My lovely friend Allie of But First, Cake moved into an awesome converted warehouse space in the Old Peanut Factory in Hackney Wick. The Wick is a converted industrial area that has been relatively recently taken over by creatives who live in studio/warehouse spaces.
We have been meaning to do a housewarming for Allie for a while, and we finally got around to it.
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So, I was meant to be heading back to America tomorrow. But the past three months in London have heralded so many amazing opportunities for my career. A few days before I was scheduled to leave, another opportunity popped up which just seemed to serendipitous to pass up….. more on this in a month or two, as it becomes more concrete.
Husni and I went out to celebrate everything. Before coming to the UK, I’d been planning on visiting the Fat Duck, Heston Blumenthal’s famous restaurant out in Bray. But recently, the World’s 50 Best restaurant list was released for 2014. Fat Duck came in at No. 47, and just revealed that they are packing up and moving to Melbourne, only a few months after I made that exact journey in reverse.
But Dinner By Heston, the Mandarin Oriental-housed restaurant in Knightsbridge, ranked in at No. 5. Surprisingly, I’ve never been to a Top Ten restaurant. Even Blue Hill at Stone Barns (which I personally would have placed in the top ten) was much further down the list. Dinner By Heston is perhaps his most interesting restaurant, as the recipes are all adapted from historic British cookbooks or manuscripts, making your dining experience a trip through 16th-19th Century British cooking. The menu lists the decade each recipe comes from, and the back of the menu provides a list of cookbook sources for the recipes. So move aside Fat Duck, Dinner by Heston is calling.
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Husni’s dinner parties are always amazing. We always used to head over to Prahran Market, pick up some amazing ingredients and then go back to his and cook up a feast – our last big dinner party was on Election night, which we soothed tensions with a Beef Wellington and Blood Orange Curd tarts.
So when Husni moved into his new place in Bloomsbury here in London, and all his things arrived from Australia, we knew it was time for another housewarming. His old house in South Yarra in Melbourne had a fabulous housewarming, with waiters and champagne and multiple courses that we slaved away on for a few days. A few musicians from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra set up in his lounge.
This time it was a lunch, and he cooked us mackerel, steak and a pile of amazing starters and sides. The wine flowed, and as we all met each other we realised Husni has been gathering Aussie friends – while few of us knew each other, we were majority Australians (or at least married to one!).
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Last week, my friend Sarah who is studying Linguistics at the University of Oxford asked Namita (who is holidaying in London at the moment) and I to come to Oxford for a day and attend one of the special formal dinners held by each of the Oxford colleges. It was such a rare, special treat – I was so lucky to get to attend. Just a forewarning: this post is very, very long.
So, you will just have to scroll through and see all the beauty of the town. I just took so, so many photos in Oxford because it was all just so stunningly beautiful. I got up really early today as there was a tube strike in London, and only just made my train in time from Paddington station. It was super foggy, and the train sped through the trees and fields, grey and shrouded in the thick fog. But as soon as I arrived in Oxford and stepped off the train – the sun came out. And it stayed out all day. I couldn’t have asked for better weather.
First things first, breakfast. I head to Vaults & Gardens, housed in the Old Congregation House of the University, built in 1320.
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It isn’t often I head north of the river – it has a very different, grungy, hipster vibe than down south, and I love to visit because it feels like a different city.
Tonight my friend Nick invited me to a dinner party at his AWESOME converted warehouse apartment. He definitely has the coolest house out of all my friends. On top of that he is a great cook, and we were planning on going out to the LuWOW to see a ska band afterwards. Oh, and I LOVE Nick. Spending time with him is always so ridiculously fun and nice. We always do super cute things, like bike rides along the river, picnics in the botanic gardens, afternoon tea with home baked scones, or going to the promo launch of Legally Blonde The Musical.
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