Random London observation: all the leaves that have fallen off the trees (and presumably the ones that are still on them) are HUGE. Is that normal?
This is Parisa on the way to The Oak London last night for dinner and drinks. She and Tim live in on a beautiful tree-lined street in Bayswater, which is on the edge of Notting Hill and looks straight out of a movie.
Upstairs at The Oak
Cocktails at Upstairs at The Oak
The image above is by Elisabeth Estivalet, one of my favorite artists. I bought one of her paintings for my parents after graduation (and after I booked a spot on ER and a couple of national network commercials in rapid sequence, which made buying things like paintings seem like an OK idea), and it currently hangs in their dining room. Estivalet creates pastoral landscapes of her native Provence using only a palette knife, so the works are extremely tactile (and so pretty).
If you’re in D.C. this weekend, P & C Art is hosting a preview of Estivalet’s new collection.
I was starving when I finally exited the Tube and arrived at Parisa’s (the plane food was worse than usual, so I elected to just drink an enormous plastic cup of complimentary wine - yay international flights! - and pass out), so we made salami and turkey sandwiches, paired with a few cheeses and some mixed olives from Waitrose (I highly recommend that you get your hands on some green olives stuffed with tiny pieces of lemon rind as soon as possible). My favorite was comte cheese (also Tim’s favorite) - a hard, unpasteurized French cow’s milk cheese.
After I took a quick nap, Parisa made me a latte with her brand-new Nescafe espresso machine. I’m not a big coffee person, but this latte made me wish Kendrick and I had registered for one of these things when we got married.
Thanks so much to all of you who wrote me with suggestions for my trip!
Some of the reader tips I’m most excited about:
- Vintage shops/indie boutiques on Brick Lane (pictured above)
