I spent the sunny Bank Holiday weekend in London, and as I was feeling all sunshine I finally got around to starting the final season of Californication, one of my favourite shows. I always thought it was great, but the final two seasons will always have a special place in my heart because so many people think Los Angeles is like how you see it on television, and some of it is, but Californication is the closest I've seen to real life LA on screen. It is also shot in my favourite neighbourhood, Venice, and the scenes on Abbot Kinney and shot in Local 1205, (go for the pressed juice in mason jars!) help too. If I ever did want to move back to the city, the area around Rose Avenue or the canals is where I'd want to be. 
1. Mai Tai pitcher on a sunny Sunday afternoon on The Boundary Terrace rooftop. | 2. Donuts from my favourite Dum Dum Donutterie at Boxpark in Shoreditch (blackcurrant and white chocolate flavour) and Italian sodas in the sunshine with Kristabel. | 3. Carpets of daisies and buttercups in the fields. | 4. Beautiful blooms in my favourite colour I sneakily snapped from the person sitting next to me outside Beagle in Hoxton, no doubt from Columbia Road Flower Market. | 5. Cold pizza supper made for me by the Fundi Pizza guys. | 6. Early evening sunshine illuminating the Old Bailey.
Rose had Texas Barbecue at Lockhart's Smokehouse. It is on one of my all time bucket lists of restaurants, and I don't think I've stopped being jealous yet. She also thinks that she's found the best tacos in New York. And I've got to tell you, she's usually right.
Food For Thought interviews Sophie and Andrew, the father daughter duo behind one of my favourite foodie websites I hit up every Friday, What To Cook Tonight?
Laetitia lunches at the Sunset Tower Hotel in Hollywood.
Carrie has launched a series on her blog called 'London's Hidden Gems', and her first post has so many great recommendations in, most of which I did not know about.
Claire has posted about a pub in Yorkshire that I think we all need to visit.
Honestly YUM interviews one of my favourite food bloggers, Tracy from Shutterbean.
Anthony Bourdain has written a really thoughtful piece on America's relationship with Mexico to accompany this seasons Parts Unknown episode they filmed there.
Sophie's fiancee took her out to a little private island in Sydney and it looks idyllic.
PUNCH has published an interesting piece on the changing nature of the 'top shelf' in bars.
The New Potato sits down with Amy Odell to talk womans online media, and food. Obviously.
Kate reviewed Big Easy in Covent Garden, and took much better photos than in my review.
Helena has put together a round up of the best places to get pizza in New York.
Zoe blogs about her experience doing press coverage at Eurovision, and her post contains some really interesting and encouraging thoughts on bloggers place in the world press.
If you're a fan of The Newsroom or Josh Charles, you'll enjoy this Sorkin parody. I also rather enjoyed the outtakes. 
On the Borough Market blog for my second recipe of April (which went online at the beginning of this month instead) I've shared a potato salad recipe that I could literally eat forever, and actually amounts to a real guilty pleasure, hot or cold. Think freshly caught salmon sort-of-poached in white wine, and flaked together with oozings of Neal's Yard Dairy Crème Fraîche (I love this stuff so much that I literally eat it out the tub with a teaspoon while I'm cooking!), and plenty of fresh lemon and dill. Click through for this masterpiece. And yes, I just called something I produced myself a masterpiece, I'm just that proud of it!
Alternatively, if you're looking for something more traditional for a lunchtime, this week is actually National Sandwich Week. The guys over at Great British Chefs asked me if I wanted to put together a sandwich recipe to celebrate, and I thought it would a a great challenge for my weekend. I'm not really a sandwich person. I eat a fair few of them, but really for convenient and always just with some sort of meat, salad, tomato and cucumber. I never really order them either; the only really great sandwich I've ever had out was at The Sycamore Kitchen in La Brea, Los Angeles. So, after a lot of experimentation and brainstorming, click through for my recipe for my Leftover Roast Chicken-Homemade Avocado Mayo Sandwich. I'm particularly proud of the mayo; avocado has enough natural mayo to hold up mayo without the addition of any oil.
7. Munching on 'Chocolate Crackle', my favourite Metcalfes Skinny Topcorn flavour (c/o) while I waited for my Sunday chicken to roast. First time I'd ever roasted a chicken before, and I was rather proud of the results! | 8. Shooting Hotel Chocolat's new Summer cocktail truffle range for an upcoming feature and giveaway. | 9. Bank Holiday cocktails in the sunshine outside Beagle in Hoxton. | 10. A Sunday night Dishoom feast. | 11. My new favourite quick sunshine sip between meetings is Leon's Peach White Tea. | 12. Working with fresh elderflowers for the very first time, for an upcoming Borough Market feature.
Will has written and photographed an incredible post for the West Elm blog that perfectly enraptures why I am so head over heels for the Los Angeles neighbourhood of Venice.
You know Nicole, who took all my profile photos in Los Angeles? I've just discovered her sister Jackie's amazing food blog, which you must all go and check out!
Darling Magazine has put together a great guide to Stockholm.
Don't panic if you missed it or want to see it again, France's Eurovision Song Contest 2014 entry is on Youtube, with its own music video. Makes me pretty proud to live there, to be honest!
If you live in Brighton you need to go grab burgers at Lucky Beach on the seafront.
Huffington Post looks at Trader Joe's most popular items of 2013. Fellow former UCLA Bruins? I'm also shocked that our Powerberry consumption at the Westwood branch did not tip the scale so that they were included. Other favourites of mine not included are Pico de Gallo Salsa, S'Mores Bites, Chocolate Coated Salted Butterscotch Caramels, Salmon Dip and Pitta Chips.
Carin has really made me smile with her photos of Sunday markets in Paris.
Refinery 29 has put together a roundup of London's best beer gardens.
I'm rather jealous of Camille Styles' new studio space. Can I please have an office like that?
Speaking of interior jealousy, Sarah's Los Angeles bedroom and dining room are stunning.
My friend Amy has put together a great post on how to eat out safely if you have special dietary requirements such as food allergies, if you're vegan or coeliac.
Monica tells you all you ever needed to know about cooking with nettles.
Kristabel has taken some flawless photos of 4 London foodie spots I need to hit up.
I love A Beautiful Mess' new dates series.
As the title of this post advertised, the luxury holiday cottages company I help run in Kent is now offering 10% off of your stay for all Rachel Phipps readers. If you'd like to book a holiday, or you just have any questions just drop me an email directly and remember to mention that you are a Rachel Phipps reader. You can find out more about Pilgrims Nook, the local area where we are based and look at lots of pictures over on our website.
In other news, how many of you take part in Twitter chats? I've never really taken part in one so this is going to be a big learning curve for me, but I'm taking part in my agency Glam's #GLAMGETSVEGGIE chat on Monday, 3pm. You can find out more over on the Glam website, but it would be great to talk all things veggie food wise with some familiar faces, so if you're free it would be great if you guys could join in too!
What have you been enjoying this week, and what do you have planned for the weekend? I'm just planning on having a quiet one at home, getting a bit of cooking done (apparently we're going to get some sunshine here in Kent so we can break out the barbecue for some steaks?) and work on some upcoming projects. I also might head out canvassing ahead of the European Elections on Thursday, which is also my Mummy's birthday. It does not matter who you vote for, but it is important that you do turn up to vote!