On a bit of a whim, I attended a taping of The Charlotte Church show tonight, which was quite fun actually. Guest stars included Trinny & Susannah, Josh Groban, Comedian Michael McIntyre and Olympic Gold Medalist Rebecca Adlington who was wearing some fabulous Christian Louboutins--I was able to spot the trademark red soles from my seat.

The show airs tomorrow night on Channel 4 at 10pm. If you watch it, let me know what you think of Susannah's outfit. She had a V neck dress on and when she sat down, you could see so much of her bra and I just kept thinking why doesn't somebody tell her/do something about it. And then I wondered if she knew and in fact, wanted that much of her bra to be shown. I mean Trinny and Susannah do get nearly naked as they go on their quest to "undress the nation".

A couple of things that surprised me: 1) The number of times that Charlotte said f**k. The girl could seriously be a close relative of Gordon Ramsay and 2) the number of takes and retakes. I haven't been to that many shows but I did go to Lettermen and Conen O'Brien in NYC and I don't remember any retakes. I guess those guys have been at it a bit longer.

I have a fabulous suggestion for you. A few months ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Jennifer Earle and going on a half day guided tour of some of London's best chocolate shops. If you are a chocolate lover, then this is definitely a decadent experience that you don't want to miss.

Jennifer's company Chocolate Ecstasy Tours offers half day and full day chocolate tours of London and she can also cater for hen parties and private events.

With the half day tour, you'll meet Jennifer and the rest of your group in St. James and Jennifer will present you with a bag that has a variety of little goodies including chocolate (of course!) from shops that aren't on the tour, a bottle of water and one very delicious brownie.

Our tour kicked off at Prestat where I fell in love with these gorgeous milk chocolate wafers with ground cinnamon. (Did I mention that I been back three times since my tour to buy more?!)

We then headed over to Fortnum & Mason where Jennifer gave us an overview of some of the different kinds of chocolate bars, but there's not much time to shop as there are more chocolate shops to visit such as the glamorous La Maison du Chocolat where you'll find only the very best ganache and dark chocolate.

We visited at least six different chocolate shops as Jennifer led our group from St. James to Marylebone with a stop in the middle for....yes, you guessed it...hot chocolate! I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this tour. The shop owners and attendants are delighted to have you visit and they go out of their way to tell you about their history, brand, specialties and of course, let you sample their delicious chocolates.

If you are a chocolate lover and are looking for a unique day out in London, then I strongly recommend Chocolate Ecstasy Tours. Jennifer is delightful, personable and fun. I guarantee you won't want to miss out on this unique experience.

To learn more or book yourself on a tour, visit www.chocolateecstasytours.com

Ok, so perhaps I'm over a month late or so for completing this post, but I really did love this year's Taste of London and I kept meaning to post it but never got around to it until now.

We ordered our tickets online from the website several weeks before the event. We ordered VIP tickets, which I normally wouldn't do but it worked out really well in the end because we got to skip the massive queue upon arrival and we were able to take refuge in the tent when it rained. Let me remind you that this event was the same weekend as Glastonbury and it rained and rained and just kept on raining.

We sampled so many dishes from so many great restaurants...Le Gavroche, Tom Atkins, Fifteen, Pied a Terre, the Greenhouse. I was planning taking pictures of all the delicious dishes, but with the rain it turned out to be more of a eat and dash experience.

We were able to seek a little bit of shelter in a wine tasting class, which was a lot of fun. During the wine tasting class, we were sitting next to an older couple and in front of each person was about 4 different wine glasses. There were two ladies pouring the wine and once the glasses were filled, this couple didn't even bother waiting for the presenter to start. They just drank their wine, got up and walked out. Nice, eh. I am going to try that next time. I am not a very talented wine taster anyway. The wine never smells like oak, berries and anything like that to me. It just smells like wine. Perhaps, I need more practice.

We did get to see a mini-version of Gordon Ramsay's F Word, which was fun. Gordon is exactly how he appears on tv and I love how Gordon is so passionate about food.

I loved this event and I will do it all over again next summer, but if it rains I am going to bring my wellies. My poor little shoes haven't recovered from the wet experience and sadly, I don't think they'll ever be the same.

Better late than never.   That's honestly all I can say.

Here are some of the highlights from the Chelsea Flower Show.























Ok, so maybe this last one wasn't from the Chelsea Flower Show but in celebration of the flower show, check out how fabulously decorated Jo Malone is on Sloan Street.

