Jan's and John's Peripatetic Adventure

Immortal

We're in London, continues...

Today, Magnatune released my new album Immortal! John remastered it when we were in California and I'm really happy it is available now. It's part of my Analog Archives Series. I have a huge emotional attachment to this music and releasing it slightly scary. I'm hoping everyone will buy it right away so maybe I'll get into the top ten! So, please go buy it right now!

UPDATE!

Wow! Within an hour after the announcement went out, Immortal was number 2 and by noon it was number 1!!!

I am shocked that I displaced Kirsty's The Ice Castle as number one. I hoped to get into the top ten but never expected to get to number 1. I'll probably stay there about 10 minutes '-)

I am profoundly honored to be in a top ten that includes friends: Artemis, Beth Quist (Ishwish), Lara St. John, David Bates (La Nuova Musica), and my best friend in the whole world, Kirsty Hawkshaw.

Thank you, everyone! But don't stop now. I really want to stay in the top ten as long as I can so if you haven't bought "Immortal" yet, please do.

I'm verklempt!

The Google of Tomorrow

We're in London, continues...

Wow! Yesterday, U.K. newspaper The Independent featured John and BookMooch in an article titled, The Googles of Tomorrow. We're so excited! They used the wacky photo he made of himself with multiple arms all holding books. LOL! BookMooch is such an amazing web site, we're very exited about all the enthusiastic attention it gets.

Champagne with Kirsty and a Few Celebrities

My friend Kirsty was in London yesterday so we took the opportunity to get together. We went for lunch at the Covent Garden Hotel. We took photos and there she is looking beautiful and posing hilariously, so I decided to include them all '-)

We had pink champagne, of course, and lunch was very delicious. Kirsty noticed Jason Donovan two tables away. I'm usually clueless about famous people but Kirsty recognizes everyone. This time, I actually knew who Jason Donovan is, although not enough to recognize him. Kirsty not only recognized him, she knows him! So as he was leaving she called over to him and he came to our table to say hello and to chat a bit. He was really, really nice. Awesome.

Then she saw the singer from Spandau Ballet walk into the restaurant. She didn't know him though, so no chatting this time '-) I had to go to the ladies room and Kirsty said that he had just gone down the stairs. So as I went into the ladies room he walked out of the men's room directly across and he was singing to himself. I really wanted to say "omg, Bryan Ferry, I used to love your records!" but decided against it '-)

Kirsty and I had a lovely afternoon hanging out at the Covent Garden Hotel, it was great to spend some time in Real Life. Hugs, Kirsty! xxx

Update: here is some video Kirsty took of us having fun at the restaurant:

Stirred, Not Shaken

We're in London, continues...

We woke up this morning to email from friends in California asking if we felt the earthquake last night. Earthquake in England? Yikes. We just can't get away from them.

We did not feel it, it was fairly far away from London. But Kirsty did, she said her whole house shook and it was very scary. Apparently we slept through it. I'm not sure we would have noticed anyway. The construction on our street to replace the Victorian water mains is still going on and has actually intensified. We really thought they'd be done by now. All day we hear and feel the drilling and pounding out on the street.

Then there is also the sidewalk widening project. I think there's a pretty good chance that they will reach our house while the water mains project is still going on. That will be... er, interesting.

Someday the construction will be finished and then we can go back to just the regular Covent Garden chaos. '-)

Crazy Like A Bear

In our ongoing cuisine quest, last night we went to Crazy Bear, another excellent restaurant in Fitzrovia.

We really enjoyed it. The restaurant says it's modern Thai cuisine, and it is, but there was also a Chinese influence to the menu. It's not nearly as good as Patara but was very good.

When we arrived we weren't sure we were at the right place. As you can see in my blurry photo, it looks like a pub. (Note the people standing around waiting to go in with their rolling suitcases. What's up with that?) At the front entrance you can hear the bar/club downstairs and it was very, very loud so we were a bit nervous. But the restaurant is upstairs and is lovely. The back room is long and narrow so you sit at a table side by side which we really like.

The service was outstanding, much better than a few of our recent excursions. They were very diligent about refilling our champagne and sparkling water. John said his cod was bland but my beef curry was very hot (spicy) and I loved it. Although it probably won't end up on our frequent favorite restaurants list, we definitely enjoyed it enough to go there again.

Champagne, Dim Sum and a Waffle

We're in London, continues...

