Saturday 22 April 2017

A Cake Mission 🍰

This month has been super action-packed, so I've not had nearly as much time as I would have liked to immerse myself in the blogosphere. Hopefully I can get things back on track! I'm kicking things off with an account of a really lovely day I had with Sammi and Maddie earlier on this month. We decided to meet up in Oxford, with the aim of settling ourselves down in a café.

It was a lovely warm day, and naturally, all the eateries were rammed with people. We found ourselves walking from café to café, trying in vain to find seating for the three of us. We eventually walked towards Cowley, way out from the centre of Oxford, where we discovered a place called Tick Tock, which had interesting, South American style decor, complete with (you guessed it) all manner of clocks adorning the walls. 

We were relieved to find somewhere to sit at last, but this wave of gratitude was short lived as we looked a little closer. Underneath the quirky decor, it seemed we were in a crappy, greasy spoon caff, and as we covertly surveyed the plates of the other punters, we found the menu on offer to be the exact opposite of the quaint spread we were after. It didn't help that there was an old man seated behind Sammi who kept letting out the most horrendous, sickly-sounding coughs. 

We were just thinking about leaving when we found ourselves swooped upon by a waitress. We awkwardly placed drinks orders, deciding to use this time to gear ourselves up to find somewhere else for food. Somehow, they managed to do a poor job of serving basic drinks. I ordered an apple juice and had a random bottle of some processed crap slammed down in front of me. It was lukewarm and piss poor. About ten minutes later, I was carelessly slid a hot glass, fresh from the dishwasher, and not quite what I wanted to involve myself with on such a warm day. Sammi's iced latte was dire and Maddie was served a pint of the most underwhelming tea. We paid and continued our journey as quickly as possible. 

We tried a very hipster-style café, taken in by the macarons displayed in the window. Turned out they sold nothing else of interest so we simply made use of their WiFi and navigated our way through Google Maps. We walked back down the Cowley Road and ended up at a café called Pastiche. They had all manner of sweet treats in the window and we knew immediately we'd found a winner! Not only were there a ton of lovely desserts on offer, they were all priced very affordably! It was a shock to the system compared to my recent London cake date!

The staff were incredibly friendly and enquired politely about our lolita outfits that day. Soon, we were settled in a corner, chatting away and enjoying our fruit layer cakes. I had a pot of Earl Grey to myself that was very refreshing and tasted amazing. Essentially, this is my favourite sort of day! I love silly conversations, deep and meaningful ones, funny ones... and cycling through all of those different topics over the course of a day over tea and cake is always energising and fun!

As the day wore on, we found ourselves getting peckish and wanting something savoury. It turns out this café specialised in a full range of savoury pancakes. I opted for a mixed cheese crepe, which included cheddar, haloumi, mozzarella and feta. It was absolutely delicious!

While in the café, we couldn't help discussing our coordinate plans for the upcoming Tea Party Club event. It was a lot of fun brainstorming various wild and wonderful ideas, and speculating about different aspects of the weekend. It's the most excited I've been about a lolita event in so long!

Before we knew it, evening was drawing in and it was time we got some outfit pictures in  before heading home. 

Sammi was on-theme in her macaron print! I love how long and glossy her hair is at the moment!

Maddie pulls off neutral colours so well, and always manages to look refined and elegant!

For this little adventure, I went for a simple summery outfit with my Metamorphose Gingham Cherry, and of course my Mickey bag had to make an appearance! 

I used the belt from my Vintage Poodle dress, just to try something a little different.

I loved when Maddie asked if she could touch the bag as it looked so soft!

It was lovely to catch up with these two, and explore a bit of Oxford I've never really seen much of in the past. I only wish I'd gotten some cake to take home with me! Maybe next time! There's definitely going to be a lot more cake adventures in my future!

Do you ever struggle to find seats in cafés where you live? Do you have any favourite dessert places? I'd love to hear about your own adventures for the perfect slice of cake! Thank you so much for reading, and I'll see you next time! 

9 comments:

  1. Oooh, Pastiche sounds amazing and interesting, I don't really recall ever walking past it (so I either missed it totally amongst other, flashier shops on Cowley Road or it's relatively new). This sounds like exactly my kind of afternoon: good food, good tea, good company, relaxed atmosphere and plenty of chatter that just follows naturally from random to randomer. Especially when part of this conversation involves TPC events - having just been to a meet today where one of my comm members will be creating a custom made headdress for me, the excitement is definitely high here. Have you decided what to wear yet? Or are you still in the process of deciding (#teamnaked)?

    The best cake I've had recently (and very, very, very possibly ever!) was on my recent trip to Belgium. There's a place slightly outside Brussels which from the outside would be easy to dismiss. But the cake we had there totally knocked my friend and myself off our feet, we were blown away, swept on a divine wind right up to food heaven and we were crying that our tummies got too full too quickly because we wanted more. It genuinely was that good - all for a very reasonable price (around 3 Euro per mini-cake) and in great atmosphere (the place never got crowded and was really cosy, though that being Easter Monday might've had something to do with the former). I'd definitely love to return there, preferably sooner rather than later. ^^"

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    1. I really loved it there! It's been there at least a year, based on the dates of early TripAdvisor reviews, but it's definitely easy to miss. I'd recommend giving it a go next time you're in the area! The decor is nothing special but the atmosphere is friendly and made a great setting for all those random conversations!

      Ooh, knowing that you have items for your coord underway must be a great feeling! Sounds like things are already coming together ^_^
      When I got home after this day I immediately began laying out more detailed coordinate plans! I know which dresses I'm wearing, and more or less how I'm going to coordinate them. I have a rather ambitious and totally silly idea for the accessories for my Saturday coord, but I've got plenty of time to make it happen so I'm not worried just yet! I suggested an absolutely ridiculous idea for Sammi's coord and she's decided to go ahead with it, so I can't wait to see it in action XD

      That sounds like such magical cake! I love those rare but fantastic food experiences, where the memory stays with you because of how much it played with your senses. I hope you will be able to visit again soon! You've reminded me that I really need to plan more trips! I'd like to visit more places in Europe (I'm currently feeling Amsterdam!)

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    2. That really sounds like the most amazing cake. I can visualise the divine wind carrying you all laughing all the way to food heaven.
      I wish I could have a slice of that cake.

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  2. The cakes look really delicious.

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    1. They were wonderful! This café was a lovely find ^_^

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  3. This dress wth cookies is amazing, very sweet. In bakery I see a pink cake and I think I will buy this ;D

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    1. It's super cute, isn't it!? ^_^
      Haha, I love pink cakes, too!

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  4. If I head out for cake with the lolita group we often choose a larger place with lots of seating available.
    I usually choose the same haunts to avoid mishaps and leave exploration to plain clothes outings.

    I love all the outfits and like your belted waist. It looks fun and retro, surprisingly suiting the print.

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    1. Definitely the sensible thing to do! Once you have established a few favourites, it's usually easiest to gravitate towards those as it can be such a faff finding adequate seating in a big group. I like the idea of scoping out places when you're in non-lolita mode ^_^

      Thank you so much! I'm glad you think I pulled it off! <3

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