- For years I took buses past Ottolenghi in Islington nearly every day. With each trip to and from home, I peered longingly in the window at the beautiful meringues and colorful salads and pondered going in for lunch. I finally did in 2007, and for the next two summers we had breakfast there three days a week like clockwork. In 2008, it was fresh mint tea and a croissant, but after we split the French toast and oat porridge for the first time in 2009, there was no going back.
At the end of our stay, they finally persuaded us to have dinner there. I don't think any other meal has made me so happy.
-I made it my mission this year to find the best cupcakes in London. I couldn't try every bakery, but I sampled cakes from the Hummingbird Bakery, Buttercup Cake Shop, Crumbs and Doilies, Bea's, Ottolenghi, and Waitrose. I eventually gave up on English cupcakes, because they were largely unappealing, dry hunks of cake with sugary icing. Bea's had very nice cupcakes, however, and Ottolenghi had a to-die-for raspberry and lemon cupcake.
The icing is super-creamy, soft, and substantial, unlike any other icing I've had. Several years ago we bought their enormous blueberry and lemon cupcake and ferried it to St. John's Lodge for a dessert picnic. I loved it so much that I still look for it every time I visit Ottolenghi, but I've never seen it since.
- Once I discovered Bea's of Bloomsbury, it became a daily challenge not to hop off the 19 near Gray's Inn and sit down for some tea.
- The pavlova from Bea's is a tour de force of deliciousness. When I cut into it, the bright passion fruit filling was a glorious surprise.
I'll probably daydream about this for the rest of my life.
- We stayed for a few weeks east of Hampstead Heath, and I became very fond of taking the bus over to Hampstead High Street, where Gail's has a little shop. I had so many wonderful treats from there this year, but the standouts were the chocolate cake with lingonberries and the bread pudding.
Lingonberries in Texas just aren't the same.
- As always, Ev.
Just as lovely as the first time we went.
- Monday nights after work at My Old Dutch in Holborn.
The crepes with ice cream tempted me, but I only gave in a few times. Lemon and sugar crepes seem like they might be too plain, but they have a perfect, simple sweetness.
- The sticky rice with vegetables and the spinach and mushroom dumplings (reminiscent of adorable little fish) at Ping Pong almost made up for the disappearance of the sweet corn and coriander dumplings. The menu felt more limited for vegetarians, but we were so pleased with the options they had that it didn't prevent us from returning again and again. And we had vouchers for free cocktails.
Lately I've been thinking about that sticky rice and wanting to make it (or, rather, have it made for me).
- Princi feels hectic and noisy, but their desserts are so visually appealing that shouting our order across the counter didn't seem like such a hardship. The orange ombre glaze on the cheesecake was magnificent.
And I don't know what they do to their pizzas, but we swooned.
- Paul A. Young's chocolates cost an arm and a leg (even with a better exchange rate), but the flavors were so inventive that I usually overspent when I was there.
Melt's chocolates were just as good. They really convinced me that salt and chocolate were destined to be together.
- As a child, I adored greengages, but they appeared quite suddenly at the greengrocer's and then vanished just as quickly a few weeks later. I spotted them off of Hampstead High Street this year and couldn't resist.
- I feel as though I'd been waiting my whole life to see Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan in Waiting for Godot.
But we also took in Stoppard's Arcadia (one doesn't turn that down) and A Little Night Music (and a few other productions). I finally understood the appeal of "Send in the Clowns" after that production.
- Although initially I was slightly underwhelmed by the Richard Long exhibit, I really began to appreciate it the more time I spent looking at the art. I ended up going back several times and in the end really loved it. I didn't take these photos, but I certainly would have taken many pictures if I could have.
The artist's annotations have stayed with me, and his ideas make me want to run outdoors and explore and experiment:
My work is about movement and stillness, the walking and the stopping places. Sometimes I make a sculpture when I stop to rest. I suppose my art covers a wide range, from works like these which could be practically unnoticeable or disappear in minutes, like a water drawing or dusty footprints, to a long-lasting work in a museum. The world is full of relatively permanent things like rock strata or the sea, but also transient things, like the life span of a butterfly, or the endlessly changing patterns of seaweed on a beach. I would like to think my work reflects and uses this rich complexity and reality.- Although small, Telling Tales at the V&A had a rich, feast-like quality to it. Brilliantly surreal and enchanting.
The Fig Leaf Wardrobe and Robber Baron Standing Lamp were highlights for me.
- The Barbican's Radical Nature exhibit featured this incredible tea house. We arrived before it opened, so we loitered by the fountains until someone unlocked it for us. Totally worth the wait. I could have stayed in their for hours.
The Viktor & Rolf exhibit last year was more thrilling, but this summer's main exhibit was remarkable in other ways. I hung out at the Barbican all the time as a child, so I'm delighted to have lots of new excuses to go back.
- The Hayward's summer exhibits are my favorites, so I was super-excited to see Walking in My Mind.
Of course Yayoi Kusama's polka dots, Thomas Hirschhorn's Cavemanman, and Chiharu Shiota's After the Dream stood out, but Charles Avery's The Islanders really fascinated me, too.
- And for its Missoni exhibit, the Estorick decorated its gate in gorgeous bright colors.
- The garden of the summer was definitely the Pergola and Hill Garden in Hampstead Heath. I've always neglected Hampstead Heath and headed instead for Regent's Park or Kew, but since I was staying practically across the street from it for a few weeks, I decided I'd explore it a bit more. Finding this particular part of the park took some work (I was sure I was trespassing at one point), but it was so worth it. The first time I went, I had it all to myself, and every time I returned the garden was similarly quiet.
This is the most magical garden I've found in the city. There's nothing else quite like it.
- This year at Kew I fell in love with the echeveria cante. I've been to all sorts of nurseries to find one, but none of the echeverias have this bright pink edging. I've found some with pale pink accents, but nothing quite this stunning.
I even went to a succulent fair, but no one there knew where I could get one.
- I already liked Would I Lie to You?, but this year we watched and loved Peep Show and That Mitchell and Webb Look.
- Finally, it was a great summer for books. I read Sarah Waters's The Little Stranger late at night in a dark, empty attic room with a sloping ceiling. I felt just a little bit scared now and then.
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