The Capital Ring (and my sister met Obama)

London is great, but it's a city and when you live here, you do city things. Like going out for coffee and pastries, or beers, or your choice of ethnic food, or dancing, or theater. I love it all.  But most of it doesn't involve nature or exercise. And last weekend, I was craving nature and exercise.

Refusing to wallow in city woes (okay, I wallowed for a few hours), I did some research and discovered the Capital Ring, a 78-mile walking path around the edges of London, through some of the city's prettiest and oft forgotten green spaces. Despite gloomy weather forecasts, Dave and I headed to west London and walked seven miles through Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park. What a beautiful, blustery, refreshing day. We saw a historic flour mill, stood on the historic hill where Henry VIII hung out while Anne Boleyn was beheaded, watched ducks and squirrels, climbed ancient oaks, and most lovely of all, gave our legs a good stretching and our lungs some clean forest air. I'm going to walk as much of the Capital Ring as I can during the next few months. Nature's beauty aside, it's a fun way to explore new parts of London.

And oh yeah!


In case you didn't hear, my sister met President Obama on Thursday. 

Yes, they are smiling at each other in that photo, bonding over student activism and education policy, no doubt. And yes, this is the coolest thing my blog will ever report.


Analyzing my jealousy, I realized I may have a slight celebrity crush on Barack Obama.


Analyzing my crush, I realized it's because he's intelligent, witty, fun, not bad looking, and progressive... and because of this video.

I watch this video whenever I'm worried about jobs, unemployment, and the future. Yes, that's correct. I watch it every day. It makes me laugh and gives me hope and I temporarily forget about economic policies that may or may not be affecting my job prospects.  Thanks, Barack and Carly Rae (and whoever put the two of you together).

Love,
mb

This weekend...

Having a pint at my fave pub, The Island Queen,
after getting caught in a very cold rainstorm

... I went to see One Man, Two Guvnors with the Masoms.  It's opening soon on Broadway, if you're in New York and want a laugh-out-loud play. It's so British and the physical comedy is really well done. My sides hurt from laughing. I spent a fortune on groceries and discovered my two new favorite foods: cashew butter and kiwifruit. I also made tuna salad with homemade mayonaise! We went dancing and out to brunch at a fancy London place on Piccadilly. Now I'm going to meet some friends at Look Mum No Hands, a bicycle and coffee shop!  Hip and happening.

It's been a busy month so far. I've been going to Italy and applying for jobs and buying into fad diets and basking in as much sun as I can get my hands on. Photos and more posts to follow soon!

Love,

mb

This weekend...

... I had brunch with my friends Trisha and Megan. I ordered:

Heaven. The pancakes were so fluffy. The creme fraiche (what is creme fraiche?) so rich. The berry compote so tart. I almost went back for seconds the next morning.

The seafood and chicken paella Dave and I cooked Saturday night was pretty darn good, too. Fact: you can make very convincing paella and risotto from normal long grain rice.

On Sunday I discovered the charming Candid Cafe. It's tucked away on a quiet street behind Angel Tube Station and makes you feel like you're in on a secret. Cozy and colorful with lots of eclectic furniture and paintings and books. The staff are really rude and the coffee isn't great - yelp.com agrees with me. But the cheesecake is yummy. And we got a little table in the sunshine. I'll be going back.

This weekend...

... I had a couple of pints and a steak pie at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. It's a classic pub pub, with low ceilings and ornate wooden stair railings and bar tops, and it's been around since the 1500s. If you visit me, I'll take you there.

I watched Hurt Locker and can safely say I'd rather be an investment banker than an Improvised Explosive Device specialist.

Today it's so cold and rainy. My boots, raincoat, and umbrella didn't keep me dry, so I picked up some hearty lentil and sausage stew for lunch.

Right now I'm enjoying hot tea and an MTV special on Katy Perry's greatest hits with my roommate Shadma.

My favorite KP hit?  Teenage Dream, hands down. Doesn't it make you want to be in the middle of summer already?  I want to drive to Cali.

Stay dry, eat some stew.
mb

Linking with love: rainy London photo

London Breakfast Club: Camden Passage Part 2

The Breakfast Club continues to make its way down Camden Passage in Angel! Here are two other places we've tried…

The Breakfast Club

Not to be confused with my breakfast club, this restaurant is trendy indie Angel at its best. 

The décor is colorful and funky, like a wacky American diner, with retro appliances and kitschy trinkets all over. It's cozy, bright, and so hot right now. On weekends, you'll find a line out the door after 10am, no exceptions. And you'll say 'I don't think so' and swiftly move on to another Camden Passage breakfast gem. This happened to me several times last fall. 

Finally this January Australian Hannah and I managed to beat the crowd one Saturday morning. The atmosphere didn't disappoint, but the food did. My french toast was dry and the coffee was only okay. Hannah enjoyed her eggs benedict even though they weren't as good as Gus's (a yummy café in Canberra). And Dave's portobello mushrooms were soggy. Oh no!  

I mean, the food wasn't terrible. But given all the fuss and London prices, I expected yummier. Maybe the cooks were having a bad morning.

The Breakfast Club has several locations around the city and they serve lunch, dinner, and drinks, too. On my birthday last Friday (yes indeed, I'm twenty four!) Dave and I tried the one in Spitalfields. I got a burger with applesmoked cheddar and portobello mushrooms (not soggy this time, hurray!). We had a couple of beers and Dave tried the chilli… all in all, pretty tasty, but nothing mind blowing.

