Sunny Day?

It's so ironic that a girl who loves the sun as much as I do has moved to Seattle and is spending one of Seattle's hotter months in London. Tomorrow's high? 60. So much for summer. But this weekend, I'll be visiting warmer climes, to be sure, because I'm going to Madrid! A friend from Riverside is from there and I will be visiting him and his beautiful city for a few days. I'm very excited to visit a new country, and even more excited to feel some sun on my brow!

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)

 

Of Hats and Harrod's

After yesterday's trip to the British Museum, I went to the Victoria and Albert museum to see a few of their galleries. I ended up spending most of my time in the Fashion and Asian galleries, which were organized beautifully. 

Early in the evening, I met with K. and her husband M. to grab a cup of coffee. Coffee soon turned into a picnic at Hyde Park, which required food! On our way to Hyde Park, we stopped at Hotel Chocolat and grabbed a few types of chocolate to try (mainly salted-almond truffles and a mini fruit-and-nut bar.) Along with our sandwich from Paul's, we had the perfect early dinner. 

We watched people in their paddle boats and made snarky comments about a few people in row boats who couldn't figure out how to row them in a straight line. 

Then we made our way to Harrod's, which was a blast. I was amazed at the millinery section. One day, I will totally wear a head-piece like this to a wedding. Just watch me.  We had a blast looking at the housewares section, the food-halls, and the amazing clothes.

We ended our evening at Ladurée, which has a small cafe tucked away inside of Harrod's. I tried their bergamot macaron, as well as my favorite, the pistachio, along with some rose tea.  

It was a wonderful day -- I had such a good time with H. and M. They live in New Jersey, and their hospitality may be what gets me to finally visit New York!

A Garden Sunday

Today, I went with a group of colleagues to the Royal Botanic Gardens, otherwise known as Kew Gardens. We got there around 1pm and it stayed rainless (except for a single drop that landed on my nose) our entire stay! The gardens were massive; one could spend an entire day there and not see everything. There were many, many parents with children, and while it was annoying to trip over toddlers at every turn, had I children, I would have been out with them as well. It's not really a proper 'garden,' but a giant park with labeled trees and shrubs everywhere.

I spent a lot of time in the Tropical and Temperate Climate conservatories, originally built in the 19th century. I've always associated conservatories with giant British houses, probably because the only time I encountered them was when I watched Masterpiece Theatre as a young girl. These conservatories are great Victorian structures of hand-blown glass and steel that stand out like space ships in the green habitat. The one on the left houses all the palm trees and tropical plants. One can even climb up a spiral staircase and walk around on a second story balcony to see the tops of the palms at eye level.

It was during our picnic today that I had my first Scotch Egg. Apparently it's traditional picnic food here and meant to be eaten cold. It was quite good, although I only had half since everyone brought more food than we needed. I can imagine that it would be a good and easy snack to bring on a day's walk in the country. I contributed crackers and black olive tapenade, bread, and an interesting goat's milk cheddar.

My two favorite moments of the day came when I caught whiffs of two smells I associate with my life in California. The temperate greenhouse was home to many plants that are in my apartment complex. K. will be loath to find out that there were many examples of the ferns that once shaded our patio. (These ferns shed their spores twice a year all over our patio, creating a fine brown film that got on everything. They are very pretty, but really gross.) Anyway, I was walking down the path and smelled the wonderful scent of jasmine -- the familiar smell of a Los Angeles spring. Where ever I live I will plant jasmine by my patio. There is nothing better than relaxing in the evening to the sweet aroma of those little white flowers. The second smell was the odor of pine trees as we walked along the section of the park dedicated to conifers. I actually hugged the Oregon Douglass Fir, much to the chagrin of my more-proper friends!

Grrr. Argh.

I dropped my computer yesterday and in retaliation my computer isn't starting, so I will be at the whims of the dreaded dorm computer until I return home on Sept. 29th. I'll try and update as much as I can, but entries will probably not be up to my usual standards, to say the least.

I have to say, today is the first day I've felt inexplicably lonely since I got here. It wasn't a fun feeling. I think I'm ready to come home to my family and friends and little grey kitty.

By God and Saint Alban!

After raining for the entire month of July and some of August, the weather here has finally turned sunny in a way that only England can. My friend B. and I took a short train ride to the medieval city of St. Alban's in Hertfordshire. We walked around the city, which has some amazing Tudor buildings like the one on the right. There was a city-wide farmer's market in the city centre, so B. and I picked up some freshly pickled herrings from the fishmonger to go with our lunch of bread and cheese.

Then we made our way to the Cathedral, which boasts some of the biggest remaining English wall paintings (from the 13th century!), which are still visible. We spent a few hours wandering around the Cathedral, which has served as a hub for so much medieval history. The Magna Carta was first read at St. Albans; Matthew Paris, a famous medieval illuminator lived in the Abbey; the Peasant's Revolt in 1381 was led in part by men from St. Albans. To say nothing of Saint Alban himself!