First of all, congratulations to my best friend Kirsty who was featured in an article yesterday in the Second Life New World Notes! I am so excited to see her enthusiasm and extraordinary creativity acknowledged and her involvement in Second Life presented in such a positive way.

Last night we went to a champagne reception given by our friends Maria and Angus at The Getty Images Gallery. They are two of our favorite people and always make me laugh. We're getting together again soon, yay! We saw a few familiar faces and met some new fun ones, it was a lovely evening. And the champagne was particularly delicious.

Thank you, Maria and Angus, for inviting us to such a fun get together and a lovely evening.

We met Mary and Eliza there and since Mary had to go to a meeting, Eliza joined us for an impromptu dinner at Ping Pong which just happened to be next to the gallery. It was super-duper yummy and has been on our favorite restaurants list for a long time, although we usually go to the one in Soho. This one was smaller but very nice and the food was super-duper yummy. Did I mention how great the food was?

Then while walking home we passed a waffle shop on Oxford Street. OMG. John suggested we get waffles. Bastard. It was the most amazing waffle I've ever had. John and Eliza got chocolate on theirs but I got a plain one and it was incredible.

The Fab Sunday Dinner

We're in London, continues...

It's our ongoing cuisine quest! Last night we had dinner at Mint Leaf.

It was Sunday night so I'm assuming our experience was not typical. I want to say it was fabulous but after reading so many bad reviews I'm confused. I didn't read any of the reviews until today, so when we went last night I had no preconceptions and was actually excited about going there.

I must admit my first impression was mixed. The "may I take your coat" experience could have been more professional. As it was, she asked if I wanted to check my coat and when I said yes, she went and stood behind the coat-check counter and made me walk across the lobby to give her my coat. Instead of just taking my coat with her when she asked me. Pretty funny.

Walking into the bar area is impressive, it's lovely. They seated us and as I looked around to admire the beautiful decor I realized they had seated us in the bar area. I watched as they escorted new arrivals to the (more lovely) restaurant area. Hey, I want to sit in the restaurant area! No matter, our table was fine, even if there was a table of four chavs two tables over who were loud (I think I heard "I'm not bovered" more than once.)

Now here's the thing about the bad reviews that makes me the most nervous: our food was fabulous. Fabulous! The starters were gorgeous and incredibly delicious and our main dishes were extraordinary. The cuisine is sort of a cross between our two favorite London Indian restaurants, Moti Mahal and The Red Fort. We loved it.

Regardless of what the bad reviews said, our service was very good. They actually remembered to refill our champagne glasses, although I thought it was odd that they filled them to the brim. I guess they were trying to save themselves another trip to the champagne bucket.

So, we had a great time at Mint Leaf and will probably go back at least one more time just to see if it's as bad as the reviews say, or as good as last night.

A Bit of Pommery

We're in London, continues...

We had Pommery champagne for lunch and dinner yesterday.

Normally when we are going out to dinner I will skip lunch, or just have an apple. But yesterday I worked all day on a new web site and by lunch time desperately needed a break. And some champagne. So we went to Belgo Centraal.

It was super-packed, even at 12:15, probably because it was Saturday. It was very yummy and a great place for a quick and easy lunch. I had the assiette de charcuterie (cold cuts) and John had carbonnade flamande (beef stew). After a morning of flow I was not looking or feeling my best (flow gives me temporary brain fog) but a glass of Pommery champagne soon fixed that. John had a glass of... red wine?! Whatever.

Then last night we went to Brasserie Roux at the Sofitel St. James, another restaurant John booked for us in his ongoing cuisine quest a la The Michelin Guide.

No Michelin stars this time which, frankly, was fine with me. I love eating at all the fancy-schmancy restaurants we've been discovering but sometimes the food can get a little too fussy. Brasserie Roux is traditional French brasserie cuisine and was excellent. There we are in the photos with our salads. John had the crab and I had beets. And this time we had a whole bottle of 1996 Pommery. Perfection.

Doghouse Be Gone

We're in London, continues...

It's so foggy in the mornings in London that we can't see the BT Tower as we do in our usual view. But the temperature has turned mild, after a few days of surprising cold, so we're enjoying it.

I love it when Teresa sends me reports from California. While we're away she is going over to our California house once a week to pick up the mail and let me know about anything that requires immediately attention, like our car insurance bill (paid online, whew).

