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Maman

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As next week is Mother’s Day in the UK and today is my mum’s birthday, I thought I would dedicate this post to ma maman with 20 pretty amazing facts about her.
1. She left home in her teens to go around the world on a boat and follow a much older man she was in love with
2. On said “years abroad”, she caught sharks and wore her bra top as a bikini ( the seventies were not the consumerism years we experience nowadays)
3. She has had 5 children and they all get on and they all love her very much
4. She used to pile us all into her Renaud 5, if the car would not start she had a chant that she would repeat, the car always started
5. She has a talent for drawing and painting
6. Talking of which the best present she ever gave me was a few years ago when she gave me a drawing she had made of me as a baby, even diamonds (and I love diamonds) don’t come close
7. I inherited the “worrying” genes from her but …
8. I also inherited the open minded genes from her
9. Without her help I would not have left France and gone to university, she helped with a complicated student loan situation
10. Before I left for university, she taught me to cook, now that I ( and my husband) am forever grateful for
11. If she was rich, she would have the most beautiful house and clothes
12. She always finds a way, she can make anything out of anything. She even changed a glass window pane once on her own
13. She is not a scared of anything
14. She will win tons of money betting on horses one day 🙂
15. She has at least one kir a night
16. She does not know who the Kardashians are
16. She has lived in the Seychelles and one day I will take her back
17. She has lived in France for over 20 years and still answers the phone with “hello”
18. When I was stuck in NYC during Sandy, she is the only person who wanted to be there with me “for the life experience because it was exciting”
19. She has a passion for horses and used to get up at the crack of dawn when she was young to go riding. One day I will buy her one.
20. She’s always there for all of us and we will always be there for her

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My International Women’s Day

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On Saturday,  spring finally sprung in London and the sun was out! It’s funny how coffee, afternoon tea and dinner can actually be exhausting, clearly I’m getting old! First I went back to SW1 to meet a friend for coffee in Duke’s of York square, it was so nice to sit outside, admire the serious chic people and just chat. We actually chatted so much (it may have been International Women’s day but the topic was mainly men…)I ended up being 5 mins late for afternoon tea. This friend of mine is one of the smartest most beautiful women I know , she went straight from a BA to a PhD, yes it’s possible. Anyway, only in SW1 do people sit on a terrace drinking coffee and then ask the waiter if they can hold their dog whilst they go to the bathroom…clearly I don’t belong there.

Off to Haymarket for a baby shower/afternoon tea at the Haymarket Hotel, I have had a few afternoon teas in my time and I have to say this one was of the best because it was so relaxed, the sandwiches were unlimited (sandwiches and scones are my favourite part of afternoon tea, no interest in the cakes) and the staff really friendly. After the usual cream or jam first debate, it was time for presents. I have decided that anything for babies with ears is seriously cute!
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The shower was for one of my colleagues, again another genius of a woman whose brain works so fast, she has seriously kept me on toes since she joined my team. I am lucky to work with some amazing women, funny, sweet, independent, tenacious, generous, unique and lovely women. They make it all bearable. After a ton of sandwiches and scones, we left mum-to-be with a pile of presents to take home in her E class Mercedes ( thanks Kabbee app!) After a wander round the shops (note to self, Oxford Street on a sunny Saturday is hell, how did I not realise this after 14 years in London! You think you can cope and then it’s miserable), I had some time to kill before dinner so off I went to the National Portrait Gallery and came across this woman:

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I love Kate but I certainly do not love this painting, it makes her look old, the only thing that is true to life is the hair, looks even better than the real thing ( not that I have actually ever met Kate!).  Anyway I would not be impressed if I were her. Clearly I’m never going to have a portrait in the NP Gallery…

Finally  I met up with Mister B in Covent Garden before dinner and came across another Kate, Kate Spade, now I LOVE all things Kate Spade and particularly this, which I came very close to buying, I think it sums quite a few of the fun (but naughty women) in the world up:

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Clearly much more fun that the other Kate….probably best to stop at 3 though…

SW1 wears Moncler

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On Saturday, C, C and myself went down to the other end of the Piccadilly line for some shopping and here’s what we discovered:
Only in Harvey Nicks do you sit next to a guy in his 20s wearing sunglasses  and a diamond rolex, naturally he did not know how to use a knife and fork properly, always a giveaway of the nouveau riche

Only in Harvey Nicks do you come across a family of what appeared to be lottery winning chavs, we’re talking juicy couture tracksuit bottoms, teenage girls with permanent eyebrows and yet they had been shopping there and at Chanel (no I’m not jealous)
Only in the HN toilets, do you see women of all shapes and styles including one who looked like she was off to get married at “my little chapel” in Vegas in her tiny white dress and horrible high white cheap looking shoes

Only at Prada do handbags come in “any colour you want”, yes seriously, I would be quite happy with a yellow one, green one, blue one or grey one

imageOnly at Miu Miu do you leave your gap and muji shopping bags in the middle of the floor and make the Colombian German sales assistant laugh and admit he was happy to be entertained by us and our crazy comments about the “weird coloured” bags because “it gets a bit boring in here”.

