Royal Ascot: The Royal Enclosure

Conversations over the past few weeks about Royal Ascot have followed two patterns depending on who I’m talking to. With Americans back home, the conversation usually starts with the question: What’s Royal Ascot?  Answer: a horse race that the Queen likes to attend. With Brits or Americans in London, the question is usually: Have you [...]

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Chocolate & Zucchini UK Book Launch

  I’ve never been to a book launch before, but when I saw that Clotilde Dusoulier (better known as the author of the Chocolate & Zucchini food blog) had written a book, I looked forward to attending her UK book launch party. So today was the big day.  At 6:30, Cathy, Elizabeth, Johanna and I [...]

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Columbia Road Flower Market

During a quick spell of bright sunshine on Sunday (it rained all weekend otherwise), Jon and I caught the 55 bus from Old Street tube station to reach the Columbia Road flower market. We decided it was time to try again to make our roofdeck an inviting place to sit, which means getting plants.  (Our [...]

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The Albion Gastropub, Islington

Just a few weeks ago, in early April, the Albion gastropub reopened after an extensive renovation. The Daily Candy, whose restaurant alerts I normally ignore, associated chef Richard Turner’s creds with Tapas Brindisa, a restaurant I like very much. Throw in the Albion’s location around the corner from my flat (journey time door-to-door: 5 minutes’ [...]

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London Open Garden Squares Weekend

This past weekend, I engaged in the annual London ritual of peeking into wealthy private gardens during London Open Garden Squares weekend. Hidden away throughout London are dozens of private gardens. The gardens are patches of green (well, some are much larger than patches) that generally are accessed only by those whose homes line the [...]

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Eating and Drinking in Lisbon

Eating in Lisbon was generally cheap and good, though the simplest food turned out to be the best food. Fresh meats and fish, grilled or stewed, dominated our meals. Pastries, including, of course, the egg custards (pasteis de natas) were everywhere, and oddly, chocolate mousse seemed to be the dessert of choice at many of [...]

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Visiting Lisbon

Just over a week ago, Jon and I traveled to Portugal with our friends, Kate and Ray, who visited us from San Diego. My impression of Lisbon based on the 3+ days I was there is that it’s what you’d get if San Francisco and Seville got married and had a kid. There are steep [...]

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