Yesterday she sent me some photos, including the removal of what we called "The Doghouse." It was a little cupola on the porch roof that served no purpose whatsoever except to block our view. While we're in London our contractors in California have been working on the house and removing "The Doghouse" was one of their projects which has now been done. Yay! Below are the before and after photos. We're really looking forward to sitting at our computers and having a view of the lovely front yard.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The built-in cd shelves are also done so when we get back to California I have to unpack and alphabetize our 6,000+ cd's. Yea, looking forward to that, LOL.

Teresa also included a photo showing how super-green everything is after all the rain they've had in California. Yikes, it really makes me miss the house on the mountain, even though we are having a fabulous time here in London.

Thank you, Teresa, for taking such good care of everything while we're away!

Dinner Francais et Lily

We're in London, continues...

Last night we continued our ongoing cuisine quest and went to a new discovery, Pied a Terre (with two Michelin stars), again in walkable Fitzrovia.

It was lovely. The staff was charming and so French that I had no idea what they were saying when they explained the ingredients in the amuse-bouche which melted in our mouths. The food was very good but I thought the menu was too small and needed more choices. The service was diligent but verged on intrusive. We enjoyed ourselves but were not wowed enough to put the restaurant on our list.

The dining room is small, with only ten tables, which is very pleasant. The other diners were being nicely discrete, as opposed to other evenings, so I didn't get to eavesdrop. However, I seemed to recognize a girl at one of the tables across from us and thought she looked like Lily Allen. I mentioned her to John, who had no idea who she is. I said I had no idea who she is either, I just knew she was famous from reading the gossip blogs online. He said, "Don't you think it's odd that you only know who these celebrities are from reading the gossip blogs and you have never heard their music or seen their films?" Yes, indeed, I do find it very odd. LOL.

She got up to go to the ladies room, or somewhere, at one point and when she walked past us she was so chubby and dressed so badly we decided that, no, it couldn't be her. Besides, the guy she was with had his jacket collar popped. It's bad enough when I see men with their shirt collars popped, but a jacket? In a two-star Michelin restaurant? The felt underneath the collar was showing, he looked totally ridiculous. I did not recognize him but he could have just won a BAFTA award and I wouldn't have a clue.

So, without actually knowing who she is or anything about her I decided it was probably not her and it was just a couple of chavs on an unusually posh night out. Then while walking home, we saw a bus with a huge advertisement of her new tv show on it including a giant photo that looked just like her. Then when I checked online we were even more sure it was her. What a charmer.

Oops, I guess I shouldn't say anything about her. I don't want a reaction from her fans like I got when I talked about Kevin Spacey. Ok, here goes: I'm sure she's a wonderful girl and very talented and being her fan makes you a better person than everyone else on the planet. There, done. Whew.

An Evening with Ernest

We're in London, continues...

Last night we saw The Importance of Being Earnest! It's one of our favorite plays ever, we are huge Oscar Wilde fans.

This production stars another of our favorites, Penelope Keith who we've seen on stage once before. We would have gone to see it regardless of who is in it because Oscar Wilde is so rarely staged, sadly.

Last night's performance was excellent, we loved it. The actors were all very good, in particular the actress who played Cecily. As you can see in the photo below of the poster of Penelope Keith, she is smiling. The role of Lady Bracknell is a difficult one since the 1952 film version really set the tone for all the characters and no one has really lived up to that classic, including the cute and overly-beautiful 2002 film version. Penelope Keith's smiles did have a snide quality to them and she did her best to appear nasty. Frankly, all she had to do was deliver those classic lines and she was hilarious regardless of her facial expressions. They all were. We know the play so well that we anticipated the dialogue and started laughing before it even happened. John's favorite is when Algie asks to read Cecily's diary:

Algernon: "Do you really keep a diary? I’d give anything to look at it. May I?"

Cecily: "Oh no! [Puts her hand over it.] You see, it is simply a very young girl’s record of her own thoughts and impressions, and consequently meant for publication. When it appears in volume form I hope you will order a copy."

The evening was filled with similar genius and we loved every minute of it.

Concerto Evening

We're in London, continues...

Last night, John and I went with Mary and Eliza to a concert at Queen Elizabeth Hall by Robert Levin and The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

He played two Mozart piano concertos, some of my favorite music ever. The orchestra also played two Overtures, one by Mozart, the other by Beethoven, and they were perfection.