 

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Only on the Kings Road do 6 year olds (as well as what seemed like 70% of the adult population) run around in Moncler coats (no I’m not jealous)

Only on the Kings road do glamourous looking beautiful couples drink prosecco on benches in the sun (no I’m not jealous)

Only in Miu Miu do women covered in diamond rings looking soooo bored, ask if they sell sandals closed at the front and open at the back, not exactly Miuccia Prada’s style I don’t think…

I think this is what they were after:

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Only at Anya Hindmarch are there very funny and willing to help Italian salesmen as opposed to the woman in Chloe who looked at us like we did not exactly belong there, to be fair she did eventually “friendly” up a bit. Bloody muji and Gap bags, always a giveaway…

And back up the Piccadilly line in Kings cross, we go to dinner in restaurants next door to the coolest school in London, Central Saint Martins of course and we even have choreographed fountains:

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2014 Food so far

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So far so eclectic and delicious. Special mention to my friend E who ate chicken feet with me at Dim Sum, I only know 2 other people who would eat those with me! No they are not disgusting, yes it’s a lot of effort for not that much really. Special mention as well to my friend P who spoilt us with 3 courses of Ottolenghi food.

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These are me

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Continuing on from the Eurostar post, I thought I would stick to the “England-France” theme by talking about how two of my favourite things represent both sides of the Channel or one could say both sides of me.

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Meet my cousin Billy, me and Lana Banana, i.e. my naughty little sister on a beach in Cornwall circa 1990 painted by my aunt Sandie.

This picture represents my dad’s side, painted by his sister on one of our holidays spent in England visiting him. It represents England, typical English beach holidays playing in rock pools on beaches where it’s never really that hot (let’s be honest). As it was painted by my aunt, my “arty”, cool aunt, it represents the “A” side in me, not just my surname but the open minded, strong, “London” side of me. It represents all those years travelling between 2 countries, CDG, LHR, CDG, LHR, CDG, LHR and finally Gare du nord, Waterloo etc…I still bloody spend my time travelling between both countries and still think about it every single time I step foot in Heathrow, every single time. On the other hand, this also represents the “old” yet young me. I’m not sure you can tell but I look slightly apprehensive in the picture, Banana looks ready to jump in with both feet, being the sensible one, it looks like I was doing a risk assessment!  There will always be a little bit of the older, responsible risk adverse little girl in me but things have changed.

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Meet my good old blue Le Creuset pot. I use this probably at least 5 times a week. This represents the French side in me and my mum. I inherited my love of cooking from her and remember watching her use her brown one (she still has it!) time and time again. Food, glorious food, especially French food now that makes me happy!

This pot was bought about 9 years ago and it has lived in 4 flats with me so far and I intend on using it forever. I guess it represents the “grown up” me, the independent me who left France for a new life in London and who now cooks for herself and for others with great pleasure (my husband is lucky!). What brings me the most pleasure however, is being cooked for by my mum, maman. I love going back to the little girl in the painting who always ate everything on her plate. Probably not the best strategy for “la ligne” but I am definitely one of those people who lives to eat and is learning to live life to the full more and more each year. I intend on jumping into many more rock pools in the years to come, I’ll always assess the risk but now I know risks are worth taking.

 

Generation Eurostar

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The Eurostar really is the story of my life, England and France, France and England.
I remember the first time I took the eurostar with my sister, leaving my mum in France to go and visit our dad in England. we used to go to Heathrow wearing the UM bags around our necks, many a divorced multi national child with remember them
The worst trip ever was the one with me crying the whole way after breaking up with a guy I thought was the love of my life (very handsome, sexy, cool and charming French heart breaker)sat next to a 20 year old American, he didn’t even offer me a tissue. Nearly put me off Americans for life…A Frenchman broke my heart but a Frenchman would have consoled me. This was after one of the craziest few days of my life when I went to Biarritz with said French heartbreaker, definitely a blog post for another time.
Second worst trip, the time I got stuck on the train in the freezing cold for 9 hours with only water and some shortbread. The wait for a taxi is freezing gare du nord at 2 AM when we arrived was even worse. Finally got to my hotel at 4AM and couldn’t go to sleep as my feet was soooo cold.
The trip I took when I moved to London to go to university, it really was the beginning of the rest of my life with the biggest suitcase I could find. The Trip back from business meetings in Brussels when we got drunk on gin and tonic and were sat next to a dad and his 2 kids, it seemed the dad had clearly realised he didn’t like “mummies” at some point. The look on my colleague’s face when he spilt his drink on his trousers and started “helpfully” cleaning up, never seen anybody tell someone “don’t worry, REALLY don’t worry”

The Trip I took with my Granny when she asked for “a drink” at 9 AM and they would not give her anything stronger than orange juice.

