Yesterday I turned the ripe old age of 31. That would plonk me well and truly in the realms of “my thirties”, not just fence-sitting on 30 and enjoying the excitement of a whole new decade. This time around there was no excitement, just a couple of new grey hairs and a ridiculous butt load of drinking on my birthday eve.
Hurrah.
I woke up yesterday with an almighty bitch of a hangover, still reeling from numerous shots of straight tequila / rum & kahlua / tequila & frangelico / no-idea-what-was-in-that-shot still swilling around my stomach. I mean, does it just get worse every year? Because I swear to you, last year on my 30th, I was nowhere near this hungover.
Panu, who was equally hungover, still managed to haul himself out of bed though and cooked me breakfast. Sausage and scrambled eggs. Wait. Make that sausage bits in scrambled eggs, one of my favourite simple brekkies.
I ate it. I managed to hold it down.
And then he gave me my cake, a slice of Hummingbird Bakery’s raspberry cheesecake brownie with one giant raspberry, flanked on one side by three candles (30)… and the other side by one (1). How cute is that? Panu’s brain works even when it’s hungover 
I didn’t eat this one straight away because this I would not have kept down.
We decided that a bit of fresh air would do us both a world of good and so after breakfast (and a long hot shower and accidentally laying back on the bed and getting up again and finally getting dressed) we tubed up to Hampstead for a tummy-soothing tea at Ginger and White and slowly strolled back down towards Camden with the intention of having lunch. But boy oh boy, did the (normally awesome) smell of meaty, saucy, heavy savoury food turn my stomach.
Never fear! In all my hungover genius-ness, I realised I didn’t need to have a big fat steak sandwich for lunch. What about ice cream? Ice cream is totally ok for lunch, right? I mean, especially since it’s my birthday and all (and even when it’s not)?
It all worked out rather brilliantly anyway because I’d been wanting to check out Chin Chin Laboratorists for a while, a new ice cream joint in Camden Markets where something of a mad scientist blasts liquid nitrogen with a custardy compound and voilà! You have ice cream!
I know it’s gimmicky, but I had to check it out. The mad scientist dude is a bit of a character and explains the process of cooling nitrogen, mixing it with the “ice cream base” to a certain temperature and producing a silky smooth treat of vanilla or chocolate ice cream. His whole explanation is entertaining, but it does cause quite a long queue to form…
The result is a smooth and rich ice cream (with toppings of your choice) but for £3.95? Not quite sure if I paid for the ice cream or the show.
I did like the swings outside though.
With an ice cream lunch in my tummy, we slowly rolled on home and I took my obligatory birthday nap. After Saturday night’s drinking, I never thought I’d be hungry again but it’s amazing what a good nap does. I woke up famished and hello world, I’m back. A whole roast duck for dinner? Are you kidding me? We ordered two.
Chin Chin Labs
49-50 Camden Lock Place
Camden, NW1 8AF
0788 560 4284
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