Robert Levin played a fortepiano so it was a completely different sound than when we heard Mitsuko Uchida a few months ago... He even played one of the same concertos she did, No. 20, which is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written.

Afterward Mary and I rushed backstage because the orchestra had another performance at 10:00. Mary introduced me to Robert who is charming, I'm delighted to have had the opportunity to meet him. I'm always astonished when I get to meet such amazing performers whose cd's I've owned for years.

Thank you, Mary, for inviting us to another great evening of fabulous music.

The Apple and The Primrose

We're in London, continues...

People ask us how we stay so thin after eating so many sumptuous meals every day. The answer is: it's not easy.

John is a lot more physically active than I am and often goes for very very long walks. For example, yesterday he had lunch with a friend in Hampstead and then walked back to Covent Garden. Wow! Actually, that is a walk I would love to do so we are going to do it together some time. He brought me some lovely photos of Primrose Hill, an area he walked through on his way home. Gorgeous.

As for me, I eat a small or no lunch to deal with the sumptuous dinners. Often it's an apple and sparkling water. Yesterday, I also had marinated lentils in balsamic vinegar from Marks & Spencer. It was awesome.

So we were ready for yet another cuisine excursion last night and went to The Forge. It was fabulous, as always.

Although the views and sunsets we have in in California are spectacular, our views in London are completely different but pretty nice and last night's sunset was lovely. The colors didn't come out in the photo as beautiful as they were in reality.

And in the distance in the sunset photo you can see yet more construction cranes. London is under construction and someday might actually be finished, lol.

Landing Pad & Les Legumes

We're in London, continues...

People think I'm exaggerating when I talk about the loud helicopters circling in the sky and hovering over our house so low they look like they're trying to land on our roof. Yesterday the house started shaking and there was a loud roaring noise. For a split second I thought "they have earthquakes in London?" and then realized it was a helicopter. There it is as seen through our living room skylight. It would be hilarious if it weren't so loud.

In our continuing cuisine quest, last night we went to one of our all-time favorite restaurants: L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon. We're glad to see them on Top Table now so that making reservations is easy.

We love the downstairs but this time we ate upstairs at their 'La Cuisine' because the menu is slightly different. As we were being shown to our table, we passed a man and woman a few tables away and the woman stared us down in a way that I have rarely seen. She was totally checking us out which is really odd. My hair was looking particularly shiny and fabulous but I don't think that was it. Once she figured out we were nobody she ignored us. Whew. However, I got to eavesdrop a bit and here's what I heard her say to the man she was with: "Well, that's what put you on the map. That is what made you a name."

Wow, is he famous? Let me see. Hmmm, don't recognize him. In fact, he was a complete troll. He was American and she was British so my guess was he was a writer and she was either his agent or the publisher. Or some other kind of sycophant. Her body language suggested additional services were on offer. LOL.

Then behind me there was a table with an Asian couple and an older American man in a terrible toupé who I heard say the words "Broadway" and "executive producer." They both had tape recorders running.

Enough eavesdropping, on to dinner. The Robuchon upstairs menu has a dish called "les legumes" which is one of the most amazing things I've ever had in my life. Lightly cooked, chilled vegetables, wrapped and arranged in a gorgeous configuration and are one of the most amazing things I've ever had in my life. Wait, did I say that already? Well, it was. Loved it. I took a photo but it came out really badly, sorry.

Then John and I both had the lamb which was perfection, as always. And, of course, a bottle of champage that was particularly good. With amazing food and outstanding service, Robuchon continues to be one of our favorite restaurants ever.

Mexico for Lunch, Japan for Dinner

We're in London, continues...

There are so many fabulous restaurants in London that it's often hard to choose. We have a bunch of new ones on our calendar that we are going to explore in the coming weeks. But we're not going to neglect our current favorites, some of which we went to yesterday.

We lunched at the amazing Wahaca. The food is incredible and most closely resembles our California favorite Fonda, but Wahaca's is actually better. It's quick, casual and chaotic but the food is worth it. We go early at lunch in order to beat the crowd. So far, it's been impossible to get in for dinner. Hopefully their popularity will encourage them to open more restaurants.

Then for dinner we went to Kobe London (formerly, Kobe Jones). Exquisite. We forgot to request a private booth when we booked but one was available when we arrived. Like most restaurants can get quite loud but the private booths at Kobe London are much quieter and private. The food was amazing and we had a bottle of Bollinger.

