Perfect Day Part 5

Late lunch in Yauatcha Soho, we had Dim Sum, tea and cakes. I ordered an infusion of Orange Pekong called 'Lovers Leap' and we shared 3 cakes, a praline, pear and gold leaf, a bright red raspberry and chocolate mouse, and a ginger and caramel coup. The food and cakes cost a fortune, everything else - priceless.

Every Day Is Like Sunday

Woke up in shabby chic bed room by the sea.

Stella could get used to the luxury of it all.

Off to the Black Douglas for breakfast

Nice food, dogs allowed, service ....laid back??

It all arrived eventually

And anyway we were in no rush

Stupidly small slices of toast though

They were lucky we didn't go all 'Westbourne Grove' on them

We just kept eating, we have known adversity before

What are we having for lunch?

Happy Birthday

I made Adela a coffee & walnut cake from a Nigella recipe. It was so incredibly good and actually pretty easy to make although baking from scratch is expensive until you stock your cupboard with all the stuff you need. One thing though, baking is a real denial breaker, I could not help but notice that almost 2 whole packs of butter and 2 bags of sugar went into this cake. Panic attack if not heart attack.

Coffee & Cake

I have often looked into the window of the cafe between Princi and Hummingbird. The whole display is just row upon row of cakes. I look down at the dog and wonder about tying her up to the lamp post so I can go inside. Imagining her trampled under the feet of post production employees I give up on the idea and just walk by.

Not today though - this is the day I made it inside and had an amazing Mille Feuille and a Honey and Hazelnut Soy Latte - Divine.

Toast

I am eating wholemeal toast with Bob's home made marmalade. It is fabulous but I cannot go on this way. In 6 weeks time two thirds of my ass will be hitting the beach in Florida. I need to abandon all carbs at some point very soon. The problem with that is carbs are pretty much all I eat unless you count triple shot skinny wet lattes as protein.

Thursday Morning

This morning Stella and I set off for our walk and got caught in the rain. We took shelter in The Milk Bar one of the few places in Soho where dogs are allowed in. We had toast and vegimite and read Another Magazine. Today has been International Day Of Carbs for me, I already had porridge and soya milk this morning before we got caught in the rain. Then I forgot to ask for skimmed milk in my cappucino so I had basically consumed my whole days calories before 10.30 am.

A Taste Of ...........

Wheat free toast with butter & honey. 

Lunch

A warm Eccles Cake and a slice of Lancashire Cheese from Neil's Yard cheese shop in Covent Garden. Perfect. Although I am going to have to go back on the beetroot soup and fruit salad diet sharpish or I am going to be in full on Hattie Jacques mode before I know it. Now it's got cooler and darker I really do just want to eat and sleep.

The unbearable lightness of being

I had a macaroon for lunch and I still can't quite shake the feeling of restlessness and pointlessness that has pervaded my day. I keep thinking a huge slice of Red Velvet cake from Hummingbird would be the solution to my problems but if the macaroon didn't do it I doubt the cake will either. I will put that fine idea on the back burner until tomorrow and if it still feels like a solution it can be lunch.

On any given day

Chilli and I started the day in the damp church yard at St Giles. She is really slow these days, I don't think she will live much longer but this morning she was happy enough sniffing about. St Giles Church used to be absolutley overflowing with bodies. Richard gave me a book about London's dead and it explained how before the government granted licences to private cemetery companies around 1840 , that London church yards had to cope with burying all of the cities dead. The problem was that during in the first part of the 19th century Londons population doubled. Church Yards like St Giles used to bury people and then soon after dig them up and throw them into a lime pit that stood in the church grounds so they could sell the space to someone else. Grave robbing was a common  and poor burial practice left the city rife with desease. Apparently the area near Sardinia Street by LSE was awash with putrification. The dog and I went to have a check aound christmas time but its long been cleaned up now.

I met a friend later in Dean Street Townhouse for breakfast. We had the most irritating waiter ever. He didn't speak or understand enough English to take our order properly. Then when everything came he just wouldn't go away. He was constantly reaching over us rearranging things, removing stuff etc. Some one told me that correct etiquette with waiting staff is that when they bring things to your table you continue talking to the people you are with but thank the waiter / waitress as they leave. I do try to do this but this guy was forever in our way and it was really difficult not to dry up as he came back for yet one more thing. Anyway we had a good time talking about holidays, botox and things we hate but when we left the stupid bitch hostess ran up the street after us and asked us if we had paid! You would think that if you ran a restaurant that charged the cost of a weeks groceries for one meal that you might invest in training your staff.  

Dinner

I am really trying to fill my emptiness with food today. I hate that, it doesn't work and it will lead to weight gain. So for dinner I had mozzerella, tomato and pesto. So far today I ate fruit, granola and yogurt, 3 macaroons and this. It's not a lot but today it feels a lot. I was thinking about a time when I was staying with Richard in Hotel Bristol in Paris. It is a super expensive hotel very much like the one in Wes Anderson's short film Hotel Chevalier which is well worth a watch. Anyway Hotel Bristol was something like 650 Euro's a night and we ordered tons of room service since Richards company (who he hated) was picking up the bill. I had a mozzerella salad and it cost 30 Euro's. How insane is that? One tomato, one ball of cheese, drizzle of pesto 30 Euro's. The salad I just ate cost about £2, the cheese was about 90p, the tomato £1.04 and the pesto I already had in the fridge. It's quiet a mark up nes pas?

Breakfast

Not really, I try not to eat wheat, it's the Devils work, or if I eat wheat then I succumb to cake format. Just some visual evidence of my cooking skills ( note burnt bits )

I have Soy milk and banana (blended) at home