Posted in London on 01/01/2010 06:18 pm by dana
We had a great first day of 2010 here in London! After sleeping a little late, we headed out and got lunch at Leon. We were really excited because we absolutely love our Leon cookbook (which Whitney and Michael gave us last year for Christmas) but we’ve never actually been to the restaurant. It absolutely lived up to our expectations, and we had a fantastic lunch.
After our tasty lunch, we went for a walk along the Thames. It was such a beautiful day for walking around and we had a lot of fun seeing all of the touristy, but beautiful, sites along the river. Pictures below!
Tomorrow we are heading up north for a day in the country! We’re going to walk around Windsor during the day, and then have dinner at a Heston Blumenthal restaurant (very exciting!) We’re going to spend the night in Windsor, and then head back to London early Sunday morning. Will try to post from Windsor if we can!
Posted in London on 12/31/2009 08:23 pm by dana
We had a fun New Year’s Eve in London today!
We started out our day at Borough Market, where we got some tasty lunch (roast meat sandwiches and grilled cheese, onions and pickles) and picked up some provisions for dinner tonight. Borough Market is one of our favorite places in London, and it was a ton of fun to stock up for New Year’s Eve there.
Buying some bread.
Me and my favorite “salt beef and horseradish sauce” sandwich – yumm!
Cheese lady.
Grilled cheese with onions and pickles.
After we got back to Whitney and Michael’s, we began cooking for dinner! We made a tasty rib roast, yorkshire pudding, brussels sprouts, and Michael’s famous roast potatoes and root vegetables. Yum!!!
Tasty Borough Market meat before we cooked it.
It’s dinner time!
After dinner, we enjoyed some post-dinner drinks – champagne, London Pride Lager, and lovely Winter Pimms (a British tradition?)!
We also managed to observe a bunch of our respective traditions.
Singing Auld Lange Syne.
Eating herring at midnight (my family’s tradition).
The Scottish Hogmanay tradition of “first footing” — allowing in a dark haired person, a tall person, and a person bearing a gift (that’s me with coal).
And the Mauritian tradition of opening the doors to allow out with the bad, and in with the good for the New Year.
Happy 2010 from London!!!!!
Posted in London on 12/30/2009 06:31 pm by dana
Despite the fact that it was a bit grey and rainy today here in London, we managed to have a lot of fun, eat some more tasty food, and do some more wandering about. We slept a little late this morning, and then headed out to meet friends from summer camp for lunch. We went to a great place called S&M (sausage & mash) in Notting Hill. They had excellent sausages, mashed potatoes, and, my new favorite, mushy peas! The perfect meal for a damp day.
Tasty Sausage and Mash
Me and my former co-counselor
Group shot
After lunch, we walked up Portobello Road, which has a bunch of cute little shops, and antique stores. Then we walked through Notting Hill, and then to Kensington and South Kensington (home of fancy houses).
Portobello Road
We also randomly walked past George Orwell’s house!
A pretty blue house on Portobello Road
The coolest looking pub ever – it had all kinds of crazy things hanging from the ceiling!
A little wet, we made our way back to Whitney and Michael’s flat (we navigated the buses and Tube all by ourselves!) We decided to take it easy tonight to recover from Vinopolis and prepare for some New Year’s Eve festivities tomorrow night. We got a fantastic “curry” close to Whitney and Michael’s place, and then had a relaxing night of watching tv.
All in all, it was a wet but fun day in London!
We also discovered that we unwittingly documented a graffiti rivalry in progress on our first day here! Check out the photo below, and then read this article: www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6970440.ece (Make sure you click on the arrows under the picture in the article so you can see the evolution of this painting.)
Posted in London on 12/29/2009 06:55 pm by dana
Third day in London is over! We slept a little late and then headed to lunch and then to Vinopolis, the wine museum. It was a lot of fun – and I am happy to report that we survived 5 wine tastings, a champagne tasting, two whiskey tastings, two rum tastings, two absinthe tastings, martinis, and two beer tastings (phew). Needless to say, afterward, we went out for a few pints and crisps! Pictures below.
And afterward we got some tasty, fancy pizza to cap off the night (and may, or may not, have had a pasti on the way home!) That’s it from here!
Posted in Good Eats, London on 12/28/2009 08:04 pm by dana
Another great day in London!
After a good night’s sleep, Michael cooked a delicious breakfast, and then Taylor and I headed off for a walk. We left Whitney and Michael’s “flat” and then headed to Spittalfield’s Market and Brick Lane Road. Most of the stores at Spittalfield’s were closed, but a bunch of the Indian restaurants and supermarkets on Brick Lane were open (and so were the vintage shops). It was a lot of fun to do some more walking and exploring! See pictures below.
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brick lane 1, originally uploaded by TaylorDane.
Afterward, we went to meet Whit and Michael at The Lanesborough for a wonderful tea. The tea was excellent, and we really liked the goat cheese quiches and the cucumber sandwiches. Good times!
Afterward, we walked down to the Thames and looked at all of the pretty sights which were lit up at night. Not surprisingly, we grabbed a couple(+) pints at a cute pub right off of Saint Katharine’s Dock on the Thames.
Before heading home, we grabbed some scharma / falafel along the way(as if we hadn’t eaten enough already!). All in all, another wonderful London day!
