Tim and I woke up at 5:30am last Saturday to visit the fish mongers at Billingsgate Market. We walked away with two whole sea bass and two whole red snappers. When I’ve bought fish in the past, it’s always been scaled and “cleaned”, but the hardcore mongers left this job to us. I’ve never gutted a fish before. The journey was gruesome, but worthwhile. I earned my meal.
And guess what, the best part of the adventure is on video. Tim grabbed this movie of my maiden voyage into the insides of a sea bass. (It’s is a 3.4mb quicktime mov.) Enjoy!
How long has it been since I’ve had a home? Sure, my name was on the lease in Austin, but I was living on borrowed furniture and overwhelming reluctance. This time it’s for real. In contrast with my bare minimalism in Austin, I’ve embraced the random photos and knick-knacks I uncovered in Tim’s storage unit (now empty and out of our hands). We have a home! A flat! With nice furniture and STUFF! This is the first place we’ve lived in where we have a table to sit down and eat at. LUXURY!
A few notes on the new place… we live in Stoke Newington on Defoe Road, so named for Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe and former resident of a house on the corner, just up the street from our building.
Our building. Alas, it doesn’t possess any of the 17th century charm that Mr. Defoe must have enjoyed. It’s a new build, with all the comforts that a new building should have: clean open plan kitchen living room with new Bosch appliances, including a full-sized fridge, loads of marble-top counter space, a huge sink, and (drumroll please) a dishwasher! What it has in creature comforts, it lacks in character and outdoor space. When I land a job, I’m going to spend my first paycheck on some photo frames and indoor plants. Any suggestions about indoor herb gardening is appreciated. We have four windows with a big sill that get a few hours of direct sunlight each day (this will diminish greatly in the winter).
Other great things about our new flat:
The bathroom is nice and spacious with a good shower.
The furniture is new and clean and semi-stylish
The bedroom is pretty big - only once side of the bed is next to the wall.
The kitchen is amazing! Counter space on 3 sides! Loads of cabinets and storage! And great lighting!
Hardwood (er, laminate) flooring - but no nasty carpet
Awesome location - Stoke Newington is like the Lakeview of London (not that I’ve ever lived in lakeview).
In 3 days we will have super-fast interweb.
The building has a locked shed for bicycle storage.
We have music!
We’ve just spent most of today just hanging out at home quite comfortably, which is one of the coolest feelings in the world, and extremely hard to find in London.
The flat feels completely separated from the rest of London, which is going to be cozy and awesome in the winter.
Despite the lack of garden or patio, there is a nice big park (Clissold Park) just a 5 minute walk up the road.
Right, could say more but it’s time to make dinner in our fabulous kitchen: Tim’s doing a Tomato, cucumber and onion salad and new potatoes. I’m making a spinach salad with raspberries and feta. Yum. Home.
excerpt from New year’s Day:
I make a resolution to eat less but better food this year: to eat only food whose provenance I know at least a little of; to patronise artisan food producers; to increase my organic food consumption; and to shop even less at supermarkets than I do now. This should be the year in which I think carefully about everything I put in my mouth. ‘Where has this come from, what effect will this have on me, my well-being and that of the environment?’ Ten years ago this would all have sounded distinctly worthy, but today it just sounds like a blueprint for intelligent eating.
Monica and Tim at Regent’s Park (before birthday dinner and two bottles of wine)…
Monica and Tim in a cab home (after birthday dinner and two bottles of wine)…
One of the grooviest things about the timing of my HSMP approval is that I made it to London for my birthday. You may expect a tale of all-day celebration, endless bottles of wine, big giant cakes of which more pieces are thrown than eaten, and disco dancing until dawn (the layer of buttery cake and frosting on the floor makes a great slip-and-slide).
Despite the appeal of wild jubilee, after a month and a half of joblessness, family time, travel, and relocation, I feel the call for simplicity, routine, permanence, and solitude. So I opted for a quiet birthday, spent with the person in London I’m closest to. Tim’s birthday present to me was a no-brainer. Just the other day, he saw me fawning over Nigel Slater’s “the kitchen diaries”. More than just a cookbook, “the kitchen diaries” reads like my own diary, if i were to actually write a food diary… and was English… and ate meat. Right now I’m drooling over a recipe for chickpeas with harissa, basil and ham (hold the pig, please). And now we have a nice new big kitchen to cook in… but that’s another post.
Tim took me to the “Tapa Room” for some delicious food, and more importantly, to introduce me to New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. I’m not a white wine person, but the SB was pretty smooth. I think I still prefer Riesling, though. The food (tapas fair) was delicious. Two dishes worth trying to replicate: a refreshing roasted aubergine soup and asparagus with mozzarella and cherry tomatoes. The big surprise was the inspiring rice pudding with poached peaches. Dare I try my hand at desserts?
At the end of the day, or the year as the case may be, it all comes down to the food. Just writing about it makes me hungry.
Perhaps I should re-title my blog. though one might argue that I’m not really a “Chicagoan” as I haven’t lived in the city proper for, oh, 10-plus years? Still, I was really falling in love with Chicago while I was there this past month. But the time will come later to re-establish my roots, as well as reconnect with some old friends, write a few articles, paint, and all the other things I mistakenly thought I’d have time to do while I was at home.
Now is the time, yet again, for London. But it’s a different London than the city I visited nearly a year ago. It’s summertime, and the sun stays out ’til past 9 o’clock! It’s a new neighborhood, just a little north from the old, but a world of difference: yummy bakeries and fresh organic produce right out the door (and no sign of the New Eagle Chinese Takeaway!).
But the biggest change is that I don’t have to leave. That makes me very happy (and Tim, too, I think).
So now we’re sorting out all the thorny bits. I think we’ve found a place to live. It’s not the charming, freshly redone victorian garden flat that we dreamed of, but it’s clean and has a huge kitchen. Next week, the real work begins: finding a job. Home, job, routine - eternally a work in progress.
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