shared the tiramisu with a round of Amaretto.

4 spoons dig in to the taramisu

And the other diners? We decided that they are old-school, posh West Londoners. They clearly appreciate the fine food that Assaggi continues to deliver and hardly sneeze at the prices to match. It was at that point that I remembered – not only did this superb cuisine feel like a treat to eat, the bill proves it.

But we had needed to meet my Blonde’s not-so-new-man AND keep an eye on Assaggi’s reputation… so it was all easily justified.

Assaggi 1st floor 39 Chepstow Place W2 020 7792 5501

Margaret Dabbs and British feet

foot potions

Having a wife as a blogger can’t be easy. I mean, why would you want those you know (and don’t know) to read about how your feet desperately need a medical pedicure? Especially as men don’t like to share pedicure stories in the way that women just can’t WAIT to name drop the latest nail bar, polish colour or exfoliating foot scrub.

In reality, His feet aren’t THAT bad at all. But he does occasionally complain about the hard skin on his heels (a real runner, you see) and if it isn’t removed, it can crack and almost ruin a beach holiday.

So, the loving (blogger) wife asked Margaret Dabbs and her medical podiatrist team to fix him as part of his valentine gift. That was easy. But wasn’t easy was finding a time in his busy-busy working-man-in-office schedule to fit in this appointment. In the end, I gave up and took the appointment myself.

my oxygen machine

high on O2 at Margaret Dabbs

On Tuesday morning I headed down to Margaret Dabbs Foot Clinic on New Cavendish Street for a foot massage with oxygen. I should be more specific: I was hooked up to an oxygen machine, lay back and thought of England while my feet were kneaded and pummeled. Seriously nice.

What I did learn (as I feasted on the oxygen) is that more than 35% of Margaret’s regular clients are male. The surgical attitude combined with the privacy of the treatment (in separate rooms) make our men feel comfortable enough to bear their corns. And the other amazing fact is that as a nation, we are just terrible at looking after our feet. The Frogs, Aussies and Yanks – for the most part – have beautifully healthy feet and visit chiropody clinics on a regular basis. We Brits, on the other hand, tend to trot around with neglected hooves.

a blissful foot massage by Angela at Margaret Dabbs

Glance at your feet and if you think, like Him, they might benefit from some painless medical attention, squeeze in a visit to Margaret Dabbs.

My foot massage with oxygen revitalisation would have cost £40

lifeofyablon.com

Be Breast Aware this Mother’s Day #earlydetection

gadget inspector

Assaggi: mouth-watering food at eye-watering prices

Margaret Dabbs and British feet

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