If I've gained any weight, I am blaming it on my pregnancy. It's definitely not because of all the great restaurants we've found. Actually, I think I'm doing well... not that I've had access to a midwife to tell me these things. Shoot, there I go again.
Anyway, so far my favorite place is great for mexican food. It's called Wahaca. If this place were at home, I'm sure it would be the correct spelling of Oaxaca. Besides that one little irritating factor, this place is awesome. They have a great menu, using in-season veg, local meats and the freshest of dairy products. You can order a traditional dinner with sides or they have a tapas-style selection. Awesome! A great way to sample different things and getting a taste of what they are all about. We've been there twice, so far. My favorite is the new potato taquito, topped with a salad of lettuce, feta, tomatoes and a spicy sauce.
While we are on mexican food, I'll also mention that Cafe Pacifico was as close to TexMex as we will find. I had the cheese enchiladas... I mean, you can't get more TexMex than that, so a great meal for judging. Recently opened is a Chipotle, with more to come (I have this on good authority) and Cantina Laredo will be opening in a few weeks. So, sounds like the Tex Mex bug has bit London.
We've had some great Middle Eastern food at a place down the road called Nar. It was hard to pinpoint what nationality the menu was, so I'm just going to say Mediterranean. There were a few Lebanese items as well as Greek and Turkish. I always prefer Lebanese food in London to home. The lamb is so delicious in the dishes where I am used to beef (the all-American substitute). This, of course, cannot include the foods that my grandmother cooked. Her cooking still reigns supreme. Beef or not.
There is a great little pub down the road from where we are staying. It's called The Rose. I wouldn't consider it a gastropub, but they seem to pay great attention to the food they serve. We frequent this place at least once a week. Good pub grub and gourmet, alike.
In Clapham Common, the place I now know I would like to live, has a great high street. Loads of vendors... flowers, seafood, olives, nuts, veg. And great stores like a local cheesemonger, clothing, TKMaxx (yes, tK). This place is also known as Nappy Valley. You know... diapers. Looks like a great place to have a little one AND a social life.
One day we went to the Museum of London. Recently re-opened this past week with an entire new wing. It starts with London... before it was London, goes through Londinium, middle ages, black death, fire, rebirth, war, war, right on up through the current day. Very interesting and fairly interactive bits for children. Especially in the new wing.
We journeyed out to Kew Gardens and spent a few hours there. We also became members, so that we can take visiting guests. Also... the places we are looking to live are close in proximity to Kew and we hope to be able to go often. Kew is HUGE. In fact, we didn't even cover much, though we were there forever. We are saving the treetop walkway for another visit, but it's something that we both can't wait for. Perhaps a weekday trip when the park isn't so busy. Kew is the home of the world's oldest pot plant... in case you needed a bit of trivia today.
So far my favorite place that we've visited is The Chelsea Flower Show. This is a HUGE event that happens once a year in London. The Queen even attends the day before it opens. There is also a daily hour-long television show during the entire week of Chelsea. We went on Friday, the day before it ended. Which, I found to be a great day to go. I learned a lot about the flower show from the televised show... so I went in only to be MORE impressed knowing the amount of work that goes into it. There are about 20 gardens on display. They are very large gardens, too. These are planned for about 15 mos, grown in a location, dug up, transported and replanted at Chelsea. And I'm talking real trees. Not the little wimpy trees you buy at Lowes to plant in your yard. I mean TREES. Full grown trees. On display were also Urban Gardens for smaller spaces. These were more artistic and whimsical, but still impressive. What talents. We also walked through a massive pavilion where nurseries show of their newest varieties of plants but all displayed artistically. And probably my favorite, though the smallest was a pavilion of floral design. You can tell, in all areas of this show, that these people are masters of their art.
I have also signed up for and attended a crochet class. A girl from NY teaches it at a yarn store on Carnaby St. For those of you that know sixties fashion, you will know this is where it all started. Neat area, containing one of my all time favorite London stores (though I can't afford it), Liberty. Anyway, the class was fun and I can't wait to go this week. Actually, I'm the only one crocheting, everyone else is learning to knit. So far, I've learned to chain stitch. I've got a long way to go.
We keep trying to get to the Golden Hind, but either we decide to go on a day where they are closed for lunch or we aren't in the area. Drew says this is the BEST place for fish and chips. Urban Spoon seems to agree with him. I'll let you know!
Here are some links to places mentioned:
Also, if you want to see some of my photos from around London, here is my flickr site:
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