Georgetown #DC street scene 6am #snow

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Favourite things, January 2014

• Surprise visit from an old friend, engineered by a beloved soul sister
• Delicious locally-made cold-pressed juices and tonics and superfood bars
• Looking forward to reading this book
• Burning fir & mistletoe candles while it's snowing
• Being a student again
• Trying out this new coffee flavour
• Watching Bron | Broen (The Bridge). Spellbinding television
• Sherlock lives!
• This dose of sanity from Tara Mohr. Being more productive ≠ being happier

• Drinking superfood hot chocolate with maca, cinnamon, cayenne, and ginger
• Breakfasting on coconut black rice pudding with pineapple. Oh, yes

Treading water in the still night sea

Things to Do in the Belly of the Whale

By Dan Albergotti

Measure the walls. Count the ribs. Notch the long days.
Look up for blue sky through the spout. Make small fires
with the broken hulls of fishing boats. Practice smoke signals.
Call old friends, and listen for echoes of distant voices.
Organize your calendar. Dream of the beach. Look each way
for the dim glow of light. Work on your reports. Review
each of your life's ten million choices. Endure moments
of self-loathing. Find the evidence of those before you.
Destroy it. Try to be very quiet, and listen for the sound
of gears and moving water. Listen for the sound of your heart.
Be thankful that you are here, swallowed with all hope,
where you can rest and wait. Be nostalgic. Think of all
the things you did and could have done. Remember
treading water in the center of the still night sea, your toes
pointing again and again down, down into the black depths.

Photo: Georgetown Metropolitan of our local crêperie. And yes, this is what DC looks like right now!

Building a better bangers and mash

Marriage is about compromise, and here's a dinner-time deal I brokered between the carnivorous cravings of my British-born husband and my preferences for French and Italian flavours.

It's a simple dish of bangers and mash with a twist: oven-roasted pork sausages, an upmarket 'gravy' and a silken potato purée.

The result is garlicky, boozy, earthy and rich. Stodgy comfort food for him, elegant continental flavour for her.

This is what you get when a meat-and-potatoes boy meets a Mediterranean-loving girl: and wants something to eat with a bottle of red.

Favourite things, September 2012

A WWII bomb shelter in the basement of a house in Lord North Street, Westminster

• London. London Walks. Immersion in history. Westminster. The Shakespeare: Staging the World exhibition at the British Museum

Kilchurn Castle, between rain showers

• Scotland's castles
• This dual biography of Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I 

Exploring Edinburgh's Old Town.

• Edinburgh. All of it.

Dumpling and noodle heaven in Edinburgh

• Dumplings at Chop Chop restaurant in Haymarket

French cheese board a La Fromagerie: Saint Maure, Olivet, Morbier, Crayeux de Roncq, Fourme D'Ambert (and housemade caraway, charcoal, oat and rye biscuits).

• La Fromagerie in Marylebone: my new favourite place to sit and sip and eat

Our SW6 neighbourhood café, Al Santo

• Breakfasts at Al Santo in Fulham
• Duchy Originals biscuits. I stock up on these each time I pass through the UK; sadly they're only available now at Waitrose, so impossible to pick up during brief Heathrow stopovers
• "I shop at Waitrose because I once heard a dad say 'Put the papaya down, Orlando'"
• Roaming London's fabulous LRB and Daunt bookshops
• Downsizing and simplifying in preparation for our move to a tiny terrace house in Georgetown. It's an emotional (my Bialetti!) yet liberating process. I'm even cutting back on my email newsletters. Must be that spring clean spirit taking hold.

Favourite things, July 2012

Exploring Reef Beach on Sydney Harbour, which Jem and I reached by kayak from Manly.

Garfish at Manly: incredible seafood.

Garfish seafood platter.

• Returning to Sydney to be reminded how we should live: surrounded by physical beauty, spending part of every day in nature, eating the world's best and freshest food (including meals at Garfish, Burnt Orange, Hugo's Manly, Nilgiri's, Kitchen by Mike and those cooked by Peter H. at home) access to culture (harpist Victor Valdes at the Camelot Lounge) and intellectual stimulation, and sharing it all with some of my favourite people. Australia's fresh air and beautiful pink-gold light really struck me this visit, as did the pure joy of waking each morning to hear native birdsong. 
• ICIJ's Skin and Bone project and video was published all around the world, particularly in the Daily Mail online and NBC
• White sangria: Sauvignon blanc, apricot juice, sparkling water, peaches
• Danielle Polen's yin yoga to keep me sane when work deadlines amped up the stress levels
• Mark Bittman's "Got Milk? You Don't Need It" NYT piece on milk
• There's nothing like going home, but when it begins with a glass of Taittinger the pleasure is elevated to new heights. I finally sampled the Qantas A380 international business class: a sublime experience from start to finish. Perfect comfort, terrific food and wine, great entertainment. Even from the outside, the plane still inspires awe. We drove alongside a Qantas A380 on the shuttle bus transferring us to the international terminal at LAX, and each head on board swivelled wordlessly to take it in as we drove by, a look of awe on each face.

Flying into Sydney from Brisbane, on my way back to the US.