We had a couple of days of unseasonably hot weather – almost 80° in April – and I thought all the blooming things would pop out and die fast – like in Hunter’s lyric for Eyes of the World – “the seeds that were silent all burst into bloom and decay”- (and whaddya know, the […]
While my brother was watching bicycle-related movies out in Portland, even one that he and his wife & daughter made, we were busy watching indie films here at the Wisconsin Film Fest. We started with Art of the Steal, about the Barnes Collection. It was a well-made, trying hard to be fair documentary, but its […]
I used the Grandma’s Banana Cake recipe from Classic Home Desserts, by the late Richard Sax, one of my fave cook books. It’s supposed to be baked in a tube pan, so I should have known to really UNDER-fill the muffin cups – because it’s a cake batter that really needs the support of the […]
So my edible book contest cake didn’t win anything. There was a critic’s choice – our critic was Raphael Kadushin – and two runners up, plus people’s choice awards in four categories. Come to think of it, nothing I voted for won anything, either. My cake was just a cake, albeit with stuff on top. […]
I got a Mario Batali Chianti Red Panini Press on sale from Sur la Table. It’s been sitting on the sideboard, because I don’t have any place to store it, but I finally tried it out Sunday night – it makes a damn good sandwich. I had a couple of rye cocktail breads with Jarlsberg, […]
Easter Sunday. We slept in a bit – we’d gone to bed on the late side after after-movie cookies and ice cream. There was some yelling in the street – I was surprised that Easter Sunday morning wasn’t completely quiet. Silent as a tomb – ha! I did get a “happy zombie Jesus day” text […]
Saturday was sports day. We got up and fortified ourselves with a full English breakfast at the Camden Bar & Kitchen, probably the most neighborhood-ish, least tourist-y place we’ve been at. It was perfect, a nice walk and everything, except I lost an earring. Then we tubed over to Emirates Stadium, the Arsenal stop on […]
On Friday, we tubed & walked to Buckingham Palace, and looked at it from the outside with masses of other tourists. I really think all the English people are gone for the 4-day Bank Holiday, leaving the city to us foreigners. We had to do some finagling to get the Arsenal tix delivered, because the […]
On Thursday, we took the boat – Thames Clipper – to Greenwich. We walked around with the other tourists, and came back by train, and went into the tower of London. At the Tower, we caught the last Ranger guided tour of the day, and got a Ranger with a good sense of humor, or […]
We took the train from Waterloo out to Hampton Court, and unlike our trip in 2004, we paid the prices of admission and walked around inside. They are celebrating 500 years since Henry VIII stole the place back from Cardinal Wolsey; we actually ran into the King himself in the halls. No English royals have […]