No. 15: Exploring London
Plus wallpaper, Michigan summers, and crumpets
Greetings from London! Andrew and I have been here since Saturday, and we’ll be leaving tomorrow for a wedding in Hampshire. So far we’ve mostly just eaten, walked, and shopped, which is what you really want to do in London anyway! We’ve eaten at Manteca, Rochelle Canteen, Dishoom, Ottolenghi, Mayfair Chippy, Chiltern Firehouse, and Barrafina. We’ve shopped in Notting Hill and Shoreditch, where I discovered I love this brand Toast, so maybe my style is sort of Welsh? We biked around Hyde Park, watched an EPL game at a pub (Chelsea vs. Liverpool), visited the Victoria & Albert museum, and got a spot of tea at The Dorchester. We also stopped by the house where I grew up. ❤️ We’ve been pinning most of our stops on this Google map if you want to see or save ideas for a future trip.
Here is August’s smorgasbord!
🎭 Tom Lake by Ann Patchett: Bel Canto is one of my all-time fave books, so I was excited for this latest from Ann Patchett. It’s a lovely, quiet novel about a woman’s long-ago summer fling at a theater company with an actor who later became very famous, and that same woman recounting the story of said fling to her three grown daughters on their family cherry farm years later. The interstitial stories both occur in Michigan, which is described as the most idyllic summer haven. (After reading this, Emily Henry’s Beach Read, and Abra Berens’ trio of cookbooks, I’m eager to experience Michigan summers for myself!) I enjoyed this book, as I knew I would, particularly the mother-daughter relationships told from the mother’s perspective, and the portrait of life on a Midwestern farm.
📸 The “creative suggestion” in this
newsletter (scroll down a bit to find it): While traveling, creative director Ali LaBelle takes a bunch of photos and then edits them down on the last day of her trip based on a recurring theme she notices—for example, the color emerald green or line drawings of faces. She might even buy an on-theme souvenir to commemorate the trip, like an emerald green pen. I absolutely love this idea and am trying it out this week!◻️ Child’s Check Wallpaper in coal: I’m in love with this wallpaper that we used in our powder room (I got a lot of feedback when I posted a snapshot on IG, so I thought I’d share the details!). It’s actually a kids wallpaper, but I think the color scheme makes it feel grown up. We painted the trim a complementary gray-green color, so the room is dark and moody, and because it’s so tiny, it feels like a little jewel box. It might be my favorite space in the house.
💗 Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld: This is fun whipped to a froth. A writer for a loosely veiled SNL show strikes up a flirty friend-/relation-/situation-ship?? (read it to find out) with one of the musical guests/hosts, an extremely popular singer. I loved the insight into how SNL is made, and the modern epistolary sitch in the second part of the book. My only gripe is that it’s a Covid story, which is not something I love reading about (who does), but the plot hinges on the pandemic, so it’s excusable. Overall, pure candy.
🫖 Crumpets! When I was a kid living in England, I was bananas for crumpets. Totally obsessed. A cross between an English muffin and a pancake, they have a uniquely sponge texture and their many holes allow butter or jam to seep into all the crevices. Andrew and I have been eating them every morning we’ve been here (he had never had one before!) and now I can’t wait to try making them from scratch when I get home. Found this recipe, which is well-rated and looks legit: https://www.recipetineats.com/crumpet-recipe/
Not an official rec, but I also want to give a shoutout to the original Jumanji movie with Robin Williams, which I watched on the plane and can confirm: still slaps.
Re: Books to Cook—I haven’t been cooking much this month between our move, work, and travel, but hopefully I’ll squeeze some recipe vids in before month’s end. (Maybe crumpets?) Either way, I’ll see you in your inbox again in two weeks.
Cheerio!
Claire