Spaghetti

We're in London, continues...

Now that smoking is no longer a problem in London restaurants we are free to explore. John has been reading The Michelin Guide for suggestions of restaurants we should try and has booked us into several in the coming weeks. So, the blog is going to get a lot more yummy '-)

Last night's new discovery was Camerino in easy-to-walk-to Fitzrovia. John chose Camerino because it's Italian and we haven't seen much upscale Italian cuisine in London yet. It's even hard to find in California. I'm not talking about that drowned-in-tomato-sauce-chewy-chicken-parmesan Italian food that so many restaurants have; I mean upscale Italian. Somewhere we would eat more than once. We think we've found it, at last.

The restaurant is simple but lovely, not too posh, not too ordinary. The staff was very nice and we were impressed with how efficiently and pleasantly the two women on duty handled the entire restaurant. John did something he rarely does: he ordered the same thing I did. We started with the thinly sliced veal in tuna sauce and then the spaghetti with prosciutto. With a bottle of French champagne.

It was fabulous, we loved it. We will definitely be returning to Camerino.

An Evening with Bubble

We're in London, continues...

Last night we went to the theatre, at last. We saw Absurd Person Singular. The reason we went is because one of the stars is Jane Horrocks who played Bubble in Absolutely Fabulous, one of our favorite tv shows ever. She was incredible in the film Little Voice and was also one of the voices in Chicken Run. "I don't want to be a pie!" We think she's fabulous and will see anything she's in.

The play was one of the worst things we've seen on the London stage. We normally would have left at one of the two intervals but we really wanted to see Jane Horrocks. And staying was worth it. She is completely hilarious. We loved seeing her on stage, loved it!

Her performance was the only funny thing in the play. Her character was the only potentially funny one and she made it hilarious. I can imagine someone else in that role making it not funny at all. Like the other roles. Terrible. It seemed like the author knocked the play out in an afternoon. It had a couple funny moments but it was mostly not funny and often just tedious. I'm sure he's very famous and has won lots of awards, etc., etc., blah, blah... The play even got good reviews which I find completely baffling.

Well, it doesn't matter. We got to see Jane Horrocks on stage, yay!

However, what was funny (well not funny "ha ha" but entertaining) was before the show started. I had one of the most obnoxious elderly women ever sitting next to me, LOL. She was very posh and I could barely understand what she was saying because it was all vowels. She spent the 15 minutes before the play started shouting into her mobile phone.

Posh Elderly Woman: "Yes, we're actually sitting in the middle of the theatre waiting for it to start, can you believe it? First my James took me to dinner at The Ivy. I'm feeling very spoilt, darling. Yes, it's very boring sitting here waiting for it to begin, I do wish they would get on with it."

Her James: "Mumble, mumble, what, mumble..."

Posh Elderly Woman: "Hush James, I'm talking. So as I was saying, darling, I am at the theatre and will call you when I get home. What's that? What? Hello? I seem to be losing the signal, darling, I can't hear you. Well, as I said, I'll call you when... what? Hello? The signal is fading again. It's so annoying. What? Hello? Are you there?"

Woman behind me to her friend: "You'd think if she were losing the signal she would get off the bloody phone."

Posh Elderly Woman: "Yes, darling, I'll call you. The show is about to begin. Finally. What? Hello? Are you there?"

The show begins. At the first interval:

Posh Elderly Woman: "Dreadful. Every time we come to the West End we swear we won't come back again. Let's mean it this time, James."

During the painful and not funny second act, the elderly couple in front of us, who had been laughing loudly at everything the entire time, had their mobile phone go off and had difficulty getting it to stop. Then they started talking to each other. The obnoxious posh elderly woman next to me said "oh for crying out loud" and turned in my direction and gave me a look like it was me doing the talking. Or perhaps she was expecting me to shush them. I have no idea but it was a weird moment.

At the second interval the posh elderly woman and "James" left. On her way out she was dialing her mobile phone.

Well, it doesn't matter. We got to see Jane Horrocks on stage, yay!

The Rise of The Ice Castle

We're in London, continues...

A week ago Magnatune released my best friend Kirsty's album, The Ice Castle and by the end of the day it had reached number one and is still there. Yay!

