coffee | What Mimi Does

A spectacular event in any Kawai lover’s calendar is happening on April 5th in London – Enchanted Event and Tea Party. Unfortunately I was both unable to get a ticket to the event or be a vendor as it is such a popular event but I am pleased that I can participate in a small way by offering a prize for the raffle. We at Shinkurose like to make to order so that each dress is totally individual and fits its owner well so we have offered a made to order JSK in colour and size of choice for the lucky winner. The JSK is a dress made to wear over a blouse and this one is made in a cotton drill which is great to wear and stays looking good even after washing. We used the same embellishing techniques as we did for our returning customer, Holly, pin tucks and lace but this time used a contrasting lace. The back of the JSK is elasticated for both comfort and good fit. Suzanne the lovely owner of Elsie Harrhy in Westbourne allowed us to take our photos in her beautifully decorated vintage style coffee shop. You can see in the above photo the great little leather crowns we make, these can be in any colour and decorated to order, they are light, easy to wear and stay in hair well. I love this fireplace and the comfy chairs are great to sit in and enjoy coffee and cake (look at that derp face though, not my best photo!). We did have some great Victoria Sandwich cake but it seems to have all gone here! You can also see my gorgeous red shoes, they are by Irregular Choice one of my favourite brands, I have over 25 pairs and am hoping to add to that collection this year. Tilly came to supervise, Elsie Harrhy’s is her favourite coffee shop she told us and you can see she is right at home. At the back of the cafe is a reading area where there are great books and here you can see Tilly’s favourite selection. Now she is at school she misses her outings with her mum. As an independent coffee shop Elsie Harrhy specialises in wonderful homemade food. The soups are made ‘like mother used to make’ full of vegetables and served with doorstop sandwiches or chunky bread. Breakfast paninis are filled with freshly made scrambled eggs, bacon etc and the cakes are delicious. Above is the menu for Mothers day and you can see the different types of cake that are available in this superb cafe. A Lolita teaparty would be great here and I would love to organise one, watch this space.

8am on a very wet Saturday Morning on the 9th November found us unloading our stock for a vintage fair outside a very lovely coffee shop, Elsie Harrhy, in Westbourne, Bournemouth.

Elsie Harrhy is a lovely independant coffee shop which is furnished beautifully and eclectically with a variety of vintage and retro items. At the front there are usually tables, these were moved to the back for the vintage fair, and at the back you can relax in an arm chair by the fireside, read a book or the newspaper and enjoy delicious coffee and lovely food. They run different events which can be found listed on their website www.elsieharrhycoffee.co.uk/‎.

After setting up we were hungry and here you can see Emily really enjoying her toasted breakfast sandwich.

Having breakfast like this is a real treat and you can see she polished the lot off.

During the day we were spoilt for choice as well.

Here are a few photos of the various tables taken early in the day before Suzanne’s (owner of Elsie Harrhys) mum did a sterling job enticing people into both the Vintage Fair and the coffee shop.

You can see Emily Taner’s mixed media art work which has a great vintage twist and she also takes superb photos. Find more photos of her stall and her work at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Emily-Taner/253599718122229

Nicki Grainger from What Alice Found had some great vintage items and what a fantastic idea ‘a lock in party’ in her shop. Find details at http://www.whatalicefound.co.uk

We had many of our usual items but also a few new ones. A hat or two, a couple of new capes, a leather necklace and some new muffs both for adults and children. Most items are available in our etsy store http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ShinkuRose or my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shinkurose/593986427294641