samedi 23 février 2013

In Praise of Mornings




We plan, we toil, we suffer – in the hope of what? A camel load of idols' eyes? The title deeds of Radio City? The empire of Asia? A trip to the moon? No, no, no, no. Simply to wake up just in time to smell coffee and bacon and eggs.
- J. B. Priestley




Why wake up late, when you can get up early - when the sexiest meal of the day is breakfast? In the week days I am so used to waking up early that during weekends, I find myself wide awake no later than 8:30am - Today at nine o'clock I dipped my toes in the local swimming pool with the water still and unrippled, followed by a quick shower, breakfast (of scrambled eggs and assam tea) and a stroll around the empty streets, walking among quiet passages and snow flurries. I tasted idleness at its best, before the city awakes with its quickened breaths and fury and pallor. 

- Slow baby slow, because you can afford to, because you have a whole afternoon and night to look forward to.

//Top five places in London for breakfast/brunch:
  • Lantana - scrambled eggs (I heart eggs) with sourdough bread, accompanied by the Observer
  • Local greasy spoon - full English breakfast (fried bread, roasted tomato drowned in a sea of baked beans, mug-full of tea)
  • The Little Bread Pedlar - stack of toasts and French butter, black Monmouth coffee (bring your own grapefruit)
  • Bistrotheque - fluffy pancakes with blueberry compote and crème fraîche
  • The Delaunay - freshly squeezed juice, eating muesli with a silver spoon - and less busy than its sister restaurant near the Ritz
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lundi 11 février 2013

(Not exactly) Secret London



1.
Marylebone /ˈmɑrlɪbən/
where you can find:
 Farmer's Market every sunday morning, market for vintage clothes and accessories in the church courtyard every saturday. Daunt books for books on travelling, La Fromagerie (beautiful cheese boards paired with wine, the Jerusalem of Cheese), the Natural Kitchen, Ginger Pig (for the best cuts), Monocle, Rococo Chocolate.



2.
Feast /fiːst/
where you can have:
the best burgers by Elliot's, boozy winter eton mess (rose and pomegranate yummmm) by meringue girls, rock oysters, steaming pork belly buns, mac&cheese, baroness banana cupcakes - all in the most unconventional spaces.

We went to the winter one in an abandoned postal building in Islington which was an absolutely stunning feasting experience. The next one would be happening on 7-10 March at Tobacco Dock in Wapping. Maybe see you there?


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dimanche 3 février 2013

Overheard on the radio -




"God exists in this world, like poetry in poems. You have to read into it, and your understanding of it matures and deepens with age."
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