Happy New Year to you all! It seems to me that 2017 is already whizzing by at an alarmingly fast pace, far swifter than I would wish it. Here we are, half way through January, and I am finally ready to turn my attentions to blogging once again.
We've enjoyed a marvelously relaxing three week break in and around London, celebrating Christmas and the New Year with the rest of my family. London always looks so perfectly dressed during the festive period. Everywhere one looks, there are lights, lights, lights.
Photo: Chronica Domus
Photo: Chronica Domus
There were also several days where viewing anything at all became rather a chore. London and her environs were plunged in soupy fog, the density of which caused holiday travelers quite a bit of bother.
Although we are quite accustomed to foggy days in San Francisco, it is never accompanied by glistening frost
Photo: Chronica Domus
As you might already know, a traditional British Christmas would not be complete without a flaming Christmas pudding. Here is 2016's pyrotechnic extravaganza:
The aurora borealis has nothing on this light show
Photo: Chronica Domus
Boxing day in my sister's neighborhood, where we happened to be staying for the duration of our visit, coincided with the refuse collection schedule. I could not imagine a more British sight than this:
The neighbors had obviously enjoyed a marvelous Christmas day nibbling on the scrumptious contents of this enormous, and decadent, Fortnums hamper
Photo: Chronica Domus
A leisurely walk within the country park close by provided the perfect Boxing Day tonic to the previous day's feasting and imbibing.
Photo: Chronica Domus
No trip to London would be complete, at least for my husband and I, without a trot around
Portobello Road antiques market. This year, I was saddened to discover that one of my favorite arcades had shuttered its doors, only to be replaced by a theater and numerous clothing shops that are quite removed from the surrounding antiques related businesses. I do hope the unique character of this market will not be dilluted over time with the invasion of such establishments. All was not lost, however, as some of the dealers had found new homes within the Admiral Vernon Antiques Arcade, situated further down on Portobello Road. It was here that I managed to scoop up a Grainger Worcester porcelain teapot stand decorated in Pattern 228 for a song. I look forward to happily using it as a small serving platter filled with after dinner chocolates and other sweet treats.
The loot from my visit to the Portobello Road antiques market
Photo: Chronica Domus
It was also my good fortune to stumble across an unusually small Anglo-Irish cut glass decanter, the scale of which I have not previously seen (could it have been a traveling decanter one wonders?). It stands proud at a mere five inches, complete with stopper. This too made it into my hand luggage for its journey across the pond.
After our morning's successful haul, we took our good friend
Reggie Darling's recommendation and visited a rather special shop. It belongs to the charmingly affable and exceedingly hospitable Hilary Fisher. Hilary's shop,
Fisher-London, is the sort of place that fills one with wild desire and the inclination to do some serious damage to one's bank balance. Ms. Fisher has created an exquisite emporium bursting with all manner of (mainly) Georgian items one only dreams of finding in a lifetime of scouring antiques shops. Everything is handsomely displayed against a rather cheery orange backdrop. Hilary has impeccable taste in not only the items she selects to sell at her shop, but also in her choice of sherry. My husband and I were both treated to a generous dose of Hilary's hospitality with not one, but two rounds of sherry ("sweet or dry?", she asks) served, appropriately enough, from period sherry glasses. Were it not for a previous engagement, we would have happily imbibed and chit-chatted for far longer than we were able to with our engaging hostess.
A corner of Fisher-London crammed full of delightful Georgian treats
Photo: Chronica Domus
A storm bowl is such an elegant way of illuminatng one's surroundings
Photo: Chronica Domus
Wrapped in cheery orange tissue paper and protective bubble wrap, four capstan stemmed wine rummers, circa 1810, and two Regency whisky tumblers, headed home with us
Photo: Chronica Domus
I highly recommend a visit to Fisher-London the next time you find yourself in England's capital city. But, be warned! You may find it difficult to walk away empty handed.
Our Regency capstan stemmed rummers made it safely home thanks to Hilary's careful wrapping skills - I cannot wait to press them into service at our next dinner party
Photo: Chronica Domus
These Regency whisky tumblers will certainly be getting a good workout, filled with amber nectar and slowly sipped during long winter evenings around the fireplace
Photo: Chronica Domus
This was not the only shopping spree we enjoyed during our trip. I'll leave that little excursion for a future posting.
An aspect of London life that has drastically turned around since I moved away some twenty-six years ago is the food and restaurant culture. One can now dine upon the national cuisine of countries from every corner of the globe. I am happy to report, however, that London's oldest restaurant
Rules, has remained quite unapologetically unchanged. Situated on a small street behind Covent Garden, Rules is a bastion of old-fashioned classic British cooking. It is the type of place where one sees immaculately dressed, well-to-do London gentlemen taking their godsons to lunch when visiting from the country on their school holidays.
Rules is always decked out so festively during the Christmas season
Photo: Chronica Domus
Of course, the only cocktail to order here is 'The Rules', a potent mix of Tanqueray, Dubonnet, and vintage Cremant
Photo: Chronica Domus
The king of cheeses, English stilton, served just as it should be
Photo: Chronica Domus
There are many dining rooms at Rules and each has walls jam-packed with interesting little works of art
Photo: Chronica Domus
A few days later, in contrast to our delicious luncheon at this most venerable old-line restaurant, my husband and I had the great pleasure of dining with Naomi, London's 'It Girl' of the blogger world, and the authoress of
Coulda Shoulda Woulda. We dined upon the very modern swanky Indian-British fusion creativity of Cinnamon Soho over lots of fun conversation and small plates and drinks. After several hours of fun-packed jabber, we moved the party down the road. Enjoying night caps within the chic surroundings of Ham Yard Hotel's bar, we did not want the evening to draw to a close. What fun we'd shared
catching up since our visit last year and waxing lyrical on all manner of topics. Naomi had one more place to show us before biding adiu at an unusually deserted Piccadilly Circus (I think Londoners were still in bed nursing their New Year's hangovers several days into 2017). We crept upstairs to view The Dive Bar, one of Ham Yard's many private event spaces designed by Kit Kemp. This one boasted a gargantuan orange juice squeezer which could easily keep the biggest Vitamin C junkie satisfied for life.
Photo: Chronica Domus
Of course, I do so enjoy being an aunty to four very lovely and well-behaved nephews and nieces and as such, along with my daughter Patience, we paid a visit to a favorite childhood spot of mine, London's
Natural History Museum. I have very fond memories of visiting there with my granny and I've also enjoyed many excursions with Patience over the duration of her young life. It is a fascinating place to while away an afternoon, whether you are accompanied by children or not. The gem room is a particularly engaging and creative exhibit not to be missed.
The architecture of this magnificent building never ceases to amaze me - what an entrance this is!
Photo: Chronica Domus
The grand staircase of Hintze Hall where visitors stop to admire the Charles Darwin statue
Photo: Chronica Domus
The ornithology exhibits are among my favorites at the museum and are some of the few things remaining unchanged since my inaugural visit as a young lass
Photo: Chronica Domus
Since arriving home to lashings of much needed rainfall, I've been in rather a
lazy low-key mood. So much so that this was the view of the dining room table this morning:
Epiphany has come and gone and the Christmas decorations have yet to be put away
Photo: Chronica Domus
I suppose I'd better get my act together and store it all away for another year. I did, if you recall, make mention at the beginning of this post how time has flown by so rapidly this year. I know, I know, excuses, excuses!
Nota bene: I am neither paid nor do I receive recompense in exchange for applauding products or services within my blog. I do so because I enjoy them. If you are a kindred spirit, you too enjoy recommending nice things to fellow good eggs.