After our tour of the city, we started our 10 mile walk, which was the main reason we visited St. Albans in the first place! Our walk took us through the forest outside of St. Albans and through the property of a manor house and to the ruins of Old Gorhambury House where Sir Francis Bacon lived and Queen Elizabeth I visited. We sampled some of the best blackberries I've had since I've been here (yum!) and saw many wild pheasants and a whole herd of black sheep!

It was a long, but satisfying day that ended with a big group of friends meeting at a local Ethiopian place for a veritable feast!

A Limey Summer

This has been the summer of key lime pie. At 'Cake Friday' (an event at WBL where each person in the manuscript department brings a cake for morning tea), I made key lime pie for my new colleagues. None of them had tried anything like it before, and everyone thought it was quite tasty. There aren't any graham crackers here, so I used ginger snaps, which worked perfectly to balance the tartness of the lime zest with the spice of ginger.

Tonight I made key lime pie again for my dorm-friend H, who's leaving tomorrow morning. It's such an easy pie that I don't bother measuring anything any more. After a quick Fahrenheit to Celsius conversion, we were all set! Here's the recipe:

Key Lime Pie
Serves eight

Lime filling

4 teaspoons grated zest plus 1/2 cup strained juice from 3 to 4 limes

4 large egg yolks

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

Graham cracker crust

11 full graham crackers, processed to fine crumbs (1-1/4 cups)

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Whipped cream topping

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1. For the filling: Whisk zest and yolks in medium bowl until tinted light green, about 2 minutes. Beat in condensed milk, then juice; set aside at room temperature to thicken.

2. For the crust: Adjust oven rack to center position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Mix crumbs and sugar in medium bowl. Add butter; stir with fork until well blended. Pour mixture into 9-inch pie pan; press crumbs over bottom and up sides of pan to form even crust. Bake until lightly browned and fragrant, about 15 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack; cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes.

3. Pour lime filling into crust; bake until center is set, yet wiggly when jiggled, 15 to 17 minutes. Return pie to wire rack; cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until well chilled, at least 3 hours. (Can be covered with lightly oiled or oil-sprayed plastic wrap placed directly on filling and refrigerated up to 1 day.)

4. For the whipped cream: Up to 2 hours before serving, whip cream in medium bowl to very soft peaks. Adding confectioners' sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, continue whipping to just-stiff peaks. Decoratively pipe whipped cream over filling or spread evenly with rubber spatula. Garnish with optional sugared lime slices and serve.

(Hello Goodbye)

This has been a summer of hellos, of greetings: my first time living abroad, visiting international research libraries, working full time, really living on my own. I could say more, but I think most of you know how much this summer has changed my perspective. I need new glasses, I guess. The hellos were very hard at first; they always are. But once I got the hang of it, I began to like my adventures

It's now starting to be a summer of goodbyes. I just said goodbye to a dorm-mate who left to go back home to Austria. H., one of the closest friends while I've been here, is off to do research in Majorca. And tonight I walked to Holborn to have dinner with Owlfish, an internet friend who has fast become an embodied friend. Since she lives in London, I've had the pleasure of seeing her often this summer.

So the goodbyes are start finding new research projects that pique my interest. For one of the first times in my life, I've felt intellectually sated, which is an incredible feeling for me. I always have so many things running around my head at once, but since I've been here I've really honed my research skills and interests to the point that I can confidently say that I am becoming a full-fledged scholar!

Marlyebourne High Street, etc.

I had a wonderful time today exploring a whole new area of London: Marlyebourne, which is a 2 mile walk from my dorm. H. and I went for brunch at Le Pan Quotidien (even though it's a chain, their 'bread basket' can't be beat for value and yumminess) and walked down Marlyebourne High Street perusing the shops.

We found a farmer's market along the way, which was incredibly impressive. Every king of meat was accounted for, even game (mmmmmm...), 3 cheese vendors, a person selling fresh eggs, and 3 people selling bread and homemade flour, in addition to all the vegetable stalls. It made me smile that I could probably do most of my weekly shopping there if I lived in London for a longer period. It had everything one needs for amazing, good quality meals. H. and I picked up a fresh loaf of bread, carrots, an eggplant/aubergine, bell peppers, and amazing-looking fresh mushrooms for a ratatouille, and we stopped at the Fromagerie and found a wonderful goat cheese to go with our bread. (I just had our dinner, and it was a wonderful feast of fresh produce, with melon for dessert!)

We walked around the shops and I finally spent my birthday money that my mother and father gave me buying a pair of shoes for autumn (like the ones to the left, but with a lower heel and in brown) from Shoon. These will look great with pants or with my usual 4os-inspired skirts, so I'm very happy to have them, especially since they're really nicely made, with beautiful leather. I love shoe shopping over here much more since London gets more shoes from Italian shoemakers than the States do.

After we were done shopping we went to Regent's Park and walked around. If bird flu ever hits, all I can say is to stay away from that place. I saw an impressive number of waterfowl there, but the pigeons were everywhere and particularly nasty. There were feathers all over the grass. H. and I managed to find a quiet bench where the ducks and shade were plentiful and we read for an hour. Just sitting on my bench I saw: Mute Swans, a stray Whooper Swan, Tufted Ducks, Bean Geese, Shelducks, Pochard, Red-Crested Pochard (which was the cutest duck ever), and my favorite bird of the day, a Black Swan. (Please visit this site for pictures of the other waterfowl mentioned above.)

