30 April, 2006 | Comments are off

After seven months in London, I’ve finally dined on sausage and mash! Well, not quite.

While I was in Marylebone this afternoon, I stopped for an early dinner at Eat and Two Veg, the world’s first meatless diner. I have been dying to try this place and today I found myself right in front of it. I ordered the classic English dish of sausage and mash, but with a twist. My meal was soy sausages with vegan mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy. It was quite tasty, though soy sausages will never taste like the real thing. It’s impossible to replicate the texture of real sausage. It just reminded me of how much I miss sausage, which I will never get to eat again! Wah! But I don’t want to give the wrong impression – it was a delicious meal. I haven’t had mashed potatoes in over a year. I’m too lazy to make them myself and there aren’t many places that serve dairy-free mash.

Eat and Two Veg is primarily a vegetarian restaurant, though they do have vegan options. A few items on the menu that caught my eye were the BLT (soy bacon, of course), the all-vegetarian Lancashire Hot Pot and even a Sunday roast dinner, complete with Yorkshire pudding. (You foodies out there can download the whole menu from their website.)

Now, I understand that many of you probably feel ill just thinking about this kind of food. And until I remade my diet about a year and a half ago, giving up dairy and red meat, I probably would have been sickened as well. But circumstances have forced me to embrace this culinary freak show and I must admit it’s fun to try all these new things. I appreciate food more and what I eat is healthier for me and the planet. So there!

[tags]Eat and Two Veg, Marylebone[/tags]

30 April, 2006 | 3 Comments

Today I discovered my new favorite bookshop in all of London! The purpose of my outing today was to take a walk, thereby getting some exercise while at the same time exploring a London neighbourhood. But today’s walk in Marylebone turned rather quickly into a shopping and eating excursion. Given how much money I spend on these walks, I could probably hire my own personal trainer. But that wouldn’t be nearly as much fun.

On Marylebone High Street, I stumbled upon Daunt Books. It’s labelled a travellers’ bookshop, but this little gem of a place is so much more. The front of the store contains an amazing new fiction section, in addition to a unique selection of non-fiction, memoir and biography. The heart of the shop is the vast travel department, which is three floors divided up by country. Taking France as an example, there aren’t just travel guides to everyone’s favorite hexagon, but also novels and memoirs set in France, history books about France, French cookbooks, etc. I’ve never seen a bookshop shelved in such a way. And like most good independents, they stock titles you’d never find in the chains. I could spend hours in that place. Actually, I did spend hours in that place.

[tags]Daunt Books, Marylebone[/tags]

29 April, 2006 | 6 Comments

Today started off innocently enough. I went to Fulham to get my hair cut. There are plenty of salons in my neighborhood, but a scissor wizard in Fulham was recommended to me by the woman who cut my hair in Boston. And he is amazing! (And hunky straight hairdressers don’t grow on trees, you know.)

So anyway, I’m down in Fulham, which is such a fabulous area. There’s a big football stadium around there and today, unbeknownst to me, Chelsea and Manchester United were battling for the Premier League title. Apparently, this is a huge deal. The streets were mobbed with police on horseback. Hordes of football fans were running around the streets chanting something that I couldn’t understand. The pubs were packed with men who were screaming and chanting and getting drunk. Chelsea won, but I was long gone by then. In Boston, when sports teams win major championships, at least one or two people end up dead. You don’t really have a party until the police shoot somebody.

Like most Americans, I just don’t get what’s so interesting about “soccer.” This summer is the World Cup. I can’t imagine getting too excited about it, but given that David Beckham wears nail polish and shaves his armpits, I might watch.

[tags]David Beckham, World Cup, Chelsea[/tags]

29 April, 2006 | 4 Comments

…If the BBC is ever going to stop showing Snooker? (Snooker looks like pool to me, though I’m not sure if they’re exactly the same thing.) We’re in the midst of the World Championships, which have been on TV for literally weeks now. They’re on right now!

I’m guessing the Beeb has devoted more coverage to Snooker than they did to the missing WMDs. But I could be wrong.

