And If You Said Jump In The River

I would because I might never ever taste a grapefruit and vanilla macaron from Lauduree. They were a Valentines day only edition and they are gone, over, finis.

To Spring by William Blake

Come o’er the eastern hills, and let our winds

Kiss thy perfumèd garments; let us taste

Thy morn and evening breath; scatter thy pearls

Upon our lovesick land that mourns for thee.

Love Is Patient And Love Is Kind

Stella and I lined up outside Supreme this morning to get the one we love the Kate Moss T-Shirt.

We May All Be Lying In The Gutter

But some of us are looking at the stars.
Stella and I attended an astrology class last week and we learnt a few basics about creating and interpreting natal charts. The first bit is easy you just go to Astro.Com and type in your details then it will take you to a page and scroll down to where it says 'chart drawings' (bottom right hand of lists) The site then produces a simple chart for you and you can begin interpretation. Our teacher told us that our sun sign - your horoscope sign - is not as important as you might think. The placement of the ascendent, moon and true node are equally informative. Once you have this information  you can check this site  to find out the meaning of 'Venus in Scorpio' (you are a cunt, will be restless in love etc.) and other planetary aspects. You can also see which elements dominate your chart. For example I lack Fire and Air and am dominated by Water and Earth - Swampthing. Stella is an Aries, dominated by Fire signs but with Venus in Pisces like me.

Chaos Reigns

Stella and I finally plucked up the courage to watch Lars Von Triers Antichrist last week. A man I know tried to get me to watch it with him once but I demanded he turn it off. I was aware of the notorious scene where Charlotte Gainsbourg's character cuts off her clitoris with a pair of scissors and it didn't seem like a good choice of date movie to me. In preparation I watched all the additional scenes first, this helped orientate me towards the larger context of the film. I took the DVD away with me this weekend and of course no-one wanted to watch it for exactly the same reasons as I had and yet I love everything about the movie now. I can't believe I denied myself for so long.

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.

Despair

This film by artist Alex Prager really caught my attention last time I was in MOMA. Too long ago...

A Love Supreme

I adore that Soho is being fly posted with pictures of Kate Moss for Supreme. I like a lot of the Supreme campaigns but particularly this one. Richard always says she looks nothing like that - each shot - each frame of a video is digitally enhanced, however that is probably true of every commercial image we see. I, like millions of others remain fascinated by Kate ....

Living In Colour

I am not really interested in High Street activity but the Marni collaboration has caught my eye.

The Gun Club - Sex Beat

Instagram Envy

I want Instagram
I do not want an I-phone
I cannot handle touch screen phones
Here in lies my dilemma.

Wish You Were Not Here

My favourite cafe at the moment is Notes on St Martins Lane. I go there every Monday morning for a sweet muffin and skinny cappuccino. Last week a man got his guitar out and started to sing, he sang Wish You Were Here  it was gorgeous. A few weeks before I got talking to a soldier who was telling me all about the war ship that will be on The Thames during the Olympic Games. This week I was surrounded by horrible unkempt HRM people bitching and whining. I think cell phones and office workers should be banned from cafes personally

Crash

Turn And Face The Strange Changes

So I finally got a Mac Book Pro. It took me years to get it together. Firstly because of the cost (two trips to Miami) and secondly because I am  bit of a technophobe and I fear change. I bought the one to one package for £79 (I can't count past a thousand anyway) because they said that they would give me loads of lessons, that I could have my files transferred and go to classes etc. The files transferred thing is a bit of a rip as in fact that would mean leaving both machines for up to 48 hours, the other thing is my file names make me sound like a complete freak so in the end I did it myself via a memory stick. I did go to an appointment today though as I wanted to load on a programme. The guy I saw was OK if I didn't catch too much of his 'morning breath' but he pissed me totally off when he said those fatal words
'I am not going to do this for you, I am going to tell you how to do it'
Grim.
9am on a Friday morning and he decides its time for a f**king quiz.

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.

The Maze

On the subject of eery depressing photography which I have a passion, for I am reminded of how much I love Magnum photographer Donavan Wylie's award wining study of the former Maze Prison in Northern Island. Also known as Long Kesh designed around infamous H-Blocks the prison was built specifically for the internment of IRA prisoners when the British government decided to repeal the laws against imprisoning people without charge in the 1970's.

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Hell's Gate

I was so moved by an article in the Daily Mail about an old Leper Colony that resides just a few hundred yards from New York City on an  abandoned island in the East River NYC.

The haunting quality of the images reminds me of Joel Sternfeld's photographic study of Hart Island an island again situated in the river that runs alongside Manhattan that serves as a public burial ground for the city's unclaimed corpses.

The Island is unassessable to the public as it is run by the NYC's correctional facilities who's inmates are charged with the interment of forgotten and unwanted bodies into the mass graves that populate the Potter's Fields. The picture below is the grave of the first child to die of AIDS in NYC in 1985.

Fire & Ice

It's was about 5 below 0 walking to the park this morning, the fountains in Trafalgar Square were frozen. Stella and I had to go into the Milk Bar in Soho to warm up before continuing to St Giles Church Yard.

This afternoon on the way home from a pee in Embankment Gardens the setting sun shone like a fireball at the end of Maiden Lane.

Spring Forward Fall Backward

That's what my friend always tells me about the summer and winter changes in the time. It still baffles me though.  Anyway Stella and I have the new Laduree Spring Collection Flavours to review this afternoon. Actually Stella is not allowed in the Laduree in Covent Garden which is a bloody cheek since dogs have precedence over people in Paris (quite rightly). In the Laduree Bonparte Tea Room, last time I was there a small dog was charging about like it owned the place. In Covent Garden however 'dogs are not allowed Madame because of the food' like she is going to pole vault over the counter and get to work on cakes.

The Review
Praline - good sticky consistency - nice nutty flavour but nothing special.
Incroyable - the 150th anniversary macaron - Almonds with Meringue filling - Almond tastes really strong like Amaretto, Meringue gluey and tasteless although in fairness it always is.
Pear & Chestnut - interesting flavor - subtle at first and then stronger as you bite into the bits of pear hidden in the chestnut cream - after taste of having eaten a Danish Pastry - not a bad thing.
Black Forest Macaroon - Really thick fluffy biscuit with jammy cherry filling. Extremely rich, a Lilliputian gateau. Chocolate and Red Fruits are some of my favourite flavours so I am biased in favour of this one, its heavy and rather sickening which I love, probably better balanced with coffee rather than tea.

If I was buying my usual box of 8 macaroons for £10.50 I probably would only put the Black Forest flavour into my selection, I would not be able to stand trading, Rose, Lemon, Red Fruit, Coconut, Salted Caramel, Cassis Violette or Vanilla for anything less.