Eiva Poppins: Brighton Blogger

Fabrizio's from the very North of Italian, he was a ski instructor/coach and a top ski racer. I'm a true Brightonian who loves all things Italian! I happened to be out there for work (I manage the overseas operations for a travel company) and so we met swishing down the pistes (and then drinking an Aperol Spritz or 2!) I had a 6 month contract but ended up staying for 4 and a half years! Just under 2 years ago with our first child due, we decided to move back to Brighton.

What are the most delicious things on your menu? 

Obviously the gelato is the winner! The pistachio and hazelnut are really fantastic and the Cassata (tutti frutti) is also delicious. The creamy tiramisu portions are one of our best sellers, as soon as they are made they sell out that same day, as do the Cannoli Siciliani (crunchy pastry tubes with a creamy ricotta filling; a classic from Sicily. We've just introduced 'Paffutella' which are a brioche type bun from Sicily, similar to panettone. We fill them with pistachio, chocolate or almond cream which is delicious for breakfast and also with gelato! 

What is so special about your ice-cream? 

Our Gelato is like none other that you'll find in Brighton. Fabrizio works closely with our gelato chef who has over 40 years experience and has won numerous gelato awards all over Italy and in Paris. There is a real passion to create a quality product and we use only the freshest fruit, the best quality nuts and the highest quality chocolate to create flavours which are just bursting with....well flavour. We never use anything fake, no preservatives, colourants, additives etc so our product is as natural as possible and actually not that bad for you. Gelato is churned at a much slower rate than ice-cream, incorporating less air and leaving the gelato denser. It is also served at a slightly warmer temperature, so its texture stays silkier and softer. 

What is your favourite thing about Brighton?

Although I've travelled a lot and lived abroad, I couldn't imagine being anywhere else to bring up my family. From the music festivals to the sporting events, finding another hidden coffee shop in the lanes, or having a stroll along the beach, the general craziness and individuality.... Brighton will always be home.

coat and bag - Monki, trousers - Zara, dirty shoes - Timberlands

(I don't shop in Zara anymore, these are old)

I always get obsessed with something and that's it for me. At the moment it is pizza with nutella, Innocent smoothies, Friends and Monki!

I am new to having weekends off. In my previous job I chose to work every weekend so this is really new to me. I am getting used to it now and you know I was really worried there will be too many people everywhere during the weekends but unless you go to Kensington Gardens or near Churchill square you are safe. People don't even go to the beach much during the winter - I am glad they don't because I do and I love being there alone. There's only dog walkers who pass quickly and occasional swimmers (yes, mental!) and runners who lie down on the beach to absorb sun and feel super healthy and connected to the nature being sweaty and thirsty. So yeah beach is still safe. At least for the next few months before every resident in Brighton remember they 'do love to be beside the seaside' -oh my god I don't know what's more annoying is it this phrase or 'keep calm and...' please let's not say that.

The good thing about Saturdays is the market on Upper Garden St. where you can buy lots of different stuff and that's why I don't usually buy anything unless there's that guy who sells nice avocados. I am a dream of every stand-keeper what can I say. Hey, they sell cutlery which still has dinner on them. Come on. What's that about.

Another good thing about having weekends off is fairs and events and all the things I couldn't attend before when I worked. I also have Mondays off. I love Mondays. That's probably all what's good about weekends I figured out so far.

P.S.: You should really check out Monki. It is amazing and they've got sale on at the moment.

These photos were taken by my friend and photographer Vasil Dzhagalov. Thanks Vas! I really appreciate it. Have a look at his website.

I hate my fringe in this photo (so serious :D) and yes we have to talk about this important issue facing all people with fringe. It is not an easy life my dear readers and whenever bringing 'plus two's' to an event make sure you choose people who ARE going to tell you if your fringe is slacking. That is my advice for you. Obviously I failed this by bringing Jay and Jose who did not care for me looking good in the photos haha! Maybe they drank too much of that Greenwich beer? I hope so because otherwise there's no excuse. I try not to look too messy in the photos but I guess it is more honest.

Two thirsty Londoners.

So upset about the fringe still.

jumper - Monki, fringe - very bad ;)

This was a lovely little event where everybody had opportunity get drunk for free I mean taste great limited collection of craft beers and to stuff themselves with free food.. I mean to see a waistcoat made by Gresham Blake. Blake was challenged by Meantime Brewing Company to create this waistcoat within 6 weeks. This is also how long it takes to brew their beers in London and for me to do my laundry. This was a perfect event for beer nerds and people who like unusual flavours such as Wheat Beer or Chocolate Porter. 

