A Very Hipster Anniversary

Merry Christmas!
Happy New Year!
Happy Martin Luther King Jr Day!
Happy Anniversary to us!
(did I miss anything?)

Hope your holidays were grand. Here's just a little taste of ours...

My husband's hands kneading the dough for his family's famous Cinnamon Bread.

A post-Christmas standing rib roast cooked to medium-rare perfection by my father-in-law.

We also had a Thanksgiving Retake (my family's full Thanksgiving meal remade by my Dad – et al –for all the daughters who weren't able to be at the original feast). We're spoiled. And I forgot to take out my camera. Just imagine the gravy...

Now, we're back in London and celebrating 4 years of marriage! With wedded-bliss as our excuse, we finally got our butts down to the Maltby Street Market and Borough Market today and my stomach and pantry are very happy. I like the way hipsters live (and eat):

Monmouth Coffee (aka Hipster Heaven)

Maltby Street Market . . . The Shoes

. . . The Sinks

. . . The Citrus

. . . The Radiators (?!)

. . . and Kernel Brewery! (Delicious for breakfast, I would say.)

Borough Market . . .

. . . Bread and Husband. Mmmmmmmm

. . . Cracklin' Pork Belly and Applesauce Baguette!! (by Roast)

 (I'm still reveling in the glory of this sandwich. Great textures and tastes!)

. . . The View.

Pretty Starbucks :)

Our Spoils . . . The Beer.

. . . The Bleu.

. . . The Bread.

. . . The Beauty.

Tiffany, History and Sushi, All Good Things

Today was a good day to be me.

First, Sushi.

After more than a year of torture, I've had my first positive sushi experience since moving to the UK. Taro on Brewer St. was one of those places where you really enjoy your food (and the incredibly generous portions, btw), but you still look over at everyone else's tables and wish you order that, too. We did bento this time around and will definitely go back for one of their steaming, massive bowls of ramen soon.

Photo courtesy of Route79.

Second, Tiffany.

My reward for surviving Selfridges on the Saturday before Christmas appeared under my nose in the form of a mini cupcake on a silver tray as we muscled our way toward the exit.

That's a cupcake. In Tiffany colors. With fresh lemon zest in the icing.

Finally, History.

For those of you who read about our Thanksgiving Feast for Two, you got a bit of my culinary back-story. When I wrote about the origins of my family's Pumpkin Pie recipe, I didn't have any pictures to-hand of my fabulous grandparents gallivanting up and down the East Coast during their newly-wedded years. But NOW, since I begged my father to scan pictures so that I could submit them to the New York Times in honor of my grandfather, I now have a hi-res, digital copy of their 1940s fabulosity. Here they are in the snow on Bromley Mountain in Vermont (where they worked winters preparing and serving food to the rich and famous vacationers), posing for a newspaper in borrowed ski gear. I just couldn't love them more.

Margaret 'Sis' Wells Menzies and John 'Jack' Cameron Menzies

And, just because it's THE CUTEST thing in the world, here's my grandfather as a little boy holding a chicken.

Now for popcorn and Love Actually.

Blogger Bonding

It was an exciting night to be a London blogger.

My lovely friend, Lauren, AKA Aspiring Kennedy, and London's own Helena, of A Diary of Lovely, hosted us all at the much-talked-about Flat Planet (we alllll know how much I love flatbread pizza. Or any pizza, really). The 'Free Range People' at Flat Planet did not disappoint.

I inhaled the Mediterranean Chicken Flatbread (I held-off the sun-dried tomatoes because they can be quite pushy).

And Ele, of The Kitchenist, generously allowed me to steal her Moroccan (?) Flatbread for a picture.

Looking pretty fresh, Flat Planet. I approve.

I forgot to take pictures of people while we were there, so here's last month's picture of Lauren and me meeting the Queen.

She wrote about our run-in with royalty here.

An what's better than a favor to take home that will fuel me in the morning after partying-it-up on a Monday night? One for me (perpetually dieting) and one for the man (perpetually needing fattening up).

www.jimmysicedcoffee.com

Thanks for a great night and here's to many more!