Nuffnang UK Turns One!

In an act of efficiency this blog should be but is not familiar with, I’m actually writing a post about something that happened today. At home in Malaysia, Nuffnang just celebrated their seventh year running, but here in the UK, it just celebrated its first birthday!  

Yippie!

To be honest, I was a little apprehensive about attending the event because for starters, I’m not even from the UK! Then there was the whole matter about having to get to East London (which is completely unfamiliar territory, by the way!!) and not knowing a single soul there.

Thankfully, and against the advice of the many Internet Safety Talks I got in high school, I met up with Diane before the event from Nomad Seeks Home after making Twitter plans so we could head there together!  

She wasn’t an axe murderer or a kidnapper which was obviously a huge relief and we arrived fashionably late (heh heh) and were so warmly greeted that the hours flew by! I’m so glad we met up beforehand though because we probably would’ve gotten lost without each other, and I may not even have gone after losing my Oyster card (and hall card.. and Rail card.. and NHS card…) this morning. BUT I WILL NOT GIVE UP SEARCHING. I’ve turned my jackets and pockets and bags upside down to no avail, but it has to be in the hall somewhere and until I find it, I WILL NOT REST.

Ahem.

Right.

So, the event was held at Netil 360, which was such a cool venue in an unexpected place. The front door was shady as heck, and the flight of stairs leading to the roof aren’t for the faint hearted! Once at the top though, there was a fantastic view of the London skyline waiting for us with rooftop seats that were trendy and practical.

It’s such a shame that Central London’s too crowded to have funky venues like these because it was just a very relaxing place to be with the wind lightly blowing and the skies unthreateningly calm (for the first time in forever!).

And of course, one of the better things about going to blogger events is that pretty much everyone knows how to operate a big chunky camera! It isn’t even that embarrassing posing in the middle of nowhere.. because, well.. Others are doing it too.  

Those pictures are thanks to Ellie, who is super pretty and very nice! She’s much taller than I am but I’m cheating in this photo by standing on a platform. Meh, cheap tricks.  

Nuffnang treated us to tacos and/or burgers. I went for the tacos, which turned out to be vegan but really delicious.

I’m practically a carnivore so saying that vegan food tasted good must’ve meant something!  

I wish I had gotten the details of the tacos but there were black beans, buck wheat meat (which tasted like the typical Vegetarian meat), and even jack fruit. Yes, you read that right! Nangka with Barbeque sauce in a taco. The flavours were really complex but all I could think about was that tacos are sloppy food because there was sauce everywhere and by the end of it, I had made such a mess. Whoops!

Not something I would go out and actively find, but probably the most unique combination of flavours I’ve had in a while.  

It was a nice simple event filled with mainly chatter and some photo-taking, where I learnt a fair bit about places to explore in London, that I look good in black but should try out green, tasted Pimm’s – which is a British summer drink, was told that walking out without an umbrella is a gamble most Londoners don’t take, and that no one really knows where everything in London is (which is reassuring to an extent)!

With conversation that flowed and weather so good, today marks the beginning of hopefully more adventures with the community in the UK!  

Holly, Louise, Diane, Emily, myself, and Fran!

Big smiles from everyone.  

Thanks, Jessie. Netil 360, and Nuffnang UK for the event!