Also, later there was great nachos and lots of different nibbles which I don't remember but I know they were great. Jose saw all of this free food and went on a mad one and basically ate all of it. I wish I was joking. 

these photos were taken on a disposable camera (still don't have a proper one sorry)

Oh my days...those burgers! I should have had some food before writing this because now I'm emotional. I often get really dramatic when I'm hungry and I am only saying it because I know it's normal and we're all in this together so please if you are in my 'Upset When Hungry' club please let me know because my boyfriend says it's not normal to freak out about long take-away times. Anyways, I was definitely NOT hungry or upset after attending GBK opening event in Brighton Marina. This was my first invite for a restaurant opening and obviously one of the biggest achievements of my life. The food was wonderful and I ate it all. I mean I got full after my burger so I had to take the massive onion rings with chips home. I am not one of these people who leave their food behind (if you do that you are crazy) - I take the leftovers home and yes maybe I look gross shoving it all in my face later in bed but trust me I am happy.. Besides leaving food behind is a waste. 

I really enjoyed my veggie burger and especially loved the sweet potato fries. They are probably my favourite thing GBK does - so delicious! But now can you see the size of the burger my boyfriend is having?? I mean how greedy is that haha. When they brought over this burger I was shocked and it turns out Jay decided to have his burger with all the extras they had on the menu! I think it contains egg, avocado, bacon, pineapple and I don't even know what else but the main thing is that he said it was amazing. I rate that burger and also want to mention that the staff of the restaurant were super nice and working really hard to make everyone happy. Thank you GBK!

top - Zara, skirt - Stradivarius, boots - New Look (given by my lovely friend Essie - thank you!), socks/bag - The Whitepepper

One morning I got an email from Scott Vincent saying he found my Instagram and this blog and liked it so he did a graffiti of me. I was shocked as obviously that doesn't usually happen to me haha. It's just bit funny looking at yourself and it's just massive. It is based on this selfie actually haha. Not sure what else to say really, I just found it really funny.

There was lots of rats running around right by the graffity when me and Benjamin Le Bon Mckenzie taking these pictures haha. You should check out some of his work here. Thank you very much for the photos Ben. It was nice to meet you!

Oh and I think nobody yet sprayed anything over my face. I was kind of hoping someone would do it and then I can feel like I have haters and feel important hahaha.

P.S.: I just came back from few days in Barcelona so I will be posting some pictures soon. (In my case 'soon' could be months haha.) It was nice to be back and skate around :-).

Jednoho den rano jsem nasla mail od Scott Vincent. Napsal mi ze nasel muj Instagram a tenhle blog a ze se mu libil a tak udelal graffiti se mnou. Zvlastni, ne? Haha. Byla jsem samozrejme celkem prekvapena, protoze to se mi vazne nestava casto. Kdyz jsem se tam byla kouknout (samozrejme jeste ten den co mi napsal haha) tak mi to pripadalo uplne sileny. Je to zalozeno na tehle selfie a jak rikam, fakt by me absolutne nikdy nenapadlo, ze tohle nekdo udela. Je to vtipny.
Tyhle fotky fotil Ben Mckenzie a vic jeho pracemuzete videt tady. Foceni bylo celkem zajimavy, vsude po zemi a po stenach pobihaly krysy haha.
Myslim ze jeste porad nikdo nenasprejoval nic pres muj oblicej, tak trochu doufam, ze to nekdo udela a ja si budu pripadat dulezite, ze mam haters ale tak asi neee haha.
P.S.: Zrovna jsem se predevcirem vratila z Barcelony, kde jsem byla na par dni, takze brzo (to v mympripade muze znamenat tydny i mesice) budu postovat nejaky fotky. 

For the fifth time in last two years I moved again! I left my old little bedsit in Kemptown for a flat in central Brighton which I share with my friend Meg, we share Nutella and life is good. I love sitting on my window and watching people in the park. There is people playing music all the time..sometimes it's nice..sometimes it's not that nice haha. But I really like it here and I'm fine with the noise as the one thing which was really annoying at my old place was my neighbour upstairs. That guy was crazy and I cannot even say how many times he woke me up in the middle of the night so it's nice to live somewhere where the walls are not made out of paper haha.
Also, as you can see, we found we've got a rooftop! Awww, how good is that.
Apart from that I've been alright, summer finally got to Brighton (not today, today is raining..) and I spent many afternoons on the beach or in the park drinking Iced Flat White which has Boho Gelato icecream inside..yum.
One thing which bothers me is that I won't be able go to New York this September as I planned. I called the embassy and my appointment for a passport (yep, I don't have one - I only have an ID which is enough to travel around Europe) is at the end of August and then it takes another EIGHT weeks to actually get it. I'm sorry but that's just long! I guess I'll just have to go to NY in winter or something.
My best friend Sabina is coming for over a week in three days which is so exciting and I cannot wait to just sleep, eat and drink..basically that's what we did last year and it was great.
...and last thing which has been on my mind is moving to Spain. I'm thinking about moving to Barcelona next year before the summer. I have to do it otherwise I'm never going to be fluent in Spanish.