[tags]Snooker, BBC[/tags]

28 April, 2006 | Comments are off

I guess Tony Blair’s bad week just got a lot worse. From the front page of the Daily Sport:

Dog Eats Labour Bigwig: Another Blow for Blair

[photo of Blair grimacing]

I did not read the story because this “newspaper” is full of porn and it was too skanky to even pick up. So I’m not sure who got eaten by the dog, exactly. But the headline made me laugh.

28 April, 2006 | 4 Comments

Central London

27 April, 2006 | 5 Comments

They use words like “lovely” and “darling.”

[American men do not use words like this unless they are gay.]

27 April, 2006 | 1 Comment

My snarky post on Tony Snow becoming the new White House press secretary got some nice coverage on the Columbia Journalism Review’s blog yesterday. Click here. Not that I would brag about this. Nope.

26 April, 2006 | 6 Comments

At long last, the blurry line between Fox News and the Bush administration has been completely erased. With the impending announcement that Fox News analyst and host Tony Snow will become Bush’s new press secretary and spokesman, it looks like Rupert Murdoch’s evil empire has finally set up shop right in the White House. Way to go, Rup! What’s next, Bill O’Reilly replacing Rumsfeld? He couldn’t possibly do a worse job.

Technorati Tags: Tony+Snow, White+House+Press+Secretary, Fox+News

26 April, 2006 | 3 Comments

Looks like “America’s special friend” should have gone on holiday this week. The scandals just keep piling up for Blair. From BBC analyst Nick Assinder: “The sense of a government that is unravelling, with the prime minister attempting to fight one forest fire after another, is hard to escape.”

Here are the latest two scandals, the first of which is extremely serious:

Home Secretary Charles Clarke is facing calls for his resignation after it was revealed that over 1,000 foreign nationals locked up in British prisons, many for serious crimes such as rape and murder, were released back into society rather than being deported to their home countries. (Why many of these criminals were even released from prison in the first place is beyond me.) Blair is so far standing by Clarke, but you know that ain’t gonna last.

In less serious but more entertaining news, Blair’s deputy PM and close ally John Prescott is all over the tabloids after a 2-year affair with his secretary was revealed. Prescott’s wife of 44 years is “devastated,” as is the truck driver beau of the secretary in question. “I just can’t believe that my darling Tracey has been sleeping with John Prescott behind my back,” he said.

I can’t believe it either, buddy. Looking at this photo of Mr. Prescott, it’s impossible to imagine how he persuaded one woman to sleep with him, let alone two:

Technorati Tags: Tony+Blair, Charles+Clarke, John+Prescott

26 April, 2006 | Comments are off

The dolts who run Wimbledon have announced this week that this year, yet again, the men’s champion will receive more prize money than the women’s champion. Wimbledon now has the dishonourable distinction of being the only Grand Slam tournament to behave in such a disgraceful way.

Larry Scott, head of the WTA Tour, accused Wimbledon of having a “Victorian era view.” He said: “In the 21st century, it is morally indefensible that women competitors in a Grand Slam tournament should be receiving considerably less prize money than their male counterparts.”

Billie Jean King and Venus Williams have also weighed in. Williams told BBC Radio: “This is not just about women’s tennis but about women all over the world. At Wimbledon we would like to have equal prize money to prove that we are equal on all fronts.”

The French Open is offering equal prize money for the first time this year, but the US and Australian Opens have offered equal prizes for years. So I think I’ll boycott Wimbledon, which won’t be difficult since I couldn’t care less about it anyway.

Technorati Tags: Wimbledon, Venus+Williams, WTA+Tour

25 April, 2006 | Comments are off

For those going through James Frey withdrawal, here’s a new literary scandal just for you. Unfortunately, the author in question probably won’t be ripped to shreds on national television by Her Majesty Queen Oprah of Chicago, but it’s still a scandal, so don’t complain.

Kaavya Viswanathan was just out of high school when the publishers Little, Brown and Company gave her a 2-book contract worth $500,000. Her first novel, How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life (a frothy tale of a high school girl applying to Harvard) was just published and DreamWorks has optioned the movie rights. Now it turns out that parts of Opal Mehta are plagiarized from two similarly lame novels by Megan McCafferty (who, in the interest of full disclosure, I worked with very briefly when she was an editor at Cosmo).

