*The Providores: traditional English fry-up with 2 poached eggs, black pudding (first time eating this and I loved it), roasted tomatoes, baked apples; miso + apple + brown rice porridge with tamarillo compote. Also, goat cheese curd with honey-roasted parsnips, candied walnuts, chestnuts, & Jerusalem artichoke (not pictured)
*Last week was spring break. I met my mom in London and we spent half a week there. Then we took the train to Paris, where we stayed for 2 days. She had never been to either city before. I'd visited both when I studied abroad in Florence in 2010, but the experience this time was so different - going with someone and not alone; it felt more like a real vacation. In 2010, I felt so much like a nomad. I loved wandering, but wandering for too long can be lonely, and solitude, which is initially freeing, turns into loneliness, and loneliness can unleash horrible paroxysms of the mind... I can tell you that from personal experience.
*This time around, London actually felt more foreign than it did last time. Which is a good thing, actually. Because last time, London was the closest thing to home that I could find in Europe. Hearing people speak English was so comforting (now I am thrilled when I hear people speaking Italian). The first time I was in London, I don't think I actually ate in a single restaurant. I filled up as much as I could during breakfast at the B&B I was staying at and ate my way through the various markets I passed through. This time, with my mom, I made sure to partake in the ceremony that is the English breakfast, taken with tea, eaten properly with a fork and knife, and consumed leisurely over lighthearted conversation and the quiet sounds of an awakening day. Some days we woke up too late for breakfast and resorted to brunch, but no matter what the time, we made sure the first meal of the day was hearty and filling and rich, which I believe breakfast should be. I am a firm believer in breakfast, in slow and beautiful and light-filled mornings. Every day I awake and hope that the morning never ends.
*La Fromagerie in Marylebone: rich french yogurt, homemade muesli (with dried apples, banana chips, hazelnuts, poppy seeds, all kinds of seeds), grapefruit, buttery oatmeal, soft-boiled eggs with sourdough toast soldiers, sea salt, pepper, butter.
(**Actually the best and most luxurious breakfast I had was at The Wolseley but unfortunately pictures were not allowed. Will scan a picture of my breakfast sketch later - duck eggs, haggis, and all.)
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