I gotta go. I've got cakes to eat and films to watch. xx

P.S.: I got another tattoo from my friend Patrick. Look.

Tak jsem se opet prestehovala, je to uz po pate za posledni dva roky. Opustila jsem po roce svuj stary bedsit v Kemptownu pro byt v centru Brightonu, ktery sdilim s moji kamaradkou Meg. Bavi me sedet na okne a cist si a nebo spis presneji me bavi pozorovat lidi v parku. Pokud neprsi, vzdycky nekdo venku hraje hudbu, nekdy je to fajn a nekdy to zas tak fajn neni haha. Ale moc se mi tu libi a na hluk zvenku jsem si zvykla a cekala jsem to a uprednostnuju tohle, nez souseda, ktery nademnou bydlel v predchozim byte..nevim ani kolikrat me vzbudil uprostred noci svou prisernou hrou na kytaru nebo jen tim, ze se prochazel tri hodiny po byte. Jsem rada, ze jsem se ho vzbudila. Je to fajn bydlet nekde, kde nejsou zdi z papiru.
A taky tu mame velkou strechu, kde jsme prave fotily s Meg tyhle fotky. Je to moje nove oblibene misto.
Krome toho, ze jsem se prestehovala, jsem se mela celkem dobre, leto dokonce dorazilo uz i do Brightonu (dneska teda ne, dneska prsi..) a stravila jsem spoustu odpoledni a veceru na plazi a nebo v parku se zmrzlinou a Iced Flat White, to je ted moje oblibeny kafe. Jsou v tom dva shoty espressa a hlavne dva kopecky zmzrliny z Boho Gelato yum. 
Jedna vec, co me trochu stve je, ze nepojedu v zari do New Yorku, jak jsem planovala. Pred dvema tydny jsem volala na ambasadu, abych si vyridila pas (ano, mam jen obcanku, ktera mi staci na vse po Evrope) a mam schuzku az na konci srpna a pak to trva dalsich osm tydnu, nez ten pas vubec fyzicky ziskam. To mi prijde jako hodne dlouhej proces.. Tak snad se do NY podivam v zime a nebo na jare.
Moje nejlepsi kamaradka Sabina (kterou jsem tu mela uz nekolikrat) zitra vyrazi na cestu za mnou a uz se nemuzu dockat, jak budeme spat, jist, pit presne jako minule leto.
...a posledni vec na kterou jsem myslela posledni dobou je stehovani do jine zeme, presneji do Spanelska. Premejslim, ze bych se prestehovala do Barcelony pristi rok nekdy na jare a nebo v lete. Rikala jsem si, ze pokud se tam neprestehuju, tak nikdy Spanelsky plynne umet nebudu!

Ted uz musit jit. Mam v planu jit si dat banoffee pie a koukat na filmy. xx

P.S.: Vcera jsem si nechala udelat novy tetovani, opet od Patricka. Kouknete tady.

Everyone is about that healthy life style and I'm just like 'veggie burger and fries please' oh and 'can I get more mayo please?' I've just had seven days off which I really enjoyed and my eating habits have been just the worst ever haha. I mean I usually eat junk food anyway but I get food at work which you could consider quite healthy. BUT when it's just my responsibility I eat earliest at 5pm in the afternoon and my dinner which I would have around midnight, I've been having three bars of chocolate everyday too wooohooo. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and have to have some chocolate or brownie bites (I always have them) just to go back to sleep.... True story.

Zdrave jidlo je jeste porad hit a pritom moji posledni zabavou je honeni
se za nejlepsich vegetarianskym burgerem ve meste a hlavne aby v nem bylo dost tatarky. Zrovna mi skoncil tyden volna a bylo to skvely, ale moje zlozvyky ohledne jidla se jeste extremne zhorsili haha. Teda abych rekla pravdu nezdrave jim asi dost (jsem ten nezdravy typ vegetariana:-), ale jidlo, ktere mame v praci je celkem dejme tomu zdrave. Takze kdyz je pak jen a jen na me urcovat, co budu jist, tak to vetsinou dopada tak, ze poprve jim v pet odpoledne a veceri bych vetsinou mela tak o pulnoci a prumerne kazdy den tak tri cokolady jeeej. Nekdy se i budim uprostred noci a musim si dat aspon trosku cokolady nebo brownie bites, abych zase usnula... True story.