I must admit, I’m quite enjoying this scandal. It illustrates how criminally stupid much of the publishing industry is. How could a prestigious publisher like Little, Brown give a teenage girl a book deal worth half a million dollars? Their actions are an insult to every hardworking and underpaid writer. Do these publishers even know what a real writer is? The fact that this has now come back to bite them in the ass is simply delicious.

It’s clear that Viswanathan, who wrote her novel while a freshman at Harvard, was in over her head. Her parents had paid a college consultant up to $20,000 to coach her through the Harvard admissions process. In addition to the pressures of Harvard life, she was attempting to write a novel that would bring her publisher big bucks. She clearly cracked under the pressure and began copying another writer’s work.

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24 April, 2006 | Comments are off

I could not get my iPod to turn off all day! I tried to reset it, but it just kept playing, as if possessed by some demon spirit. It was totally bizarre. I finally got it to restart before the battery completely drained, but now I’m convinced it has a mind of its own. Now I’m scared of it. I thought I heard it whisper my name…

24 April, 2006 | 1 Comment

Big Boobs Aren’t the Key to Happiness? Shocker!

Yet another study shows that women with cosmetic breast implants are more likely to commit suicide because of depression and low self-esteem.

Is This Progress?

From the Guardian: “Fleur Adcock has been awarded the 2006 Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry, becoming only the seventh female poet to receive the award in 73 years.” Disgraceful.

Visiting London on a Budget?

Not possible. Only Tokyo and Osaka are more expensive. New York is ranked #13! The NYT has some travel tips for the London-bound traveler who wishes to avoid bankruptcy. (If you need a password for the NYT, visit Bug Me Not)

US Army Suicide Rate

According to an AP report, it is at the highest level since 1993.

Oprah to the Rescue

After Julia Roberts’s disastrous Broadway debut, in which it was finally confirmed to any doubters that she possesses not one shred of acting ability, Oprah ran right over to comfort her. Thank goodness.

23 April, 2006 | Comments are off

Yesterday was one of the first real spring days. No jacket required! I love how my body feels the first few days of spring – so much lighter without the bulk of the jacket. It’s like shedding my winter skin.

To celebrate the spring loveliness, I took a seven-mile walk around London. I walked all over the place, including Belgravia, where I’d never been before. It wasn’t too exciting, just a bunch of embassies and rich people. But the people who live there are fascinating to observe. Many of them are total trash in the way that only a moneyed person can be. I saw this one woman unloading groceries from the back of her Mercedes. Her skin was bright orange (fake tan alert!) and she was wearing a blue velour track suit that could barely contain her fake boobs. Classy!

Walking around London is dangerous, because temptation to shop is everywhere. For example, you may find yourself in Knightsbridge and realize it’s time for a pee break. The loos at Harrods are certainly nice, you may think to yourself. And before you know it, you’re in the Harrods Food Hall and you’ve spent £2 on a piece of marzipan shaped like a succulent apple (complete with stem).

Really, the Food Halls, especially the candy section, are like Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory – minus Johnny Depp, boo hoo. Despite the displays filled with every delight imaginable, the longest queue was at the Krispy Kreme counter. How very unoriginal. And BTW, do any English people actually shop at Harrods? The place was filled with Eurotrash and Americans. One American woman in the candy department was filling her basket with half-price Easter candy and couldn’t resist shouting “Score!” Oh, how embarrassing.

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23 April, 2006 | 3 Comments

Happy Birthday to my blogging buddy and dear friend, William! No matter how old you get, just remember…you’ll always be older than me!

In honor of your birthday, here is a link to a fascinating essay by Colm Tóibín, whose novel The Master we both love. That novel, about everyone’s favorite American expat and anglophile Henry James, played no small part in my decision to return to England (but more on that some other time.)

In Tóibín’s Telegraph piece from 2004, he writes about his pilgrimage to Lamb House in Rye, East Sussex, where James lived and wrote for many years. Lamb House is on my list of places to visit this spring, though I will feel terribly guilty visiting without you, W.

