My friends are the best

[liv]

Thank you so much to everyone who made plans with me for what ended up being an incredibly hectic but very enjoyable few days' break. I think I sent about 80 emails to organize everything, but it was more than worth it, and worth the ridiculous amount of travelling back and forth across London to see so many lovely people.

• Saturday: American-style brunch (featuring smoked salmon scrambled eggs) in the wonderful company of angelofthenorth and gwyddno. There was also Super Scrabble involved.
• Saturday tea: perfectly English Proper Tea chez hadassah, followed by tasty cider in her local, the rather upscale Adam and Eve.
• Saturday dinner: hearty vegan supper chez nanaya and alextiefling in Charlton, washed down with further cider and accompanied by chatting until very very late at night.
• Saturday night in nanaya and alextiefling's guest room.
• Sunday lunch: Indian buffet at the ever wonderful Diwana Bhel Poori. A bit rushed since both hadassah and I were running late, but ever so tasty.
• Sunday tea: started in the British Library after seeing their utterly wonderful illuminated manuscripts exhibition (seriously, everybody should rush out and see it now, even if you have regular access to world-class collections of illuminated manuscripts, this is on a different plane altogether and one of the most impressive exhibitions I've ever seen). And continued in east central London in the flat where doseybat and pplfichi were catsitting.
• Sunday dinner: European food (interesting butternut squash salad) at the Pembury, accompanied by rather a lot of Duchesse de Bourgogne bière brune. Can't believe it's been so long since I made it to the Pembury, but it was really great to see people including morwen and Thuggish Poet and especially timeplease, who amazingly was socializing, not working.
• Sunday night in the spare room at Amazonia, Leytonstone, thanks to hairyears.
• Monday breakfast: brownies (don't know what cuisine that counts as!) and delightful conversation with ewt.
• Monday lunch: first half in a proper traditional Hackney caff with Thuggish Poet (vaguely Turkish, I think, really delicious lentil soup, anyway). Second half at about 3 pm in a terribly chic café, Fleet River Bakery in Lincoln's Inn Fields with jack, who was rather delayed by traffic on his way back from Buffycamp. I love how you can find both these places within a half hour bus-ride, London is great!
• Monday tea: at the home of the tailor who is going to make my wedding dress (!!!) taking sips in between being thoroughly measured.
• Monday dinner: Belgian food with fully culturally appropriate beer at Belgique in Wanstead, in the superlative company of khalinche.
• Monday night in purplecthulu's spare room in Bethnal Green.
• Tuesday breakfast: hasty commuter-style cup of tea and further conversation with purplecthulu who valiantly put up with my early morning perkiness.
• Tuesday lunch: corporate hospitality-style "world" cuisine at St George's Medical School in Tooting.
• Tuesday dinner: Japanese vegan food at Itadaki Zen with lethargic_man.
• Tuesday night in kake's spare room in Croydon.
• Wednesday lunch identical to Tuesday lunch.
• Wednesday pre-dinner drinks at the New Orleans-style Shaker & Company in central London, with kerrypolka and kake.
• Wednesday dinner: Mexican tapas at Mestizo, which may have involved margaritas made with really good tequila, and we somehow ended up in the newly opened Euston Cider Tap for just one more half before I headed home.
• Wednesday night BACK IN MY OWN BED hooray!

So yes, that was completely awesome. Expensive, and exhausting, and somewhat boozy, and my feet are pretty much cut to ribbons, but awesome. It's certainly given me enough of a boost to get me through the last three weeks of term.

Comments

[oursin]

So sorry I missed you, but last week was rather frantic.

[liv]

I would be really honoured to meet you at some stage, but this weekend already included spending time with 18 different people in 5 days (not including the general gathering at the pub). When I next have the energy for planning complicated social visits to London, I'll most certainly post here again and perhaps it will work out.

[oursin]

Mestizo is just around the corner from work, but I just couldn't manage that evening, alas.

[liv]

Oh of course, I did go by your workplace but I'd forgotten the connection. I should definitely come and visit the public bits at some point, and that could combine well with going out for a drink in that part of town.

[purplecthulhu]

And thank you for visiting!

No apology necessary for early morning perkiness - it probably helped wake me up.

Mestizo looks interesting - and conveniently close to the Bel Puri and Euston that one could have a quick drink after dinner before getting on the sleeper to Scotland... Yes - that is a plan you hear forming!

[liv]

*bounce* I do like the Bhel Poori and cocktail and sleeper plan (as long as they don't go and eliminate the sleeper due to financial sub-viability, which seems to be on the cards). If you just want a drink you may prefer Shaker & Co; they have a better atmosphere and more exciting cocktails (though their website is unarguably awful). Mestizo is more of a restaurant with a tequila bar; if you really love tequila that's a different story, but their shtick seems to be fairly conventional cocktails made out of high quality tequila. Anyway they're about two doors apart so you don't have to decide too far in advance.

Thanks again for the most excellent hospitality, and do poke me again if I don't get round to answering your email about the Hay lecture. Anyway I definitely plan to come and visit again in a slightly less rushed way.

[purplecthulhu]

A decent mexican restaurant where you can get good margaritas needs to be visited!

We've been doing Bhel Poori followed by the sleeper whenever we go to see our friends on Skye. We'll be distinctly annoyed if they start messing about with it again - any links to this news?

[liv]

Sleeper train link. I really hope it doesn't come to anything because I do love that train, though it's been a good while since I relied on it to keep my love-life going.

[purplecthulhu]

Hmmmm - that's all a bit depressing, though also confusing given all the possibilities.

In the past, Scotish MPs who use the sleeper to get back to their constituencies have saved it. Hopefully that will happen again, alongside environmental considerations since the train spews out much less CO2 than short haul flights.

At least out next trip to Inverness at the end of March seems likely to be safe...

Sleeper trains are just such a good idea. We've done some good ones - Munich to Bologna for a gastronomic long weekend was good, but the most luxurious was probably the Coast Starlight from Seatle to Oakland - though an ear infection made all the ups and downs in Oregon rather painful for me.

[emma]

I need to go back to Mestizo! I haven't been there in nearly 4 years.

That sounds like a rather wonderful if hectic time :)

[liv]

Wonderful and hectic is totally right. And the tailor mentioned who fed me tea while I was standing around in my underwear and she was ever so politely prodding my breasts is your friend Gerry, so yay for awesome recommendations. And yes, you should go back to Mestizo, it rocks.

[emma]

Squeeeeee! I can't wait to see what you create together :) And I'm glad she was lovely and fed you tea! I will speak to the boy about Mestizo next time we have some money and are in the mood for Mexican :)

[kerrypolka]

It was really great to see you on Wednesday! I hope we didn't send you off too drunk.

[liv]

I was totally delighted to see you too, thanks for helping decide and finding all the good places to drink. I don't think I was too drunk, I think I was about the right amount of drunk, but a third cocktail would definitely have been too much. As long as I wasn't boorish (I think I was a little loud and slurry) by the end of the evening.

[kake]

(You weren't even slightly boorish.)

It was great to meet you! Here is the tamarind curry I mentioned. I have made it since with aubergine instead of pork, cooked for less time, and it was just as delicious (and coincidentally vegan).