I would go back for the atmosphere. I've heard that at least one location has a secret bar tucked away somewhere, too. Patrons must provide a secret code before entering. All I know is that during dinner people kept disappearing into a 1960s refrigerator… I'll go exploring and report back soon.

Med Kitchen

You can find Med Kitchen in several locations around London. One of Dave's friends reckons they have the best breakfast in London. We beg to differ. You'll have a good breakfast, and it might be better than waiting an hour for a table at Elk in the Woods or Kipferl or The Breakfast Club, but it's not incredible. Unless you're starving and desperate for food, like I was this weekend. Then it's incredible. Does that make sense?  

The menu covers all the English breakfast basics. A couple months ago I had eggs benedict and they tasted vinegary. On Sunday I had scrambled eggs and smoked salmon on toast; no complaints, very satisfied. The six boys at my table ordered full English breakfasts and got a lot of food for their buck. And we were all happy with our fresh and blended juices. A couple months ago the coffee was pretty bad, and on Saturday I tasted Dave's cappuccino and it was pretty bad again. 

To sum up: if you go to Med Kitchen, go hungry and stick to eggs, toast, and your juice of choice.

This photo is totally unrelated to breakfast. It just makes me laugh.

Tomorrow is Pancake Day in the UK!  Apparently this is the British version of Fat Tuesday. I whole heartedly approve as pancakes are my favorite comfort food of all time. I'm considering getting up super early and going out for blueberry pancakes before work...

Posts to come this week: 23 things I learned when I was 23; 23 things I loved about my birthday week; skiing photos; and plans for Lent.

Happy Monday!

London Breakfast Club: Camden Passage Part 1

So back in Wyoming, some friends and I started Signal Breakfast Club.

This entailed dragging ourselves out of bed once or twice a week and going out for breakfast together. My favorite place was a cafe at Heart Six, a ranch fifteen minutes outside Grand Teton National Park.

Oh, those views. Oh, their biscuits and gravy.

Then I moved to London, where the urban landscape is only okay and the people don't do white sausage gravy.

But I'm happy to report that I've continued Breakfast Club... because no matter where I go, breakfast is my favorite.

There's a trendy little street in Angel called Camden Passage with loads of cafes and vintage shops. Here are two places in Camden Passage I've breakfast clubbed at so far...

Elk in the Woods

Elk in the Woods is woodsy and rustic (in a trendy not-actually-rustic way) and my latte was good. The breakfast menu is inventive without being too bizarre. I had some fancy pancakes with an unusual fruit compote - they were different and really delicious. Dave had this baked egg and potato thing... frittata, perhaps?  It too was yummy (and healthy). Zara had a traditional English fry up and got the best value for money, in my opinion. The other two dishes were just enough... and just enough is not enough if you like to overeat at breakfast like me.  I would go back, but not if I was starving.

Kipferl

 

I love their website homepage. But that's beside the point.

Kipferl is a self-described Austrian/Viennese place.  The space is open and cool but nothing special. The coffee was good... it might've been very good, but I can no longer remember. They serve breakfast all day long, but you might be tempted by the lunch menu like I was (though I tried my friend's apple saucy french toast - mmmm).  I had a bowl of beefy brothy soup with pumpernickel bread - very nice - and then this: 

STEIRISCHER BACKHENDLSALAT [try pronouncing that one]

Styrian style salad with strips of breaded chicken with pumpkin seed oil 

dressing and roasted pumpkin seeds 

Absolutely delicious. The chicken was tender, the greens fresh with lots of flavor,  and all the pumpkin ingredients, perfect. I almost always prefer breakfast foods to lunch/dinner options, but I had no regrets here. I would definitely go back. And I would probably order the same thing.  Plus apple strudel.

And here's London Breakfast Club: Camden Passage Part 2.

PS!
I went skiing last week!  And I didn't die!  Hurray!  Photos and commentary to be shared shortly.

October!

October is my favorite month. The temperature's perfect, the leaves are pretty, and the holidays are coming.

That being said, last week was unseasonably warm but absolutely glorious. I left all my jackets at home, read outside during my lunch breaks, ate a late-night, three-course dinner at a delicious outdoor Turkish cafe, watched the sunset behind Tower Bridge, visited Burough Market for the first time and decided to do all my food shopping there always, danced to 50s music at Shake Rattle and Bowl, a diner/bowling alley/dance club in central London, started the Breakfast Club tradition (more on this in a later post) at Elk in the Woods, read in the Islington's community garden, and generally loved feeling warmth on my skin.

Today was gray and blustery again. But that's okay. I'm in the mood for scarves. And I bought loads of fresh tomatoes at Burough's this weekend and am excited to homemake tomato soup... and I found a place to buy pumpkins for jack-o-lanterns... and I found a place to buy fresh Christmas trees!  Mmmm. I love autumn.

From top to bottom: sunny graveyard on the way to work/sunrise view from our flat/sunny walk around Islington/iced tea and jams at Burough's/veggie burger at Burough's/Zara and I in sunshine at Burough's/olives, tomatoes, and pretty brick buildings near Burough's

Open House London

It was sunny today! So Dave and I wandered around Islington (our borough, or neighborhood) for awhile...  This weekend was Open House London, a kind of celebration of London's architecture by opening up unique homes and buildings to the public, and we visited an architectural photographer's home. It was pretty cool. Along the way, we stopped for ginger beer and lollipops and later for fresh corn, peppers, and potatoes at Chapel Street's Sunday market.