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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(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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Into the Wild

*The Heath by Andy Sewell, see the complete series 

Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth. 

- Henry David Thoreau, Walden, or Life in the Woods

Hampstead Heath, located in the vicinity of inner London, has a very special place in my heart. It is wild, beautiful, inexhaustible - each time I think about the Heath I am reminded of the long walks in solitude in between school and the magic hour - let it be in the scorching heat or dewy hours in the morning, stepping into crunchy leaves, or gliding on the icy pavements - watching the silhouettes of trees in rumination, swimming in the chilling water of the ponds, patting friendly dogs, picnicking and lounging around with friends, listening to the whispers of the wind, humming of the old man nearby, or just silence. Andy Sewell has captured its beauty in his most atmospheric photo series above.

Days

What are days for?

Days are where we live.   

They come, they wake us   

Time and time over.

They are to be happy in:   

Where can we live but days?

Ah, solving that question

Brings the priest and the doctor   

In their long coats

Running over the fields.

- Philip Larkin

*

Summer (in London, if I must put caption under each picture) is - seeing the RA summer exhibition and Edvard Munch, reading with sunglasses on, iced white wine on Charlotte Street, walking amidst wild flowers, having very late brunch at Lantana. 

Or,

summer is strolling at your own pace, getting half drunk and fully happy already at mid-day, humming to the sound of the rain, savouring each unphotographable moments.

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Freudian

'What do I ask of a painting? I ask it to astonish, disturb, seduce, convince.'

- Lucian Freud

As Londoners we are spoilt for choices of great art exhibitions, especially this quarter of the year, with David Hockney at the RA and Picasso at the Tate Britain and so on. But for certain, the Lucian Freud Portraits exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery is the one that I will be frequenting for the next few months to come.

With more than 100 early and late works of the great British artist, the exhibition is unmissable. I spent a good few hours wandering, listening to the audio guide, and studying the paintings. The way that Freud so uniquely and eloquently captured human life and flesh, the contour of naked bodies and emotions - it overwhelms you with its disquieting silence, leaving you in awe yet unsettled.

The exhibition closes on 27 May 2012.

Merry

Festive Burlington Arcade // Serpentine Gallery Pavilion a few months back, blooming with late flowers // Riddle & Finns champagne & oyster bar in Brighton // Reading in Rose Bakery with ginger & elderflower honey tea // Somerset House

*

...Christmas and happy new year, dear readers!

I shall be back very soon after the month-long and much needed hiatus.

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In flames

Londres, le parlement, by Claude Monet

Riots are about power, and they are about catharsis. They are not about poor parenting, or youth services being cut, or any of the other snap explanations that media pundits have been trotting out: structural inequalities, as a friend of mine remarked today, are not solved by a few pool tables. People riot because it makes them feel powerful, even if only for a night. People riot because they have spent their whole lives being told that they are good for nothing, and they realise that together they can do anything – literally, anything at all.

- Laurie Penny, whose full article can be viewed here

While acknowledging the underpinning injustice and discrimination in the society, I regret to say that such vengeance, such violence cannot be a solution to the problems, nor a justification for any of the grave crimes that have been committed in London and other cities. The rioters and looters are ruthlessly destroying other people's lives, oppressing people who are even more powerless that themselves and shaming the name of wherever they come from. They are symbols of decadence, not of humanity, but of their very own selves.

I am truly, very sad and worried about London.

I hope that everyone in London will stay safe. And amidst the chaos, true justice for all people will be served.

Things & Places I love about London

I often find myself ambivalent about London - but when I am away, I miss the city a lot - its perpetual buzz, the ever-changing light and how the Big Ben sings in the dark.

1. ♥ Covent Garden - with the famous Monmouth Coffee around Seven Dials, the brand new Laduree tea-room in the piazza, Bougie macarons, Notes café and wine bar round the corner and Byron Hamburgers. And of course, the Royal Opera House.

2. Favourite Eateries -

♥ Busaba Eathai for happy thai food

♥ Koya for handmade udon with fresh veggie tempura

♥ Wright Brothers for the taste of the sea

♥ Yumchaa for a pot of tea, then Cha Cha Moon for amazing noodles

♥ Lick for the best gelato in town

3. ♥ Bloomsbury - for my flat, uni, British Museum and my favourite dwelling ever - the London Review Bookshop (they have an excellent cafe where you can read books accompanied by a pot of Mariage Frères tea with rose and pistachio cake)

4. For a lovely stroll and a good look at the arts, go to the V&A, the Royal Academy, the National Gallery (they open until 9pm on Friday night!)

For an equally lovely stroll in the famous markets, go to the Pimlico Farmers Market (Saturdays), Borough Market (Thursdays to Saturdays), Brixton Market (filled with independent restaurants and stores, opens daily), Portobello Road Market (Saturdays), Spitalfield Market + Brick Lane (Sundays), Columbia Flower Market (for flowers! Sundays).

5. Favourite picnic spots - St James Park (eat with the pelicans!), Regent's Park (for the cherry blossom trees), Hampton Court Palace (Henry VIII's palace with a truly magnificent garden - they filmed the New World there)

For more posts on London, check out the London tag on the side!

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In April, I...

*photos by brian at the blue hour, taken at the Duke of Cambridge

1. Went to the Duke of Cambridge for SY's birthday (Thanks for taking us there!). Sitting in the conservatory surrounded by warm light at dusk and brick walls, chatting and drinking and eating a really good smoked mackerel salad and bread and olive oil mmmmmm is pure ecstasy. Oh glorious, glorious food, the spring/summer produce in England is especially irresistible.

2. Frequented Le Pain Quotidien for breakfast, lunch and tea. Their mixed berry tart is the best!

3. Picnicked under the huge cherry blossom tree in Regent's Park.

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Serendipity

six.

Ad-hoc visits to:

The Table (Southwark) for brunch - excellent eggs benedict and buttermilk pancake // Sunflower Seeds by Ai Weiwei revisited - the video documenting the process of how they produced 100 million procelain seeds in a small town in China is illuminating // Oh Rothko // Surrealism is always a good idea // Miró in April at Tate (squealing in excitement!)

London: a feast to the mouth and to the eye (when you know where to go!)