So Happy Birthday to the man who drove from New Jersey to Massachusetts to help his friend pack up for England! Henry James would be proud. Here’s hoping the master continues to inspire you in your life and work.

22 April, 2006 | 1 Comment

No, not that kind of night, you little pervs! I saw Irons in the West End play Embers. He is very tall and angular in person, a rather imposing figure. (And given his penchant for flashing the full monty on screen, we’re all more intimately acquainted with him than we want to be.)

Embers is based on the novel by Sándor Márai, which was written in 1942 but fell into obscurity until 1999, when it was rediscovered and became a worldwide success. Though Marai was a celebrated author in the 30s and 40s, after the Soviet takeover of Hungary he emigrated to the United States, where he never achieved any recognition. He killed himself in 1989.

The story is set in a Hungarian castle on the eve of WWII. It concerns two men who grew up together, served in the army together and loved the same woman (think: betrayal, simmering rage, revenge). The entire two-hour play is a conversation between these two men, who are meeting for the first time in 40 years.

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21 April, 2006 | 3 Comments

Her Majesty Elizabeth II Vagina (oops, Regina) turns 80 today. It seems to be a big deal round these parts, at least for the media. At the rate the Queen is going, Charles probably won’t become King until he turns 80 (unless, of course, he and Camilla die in some sort of tragic murder-suicide before then).

In today’s Guardian, Jonathan Freedland writes that Elizabeth II’s reign is all that’s keeping the monarchy afloat. He believes that people should decide now whether the monarchy will continue after her death.

Here is Freedland on the British Royal Family:

Most democracies abandoned such lunacy centuries ago, but here it persists. We talk the talk about social mobility, but on our national ladder, the top rung is always out of reach. Symbols matter and our central one says that Britain is a place where birth still determines rank.

He then examines how the various royals help the cause of those who want to abolish the monarchy. A few highlights:

Charles: “King Charles III? Three little words which make the republican argument come alive.”

William: “The Diana good looks might have helped, but they’re offset by a truly retro Etonian attitude to class. And his hair’s receding.”

Harry: “Wins the party- boy vote but has inherited his grandfather’s knack for racist gaffes. A gift.”

Edward: “Still believe that genetics are a guide to ability? I don’t think so.”

Andrew: “For reformers who believe the royal family are overpaid do-nothings, he’s the poster-boy.”

Phillip: “With his knack for offending people of all races, creeds and colours, he’s been a prize asset to the abolitionist cause.”

And my favorite:

Eugenie and Beatrice: “They might work as collectible dolls, but not quite head-of-state material.”

20 April, 2006 | Comments are off

I took a mental health break this afternoon. My week has been quite stressful. When you start screaming at your computer screen, well, that’s just a bad sign.

I’ve passed the London Aquarium numerous times on my walks and I thought it would be the perfect place to recharge my brain – touristy and fun (hey, I’m still a newbie in these parts!), yet soothing. I definitely left feeling refreshed. The aquariums – blue and glowing and filled with giant fish – were mesmerizing. The weird new age music (chimes and ocean waves) playing in the background really helped to transport me to another place. And I learned a lot too! I didn’t realize that coral are marine animals. And sharks swim while sleeping.

On the walk home, I was in front of Big Ben when it chimed 6 o’clock. I still find that thrilling.

Here are a few of my snaps from the day:

jelly fish

a frowning fish

one of the big aquariums

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20 April, 2006 | 7 Comments

…just moved out. Yee-ha! I live in student accommodation, though I have my own self-contained flat, thank goodness. My next door neighbour was an embarrassment to all of the Americans living here. The first time I met him, he was wearing a t-shirt that said New York F—kin’ City (without the dashes). Oh, did I mention he’s from Long Island? Is that relevant?

After I saw the t-shirt, I asked him if he actually walked around London wearing it. He said he did and that “people seemed to like it.”

When he first moved in and was lonely, he invited me over to see his new set of kitchenware from Argos. The set contained two egg cups, which he proudly told me were shot glasses. I also got to hear about the reality TV show he was flying to LA to audition for and also about his former girlfriend, the Miami Dolphins cheerleader. (Just imagine me on the receiving end of this conversation.) (more…)