The Eurostar is full of people off for romantic weekends, dirty weekends, groups of middle aged people who I am sure live in houses full of John Lewis furniture , the women wearing M&S clothes, the men dreading the whole thing (Paris equals shopping) and the fact you can’t get a good cup of tea or pint of bitter in Paris. They are always the ones having champagne in the morning.
The Japanaee tourists about to get severely disappointed when they get to Paris and realise everyone is rude and ripping them off.
My Favourite trip was when I was sat with an American family on their way to Paris. Their son ( he looked like the kid in Jerry McGuire) was asking them some questions about the train that they did not know the answer to. Back in the summer of 2002, I worked for Eurostar so I knew the answers to some of his questions and basically butted in to their conversation. The next 2 hours were some of the most entertaining and interesting hours of my life. I taught him some French words made his day as I was the first “adult” he had met who did not have a driving license (they were from Arizona), he really could not get his little genius of a head round that. I quickly realised this was not just any odd kid, a really genius. His mum ( well mom actually) told me I would make a great nanny and was grateful for the 2 hour break I had given her as apparently he asks questions all day every day). He even seemed to get what I was telling him about benchmark data as he wanted to know what the presentation I was working on was about. I wanted to be his friend forever, he was great. His mum wanted me to stay forever because I am great 🙂
I still think my best trip is yet to come , the one where I’m neither crying neither going to Paris for work.

In the meantime, here are some of my favourite Eurostar adverts

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What January taught me…

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I stuck to  The 4 Cs for about 99% of the time during January and here is what I learnt.  No chocolate was the hardest, I did not realise that I was basically addicted to chocolate and had a “post dinner habit” that was hard to give up. On February  the 1st, I had chocolate for breakfast, which tells you how excited I was to be done with the resolutions! I considered switching to dark chocolate going forward but I just love milk chocolate, I won’t be eating it every day anymore and have now decided to “invest” in expensive  chocolate so I eat less of it!

http://www.rosewoodhotels.com/en/london/dining/Scarfes-BarNot buying any clothes was the second hardest resolution to stick to, I was horrified to realise how much time (not so much the money) I spent in shops, on websites filling baskets with things I never intended on buying and yet I am not the most stylish or well dressed person. Again, like after dinner chocolate, it was more of a habit than anything. It also made me realise I need more hobbies to fill the time, the other thing I realised was how conducive loving in London is to consumerism. During a weekend in France I disconnected from London life and relished in not going to any shops, thinking about buying things etc.

No cocktails (or any other alcohol for that matter) was reassuringly not that hard except towars the end when I went to a girls dinner and missed out on champagne 😦 I never drink alone anyway so it wasn’t that hard but it really is a shame to go to a great bar ( such as my new favourite  Scarfes bar at the Rosewood hotel)image

Drinking diet coke somewhere that nice is just not RIGHT, nor is having a girlie dinner without wine or a being spoilt with Ottolenghi food and not being able to drink the accompanying champagne and wine.

so yes, I am a social drinker and intend on keeping it like that.

The last one was no cake, this was the easiest but the only one I failed at! Indeed I had some “galette des rois” on day 6 😦

January told me one last thing….the downside of having a blog…

Indeed when you have a blog and go for dinner with someone who reads your blog and you tell them something, they respond with “I know, I read that on your blog” so no, I’m going to write about what I did this weekend!

I wonder…

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I wonder about the 3 school girls , I come across nearly daily on my way to the bus stop. All 3 seem to be about 12.

The one I most familiar with is called India, I know this because I saw her name on one of her school bags once, her dad is from India and is a lawyer, I know this because I saw one of his firm’s corporate bags once. They live in the expensive building just above the bus stop, he takes her to school every day. Her dad never wears a coat, he is super stylish  and the closest he comes to wearing a coat is a “uniqlo”style down jacket under his suit jacket. He has very good hair. I saw him and his wife waiting outside their building last summer, off somewhere in cab, she is a beautiful blond. It’s highly likely their daughter is going to turn out very beautiful, very well educated and privileged. I wonder if her mums works, if not, does she leave for work super early or later and that’s why the dad takes India to school? I wonder if they live on the top floor of the building. I wonder if she will end up working in the City like her dad when she is older. I wonder if they go skiing.

The second girl, passes me by me on our street nearly everyday. She walks to school alone, she doesn’t go to the same school as India, nobody walks to school with her. I wonder why she walks to school alone. I wonder where she lives. I wonder if does well at school. I wonder what her dreams are.  I wonder what she thinks when she see me, the lady in the red coat. Does she wonder where I work? Or does she simply wonder why I glance at her every morning.

The third girl walks to school with her mum. Her mum seems on a mission, tiger mum style. I get the impression girl number 3 has a lot of chores to do, she seems very serious. I wonder if her mum goes off to work or home after she drops girl 3 off. I wonder if girl number 3 goes to the same school as girl number 2.

I wonder if these girls are prepared for the world, for all the choices they will have to make and especially I wonder if they are ready for boys. If they are not, I would like them to know love is great but teenage boys can also be summed by this:

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