It was a wonderful and relaxing way to spend a Sunday!

Going South...

I had a chance to see a stage adaptation of Carson McCuller's The Member of the Wedding last night at the Young Vic Theatre. The space was simply amazing. They had a cafe and bar when one walks in the door, with prop markers as chairs. The ceiling was done up with stage lights and the walls were big sheets of varnished plywood, which really looked awesome. (I especially liked the varnished wood, which was done in a natural finish.) We waited for the doors to open with our glasses of wine on a comfy sofa and coffee table.

Once in the theatre, I reveled at the care the company took with the set. Instead of a normal, rectangular stage, this one was a triangle shape, with the point jutting out into the audience. It made for a big space since everything could be set at an angle, and the audience had wonderful views since the angles made one feel much close to the stage than normal.

The play itself was okay. It's a great story: a young tomboy who is in the middle of her brother's wedding and really doesn't know how to grow up or what to do. There are two ways to play the character, I think: to under-act and make her a sullen, upset teenager, which would probably work better on film so the director could make use of close-ups; or to overact and throw teen-aged tantrums. Our director picked the overacting, which was probably better for the space, but made me completely unable to get involved with the character (with whom I feel a kinship, so it was strange not being able to really enjoy the play). Frankie was always to excited, so there was really no way to build up to the high points of her character since she started out too dramatic.

The maid holds the play together, and she held the cast together with a superb performance. Her acting was measured, calm, and a breath of fresh air compared with most of the cast. She's American as well, so her accent was much closer to a 'real' southern one. Most of the Brits in the cast used an Oklahoma southern accent instead of a proper Georgia one, which really bugs me.

I also enjoyed John Henry, played by the cutest 6 year old ever. I usually can't stand child actors, but he was as cute as a button (and looked just like pictures of K. when he was a boy). His antics were very true and honest compared with the overwrought acting of Frankie.

Overall, an enjoyable experience if for nothing else, so I could play theatre critic! I'm going to see George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan soon, and I cannot wait. An amazing actress is playing Joan, so I'm excited. And of course, Jean Seberg (my muse in everything hair-cut-related) played Joan in the movie.

Sunday, Lovely Sunday

On Sunday, my friend from W.B.L. and I went to down to Richmond, a town in the southwest of London. It's a posh town, with upscale stores like Max Mara and such, but B. and I ignored those in favor of seeing Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal on the big screen. Even though I consider myself quite the medieval movie buff, I had never seen this film, so I was really excited to get the chance. I now understand why everyone wanted me to see it so much! I really liked Bergman's portrayal of the over-zealous clergy, as well as his casting of Death. I want to see it again before I make any other judgments, however.

After our movie screening, we walked along the Thames, which borders the town. Edwardian and Victorian mansions face the river. The path was filled with bikers, runners, and walkers enjoying the views of Egyptian Geese and Canada Geese puttering along amongst the rowboats. Had we world enough and time, we would have gone to Hampton Court, but we settled for views of the majestic Ham House.

After we finished our walk, we stopped at the White Cross Pub for a 1/2 pint of cider, as the Thames slowly rose to high tide, covering most of the sidewalks near the water's edge. Then we caught a matinée of Lady Chatterley and afterwards ate leftover bread and cheese for dinner whilst trying to avoid getting pecked at by hungry geese. (I highly recommend Lady Chatterley to everyone who liked the book. I've seen it twice and it's a truly beautiful film.)

I'd post pictures of my adventures, but my silly camera has decided to ignore my computer (or vice versa) so my photos will have to wait for now.

A Most Satisfactory Day

I went to the Tate Britain today with a friend I've made who lives at my dorm. She's also a graduate student and specializes in 18th century history at Harvard. We've spent many a night talking in our kitchen about our experiences living abroad.

We walked along the south bank of the Thames near the theatre district, which is a place I rarely go in London. It was a beautiful afternoon, especially when I spotted Big Ben through the trees and Westminster Abbey just down the road. It was nice to be in the throng of tourists, all excited to be in London, instead of the usual somber Londoner.

The Tate Britain was an an unexpected treat. Everywhere I turned there were paintings I recognized from my childhood. They have an amazing collection of the Pre-Raphaelites' paintings, like the one on the right. (Mom, we HAVE to go there together, you'd love it!) Four days before I leave for the States they're putting on a giant exhibition of all their paintings. I have to see it before I leave!! There was also a special exhibit called 1807: William Blake, Slavery, and the Radical Mind that had some of Blake's art and some wonderful examples of abolitionist books. I was introduced to the artwork of Richard Dadd, who painted the image on the left. I'd love to read a biography on him, but I haven't found a good one yet. There was also an exhibit on Turner, who I didn't give enough credit to, I think; I really liked his more abstract watercolors a lot.

Then my friend and I came home and made a wonderful dinner of pasta and veggies, with a caprese salad on the side. Mmmm.