If you've been shopping along Oxford Street, you know that most high street stores don't have a ladies room so if you need to pee or powder your nose, you usually need to go to one of the big department stores like John Lewis and Selfridges.



Then, WC1 came along and filled a very unique niche in the market. WC1 is located on Oxford Street and is directly across from Selfridges. It's world's first ladies luxury toilet and powder room.

When it first opened, I believe it was about £5/visit, which I thought was too expensive, but they seem to have a special on at the moment. For £1, you can pee in paradise and I think at that price, it just might be worth avoiding the 20 person queue in Selfridges.

Chinese New Year is this Sunday -- February 18 so if you can't decide what to do tomorrow, I suggest heading over to Chinatown.

The parade starts from 11:00am on the Strand and there is a fireworks display between 2-5pm in Leicester Square. Plus, lots of food, lion dances and beautiful red lanterns.

I recently went to Pret-a-Portea, a fashionista's afternoon tea at the Berkeley Hotel. The tea starts out like any other when you are presented with a selection of both loose leaf and herbal infusions teas to choose from. I chose Fresh Mint Tea because I am not much of a tea drinker and mint tea is always nice and light.

Unlike a typical afternoon where the bottom tier is filled with a selection of tiny finger sandwiches, this afternoon tea had a nice selection of skewered canapes and taster spoons.

I can't remember all the varieties but there was a nice selection of crab, beef, chicken and vegetarian canapes. All of the canapes were exceptional apart from the one with goat cheese, but that's more about me than the chef because I don't like goat cheese under any circumstances.

The middle layer is typically filled with scones and then the top layer usually has really delicate desserts. Each of the top two tiers in the fashionista's tea was inspired by the Autumn/Winter 2006 fashion collection from a number of different fashion houses. Here's a sampling of what's on offer:

*Valentino Leopard Handbag
*Jimmy Choo Gold Boot cookie/biscuit
*Alexander McQueen Chocolate Cake
*Yves Saint Laurent Passion Fruit Meringue
*Chloe Rosewater Bavarols
*Julian Macdonald Praline Mousee (this is the one with the spun sugar on top)

All served on colorful fine bone china by Paul Smith.

If you want, you can choose to have the afternoon tea with champagne. Service is every day from 2-6pm. It's a really fun girly afternoon. I am excited to see what delicate inspirations stem from the Spring 2007 fashion collection.

If you are thinking about going to the Chelsea Flower Show this year, you should really start thinking about purchasing your tickets NOW. This is such a world famous event and it ALWAYS sells out.

This year the Chelsea Flower Show is held from May 22-26. There are always so many amazingly beautiful gardens on display and a number of awards are given out for different categories such as best city garden or best chic garden, etc.

It's basically like a catwalk for the floral design industry and all the press and media turn out to see the floral designers show off their best stuff. Click here to see what you've been missing and check out highlights from 2006.

I was going to wait until next week to blog about this but I am just too exicted. Next week, I am going to a Fashionista's Afternoon Tea at The Berkeley Hotel with a couple of friends.

The Fashionista's Afternoon Tea adds a twist to the classic English tea that have been inspired by the latest catwalk fashions. I guess the pastry chef must get a pretty good seat for the shows during London Fashion Week.

Even if you only experience it once, having tea at the Ritz Hotel in London is something everyone should do at least once. You wouldn’t come to London and not see Buckingham Palace or Big Ben and shouldn’t pass on this experience either. The Ritz recommends that you booked at least a month in advance. When I called they were able to book a table for me and my friend, Kristina within a matter of a few days. If you have a specific day in mind or want to go on the weekends, then I would recommend booking a month in advance as the Ritz suggests.

There was a large variety of tea to choose from, which was a little overwhelming. We ordered traditional English tea, which was nice, especially considering that I don’t really drink or like tea very much. The delicate tea sandwiches included smoked salmon, egg mayonnaise with cress, ham, chicken and mayonnaise and cumber with cream cheese. Everything looked beautiful and almost, too good to eat. In addition to the sandwiches, freshly bakes scones with strawberry jam, tea pastries and fresh cream cakes were beautifully displayed on a three tied server. It was a perfect assortment of delicious treats! I know it is an afternoon tea, but you could easily make it a lunch because there was a lot of food, especially if you try to sample everything.

The Ritz offers four different tea settings a day for two hours each, plus an extra champagne tea setting in the evening. The Ritz is definitely a place to indulge yourself, so what are you waiting for!

The Ritz Hotel
150 Piccadilly
London W1J 9BR
020 7493 8181
www.theritzlondon.com