Throughout July, we’ve been spending quality time with our friends and London visitors. We feasted on delicious French cuisine and wine with Emily and David at the L’Artiste Musclé in the picturesque Shepherd Market of Mayfair…menu tip: pick the beef bourguignon (stew) over the sausage & beans! After our tarte tatin, we stopped by our place to relieve Duke, whose manners were quite impressive, on our way to Harvey Nichols to relax in their fashionable department store bar on Knightsbridge. Among the stag party, the prostitutes, and business suits, we enjoyed our cocktails until the wee hour of 11pm. The following Sunday, we met Emily and David in their neck of the woods at The Waterway located on the canal (in Little Venice) for an afternoon BBQ complete with pitchers of the traditional British summer drink Pimm’s (lemonade and gin with slices of orange, lemon, apple, cucumber and mint).
The next Friday, Greg’s SAIC colleague Debra was in town visiting with her friends Jaclyn and Charmaine. After sharing a pitcher of Pimm’s, revealing city secrets, and devouring fish & chips at the Grenadier (our favorite neighborhood pub that we recently ate at when I learned of my place on the LBS wait list), we headed to the Turk’s Head to catch up with my old boss Karen and her KBR entourage who were at the tail end of their Kinnerton Street pub crawl. We moved the party to Motcombs for some late night conversation, grub, and consulting reminiscing. Then Saturday night we hosted Blanca and Stephen for a very homemade lasagna and Peach Melba supper complete with Duke’s snoring as entertainment. Luckily we planned the date well in advance so we had plenty of time to put away all the laundry “line-drying” around the flat.
Last Thursday, we had the pleasure of dining with Angela, Greg’s boss at the incredible Indian restaurant Benares in Mayfair. In addition to exploring travel opportunities, we were taught the importance of ordering sada dahi (yogurt to cool down a spicy dish), naan (bread instead of rice) and hari machchi (a spectacular John Dory fish). Saturday morning we navigated through Borough Market with Duke as Blanca and Stephen introduced us to one of London’s many fabulous fruit and vegetable wholesale markets. About five times the size of the Farmer’s Market in Houston, you could buy anything from fresh salmon to melt-in-your-mouth Belgian brownies. Duke was a bit overwhelmed with the smells but settled down while we sat for organic burgers and filtered coffee. Afterwards, we strolled along the South Bank of the Thames River as Blanca and Stephen acted as tour guides, pointing out all the sites we’ve put to memory for our next outing. Last night, we celebrated my LBS offer at the Mango Tree, a trendy Thai restaurant situated under the old Enron building opposite the Queens Gardens, with Emily and David. I discovered Ciroc (grape vodka) and meung cum (betel nut leaves served with peanut, lime, ginger, chili, dried shrimp, and toasted coconut).
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