I've had a great weekend in London getting out of my comfort zone.  Yesterday I took the tube down to Kew and went to the National Archive to look at a few 16th century documents.  I forget how beautiful the areas surrounding Kew are.  No wonder the medieval kings of England had their get-aways there.  As I walked to-and-from the archive there were a string of cats just waiting to be pet, and I (of course) obliged.  The cats have it good since it's the main road used by all the people to get from the tube stop to the Archives.  

Today I was invited to a friend's birthday luncheon, so I walked a 

mile or so to Marylebone High Street, one my favorite shopping districts in London.  It's a little too posh for its own good, but there's a wonderful farmer's market, an amazing cheese store, and some great food shops.  Today, I visited Rococo Chocolates, a wonderful local chocolate shop.  I picked out an assortment of truffles for my friend and they were wrapped up perfectly.  I love the images on the boxes!  She was generous to share a birthday chocolate with me, which happened to be a tea-flavored truffle.  It

 was lovely!

We met for lunch at a Sardinian restaurant aptly named Little Sardegna.  It doesn't seem to have a website, but a review can be

 found here.  I had a lovely pasta with clams with grated 

bottarga sprinkled on top.  The bottarga provided a nice, salty flavor, but wasn't overpowering in the least.  For dessert I had seadas, a Sardinian dessert that was delectable.  It's basically fried dough filled with cheese and lemon zest and drizzled with honey.  Yum.  Here's a recipe in case someone wants to make it for me in the future!

(image credits: jobrocken and freak_irish_sister)