Swinging London

Arrived just a little over two days ago, and got into the swing of things quite immediately. Seriously. And you wonder why I haven't got time to blog? Here's why...

Arrived Friday early afternoon.
Went directly to tea with Scott at the Wolseley, lovely, as usual.
Met Brian for a beer at Soho Square.
Then off to dinner at Tayyabs. The queue there was really getting near epic proportion. Luckily, no queue for us.

Saturday
Tube trouble meant quite a late arrival to Borough market.
Breakfast with John and his friend Craig at Monmoth, the little cafe around the corner from Neals Yard, with yummy coffee and delicious bread and amazing butter and jams.
Our little group picked up more friends and got bigger and bigger while romping around Borough -like a rolling Katamari, really- adding Max, Juls, Akiko (and her Chris), and, finally, David, to the gang.
Various people had to run home to deposit their Borough acquisitions, so Max and Juls and I ended up chez Pierre Gagnaire, the Salon at Sketch, for tea. Tea was lovely, pastries even more so, the service, on the other hand, was horrendous.
Dinner with part of the larger gang rejoining us, at Fino.
Went there merely because we couldn't get into Moro with such a short notice and a big group, so Fino was chosen as a second choice, but was completely surprised by the quality of the ingredients and the meal in general.
Finished the night at another club in that hood.

Sunday
Shopping for shoes in Soho. Quite successully I'd say.
A quick noodle bite at Wagamama (!!)
Shopping for a party dress at Liberty, the prettiest store in the entire universe, but alas no pretty dress for me --this time at least.
Met Nathalie for dinner at Andrew Edmunds --lovely service, lovely wine, lovelier company, crap food unfortunately.

Today, Monday
Errands to run in the morning.
Then off to lunch with Jay at Bodeens, for ribs ladies and gentlemen.
More unsuccessful attempts at finding a party dress at various sites around central London --what was up with me?
Neals Yard Dairy, taking Nathalie up on her offer of cheese, and somehow ended up with eighty quids worth! All aged, hard cheese luckily. I'm so declaring them all in SF.
Tea and a mini visit in a peaceful garden with Yishay, Hadas, and their two adorable kids.
Off then to dinner at the Angel Mangal, for meat and more meat, and a digestive mint tea to end.
Even more digestive -that's my story and I am sticking to it- were the two Stella Artoise I downed while chatting rather toooo too seriously about science and chemistry with my two bonofide scientist friends, John and David, one does Bio-defense research and the other on worms -raw pork salad, anyone? Oy.

Home now -yes dsl in bed is a great great thing- should really be in bed -well in, in bed, not in bed blogging.
Taxi to arrive at 6.30 to whisk me away to the airport.
11 or so hours later, someone will be waiting for me with bells on at SFO.
I can't wait. Just can't.

See why I've got no time to blog?

Comments

[Chocopie]

Hi, pim.
I came back from a business trip to London and Dublin. Always always, your posting is nice. Meticulous observation, rich vocabulary, diverse expression, I love them. But it's not easy for me to mimic your way. ^^

[jenni]

You put me to shame... I've lived in London six months now and while Borough and Neal's Yard are regular trips, I haven't eaten in half the places you mention! Must make more effort...

[shuna]

no time to blog? well you sound deliciously busy and I know you have a notebook in your little bag of tricks, so we can all wait for the thorough lowdown of your adventures and succulents. (save the date: August 14, it's a sunday! please, you must, I shall tell you why later.)

[Kiwi]

...you have her email adress, haven't you??

[David Lebovitz]

Hey Luv: The only Germans I have a thing for are rectangular, baked and grainy! (BTW: Did you like your Norlander bread? It would be great with your delicious Neil's Yard stash). je t'embrasses, David L.