A little bit of Italy, France, Switzerland and Belgium

It's been a long while since I've written anything here - 3 months to be exact. You may have given up on me, but here I am. 

In between Christmas preparation, Christmas itself, working pretty hard and moving house there hasn't been a lot of room for anything else. Oh, except a little travel of course. First up (since I left you) was Belgium with Alana and James - Bruges and Brussels to be exact. Brussels for me was the place of frites, the most delicious fries you will ever eat. Complete with whatever sauce you could possibly desire. I went for straight mayo and tomato sauce, and I think the classic choice is unbeatable. I think the trick to the frites is that they are double fried, but also they are cooked in a particular oil. Of course, Brussels is much more than fries. We visited the Christmas markets, drank mulled wine and old Trappist monk-made beers and ate too many delicious Belgian sweets (are you noticing a theme here?). 

Bruges was like a fairytale city. Very pretty, amazing chocolate, and an amazing Christmas store with handmade wooden decorations which was a hit with Alana and I. The boys chose to eat more fries while Alana and I spent an hour or so trying to limit the amount we spent!

Next stop was Switzerland for Christmas, staying with Alana and James in their AMAZING apartment in Geneva. I'm not ashamed to say that again, several of the highlights included food - cute French markets with delicious olives and charcuterie, Christmas day goose with all the trimmings, and champagne fondue at the Buvette des bain des pâquis on Lake Geneva. If you're going to Geneva, I'd recommend a visit to this particular fondue restaurant. It's rustic but the fondue was the best I've had (apart from the fondue the boys made for us a few nights before, of course...) But the best part of the Christmas break was spending a whole week with great friends having new adventures including a few novices getting some snowboarding in near Chamonix. 

While some of the Geneva group went snowboarding, Alana and I headed off to Milan for a night through the Mont Blanc tunnel and the Valle D'Aosta region of Italy in Claude the trusty Citroen. Claude hadn't been so trusty just a few days earlier, but handled the snowy mountains and windy roads brilliantly. Milan is industrial and flashy all at once. It's high street stores are Dolce & Gabanna, Prada and Max Mara but for an hour before you get to Milan, all you see is road works, railways, building sites and cavernous warehouses. I found it a strange juxtaposition. The Duomo in the main square in Milan is breath taking, and a trip to the top of the cathedral is definitely worthwhile. Opposite the Duomo is a huge department store which houses a mozzarella bar on the top floor with views of the main square and the Duomo.  We had lunch there before heading back to Geneva and again, if you're in Milan is worth looking up. 

Back in Geneva, there was still time for a wee day trip to Annecy in France, and a good look around in in the historic centre before heading back to London.

Back to London and back to reality. I have started the year being industriously busy at work, and we've moved house to NW8, just around the corner from the Abbey Road Studios and the famous pedestrian crossing fronting the cover of the Beatles album. 

Next up is an Easter trip to Venice. Back soon.

x  

TeaSaturday with Nigella

On Wednesday, I was lucky enough to get a ticket to TeaSaturday organised by Daniel Young of youngandfoodish fame and catered for by Nigella Lawson. Daniel Young is a food writer and critic from New York who now lives in London and organises brilliant pop up events such as the famous BurgerMonday.

The event was today, Saturday, at 2pm in Holburn in London.

We each got out own copies of Nigella's new book, Nigellissima, on arrival and afternoon tea prepared by Nigella (more on that below).

The recipes all come from the book and were for an an Italian inspired English afternoon tea

The afternoon tea was held at Andrew's cafe in Holburn, complete with old formica tables and everything.

The food was delicious and made entirely by Nigella and her assistant. An impressive feat given that there were two sittings of 60 or so people in each. My favourite was probably the panettone stuffing squares, closely followed by the Italian Christmas pudding cake.

Nigella and Daniel Young were charming hosts, I met some lovely people sitting at my table and every seemed to have a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon. Definitely one of the perks of living in London!

x

An engagement in the Cotswolds

We are so excited to be engaged to be married. The excitement bubbles over now and then but mostly I just walk around with a huge grin on my face, probably looking a bit odd because of it!
We had the most wonderful weekend. We caught the last of the autumn sunshine before England heads underground and indoors for winter.You will have picked up that I'm already a huge fan of sunshine and light. The light this weekend was just so beautiful. What you might not know is that autumn is my favourite season. I love crunchy leaves, smokey mornings, soft light, dewy grass and autumn harvest. Autumn and sunshine in the Cotswolds? The perfect weekend for an engagement

xx

Ich bin ein Berliner

For a city that was divided only two decades ago by 160km of concrete wall, where crossing between east and west was on pain of death, Berlin is quite remarkable.

It's a city I'm almost nervous to write about, given it's history. There are so many people with so many opinions about this place and its influences on the world over the last century. But from my brief observations over the course of only two days, it's a city very much trying to confront that history and be honest about it. It's also vibrant, exciting, energetic, and a fun place place to visit.

We stayed in a fabulous, cheap hotel right on the border of the old wall between west and east Berlin. We visited the Reichstag, which was the former seat of Parliament before the rise of the National Socialists and is now the seat of the Bundestag. We went on a great walking tour around the the main sites, wandered the Tiergarten and Museum Island (aptly named), in fact just did a lot of wandering. We also visited the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe - a harrowing, thought-provoking and very considered memorial and exhibition concerning the murder of some 6 million European Jews by the Nazis. Poland's Jews made up almost half that number. Many are un-named. And yet, this exhibition space is right in the middle of Berlin, it's impossible to avoid.  Which is precisely the point.

My favourite place was the Tiergarten. The leaves had changed from green to yellow, red and orange and were falling as we walked through the wooded paths. I think it reminded me a bit of home in the autumn, with its crisp, dewy air and dappled light.

The Festival of lights was on while we were there, and a selection of major buildings were lit up with choreographed light displays. There were tripods everywhere. We saw more cameras in Berlin than we had seen anywhere before.

Oh! And this one is for Barnes, Becs and Christian - a whole store selling onesies. I kid you not. Even Christmas themed ones. It was quite awesome. I was tempted to send you guys an early Christmas present, but, alas, the store was closed. Maybe next time.

Back soon

x

A sculpture on the wall of the lobby of our hotel

Pretzels! 

The Reichstag

At the Tiergarten

This dog was so cool. He dragged this massive stick for ages. It was so heavy, he had to keep dropping it and having a wee rest before starting over again. Hilarious.

The French Huguenot church (built about 20 metres away from, and facing, the German church)

Bicycle mad city - bikes and cyclists everywhere

Berliner Dom

Museum Island

"One Piece" pop up store

Festival of Lights

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

Autumn colours