Favorites: Borough Market

Borough Market is my favorite public outdoor market in London, (second place goes to Marylebone). I am a girl of habit and when I find foods that satisfy my taste, I rarely try anything new. So when I go to Borough Market, I always get the same goods: coffee from Monmouth Coffee, a big hunk of comte cheese, mushroom pate, fresh bread - with rosemary and figs or olives, and a bunch of fruits & veg. People, including moi, queue for miles for tasty Spanish chorizo rolls with peppers and rocket. There's a pretty cathedral nearby where I sit and relax and eat with hundreds of others.

Some days after the market I walk along the River Thames and visit Tate Modern. I'm not a huge fan of modern art (it took me a long time to understand and then come to like Mark Rothko) but I enjoy a lot of the work at Tate. I often take visitors there to see the great view of the city from the cafe.

Favorites: Prints

I sure do love prints and so does my monsieur, so I bought him this one above called L'Atomium et Mr. Hulot by Vittorio Giardino from the Belgium website Champaka.  Isn't it just the coolest thing? This is how I picture my mister in his later years, happily riding his bike through town with an old pipe dangling from his mouth (trying to decide which bakery he should stop at to pick up a croissant for his wife!) The colors are even more vibrant in real life. Now the trouble is finding the perfect frame and a good spot on our wall. 

Here are some of my other favorites from Champaka:

Artists: Vittorio Giardino, Jean-Claude Floc'h, Francois Avril

Animals

Happy New Year peeps! 

Animals 

by Frank O'Hara, 1950

Have you forgotten what we were like then

when we were still first rate

and the day came fat with an apple in its mouth

it's no use worrying about Time

but we did have a few tricks up our sleeves

and turned some sharp corners

the whole pasture looked like our meal

we didn't need speedometers

we could manage cocktails out of ice and water

I wouldn't want to be faster 

or greener than now if you were with me O you

were the best of all my days.

www.frankohara.org

Microwaveable Christmas

Poetry wins! Susan Rich is #1 in the TLS!

In October I posted a blog about friend and poet Susan Rich. She entered her poem 'Different Places to Pray' in the Times Literary Supplement Poetry Competition and she won! You can read the article here.  Congratulations Susan, I am so happy for you! What a great Chrismukkah present!

You know what else would make a good Chrismukkah present? Susan's book Cures Include Travel. Pick it up at your local bookshop and start planning your trip around the world! 

Charlie Brownest

I think there must be something wrong with me Linus. Christmas is coming but I'm not happy. I don't feel the way I'm supposed to feel. I just don't understand Christmas, I guess. I like getting presents and sending christmas cards and decorating trees and all that, but I'm still not happy. I always end up feeling depressed.

Charlie Brown, you're the only person I know who can take a wonderful season like Christmas and turn it into a problem. Maybe Lucy's right, of all the Charlie Browns in the world, you're the Charlie Brownest!

 

Bling

Today I took a short course about jewellery at my favourite museum in London, the Victoria & Albert Museum. Talk about bling - I got to handle some gems that would make any gansta rapper say 'daayaam!'

I learned a few practical tips for caring for your own sparklies:

a. most metals can be cleaned simply with mild soap and water, away from a drainhole of course, and even a bit of saliva will do!

b. do not store your metals and gems in oak or beech boxes - the gases from the woods will ruin them eventually. Instead store them in something polyester or in special bags you can purchase at jewellery shops.

Did you know:

That even real gold tarnishes?

That pearls do not get shinier with more wear?

That most rubies are naturally a purplish colour but are heated to give it the pink/red shine we normally see in the shops?

Don't quote me on these since I can barely decipher my handwriting from the notes I took and I have an awful memory. Check the V&A jewellery website for more info.

If you are ever in London and want to see some of the most beautiful jewellery ever made, then come to the V&A. The William and Judith Bollinger Jewellery Gallery is absolutely stunning. Below are a few of my favourite pieces. They aren't really my style, meaning I wouldn't seriously wear any of them, but I appreciate their history and they sure are fun to look at.

Brooch Gold and enamel brooch in the shape of a flower and hornet / Designed by Charles Desrosiers / Made by Georges Fouquet Paris, France1901

Pendant with ship / Aachen, about 1860 / Made by Reinhold Vasters (1827-1919) and Alfred André (1839-1919) Gold with enamel and pearls

Bodice ornament / Probably England, about 1850 / Brilliant-cut and rose-cut diamonds set in gold

Top of entry / Breast ornament / Probably France, about 1620-30 / Gold with enamel and table-cut and faceted point-cut diamonds