To celebrate I turned one of my normally very green Second Life islands into a snow and ice wonderland and am playing and promoting her music there. I didn't know what the reaction of the visitors to my island would be but everyone I've met so far says it's beautiful and many also comment on how much they are enjoying the music. I made a little rotating box with the album cover on it that when people click on it they get a notecard with info about the album and it also directs them to the album on the web site.

I'm so excited to have Kirsty on Magnatune and to have her be number one is amazing and fabulous.

The Palace and the Missing Virgin

We're in London, continues...

Yesterday John and Ramsay took the train to spend the day in Brighton. Above is a panorama of The Royal Pavillion. The weather was perfect, a gorgeous day. John enjoyed Brighton and I will probably venture down there with him at some point.

Meanwhile, I went shopping. Shopping?! Yea, rare activity for me. But sometimes, you know, I need stuff.

I decided to do some book shopping at Waterstones. Book shopping?! Yes, I do still buy books. I don't just mooch them or buy ebooks. I love buying books, in fact. It's what to do with them afterward that is the problem. That's where BookMooch comes in.

It was such a gorgeous day and London is so empty in February, I love it. Well, not exactly empty but compared to the summertime it is and I love being able to actually walk down the street. I walked through Leicester Square and on through Piccadilly Circus and... wait, what's that? The useless Virgin Megastore is gone and has been replaced by a store called Zavvi.

I have ranted about how awful the Virgin Megastore was many times so I was happy to see it gone. Wait, oh I see, only the name has changed. It was a management buy-out. Er, whatever. I did not go into the store (I'd rather go to the dentist) but from the window displays and their website it looks like cd's have finally taken a back seat to dvd's and games. Well, for me, buying music online is much better anyway. For the last few years I've had a really hard time finding the music I like in stores and I buy tons of it online. So now there truly is no reason for me to go into a store like Zavvi and it's probably only a matter of time before most people feel the same way.

Onward to Waterstones which continues to be one of the best bookstores ever. I found the books I was looking for, yay. It is very difficult not to find something at Waterstones, it really is a fabulous store.

Then I walked up Regent Street to the Apple Store to buy one of those new super-flat keyboards. John likes it (well, for me to use it) because it's so quiet. I like it because it looks like something from the future. It was a lovely walk.

Speaking of lovely walks, pictured below is our street. Although they are nearly finished the water main replacement, they have now started the sidewalk renovation project. They are doubling the width of the sidewalk by eliminating street parking on one side of the street, plus they are renovating the curb on the other side. So after having everything blocked off and dug up since September they are doing it again.

One of the workers noticed me taking photos and I asked him if this was the sidewalk expansion project and he said yes and that it would go rather quickly. Surprisingly, I did not ask for his definition of quickly, nor did I suggest that they could have done the sidewalk renovation at the same time as the water main replacement so they would only have had to block everything off and dig it up once.

With any luck they won't get to our house until we go back to California. '-)

Anniversary Dinner

We're in London, continues...

Yesterday was our ninth wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe it's been nine years. (We've actually been together for fourteen years.) And so much has happened, our lives have changed so much. We feel very lucky to have found each other and to still be so happy together. We went to dinner at The Red Fort to celebrate. It was fabulous, as always, including the Bollinger.

The Cranes

We're in London, continues...

Below is a panoramic photo John took on Saturday while walking along the Thames with friends. Note the number of cranes sticking up. Wow, that's a lot of construction projects.

Yes, the weather really is that gorgeous. Blue skies and in the high 50's/low 60's, feels like Spring.

"Feed the birds, tuppence a bag..."

Wait, there's more!

Today, John went to the Tate Modern with Jayme and lunch with Tyler (he's back). Apparently Buckminster Fuller (one of our idols) was portrayed on the toilet stall. LOL!

And I was home all day except I had a lunch date with Mary and Eliza. We went to Arbutus. It was my first time there and I loved it. Although it is a little loud because of all the hard surfaces, the food is completely exquisite. No champage for lunch because tonight is a very special occasion. More tomorrow '-)

Birthday Gurl

We're in London, continues...

No, not my birthday: Eliza!

Today is Eliza's 16th birthday, so last night the four of us went to Amaya. Wow, it's a fabulous restaurant, the food is amazing and is somewhat different from our other two Indian favorites Moti Mahal and The Red Fort. We loved it and will definitely be adding it to our list of favorites.

Yes, there was lots of birthday champagne.

After dinner we went back to Mary's and Eliza's apartment (which is in our house) for birthday cake. OMG, look at that cake. I haven't had anything like that since the 90's. Eliza did the slicing honors and it was yummy.

We feel so lucky to know Mary and Eliza. Happy Birthday, Eliza. We love you!

Film Awards vs. Traffic Jam

We're in London, continues...

Apparently the BAFTA awards are around the corner from our house at the Royal Opera House. This means that for several days they have been building scaffolding and disrupting traffic for several blocks.

What I find distressing is not only the fact they are creating a serious disruption in an already crazy-crowded area but the financial waste is appalling. The Tube barely works but they can build a huge temporary structure to give awards to movie stars. WTF.

It's tomorrow night so I guess the neighborhood will be chaos, although in Covent Garden it's hard to tell the difference. Maybe I'll pop over just in case Nicole Kidman shows up. Nah.

Dinner in Chalk Farm

We're in London, continues...

Last night we took the tube up to Chalk Farm to have dinner with our friends Jayme and Tyler. Oh wait, Tyler is away so we had dinner with just Jayme. We'll catch you next time, Tyler. Missed ya!

We met Jayme and Tyler at one of our house concerts last year when they came as guests of our friend Rob. I think. We're not sure. LOL. All I remember is we thought they were fabulous so we've gotten together for dinner a few times and really enjoy them.

And Jayme is fabulous. I love her hair. Bitch '-) She is really smart, interesting and hilarious. Hence the wacky face for the blog. She did smile for one photo but prefers the wacky face which is why we think she's fab.

When we got to their apartment we immediately noticed they have a Wii, yay! I see some gamin' in London in the future.

The Ice Castle

We're in London, continues...

Today Magnatune is releasing The Ice Castle by Kirsty Hawkshaw.

I'm so excited!

Kirsty came over yesterday and we had lunch at Le Deuxieme. Champagne, of course. Then we came back to my house to hang out, play music and... sign the Magnatune contract, a truly historic moment.

When I met Kirsty over a year ago I was just honored to meet her and had no idea we were going to become best friends. But we did and have had many fun and hilarious adventures and well as daily iChat gurltalk. John and I both love her music but had assumed there was no possibility of her being on Magnatune because her records were locked up in record company contracts which turned out to be true.

Then one day she played me some of her "other" music and I was stunned by how beautiful it was. So now she is on Magnatune, yay! Her music is gorgeous, go buy it right now!

Kirsty blogged our day together here, including video (blush).

Norwich Excursion

We're in London, continues...

Yesterday we took the train to Norwich for John to do an interview on BBC Radio about BookMooch.

The train ride was very easy, two hours with beautiful scenery (many photos). While on the train John used his new iPhone to find a good place for lunch. He found The Mad Moose Arms so when we arrived in Norwich we took a taxi to it. Lovely. The upstairs was not open for lunch but the downstairs was nice and the food was fabulous. We had prosecco.

The reason the BBC invited John to Norwich to do an interview is that Norwich is where John got the idea for BookMooch. When he was there in 2005 to take a lute building workshop, he visited The King of Hearts, a community arts centre. He was very impressed by the place which includes a devastatingly beautiful Tudor room where they give concerts.

They also have a little reading area with a sign that says "leave a book, take a book" and a selection of books. He loved the idea and wanted to think of a way that friendly, community feeling could be translated to the internet. A year later he launched BookMooch.

So we visited The King of Hearts yesterday to say hello to Director & Artistic Manager, Aude Gotto (photo with John). She was fabulous and gave us a tour and explanation of the renovation of this amazing building. We sat in the cafe to chat and discovered that we have many mutual interests, particularly in early music, and, amazingly, we have many mutual friends and acquaintances. The world is very small.

Then John and I walked around Norwich and I took a zillion photos, as usual. It is a charming town with its own castle, very cool. Below also is a photo of the hotel where John stayed in 2005, The Maids Head Hotel, which dates back to the 13th century. It was originally owned by the early Bishops in the day of William the Conqueror and it is rumored that in 1587 Elizabeth I slept here. OMG.

At the appointed time we headed over to the BBC and met Nicky Price and the producer, David Webster. They made us feel incredibly welcome and are two of the nicest and funniest people we've met. John did his interview, which seemed to go well. We had a great time at the BBC which was the perfect ending to an amazing day excursion.

Then over to the train station in the rain and back to London. Whew! What a fabulous day!